Black Heart Procession with 90 Day Men and And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead

On paper, the music of the Black Heart Procession sounds promising: musical saw, toy piano, sheet metal, pump organ, waterphone, Moog. Sounds like the tools Tom Waits or Nick Cave would use to call forth the dead and exorcise the demons, and that's exactly what the BHP seem to be attempting on their second release, cleverly titled 2 (Touch and Go). But to succeed in doing this, it seems, you need some gravel in your voice, some junk in your veins or a pure mean streak, and though the Procession may indeed have one or two of these traits, they aren't apparent. Vocalist Pall A. Jenkins (who, along with fellow Black Heart man Tobias Nathaniel, used to be in San Diego punk-jerkers Three Mile Pilot) sounds, well, a bit wimpy when he sings, and it may be tough to blame him for the size of his vocal cords (though that's exactly what we're doing), the result sounds unconvincing. They sure can make a din, though, and maybe if he shot his voice through a distortion box or planted a few polyps down there he'd sound more dangerous. Could be a great show. Could suck.