Georgian atmospheric sludge five-piece Dead Hand released their split with exclamatory fellow Peach Staters Machinist! in March through Nefarious Industries. It’s a beast. A short beast, but a beast just the same. Machinist! offer two tracks in “Bask in the White Light,” which fosters almost immediate post-hardcore sludge lumber and caps with quotes from Fahrenheit 451, and “The Nail,” which is presumably named for what they hit on the head in their blend of noise, lumber, loathing and bite — actually the title comes from the lyric “I am Jesus and you are the nail,” but for the sake of argument, let’s roll with it — and unleashes its furies with corresponding efficiency and thickness. When Dead Hand enter this thickened, churning fray, they do so amid the chuggoplod and harsh doom of “Muirgeilt,” a single inclusion running a seven-minute gamut of extremity in purpose, bridging death-sludge with atmospheric heavy along a linear course that breaks almost exactly halfway in to a stretch of bass, spooky keys and drums like all of a sudden someone invited John Carpenter to the party. Please, come right in.
The surge back is satisfying and sudden, as “Muirgeilt” pushes into its angular, consuming final stretch with its riffs dystopian and its vocals more gurgle than growl, becoming shouts in the last minute forward push, some gang shouts to let you know where they come from. They started angry and they end angry, which is fair enough when you do anger so well. In the video below, which is Dead Hand rendering “Muirgeilt” live in the mood lighting of their rehearsal space, one of course gets a better sense for what everyone is doing at any given moment, with the arrangement between vocalists, the keys and guitar, what looks like and may or may not be some kind of theremin-esque device going on there, and so on. Yes, the sound is rawer than on the finished studio version — if the words “rehearsal space” didn’t signal that loud enough I’ll say it outright — but the tradeoff is personification of viciousness, faces to the rage, and that’s worth the viewing in itself, let alone the bootleg vibe of the thing, which is enjoyable in its own right and gives its own sense of atmosphere to the proceedings.
The split’s out on 10″ vinyl and DL, and you can stream it down by the bottom of this post. The band offered some words on the video and more below.
Enjoy:
Dead Hand, “Muirgeilt” live-in-studio premiere
Cliff Carr on “Muirgeilt”:
It was recorded in mid-February at our rehearsal space at my house. This song had a different drummer on the recording. Although Carson [Pace] is playing 90 percent of what Craig [Harper] played on the recording, he steps it up in the end and puts his own stamp on it. It is what we wanted to do originally but Craig couldn’t play double bass that fast.
Live performance of “Muirgeilt” off of our split with MACHINIST! from the DEAD HAND practice space. Out March 19, 2021 on Limited 10 inch glacier blue vinyl and digital worldwide via Nefarious Industries..
“Bask in the White Light” and “The Nail” recorded, mixed, and mastered by Lee Dyess at Earthsound Studio in Valdosta, Georgia. machinistga.bandcamp.com
“Muirgeilt” recorded, mixed, and mastered by Matt Washburn at LedBelly Sound Studio in Dawsonville, Georgia. deadhandcollective.bandcamp.com
Dead Hand are: Clifton Carr – guitar/vocals Shannon Harris – synth/vocals Stephen Williams – guitar/vocals Carson Pace – drums Andrew Seth – bass
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 21st, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Preorders are up now for Reborn of Dead Light, the second album from Georgian four-piece Dead Hand. The record is out Sept. 7 through Divine Mother Recordings and features the artwork of Jean Saiz, also known as the guitarist/vocalist of Floridian dark-sludgers Shroud Eater, with whom Dead Hand shared a split release (review here) late in 2016. That was the last time Dead Hand were heard from, but the band have the opening track “Alabaster and Bone” streaming right now as well as the CD bonus track “Them Bones,” a cover of the opener from Alice in Chains‘ classic Dirt album which, indeed, may never have sounded dirtier than it does with Dead Hand‘s take.
Both of those cuts are streaming below for your perusal. Before you get there, the PR wire has info, tour dates and links, all of which looks like this:
Sludge/Post-Metal DEAD HAND’s upcoming album ‘REBORN OF DEAD LIGHT’ set for release Sept. 7th via Divine Mother Recordings; Pre-orders available now!
Dead Hand is a full widescreen sludge experience. With keyboard-expanded instrumentation and the panorama of post-metal, they’re a truly doomed, sonic horizon whose bleak beauty deliberately unfurls a slow-rolling tsunami to sweep oceanic ruin over fallen kingdoms.
‘Their second full-length, ‘Reborn Of Dead Light’ is set for release on September 7, 2018, via Divine Mother Recordings. The album was recorded and mixed between February and September 2017, with mastering completed in January 2018, all by Matt Washburn at Ledbelly Sound Studios in Dawnsonville, GA. The striking album cover artwork and design is by Jean Saiz.
Reborn Of Dead Light – Track List:
1. Alabaster and Bone 2. Reborn of Dead Light 3. Parapraxis 4. Amaranthine 5. Them Bones (**bonus track, CD only)
– Vinyl press is limited to 250 copies on Green and Black Merge, with full color jackets and insert. Includes digital download code.
– Compact Disc (CD) is limited to 50 copies on full color disc, with two-panel insert on Black Arigato Pak jackets. Includes digital download code. **The CD version includes the bonus track “Them Bones”, a Dead Hand cover originally recorded by Alice in Chains, and featuring Eric Crowe of Crawl on guest vocals.
Upcoming Live Dates: Sep. 07 – Macon, GA @ Grants Lounge (w/ Hexxus, Crawl, Soul Abuse) – Album Release Show Sep. 08 – Birmingham, AL @ Nick Rocks (w/ Mother’s Keeper, Hexxus, Inclination Of Direction) Sep. 14 – Asheville, NC Sep. 15 – Jacksonville, FL Sep. 16 – Gainesville, FL Sep. 17 – Valdosta, GA
DEAD HAND is: C. Carr – Guitar, Vocals S. Williams – Bass S. Harris – Synth, Vocals, Trumpet C. Harper – Drums
Posted in Radio on February 6th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
A round of adds to The Obelisk Radio once a month doesn’t seem like too much to ask, right? Well, it probably will be as the rest of the year plays out amid my meandering attention span, onslaught of reviews, etc., but for now, I’m at least two-for-two on 2017, and that should count for something. I won’t speculate as to what.
Pretty varied batch this time around, with some familiar names stepping outside what might be perceived as their comfort zone and others digging into various traditions in rock, blues, psych, sludge and doom. Much as I try to keep the stream running at all times — one has server blips; it happens — I also try to mix things up at least in a context that makes sense from one song to the next, though every now and again as I listen I hear something that completely blindsides me. That can be fun too.
As always, I hope you find something in here you dig.
The Obelisk Radio adds, Feb. 6, 2017:
Woodsplitter, Inflamed
For those who know guitarist Ben McLeod for the bluesy, psychedelic flow he brings to the languid jamming of All Them Witches, no doubt the Inflamed debut from his Woodsplitter solo/side-project is going to be a marked surprise. That would seem to be at least in part the intent. Working in a fire-fueled vein of instrumental progressive metal, “Liturgy” introduces a sense of extremity yet unheard from McLeod. Backed only by his own programmed drums, self-recorded, -mixed and -released, it’s a 39-minute mostly-onslaught that calls to mind a sans-vocal Genghis Tron at times while perhaps nodding at Steve Vai technicality via Devin Townsend‘s more metallized approach. McLeod locks in a plodding groove on “Fatty’s Waltz,” but even this is a bold step stylistically, and subsequent “Pile” and two-part title-track — the second piece of which secures Inflamed‘s ultimate triumph — only continue the push into experimentation. Ultimately, McLeod lands sure-footed in this exploration, showcasing roots that many who’ll take on Woodsplitter probably didn’t know he had — including some post-rock layering at the tail end of closer “The Weather Outside is Frightful” — and setting up a future progression almost entirely distinct from that of his main outfit. Won’t be for everybody, but hits with an equal measure of purpose and force.
As to what unites Georgian five-piece Dead Hand and Floridian trio Shroud Eater on this late-2016 Southern Druid Records split 7″, it won’t take long to figure out. Both bands are heavy as hell. With “Guaiacol” from the former going head-to-head with the latter’s “Destroy the Monolith” it becomes a contest of churn vs. roll, Dead Hand taking an atmospheric approach that feels in comparison more derived from post-metal than Shroud Eater‘s nonetheless spacious sludgy pummeling. Either way you go, you’re getting crushed by a six-minute track that seems only to revel in the cruelty of its lumbering, Dead Hand‘s chug arriving over a torrent of double-kickdrum before opening to a more forward thrust on “Guaiacol” and locking into a nod that persists even in the relatively minimalist midsection before, the lumbering, growling extremity resumes. As a title like “Destroy the Monolith” might hint, Shroud Eater aren’t exactly taking it easy either. With a multi-vocalist arrangement and vastness of groove, they represent their core sound well as a precursor to the awaited arrival of their second album hopefully sometime in 2017. It’s a quick release — in and out in 12 minutes — but both acts are bound to make an impression on the listener as each shows off their own brand of brutality.
Issued through EXAG Records, the oddly-but-somehow-appropriately-stylized D. Klein is the second full-length from Belgium’s Moaning Cities, who seem as much at home in referencing The Velvet Underground and The Stooges on “Solitary Hawk” as drifting out All Them Witches-esque on the earlier “Sex Sells.” At 10 tracks/39 minutes, the Brussels-based outfit don’t express any particular need to settle into one sound-niche or another, but they keep a languid flow of psychedelic heavy blues in songs like “Insomnia” and the poetically-stomping “Vertigo Rising” that makes the okay-it’s-freakout-time arrival of the penultimate “Drag” all the more satisfying, even if their clear element of control is well maintained throughout. Flourish like the electronic beats in opener “Expected” and the soundscaping guitar in the finale “Daggers” add further depth to a release that already offers plenty, but Moaning Cities retain a classy, nigh-on-chic atmosphere without losing the tonal substance needed beneath to hold up such a strong aesthetic presentation. Whether they’re digging into ’90s alt vibes on “Born Again” — Violent Femmes goes West? — or tossing some sitar to go along with the spoken word of “Yell-Oh-Bahn,” Moaning Cities thrive on never quite letting their listeners know what’s coming next, and that nuance suits D. Klein well.
Between its five-minute, horror-sample-topped intro “Breaking Wheel” and its corresponding five-minute, horror-sample-topped outro “Magical Law,” Wartime‘s Wartime Vol. 1 delves so deep into classic doom via NWOBHM cultishness that I’m amazed Shadow Kingdom Records has yet to pick it up for a release. The Colombian trio’s 2016 debut, it’s as effective in the moodiness of its acoustic centerpiece “A Whisper” as in the brash Sabbathism of the eponymous “Wartime,” and an overarching rawness in the tracks only feeds the vision of doomed purity within them. Pressed in a limited number of CDs that, like their prior 2015 demo tape, are already long gone, it’s a fist-pump-worthy execution of doom for doomers that asks little by way of indulgences and delivers much in riff, metal-of-yore ambience and the songcraft of drummer/vocalist Alejandro, guitarist D-Pig and bassist Scum, who hold onto a punkish thrust for “Another Reality” before the Vitus-style plod of “Wicked Son.” Children of doom indeed. At 32 minutes, it’s on the shorter end of a full-length album, but it unquestionably sets the groundwork for an LP-style flow, and as Wartime‘s debut, impresses double with the realization of its conceptual bleakness. Special thanks to Juan Lopez for the recommendation on this one. I’m glad I got to check it out and will look forward to what Wartime do next.
I’ve been doing my dernedest to keep up with Australian one-man outfit Megaritual since getting hip to the White Dwarf aptly-named LP compilation, Mantra Music (review here), late last year. The product of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Dale Paul Walker, Megaritual followed that release with the 25-minute single-song Eclipse EP (review here), and it’s to that offering that the 18-minute single-tracker Temple seems to have direct lineage, though actually the recording dates back further, to 2013/2014, and finds Walker joined by drummer Govinda Das in a duo incarnation of the band. Not entirely to find “Temple” is a little older, since Megaritual seem to be finding the patience later shown throughout the Mantra Music EPs that comprised the vinyl and then Eclipse afterward here, but you absolutely will not find me complaining about the edge of tonal buzz that complements the massive riff of this track, nor the improvised-sounding spaces around it being explored early on, nor the noise/drone that plays out over the course of the second half. If this is Walker giving a look at the project’s origins, he would seem to have come into Megaritual with an expressive concept in mind, and while it’s clear he’s put himself to the task of refining it, Temple demonstrates it was immersive even in its most formative moments.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 28th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I’m a pretty easy sell at this point on Shroud Eater anything. Presumably the Miami trio’s forthcoming split seven-incher alongside Georgian doomers Dead Hand will serve as a precursor to their upcoming STB Records full-length, Strike the Sun, which was announced over the summer and (also) presumably will be out early 2017. Not a moment too soon, frankly, and while I don’t know if their inclusion on the split, which will be out on Southern Druid Records and is available to preorder now, will show up on the LP as well, if it does then it’s a preview for the record and if it doesn’t then it’s a bonus for those who seek it out. Either way, it’s not like you really lose. But then again, like I say, I’m a pretty easy sell.
Release date for the split is Nov. 21. Info follows from the PR wire:
SHROUD EATER / DEAD HAND split 7″
Dead Hand and Shroud Eater join forces to deliver this sonic pummeling of a 7″.
Shroud Eater brings their Miami Sludge groove harder than ever on “Destroy the Monolith”. Dead Hand prove once again that they are masters of Doom with their track “Guaiacol”.
Pre-order ships on 11/21/16.
Brooding Miami riff sorcerers SHROUD EATER continue to deliver crushing alms to the altar of heavy. Riding high off the frenetic energy of their last release, the trio are releasing a newly recorded version of slow-churning wickedness in “Destroy the Monolith”. The song will be released on a split 7″ with Georgia’s tone lords Dead Hand. The split is set to be released 11-18-2016 via Jacksonville’s Southern Druid Records.
Starting as an idea in 2012, Dead Hand hit the ground running with a split 7 inch with Philly shredders, Repellers in Jan 2014 on Divine Mother Recordings.Mastered by Dan Randall of Mammoth Sound (Ash Borer, Noothgrush, Unearthly Trance), the split received stellar reviews. An EP in July 2014 and regional touring filled up the remainder of the year. In June 2015, Dead Hand released their first full length, “Storm of Demiurge” on Divine Mother Recordings in the USA and Third I Rex in Europe.
in to a stretch of bass, spooky keys and drums like all of a sudden someone invited John Carpenter to the party. Please, come right in.
