FEATURE:
Second Spin
Sleigh Bells - Reign of Terror
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ONE musical duo that do not…
get the credit they deserve is Sleigh Bells. They have released some terrific albums, but the Brooklyn duo, vocalist Alexis Krauss and guitarist Derek Edward Miller, have put out one or two that did not get the acclaim I feel they warrant. Their current album, 2016’s Jessica Rabbit, is one such example. I think that their second studio album, Reign of Terror, is another. It got some great reviews, though there were others who were less kind or found fault. I am going to bring in some contrasting reviews for the 2012 album. I love the album and, from its intriguing and brilliant cover to its solid songs, there is a lot to admire. Here is some more information regarding Reign of Terror:
“Following the critical success of their debut album Treats, Sleigh Bells started writing new material for their next album while on tour for their debut album, and recorded it over the course of five months in 2011. While Treats used a mixture of guitars and beats that eschewed pop song structures for their overall sound, Reign of Terror emphasized more guitar sounds that follow structures with emotionally heavy lyrics.
The album received a generally positive reception from critics. Reign of Terror debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and spawned only one single: "Comeback Kid". To promote the album, Sleigh Bells toured across North America and Europe”.
I think Reign of Terror is an album deserves reinspection. It debuted at number-twelve in the Billboard 200. The album descended to number-seventy-eight in the second week with sales falling to around 8,000 copies - a 72% drop. I am not sure why the album did not fare better. Listening now and, whilst there are a couple of weaker tracks and the odd issue – I am not sold on the album sequencing and opening with True Shred Guitar -, it is better than a lot of critics gave it credit for. In a mixed review, this is what PASTE noted:
“But these songs don’t have hooks. “Born to Lose” is memorable for all the wrong reasons, with its distorto-chord blasts that don’t connect into a progression in an awkward, dragging rhythm akin to a child trying to sound out each letter of a word he’s trying to speak. They wanted it to sound “wrong” obviously, which I can respect, but it doesn’t go anywhere, which I can’t. “Crush” never escapes its marriage of cheerleader chant and Pulp’s “Common People.” The single “Comeback Kid” is one of the few songs here to move from place to place rather than sit still and build on top of one idea, but it still manages to land on a whiny bridge (“You’re gonna make it/ You’ll come back somedaaaaay”) after tantalizing verses. It’s almost saved by a twin-guitar break, though this album relies so heavily on those that it lacks surprise (Treats deployed the twin-guitar novelty just once, and perfectly, on its opening hammer “Tell ‘Em”).
If I sound like I’m rooting against the band’s decision to make a conventionally-produced album and grow out of compressed noise, I’m not. But they took elements away rather than replace that gap with new ones. Losing dynamic range should’ve warranted more surprises in the audio spectrum—I don’t expect them to replicate the land mine ending to “Infinity Guitars,” but what about the horns from “Kids”? Where’s the resourcefulness that their bigger budget’s supposed to reflect?
“The bigger culprit is the decision to cast off much of their hip-hop element, which kept the songs uptempo, and rely more on chugging metal, which gives even the better tracks like “Road to Hell” a dragging feel. While it’s fun to throw your inability to shred in metalheads’ faces by claiming their turf anyway (love the part in “Demons” when they “stand ‘em up six by six by six”), it’s better to back it up with memorable music. As it happens, the sweet shoegaze ballad “You Lost Me” is the best thing here, and it’s the song that has the least to do with anything you’ve read about Sleigh Bells. So maybe they didn’t go far enough in straying from the blueprint they tried hard not to repeat. Either way, Reign of Terror plays like a band with original ideas who got stuck in quicksand”.
There is a lot to enjoy through Reign of Terror. Those familiar with Sleigh Bells can appreciate the album, as can those coming to it fresh. Perhaps Reign of Terror is a classic case of an album growing stronger over time. I want to bring in a positive review from Consequence of Sound. They were much more approving of a brilliant album:
“But Reign of Terror goes bigger by way of width and depth rather than by volume, as it were. One of the most thoughtful tracks, “You Lost Me”, takes a hair-metal ballad and flips it on its head, with Krauss cooing about a sordid and doomed relationship and Miller turning in his best Def Leppard impression by palm-muting arpeggios up and down the guitar. Krauss’ tone adopts that poppy, teenage apathy well and she fills out most of the album with lyrics that are very simple and very important — not unlike high school. “Don’t run away from me baby/ just go away from me baby,” Krauss ekes out on “Road to Hell”, a mid-tempo chug-a-lug that continues to wed Miller’s re-born love for heavy metal with Krauss’ newborn beautiful and evocative voice. Other discarded schoolyard missives are all over this album, like “I’ve got a crush on you now” on “Crush”, but it’s all much more dangerous and detached than a mall-rock band, like Krauss is singing with a crooked, nasty smirk. She already knows everything that’s pretty and ugly about love.
Their greatest boon (or perhaps schtick?) is how well Sleigh Bells can capture this moment, the one that’s happening right now. Reign Of Terror already feels definitively 2012 by way of reappropriating the decadent pop of the ’80s with a louder snarl and a deeper cynicism. Miller’s guitars scream like a speeding ambulance, the drums beat on against the current of timidity, and Krauss makes beautiful all things that have no right to be. There was barely a precedent for Sleigh Bells two years ago, and there’s hardly a precedent for them now. That’s success. That’s having a song like “Comeback Kid”, the album’s flagship salvo, that solders all these elements together into one anthem that stands above the rest. It’s past, present, and future Sleigh Bells that sounds just as effortless as Krauss’ vocal gymnastics on the track. Miller even turns off the distortion on his guitar at the end! It couldn’t possibly drop on the scene the same way “Crown On The Ground” did two years ago, but it shouldn’t. “Comeback Kid” is about Sleigh Bells still having the power to grab the masses by the lapels and say,”This!” and have it actually mean something.
There’s a coda to the album, the final track “D.O.A”, which is a simple Krauss + Miller duet with almost no percussion save for some finger-snaps. It’s a haunting and abrupt way to end the album, but in it Krauss sings, “How come nobody knows how the chorus should go?” She’s not asking a question. She’s throwing down the gauntlet”.
If you have not listened to Sleigh Bells’ Reign of Terror, then go and check it out now. There was some positivity towards it back in 2012. However, I feel most reviews were quite mixed. Whilst not perfect, I think Sleigh Bells’ second studio album is a work that requires new ears and study so that it can begin…
PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick O'Dell
A new reign.