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The Poison Arrows Find a Niche On Their Latest

Local Chicago band, The Poison Arrows, release an album that is a lethal combination trippy atmospheres and punchy rock.

The Poison Arrows

First Class and Forever

Released on May 12, 2009

The first time I heard The Poison Arrows was when Holy Fuck came to Chicago for a show. On an impulse, I decided to check out the Holy Fuck show, though I wasn’t much of a devoted fan at the time. It actually ended up being one of the most entertaining shows I’ve seen in a while. Obviously, if you've seen a Holy Fuck show there’s a bazaar of energy and its hard not to keep from dancing. What really made the show even better was their stellar openers - one of them being The Poison Arrows. At the time, the Arrows only had a batch of songs to play but I clearly remember being mesmerized by the intricate bass lines and the pounding beats. One year later the Arrows release First Class, and Forever which brings to fruition and expands upon the multitude of ideas and melodies that I had first heard that deliriously wonderful night.

While it’s great to see them fully develop their sound in this album, its safe to say their approach to writing music hasn’t changed much since the Holy Fuck show. Lead singer/guitarist Justin Sinkovich provides equal doses of melody and atmosphere while the rhythm section of bassist Patrick Morris and drummer Adam Reach keep things intense with complex and intricate compositions. At first, the rhythm section is really what defines the band with Morris’ bass lines. His parts will sometimes function as lead guitar parts in songs such as “Casual Wave” (which is actually a carry over from an EP of the same name). Most of the songs, though, will switch the focus to particular members such as on “Future Wine” which is propelled by Reach’s drum parts. “Peruvian Mountain Fight” gives Sinkovich the spotlight to flex his guitar muscles and turns the song into the album highlight. It’s very hard to resist the urge to play air guitar or drums on this track. 

With such rich musical performances it’s hard to fault the Arrow’s ambition. They clearly have developed the songs to the point where each instrument has a vital role in the progression of the songs. The only time that this becomes problematic is when there isn’t anymore room for other sounds to enter the fray. “Casual Wave” is a prime example of this - it’s a song that starts off extremely well with solid performances from the entire band but it will then enter into a transition that features an out of place synthesizer noise that at times sounds like a futuristic bagpipe. It’s an interesting idea at first but within the scope of the album it makes “Casual Wave” stick out like a sore thumb because it simply doesn’t fit within the collage of sounds the band has used up to that point. “An Unexploded Dream” starts off carrying some of the synthesizer lessons the band had learned on “Casual Wave” but those noises are quickly drowned out by reverb drenched guitars and a loose echo-y bass line, and as result fit quite nicely in the context of the album. “An Unexploded Dream” is one of the more interesting tracks on the album because as the track wavers and flows from each part the band shows much restrain by not letting every crescendo turn into an excuse to beat the hell out of their instruments.

Sadly, after “Peruvian Mountain Fight” the album begins to really taper off. “To Meet Eyes” is a 10 minute opus that essentially closes the album out but this track shows the band re-treading their footsteps and essentially offering up the least interesting song on the album. “Ideal Omens” is a filler-track that officially closes off the album and while it’s a decent filler track with interesting sounds - it’s still filler. The choice to end the album on that note makes the effort feel anti-climatic.

At the end of it all this album feels like a step in the right direction for this band. The group isn’t doing anything unique or very different from what’s out there but what they are doing is creating fine compositions that border on guttural hard rock and dreamy atmospheres. Often times it’s difficult to find the balance between these two extremes and it often leads to failure in one (here’s looking at you Secret Machines). While the Arrows have largely succeeded here, the album’s final moments give a reason to be concerned about the future of the Arrows. If their attention to detail and dynamics doesn’t stay consistent and continues to flounder it’s quite possible to see the band fade away. But if it doesn’t, and they continue to experiment in making new sounds and continue to push themselves technically - you might just have one of the more interesting bands to come out of Chicago as of late.

Posted by Danny Lopez on May 19, 2009 @ 6:00 am