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ALL MUSIC GUIDE review ERASING CLOUDS Review by Dave Heaton As off-kilter as some of Bob Pollard's weirder little tunes with Guided By Voices are, the most avant-garde of his many creative outlets is probably the Circus Devils, the horror-rock trio of Pollard and the Tobias Brothers (Todd and Tim) which releases an album every Halloween or so. Their third album, Pinball Mars, came out last Halloween on Pollard's format of choice (vinyl) and is now out on CD; again it shows that Pollard goes the furthest out when he keeps 60s and 70s rock as the platform and then uses it to tap into the more twisted parts of his psyche. Somewhere between the caustic noise of 2001's Ringworm Interiors and the more reined-in, sensitive concept album The Harold Pig Memorial (2002), Pinball Mars often sounds like GBV's arena rock anthems after they've been processed by two different mechanisms: one looking to make them into death-metal hymns to Satan, the other trying to discover what would happen if classic rock and free jazz had a baby. Take the album's first track, "Are You Out With Me?", where Pollard repeatedly sings "Let's go out!," a potential GBV-ian call to drink, as if it's the most evil sentiment ever, over a thick wall of demonic guitars. Pinball Mars starts with sharp and ugly (and in their own way, beautiful) rock and roll animals and winds up with half-baked psychedelic lullabies. Pollard sings everything like he's under some dark wizard's spell (or under the influence of some strong drugs), while the instruments are played loud, wild, and all-over-the-place. It's a shame this will be relegated to the category of "GBV side project," as fans of truly out-there avant-rock might find this right up their alley. AQUARIUS RECORDS Review If you 'sort of' like Guided By Voices, but they're just a little too poppy or Beatle-esque for you, then maybe Circus Devils is the band you've been waiting for. Featuring uber-prolific GBV mainman Robert Pollard on vocals, Circus Devils are truly the handiwork of brothers Tim and Todd Tobias, and the sonic world they inhabit is anything but poppy. Its a murky, effects laden, psychedelic underworld of fuzzy guitars, thrashing drums, groovy riffs and howled vocals. Grungy and heavy and very druggy, but of course, in a decidedly lo-fi manner. Pollard sounds as un-Pollard like as he ever has, wailing and belting it out big time. In fact the first track sounds quite a bit like Alice In Chains (!), even the vocals. Especially the vocals. All gloomy riffs and dramatic minor key melancholia. This is apparently some sort of rock opera, with the lyrics all divided into lines by different characters, but as far as we can tell, Pollard plays all the parts. While there are still some definite melodic GBV style tracks, this might be a little raw and tripped out for all but the truly dedicated/daring Guided By Voices fan. But it might just be the deciding factor for the GBV doubters out there, and might also surprise some of you psych-rock lovers out there as well. |
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