Ezekiel RodofiliIn working out how to talk about Bad Guys in Good Guises, I thought it might be funny to be an asshole about it. You know, really critical, really beat down on the album even if I couldn’t justify it. I thought that’d be funny, but that would be funny to – as far as I’m aware – only two people. So instead I spent the time listening to it, trying to work out what’s going on. You know, that sort of thing and then write something more serious.
Last Earthfall are a band, and Bad Guys in Good Guises covers a good deal of time. The songs came to be over many years; as such, they touch on various moments and feelings from a life lived as those moments and feelings happened. The album feels like it covers the time it covers, but it doesn’t feel like history. It feels firmly of the “now”.
The album also has some variability going on, but it’s cohesive. Some songs run through a dichotomy between loud and quiet, and some of that quiet holds a tension that releases in what some might consider a pleasing way. There’s some heavy sections, a light, drifty/dreamy stuff, and a few rockers. Sometimes mood is obvious; sometimes it’s not, but everything neatly comes together.
But that doesn’t really say much.
So there’s a mix of different things and it works. Bad Guys in Good Guises covers history, and in a sense there’s a growth coming through. It’s an album that touches on different ideas and sounds, and it aims for cohesion. Appropriate playing, and some big moments in an album that’s not aiming to be big.
Bad Guys in Good Guises is sure of itself, but it’s also trying to find an identity. When I say this, the music sounds of Last Earthfall, or rather, sounds like what Last Earthfall could be. It also knows what it’s expressing; it knows that quite well. However, there’s this sense of uncertainty. The songs are confident, but they’re also not quite sure of themselves. Of course few artists come out swinging, but it feels odd here, and I’m not entirely sure if the album’s either too amenable or not amenable enough, and whether that in itself is a good or bad thing.
But that being said, Bad Guys in Good Guises is a satisfying album. You’re still going to get something out of it, whether that be enjoyment, sadness, relation, or just a plain old nodding along. You’re gonna get something that is fun in places, relaxed in others and, overall, the right kind of moody. The instruments are always fitting and right in each section; the vocals sound comfortable with how they’re expressing and how they fit with the other instruments.
On top of that it’s plenty hooky too, but without necessarily thrusting the hooks into your face, and that’s appreciable. Bad Guys in Good Guises isn’t big or small; it’s finding the right spot for expression, and it gets itself across well enough. Can it use some more work? Yeah, sure, but it works as it is and it makes for a decent spin.