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Mountain Building with Hyatari

Gray and such.I’ve only been to West Virginia once in my life; I was about 12 years old. Even at that tender, pubescent age, when hormones had me thinking of little other than boobies (so much has changed), I was able to look around and notice that it was the whitest place I’d ever seen. White people, everywhere. 95.99 percent Caucasian, according to the 2005 census as quoted on Wikipedia. It was one pale-ass state.

But these aren’t the rich white motherfuckers who made a rectal dartboard of our economy and stole our retirements out from under us to give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses. These are coal miners, who’ve been screwed over by the same powers that be since the days of the robber barons. They’ve hollowed out their beautiful stretch of Appalachia and have what exactly to show for it? Bosses with cash enough to get the best PR out of each and every mine collapse.Focus!

The inherent conflict of their home state and working man’s frustration is evident in the instrumental post-doom offerings of Huntington, West Virginia trio Hyatari (all white). Originally brought to prominence with the helping hand of a 2005 reissue of their self-released 2004 album, The Light Carriers by Earache Records subsidiary Code:Breaker, the band soon found themselves in similar straits as labelmates Figure of Merit, Abandon and Zatokrev. When the label project went under, so did they. Hyatari were off the map.

With the late 2008 release of They Will Surface — sounds as much like a warning as an assurance, doesn’t it? — Hyatari reemerged through Caustic Eye Productions with six extended suns that never set; each track droning its way into and out of and back into oblivion like sheets of universe crashing into each other. It is hypnotic and disturbing.

Guitarist/bassist/sequencer Chris Tackett, Brett Fuller, credited in the album’s liner notes with “sounds,” and guitarist/keyboardist/sequencer Mac Walker (the trio has since added live drummer/Moog player Jude Blevins to become a four-piece) move deftly between bleak, almost minimalist atmospheres and crushing heaviness. As the opening title track segues into the 15:43 “Abyssal Plain,” the tension built until the latter cut opens itself up at 4:23 is palpable. By the time “Mountain Lit with Fire” and “Prolonged Exposure” have played out, however the back and forth between heavy and ambient begins to feel somewhat predictable.

Either hindered or not (perspective depending) by a lack of vocals, Hyatari are free to create songs without having to worry about traditional structures. The versatility in their approach begins to broadcast itself a lilltle too brazenly, but that doesn’t stop the riff led in by the drums 7:58 into “Prolonged Exposure” from being the best on They Will Surface. It does, however, make me wonder why the momentum has to end so abruptly 1:39 into the next song, “Eight Feet of Ash.”

In a way, they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t. If they didn’t switch between heavy and not, they’d be one-dimensional and boring. As closer “By the Throne” relies on a progression that should be familiar to anyone who has experienced Neurosis‘ “Stones from the Sky” — I have a theory that the entire post-metal genre is just trying to recreate the closing segment of that song; remind me to tell you about it sometime — the affect is anything but boring, but Hyatari do give the sense that they could be doing more with their sound. They Will Surface is refreshing in that I’m glad to know the band is still out there after the unfortunate Code:Breaker circumstance, but as their genre has grown without them in the five years since their last release, it’s clear they’re going to have to foster some serious growth next time around. Hopefully that won’t be half a decade from now.

A good tiny photographer is so hard to find.

Free Download of Hyatari Covering “Autopilot” by Seam

Hyatari on MySpace

Caustic Eye Productions

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