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Review & Full Album Stream: Bison Machine, Seas of Titan

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on September 24th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

bison machine seas of titan

[Click play above to stream Bison Machine’s Seas of Titan in its entirety. Album is out Sept. 27 on Small Stone Records.]

It feels like an exceedingly long four years since Michigan classic heavy rockers Bison Machine issued their debut LP, Hoarfrost (review here), through Kozmik Artifactz after first releasing it themselves to significant acclaim. They boogied their way through a 2016 split with SLO and Wild Savages (review here) and issued the single “Cloak and Bones” (premiered here) the next year, and they’ve done a fair amount of touring between, mostly but not entirely in the Midwest, but as second-record Seas of Titan arrives via Small Stone Records — Detroit(-ish) band, Detroit label, Detroit rock — one seems to greet it almost with an exhale of relief: “ah, finally.” The winding shuffle of “Cloak and Bones” makes an appearance on side A amid semi-vintage stylized jams like the proto-metallic opener “The Tower,” “Knights of the Stars” and the somebody-please-isolate-the-bass-track-and-send-it-to-me shuffler “Echoes in Space,” which indeed trips out its guitar solo from Casey O’Ryan, who’s been in the band for a while now but is still the ‘new guy’ alongside vocalist Tom Stec, bassust/Moog-ist Anthony Franchina and drummer Breck Crandell.

But beyond that, everything on Seas of Titan at least feels fresh in listening to it, which is something of an accomplishment for a band so readily paying homage to the heavy ’70s in atmosphere and method. Brought together by a stellar recording job from Al Sutton and Steve Lehane, the latter of whom also co-produced with the band and handled mixing duties — Chris Goosman mastered, which is how it goes for most Small Stone releases — Seas of Titan comes across as natural to a clearly purposeful degree, taking that organic vibe and using it to bolster a live-feeling sound that further adds to the already considerable chemistry between Bison Machine as players. The tones are warm, the balance of instruments and vocals in the mix just right, and the flow between the songs enough to carry through the eight-track/42-minute run even before you know it’s over.

A sense of movement is essential to what Bison Machine do on their sophomore full-length, and that starts from the galloping guitar and emphasize-the-point snare of “The Tower” and continues one way or another through everything that follows. An echo treatment on Stec‘s vocals proves a uniting factor throughout, but isn’t any more overdone than intended, and as he seems to tap his inner Plant on “The Tower,” the message of what he’s going for comes through clearly. One might say the same of the band’s work on the whole. They inject boogie rock with a much-needed sense of energy and a much-needed sense of danger, not through violent lyrical themes or anything like that, but through the vitality of their swing, of the sharpness of their performance as captured here. Hooky enough to warrant its leadoff position, “The Tower” leads to “Knights of the Stars,” whereby Thin Lizzy‘s boys end up back in town and in a brawl with Cactus, only to resolve their differences peacefully in the song’s languid, solo-enriched second half, which cuts out before its 5:11 are done and gives way to “Cloak and Bones,” which channels biker-style death fetishism in its lyrics and sets it to an insistent rhythm and percussive foundation.

bison machine

Bass and guitar wind their way around the snapping drums, and together with Stec, all seem to be resolved to conveying the same crucial aspects of their performance. Like “The Tower,” “Cloak and Bones” is more proto-metallic than not, but Bison Machine‘s ability to shift the balance between such runs and jams or boogie-downs is a big part of what makes Seas of Titan work so well for the duration. As “Echoes in Space” digs into a mellower softshoe riff, that range becomes that much clearer as a part of the listening experience, and while it’s all still well within a similar-enough vibe to be coherent — that is, Bison Machine aren’t trying to do something just to catch their audience off-guard — neither are they repeating themselves anymore than they want to be doing to nail down the grooves that so well populate the album, and indeed “Echoes in Space,” which picks up its tempo and adds a line of presumably Moog or other keyboard under the broad-sounding guitar solo for which one assumes the song was named in the first place.

So yes, movement. But also warmth. The synth that begins the side-B-opening title-track is an intro for one of Seas of Titan‘s most driving progressions, but even that carries a distinctly human warmth and character, mirroring the chorus of “The Tower” and some of that same burst of energy, but locking into a bluesier chorus as well, reminding a bit of Radio Moscow as it struts into and out of lead sections. “Seas of Titan” is the longest inclusion at 6:10, but not by so much over “Cloak and Bones” (6:02) or “The Tower” (5:46) that it’s out of step with the rest of the record that shares its name — that intro is essentially the difference, but it’s well enough earned.

They follow-it with a build of momentum through “Star Child,” which oddly enough is more Rainbow than KISS in terms of its sound, but a welcome delving into minor-key fretwork either way as O’Ryan‘s guitar swaps channels before the hook comes back through and leads to an effective section of starts and stops and a last push ahead of the already-going-already-gone “Electric Eliminator,” which somehow finds room in its sub-four-minute run for a winding, boogie-dense jam in its midsection that almost seems like it’s going to hold sway for the duration and then turns quickly back to the central riff. That lets the initial strum of closer “A Distant Sun” make an immediately more peaceful impression, but the tempo remains up and fuller fuzz makes its way in, Stec‘s vocals seeming to tap their inner Freedom Hawk past the midpoint just before they ride the last solo into a roundout with the last hook and then end the set with a ringout and fade, their sense of class coming through almost in spite of the grit of their presentation.

One wouldn’t necessarily accuse Bison Machine of reinventing the wheel in terms of aesthetic, but the fact of the matter is their take on boogie rock is presented with an energy and an edge of its own on Seas of Titan, and though acts like KadavarGraveyard, and half the population of San Diego have cut their teeth on ’70s riffage over the last decade, the grit Bison Machine bring to the proceedings — and again, that class underlying — is well on display throughout these songs. I wouldn’t be surprised in the future to find them loosening up the structure a bit — contrary to my usual impulse, I almost found myself wishing “Electric Eliminator” just let itself go without returning to the hook; the band’s songwriting acumen had already been thoroughly established, so why not? — but their tightness here extends to all levels of what they do and it becomes part of the overarching statement Seas of Titan makes, and makes resoundingly. Maybe it’ll be four years until the next one and maybe not, but it’ll be worth waiting for, in any case.

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Bison Machine Announce Seas of Titan Due Sept. 27; New Song Streaming

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 19th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

Even if you go by when the album came out on Kozmik Artifactz, it’s been four years since Bison Machine released their debut LP, Hoarfrost (review here), and that’s plenty long enough. They’ve done copious touring over the course of their near-decade together, and had other offerings out along the way, but if you believe in due, they’re due for a record. Fortunately, Seas of Titan will see release through Small Stone on Sept. 27 as their sophomore full-length, arriving not a moment too soon as far as I’m concerned. The album art pretty much rules, and I’ve been seeing posts on thee social medias about their widely available new t-shirt designs, so all that makes me think they’ll continue to hit the road as they have all along, and that’s only a good thing. They’re streaming the opening track from Seas of Titan now. I suggest you dig in.

PR wire info follows. I know I worked on this bio, but I think it was an update from what was already there rather than something I wrote from scratch. Kind of hard to keep it all straight in my head.

Either way, here it is:

bison machine seas of titan

BISON MACHINE: Michigan Fuzz Rockers To Release Seas Of Titan Full-Length Via Small Stone This Fall; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available

Michigan fuzz rockers BISON MACHINE will release their Seas Of Titan full-length via Small Stone this fall.

Since 2010, BISON MACHINE has been plying their trade in the dank, vinyl-smelling basements of Detroit, Michigan, the birthplace of a rock tradition for brashness and all-in physicality to music that the group lovingly upholds. Seas Of Titan is the band’s first album for Small Stone and a record years in the making. Since getting their start in early 2015 with the critically-lauded Hoarfrost, the four-piece have spent time putting out material in drips and drabs — a video here, a split there — all the while honing their craft on stages throughout the greater Midwest and beyond. This has all been in the name of chipping away at the marble that would become an awaited sophomore outing; a long-player from a band whose reputation already precedes them among the converted and who leave nothing unsaid in their sweating-blood approach to rock and roll.

Progressive and intense, the eight smoking tracks that comprise Seas Of Titan finds BISON MACHINE melding the best of classic heavy rock a la Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Captain Beyond, and MC5 with a forward-thinking style that is as much class as it is likely to show up in a loincloth. Rooted now in Hamtramck, Michigan, the band are hungry to the point of starving and bring a spirit to their latest work that serves to remind why they made guitars electric in the first place. Seas Of Titan was recorded by Al Sutton (Five Horse Johnson, Don Cabellero) and Steve Lehane (Sasquatch, Luder, The Black Dahlia Murder) at Rustbelt Studios, mastered by Chris Goosman (La Chinga, Gozu, Acid King, The Glasspack) at Baseline Audio Labs and features artwork by Alan Forbes (The Black Crowes, Lucifer, Earthless, Ghost). 

BISON MACHINE’s Seas Of Titan will be released September 27th on CD and digitally via Small Stone. A limited-edition vinyl edition will also be released through Kozmik Artifacts in conjunction with Small Stone. Preorders are available at the label’s Bandcamp page at THIS LOCATION where first single, “The Tower,” can be streamed.

Seas Of Titan Track Listing:
1. The Tower
2. Knights Of The Stars
3. Cloak & Bones
4. Echoes In Space
5. Seas Of Titan
6. Star Child
7. Electric Eliminator
8. A Distant Sun

BISON MACHINE:
Casey O’ryan – guitar
Anthony Franchina – bass, moog
Breck Crandell – drums, percussion
Tom Stec – vocals

https://www.facebook.com/bisonmachinedetroit
https://www.instagram.com/bisonmachine/
https://bisonmachine.bandcamp.com/
http://www.smallstone.com
http://www.facebook.com/smallstonerecords
http://www.smallstone.bandcamp.com

Bison Machine, Seas of Titan (2019)

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