Sponge Face The Last Curtain Without Sounding Finished On "Recuerda Tu Muerte"
Written By: Big C
A final album should sound like an ending. Sponge refuse that instruction. On Recuerda Tu Muerte, the Detroit band’s thirteenth and final studio record, the guitars still push forward as if another stage is waiting down the highway. The title translates to "remember your death, but the ten-song set is less a funeral than a hard look at what deserves to survive. Vin Dombroski and Andy Patalan produced the album at ATP Studios and House Of Tone Studios, with engineering by Patalan and James Simonson. Songs such as Lead Gods, Lost Pilots and Clearing All The Vultures Away carry violence, grief and self-preservation without reducing those subjects to slogans. Even at the finish line, Sponge sound like a working band rather than a monument to one. Dombroski describes:
It almost feels like we’ve got another shot, in a way. It’s the willingness of the guys in the band to get in the van and do this. Everybody gets along real well; they’re talented guys and decent people and willing to get into the vehicle. A lot of bands don’t do it like that anymore, but we still are able and willing to do it.
Jon Dunivant created the cover artwork, photographed by Sal Rodriguez, extending the mortality theme into the visual frame. That willingness is audible in the band’s attack. The drums and guitars move with the blunt clarity of players who have spent decades learning which accents matter. Dense distortion never erases the center of the beat, so the songs retain forward motion even when the subject matter gets heavy. The vocal sits inside the band instead of floating above it, giving the record the feeling of five people pushing the same phrase. Watch the official video to "Self Inflicted Loss" created with Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, play the album front to back, and then see the band on tour with Candlebox while this final chapter is still happening in real time. Be sure to follow Sponge on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, and YOUTUBE.
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