The Veils’ fifth record quivers and shouts. It gets under your skin like a bad dream, feeding you a chain of maudlin metaphors and haphazardly drawn-out instrumentals. A stream of dark imagery underpins Total Depravity, as lead singer Finn Andrews’ voice careens between a defiant snarl and a meek murmur, giving the album an eerie, ‘60s horror film feel. Meshed wildly with aloof synth arrangements and a crying guitar, The Veils have crafted a sound more conceptual, and less candid, than their previous work.
Very much the twisted love child of David Bowie and Nine Inch Nails, Total Depravity deals in every character from your childhood nightmares. First single Axolotl marches through a bare, electronic marshland of references to amphibians and religion mixing up two odd opposites to singularly thrilling effect, while King Of Chrome begins like a stock ‘80s disco track and quickly descends into what can only be described as a morbid, musical frenzy.
Final track Total Depravity is a slow tantrum that grips you, gives you one last shake and ends in violent combustion. It’s as if Andrews is finally sick of everything after an album’s worth of intense reflection.
Total Depravity is a deliberately provocative record, unnerving and black in its lyrical brilliance.
BY EVIE KENNEDY
