If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Heather Bickford At this point in their career, it's going to be hard for A Place to Bury Strangers to shock fans with a new song. The New York noise legends have done that with "Where are We Now" by turning the volume and noise way, way down. The new song might be the quietest and most stripped down they've ever released. There is still some noise peeking through during the verses of the songs, but once we hit the chorus the song becomes an uplifting near power ballad. We've become accustomed to hearing guitar squalls and electronic chaos from the band, so hearing a relatively quiet and straightforward song from them is quite jarring. (Of course, straightforward is a relative term, and I'm sure your Goo Goo Dolls and Third Eye Blind listening co-workers would still find "Where are We Now" far too weird.) Frontman Oliver Ackermann says that the new song is about “... looking back at friends you lost touch with. Wondering where they ended up....

Photo by Ebru Yildiz "Acid Rain" is the latest single from A Place to Bury Strangers' upcoming rarities album. The noise rock veterans wrote and recorded this one back during the current President's first term, and it captures the chaos of that time (and the current one). The noise behind "Acid Rain" is almost too much at times, with a drum beat that fuzzes as much as it thuds. The song combines the distortion heavy rock and electronic noise sides of A Place to Bury Strangers equally, creating a song that you can almost dance to at times, if it wasn't for the crushing nature of the song. "Acid Rain" certainly won't be for everyone, but that's part of the joy of A Place to Bury Strangers. Oliver Ackerman says of his band's latest single: “Cruelty felt not just normalized, but weaponized. Watching people in power openly coerce others into silence, compliance, and violence was horrifying, and still is. What shook me most was how casual...

Photo by Heather Bickford New York noise rock lifers A Place to Bury Strangers are set to release a rarities collection and have a new single from that album. "Everyone's the Same" is pure A Place to Bury Strangers. It's loud, it's menacing, and it's incredibly noisy. The band have always been at their best when they work within a (somewhat) normal song structure, and this one meets that stipulation. It could be a fairly typical alt-rock song, except for the sheer chaos spinning all around the song. Throughout most of the song, there is a buzzsaw-like squall that threatens to spin the entire thing out of control, which is occasionally does. "Everyone's the Same" isn't going to be for a mainstream audience, but that's the beauty of A Place to Bury Strangers. Oliver Ackermann says of his band's new single: “I had a dream where a man led me to a brook, peaceful and calm. When he turned his head slightly, I saw the most evil smile imagina...