Mr. Gnome Has Yer Skeleton

No, Cleveland band, Mr Gnome are not a band comprised of yard ornaments with red hats and guitars. Anything but quirky and cute, this Mr. Gnome is a power duo comprised of Nicole Barile and Sam Meister who play twisted chugging rock and roll that would more than likely petrify a plastic pink flamingo. Perhaps sounding like Queens of the Stone Age, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Kills, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, all at the same time, Mr Gnome are quite capable of generating one heck of a ruckus without very little effort. With a brash and shambolic attack that's as loud as it is dangerous they threaten to raise the TSA threat level on their sophomore album, Heave Yer Skeleton.

Recorded at Josh Homme's studio, Pink Duck, and mastered by Butch Vig it should come as no surprise that much of Heave Yer Skeleton sounds like the most tense but potentially beautiful thing you've ever heard. Up and down and tossed around, Heave Yer Skeletonis like a fight that spills out into the street and ends in a bog. It's rough, raw and pure rock and roll that has a certain sex appeal to it; it's almost as if Nicole Barile is just toying with us so that she can viciously subdue us and seduce us. She's so good at it, in fact, that by about the fourth song you might as well just throw the towel in and let her have her way with you.

Heave Yer Skeleton is like listening to the Kills if they never sobered up, Siouxsie if she were metal, QOTSA if it was led by a woman. Mr. Gnome have come up with a disheveled record that's the equivalent of a hangover it's ok to have. Not overly melodic and not overly heavy, Mr. Gnome have fused Heave Yer Skeleton into something that manages to keep you questioning this record. From the strange near rockabilly pop of, "Vampires," to the discordant dirges of, "Searider Falcon," Heave Yer Skeleton is potentially the best noise, goth, math rock record you're likely to ever set your ears upon. For that very reason it's something that daring listeners who don't value their hearing will want to check out.