Vigilantes of Love
Slow Dark Train
Reviewed by Brad Caviness
Vigilantes of Love takes full advantage of VoL's penchant for relentless touring. For the last two years, singer/songwriter Bill Mallonee has also served as the band's sole guitar player. The energy and experience gained in that time is evident. The arrangements are still ragged and rootsy, but Mallonee has moved his guitar to the foreground and created songs that demand your attention as much for their visceral energy and volume as their fluid melodies and literate lyrics. Subtle electronic effects, as well as other occasional accoutrements (Hammond organ, harmonica, mellotron and strings) provide shadings that pull the band's sound in whole new directions without distracting the listener from the important thing: the song. From the layered guitars and distorted bass of "Locust Years" to the haunting acoustic guitar and string section of "Judas Skin," every song on Slow Dark Train has, in effect, been voted on by the paying attendees of VoL shows. Long time fans will be glad to finally have legal copies of live favorites like "Tokyo Rose," "All the Mercy We Have Found" and "(Reasonable) Facsimile." The song "Love Cocoon" gets a face lift from the acoustic version found on Jugular, and Mallonee plays up every delicious innuendo in this Solomonic rumination on the joys of sex within the bonds of matrimony. If this is the album to put VoL over the top--and it very well could be--success couldn't come from a finer record. Slow Dark Train easily stands among Vigilante's finest work. It is possessed of uncommon energy, soulful literacy and lyrical grace, an invigorating wind that blows strongly from the band to the audience. Catch this Train or be left standing at the station.