Review Summary: Every enemy that I kill, it's my own free will
“Jaeger Bomb” catfished me. As everyone is well aware,
Soft Hell is the first full-length album by Australian quintet Closure in Moscow since 2014’s polarizing
Pink Lemonade, an expansive and satirical record that was unashamed to wear its Zappa influences on its sleeve and portrayed blatant disregard for fan expectations, preferring to dive deep into the most experimental influences of its creators.
Soft Hell’s blistering opener appears to throw all of these forays out a ten-story window, opting instead to explode at the listener with the frenetic force of earlier tracks in the band’s discography like “Sweet#hart” or “Kissing Cousins”. This is not to say that “Jaeger Bomb” is fully reminiscent of this earlier material, as its subdued intro, jagged tempo changes, and bubbling electronics all suggest the arrival of a new chapter for the group and indicate that each offering we get from Closure In Moscow will be unlike anything we’ve heard from them before.
Soft Hell makes good on these initial expectations set by “Jaeger Bomb”, retaining its Closure In Moscow identity while sinking its claws into new musical territory, for better or worse.
The first thing listeners will likely notice about previously released single “Primal Sinister” is how strongly it leans into a newfound appreciation for stadium rock tropes; the band’s trademark funk-rock triads and belted harmonies still carry the bulk of the song, but the instrumental break about two minutes in finds itself dominated by Mansur Zenelli and Michael Barrett’s pentatonic licks, propulsive percussion courtesy Salvatore Aidone, and culminates in a distinctly late-’70s sounding solo. It’s a triumphant moment for the band, and one that gets the listener conjuring up all kinds of possibilities in their head about where
Soft Hell could possibly go next, especially when the band chooses to end the track with one of the most head-scratching yet satisfying chord changes I’ve heard all year.
It’s not the case with every song on the record, but “Absolute Terror Field” rearing its ugly head reveals a dominant influence that threatens to derail the album’s momentum on numerous occasions; boring, static instrumental arrangements that are more about style than substance. The synths on this track sound good, don’t get me wrong;
Soft Hell’s production value is mind-boggling, with featured artist Aphir stating on Twitter that the band would often persuade 300-track DAW sessions into becoming the pristine-sounding finished products on the album. That being said, the songwriting process for “Absolute Terror Field” sounds as though the band said “whoa, that’s a sick pad”, asked Aphir to do a vocal feature that unironically has the phrase “Discord kitten” in it, and just moved on to working on other tracks, but not before adding one of the most annoying call-and-response choruses I’ve heard in a long time. “Lock & Key” and the title track suffer for similar reasons, despite having some amazing guitar leads in them, while mid-album trio of highlights “Better Way, “Holy Rush”, and “Keeper of the Lake” prioritize the band’s trademark syncopation to the extent that they not only avoid sounding stagnant, but make almost as strong of an impression as the first two tracks. “Better Way” highlights Christopher De Cinque’s considerable vocal talent better than any other song on the tracklist, which I feel counterintuitively has something to do with how amazing the instrumentals are; De Cinque gets some time to shine a cappella on the less engaging “Don Juan Triumphant”, and the effect isn’t nearly as powerful.
At the end of the day, I wouldn’t be surprised if
Soft Hell’s tendency to go a bit more barebones at times isn’t a direct response to complaints about
Pink Lemonade’s excess. While some of those complaints were valid, I can’t help but wish that the band went a bit deeper on certain moments here, particularly during slower and breezier songs where I found myself begging for just one more melodic wrinkle or percussive layer. The album proves that Closure In Moscow can still do bangers better than anyone else, with the majority of the highlights positively correlating with BPM. I respect and admire the fact that the band so consistently pushes the envelope and moves in new directions, even within the same album; I’d just like to see them embody those directions more fully before discarding them and moving on whatever catches their curiosity next.
