Search - Vigilantes of Love :: Slow Dark Train

Excellent!

David Bennett | Ohio, United States | 01/04/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a most excellent CD. I actually bought this after I bought 'To the Roof of the Sky' and found it unlike that CD in many ways. Initially I only liked a few of the songs. After I listened to it a few times I loved it as much as 'Roof.' My favorites are 'Judas Skin' and 'Hang on Every Word.' The songs are haunting and melancholic, much like 'To the Roof...' but in a different way."

Groaning, growling, snarling, yet thoughtful VOL

jovaldo | 04/09/2000

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This album came as a shock to many longtime VOL fans. The opening chords of "Locust Years" are thunderous & pounding (very bass heavy.) Its not until track 4 "Only a Scratch" that the more melodic and folky side of VOL appears on this album. There are some fantastic, challenging songs on this album. Lead singer/songwriter/guitarist Bill Mallonee's words are just as potent as ever, and I like this album because I feel it contains some of his most challenging lyrics. Tracks like "Version of the Truth," "Sitting," "Willingly" and "Judas Skin" will shake you to the core if you deal honestly with yourself. With Mallonee, however, there's always balance. Hope is evident with songs like "All the Mercy We Have Found," & "Only a Scratch." The heaviness of this album is indicitive of the turmoil the band was experiencing during this time (record company troubles, etc...) Even in situations like that Mallonee is able to work his typical magic. I like to think of his philosophy as... "When life hands you a pile of crud, sculpt something beautiful out of it.""

VOL's "angry" record

Michial Farmer | Toccoa Falls, GA United States | 10/18/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Vigilantes of Love frontman Bill Mallonee has called Slow Dark Train his "testament to despair," and it fits. When the record isn't raging against corrupt record labels, false friends, and human nature itself, it finds Mallonee weeping in a motel room over his own fallenness and inability to follow the truth.The opening triumverate--"Locust Years," "Tokyo Rose," "Black Crow"--is about is hard and angry as VOL is ever likely to be, but from there, the band retreats back into more identifiable territory with the Dylan-esque "Only a Scratch." Some songs work--"Points of My Departure" is a winner, and "Judas Skin" is Mallonee's most heartbreaking song to date--and some don't, like the painfully misplaced remake of "Love Cocoon" and "Hang on Every Word," which just can't decide where it's going. Still, Slow Dark Train is a fine album, and while the first-time listener will be better off with Killing Floor or Blister Soul, they should come to this one third."