What the Rose of Avalanche were to the mid-'80s Sisters of Mercy and Singapore Sling are to the Jesus and Mary Chain, the Underground Youth have, bit by bit, become to Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ sound. An undoubtedly fine band to be sure, but don’t they wear their influences heavily? Just as Cave did in the early '80s, the Underground Youth have even decamped to Berlin. So, maybe it’s just something that they put in the water over there.
However, while Craig Dyer’s mob’s last disc, Montage Images of Lust and Fear, had something of the Bad Seeds’ early albums, their latest has a more refined sound and shares a significant kinship with Old Nick’s Abattoir Blues-era songs. Cave and his confederates aren’t the only influences to be found on The Falling though. “Vergiss Mich Nicht” has a bit of Bob Dylan with its harmonica and mentions of the Biblical Garden of Gethsemane, while “Egyptian Queen” even has hints of the Waterboys’ violin-powered swing. Nevertheless, the shadow of Nick Cave is the most obvious.
The maudlin but menacing title track tells tales of angels and devils, self-doubt and sacrifice, accompanied by an acoustic guitar, strings and a sparse bass. A hymn to inadvisable relationships, “For You Are the One” adds a bit more volume and ups the tempo, while on “A Sorrowful Race” Dyer sings of “a broken rib, a broken heart” and “an empty bottle that lies by my side”. However, while the influence of Cave is never less than transparent, the songs on The Falling are neither second division nor shabby, and the sweet ballad “And I…” is no less fine for the obvious comparisons. Indeed, the stripped back, gothic country-blues that the Underground Youth offer up are just the thing for yet another Covid-enforced evening at home with a glass or more of fine whiskey.
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