by Erik Myers
Once the promising side-act of Wolf Parade frontman Spencer Krug, Sunset Rubdown represented the best in clean-shaven weirdness with two spectacular full-lengths, each released within two years. Both albums, especially 2007’s Random Spirit Lover, were as fun as prog-rock could be. It’s important to distinguish Sunset Rubdown as a member of the fuller operatic realm of the genre; not of the dizzying synth guitar/percussion solos but of the full-throated epics that were popularized in the 70’s with the likes of singularly named artists like Meatloaf.
Dragonslayer keeps the show going, but before the mid-point is even reached, one can’t help but gaze longingly at their clock and hope the end isn’t too far off. Dragonslayer is a pouty drama from the get-go with “Silver Moons”, the slick standout of the album. Krug’s voice quivers with disappointment, but in a way that suggests a silver lining to the fact that “Maybe these days are over, over now.” The album then stales out, a long deluge of scratchy guitars and uninspired pageantry with bits of orchestrated brilliance exploding out from the calm every now and then, such as in the tense “Black Swan.”
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