Thee Oh Sees - Putrifiers II
- Written by Kenneth McMurtrie
Album number 14 (taking into account various naming conventions) and its business as usual for Thee Oh Sees. Which is what you’d expect and so reviewing Putrifiers II almost seems redundant – it’s a good, fun record that existing fans will have no problems with whilst not necessarily being exciting enough to draw new followers to the fold. There are no surprises and yet no exceptional songs either. It won’t be one I select as a highlight at the end of the year and yet I’ll more than likely add it on to my iPod and hear bits of it over the next year or two (or longer) alongside all those other albums that occupy the space between landfill and stellar.
Castlemania is, for me, a standout work by the group and Putrifier II resides in the shadow of the earlier album despite no real deviation from the tried and tested template. Pride should though be taken from the fact that by the time they get into double figures for full-length releases most outfits are at the dry heaves stage of their careers (at best) and that’s definitely not the case in this instance.
‘Wax Face’ opens things up with a couple of yelps and thrashing guitars and that’s the tone well and truly set for the other nine tracks. ‘So Nice’ throws a trippier, drone element into the mix, a mode returned to on the album’s title track a little later on. ‘Lupine Dominus’ sounds very much like Clinic in their heyday and things go a bit Beach-Boys-meet-Pink-Floyd on the whimsical fantasia of closer ‘Wicked Park’. A good effort then but hopefully album 15 will scale greater heights.