In the business of reviewing new albums from extreme musical acts, it is always a nice breath of fresh air when I get material that is not as abrasive as most of the albums I review. The Exploding Boy has dropped a new album entitled Alarms! (Drakkar) and it is chock full of eleven songs that anyone can dance to and enjoy. Having all the elements of a Goth Rock/dark Indie band just with their own spin on it, the Swedish outfit hit the nail on the head for a successful album.

The opening track, ‘Fireland (The End of Dark City)’ starts the album off with an upbeat song and lots of synthesizers. The chorus was quite catchy too, which is a big selling point in the Goth Rock domain. Speaking of staying true to Goth Rock, no album is complete without a depressive song related to death. The Exploding Boy check this off the list with ‘Run Red’, another great track that the listener can move to and get caught singing the chorus over and over. I will also let my bias run free here and have to say my favorite track easily is ‘Pointless Action’ based solely on the guitar effect in the repeating riff. You know, that one that sounds a lot like a specific post-Metal band that begins with an I and ends with SIS. This song also has the feel of a ballad where it is mellow in comparison to previous tracks on Alarms! All in all, the track list gives you a full arrangement of emotions across the record.

Never hearing The Exploding Boy before this album, I was not sure really what to expect (I try not to look up genre beforehand as I like to be surprised). I was pleasantly surprised to get a great mix of Goth Rock, post-Punk/Metal influences, and an atmosphere that stayed with me even after Alarms! had ended. This certainly is not my preferred style of music, but I can appreciate the execution and I can confidently say this was a fun album to review.

7.0/10

TIM LEDIN