HAUNTED HOUSES - "Make Believe You're Dead" (Bathetic) C35

 
  HH's second tape for the Bathetic label, and this one is a total winner.The cover art is decent, and I am a sucker for a bright blue tape.The music isn't too far off from his "the invisible war of the mind" debut, not as much of the traditional folk style, and a bit more polished in some areas.There's still plenty of grainy blues-driven folk to go around.The songs are pretty well written, and nothing makes it's way too far into total oblivion.Everything is captured to tape quite nicely, but for the mild hiss that looms throughout the album.The home recording quality actually gives the hoarseness of his vocals a nice rugged beauty, and could pass this as a live album for sure.
  The dark lyrical themes and blown out guitar drones give off some uneasy vibes, which only made me like it more, as a fair amount of this reminds me of what I adore about Pink Reason.Torturous howls, over the top high end, and that driving stomp-clap percussive thud are all here by the truck load.I do hope Haunted Houses make it to vinyl one of these days.If they have, and I'm just too far removed to know it...hit me up.Another score for HH and Bathetic.