Buckle up buckaroos because this one is going to take you on a raucous trip. There are some bands, a rare quality nowadays, that can make you feel the energy and presence of a live show just from their studio recordings. Void Pleasantries are one such outfit and "When in Rome" is packed with moments that made me feel like I was standing 10 feet from a black-painted, foot high stage and leaning against a slightly sticky wall with a drink heavy in my hand.
Sometimes "rock" can be such a broad category that it's often hard to pin down where a band fits on the spectrum from, say, The National to The Hives to The Eagles, but Void Pleasantries wear their influences on their sleeves. That's not to say they don't also keep a few tricks up them. Most songs fit into the fun-loving, heavy and grooving beats of bands like Franz Ferdinand and The Killers with hefty guitar tones, dance-inducing drums, a solid layer of bass glueing it all together, and very earwormy vocal lines with simple (though not simplistic) repeatable lyrics. At crucial moments, however, they break up the track list with something a bit different. Be the Hunted operates on a Cranberries-esque build from moody acoustic to a driving chorus; Lose My Mind pulls in some grunge influence (and has my favorite guitar intro on the album); From Afar wraps up the album with thoughtful construction that reminds me of REM or even a more straightforward Rush tune. As an album it works brilliantly with delightful pacing again reminding of the ebb and flow built into a live set.
The production too is stellar: each song gets its own characteristic while still forming a recognizable cohesive whole. Most fascinating in this regard is Retract, sitting right in the middle of the album. At first it felt like something was wrong with my speakers; where is the fierce presence of the instruments that made the first half of the album so powerful and fun? But as it continued I realized the band had "retracted" their sound, as if they had withdrawn into themselves while recording to get their point across just that much more.
I could likely wax poetic about this for another few hundred words but I think I've made my point: if you like capital-R Rock music (especially live), having fun, and jamming out you should put this record on without delay. In fact, I'm doing it again right now.