Review: Transplants - Haunted Cities - Page 3

“American Guns” sounds as though it might have been left on the cutting room floor during the Transplants sessions. On “Madness” and throughout the remainder of the album, Aston takes over a large extent of the vocal duties, with varying levels of success. This is a passable song, lacking the inventive elements that dominate on the album’s better songs. “Hit the Fence” is much more effective because it combines the dialed back yet edgy tone with a fantastic marching beat from Barker. “Pay Any Price” has a nice drowsy hardcore feel to it, but it sounds somewhat unfinished.

“I Want It All,” with its loopy piano, is reminiscent of “California Babylon” in a good way. Armstrong’s doubled and harmonized invocation that he wants it all again compounds the theme of Transplants: get yours, watch your friends’ backs… and don’t ask too many questions about how said friends get theirs.

“Crash and Burn,” the album’s final song, is an experiment that largely works, mostly thanks to Armstrong’s great and strange lyrical weaving through a bouncy and not unspicy Latin beat.

Now that we can see the T-Plants coming, we have high expectations. Haunted Cities is a very good album, but doesn’t quite catch the excitement and freshness of Transplants.

For more on this and every other topic under the sun, check out:

Dumpster Bust: Manufacturing Miracles from Mind Trash, Since 2003

ED: TAS

Article Author: Eric Berlin

Eric Berlin is the publisher of Online Media Cultist. He's also prone to referring to himself in the third person in author bios in an attempt to make it look like someone Less Important wrote it for him.
Contact: dumpsterbust@gmail.com

Visit Eric Berlin's author page — Eric Berlin's Blog