History of Guns- Flashes of Light

Following up a handful of EPs and a demo release, Flashes of Light LP, History of Guns' proper full-length debut, is an interesting eight song musical excursion that walks the line between electro-art-rock, slightly more straightforward dance/electronica, goth rock, and electro/noise-industrial (or, as the band describe their sound, "post-industrial goth"). Vocalist Del Alien, with his throaty goth timbre and blend of Ian Curtis and Bowie inflections, speaks, whispers, sings, and leads the way over slightly chaotic landscapes of shuffling electronic dance percussion, brooding piano, industrial noise undercurrents, electronics that swirl and shimmer, moody melodic synth passages, and real rock instrumentation.

Throughout the album, the band creates a stylistically interesting, ever-changing world, one where the straightforward electronica number "Pattern Death" is followed by the sparse Bowie-esque piano balladry of "Blown". The album's four-part title track, each part a ten-minute ever-evolving opus, makes up over half of the disc's running time. The goth rock standout, "Going Hollow", is a lo-fi, stripped down affair rebuilt with dense, swirling layers of noise just below the surface, with the strong, semi-chaotic goth dance number "Learning Curve" rounding out the set.

At first, particularly for those with more mainstream or coherent musical tastes, History of Guns' Flashes of Light LP may be a bit difficult to digest, stylistically unstable and filled with massive, intricate compositions. However, it's an interesting and diverse offering that will likely reveal its depth through further listens. Still probably more likely to appeal to those with musical tastes that are relatively left of center, it's a nice stab at genre-blending and experimentation that's resulted in something rather unique and quite worthwhile.