ADULTERY
Adultery is a strange journey that is filled to the brim with ideas not often used in heavy music. “The Uninvited Guest” is an eerie intro with piano and whispered vocals, which gives way to one of the better songs here, “The Sacrifice of Miss Rose Covington”. It’s a fast, urgent song where the vocalist alternates between a whisper and a scream. The album starts to falter soon enough after a couple more good songs (“Silent Film” and “Moonlight City Drive”). “Desert Grave” clearly features another vocalist because it sounds a lot like Johnny Cash, or it’s just ripped audio of Johnny Cash. Either way, it’s a very unusual track, as are the interludes that are littered throughout (tracks 7, 9, and 13). This bogs things down a great deal, and the songwriting suffers as a result. You would have to have a very particular taste to enjoy this album, because it was clearly written for the diehard fans that have been following this band every step of the way. The use of horns in many of the songs, and even string sections, helps separate them from most other bands, but being different doesn’t always mean being good.
