The ambition of Austin’s overwrought hard rock band Sounds Under Radio is revealed in its first moments, as its untitled (on account of it’s “name” being made up of symbols I don’t know how to type), instrumental opening track builds in intensity until it washes into “The Arsonist,” the true first track. The song is a muscular, leering introduction, and it reveals singer Lang Freeman’s arena-tripping vocal abilities. He sounds like Queens of the Stone Age majordomo Josh Homme combined with the wailing acrobatics of someone like a Geddy Lee.
If you couldn’t tell by its mouthful title, Where My Communist Heart Meets My Capitalist Mind is a pretty self-serious album. Freeman’s vocals are the key thing that saves the music from collapsing under its own drama, but it should be said Sonny Sanchez’s rock hard drums keep things from getting too over-processed (check how his machine gun backbeat keeps “Army of Me” menacing). Guitarist and bassist/keyboards Doug Wilson and Bradley Oliver add real heft to the instrumental sections and then go a step further by adding electronic effects that enhance the record’s atmosphere.
That commitment to creating a totally-defined aural world goes a way to help Sounds Under Radio earn their pretentious presentation. The celestial pining of “Sing” or “Surrender” shows off the band’s depth of performing and songwriting skills. The production and engineering of Will Hoffman (with some assistance by frontman Lang) couches the buzzing guitars and punishing rhythms into a pleasing assault. For you gearheads: Cephas, Wire Recording and Folsur Studios – all in Austin – were the studios used.
Additional listens to Communist Heart show how pathos-laden and nearly-sentimental Sounds Under Radio can be. Freeman can scream, but it feels like he’s having more fun crooning the record’s best song, the blatantly emotional “What You Wanted.” Freeman’s and Wilson’s guitar work sounds like Billy Corgan’s on that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness double record.
You know, on my first listen to this record I wasn’t too excited by it. But it’s a grower. I still have contentions – performance points are occasionally forced or saccharine, an attempt to infuse the record with underlying political themes feels half-formed at best, there isn’t a totally consistent level of quality song-to-song – but there’s no doubting that this is a rarity: a hard rock album that doesn’t sound like people trying to re-record Houses of the Holy or Master of Puppets. Sounds Under Radio have put together an album that, warts and all, is a fulfilling listening experience, having obviously been assembled with extreme thought to playing it all the way through. An album that flows this well wins by its virtues.
Final Grade: **** (out of five)
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