#484 Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror

Overwhelming buzz demands I hear this.

I don't remember the old Sleigh Bells album very well, I apparently reviewed it (my, how short I kept it back then!) and liked it ok, but I have no memory of it at all.

There's plenty of todays favorite tropes here, big echoey reverb, synthy edges, big beats. My reference to The Russian Futurists in reviewing Treats totally still holds, all blanket-smothered and big beated.

The key is the opener, a bizarre slash of exaggerated arena rock introdom that acts as a message statement of rock and roll and fun, with waves that carry through otherwise pedestian-seeming cooing girl indie pop rock, but eventually the thrill wears off.

I've posited in past that the key to a good band is feeling like its a band you'd want to be in. This is why personality matters, why chemistry matters, while rough edges and personal details matter. This is a band for girls to want to be in: vulnerable and pretty but assertive and tough. Unfortunately, I am not a girl, and frankly I think being a teenager is another box that it would help if I could check.

Also, man, what a dark little album! Look at those song titles, all death and hell and ends and loss. I liked this at first, but eventually its heaviness and crooning and Bloody Valentining just became oppressive. This isn't a band I want to be in 2.5/5

You might like this if: you're a girl and/or teenage and/or depresses and/or like really overblown, overwashed indie pop.