The
artwork on Open Hand's You and Me disc depicts two hands
reaching for each other. When you pull the booklet out and
open it up, the female hand has actually just thrown a butcher
knife into the male heart.
That pretty much sums up much
of the lyrical content of the release. The emotional anguish
is brought out by Justin Isham's sorrowful vocals as they
float along waves of stoner-rock guitars. The whole package
comes together in what can be classified as prog-emo.
Female guest vocals pop up in
several tracks but sound more masculine than Isham's, quite
likely intentionally as a statement about the broken relationship.
All is not miserable, a positive
vibe that all will be ok is left, if
you can keep with it. For those not enamored with the wanderings
of stoner rock, sticking with it will be a task.
Few tracks wander much above three
minutes but the disc's pacing bends time perception. That
is a good thing on "The Ambush" and "Tough
Guy", easily the top cuts on the record.
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