The Heretic’s Bargain is the new album from instrumentalists Rangda, a trio who take ears and imagination on tantalising and feverishly unpredictable adventures of sound and intent, as evidenced by the five temptations making up their latest release. The album is a kaleidoscope of flavours and exotic hues, an incitement as psychedelically sinister as it is melodically sultry and perpetually hypnotic.
Rangda is the imagination fuelled union between drummer Chris Corsano alongside guitarists Richard Bishop (ex- Sun City Girls) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance/ Comets on Fire). 2010 saw their debut album False Flag released with two years later its successor Formerly Extinct unveiled, both on Drag City who also release their new carnival of sound and invention. With also the live 10” offering Rangda Live in Krefeld and a split album with The Dead C under their creative belts, and the experience of featuring on over 400 albums between the three of them, it is fair to say that something new from the band is highly anticipated by a great many, something The Heretics Bargain rewards in magnetic style.
Starting with To Melt the Moon, Rangda provide a maelstrom of suggestiveness for the imagination which will undoubtedly create unique tales for each immersing in the song and album’s escapades. The opener instantly ruffles ears and appetite with its direct shuffle of niggling riffs and feisty rhythms. It is eager bait which in no time then slips into something mystique wrapped; melodies toying with thoughts as the perpetually nagging lure of guitar and drums entices. Within its other-worldly landscape, surf rock colludes with psyche rock; psychobilly and blues rock scented hues further adding to the cinematic yet intimate nudging of hips and thoughts.
The track is glorious and quickly matched by the compelling and devilish canter of The Sin Eaters. Once again grooves and melodies entangle spicy hooks as the crisp jabs of Corsano create an alluring frame. They are all sinisterly seductive ingredients courted by hidden dangers in the song’s shadows as the track becomes a tenacious soundscape of drama and tangy temptation, much as its successor Spiro Agnew. Bishop and Chasny explore in the same scenic emprise as the previous pair, where Middle Eastern flirtation romances the senses whilst sparking in thoughts a tapestry of interpretations of the sound soliciting ears with every listen; that a success found by each track in their individual ways.
Sonic smog with deranged rhythms descends on the senses as Hard Times Befall the Door-to-Door Glass Shard Salesman smothers ears next. Straight away Bishop and Chasny create a cauldron of discordance and sonic trespasses as the beats of Corsano court their own deranged challenge. From this electric dust storm calm eventfully emerges, a mellower passage which still unbalances thoughts and emotions with its jazzy, seemingly improvised but expertly conjured exploration of depths soaked in melancholy led emotions.
From its haunted body, Mondays are Free at the Hermetic Museum slips out, the nineteen minute exploration a gallery of musical and emotive avenues clad in humid sonic invention and sweltering melodies soaked in an air of romance and dangerous intent. Perpetually evolving from start to finish, with moments of lively festivity merging into dark strains of emotional espionage and vice versa, every turn a whole new outlook of scenery and suggestiveness, the track alone makes the album a worthy sharing of time with.
Coming new to Rangda, we cannot suggest how it compares to its predecessors, but certainly we can say for coherently exhilarating, experimental, and creative drama, The Heretics Bargain is a temptress very hard to say no to.
The Heretics Bargain is out now via Drag City @ http://www.dragcity.com/products/the-heretics-bargain
https://www.facebook.com/RANGDA-Ben-Chasny-Chris-Corsano-Richard-Bishop-381243065276869/
http://www.dragcity.com/artists/rangda
Pete RingMaster 22/02/2016
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