Hangman's Chair is a band from Paris, France. This foursome plays a mix of Stoner Rock, Doom, Sludge, Southern Rock and even Grunge. The album Leaving Paris is their third release. It contains eight great songs that vary from heavy till some more melancholic. The artwork is depressively beautiful. So as the music is on this album.
One final note: The first song begins with a false start. (Sometimes you have that with vinyl!) Enjoy!
Hangman's Chair consists of members of Arkangel and Es La Guerilla but has nothing to do with metalcore, instead they play a sludgy version of Down combined with grunge. The melodic vocals of Cédric Toufouti give more or less the same feeling although the slow music has a slightly sick feeling. This is also visualized by the artwork on 'Leaving Paris'. A guy who cuts his neck with a knife is drawn on the cover.
The song "Breathe Where the Vices Are" has a much more rock attitude than the first two longer tracks "Mourner's Parade" and "Will the Sun Set Today". In the first songs Hangman’s Chair takes the time to build up the tension and finally the band is unleashed. Lots of guitar solos are incorporated in the heavy sound. The style from the first two songs is continued in “Scarlet Star”. Even the atmosphere of the later work of Isis comes to mind. In the short track “A Fix for a Lovely Nod” they return with a rock anthem.
Just after the middle part of the album the band struggles with keeping up the attention span; the song “Spines” could possible be removed making the album eight minutes shorter and more dynamical. Hangman’s Chair is striking back in the last two songs "Paris Spleen Pt. 1" and "Paris Spleen Pt. 2". The band from Paris experiments with the same stoner and sludge elements as Baroness does combined with feedback and an audio sample in “Pt. 1”.
As you can read, diversity is all around on ‘Leaving Paris’ making the record worth to spin it around. For a next record I advice to shorten the long tracks a bit so the listener stays focused with the guitar and vocal driven material.
(By Maurice at Asice.net)
Hangman's Chair - Leaving Paris (2010)
1 comment:
Already have this album but this 3rd album is absolutely excellent! And it's the best Hangman's Chair has done so far, evoluting from a musical melting pot of their past experiences and influences, to a great "stoner" sound which makes this album a master piece.
Thanks Dude for putting them on the light, they deserve it!
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