Posted in Whathaveyou on September 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Next week, Alabama Thunderpussy travel abroad for their first run of European touring since the album cycle for 2007’s Open Fire, which if you missed the year there I’ll just tell you was so long ago this site didn’t even exist yet, and I can barely remember fuggin’ anything before The Obelisk got going. You mean I wasn’t doing this when I was 10? Why the hell not?
To follow-up on this, the favored sons of Riffmond, Virginia, are today putting out word that after they return from the two-week stint on the continent — where they’ll play Up in Smoke, Into the Void, Keep it Low and more besides — they’ll do a three-show run of shows in North Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana. You can see the dates below, but I’ll point out that the lineups for all three shows are pretty stellar. Having been fortunate enough to see ATP and Suplecs sharing a stage this past December, I’ll recommend the experience without reservation. Those two work well together and have for some time. Former labelmates, you know, in the Man’s Ruin days.
But let us not wax nostalgic, for this is rock and roll and nobody has time for that shit — except, apparently, everybody — the real question here is whether or not Alabama Thunderpussy are going to get back to the studio end of their business (which is rockin’) and do another record. Do I know? Nope. Do I want to hazard a guess? Not particularly. Prolific as guitarist Erik Larson (also drums in Thunderchief, Avail, multi-instrumentalist/vocalist for solo stuff, guitar hither and yon and so forth) is, there’s more to the band doing another album than just that. Maybe they’ll get there, maybe they won’t. In the meantime, they’ll share stages with Lie Heavy, Crystal Spiders, Order of the Owl, Suplecs, Insomniac and Total Hell, and a ton more in Europe beforehand. If, as a group, you’re trying to get your feet under you, keeping good company is always a way to go.
Dates magically appeared out of the ether on the PR wire, which happens from time to time. Also be sure to check out ATP moving into the age of social media ‘content creation’ below, just for fun:
Alabama Thunderpussy – December Live Dates
Local bands for the ATP December shows: 12/7-Raliegh NC @ Chapel of Bones w/ Lie Heavy, Crystal Spiders 12/8- Atlanta GA @ Boggs Social w/ Order of the Owl, Insomniac 12/9- New Orleans LA @ Gasa Gasa w/ Suplecs, Total Hell
ATP European Tour: Tickets are available here: https://routeonebooking.tourlink.to/atpeu2023 29.09 – Up In Smoke Festival, Pratteln, CH 30.09 – Into The Void Festival, Leeuwarden, NL 01.10 – Indra Club, Hamburg, DE 02.10 – Rahuset, Copenhagen, DK 03.10 – Cassiopeia, Berlin, DE 04.10 – Mephisto (@ Faust), Hannover, DE 05.10 – Bauhaus, Erfurt, DE 06.10 – Keep It Low Festival, Munich, DE 07.10 – Altoquandro, Zerobranco, IT 08.10 – Splinter, Parma, IT 09.10 – Channel Zero, Ljubljana, SLO 10.10 – Blah Blah, Turin, IT 11.10 – Caves du Manoir, Martigny, CH (co-headline W/ -16-) 12.10 – Glazart, Paris, FR 13.10 – Zappa, Antwerp, BE
Alabama Thunderpussy: Bryan Cox-Drums Sam Krivanec- Bass Ryan Lake- Guitar Erik Larson- Guitar Kyle Thomas- Vocals
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Some pretty good inferences one might make looking at the first lineup announcement for Up in Smoke 2023, the annual Sound of Liberation festival held each year in Pratteln, Switzerland. It says The Obsessed will be on tour in Europe this Fall, which I’m pretty sure they’ve said anyway, but it might also be a clue as to the release of their next album. On the other hand, they might just be fucking touring because they’re The Obsessed and that’s what they do. Also it’s further expansion of Alabama Thunderpussy‘s reunion and since this festival is Sep. 29 to Oct. 1 and their prior confirmation was Keep it Low from Oct. 6 to 7, they’ll likely be on the road in Europe for the better part of at least two weeks. That’s not nothing.
Consider also Yawning Man heading abroad in Fall for their new album, announced yesterday. And did you hear that Dirty Sound Magnet record? I didn’t until now but it’s a ripper. New school oldschool blues heavy. Rad. And Eyehategod getting back at it too. It’s a cool bill, mix of newer acts and recognizable with Zeal & Ardor on top nothing to complain about.
Of course, there’s more to come here, but hell, I’d go to this. You? Festival in Switzerland in October? Why on earth would you say no to that?
Also note there’s a new Facebook page for the fest. From the PR wire:
UP IN SMOKE 2023 – ZEAL & ARDOR, GRAVEYARD, THE OBSESSED & MANY MORE ANNOUNCED
Hey Smokers, the long awaited day has come. We’re stoked to finally reveal the first names for our 2023 edition. We hope you like it as much as we do!
Get ready for three days of finest heavy rock music… this is just the beginning.
Artwork: Brookesia Estudio
Festival info: Up In Smoke Festival 29. Sep – 01. Oct 2023 @ Konzertfabrik Z7 // Pratteln (CH)
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 21st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The ninth edition of the of the Munich-based Keep it Low Festival will be held on Oct. 6 and 7 at Backstage, and it has unveiled the first five acts who will take part. At the top of the bill is hometown heroes Colour Haze, who’ve been a steady presence through the years and are as close to a given as Keep it Low gets. Belzebong, Thronehammer and Daily Thompson between them showcase a range of heavy styles within the genre sphere, none unwelcome on any of Europe’s many, many festival bills. The big surprise of the bunch is Alabama Thunderpussy, who join the lineup for Keep it Low 2023 after playing a reunion show in December of last year (review here) in their native Richmond, Virginia.
I don’t know whether the resurgent ATP will tour Europe or are flying over for this one show, but I wouldn’t be surprised either way. Keep it Low is early in announcing for the Fall season — though it’s not the first to do so; Høstsabbat in Norway has been unveiling its lineup and Desertfest Belgium has been moving toward doing so as well, as it and Switzerland’s Up in Smoke have their dates set — so we’ll see in probably the next two months or so how it’s all going to shake out, who’ll be on tour and when, and so on.
The start of that process is always exciting, though I’ll note that we as a species are moving closer toward a time when festival season doesn’t exist and there’s just something happening every weekend somewhere throughout Europe. I won’t complain when we get there.
Word from Sound of Liberation follows:
Hey Keepers,
we are super excited to present you the first bands for this year’s edition of the Keep It Low festival!
Posted in Reviews on December 5th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
4:15PM – Before show
I’ve never been to Richmond, which is host to Richmond Music Hall, the venue for this Alabama Thunderpussy reunion. No better spot, probably. Hometown show, friends in Suplecs and Loud Night on the bill. If it was ever going to happen, why the hell not now and here? I can think of no reason this reunion should not go forth as planned.
Soundcheck is, fundamentally, a re-gathering of friends. The ATP guys and the Suplecs guys go back decades, and what feels like an old rapport is quickly revived. Spinal Tap references, inevitably. I didn’t bring water, which was a rookie error, but I walked up to the local metal shop, Vinyl Conflict, and found that vinyl won the conflict. No complaints. I wasn’t really looking to spend the money. I hobbled back to the venue, a bar that looks like it is doing well, place you could taken your kids if you had the kind of kids you could make sit still for a meal, and the venue space is right next door with exposed brick, nice dark wood floor, bare ceiling, fans spinning lazily. Look up, no ninja strike force waiting for their move.
Left at 7:51AM, arrived 1:34PM, so the ride wasn’t terrible. I’ll need to pick up a fridge magnet on my way out of town tomorrow. It has not escaped my attention that Richmond on first impression looks like a lot of towns on the Eastern Seaboard; the place where a city happened. It’s got its fancy condos — more coming, perpetually, it seems, but it’ll stop next time the housing market collapses — and it’s got its older houses, a lot of growth post-WWI/II you can see in the brickwork. Older roots, had its industrious time when industry was a thing. Now restaurants, apartments. The vinyl store. Ups and downs to everything, man.
I am lucky to have The Obelisk present shows at various times and in various places around the world. If someone asks me if they can put a logo on a poster, I rarely say no. This one feels a little special, I’ll admit. ATP were one of the first bands who in my mind came to represent a lot of what worked best about Southern heavy rock around and after the turn of the century, and I’m pleased to say they always delivered live, every time I saw them, and I saw them a bunch, from spots like Irving Plaza in NYC to a (beloved) hole in the wall like The Saint in Asbury Park.
And Suplecs it’s been since probably SXSW in 2004 or 2005, so if you believe in due, I have to qualify. They soundcheck after Alabama Thunderpussy are done, play a funky psych jam that just kind of comes out, as I expect it might anytime, anywhere from them, but it’s basically a warm-up, dropped soon enough in favor of getting the kick drum right. Guitar getting shocked stops the whole thing. They reverse the polarity. It works. Next jam is blues, as it would be.
It’s barely after 5PM, show is still hours off. I don’t mind sitting, so I expect I’ll do a good bit of that before things actually get started.
Loud Night show up, soundcheck. Dudes eat. Pretty mellow scene before doors then the stories start quick about how long it’s been, last time who saw what band, this and that and that kind of thing. The room is excited before even Loud Night starts, stage waiting in red light. 8PM start, me waiting on a bench along the wall, needing more water.
Here’s notes from the show:
Loud Night
Dudes would join the filth-encrusted lineage of Motörhead and Venom and they know it. A good dose of humor in the between-song banter gave a bit of context to the onslaught, sociopolitical lyrics to set finale “Holy Hell” arriving with the disclaimer that we’re already there. Fair enough. Black metal, thrash-in-dirt, what would be fuckall if it wasn’t so physically demanding to play, this was my first exposure to Loud Night, who are obviously schooled in older school methodologies despite being the youngest band on the bill. They had a backdrop that was righteous in how much it looked homemade, and their sound was very much embodied in that. Full-speed, all-go, stop to breathe between but hit it again soon enough. I don’t mind saying it was the most metal thing I’ve seen in some time, but especially encouraging coming from a bunch of not-grayhairs. They weren’t kids, by any means — local citizens, upstanding and all that shit I’m sure — but they played like raw bastards and that is a thing to be appreciated when one can appreciate it. Maybe that’s the future of metal. No genres, only spit. There’s part of me that hopes so, and part of me that thinks that kind of thing will always be relegated to the few ears willing to be so decisively battered.
Suplecs
Okay, I looked it up. The last time I saw Suplecs was in Philadelphia in 2011 (review here). That’s probably long enough. And I don’t want to seem overly sentimental, but wow that set took me back. Suplecs doing “White Devil?” Has stoner rock ever been more stoner rock? Maybe when they did “Rock Bottom?” Hell if I know, but I was transported watching them to a simpler and, for me, drunker time, circa 2004/2005, bumming around SXSW in a well-earned 20-something’s stupor, making it to see them lay waste to one room or another, maybe not for the first time that day. Today, my back is sore and my knee is sore and I’m tired because I’ve been up since five this morning not drinking but they still tore it up. If this is getting old, at least the music is good. It is my sincere hope that, if I ever get to see this band again, it won’t be in another 11 years. They were a blast as well as a blast from the past, and they remain one of the aughts’ most undercelebrated original era stoner bands. They should be out playing festivals in Europe when not doing the reunion gigs of bands with whom they toured pre-9/11. I don’t think that will happen, but for just three dudes, they made the stage feel small and they had heads in the crowd singing along to more than just their take on “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” though most certainly to that as well. Like a lot of bands from their cohort, they would be bigger if they were starting out now, but so it goes. They remain better and more fun than they’ve ever gotten credit for being.
Alabama Thunderpussy
Is the world ready for an Alabama Thunderpussy reunion? I don’t know. Richmond, Virginia, sure as shit is though. I guess the cliché thing to say here is they took the stage like they never left, and who the hell could ever know if such a thing is true, but, well, they definitely didn’t sound like a band who hasn’t spent the last 15 or so years kicking ass, which I suppose is what they are. I never got to see them on their original run with Kyle Thomas — who doubles in Exhorder and triples in Trouble — but with Erik Larson and Ryan Lake on either side of the stage on guitar, Sam Krivanec on bass and Bryan Cox on drums, they were locked in quickly and stayed that way for the duration. It was a thing to witness, and Thomas’ voice only added to the scorch, nailing songs from before he joined the band as well as from the Open Fire album, which remains their most recent outing. Let’s add a big ‘to-date’ to that, because it seems to me that if this was a one-off, it was great but a waste, and if it was a kind of re-proof of concept, the concept was proven long before they even hit into “Wage Slave,” never mind “Rockin’ is Ma Business” at the end of the night. They’ll have to do more. Having stood in front of that stage, it would be hard for me to imagine them not keeping it going, at least for the odd festival here and there. It’s just too good to leave alone. I don’t know if the world is ready, but these guys are. I tend to think of nostalgia as a trap — your lazy brain keeping you tied to old memories so it doesn’t have to go out and make new ones. This set, seeing ATP again after so long, was a little bit of both. But the bottom line is I’m glad I came, and I’m glad I was here to see this happen on their home turf, and I’m glad there was water back on that table by the door. All winning situations. Then you get to all the shred, and groove, and balls-out heavy rock and roll — a band just absolutely going all-in the whole way through. Where’s the next stop on the tour?
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I feel like maybe it’s going to be a bit before I’ve slowed my brain down enough to properly process this evening, but a few things came clear: Suplecs are even better than you remember them being and Alabama Thunderpussy can’t possibly or at least definitely shouldn’t end this here. What I saw and heard come off that stage was too forceful, and the energy too vital, to let it sit untapped. They’re more than 25 years on from their start and tonight seemed like a new beginning just starting to unfurl. I sincerely hope that is the case.
The story of Richmond, Virginia’s Alabama Thunderpussy — whose moniker has not aged well but could definitely be worse — is long and has enough struggle and triumph, ups, downs, comings, goings, etc., to be fully human. Their last album was 2007’s Open Fire, which introduced their third frontman, Kyle Thomas, known for his work in Exhorder and as of 2012, vocalist for Chicago doom legends Trouble for the second time. Prior to that album’s sharper, more metallic take (which seemed at the time like a new start rather than the swansong it became), ATP helped define a path for post-C.O.C. Southern heavy rock, records like 1998’s Rise Again and 1999’s River City Revival — and I’ll add 2000’s Constellation to the list, just because I’ve always dug it — basking in a burl that bands still emulate and putting the double-guitar outfit in league with the stoner rock of the day through releasing on Frank Kozik‘s Man’s Ruin imprint.
You can read as much below, but you should know that there’s more to ATP‘s journey, their time on tour, signing to Relapse, and so on, than just this, just like there was always more to their songs than rough riffs and Dixie chestbeating. Like few before or since, they were able to convey a sense of heart that made their work more than a put-on.
What I’m getting to is that I’m thrilled to be presenting the band’s announced reunion show on Dec. 3 at Richmond Music Hall. They were a righteous live act, and I say that as someone who saw them at venues large and small, and as founding members Erik Larson (guitar) and Bryan Cox (drums) reignite the band with Ryan Lake on guitar as he was during their run in the aughts, Thomas back on vocals, and bassist Sam Krivanec, the prospect of this reunion stands as a potential introduction to an entire generation of listeners. 2007 was 15 years ago, just to remind you. 1998 was 24. An entire wave of heavy rock, as well as fans, has risen up in those years — and ATP could stand some catalog reissues in they’re going to keep this thing going — but for now it’s just one show, this first show, and I’m humbled to have The Obelisk involved in presenting it in this tiny way.
Tickets go on sale June 24 at the link below, and no less than friggin’ Suplecs are coming up from New Orleans to support, along with Richmond’s Loud Night. I can’t imagine it won’t sell out, and if you are making travel plans, as I am, you should have plenty of time to get it all sorted. Again, this might be a one-off, and it might not be a chance that comes again. I’m not trying to FOMO you out or talk it up without reason, but this strikes me as an evening that could be pretty special.
Broadberry Entertainment Group presents Alabama Thunderpussy at Richmond Music Hall on December 3, 2022. This will be the first time the band has performed in 14 years!
In 1996, on a dirt floor basement in Richmond Virginia’s Oregon Hill neighborhood, Alabama Thunderpussy (ATP) first emerged in a detuned feedback laden assault. Putting into song the members’ love for Southern Rock, Heavy metal, Sludge-core and Punk, they got-busy-getting-busy right from the very beginning.
Within a few years, ATP was at the vanguard of the new Southern Heavy/Stoner Rock scene — releasing 3 albums (Rise Again-1998, River City Revival-1999, and Constellation-2000) on famed poster artist Frank Kozik’s Man’s Ruin Records and already touring internationally before signing with metal juggernaut, Relapse Records, in 2001. The band continued their Road-Dog work ethic matched with a prolific and unique musical crusade for an additional 4 albums (Staring at the Divine-2002, Fulton Hill-2004, Open Fire-2007, and Live at the Contamination Festival-2008) before they disbanded in 2008, leaving a legacy that continues to influence countless artists and musicians to this day.
Now, for the first time in 14 years, the band has resurfaced for an exclusive hometown performance on Saturday December 3rd at Richmond Music Hall. Embracing a selection of songs from their entire catalog, the show will be a celebration of loud Heavy Rock in that distinctive Alabama Thunderpussy flair. Support will be provided by New Orleans underground legends, Suplecs, and local Motorriffic Kings, Loud Night.
Posted in Reviews on September 23rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
In a career arc that spans over three full decades, Richmond, Virginia’s Erik Larson has contributed to a range of acts from Avail to Axehandle, Alabama Thunderpussy to Backwoods Payback, Birds of Prey, Hail!Hornet, The Mighty Nimbus, on and on. Currently found in Omen Stones, Roy Batty and Thunderchief — at least two of whom have new material in progress, if not all three — he is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and songwriter, entirely capable of serving as frontman or propulsive drummer, and in the case of his solo work, he often functions as a one-man band.
His best known solo outings are probably 2003’s The Resounding and 2005’s Faith, Love, Hope, both of which were released through Small Stone, and in 2013 and 2016, he followed with the Garrett Morris (Windhand)-produced A Dedication and Haura, prior to joining Backwoods Payback for a pair of LPs and numerous tours. On Sept. 17, he released two new full-lengths and an EP, playing entirely solo on Favorite Iron (some guest horns aside) and Siste Latter and bringing in two drummers for two tracks each on the four-song Measwe. Each offering was produced earlier this year in a different studio, and each follows its own path forward.
In whatever incarnation a given outing might have him working, it is the work that is defining. Larson‘s voice, sometimes clear, sometimes guttural, is distinct even among throatier deliveries, and much of the Southern metal that comes through in his style derives from aesthetic he helped shape. There is little mistaking his presence generally, and his own material is very much that.
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Erik Larson, Favorite Iron
Co-produced by Larson, with recording and mixing at Minimum Wage by Lance Koehler in Richmond, the 10-song/45-minute Favorite Iron offers surprises from the moment the horn-quartet kicks in on opener “Backpage,” a stated homage to front-of-house manage/recording engineer John Hopkins (Sleep, Bongzilla, Melvins, etc.). Whether it’s the acoustic “In the Threes” and “OVFNI,” the latter digging into moody grunge melody, the Southern-style heft of clean-sung second cut “Darker Blue,” the hooky “Off With That,” “Starting Who?” and the especially hard-hitting closer “The Heavies” — a fitting bookend to “Backpage” sound-wise — or a punk rocker like “Middle Age,” the album works in sets of three songs each the establish a flow across its entirety. “Backpage,” “Darker Blue” and “The Dr. is In” provide the surge at the beginning with “In the Threes” as the 1:45 outlier, then “Middle Age,” “Off With That” and “OVFNI” move between hardcore and friendlier punks before “S.O.T.S.O.G.” — a cover of UK heavy rockers Blackrock from their 2002 EP, Clutching at Straws — shifts into the final duo “Starting Who?” and “The Heavies” to rage, crash and ultimately feedback out. The opener is the longest track (immediate points), and the closer slams meanest, but in between, Favorite Iron‘s songs are a journey to be undertaken, united by songwriting and production even while careening, elbows flying outward, through deceptively encompassing breadth.
Erik Larson, Favorite Iron (2021)
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Erik Larson, Siste Latter
Shorter on runtime, but big on grit, Siste Latter was tracked in Asbury Park, NJ, with Pete Steinkopf (BouncingSouls) co-helming at Little Eden Studio. The title is Norwegian and translates to ‘Last Laughter,’ so fair enough. “Wanted as We Were” builds in intensely, but is more about swing than pummel in its groove, and the exclamatory “It’s a Caper!” — which is about as close as Larson comes on any of these releases to sounding like Backwoods Payback — actually isn’t the most exclamatory song on the outing, as following the acoustic interlude “Happy Accidents,” “Little Boogie” emerges as willful in its good time. Opening chug gives way soon to a bouncing riff and churning chorus, out of which come a series of “woo!” and other shouts, even a “c’mon!” included, though as he’s the only player on the outing, Larson‘s essentially talking to himself, rather than a band behind him. One way or the other, the track is a blast, and easy to imagine it coming from a stage. It finishes even short of its 3:48, and tape hiss stops as a transition to the acoustic-led “Pull the Brake,” — “Pull the brake/Let me off/I ain’t quittin’, I just stopped,” the standout lyric — which weaves electric guitar in with its strum and cymbals, the vocals forward and natural-feeling. The finale, “Zelig Aspirations,” splits its six and a half minutes between driving dirt rock and foreboding acoustic guitar with effects-laced cymbals behind, gradually incorporating electric distortion which ultimately caps, feedbacking into a quick fade. Debate EP/LP if you want, the bruises are there just the same.
Erik Larson, Siste Latter (2021)
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Erik Larson, Measwe EP
“Front of House” leads off the four-song/16-minute Measwe with echoes of “Backpage” from Favorite Iron in its John Hopkins homage — “I’ll never see you again/I’ll never hear you again/Say to me/’Do your thing'”; the last lyric also having appeared in “Backpage” — which sees Larson joined by drummer/recording engineer Jordan Faett (Paper Trail) and drummer/bassist Buddy Bryant (Dirt Merchant) for an even more complete-band feel. Faett and Bryant alternate between “Front of House,” “AsWas,” “Old Friend” and “Indipleading,” and both suit the rough edges of Larson‘s riffs well, whether that’s the rush of the noted chorus to “Front of House” or the still-hardcore-kids cap put on the ending of “Indipleading.” Between them, “AsWas” is brooding where “Old Friend” is more spit and nastier in its shove, but the bottom line with Measwe — also stylized all-lowercase: measwe — is that where Siste Latter and Favorite Iron pull back on the heavier intention, the EP simply doesn’t have time for it. The tradeoff is a more intense listening experience, and in working with other players despite still being responsible for the entirety of the songwriting, there’s an energy to the EP of its own, but if Larson is trying out bandmates, he’s got his work cut out for him. “Indipleading” finishes with a sudden few snare taps, quick hits, and leaves a heavy silence afterward, making it clear that despite the 20 songs across these three releases, this might be more beginning than end. So be it. Hopefully, anyhow.
Posted in Buried Treasure on February 7th, 2013 by JJ Koczan
Time was limited. It was Monday morning and I was supposed to go to work after all, but as I was in New England anyway, a quick run to Armageddon Shop in Providence didn’t seem all that unreasonable. I’ve never come out of there feeling less than satisfied, and even back in December at the Boston store, I was able to pick up a few winners. Plus, Armageddon‘s been on my mind lately with their handling the repress of Elder‘s Spires Burn EP and the release of Magic Circle‘s self-titled, for which I have a review pending. All that, coupled with my general desire to crane my neck before a CD rack, made the stop a necessity. Turned out work was still there when I finally showed up anyway. Go figure.
On the wall of my office is a post-it with albums I’ve been meaning to pick up — mostly review stuff that labels won’t send out physical copies of anymore that I’ll grudgingly buy and devalue the effort I put into writing about them while also diminishing my appreciation for the record out of the pervasive annoyance. It’s a vicious cycle. Anyway, most of what’s on it I couldn’t remember, but it was fine. I managed to find enough and then some, as you can see in the stack above. The new Bedemon (track stream here) and Seremonia (track stream here) records were a must, and I hadn’t actually gotten a CD of the last Enslaved (review here), so I figured if I was going to give someone the cash for it, at least I could feel good about it going to Armageddon. The rest was gravy.
The first Hooded Menace full-length, Fulfill theCurse,Orodruin‘s Claw Tower and Other Tales of Terror and the repress of Life Beyond‘s Ancient Worldswere cool finds, but I was even more stoked on the 2003 Cream Abdul Babar/Kylesa split on At a Loss. I think they came by their progression honestly and I think Spiral Shadow(review here) bears that out, but it’s easy to forget how blisteringly heavy that band was at one point, all noise and fury and potential. With the unbridled weirdness of Cream Abdul Babar to complement, that split was a killer. The punkish War and Wineby the UK’s The Dukes of Nothing was something I had my eye on for a while, with Orange Goblin‘s Chris Turner on drums, bassist Doug Dalziel (ex-Iron Monkey) and Stuart O’Hara (ex-Acrimony, current Sigiriya) as one of two guitars, and more on the hardcore end, the self-titled collection from Hard to Swallow was a pleasant surprise, spanning the short tenure of the outfit that featured Jim Rushby (Iron Monkey)on guitar and Justin Greaves (Iron Monkey and even later of Crippled Black Phoenix) on drums and a host of others from that sphere ripping out primitive, violent bursts in rapid succession.
With 13 tracks in 27 minutes, there’s little room for screwing around, so Hard to Swallow get right to it, blending raw riffage with extreme punk fuckall. The compilation was released on Armageddon‘s own label, and though it’s more hardcore than what I’ll generally grab, it’s a solid, intense listen. A secret track incorporating Sabbath‘s “Under the Sun” into a grind medley made a decent, meaner answer to The Dukes of Nothing‘s album on Tortuga, and the metallic outing from Enslaved and Seremonia‘s distinctly Finnish weirdness. More local to home, I grabbed Halfway to Gone‘s split with Alabama Thunderpussy, which I already own but figured for six bucks I’d take a double, and the 1997 debut from underrated Jersey-based psychedelic rockers, Lord Sterling.
Your Ghost Will Walkwas one of those albums I figured I’d probably never happen upon, perhaps even less so in Rhode Island. I haven’t been chasing it down for years and years or anything like that — a preliminary search can find copies out there — but neither was I going to pass up the chance to get a new one. The pressing is on Chainsaw Safety Records, may or may not be original, and for anyone who heard Lord Sterling‘s Weapon of Truth(2002, Rubric) or Today’s Song for Tomorrow(2004, Small Stone), the first one is a little more jagged, a little more post-hardcore, somewhat less psychedelic, though the ethereal garage via The Doors vibes of the later albums are definitely present in some nascent form. I always dug those guys, so it was cool to hear where they came from a little bit.
Because I can’t resist a CD on Man’s Ruin and because I’m forever a sucker for NYC noise, I impulse grabbed The Cuttroats 9‘s self-titled. The band had Chris Spencer and Dave Curran from Unsane in it, so I figured I couldn’t go wrong and I was right. It was a last-minute thing as I was looking through, but I’ve done way worse. All told, the haul was well-rounded and with a cup of coffee from the bakery down the street, I felt like the win was even more complete. About five hours later, I strolled into my office like I owned the place.
Posted in Buried Treasure on October 17th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
A bit of personal trivia: Alabama Thunderpussy‘s Constellation was the first Man’s Ruin Records album I ever bought. It was released in 2000 and I made my purchase directly from the band on their website — it might also have been the first time I did that — sometime after the release of 2001’s also-excellent Staring at the Divine, which was their Relapse debut. I didn’t know much about the label or the band at that point, other than (as per the poster above) they stomped ass and it was worth $10 of my money.
I’ve chronicled my Man’s Ruin buying adventures here pretty extensively, but Constellation has always had a soft spot in my heart, for being the first and for its fearless blend of sentimentality and burly heavy Southern rock. It’s not just any band that would put “Six Shooter” and “15 Minute Drive” on the same record. Still, I probably hadn’t listened to it in a few years even before ATP broke up after releasing the more metallic Open Fire in 2007 with Kyle Thomas from Exhorder on vocals, and as has happened a couple times by now (see here, here, here and here, for starters), finding the promo for sale on the relative cheap provided a good chance to reintroduce myself to the album.
The first thing that sticks out about it — especially in the context of what’s come since from Virginia and the surrounding area — is how forward thinking it is. A lot of the distinct guitar crunch from Erik Larson and Asechaih Bogdan and the sans-reverb vocals of Johnny Throckmorton you can hear in the sludge coming out of that area now from the likes of Lord and a few like-minded acts also not shy about bringing melody into the mix.
As much as cuts like “Ambition,” “Burden” and the organ-infused “Foul Play” rock as straightforwardly as possible, the acoustics of “Obsari” and the more airy feel of “1271-3106” do more than just change things up. There’s a direct effect on mood and the overall tone of the album that lasts right into the intro of “Keepsake” and the extended weird-out jam of “Country Song.” I guess it’s not necessarily that I didn’t realize these things were happening on the record before, although I’d believe that too, but with the additional time since its release — it’ll be 12 years come March — there’s been a real chance for the record to ferment. Constellation goes down like fine aged moonshine, and proves no less blinding.
If you’re interested, click the picture on the left above to enlarge it and read the bio. Believe it.
