Parselmouths
The Deadly Snakes
Porcelia
(In The Red)
Last time I checked in with The Deadly Snakes, they’d widened their approach, but still seemed the kind of folks who’d just assume spit in your hand as shake it.
That album, I’m Not Your Solider Anymore, was the first album for Greg Oblvian as a member, who had been producing them to that point. Oblivian’s contributions, as you’d expect, hedged on the side of studio-as-instrument; two albums later he has changed the face of the band. While the tounge-in-cheek “Sissy Blues” gives you an idea of what they were — lo-fi, gutter blues from Toronto — Porcelia grabs from Muswell Hillbillies Kinks, present-day Nick Cave, and burnt-out Love psychedelia to end up in the company of wayward Wurlitzers like Reverend Glasseye and The Thin Man. The hazy “I Heard Your Voice” could have been leaked from Stones sessions experimenting with indie rock, though the strongest cut, “By Morning, It’s Done,” takes full-throated Memphis soul and burns it white.
— Steve Forstneger
Click here to download “Gore Veil.”
Nice theory, but Greg Oblivian has been out of the band for about 5 years and had nothing to do with this or the last album.
Absolutely right, he’s not in the band anymore. But I argue it’d be naive to ignore the impact of Oblivian’s brief tenure on Porcelia.
— SF
at least admit it when you’re wrong, it’s not that big a deal