Exploding Head

Though called their second album , it's arguable that their debut, with its walls of low-rent distortion and abrasive beats, was more cranium-crushing. Even if the band's move to resulted in cleaner, ever-so-slightly calmer surroundings for their music, ' sound and songwriting have more power and nuance here, as well as more structure -- nearly every song balances the black-on-black menace of their debut with pop appeal. Nowhere is this clearer than on which opens the album with a three-minute burst of buzzsaw guitars, or on which boasts a subtle tension and dive-bombing dynamics that wouldn't have been possible on the band's debut. This faithfulness to shoegaze's dark side sets apart from many of their fellow revivalists who favor wispy, cotton-candy clouds of sound. Befitting their name, the band is still obsessed with death and destruction, be it physical or spiritual (as on the aptly fuzzed-out epic ). Interestingly, 's more polished production brings out some of the more retro elements in the band's music, underscoring their fondness for goth, synth pop -- and in 's case, surf rock -- as well as their shoegaze foundations. They sound more like a pissed-off, guitar-enhanced than ever on and close the album with which offers heroic doses of pure effect pedal-stomping heaven. At times, listeners of a certain age will swear they heard one of these songs on college radio or saw one of the band's video on or -- in particular has the feeling of a forgotten classic -- and that's a compliment. is a fine step forward for , and shows they're among the best bands bringing shoegaze into the 21st century. ~ Heather Phares