Like DJ Assault mixing Ministry’s ‘Psalm 69‘ with the soundtrack music from Silent Hill, as far as buzz-bands go, Salem are the Yin to Sleigh Bells’ Yang. Whereas both bands take elements of rock, hip-hop, r‘n’b and dance and put them through the distortion shredder, Salem dispense with the latter band’s shrill gaiety to create an eerily swirling crunk sound bloggers have dubbed “witch house”. Rave horns echo like WW2 sirens being played on a fucked-up ghetto blaster while the cast of House Of 1000 Corpses do their best Gucci Mane impressions - an interesting, if perhaps slightly contrived, oddity.
6/10
Words by Charlie Frame