These Arms Are Snakes

Easier kicks off on grinding guitar licks and puncturing bass lines before exploding into jagged pieces and grumbling vocals as "Mescaline Eyes” unravels from one glorious snag and snarl into the next. Formed out of art punk outfit Botch and Minneapolis-based Kill Sadie, Seattle’s These Arms Are Snakes encompass all the right amounts of distortion, unconventional song structure, and rupturing arrangements. Mid-album gets briefly spacey on the instrumental "Hell’s Bank Notes” before delving into the pounding "Abracadabraca,” which swirls into dark tunnels and emerges, riding on clouds of darkly dusted guitars that intermittently pierce the thick atmosphere the song weaves. "Crazy Woman Dirty Train” rides out on bouncing guitars and slithering bass lines while the vocals lay themselves thick and gritty over top, ultimately leading the song into a deeply dramatic place, almost frightening in its unwavering vehemence. This is an album that seems in constant reinvention, with every song making a departure from the next but somehow creating cohesion along the way.