From issuing an LP on Emerald Cocoon to quietly putting out a CD-R on Not Not Fun a few years back, Metal Rouge know how to stay in the sub-level indie-noise news. “Then in Shadow” dispenses with story and goes straight for the gripping headline over and over. It’s Landed playing post-hardcore with John Wiese on effects. Drums are being played somewhere in the goo — they pop up like potatoes in split pea sometimes with a skronk strut, others with a more measured gallop on the ride and snare. The spazzy, seance-style vocals aren’t anything new — try a Book Of Shadows tape or a Spires That In The Sunset Rise LP — and yet I miss them now that they’re not crinkling my ears. OOP — they’re back. I think she’s hiccuping now (you can never tell with these damn things), really frothing at the mouthpiece. I suppose it’s what this din requires, small, chippy abrasions to match large, gaping maws of expansive sound. Seriously though, lady: The world’s done caved in and you’re just going to shriek? Time to bury your dead and start a new life; maybe… maybe I can help you.
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