[rating=2.50]
It’s not easy to describe the sound of Royal Bangs. Singer Ryan Schaefer has said that he has no interest in conforming to the conventions of a particular genre of music. Instead, he would rather make whatever music he feels, without worrying about what it’s called. While that mindset helps create an eclectic mix, it frustrates fans and critics who are used to utilizing the names of genres and subgenres to define a band’s sound.
Whatever you call it, Flux Outside, the third album by the Knoxville trio, packs a punch. Choppy rhythms, distorted guitars and pounding drums propel the rock songs. Dramatic shifts in speed, tone and volume are used to energize songs lacking in melody. Unfortunately, for every merit of the album, each track is hindered by Schaefer’s weak vocals. Sounding like a poor man’s David Gilmour, Schaefer’s reverb-saturated singing drags experimental rock tracks into mediocrity.
Some tracks are able to rise above Schaefer’s vocals, though. On “Faint Obelisk Two,” drummer Chris Rusk pounds the percussion like a boxer on a speed bag. The fuzzed-out bass on “Triccs” dredges the bottom end of the tonal spectrum with a beat suitable for a dance floor or mosh pit. Royal Bangs spurn any sense of conventional pop hooks, but Flux Outside works precisely because it is so hard to latch onto. It is dirty, energetic and unconventional. You can call the music what you want, but you can’t call it ordinary.
