Album Review
Castrovalva – S/T
As the fuzzy bass of opener ‘Max Rhodes’ unapologetically punctures through in almost lethal bursts and introduces Castrovalva’s self-titled album, the listener is left knowing that this already has the potential to be a fantastically thrilling record. After spiralling out in a whammy frenzy, the record then progresses in the form of the cool, simple bass heavy grooves of the excellently named ‘We Don’t Go To Ravenholm’ – all without giving the listener a chance to catch that breath that was taken away with this already rude awakening of an album introduction.
If you’re new to Castrovalva (as was I), it shouldn’t take you long to realise that this record isn’t going to be an album of 3 minute pop-rock singles with catchy choruses and meaningful lyrics; in fact, there aren’t any lyrics (with the exception of Bellhausen), and occasionally, the tracks suffer from this deficiency. That is not to say however, that music needs lyrics to sound great, but it more often than not needs ‘something’ to take the front seat. Sometimes Castrovalva sounds like it desperately needs lyrics to prevent it sounding like an unfinished demo, which is a shame, although this dilemma is successfully avoided in tracks ‘Dream Carpet’ and ‘Bison Scissor Kick’ whose techy, greatly considered and impossibly rehearsed and no doubt revised musical sections more than make up for the ‘lack’ of vocals. Immaculately timed staccato notes, intricate drum beats and pauses that leave the listener hanging for a split second before rounding up the track and launching back into another musical oblivion make for a very interesting and impressive listen. Silence has never sounded so good in music.
An obvious influence (deliberate or sub-conscious) of Castrovalva is Rage Against The Machine. This is evident with the pentatonic growl of the bass and the use of the whammy pedal in a certain context… if a whammy pedal can actually be used in a context? The beautifully thrashy bark of album closer ‘Triceratops’ combined with the abyss of whammy, delay and drums that sound like a thunder storm cap off an exceptionally well written record.
Being the type of band that I imagine thrive in a live environment, it must be difficult for Castrovalva to put down their passion and excitement onto record, but I feel that with this album, they have come as close to that goal as is possible. If it’s meaningful lyrics that you’re after, look elsewhere, because all that you will find here is eight tracks that were each written to take the listeners breath away and to perhaps prove that music can sometimes actually be BETTER without vocals. Job done.