When they were younger, The Afghan Whigs were a band beholden to their influences, but what are we to expect after all these years now that they have become the influencers?
It would be easy to say their latest album, ‘Do To The Beast‘, is merely more of the same (no bad thing if that were the case). ‘Do To The Beast’, however, is far from more of the same.
Not that this is a fantastical departure, it is not, all the expected elements are still in place. Original members Greg Dulli and John Curley are on truly electrifying form, Dulli’s voice still dripping with emotion, but there is a broader scope to this record than anything they have previously released.
Like ‘Gentlemen‘ and ‘Black Love‘ before it, ‘Do To The Beast’ is an album about the darker side of the human soul. Yet the album is all about soundtracking this experience rather than exploring it. The music feels visual and visceral, setting the scenes and telling the stories. Switching back and forth, like Sergio Leone, from glorious vistas to intense closeups of human emotion.
‘It Kills‘ has a tragedy to it, a real and intense tragedy the likes of which only the Whigs can do. Like their best material, it feels like teetering on the very edge of a breakdown. ‘Metamoros‘ sounds like life in a pot. A changeable potion of styles and influences, all wonderfully combined.
Then ‘Algiers‘ begins to bring the full cinematic scope to bare. A stand-off, marching to almost certain death. You can picture a thousands scenes, and so it continues. ‘Royal Cream‘, and its coda ‘I Am Fire‘, combine to form the angry heart of the album, railing against the world in purest Whigs style. Yet all the while there is a subtlety, a delicate touch, that gives the band’s music its beauty.
From the urgent, hungry, glam-rock opener ‘Parked Outside‘, to the feeling of creeping flesh in musical form in the ominous ‘Lost In The Woods‘, and finally to the truly epic finale ‘These Sticks‘, ‘Do To The Beast’ is immersed in scenes of tragedy. A tragedy that pervades every corner of the album, and there are a lot of dark corners. However, it is a world of immense beauty as well as darkness, where the bleakness of mortality is felt with every beat.
It is pure drama. Cinematic, not in being lush and orchestral, or even overly bombastic, but thematically and for the wonderful use of light and dark. Like a classic noir, everything is played out in the shadows, but every so often rays of light come bursting through. And its these tiny rays of light which make the album stand apart from earlier efforts.
A wonderful album, shining light into the darkest corners of the soul.
