Golden Apes – “M A L V S” album review

 

Golden Apes released their 8th studio album M A L V S on 25th November 2016. The album consists of 13 utterly melodic, darkly painted tracks. The sound the album presents could be described as a mix of dark wave, gothic rock and post punk. However, the band is making those genres sound updated, alive and fresh. We can clearly hear from the first few tracks what this band has to offer. They have a great sense for melody and I feel that every track has a life of its own.

a0044713887_10They open with “Cedars of Salt” which will surely please some serious gothic rock fans. The deep feel of “Ignorance”, carried by the sounds of guitars and synths can really lead you to some darker corners of your being. However, the track is soothing and optimistic. After the very atmospheric “Halving Moons” we come to “Verity” that is my favourite track. The song is characterized by wonderful guitar lines that lead you to the melancholic chorus. Once more, they present the powerful and emotional chorus on “Drown” which evokes some memories of The Cure guitars’ sound. Golden Apes are combining the “dark sound” genres with optimistic and uplifting melodies and create some really danceable material such as “Grinding Mills”. Just when we think we are about to dance, they show us once again their melancholic and emotional side with “Missing” and an utterly deep and heavy feel on “Occam’s Razor”. The darkest and the most emotional album point is reached with a short acoustic track “Correlation”. However, the band soon recovers to some lighter, more melodic and optimistic tunes with “Shadowplay” and “Malady”. “Sermon in the Vale” keeps that course of optimism in the chorus, but balances with the rest of the track, which is more melancholic. They saved an atmospheric instrumental “Malus” to bring this emotional and darkish voyage to the end.