If you’ve ever heard a Minsk album, then you know the Chicago post-metal four-piece don’t do anything without it being packed tight. They slam more sounds into their songs than ever on their third full-length (second for Relapse), With Echoes in the Movement of Stone, offering a more varied take on the rich and darkly psychedelic crushing ambience that has become their signature sound over the course of these last several years and albums The Ritual Fires of Abandonment (2007) and Out of a Center Which is Neither Dead Nor Alive (2005).

Change can be felt particularly in the vocals of guitarist Christopher Bennett, who works more than isolated shouting into his arsenal on songs like opener “Three Moons” and later cut “Crescent Mirror.” Timothy Mead‘s keyboard work is also higher in the mix, lending a progressive dynamism to “The Shore of Transcendence,” which at 9:59 and with a plethora of mood and tempo changes, is practically an album in itself. Bassist/vocalist Sanford Parker, who has produced all three of Minsk‘s LPs (as well as records for Pelican when they were good, Yakuza, Nachtmystium and half of the Windy City), outdoes himself in both performance and in capturing the nuances in these songs. The building of tension has never been more confidently accomplished by the band as it is here.

Drummer Tony Wyioming is a big part of that accomplishment, taking his heralded tribal rhythms to new levels of complexity, speed and precision. In “The Shore of Transcendence,” beneath the chanting multi-part vocal harmonies, he makes his home jumping from tom to tom stopping only to crash a cymbal or five and propel the song forward. With Echoes in the Movement of Stone shows more emotional diversity than anything Minsk has done before, as the rumbling, feedbacking undercurrent of “Almira’s Premonition” demonstrates. Less visceral than past outings, but with more depth, the album is a crucial moment for the band and genre alike, definitively stating there’s more to this sound than just pulling a “lather, rinse, repeat” on Isis‘ Oceanic or Through Silver in Blood by Neurosis.

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The remarkably prolific alter ego of traditional doomers Revelation, Baltimore trio Against Nature take a much different approach, pulling together elements of classic, unpretentious prog, ambient rock, psychedelia and mellow riffers to create a style both unique and amorphous. On their two records from 2008 — note that to date they have a full-length and an EP out in 2009 as well — Natural Blue and Accumulus, both self-released through the band’s own Bland Hand Records, Against Nature journey through a varied landscape of considered rock and roll, at times offering a Brant Bjork-style smoothness (as on Natural Blue opener “Sonic Tonic”) and at times tripping their way into a great mostly-instrumental beyond (as on Accumulus‘ “All in Motion”). Whatever sound they’re adopting, though, a consistency in tone and production ties each of the records to themselves and each other. There is a definite Against Nature sound, and it’s complex.

Both of the albums, as well as the 12 other releases the band has issued since 2005, are available for free download on the Against Nature website, and physical pressings of each are limited to 90 copies that come with hand-made covers signed by guitarist/vocalist John Brenner in gorgeous designs that jpegs fail to do justice. Obviously this is not a band with high commercial aspirations. Rather, what shines through on Accumulus and Natural Blue is a genuine love for the creative process. Memorable riffs pervade cuts like “NOS” and “Normal Nihilists,” linking the two albums together, but Accumulus has a more progressive feel than its predecessor, which is emblematic of the drive and willingness to experiment fueling the band on in place of mainstream notoriety, fame or a large cash flow. They do it to do it. If they didn’t enjoy it, there would be no reason to continue.

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Being a nerd for Ufomammut and all things Malleus in general, I thought this tidbit of relevant news about the band Incoming Cerebral Overdrive and their new album Controverso on the Supernatural Cat label might be of interest. Dig it:

In 2003, the band released a self-produced demo that helped break them quickly into the local show circuit and also in the media, earning the Top Demo from Metal Hammer magazine and more. In August 2006 their debut album CEREBRAL heART (recorded at Fear Studio, mixed by Kurt Ballou) was released on Italian label Myphonic Records, gaining the band quite a bit of attention all over Europe.

Now it’s time for Controverso? the next evolution in ICO?s destructive lineage. Controverso represents a new impulse of uncontrollable nature. Constructed of eight tracks, the album evolves through a conscious musical growing, breathing with the innovative soul of avant-garde music. Originating from the Mastodonic approach to the riff, wholly rooted in a hardcore attitude, and overall developing in something rather unique and multiform, their furious dynamics, searing vocals, 70s Italian prog reminiscence, and psychedelic aesthetic show ICO?s will to experiment on continuously mutating song structures.

Track list:
1. Reflections
2. Oxygen
3. Controversial
4. Science
5. Magic
6. Sound
7. Colours
8. There

Controverso will be released in September in a very limited edition packaging, hand-printed by Malleus, with colored LP and CD.

They might look like they could use a sandwich or two, but Brooklyn trio Stats (formerly known as Stay Fucked) specialize in a dense, sludgy brand of technical instrumetal, like a less outwardly intense early Dillinger Escape Plan or what forgotten Minnesota tribe Figure of Merit pulled off so capably on their equally forgotten Vatic record, and so their indie garb is a kind of disguise from which the sonic nastiness emerges. Very sneaky, you thick-framed strategists.

Be that as it may or may not — and even if it isn’t, I like the narrative so I’m keeping it — the three-song CD the band sent in for review came with little fanfare, no art, no track listing and no real explanation; just a black CDR, a short bio and an email address. Under normal circumstances (i.e., if they sucked), I probably would have put it in the pile to be eventually filed away, never to be heard again, but my curiosity was roused by the crashing noisy rhythms of the first track and I’ve gone back for multiple repeat listens since, each time hearing something new from Stats that I’d missed previously.

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And that’s not just their first NYC show, it’s their first show ever, which just happens to be in NYC. If you missed it, Moth Eater were interviewed here a little while back. They’ve since gotten a singer and have begun the grand process of playing out. Good stuff, here’s the info:

MOTH EATER
THE FIRST SHOW
June 5
ACE OF CLUBS
Great Jones Street
New York Rock City
10:00 PM
$10 To Enter
21 & Over (Get A Fake ID)
Bring Your Drinking Shoes — It’s Going To Be? A Party

Exclusive Merch — ONLY 50 Shirts Made To Celebrate This Event

www.myspace.com/motheater667

Someone told me salt water air is a natural remedy, so I’ve left the valley for a weekend cure on the shore of the Long Island Sound in hopes of reducing the swelling and discomfort still lingering after Monday’s wisdom teeth removal. Of course, since most of my ideas about health come from the 19th Century (bacon cures tuberculosis!), it’s a crapshoot as to whether or not it will work. I still have some vicodin should the need for it arise.

Since the weather here today is the most beautiful thing I’ve seen since the weather here yesterday, and since in times of sunshine and heat my mind automatically gets visions of German psychedelic rockers Colour Haze, I give you the below video, shot at this year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands. I was upstairs on the 013 Popcentrum balcony when they played this version of “Sundazed” from 2003’s Los Sounds de Krauts. Enjoy

Heavy on the noise, heavy on the proclamations, heavy on the vocals and just plain heavy, the self-released (through their Black Rabbit Rebellion imprint) third album from The Long and Short of It, Caw!: An Unkindness of Ravens follows a path of classic hardcore abrasiveness from its very first second, in which singer Ben Johnson (also of Hostile Comb-Over) — who spends much of his time so prominent in the mix that it’s hard to hear what’s going on behind him — demands to know, “Hey, are you receiving me?!”

Loud and clear, buddy.

His band’s transmissions emanating from San Diego with a specifically West Coast skatepunk mentality, Johnson is a creature sans subtlety. Most vocalists sing on disc and front on stage, but there’s no doubt about who’s fronting The Long and Short of It here. The riffs behind him would stand out with a Helmet kind of memorability, delivered in palettes from guitarist Matthew Strachota, but like a younger Jello Biafra less concerned with being annoying than being heard, Johnson is never dominated in the mix. His vocals stand separate from the rest of the band and the music becomes a backdrop for his wordy (which I can appreciate) ranting.

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Already in the last eight months or so we’ve seen MeteorCity?expand its branding, name and reach beyond the long-stated conceptions of stoner rock, acquiring and promoting acts like Farflung, Elder, Eighteen Wheels Burning?and Leeches of Lore. Braving the international scene, they now release the recently-reviewed Chronicles, by Swedish?beast metal outfit, New Keepers of the Water Towers.

And a beastly outfit they are indeed. Chronicles being comprised of two previously-issued EPs — 2007’s Chronicles of the Massive Boar?and 2008’s The Chronicles of Iceman?– listeners are granted an insider’s view of the band’s early evolution. Guitarist/lead vocalist Rasmus Booberg?took some time out the other day for a quick interview about the beginnings of?New Keepers of the Water Towers, signing to MeteorCity?and what sort of monsters they might conjure in the future. Q&A and some reading music after the jump.

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