Formed by ex-
Made Out of Babies members Brendan Tobin (guitar), Cooper (bass), and Matthew Egan in early 2012 after chameleonic lead singer Julia Christmas left the fold, Brooklyn’s
Bad Powers stays true to its first incarnation’s penchant for unleashing a lightning storm of alternately malevolent and dreamy, angular post-rock/noise-metal that's equal parts
Jesus Lizard,
Isis, and
PJ Harvey. Megan Tweed, who assumed the role left vacant by
Christmas, may not have the elastic range of her predecessor, but she wields some truly seismic power that can go from a nervy, semi-conversational
Exene Cervenka-esque declaration to a full-on, vintage
Perry Farrell wail in the time it takes for the tip of the stick to crack the snare drum, and when she tears through heavier cuts like "New Bruises," "Black Alf," and "Bigger Than We Are," it leaves a vapor trail. That said, the band doesn’t limit itself to the cacophonous decibel binge that some of its contemporaries are guilty of, preferring instead to ratchet up the tension by pairing dissonant chord changes and offbeat time changes with mercurial, almost sentimental string parts (“Bread and Butter”) and cinematic, folk-infused foundations (“Chineseish”) that owe more to bands like
Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and
Faith No More than they do
Big Black or
Shudder to Think. Fans that embraced
Made Out of Babies' 2008 unintentional swan song
The Ruiner, and then spent the next four years wondering what happened, will find
Bad Powers' eponymous debut has most of the answers they were looking for, and while it may lack the slick, studio bark of its precursor, it certainly has the bite. ~ James Christopher Monger