Sleigh Bells: Reign of Terror

As great as the first Sleigh Bells CD was - inventive, novel, brash and mostly very loud - I wasn't sure if they were an act with legs. But more and more this year, I'm finding that the acts I choose to cover for this site really do know how to craft a follow-up statement.

The greatness of Sleigh Bells' second album doesn't come without a metamorphosis. Whereas the mission statement on Treats was to be as disruptive and disturbing as possible, nearly all the time, Reign builds on some of the album's more amiable moments, like "Rill Rill." It's not that Reign of Terror sounds just like "Rill Rill," but there's more of it visible than say, "Crown on the Ground" or "A/B Machines."

"Crush" is one of the best songs I've heard all year (and remember I'm writing this in the present, months after I've first heard the album.) It's backed by a hard-hitting, bomb-dropping guitar sample, and various electronic whirring sound machines, all splashing around Alexis Krauss' gorgeous coo, which is occasionally also a harsh screech. She plays a balancing act between the two tones better than most, which befits the album's overall blend of sourness and sweetness, heard elsewhere in tunes like "End of the Line" and "Comeback Kid."

Is Derek Miller a great guitar player? You can hardly tell from the record itself but he's for sure a terrific sound designer. This album is as much a triumph of talent as it is a testament to the studio as an instrument - something I said once about a very different album, Torches by Foster the People. Likewise, they may or may not be writing great lyrics, but they sure do sound good from Krauss.

The starkness and severity of Treats is replaced with lushness, electronic sweeteners and samples, and echo effects on the vocals. If you're not up for it you might get a headache trying to discern all of what's going on, but for those apt to listen it all blends well. What I noticed when I first put on this CD that unlike Treats, I could forget I was listening to it. Given their performance on SNL around the time of the album's release, you can tell it's a few degrees more toward commercial and yet it never feels like a compromise. This might be one of those rare moments where someone's insane and almost alienating experiments turn out to be something a lot of people would like to buy.

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