Queen Kwong
's debut EP and first LP -- 2011's
Bad Lieutenant
and 2015's
Get a Witness
-- delivered a kind of feral and defiant rock & roll attitude that's arguably been somewhat absent from alternative music in the late 2010s, and the band continue in this vein with their sophomore LP,
Love Me to Death
. Ferocious and atmospheric, the album packs in a refreshingly eclectic sound palette for a guitar band.
Carre Callaway
's introspective and confessional lyrics on songs like "Rapture" are wonderfully complemented by stringent, buzzy basslines, reverberated guitar leads, and pummeling percussion. "The Happiest Place" is another highlight too. Its morose acoustic guitar, rollicking drums, and stacked walls of distortion carry
Callaway
's morose, lullaby-esque vocals to a brilliantly noisy crescendo recalling
Swans
' later work, especially on 2012's
The Seer
.
closes with another meltingly loud and cacophonous track in "Sun of Life," that effectively encapsulates all of
's skills. It's nice to hear a rock band return to the kind of songwriting focused on pure feeling and gloomy atmosphere in such a way that feels honest and unafraid, and
demonstrates this brilliantly. ~ Rob Wacey