| Artist |
| The Strand |
| Title |
| Destroyers Of That Which Is Destroyed.... |
| Format/Cat |
| CD |
| Label |
| Self-released |
| Style |
| Industrial electro rock/pop |
| Date of review |
| 6th November 2008 |
| Reviewer |
| Carl Jenkinson |
| Rating |
| 7/10 |
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This isn't actually the full title of this latest offering from Dave Strand & co (you'll have to check that out yourselves!) but this American sextet, which also counts The Azoic's Steve Laskarides among its roll call, never have done things the normal way. Since their last album Diatom there have been a few line-up changes, including the arrival of new female vocalist Laura McQuaig &, judging from the superbly classy performance she puts in on 'This Guarded Place' she's a major find. These changes are no doubt partly responsible for the band's changing sound which is a kind of punky, thrashy industrial electro rock mix (I think that just about covers it!) that's not short on excitement or, in the case of 'I Stole Your Boyfriend', a good dose of caustic humour. I can see this album causing some initial confusion in even the band's most ardent fans, not that Dave & Co are likely to worry, in fact, by putting such a crazy sounding-piece as 'Step One' at the beginning it's as if they're really testing their listeners' limits to see if they can take it. If you can't then be assured that the following 'You Make Me Crazy' & the hard rocking 'Be Afraid Of Us' explore more familiar industrial territory albeit with the guitars much more to the fore than previously. However, once you've 'tuned in' to the album (& this will happen quickly for all but the most unadventurous listeners) then the infectious qualities of 'I'm Going To Hell' & 'Motorized' are hard to fault although it has to be said that the lyrics to 'Pleasure Pressure Cooker' sound as if they were written as a comedic Barry White parody!! Still, it's certainly something different from the usual industrial fayre & that can never be a bad thing, can it?
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