Blood Meridian And The Last Pale Light In The West.

Not since the seventies has a successful and respectable theme album been put on the table by any band, with the exception of possibly Queensryches "Operation Mindcrime" which was more of a rock circus than a serious attempt at respectability. However, Lucero frontman and respected solo artist Ben Nichols has been infected by the Theme album fever and the result "The Last Pale Light In The West" is a musical journey through the character setting of "Blood Meridian" by author Cormac McCarthy. This record is a true jewel delivered to us by a prolific songwriter and genius minded icon of alt-country-punk. Ben Nichols creates a musical backdrop on this record that screams of tumbleweeds and dust devil driven windstorms creating a tone that drives the whole record from creative beginning to dark embittered end. There are true glimpses of brilliance on this record. Mysterious juxtapositions and devilish darkness is unveiled in this novel and Nichols captures the mood by lending his sad murky vocal stylings along side a moody 1800's western movie soundtrack. This record could have ended up being a stretch for Nichols. Undertaking a theme albulm has proved destructive for many an ambitious artist. There are hundreds of fall on their face attempts at this endeavor; Including huge artists such as KISS, Micheal Jackson(whose thriller album broke from the intended purpose of being a theme album), to Black Sabbath's "Technical Ecstasy". This record captures the true spirit of what a theme album should encompass and also solidifies Ben Nichols as a true Artist and songwriter of our time. http://rcrdlbl.com/artists/Ben_Nichols/music#The_Last_Pale_Light_in_the_West