Combining two staple of indie music like shoe gaze and indie pop is always a somewhat dangerous plan but when it works it works. Two examples of this being My Bloody Valentine‘s ‘Sunny Sundae Smile’ and Ash’s ‘1977’ which mixed some of the harsher and fuzzier guitar sounds of genres like grunge and shoe gaze with the 3 minute song structures of indie pop. But can Virginian rockers Ceremony be equally successful?
The album opens with ‘Stars Fall’, a big fuzzy ball of noise which instantly captivates the listener, well most listeners, the more timid will probably just run for the hills. This is followed by the grunge-y pop of ‘Never Make You Cry’ which brings to mind one of Dinosaur Jnr’s finer moments.
The sound on this album mainly follows one basic formula: heavily distorted vocals and hazy guitars amplified to 11 equalling an impressive wall of noise.
‘Marianne’ has a great riff-heavy melody and sounds like Weezer on an evil hallucinogenic with all their guitar pedals turned on at the same time, that may sound awful but trust us it works.
Volume is something that Ceremony don’t compromise over and this is abundantly clear throughout the middle of Rocket Fire particularly on ‘Silhouette’ and ‘Don’t Leave Me Behind’ which sounds like the rupturing an eardrum in musical form and that should be taken as a complement.
‘Someday’ is a track that could sit easily on albums by either the Cure or Echo and the Bunnymen which bears more than a passing resemblance to the New Order track from which the band took their name.
Overall the blend of shoe gaze and indie pop on Rocket Fire works more often than not and fans of A Place to Bury Strangers who like their music loud, really loud, will find more than enough to like about this album.
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