Inside The Silver Lining

I have between moving out of my apartment, preparing to leave the states, and had my hard drive collapse, which is why I haven’t posted anything in some time.

To get this thing rolling again I wanted to delve into Blackout Beach’s Skin of Evil. The album is lyrically driven, telling a story linear fashion. It’s the vocals that provide the drama, like a man strapped to a chair and forced to watch a small computer screen as his only window to the world. Carey Mercer’s voice is tied down with leather straps in an aluminum tunnel, straining for some rest in an artificial cage.

Thin arrangement, electric guitars and synthesizers shake the metal timber and echo down the hall. The moments of acoustic warmth on songs like “Sophia, Donna, I Was Down The River Waiting” let a bit of light shine in and offer some relief from all the shivering.

The most amazing aspect of the album to be is how desperately alive the experience is. Mercer’s voice gives this prison a beating heart and grabs your attention from start to finish. Skin of Evil haunts while scratching for the surface.