HOUSE OF BLACK LANTERS

10/20

Houndstooth, an offshoot of the Fabric imprint, ready their first release in the form of House Of Black Lanterns, aka Dylan Richards of King Cannibal fame. Menace characterises the majority of the material here, with an almost cinematic sense of foreboding occupying the underbelly, and in many cases the overbelly of a number of tracks. After promising opener Beg’s sinister techno voiceover and deep pulse, a number of tracks are let down by awful vocals, not least the two tracks featuring Leni Ward, Names and Shot You Down, which also suffer from this symptomatic ailment. Instead of using tone and lyrics to naturally unnerve, it feels as if the over- production and themes have been purposefully placed to create as much foreboding as humanly possible, with almost every vocal hinting at something scary. In doing this, the record almost ends up mimicking itself. The album as a whole contains some promising musical ideas, with the futuristic footwork of You, Me Metropolis and the spacey warehouse techno of Rolling Thunder fine musical concoctions. But ultimately the sinister overtones feel forced. This is exemplified by final track Walls Are Closing In, where a vocal sounding like the killer from Saw repeats the title of the song to less menacing, and more comical, effect.

– – – – – – – – – –

Words: Tom Frost