Does this picture not look cool? Exactly. I was raiding the cheapies bin at one of the local record shops and saw a cd album with this pic as a cover. I thought I'd gamble the 2$ or so to see if it were good or not. Well, it turned out better than I guessed at first. The album is called 'No Help For The Mighty Ones'. The band is called SubRosa. 'Sub rosa' means 'under the rose' in Latin, which is a phrase denoting something that is done in secret. They are not to be confused with a band of the same name that was once called 'For Squirrels' and were kinda alt rockish, releasing an album called 'Never Bet The Devil Your Head' on Sony Records. Nope not them. From what I can gather, THIS SubRosa is comprised mostly of chicks from Salt Lake City (of all places). They seem very independent and DIY and have not been on any major label. There is a wicked brand of distortion on a downtuned guitar leading through the mix, but it's not usually 'wall of sludge' so much. It is more single note or sparse, giving it a cleaner finish to that wonderful dirty. Is it a Pro Co Rat distortion pedal? Can't figure out. I love the sound though. The wielder of this magic axe is Rebecca Vernon, she also is the main vocalist and songwriter. Joining her are Sarah Pendleton and Kim Pack, two electric violinists and vocalists. Zach Hatsis pounds the drums and, get this, the bassist's name is Davey Jones! Well, he's listed as just 'Dave Jones', but it's impossible for me not to think of Davey Jones! Yarrrr! Davey Jones' Lockerrrrr. Or David Jones is David Bowie's real name..imagine Bowie as a weird guest on this record?? Ha! On some tracks there are other guest stars, and some other instruments are pitched in such as chimes or dulcimer. I'd describe the overall sound as trippy and doomy with obvious folk and neoclassical influences. I could try to go on for another paragraph about the sound, suffice to say it was unique enough to stand out to me. Let the music speak for itself having said that much, here's a link to preview or buy the album: http://subrosausa.bandcamp.com/
Here's the thing, a lot of albums get better with multiple listens, right. I've added this last part as a sort of update to the original entry. By second listen the album didn't strike me as much. I guess I payed attention to the details more, and it seemed more monotonous. They had some parts with cheezy death metal growls (ps. I hate death metal) and the songs dragged on too long.
So easy come easy go I guess..SubRosa kinda struck me at first and then the magic didn't stay as much. What I thought was 8/10 became more a 6.5/10. I will maintain that the cover art is still fakking cool and the guitar tone is still sweet, and I'm not crying over a lost 2 $, I mean it wasn't THAT bad!
