Gossip Collar’s debut release entices us into a deliciously realised, gothic draped embrace as the Boston band deftly layer post-punk and death rock influences to darkly infectious effect.

The rhythm section sets a satisfyingly propulsive base, while the guitars segue seamlessly from hypnotically serpentine melodies to more robust riffs amid the eerily swelling synths.  But it is, perhaps, the vocals which seal the deal.  Stridently melodic with a playful archness, they unfurl dark fairy tale imagery of foreboding forests, spectral apparitions, and pursuing bloodhounds.  Even Dorian Gray makes an appearance.  A keen sense of the macabre manifests itself lyrically in expressions such as ‘I’m breakfast for the baby’ and ‘Why does he have no head?’.

A richly haunting atmosphere is conjured and, in tandem with the spectral artwork, it serves to evoke a sense of feverishly plunging back to Victorian times.  Indeed, the lyrics to Midnight Ride are based on the writings of 19^th century English writer Sabine Baring-Gould.  This sense is further amplified by the band’s name, gossip collars having been, I believe, another name for bridal scolds, an iron muzzle used as punishment in the workhouses, mostly for women deemed to be too outspoken.

Personal highlights are the surging opener Breakfast (for the baby) – the moment just before the climatic chorus when everything drops out bar the bass drum and pulsing synths gets me every time – and the ineffably contagious Shallow Eyes, with its killer chorus line of ‘He found the devil on the sideline’ soaring above a crystalline lead guitar and cymbal awash drums.