Strangers “Weight” CD

As with their excellent demo (also released by Action Man Records), the debut full-length from New Zealand's Strangers continues to deliver the goods. All of the songs from the demo appear here in re-recorded form, so expect plenty of that same brand of material with a backbone of hard-hitting surges of churning heaviness and rumbling low-end countered by searing midpaced dissonance and frenzied bursts of more chaotically paced and textured riffing—making for a concise and well-focused presentation (with yet another beautiful layout to boot) of 10 tracks in about 26 minutes. The key differentiator here is that everything feels much darker and heavier this time out thanks to a fuckin' killer recording that beefs everything up significantly and really shifts the overall aesthetic more towards an actively furious and in your face attack, as opposed to the more passively spacious and subtly nuanced vibe of the demo. And it's interesting, because both approaches work extremely well for Strangers, there's absolutely no denying that, so... I'm not even saying that one is better than the other. I was pretty damn floored by the sheer force with which the full-length plows through the speakers, though, I must say. Well done, once again, gentlemen. Well done...

Here's a five-minute "overview" mp3 that the label's created to provide a taste of the varying atmospheres kickin' around all over this thing:

Strangers "Weight" (album overview)

Get It

Action Man Records*

*It's pretty damn pricey, but the label is in New Zealand after all, and shipping costs are a bitch. I'm not seeing the disc around anywhere else, so maybe they could use a hand on some distribution if anyone is interested and able to lend a hand!