After a few listens to Chronicles, the MeteorCity debut from Stockholm‘s New Keepers of the Water Towers, it came as no surprise to learn that the hour-long full-length is actually made up of two previously released EPs. The two halves of the album — The Chronicles of Iceman and Chronicles of the Massive Boar — sound just different enough to be really distinguishable from each other, and since each offers a different take on post-Mastodon beast metal, it’s almost like you’re listening to a split between two bands, rather than one whole album.

This obviously has its ups and downs, but you should know what you’re getting into. Fortunately, neither EP sucks. 2008’s The Chronicles of Iceman, being the second New Keepers of the Water Towers (they were just New Keepers at the time) release, builds on the rudimentary beginnings of the band, while Chronicles of the Massive Boar (2007) has a sound that could be a mastered demo of the utmost quality. The kind of band you’d hear and want to sign, capsizing their tales of mythical beasts with powerful, raw chugging riffs and rhythms to strain your neck. Since all three members of the band — guitarist Rasmus Booberg, drummer Tor Sj?d?n and second guitarist Victor Berg (they’ve since added Albin R?nnblad Ericsson on bass) — contribute vocals, there is plenty of variety in the delivery throughout both, from Troy Sanders-style clean speaking/singing to caveman growls and periodic builds where it’s everything at once.

Predictably, my standout picks for The Chronicles of Iceman are its longer songs, which feel more developed in general. “Pursuit of Yeti,” “Rise of the Lizard King” and “Flight of the Reptilians” have a broader spectrum that hints at songwriting grown from the music on Chronicles‘ second half. “Rise of the Lizard King” might be the most Swedish of the bunch, but the guitars on “Flight of the Reptilians” show more diversity. Shorter tracks like bruising opener “Awrecktion,” doomy instrumental “Scientists and the Man of Ice,” and the jazzy closer “New Sleepers” break up the pace and show again that there’s more to New Keepers of the Water Towers than just Remission-isms and tales of monsters. They call themselves “dwelling beastrock,” and that sounds about right, but especially on The Chronicles of Iceman, they display a maturation into something more encompassing than simply that.

The eight tracks that make up Chronicles of the Massive Boar don’t quite have the same aural thickness as their predecessors in the track list. You can hear the missing bass (though the affect of that is just to make me look forward more to hearing Ericsson on their next release) than on The Chronicles of Iceman, though that in no way stops the breakdown 2:47 into “Giant Subway Beast” from making a toothpick of your spine. I’ll again use the word “raw” particularly to describe Chronicles‘ side B, and with more uniform track times, it’s clear to see that between 2007 and 2008, they worked hard to develop a sound more their own and more progressive. That said, “The Strafing Lobster,” “The Three Headed Cow,” “The Monument,” and my personal favorite, “The Knowledgeable Kangaroo” have an appeal unique unto themselves. “The Strafing Lobster” shows off a brief Neurosis-style multiple vocal part (think “Falling Unknown”) and “The Three Headed Cow” has a raspy, bluesy groove in many ways indicative of New Keepers of the Water Towers‘ then-nascent commitment to being more than just the sum of their influences.

Capped by “Fall of the Massive Boar” parts one and two, the latter the longest track on all of Chronicles at just over eight minutes, Chronicles of the Massive Boar proves itself to be worthy of inclusion on this first MeteorCity release and an interesting comparison point for The Chronicles of Iceman. However you feel about beast metal, New Keepers of the Water Towers have some riffs that are simply undeniable and show the potential for something really remarkable in whatever form their next outing may take, be it EP or full-length. And in the meantime, Chronicles rocks, which is pretty good too.

New Keepers of the Water Towers on MySpace

MeteorCity

Tags: MeteorCity, New Keepers of the Water Towers, Sweden

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 at 8:32 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.