Produced by drummer Chris Common, These Arms Are Snakes (a.k.a. TAAS) brings you its second full-length via Jade Tree, Easter. I remember seeing these guys playing live a couple of years ago in Amsterdam and without remembering the kind of music they played, I do remember I liked their music back then. It goes without saying that this was a nice opportunity to find out what kind of music TAAS would play and, above all, whether I’d still like TAAS or not.

 

As soon as I heard the first few songs of this album I knew I still liked TAAS. And not only did I discover this, I also discovered that this music is too hard to pigeonhole. By no means this band can be put into one certain genre. Basically everything that’s on or around this album has something experimental over it (so yeah, that includes the cover artwork as well). And that’s exactly the beauty of it all. It is almost as if it is one big jamming party. It all seems brought forward in such a natural way.

 

Besides that, the songs are all so different. One time you get to hear a heavy song, for example ‘Lady North’. Shortly after, you will find yourself in a relaxing atmosphere listening to ‘Perpetual Bris’. Also, one time a song seems to be build around the guitar, the next song is build around the keyboard. ‘Desert Ghost’ being an example of the latter.

 

And then those vocals. They’re quite awesome! Nice and raw but at the same time subtle. Strong and convincing yet not (too) overwhelming. Add up the sophisticated lyrics and you can easily conclude that Steve Snere is a topnotch vocalist. Whether it’s instrumental soft rock or heavy rock with a unique twist, TAAS can bring it all. I’m sorry I can’t describe it any better than this but this music is just very hard to describe correctly. In the end I think most open minded listeners will dig this stuff anyway.

 

So, you’re interested? And you’re broke? Here’s the deal: head over to the Jade Tree website (see link above this review) and you go stream the entire Easter album. Knock yourself out!