A Place To Bury Strangers - Transfixiation

Today, Brooklyn’s A Place To Bury Strangers are releasing their latest album, Transfixiation on Dead Oceans records. The trio are known for their live shows. Dubbed the “loudest band in New York”, their shows are dark, full of smoke and strobe lights, very fitting for their style of music. Just like the fog on stage, the fuzz of the guitar seems to mask a lot of what is going on, as sounds cut through the noise like the strobes. They manage to create a truly incredible visual and sonic experience. Their music has so many different, and obvious influences including shoegaze, post-punk, and neo-psych.

Transfixiation is more of what we dig about A Place To Bury Strangers. The first track, “Supermaster”, shows off some of those influences, as the roaring bassline blasts behind the voice of Oliver Ackermann. Transfixiation kicks into high gear with the next track “Straight” – loud, rocking, full of noise. The driving bass continues on “What We Don’t See”, which also includes lots of distortion and some strange guitar leads that eventually transitions the track into a badass ending. “Deeper” is just a lot of noise – it’s heavy, brooding, and awesome as hell, Ackermann exclaims “if you talk to me, you’re gonna burn”.

The pace picks up again with “We’ve Come So Far”, which is yet another badass track with tons of excellently executed noise. It rocks then just goes into another universe. They channel that post-punk influence with “Now It’s Over” before kicking it into distorted overdrive with “I’m So Clean”. The penultimate track on Transfixiation is “Fill The Void”, which is just a straight-forward, no-nonsense rocker with some kickass drumming and guitar work throughout. “I Will Die” brings the record to a close with just tons of noise.

Transfixiation is one badass record. A Place To Bury Strangers live up to their reputation of being one of the loudest bands on this planet. It’s creative album that showcases all three musicians’ talent – the bass lines stand out, the drumming is frenetic and urgent, and the guitar work can be mindblowing if a little eccentric. The music for A Place To Bury Strangers may not be for everyone, but they have perfected their sound. For those who appreciate the genre, A Place To Bury Strangers just made yet another loud statement.