Adelaide goth punks Rule Of Thirds have just come back home to roost after successive successful tours of the US and their homeland, all to hex the world with their new record (out on Nopatience Records). Their cold and calculating charms are put into effect with opener 'Any War', which is a slow, atmospheric lurker that throws any first-timers off what they are in for for the rest of the album. That said, the six-minute song is beautifully haunting, a cavernous slowburner that ekes out its plodding bassline and sinuous feedback skree in slow motion, and surprisingly remains my favourite track. Surprising only in that I knew where the rest of the album was likely to take me. Sliding effortlessly somewhere between the cold, standoffish guitar lines of Slug Guts, the blue blush synth of Pleasure Symbols, and the effortless echoing cool of Multiple Man, with added punk swagger a la Occults (throw in Gazar Strips, all past and present Brisbane bands, bizarrely), Rule Of Thirds manages to take all elements of the Australian Gothic rock niche and trump them all. Things become a little more unhinged and macabre when the tempo picks up - 'Higher Forms', 'Fingerprints' and 'Blue And Red' take us on the ghost train to Hell. 'Pleasure Hive' takes its time, preferring to drag us kicking and screaming by tufts of our hair. A sinister and seductive listen, you can get Rule Of Thirds here.
nice!
ReplyDelete