Posted in Whathaveyou on March 22nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
It’s about two weeks that Denver now-four-piece Abrams will spend touring the West Coast in support of their 2022 album, In the Dark (review here), the latest and most accomplished manifestation of their songwriting to-date. They’re joined for the stint by BleakHeart, whose Twilight Visions two-tracker was released last February. Thus ‘Twilight Visions of the Dark’ is only suitable as a title for the tour, which begins with a hometown Denver show on May 5 ahead of hitting Salt Lake City, Boise, Seattle, and so on through May 20, when they wrap up in Albuquerque and head back to Colorado.
The part about already having new material to try out on the road is certainly noteworthy — there was a glut of songs for In the Dark, so maybe some of what didn’t get on the record last time around is being carried over? certainly not impossible they’ve just kept writing, though — but what stands out more is the combination of styles here, Abrams complementing the heaviness of BleakHeart and BleakHeart drawing an ear to the more ambient elements at work beneath the surface in Abrams‘ sound, even if the two acts might seem counterintuitive as compatriots. Not rocket science, but it’s the kind of pairing that turns a good show into a memorable night.
The PR wire has dates and whatnot:
ABRAMS: Denver Sludge/Post-Metal Outfit Announces May Tour With BleakHeart; In The Dark Full-Length Out Now On Small Stone Recordings
Denver sludge/post-metal outfit ABRAMS will join BleakHeart for a Western US tour this May! The twelve-date Twilight Visions Of The Dark run begins May 5th in Denver, Colorado and ends May 20th in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Comments ABRAMS, “We are stoked to go on road this May to promote our latest release In The Dark. Our sets will also include some older staples while debuting new songs to prepare for our next recording. We couldn’t be happier to split the bill with our friends in BleakHeart who bring their beautiful blend of shoegaze, doom, and rock. Their live show is incredible. This tour is not to be missed, see you out there!”
See all confirmed dates below.
ABRAMS w/ BleakHeart: 5/05/2023 Hi Dive – Denver, CO 5/09/2023 Aces High Saloon – Salt Lake City, UT 5/10/2023 CRLB – Boise, ID 5/11/2023 Funhouse – Seattle, WA 5/12/2023 The Six – Portland, OR 5/13/2023 The Dip – Redding, CA 5/14/2023 Bottom Of The Hill – San Francisco, CA 5/15/2023 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA 5/17/2023 Permanent Records – Los Angeles, CA 5/18/2023 Transplants – Palmdale, CA 5/19/2023 Tempe, AZ 5/20/2023 Sister Bar – Albuquerque, NM
ABRAMS’ most recent studio offering, In The Dark, was released last Fall via Small Stone Recordings. A fine-tuned, forty-five-minute sonic journey detailing the angers, fears, frustrations, and joys inherent in living in a world gone mad, In The Dark boasts cinematic guitar riffs, brooding leads, and addictive vocal hooks for a record that’s at once mature, polished, and intensely passionate. With hints of early AmRep mixed in with the larger sounds of ‘90s alt heroes Failure, Quicksand, and Hum combined that with the heaviness of recent Mastodon and stoner psychedelia of All Them Witches, ABRAMS delivers a distinct sound that’s fresh yet warrmly familiar.
In The Dark features cover art by Robin Gnista and is available on CD and digitally. A second vinyl pressing of the record in Red is also available. Find all ordering options at THIS LOCATION:https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-dark
Abrams is: Zach Amster – Guitars and Vox Taylor Iversen – Bass and Vox Patrick Alberts – Guitar Ryan DeWitt – Drums
Posted in Reviews on September 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Welcome to the penultimate day of the Fall 2022 Quarterly Review, and yes, I will make just about any excuse to use the word “penultimate.” Sometimes you have a favorite thing, okay? The journey continues today, down, out, up and around, through and across 10 records from various styles and backgrounds. I hope you dig it and check back tomorrow for the last day. Here we go.
Quarterly Review #81-90:
Motorpsycho, Ancient Astronauts
There is no denying Motorpsycho. I’ve tried. Can’t be done. I don’t know how many records the Norwegian progressive rockers have put out by now, and honestly I wonder if even the band members themselves could give an accurate count. And who would be able to fact check? Ancient Astronauts continues the strong streak that the Trondheim trio of Tomas Järmyr, Bent Sæther, and Hans “Snah” Ryan have had going for at least the last six years — 2021’s Kingdom of Oblivion (review here) was also part of it — comprising four songs across a single 43-minute LP, with side B consumed entirely by the 22-minute finale “Chariot of the Sun/To Phaeton on the Occasion of Sunrise (Theme From an Imaginary Movie).” After the 12-minute King Crimsony build from silence to sustained freakout in “Mona Lisa Azazel” — preceded by the soundscape “The Flower of Awareness” (2:14) and the relatively straightforward, welcome-bidding “The Ladder” (6:41) — the closer indeed unfurls in two discernible sections, the first a linear stretch increasing in volume and tension as it moves forward, loosely experimental in the background but for sure a prog jam by its 11th minute that ends groovy at about its 15th, and the second a synthesizer-led arrangement that, to no surprise, is duly cinematic. Motorpsycho have been a band for more than 30 years established their place in the fabric of the universe, and are there to dwell hopefully for a long(er) time to come. Not all of the hundred-plus releases they’ve done have been genius, but they are so reliably themselves in sound it feels silly to write about them. Just listen and be happy they’re there.
Did you think Abrams would somehow not deliver quality-crafted heavy rock, straightforward in structure, ’00s punk undercurrent, plus metal, plus melody? Their first offering through Small Stone is In the Dark, the follow-up to 2020’s Modern Ways (review here), and it finds guitarist/vocalist Zachary Amster joined by on guitar by Patrick Alberts (Call of the Void), making the band a four-piece for the first time with bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen and drummer Ryan DeWitt completing the lineup. One can hear new textures and depth in songs like “Better Living” after the raucous opening salvo of “Like Hell” and “Death Tripper,” and longer pieces like “Body Pillow,” the title-track and the what-if-Blizzard–of–Ozz-was-really-space-rock “Black Tar Mountain,” which reach for new spaces atmospherically and in terms of progressive melody — looking at you, “Fever Dreams” — while maintaining the level of songwriting one anticipates from Abrams four records in. They’ve been undervalued for a while now. Can their metal-heavy-rock-punk-prog-that’s-also-kind-of-pop gain some of the recognition it deserves? It only depends on getting ears to hear it.
Australia-based electronic prog outfit All India Radio — the solo ambient/atmospheric endeavor of composer and Martin Kennedy — has been releasing music for over 20 years, and is the kind of thing you may have heard without realizing it, soundtracking television and whatnot. The Generator of All Infinity is reportedly the final release in a trilogy cycle, completely instrumental and based largely on short ambient movements that move between each other like, well, a soundtrack, with some more band-minded ideas expressed in “The New Age” — never underestimate the value of live bass in electronic music — and an array of samples, differing organs, drones, psychedelic soundscapes, and a decent bit of ’80s sci-fi intensity on “Beginning Part 2,” which succeeds in making the wait for its underlying beat excruciating even though the whole piece is just four minutes long. There are live and sampled drums throughout, shades of New Wave, krautrock and a genuine feeling of culmination in the title-track’s organ-laced crescendo wash, but it’s a deep current of drone that ends on “Doomsday Machine” that makes me think whatever narrative Kennedy has been telling is somewhat grim in theme. Fair enough. The Generator of All Infinity will be too heady for some (most), but if you can go with it, it’s evocative enough to maybe be your own soundtrack.
Mississippi-based heavygaze rockers Nighdrator released the single “The Mariner” as a standalone late in 2020 as just the duo of vocalist/producer Emma Fruit and multi-instrumentalist JS Curley. They’ve built out more of a band on their self-titled debut EP, put to tape through Sailing Stone Records and bringing back “Mariner” (dropped the ‘The’) between “Scarlet Tendons” and the more synth-heavy wash of “The Poet.” The last two minutes of the latter are given to noise, drone and silence, but what unfurls before that is an experimentalist-leaning take on heavier post-rock, taking the comparatively grounded exploratory jangle of “Scarlet Tendons” — which picks up from the brief intro “Crest/Trough” depending on which format you’re hearing — and turning its effects-laced atmosphere into a foundation in itself. Given the urgency that remains in the strum of “Mariner,” I wouldn’t expect Nighdrator to go completely in one direction or another after this, but the point is they set up multiple opportunities for creative growth while signaling an immediate intention toward individuality and doing more than the My-Bloody-Valentine-but-heavy that has become the standard for the style. There’s some of that here, but Nighdrator seem not to want to limit themselves, and that is admirable even in results that might turn out to be formative in the longer term.
William Graham Randles, who is the lone figure behind all the plucked acoustic guitar strings throughout Seven Rivers of Fire‘s three-song full-length, Sanctuary, makes it easy to believe the birdsong that occurs throughout “Union” (16:30 opener and longest track; immediate points), “Al Tirah” (9:00) and “Bloom” (7:30) was happening while the recording was taking place and that the footsteps at the end are actually going somewhere. This is not Randles‘ first full-length release of 2022 and not his last — he releases the new Way of the Pilgrim tomorrow, as it happens — but it does bring a graceful 33 minutes of guitar-based contemplation, conversing with the natural world via the aforementioned birdsong as well as its own strums and runs, swells and recessions of activity giving the feeling of his playing in the sunshine, if not under a tree then certainly near one or, at worst, someplace with an open window and decent ventilation; the air feels fresh. “Al Tirah” offers a long commencement drone and running water, while “Bloom” — which begins with footsteps out — is more playfully folkish, but the heart throughout Sanctuary is palpable and in celebration of the organic, perhaps of the surroundings but also in its own making. A moment of serenity, far-away escapism, and realization.
Half a decade on from The Electric Dunes of Titan (review here), Melbourne sludge rock bruisers Motherslug return with Blood Moon Blues, a willfully unmanageable 58-minute, let’s-make-up-for-lost-time collection that’s got room enough for “Hordes” to put its harsh vocals way forward in the mix over a psychedelic doom sprawl while also coexisting with the druggy desert punkers “Crank” and “Push the Venom” and the crawling death in the culmination of “You (A Love Song)” — which it may well be — later on. With acoustic stretches bookending in “Misery” and the more fully a song “Misery (Slight Return),” there’s no want for cohesion, but from naked Kyussism of “Breathe” and the hard Southern-heavy-informed riffs of “Evil” — yes I’m hearing early Alabama Thunderpussy there — to the way in which “Deep in the Hole” uses similar ground as a launchpad for its spacious solo section, there’s an abiding brashness to their approach that feels consistent with their past work. Not every bands sees the ways in which microgenres intersect, let alone manages to set their course along the lines between, drawing from different sides in varied quantities as they go, but Motherslug do so while sounding almost casual about it for their lack of pretense. Accordingly, the lengthy runtime of Blood Moon Blues feels earned in a way that’s not always the case with records that pass the single-LP limit of circa 45 minutes, there’s blues a-plenty and Motherslug brought enough riffs for the whole class, so dig in, everybody.
Keep an ear out because you’re going to be hearing more of this kind of thing in the next few years. On their third album, Planetarium Module, Cheater Pipe blend Oliveri-style punk with early-aughts sludge tones and sampling, and as we move to about 20 years beyond acts like Rebreather and -(16)- and a slew of others including a bunch from Cheater Pipe‘s home state of Louisiana, yeah, there will be more acts adapting this particular stoner sludge space. Much to their credit, Cheater Pipe not only execute that style ably — Emissions sludge — on “Fog Line Shuffle,” “Cookie Jar” or “White Freight Liner Blues” and the metal-as-punk “Hollow Leg Hobnobber,” they bring Floor-style melody to “Yaw” and expand the palette even further in the second half of the tracklist, with “Mansfield Bar” pushing the melody further, “Flight of the Buckmoth” and closer “Rare Sunday” turning to acoustic guitar and “The Sad Saga of Hans Cholo” between them lending atmospheric breadth to the whole. They succeed at this while packing 11 songs into 34 minutes and coming across generally like they long ago ran out of fucks to give about things like what style they’re playing to or what’s ‘their sound.’ Invariably they think of these things — nobody writes a song and then never thinks about it again, even when they tell you otherwise — but the spirit here is middle-fingers-up, and that suits their sound best anyway.
The largely solo endeavor of Brian Lucas of Dire Wolves and a merry slew of others, Old Million Eye‘s latest full-length work arrives via Cardinal Fuzz and Feeding Tube with mellow psychedelic experimentalism and folk at its core. The Air’s Chrysalis Chime boasts seven pieces in 43 minutes and each one establishes its own world to some degree based around an underlying drone; the fluidity in “Louthian Wood” reminiscent of windchimes and accordion without actually being either of those things — think George Harrison at the end of “Long Long Long,” but it keeps going — and “Tanglier Mirror” casts out a wash of synthesizer melody that would threaten to swallow the vocals entirely would they not floating up so high. It’s a vibe based around patience in craft, but not at all staid, and “White Toads” throws some distorted volume the listener’s way not so much as a lifeline for rockers as another tool to be used when called for. The last cosmic synthesizer on “Ruby River,” the album’s nine-minute finale, holds as residual at the end, which feels fair as Lucas‘ voice — the human element of its presence is not to be understated as songs resonate like an even-farther-out, keyboard-leaning mid-period Ben Chasny — has disappeared into the ether of his own making. We should all be so lucky.
“Bury” is the newest single from Swedish heavy rockers Zoltar, who, yes, take their moniker from the genie machine in the movie Big (they’re not the only ones either). It follows behind two songs released last year in “Asphalt Alpha” and “Dirt Vortex.” Those tracks were rawer in overall production sound, but there’s still plenty of edge in “Bury,” up to and including in the vocals, which are throatier here than on either of the two prior singles, though still melodic enough so that when the electric piano-style keys start up at about two and a half minutes into the song, the goth-punk nod isn’t out of place. It’s a relatively straight-ahead hook with riffing made that much meatier through the tones on the recording, and a subtle wink in the direction of Slayer‘s “Dead Skin Mask” in its chorus. Nothing to complain about there or more generally about the track, as the three-piece seem to be working toward some kind of proper release — they did press up a CD of Bury as a standalone, so kudos to them on the physicality — be it an EP or album. Wherever they end up, if these songs make the trip or are dropped on the way, it’s a look at a band’s earliest moves as a group and how quickly that collaboration can change and find its footing. Zoltar — who did not have feet in the movie — may just be doing that here.
Sardinia’s Fabrizio Monni (also of Black Capricorn) has unleashed a beast in Ascia, and with III, he knows it more than ever. The follow-up to Volume II (review here) and Volume I (review here) — both released late last year — is more realized in terms of songcraft, and it would seem Monni‘s resigned himself to being a frontman of his own solo-project, which is probably the way to go since he’s obviously the most qualified, and in songs like “The Last Ride,” he expands on the post-High on Fire crash-and-bash with more of a nodding central groove, while “Samothrace” finds a place for itself between marauder shove and more direct heavy rock riffery. Each time out, Monni seems to have more of an idea of what he wants Ascia to be, and whether there’s a IV to come after this or he’s ready to move onto something else in terms of release structure — i.e., a debut album — the progression he’s undertaken over the last year-plus is plain to hear in these songs and how far they’ve come in so short a time.
Posted in Questionnaire on September 14th, 2022 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: Taylor Iversen of Abrams
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How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Well… I’m a bass player and singer in a heavy rock ‘n’ roll band. I’ve been that thing for roughly fifteen years now, which is almost half my life. Though, I’d be remiss to call myself a professional musician, because the god honest truth is I have no fucking idea what I’m doing.
My older brother gave me his busted ass Yamaha bass guitar when he left home for college around the same time a dear friend gave me Sleep’s Dopesmoker (Then known as Jerusalem) along with a couple of Monster Magnet records, and I was like, “yeah, I wanna do that.” So I bought a shitty Crate combo amp off another bass player buddy of mine, and started learning riffs. First thing I got was that “Seven Nation Army” lick, then Sabbath’s “The Wizard” and “Supernaut” riffs. Once I got to the “Funeralopolis” intro from E-Wiz’s Dopethrone, I was like, “alright, big strings make good, big sound, I’ll figure this all out soon enough…”
When I went to college in Colorado, I met some folks and played in several bands. Just jamming and putting songs together. Playing shows, touring etc. Interestingly, Abrams consists of folks from most of those early projects. Then I was just hooked. Still haven’t learned how to play my instrument though. Maybe one day…
Until then, I big. Play big string. Make good big sound.
Shake that booty.
Describe your first musical memory.
It’s my understanding that in this community these days, liking The Beatles is a death sentence. So if you don’t mind, I’ll plead the fifth here.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Oh sweet Jesus H. Cronenberg, what a question.
Is it… All the moshpits I circled in with friends at shows in my youth living in suburban Minneapolis? Maybe the first time I saw Sunn O)); they were on tour with Boris for Altar and played at the Walker Art Museum, I was 16 and remember my body coming apart into drifting particles. Maybe it’s when I got to see Sleep for the first time, and Al was using my very own amplifier onstage. Does it have anything, anything at all to do with Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band, or Rubber Soul? Maybe. Or perhaps listening to Godspeed! You Black Emperor for the first time? The first time I saw Soundgarden? “So, bleeeeEEEEEEEEEEDDDD your heart!, OUT!” Ooh! Or the only time I saw Portishead, when the bass drum during “Machine Gun,” moved me a whole foot backward in the crowd. Or when John Garcia from Kyuss joined my band onstage to sing a song once… that was cool. Or when I opened up for Dillinger Escape Plan at a tiny dive bar, but the only reason I got to do that was because Chris Cornell had just died so it kinda sucked? Or when Michael Akerfeldt of Opeth told a young me, after a firm, yet supple handshake, that I looked just like Blind Melon’s Shannon Hoon? Could it be that time at Maryland Deathfest when I swore I was going to lose my eye after a nasty hit in the Black Breath pit, but then it didn’t even bruise? Or this one time, a few years ago, when I sat with my legs in a pool at Psycho Las Vegas; a joint in one hand, a beer in the other, cradling a plate of fried chicken in my lap. Fu Manchu was ripping through “King Of The Road…” I remember wondering if there had ever been a better moment? Or many years before, my first time playing Seattle, when I sat on the stoop of The Black Lodge with a pug in my lap wondering the same? I remember seeing Torche with a bunch of friends during a particularly heavy bout of Post-Tour Depression, and I swear that show saved my life. My first time being on tour, maybe?
Any moment of being on tour, really… Shitting my pants and almost dying from diarrhea in Philly… Any of the countless, joyous, frightening memories from those great adventures… Playing a helluva show with some of the best friends my life will ever give me…
Or just enjoying music with any permutation of the same. I mean, there’s just too many moments to pick. Music IS memory, my dude.
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
I’m ‘starting to think’ that this whole capitalist system is unsustainable, and unable to be fixed. I remember even just a few years ago being like, “nah it’s cool… we’ll figure it out.” and now I’m like, “Oh shit… Well, the whole point of the system is to not figure it out…Because the people at the top have it all figured out for themselves, already.”
Now, I know this pig’s gotta bleed.
Also, I really thought, for a time, that David Gilmour was the best part of Pink Floyd. And then I saw Live At Pompeii and realized that Nick Mason… that guy is the star of that band.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
Left.
How do you define success?
My wiiiife.
But seriously,
Whatever floats your boat man. If you’re happy, doing what you’re doing, who’s to tell you you’re not successful? Happiness, I think: That’s success. Content with one’s achievements? Maybe, not necessarily, but that’s what I used to think of when I thought of success…
But now, the more I hear, it seems to be more about the journey than the destination.
So why not just enjoy doing what you’re doing, if doing what you’re doing makes you happy, even if you’re not done. Even if it’s not, “Complete.”
Maybe it’s about following through to some level, but it can’t all be about the end.
Cuz at the end, you’ll be dead, and then who gives a fuck?
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The other day I ‘accidentally’ stumbled onto a video of a guy being obliterated by an industrial lathe. See, I thought it was a different video of a guy being obliterated by an industrial lathe, one that I’d seen before. But this one was way worse.
I frequent some channels pertaining to morbid curiosity now and again. Mostly true crime stuff, and awful, crimes against humanity stuff… Podcasts, documentaries, internet pages… I’m courted by what Dan Carlin of Hardcore History calls a, “fascination with the extremes of humanity,” but watch-people-die stuff really fucks with me… Painfotainment as he called it. Check that episode out. It kind of obviously used to be quite a regular thing with people.
Sometimes, these days, you just fly too close to that old, old flame. Usually for me it surges around 9/11, deep diving into that whole tragedy …shit.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Ah, fuck.
I want to die with a robust catalog of artistic creation. Whether it be music, or writing, or any kind of creativity. I feel like I have a lot of interesting ideas and I really want to get them out there before I’m not here anymore. (See, do I gotta wait that long for ‘success’?) Ever since I was a kid I’ve always wanted to be a rockstar, and I’ve always wanted to be a novelist. And I’m really, desperately attempting to realize that latter dream right now. And have been for the last, like, seven years, and probably, hopefully, for the rest of my life. I’ve got two manuscripts in the can, a 400 page horror (about being in a band), and a 600 page sci-fi… Currently I’m editing and editing and editing the sci-fi, cuz in 2019, in the middle of an editing slog with the horror, which I’d been working on for 5 years by then, I got a wild hare up my ass to just start something new. Now, I’ve gotten better at this part, and am almost done editing ~150 of its 600 pages, enough for friends to read so they can, you know, tell me I’m wasting my time. In which case, I probably won’t listen, because I have, like, dozens of book ideas in my head and this emergent, needling compulsion to get them out. Like a whole interwoven universe of worlds and stories. Bare fiction, fantasy, horror, short stories, screen-plays… I really like writing… And I write a lot… (perhaps not so well.) Can you tell?
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
Fuckin, like… Engaging the mind dawg. Blowin’ your mind, duuuude.. “ What’s that all about, maaaan?” “What’s the deal with that?” Fuggin, like makes ya’ think, bro.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
What the hell in this world is non-musical?
I could say “Fall; I fucking love autumn.” But, what, you’re gonna tell me that Fall is not musical?
Maybe I could say, “Getting my garden, just right…” but that’s super fucking musical too, isn’t it?
“The third Person-I Get-To-Be-The-Uncle-Of, being born?” C’mon.
“The two cats that hate each other, currently living in my house, learning to get along?” Meow.
It’s all fuckin’ music, man. And I’m excited for it all.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 18th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Denver’s Abrams aligning to Small Stone Records makes a lot of sense as far as matching bands and labels goes. The band have been belting out hooky, well-crafted and progressive-melody-edged heavy rock and roll since before their debut album, Lust. Love. Loss. (review here), and even the snare drum that begins album opener/first streaming single “Like Hell” seems like an instruction to stand up and take note. So be it. I haven’t heard the full record yet — it’s out Sept. 9, so yeah, plenty of time for these things — but the band’s penchant for songcraft is long since proven in my mind. Really, from that first record on, Zach Amster and company have delivered a professional-quality product while keeping an underground edge to their material. A band ready to make a mark and a label that might let them do it? As I said, a good match.
The PR wire brings details and streaming audio. Side note, I very much look forward to hearing “East Coast Dreams,” which I imagine is about finding good pizza and bagels while people are inexplicably rude to you. Or, if it’s the South, racism. Either way, dudes might want to start dreaming in the other direction, where the grass — at least until it gets consumed by an all-year-season wildfire or turned into a techbro billionaire’s compound– is genuinely greener.
Preorders are up now:
ABRAMS: Denver Rock Outfit To Release In The Dark September 9th Via Small Stone Recordings; “Like Hell” Streaming + Preorders Available
Denver rock outfit ABRAMS will release their new full-length, In The Dark, on September 9th via Small Stone Recordings, today revealing the album’s first official single and preorders.
Initially seeking to fuse melodic hooks with dissonance, ABRAMS began in 2013 in Denver, Colorado, with guitarist/vocalist Zach Amster and bassist/vocalist Taylor Iversen. Later joined by drummer Ryan DeWitt, ABRAMS has released an EP and three studio albums, all to critical acclaim. With each release the listener can hear the band evolving and maturing to what it has become today. A band dedicated to compelling songwriting, and energetic live performances, ABRAMS ups the ante with the moody, heavy, psychedelic rock venture of their forthcoming LP, In The Dark.
Adding Patrick Alberts (Call Of The Void) to the lineup, In The Dark serves as ABRAMS’ first release as a four-piece, following behind 2020’s Modern Ways. With the pandemic cancelling all touring plans for Modern Ways, ABRAMS immediately got to work demoing more than twenty-five plus songs for their next release. Given the world was in lockdown, Amster took a deep dive to learn the ins and outs of home recording to refine song structure, with a hyperfocus put on vocal hooks. There was a goal set to have as complete and polished songs as possible prior to entering the studio in Summer of 2021 with producer, engineer, and collaborator Dave Otero (Khemmis, Cattle Decapitation) at Flatline Audio who was the last piece in shaping the final soundscape.
The new collection is a fine-tuned, forty-five-minute sonic journey detailing the angers, fears, frustrations, and joys inherent in living in a world gone mad. With cinematic guitar riffs, brooding leads, and addictive vocal hooks, ABRAMS conjures a mature, polished, and intensely passionate craft, urgent but not at all rushed. There are hints of early AmRep mixed in with the larger sounds of ‘90s alt heroes Failure, Quicksand, and Hum. Combine that with the heaviness of recent Mastodon and stoner psychedelia of All Them Witches and you get In The Dark.
In advance of the record’s release, ABRAMS is pleased to unveil first single, “Like Hell.” Notes the band, “‘Like Hell’ was a no brainer decision for us when deciding what song should lead off the record. It’s one of our heavier songs that grabs your attention from the get-go. There’s a little something here for every rock fan – hooky vocals, heavy riffs, pounding drums, and even some HM2 [distortion] for those metalheads out there. I’d like to think if Queens Of The Stone Age played on Trap Them’s guitar rig, you’d get this song. Enjoy!”
In The Dark features cover art by Robin Gnista and will be available on CD, LP, and digitally. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION: https://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-dark
In The Dark Track Listing: 1. Like Hell 2. Death Tripper 3. Better Living 4. In The Clouds 5. Fever Dreams 6. Body Pillow 7. Leather Jacket 8. White Sand 9. In The Dark 10. Black Tar Mountain 11. East Coast Dreams (Digital Bonus Track)
ABRAMS: Zachary Amster – guitar, vocals Taylor Iversen – bass, vocals Ryan DeWitt – drums Patrick Alberts – guitar
