Himalayan

Band of Skulls, a UK based rock group, released their first full length album, “Baby Darling Doll Face Honey,” in 2009 and their second, “Sweet Sour” in 2012. This third album, “Himalayan,” was released in the US on Kobalt in March 2014. It is a great rock album, and does not disappoint us Band of Skulls fans. When I first listened to it I immediately thought of Wolfmother, which some people may not think of as a good thing, but to me it just means that this is a solid and heavy rock album. Great melodies, catchy hooks, and loud guitars and drums are OK by me! Anyway, I have really enjoyed spending the last week learning all of the words to this album. Play if you loved Wolfmother, love Band of Skulls, Blitzen Trapper, Portugal the Man, good rock’n’roll.

--Zoë

Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 6, 7, 9
No FCCs that I found

1. Asleep At The Wheel – Sounds like a new Wolfmother album. This song rocks pretty hard. Great melody, super catchy.
2. Himalayan – Title track. They rhyme Himalayan with “I’m just sayin’,” which I appreciated. Also, excellent melody, impossible not to nod your head to.
3. Hoochi Coochie – More falsetto on this one, not immediately hooked on this one.
4. Cold Sweat – Brings down the tempo for this one. Female vocals, interesting use of feedback and synth.
5. Nightmares – More standard alt-rock song. Solid beat, catchy vocals, mid-tempo.
6. Brothers and Sisters – Great melody. Swing tempo in the chorus. Back to a more Wolfmother sound on the instrumentation, but much more poppy on the vocals. Play if you love Blitzen Trapper.
7. I Guess I Know You Fairly Well – Down tempo, guitar and vocals only at the beginning. Drums build in through the first verse and then the whole song builds for the chorus. This is a great song. 8. Play if you love Portugal the Man.
9. You Are All That I Am Not – Mid-tempo, sweeter vocals. This is kind of a depressing love song, but super pretty.
10. I Feel Like Ten Men, Nine Dead and One Dying – This one is Blitzen Trapper all the way. Super good, great groove during the versus, heavy instrumentation on the chorus.
11. Toreador – Female vocals again, more glam rock feel to this song. Not my favorite track on the album.
12. Heaven’s Key – First thing I would compare this to is an old Mars Volta track. Line about ones and zeros for all those binary lovers out there.
13. Get Yourself Together – This song is much more melodic indie rock than the rest of the album. A mellow anthem to end the album.