"We Are Him"
(Young God Records / Revolver)
Like some wicked fusion of preacher and devil; like a lost soul leading a band of nine-foot tall Frankensteins, Michael Gira's Angels Of Light return with their new We Are Him. Once again, Gira is backed by Akron/Family; together they chart a determined, frightening descent through personal hells and bleak travails. Opening track Black River Song begins the album like a waking nightmare: haunted piano, ghostly bells, and a guitar figure that sounds like it was run through an electric chair. Gira himself sounds positively possessed, howling, "Black river runs / beneath this ground / black river flows forever / but it makes no sound." The mission of the Angels Of Light may be to find that river and put it to music, and from start to finish, the instrumentation and production on We Are Him is immaculate; notes Michael Gira on the Young God Records website, "Despite Akron's valorous efforts and fine performances, things sounded thin and tentative to me, so I started calling my friends to help me flesh things out." All rise to perfect and glorious occasion throughout the album, never overpowering but pumping each song full of angry, yearning blood.