Panama City alt.rock duo show promise on stoner-flavoured second album.
AlphaWhores’ name is the anglicised spelling of the word ‘alfajores’, a sweet pastry popular in South America. This second album from the Panama-based duo, meanwhile, is a similarly enjoyable confection – and very filling indeed. As with the band’s debut, 2024’s I, this is a collection that marries stoner grooves and guitars with intricate melodies to mesmerising effect.
Several of these songs featured on the Bloodsport EP, released last month – the Royal Blood-esque Bloodsport, the towering Beautiful Music, Awful Person, and the twisty Pirate Mode. The fact they remain firm highlights within the context of this full-length is testament to their brilliance and familiarity, rather than a comparative lack of quality in the rest of what’s on offer, as AlphaWhores have set the bar high once again.
Other choice picks include opener House Of Doom, which is, perhaps surprisingly, one of the record’s less doomy offerings, but a moody slow-burner nevertheless. Meanwhile, T-Rex Masseuse is as weird as its title suggests, stomping all over your back with a flurry of buzzing riffs.
While most of these tracks pack the requisite punch, it’s the instrumentals doing the heavy lifting. In places, notably Show Me Your Teeth, the harmonies from Massiel Pinzón and Juan Carlos García de Paredes have considerably less clout – the melodies are tight and affecting, no doubt, but they’re occasionally a thin embellishment on top of such a bruising bedrock.
It’s a relatively minor quibble, though, because it’s a flaw that only occasionally undermines proceedings. It does, however, hold You Can Come Out Now back from being great. As it is, we’ll have to settle for it being very, very good indeed. On this evidence, big things beckon.
Verdict: 4/5
For fans of: Kylesa, Royal Blood, Orange Goblin
You Can Come Out Now is released on June 13 via Editoris
