Album Type:Album
Date Released:
May
7th
2014
Label:
Aurora Borealis
Crashing
Diseases and Incurable Airplanes track listing:
1.Archangel 10:14
2.You Are A Comet,
You Are On Fire 07:47
3.Asphodel I/1322
14:18
4.Leg of Lamb 13:09
5.Tonight, The Dead
Walk 14:11
Bio:
USA
Out Of Vietnam have paired with Aurora Borealis to release their
auspicious début Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes.
Their
musical influences are both transparent and widespread, and include
black metal, doom, drone, minimalist composition, sludge, noise, post
rock, shoe-gaze, dream pop, nineties psychedelia and classic
seventies radio dial pop. Particularly transparent is this love of
pop music, dense seventies-style production, and harmonized vocals
that swerves around hairpin turns. If you really wanted to try to
harness this slippery eel you could say that the band’s sound is as
equally informed by the stacked production and pop savvy of Jeff
Lynne’s E.L.O. as it is by the crushing heavy drones of Sunn O)))).
On
their début, USA Out of Vietnam proudly boast of their love of lush
harmony and infectious melody but also like to push past the 3 minute
traditional pop format with 10 minute epics - psychedelic, in the
truest sense of the word.
With
over 15 guest musicians appearing on Crashing Diseases and Incurable
Airplanes (including Montreal singer/songwriter Patrick Watson who
contributes treated vocal loops on two songs here), their début is
vast in it's scope, and abundant with rich sounds. Brass sections
elbow up to detuned and distorted Marshall stacked guitars, spoken
word sections appear in unlikely spaces, vocoder vocals appear within
breaths of angelic choir vocals, vintage synth and sampled noises
hover over lush string sections while a piano beds down with crushing
Swans-style pummeling. The lyrics across the album mirrors the sound
that surrounds them, with themes grasping towards redemption that
search for a sliver of light hiding in the darkness.
Crashing
Diseases and Incurable Airplanes slowly reels the listener in as
opposed to attacking them with ballast and decibels. USA Out of
Vietnam have created an enveloping and vivid piece of work - but
flush that incense and peppermint flotsam out of your head because
USA Out of Vietnam insist that this trip is for real.
The
Band Members
El
Tigre, Fogman, Jordan Thomas Brown III, Son of Fogman, Blankie
Review:
USA Out Of Vietnam are
a sell-proclaimed – Heavy, Psych, Doom, Epic Drone Pop band. And
that's a very cool description to describe their unique and
spellbinding new album - Crashing Diseases and Incurable Airplanes. A
mind-expanding hallucinogenic trippy ride that lasts for almost 60
mins or so.
First track –
Archangel – channels the pop sensibility of ELO mixed with the
heavy and hazy riffs of SLEEP jamming with Sunn 0))) – with heavy
digitized vocals telling a spellbinding story that only propels your
mind, body and soul into a sea of tranquillity.
I am not going to do a
track by track review even if there are only 5 tracks but the first
track – Archangel – justifies why this band have such an awesome
reputation already. If you want thought provoking music elevated into
greatness by heavy drone epic riffs then this this album has it all.
It's one of the most
creative and unique sounding records I have heard in any year not
just 2014. USA Out Of Vietnam write brilliant, quirky and catchy as
hell doom pop tunes with slabs of Sludge Rock, Noise, Drone and 70s
Classic Stadium Rock all holding it together.
If you're not
physically moved by the dreamy riffs of – You Are A Comet, You Are
On Fire – then you're either emotionally closed off or you're not
breathing. Either way this song is pure harmonic pop perfection. Each
band member bringing their own unique style to the party with all of
them showing some highly impressive musical talent.
The album cover gives a
strong indicator on what to expect on the album. The album does have
it's fair share of dark nightmarish moments as well. So don't go
expecting uplifting vibes all the way through as the band do have a
darker creative side which they do show from time to time especially
on the later stages of the album.
This is an album that
will require multiple listens to get the full effect as it's an
expansive journey with many hidden meanings and gems to discover
within the musical madness currently going on. An incredible and
richly rewarding experience that you rarely come across.
Brilliant
and Highly Recommended.
Check
The Band From Links Below
Written
by Steve Howe
