Clockcleaner: Babylon Rules

Lest their name be taken in jest or as a clever ruse, Clockcleaner set the record straight with their new album Babylon Rules. The band exists to pummel, punish, and taunt, meaning there’s a perfectly good reason why they were dubbed “Philadelphia’s most hated band.”

As punishment goes, however, Babylon Rules makes a compelling case for masochism as pleasure device. Though the Philly outfit’s methods are brutal and their rhythms plodding and grimy, there exist intense squalls of swirling sound and melodies, memorable and urgent ones at that.

Known for playing within a self-prescribed genre titled “skull music,” Clockcleaner combine the dark, theatrical spirit of post-punk goth bands such as Bauhaus and Magazine with the churning punk intensity of Drive Like Jehu.

Opening track “New In Town” lurches menacingly, a nigh seven-minute dirge that churns without remorse. “Vomiting Mirrors,” though frightening in its own right, is a bit more playful, with its insistent plunks of rock ‘n’ roll piano alongside its razorblade riffs.

At their most horrific, such as on “When My Ship Comes In,” Clockcleaner still manage to find a melodic center. Their songs are driven as much by accessibility and hooks as they are by harshness or fiendishness; what havoc it may wreak in psychological damage it instantly repairs in sublimely twisted songwriting.

- Jeff Terich

Clockcleaner: www.clockcleaner.net
Load Records: www.loadrecords.com