The unusual combination of hair metal power chords, drum sampling, lyrics lamenting on the difficulties of high school and pleasant, breathy vocals made Treats such a brilliant ride. So now, it's time for the follow-up, an apparent Reign of Terror, something I've been eagerly looking forward to, wondering what the duo plan to do as a follow-up.
But, as is the case in so many follow-ups; it's basically a less surprising rehash of previously established material, to lesser effect.
Opening up with a bizarre "live" intro called True Shred Guitar; it's a relative pointless take of vocalist Alexis Krauss telling a New Orleans crowd to take it up to eleven (she doesn't use those words, but man, that would have been far better) before a quick take of familiarity of power chords and electronic drums and then segues into Born to Lose; a pretty enjoyable, fairground-esq track that's far more poppier than anything on Treats, even if it's a bit too stretched out at the end.
Crush follows-up with sampled hand claps and synths, again amping the modern pop influence. Although it doesn't really transform into anything more than mindless fluff, it has a catchy chorus and, with the aid of the earlier mentioned hand claps, it's surprisingly easy on the ears.
With End of the Line, you start to notice the obvious shift in sound, which, while not a complete reinvention, it's noticeable enough to hear the difference tones that were heard throughout Treats. In short; there's far less momentum or escalation on tracks and the pacing at times is just unbearably awkward.
That's not to say it's all bad, one the positive side of the spectrum, the aforementioned End of the Line is a power chordist's wet dream with a gorgeous chorus and bridge. Comeback Kid's very, very nice vocals could never work with the constant car crash sound. Instead, the high tempo drum samples are more than enough to help the song progress and it's a great little number.
Demons is a consistently, angry...well, demon with a catchy chorus, enjoyable verses and bursts of satisfying chord progression which are teased throughout. Road to Hell is along the same lines as End of the Line but has a nice, breathy chorus which give the track a surprising relaxing quality which, prior to Reign of Terror, would never have been thought possible with a Sleigh Bells track.
But, on the opposite side of the spectrum, the newish sound plagues the final three tracks into completely pointless and jarringly boring entities. D.O.A. especially, as the final track, begins slow, keeps going slow and ends abruptly, like the duo's funds suddenly ran dry during recording. Even worse still, it's not an odd ending, as it kinda rounds off Reign of Terror short-comings in a nutshell.
With the slowed down tempo, flaws such as lyrics which were never an issue before now rear there heard towards relevance. The themes that Krauss pick up are mainly revolve around death, but never in tragic circumstance. Whether it's Born to Lose which has the protagonist tell someone to get on with suicide or Comeback Kid telling someone to get on with a shooting, there's always a sense of apathy, never sympathy or even ironic way that people think high school is the be all or end all of life itself.
On the whole; I have problems with Reign of Terror. Yes, there are some really great things here that work individually and can stand against songs like Crown on the Ground, Infinity Guitars, Kids and Rill Rill and showcase evolution and the necessary change needed to make that all important follow-up album.
But for all those great moments, it only rarely escapes the shadow of Treats. As an album, it never really works together, it doesn't flow very well and it can feel very long and tired at times. It has a horrible habit of taking things from the previous formula that worked so well, but never replaces the ingredient to come up with something new. Instead, it leaves it to stagnate and even worse, notice the flaws that never showed up before.
What was forgivable before in the grand scheme of things, slowly devolves into a strangely boring, placid and, at it's worse, lifeless album. Something that isn't a Reign of Terror, but more Moment of Madness...and not in the good way.
6/10
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