Released last year digitally and on CD by Handshake Inc. and recorded in the band’s semi-native Murfreesboro in 2009, what Laser Flames on the Great Big News‘ Lambs to the Slaughter EP lacks in “current” in more than makes up in eclectic. The double-guitar-and-then-some four-piece, who also call Nashville home, seem to start off with a base of progressive heavy metal on the four-track release and then expand from there, incorporating winding runs, vicious turns, a viola on three of the cuts, some out-of-the-blue black metal blasting and, by the end of it, a resounding sense that anything can and probably will happen at some previously unannounced time. Lambs to the Slaughter is the first release by the band, which shares guitarist/vocalist John Judkins with Arkansas post-metallers Rwake, and it makes for an exciting just-under-17-minute ride through relatively unpretentious genre bending.

Judkins and fellow guitarist/vocalist Stephanie “Stevie” Bailey (who also handled the striking cover art for the EP) share vocals on the opening “Monster Truth,” combining their voices in a way that, together with the crisp production and the pop in drummer James Turk‘s snare, reminds me almost immediately of Corsair. Laser Flames on the Great Big News ultimately prove less concerned with space, but there are far worse first impressions to make. As the track winds down into a midsection break still helmed by the two singers, the first appearance of viola — performed by Ashley Morris — steps in to add a classy effect, and the band picks up with bassist Brian Myers adding thickness and character under a squibbly post-rock lead that both grounds the song and adds to the resonant build. This instrumental chemistry takes on different shapes throughout the EP, putting on a riffier vibe for “Dead River,” coming on in heavy rock fashion and seemingly headed in a straightforward motion until Turk starts double-timing it on the hi-hat in the second half and the whole thing gets an unexpected level of intensity, blastbeats soon to follow topped again by viola in a Grayceon-esque rush (noteworthy that Lambs to the Slaughter was recorded before Grayceon‘s All We Destroy, which I’d most compare it to) that sets up the black metal screams that show up on “Faith of the Blackened Heart.”

That’s something of a surprise. With a flurry of backing vocals from Turk and Jason Dietz (who recorded), a few cleaner introductory lines and a slowdown to come, Laser Flames on the Great Big News burst through genre confines, Turk blastbeating as furious riffing leads to descending dark prog, not resting in one place long enough to ever really become predictable in the song, which seems to find some resolution in sustained screams held out over a classic rock guitar solo. If you try to get a grip on it your first (or third) time through, you probably won’t, and though there’s a bit of shock to get over as “Not Living” takes hold to round out Lambs to the Slaughter with a final injection of burly neo-Southern metal riffing, by now listening to the release, the twist is almost expected, so as Laser Flames on the Great Big News shift to more viola-inclusive noodling and resume the heavy push with Bailey at the fore and proceed to play the two sides off each other until finally blending acoustics and electrics in a final build to cap the song’s 4:58 in grandiose form, the surprise is gone, but the satisfaction remains.

And as the tracks vary so widely, I thought Lambs to the Slaughter would make a great add to The Obelisk Radio since maybe a listener could stumble on one song in the stream and subsequently find and be blindsided by the others. If you’d like to try your hand at getting a feel for the entire release, it’s also up for pay-what-you-will download at the Handshake Inc. Bandcamp, from whence this player comes:

Laser Flames on the Great Big News, Lambs to the Slaughter (2012)

Laser Flames on the Great Big News on Thee Facebooks

Handshake Inc.

Tags: Handshake Inc., Lambs to the Slaughter, Laser Flames on the Great Big News, Laser Flames on the Great Big News Lambs to the Slaughter, Nashville, Tennessee

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