Album Review: Young Tongue - 'Death Rattle'

12 December 2014 | 3:20 pm | Staff Writer
Originally Appeared In

A strong debut that travels many musical roads.

Young Tongue open their debut full length with a melodic mess, a haze of guitars, vocal melodies and a dancing riff that splices though it's surrounding fuzz. The sound is succinct with tenancies to explode into rambunctious moments of groove and this forms the basis of the groups sound.

They are very particular but it is never constricting, you will hear every little bit of this record clearly despite how chaotic it may become. Unfortunately, these moments of chaos that the band thrive in, such as the mid-section of the opening track, are few and far between, with the band instead opting for a gentler approach throughout most of the record.

The album serves better as a whole listen due to its continuity, it flows well and make for little bit of a fun journey considering the drastic changes in the song genres, from hazy prog to lo-fi indie, straight folk or psychedelics, the band make sure you are kept on your toes.

The big bass line of Heavy Metal Thunder is a bright as it is bold and serves as a spring board to the ecstatic vocal lines and punchy guitar riffs. The record then simmers down for Sand Dance, in which the group manage to combine all of their many elements into the most interconnected moment of the entire record, punchy and heavily melodic, the song borders on pop with an indie flair.

Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter

The record closes out with the gentle, staggered pace of Birthday Rats, another song heavily driven by bass and vocal melodies, a slow mover that is also one of the record's catchiest, and Matriarch, which see both bass and guitar lines intertwining while the drums pound along for more of a straight-forward rock sound with a groove heavy instrumental chorus line.

 

 

Young Tongue are painting with a lot of colours here and they blend really well. This is a great debut which pretty much opens all of the doors for wherever the band chooses to head next.

1. Horses and Whales

2. RXNLA

3. Heavy Metal Thunder

4. Caveshare

5. Sand Dance

6. Cat Calls

7. Birthday Rats

8. Nickelodeon Dreams

9. Matriarch