Blake Solomon
03/11/09, 12:42 PM
Beware Of Safety - Dogs
Record Label: The Mylene Sheath
Release Date: January 13, 2009
Dogs should come packaged with a training manual. Its metal-ish, heady post-rock is quite the musical hike. Beware Of Safety have created a marathon, but I don’t say that because Dogs runs well over an hour. I say it because the songs are challenging, tiring and completely worthwhile. I’ve never run a marathon, for obvious reasons, but I have a hunch that there’s an urgent adrenaline rush pushing the runner to do it all over again. That exhilaration certainly occurs after “O’Canada” hits its final warbling notes. Sweat is everywhere, the walls are stained with blood, and you’re hitting repeat.
Despite their lack of lyrical themes or mind-melting hooks, the best post-rock releases allow me to paint a coherent picture. There’s certainly similarities entwined throughout each of Dogs’ 10 songs, like the eerie reverb of “Nu Metal” or “The Supposed Common.” However, Beware Of Safety have a knack for lightening their world-destroying drums with intricate guitar picking or classical string compositions (“Raingarden”). It’s a bleak world, sure, but there’s always plenty of melody shining through the heavy-handed chaos. “Hexa” embodies this dichotomy since its middle section is filled with wall-bursting noise and its daintily composed tail section is anchored by piano tinkling. Right when listeners headbang themselves into headache, BoS offer reprieve.
While most songs are epic in length, BoS show an affinity for creating concise pieces without foregoing any of their signature drama. “Circa” and “Light Of Day” need little time to jump from sections of swampy basslines and spastic drumming to instances of psychedelic freak outs. Those songs may squash things together, but that doesn’t mean they are any less dynamic than a long-winded number like “The Laughter Died.” This song’s spacey vibe is definitely melancholic, but the way each despairing moment resolves, to me at least, sounds hopeful. The laughter died, and yet, it lives on.
Dogs is heavy. Dogs is not everyday fare. But I’ll tell you what, Dogs is as tight as instrumental records come. Each song paints a grand scene more ambitious than the last. Beware Of Safety don’t play pansy instrumental music; you won’t be sitting in front of the speakers saying, “Are they even playing anything?” Headphones are encouraged but not necessary. Beware Of Safety successfully meld moments of hard rock with ethereal noodling, and in the process create an album where 10 unique songs become one completely awe-inspiring album.
Recommended If You Like: Three Steps to the Ocean, Mogwai, sugarcubes, My Education, shadows
www.myspace.com/bewareofsafety
Record Label: The Mylene Sheath
Release Date: January 13, 2009
Dogs should come packaged with a training manual. Its metal-ish, heady post-rock is quite the musical hike. Beware Of Safety have created a marathon, but I don’t say that because Dogs runs well over an hour. I say it because the songs are challenging, tiring and completely worthwhile. I’ve never run a marathon, for obvious reasons, but I have a hunch that there’s an urgent adrenaline rush pushing the runner to do it all over again. That exhilaration certainly occurs after “O’Canada” hits its final warbling notes. Sweat is everywhere, the walls are stained with blood, and you’re hitting repeat.
Despite their lack of lyrical themes or mind-melting hooks, the best post-rock releases allow me to paint a coherent picture. There’s certainly similarities entwined throughout each of Dogs’ 10 songs, like the eerie reverb of “Nu Metal” or “The Supposed Common.” However, Beware Of Safety have a knack for lightening their world-destroying drums with intricate guitar picking or classical string compositions (“Raingarden”). It’s a bleak world, sure, but there’s always plenty of melody shining through the heavy-handed chaos. “Hexa” embodies this dichotomy since its middle section is filled with wall-bursting noise and its daintily composed tail section is anchored by piano tinkling. Right when listeners headbang themselves into headache, BoS offer reprieve.
While most songs are epic in length, BoS show an affinity for creating concise pieces without foregoing any of their signature drama. “Circa” and “Light Of Day” need little time to jump from sections of swampy basslines and spastic drumming to instances of psychedelic freak outs. Those songs may squash things together, but that doesn’t mean they are any less dynamic than a long-winded number like “The Laughter Died.” This song’s spacey vibe is definitely melancholic, but the way each despairing moment resolves, to me at least, sounds hopeful. The laughter died, and yet, it lives on.
Dogs is heavy. Dogs is not everyday fare. But I’ll tell you what, Dogs is as tight as instrumental records come. Each song paints a grand scene more ambitious than the last. Beware Of Safety don’t play pansy instrumental music; you won’t be sitting in front of the speakers saying, “Are they even playing anything?” Headphones are encouraged but not necessary. Beware Of Safety successfully meld moments of hard rock with ethereal noodling, and in the process create an album where 10 unique songs become one completely awe-inspiring album.
Recommended If You Like: Three Steps to the Ocean, Mogwai, sugarcubes, My Education, shadows
www.myspace.com/bewareofsafety