Californian princes of darkness dropped her sixth release at the end of September with which she knowledgeably continues to take us through the dark depths of the pathways that lead to nowhere. On these pathways, Goth meets folk. I read somewhere a cool description of Chelsea's work: it's as If PJ Harvey was playing black metal. There is also a bit of Swans in there, so that already makes for two stellar associations.
For the purpose of Hiss Spun, Chelsea recruited Troy Van Leeuwen, a guitarist from Queens Of The Stone Age and Kurt Ballou from the band Converge who contributed not only with his guitar mastery, but he also helped the dark princess out with recording and production. The influence of both guys is undeniable throughout the whole album.
Noisy, distorted guitars, doom metal atmosphere with elements of sludge, killer bass, melodies from nightmares and obscure feelings are main traits of everything we have a chance to hear on this release. The numbers remain in domain of ethereal art rock, which makes them particularly enticing. The song that promoted the album, 16 Psyche (named after a recently discovered asteroid), starts with darkest introspective moments until it reaches climax in explosive chorus. Such a dynamic made it my favorite track of the collection. In opening title track Spun, we are witnessing a combat between her out-of-this-world and out-of-body vocal and sonic monster comprised of groovy bass, charged guitars, heavy drums and piano. Chelsea Wolfe knows how to embody metal. The second single Vex features Alex Turner, ex member of the band Isis, who growls in the background. His interpretation is in contrast with Wolfe's and it is as we are experiencing a battle between good and evil. Chelsea uses her music to reflect on this eternal battle, but she rarely does it in lyrical manner. It is mostly obvious through the soundscape of the instrumentarium.
Many more details and straight-outta-hell arrangements are on Spun, waiting for you to find me. I wish you a happy search!
