These Arms Are Snakes -- Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home

7/10

After enjoying These Arms Are Snakes debut E.P., I couldn't wait to get my ears on their debut full-length, 2004's oddly titled Oxeneers or the Lion Sleeps When Its Antelope Go Home. Not only had I loved the band's E.P., but music websites I frequented were going nuts over Oxeneers...treating it like a revolutionary release. When I finally listened to the album, and listening to it again now, I find Oxeneers to be...good, but not great. The album falls in that genre some folks label as "post-hardcore." I'll call it experimental hard-rock with shout-spoken vocals. The band will play a serpentine riff, and hammer it into the ground. These Arms Are Snakes employ a lot of keyboard, but it rarely justifies its existence here, often just feeling like it's reinforcing the guitars. The E.P. felt diverse and full of space, but this album feels cramped (just like this overlong paragraph), outside of a few notable exceptions. The standout track is "Your Pearly Whites," a slowed down, organ-led, nearly gothic track, which features Steve Snere, maybe one of the most aptly named vocalists in history, waxing poetic about someone's...teeth. At the time, I thought this band was pretty lyrically highbrow, and indeed, their lyrics show a certain level of sophistication, but I'm not sure if the lyrics on this album actually say anything. They definitely don't say anything clearly. They do, however, paint a picture of Midwestern decay, imagery of a slowly rotting two-story farmhouse on old family land, and the slowly rotting humans within. The album artwork, which features some odd domestic photography, and full-frontal male and female nudity, also gives the air of advanced artistry, while also not really conveying anything other than a vibe. Yes, Oxeneers has vibes, and they're certainly original, but the repetitious, circuitous nature of many of the tracks' constant riffing eventually becomes noise, and an album declared by many at the time of its release to be great betrays itself to be merely...good.


2004 Jade Tree Records
1. The Shit Sisters 3:34
2. Angela's Secret 3:34
3. Big News 3:18
4. Tracing 1:18
5. Your Pearly Whites 4:51
6. Gadget Arms 8:09
7. Greetings from the Great North Woods 4:28
8. La Stanza Bianca 3:41
9. Darlings of New Midnight 4:11
10. Oxeneer 0:57
11. Idaho 8:39