Heartily endorsed by Karen O, The National, and The Dirty Three, the globe-trotting Devastations (they live in whatever country will have them) have rendered the most seductive album of 2008…so far. Best described as techno-Goths (the abstract keyboard sounds tend to dominate but not overpower) the lads waxed their third offering in Berlin and you’d swear that the studio must have still been warm from Eno/Bowie/Iggy/Fripp’s last collaboration in the winter of 1977. With two formidable song-writers, Tom Carlyon and Conrad Standish in tow, this brooding collection benefits from their “miserablist meets classic minded balladeer” yin-yang. “The Pest” is the frightful stuff of a Stephen King novel replete with creepy vocals, scratchy guitar motifs and a heart-beat bass line. Nick Cave fans will appreciate the doom and gloom of “Rosa,” especially with Standish’s teeth sucking and chilling yowls. The instrumental “Misericordia” evokes Morricone, Eno, and John Cale at their most cinematic. Nihilistic art and rock do not make strange bedfellows - those who revel in the above mentioned references will enjoy this roll ominous between the covers.
--Tom Semioli
