REVIEWS

Buy this album from iTunes

Black Light Burns
Cover Your Heart and Anvil Pants Odyssey

Adrenaline Music Group

Posted: Tuesday, October 07, 2008
By: Ilker Yücel
Editor

Wes Borland has proven himself to be a rather enigmatic musical personality to say the least. Gaining notoriety in Limp Bizkit for his eccentric makeup, costumes, and wild stage antics, one would perhaps not expect his transition from nü-metal to industrial rock. However, as his previous solo outfit Big Dumb Face had proven with its nods to Frank Zappa and Ween, Borland is a man of diverse tastes capable of churning out an assortment of musical styles with ease. So with his second release with Black Light Burns, Cover Your Heart and Anvil Pants Odyssey presents listeners with a double helping of his talents - first with a collection of various cover songs, and second with a series of unreleased instrumentals from the Cruel Melody debut.

From the get go, Black Light Burns exhibits a punked out style of industrial rock, full of guitar feedback, synthesized noise, raucous drums, and belligerent vocals that run the gamut from melodic intensity to discordant screams, best exemplified with the opening track, a cover of Ministry side-project Lard's "Forkboy." However, despite this song and a cover of Swans' "I Am the Sun," those expecting reverence to the industrial greats will be surprised as Borland and co. attack several of the '80s more alternative and new wave moments. This is done to great effect with their take on Duran Duran's "Hungry Like the Wolf," complete with the "do-do-do" refrains and discofied synth sounds, although once again, the song takes a much more punk rock turn to make the song friendly for any moshpit. The same can also be said of "On the Bound," in which the band's off-kilter and dissonant style actually complements the trippy melancholy of Fiona Apple's song, while oddly enough "Lucretia My Reflection" is surprisingly faithful to Sisters of Mercy's original, albeit with a few of the band's own noisy touches. And then there are the more rocking moments as PJ Harvey, Jesus Lizard, and the Stooges are paid homage on the album as well, indicating the extensive sonic palette that Borland and his cohorts drew from not just with this album, but doubtlessly throughout their careers.

In the original incarnation of the band, Danny Lohner and Josh Freese - both alumni of A Perfect Circle and Nine Inch Nails - were members, so it's perhaps no surprise that the instrumental portion of the album bears some resemblance to those two bands. Right from the dirge-like rhythms, muted and slightly detuned acoustic guitar cadences, and echoing synth plucks of "Drowning Together, Dying Alone," one can immediately detect elements of NIN's renowned instrumental interludes, with just a hint of APC's harrowing melodies. The same can be said of "Vennisoun" and "Giving In Again," both augmented by dark and subdued ambience, while "Zlitchufdux" is a menacing interlude of scathing synthesized arpeggios that build in tension, but never provide release.

As an album of covers and outtakes, Cover Your Heart and Anvil Pants Odyssey can hardly be considered a masterpiece, though it is not without a high level of charm and boisterousness. If there are any real misfires on the album, it would be "Blood Red Head on Fire," which was originally a Big Dumb Face song; while a different band by all rights, the song was still written by Borland, beckoning the question as to the wisdom of one covering himself. Nonetheless, with this album, Black Light Burns demonstrates an almost old school mentality to their brand of industrial rock, focusing on the method and the attitude, less concerned with following the current trend of Virus bass lines and thumping noise beats. It's part punk rock, part sound design experimentation, not unlike the industrial and new wave of days past to which the band pays tribute on this album.