This album starts off with the thunderous and troubling “Walk Like a Panther”. It’s got plenty of very sinister sounding synths that are old made more powerful when these gigantic vocals pop in for this first verse. This track is absolutely gigantic. The drums are intense enough to give it a slight Post Punk edge, the synths continue to make this track seriously dark, making for a damn near impenetrable atmosphere. I absolutely love how vicious some of these vocals come of in better the very grans choruses. “Walk Like a Panther is a gigantic start to this album. It’s a mission statement for the band and really sums up quite a few of the genres Algiers combine. “Cry of the Martyrs” is up next, and here we have another seriously dark Post Punk track, dripping with heavy synths and a grimy atmosphere. But the star here remains vocalist Franklin James Fisher, whose performance here ups the intensity of this track so much. His performance here comes off so haunting and ghoulish, and ends up making “Cry Of The Martyrs” come off so passionate. The vocals are almost mesmerizing the way they’re presented. But this is also seriously much heavier than Algiers first album, I can’t remember hearing this much truly heavy guitars on that first album. Between that and these ridiculous vocal passages that just get bigger and bigger as the choir backs them up, this track is seriously brilliant. The noisy and very harsh sound of this album continues on with the feedback driven and groovy “The Under Side of Power”. As far as a single goes, I feel like this is probably the one you should start with if you’re new to Algiers, it’s easily the catchiest track here and off all of the genre blending this comes off the most seamlessly. It’s also not nearly as intense. However, there are plenty of smaller intense moments, like those ridiculous drum fills. But man, Algiers just keep out pumping one track after another that are just so fiery and passionate. Then we reach “Death March” which seriously sounds like some bizarre, updated Cure B-Side. I mean this track is seriously D A R K, and can easily stand toe to toe with some of the true classic Post Punk acts as far as tension goes. The synths are thick and seriously twisted, and these very grim vocals talking about hate and other relevant topics give this a seriously intense feel. It’s sluggish, but it’s just as powerful and explosive as every other track here. So far, this album has been seriously ridiculous. The group vocals continue to be seriously haunting, and the band’s attention to detail within their instrumentals remains overwhelming. Just awesome really.
I feel like as this album goes on, it gets more and more harder to dissect and is just so much less inviting. “A Murmur. A Sign” starts off with these very cultish opening bars that are incredibly dark. Then we have Franklin James Fisher’s vocal performance, which is easily his most soulful and chilling here by far. It’s sluggish, and it’s a little more subtly, but it certainly remains powerful. I love the icy synths and the group vocals that pop in as well, but to be honest this one is just a little too subtle for my liking. Some of the earlier tracks here were all so explosive, this one really doesn’t go anywhere. And there’s certainly no release either. However, I do still love a lot of the elements on “A Murmur. A Sign”, especially within those synths. “Mme Rieux” is up next which starts off with a seriously stunning piano intro. It moves on to become probably the most beautiful track here in a seriously dark sort of way. Franklin James Fisher’s performance by this point has hit a serious high point, especially when those strings come it. There’s just so much pain within “Mme Rieux”, and it’s so somber in its tone. And the guitars that eventually pop in cause just a little bit more pain and bring in some distortion to really make this one of the most powerful tracks here, it’s wowing from start to finish. “Cleveland” doesn’t waste a single second, and quickly explodes into this gigantic hook. I really feel like the Gospel elements to Algiers music is seriously what ends up setting them apart the most. Franklin James Fisher’s performance by this pong has become absolutely staggering, as his vocals here soar completely over the more subdued instrumental here. And on top of that, Algiers end up bringing up a lot of seriously relevant really world topics that make this even more of an important listen. Some of these later funky and explosive verses work really great as well. But Algiers aren’t even through with us yet, as “Animals” out of nowhere breaks into a straight up Punk track the likes that Algiers haven’t touched. There are a few moments on this track that are so intense that I’m moments away from jumping into the puts myself. “Animals” is aggressive, explosive, and almost doesn’t even sound like the same band. Hell, I didn’t even know Fisher had this performance in him. But I’m glad he does, because this adds some well needed grit to the album.
“Plague Years” reminds us just how seriously grizzly and dark this album is. Some of the music here is seriously industrial and nocturnal sounding. Hell, I feel like this was ripped right off of Nine Inch Nails “The Fragile”. It’s slow, it’s calculating, but it’s quite frankly mesmerizing in every way. Every note just has so much explosive qualities to it. For a straight up instrumental, this exceeded my expectations completely. It also gives us a chance to focus on the band’s instrumentals, which is something we haven’t gotten a chance to do in a short while. “A Hymn for an Average Man” is up next, and it’s a whole lot more subtle and quiet sounding. But it’s much more bluesy, mostly due to Fisher’s very soulful verses. The instrumentals on this one are very pretty and light on the ears actually. But I don’t know, as far as a slower tune from Algiers, I feel like this one doesn’t come off nearly as well as some of the earlier ones. I do have to had it to them though, they are certainly pretty damn good when it comes to building tension. “Bury Me Standing” right from it’s intro is pretty stunning and strangely animated, and one of the busiest tracks we’ve heard in a while. But oh man, those distant saxophone licks I feel like were taken right out of the world of Twin Peaks. “Bury Me Standing” from start to finish has such a hellish feel to it. There’s a serious sense of danger on this one, but I absolutely love it. The atmosphere as a whole actually is completely suffocating, and once again this is an instrumental that seriously caught me off guard. This album finishes up with “The Cycle/The Spiral: Time to Go Down Slowly”. Our finale here is seriously one of the more wild tracks Algiers has to offer here, with tons of different instrumentals from Ragtime Pianos to Jazzy drums, all with Fisher’s very soulful performance commanding it all. This track is absolutely intense, and I love the swirling atmosphere and just how hard it is to keep track of it all. “The Cycle/The Spiral: Time to Go Down Slowly” is powerful and overwhelming, what an ending.
Rating: 8.6/10
Give A Listen To: “Walk Like A Panther”, “Cry of the Martyrs”, “Mme Rieux”, “Cleveland”
Overall Thoughts: Now, I knew I was going to really dig this album. But I had no idea just how much I was going to end up obsessing over it. This album is a serious Post Punk knockout. The more upbeat songs are intense, while the slower tracks are claustrophobic and seriously tension filled. The production is spot on, Franklin James Fisher's performances are stunning, there really isn't much to complain about this one at all.
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