ALBUM REVIEW: Biblical - "The City That Always Sleeps"

By: Victor Van Ommen

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/09/2017

Label: Tee Pee Records |

New Damage Records

“Mature Themes,” the opening track and lead-off single, certainly showcases a barrage of noise that hits like a barbed-wire baseball bat, but rather than making miles doing this sludgy-psych thing, Biblical branches out far and wide, traversing sonic landscapes that are as vast as the country the band calls home.

“The City That Always Sleeps” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Mature Themes
2. The Last Thing I Remember
3. Regicide
4. Fugue State
5. Gallows Humor
6. Spiral Staircase
7. The City that Always Sleeps
8. House of Knives

The Review

               

Come on, let’s take a trip down the heavy-psych highways with Biblical. Their trip starts in the dirty streets of Toronto, but it doesn’t take long until they’ve hit the off-ramp and flown out into space. “Mature Themes,” the opening track and lead-off single, certainly showcases a barrage of noise that hits like a barbed-wire baseball bat, but rather than making miles doing this sludgy-psych thing, Biblicalbranches out far and wide, traversing sonic landscapes that are as vast as the country the band calls home.

When taken in front to back, Biblical’s sophomore outing “The City that Always Sleeps” plays out as a crafted piece of art that steers clear of a paint-by-numbers psych band. Biblical allow their ideas to flourish in their songwriting, and the fantastic production and recording – man, listen to those drums! – makes for an extremely well-rounded record that smoothly brings the listener across the sludge-psych spectrum of the stoner rock world.

Some parts are psych, there are even elements borrowed from post-punk, others are sludgier, and the brash moments are used as points of reference to take off from. The addition of the piano in the instrumental “Staircase”brings a little drama to the mix, and how this is pinned up against an uplifting chorus before a giant crescendo finishes off the song that exemplifies how Biblical takes control of the experience they’re providing.

Steady toe-tappers, fuzzy guitar solos, murky intermezzos, and catchy space rock. It’s all there and it all makes sense. There’s not much in the way of jams – you know, that moment when the music takes control – but there’s enough thought and effort put into presenting a well-rounded record that the jams aren’t missing. There’s plenty more to get lost in here than what’s on offer in the album’s lead-off single and you’d be doing yourself a favor by taking 40-some-odd minutes out of your busy day and let these tunes pick you up and take you away.

“The City That Always Sleeps” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp