Posted in Whathaveyou on December 22nd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Swedish heavy rockers Långfinger continue to press the flesh in support of their 2016 third long-player and Small Stone Records debut, Crossyears (review here). This past Fall, in addition to premiering a charm-laden video for the track “Say Jupiter” (posted here), the three-piece hit the road in Germany, Belgium and the Czech Republic, and their parsing of Europe will seem to carry forward into the New Year as well with a week-long stretch of dates in Spain and Catalonia.
The run kicks off March 10 in Barcelona at Red Sun Fest, put on by Red Sun Records. I haven’t seen a full lineup for that yet, but will do my best to keep an eye out. As they finish at Dead Fest in Mallorca, they’ll join Fuzz Forward, Golgotha, El Altar del Holocausto and others across a pretty wide stylistic range. No substitute for variety.
Långfinger are also currently at work on their next record and will reportedly be tightening up new material on the road. The PR wire brings word of that and more:
LÅNGFINGER: Gothenburg Power Trio To Tour Spain This March
Gothenburg power trio LÅNGFINGER will perform a week’s worth of live dates in Spain this March. The journey will run from March 10th through March 17th. Comments the band, “We’re happy to announce that we’re heading back to Spain this spring. As we’re working on our new album, it’s hard to think of something better than to take a break and head down south. We’re looking forward to premiering a ton of new material as we’ll be frolicking our way over the peninsula!” See all confirmed shows below.
LÅNGFINGER: 3/10/2018 Red Sun Fest – Barcelona, ES 3/11/2018 Dabadaba – San Sebastian, ES 3/13/2018 La Nube Café Teatro – Bilbao, ES 3/14/2018 Sala Memphis – Gijón, ES 3/15/2018 Sala Son – Cangas De Morrazo, ES 3/16/2018 Barracudas – Madrid, ES 3/17/2018 Deadfest – Palma De Mallorca, ES
LÅNGFINGER’s latest studio offering, the ten-track Crossyears, was released last year via Small Stone.
Långfinger: Kalle Lilja – Guitars & backing vocals Victor Crusner – Bass, keys & lead vocals Jesper Pihl – Drums & backing vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 22nd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Swedish classic style heavy rockers Hypnos have signed on to release two new offerings through The Sign Records next year. The first of them is a live-in-studio session that will be out in Spring as the follow-up to their 2016 Crusher Records long-player, Cold Winds (review here), and the second is a proper next full-length, which will be issued in the Fall and will mark their third album overall and first to feature frontman Linus Johansson.
No word on whether the live-in-studio release might contain any preview of what the next album holds, but we’ve got plenty of time before we get there either way, so figure details will probably surface after the New Year. The PR wire brings the following style-statement photo and preliminary announcement of the signing and the impending releases:
Hypnos signs with The Sign Records
Hypnos signs with The Sign Records. The Gothenburg act is no stranger to those who are familiar to the contemporary Swedish rock scene. Hypnos can best be described as Heavy Rock where they cheery picked the best out of the 70´s hard rock and 80´s heavy metal scenes. The bands Swedish roots can´t be misstaken as they add heavy melodies and rock n roll energy. Hypnos have up until now been a part of Crusher Records and have done several tours in Europe and previously released two albums.
The Sign Records head of operation Kaj comments on the new signing: “We feel very excited to begin working with Hypnos. It´s without a doubt a extraordinary live band that have impact on audiences all over Europe! The band ain´t afraid of challenges and have developed with every line up change and album to the better. This is one of the true rock n roll band that still wanna make the world better with music.”
Hypnos entered the studio last weekend to record an eight track live session that will be released on vinyl and CD. It will be released during the spring of 2018. The band just completed a line-up change and this release will be the first with new singer Linus Johansson. Hypnos will tour Europe during the spring of 2018 and their next gig is on the 5th of January when the band is headlining a show at Pustervik, Gothenburg where the lineup also consist of their new label mates Märvel and Night. After the tour Hypnos will return to the studio to record a new studio album that will be released during the autumn of 2018.
The Sign records is a Swedish label working with bands as Honeymoon Disease, Lizzies, Tid, MaidaVale, Grande Royale, Night, Märvel, Svartanatt, Demon Head, Hällas among others. The label is a part of the Almost Religious label group that also holds the labels Lövely Records and Gaphals.
Hypnos: Linus Johansson – Vocals Oskar Wersäll – Guitarr Anton Frick Kallmin – Bass Pontus Isebring – Guitarr Hamus Hansson – Drums
On Feb. 16, Bible Black Tyrant will release their debut album, Regret Beyond Death, via Argonauta Records, Cheddar Brothers Records and Anima Recordings. The seven-song/43-minute onslaught of sludge extremity is the latest in a line of studio projects conceived and directed by multi-instrumentalist Aaron D.C. Edge, whose pedigree includes the 2013 outing from Lumbar that found him working with Mike Scheidt of YOB and Tad Doyle of Tad and Brothers of the Sonic Cloth — the latter of which also once counted Edge as a member — along with groups like Iamthethorn, Himsa, Dakessian, Hauler, Grievous, Roareth (whose album came out through this site’s one-time in-house label), and countless others. Dude has a long history of hopping from one project to the next.
Indeed, even as he discusses the origins of Bible Black Tyrant here, Edge notes that his next outfit, Ramprasad, is already in motion. That band will reportedly include Bible Black Tyrant collaborator David S. Fylstra, who performs guitar and contributes scathing vocals to go with Edge‘s own throughout Regret Beyond Death, while Tyler Smith rounds out the trio on drums. A process of home/self-recording — plus drum sounds captured by Andy Patterson — has resulted in massive tumults of undulating sludge; riffs like those of “New Verse Inferno” or the lurching “The Standard” constructed for largesse and atmospheric impact alike, while the title-track’s blistering noise and the alternately frenetic and crushing finale “A Terror to the Adversary” make their statement in ambience and abrasion.
Noise, noise, noise. Pummel, pummel, pummel. There’s no denying the vicious nature of the offering itself — Regret Beyond Death is brutal in style and theme and not intended to be otherwise — but as Edge notes in the interview below it was originally executed as a potential sequel to Lumbar‘s 2013 outing, The First and Last Days of Unwelcome(review here), one can hear in cuts like “The Irony” some similar flourish of melody peaking through in the guitar, through even that seems to have been twisted in service to the skin-peeling assault of the finished product of Bible Black Tyrant‘s debut.
Debut and maybe swansong? I ask Edge directly in the discussion that follows whether Bible Black Tyrant is a one-and-done showcase or a continuing band, and you’ll find his answer amid the back and forth about how the group came together, how the album was recorded, his day-to-day health status after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2013, and more. In addition to the chat, I’m thrilled to be able to host the premiere of “New Verse Inferno,” which you’ll find on the YouTube player about two lines down. Yup, it’s right there. Go ahead and dig in.
Please enjoy the song and the following Six Dumb Questions:
Bible Black Tyrant, “New Verse Inferno” track premiere
Six Dumb Questions with Bible Black Tyrant
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Tell me how Bible Black Tyrant came together. How were David and Tyler brought on board and how did the project begin to take shape?
Well, honestly, at first I wasn’t sure how transparent to be on this recording. I don’t wanna be known as “that guy who only makes studio records, without playing any live shows”… but, since my MS diagnosis (as you well know from being part of my story since it all began back in 2013 with Lumbar), playing live with musicians was not possible. But, and I’ll get to that later in this interview, there has been quite a bit of progress in my dealings with multiple sclerosis.
[Bible Black Tyrant and Lumbar were] made the same way, but this time ‘round, I had the incredible drumming of Tyler (not my own recycled kit) and the multi-talented David onboard. Andy Patterson sent me Tyler’s drum stems and I’d bring those awesome files into a new GarageBand session in my home studio. There were no riffs yet, no songs written at all. I immediately rearranged his drum tracks into new parts, without knowing any riffs, without any plans, other than a general idea of verses, choruses and bridges, but just his percussion, mind you. It’s a totally backwards way to create songs.
Musicians reading this: imagine if one of your favorite drummers gave you full songs of completely prerecorded drums for a full record and you had to cut/paste, add missing pieces of a puzzle as you went along. Bit by bit. It takes a long, long fucking time. And you have to be incredibly patient. But, back in 2015 (when this was started), I had lots of time. I was unable to play guitar for longer than about five minutes. My MS-related hand pain still ruled my life.
Each riff was written on the spot, in the order of how the drumming came together. Obviously, some parts were then repeated again later as the track took shape, for verse/chorus vibes. There were no preconceived riffs. It’s tricky, it’s spontaneous, scary and it’s also very exciting. Not once, on the entire record, did I go back and change a part after laying it down… it is what it is, and forever shall be.
Also, it should be noted that there are no mics used in this recording process (here or on the Lumbar record). No speaker cabs. I play a guitar directly into a Verellen “Skyhammer” tube preamp, and from that directly into my iMac/GarageBand. The pre-amp has 3 12AX7 tubes that give all the tone. And, somehow, the feedback sounds real. It blows my mind.
I finished writing and forging all the tracks years ago. They sat. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. Fast-forward to the summer of 2017: I had been working with David on numerous projects and also loved his solo material. I asked him to sit down with the project (which then had guitar, bass and my vocals completed), and record his own sensible leads, extra soundscape ideas, thicken up parts and do some backup vocals. He really, really made the whole thing quite special. I love Dave like a brother and trust him to help bring almost everything into a new realm of awesome.
Was there something in particular you knew you wanted to go for sound-wise and something you knew they could bring to that process?
Originally, I just wanted to have another creative project to work on while in my pain and deep depression. I wasn’t sure what would happen with it. I first asked Mike [Scheidt] and Tad [Doyle] to provide vocals and create another Lumbar record, but since it wasn’t my drumming, it became a totally separate beast. Also, it should go on record that Greg Anderson helped convince me to have it be separate. Greg is always there for a quick back-and-forth texting of ideas. He thought that it was a different entity as well. I trust him, Mike and Tad to be there for me, always. They are my “Wise Men”.
You’ve been involved in so many projects over the years, and so many are one-time-only outings. What have you learned from working with such a wide variety of players? If you found a band that wanted to stick around for multiple releases at this point, would you do it? Is Bible Black Tyrant a one-and-done?
I’ve learned to be humble, or at least I hope. The people that I work with remind me that their collective talents are what make anything that I create/release truly shine. I am honored that these players have dedicated their time, talent and energy to my cause. The heavy rock and metal community really is quite special.
Dave (of The Tyrant) and I have been forging 10 songs for the last year and a half… Because of the proper meds, I’ve been able to actually play guitar live with a drummer. It’s my second chance. Dave is my catalyst for new live offerings. Our band is called Ramprasad, we have an EP coming out very soon, he on drums and myself with guitar and vocal duties. And, we will start playing shows early 2018. This is the first time that I’ve had my pain managed enough to play live since early 2013. I am very enthusiastic and blessed (for lack of a better word) to know David, in so many ways.
It really is amazing to play for a few hours at a time, all the while in pain, but manageable pain. I don’t have the dexterity I used to and my nerve endings can’t tell the difference between strings well anymore. So, I play a lot simpler riffs but Dave truly shines… he’s such a great drummer! I’d say we sound like… fuck, I don’t really know. Haha. Perhaps you can tell me when I send you our record in a few weeks.
What’s the mission of Bible Black Tyrant, as opposed to other projects you’ve done?
Bible Black Tyrant is 100 percent steadfastness to one’s own belief and strength. The lyrics are about surviving toughest of storms, about keeping perspective in the hardest times. And, one doesn’t need to smile for others. What we need is to save that energy for our own perseverance and strength. We shouldn’t waste time on those that keep us from our goals. I should also say that there is a very, very strong underlining opposition to Christianity flowing through the lyrics on this recording, Anton LaVey speaks almost directly through this collection of tracks. Christianity keeps its flock of sheep in chains, and that will never not make me boil inside. Though I call myself a Pantheist, the founding beliefs of The Church of Satan make a lot of sense to me. I had to text Tyler and Dave and make sure they were okay with my lyrics being dark and strong against organized Christianity. They responded quite favorably to my view and stance. We are all holding hands around a burning bible, haha.
It’s been almost five years since you first made your MS diagnosis publicly known. What’s your health status now?
Manageable. I take 17 pills each and every day. That’s annoying and I’m chained to alarms that have me gulping them constantly. BUT, I shouldn’t complain, there are folks with MS that can’t even stand, let alone function, hold a part-time job and play music. Honestly, I consider each day as my last “healthy” one. Every single morning I wake to the assumption that I won’t be able to stand, and though my legs are week, they are still holding me up. Dave and I have discussed that it’s totally possible that I’ll play live in a wheelchair some day… sounds dark, I guess, but I am a realist. If I have to do that, I suppose I will.
Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?
I want to thank you, as always, for being my go-to for heavy music knowledge as well as THE first person to send my new recordings and projects to. Thank you JJ. As far as closing words: Do your best. Forget the rest.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
As the details have surfaced over the last 24 hours regarding the tragic death of Rev. Jim Forrester outside the Fells Point, Baltimore, tattoo/piercing shop where he worked, the portrait they’ve drawn has only seemed more senseless. The former bassist for Sixty Watt Shaman, currently of Foghound and Serpents of Secrecy, on the mend from ongoing health issues, finding sobriety, married, getting through, and then shot in the chest outside his place of employment? You’d have a long, long way to go before you ever managed to convince me that makes any fucking sense whatsoever.
One thing Maryland heavy has always done, however, is rally together when the situation calls for it, and yeah, I’d say this situation calls for it. Two stages in Frederick, Maryland, will run benefits next Friday, Dec. 29, with proceeds going to Jim‘s funeral costs and honestly whatever else who the hell cares what they do with the money take all the money just take it please take it and take lasagna too. I’ve heard rumblings about more benefit shows to come and something brewing for Maryland Doom Fest 2018 as well next June, so stay tuned for more and I’ll update as much as I can because Jesus tapdancing Christ, some asshole shot Jim Forrester.
Fucking devastating.
Lineups for the shows at Cafe 611 and Guido’s Speakeasy follow here. If you can’t make it, there’s also a GoFundMe set up linked below that you should donate to. Hell, even if you can go you should donate, because again, just take all the money please take all the money.
Here:
Rev Jim Benefit Concert – Dec. 29
Cafe 611 & Guido’s Speakeasy
N Market St, Frederick, Maryland
This event will feature 13 killer bands on 2 separate stages. Both Cafe 611 & Guido’s next door will be hosting this remembrance of Rev Jim’s life and fundraiser. Bands will be revealed soon. All proceeds go to his family. We will celebrate your existence forever Jim.
This wonderful, gental, kind man was tragically taken from us by a senseless act. All proceeds are to help alleviate the financial strain on his family: https://www.gofundme.com/funds-for-forrester
Show time is 6pm-12:30 pm Friday Dec 29th.
Lineup:
Cafe 611: King Giant Earthride The Age of Truth Thousand Vision Mist Thonian Horde Faith in Jane Dee Calhoun & Louis Strachan
Guido’s Speakeasy: Bailjack The Druids Et Mors Seasick Gladiator Clamfight Thee Iron Hand Lifetime Shitlist
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
When I was a kid growing up in Parsippany, New Jersey, the place to buy comics was Fat Moose Comics and Games. At the time, the shop was located at the Morris County Mall on Ridgedale Ave. — not a nice place, but there was an Alwilk Recordsand a Sam Goody and the Bradlees store where I got my first CD Walkman, so it will forever hold a spot in my heart. Anyway, the dude who still runs the since-relocated Fat Moose — his name is Moose, naturally — was always cool to the kids who came through, myself included, and made time to talk shop even though there were no doubt adult geeks around who would provide more stimulating insight or whatnot. He was the kind of guy who made you want to buy more comics, which, frankly, is something I continue to think we as a species need to do anyhow.
The above picture was sent to me last night by my sister, who still lives in the area and now shops at Fat Moose with her son, who is about to turn 10. They picked up a copy of Image Comics‘ new hardcover, The Doomster’s Monolithic Pocket Alphabet, with words by Theo Prasidis and art by Maarten Donders. Each letter of the alphabet is given some doomly representation — G is for goats, X is for xanax, etc. — and lo and behold, yours truly is featured for the letter J. I shared the artwork on the social medias a while back — because how could I not? — but here’s what the actual page looks like:
No joke, I could cry. I spent over a decade working in print media, and I wrote a collection of short stories (that you can purchase here), so it’s not like I’ve never seen my name published before, but what an honor it is to be included in this thing. Imagine: members of my own family being able to go to the comic store I shopped at as a kid a quarter-century ago and buy a copy of this gorgeous book of which I’m stupid-lucky enough to be part. I can’t thank Theo and Maarten enough for the work they’ve done, Image Comics for putting it out, or hell, Fat Moose for stocking it. I am so deeply honored and deeply humbled by the entire idea. Thank you all.
Whatever this site has become over the last eight-plus years, it cannot possibly be that thing without your ongoing support, and I say “thanks for reading” as much as I possibly can, but let me reiterate that I consider myself so fortunate. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. Every single day. Thank you. Things like this would never happen if nobody cared about this project other than me, and while we may not agree on everything and while I may not get to cover everything I want to cover and while some days may prove frustrating for lack of time, lack of energy, lack of proper synonyms for “heavy” or whatever it might be, please know that I would not trade the last eight-plus years of The Obelisk for any other experience of critical writing. It’s become a core part of my every day and of who I am. Thank you for making that possible.
The Doomster’s Monolithic Pocket Alphabet is out now from Image Comics. Buy a copy. Hell, buy 10. And buy them at a brick and mortar store if you can. He’ll have no idea who I am, but make sure you tell Moose I said hi.
The Doomster’s Monolithic Pocket Alphabet video trailer
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 21st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
First announced in October when the Budapest-based band was signed to Ripple Music and unveiled the track ‘High Ride,’ the new album from Ozone Mama, Cosmos Calling, is set to arrive Jan. 19. More details have come out about the record, as well as the cover art, and a new track called “Doppelganger” that’s got a suitably raucous vibe. I’m hoping to set up some kind of stream or album premiere for this one before it comes out — always a tumult with the change from one year to another, so everything’s tentative — so maybe consider the song at the bottom of this post a precursor to that. Maybe. Fingers crossed.
The PR wire has all the info:
Introducing OZONE MAMA: Hungarian Hard Rockers to Release New Album on Ripple Music
Cosmos Calling is released worldwide on 19th January 2018 on Ripple Music
Featuring vocalist Márton Székely, guitarist András Gábor, bass player Gergely Dobos and drummer Máté Gulyás, Ozone Mama’s soulful and riff-heavy music gives a fresh facelift to the rock and roll of the 60s and 70s. What’s more, this January, the Hungarian quartet will release their brand-new studio album Cosmos Calling on one of the finest heavy psych, stoner and doom labels on the planet. Ripple Music.
Acclaimed for their electrifying live performances, cranking out a bristling brand of high-octane rock, Ozone Mama hail from Budapest with a vintage sound swaddled in a modern vibe.
Their debut album The Starship Has Landed won a Fonogram Prize at the Hungarian Music Awards in 2012 and their follow up, Freedom EP (2013), received major airplay across European, American and Canadian radio stations, as well as press plaudits from esteemed publications like Classic Rock Magazine (UK).
Their last album, Sonic Glory (2016) saw the band receive their second Fonogram Prize in the category of ‘Hard Rock/Metal Album of the Year’ and capped off what had been an extremely busy time for the band, sharing stages across Europe with International headliners such as Monster Magnet (USA), Airbourne (AU), The Darkness (UK) and Kamchatka (SWE).
Now joining forces with the industry leading heavy rock label Ripple Music and following the success of their lead-off single ‘High Ride’ – which is still available here – Cosmos Calling officially hits the streets on 19th January of 2018.
Tracklisting: 1. Evil Ways 2. Straight On Till Morning Light 3. Doppelganger 4. High Ride 5. Feel So Alive 6. Shout At The Sky 7. Cosmos Calling 8. Freedom Fighters 9. Cold Light Of Day 10. The Alchemist 11. Moon Pilot
Ozone Mama is: Marton Szekely – Vocals Andras Gabor – Guitars, Backing Vocals Gergely Dobos – Bass Mate Gulyas – Drums
Posted in Reviews on December 20th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
To say an album gets better with volume is one of rock’s all-time clichés. It’s also usually bullshit. In the case of Labyrinth of Ashmedai, the third full-length from desert-dwelling post-sludge trio Atala, I’ll say it doesn’t hurt. The Twentynine Palms, California, three-piece make their debut on Salt of the Earth Records with their latest collection, with an early 2018 release following up on 2016’s Shaman’s Path of the Serpent (review here) and their 2015 self-titled debut (review here), and like its predecessor, the tight, six-song/35-minute outing was produced and engineered by Billy Anderson (Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep, Acid King, etc.) and demonstrates considerable growth from the release before it. One could argue Shaman’s Path of the Serpentwas a moment in which Atala — now the lineup of guitarist/vocalist Kyle Stratton, bassist Dave Horn (who replaces John Chavarria) and drummer Jeff Tedtaotao — discovered the atmospheric reaches they wanted to cover with their sound, following the initial exploration of their Scott Reeder-helmed first offering.
Even so, Labyrinth of Ashmedai, with its cover art by Stratton, flowing presentation of one piece into the next, more accomplished use of vocal melodies (and harmonies) and offsetting of patient ambience with crushing tonality and crash, stands as a remarkable forward manifestation of the next step in the direction that Shaman’s Path of the Serpent laid out. Arranged across two three-song sides, each capping with a track longer than eight minutes — those being “Death’s Dark Tomb” (8:35) and the triumphant finale “Infernal” (8:19) — Labyrinth of Ashmedai immerses the listener its in nodding groove and fluidly executes a deceptive precision in building an arc of momentum that carries across the entire span. And though relatively short with its noted, manageable, vinyl-ready runtime, that span remains significant.
A resounding spaciousness is perhaps what Atala take most from the Californian desert, but they have little in common ultimately with “desert rock” as a genre outside of geography (and it’s certainly arguable geography is irrelevant in the aesthetic concern), and instead meld influences from Neurosis and YOB together with the rawer impulses of sludge. After an initial sample and a measure-long intro to initiate the stomp, “Grains of Sand” finds Stratton guttural in his railing against mediocrity and contemplating universal mortality atop a chugging riff fervently pushed ahead by Tedtaotao‘s creative drumming.
They are not a minute into the song before the lumbering hook churns out its furies and takes a twisting route back to the verse, chugging and vaguely hinting at melody to come along the way. The subsequent “Tabernacle of” revives the heavier ’90s-derived alt. metal melodicism one heard on cuts like “Gravity” from the last record, but in so doing, shifts with a newfound subtlety from the more scathing “Grains of Sand” via an emerging call and response Stratton sets up between cleaner and harsh vocals. With a more lumbering groove at its foundation, “Tabernacle Of” nonetheless retains the momentum of the opener before it, and feeds directly into “Death’s Dark Tomb,” which begins with a few seconds of droning noise — which Anderson may or may not have provided — before the guitar, bass and drums kick in to unveil the greatest sense of weight Atala have yet to bring to Labyrinth of Ashmedai, the vocals recalling Crowbar in the first verse as they set up a more spacious chorus that proves to be arguably the most landmark hook the album has to its credit.
Tedtaotao works in some notable double-kick moving back into the second verse and is head-spinning on tom runs throughout, while the low end density provides the foundation from which the band’s atmosphere spreads outward in a manner one might call psychedelic were it not so much imbued with the taste of dry dirt. Maybe psych, but for sure bound to the earth as well as its Mike Scheidt-style squibbly guitar lead gives way to a huge slowdown and the song devolves in its last minute-plus into feedback and noise, ending side A with particular and pointed viciousness.
While progressive in how it sees the band willfully pushing themselves stylistically, Labyrinth of Ashmedai is noteworthy as well for what Stratton, Horn and Tedtaotao bring to it in terms of songwriting, and the linear pairing of “Death’s Dark Tomb” and side B opener “I am Legion” emphasizes the range they’ve developed in what seems like just a few short years of working as a group. Heard without the split of sides — that is, on a CD or digital format, rather than flipping a record — “I am Legion” picks up with drums from the silence left behind after “Death’s Dark Tomb” and centers almost entirely around its chorus, but in that, the two pieces end up complementing each other with a fluidity that even with the stark divide between them is undeniable.
Further, “I am Legion” works to reestablish and expound on the melodic basis of “Tabernacle Of,” and does so effectively, so that immediately Atala seem to be reaching even further out with the second half of the album. Time, then, for a radical redirect away from the expected, and that’s just what “Wilted Leaf” brings. At 3:59, it’s the shortest inclusion on Labyrinth of Ashmedai, and though awash in echo, it’s also the rawest since “Grains of Sand” at the outset, with shouts crawling upward from the depths of the mix barely decipherable in the riff-led torrent surrounding, and even a more fuzz-toned solo in the back half does little to take away from the sense of assault. This also is part of a larger plan, however, and closer “Infernal” — which is neither the catchiest nor the heaviest song here but might be the record’s greatest aesthetic accomplishment all the same; also bearing some of the hallmarks of a YOB influence in its initial rollout — takes hold with an immediate shift toward melody. Stratton seems to loosely touch on Electric Wizard in the verse’s bounce, but is ultimately headed elsewhere, toward more individualized fare that represents one last considered shove into new territory for Atala.
A final chorus underscores the point as they pass the halfway mark and turn to an instrumental finish that, rather than give itself to an overblown payoff, slows down, gets quieter and eases the listener’s way out with a stretch of bass and drone and residual effects, and though they’ve managed to stave off pretense for the duration, Atala have all the same given their audience a glimpse of the realization of the potential they’ve shown all along. Does that mean they’re finished growing? I don’t think so and I hope not, but it does mean that the expansion of their approach pays significant dividends in these tracks already. And yeah, volume doesn’t hurt when it comes to the overall listening experience, but at whatever level one might take it on, Labyrinth of Ashmedai successfully leads through the maze it creates.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
The taste at work behind Michigan imprint Saw Her Ghost Records is not a trifling thing, and it’s not every day the label puts out anything at all, so when I saw word that it had newly put its stamp on Bummer, the debut album from Tennessee heavygaze rockers Lacing, despite not being familiar with the band I had a pretty good feeling they’d be worth looking up. Sure enough, the record — which is also available as a name-your-price download from Lacing‘s Bandcamp page, linked and streaming in full below — offers a deeply weighted and nuanced take on weighted melancholic spaciousness, ranging from the crush of “Starless” to the minimal-seeming ambience of opener “Wound.”
The download comes with an exclusive remix, so if you’ve got a couple minutes to spare, and ears for something new, adventure awaits.
Have at it:
Lacing – Bummer
Saw Her Ghost Records is thrilled to welcome Rocky Top shoegaze brooders, Lacing. Their album Bummer is a sweeping, swirling series of waves- complete with dark hooks and trembling discordance. Ethereal, floating vocals compliment icy clean guitar lines that shift to fuzzy distortion. Their path ultimately descends into riffs the size of gritty, mammoth castle walls. At once, delicate, and in due time after, a unique heaviness shrouds all that was built before it. Blue, moody, uneasy, yet simultaneously comforting and redemptive- Let Bummer transport you to another emotional dimension, or it may just burrow down and bury you where you lie.
Recorded & Mixed in February of 2017 by Scott Minor with Carey Balch Wild Chorus in Knoxville, TN Mastered By Carey Balch
Alan McGee would be flummoxed to learn that LACING, a shoegaze band from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA, issued their debut album in 2017, not 1990. Like many of the bands from the original 90s scene, the band’s full length debut, Bummer, comes on the heels of a well received EP (their Honey Glow tape). It isn’t just more of the same though. Bummer is at times far noisier as evidenced by the end of the epic “Starless” which takes up a majority of the album’s second side with a healthy dose of fuzz blasted riffing. Elsewhere, tracks such as “Summer” and “Shoulder” play with the dynamics of Pixies while calling to mind several branches of the shoegaze family tree with nods to Slowdive, Hum, The Jesus & Mary Chain (circa Psychocandy) and occasionally even Dinosaur Jr.
LACING is: Joe Davenport: Guitar, Vocals Jerry Reed: Drums Robert Parker: Guitar Joseph J Micolo III: Bass
