Sounding like very few bands around today, on The Bastards of Fate’s sophomore record (Vampires Are Real And Palpable), they offer up a perfect example of how refreshingly creative a group can be if they simply don’t give a fuck about pleasing anyone but themselves. Over the course of just 10 songs, the Roanoke-based band pull apart pop, psychedelic and college rock and then twist and force it into their own contorted, brilliantly misshapen, but bracingly original genre.
From the menacingly bleak album opener, “Winter of Our Discontent,” to an amusingly quirky track like “Own It,” the band is all over the map musically. Though a much more challenging record, Vampires… still manages to sound much more collaborative than 2012’s Who’s a Fuzzy Buddy? Simply odd, but for all the right reasons.
The Bastards of Fate – Vampires Are Real and Palpable/10 tracks/This Will Be Our Summer/2014