Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream Review

Thee Oh Sees release their second album of the year and it rocks.....hard.

Thee Oh Sees - Carrion Crawler/The Dream (2011) – 8.2 / 10.0

Release Date: Nov. 15, 2011
Running Time: 40:34
Label: In The Red Records
Genre: Neo Psychedelic Rock, Garage Punk
Drug of Choice: Heroin, LSD
Key Tracks:
"Contraption/Soul Desert"
"Robber Barons"
"The Dream"

Bands that want a blueprint for recreating the sounds of 60's Garage Rock (which seem to be a diamond dozen these days) need look no further than Thee Oh Sees' newest record Carrion Crawler/The Dream. What John Dwyer and Co. seem to get that most others don't is that the best Psychedelic Rock always comes with an ounce or two of dread and this record has plenty of it. With Carrion Crawler/The Dream, Thee Oh Sees even best The Black Angels at resurrecting the spirit of the Stooges' Funhouse. Modernized with a grinding Kraut influence, the result is a bulldozer of an album, crunching through the darkness to either come out the other end a better day, or drive you further into the madness. Personally, I'm hoping for the latter.

Unlike the band's first release from this year, Castlemania, there is little Pop influence on Carrion Crawler, as evidenced by the album's titular opener. The follow-up to that track, "Contraption/Soul Desert", is perhaps my favorite song on the record. A powerful punk-styled guitar song, "Contraption" recalls Hard Rock girl groups of the mid-90s like Sleater-Kinney, only with a lot more haze. Dwyer's vocal here takes the crazed, menacing turn of an inspired Roger Waters performance. "Robber Barons" follows up with a crushing rhythm section repetition that bares the full weight of the band. This is an effect B.R.M.C. wish they could get on their very best day.

It is songs like this that have me believing Hard Rock is very much alive. This band sounds heavier than any modern Metal group and more raw than the most Lo-Fi singer/songwriter you can think of. The second half of Carrion relies more heavily on those Kraut Rock influences like Can or Gong, something akin to Yo La Tengo's "Pass Me The Hatchet Richard, I'm Goodkind" but without all of the Sonic Youth thievery and just a dash of Surf Rock.  "The Dream" is a good example of how this concept can come off without becoming boring or overly derivative, though it may bare several listens before reaching its full attraction.

To be short, this is the best Oh Sees record that I have heard. Dwyer borrows only enough from other places to give Carrion Crawler/The Dream signposts for the listener. From there he takes the music in any direction he damn well pleases. The result is a dark, raw record that wouldn't seem out of place as the soundtrack for Apocalypse Now or Lost Highway. There is a lot of depth in these songs and the performances are incredibly tight, but the band does it without sacrificing any of the danger, or immediacy every good Rock record should have. The music here has grown with each successive listen. What else could you possibly ask for?



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Reviewer Stats:
Reviews - 47
Average Rating - 6.9
Highest Rating - 9.5 Blitzen Trapper's American Goldwing
Lowest Rating - 3.5 Ryan Adams' Ashes & Fire