Feeling down? Trouble at home? Financial stress? Relationship problems? Then you should probably stay away from the new one from US Christmas (aka USX). Or maybe you need to revel in your pain. If that’s the case, then get this one pronto and feel the darkness. Run Thick In The Night is 13 lucky tracks in 77 minutes from these North Carolina depressionists. USX has been inflecting their brand of psychedelic gloom on the underground for 8 years and show no signs of letting up.
USX is a heavy band, but not so much in the Black Sabbath sense, more in the Swans, Killing Joke and Neurosis vein. Add a healthy dose of Hawkwind and druggy Velvet Underground noise to the mix and you’ve got something pretty out of the ordinary. The opening song “In The Night” sets the tone for the entire record – 13 minutes of sprawling, crawling ear pummeling drone rock. Somewhere La Monte Young is proud.
The entire album flows together very well as one very long piece. Once you put it on it’s hard to take off and the echoes of all the seesaw violin and slide guitar feedback stick in your brain long after the disc is done spinning. There’s also a nice blend of acoustic and electric instruments weaving in and out of the mix. Vocals are mainly hoarse and shouted but carry a weary melodicism. The recording by Sanford Parker is clean enough for all the separate elements to come through clearly and never gets murky in detuned fartery.
The standout song for me is definitely “Wolf On Anareta.” I’m sure this was not the intention of anyone involved but the riff bears a very strong resemblance to “Too Hot To Stop” by The Rods. If you’ve ever wondered what Hawkwind would sound like covering that classic metal jam (and I have) then you will be thrilled. Even if you haven’t, you might still like this one.
--Woody
buy here: Run Thick in the Night
mp3: Run Thick In The Night
http://www.myspace.com/uschristmas