Drink Me

The lead whisperer/singer/squealer/screamer Katie-Jane Garside is what makes it all so special. The girl is clearly a complete loon, which is the highest compliment I can give! She goes from barely audible whispering to an astounding banshee wail in a matter of a second...she's that good.

The first song, 'Pretty Like Drugs' is a stormer of rock track, with half of the lyrics being sung in a very breathy manner, and the rest being hollered with force. All of this with a truly blinding guitar riff.

'Kitty Collar Tight' is probably the best song on the album, starting off with another excellent riff, going to the best vocals I've heard in YEARS, her odd kitten-ish croaky squeals occasionally sound strangely sexy...

'Siamese Almeida' kicks off with cracking drumming and generally continues along the same line...a decent art-rock kinda track.

'Razorblade Sky' is (mostly) a slower song, with KJG's very odd half-whispered-half-sung vocals and some nice bass guitar.

'Sleeping Pill' is a really strange one right from the start, very hard to describe accurately, but still a very good, slower track.

'A Bed Of Roses'...the most inappropriate title EVER. Buzzing guitars, Katie's violently hollered vocals, insane drumming...A really brilliant track, surely one to throw yourself around the room to.

'My Silent Undoing' is the EXACT opposite of the previous track. Acoustic guitar, softly sung vocals, a glockenspiel (seriously!)...a real lullaby, which brings me nicely onto...

'Desert Lullaby'...NOT a lullaby at all. The first 20 seconds or so are the most disturbing thing on record. A brilliant art-rock type affair.

'Under A Floorboard World' is a song full of tribal drumming, chainsaw guitars and the full range of KJG's amazing vocs.

'Hotel After Show'...a massive, brilliant, buzzing and drumming cacophony. Features THE MOST AMAZINGLY SCREECHED VOCALS ON RECORD!!!

'For I Am The Way' is a great way to end such a quite frankly weird album, a lot of the quietly sung vocals mixed with a large dose of feedback and guitars that genuinely sound like they're about to fall apart.

Coming in at 38.20 mins, it's not the shortest album ever, but it never outstays it's welcome. I've previously heard their music described as 'haunting', which sounds about right to me.

This is a genuinely fascinating album that should be bought by anyone who has an interest in something a bit (well, OK, a lot) different.

Drink Me works well as a logical sequel to the KJG-therapy session of Taxidermy, it's not just an update, but a shift of focus. The fairytale-expressionist art-metal of the original remains, but is tuned down as the razor-sex undercurrents of previous songs slash and burn their way into the foreground. The whole sticky polaroid, slashed up bodies, sordid tabloid exposé feel is most evident in Pretty Like Drugs, Kitty Collar Tight, A Bed of Roses and Hotel Aftershow, grinding, screaming, violently smutty assaults that are just completely designed to hurtle round the room to. No, really, it is actually impossible to stop yourself doing that. I tried. Just avoid playing them with other people in the room cause you'll probably look like an idiot. Oh, add F.M. Doll to that list, it seems destined to be to this album what their Jolene cover was to Taxidermy. If you heard it on their Radio 1 Rockshow session you'll understand.

Actually, as a whole this album is heavier, crunchier and generally smash-things-uppier than the previous one. The balance has shifted, the quiet drifty bits on Drink Me are pretty much limited to the sultry freefall lullabies of My Silent Undoing and For I Am The Way, that dreamy/sickliness is present in the other songs, but either surrounded by or laid over strange, loud, and dare I use the phrase "mosh-tastic" distorted guitars and crashing drums. I'd say most everyone who loved Taxidermy would love Drink Me as much if not more, it'd likely appeal to most Nine Inch Nails, PJ Harvey, Jack Off Jill fans...basically anyone into fairytale-industrial who thinks, "the midnight sun burns holes in the soles of my feet" is a cool lyric. Oh, and Daisy Chainsaw fans, of course.