The very existence of Philadelphia-based Death Of Lovers is centered around the musical style of \u201880s goth. In this full-length debut, the band (comprised mostly of members of the shoegaze outfit Nothing) further sharpen the ethereal gloom of their debut EP Buried Under A World Of Roses<\/i> into a more mature, better produced, and more polished sound. The Acrobat<\/i> is less hung up on the \u201cgloom and doom;\u201d it is catchier and more open to incorporating aspects of pop.<\/p>\n
On the opening track \u201cOrphans Of The Smog,\u201d the focal point is a foot-tapping drum beat that holds the song together along with a catchy bass hook that keeps repeating itself. This number has many of the characteristics of The Sisters Of Mercy on their album Vision Thing<\/i>, firstly with its combination of danciness in a rock music setting and secondly by having an absolutely simple structure with no chorus. This track goes on and on in a repetitive manner with little or no changes along the way.<\/p>\n
Although there are clear \u201cshoegazer\u201d aspects in this record with the hazy illegible singing and layered guitars, this is also a very synth-heavy disc; \u201cHere Lies\u201d will attest to this, with its all-out synth sound, including the bass and the drums. It sounds like an old school Depeche Mode number with its bouncy but dark music and soft vocals.<\/p>\n
The best cuts lie in the middle of the album. \u201cUrsula In B Major\u201d is similar to \u201cOrphans Of The Smog\u201d with its repetitiveness, lack of chorus, and danciness. But it sounds fresher and more original, and it has a guitar hook that\u2019s fabulous. \u201cThe Lowly People,\u201d one of the less synth-dominated tracks here, is certainly uptempo but also has breezy guitars that are calming. \u201cPerfect History\u201d is like an upbeat and exciting \u201880s New Wave song.<\/p>\n
The Acrobat<\/i> loses steam towards the end on its last three cuts. \u201cQuai d\u2019 Orsay\u201d is the worst of the bunch. Its pretty bare bones, sans beats or synths, exposes the album\u2019s weaknesses, which are its so-so songwriting and arrangements. \u201cDivine Song\u201d is slow and dirge-like, and it is the most derivative number on the disc, sounding like a mix of early Cure songs. \u201cThe Absolute\u201d brings the beats back, but on this track about greed and selfishness, the vocals are a tad melodramatic, enough to deflate the buzz created by the music<\/p>\n
Without doubt, The Acrobat <\/i>is an incredibly catchy album. However, its music adheres strictly to a very specific music style, and Death Of Lovers doesn\u2019t do much to push it any further to make it more interesting. As a result, this record won\u2019t do any good for those who are not into \u201880s goth music.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":33426,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[10138],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-45243","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-death-of-lovers","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/45243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45243"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=45243"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=45243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}