It’s with a keen ear for the avant and toward representing the individuality in its native scene that Greek imprint Spinalonga Records presents the two-disc Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager compilation. I know I’ve said before that I’m not a fan of reviewing comps – and I hold to that, as with most various artists releases, you get neither an album flow nor much of a sense of what each band has to offer stylistically – but taken on the level of ambassadorship, Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager’s total 19 tracks do an excellent job highlighting the variety Greece has to offer the international heavy underground. There’s some horrific noise and drone, scathing ambient metal, booze-fueled sludge and even a bit of experimentalism from where one might not expect. And with intros and outros on each disc handled by Athens black metal outfit Yassa – sort of a SunnO)))-esque terrifying drone – there’s even some measure of continuity between them, and it’s obvious that despite the wide variety of creative avenues included, Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager was conceived as a whole.

That said, my usual reservations with comps apply. It’s a collection of tracks, not an album – despite the gorgeous and appropriately disturbing artwork, the total four Yassa lead-ins and –outs, and how many of these songs start with feedback – and should be read as such. The discs are labeled Side A and Side B on the packaging, though in truth each would actually two full vinyl sides, and each has its high and low points. Sun of Nothing kicks off Side A with the 13-plus-minute “Dead End Nights and Bright Mornings (and the Things Between ‘em),” which is a monstrous slab of molasses riffage topped with far away screams, and without a second thought, National Pornographik launch next into mathy prog noise with a vocalist who sounds like a self-harmonizing Julie Christmas from Made Out of Babies fronting. Clearly diversity is going to be the name of the game as Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager progresses, and that turns out to be precisely the case. Speaking of appropriate names, Drunk Motherfuckers give a firm mission statement on the charmingly titled “Ain’t Give No Shit about Sobers,” sounding like a mix of Eyehategod – who 1000mods cover on the second disc – and Entombed. I don’t know if I’d let them drive my car, but they sure sound good coming out of the speakers. On blanket appeal alone, that song is a highlight, but the 10-minute instrumental “Stoner City Dub” which follows from Nechayevschina isn’t without its own dreamily psychedelic appeal. A jazzy bassline underscores Last Rizla’s “Battles: Sinatra,” Korsikov sample Scarface on their way to answering what Weedeater might sound like with Matt Pike singing on “Liqweedator,” and before “B.I.I.D.” holds more horrors from Yassa, Stonenrow bust out 8:34 of solid and, relative to its surroundings, straightforward, doom on “The Harvest.” Even among the strange and furious, a heady doom groove isn’t out of place.

One of the smoothest transitions on the whole of Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager is between Yassa’s “Aokihahara” and Bad Trip’s “God Mode” at the start of the second disc. The ambience of the one is an excellent setup for the Souls at Zero-era post-metal of the other, and though Bad Trip are biting off the methodology of probably the biggest influence on their genre (i.e. Neurosis), they’re at least taking an approach not heard as often as some others. It probably won’t take long to guess what kind of music Sadhus, the Smoking Community play, but they’re actually more in the screamy sludge camp than all-out stoner rock, and they’re not bad at it. Even if the 11-minute “Foondamentalist” gets high and wanders off in its midsection, it comes back for a satisfyingly abrasive conclusion. Brotherhood of Sleep follow with “Ain Berashyth,” coming off one of Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager’s least smooth transitions to present a track more active – almost frantic in the drumming – than the material on their Dark as Light full-length, and the horn-infused Universe 217 pull one of the comp’s most driving riffs out of a sultry/evil lounge feel, resulting in probably the most interesting piece here on a stylistic level. How better to back it up than with the aforementioned Eyehategod cover? 1000mods do a decent job with “Sister Fucker (Part I),” giving Jimmy Bower’s riff the respect it deserves, and though they’re one of the very few bands present I’ve heard before, I’m somewhat more interested in Sector Illusion’s beefed up riffs and open structure. Their contribution, titled “IDMUSXX,” takes a few fascinating turns that one might miss because of the outwardly metal nature of its tones, but it’s worth paying attention to all the same. Also instrumental, Extraordinary Rendition grind their way at top speed through the 1:23 “Guantanamo Bay” (clearly working on a theme), setting up the Yawning Man-style blend of surf rock progressions and jammed guitar ethereality of Circassian’s “Rashidun Caliphate Surf,” which in turn gives way to a long silence and one more glimpse into Yassa’s psychosis to close out Side B.

Reading back, I fear this review has fallen into one of my bête noire compilation review formats: the list of bands with little by way of informative description, but if you take anything from it, let it be that Miss Fortune was a Henhouse Manager introduces several engaging acts to a wider market than they might otherwise see and that bands like Sun of Nothing, Drunk Motherfuckers, Stonenrow, Brotherhood of Sleep, Universe 217, 1000mods and Circassian are definitely worth another look. As ever, it’s hard to really get a feel beyond the superficial for what each band has to offer, but I think it says something that the compilation leaves me wanting to know more at all. I can certainly come up with worse ways to find out about a whole bunch of new bands than hearing the slew of exclusive material from the 16 accounted for here, and though they varyingly complement each other as far as context goes, taken as a whole, they prove that the Greek underground is loaded with deeply creative minds. Whatever Miss Fortune may have done in her time, she did that.

Spinalonga Records

Tags: Greece, Spinalonga Records

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 30th, 2011 at 5:49 pm and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.