We Sing of Only Blood or Love
,
Dax Riggs
' first album under his given name, touches on the sounds and moods of his previous projects, fusing the bluesy eclecticism of
Deadboy & the Elephantmen
and
Agents of Oblivion
with ominous shades of his earlier
sludge metal
outfit,
Acid Bath
. The album's best moments pull the listener into
Riggs
' eternal nighttime and don't let go:
"Night Is the Notion"
begins with sidewinding menace and a swarm of smoky guitars, then lunges into its choruses with rattling, ruined
honky tonk
pianos, while
"Truth in the Dark"
's
goth
-
punk
gets a seductive sheen courtesy of sleek synths. However,
' fusion of
blues
metal
doesn't always work. For every
"Scarlett of Heaven Nor Hell"
-- a tightly wound rocker driven by
' throaty growl of a voice and thorny guitars -- there's a song like
"Radiation Blues"
or
"A Spinning Song,"
both of which fall prey to cliched, repetitive songwriting.
's first half often feels disappointingly straightforward, especially compared to how effortlessly
threw together
glam rock
, and
folk
and made them fit together in a perfect, and perfectly unpredictable, way. However, as the album unfolds, so does
' restless creativity. Veering from the gritty spareness of the acoustic
"Ourobourous"
to the full-tilt
stomp of
"The Wall of Death,"
's second half brims with invigorating twists and turns.
"Dog-Headed Whore"
recasts
Led Zeppelin
folk-blues
as a bayou lament;
"Ghost Movement"
"Dethbryte"
nod to the theatrical
that has been a major influence on
' post-
music. Likewise,
seems more engaged when he sings about being alive in the face of death rather than brooding over the end of life, as on the strutting, vibrant
"Forgot I Was Alive"
"Living Is Suicide."
is frustratingly uneven, but at its darkly witty best, it's a fine solo debut for
. ~ Heather Phares