Magic Arrows Sweet Heavenly Angel of Death

[Wobblyhead; 2005]

Rating: 2/5

Styles: ambient trip-hop
Others: Massive Attack, DJ Shadow, The Dust Brothers


This album had me fooled for the first few minutes. I'm kind of a sucker for the sludgy, drawn-out beat sampling trick, and Magic Arrows (Scott Beschta) does his best to exploit that. Add some thick washes of electronic drone, a few basslines, and you've got the formula for Sweet Heavenly Angel of Death. A more apt title might be Ad Nauseum, as most of these tracks stubbornly play out the same theme for five or more minutes.

This would be harmless enough to garner a slightly higher rating if it weren't for the pitiful attempts to distract you from the monotony, the most baffling of which is "Stand By Me," a rootsy but equally plodding acoustic guitar piece consisting only of the phrases "Stand by me" and "Put your hands up if you ever felt Jesus," painfully vocalized in various permutations. It's not even charmingly amateurish, though more so than the almost offensive "One Thousand Dances," which clumsily layers a generic techno rhythm over heavily filtered orchestral moans.

More than anything, I'm just confused. What is this guy going for? The liner notes contain the lines "Suspend yourself in a space," "Comprehend like you are floating in air," and "Like nothing, you are," all next to pictures of Bob Dylan, the Lennon Memorial, and a pepper. It's too aimless to be called eclecticism.

At its worst, Angel of Death is pretty embarrassing, but it does manage to be interesting every once in a while. "Afro Halo" stands out for developing into something memorably melodic in its tolerably short duration. The rest seems to beg for your indifference.

1. Uptown Devils
2. Jude's Theme
3. Buffalo Gals
4. Stand By Me
5. Train Yourself
6. Nervous
7. Churchman
8. Afro Halo
9. A German
10. Buzz
11. One Thousand Dances
12. Keef