It Takes One To Know One moves in much the same way as previous Graveyard Train releases. That’s not condemning their lack of growth or an accusation of laziness either; it’s great and I think the world benefits from more records that sound like this, but if you weren’t a Graveyard Train fan before, I think it’s unlikely that they’ll win you over with this album. It isn’t bleak in its entirety, I’m not suggesting that each individual song alone retains that notion, but the record as a whole still has that very real, very tangible semblance of despair that’s been a noted trait of Graveyard Train’s previous work. The album opens with the title track which is an unusually buoyant country jaunt, for the most part free of creepy or suggestive lyricism, but from this point it gets very real, very quickly.
The second track Close The Book is a slow moving dreary stumble with the old familiar Graveyard Train chorus of defeated chanting. This is the song that really sets the tone for the rest of the album, defeated and numb.
Musically the album is well produced. It doesn’t take a vast array of tones to craft a Graveyard Train record, but the use of the familiar tones needs to be spot on. The scene needs to be created perfectly as atmosphere is paramount. It does feel as though they might have backed off their use of chains as an instrument a little on this record and opted for a more traditional assortment of percussive instruments, but that’s neither here nor there. The Chrysalid stands out as a rather unique song on the album, and also for the band in general. A little more rock-n-roll than their usual sound with a lot more drive. I can sense a satanic ‘dance with the devil’ feeling about it, which I suppose ties in with their broader horror-country appeal.
Though this record is similar in many respects to their previous work, it is every bit as listenable and every bit as engaging.
BY KEATS MULLIGAN
Best Track: She Likes To Eat The Skin
If You Like These, You’ll Like This: JOHNNY CASH, ROB COFFINSHAKER, SUN KIL MOON, HANDSOME FAMILY
In A Word: Bleak
