Album Review: A Place To Bury Strangers - Pinned

A Place To Bury Strangers haven't changed much since releasing their first album 11 years ago.

Even the replacement of Robi Gonzalez with Lia Simone Braswell on the drum stool here hasn't made any discernible sonic difference - a likely relief for fans as their gloriously caustic sound is what they're celebrated for.

If anything, Pinned is fairly restrained by A Place To Bury Strangers' standards, as it mostly eschews the extreme overdriven electric crackle of, say, To Fix The Gash In Your Head from the start of their career. Album opener Never Coming Back is an exception to the rule and quickly marks itself as an A Place To Bury Strangers classic with a grinding solo that hits all the right stereocilia-shortening frequencies. You can pretty much register your hearing loss as it plays. There are some developments with some subdued passages, where muffled heartbeat drums underpin nervous, twanging guitar adding understated menace to the likes of I Know I've Done Bad Things. This suits their typically bleak, nihilistic outlook as floating, disembodied vocals that drift over Situations Changes and Was It Electric.

The overall effect adds up to perhaps A Place To Bury Strangers' most gothic work to date.