 | Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band |
Picked up this album before my trip to SXSW and listened to it on the way down and actually managed to catch them live at the Mohawk during the fest, which was pretty awesome. Anyway, along the way there I totally fell in love with this album as it really just has so many things going for it and brings together so many elements into an awesome package that is unique but also totally rocks.
There are spacy, atmospheric vocals to kick it off, and the album constantly mixes elements from bands like The Strokes, Bloc Party and Modest Mouse to build a sound that is very familiar but feels like a fresh enough take that you really sit up and take notice. Most of the songs are pretty fast-paced and high energy but there are good mixes of slow parts and fast parts throughout the album that keep you engaged. Their knack for hitting great dual-guitar hooks all over the album (a la Bloc Party) is prevalent on a lot of tracks as well, but they also show that they can do more typical rock outs (certain parts on “Albatross x3″).
This is really a phenomenal album and I really haven’t gotten sick of listening to it at all so far this year, and it is certainly up there with my favorites of 2009 so far. If you enjoy some high energy indie rock these guys really do it to perfection on this one, and I can also say they really deliver it live as well, so be sure to check them out.
