New Keepers of the Water Towers, The Calydonian Hunt: The Call From the Crystal Lake
If there was one lesson learned from New Keepers of the Water Towers’ MeteorCity debut, Chronicles (review here), it was that the Stockholm four-piece were just getting started in terms of their development, and that despite their abundance of sonic pummel, the really interesting work lay ahead of them. Chronicles was a compilation of two EPs, and two years later, they follow it with The Calydonian Hunt (also MeteorCity), a half-hour full-length that plays off some of the same ideas and influences as Chronicles, but shows an unmistakable sonic growth. The four-piece – who previously were lacking a bassist where now the position is filled by Robin Holmberg, though Edward Hansson also plays on a few tracks – self-recorded The Calydonian Hunt over the course of 2009-2010, but rather than sound sloppily pieced together, the record has such a flow to it that it sounds more like a single-track with different movements, rather than a collection of songs written and recorded during a year’s span. The tracks don’t bleed into each other apart from “Mankind’s Fall” and “Arise, the Serpent,” but there’s a continuity of approach and flow that nonetheless pushes the album smoothly along its plotted course of beastly, bearded riff metal.
Perhaps the biggest point of change between Chronicles and The Calydonian Hunt is New Keepers of the Water Towers’ melodic capability. Vocalist/guitarist Rasmus Booberg (who also handled the album artwork), guitarist/vocalist Victor Berg and drummer/vocalist Tor Sjödén share singing duties well, giving the tracks a varied feel and occasionally – as on “Arise, the Serpent” or the title cut – give the material a dramatic boost that wasn’t there before. Flaming Thyrr of Dead Nugent (about whom I can find absolutely no information) guests on the semi-ballad “Crystal Lake,” kicking off the second half of the album with surprising accessibility that would be all the more so were it not for the production, which seems at all times to play up the heaviest aspects of the band. That song, which follows the interlude “The Call From the Cosmos,” is clearly meant to be a focal point. It took me a couple listens to get what Booberg and company were going for – at first the song sounded overly commercial to my American ears – but then I remembered that in the European market, it’s possible to be both accessible and rocking without necessarily sacrificing one for the other, and in the context of the heaviness surrounding, “Crystal Lake” made a lot more sense. They were trying something new, taking the oh-so-hot-right-now American ethic of blending metal and pop and applying it to a more European sound. It takes some getting used to, but given the melodies of the title track and the burlier closer “The Sword in the Stone,” it’s not so out of place.
The primary influence musically is still Mastodon, particularly in the guitars and the interplay with Sjödén’s drums. Opener “Abyssal Lord” shows some of the tidal crash and run that has become such a trademark of the modern underground, perhaps blended with a bit of Torche’s punkish crunch, and the later “Fire Breather” has a crush to it that’s pure Remission. I don’t consider it a drawback to The Calydonian Hunt or New Keepers of the Water Towers’ sound in general, but those elements are definitely there, and as the number of bands has grown in the last several years who boast the same or similar influences, it makes it harder for a song like “Return of Ziz” – the central riff of which reminds heavily of “Blood and Thunder” from Mastodon’s 2004 breakthrough, Leviathan – to be fully appreciated on its own merits. Nonetheless, New Keepers of the Water Towers prove throughout The Calydonian Hunt that they’re capable of writing interesting, varied songs with engaging structures and no shortage of fist-pump-worthy sections. Some of their most derivative work is also their best, and I can only imagine that toying with that familiarity on the part of their audience is part of the intent behind the album.
If The Calydonian Hunt isn’t a narrative concept album – there are no lyrics included on the digipak release – that’s almost certainly the next step for New Keepers of the Water Towers, and if it is, then it’s all the stronger for the flow one song to the next. There will be some who find it predictable or too contemporarily influenced, but although it’s a quick full-length, there’s plenty about The Calydonian Hunt that’s worth returning to for multiple listens. The band does well to keep enough of themselves in the songwriting to come out with an identity intact, and like with Chronicles, I’m still excited to hear what they do next. The difference between now and two years ago, however, is that New Keepers of the Water Towers have given a better sense of the direction they’re headed, and with The Calydonian Hunt under their belts, they’ve set a strong example to follow.
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Tags: MeteorCity, New Keepers of the Water Towers, Stockholm, Sweden
