(Dot Dash Recordings/Inertia)

Superb second effort from Perth genre-breakers

Four-piece Snowman are unique not only amongst Australian bands, but amongst bands in general. Their self-titled release of 2006 was an unhinged, chaotic whirlwind of surf rock, horror movie aesthetics and spaghetti western soundtracks – a unique combination that brought the band to the forefront of innovation in Australian music. On their second full-length outing, we are witnessing a calmer, more measured Snowman, but they remain just as full of malice and bite as ever. Where the self-titled threw everything at the wall as hard as it could, this record picks and chooses, taking deliberate stabs where it deems necessary and at other times simply letting the listener absorb what is an apocalypse of sound. Snowman have moved away from relying on guitar riffs (though they remain as sharp as ever), and more focus is placed on making the drums the driving force of the song. DiBlasio's uneven, syncopated beats achieve this end with Liars-esque efficiency, tracks like Daniel Was A Timebomb and We Are The Plague are ambivalently tribal and mechanical and the effect is superb. Snowman fortunately still indulge in colour and complexity: take in the walls of sound in Diamond Wounds or the immense cataclysm of The Horse. The shared vocal duties between McKee and Citawarman are at constant odds, McKee providing deep, sinister tones while Citawarman wails, hollers, screams, and otherwise claws at your ears, a schizophrenia that exists in the instrumentation as much as it does the vocals. Snowman have a feel for when to caress you and when to smash you in the face with a sledgehammer. This is certainly less accessible than the self-titled, but this is a sign of the band maturing and the quality of this record is evidence that they know what they are doing.

****˝

MICHAEL PINCOTT

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