Retribution Gospel Choir

Following an artistic ethos is hard work. Think about those days when you hear Bon Jovi and, despite all you’ve come to know and love about music, you have the urge to throw a fist pump. Well, for Alan Sparhawk of slowcore mainstays Low and others, guided by producer Mark Kozelek, he himself no stranger to guilty rock pleasure love, they’ve decided to throw caution to the wind and rock the fuck out. Unfortunately this isn’t the balls-out rock epic you’d think, despite their goals; it’s more of a measured, artistic stab at classic rock. Take the slow burning, but fine, "Destroyer” as example of that, as well as the perfect original version of "Breaker,” before it was Low-ified for last years’ Drums and Guns. But, in contrast to those triumphs, some other songs are actually quite bland, like "For Her Blood,” which is actually like a b-side of Low’s The Great Destroyer. For all its aspirations of fun and abandon, it actually feels like this choir is actually preaching to us.