Posted in Whathaveyou on September 18th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Boston’s Rozamov just got back from a tour that included a stop at Crucialfest and New York’s Husbandry have a brand new video for the track ‘Grab Twist Pull’ and will head out with Moon Tooth in November, so both bands have plenty going on as they move toward rounding out 2017 both supporting and looking to move forward from their debut releases on Battleground/Dullest Records and Aqualamb, respectively. All the better to team up for a quick weekender next month for shows in their native territories of New York and Massachusetts, and to add intrigue, the final of the three dates for the weekender run, to be held at The Middle East — one assumes upstairs, but you can never be sure — that’s going to be recorded by GodCity Studio‘s mobile unit.
Does that mean Kurt Ballou (Converge) is going to helm live outings for both bands? Can’t imagine they’d bring him out and not put out the results. Something to watch for maybe as we head into 2018.
Show info came down the PR wire:
Rozamov & Husbandry – Northeast dates
Rozamov and Husbandry have announced a short string of Northeast dates this October, culminating in a show to be recorded by Godcity Studio at The Middle East in Cambridge, MA.
10/20 – Brooklyn, NY @ The Well 10/21 – Florence, MA @ The 13th Floor Lounge 10/22 – Boston, MA @ The Middle East
Says Husbandry guitarist Jordan Usatch:
“There’s never an absence of ‘heavy’ young bands these days, but I’ve always felt that it’s few and far between of bands that do ‘heavy’ but also ‘interesting’ – so of course, ever since meeting the guys in Rozamov we’ve felt a kinship with them between odd-timed riffs and our mutual big-ass pedalboards. When approached to do a mini-tour in the New England area, using it to hire Godcity mobile recording services for a future live split-record project, we had to say yes. The tour starts at The Well in Brooklyn and culminates 10/22/17 at the Middle East Upstairs, where both bands will record our live sets, featuring new (and previously unreleased) music from both bands. The Middle East show will be rounded out by two other Boston bands- Kal Marks as well as Nomad Stones.”
Rozamov released their debut LP “This Mortal Road” this past March and have completed two tours since including stops at Austin Terror Fest and Crucialfest. The band digitally released a live recording from their March tour titled “Adaptations” earlier this summer and are have been hard at work on new material.
Husbandry recently released a video for their song “Grab Twist Pull” off of their debut LP “Fera” which was released last year. They also recently announced a US tour with fellow New York weirdos Moon Tooth for this November.
Posted in Reviews on August 25th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Portland-based Grigax is the one-woman vehicle of Alyssa Mocere. Also a graphic designer/tattooist who has done art for Infiltrator, Summoner, Matt Pike and others, Mocere released a two-songer demo under the Grigax moniker in 2015 and has aligned to Dullest Records and partnered with drummer/engineer Luis Hernandez for the debut full-length Life Eater — a 32-minute/seven-cut collection that finds poise within a tumult of influences from the sphere of post-rock, doom, black metal, folk, psychedelia and drone, finally resolving itself in the moment-of-clarity “Nascita,” a clean-sung after-grunge push of overdriven guitar and deceptively patient drumming. Two sub-two-minute atmospheric pieces, the intro “Bardo Thodol” and the centerpiece “Lutto,” set up a two-sided dynamic, but whether one makes their way through Life Eater in vinyl-style halves or in a single-stream front-to-back fashion, the scope with which Mocere undertakes her material as Grigax is expansive, at times frightening in its affect, and unflinchingly creative.
Whether that creativity shows itself in the eerie keys and backward sonics that commence with “Bardo Thodol” or the bass-led marching spaciousness that ensues on the subsequent “Circcolo,” the longest inclusion here at 8:53, it is a resolute position from which Mocere directs the material one way or another on a song-by-song basis. Life Eater was recorded over a period of two years, and frankly, it sounds like it. That’s not a dig on the album at all — but a note on the constructed feel of the songs that make it up, Mocere building “Circcolo” one layer at a time, or experimenting with different elements to see what most brings her intent toward realization or, better yet, uncovering what that intent might be as the harsh wash in “Splitting” is shaped, her melodic vocals over top keeping a thoroughly human presence to what might otherwise feel purposefully cold and uninviting.
If anything, this notion of Life Eater‘s material as something that came together one layer at a time — which I admit to some degree is narrative being read into what might’ve been a completely different writing method, but inevitably how it had to work at least in part at the studio, since Mocere handles multiple instruments in addition to vocals and can only be in so many places at once — adds to the aesthetic of the record itself, which is deeply imbued with a meditative sensibility. Whatever else its varied scope might encompass, it sounds like a ritual playing out in swells of volume and passion. What the meaning is of the exploration at work in the buzzing low-end progression of “Circcolo” and the post-heavy scathe of “Splitting” — or for that matter in “Iron Quill”‘s blend of Wolves in the Throne Room-style blackened devouring and harmonized vocals and the manipulated spiritualism of “Zeis,” on which Mocere takes position behind the kit as well to conjure a vibe born of Om‘s Advaitic Songs but ultimately given its own crux via squiggly guitar and her own far-back-as-far-out singing — remains largely unknowable just by listening, but that would appear to be at least part of the point.
As deep as Life Eater goes, it doesn’t share everything — all lyrics save for “Nascita,” for example, come from 1900’s Harlequinade by Henry Rightor — and feels no need to come right out and explain itself or its jumps from one genre to another. Like the most commanding of works, it simply is. It stands its ground and will let the interpretations shake out as they will amid the effectively droning fluidity of “Lutto” and the searing that follows on “Iron Quill,” each turn Grigax takes on presenting some measure of its own intent while feeding into the noted idea of the album as part of a single ritual being shaped, carved out like a totem for a one-person pagan anti-dogma to be left in the Cascadian woods somewhere outside Portland and confuse man-bun hikers as they pass it by. Obscure and evocative, haunting and not at all chaotic in the way one might expect, even unto the Jarboe-esque rhythmic breathing that starts “Nascita,” Life Eater is both raw in its sound and rich in expression, and even if its component parts didn’t unite as well as they do, the sheer diversity of its approach would make it one of 2017’s most impressive debuts.
Particularly with the adoption of an outside speaker for the lyrics to “Circcolo,” “Splitting,” “Iron Quill” and “Zeis,” Grigax would seem to be setting up a push-pull dynamic with the listener. On the one hand, each movement sounds and feels almost entirely personal, and yet a key component of their making — quite literally the words Mocere is saying — come from a source other than herself. Does that mean Life Eater is somehow tentative in its approach? Not necessarily, and positioning “Nascita” as the closer, with its forward-moving linear build and Neurosis-born “Stones from the Sky” moment in the guitar, feels especially significant in this regard; Mocere gives herself the opportunity to make the album’s final statement. I’d be interested to know when “Nascita” was composed in relation to the other material surrounding, as it’s almost too easy to interpret it as a sign of things to come from Grigax as an ongoing project and perhaps Mocere letting her audience know, at last, that there’s a core consciousness at work behind all the breadth, nuance and pummel of the tracks.
Indeed, it’s her voice as the last element we hear on “Nascita,” and after the guitars, drums and the rest fade out, she gives a melodic reinterpretation of the rhythm breathed through at the outside some seven minutes earlier. Again, it’s hard to know exactly just what that transformation is saying, but the fact that Life Eater engages on that level — leads one to ask the question at all, in other words — is a testament to the effectiveness of its artistry. In thinking of where Grigax might go from here, there’s setup for expansion of reach in any number of directions, whether it’s playing up the psychedelic aspects of “Circcolo” and “Zeis” or the to-a-crisp tonality of “Iron Quill,” or finding some single modus over time that draws from all of them. More important is the work Mocere and Hernandez have done in bringing Life Eater to fruition as it is, and the manner in which those efforts have succeeded in crafting something so much of its time and place and yet so isolated and severe. Regardless of how Grigax evolves, one expects it will evolve, and looks forward to discovering what wonders and horrors are unearthed in that process.
Posted in audiObelisk on July 18th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
If it seems like a quick turnaround for Boston trio Rozamov to have new material ready to roll out just a couple months after releasing their much-awaited debut album, This Mortal Road (review here), this Spring on Battleground Records and Dullest Records, well, it kind of is. But consider that the band had the material for that five-track long-player in the can for about a year before it came out, and that guitarist/vocalist Matt Iacovelli and bassist/vocalist Tom Corino had added drummer Jeff Landry to the lineup in the meantime post-recording, and it makes sense to think they might want to flex a bit of songwriting. Whether it’s to see where they’re at sound-wise after the record, feel out the new dynamic with Landry or just keep themselves busy while waiting for the release or what was then their next stint on the road, it’s not like writing is going to hurt.
Thus we get “Surrounded by Wolves” on a new live release out July 21 called Adaptations. Captured in Chicago on the coast-to-coast tour the band undertook to mark This Mortal Road‘s arrival, it’s the first track to be put together with Landry in the group, and as it plods out its full course in just over three minutes, it stands as a significant change from the longer-form approach of the debut. I wouldn’t speculate any major shift in direction or method overall based on one initial live track, but the shortest of This Mortal Road‘s non-interlude cuts was the seven-minute “Serpent Cult,” so as “Surrounded by Wolves” checks in at less than half of that, it’s noteworthy either way.
One can’t argue, however, that Rozamov don’t state their case in that time. With a full tonal breadth even in this live version and harsh vocals cutting through the lumbering wash of low end, crashing cymbals and overarching push of its rhythm, “Surrounded by Wolves” champions an efficiency that well earns the quick exclamations audible from the crowd when it chugs to its conclusion. And in kind with the record preceding it, not only is “Surrounded by Wolves” this heavy, brutally-minded shove of lung-filling sludge extremity, but its pummel is also richly atmospheric, and its mix — again, even in this live version — brings a depth in which the listener feels likely to get consumed permanently. Easy to imagine that it made the lights at the Livewire Lounge seem just a bit darker by the time it was done.
You can check out the track on the player below, followed by some comment from Landry — who also did the artwork for Adaptations — on the song in what looks suspiciously in-part like a tour diary, and upcoming live dates, including the run Rozamov will do next month with Battleground labelmates The Ditch and the Delta that wraps with a slot Sept. 2 at Crucialfest.
Behold:
Jeff Landry on “Surrounded by Wolves”:
We are all really excited to release Adaptations. Essentially, it is a live take on our first LP, This Mortal Road, as well as a new track “Surrounded by Wolves.” With the addition of myself on drums, I was able to have a different take on the music. I’m grateful that Matt and Tom allowed me to explore that. We are definitely evolving right now and Adaptations is a little window into what we have going on.
As for the show we recorded this at, we had about 20 nights of shows under our belts going into this set. It was day three of rain. Matt had family come out. We hung out at Wrigley and Tom convinced a pizza spot to deliver to the van. I got locked in the venue’s basement for a while. Solid day. It wasn’t a packed show but people were definitely into the set and we had a great night afterwards too. That was basically the M.O. of that whole tour. We’d show up to the city early, tourist what we could, get to the show, have people sort of stare at us and wonder who we were, crush a set, people chat our ears off after we play, load out and drive to the hotel, sleep, repeat.
I think at that point in March we were about halfway through writing for the new record, so we started peeking out a few each night. We opened up this show with “Surrounded by Wolve.s. After listening to it, we knew we wanted to get it out there for people to listen ASAP. We went the friends route and had our bud Chris Johnson from who plays in a rad band mix it and Alec Rodriguez who also plays in a rad band master it. We are really stoked to get this out there. We’re hitting the road this weekend with our Syracuse homies in Blood Sun Circle and doing a week of dates in Pacific Northwest to Crucialfest this August with our boys The Ditch and The Delta. Jam this new record on Spotify and check out a show!
Rozamov live: 7/21 – Wallingford, CT @ Cherry Street Station + 7/22 – Rochester, NY @ Photo City Improv + 7/28 – Somerville, MA @ ONCE ^
8/24 – Allston, MA @ Great Scott * 8/25 – Columbus OH @ Cafe Bourbon Street * 8/26 – Indianapolis, IN @ TBA 8/27 – St. Paul, MN @ TBA 8/30 – Seattle, WA @ Funhouse * 8/31 – Portland, OR @ High Water Mark * 9/1 – Boise, ID @ The Shredder * 9/2 – Salt Lake City @ Crucial Fest *
+ w/ Blood Sun Circle ^ w/ Author & Punisher *w/ The Ditch and The Delta
Adaptations was recorded live at Live Wire in Chicago, mixed by Chris Johnson at The Electric Bunker in Brighton, MA, and Mastered by Alec Rodriguez at New Alliance in Cambridge, MA. The full recording will be available for free download via Bandcamp and streaming via Spotify on July 21.
There is an odd duality to Boston three-piece Rozamov at this stage in their career. With numerous tours under their collective belt, years of experience slogging it out at fests like Psycho California, that time they opened for Slayer at a Converse show in their hometown, numerous short releases, lineup changes, and so on, it seems improper to think of them as anything but veterans. And yet, some five years after the arrival of their first, self-titled EP, it’s only now that Rozamov have hit the point of releasing their debut album. To call it “awaited” feels like a definite understatement.
The record is This Mortal Road (review here), issued this past March via Battleground Records and comprised of five darkened tracks that unquestionably benefit from Rozamov‘s tenure leading up to hitting the studio. Their doom finds heft in ambient stretches as well as in its most crushing moments, is patient when it wants to be but capable of a noisy assault, and when Rozamov want to punish — as on the 11-minute finale “Inhumation,” discussed below — the results leave bruises on the inner ear. They’ve proven to be as much a force in the studio as they have been on the stage. No small feat, but one hell of a debut.
Recorded with the trio of guitarist/vocalist Matt Iacovelli, bassist/vocalist Tom Corino and drummer Will Hendrix, the band is now comprised of Iacovelli, Corino and drummer Jeff Landry, and I’m happy to say that all three took part in this interview to talk about making the album, their experience to this point, the shift that brought Landry aboard and their plans going forward. You’ll find the Q&A below.
Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:
Six Dumb Questions with Rozamov
Where did the title This Mortal Road come from? It’s been quite a journey for Rozamov to get to the point of releasing your first album. Was there an element of self-reflection in naming the record? Why is the road “mortal?”
Tom Corino: The title came basically out of some brainstorming and some in depth conversations between all of us. The road to making this record was certainly plagued or (or blessed in some cases) with twists and turns so I felt that the title was fitting.
Matt Iacovelli: The mortal road would be a metaphor for life and death and everything in between. The band feels like a crazy journey and ride that you don’t want to end.
Tell me about your time in the studio with Jon Taft at New Alliance Audio. How long was the recording process, what was the vibe like in the studio, and how do you feel about the sounds and tones you were able to capture?
MI: The time in the studio was a really great experience. Jon pushed us all to be tight and play tight. It took five-to-six days in the studio.
TC: I think Jon brought an outsider’s perspective to the record and a non-metal approach. It was really important to him that we not fall into certain trends he saw in other recent heavy recordings, so I think the album doesn’t necessarily have a prototypical modern metal sound. I’m pretty sure we used only amp distortion for the guitar tracks, which was a completely out of the box idea for us. I got to fiddle around with a bunch of distortions and amps. Nerd Knuckle Effects boxes had a huge hand in the way my bass sound came together on the record, Brad [Macomber] is really making some interesting stuff in his lab and has been a long time friend and solid dude.
What was the timeline on the recording in terms of when Jeff joined on drums? My understanding is he came aboard after the tracking was done. How has his joining changed the band?
Jeff Landry: Yeah it’s been about a year now, I think. I joined after the record was tracked but I helped with a lot of the physical record itself, so I still feel attached to it. As for the songs itself, Matt and Tom gave me free range on rewriting the drum parts without drastically changing the songs, which I am grateful for. My initial goal was to give these songs more energy live and I really feel we nailed that. They ended up a little faster then the recordings.
MI:Jeff has brought a real songwriting aspect to the band. It’s good ‘cause now we are working on all cylinders.
TC: Our previous drummer, Will Hendrix, recorded all of the drums on the record. After recording we did a tour with our friends in Destroy Judas and Trapped Within Burning Machinery. It was shortly after that tour that Matt and I decided we needed to find a new solution behind the kit. Things had come to a head personally and musically, it was just impossible for the three of us to move on “as is” and be able to promote this record the way we wanted to. We wish Will all the best but it was just time for new blood, and Jeff has supplied that and then some.
Tell me how “Inhumation” came together.
MI: “Inhumation” was written right after Psycho Fest 2015. I remember putting the opening riff together in the jam room. I had one of the change riffs sort of around. The end riff… it’s really one set of chords played in a revolving order. It’s the doomiest we had ever been up to that point. I think it was all of the built up tension that Slayer, Psycho Fest, flying and eminent fact that changes need to be made. A ritualistic burial.
TC: It was the last song we finished for the record and cemented This Mortal Road’s “doom” feel. I remember walking in to Matt working on the last riff in the song and being very excited because we had never done anything that slow or noise-based before. As with all of the songs on the record, Jeff has breathed new life into it.
JL: This is the song that is the most drastically changed from record to live. We recorded it live in Chicago on this past tour and it will be hitting Spotify and Bandcamp pretty soon. Just waiting for some final mixes.
You went coast-to-coast on tour this past March. How was that experience for you as a band? What were the shows like? How was Austin Terror Fest and the rest of SXSW? You’ve of course done tours before. Is it strange to feel like a veteran while touring on your first record?
JL: I’ve been on a bunch of tours before, big and small. I have to say that spending almost a month on the road with my homies was a blast. We were able to establish a routine pretty quickly due to fact that I get a massive discount on hotels with my job. That was a huge deal. It enabled us to be pretty comfortable and focus more on our sets and getting better every night. We don’t really drink too much ether, so that helps. I think I had like three beers all tour. We did smoke a ton of weed though so I promise we are not boring.
TC: It was definitely the healthiest I’ve ever been on tour, both mentally and physically. We’ve done shorter tours before but this was by far the most ambitious outing yet. It is a little strange to have been a band for so long and to still have all these firsts happening; first LP, first full US tour… it’s odd I suppose, but in some aspects we’ve already done a lot in our five years or so as a band. This lineup is far and away the best we’ve ever been. I’m excited for the future of this band, now more than ever and this tour cemented that feeling.
MI: The tour was great, absolutely great. With each tour you learn things, you come back a little older and a little bit more experienced. You realize how your own personal world is so small and exact. We as humans are very ritualistic in nature so on tour you have to change your tune and adapt the best you can. You see other parts of the country and it’s not like home, but strangely it’s similar, strangely we are all in this together as I whiz by going hopefully 75 mph.
Any plans or closing words you want to mention?
JL: Yeah, we are more than halfway through writing our next record. We have a bunch of shows coming up too. We are playing Stoned to Death fest in Western Mass early next month; doing a few gigs in New York this July with Blood Sun Circle; doing a run with our homies and labelmates The Ditch and the Delta out to the Pacific Northwest, then down to Salt Lake for a fest out there, as well as Forge Fest down in Providence in Sept. We have this really rad tour/recording project we are working on for October that will be announced later.
TC: I’m eternally grateful for all of the people who had a hand in making this record a reality and who have supported us throughout the years. I want to specifically thank David [Rodgers] at Battleground Records for taking a chance on us. It’s a really tough climate for independent music and he’s been an absolute rock, and I’ve honestly learned a lot from him. He’s a man of his word and that’s a hard thing to find in today’s underground music “business.”
MI: Like the great Kid Rock once mused: “It’s been a couple of months in this smokey room/Eaten shrooms drinking Boones writing tunes/And hoping to get one of these mother fuckin’ songs to hit.”
Posted in audiObelisk on May 2nd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Eastern Pennsylvania-based heavy punk/post-hardcore rockers L.M.I. will release their second album, Far Beyond Nothing, on June 16. Also their debut on Dullest Records, it’s a 26-minute scorcher that on first and maybe even second listen almost invariably comes across defined by its aggression, but even in its earliest thrust shows there’s more at hand than raw, face-peeling harshness. Opener and longest track (immediate points) “Coffin Niche” premieres today, and in its quick 3:33 run, one can hear an edge of heavy indie melody that shows up soon enough again on “Emerald Motions,” sort of a what-if-Rob–Crow-joined-Refused vibe playing out surrounded by all the intensity one might ask of a young three-piece with intent to kill. With songs running in the two- to three-minute range exclusively, Far Beyond Nothing reinforces this emergent sonic diversity in “Weak Stilts” and “Salamander,” neither of which gives up the anger or immediacy the three-piece — whose acronym moniker stands for Lazy Middle-Class Intellectuals — present in the first going of “Coffin Niche” or revive on cuts like “Stress Dreams” and the almost Disfear-esque “Sun Rites” as they move through the record’s second half.
I’m not sure I’d call the resulting whole impression of Far Beyond Nothing balanced, but nor do I think that’s what L.M.I. are shooting for with its forceful, nasty physicality. As the heads-down rush and mathy start-stops of “Coffin Niche” give way to the galloping “Destined for the Ground,” the band nonetheless successfully navigates their way between the genres of heavy rock, metal and angular post-hardcore, however, so there is a sense of nuance at work. Longer-term rocker heads might recall a similar modus from post-Dillinger Escape Plan Minneapolis troupe Figure of Merit, who for one hot minute were signed to Earache in the aughts, but even as “Rational Defect” and “Poison Landscape” find them working in a more atmospheric vein, L.M.I. come out of closer “Collapsing Pages” having successfully channeled Northeastern confrontationalism and sonic complexity in like measure to their between-Philly-and-New-York suburban sphere. The due pummel of “Coffin Niche” establishes the mood of much of what follows behind it, and whether one takes on Far Beyond Nothing as cued by the violence of its somewhat troubling cover art or digs a little deeper into the sound to uncover what the trio are really trying to accomplish in the component songs, L.M.I. do not fail to make an impression here. Or to leave bruises.
With the promise of summer tour dates to be announced and a quote from the band about the track, you can check out the premiere of “Coffin Niche” in the YouTube embed below. Don’t hurt yourself or anything, but maximum volume is recommended for maximum effect.
Please enjoy:
L.M.I., “Coffin Niche”
L.M.I. on “Coffin Niche”:
“Coffin Niche” is one of the first songs we wrote for our new album “Far Beyond Nothing” back in late 2015. We are very proud of this album and we believe it helps capture our live sound and who we are as a band today. We recorded this album back in October of 2016 at Catapult Studios in North Wales, PA. We had a blast recording it with Matt Buckley and are very glad to be putting it out through the great people over at Dullest Records. We can’t wait to finally release this album and tour in support of it. “Coffin Niche” is the opening track on the album and we think it does a good job of setting the theme for the rest of this record.”
L.M.I. stands for Lazy Middle-Class Intellectuals. We are from Lansdale, PA and we started playing out in early 2010. Our new album “Far Beyond Nothing” is our second album and it will be released via Dullest Records on June 16th.
The album was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Matt Buckley. The artwork was done by FTG Illustrations. We will be announcing plans for a summer tour shortly.
Consuming in its atmospheric darkness and vicious in intent, the debut album from Boston trio Rozamov arrives not without the ground suitably prepared. Actually, it’s been something of a wait. Founded in 2011 by the trio appearing here of guitarist/vocalist Matt Iacovelli (also piano), bassist/vocalist/noisemaker Tom Corino (also of Kind) and drummer Will Hendrix (since replaced by Jeff Landry), as well as guitarist Liz Walshak, they would quickly turn around two EPs, a self-titled and Of Gods and Flesh, in 2012 and 2013, offering heavy-toned crusher riffs with a thrashy edge and a nascent undertone of doom.
It didn’t seem unreasonable to think a full-length would follow soon after, but Rozamov took something of a turn at that point. They parted ways with Walshak (now in Sea) and undertook their first real stretch of touring. I don’t know what other work they were doing, but by the time 2015 came around and they released their cross-coastal split 7″ with L.A.’s Deathkings (review here), they were a different band. Still heavy, still nasty, but driven in a post-sludge direction in a new way and one that, excitingly, was more their own than what they’d shown on their earliest work. As their first long-player, This Mortal Road lands via Battleground Records and Dullest Records with five tracks/40 minutes that draw that line further out to a new point in their longer-term progression. It has been a while in the making, but it’s a pivotal declaration from Rozamov of who they are as a band, and it comes through loud and clear in these songs. Emphasis on loud.
With a recording and mix by Jon Taft at New Alliance Audio and mastering by Nick Z. at New Alliance East Mastering, This Mortal Road seethes with a particularly New England-style anger and intensity. It is bookended by its two longest pieces in the opening title-track (10:49) and closer “Inhumation” (11:29), and finds a sense of variety in switching between Iacovelli‘s shouts and cleaner, post-Oborn howls, and Corino‘s shouts, which particularly on the rolling second cut “Wind Scorpion” remind of Rwake‘s poetic extremity. There is precious little letup, as “This Mortal Road” makes plain at the outset, beginning almost like the listener got there late with an unfolding mid-paced intro that leads the way into the first verse, cleaner-sung than much of what will follow and thoroughly doomed.
At about three minutes in, the roll-and-rumble comes to a halt and they turn to a quieter but still tense stretch of guitar and either keys or guitar effects leading to an instrumental midsection that gradually, patiently, brings them around to the opener’s grueling, shouted apex, in which the full impact of their churn really begins to show itself, perhaps as a precursor to “Wind Scorpion,” which is marked out by Hendrix‘s tortured thud and the play between the bass — which, on a tonal level, feels like it might just bury us all — and the airier impulses of the guitar.
When they hit into a stop, as they do several times in the verse, I don’t care what speaker you’re listening on, it sounds like it’s about to blow. Vocals are shouted with a sense of the space in the room in which they were recorded, but not necessarily buried in the mix for effect, and as “Wind Scorpion” passes its midpoint, Corino and Iacovelli seem to come together on vocals in a moment of extra-righteous malevolence, transitioning into a slow-motion nod drawn to more resonant thudding and a plotted but effective layered-in lead that rounds out. They cap side A with a final chug that, in the context of the lurch and push before it, feels almost humorous in its understatement.
It’s important to note that while This Mortal Road is unquestionably structured to break into two sides, as mentioned above, the flow front-to-back is linear and the resulting full-album feel palpable. Listening digitally or on CD, there’s a quick stop between “Wind Scorpion” and the subsequent “Serpent Cult,” which brings back the clean vocals, but in their order as much as in how “Serpent Cult” feeds into the two-minute interlude “Swallowed and Lost” and that feeds into the finale, Rozamov do well in creating an immersive experience — think Steve Buscemi in a woodchipper, you children of the ’90s — across the presentation of the record as a whole, which is something that, as a newer and less mature outfit, they probably wouldn’t have been able to do.
“Serpent Cult” proves a worthy centerpiece of the tracklist as it oozes forth to execute its seven minutes of hellscaping, and though its instrumental aspects are thoroughly, persistently sludged, the shifts in vocal approach offer diversity both on their own and in relation to “Wind Scorpion” before it. Vague speech, either sampled or spoken, accompanies the piano of “Swallowed and Lost,” and the movement into “Inhumation” — a title that brings to mind some lost death metal band from either Florida or New York — comes via a brief foreboding drone. Fittingly enough, “Inhumation” is the darkest, most outwardly brutal inclusion on This Mortal Road, making its way toward a crawl in its second half that seems bent on tearing itself apart from about its seventh minute onward.
Noble, and I’m not sure how else Rozamov might’ve ended the album other than with the noise and feedback they do, but it follows a churning roll into the bleakest sphere the band has yet to occupy, as though they were forcibly willing themselves to be heavier, meaner, rawer. That impression, savage as it turns out to be in the actual listening experience, is another sign of how much they’ve grown, and while This Mortal Road was recorded over a span of months, the obvious efforts Rozamov have put into crafting their aesthetic with it can be heard in the overarching cohesiveness of purpose in the songs. In other words, it took a while for the band to realize This Mortal Road, but This Mortal Road seems to be all the more realized for that, and as their debut, it strikes with deceptive efficiency and poise. Is it possible for something so harsh to be progressive? One gets the sense that as Rozamov continue forward, they’re setting themselves up to pursue an answer.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 26th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Not to say I called it or anything — though I most definitely, definitely called it — but Boston three-piece Rozamov have announced a considerable round of tour dates in support of their forthcoming debut album, This Mortal Road. It’s a run that will take them from one coast to the other as they herald the March 3 release on Battleground Records and Dullest Records, and includes a certainly noteworthy appearance at the Austin Terror Fest, put on by the same crew as the South West Terror Fest.
There are a few open days around that appearance that I assume will be filled by gigs at SXSW or on their way to or from Austin, but either way, it’s a substantial amount of travel and an awesome barrage of shows, so all the best to Rozamov on hitting the road hard and getting out to deliver their onslaught in-person. I haven’t heard the record yet, but I’m rooting for these guys already to make a significant impression this year. A tour like this won’t hurt.
From the PR wire:
ROZAMOV Announces US March Tour Supporting This Mortal Road Full-Length
Boston’s ROZAMOV will tour across the US in support of their upcoming debut full-length, This Mortal Road, beginning directly in conjunction with the album’s release through Battleground Records and Dullest Records.
The new ROZAMOV tour will begin with a record release show the day This Mortal Road is issued, Friday, March 3rd, in Allston, Massachusetts. From there, the band will venture in a clockwise path around the country through the entire month. At press time, nineteen shows have been confirmed, with several additional performances yet to be announced. Hush will join ROZAMOV on first three shows in Brooklyn, Baltimore, and Richmond, and the tour also includes a set at Austin Terror Fest. The remaining dates will be issued in the coming days, as the band issues further information and audio to the anxiously anticipated This Mortal Road.
This Mortal Road will see release March 3rd on vinyl through Battleground Records, on CD and cassette through Dullest Records, and digitally through ROZAMOV. Digital preorders are posted HERE, and physical preorders at Battleground HERE and Dullest HERE.
ROZAMOV Tour Dates: 3/03/2017 O’Briens – Allston, MA *record release show 3/08/2017 The Well – Brooklyn, NY w/ Hush 3/09/2017 The Depot – Baltimore, MD w/ Hush 3/10/2017 25 Watt – Richmond, VA w/ Hush 3/11/2017 Star Bar – Atlanta, GA 3/12/2017 The Nick – Birmingham, AL 3/13/2017 Shantytown Pub – Jacksonville, FL 3/18/2017 The Lost Well – Austin, TX @ Austin Terror Fest 3/19/2017 Zombies – Amarillo, TX 3/20/2017 Moonlight Lounge – Albuquerque, NM 3/21/2017 Yucca Taproom – Tempe, AZ 3/22/2017 Complex – Los Angeles, CA 3/24/2017 High Water Mark – Portland, OR 3/25/2017 Funhouse – Seattle, WA 3/26/2017 Club X – Salt Lake City, UT 3/27/2017 Bar Bar – Denver, CO 3/28/2017 Riot Room – Kansas City, MO 3/29/2017 Livewire Lounge – Chicago, IL 3/30/2017 Buzzbin – Canton, OH
With five monolithic passages consuming over forty minutes of textured, melody-laced doom metal, This Mortal Road presents a sonic catharsis featuring the longest, heaviest, and most progressive tracks ROZAMOV has ever created. The crushing production was recorded and mixed by Jon Taft at New Alliance Audio, and mastered by Nick Z at New Alliance East Mastering, the album finalized with photography by Andrew Weiss and layout by Matt Martinez.
Sometime in between now and its March 3 release, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to expect Boston atmospheric doomers Rozamov to announce the tour currently being booked with which they’ll support This Mortal Road, their debut full-length. The only question is how long and how far it and they will go. Set for issue through Battleground Records and Dullest Records, Rozamov‘s first outing requires emphasis as such — that is, I have to remind myself they don’t already have an LP out — because of all the three-piece have accomplished over the last couple years, establishing their dominance in their local scene and branching out to tour, play Psycho California, release two EPs and other shorter offerings besides, open for Slayer, on and on. Dudes have done a lot to lead into this record. Can’t imagine they’ll start half-assing now, in the crucial moment of bringing it to bear. Keep an eye out for tour news, and likely more besides.
For example, today I have the particular pleasure of unveiling the cover art — photography by Andrew Weiss, layout by Matt Martinez — for This Mortal Road, as well as the tracklisting for the five-song offering and a brand new teaser featuring a quick snippet of their bleak wares. I could ramble on about how much I’m looking forward to this record, but you don’t care, and the really important stuff — the art, tracks, and video — is below. So let’s do that.
It comes, of course, from the PR wire:
Boston-based ROZAMOV has issued the details and a brief trailer for their upcoming debut full-length, This Mortal Road, which is set for co-release through Battleground Records and Dullest Records in March.
With five monolithic passages consuming over forty minutes of textured, melody-laced doom metal, This Mortal Road presents a sonic catharsis featuring the longest, heaviest, and most progressive tracks ROZAMOV has ever created. The crushing production was recorded and mixed by Jon Taft at New Alliance Audio, and mastered by Nick Z at New Alliance East Mastering, the album finalized with photography by Andrew Weiss and layout by Matt Martinez. The cover art, track listing, and a brief trailer for This Mortal Road, featuring a clip of audio, have been issued.
This Mortal Road will see release March 3rd on vinyl through Battleground Records, on CD and cassette through Dullest Records, and digitally through the band. Stand by for additional audio samples, an official video, and more to be released in the coming weeks. A North American tour is currently being booked in support of This Mortal Road.
This Mortal Road Track Listing: 1. This Mortal Road 2. Wind Scorpion 3. Serpent Cult 4. Swallowed And Lost 5. Inhumation
