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Oct 28, 2016 Web Exclusive By Marty Hill

A little over a year ago, Marching Church were one of the most unforgiving, scathing, and totally unhinged bands on the planet. Arguably, 2015’s The World Is Not Enough was an extension of the vehement frustration that Elias Bender Rønnenfelt’s other band, Iceage, are built around; it allowed Rønnenfelt total sonic freedom to despair within. Here, he draws from his work with Vår-crafting an inherently free and oddly infectious LP.

There’s a stark frankness to Telling It Like It Is, as the title suggests, that makes for an exhausting but rewarding listen. Amid sprawling, ambitious song structures that find an immersive middle-ground between David Bowie’s Blackstar and Vår’s blueprint, Rønnenfelt is at his most transparent. “I can hardly recognize the place I grew up to know” he snarks on “Inner City Pigeon,” his delivery as attention-demanding as it has always been. Often, the band (featuring members of Lower, Iceage, and Hand of Dust) threaten dystopian outros before reeling back to a more collected chaos just in time. In stark contrast to last year’s effort, Marching Church have learnt to restrain their pandemonium in the name of melody-and are well on their way to becoming experimental rock flag-bearers. (www.marchingchurch.bandcamp.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10