Rope - Widow's First Dawn

Widow's First Dawn
Family Vineyard FV25

My first reaction to this new Rope record was that there's too much of the same thing. That can be a good or a bad mark, depending on your needs when hanging out with a record. The beautiful trait shared in those old Skinny Puppy, Revolting Cocks and Sisters of Mercy records was in fact the overkill in both subject matter and in the mood these bands were seeking for the platter as a whole. Robert Iwanik, Michael Kendrick and Chris Drazek have achieved similar ground with Widow's First Dawn. While not every tune sounds so much "alike", with each lies an ominous sense akin to the voices of strangers in an unsettling darkness. As musicians, Rope are fantastic, giving as much attention to timbre and resonance in their choice of notes as they do with the microscopic points along the line of delivery. Kendrick's percussion work brings to mind Danny Carey's mathematically precise time keeping for Tool, but Kendrick's approach adheres more to the loose free structures that come with extensive experience in improvisation. Adding to the band's sound are modest doses of extended instrumention, namely, Vineyardite Darin Gray on piano and Marty Belcher's soprano saxophone. But lending heavily to Widow's atmosphere is the presence of Graznya Auguscik, augmenting Iwanik's vocals. Both achieve a dramatic effect for the tenor of the record, something truly ghastly but immediately complementary to the music pouring out of the band. Some might be interested to know that Steve Albini produced this outing, making for a fine marriage of experience with the open-ended aesthetic of the truly consistent Family Vineyard label. It's a welcome re-entry for Albini, whose recording gigs of late have been capricious at best. His signature heaviness is present, as is the attention to all the right details in Rope's progressions. The band's debut takes you by the throat, and it's an eerily welcome sensation.

~Alan Jones