HOUSES OF HEAVEN - Within/Without

The void left recently by the tragic death of Luis Vasquez won't be easy to fill, even though, right there in California, around Oakland, there's a trio that has for some years now been moving in the same direction that the late leader of Soft Moon was (partly) heading toward. We're talking about Houses Of Heaven, who already made a name for themselves in 2020 with a highly respectable debut, "Silent Places".

"Within/Without" once again opens itself up to cross-contamination, embracing a strong electronic component rooted in industrial-EBM: just consider the star guest featured on "The End Of Me", the charismatic Douglas McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb (his melodies, however, slot in without much friction into a synthetic fabric indebted to the old Front 242). Further on, besides him, we also come across the Hispanic vocals of Mariana Saldaña (previously enlisted for a Boy Harsher track), here tackling the liquid synthwave of "Deserve".

In truth, Houses Of Heaven seem to work better when standing on their own two feet, starting with the nervy, shadowy stride of "Strange Temptation", an important calling card, immediately followed by an inspired title track. This approach, forever balanced between darkwave legacies (in the vocals and certain atmospheres) and electro-industrial clangor (in the sounds and percussion), recurs steadily throughout the album, despite the misstep of "New Decay". Far better are the nocturnal, sensual "The Depths You Hold" and the sinuous "Flesh Techniques", armed with a truly gripping refrain.

The closing trio of tracks proves fairly varied: while "Pisces" might bring to mind a Clan Of Xymox projected into the future, "Serpent Coil" opens the sound up to corrosion and distortion, ahead of the concluding experiments of "Sightline", a sort of dark'n'bass (forgive the term) that turns out rather curious.

For Adam Beck, Nick Ott (both already active in Vaniish) and Keven Tecon (once a drummer for Soft Moon themselves), this "Within/Without" confirms the project's good intentions, without, however, giving us listeners the same excellent impressions as their debut. Among these tracks there's probably a lack of a real killer closer or a standout single capable of carrying the record, beyond an otherwise well-deserved, generously ample pass mark.

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30/04/2024