Review: Fragile Weapons – 'Fugue State'

FRAGILE WEAPONS
'Fugue State'
SELF-RELEASED

Seattle in Washington state USA has produced some very interesting bands over the years, and new upstarts Fragile Weapons look set to join that long list. The band blend dark rock, jazz, metal and gypsy elements to create a creepy avant garde sound reminiscent of the likes of Russian Circles and Dirty Three. Thick distorted basslines, piercing violin leads, doomy drumming, and haunting vocals come together in a wonderfully unique way.

The band's first release 'Fugue State' is a bold and atmospheric statement of intent that is somewhere between rock and a film score. Songs such as 'Intimate Enemy', 'Terminator', 'Lullaby', 'Godzilla' and 'Flight' convey the band's strongest expressions of their formula with dark and dreamy atmospheres enticing the listener deeper into the compositions.

The album is mainly instrumental, but it holds the attention well. The trio are adept at expressive performance and it is captured here very nicely. There is an intimate, live feel to this recording that is very organic and almost improvisational, as though it has been captured during a gig, but retaining the polish of a studio recording.

'Fugue State' is a very promising first step from this band. For those into avant garde rock, dark folk, and haunting instrumental music this is definitely worth checking out. It will be interesting to see how they develop their sound on future releases. In the meantime, someone please give them a horror film to score.

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