While walking through a mid-western deserted ghost town with my spurs spinning in the dirt, I bet I could hear Flannel Mouth’s dreary and sullen sounds echoing off in the distance. Their newly dropped EP, Pull In Your Horns, was probably recorded by the devil himself. If you’re a fan of the eerie and downcast western feel that Murder By Death gives and dark cemetery pop-rock of Alkaline Trio, then you should check out this album.
I’m A Sucker For Kay Commercial, starts off the EP with singer, Luke Myers, wretched, monotonous voice coming through a tin can and a wire telephone. When the heavy distortion from the guitar slams in, you become aware of what you’re in for. Myers dead voice rasps and pains throughout the entire track until the end when he is maniacally laughing and hollering, “Burn in hell! Burn! Burn! Burn!”
Immediately transitioning into the next song, The Sinner is the resonance of the last track. Myers entreats, “Run, run as fast as you can, the Devil’s behind you, you’re going to hell.” It’s cool because there’s a constant solo/riff going on throughout the entirety of the song. There’s also a very raw appeal to this album that you can often hear and it has a lot to do with the strumming patterns being so loose and heavily distorted.
Passing Cops slowly works its way in with a sort of Cursive taste to it. Zachary Hartman (guitarist/back up vox) goes back and forth with Myers’ monotone voice. It gets a little rock-ish towards the end with a combination of fast power chords and a giant solo playing overtop of it. After Myers pulls himself apart, “I’m just arrogant and innocent, there you go I fucking said it. I hope you’re happy,” that solo rips out on its own until the song’s end.
The World Awaits With Eyes Half-Open displays the band’s diversity and versatility to reach outside of their comfort zone of their genre. In this track, the guys carry a pop-rock tune. With Myers’ brash, and sharpened tongue he sings, “There is no God, don’t fall asleep just yet,” while stretching his vocal range a bit. Myers and Hartman’s guitar riffs are brighter along with the three different harmonies towards the end singing different lines.
Sing For Us Tragic is the closer on this album. It really creeps up on you after the previous more upbeat track. The beginning consists of a soloing guitar which lies underneath the somber singing, and then accompanied by a creepy backtrack, it sounds like the devil, that reverberates beneath his voice. It legitimately made me look around for a second to make sure nothing was going to pop up behind me. Then, “With the most gruesome details, tell them how you ripped me apart,” Tyler Owens kicks the rockabilly beat in.
If you’re bored of listening to the same type of music and want something with some grit, these six songs tempt you to reach for a glass of some good bourbon and dream about how hot hell is.