Daughters - You Won’t Get What You Want

Daughters is a Grindcore and Noise Rock band from Providence Rhode Island who has been together now since the early 2000's.  They made their debut in 2003 with "Canada Songs", which is actually a really decent start for the band.  This is a pretty straightforward Mathcore and Grindcore release. But this is the early 2000's, which means the Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge are at their peak, which means Daughters had to combat that with personality.  Which they absolutely did.  "And Then the C.H.U.D.S. Came" and "I Don't Give A Shit About Wood, I'm Not a Chemist" weren't only heavy as fuck, they were also hilariously over the top and wildly charismatic.  And between the screeching howls and wonky guitars, this album is a fucking blast.  But Daughters with their next release, 2006's "Hell Songs", Daughters did a pretty massive shift.  This was still the same chaotic, abrasive shitshow that the first album was.  But frontman and vocalist Alexis S.F. Marshall's vocals had evolved completely from violent shrieks to these ridiculously awesome bluesy vocals that sound a whole lot like Elvis being tortured. Now, between you and me, I feel like this album took a little while to get rolling.  But the second half, with tracks like "Hypervintilationsystem" and "Crotch Buffet" was actually freakin' great, and in a lot of ways, this reminded me of almost Every Time I Die.  But with 2010's "Daughters", I completely became sold on their sound.  This was their cleanest and well-produced album to date.  But ironically, they didn't give up any heaviness.  The breakdowns were out of control, the instrumentals were noisy, and Mashall's vocals were just as out there.  And honestly, I loved every last minute of it.  So, it's been about 8 years since we've heard from them.  But from these singles, man, they sound a little mild for me.  Let's chat.

This album starts off with “City Song”, and let’s talk about this.  Daughters have always had a strong bond that was fueled by Noise Rock.  But this is the noisiest I’ve ever heard them.  Like, this is practically a drone.  But it absolutely IS exciting, especially with the very pulsing percussion.  Now, I don’t know how to feel about this though.  This track has a good sound, but it’s a weird one. It’s practically a Gothic Metal track at parts with just how ghoulish Alexis sounds on vocals.  It’s sort of campy, but it’s also sort of not.  This is a weird one to pinpoint.  And yea, it’s hypnotic and twisted.  But for me, this just isn’t what I wanted to hear.  On the other hand, “Long Road, No Turns” is a totally different animal.  This is twisted from the start, with see mingling winding chords that are constantly moving.  It’s abrasive and truly weird, and Alexis just sounds so much more at home here.  The guitars here are next level as well, they don’t even sound like a damn instrument.  They sound like someone being tortured half of the time.  And your damn right, this is exactly where I want to hear Daughters.  And as things roll on, it just gets more out of control and more over the top.  It’s complete madness, and it’s a blast.  There’s absolutely still a ton of very real tension and unnerving passages here though, as shown on “Satan In the Wait”.  This one instantly just comes off so tightly wound.  Alexis as this album rolls on just goes more and more down this rabbit hole of insanity. He’s always come off so tortured, but this is an all-time high.  And honestly, it’s a little goofy.  I wanted to hear Daughters attacking from all angles.  And this is certainly intense and vicious.  But like, this isn’t what I showed up for.  And it’s just so long winded, you have to be way too patient with it.  It’s alright, but not for me.  But whoa nelly, the grittiness comes back real quick with “The Flammable Man”.  This track is absolutely a winding hell hole of wildness.  I love the constantly shifting guitars that are just out of control, and Alexis’s vocals amongst this chaos just seem so much more intact.  And let’s talk about this production.  With this newfound cleanliness, it actually ends up making everything here come off so much more suffocating, and the noisy segments even noisier.  This one is a real ripper. 

“The Lords Song” continues on with just how determined of a sound that Daughters have when focused.  Like, I love the way these guitars here absolutely explode constantly.  It’s practically like they pop in and jump scare you.  Alexis sounds one again practically rooted in a Gothic performance, and I can actually really get into that.  While it is more of the same from where we left them the last time, this is actually right where I want to hear them.  Now, “Less Sex” is a really interesting track.  This one has Daughters once again taking a very slow pace.  But this time it’s much more dreary and bluesy.  And I love just how alive this one is even if it’s low key.  Like, there may not be much of the usual chaos going on, but this time at least we get some other noisy instrumentals that we get some edge from.  And Alexis here sounds chilling and genuinely tormented.  Like, this is actually a really brave and interesting next step for Daughters.  This may not be what I signed up for, but I wouldn’t be opposed to hearing more.  Next up is “Daughter”, and here I love just how very dreary these bass licks are.  That, alongside these pounding drums, makes for some seriously twisted licks  Like, I feel like this is some super dreary, old school Post-Punk band that’s been transported to the future and given some heavier instrumentals.  But like, some of these passages are also really awkward.  When this track is on, it’s really on.  But there are also a lot of moments where I feel like I’ sitting around for something bigger to happen.   But there are also a lot of super campy moments that I do like.  This new sound of Daughters is so close to being a knockout for me, but I still can’t fully embrace it.  Like, with “The Reason The Hate Me” I absolutely get behind this new sound immediately.  I love just how noisy this one is, and how much these guys have finally embraced some Industrial sounds.  It’s crunchy, it’s not nice, and Alexis sounds like a damn near torture victim here.  It’s ridiculous but I absolutely love it.  It really gets you into that mood that something is seriously wrong.  And some of these guitars that pop in later in the track are hellish and manic.  This is a great sound. 

Now, when it comes to tracks like “Ocean Song”, I really do love just how manic and intense Alexis comes off.  Because here, he seriously sounds like a damn lunatic.  Not only that, but the band is literally just blaring all of these wild instrumentals and practically throwing them up, not giving two shits about how nice it sounds.  Honestly, it’s exciting.  That, alongside these, spewed vocals that are just so BLAH, make for a really great metal tune.  And yes, in times like this, this does remind me a whole lot of what SWANS are up to these days.  But hey, that’s cool man.  And Daughters end up finishing this album off with some serious Mathcore.  And honestly, that’s all fine and dandy by me.  The guitars continue to be on another level completely, they don’t even sound like instruments.  And while I have enjoyed Alexis’s performances more in the past, I do have to point out, this track here is charismatic as hell.  And I love just how bulky and pulverizing this gets at times.  I just feel like I need to hear more of THIS sound from Daughters. 

Rating:  7.8/10

Give A Listen To: “Long Road, No Turns”, “The Flammable Man”, “The Lords Song”, “The Reason They Hate Me”

Least Favorite Track: “Satan in the Wait”

Genre: Noise Metal / Experimental Metal / Industrial

Overall Thoughts:  Alexis and the rest of Daughters are back for their first album in 8 years and a completely new sound.  Which for some, may be really exciting and others may just be really aggravated by this.  The short story is, this is Daughter’s most experimental and bizarre album to date.  They work with Industrial sounds and unbearably tense Experimental Metal.  And some of it is really good.  But for me, I just sort of sit around waiting for something bigger to happen.  Daughters approach to tension is actually really refreshing and interesting, but I need some more.