:format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4647240-1370976677-4256.png.jpg) |
| Polyvinyl | discogs.com |
· · ·
The first notes crash down from the heavens in a bolt of divine light. A peal of white-hot noise thunders from your speakers, jackhammering through your earholes to shake the very bedrock of your soul. Welcome to the blaze of glory that is Celebration Rock.
Fans of AC/DC and Kiss will find much to love. Japandroids channel the spirits of classic rock into an unrelenting, unbridled, uncompromising victory lap. For what victory? It doesn't matter. It's really damn good. You needn't settle for the tinny, two-dimensional recordings of yesteryear when these guys are busy tearing up your sound system from the inside.
Indeed if there is any criticism to be made, it is that Celebration Rock is too much of a good thing. It suffers from Ceremonials Syndrome: like Florence and the Machine's sophomore record, its constant, consistent channel-peaking maximalism may exhaust an unprepared listener. In the wrong light, each towering monolith overshadows the next towering monolith; each Blitzkrieg juggernaut keeps jugging and jugging until any semblance of separate, single songs is lost.
But if you can resist the urge to be overwhelmed — stay hydrated! — you'll be thunderstruck.
Fans of AC/DC and Kiss will find much to love. Japandroids channel the spirits of classic rock into an unrelenting, unbridled, uncompromising victory lap. For what victory? It doesn't matter. It's really damn good. You needn't settle for the tinny, two-dimensional recordings of yesteryear when these guys are busy tearing up your sound system from the inside.
Indeed if there is any criticism to be made, it is that Celebration Rock is too much of a good thing. It suffers from Ceremonials Syndrome: like Florence and the Machine's sophomore record, its constant, consistent channel-peaking maximalism may exhaust an unprepared listener. In the wrong light, each towering monolith overshadows the next towering monolith; each Blitzkrieg juggernaut keeps jugging and jugging until any semblance of separate, single songs is lost.
But if you can resist the urge to be overwhelmed — stay hydrated! — you'll be thunderstruck.