Album Review: Fake Teeth

So, a 15 tracker, entitled Fake Teeth, released on limited vinyl, from the excellent duo which are Tooms. They are: Nich Cunningham and Dorian Noval. Cunningham is quoted as describing the artistic endeavour as ‘[channeling] ugly bile bubbling up from the subconscious’ – today it’s also feeling like it suits a bad day at the office, that bad, or that good .

The album opens with a track that sounds like the big bad wolf is taking heavy footed steps to a door near you. Dark, menacing, and dirge like. The track is the named after the album title. It has barely-there vocals. They are ghostly intonations hovering in the track composition – are they lyrics or vocals . Maybe neither, but a slightly unholy sound.

Track two, Pinky, hits you full force and by track 3, you can almost feel the bristle of musical strings hitting you in the face . The punk vocals of Noval and Cunningham cut it up throughout. In Black Door, we are back in a Grimm-esque world of echoing drums and off-centre beats. It’s driven by an eerie vocal; the track flips into filmic proportions, where stoner guitar dominates and, yeah I think this is my favourite . The vocals on Grip remind of Super Furry Animals song, a bit of folk metal. I’m a fan of the guitar and bass sounds on Stingray. It’s urgent, evoking the predatory nature of the sea creature, perhaps ? Works for me.

There’s lots of things to love in this album – the complexity and power of the sound. The variety of noise and composition throughout and some great, dark and poetic song titles like Not In Love With These Times or Dead Bird . If someone were trying to grapple with dark times, then this might be an expression of those times. Stating the obvious maybe , but I admire the turnaround in art. The short sharp finish of Rooftops cements the end of a solid, formidable and hearty album.