Band of Skulls - Sweet Sour

Southampton, England's own Band of Skulls have released their brand new studio album titled Sweet Sour. The follow up to 2009's Baby Darling Doll Face Honey finds the British alt-rockers taking a more melodic and polished approach that aims to capture the attention of listeners from across the pond and introduce their sound to a more wider audience and also trying to broaden their musical appeal just a little bit.

The disc opens up with the ferocious title track that has been getting extensive airplay on alternative radio lately here in the States. The disc has an intense and ominous drum pattern that runs rampant throughout the song and builds up quietly, but doesn't get too intense so as not to scare away any new listeners. "Bruises" starts off with a perfect mid-tempo guitar riff and the dual, harmonic vocals of guitarist Russell Marsden and bassist Emma Richardson that shows the two of them putting their creative talents together to create a perfect balanced, syncopated track that you'll enjoy quite easily. My favorite song off the disc is "The Devil Takes Care Of His Own", a fuzzy, edged out rocker that sees the band trying out some intricate methods to get the listeners attention without being too overbearing and loud, something that other upstart bands have done many times in order to try to get noticed. An expansive and straightforward rocker that gets its point across rather simply. "Lay My Head Down" is a quiet, mellow tune that presents the band in a different light and shows off the band's diversity as a group and their capability of handling everything thrown at them with a great deal of accomplishment and fervor.

The disc's second half gets underway with "Success", another downtempo, laid-back rocker that sees Emma focusing on her vocal output and getting her message out loud and clear to the listening audience. "Hometowns" is another fantastic piece that features aural guitar riffs that aim to capture the listener and entrance them with their uncanny musical abilities that work together seamlessly and without much difficulty at all. The disc starts to draw to a close on "Lies", a more uptempo number that picks up the veracity of the guitars to give the song more swagger and make it appeal more to the listening audience. "Close to Nowhere" is the disc's finale that closes on a quiet scale and gives us a brief overview of everything we've heard so far in one mellow and terrific track. Over the last year or so, we've been seeing a talented and diverse group of bands from across the pond in England that have slowly started to wash up on our American musical shores, from acts like Mumford & Sons, The Kooks, and Florence + The Machine. Band of Skulls can definitely be added to the list of British bands who are doing something creatively different that hasn't been accomplished before in quite some time.

Overall, a well executed effort from Band of Skulls, who have finally made their presence known to American listeners and are definitely a band to look out for in the next few years!


                                                                                                                      Album Score: 3.5/5


Track Listing:

1. Sweet Sour
2. Bruises
3. Wanderluster
4. The Devil Takes Care Of His Own
5. Lay My Head Down
6. You're Not Pretty But You Got It Goin' On
7. Navigate
8. Hometowns
9. Lies
10. Close to Nowhere