Under Dark Skies has become a fitting tribute to the bands guitarist Paul Boutin who died of cancer in October, adding poignancy, deeper layers of meaning, to much of the material recorded for the album by Tombstones In Their Eyes. Who are John Treanor, Paul Boutin, Phil Cobb, Stephen Striegel, Nic Nifoussi, Joel Wasko, Courtney Davies, Clea Cullen, Paul Roessler and John Miller. The album was Recorded at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles, produced & engineered by Paul Roessler, co-produced by John Treanor and mastered by Alex DeYoung at DeYoung Masters.
The album opens with the title track Under Dark Skies that seems to cross Their Satanic Majesties louche riffed blues rock, with reverb encased hazy vocals in a Dandy Warhol's vein, this has a dangerous edge, for people who are just sitting around Under Dark Skies waiting for something to happen.
You Never Have To Love Me is slower hazier memories of the recently departed, who have ripped their hearts to shreds within dirge like progressions. The Beginning has buzzed guitars that give way to a beautiful acoustic coda, shimmering psychedelics and a boomy bass drum that kicks in, fuzzy guitars start peaking.
Sick So Sick a song that could be the fight against a deadly disease, or an equally deadly government, the state you end up in, not knowing what way is up, how do you move forwards, to a better safer healthier place, where drone rock is the elemental life juice we all thrive on, including a guitar solo that has a very Paul B Cutler feel to its intensity.
The albums main single Alive And Well was written before events overtook them, this is a huge cocoon of guitars and drums hoping to spirit you back to good health, celebrating life once more, one glorious riff at a time.
I'm So Happy Today will have you singing along by the time they repeat the title for the third time, if your not busy smoking a huge joint by this point, getting somewhere close to feeling stoned like this music is, they of course don't sound joyful at all, miasma of guitars and drums should spark some joy in listeners though.
I See You Looking Out My Door but are you waving goodbye or welcoming me home once more, droning guitars seep out of the walls behind you, ready for another warm embrace. You Can Run you may even be able to hide, but you'll never escape this tunes tendrils from opening up your mind, if you listen to it at the right volume, aural therapy realigning your mind.
Better Somehow is a phrase that is currently, very sadly very much out of fashion in every sense, if only we could get it back to phrase of the day status, with us all feeling that things were indeed Better Somehow to how they were a year ago, if only things could be turned around, we could be on an upwards trajectory again, finding a way so they can feel free again, searing guitars firing out into space.
The album closes with Take Another Piece Of Me whose guitars have been down tuned to a gothic rumble of desolate sadness and regret, everything has gone, every shred of you has been torn apart, one piece at a time, all the shards of noise can never coalesce so perfectly again, if they can never be together like that again.
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