Even Sain†s Sin by FOR †HE VIRGIN MARY

I first heard For The Virgin Mary some months ago off a link to their bandcamp page. I listened a bit, downloaded it, put it on my mp3 player, and forgot about it. Shortly thereafter, I was on a roadtrip listening to my mp3 player on shuffle, and the first song "I Am What I Am' came on and I thought, what the fuck is this really heavy shit I don't remember having? I looked at the screen, ah it's Bootsie, cool.

No Work Records has just put out For The Virgin Mary's cassette, "Even Saints Sin". It is heavy, blown out lo-fi, punk and sometimes alternative nineties sounding.

"I Am What I Am" starts off heavy and powerful, plodding to a feedback laden transition into super distorted punk. I like that the chord progression reminds me of Wire's "Ahead".

"I Can't Feel" has an early Cure bass guitar vibe, nicely juxtaposed with "Institutionalized" kind of vocals. "

Noise To Fill The Void" is a pretty and undulating shortish piece.

"To Sleep And To Dream" is very low-fi sounding with sad, soft, pretty vocals that remind me a bit of The Primitives.

"Don't See" barges forward like an anthem for crashing cars. As distorted as it is, it still manages to have an underlying softness to it. One of my favorite tracks.

The title track, "Even Saints Sin", has a kind of nineties alternative vibe to it. It is shoegazey and sad yet is uptempo.

"I'm Not Proud Of Anything" is like a steam train busting through a wall. It would be a great song for fast dancing. It's another favorite.

"I Am Nothing" is sad, slow, acoustic, low-fi. It reminds me of early Guided By Voices, and I love GBV, so that's good. At the end of the tape there is an untitled, pretty, reversed, noise collage piece. It has nice textures and ends with a patiently building, ambient swell.

Great Tape

by Beatriz Monteavaro, August 2013