The story of Salem is an interesting one to say the least. It’s not often that you find a band as universally maligned among indie circles as this group of Michiganites, although it’s perhaps with good reason. Just one look at the infamous youtube video of their Fader Fort performance should be enough to make one want to avoid them at all costs, but I was slightly intrigued. I knew that I was seeing them at their worst, and as a young band they would surely step it up on their first full length, and step it up they did. From the opening moments of King Night it’s very clear that Salem is serious business this time, operatic samples and all. Their brand of dark electronica, when done right, is every bit as pulverizing and intense as a Health or a Crystal Castles even though they’re playing at tempos nearly half of what these other bands might play at.

Herein lies the beauty of witch house, or the since shunned (for obvious reasons) genre tag rapegaze, it takes the distorted electronic intensity of these bands and slows it down and distills it to its basest elements. Harsh synth sounds and basic beats abound but it’s no clearer than on the surprising shock rap track “Trapdoors”. See, rapping seems like it wouldn’t be part of Salem’s M.O. but it works. The vocals are slowed down enough that it melds nicely with their typical synth layered upon synth layered upon beat formula.

Now, if any gripe can be made about King Night, it’d be that it takes getting in a certain headspace to appreciate the album. This isn’t an album to listen to at 2 PM on a Tuesday. The beats and feedback of songs like “Release Da Boar” just wouldn’t hold the same impact in the light of day. No, I think to really get this album, you need to let it envelope you in the midst of the night. This is a rare album that sounds absolutely huge over both speakers and headphones, it just might take a pretty specific mindset. It might also be said that some of this music, along with the music of its peers, is a bit homogenous. And while that’s certainly true at points, it can work. If you’re listening to this in one sitting, the flow works really well, but if you’re just looking for a handful of songs, after a while they’re going to start to sound pretty much the same unfortunately. Good thing for the sort of people who sort around for singles, there’s songs like “Redlights” that definitely stand above the rest.

Salem definitely turned some people off early, but if you can get past the bad reputation, there’s some pretty impressive stuff here. If you’re a shoegaze fan (forget all this newfangled talk of Witch House) you’ll certainly find a lot of merit, because at its heart King Night is a shoegaze album. Loud harsh music with vocals buried in the mix and covered in swaths of reverb, it just envelops you in a pretty intriguing, if somewhat disposable way.