Other Passengers – 'We Are All Other Passengers' (Something In Construction) Released 02/04/07

The Other Passengers specialise in Bauhaus-esque heavy rock that makes QOTSA sound positively tame by comparison. Quite simply, their debut album is 45 minutes of unhinged, difficult-to-categorise, paranoia-ridden doom. It’s reminiscent of System of a Down in that you’re never sure what’s coming next ,but you’re fairly certain that it might all go to hell in a handbasket at any moment. One minute you can almost hear the band taking delight in caving your chest in with the heaviest of heavy riffs, the next you’re treated to a relatively gentle, xylophone-led track. It’s fair to say that it’s a bit of a head****.

These slow moments help built the tension for the more full-on, balls-to-the-wall parts. ‘Heart Attack’ for example, is an excruciating, violin-laden ballad that does a great job of leading into the percussive madness that is the epic closing track, ‘Other Passengers (A Place of Dead Roads).’ The aforementioned xylophone makes an appearance on ‘Credits,’ a probable future single with moody atmospherics and sorrow-laden lyrics reminiscent of NIN’s quieter work. When the record does explode though, it does it in style. The drumming on ‘Sick Sick’ builds up to an astonishingly destructive climax whilst 'Vacation / Wembley’ (another certain single) simply makes you want to punch things. Other highlights include ‘Gorilla,’ the best advertisement for the heavy side of the band, ‘Henry,’ which showcases their gentler side and ‘Wichita,’ which combines the two to a fairly successful degree.

Moody, atmospheric and at times, downright scary; this is the kind of record that will keep you awake at night worrying about, well, pretty much everything. Beneath the layers of guitar fuzz, however, there are some actual proper songs here. Mostly they deal with loneliness, heartbreak and anger, however, so until this lot learn to embrace their sunnier side you might want to pick something else to soundtrack your summer BBQ.