Reviewed by Paul S Ganney

Sitting nicely in with stablemates My Epic, this is the second album from DENS after their self-released debut. The guitar work drives the overall sound and is very goth - it reminded me of Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cult and so forth with its mix of distortion and chorus, together with the little riffs and flicks. The bass has a level of distortion reminiscent of the Stranglers, whereas the lead vocals are mostly sung and veer between a Delirious? worship style and more psychedelic rock a la Toploader, with occasional bursts of early Bono. The shouted stuff was just the right side of metal in order to convey energy while still being listenable. Overall the sound comes together well and made me think of an edgy Polyphonic Spree without the shambolic stuff that dogged their work. A very enjoyable (if short) album (although it is 20 minutes, which in vinyl terms is a full side). Something I missed first time round but did like when it was pointed out to me: the first three tracks morph into hymns. It's so well done you'd not know unless told (like I had to be) and does make sense of the description I saw that they take the "reverent nature of modern worship bands and inject it with the thoughtful brand of indie-rock."

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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