Tag: Tombstones in Their Eyes

Top 25 albums of 2024: #’s 15 – 11

Who’s in my top 15 albums of 2024? A lot of groovy people. Read on!

#15: Tangled Horns – Lighter

This post-punk rager came out of nowhere for me. I hadn’t heard them before a press release about them drifted my way, and I was sold upon hearing Lighter for the first time.

#14: Brijean – Macro

It’s another delightful album from them. The whole thing is full of beach-ready synths, club tracks, Italo Disco flavor, and lovely vocals.

#13: Tombstones in Their Eyes – Asylum Harbour

This is a sweet psychedelic record that incorporates a bit of shoegaze here and there and was another great discovery for me in 2024.

#12: Karkara – All Is Dust

You can call these Toulouse psych-rockers the French version of King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard. They probably won’t mind. Their musicianship is damn impressive and their riffs can be as heavy as any doom band you like.

#11: Radondo – Deluge EP

Synthwave plus creepy imagery? Sounds good to me. This EP blends darker synths with some dancefloor beats and makes a great late night jam ready for everything from an afterparty to trying to sneak an alien being to the beach so he can board his underwater ship.

We’re almost to the top ten! Come back tomorrow for more!

Keep your mind open.

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Review: Tombstones in Their Eyes – Asylum Harbour

First, how gorgeous is that album cover?

Apart from having a cool name and album cover, Los Angeles psych-rockers Tombstones in Their Eyes, have crafted a great album of psych-rock and shoe gaze – Asylum Harbour that’s as cool as both their name and its cover.

“In Your Eyes” opens the album with rumbling bass tones and vocals from John Treanor about his willingness to win the admiration of a distant lover that sound like they’re coming from across the harbor in the album’s title. “Sweet As Pie” is about appeasing a lover to make a relationship easier (“You’re sweet as pie when you get your way.”), with Courtney Davies joining Treanor on vocals. The feel of the track reminds me of some of Failure‘s work.

The guitar fuzz on “Mirror” (which I think is about self-blame for screwing up a good thing) is grade-A. Joel Wasko‘s bass on “I Like to Feel Good” takes the album into doom territory, with the rest of the band (especially Stephen Striegel on drums) plunging into the abyss with him. “I’m Not Like That” has Treanor trying to convince a lover he’s not as bad as he seems while acknowledging his faults.

That being said, Treanor admits “I don’t wanna be the one to change.” on “Gimme Some Pain,” an acoustic cut that would easily fit on an Alice in Chains record. “By My Side” has Treanor calling for his lover to join him in good times and bad, and possibly in another dimension considering the sound of the track. Treanor has to face tough truths on “The Sky Is Blue” (“The sky is blue, and I’m nothing to you.”), and the crunch of the guitars on it only hammers the point home more for him.

“Set Me Free” has Treanor asking to escape a self-built prison of doubt, and the wall of guitars behind him might help his escape plan. The album ends with Treanor still looking for love (“It would be nice if you looked at me. It would be nice if you cared.”), but probably not finding it soon…even though the track is the most upbeat on the album. He ‘s hasn’t given up all hope.

The album’s title refers to a nautical term for a place to wait out a storm. Treanor and the rest of Tombstones in Their Eyes have sought safety in music and each other while the world thunders around them. We can all relate to that at the end of 2024, can’t we?

Keep your mind open.

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[Thanks to Shauna at Shameless Promotions.]