Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
Tourves, France’s finest fucking rock ‘n roll export, Poste 942, are back with their appropriately titled full-length, ‘Long Play‘.
Dropped on the denizens of planet Earth earlier this month, the latest tempest of tunes from vocalist Sébastien Usel, guitarist Sébastien Mathieu, bassist Ludovic Favro, and drummer Nicolas Millo is here for public consumption. Believe you/me, consumption is indeed the word if you are a fan of heavy, metallic-tinged, hard rock, and heavy blues!
See, if you’re already familiar with Poste 942, then you are aware that these guys are masters at blending various styles of music. They pick a little of this, pick a little of that, take those tidbits and toss them into their sonic-mashing machine, and wallah!
Out comes an aural amalgamation possessing bountiful amounts of rock and roll, grunge, alternative, nu-metal, punk, and more. It’s as much comparable to AC/DC or early Tesla as it is Soundgarden or The Cult.
Those relations have never been clearer or more evident than they are here, now, on “Long Play“. From the revved-up, high-octane grit of songs like “Devil’s Complaint“, “49.3“, and “Breathe“, the Poste-rs bury the tach. The songs pulsate with energized adrenaline, yet always keep things close to the vest and tightly wound. So much so that every note has a purpose, every nuance provides performance.
There are numerous superb stand-out songs contained on the album, as well. For instance, the intro number “Color Of Red” is a heavy, thumping cut. It hits on every cylinder with bluster and might, same as tracks like the more subdued “Grace” or the free-floating, lighter fare of “Pigs In Paradise“.
Some of the album’s most interesting moments come in the two-part ballad “Psycho Love (Part I)” and “Part. II“. Profoundly touching, stirring music and emotional, impacting vocals, the likes of which I have never heard Poste 942 present previously. While “Psycho Love (Part II)” has a much more definite psyche style to it at times, with its ambient music flourishes and oft-times nearly whispered vocals. Things do gradually build and build, eventually escalate and flow over with some aggressive moments.
When all is said and done, things boil down to a pair of utterly badass-ian cuts for me. They are the pair of powerhouses “Whiskey” and “Lonely Day“, the former a swampy, bluesy groove-rife tune that received the official video treatment (below). The point where the bagpipes break-in is incredible and yes, instantly brought to mind that ol’ aforementioned AC/DC of earlier on. Then there is “Lonely Day“, a guitar-propelled heavyweight chock full of fiery licks and aggro, at times tormented, vocals.
Getting to the wrap up here, Poste 942 is back with the sonic smack of ‘Long Play‘ and its thirteen tracks (two are short instrumental interludes) of balls-out rock. It is rowdy, it is rambunctious… at times turbulent, other times tamer and honest. This album is all of these things yet so, so much more and what all that entails, well… you will have to judge that for yourself.
Make that assessment now via the Bandcamp embedded stream above, if you’d like, or take my word for it and purchase this MF’er now.
Pff j’adore l’attaque de Breath vous m’mettez une claque la voix, le riff, la bass, vous êtes des killer!!!