A Place to Bury Strangers (APTBS) builds a bridge between melancholic dread and fury on their album See Through You out today via Dedstrange Records.
Rage and sadness fuel a crunchy bass line and echoey, new wave vocals in the opening track “Nice Of You To Be There For Me.” Distorted guitar fills the space and layers throughout the track and finishes off with strong drumming, delivering a triumphant and booming start to the album in a new wave, brooding twist on their post-punk sound.
“I’m Hurt” leans into an industrial, apocalyptic nightmare-meets-fever-dream with sounds of machinery against a slow and steady bass line, electronic drums and atmospheric drone sounds. The track embraces a uniform sound that builds into pure chaos with celestial noise, echoes and instrumentals distorting into madness. It ends with a booming softness that buries you in a desolate calm after inevitable annihilation.
“Let’s See Each Other” is a love song that is as intense as it is sad, and as beautiful as it is brooding. The track is carried by a consistent bass line and electronic drums, creating a daunting atmosphere with warped guitar. The video captures the dread that accompanies lust and what-could-have-been, with layered clips of lost memories and fury-filled instrument smashing – an all-too familiar feeling for anyone that has loved and has lost.
Fuzzy, fast-paced guitar drives the album into full blown chaos in “So Low,” a track that reflects the passionate demise of lovers. “You take your time to destroy my heart / I’m happy when you’re gone” sings vocalist Oliver Ackermann in a bout of layered intensity, creating a dreamlike sound against a noisy background.
“Dragged In A Hole” captures a full-bodied, fuzzy guitar sound that keeps the energy up and fuming with strong cymbals carrying the pace. This track has the most twisted vocals that are drowned by chaotic noise, symbolic of the actuality of feeling stuck with a massive wall of sound.
The slowly built, kick-drum driven track “Ringing Bells” pays homage to musical simplicity and a space-rock sound with droning guitar that pulses in and out. The whirlwind of sound this track forms feels like standing in a gusting wind as aliens descend to earth to retrieve their cargo; it’s short, but carries the intensity of the album through.
The instrumentation in “Disappear (When You’re Near)” embodies pure dread and longing, the feelings of dissipating and merging with the ground below — it’s brooding yet mellow, carried by a simple bass line and echoed vocals.
“Anyone But You” is full-bodied from the start with fuzzy riffs carrying the melody and distorted guitar looming in the background. This story is one of betrayal — “and now I can’t be with anyone but you” sings Ackerman, capturing longing and the inability to move on. The track feels like driving a motorcycle through deserted land with no destination, the earth crumbling all around.
The post-punk, gritty guitars in the rest of the album transcend into the gothic dark wave masterpiece that is “My Head is Bleeding.” Choppy, echoed vocals capture a shift from sadness to anger in the track – this song is nightmarish, carrying listeners through a desolate graveyard with heavier guitars, layered vocals, celestial sounds and elements of noise.
“Broken” brings a jazzy, almost surf-rock feel to the album with fast-paced drumming and guitar and a significantly more upbeat tempo. The vocals are punky and relaxed, and the lyrics capture a pain that contrasts the energetic instrumental — it’s like turning a cheek to pain and embracing the road ahead. The song is addicting-ly catchy and the perfect blend of happiness and longing.
“I Don’t Know How You Do It” begins with psychedelic noise that eases into ambient riffs, slowly building and forming a space-rock-meets-shoegaze culmination. The track is highly listenable with an easygoing melody, softer vocals and shoegaze-y, distorted guitars puncturing the calm. The vocals are echoed, smooth and mesmerizing, and the shift between male and female vocals is reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine. Absolute stunner of a track.
The final track “Love Reaches Out” pays homage to classic new wave artists like New Order with a repetitive bass line, funky guitars and echoey, lazy yet punchy vocals. The electronic drums really glue the song together and emphasize the hopeful 80s new wave energy. This song turns over a new leaf — anger shifts to movement forward, and transcends the pain the rest of the album embodies. Love has to be kept alive, even if it’s a dream yet to become reality.
APTBS captures their dedication to genre fusion in the album See Through You, telling a tale of betrayal and the struggle to move on through elements of post-punk, noise, new wave, dark wave, surf-rock and space rock. There’s something for everyone in this album that transcends any rigid guidelines music genres place.