Not to get too mathy or anything — stay with me, folks — but today is the day the Winter 2023 Quarterly Review passes the three-quarter mark on its way to 80 of the total 100 releases to be covered. And some of those are full-lengths, some are EPs, some are new, one yesterday was almost a year old. That happens. The idea here, one way or the other, is personal discovery. I hope you’ve found something thus far worth digging into, something that really hits you. And if not, you’ve still got 30 releases — 10 each today, tomorrow, Friday — to come, so don’t give up yet. We proceed…

Winter 2023 Quarterly Review #71-80:

Black Math Horseman, Black Math Horseman

Though long foretold by the prophets of such things, the return of Black Math Horseman with 2022’s self-titled, live-recorded-in-2019 EP some 13 years after their 2009 debut full-length, Wyllt (discussed here, interview here), helped set heavy post-rock in motion, is still a surprise. The tension in the guitars of Ian Barry (who also handled recording/mixing) and Bryan Tulao in the eponymous opener is maddening, a tumult topped by the vocals of Sera Timms (who here shares bass duties with Rex Elle), and given thunder by drummer Sasha Popovic, and as part of a salvo of three cuts all seven minutes or longer, it marks the beginning of a more intense extraction of the atmospheric approach to heavy songcraft that made their past work such a landmark, with the crashes of “Cypher” and the strummy sway of “The Bough” following ahead of shorter, even-driftier closer “Cypber.” There’s a big part of me that wishes Black Math Horseman was a full-length, but an even bigger part is happy to take what it can get and hope it’s not another decade-plus before they follow it with something more. Not to be greedy, but in 2009 this band had a lot more to say and all this time later that still feels like the case and their sound still feels like it’s reaching into the unknown.

Black Math Horseman on Facebook

Profound Lore Records store

—

 

Baker Ja Lehtisalo, Crocodile Tears

The names here should be enough. It’s Aidan Baker from heavy drone experimentalist institution Nadja ja (‘and’ in Finnish) Jussi Lehtisalo from prog-of-all masters Circle, collaborating and sharing guitar, bass, vocal and drum programming duties — Lehtisalo would seem also to add the keyboards that give the the titular neon to centerpiece “Neon Splashing (From Your Eyes)” — on a 53-minute song cycle, running a broad spectrum between open-space post-industrial drone and more traditional smoky, melancholic, heady pop. Closer “Racing After Midnight” blends darker whispers with dreamy keyboard lines before moving into avant techno, not quite in answer to “I Wanna Be Your Bête Noire” earlier, but not quite not, and inevitably the 14-minute opener and longest track (immediate points) “(And I Want Your Perfect) Crocodile Tears” is a defining stretch in terms of ambience and setting the contextual backdrop for what follows, its howling guitar layered with drum machine churn in a way that’s analogous to Jesu in style but not form, the wash that emerges in the synth and guitar there seeming likewise to be the suddenly-there alt-reality New Wave destination of the more languid meander of “Face/Off.” The amalgam of beauty and crush is enough to make one hope this isn’t Baker and Lehtisalo‘s last get together, but if it is, they made something worth preserving. By which I mean to say you might want to pick up the CD.

Jussi Lehtisalo on Bandcamp

Aidan Baker website

Ektro Records website

Broken Spine Productions on Bandcamp

—

 

Chrome Ghost, House of Falling Ash

While their crux is no less in the dreamy, sometimes minimalist, melodic parts and ambient stretches of their longer-form songs and the interludes “In the Tall Grass” and “Bloom (Reprise),” the outright crush of Sacramento’s Chrome Ghost on their third record, House of Falling Ash (on Seeing Red), is not to be understated, whether that’s the lumber-chug of 14-minute opener “Rose in Bloom” or the bookending 13-minute closing title-track’s cacophonous wash, through which the trio remain coherent enough to roll out clean as they give the record its growl-topped sludge metal finish. Continuing the band’s clearly-ain’t-broke collaboration with producer Pat Hills, the six-song/50-minute offering boasts guest appearances from him on guitar, as well as vocals from Eva Rose (ex-CHRCH) on “Furnace,” likewise consuming loud or quiet, punishing or spacious, Oakland-based ambient guitarist Yseulde in the lengthy, minimalist midsection of “Where Black Dogs Dream,” setting up the weighted and melodic finish there, with Brume‘s Susie McMullin joining on vocals to add to the breadth. There’s a lot happening throughout, loud/quiet trades, experimental flourish, some pedal steel from Hills, but guitarist/vocalist Jake Kilgore (also keys), bassist Joe Cooper and drummer Jacob Hurst give House of Falling Ash a solid underpinning of atmospheric sludge and post-metal, and the work is all the more expressive and (intermittently) gorgeous for it.

Chrome Ghost on Facebook

Seeing Red Records store

—

 

Wölfhead, Blood Full Moon

Straight-ahead, metal-informed, organ-inclusive classic heavy rock is the order of the day on Wölfhead‘s second album, Blood Full Moon, which is the Barclona-based four-piece’s first offering since their 2011 self-titled debut and is released through Discos Macarras, Música Hibrida and Iron Matron Records. An abiding impression of the 11-song offering comes as the band — who filled out their well-pedigreed core lineup of vocalist Ivan Arrieta, guitarists Josue Olmo and Javi Félez, and drummer Pep Carabante with session players David Saavedra (bass) and Albert Recolons (keys) — present rippers like the Motörhead (no real surprise, considering) via Orange Goblin rocker “Funeral Hearse” as the tail end of a raucous opening salvo, or the later “Mother of the Clan,” but from there the proceedings get more complex, with the classic doom roll of “Rame Tep” or the Jerry Cantrell-esque moody twang of “Everlasting Outlaw,” while “Eternal Stone Mountain” blends keyboard grandiosity and midtempo hookmaking in a way that should bring knowing nods from Green Lung fans, while “The Munsters” is, yes, a take on the theme from the tv show, and closer “El Llop a Dins” takes an airier, sans-drums and more open feel, highlighting melody rather than an overblown finish that, had they gone that route, would have been well earned.

Wölfhead on Facebook

Discos Macarras website

Música Hibrida website

Iron Matron Records store

—

 

Godzilla in the Kitchen, Exodus

Issued through Argonauta Records, Exodus‘ seven inclusions are situated so that their titles read as a sentence: “Is,” “The Future of Mankind,” “Forced By,” “The King of Monsters,” “Because,” “Everything That Has Been Given,” “Will Be Taken Away.” Thus Leipzig, Germany, instrumentalists Godzilla in the Kitchen‘s second album is immediately evocative, even before “Is” actually introduces the rest of what follows across three minutes of progressively minded heavy rock — parts calling to mind Pelican duking it out with Karma to Burn — that give way to the longest cut and an obvious focal point, “The Future of Mankind,” which reimagines the bass punch from Rage Against the Machine‘s “Killing in the Name Of” as fodder for an odd-timed expanse of Tool-ish progressive heavy, semi-psych lead work coming and going around more direct riffing. The dynamic finds sprawl in “Because” and highlights desert-style underpinnings in the fading lead lines of “Everything That Has Been Given” before the warmer contemplation of “Will Be Taken” caps with due substance. Their use of Godzilla — not named in the songs, but in the band’s moniker, and usually considered the “king of monsters” — as a metaphor for climate change is inventive, but even that feels secondary to the instrumental exploration itself here. They may be mourning for what’s been lost, but they do so with a vigor that, almost inadvertently, can’t help but feel hopeful.

Godzilla in the Kitchen on Facebook

Argonauta Records website

—

 

Onhou, Monument

Megalurching post-sludgers Onhou leave a crater with the four-song Monument, released by Lay Bare Recordings and Tartarus Records and comprising four songs and a 41-minute run that’s crushing in atmosphere as much as the raw tonal heft or the bellowing vocals that offset the even harsher screams. Leadoff “When on High” (8:19) is the shortest cut and lumbers toward a viciously noisy payoff and last stretch of even-slower chug and layered extreme screams/shouts, while “Null” (10:39) is unremittingly dark, less about loud/quiet tradeoffs though there still are some, but with depths enough to bury that line of organ and seeming to reference Neurosis‘ “Reach,” and “Below” (11:55) sandwiches an ambient beginning and standalone keyboard finish around post-metallic crunch and not so much a mournfulness as the lizard-brain feeling of loss prior to mourning; that naked sense of something not there that should be, mood-wise. Sure enough, “Ruins” (11:03) continues this bleak revelry, rising to a nod in its first couple minutes, breaking, returning in nastier fashion and rolling through a crescendo finish that makes the subsequent residual feedback feel like a mercy which, to be sure, it is not. If you think you’re up to it, you might be, or you might find yourself consumed. One way or the other, Onhou plod forward with little regard for the devastation surrounding. As it should be.

Onhou on Facebook

Lay Bare Recordings website

Tartarus Records on Bandcamp

—

 

Fuzzerati, Zwo

Less meditative than some of Germany’s instrumental heavy psych set, Bremen’s Fuzzerati explore drifting heavy psychedelic soundscapes on their 47-minute second album, Zwo, further distinguishing themselves in longform pieces like “Claus to Hedge” (13:01) and closer “Lago” (13:34) with hints of floaty post-rock without ever actually becoming so not-there as to be shoegazing. “Lago” and “Claus to Hedge” also have harder-hitting moments of more twisting, pushing fuzz — the bass in the second half of “Claus to Hedge” is a highlight — where even at its loudest, the seven-minute “Transmission” is more about dream than reality, with a long ambient finish that gives way to the similarly-minded ethereal launch of “Spacewalk,” which soon enough turns to somewhat ironically terrestrial riffing and is the most active inclusion on the record. For that, and more generally for the fluidity of the album as a whole, Fuzzerati‘s sophomore outing feels dug in and complete, bordering on the jazziness of someone like Causa Sui, but ultimately no more of their ilk than of My Sleeping Karma‘s or Colour Haze‘s, and I find that without a ready-made box to put them in — much as “instrumental heavy psych” isn’t a box — it’s a more satisfying experience to just go where the three-piece lead, to explore as they do, breathe with the material. Yeah, that’ll do nicely, thanks.

Fuzzerati on Facebook

Fuzzerati on Bandcamp

—

 

Afghan Haze, Hallucinations of a Heretic

At least seemingly in part a lyrical narrative about a demon killing an infant Jesus and then going to hell to rip the wings off angels and so on — it’s fun to play pretend — Afghan Haze‘s Hallucinations of a Heretic feels born of the same extreme-metal-plus-heavy-rock impulse that once produced Entombed‘s To Ride Shoot Straight and Speak the Truth, and yeah, that’s a compliment. The bashing of skulls starts with “Satan Ripper” after the Church of Misery-style serial murderer intro “Pushing up Daisies,” and though “Hellijuana” has more of a stomp than a shove, the dudely-violence is right there all the same. “Occupants (Of the Underworld)” adds speed to the proceedings for an effect like High on Fire born out of death metal instead of thrash, and though the following closer “Gin Whore” (another serial killer there) seems to depart from the story being told, its sludge is plenty consistent with the aural assault being meted out by the Connecticut four-piece, omnidirectional in its disdain and ready at a measure’s notice to throw kicks and punches at whosoever should stand in its way, as heard in that burner part of “Gin Whore” and the all-bludgeon culmination of “Occupants (Of the Underworld).” This shit does not want to be your friend.

Afghan Haze on Facebook

Afghan Haze on Bandcamp

—

 

Massirraytorr, Twincussion

My only wish here is that I could get a lyric sheet for the Britpsych-style banger that is “Costco Get Fucked.” Otherwise, I’m fully on board with Canadian trio Massirraytorr‘s debut LP, Twincussion — which, like the band’s name, is also styled all-caps, and reasonably so since the music does seem to be shouting, regardless of volume or what the vocals are actually up to in that deep-running-but-somehow-punk lysergic swamp of a mix. “Porno Clown” is garage raw. Nah, rawer. And “Bong 4” struts like if krautrock had learned about fuckall, the layer of effects biting on purpose ahead of the next rhythmic push. In these, as well as leadoff “Calvin in the Woods” and the penultimate noisefest “Fear Garden,” Massirraytorr feel duly experimentalist, but perhaps without the pretension that designation might imply. That is to say, fucking around is how they’re finding out how the songs go. That gives shades of punk like the earliest, earliest, earliest Monster Magnet, or The Heads, or Chrome, or, or, or, I don’t know fuck you. It’s wild times out here in your brain, where even the gravity slingshot of “The Juice” feels like a relatively straightforward moment to use as a landmark before the next outward acceleration. Good luck with it, kids. Remember to trail a string so you can find your way back.

Massirraytorr on Bandcamp

NoiseAgonyMayhem website

—

 

Tona, Tona

Serbian five-piece Tona make their self-titled second LP with a 10-song collection that’s less a hodgepodge and more a melting pot of different styles coming together to serve the needs of a given song. “Sharks” is a rock tempo with a thrash riff. “Napoleon Complex Dog” is blues via hardcore punk. Opener “Skate Zen” takes a riff that sounds like White Zombie and sets it against skate rock and Megadeth at the same time. The seven-minute “Flashing Lights” turns progadelic ahead of the dual-guitar strut showoff “Shooter” and the willful contrast of the slogging, boozy closer “Just a Sip of It.” But as all-over-the-place as Tona‘s Tona is, it’s to the credit of their songwriting that they’re able to hold it together and emerge with a cohesive style from these elements, some of which are counterintuitively combined. They make it work, in other words, and even the Serbian-language “Atreid” gets its point across (all the more upon translation) with its careening, tonally weighted punk. Chock full of attitude, riffs, and unexpected turns, Tona‘s second long-player and first since 2008 gives them any number of directions in which to flourish as they move forward, and shows an energy that feels born from and for the stage.

Tona on Facebook

Tona on Bandcamp

—

 

This has been in the works for a while. A Black Math Horseman reunion was teased in 2019, and made manifest in Feb. 2020 with a return to the stage slated for the next month.

The next month, of course, was March 2020. So much for that.

The news that the Los Angeles band damn near every post-rock act for the last decade has been trying to sound like have signed to Profound Lore and will release a self-titled EP on Oct. 21 is some of the best news you’ll see for the rest of the year. I mean that. The legacy of their 2009 album, Wyllt (discussed here, also here), is the real deal, and more than that, it holds up to the 13 years that have passed since it was first released. I know that’s not an eternity or anything, but think of all the shit that’s come and gone since then. Record is a monument.

Their new video for “The Bough” is playing below. Preorders are up for the EP. You know the deal. PR wire info follows.

BLACK MATH HORSEMAN: Self-Titled Comeback EP Set For Release October 21st Via Profound Lore Records; “The Bough” Video Unveiled + Preorders Available

BLACK MATH HORSEMAN have re-emerged from the fog of time and memory with a stunning new self-titled comeback EP, set for release on October 21st via Profound Lore Records.

In 2009, BLACK MATH HORSEMAN released their debut album, Wyllt. The band’s music was unlike almost everything that existed at the time. It was hypnotic, heavy, sonic alchemy that seemed to emanate from another time, another place. The members — vocalist/bassist Sera Timms, guitarists Ian Barry and Bryan Tulao, and drummer Sasha Popovic — had somehow tapped into heavy music’s collective subconscious. A European tour, along with appearances at Roadburn and Primavera Sound, solidified BLACK MATH HORSEMAN’s reputation as a mesmerizing live band. Then, just a few years later, they were gone.

Thirteen years later, their follow-up to Wyllt makes it seem as if the band never stopped playing together. A trance-inducing journey to the center of humanity’s inner turmoil, Black Math Horseman is meant to be listened to as a single, continuous composition.

Conceptually and lyrically, the record continues the storyline from Wyllt, which follows the mysterious character known as the Black Math Horseman. “This is where the character really comes into full bloom with their ‘black math,’ which is aggressive, manipulative reality shaping,” Timms explains.

“The essence of the album is overcoming a great enemy, a great adversarial force, and reaching a place of harmony that has never been found before,” she continues. “You go to a dark place and destroy relationships that you love, all based on ego. Eventually, you have nothing. And when you have nothing, you have to find a new way of doing things. That’s where we’re at now as a band and family, and that’s also the theme of the record.”

Much of Black Math Horseman was recorded in the band’s rehearsal space with engineer Manny Nieto. Covid lockdown kicked in the very next day, so Timms didn’t track her vocals —this time in the studio — until five months later. All subsequent overdubs and mixing were handled by Ian Barry, with guidance from Ben Chisholm.

Though the album was composed as one long song, the band divided it into chapters to accommodate today’s listening habits. Gorgeous centerpiece, and first single, “The Bough” captures a moment of clarity in the main character’s trajectory. “‘The Bough’ is essentially that moment when you realize you have been courting an illusion,” Timms explains. “You’ve put every bit of your heart and soul into courting this illusion, but when you realize that there’s nothing behind it, you want to destroy everything — not only the illusion, but reality and yourself. It’s that lightning bolt of clarity that comes through destruction — that’s what the song is.”

View the band’s captivating video for “The Bough,” directed by Travis Shinn and Jeremy Danger, at THIS LOCATION.

Black Math Horseman will be released on vinyl and digital formats. Find preorders at THIS LOCATION: https://linktr.ee/blackmathhorseman

Black Math Horseman Track Listing:
1. Black Math Horseman
2. Boar Domain
3. The Bough
4. Cypher

“When we came together initially as a band, we had no goals aside from seeing if we could make beautiful music together,” Timms explains of the group’s beginnings. “We made a demo, which turned into an album because it was liked. And then we became a working band that was being asked to play shows and tours. But we had never discussed what the long-term goals of the band were. There became a schism between some members wanting to become a professional band and others wanting to remain in the creative center of the rehearsal space. Those disagreements led to the band dissolving.”

In 2018, the members of BLACK MATH HORSEMAN reconvened. “At first, the conversation was about how we were all in different places now, and could we even go back to being that band that we were?” Timms offers. “It feels like it’s been a thousand years since we wrote that music. Since then, I’d gone in a very different direction and barely even listened to heavy music anymore. So, initially we just got back together as friends to see what would happen. Maybe we’d write completely different music now — and we were all open to that.”

But that’s not how it worked out at all. “When we started jamming again, we didn’t sound any different,” Timms says. “We discovered that the music that comes from us four together is something that we have no control over. It just happens. It’s a recipe that’s beyond us.”

Unlike with Wyllt, Timms chose not to play bass on the new offering. Instead, multi-instrumentalist Rex Elle graciously filled in. “Rex played everything that I wrote and added a few parts of her own, but I didn’t play bass on the album because I wanted to just focus on singing,” Timms explains. “I’m going to be performing without playing bass, and I don’t want my vocal parts to be limited to what I can do while I’m playing bass.”

Ultimately, Black Math Horseman is so much more than a reunion release. It’s a celebration of familial bonds and shared history. “The core essence of the band is the family that we have, and the music we make within that family,” Timms concludes. “There’s nothing else.”

http://www.instagram.com/blackmathhorseman
http://blackmathhorseman.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/blackmathhorseman

http://www.profoundlorerecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/profoundlorerecords
http://www.instagram.com/profoundlorerecords
http://profoundlorerecords.bandcamp.com

Black Math Horseman, “The Bough” official video

Okay, the post isn’t long from Black Math Horseman in some grand announcement fashion heralding their return, but there is a bit to unpack, so let’s do that.

First of all, there’s the news. Black Math Horseman have confirmed their first live appearance in seven years will be at The Echoplex in their native Los Angeles with YOB and Unsane-offshoot Human Impact on the bill. Good show.

Second, it’s been just over a year since the much-missed heavy post-rockers put up the picture above, originally from, 2009 as a promo shot for their only LP, Wyllt (discussed here and here), on Thee Facebooks, as well as one of parting clouds, giving the first hint of some kind of activity on the band’s part since 2013. Not an insignificant amount of time, but really, why rush anything?

Third, note that in the post below they don’t just say “come together again,” they say “come together again creatively.” That means making something new. That means new material. New material could mean new album. A “next chapter” could be anything from sporadic live dates on the West Coast to a full two-month European tour of summer fests — neither would really surprise me at this point — but from that, the use of “creatively” and the “there’s more to come” that follows, it seems pretty clear that at very least Black Math Horseman aren’t just testing the waters here. They’re invariably doing that as well, but there’s a plan at work behind the scenes, whatever it might be, that, in keeping with the character of the group, is obscured from outside observation. Mysteries abound.

Conclusion: Who wants to fly to L.A. for the night?

Whatever Black Math Horseman might do next, all we can do is wait to find out.

Show poster and their statement follow as per social media:

We are so grateful to have come together again creatively, and to be embarking on this next chapter of Black Math Horseman. Thank you to everyone who has supported us along the way, there’s more to come.

Thank you @church8thday & Yob for having us.

We’re excited!

https://www.facebook.com/Black-Math-Horseman-77475471220/
https://blackmathhorseman.bandcamp.com/

Black Math Horseman, Wyllt (2009)

It’s two images from social media. That’s the tease. Let me not draw this post out like some kind of dickhead clickbait with no information to offer. Two pictures. The one above of Black Math Horseman in silhouette from 2009, presumably sometime around when the Los Angeles heavy post-rock experimentalists issued their lone full-length, Wyllt (discussed here and here), through Tee Pee Records. The one below is of dark clouds parting.

Would seem to be a pretty straightforward message there, right? Dark clouds? An indefinite hiatus? Blue sky peeking through? The band coming back? That’s not a crazy A-to-B. I’m not making that up. Seems like a legit read, right? Does that mean it’s happening? Of course not, but it doesn’t mean it’s not happening either, and at very least, it means someone is thinking about the band enough to update their social media with some cryptic messaging one way or the other. Maybe a 10th anniversary reissue of Wyllt? That’s not nothing.

I actually delayed writing this post by a day or two after the images were brought to my attention because I wanted to see if Black Math Horseman actually made an announcement one way or the other. Needless to say that didn’t happen or there would be a more definitive headline above. At the time of their disbanding in 2013, Black Math Horseman was comprised of vocalist/bassist Sera Timms, guitarists Ian Barry and Bryan Tulao and drummer Sasha Popovic. Timms has gone on to work in Ides of Gemini and Black Mare, and it’s worth noting that Popovic sat in on drums on tour with Ides of Gemini in 2015, so there’s been some collaboration between the former members even after the band called it a day.

One doesn’t want to indulge baseless speculation, but I can’t help but think that Black Math Horseman are making this out-of-the-blue update even as the lineup for Psycho Las Vegas is due to be unveiled any day now. Timms played there last year with Black Mare and owned the Vinyl Stage thoroughly, so if they were to make a proper return, they could hardly ask for a better place to do it. Here’s what we currently have to go on:

https://www.facebook.com/Black-Math-Horseman-77475471220/
https://blackmathhorseman.bandcamp.com/

Black Math Horseman, Wyllt (2009)

The crystalline voice of Sera Timms is one of the heavy underground’s most affecting assets. Based in California, Timms made a breakthrough with 2009’s Scott Reeder-produced, Tee Pee-released Wyllt (discussed here) in an outfit called Black Math Horseman, and since then she’s contributed to a range of projects, from the collaboration between herself, Gary Arce of Yawning Man and fellow vocalist John Garcia (Kyuss, etc.) that manifested as Zun‘s 2016 Small Stone release, Burial Sunrise (review here), to the three full-lengths to-date she’s issued as frontwoman of heavy post-rock explorationists Ides of Gemini, the latest of which, Women (discussed here), came out this past Spring via Rise Above. In 2013, she made her full-length debut with the solo-project Black Mare on Field of the Host (review here), and she’s gone on to offer a smattering of short releases under the banner since that time, including a 2015 split with Lycia (review here).

Death Magick Mother, on Magic Bullet Records, is the second Black Mare long-player, and though the moniker would seem to recall Timms‘ time in Black Math Horseman, the progressive sensibility she shows throughout the seven-song/36-minute outing is distinctly her own and feels more like a culmination drawing from aspects of all her prior work, from than band through Ides of Gemini‘s heavier thud, spaciousness and crunch, and it is with her voice particularly that she sets the deeply resonant spirit in songs like the bassy “Babylon’s Fold” and the earlier, harmonized “Femme Couverte,” which follows opener “Ingress to Form” and carves out its space on Death Magick Mother with an emergent, distorted chug of guitar over which Timms‘ delivery remains patient, soaring and otherworldly.

Indeed, the ethereal has a central role to play throughout Black Mare‘s forward cast, and that’s a vibe set almost from the first ringing notes of “Ingress to Form,” an inclusion that would seem to be aware of how much it’s acting as an introduction to Death Magick Mother as a whole, though its purposes by no means are limited to that. At 6:46, it is tied with “Babylon’s Fold” for being the longest track (semi-immediate points), and it builds to a graceful and deceptively heavy push, marked by the separation of bass, guitar and drums in the sonic space it has created. This will prove true on the songs that follow as well, but each element at play throughout Death Magick Mother, including the layers of Timms‘ self-harmonies when they arrive, are readily distinguishable from their surroundings. One suspects that if one’s stereo were fancy enough, it would be possible to listen to nothing but the guitar, or to isolate an acapella version of third track “Death by Desire.”

Might be fun to try, but taken as a whole, it brings a purposeful sense of the disjointed to Death Magick Mother and makes Black Mare feel all the more experimental in construction. Timms, in addition to writing and performing everything on the album (she shares credit for “Babylon’s Fold” with Ides of Gemini bandmates), also recorded, so credit goes to her for this as well as to mixer Andrew Clinco, and ultimately it is one more manner in which she leads the listener through this deeply atmospheric sphere she’s created. It’s neither separate from the desert nor wholly part of it, and it’s more grounded in meter and percussiveness than one generally thinks of the sonically cosmic as being, but it is a modus and a place that is recognizably Timms‘ own, and she is thoroughly at home in its transcendental reaches, even as she continues to expand its borders via complexity of craft and arrangement.

With a decided thump of drums behind, “Babylon’s Fold” sets its tension early and begins a process of release just past two minutes in with a swell of guitar and bass behind the commanding vocals. The volume recedes and the bass maintains a steady presence to act as the ground beneath the echoing strums of guitar, such that its footing is maintained on the next upcycle just before five minutes in that carries what might be the side B opener toward its shimmering last stretch, leading to the penultimate “Kala.” A threat of distortion is issued prior to the first verse and finds its way into the pattern periodically before coming more completely forward after two minutes into the total 3:42 and acting as the key element in an efficient linear build that results in one of Death Magick Mother‘s most consuming moments of wash — a more than fitting setup for the solo vocals that start closer “Inverted Tower” for how plainly the end of the one song and the beginning of the next demonstrate the dynamic approach Timms is able to harness even in this solo context.

The opening of “Inverted Tower” is patient and no less immersive than anything before it, but rather than attempt to summarize the entirety of Death Magick Mother, the final chapter seems to keep on the outbound path of ambience — maybe that is the best summary — and in the jangle of guitar and the foreboding progression that takes hold just past the midpoint, met by complementary layers of higher and lower register singing, there’s a sense of goth theatricality that, at 5:10, explodes to crashing cymbals and layers of howling and screams and moans, somehow black metal but not at all furious. Resolved. It’s a moment there and gone after a few measures and the final surprise is how Death Magick Mother draws itself to a close, which again, is about as appropriate as anything could be in the situation.

Truth be told, by that point, the listener is either going to be well on board for the journey Timms is guiding or not. Naturally the former is the more satisfying option in terms of the basic listening experience, but both on the level of being a personal expression and in its sheer sprawl, Black Mare isn’t by any means a vie for accessibility. Still, to those for whom its wavelengths find sympathy, the depths and overall richness it casts will be yet another example of Timms as an underrated performer and composer, and further proof of how much her work only grows more realized with the passage of time.

Black Mare, Death Magick Mother (2017)

Black Mare website

Black Mare on Thee Facebooks

Death Magick Mother at Magic Bullet Records Bandcamp

Magic Bullet Records website

Magic Bullet Records on Thee Facebooks

Magic Bullet Records on Twitter

You can go right ahead and sign me up for Black Mare‘s Death Magick Mother. Sight unseen, I’m on board. A second full-length of otherworldly psychedelic neofolk brooding helmed by Sera Timms? Yeah, sorry. Way I see it, that’s an absolute no-brainer, gotta-hear-it kind of essential release. It’s out Sept. 15 via Magic Bullet Records and follows Timms‘ 2013 debut with the project, Field of the Host (review here), as well as a couple short releases, a 2015 split with Lycia (review here), and so on.

Of course, Timms has had a prolific few years anyway between those one-offs, her contributions to the desert-psych fusion of Zun and the ongoing atmospheric metallurgy of Ides of Gemini, but word of a new Black Mare coming out next month has flat out made my day. The sooner it gets here, the better, and I’ll hope very much to have more posted before it’s out. Preorders are up in the meantime, as the PR wire informs:

BLACK MARE: Dark Ambient Project Led By Sera Timms To Unveil Death Magick Mother Via Magic Bullet; Album Details Revealed + Tour With Junius Confirmed

Amidst a backdrop of political strife wherein such fundamental principles as the health, safety, and common decency toward women continue to erode more with each executive order and Twitter fit, the spirit of BLACK MARE stands unbridled under the singular vision and limitless purview of its driving force, one Sera Timms.

Death Magick Mother is the second proper full length album from Los Angeles, California’s BLACK MARE. Seven songs in length, this documentation captures Timms amidst a dynamic cohesion and confluence of inspiration unlike any prior. Whereas previous output operated under a founding principle of rhythmic repetition and atmospheric simplicity toward trace-like escapism, Death Magick Mother is Timms stepping right in front of the lens for a closeup. Mixed by Andrew Clinco of Drab Majesty and mastered by Dan Randall at Mammoth Sound Mastering, bolder arrangements lend themselves toward soaring, dynamic vocal melodies and nuanced harmonization to highly-satisfying effect. Spot-on performances and command of all instrumentation across the spectrum further propels the sense of arrival in mastery over her chosen craft. In many ways, this album is an awakening for both its creator and listeners alike.

Death Magick Mother will see release digitally via Magic Bullet on September 15th with LPs to follow. Preorders are currently available at THIS LOCATION.

Death Magick Mother Track Listing:
1. Ingress to Form
2. Femme Couverte
3. Death By Desire
4. Coral Vaults
5. Babylon’s Fold
6. Kala
7. Inverted Tower

Live appearances are robust in conjunction with the album’s release and range from a women’s mass replete with a bloodletting ritual, a midnight ceremony in celebration of a total eclipse with France’s Celeste, and even a traditional tour of the western United States in direct support of Junius.

BLACK MARE:
8/13/2017 Women’s Mass: A Benefit for The Satanic Temple @ Union – Los Angeles, CA w/ Night Club
8/21/2017 The Federal Underground – Long Beach, CA w/ Celeste, Destroy Judas, Hexa
w/ Junius, Mustard Gas & Roses:
9/21/2017 Yucca Tap Room – Phoenix, AZ
9/22/2017 The Viper Room – West Hollywood, CA w/ Hours
9/23/2017 The Golden Bull – Oakland, CA w/ Daxma
9/24/2017 Cafe Colonial – Sacramento, CA
9/25/2017 Tonic Lounge – Portland, OR w/ Wovoka, Drainage
9/26/2017 Highline Bar – Seattle, WA w/ They Rise We Die
9/27/2017 The Shredder – Boise, ID
9/28/2017 Urban Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
9/29/2017 Hi-Dive Denver – Denver, CO w/ Ghosts Of Glaciers
10/01/2017 The Sidewinder – Austin, TX

BLACK MARE is the solo project of Sera Timms, vocalist and bassist for Ides Of Gemini and of the now-disbanded Black Math Horseman. With a focus on rhythmic repetition and atmospheric simplicity, BLACK MARE steps outside the collaborative dynamic to reveal a creative process that is all Sera’s own. Her songs traverse hidden realms, fragments of dreams, submerged memories, and mythical imagery. Where Black Math Horseman and Ides Of Gemini demand volume and collusion, BLACK MARE requires quiet contemplation. If Black Math Horseman and Ides Of Gemini seek to summon the deafening roar of inevitability, BLACK MARE delivers its verdicts on cresting waves and solemn whispers. And yet each operates, in its own way, within the darkened spheres of oceanic hypnosis.

https://magicbulletrecords.bandcamp.com/album/black-mare-death-magick-mother
http://www.theblackmare.com
http://www.facebook.com/Black-Mare
http://www.magicbulletrecords.com
http://www.facebook.com/magicbulletrecords
http://www.twitter.com/magicbulletrecs

Black Mare, Field of the Host (2013)

Black Math Horseman, Wyllt (2009)

In the eight years since its release, something of a cult loyalism has built up around the full-length debut from Los Angeles’ Black Math Horseman. Rightly so. Issued in April 2009 by Tee Pee Records, the 38-minute Wyllt (discussed here) is a rare kind of outing that seemed to at once demand full headphone immersion and a volume level in defiance of any and all medical recommendation. Resting ultimately between ambient, My Bloody Valentine via Isis post-metal and desert-psychedelic ritualizing, it was a work of such purpose and detail that if you center its six titles, they form a pyramid. To wit:

Tyrant
Deerslayer
A Barren Cause
Origin of Savagery
Torment of the Metals
Bird of all Faiths/Bell from Madrone

Note “Tyrant” at the top. This nuance of presentation — could be happenstance, but seems unlikely that it was, frankly — came alongside a sound that was at once in-genre and out of it, unremittingly the band’s own on a level generally unthinkable for a debut and distinguished at the outset by the vocals of bassist Sera Timms, who seems to arrive here with her echoing ethereality completely realized and ready to carry the melodies of “Tyrant,” the build of “A Barren Cause,” and the later spaciousness of “Torment of the Metals.” Perhaps even more than it was heavy — though it was, make no mistake — Wyllt was ahead of its time in the vastness of its soundscapes. This facet of the band’s songwriting, along with a production job by Scott Reeder (The Obsessed, Kyuss, etc.), gave Timms, guitarists Ian Barry and Bryan Tulao and drummer Sasha Popovic room to conjure tension-building minimalism into a churn that even these years later remains overwhelming in moments like when the seething comes to the fore “Bird of all Faiths/Bell from Madrone” propelled by Popovic‘s drums before once again receding behind sparse guitar and vague, ambient vocalizations, or when the chugging payoff of “Deerslayer” takes hold with its overarching nod and sway from the prior Red Sparowes-style exploration.

Wyllt is also a record that has benefited greatly from the context of the years since. When first released, it was a definite outlier for Tee Pee Records — also planet earth — and while it would be Black Math Horseman‘s only full-length before they disbanded, the work Timms has gone on to do in Ides of Gemini, her Black Mare solo-outfit and in guest spots for the likes of Mustard, Gas & Roses, Tombs and Zun — the desert ambient project of Yawning Man‘s Gary Arce on which Timms split lead-singer duties with John Garcia — have given a different light to just how much of an accomplishment these songs were in setting all of that in motion on an aesthetic level. True, neither Ides of Gemini nor Black Mare nor Zun are looking to cover the same ground as was Black Math Horseman — they’re individual bands with their own players and styles — but Timms‘ vocals are a defining element for all as they were on Wyllt, and understanding that is naturally something that has become easier as her discography has grown. That’s not to say there hasn’t been any development or progression on her part, as Zun‘s 2016 outing, Burial Sunrise (review here), and her work on Ides of Gemini‘s forthcoming Women LP immediately demonstrate otherwise, just that on a basic level of methodology, Wyllt can be seen as a direct precursor to what she’s done since.

And of course, the record’s not just about the singer. To hear the guitars of Barry and Tulao weaving around each other in the midsection of “Origin of Savagery” backed by Popovic‘s creative timekeeping and the out and out crushing riff that emerges to cap “Torment of the Metals,” one can’t help but wonder just what it was that went wrong in this band when they seemed to be so cohesive and aligned in their sonic intentions. As noted, Wyllt was the only thing Black Math Horseman released in their time together. It wouldn’t be long before the first Ides of Gemini EP surfaced, but as much as it was a standout at the time, and ahead of its time, Wyllt remains distinct in the resonant, affecting impression it leaves, in its fluid definition of heft, in its open sensibilities and in the unfulfilled potential it continues to represent for the band. Oh, what might have been.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

I have spent much of the last three days quietly begging for this week to end. This morning I was up at 3AM in anticipation of precisely that happening. I probably could’ve gone back to sleep, but screw it. Coffee to be had, records to write about, etc. Hell, I’ve even got the World Baseball Classic streaming on my phone on mute on the table nearby my laptop as I sit on the couch and type this before work. China vs. Japan. Seems like a game that could have significant diplomatic repercussions for the Pacific Rim. Better to watch history unfold.

As of this sentence, Japan’s up 1-0, if you’re wondering. It’s early yet.

In a couple minutes, I’ll get up and pour myself my next coffee and enjoy that, and then in about an hour I’ll drive through the falling snow to get to work. We’re supposed to get a few inches here in Southern Massachusetts. More Tuesday, they’re saying. I don’t care. I just want to get to the office so I can start the day as a necessary step toward ending it, toward ending this week. I’m fucking done. Have been done since Monday.

Some cool stuff on the horizon that I don’t quite think I can talk about yet but will announce soon. Vague enough? Yeah, sorry about that. I’ll clarify when I can, but keep an eye out. By way of a hint, it involves travel.

And as a reminder, the next Quarterly Review starts on March 27. I’m locking in the last of the reviews now, probably over the course of this coming week, then I start grabbing artwork, links and setting up the back end. Shit takes a long time, but as ever, I’ll get it done. So far looking like 50 reviews. Last one, if you’ll recall, was 60. Doing regular rounds of Radio Adds has taken away some of the need for that, thankfully.

Speaking of the Radio, I checked in yesterday with Slevin and he’s working on getting the full drive back up and running. I don’t know what happened to the operating system on the Raspberry Pi we use to host the drive with all the songs, but whatever it was apparently really did a number. Then, of course, I screwed up reinstalling the OS and had to start the whole process over, so the delay’s pretty much completely my fault. We’ll get there. New stuff has been added to the backup drive in the meantime, not that there was anything necessarily wrong with it all being Om, Sabbath and Candlemass. Nice to get some recent albums in there though, Kandodo McBain, All Them Witches and so on.

Fingers crossed that will be back online over the weekend, and as I’ve now acquired the aforementioned next cup of coffee — complete with the scoop of cinnamon protein powder that lets it serve as my breakfast — let’s run down the rest of what’s in store for next week. From the notes, subject to change:

Mon.: Radio Adds and a video premiere from Samavayo.
Tue.: Green Meteor review and track premiere, new Atavismo video.
Wed.: Devil’s Witches review and album stream, new Sergio Ch. video.
Thu.: Review of Death Alley’s live record, video premiere from Wight.
Fri.: Samsara Blues Experiment review and track premiere.

There’s more, of course, but that’s what I’m basing the week around, anyhow. In the meantime, you’ll pardon me if I consider a quiet weekend with The Patient Mrs. and the Little Dog Dio to be particularly well earned. I’ve got work to do in getting stuff ready for Monday, chasing down copy for the Roadburn ‘zine, the Weirdo Canyon Dispatch, and writing a bio for Melbourne cosmic sludgers Merchant, but that’s the kind of busy I enjoy being and at least it’s a couple days I don’t have to drive to Pawtucket.

I hope that whatever you’re up to, you have a great and safe time. Have fun, relax or don’t depending on what you’re looking for, and be sure to check back in on Monday because there’s a lot of awesome stuff to come.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to check out the forum and radio stream.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The march continues! I guess that’s what happens when you have something like 35,000 bands playing on three stages over the course of four days — you come out of it with a motherload of audio. This time around, new sets surface from Black Math Horseman, Aluk Todolo, Incredible Hog and Dutch natives Beaver, who were actually the only one of these four that I saw at the fest. Plenty to dig into, as always. Here are the links:

Aluk Todolo
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44948646#ondemand.44948646

Beaver
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44948782#ondemand.44948782

Black Math Horseman
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44948803#ondemand.44948803

Incredible Hog
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44948794#ondemand.44948794

Perpetual gratitude to Walter and Roadburn for allowing me to host these links. Roadburn‘s audio streams are recorded and mixed by Marcel van de Vandervoort and his team at Spacejam. Roadburn 2011 took place April 14-17, at the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg, Netherlands.