Four Minute Man – The Beast Is Gone (Review)

“The Beast Is Gone” is the second album of the Latvian band Four Minute Man. The band released their debut Devil Inspired in February 2020. The quintet consists of two guitars, bass, drums and a keyboard. 10 songs with roughly 47 minutes of playtime can be found on the album. With 7:30min., “Dance on my Grave” is the longest track on the album, “Seven Sins” marks the shortest one at 2:58min. That’s all about the facts.

Overall Four Minute Man are a band who seem to have found their sound. “The Beast Is Gone” sounds like a “one-piece” album. Maybe one or another is missing some variety here and there, on the other hand, if you like the sound, you’ll be happy. Roberts Strautnieks screamed vocals remind me of good ol’ Lemmy Kilmister in some of his lines, with some higher pitched notes in between. I like this.

The fuzzy and crunchy guitars are quite typical for the genre, the keyboard layers in the background, mostly organ-like sounds, are an important base for the overall sound. Those of you missing the variety might not get all the smaller and bigger tempo and rhythmic changes, which make the songs, in my opinion, interesting. What I am actually missing are some melodies to remember, although there are some nice solo guitar lines.

I would recommend to listen to “Dance on my Grave” first, because this song has everything you need to know about the album. And if you like it, you can go for more. It’s one of these songs you can sit down and relax to, with a bourbon and a cigarette, layed back in the dusk. What else do you need? 😉