Search - Entrance :: Prayer of Death

Silence equals golden death

K. D. Kelly | sf, ca | 09/25/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The guitar in "Grim Reaper Blues" grabs you right away, Son House bottleneck cranked out through a Butthole Surfers filter, and over it, Guy Blakeslee wailing like he's bound to a rack in the pit of hell and either just got there or kind of digs the whole experience -- maybe Grimmy just signed his slambook. But it's the second song, "Silence on a Crowded Train," the constant sawing of the violin channeling a sense of urgency, which drives the stake home that this IS a celebration of the void, a giddy shake of death's rattle. "Requiem for Sandy Bull" is particularly otherworldly, a restless congregation of bells and bongos laced with mouth-puckering sitar. And "Pretty Baby" is obviously in reference to a girl who's now nothing more than a deflated ghost, gown tendrils like whips, a soundless scream stark as a hole in the ground, blurry with worms. Lazarus humping Antigone when the stone rolls away.



"Prayer of Death" is neo-psychedelic folk -- for those still keeping score based on genre preference -- with a dash of electro-Krishna a la Final Fantasy, Akron/Family ... and Emerson Lake and Palmer when they ate their Wheaties. There is a sense of the occult, serious facial hair and body odor to the whole mix. This is incense-burning music; it's the soundtrack for viewing a landscape of meth zits discovered in the glow of your dead aunt's makeup mirror. The songs burn slow and mesmerize in the manner of Sigur Ros, but coated in greasy backwoods batter and panting like a cur. It would be safe to say that with "Prayer of Death," Entrance has fashioned party music suitable for a barbecue held in the intensive care unit. And, really, like posing the question to your mangy mutt, "What's that stuff I peel off the tree?" there's no more reliable way to have your prayers answered than to wish for the onslaught of nothingness. Or, at the very least, to run blindly back toward the Dark Ages (which we are ...)."

Fantastic under the radar album

D. Mason | Earth | 05/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Been listening to this record for awhile and while it may be easy to call it retro psycho blues rock on initial listenings(not a bad thing by the way)it is much more accomplished than that.The liner notes say it was recorded 16 track onto one inch tape and it sounds tremendous,close attention reveals real depth and richness with marvelous instrumentation and arrangements.Unfair really to label it retro because it doesn't sound like anything that has gone before but it certainly evokes a different musical era than the one we currently find ourselves in."

Noisy, pschedelic garage blues

G. Rao | san francisco | 11/21/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album reminds me of that band the Make Up. Its a lot blusier than anything I've heard from that band, however. There's a lot of wah-wah pedalling going on, and tons of reverb all over anything. Much more of a rock album than the other Entrance album I own, Wandering Stranger. The theme of the album, as you might guess, is death. Most of the songs seem like pretty simple blues songs, but vamped up and fuzzed out. I like it."