Bells Deep’s new album Fog confronts the turbulence of the fashionable world inside a resonating rock sound. The undertaking of Los Angeles-based artist Corey Michael Bell turns its gaze towards the dissonance of every day life — the place data overload, disconnection, and burnout blur the road between outrage and apathy. Throughout a palette of alt-rock grit, post-punk drive, and reflectively climactic constructions, the file captures up to date exhaustion whereas nonetheless reaching for that means, empathy, and renewal throughout the noise.
Commencing the album, “DEAD2ME” melds jagged guitar pulses and an introspective lyrical chew with compelling influence. “Pandering works, the reality will get obscured by oversimplification,” Bell sings, lamenting a prevalence of manipulation by methods of authority, exclaiming thereafter: “There’s no guard rails now.” There’s a scathing ardor inside — “the spineless at all times cave” — that resonates, particularly because the “it’s who we’re” declaration aligns with heavier-rock guitar tones. The following “Begin With Sorry” continues the brisk rock feeling, right here with the injection of twinkling keys. A bass-fronted presence enhances the vocals, asking “when did I develop into so jaded?” and right into a want to unplug, reset, and mirror, following experiences in a tumult-driven society that appears to foster self-doubt.
One other standout piece of songwriting comes on the album’s title monitor, magnetic in its preliminary flourishing of trickling guitars and persevering with to immerse in its lyrical imagery. “The fog hugs the coast line, at present feels good to be alive,” the vocals stir, producing a way of inner-peace feeling just like the after-effect of the unplug/reset inspired on “Begin With Sorry.” “Fog” continues to progress with atmospheric people and rock cohesion. “Within the mist I catch a glimpse of the time and a spot,” a layered vocal vitality unveils, ascending into a stunning brass-forward send-off, sounding like a trendy match for his or her winding streets of New Orleans.
Exemplary of the undertaking’s capacity to reach feverish rock realms as properly, “Tabloid TV Fever Dream” enthralls with its wailing electrical guitar work and guiding vocal contemplation. A murmuring, twangy guitar development pairs with the vocals, ruminating on trendy subservience and a surprising willingness for these to imagine submissive roles. “Don’t waste time asking permission, it’s simpler simply to apologize,” Bell sings, venturing right into a title-referencing eeriness and scorching remaining minute, with delectably fervent guitar depth.
The album’s second half continues to enamor from there, notably with its remaining one-two punch. “One Day Nearer” relishes private independence — touting the facility of self in a world the place nobody’s actually “in cost” — whereas album finale “Spore” is a gently unfolding stunner, embracing psych-friendly textures throughout a spacious first half earlier than assuming an alt-rock ardour in its concluding minutes. Fog affirms Bells Deep as able to improbable songwriting, unafraid to confront the static of the second.
The album is launched by way of Portal of Eels, a vinyl-focused rock label based mostly in Denver, Colorado.
