BAMBARA's back, you guys. From Athens, Georgia to Brooklyn, New York, these guys have made a name for themselves in the noise rock scene. Since their emergence several years ago, they've blasted eardrums across the country with their rampant, unpredictable melodies and pounding rhythm. DREAMVIOLENCE, their first full-length album in almost five years, delves even deeper into the wild, haunted darkness they've made their own. So what's the word on this upcoming release?
An awesome driving baseline and a varied tempo make All The Same, one of my newer favorites of the band's tunes that I recognized from their live show, a righteous beginning to the album. Listening to it, I immediately felt as if I had arrived at an ancient Aztec temple in the heart of a rainforest, populated with creepy, almost inhuman voices. White Dresses follows this track with monstrous, underlying tones of horror that continue throughout the record.
Free of inhibitions, with a wildly strong and intensely sexy beat, Bird Calls reveals itself among explosions of noise. Then the deliciously dark Hawk Bones, probably my favorite track on the album and certainly one I've enjoyed from their live shows, bursts on the scene with a sound that transports me into the throne room of a party king.
After the echoing jaunt of Young Mother and the untempered and jarring Nail Polish, Train Daze rolls in with a softer edge, charging through the pitch black tunnels of the darkest places in the mind. Then Bar jumps on board, an almost upbeat track compared to the rest of the album. A strange and not entirely cohesive pause in the record, this tune features an eerie thread running through a more standard alt rock melody.
Structure is largely abandoned in the later tracks, the screeching and mechanical Divine Teeth, the smoky Z, the melodically metallic and angry Breaker, and the hauntingly animalistic Blonde. However, these songs fulfill the ongoing nightmarish premise of the album with their wildly erratic styles and borderless explorations of noise. Then, with a villainous whisper and a crash of finality, Disappear provides a fitting end to the record.
Throughout the album, BAMBARA's sound never ceases to be evocative. It transports the listener through time and space in a haze of color and destruction not bound by the constraints of reality and expectation. Rather than conform their style to the audience, with each album release they instead venture further into the uncharted soundscape to establish new bounds of explosive rock and eerie melodic noise.
Pumped to get your hands on DREAMVIOLENCE? BAMBARA's official release date for the album is April 30th, but you can let your ears in on a taste of their sound over at Spin.com where they are currently streaming a preview of the full record. Enjoy!
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