Photo by Matthew Isaac

There's something to be said for big, memorable rock anthems. Especially when, like Evangelicals' "Skeleton Man", they rely on more than U2 fakebooks and a shit ton of reverb to make them that way. From the Oklahoma rockers' upcoming sophomore LP, The Evening Descends, "Skeleton Man" does have megachurch reverb aplenty, but its resounding melody, haunted lyrics, and constant assortment of well-placed details-- here a cymbal crash, there a video-game synth bleep or a patter of hand percussion, everywhere vibrato-rich guitar fills-- put meat on its stadium-ready bones. Even as lockstep guitars, bass, and four-on-the-floor drumming steady us enough to pull out our lighters, a gust of Halloween-like howls (or are those voices only laughing?) keeps the flames out, the room dark, and the mood uneasy.

"Skeleton Man" has been the title of at least two books and one awful-sounding 2004 movie. The books seem to cite a Native American legend, but it's unclear whether there's any connection. If the lyrics here are somewhat cryptic, though, the emotion behind them is easy to understand. Occasionally joined by female backing vocals, singer and guitarist Josh Jones' lofty voice has a Robert Smith tremulousness to it-- see Black Kids or Shout Out Louds-- and is just as likely to get drenched in distortion as lifted to a falsetto. "Someone loves you very much," Jones shouts at the song's climax. The words are fuzzed out almost beyond comprehension, but the idea-- and the execution-- helps make for a big, memorable, and slightly strange rock anthem just the same.