Do to the Beast
14 April 2014
Sub Pop
3.5 stars out of 5
Fifteen and a half years after their last album, 1965, The Afghan Whigs have reformed and
released a new album, their seventh, Do
to the Beast. They’ve returned to the Sub Pop fold, although that label has
a roster and sound quite different from when The Afghan Whigs left it in 1992. Although originally associated with the grunge
scene—they weren’t exactly grunge (but neither were Pearl Jam or Alice in
Chains, despite still receiving the label), and they were from Ohio, not
Washington—Greg Dulli & Co. were always more about Motown than they were
about flannel, though they had enough angst to fill Puget Sound several times
over. Of course, their version of Motown was filled with loud guitars and hung
out in the alley behind the strip joint, but it’s the spirit of the thing that
counts.
At first listen, Do to
the Beast sounds like, well, an Afghan Whigs record. Old fans shouldn’t
have any complaints. They haven’t “sold out,” “compromised,” or “changed their
underwear,” and here sound more like they did on Congregation than they did on their subsequent albums. “Matamoros
Do to the Beast is
a solid new entry in the Whigs’ catalogue. While it doesn’t quite attain the
heights of their classic releases, Congregation
and Gentlemen, it’s definitely closer
to the top of the hill than the bottom. The alley behind the strip joint is
still Dulli’s favourite haunt, and while these guys are now a couple of decades
older, there’s nothing on Do to the Beast
that suggests they’re slowing down or starting to get tired.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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