The Afghan Whigs – How Do You Burn?

There are right ways and wrong ways to do epic emotion....
The Afghan Whigs : How Do You Burn?
8.1 BMG
2022 
The Afghan Whigs : How Do You Burn?

There are right ways and wrong ways to do epic emotion. Too often, it comes off as overdone pleading, as if just adding to the volume and instrumentation will add to the emotion, a ‘more is more’ approach that overwhelms the listener. But then there’s the times when just the right level of sonic power is combined with emotional power, such as The Afghan Whigs’ How Do You Burn?.

While Burn starts with the driving rock of “I’ll Make You See God”, it’s not all thrusting frontman Greg Dulli. There’s the world-weary & -wise Whigs of “Please, Baby, Please”, not to mention the strong, growing presence of slow burn “Concealer”. And even when Dulli & co. get slyer, such as on “The Getaway” & “Catch a Colt”, it’s with a darker, ominous nature.

Once of the nineties Seattle nineties grunge scene, The Afghan Whigs are by now many years into their twenty-first century reunion (Burn is their first album not on famed grunge imprint Sub Pop in this century/millennium). Yet they’re still putting out some great music, doing it the right way.

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