Animal Scream - Nightwalk
ANIMAL SCREAM RELEASES SUPERB ‘NIGHTWALK’
Pittsburgh-based dark pop outfit Animal Scream recently released their new album, Nightwalk, a brilliantly wrought collection of songs, which recently hit the 7th spot on the NACC chart.
Animal Scream | Photo: Chris Miskis
Made up of Chad Monticue and Josh Sickels, previously of Pittsburgh’s band 1,2,3, which released a conceptual double album entitled Big Weather, about Armageddon-Esque weather changes, once the album dropped, 1,2,3 quietly faded from existence.
Six years later, Josh and Chad reappeared, forming Animal Scream. Vocalist Chad Monticue says, “Josh likes to call our genre ‘evil Motown.’”
Although they grew up listening to Motown, the designation is more an attempt to place their music in a category rather than a precise rendering of their sound. According to Josh, “If you put Prince, Roy Orbison, Thom Yorke, and Misfits-era Glenn Danzig on the show Twin Peaks and had them be the house band, that’s kind of what our album sounds like.”
In point of fact, Animal Scream’s sound blends avant-garde experimental pop elements with thick alt-rock riding Jovian drums, attended by beaucoup sonic brio.
I love the big-‘60s feel of this song.
Encompassing 12-tracks, Nightwalk commences with “Black Magic Wind,” opening on dark muscular colors atop a pulsing beat, and then flows into a deliciously wicked melody flavored with opaque heft topped by luminous pop colors. The end result is both contagious and ominously eerie.
Entry points include “American Dreams,” a psychedelic, sensuous alt-rock number rife with surging sultry energy as if Chris Isaak decided to go in for Goth-pop-rock, yet retain his erotic tag. This song rolls on viscous colors topped by bewitching sinister vocals.
“Station to Station” mirrors Josh’s description of their sound as “evil Motown,” traveling on massive resonance vaguely reminiscent of Smoky Robinson, only imbued with huge dollops of dense soul aromas boosted by ferociously braying horns.
“Ride Or Die” rides thrumming heavy harmonics flavored with hints of alt-country and new wave textures, and might be the best song on the album, especially when the surf-rock savors of the guitar take over. I love the big-‘60s feel of this song.
“I Am The Dreamer” blends Roy Orbison-like washes of sound with deep rumbling drums and groaning guitars, followed by adding glistening accents. The title track merges menacing guitars supported by a cavernous bassline, measured and sepulchral. Luminous baroque-laced vocals infuse the lyrics with haunting surfaces.
Nightwalk is wonderfully innovative, powerful, and superb. Animal Scream generates unpredictable mélanges of genres into ruthlessly beguiling music. You definitely need to listen to Nightwalk.
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