The Glasgow sextet, The Phantom Band [Official Site, Myspace] are set to drop their debut long player, Checkmate Savage, very soon. Our recommendation: hang outside the record store all night to score a copy. Okay, perhaps nothing that extreme, but definitely pick it up after work. The boys were good enough to send over a couple of single-worthy tracks for review, and we’re thankful for it.

The Phantom Band’s debut album Checkmate Savage is coming out January 26th on Chemikal Underground Records.

Check out some tracks and more “after the jump”

“Burial Sounds” is a throbbing, drum machine heavy romp down world music boulevard and electronic way. The lyrics are mostly spoken, a la countrymen Maximo Park’s “Acrobat,” but with a sinister underpinning that is felt more than heard. Its chorus is a wordless harmonizing goth-gospel chant layered over ethereal electric guitar. Think The Talking Heads’ “Swamp” meets science fiction theme.

“Burial Sounds” [mp3]

“Left Hand Waves” follows its predecessor’s penchant for electronics with lower register Robert Smith vocals. The Phantom Band has made claims to combining metal, electronics, and gospel while parodying bands they think suck (like Type O Negative without the cheese), and “Left Hand Waves” is axiomatic of that attitude. The plodding bass is what really carries this song, straight through “breathless” choruses and orphaned guitar riffs.

The Phantom Band’s charm comes from their treatment of their professional career as a macabre masquerade ball. The band has been known to change their names with each live performance, and shy away from photographers. Their information pages are intentionally deceptive and, combined with their goth-soaked songs, lend an air of mystery to the outfit. Lovers of Depeche Mode’s more epic tunes (and do I detect some Violent Femmes in there, as well?) will find a new set of songs to morosely head-bop to, but there is no new ground being tread here. Checkmate Savage is more a testament to doing what has already been done better, an appropriate introduction to a band with evolutionary ideas, but with no wiggle room in that regard. If The Phantom Band follows the path of bands like Radiohead, releasing a debut to pacify the masses before expanding their sound, then Richard “The Turd” Princeton and his lads will be a force to be reckoned with.

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