Uglyhead - The Garden

This is definitely a release that I had to take multiple looks at before I even was able to garner an opinion on it. It's just a very weird project, but weird in that good way. Uglyhead, a project from Seattle in the good ol'United States of America, manages to fuse harsh noise with lighter synths, creating songs where it's both soothing as well as Hell bending. I would even say that there are elements of ambient present in a few songs, and it all combines so well together. There are even certain portions of the tracks where the sounds of a garden (For example, birds chirping in "Lichen") that just brings this whole album together.

Much of the songs are heavily influenced with guitar work, most of the time taking the main stage. But, even in those songs, there's enough of everything else going on that it just cannot be classified as just general rock. The vocals always sound as if they're far off at first, but then come booming in mid sentence, only to fade away once more.

Then, we have the instrumentals, such as "Amalgam", which mixes ambient and noise together. Ambient sounds reap the rewards at first, slowly coming in and creating an almost mystifying environment, with what sounds like ghostly chatter in the background that you just cannot make out. Towards the later half of the song, a lot of distorted noise comes in, taking over the spotlight. And it is definitely good.

Honestly, it's hard to point out the bad in this album, because there is hardly anything wrong with it. I cannot say it's perfect. I want to say that the vocals could use work, but I'm split on that decision; they work so well in the songs that I just take back what I just thought. Not what I said, but I feel guilty just saying that there's something wrong with this album, because it really just is beautiful. It's a journey that can be taken, and I bid you, all of you, to take a stroll through this garden. You will come out of it enlightened in one way or the other. I can guarantee it. May 30 2013