Pain Teens - Beast of Dreams

Scott Ayers and Bliss Blood, creating havoc. Pain Teens, like Dj Screw, are Houston's pride and joy. "Destroy Me, Lover" here.

"The final Trance Syndicate release from Pain Teens, Beast of Dreams, is a swirling, noisy swan song that echoes across familiar territory for the Texas industrial deviants. During an inspired first section, vocalist Bliss Blood draws inspiration from PJ Harvey as "Coral Kiss" sizzles with sexual confrontation. But somewhere around the fourth track, Beast of Dreams becomes predictably synthetic and repetitive. Percussion and guitar figures cycle over and over like Satan's homemade meditation tape -- each second stuffed with electronically simulated banshee screams. It's enough to make you wonder if Scott Ayers actually tortures his tools of the modern musical trade. Is this what it sounds like when you put cigarettes out on the face of a Roland 808? Will a Strat scream like that as it's being drawn and quartered? Listeners who ask themselves these kinds of questions will be fascinated by Beast of Dreams. There is an aggressive element to this music that is pure and worthwhile for sure, but unless post-industrial ruminations of excess are your bag, chances are this stop on Pain Teens' circular road to ruin won't exactly qualify as a revelation." Vincent Jeffries

The Somme