ALBUM REVIEW: Two Shadows – Hoaxed
Just like slasher flicks throwing up jump scares that have you hopping behind your sofa for safety, nothing beats an album that suddenly surprises you. Whilst Portland duo HOAXED’s debut offering Two Shadows’ titular opener offers the rustling wind, glistening chimes, and choral harmonising you’d find familiar with power metal, the gloomy doom-pop that unfolds in just half an hour is nothing short of spellbinding.
Whilst The Call plays it safe straight out of the gate, driving home psychedelic doom rock like a pizza delivery driver soundtracking their trips to BLACK SABBATH and FLEETWOOD MAC, it’s The Knowing where vocalist Kat Keo and drummer Kim Coffel start shooting spells into your eardrums. It’s rumbling, lo-fi mixing makes their gothic rock dream-poppy; Coffel’s heartbeat-pumping drum fills trick you into headbanging delirium as Keo’s honey-soaked harmonies lure you in like a siren at sea. From here on in, you’re a sucker for these witches.
HOAXED make music to haunt you. For Love’s unrelenting tick-tocking sets the scene, whilst its echoing, fading harmonies simultaneously whisper like poltergeists and scream like banshees in the night. High Sea’s churning waves and church organs channel 80s DIO before terraforming into an episode of What If where ABBA danced with the devil to create doom-pop. And Guilty Ones‘ Americana twang, choral vocals and cinematic sound bleed into a double-bass blur that feels like you’re watching angels waltz through a gunfight.
Lingering like the ghosts of lost loved ones, there’s a sinking feeling that settles in at times that HOAXED haven’t quite found their true sound yet. Sure, they can pen doom-pop bangers until the cows come home, but when they cross over the three-minute threshold, they wobble under the weight. Where Good Won’t Go hints at where HOAXED may journey next, but should stay clear of, as the five-minute odyssey fails to take flight from its rootsy guitars and rolling drums, dragging the pace down with it.
However, where Two Shadows truly succeeds in introducing you to HOAXED’s coven of doom-pop is the way Keo and Coffel harmonise like they’re opening the heavens, letting their lyrical wonder lead you through their labyrinth. The hypnotising whirl of “Would you die for love? Would you kill for love?” throughout For Love lingers like melting chocolate, leaving you under their spell, and joining their cult. It’s a trick they trickle out across the album to alarming effect, and it’s all the better for it.
On Two Shadows, HOAXED deliver a doom-pop manifesto made to haunt your ears for days, months, maybe even years. This isn’t a debut, this is a collection of bangers you can’t be without.
Rating: 8/10
Two Years is set for release on October 28th via Relapse Records.
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