Tunnel, The
Shudder
With stabs of growling bass, a discordant peal of guitar, and the robotic thump of a floor tom, Shudder's title track launches into being, setting the stage for frontman Jeff Wagner's unmistakable voice - a sinister croon, caked in distortion and sleaze. Bearing traces of such pompadoured antiheroes as Nick Cave, Wagner's dark and theatrical twang is offset by the band's mechanized throb. These two energies - the sultry noir and the cold machinery - grind against each other and create the sparks that are The Tunnel. The glorious clash of styles can be depicted in many ways. A 2020 review from White Light/White Heat saw it as a mix of "seedy primeval swampy muddy groove" and "industrialized noise racket" and dropped a flurry of names, from The Birthday Party to Big Black. Shudder is the prolific San Francisco band's seventh full-length album, amidst various other EPs, splits, and tracks on comps. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by the band itself, Shudder is an absolutely perfect expression of its makers' well-honed vision. Over ten tracks, the band - Wagner, flanked by bassist Sam Black and drummer Michael Jacobs - slinks and slithers from the shotgun shack to the dark alley and back again, evoking a fantasy where macabre backwoods gloom unites with dystopian urban decay. While some of the inspiration flows from the songs and films of the aforementioned artists, the band's hometown provided the rest. Genre: Goth, Post Punk, Dark Side. No Wave RIYL - Big Black, My Bloody Valentine, Goth, Birthday Party