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Quarterly Review: My Dying Bride, Glowsun, Caustic Casanova, Dead Sea Apes, Bantoriak, Ahab, Zark, Pyramidal & Domo, Mammoth Salmon, Molior Superum

Posted in Reviews on October 2nd, 2015 by JJ Koczan

the-obelisk-quarterly-review-fall-2015

One thing I’ve noticed over the now-several times I’ve done this is that people have a tendency to apply some value to the ordering. It’s true that I try to lead off with a bigger release sometimes (as with today), but beyond that, there’s really no statement being made in how the albums appear. It usually has way more to do with time, when something came in and when it was added to the list, than with the quality or profile of a given outing. Just that final note that probably should’ve been said on Monday. Whoops.

Before we wrap up, I just wanted to say thank you again for checking any of it out if you did this week. It’s not a minor undertaking to do these, but it’s been completely worth it and I very much appreciate your being a part of it. Thank you. As always.

Fall 2015 Quarterly Review #41-50:

My Dying Bride, Feel the Misery

my dying bride feel the misery

Led by founding guitarist Andrew Craighan and vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe, UK doom magnates My Dying Bride mark their 25th year with Feel the Misery, their 13th full-length and one that finds them right in their element practicing the melancholic death-doom style they helped forge on pivotal early works like As the Flower Withers (1992) and Turn Loose the Swans (1993). “And My Father Left Forever” starts Feel the Misery on a particularly deathly note, but it’s not too long before the 10-minute “To Shiver in Empty Halls” and the subsequent “A Cold New Curse” are mired in the grueling, poetic, beauty-in-darkness emotionality that is My Dying Bride’s hallmark. The album’s title-track is a chugging bit of extremity, but the record’s strongest impact winds up being made by the penultimate “I Almost Loved You,” a piano, string and e-bow (sounding) ballad that pushes further than “A Thorn of Wisdom” by daring not to get heavy and rests well between the lumbering “I Celebrate Your Skin” and the 11-minute closer, “Within a Sleeping Forest,” which fits well, but more reinforces the point than offers something new on its own. A quarter-century later, they remain an institution. One wonders how they’ve managed to stay so depressed for so long.

My Dying Bride’s website

Peaceville Records store

Glowsun, Beyond the Wall of Time

glowsun-beyond-the-wall-of-time

If French mostly-instrumentalists Glowsun are feeling pressed for time these days – and with the theme of Beyond the Wall of Time (out via Napalm Records) that shows itself in the ticking clocks that launch opener “Arrow of Time” and the like-minded titles “Last Watchmaker’s Grave,” “Against the Clock” and “Endless Caravan” – the material itself doesn’t show it. Opening with two nine-minute cuts, Glowsun’s third outing and the follow-up to 2012’s Eternal Season (discussed here) unrolls itself patiently across its seven-track span, leading one to wonder if maybe Beyond the Wall of Time isn’t intended as another means of expressing something outside of it, the expanse of tones and grooves created by guitarist/vocalist Johan Jaccob (also graphic art), bassist Ronan Chiron and drummer Fabrice Cornille on “Shadow of Dreams” and the centerpiece “Flower of Mist” intended to last after some eternal now has passed. I wouldn’t want to guess, but it’s noteworthy that the trio’s output is evocative enough to lead toward such speculations.

Glowsun on Thee Facebooks

Napalm Records store

Caustic Casanova, Breaks

caustic casanova breaks

As with their 2012 debut, Someday You Will be Proven Correct, Washington D.C.-based trio Caustic Casanova recorded their sophomore long-player, Breaks, with J. Robbins at The Magpie Cage in Baltimore. They’re also releasing the album through Kylesa’s Retro Futurist Records imprint, so they come nothing if not well-endorsed. With bassist Francis Beringer and drummer Stefanie Zaenker sharing vocal duties throughout – the trio is completed by Andrew Yonki on guitar – they run and bounce through a gamut of upbeat post-hardcore noise rock, thick in tone but not so much as to get up and move around, tempo-wise. Yonki brings some post-rock airiness to the early going of the nine-minute “Elect My Best Friend for a Better World,” but the album on the whole feels more about impact than atmosphere, and Caustic Casanova work up considerable momentum by the time they get around to paying off the 12-minute finale, “The Painted Desert.” Its melodies open up more on repeat listens, but not at the expense of the push so well enacted throughout.

Caustic Casanova on Thee Facebooks

Retro Futurist Records

Dead Sea Apes, Spectral Domain

dead sea apes spectral domain

An outwardly familiar conceptual framework – instrumental space/psychedelic rock – does little to convey how much of themselves Manchester, UK, trio Dead Sea Apes put into their new full-length, Spectral Domain. Released by Cardinal Fuzz in conjunction with Sunrise Ocean Bender, it’s the band’s sixth or seventh LP, depending on what counts as such, and bookends two north-of-10-minute explorations around three shorter pieces (though not much shorter in the case of the 9:50 “True Believers”) varied in color but uniformly galaxial in intent. “Brought to Light” rings out with a wash of drumless echo and swirl, seemingly in response to the tension of centerpiece “The Unclosing Eye,” and the whole album seems to take a theme from things seen and unseen, between “Universal Interrogator” and closer “Sixth Side of the Pentagon,” a vibe persisting in some conspiracy theory exposed as blissful and immersive truth with something darker lurking just underneath. Thick but not pretentious, Spectral Domain seems to run as deep as the listener wants to go.

Dead Sea Apes on Thee Facebooks

Sunrise Ocean Bender

Cardinal Fuzz Records

Bantoriak, Weedooism

bantoriak weedooism

A ritualistic spirit arrives early on Italian heavy psych rockers Bantoriak’s debut LP, Weedooism, and does not depart for the duration of the Argonauta Records release’s six tracks, which prove spacious, psychedelic and heavy in kind, playing out with alternating flourishes of melody and noise. “Try to Sleep” seems to be talking more about the band than the act, but from “Entering the Temple” through the rumbling closer “Chant of the Stone,” Bantoriak leave an individualized stamp on their heavy vibes, and that song is no exception. If Weedooism is the dogma they’re championing on the smooth-rolling “Smoke the Magma,” they’re doing so convincingly and immersively, and while they seem to have undergone a lineup shift (?) at some point since the record was done, hopefully that means Weedooism will have a follow-up to its liquefied grooves and weedian heft before too long. In an increasingly crowded Italian heavy psych/stoner scene, Bantoriak stand out already with their first album.

Bantoriak on Bandcamp

Bantoriak at Argonauta Records

Ahab, The Boats of the Glen Carrig

ahab-the-boats-of-the-glen-carrig

Though somewhat counterintuitive for a band playing their style of doom to start with, Ahab have only been met with a rising profile over their decade-plus together, and their fourth album for Napalm Records, The Boats of the Glen Carrig, answers three years of anticipation with an expanded sonic palette over its five tracks that is afraid neither of melodic sweetness nor the seafaring tonal heft and creature-from-the-deep growling that has become their hallmark. Their extremity is intact, in other words, but they’re also clearly growing as a band. I don’t know if The Boats of the Glen Carrig is quite as colorful musically as its Sebastian Jerke cover art – inevitably one of the best covers I’ve seen this year – but whether it’s the 15-minute sprawl of “The Weedmen,” which at its crescendo sounds like peak-era Mastodon at quarter-speed or the (relatively) speedy centerpiece “Red Foam (The Great Storm),” Ahab are as expansive in atmosphere as they are relentlessly heavy, and they’re certainly plenty of that.

Ahab on Thee Facebooks

Napalm Records

Zark, Tales of the Expected

zark tales of the unexpected

One would hardly know it from the discouraging title, but all-caps UK progressive metallers ZARK do manage to catch one off-guard on their debut full-length, Tales of the Expected. Duly melodic and duly complex, the eight tracks rely on straightforward components to set deceptively lush vibes, the guitar work of Sean “Bindy” Phillips and Josh Tedd leading the way through tight rhythmic turns alongside bassist Andy “Bready” Kelley and drummer Simon Spiers’ crisp grooves. Vocalist Stuart Lister carries across the aggression of “LV-426” and hopefulness of “The Robber” with equal class, and while ZARK’s first outing carries a pretty ambitious spirit, the Evesham five-piece reach the high marks they set for themselves, and in so doing set new goals for their next outing, reportedly already in progress. A strong debut from a band who sound like they’re only going to get more assured as they move forward. More “pleasant surprise” than “expected.”

Zark on Thee Facebooks

Zark on Bandcamp

Pyramidal & Domo, Jams from the Sun Split

pyramidal and domo jams from the sun

Paired up by style almost as much as by geography, Alicante, Spain, acts Pyramidal and Domo picked the right title for their Jams from the Sun split – a bright, go-ahead-and-get-hypnotized psychedelic space vibe taking hold early on the Lay Bare Recordings release and not letting go as one side gives way to the other or as the noisy post-Hawkwindery of “Uróboros” closes out. Pyramidal, who made their debut in 2012 (review here), offer “Motormind” and “Hypnotic Psychotic,” two 10-minute mostly-instrumental jams that progress with liquid flow toward and through apexes in constant search for the farther-out that presumably they find at the end and that’s why they bother stopping at all, and Domo, who made their debut in 2011 (review here), counter with three cuts of their own, “Viajero del Cosmos,” “Mantra Astral” and the aforementioned “Uróboros,” switching up the mood a little between them but not so much as to interrupt the trance overarching the release as whole. I remain a sucker for a quality space jam, and Jams from the Sun has 45 minutes’ worth.

Pyramidal on Thee Facebooks

Domo on Thee Facebooks

Lay Bare Recordings

Mammoth Salmon, Last Vestige of Humanity

mammoth salmon last vestige of humanity

After releasing a couple internet EPs (review here) and 2013’s Call of the Mammoth EP as the duo of guitarist/vocalist/bassist Paul Dudziak and drummer Mitch Meidinger, Portland, Oregon’s Mammoth Salmon enlist bassist Alex Bateman and drummer Steve Lyons for their first full-length, the Adam Pike-produced Last Vestige of Humanity, which rolls out plus-sized Melvinsery across six amp-blowing tracks of sludgy riffing and nodding, lumbering weight. The title-track, which ends what would and probably will at some point be side A of the vinyl version, picks up the tempo in its second half, and “Memoriam” teases the same in Lyons’ drums at the start, but of course goes on to unfold the slowest progression here ahead of “Shattered Existence”’s toying with playing barely-there minimalism off full-on crush and the 10-minute “Believe Nothing” rounding out with appropriately elephantine march. Sustainable in their approach and viciously heavy, Mammoth Salmon seem to have hit reset and given themselves a new start with this lineup, and it works to their advantage on this promising debut.

Mammoth Salmon on Thee Facebooks

Mammoth Salmon on Bandcamp

Molior Superum, Electric Escapism

molior superum electric escapism

“Karma is a bitch that will definitely hunt you down for what you have done,” would seem to be the standout message of “The Dream of the Fisherman’s Wife,” the third and longest (at 6:34) of the four inclusions on Molior Superum’s new EP, Electric Escapism. The non-retro Swedish heavy rockers fire up righteous heft to put them in league with countrymen Skånska Mord, but ultimately have more in common with Stubb out of the UK in the loose-sounding swing of “Försummad,” despite the different language. I had the same opinion about their full-length debut, Into the Sun (review here), and last year’s The Inconclusive Portrait 7” (review here) as well. Can’t seem to shake it, but Molior Superum’s ability to switch it up linguistics – they open and close in Swedish, with the two middle cuts in English – is an immediately distinguishing factor, and whichever they choose for a given song, they kill it here.

Molior Superum on Thee Facebooks

Molior Superum on Bandcamp

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My Dying Bride Post “Feel the Misery” Video

Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 15th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

my dying bride

Twenty-five years and 12 albums later, My Dying Bride have more or less just come out and said it. It’s hard to know if the title of their new record, Feel the Misery — out Friday on Peaceville — is an insistence, an invitation or a recommendation, but what’s plain is that the long-running UK outfit have been trafficking in that misery for a quarter of a century and they stand among the foremost experts in the world when it comes to its nuances and the dramatic effect it can have on a listener. Their ability to conjure bleak atmospheres into depressive, theatrical proclamations has influenced a generation of doomers, and they’re still the masters when it comes to crafting grand visions of downtrodden emotionality.

A new video for the title-track from Feel the Misery has just been unveiled, and between seeing frontman Aaron Stainthorpe play a loner artist in a candlelit basement — my understanding is that’s also the method by which is writes the band’s lyrics — and the fact that it takes its inspiration from the classic painting The Raft of Medusa, well, it’s hard to imagine a more suitable visual accompaniment for the track itself, right down to the strange shadowplay and British flag washed ashore at the end. Director James Sharrock ties it to the current migrant crisis in Europe, but whether you’re looking for current (unfortunately) political metaphor or not, the visual resonance holds, and My Dying Bride‘s grueling melancholy is as prevalent as ever.

Enjoy:

My Dying Bride, “Feel the Misery” official video

MY DYING BRIDE LAUNCHES “FEEL THE MISERY” MUSIC VIDEO

12th studio album “Feel the Misery” out September 18 on Peaceville

My Dying Bride’s latest opus and 12th full studio album, Feel the Misery, is set for release on September 18 on Peaceville Records. It can be pre-ordered on CD, vinyl, plus a special edition 2CD/2×10 vinyl set in deluxe earbook format with exclusive music and expanded booklet, online at: https://burningshed.com/store/peaceville/.

Using ‘The Raft of Medusa’ by French romantic painter Théodore Géricault as visual inspiration, as well as taking cues from the band’s own bleak and foreboding music, My Dying Bride’s latest video is a harrowing tale of tragedy and loss.

Filmed on the stunning Pembroke coast of South Wales, and in particular St. Govan’s Chapel, the scenes were set to play out the narrative as vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe takes the role of a lone musician and poet who stumbles upon a fallen maiden while combing the seascape for curiosities. Clearly the victim of a recent shipwreck, she is gathered up and removed to a suitable, somber resting place, all the while the mournful “Feel the Misery” plays alongside, marrying the rich visuals with the melancholic song.

Directed by James Sharrock (http://www.invadetvproductions.com/) and Ryan Mackfall, Sharrock explains: “The concept for ‘Feel the Misery’ has been in my head for a while. It is loosely based on the famous painting ‘Raft of Medusa’ by Theodore Gericault painted in 1819, and when I heard the song it invoked the creative idea I had been thinking about.

“In May this year I read in the news reports of a ‘Ghost ship’ carrying 350 starving Rohingya Muslims vanishing off Thailand. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand refused to engage in search-and-rescue operations, instead pushing the boats back to sea, letting the people starve and refusing to accept the asylum seekers – similar to the story behind ‘Raft of Medusa.’ It was only later in the year as we were filming the music video down around the Pembrokeshire coast that the media took a greater interest in the deaths of asylum seekers in the Mediterranean. The song has allowed me to bring to life not only issues that are currently facing us all, but a masterpiece that reflects a similar tragedy from centuries ago.”

My Dying Bride’s website

My Dying Bride on Thee Facebooks

Peaceville Records

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My Dying Bride Invite You to Feel the Misery Sept. 18

Posted in Whathaveyou on June 30th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

my dying bride

Two and a half decades after getting their start, UK morose doom pioneers My Dying Bride are getting ready to release their 12th full-length. Titled Feel the Misery, the new record will follow 2012’s A Map of Our Failures and its subsequent EP companion, The Manuscript and is set to arrive via Peaceville on Sept. 18. A band who, even 25 years later, continue to polarize audiences, no doubt My Dying Bride will make the titular misery palpable across the included eight tracks, their long-established theatrical sensibilities remaining perpetually dark, no matter where their sound actually takes them.

An offering then, from the PR wire:

my dying bride feel the misery

MY DYING BRIDE ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM “FEEL THE MISERY”

12th studio album out September 18 on Peaceville

My Dying Bride’s latest opus and 12th full studio album, Feel the Misery, is set for release on September 18 on Peaceville Records. With crushing epic doom spanning eight tracks, and featuring the return of original guitarist Calvin Robertshaw to the fold, this is undoubtedly amongst the band’s heaviest, darkest and most majestic works to date, marking My Dying Bride’s 25th anniversary in punishing style, with the title track also set to feature as the album’s debut video.

Feel the Misery sees a notable return to the band’s old haunt, Academy Studios in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire, for recording where all of My Dying Bride’s classic early albums were produced. Mixing once more takes place at Futureworks in Manchester, U.K. with the band’s long-time studio engineer/producer, Mags.

The band commented on the themes of Feel the Misery: “Contained within are all the grandeur and mastery of the melancholic one would expect to find on a recording from this group of musicians.

“The crushing of hearts and the solemn farewells to friends and lovers twinned with the destruction of flesh and the passions of cruelty are laid neatly for the listener to devour and savour.

“Eight new compositions detailing the path of life through dark doors and the burdens we all must endure simply to make it to the end, My Dying Bride have returned with a foreboding new album which may enlighten, delight and consume the soul in one epic sitting.”

Feel the Misery will be released on CD, vinyl, plus a special edition 2CD/2×10 vinyl set in deluxe earbook format with exclusive music and expanded booklet.

1. And My Father Left Forever
2. To Shiver in Empty Halls
3. A Cold New Curse
4. Feel the Misery
5. A Thorn of Wisdom
6. I Celebrate Your Skin
7. I Almost Loved You
8. Within a Sleeping Forest

My Dying Bride has been the leading light of doom metal since its debut album, As the Flower Withers, was released on Peaceville Records back in 1992, and the band’s heavy atmospherics and expertly crafted compositions makes it among the most essential and legendary acts of the gothic doom/death genre.

My Dying Bride will play festivals in Europe over the summer. A full list can be seen below.

Stay tuned for more information on My Dying Bride and Feel the Misery, out this September on Peaceville.

My Dying Bride live…

7/31 – Wacken Festival – Germany
8/02 – Rock Off Festival – Istanbul, Turkey
8/07 – Rock Part Festival – Lake Balaton, Hungry
8/08 – Party San Metal Open Air – Schlotheim, Germany
8/29 – Seinajoki Metal Festival – Rytmikorjaamo, Finland

My Dying Bride is…
Aaron Stainthorpe – Vocals
Andrew Craighan – Guitar
Calvin Robertshaw – Guitar
Lena Abé – Bass
Shaun MacGowan – Keyboards / Violin

www.mydyinbride.net
https://www.facebook.com/pages/My-Dying-Bride-Official-uk/282179138510618

My Dying Bride, Live at Graspop Metal Meeting 2015

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