Posted in Questionnaire on June 15th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Ashish Niraj Dharkar of Dirge, Pacifist and The Earth Below
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
I’m a musician and an educator living in Mumbai, India. I started playing guitar in 2011 and knew it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The connection with the instrument was real and very strong from the very beginning. It was a very difficult time for me in my personal life and music became a medium of catharsis for me. I currently play guitars in Dirge, Pacifist & The Earth Below.
Describe your first musical memory.
I grew up in quite a non-musical family in general and there weren’t a lot of music related activities in my school either. I’ve always been a sucker for melancholic and beautiful melodies though, that’s what I’ve connected to the most. I remember a friend of mine gave me a CD which had a lot of popular songs by Metallica, Linkin Park, Green Day, Scorpions, Iron Maiden etc. I’m so glad to have checked it out cause hearing a distorted guitar for the first time literally changed my life forever. It was the coolest sound I ever heard and the love for discovering new sounds just got stronger from there.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
I think the best memory must be going to the Roadburn Festival in 2019 and watching a lot of my all-time favourite artists live. The whole experience of going to Europe for the first time, exploring beautiful places, meeting new people and being at a festival with artists I looked up to; it was magical. Apart from that, I’ve had some amazing memories of writing music and playing shows here in India with my bands. I hope to travel and play at new places in other countries too.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I grew up in a very loving family and had quite a beautiful childhood overall I must say. My grandfather and father both were the most inspiring people I’ve ever met. They had a very tough life growing up with some serious obstacles and worked hard to reach where they were. They always showered endless love upon us, and family always came first for them. It just felt like that’ll last forever. But they both passed away over a span of four years while I was still in my teens. It was the lowest point in my life and took a lot of will power and courage to move forward and believe in things again. These tragic events really shook my belief of having endless time with the ones you love and sometimes taking things for granted. You never know when will be your last moment here and life truly is unpredictable. We must make the most with the time we have.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Self-discovery and understanding the bigger picture.
How to define success?
Honestly, it’s quite difficult to define success in a way as it keeps changing for me with time. Being able to do music full-time as an educator and playing music that I strongly connect with in a few bands is really satisfying to me. It’s not easy doing that living in India where pretty much everything is against us. It gets quite frustrating at times to be a part of a society where you always feel like an outsider. But I’m lucky to be living a life on my own terms and playing music I truly believe in with some of my closest friends. I hope I can continue to do so forever. Also, my family and close friends have always been very supportive of my musical endeavours and I’m so grateful for that. Touring in Europe with my bands (whenever that happens) will feel like success to me on some level.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
Deaths of close ones at a very early age.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
I really want to make dark post-punk and shoegaze inspired dance music in the vein of Boy Harsher, She Past Away, Public Memory, The Cure, etc. I need to improve my production skills to get this going.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
In my opinion, honest and true expression straight from the heart with zero compromises is really important when it comes to art. Art is such a pure cathartic medium to let your deepest feelings out and it connects people together from across the globe. I absolutely can’t imagine a life without it
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to.
I really enjoy photography and finally managed to get a good camera recently. I’m having a lot of fun with it. Hoping to travel to some new places in the next few years and take loads of pictures. I also really want to watch a Manchester United match at Old Trafford someday. I’m a HUGE fan.
Posted in Reviews on April 10th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the Spring 2023 Quarterly Review. Between today and next Tuesday, a total of 70 records will be covered with a follow-up week slated for May bringing that to 120. Rest assured, it’ll be plenty. If you’re reading this, I feel safe assuming you know the deal: 10 albums per day from front to back, ranging in style, geography, type of release — album, EP, singles even, etc. — and the level of hype and profile surrounding. The Quarterly Review is always a massive undertaking, but I’ve never done one and regretted it later, and looking at what’s coming up across the next seven days, there are more than few records featured that are already on my ongoing best of 2023 list. So please, keep an eye and ear out, and hopefully you’ll also find something new that speaks to you.
We begin.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
ISAAK, Hey
Last heard from as regards LPs with 2015’s Serominize (review here) and marking 10 years since their 2013 debut under the name, The Longer the Beard the Harder the Sound (review here), Genoa-based heavy rockers ISAAK return with the simply-titled Hey and encapsulate the heads-up fuzz energy that’s always been at the core of their approach. Vocalist Giacomo H. Boeddu has hints of Danzig in “OBG” and the swing-shoving “Sleepwalker” later on, but whether it’s the centerpiece Wipers cover “Over the Edge,” the rolling “Dormhouse” that follows, or the melodic highlight “Rotten” that precedes, the entire band feel cohesive and mature in their purposeful songwriting. They’re labelmates and sonic kin to Texas’ Duel, but less bombastic, with a knife infomercial opening their awaited third record before the title-track and “OBG” begin to build the momentum that carries the band through their varied material, spacious on “Except,” consuming in the apex of “Fake it Till You Make It,” but engaging throughout in groove and structure.
With doom in their collective heart and riffs to spare, UK doom metal traditionalists Iron Void roll out a weighted 44 minutes across the nine songs of their fourth full-length, IV, seeming to rail against pandemic-era restrictions in “Grave Dance” and tech culture in “Slave One” while “Pandora’s Box” rocks out Sabbathian amid the sundry anxieties of our age. Iron Void have been around for 25 years as of 2023 — like a British Orodruin or trad-doom more generally, they’ve been undervalued for most of that time — and their songwriting earns the judgmental crankiness of its perspective, but each half of the LP gets a rousing closer in “Blind Dead” and “Last Rites,” and Iron Void doom out like there’s no tomorrow even on the airier “She” because, as we’ve seen in the varying apocalypses since the band put out 2018’s Excalibur (review here), there might not be. So much the better to dive into the hook of “Living on the Earth” or the grittier “Lords of the Wasteland,” the metal-of-yore sensibility tapping into early NWOBHM without going full-Maiden. Kind of a mixed bag, it might take a few listens to sink in, but IV shows the enduring strengths of Iron Void and is clearly meant more for those repeat visits than some kind of cloying immediacy. An album to be lived with and doomed with.
An offering of thickened, massive lava-flow sludge, plodding doom and atmospheric severity, Dread Witch‘s self-released (not for long, one suspects) first long-player, Tower of the Severed Serpent, announces a significant arrival on the part of the onslaught-prone Danish outfit, who recorded as a trio, play live as a five-piece and likely need at least that many people to convey the density of a song like the opener/longest track (immediate points) “The Tower,” the eight minutes of which are emblematic of the force of execution with which the band delivers the rest of what follows, runtimes situated longest to shortest across the near-caustic chug of “Serpent God,” the Celtic Frost-y declarations and mega-riff ethos of “Leech,” the play between key-led minimalism and all-out stomp on “Wormtongue” and the earlier-feeling noise intensity of “Into the Crypt” before the more purely ambient but still heavy instrumental “Severed” wraps, conveying weight of emotion to complement the tonal tectonics prior. Bordering on the extreme and clearly enjoying the crush that doing so affords them, Dread Witch make more of a crater than an impression and would be outright barbaric were their sound not so methodical in immersing the audience. Pro sound, loaded with potential, heavy as shit; these are the makings of a welcome debut.
Next-generation heavy fuzz purveyed with particular glee, Tidal Wave seem to explore the very reaches they conjure through verses and choruses on their eight-song Ripple Music label debut (second LP overall behind 2019’s Blueberry Muffin), The Lord Knows, and they make the going fun throughout the 41-minute outing, finding the shuffle in the shove of “Robbero Bobbero” while honing classic desert idolatry on “Lizard King” and “End of the Line” at the outset. What a relief it is to know that heavy rock and roll won’t die with the aging-out of so many of its Gen-X and Millennial purveyors, and as Tidal Wave step forward with the low-end semi-metal roll of “Pentagram” and the grander spaces of “By Order of the King” before “Purple Bird” returns to the sands and “Thorsakir” meets that on an open field of battle, it seems the last word has not been said on Tidal Wave in terms of aesthetic. They’ve got time to continue to push deeper into their craft — and maybe that will or won’t result in their settling on one path or another — but the range of moods on The Lord Knows suits them well, and without pretense or overblown ceremony the Sundsvall four-piece bring together elements of classic heavy rock and metal while claiming a persona that can move back and forth between them. Kind of the ideal for a younger band.
Persistently weird in the mold of Arthur Brown with unpredictability as a defining feature, Guided Meditation Doomjazz may mostly be a cathartic salve for founding bassist, vocalist, experimentalist, etc.-ist Blaise the Seeker, but that hardly makes the expression any less valid. Expect arrives as a five-song EP, ready to meander in the take-the-moniker-literally “Collapse in Dignity” and the fuzz-drenched slow-plod finisher “Sit in Surrender” — watery psychedelic guitar weaving overhead like a cloud you can reshape with your mind — that devolves into drone and noise, but not unstructured and not without intention behind even its most out-there moments. The bluesy sway of “The Mind is Divided” follows the howling scene-setting of the titular opener, while “Stream of Crystal Water” narrates its verse over crunchier riffing before the sung chorus-of-sorts, the overarching dug-in sensibility conveying some essence of what seems despite a prolific spate of releases to be an experience intended for a live setting, with all the one-on-one mind-expansion and arthouse performance that inevitably coincides with it. Still, with a rough-feeling production, Expect carries a breadth that makes communing with it that much easier. Go on, dare to get lost for a little while. See where you end up.
II is the vocalized follow-up to Cancervo‘s 2021 debut, 1 (review here), and finds the formerly-instrumental Lombardy, Italy, three-piece delving further into the doomed aspects of the initial offering with a greater clarity on “Arera,” “Herdsman of Grem” and “The Cult of Armentarga,” letting some of the psychedelia of the first record go while maintaining enough of an atmosphere to be hypnotic as the vocals follow the marching rhythm as the latter track moves into its midsection or the rhythmic chains in the subsequent “Devil’s Coffin” (an instrumental) lock step with the snare in a floating, loosely-Eastern-scaled break before the bigger-sounding end. Between “Devil’s Coffin” and the feedback-prone also-instrumental “Zambla” ahead of 8:43 closer “Zambel’s Goat” — on which the vocals return in a first-half of subdued guitar-led doomjamming prior to the burst moment at 4:49 — II goes deeper as it plays through and is made whole by its meditative feel, some semblance of head-trip cult doom running alongside, but if it’s a cult it’s one with its own mythology. Not where one expected them to go after 1, but that’s what makes it exciting, and that they lay claim to arrangement flourish, chanting vocals and slogging tempos as they do bodes well for future exploration.
So heavy it crashed my laptop. Twice. The second full-length from Mumbai post-metallers Dirge is a self-titled four-songer that culls psychedelia from tonal tectonics, not contrasting the two but finding depth in the ways they can interact. Mixed by Sanford Parker, the longer-form pieces comprise a single entirety without seeming to have been written as one long track, the harsh vocals of Tabish Khidir adding urgency to the guitar work of Ashish Dharkar and Varun Patil (the latter also backing vocals) as bassist Harshad Bhagwat and drummer Aryaman Chatterji underscore and punctuate the chugging procession of opener “Condemned” that’s offset if not countermanded by its quieter stretch. If you’re looking for your “Stones From the Sky”-moment as regards riffing, it’s in the 12-minute second cut, “Malignant,” the bleak triumph of which spills over in scream-topped angularity into “Grief” (despite a stop) while the latter feels all the more massive for its comedown moments. In another context, closer “Hollow” might be funeral doom, but it’s gorgeous either way, and it fits with the other three tracks in terms of its interior claustrophobia and thoughtful aggression. They’re largely playing toward genre tenets, but Dirge‘s gravity in doing so is undeniable, and the space they create is likewise dark and inviting, if not for my own tech.
Witch Ripper‘s sophomore LP and Magnetic Eye label-debut, The Flight After the Fall, touches on anthemic prog rock and metal with heavy-toned flourish and plenty of righteous burl in cuts like “Madness and Ritual Solitude” and the early verses of “The Obsidian Forge,” though the can-sing vocals of guitarists Chad Fox and Curtis Parker and bassist Brian Kim — drummer Joe Eck doesn’t get a mic but has plenty to do anyhow — are able to push that centerpiece and the rest of what surrounds over into the epic at a measure’s notice. Or not, which only makes Witch Ripper more dynamic en route to the 16:45 sprawling finish of “Everlasting in Retrograde Parts 1 and 2,” picking up from the lyrics of the leadoff “Enter the Loop” to put emphasis on the considered nature of the release as a whole, which is a showcase of ambition in songwriting as much as performance of said songs, conceptual reach and moments of sheer pummel. It’s been well hyped, and by the time “Icarus Equation” soars into its last chorus without its wings melting, it’s easy to hear why in the fullness of its progressive heft and melodic theatricality. It’s not a minor undertaking at 47 minutes, but it wouldn’t be a minor undertaking if it was half that, given the vastness of Witch Ripper‘s sound. Be ready to travel with it.
In stated narrative conversation with the Arabic influence on Spanish and greater Western European (read: white) culture, specifically in this case as regards the work of Persian philosopher Ibn Sina, Parisian self-releasing three-piece Pelegrin follow-up 2019’s Al-Mahruqa (review here) with the expansive six songs of Ways of Avicenna, with guitarist/vocalist François Roze de Gracia, bassist/backing vocalist Jason Recoing and drummer/percussionist Antoine Ebel working decisively to create a feeling of space not so much in terms of the actual band in the room, but of an ancient night sky on songs like “Madrassa” and the rolling heavy prog solo drama of the later “Mystical Appear,” shades of doom and psychedelia pervasive around the central riff-led constructions, the folkish middles of “Thunderstorm” and “Reach for the Sun” and the acoustic two-minute “Disgrace” a preface to the patient manner in which the trio feel their way into the final build of closer “Forsaken Land.” I’m neither a historical scholar nor a philosopher, and thankfully the album doesn’t require you to be, but Pelegrin could so easily tip over into the kind of cartoonish cultural appropriation that one finds among certain other sects of European psychedelia, and they simply don’t. Whether the music speaks to you or not, appreciate that.
Lush but not overblown, Argentinian instrumentalists Black Sky Giant fluidly and gorgeously bring together psychedelia and post-rock on their third album, Primigenian, distinguishing their six-song/31-minute brevity with an overarching progressive style that brings an evocative feel whether it’s to the guitar solos in “At the Gates” or the subsequent kick propulsion of “Stardust” — which does seem to have singing, though one can barely make out what if anything is actually being said — as from the denser tonality of the opening title-track, they go on to unfurl the spiritual-uplift of “The Great Hall,” fading into a cosmic boogie on the relatively brief “Sonic Thoughts” as they, like so many, would seem to have encountered SLIFT‘s Ummon sometime in the last two years. Doesn’t matter; it’s just a piece of the puzzle here and the shortest track, sitting as it does on the precipice of capper “The Foundational Found Tapes,” which plays out like amalgamated parts of what might’ve been other works, intermittently drummed and universally ambient, as though to point out the inherently incomplete nature of human-written histories. They fade out that last piece after seeming to put said tapes into a player of some sort (vague samples surrounding) and ending with an especially dream-toned movement. I wouldn’t dare speculate what it all means, but I think we might be the ancient progenitors in question. Fair enough. If this is what’s found by whatever species is next dominant on this planet — I hope they do better at it than humans have — we could do far worse for representation.
As one might be inclined to do, drummer Deepak Raghu of bands like Shepherd and Bevar Sea has explored numerous different styles across the varied releases from his solo outfit, The Earth Below, but the cohesion of songwriting and purpose the Mumbai-based songwriter/vocalist/drummer brings to the project’s latest offering, Nothing Works Vol. 2: Hymns for Useless Gods, speaks to an evolving identity for The Earth Below as a full band. To wit, it’s a full band. With three players, as Ramanan Chandramouli and Leslie Charles accompany Raghu on guitars and bass, respectively. Charles has contributed to The Earth Below‘s works before in one way or another, but Chandramouli would seem to be the newcomer, and the presence of tone he brings to songs like “Come to Me” and the later, quieter “Ceremony of Ash” as well as the initial and more rocking salvo of “Brave Noise” and “Crimson Gold” and the Queens of the Stone Age-esque “Perpetual Prayer” is no minor addition to the three-piece construction of the band.
And if the prior-issued video for “Abydos” didn’t get the point across of The Earth Below‘s band-manifestation, certainly the clip premiering for “Brave Noise” below gives suitable emphasis to the notion. As the leadoff cut from the release — which came out April 10 through Unherd Music, right in the midst of India’s billion-plus-people COVID-19 full lockdown; timing is everything — its underlying laid back sensibility sets a tone on which opens up across multiple avenues in the tracks themselves, but also renders clear the not just the foundation of songwriting that will be the core of the breadth that ensues, but the group dynamic through which that breadth is delivered. Whether this is something The Earth Below pursues further over subsequent albums and shorter releases, or if Raghu‘s penchant for experimentation leads him elsewhere is of course something only time will tell, but I’ve included the full stream of Nothing Works Vol. 2: Hymns for Useless Gods below, because once “Brave Noise” is done, you might find that you’re up for more. I know I certainly was.
Raghu also offers a quick quote below, and there’s some more PR wire background on the new release as well.
Please enjoy:
The Earth Below, “Brave Noise” official video premiere
Deepak Raghu on “Brave Noise”:
“‘Brave Noise’ is my dedication to Chris Cornell. Things are always falling apart within and around us and in a way, life can seem like it’s mostly maintenance work. There are always new lows people are willing to go to, just to stay alive. This song is about taking pride in not participating in life.”
Originally established in 2010 as a creative outlet for multi-instrumentalist, Deepak Raghu – best known locally as serial drummer for the likes of Shepherd and Bevar Sea – The Earth Below is perhaps one of Bangalore’s most captivating solo projects.
Grown from the seed of an idea found in ‘Vapour’, a song written and recorded by Raghu during his time spent as one-half of experimental outfit, Rat King, The Earth Below has since become all consuming; absorbing his time and imagination, and in doing so, has accommodated his most radical and brilliant ideas.
From his debut EP Aleph and resulting album, Window Lights for Wanderers, to 2018’s beautifully psychedelic yet strangely transmissionary, Dreams of A Thousand Stillness, Raghu has traversed a cornucopia of musical styles and movements over the past decade, treating listeners to shades and sounds akin to CSNY, Slint, Leonard Cohen and Chris Bell.
With Nothing Works Vol 2… Raghu explores jazz, post rock and the heavier side of a six string to pitch a weightier, more complex sound:
“While this album maintains the intensity in mood of my previous releases, I think that is enhanced by a denser musical arrangement this time,” explains Raghu. “The blood runs thick with Black Sabbath, but the heart needs a bit of Roy Orbison and this album covers more musical and lyrical landscapes than my earlier EPs.”
Nothing Works Vol 2: Hymns for Useless Gods by The Earth Below is released worldwide on 10th April on Unherd Music.
TRACK LISTING: 1. Brave Noise 2. Crimson Gold 3. Come to Me 4. Abydos 5. Rhythm of Pain 6. Ceremony of Ash 7. Perpetual Prayer 8. Strangers at Sea
Artist: The Earth Below Album: Nothing Works Vol 2: Hymns for Useless Gods Label: Unherd Music Release Date: 10/04/2020 Formats: Digital/CD
CREDITS: All music and lyrics by Deepak Raghu Lyrics for ‘Come to Me’, ‘Strangers at Sea’ by Deepak Raghu and Gayatri Hariharan Additional guitar arrangements by Ramanan Chandramouli Additional instrumentation (electric piano, organ, tubular bells) by Leslie Charles Recorded at Stained Class Productions, Bengaluru Studio engineer – Mrinal Anand Mixing Engineer – Leslie Charles Mastering Engineer – Brad Boatright (Audiosiege)
The Earth Below are: Deepak Raghu on vocals, drums and percussion. Ramanan Chandramouli on guitars. Leslie Charles on bass.
The Earth Below, Nothing Works Vol. 2: Hymns for Useless Gods (2020)
Posted in Reviews on January 11th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Day Four of the Quarterly Review! Welcome to the downswing. We’re past the halfway point and feeling continually groovy. Thus far it’s been a week of coffee and a vast musical swath that today only reaches even further out from the core notion of what may or may not make a release or a band “heavy.” Is it sound? Is it emotion? Is it concept? Fact is there’s no reason it can’t be all of those things and a ton more, so keep an open mind as you make your way through today’s batch and we’ll all come out of it better people on the other end. Alright? Alright. Here we go.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Iron Monkey, 9-13
I’ll admit to some level of skepticism at the prospect of an Iron Monkey reunion without frontman Johnny Morrow, who died in 2002, but as founding guitarist Jim Rushby (now also vocals), bassist Steve Watson (who originally played guitar) and new drummer Brigga revive the influential UK sludge outfit with the nine songs of 9-13 on Relapse, it somehow makes sense that the band’s fuckall and irreverence would extend inward as well. That is, why should Iron Monkey find Iron Monkey an any more sacred and untouchable property than they find anything else? Ultimately, the decision will be up to the listener as to acceptance, but the furies of “OmegaMangler,” “Mortarhex,” “Doomsday Impulse Multiplier” and the nine-minute lumber-into-torrent closer “Moreland St. Hammervortex” make a pretty resounding argument that if you can’t get down with Iron Monkey as they are today, it’s going to be your loss and that, as ever, they couldn’t care less to see you stick around or see you go. So welcome back.
Mountain Legacy, which is the second Deadsmoke album for Heavy Psych Sounds, might be the heaviest release the label has put out to-date. For the band, it marks the arrival of keyboardist Claudio Rocchetti to the former trio, and from the lumbering space of aptly-titled post-intro opener “Endless Cave” to the later creeping lurch of “Wolfcurse,” it’s an outing worthy of comparison to the earlier work of Italian countrymen Ufomammut, but still rooted in the gritty, post-Sleep plod the band elicited on their 2016 self-titled debut (review here). The central difference seems to be an increase in atmospheric focus, which does well to enrich the listening experience overall, be it in the creepy penultimate interlude “Forest of the Damned” or side A finale “Emperor of Shame.” Whether this progression was driven by Rocchetti’s inclusion in the band or the other way around, it’s a marked showing of growth on a quick turnaround from Deadsmoke and shows them as having a much broader creative reach than expected. All the better because it’s still so devastatingly weighted.
To call Somnuri a formidable trio is underselling it. The Brooklynite three-piece is comprised of guitarist/vocalist Justin Sherrell (Blackout, ex-Bezoar, etc.), bassist Drew Mack (ex-Hull) and drummer Phil SanGiacomo (Family), and the noise they make on their Magnetic Eye-released self-titled debut is as progressive as it is intense. Recorded by Jeff Berner and mixed my SanGiacomo, cuts like “Kaizen” and “Same Skies” land with a doomed heft but move with the singular fury of the Northeastern US, and even as eight-minute closer “Through the Dead” balances more rock-minded impulses and seems to touch on a Soundgarden influence, it answers for the ultra-aggro tumult of “Pulling Teeth” just before. A flash of ambience in the drone interlude “Opaque” follows the plodding highlight “Slow Burn,” which speaks to yet another side of Somnuri’s potential – to create spaces as much as to crush them. With an interplay of cleaner vocals, screams, growls and shouts, there’s enough variety to throw off expectation, and where so much of New York’s noise-metal history is about angry single-mindedness, Somnuri’s Somnuri shows even in a vicious moment like “Inhabitant” that there’s more ground to cover than just being really, really, really pissed off.
Time to get weird. No. Really weird. In the end, I’m not sure Mumbai semi-improvisationalist troupe Daira did themselves any favors by making their sophomore LP, Vipreet Buddhi, a single 93-minute/16-track outing instead of breaking it into the two halves over which its course is presented – the first being eight distinct songs, the second a flowing single jam broken up over multiple parts – but one way or another, it’s an album that genuinely presents a vibe of its own, taking cues from heavy psych, jazz, funk, classic prog, folk and more as it plays through its bizarre and ambient flow, toying with jarring stretches along the way like the eerie “Apna Ullu Seedha” but so dug in by the time it’s jammed its way into “Dekho Laal Gaya” that it seems like there’s no getting out. It’s an overwhelming and unmanageable offering, but whoever said the avant garde wasn’t supposed to be a challenge? Certainly not Daira, and they clearly have plenty to say. Whatever else you listen to today, I can safely guarantee it won’t sound like this. And that’s probably true of every day.
Chest-compressing groove and drive will no doubt earn Hamburg four-piece Kavrila’s second album, Blight (on Backbite Records), some comparisons to Mantar, but to dig into tracks like “Gold” and “Each (Part Two)” is to find a surprising measure of atmospheric focus, and even a rage-roller like “Abandon” has a depth to its mix. Though it’s just 24 minutes long, I’d still consider Blight a full-length for the two-sided flow it sets up leading to the aforementioned “Gold” and “Each (Part Two),” both being the longest cut on their respective half of the record in addition to splitting the tracklisting, as well as for the grinding aspects of songs like “Apocalypse,” “Demolish” and “Golem” on side B, the latter of which takes the rhythmic churn of Godflesh to a point of extremity that even the earlier thrust of “Lungs” did little to foretell. There’s a balance of sludge and hardcore elements, to be sure, but it’s the anger that ultimately defines Blight, however coherent it might be (and is) in its violent intent.
Employing the session violin services of Jess Randall, the Melbourne-based two-piece of Brodric Wellington (drums/vocals) and Joseph Pap (guitar, bass, keys) – collectively known as Ivan – would seem to be drawing a specific line in the direction of My Dying Bride with their take on death-doom, but the emotionalist influence goes deeper than that on Strewn Across Stars, their second LP. Shades of Skepticism show themselves in opener and longest track (immediate points) “Cosmic Fear,” which demonstrates a raw production ready for the limited-cassette obscurism the band conjured for their 2016 debut, Aeons Collapse, but nonetheless fleshed out melodically in the guitar and already-noted, deeply prevalent string arrangement. The subsequent “Ethereal” (12:41), “Hidden Dimensions” (12:25) and “Outro” (8:18) dig even further into plodding shattered-self woefulness, with “Hidden Dimensions” providing a brief moment of tempo release before the violin and keys take complete hold in “Outro” to give listeners one last chance to bask in resonant melancholia. A genre-piece, to be sure, but able to stand on its own in terms of personality and patience alike.
Toronto singer-songwriter Clara Engel pays ambient folk homage to the Mexican surrealist painter/author with the five-tracks of Songs for Leonara Carrington, fleshing out creative and depth-filled arrangements that nonetheless hold fast to the intimate human core beneath. Engel’s voice is of singular character in its melding of gruff fragility, and whether it’s the psychedelic hypnosis of opener and longest track (immediate points) “Birdheaded Queen” or the seemingly minimalist drift of the penultimate “The Ancestor,” her confident melodies float atop gorgeous and sad instrumental progressions that cast an atmosphere of vast reaches. Even the more percussively active centerpiece “Microgods of all the Subatomic Worlds” feels informed by the gradual wash of guitar melody that takes hold on the prior “Sanctuary for Furies,” and as Engel brings in guest contributors for drums, bass, guitar, theremin and choir vocals alongside her own guitar, pump organ, flute and singing, there seems to be little out of her reach or scope. It is a joy to get lost within it.
I don’t know whether the title-cut of Blood on Satan’s Claw, the new two-songer EP from dirge-doomers Alastor, is leftover from the same sessions that bore their 2017 debut album for Twin Earth Records, Black Magic (review here), but as it’s keeping company with a near-11-minute take on Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising,” the four-piece’s return is welcome either way. Unsurprisingly, not much has changed in their approach in the mere months since the full-length was issued, but that doesn’t mean the swing of “Blood on Satan’s Claw,” the central riff of which owes as much to Windhand as to Sleep as to C.O.C.‘s “Albatross” as to Sabbath, isn’t worth digging into all the same, and with psychedelic vocals reminiscent of newer Monolord and flourish of creeper-style organ, its doom resounds on multiple levels leading into the aforementioned cover, which drawls out the classic original arrangement with a wilfully wretched tack that well earns a nod and raised claw. Alastor remain backpatch-ready, seemingly just waiting for listeners to catch on. If these tracks are any indication, they’ll get there.
Give it a couple minutes to get going and Fueltronaut, the debut full-length from French four-piece Deadly Vipers, is more than happy to serve up energetic post-Kyuss desert rock loyalism that’s true to form in both spirit and production. Shades of earliest Dozer and the wider pre-social media older-school Euro heavy underground show themselves quickly in “Universe,” but in the later mid-paced reach of “Stalker,” there’s more modern bluesy vibing and as the mega-fuzzed “Meteor Valley,” the driving jam of “Supernova,” and the let’s-push-the-vocals-really-high-in-the-mix-for-some-reason “Dead Summer” shove the listener onward with righteous momentum toward pre-outro closer “River of Souls,” each track getting longer as it goes, the melody that emerges there indeed feels like a moment of arrival. My only real complaint? The intro “Fuel Prophecy” and (hidden) outro, “Watch the Road End.” Especially with the immediacy that strikes when “Universe” kicks in and the resonant finish of “River of Souls” at its six-minute mark, having anything before the one and after the other seems superfluous. A minor quibble on an impressive debut (one could also ramble about cartoon tits on the cover, but what’s the point?) and showcase of potential from an exciting newcomer outfit clearly assured of the style for which they’re aiming.
Tokyo duo Storm of Void make their full-length debut with the nine-track/48-minute War Inside You, a full-length that might first snag attention owing to guest vocal spots from Napalm Death’s Mark “Barney” Greenway and Jawbox’s J. Robbins, but has no trouble holding that same attention with its progressive instrumental turns and taut execution. Released by Hostess Entertainment, it’s instrumental in bulk, with eight-string guitarist George Bodman (Bluebeard) and drummer Dairoku Seki (envy) coming together to deliver brisk and aggressive prog metal centered around chugging riffs and a tension that seems to take hold in “Into the Circle” and let up only for the momentary “Interlude” in the midsection before closer “Ghosts of Mt. Sleepwalker” finally allows for some exhalation. As for the guest spots, they’re nothing to complain about, and they break up the proceedings nicely placed as they are, but if Storm of Void are going to hook you, it’s going to be on their own merits, which are plentiful.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 15th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Yeah, it’s kind of a surprise to hear Bangalore, India-based sludgers Shepherd are hanging it up, considering it was just a month ago they announced a split with Death by Fungi that’s actually out today, Aug. 15. That, obviously, will mark their swansong, and the trio played their last show this past weekend at The Humming Tree in their hometown. It seems like their calling it quits is owed more to the life situation of the three players involved rather than any kind of consuming malice between them, and that’s always a preferred scenario — at least if the alternative is “we fucking hate each other,” which it sometimes can be — and whether or not Shepherd ever wind up getting together to do anything else, at least they go out with a few marked accomplishments to their collective credit.
Chief among those has to be their 2015 debut album, Stereolithic Riffalocalypse (review here). The band signed a deal that same year to issue a vinyl edition through Helmet Lady Records and though that didn’t materialize — not that it’s in any way too late for it to do so — the songs stand up in their heft and in the memorable impression their sludgely ways left behind. Complementary offerings like the demo collection Demolithic Riffalocalypse in 2016 and Garden of Hate: Live Riffalocalypse in 2017 only reaffirmed the impact of the full-length on both the band and their still-growing base of listeners.
The band’s announcement was short and sweet, and I followed up with them to get some further comment on the end of Shepherd and what might come next. Both follow here:
SHEPHERD (2011-2017): REST IN RIFFS
Unfortunately, the time has come to lay this old thing to rest once and for all. We’ve done a lot more than we ever thought we would when we started this band. It wouldn’t have been possible without all your support, THANK YOU!
Shepherd on their breakup:
It’s sad that we had to put Shepherd to rest, but right now, it seemed like the best thing to do. The three of us are soon going to be on 3 different continents, and even though it’s not impossible to continue as a studio only project, we figured it was the best time to call it quits. Dee and Namit are pretty much the driving force behind the band and the only remaining original members. When I moved to Sweden, it was not too hard to find some amazing musicians to stand in, but with Namit moving Stateside, it felt that it would be better to just to get the split out and bow out.
We’ve had an amazing experience so far and it’s still a bit of a shocker what we’ve managed to pull off, and it wouldn’t have been possible without everyone’s support. So thank You!
The only thing we regret is not being able to get Stereolithic Riffalocalypse out on vinyl, especially when it was so close to happening. So yeah, apologies to everyone who was waiting to get their hands on it. We were as bummed out as you were when the label deal fell through.
Regarding what the future holds, I’m sure individually, we will all be involved in some musical projects. Dee’s already put out an album with his solo project, The Earth Below, and he’s already busy working on new material, plus he’s got a bunch of other side-projects.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 5th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Indian sludgers Shepherd have announced an Aug. 15 release for their upcoming split with the Mumbai-based hardcore outfit Death by Fungi. For Shepherd, the split will follow quickly on the heels of their May 2017 limited CD, Garden of Hate: Live Riffalocalypse, and to herald the arrival of the new offering, they’ve got a video for “Agents of Nihil” streaming now that you can see at the bottom of this post. It’s a quick two-plus minutes but gives a sense of their metallic vibes and adds some edge of melody to its proceedings as well, so as it’s one of five they’ll feature on the upcoming offering, it seems fair to expect a good amount of intensity throughout. Right on.
Preorders are up now if that’s your thing. Info follows courtesy of the PR wire:
Hardcore Mayhem from India: Sludge unit Shepherd and hardcore band Death By Fungi release Split Album
Two of India’s most abrasive bands – Shepherd and Death By Fungi – are teaming up for one hell of a split album, Shep/DBF Split, slated to release on August 15th.
Shepherd, who hail from India’s verdant IT hub of Bangalore, have been regulars on the gigging circuit since 2011, dealing out atmospheric, slowburn sludge on the regular. This five-track side turns away from their low-end jams to become a complete ear drum-bruiser, drummer-vocalist Deepak Raghu and guitarist-vocalist Namit Chauhan picking up the tempo to channel more Black Flag, Discharge and even a bit of grunge for a puerile noise fest. The EP features guests from diverse backgrounds – veteran guitarist Jimmy Palkhivala (from doom/death band Dying Embrace) ripping out a noisy solo on “Agents of Nihil”, Bhayanak Maut co-vocalist Sunneith Revankar and Ganesh Krishnaswamy (from stoner-doom band Bevar Sea and old school stalwarts Kryptos) adding growls on the crushing closer “Weed Dealer”.
Mirroring the rage are Mumbai’s razor-edge hardcore band Death By Fungi, started out as guitarist vocalist Vrishank Menon’s solo project in 2012, adding members over the years (drummer Aryaman Chatterjee, bassist Kamran Raza and vocalist Tabish Khidir). With two EPs (Death By Fungi – 2015, In dearth of – 2016), the (then) trio proved they can stomp their way through a near non-existent punk, mathcore and hardcore landscape in the country. Now, with four new tracks this year, Death By Fungi are pitching the hardcore flag with precision, a rawer, aggro sound that recalls everyone from Converge and The Dillinger Escape Plan.
With the split set to release digitally worldwide on August 15th, Shepherd already have a blistering taste to offer for fans, with the monochrome video to the astonishingly gruesome “Agents of Nihil.”
