Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 11th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Birmingham, Alabama-based melodic doom metallers EMBR are working toward the release of their self-titled sophomore full-length Dec. 8 on Black Doomba Records. Preorders start Nov. 10. “Nomega” arrives as the second single of three from EMBR ahead of the album, coming behind “Black,” which was posted in July. From both tracks together, one might extrapolate a few things about the record to come.
EMBR issued their debut, 1823 (review here) — one of a series of outings with numerical titles, which is a methodology that would seem to have been left behind at least for the moment — in Summer 2020 through New Heavy Sounds, and the returning four-piece of vocalist Crystal Bigelow, guitarist Mark Buchanan, bassist Alan Light (since replaced by Justin Regelin, who’s in the video) and drummer Eric Bigelow have not grown any less expansive. With a strong foundation in metal, they come across in “Nomega” as more confident in themselves and their sound. One will hear consistency between “Nomega” and “Black” — as would be expected from two songs on the same album, though nothing is absolute — and the recording by Matt Washburn (Mastodon, Atheist, Elder, etc.) assures that tonal heft is not lost to atmospheric breadth.
Layered whispers and screams back Crystal‘s crooning verse and chorus lines as the video plays through a They Live theme that would make it worth sticking around to the end of the clip even if the song didn’t. Not slow, but not hurried, “Nomega” has push behind its movement — Light‘s full-of-punch bassline reminding in the song’s turns of Faith No More‘s “Last Cup of Sorrow” — and balances that with giving the vocal melody room to feature as it does. As with “Black,” the abiding feel of “Nomega” is dark — a nice contrast to see them playing in a white room — and accounts for the grunge background the band willfully embraced on their 2023 covers EP, Idolatry, but is unmistakably metal in its construction.
So what do we learn? To be on the lookout for the album, primarily. Maybe also that as severe as EMBR‘s sound gets, they remain grounded in their approach and conscious of dynamic in their material. We knew that, probably, but a little reinforcement is always welcome. As you listen, keep ideas about craft in mind. Think about building the arrangements. The tone of guitar and bass, the position of the drums in the mix, where the background whispers are, all that kind of stuff. EMBR seem to be inviting their listenership to bask in the details. Doing so is bound to make one look forward all the more to when EMBR lands.
Video premieres below, followed by more info from the band, the lyrics, and so on. Please enjoy:
EMBR formed in 2015. Their mission statement is to find the happy medium between both sonic worlds, to walk with one foot in somber density and the other in a place of blissful, uplifting tranquility. They have released 5 EP’s and 1 full length album.
Statement about the single, “Nomega” from Erik Bigelow (drummer) ” Nomega is essentially about the dark spirits behind the curtain. The frauds, scam-artists and cheats draping their two-faces in propaganda and deception. It’s about the pillagers, thieves, and highwaymen that steal our dreams from under us. It’s also a call to action to hold these rotting corpses accountable and pull them from the “branches”. “
Lyrics: “Nomega” (Crystal Bigelow, Erik Bigelow, Mark Buchanan)
Slipping with their forked tongues They slide in and out Shifting and shaping they change Cutting and scraping the remains Melting and merging they slip They drift deep into the night Dripping with their deeds soaked and wet Devils be dragged into the night Try to hide Stay out of sight Devils be dragged So they can feel their bite Reach through the branches Drag ’em out Pulled out into the open now Wrapped in all that was stolen
Video: Erik Bigelow Cover art: Erik Bigelow
Recorded at Ledbelly Sound Studio by Matt Washburn
Recording Musicians: Crystal Bigelow – Vocals Mark Buchanan – Guitar Justin Regelin – Bass Eric Bigelow – Drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 23rd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
On Sept. 1, UK heavy rollers Alunah will release their new single, a cover of Alice Cooper‘s ultra-classic ‘I’m Eighteen,’ as a limited one-sided 12″ vinyl along with two live tracks, a patch and download. The release is timed to a stint of shows that the Birmingham-based four-piece will do alongside The Obsessed, three nights in October that include supporting the doom legends at The Underworld in London, and the song originally appeared on the Pale Wizard Records tribute compilation, Killer: 50 Years Later, celebrating the half-century legacy of that album released in 1971.
I don’t really cover tribute comps at this point if I can help it — I wouldn’t have time to write about anything else; heavy rock loves heavy rock — but in light of “I’m Eighteen” being released as a standalone single, it seemed like fair play. The vinyl is available to preorder through Bandcamp, naturally, but you can also stream the track on the player at the bottom of this post, assuming your internet isn’t being as choppy as mine this morning. Nonetheless, we persist.
From social media:
ALUNAH – I’m Eighteen
PRE ORDER – I’m eighteen – Special Edition 12″ Tour Promo (one sided, white label) with Patch & Download from Alunah
RELEASE DATE 1st September ’23 to celebrate the UK dates with The Obsessed. Originally featured as a bonus track on the “Killer: 50 Years Later” Alice Cooper tribute cd, now remastered by Chris Fielding and appearing on vinyl for the first time, along with:
* “Bootlegged Out From The Void” (a two song vinyl only recording from “Into The Void Festival”)
* An Alunah logo printed patch ready to cut to size*
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 16th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
UK three-piece Margarita Witch Cult — who issued their self-titled debut (review here) in April through Heavy Psych Sounds and who rightly stress that they hail from Birmingham — are set to head out on their first round of European touring in support of that album next month. They’ll make stops at StonerKras in Italy and Stick and Stone in Austria, hitting points between in Slovenia, Slovakia, Hungary and Austria. It’s an eight-day run and they give themselves one day off, so yeah, you could say they’re making the most of it.
And fair enough. That record was a garden of vintage delights, raw punk and ’70s groove managing to come across neither as hackneyed nor underthought. It’s on my best debuts of 2023 list (yes I already have one, it’s just not in order yet and hopefully still growing), and I expect it will remain there when the year’s over.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking to announce MARGARITA WITCH CULT European Summer Tour 2023!!!
We are stoked to announce the MARGARITA WITCH CULT Euro Summer Tour 2023 !!
Our Birmingham doom-riffers MARGARITA WITCH CULT will smash Europe this Summer including the mighties Stick & Stone Fest and StonerKras Fest + many other shows !!
*** MARGARITA WITCH CULT *** EUROPEAN SUMMER TOUR 2023 FR 14/07/2023 IT VILLAFRANCA DI VERONA-FINE DI MONDO SA 15/07/2023 IT TRIESTE-STONERKRAS FEST SU 16/07/2023 SLO LJUBLJANA-CHANNEL ZERO MO 17/07/2023 IT ZERO BRANCO-ALTROQUANDO WE 19/07/2023 SK BRATISLAVA-KONCERTY NA GARAŽACH TH 20/07/2023 HU BUDAPEST-RIFF KLUB FR 21/07/2023 AT SALZBURG-ROCKHOUSE SA 22/07/2023 AT NIKOLSDORF-STICK & STONE FESTIVAL
BIOGRAPHY
Hailing from the home of metal, Birmingham UK, Margarita Witch Cult are the Sabbath City’s newest heirs to the throne of darkness- serving a merciless concoction of stoned sludge, demented thrash, and proto-metal weirdness. Having released their lo-fi cassette demo ‘Witchfinder’ in early 2022 to international acclaim- being booked for Desertfest London and signing with HPS- the self-proclaimed “disciples of the riff” having been tearing up venues across the UK and leaving audiences aghast in their wake-sinking their claws into all who dare offer up their ears and eyes to their unholy din.
MARGARITA WITCH CULT self-titled debut album was released April 2023 via Heavy Psych Sounds !!!
MARGARITA WITCH CULT is: Scott Vincent (vocals & guitar) George Casual (drums) Jim Thing (bass)
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 2nd, 2023 by JJ Koczan
EMBR have a new record apparently in the can and they’ll release it as their first offering as part of the emergent lineup of Black Doomba Records. The Birmingham, Alabama-based four-piece join the ranks of MNRVA, Grave Next Door, HolyRoller, Grave Huffer and DayGlo Mourning, with whom they collaborated last year on a cover of “Bury Me in Smoke” from Down‘s seminal Nola LP, and their signing to Black Doomba comes shortly after the release of their Idolatry four-song EP with covers of Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Nirvana and Stone Temple Pilots. Because the ’90s, that’s why.
They also come to Black Doomba as veterans of New Heavy Sounds and while I don’t have a release date for their next offering as yet, one imagines they’ll get there sooner or later since they’ve had a productive run of offerings since 2016, before they lost that second ‘e’ in their moniker.
In a spirit of looking forward, here’s word from the PR wire:
Progressive Doom Band ‘EMBR’ Signs With Black Doomba Records!
EMBR has many solid releases under their belt. In 2016 they released ‘261’, followed by ‘271’ and ‘326:Spiritual Dialysis’. They released their debut full length album ‘1823’ on the UK label New Heavy Sounds in 2020 to critical acclaim. After ‘1823’ they released the 4 song EP ‘Idolatry’ and also a single for “Mary Did You Know” in December 2020. In 2021 EMBR released a 3 song EP, ‘1021’, to commemorate New Heavy Sound’s 10-year anniversary along with a cover of the Down classic “Bury Me in Smoke” in collaboration with DayGlo Mourning.
EMBR has completed the next album in which they used the current cultural chaos as fuel. It will be released via Black Doomba Records.
Statement from Tommy Stewart, Black Doomba Records, “I’m very proud to be able to work with the unique sound and talents of EMBR. We’ll have more information to release about their newest album describing the meaning of the album, title, and cover art soon, planned to be available in 2023.”
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 6th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
You’ll likely note the use of diagnostic language here in the info from the PR wire. Not calling it out to stigmatize — if you read this site on a regular basis, you’ll already know I’ve discussed the neurological experiences of myself and my kid many Fridays over — but even beyond autism and PTSD, the mention of hypersensitivity feels relevant, and looking back to 2017 when the announcement came through for that year’s Post Self (review here), there was none of it as part of the narrative, so put seems safe to guess that Justin K. Broadrick has made ‘doing the work’ a part of his life. Good for him, and I mean that sincerely. From the breakup of Godflesh the first time through the various stages of Jesu and his sundry other incarnations/projects, he’s been up front about his struggles and as someone who respects his output, this would seem only to be a new manifestation for its cathartic aspects. He did call it Purge, after all.
This is why I post press releases: because I believe it’s important contextually to know what an artist is positing as the story of their work. One way or the other a new Godflesh record is something to look forward to, and one remembers a time when such a thing seemed unlikely, so a third post-reunion full-length will do nicely. There’s no audio yet, but the info is more than preliminary, even as regards the album itself never mind the apparent backdrop against which it arrives for Broadrick personally, and while you’re carefully paying attention, don’t miss the part where it says select US dates are incoming. This is a band that, if you can see them, you should, at least once in your life, honestly whether you think of yourself as a fan or not. The historical context alone, never mind the still-forceful presence on stage or the songs, either of which would also be reason enough to show up.
The PR wire takes it from here:
GODFLESH ANNOUNCES PURGE DUE ON 9TH JUNE VIA AVALANCHE RECORDINGS
FIRST NEW GODFLESH RECORDINGS SINCE 2017’s CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED FULL LENGTH POST SELF
With the highly anticipated new album PURGE, Godflesh revisits and updates the concepts of PURE (1992), as well as bringing a whole host of new dirges and laments. Amongst the many layers of dirt, PURGE mangles 90s hip hop grooves and puts them through the Godflesh filter to create something futuristic in style – and utterly unique.
Both minimal and maximal, Godflesh deliver alien grooves that swing whilst also retaining the psychedelic, bad trip edge with layer upon layer of filth and heaviness – that Godflesh have always been known for. This is, and always has been, feel-bad music.
The title alone – PURGE – references directly how songwriter and creator Justin K. Broadrick utilises Godflesh’s music as a temporary relief from his diagnosed autism and PTSD. It’s the next stage in a journey he has been on since he began creating music, feeling alone and like an outsider in any scene or group, from childhood through to adulthood.
The music of Godflesh gives Broadrick the means to express a lifetime of feeling misunderstood and overwhelmed by hyper-sensitivity. The band is the vehicle to provide some sense of catharsis and transcendence; a way of communicating overload, as well as the constant disenchantment at the human condition, and man’s abuse of power and the systems that chain us.
PURGE references the cycle of horror that man always has and always will put us through; those in positions of power revel in the infliction of pain and horror upon individuals – in the name of their religion, their power, their money, their flags…
PURGE TRACK LISTING: 01 – NERO 02 – LAND LORD 03 – ARMY OF NON 04 – LAZARUS LEPER 05 – PERMISSION 06 – THE FATHER 07 – MYTHOLOGY OF SELF 08 – YOU ARE THE JUDGE, THE JURY, AND THE EXECUTIONER
PURGE is 8 songs, delivered in a concise fashion for fellow outsiders.
A digital only single of the opening song ‘NERO’, coupled with 3 self-remixes will be released 3rd April.
The duo of Godflesh – Justin K Broadrick and Ben Green – augmented by Machines, are seen as a pivotal entity in the world of ‘heavy’ music, impacting entire subcultures within the scene since the band’s inception in 1988.
Godflesh have been credited as being one of the first bands to cross old British industrial music with down-tuned, primitive and minimal metal, accidentally pioneering the ‘industrial metal’ sound – yet reaches far beyond the confines of the genre. The band is widely regarded as a cultural icon, and its impact can be felt across generations of heavy music, both mainstream and underground.
Godflesh will perform at select shows worldwide and key festivals, including headlining Birmingham’s Supersonic Festival, and Oblivion Fest (Austin, TX, USA) around the release date of the album. To be followed by a small string of US dates too.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Margarita Witch Cult have signed with Heavy Psych Sounds to release their debut album, presumably this Spring. The Birmingham, UK, trio — and can anyone think of another doom band to have come from there? that’s right! their new labelmates Alunah! why, who were you going to say? — first announced the coming LP last Fall, shortly after being part of the first lineup reveal for Desertfest London 2023, and as they look to follow-up their earlier-2022 two-songer, Witchfinder (review here), they will most likely have even more in the works for shows throughout the course of this year.
Plenty of time for such things, of course. This is just the preliminary signing announce, as is the general modus of the label. They’ll launch preorders and a first single — the song they had up, “Sacrifice,” has been taken down — art, details, etc. All that gonna-put-out-a-thing stuff. You know the drill. Kudos to the band in the meantime. Ask pretty much any heavy band who they want to sign to at this point and if they don’t immediately say Heavy Psych Sounds, it’s only because they don’t know what they’re talking about.
From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds Records & Booking is really proud to present a new band signing
*** MARGARITA WITCH CULT ***
– the new Birmingham heavy doom proto metal sensation –
We are really stoked to announce that the heavy doom proto metal new sensation MARGARITA WITCH CULT has signed a worldwide deal with Heavy Psych Sounds for their new album !!!
The band is also now part of the HPS booking roster and available for UK/Europe shows in 2023 !!!
PRESALE + first track premiere: JANUARY 24th
SAYS THE BAND:
“It’s a stone cold honour to sign with Heavy Psych Sounds, they’re a vital part of the scene and have great fuckin’ taste!”
BIOGRAPHY
Hailing from the home of metal, Birmingham UK, Margarita Witch Cult are the Sabbath City’s newest heirs to the throne of darkness- serving a merciless concoction of stoned sludge, demented thrash, and proto-metal weirdness. Having released their lo-fi cassette demo ‘Witchfinder’ in early 2022 to international acclaim- being booked for Desertfest London and signing with HPS- the self-proclaimed “disciples of the riff” having been tearing up venues across the UK and leaving audiences aghast in their wake-sinking their claws into all who dare offer up their ears and eyes to their unholy din.
MARGARITA WITCH CULT is: Scott Vincent (vocals & guitar) George Casual (drums) Jim Thing (bass)
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 29th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
If you’ve got a couple minutes out of your busy day, Margarita Witch Cult I think might want to offer you as a sacrifice to… well, I’m not entirely sure. The devil? Maybe the riff itself, from the sound of their new single, aptly-titled “Sacrifice” after its shouted-from-beneath-that-massive-roll chorus. Whomever being chopped up is serving, the song is a harbinger of the Birmingham, UK, trio’s debut full-length, which will see release presumably sometime next year in answer to earlier-2022’s gleefully raw Witchfinder (review here) two-songer salvo.
The brightness of the guitar strum, set to a heavy backdrop of bass and drums, feels distinctive here, and it’s small wonder the band have been tapped for Desertfest London 2023 (info here) and have more in the works, as their sound feels schooled in post-Electric Wizard disaffected groove and Uncle Acidic garage doom without necessarily aping either band directly. Being crazy catchy doesn’t hurt either, but they don’t let go of the darker atmosphere even for the hook, which is harder to pull off than they make it sound.
Track is below (or will be by the time this is posted) and here’s the announcement of its arrival from the band:
Birmingham doom-rockers Margarita Witch Cult tease a taste of their debut LP via new single ‘Sacrifice’ [28.11.22]
The Birmingham-bred, heavy-rock power-trio step up the fidelity and turn up the intensity on this crushing taste from their forthcoming LP (FFO: Sleep, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard).
Since self-releasing their lo-fi cassette single Witchfinder to international acclaim earlier this year, Margarita Witch Cult have been leaving audiences aghast in their wake- selling out headline shows in their native Home of Metal as well as having supported Acid Mothers Temple and Witch amongst others. Having been recently announced amongst the first wave of bands for Desertfest London 2023, the future burns blindingly bright for the band.
With their studio LP lying in wait, lead single ‘Sacrifice’ (released 28/11/22) will no doubt strike the fear of Beelzebub himself into any and all who dare give up their ears and souls to its irresistible doom-laden groove. Recorded live with local studio maestro Mark Gittins, and mastered by Scott Middleton (Cancer Bats), the group’s crushing intensity and demented precision is captured perfectly on ‘Sacrifice’ — a grandiose statement of intent that takes no prisoners.
The duality of the track makes for an experience that leaves our sweet listener reeling — the bludgeoning weight of the monstrous main riff giving way to razor-sharp verses and a tripped-out, mind-bending psych jam — only to come crashing back to crushing reality as it all leads to the final blow. With their debut album forthcoming, and more festival and tour dates lining up, it’s looking like 2023 will truly be the year of the Witch Cult.
The ritual has begun…
Margarita Witch Cult: Guitars & Vox – Screamin Scott Vincent Bass & Vox – Jim Thing Drums & Vox – George Casual
This is the part where I’m supposed to tell you I’m quaking in my flip-flops about doing 100 reviews in the span of two weeks, how worried I am I’ll run out of ways to say something is weird, or psychedelic, or heavy, or whatever. You know what? This time, even with a doublewide Quarterly Review — which means 100 records between now and next Friday — I feel like we got this. It’ll get done. And if it doesn’t? I’ll take an extra day. Who even pretends to give a crap?
I think that’s probably the right idea, so let’s get this show on the road, as my dear wife is fond of saying.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Alunah, Strange Machine
Following on from 2019’s Violet Hour (review here), Birmingham’s Alunah offer the nine songs and 42 minutes of Strange Machine on Heavy Psych Sounds. It’s a wonder to think this is the band who a decade ago released White Hoarhound (review here), but of course it’s mostly not. Alunah circa 2022 bring a powerhouse take on classic heavy rock and roll, with Siân Greenaway‘s voice layered out across proto-metallic riffs and occasional nods such as “Fade Into Fantasy” or “Psychedelic Expressway” pulling away from the more straight-ahead punch. One can’t help but be reminded of Black Sabbath with Ronnie James Dio — a different, more progressive and expansive take on the same style they started with — which I guess would make Strange Machine their Mob Rules. They may or may not be the band you expected, but they’re quite a band if you’re willing to give the songs a chance.
Skipping neither the death nor the doom ends of death-doom, Los Angeles-based QAALM make a gruesome and melancholic debut with Resilience & Despair, with a vicious, barking growl up front that reminds of none so much as George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher, but that’s met intermittently with airy stretches of emotionally weighted float led by its two guitars. Across the four-song/69-minute outing, no song is shorter than opener “Reflections Doubt” (14:40), and while that song, “Existence Asunder” (19:35), “Cosmic Descent” (18:23) and “Lurking Death” (17:16) have their more intense moments, the balance of miseries defines the record by its spaciousness and the weight of the chug that offsets. The cello in “Lurking Death” adds fullness to create a Katatonia-style backdrop, but QAALM are altogether more extreme, and whatever lessons they’ve learned from the masters of the form, they’re being put to excruciating use. And the band knows it. Go four minutes into any one of these songs and tell me they’re not having a great time. I dare you.
The Traveler is Sterling DeWeese‘s second solo full-length under the banner of Ambassador Hazy behind 2020’s Glacial Erratics (review here) and it invariably brings a more cohesive vision of the bedroom-psychedelic experimentalist songcraft that defined its predecessor. “All We Wanted,” for example, is song enough that it could work in any number of genre contexts, and where “Take the Sour With the Sweet” is unabashed in its alt-universe garage rock ambitions, it remains righteously weird enough to be DeWeese‘s own. Fuller band arrangements on pieces like that or the later “Don’t Smash it to Pieces” reinforce the notion of a solidifying approach, but “Simple Thing” nonetheless manages to come across like Dead Meadow borrowed a drum machine from Godflesh circa 1987. There’s sweetness underlying “Afterglow,” however, and “Percolator,” which may or may not actually have one sampled, is way, way out there, and in no small way The Traveler is about that mix of humanity and creative reaching.
Strange things afoot in Stockholm. Blending classic doom and heavy rock with a clean, clear production, shades of early heavy metal and the odd bit of ’70s folk in the verse of “While the Devil is Asleep,” the five-piece Spiral Skies follow 2018’s Blues for a Dying Planet with Death is But a Door, a collection that swings and grooves and is epic and intimate across its nine songs/43 minutes, a cut like “Somewhere in the Dark” seeming to grow bigger as it moves toward its finish. Five of the nine inclusions make some reference to sleep or the night or darkness — including “Nattmaran” — but one can hardly begrudge Spiral Skies working on a theme when this is the level of the work they’re doing. “The Endless Sea” begins the process of excavating the band’s stylistic niche, and by “Time” and “Mirage” it’s long since uncovered, and the band’s demonstration of nuance, melody and songwriting finds its resolution on closer “Mirror of Illusion,” which touches on psychedelia as if to forewarn the listener of more to come. Familiar, but not quite like anything else.
Almost tragically atmospheric given the moods involved, Wyoming-based industrial metallurgists Lament Cityscape commence the machine-doom of A Darker Discharge following a trilogy of 2020 EPs compiled last year onto CD as Pneumatic Wet. That release was an hour long, this one is 24 minutes, which adds to the intensity somehow of the expression at the behest of David Small (Glacial Tomb, ex-Mountaineer, etc.) and Mike McClatchey (also ex-Mountaineer), the ambience of six-minute centerpiece “Innocence of Shared Experiences” making its way into a willfully grandiose wash after “All These Wires” and “Another Arc” traded off in caustic ’90s-style punishment. “The Under Dark” is a cacophony early and still intense after the fog clears, and it, “Where the Walls Used to Be” and the coursing-till-it-slows-down, gonna-get-noisy “Part of the Mother” form a trilogy of sorts for side B, each feeding into the overarching impression of emotional untetheredness that underscores all that fury.
You got friends? Me neither. But if we did, and we told them about the wholesome exploratory jams of Belfast trio Electric Octopus, I bet their hypothetical minds would be blown. St. Patrick’s Cough is the latest studio collection from the instrumentalist improv-specialists, and it comes and goes through glimpses of various jams in progress, piecing together across 13 songs and 73 minutes — that’s short for Electric Octopus — that find the chemistry vital as they seamlessly bring together psychedelia, funk, heavy rock, minimalist drone on “Restaurant Banking” and blown-out steel-drum-style island vibes on “A2enmod.” There’s enough ground covered throughout for a good bit of frolicking — and if you’ve never frolicked through an Electric Octopus release, here’s a good place to start — but in smaller experiments like the acoustic slog “You Have to Be Stupid to See That” or the rumbling “Universal Knife” or the shimmering-fuzz-is-this-tuning-up “Town,” it’s only encouraging to see the band continue to try new ideas and push themselves even farther out than they were. For an act who already dwells in the ‘way gone,’ it says something that they’re refusing to rest on their freaked-out laurels.
Behold, the sludge of death. Maybe it’s not fair to call When the World Dies one of 2022’s best debut albums since Come to Grief is intended as a continuation by guitarist/backing vocalist Terry Savastano (also WarHorse) and drummer Chuck Conlon of the devastation once wrought by Grief, but as they unleash the chestripping “Life’s Curse” and the slow-grind filthy onslaught of “Scum Like You,” who gives a shit? When the World Dies, produced of course by Converge‘s Kurt Ballou at GodCity, spreads aural violence across its 37 minutes with a particular glee, resting only for a breath before meting out the next lurching beating. Jonathan Hébert‘s vocal cords deserve a medal for the brutality they suffer in his screams in the four-minute title-track alone, never mind the grime-encrusted pummel of closer “Death Can’t Come Fast Enough.” Will to abrasion. Will to disturb. Heavy in spirit but so raw in its force that if you even manage to make it that deep you’ve probably already drowned. A biblical-style gnashing of teeth. Fucking madness.
In the works one way or the other since 2020, the sophomore full-length from Pittsburgh heavy rockers ZOM brings straight-ahead classicism with a modernized production vibe, some influence derived from the earlier days of Clutch or The Sword and of course Black Sabbath — looking at you, “Running Man” — but there’s a clarity of purpose behind the material that is ZOM‘s own. They are playing rock for rockers, and are geared more toward revelry than conversion, but there’s no arguing with the solidity of their craft and the meeting of their ambitions. Their last record took them to Iceland, and this one has led them to the UK. Don’t be surprised when ZOM announce an Australian tour one of these days, just because they can, but wherever they go, know what they have the songs on their side to get them there. In terms of style, there’s very little revolutionary about Fear and Failure, but ZOM aren’t trying to revamp what you know of as heavy rock and roll so much as looking to mark their place within it. Listening to the burly chug of “Another Day to Run,” and the conversation the band seems to be having with the more semi-metal moments of Shadow Witch and others, their efforts sound not at all misspent.
Making their debut through Black Doomba Records, Columbia, South Carolina’s MNRVA recorded the eight-song Hollow in Spring 2019, and one assumes that the three-year delay in releasing is owed at least in to aligning with the label, plus pandemic, plus life happens, and so on. In any case, from “Not the One” onward, their fuzz-coated doom rock reminds of a grittier take on Cathedral, with guitarist Byron Hawk and bassist Kevin Jennings sharing vocal duties effectively while Gina Ercolini drives the march behind them. There’s some shifting in tempo between “Hollow” and a more brash piece like “With Fire” or the somehow-even-noisier-seeming penultimate cut “No Solution,” but the grit there is a feature throughout the album just the same. Their 2019 EP, Black Sky (review here), set them up for this, but only really in hindsight, and one wonders what they may have been up to in the time since putting this collection to tape if this is where they were three years ago. Some of this is straight-up half-speed noise rock riffing and that’s just fine.
The third full-length, Accelerationist, from Easthampton, Massachusetts’ Problem With Dragons is odd and nuanced enough by the time they get to the vocal effects on “Have Mercy, Show Mercy” — unless that’s a tracheostomy thing; robot voice; that’s not the first instance of it — to earn being called progressive, and though their foundation is in more straightforward heavy rock impulses, sludge and fuzz, they’ve been at it for 15 years and have well developed their own approach. Thus “Live by the Sword” opens to set up lumbering pieces like “Astro Magnum” and the finale title-track while “In the Name of His Shadow” tips more toward metal and the seven-minute “Don’t Fail Me” meets its early burl (gets the wurlm?) with airier soloing later on, maximizing the space in the album’s longest track. “A Demon Possessed” and “Dark Times (for Dark Times)” border on doom, but in being part of Problem With Dragons‘ overall pastiche, and in the band’s almost Cynic-al style of melodic singing, they are united with the rest of what surrounds. Some bands, you can just tell when individualism is part of their mission.
Layered whispers and screams back Crystal‘s crooning verse and chorus lines as the video plays through a They Live theme that would make it worth sticking around to the end of the clip even if the song didn’t. Not slow, but not hurried, “Nomega” has push behind its movement — Light‘s full-of-punch bassline reminding in the song’s turns of Faith No More‘s “Last Cup of Sorrow” — and balances that with giving the vocal melody room to feature as it does. As with “Black,” the abiding feel of “Nomega” is dark — a nice contrast to see them playing in a white room — and accounts for the grunge background the band willfully embraced on their 2023 covers EP, Idolatry, but is unmistakably metal in its construction.
