BLACK LIPS
APOCALYPSE LOVE (FIRE RECORDS)
Ltd Deluxe edition Violet Vinyl, Silver foiled sleeve, Lyric insert + DL card. Classic Black vinyl, Lyric insert + DL card.
The Black Lips return with their 10th studio effort 'Apocalypse Love', scorched with their trademark menace, it cryogenically mutates all recognised musical bases; it spins yarns about vintage Soviet synths, Benzedrine stupors, coup de' tats, stolen valor and certified destruction, all set against a black setting sun.
Since the turn of the decade the band have transformed from austere country pioneers, into a set of Lynchian surrealists, hellbent on recalibrating the history of rock 'n' roll.
Singer and saxophonist Zumi Rosow muses, "It's a weird dance record, one that reflects the moment that the world's in right now_" 'Apocalypse Love' is an album that emanates from a dive bar jukebox in the back of your mind; with a playlist that bends between tub thumping doom-glam, Plastic Ono singalongs, cocktail-shaken space age pop, Morricone reverberations and lo-fi outsider acoustic-punk, with mariachi horns, theremins, drum machines and harmonies filtering through the infectious melodies.
Stand-out number 'Among The Dunes' is an amorphous platform-heeled anthem, a signature sax-fuelled stomper filled with trippy swagger.
While opener 'No Rave' proffers a hypnotic locked groove, with Cole Alexander's trademark snarl delivered over a sulphurous wall of distorted hedonism, a dystopian anthem for an apocalyptic manifesto.
Meanwhile, the twisted exotica of 'Whips Of Holly' with its silver screen façade is like the soundtrack to a classic Theda Bara vamp-fest.
As the band venture into their third decade, 'Apocalypse Love' is proof that The Black Lips show no sign of slowing down_ "A wonderful new chapter_ The world may be on fire, but at least we have Black Lips." The Line Of Best Fit // "Simply masters in their field" NME //