Recorded at the Rancho De La Luna studio in Joshua Tree, California with Queens of the Stone Age producer Dave Catching, Boise’s own answer to the post-riot grrl trio Blood Lemon have unleashed their latest EP Petite Deaths on the Moon Ruins label.
Formed in 2018, the trio considers Lisa Simpson on guitar, drummer Lindsey Lloyd, and bassist Melanie Radford. The trio have a love of ‘90s alternative rock, heavy riffs, melting harmonies, and giving their sound a shiver down their spines when it comes to their arrangements.
Five tracks in, it is a real way to start 2025 off with an eruptive cannon blast to see how these amazing women can really knock it out of the ball park. ‘Perfect Too’ sounds like a sludged-out dooming metallic approach that Lemon tackles into the world of Jex Thoth, Blood Mountain, and Candlemass. Blood Lemon are more than just an alternative band, but once Radford plays her bass near the end with its post-punk like score, you know things are just getting started.
They transform themselves into the world of Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Cure rolled into one. But with a bit of Fleetwood Mac thrown into the mix in which they channel the climax at the end of ‘The Chain’. They know their source material very well when it comes to the musical influences that kick into high gear.
When I think of the opening track ‘High Tide’ Blood Lemon have transform themselves into a melodic version of The Offspring’s ‘Self Esteem’ on this composition. You can just close your eyes and imagine its 1995 all over again, and this track is blaring through the speakers at record stores, high school graduations, and driving into a new life with you standing up in your car, singing to the gods, knowing that you’re free from all of the stress you went through.
‘Her Shadow’ introduces a late ‘60s psychedelic ominous admiration which sounds like a song that was cut out of The Doors breakout 1967 sole self-titled debut release as they honour the poet, lyricist, and mastermind of the group, Jim Morrison before ascending to the top of the sky with its uplifting sequences and pumped-up guitar styles on ‘Mountain’r Lower’.
Closing track ‘Mudlark’ introduces an eerie shriek of someone going through the brink of collapse as if the past and present are coming back to haunt you as you fell into the abyss even more with haunting images coming to life in its kaleidoscopic form. Another way to bring in the new year with some killer, true-to-form sounds that is needed.
