I regarded the prospect of listening to this disc in much the same way one might face an impending dose of castor oil. The packaging fairly screams cheesy heavy metal, particularly the sticker that proudly proclaims A Place to Bury Strangers as ?New York?s Loudest Band!? It has been some time since I was impressed by using volume as a selling point, since it is achieved through the amplification & has nothing to do with the intensity of the performers. Giving a gaggle of wussies big amps doesn?t give them credibility or balls, it just makes them really loud wussies. There are numerous hair-metal bands I could cite here, but you probably know them already. *shudder*

I?m really glad I decided to pop this jewel in the car stereo as I was on my way to a local rekkid emporium to trade it in, because this thing really, really smokes. And while this disc definitely put my Kia?s speakers through their paces, this is no crappy metal combo here, my friends. No indeed. What you have here is some genuine eardrum-blackening skuzzblast, a fiesta of creamy melodies buried in a maelstrom of guitar-generated jet engine shellac. The first reference points that came to mind for me were Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine, but there is a lot more going on here than that. At times APTBS rips into some diesel-fume workouts reminiscent of Pussy Galore (circa ?Right Now!?) jammin? in a haunted airplane hangar with Goslings. There is a ragged, sweaty asphalt energy present here that is not found amongst the numerous glories of Jesus & Mary Chain or My Bloody Valentine. There are moments of Joy Division dungeon croon sprinkled among the chainsaw-on-metal guitar blasts, a sense of space that makes the loudness that much more effective. What?s more, the uncanny melodic feel just never quits.

Just get this one, ladies & gentlemen. Your houseplants may die, but it?s worth it. 9/10 -- Adam Richards (28 November, 2007)