Posted in Whathaveyou on February 4th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
If you don’t give them anything else, you have to give it to Denver’s Abrams on their producer choices. Both 2017’s Morning (review here) and 2015’s Lust. Love. Loss. (review here) were tracked with Andy Patterson, and their upcoming long-player, Modern Ways — out May 1 on Sailor Records — was helmed by Dave Otero, whom I’ll always remember as he who recorded Cephalic Carnage‘s Anomalies but is probably better known at this point for working with Khemmis and the like.
Fair enough for the band wanting to change things up as they approach their third full-length — at least in some regards; Morning also had cover art by the brilliant Samantha Muljat — and the first single, also the title-track, from Modern Ways finds them pushing their affinity for creating heavy-toned-and-pop-informed rock to the forefront of their sound. Expect quality songs, and a quality production. This band has set a standard for itself at this point.
Details from the PR wire:
Abrams share lead track from forthcoming third album Modern Ways
Abrams has upped the ante with their latest recording, Modern Ways. With a focus on songwriting, lyrical narrative, and addictive hooks and refrains, Abrams presents a highly focused, intensely polished sonic narrative. Written over the course of two and a half years, the album reflects the passions, pains, successes and nightmares of the members of Abrams lives.
Modern Ways will be available on vinyl and streaming services via Sailor Records on May 1st, 2020. Pre-orders are available HERE. Mixed, Mastered and Produced by Dave Otero at Flatline Audio in Westminster, CO.
Based out of Denver, Abrams was founded in 2013 as a trio. Abrams debut EP, February was released in May 2014 on No List Records. The supporting tour for this release saw the band hit the West Coast, before heading immediately into the studio to record their first full length. Lust. Love. Loss was released independently in June 2015. The remainder of the year saw Abrams tour West, East, and West again. Their follow up, Morning, came out on Sailor Records in June of 2017, which was supported by three nationwide tours for much of the remaining year.
Abrams is: Patrick Alberts: Guitar Zachary Amster: Guitar & Vox Ryan Dewitt: Drums Taylor Iversen: Bass & Vox
ABRAMS LIVE 2020: 01/29/20 Denver, CO @ Ophelia’s – Private Snowboard Industry event w/ ASG 05/02/20 Denver, CO @ Hi Dive – w/ Native Daughters and Palehorse/Palerider
Artist: Abrams Album: Modern Ways Record Label: Sailor Records Release Date: May 1st, 2020 01. Modern Ways 02. Poison Bullets 03. Joshua Tree 04. That Part of Me 05.. Find a Way 06. My War 07. Silver Lake 08. Silence 09. Pale Moonlight 10. Marionette
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 16th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
As someone who’s worked professionally to produce them, I know how difficult it can be to come up with a good tagline, headline, whatever you want to call it. As simple as it is to receive the directive, ‘Oh hey, just go ahead and give me something concise and maybe astoundingly witty that nonetheless sums up an entire idea/story/product/anything in three or four words,’ materializing that is much, much harder to do.
Accordingly, I tip my virtual hat to Dust Presents and The Decemburger 2017 for coming up with the tagline “Medium-Rare Mayhem,” which not only conveys the fact that, yes, the event will feature a hamburger-eating contest like it did last year, but captures as well the humor and good nature behind the festival as a whole. “Medium-Rare Mayhem?” Pink in the middle, maybe a little bloody? Fucking delicious? Probably. Sign up to eat a bunch of sliders and find out.
Show is at the Hi-Dive in Denver, Colorado, on Dec. 16 and will be headlined by Bongripper and also feature sets from Call of the Void, the Primitive Man-related projects Nightwraith and Vermin Womb, Serial Hawk and Weeed coming down from Washington, Abrams, The Munsens and Sceptres. Killer show. Once again, looks like it’s gonna be a great time. If you’re in Denver or you can get there, it’s a pre-holiday blowout that I only wish I was involved in presenting.
Info follows from the PR wire:
DUST Presents: THE DECEMBURGER 2017
“Medium-Rare Mayhem” Denver, CO
The second annual installment of DUST Presents’ The Decemburger returns to Denver, Colorado, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017 at the Hi Dive, a staple for good times in Denver’s South Broadway neighborhood. The 2017 lineup leans more toward the metal spectrum of “heavy” in comparison with last year’s event (featuring The Shrine, The Well, Zig Zags, Malahierba, and more).
Chicago’s crushing doom-metal legends, Bongripper, will headline the sophomore iteration of The Decemburger, supported by a prime selection from Denver’s booming metal scene, including Call Of The Void, Vermin Womb (featuring Ethan McCarthy of Primitive Man), Abrams, the Munsens, Nightwraith (current and former members of Primitive Man, Vimana, Black Sleep of Kali, Rottenness, Collapse, and more), and Sceptres.
The 2017 bill also features a pair of standout acts from Washington. Serial Hawk, a hypnotically heavy three-piece metal group from Seattle, whose 2015 full-length out on Bleeding Light Records achieved global recognition, will join Weeed from Bainbridge Island, WA and their energetic brand of heavy, psychedelic rock in rounding out the bill.
Not to be overshadowed by the sonic mania, the burger-eating contest for which the event is named will also return, with heightened competition (following 2016 champion Andrew Renfrow’s crushing victory) and a larger purse – cash, trophy, merch, framed prints and more. Contest entry can be purchased as a separate ticket that includes festival entry. (Burger-eating contest limited to 10 contestants!)
So, after kvetching and hemming and hawing and all that other stuff that basically means ‘fretting and trying to shuffle a schedule around’ for the last several days, I think I’ve now found a way to add a sixth day to this Quarterly Review. Looking at all the records that still need to be covered even after doing 50, I don’t really see any other way to go. I could try to do more The Obelisk Radio adds to fit things in, but I don’t want to over-tax that new server, so yeah, I’m waiting at the moment to hear back on whether or not I can move a premiere from Monday to Tuesday to make room. Fingers crossed. I’ve already got the albums picked out that would be covered and should know by tomorrow if it’s going to happen.
Plenty to do in the meantime, so let’s get to it.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Novembers Doom, Hamartia
Look. Let’s be honest here. More than 20 years and 10 records in, one knows at least on a superficial level what to expect from Chicago’s Novembers Doom. Since their first album arrived in 1995, they’ve played to one side or the other between the spectrum of death-doom, and their work legitimately broke ground in the style for a US band and in general. After a push over their last couple albums including 2014’s Bled White (review here) into more deathly fare, Hamartia (on The End Records) brings 10 tracks and 58 minutes of the melancholy dramas – special hello to the piano/acoustic-led title-track – and gut-wrenching, crushingly emotive miseries – special hello to “Waves in the Red Cloth” and “Ghost” – that have defined them. One doesn’t expect a radical departure from them at this point and they don’t deliver one even as they turn to another side of their overarching aesthetic, but whether it’s the still-propulsive death gallop of “Apostasy” or the lush nine-minute finale “Borderline,” Novembers Doom reinforce their position as absolute masters of the style and give their longtime fans another collection of vital woes in which to revel.
Not a hair out of place in the execution of Morning, the Sailor Records second long-player from Denver three-piece Abrams (interview here). That has its ups and downs, naturally, but is suited to the band’s take on modern progressive heavy rock à la newer Mastodon and Baroness, and with production from Andy Patterson (of SubRosa) and Dave Otero (Khemmis, Cephalic Carnage, etc.), the crisp feel is both purposeful and well earned. Their 2015 debut, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), dealt with a similar emotional landscape, but bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen, guitarist/vocalist Zachary Amster and drummer Geoffrey Cotton are tighter and more aggressive here on songs like opener “Worlds Away” (video posted here), “At the End,” “Rivers,” “Can’t Sleep” and “Burned” (video posted here), and “Mourning,” “In this Mask” and closer “Morning” balance in terms of tempo and overall atmosphere, making Morning more than just a collection of master-blasters and giving it a full album’s flow and depth. Like I said, not a hair out of place. Structure, performance, delivery, theme. Abrams have it all precisely where they want it.
Dubbed an EP but running 29 minutes and boasting eight tracks, The Grand Astoria’s The Fuzz of Destiny is something of a conceptual release, with the St. Petersburg, Russia-based outfit paying homage to the effect itself. Each song uses a different kind of fuzz pedal, and as the ever-nuanced, progressive outfit make their way through the blown-out pastoralism of opener “Sunflower Queen” and into the nod of “Pocket Guru,” the organ-inclusive bursting fury of “Glass Walls” and the slower and more consuming title-track itself, which directly precedes closer “Eight Years Anniversary Riff” – yup, it’s a riff alright – they’re able to evoke a surprising amount of variety in terms of mood. That’s a credit to The Grand Astoria as songwriters perhaps even more than the differences in tone from song to song here – they’ve certainly shown over their tenure a will to embrace a diverse approach – but in giving tribute to fuzz, The Fuzz of Destiny successfully conveys some of the range a single idea can be used to conjure.
Oh, they’re up to it again, those Hosoi Bros. Their 2016 full-length, Abuse Your Allusion III, from its Guns ‘n’ Roses title reference through the Motörhead riffing of “Saint Tightus” through the stoner punk of “Topless Gnome” and the chugging scorch of the penultimate “Bitches are Nigh” offer primo charm and high-order shenanigans amid the most professional-sounding release of their career. Across a quick 10 tracks and 36 minutes, Hosoi Bros. readily place themselves across the metal/punk divide, and while there’s plenty of nonsense to be had from opener “Mortician” onward through “Lights Out” (video premiere here) and the later swagger of “Unholy Hand Grenade,” the band have never sounded more cohesive in their approach than they do on Abuse Your Allusion III, and the clean production only seems to highlight the songwriting at work underneath all the zany happenings across the record’s span, thereby doing them and the band alike a service as they make a convincing argument to their audience: Have fun. Live a little. It won’t hurt that much.
Codeia, “Don’t be Afraid,” She Whispered and Disappeared
There’s actually very little that gets “Lost in Translation” in the thusly-titled 22-minute opener and longest cut (immediate points) of German post-metallers Codeia’s cumbersomely-named Backbite Records debut album, “Don’t be Afraid,” She Whispered and Disappeared. With heavy post-rock textures and an overarching sense of cerebral progressivism to its wash underscored by swells of low-end distortion, the three-piece of guitarist/backing vocalist Markus L., bassist/vocalist Denis S. and drummer Timo L. bring to bear patience out of the peak-era Isis or Cult of Luna sphere, sudden volume shifts, pervasive ambience, flourish of extremity and all. Nine-minute centerpiece “Shaping Stone” has its flash of aggression early before shifting into hypnotic and repetitive groove and subsequent blastbeaten furies, and 16-minute closer “Facing Extinction” caps the three-song/48-minute offering with nodding Russian Circles-style chug topped with growls that mask the layer of melodic drone filling out the mix beneath. They’re on familiar stylistic ground, but the breadth, depth and complexity Codeia bring to their extended structures are immersive all the same.
Ealdor Bealu, Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain
“Water Cycle,” the 13-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) of Ealdor Bealu’s debut full-length, Dark Water at the Foot of the Mountain, introduces a meditative feel and a breadth of sound that helps to define everything that follows. The ostensible side B leadoff of the self-release, “This too Shall Endure” (11:04), offers no less depth of atmosphere, and the graceful psychedelic expanses of the penultimate “Behind the Veil” continue to add to the overall scope with interplay of tempo variety and acoustic and electric guitar, but even earlier, shorter cuts like the wistful indie rocker “Deep Dark Below” and the linear-building “Behold the Sunrise” have an underlying progressivism that ties them to the longer form material, and likewise the particularly exploratory feeling “Ebb and Flow,” which though it’s the shortest cut at just over five minutes resonates as a standout jam ahead of “Behind the Veil” and subtly proggy seven-minute closer “Time Traveler.” The Boise-based four-piece of guitarist/vocalist/spearhead Carson Russell, guitarist Travis Abbott (also The Western Mystics), bassist/vocalist Rylie Collingwood and drummer/percussionist/saxophonist Alex Wargo bring the 56-minute offering to bear with marked patience and impress in the complexity of their arrangements and the identifiable human core that lies beneath them.
One might consider the title of “Mountain of Filth,” the second cut on Stone Lotus’ debut album, Comastone, a mission statement for the Southwestern Australian trio’s vicious ‘n’ viscous brand of rolling, tonal-molasses sludge. Yeah, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Dave Baker, bassist Samuel Noire and drummer Reece Fleming bring ambience to the interlude “Aum,” the slower loud/quiet shifts in “Anthropocene” and the subsequent “Umbra” that leads into the creepy launch of the title-track – in fact, quiet starts are something of a theme throughout Comastone; even the thudding toms that begin opener “Swamp Coven” pale in comparison to the volume swell of massive distortion that follows closely behind – but it’s the rhythmic lumber and the harsh vocals from Baker that define their course through the darker recesses of sludged-out misanthropy. No complaints there, especially on a first long-player, but Stone Lotus are right to keep in mind the flourish of atmosphere their material offers, and one hopes that develops parallel to all the crushing weight of their mountainous approach.
Even before it announces its heft, Green Yeti’s Desert Show casts forth its spaciousness. The second offering from the Athens-based trio in as many years dogwhistles heavy riffing intent even unto its David Paul Seymour album cover, but the five track rollout from guitarist/vocalist Michael Andresakis, bassist/producer Danis Avramidis and drummer Giannis Koutroumpis, as it shifts from the opening salvo of “Black Planets (Part 1)” and “Black Planets (Part 2)” into the Spanish-language centerpiece “Rojo” (direct homage perhaps to Los Natas? if so, effectively done) and into the broader-ranging “Bad Sleep (Part 1)” and 15-minute closer “Bad Sleep (Part 2)” builds just as much on its atmosphere as on its newer-school stoner rock groove and fuzz riffing. It is a 41-minute span that, without question, speaks to the heavy rock converted and plays to genre, but even taken next to the band’s 2016 debut, The Yeti has Landed, Desert Show demonstrates clear growth in writing and style, and stands as further proof of the emergence of Greece as a major contributor to the sphere of Europe’s heavy underground. Something special is happening in and outside of Athens. Green Yeti arrive at the perfect time to be a part of it.
Let’s just assume that Seer won’t be asked to play at Dorney Park anytime soon. The Allentown, Pennsylvania, three-piece dig into largesse-minded instrumental riffing someplace between doom and sludge and do so on raw, formative fashion on the two-song Victims EP, which features the tracks “Victims… Aren’t We All?” and “Swollen Pit,” which is a redux from their 2015 debut short release, Vaped Remains. Some touch of Electric Wizard-style wah in Rybo’s guitar stands out in the second half of the opener, and the closer effectively moves from its initial crawl into post-Sleep stonerized idolatry, but the point of Victims isn’t nearly as much about scope as it is about Rybo, bassist Kelsi and drummer Yvonne setting forth on a stomping path of groove and riff worship, rumbling sans pretense loud enough to crack the I-78 corridor and offering the clever equalizer recommendation to put the bass, treble and mids all at six. Think about it for a second. Not too long though.
Doom! Horror! Riffs! Though it starts out with quiet acoustics and unfolds in echoing weirdness, Bretus’ new album, …From the Twilight Zone, more or less shouts these things from the proverbial cathedral rafters throughout its seven tracks. The Catanzaro, Italy, foursome weren’t shy about bringing an air of screamy sludge to their 2015 sophomore outing, The Shadow over Innsmouth (discussed here), but …From the Twilight Zone shifts more toward a Reverend Bizarre trad doom loyalism that suits the Endless Winter release remarkably well. Those acoustics pop up again in expanded-breadth centerpiece/highlight “Danza Macabra” and closer “Lizard Woman,” and thereby provide something of a narrative thread to the offering as a whole, but on the level of doom-for-doomers, there’s very little about the aesthetic that Bretus leave wanting throughout, whether it’s the faster-chug into drifting fluidity of “The Murder” or the nodding stomp of “In the Vault” (demo posted here) and crypto-NWOBHM flourish of “Old Dark House” (video posted here). Not trying to remake doom in their own image, but conjuring an eerie and engaging take in conversation with the masters of the form.
Denver progressive heavy rockers Abrams released their second album, Morning, exactly one week ago via Sailor Records, and immediately set about hitting the road to support it on a three-week West Coast tour. The remaining dates are below, and like what the trio have done with the videos for “Worlds Away” (posted here) and “Burned” (posted here), and even more than their 2015 debut, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), the new collection seeks to capture the energy that Abrams bring to the stage. Recorded by Andy Patterson (SubRosa, Iota, etc.) and Dave Otero (Cephalic Carnage, Khemmis, etc.), Morning brims with sonic clarity, and balanced with a blistering performance from the three-piece, it not only emphasizes the development they’ve undertaken since getting together, but the varied approach to songwriting that’s been honed as a part of that.
One can readily hear progression in the vocals and the arrangements between bassist Taylor Iversen and guitarist Zachary Amster, who over the propulsive drumming of GeoffreyCotton bring even more momentum as they trade back and forth in the lead role between tracks like “Rivers” and “Can’t Sleep,” shifting back and forth amid cleaner choruses and echoing shouts. Abrams credit this largely to working with Otero on vocal recording, and it’s an element they share with early-ish Mastodon that comes through more at some points than others, side B’s “Die in Love” taking this core influence and adding an edge of noise rock amid the winding riffery. Along with the clearheaded, crisp punch of the Patterson-tracked instrumentation, this is one more example of the underlying sense of purpose that drives every move Abrams make on Morning.
There isn’t a part that doesn’t serve the greater whole, or a change that doesn’t feed into making a given song better, and while I wouldn’t say they completely avoid indulgences — no one does in this style — Morning works fluidly to justify every turn it presents, and Abrams emerge from the atmospheric closing title-track having reached a new level in craft and delivery.
They’ve been on the road since June 9. Here are the remaining tour dates:
Abrams on tour:
Jun 16 – San Jose, CA @ The Caravan
Jun 17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Caffe Pergolesi
Jun 18 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlite Lounge
Jun 19 – Reno, NV @ Shea’s Tavern
Jun 20 – Medford, OR @ Johnny B’s Tavern
Jun 21 – Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s Pub
Jun 22 – Portland, OR @ The Kenton Club
Jun 23 – Seattle, WA @ Lo-Fi Performance Gallery
Jun 24 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder
Jun 25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club X
Jun 26 – Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November
Jun 27 – Rapid City, SD @ West Dakota Improv
Jun 28 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
Jun 29 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies
Jun 30 – Des Moines, IA @ The Fremont
Jul 1 – Denver, CO @ The Hi Dive
Iversen took time out to explain the band’s motives and writing methods. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:
Six Dumb Questions with Abrams
What lessons were you able to take from the first album? Tell me about incorporating them into these songs. What did you want to build on from the debut and what did you want to do differently?
Well, we wrote about 50 percent of Lust. Love. Loss. in three weeks’ time after a substantial but amicable personnel change, essentially on the eve of our 2014 West Coast tour. So with Morning, we really wanted to take our time with it. In a way, we’ve been writing Morning, since July of 2015, when the first songs began to take shape. We all entered into the writing process with the desire to create a more dynamic album.
We wanted to be less furious and driving from start to finish, and kind of take people on an emotional journey, though that sounds cliché as fuck. Still, you will notice many more “quieter” passages on Morning, and there is a much wider range to our vocal approach. Vocals were one of the things we wanted to improve upon most. We’re actually, you know, singing.
Talk about the writing process for Morning. How do songs like “18 Weeks” and “Can’t Sleep” come about?
When we wrote the songs, the actual instrumentation, I don’t think we consciously had any idea what we would be singing about. Everything kind of developed naturally in that way. Zach brings in most of the riffs, but we all then work together to make these ideas adhere into an Abrams song. Vocally, Zach and I just shouted nothings for a while. Slowly these nothings coalesced into words and passages that we found dealt with a lot of the same things.
For instance: I went through something like two breakups during the writing of this record, Zach had just gone through a difficult and prolonged breakup of his own, and to top it all off, Geoff‘s mother had just died. We were in a really odd place mentally. Songs like “Can’t Sleep” and “At the End” highlight a lot of that. All of these interpersonal relationships and the pain they caused are lyrically peppered throughout the album. “18 Weeks” is about an experience I had being dragged along by somebody I thought I loved, only to find out 18 weeks later they did not share these feelings. That’s also why, “I can’t sleep in this silence.” What’s beautiful though is I think each of us have our own interpretation of what each song represents. We really needed each other when we wrote this record. We needed these songs. So we made them.
You’ve mentioned duality as a theme for the album, and that “Morning” and “Mourning” are meant to complement each other because of the titles. Expand on that. What are you saying about duality, and what drove you to explore the idea in the first place?
I guess I’m lucky in that I still wake up every morning with a lot of hope for how things are going to go. “I’m going to kick today’s ass.” More often than not though, I lay my head down at the end of the day only to find that it very rightly kicked MY ass. What could have been if I’d just tried harder? Done better? Both songs, “Morning” and “Mourning,” feature that back and forth within them. I forget who mentioned the idea to whom first, but we were very pleased to find that we had all come to the same thematic idea on our own.
So there’s all that emotional turmoil of losing somebody you once shared love with, it’s all over the album. But there’s also these snippets of joy. Life can only be beautiful because it’s so often very painful. So you’ll find in “Rivers” or “Morning” there’s this serenity, this peace, this bright, hopeful liveliness. Yeah there’s a lot of shit about breakups and going insane too, but then for instance, I met somebody right before hopping into the studio and we’re still together. She’s all over the album lyrically too. That’s what it’s all about, you know: Hope vs. Despair. A little bit of good. A little bit of bad.
How does Samantha Muljat’s cover art play into the theme for you?
We presented the idea to Samantha and she just ran with it in a big way. She went searching the woods one morning and found this lonely cabin, not abandoned, but far, far away from anything else. The lonely road leading up past the cabin evokes the thought of a journey. But to where? How far until we get there? The morning light playing through the mist sets such a beautiful scene, but there’s darkness there too. It’s a cold, lonely image, but there’s also warmth and peace throughout.
To me, on the back, the bread represents life, while the fallen leaves scattered around represents death. There is darkness surrounding everything, but at the center of it all there’s the candles casting light throughout.
Tell me about your time recording with Andy Patterson. How long were you in the studio, what was the atmosphere like, and since this was your second time working with him, did you feel more comfortable being more familiar with the process? You also worked with Dave Otero. Who recorded what and how did it all come together?
Recording with Andy for us was like fuckin’ summer camp! We were in the studio with Andy for about a week, and just like last time Andy and his wife Cindi opened their home to us. We’re such good buddies with them, it’s hard not to enjoy every single moment. It’s a full day of rigorous and focused recording in his studio, but we’re so in tune with each other it went slick as butter. As soon as we’re out, we go back to their place and just crush beers, take rips from the bong, make homemade pizzas and watch garbage television. Grey’s Anatomy was last time, and this time it was just dirty-ass reality shows. We all kind of teared up when we were getting ready to leave. It really felt like the last day of summer camp.
Andy recorded all of the instruments, and we laid down some scratch vocal ideas with him as well. We sent that to Dave, and we all ruminated on that from September to October when we entered the studio with him to track the finalized vocals. If Andy was summer camp, Dave was boot camp. The first day he gave us a lowdown just like,”no booze, no smoke, drink lots of water and tea, above all else get a good night sleep.” From there it was a literal nine-to-five job for seven days where our only responsibility was to sing, and sing, and sing. At the end of the day, we’d go home and go right to sleep; absolutely drained and exhausted. But, if anybody can get a good vocal performance out of you, it’s Dave Otero.
He’ll push you harder than you’ve ever been pushed, and he’ll throw in plenty of his own ideas, which are always amazing. That’s precisely why we went to him. We also had Dave do the final mixes and mastering, which he knocked out of the park. That guy is a monster of his craft.
It was great to get two really professional, really talented audio juggernauts like Andy and Dave to lend their ears to what we were trying to do.
I’ve heard Summer tour dates are in the works. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?
Yeah! We’ll be doing two tours this summer. Three weeks on the West Coast, and two-ish weeks on the East. June and August respectively. In July we have hopes to get demos for our third album, for which we already have a lot of songs. We’re hoping to tour on Morning as much as possible, so there’s been tentative plans to hit the southern half of the country this winter. We’ll see what happens. Maybe we’ll finally find a booking agent, and they’ll put us the fuck to work.
Leading up to the release this Friday of their second album, Morning — also their debut on Sailor Records — Colorado progressive heavy trio Abrams have thus far issued two videos. The first was for “Burned” (posted here), and then there’s the one you’ll find below for “Worlds Away.” Two. One never knows, but I doubt they’ll sneak in a third before the end of this week, and the reason I bring it up is because both video releases have arrived with impeccable timing.
In the case of “Burned,” it was the announcement that the band will hit the road on an extensive West Coast tour starting on — wouldn’t you know it? — the album’s release date. With “Worlds Away,” the occasion is of course the record itself coming out. This matters because it’s emblematic of the way Abrams work overall throughout the 10 included tracks. They are deeply purposeful. Their songwriting functions the same way in how it is measured, thought-out, and crisply executed. Captured on the recording so as to maximize its overall impact, yes, but geared in its intent toward building a momentum that, by no coincidence I’m sure, begins with “Worlds Away” itself.
That’s right. What’s effectively the last step Abrams take before unveiling the album as a whole is posting a video that introduces listeners to how it starts off. Even this would seem to be the result of the precise manner in which they operate, which one can hear too in the balance of turns and drive in “Worlds Away.” Aside from looking like it was filmed on a really nice sunny day — maybe in the morning? — the clip finds the band outside in the open air performing the track in a spacious environment. You might recall that for “Burned,” they were indoors. Once more, one doubts that’s happenstance.
Enjoy “Worlds Away” below. Morning is out on Friday, and the tour starts the same night. Dates and more info follow:
Abrams, “Worlds Away” video
With new album Morning set to be released June 9th, and with a US tour kicking off that same night, Denver trio Abrams drop the brand new music video for its song “Worlds Away,” off Morning.
Look for Abrams on tour all summer. Zach Amster says, “As always, we are excited to head back to the West Coast! Come out and show us a good time. East Coast, see you in August.”
Jun. 9 — Santa Fe, NM @ The Underground Jun. 10 — Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry Jun. 11 — San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar Jun. 12 — Long Beach, CA @ Blacklight District Lounge Jun. 13 — Los Angeles, CA @ Five Star Bar Jun. 14 — Ventura, CA @ The Garage Jun. 15 — San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern Jun. 16 — San Jose, CA @ The Caravan Jun. 17 — Santa Cruz, CA @ Caffe Pergolesi Jun. 18 — Sacramento, CA @ Starlite Lounge Jun. 19 — Reno, NV @ Shea’s Tavern Jun. 20 — Medford, OR @ Johnny B’s Tavern Jun. 21 — Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s Pub Jun. 22 — Portland, OR @ The Kenton Club Jun. 23 — Missoula, MT @ Monk’s Bar Jun. 24 — Billings, MT @ The Railyard Jun. 25 — Salt Lake City, UT @ Club X Jun. 26 — Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November Jun. 27 — Rapid City, SD @ West Dakota Improv Jun. 28 — Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club Jun. 29 — Chicago, IL @ Reggies Jun. 30 — Des Moines, IA @ The Fremont Jul. 1 — Denver, CO @ The Hi Dive
We’re nearly a month out from the issue date for Abrams‘ second album and Sailor Records debut, Morning, and the Denver-based trio have newly unveiled a video to herald its arrival. I’m not entirely sure where the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Zach Amster, bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen and drummer Geoffrey Cotton are driving as they trade back and forth between what looks like a rehearsal space and in-the-van-type shenanigans — maybe to the rehearsal space itself, or the recording studio, or somewhere else in that gorgeous high-desert landscape with the Rocky Mountains behind them — but they look like they’re having a good time, and the song is catchy as all hell, so neither am I inclined to argue.
“Burned” is the name of the track, and it’s the second bit of audio to be released from Morning behind the not-quite-title-track “Mourning” that came with the album announcement. Both cuts acquit the band’s crisp take on progressive and modern heavy well, and if you’re looking to get some representation of the kind of flow Morning has on offer, check out this video first and then go right into the “Mourning,” because it just so happens the appear in that order in the tracklisting. That’s a 10-minute sample of a 43-minute record. Nothing to sneeze at. The video for “Burned” also has the advantage of a dreamy, kinda-sounds-like-Super–Mario–World guitar-led midsection — at least I’m pretty sure that’s what I’m hearing there; it’s definitely something that was on SNES — and some direct vocal interplay from Iversen and Amster, so all the better to get a sense for where Abrams are coming from this time around.
You can check out the clip for “Burned” via the embed below, followed by more info on Morning from the PR wire and some newly announced tour dates that just came through. Because timing is everything.
Please enjoy:
Abrams, “Burned” official video
Denver, Colorado trio Abrams has revealed the music video for its song “Burned.”
The song appears on Abrams’ sophomore album Morning, to be released June 9th on Sailor Records.
Yearning, driving, and bursting with hooks, the ten songs on Morning summon a soulful version of heavy rock akin to Mastodon, Baroness, and Mark Lanegan. Tracks like “Burned” and the recently-premiered “Mourning” (featuring guest vocals by Phil Pendergast of hometown Denver pals Khemmis) are earth-shakers that veer from bittersweetness to defiance to rage.
Morning was recorded by Andy Patterson (SubRosa, Cult Leader) and Dave Otero (Cobalt, Cattle Decapitation), and was mixed and mastered by Otero.
The cover art and layout are by Samantha Muljat (Earth, Goatsnake).
Look for Abrams on tour all summer. Zach Amster says, “As always, we are excited to head back to the West Coast! Come out and show us a good time. East Coast, see you in August.”
Jun 9 – Santa Fe, NM @ The Underground Jun 10 – Bisbee, AZ @ The Quarry Jun 11 – San Diego, CA @ Tower Bar Jun 12 – Long Beach, CA @ Blacklight District Lounge Jun 13 – Los Angeles, CA @ Five Star Bar Jun 14 – Joshua Tree, CA @ Beatnik Lounge Jun 15 – San Francisco, CA @ Hemlock Tavern Jun 16 – San Jose, CA @ The Caravan Jun 17 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Caffe Pergolesi Jun 18 – Sacramento, CA @ Starlite Lounge Jun 19 – Reno, NV @ Shea’s Tavern Jun 20 – Medford, OR @ Johnny B’s Tavern Jun 21 – Eugene, OR @ Old Nick’s Pub Jun 22 – Portland, OR @ The Kenton Club Jun 23 – Seattle, WA @ Lo-Fi Performance Gallery Jun 24 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder Jun 25 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Club X Jun 26 – Cheyenne, WY @ Ernie November Jun 27 – Rapid City, SD @ West Dakota Improv Jun 28 – Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club Jun 29 – Chicago, IL @ Reggies Jun 30 – Des Moines, IA @ The Fremont Jul 1 – Denver, CO @ The Hi Dive
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 14th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
I can’t really say it’s much of a surprise that Denver, Colorado, three-piece Abrams went back into the studio with Andy Patterson at the helm. Patterson, who also tracked their 2015 debut full-length, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), and has worked with the likes of SubRosa, Iota, Gaza, Black Sleep of Kali, etc., in one or multiple capacities, produces the forthcoming Morning in league with Dave Otero (whom I’ll forever associate with the stellar presence he brought to Cephalic Carnage), and one can hear in the title-track streaming below that production isn’t a minor factor in the trio’s ultra-clear, crisp and progressive delivery.
Getting a sound like that of Abrams to sound as clean as it does and still be heavy is no easy feat, but “Morning” — which also boasts a guest vocal spot from Khemmis‘ Phil Pendergast — bodes well for the rest of the record to come. One looks forward to digging in.
Cover art by Samantha Muljat, album info and audio follow, all courtesy of the PR wire:
ABRAMS: Khemmis frontman guests on track off Denver trio’s sophomore album “Morning”
Denver, Colorado trio Abrams announces new full-length album Morning, to be released June 9th on Sailor Records.
The sophomore album by Abrams, Morning perfects the sound put forth on the 2015 debut, Lust. Love. Loss. Yearning, driving, and hook-laden, the ten songs on Morning summon a soulful version of heavy rock that dwells in the same mountain range as later Mastodon, Baroness, and Mark Lanegan.
Tracks like “Worlds Away,” “18 Weeks,” “Rivers,” “Burned,” and “Morning” (featuring guest vocals by Phil Pendergast of hometown Denver pals Khemmis) are earth-shakers that veer from bittersweetness to defiance to rage. Guitarist Zachary Amster’s simple leads shine majestically over bassist Taylor Iversen’s fuzz and crunch, and drummer Geoffrey Cotton’s tom-heavy propulsion. Amster and Iversen both sing – world-weary yet full of fire. Iversen describes the lyrical themes:
“The concept we put forth with this album is one of duality. Morning and mourning. The songs represent to us a realization that all good things come with eventual bad things. There’s that morning where the sun is bright and the birds are chirping and everything seems possible. At the end of the day, it wasn’t what you hoped it would be. Every day you wake up and hope, and every night you go to sleep and mourn.”
Morning was recorded by Andy Patterson (SubRosa, Cult Leader) and Dave Otero (Cobalt, Cattle Decapitation), and was mixed and mastered by Otero.
The cover art and layout are by Samantha Muljat (Earth, Goatsnake).
Look for Abrams on tour all summer.
Tracklist: 1) Worlds Away 2) At the End 3) 18 Weeks 4) Rivers 5) Can’t Sleep 6) Burned 7) Mourning 8) Die in Love 9) In this Mask 10) Morning
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 22nd, 2015 by JJ Koczan
It seemed reasonable to expect Denver, Colorado, trio Abrams would hit up the West Coast at some point after making their way east earlier this year. Next month they’ll begin and end with hometown shows at The Hi-Dive and play copious Californian and other dates in support of their 2015 debut full-length, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), steeped in neo-prog heft and crisp rhythmic push.
They start out Oct. 16 and go till Nov. 1, as the PR wire informs:
West Coast Tour starts less than a month from today. We’re looking forward to seeing our old friends and family, as well as make some new ones out on the road. We’re coming for you, soon!
Abrams West Coast Tour Fall 2015: 10.16 Denver CO The Hi-Dive 10.17 Vernal UT Tattoo Shop 10.18 Billings MT Aesthetic Angry Tattoo 10.20 Seattle WA The LoFi 10.21 Portland OR The Kenton Club 10.22 Eugene OR The Wandering Goat 10.23 Sacramento CA Cafe Colonial 10.24 Oakland CA The Golden Bull 10.25 San Jose CA Back Bar SoFa 10.26 Fresno CA Dynamite Vinyl 10.27 Los Angeles CA 5 Star Bar 10.28 Long Beach CA Black Light District 10.29 Spring Valley CA The Bancroft 10.30 Tempe AZ 51 West 10.31 Santa Fe NM The Cave 11.01 Denver CO The Hi-Dive
The synergy of melody, groove, and bullet-train force displayed on Lust. Love. Loss. sets Abrams in line with heavy transcenders like Mastodon and Pelican. Drummer Michael Amster pushes forward with crisp, ghost-noted beats that nod to Dailor at his best; twin brother Zach Amster scrapes shimmering melodies and massive crunch out of his axe; Taylor Iversen’s basslines roll along like boulders down mountainsides.
When asked about their influences, the guys name-check heroes of post-hardcore like Fugazi and At the Drive-In. Indeed, Abrams’ sound could be perceived as a turbo-boosted, sludged-up incarnation of those bands’ spirits – driving and impassioned, traversing the spectrum of feeling, from mournful to triumphant.