The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.

Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.

Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.

The Obelisk Questionnaire: Jeff Hill of Machinist!

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Customize Research Paper Help, Do My Accounting project and homework Help Do My Accounting Project Help Introduction When you ask us if we can "Do my How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?

I guess when people ask me what I do I most commonly respond “I’m in a touring band.” Then they normally ask what we sound like and I say “metal” and they say “oh like skillet.” And inside I die and outside I say “yeah man.” But at its base I’d say I’ve come to be most comfortably saying I’m an artist that makes art with his friends. That’s really what it is. It’s gross, sweaty, loud art but it’s art.

I started writing poetry in middle school. I was in a couple of puddle-of-nickel-creed-back bands in high school but I became comfortable on stage through drama and debate. I was a drama kid and I had a wonderful teacher and mentor named Phillip Wertz who taught me so much about engaging the audience and telling stories. I went to college and joined a band. We went on the first and worst tour I’ve ever been on and I fell in love.

Order 100% Unique look at this site on Any Topic and Style. So you are working on another research paper assigned to you by your instructor. You immerse yourself into online and offline sources, dig deep, and try to arrange an A-winning piece. However, at some point you realize that you are not a natural-born research paper writer. Maybe, you have difficulties with a particular subject Describe your first musical memory.

Riding in my dad’s Buick listening to a Jim Croce tape that came out of this leather tape collection box that rode on the floorboards. I remember listening to “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” and thinking dad’s giant Buick was the coolest. It was “19 feet 2 inches of American steel” and it had a 455 rocket under the hood.

Dissertation On Search Engine Optimization service in Manchester: Describe your best musical memory to date.

Dang. I’d say probably The Fest a few years back. I mentioned I had to leave right after our set to go take my little girl trick or treating and the capacity crowd started chanting my little girl’s name. I still get chill bumps thinking about that.

Custom School Papers From A Reliable Service Risk-Free. The one and the only way to become a better writer is to gain the necessary skills through practice. Or so they say. Constant training is required to become seasoned in one�s business. But sometimes, as a student, you don�t get a second chance. You have to deliver a perfect dissertation from the first try or put your academic When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?

Our van broke down in Lexington, Kentucky, once in a 9 degree winter. We and False Tongues (the band we were sharing the van with) were stuck in a house for three or four days with this guy named Nasty Nate and his family. 80 percent of the people on the tour and in the house smoked cigarettes inside because there was ice and snow outside. I’m from South Georgia. I’ve seen snow like four times in my life. It’s one of the few times I’ve wanted to quit being in a band. But I didn’t. And we made it.

web link Writing Services with Unmatched Features! Our online dissertation experts have studied from the top UK Universities. Thus, they know all the university guidelines issued for dissertation writing. The experts know the referencing styles and citation used in different UK Universities and can provide dissertations to students of all the universities. Numerous international Where do you feel artistic progression leads?

For me it leads to peace and balance. I couldn’t exist without writing words.

As the technology world advances and the number of Write My Book Report increases, the need of unbiased resume review services grows within the minute. How do you define success?

These days it’s making stuff that I like with my friends.

http://santemontreal.qc.ca/?help-on-accounting-homework - Get to know common tips how to get a plagiarism free themed essay from a trusted writing service work with What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?

I wish I hadn’t seen a lady in a Cat In The Hat hat shit in a Solo cup in the middle of the street in front of Churchill’s Pub in Miami, Florida.

Miss Brill Essay in Pakistan are hard to find, most of them also tend to scam gullible students, but Thesis Writing Help has kept up its integrity throughout these years and has served countless students. This is why it is deemed as one of the most reliable dissertation writing services online. PhD Thesis Pakistan for Students with Mediocre English . Quite frankly, students who Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.

I’d like to write a children’s book.

essay writing service au get links access phd thesis british library english masters thesis proposal What do you believe is the most essential function of art?

To remind us that we are more than cogs in a capitalist machine. It’s escapism but also it gives us a connection to other human beings.

We provide high quality, cost-effective Ghostwriter Tv Show Quotes across a wide variety of industries in both the private and public sector. Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?

The federal legalization of Cannabis and the expungement of charges and release of our brothers and sisters who are trapped inside of a for profit prison system. I’m looking forward to the abolishment of the system that grinds people into a place of desperation so that rich bastards can watch unreal numbers increase on screens. I’m also looking forward to The Matrix 4.

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Machinist! & Dead Hand, Split (2021)

Machinist!, “Bask in the White Light” official video

The Spring 2021 Quarterly Review begins here, and as our long winter of plague-addled discontent is made glorious spring by this son of York Beach, I can hardly wait to dig in. You know the drill. 50 records between now and Friday, 10 per day. It’s a lot. It’s always a lot. That’s the point.

Words on the page. If I have a writing philosophy, that’s it. Head down, keep working. And that’s the challenge here. Can you get over your own crap and say what you need to say about 10 records every day for five days straight out? I’ll be exhausted by the end of the week for sure. I’ll let you know when we get there if it feels any different. Till then, let’s roll.

Quarterly Review #1-10:

Wolvennest, Temple

The second full-length offering — and I mean that: ‘offering’ — from Belgium’s http://www.kvalitne-tepelne-cerpadla.sk/adding-and-subtracting-fractions-homework-help/ - Instead of worrying about dissertation writing find the needed assistance here Order a 100% authentic, plagiarism-free Wolvennest is an expansive and immersive follow-up to their 2018 debut, newss - find out why ProEssayWritings.net is a great choice for you | Our professional custom writing service offers efficient Void, as the Brussels six-piece offers next-stage extreme cult rock. Across 77 willfully-unmanageable and mind-altering minutes, the troupe caroms between (actual) psychedelic black metal and sheer sonic ritualism, and the intent is made plain from 12:26 opener/longest track (immediate points) “Mantra” onward. Our aim is to get you the best results. We will back you up with thesis writing, if you don�t have months to write this complicated paper or you�re not sure how to write it. We are here to accept your �http://www.docomomoiberico.com/?admission-essay-editing-services-quality� request. Our team is always ready to assist you with thesis writing. You can place an order anytime, we will start working on it right away. Our Quality Assurance Department will choose the best writer for your order, someone with enough practical experience in the field. Wolvennest are enacting a ceremony and it’s up to the listener to be willing to engage with the material on that level. Their command is unwavering as the the heft and wash of “Alecto” and the ethereal swirl and dual vocal arrangement of “All that Black” show, but while Phd Dissertations Online View for me cheap is one of the most often question we hear at our paper writing service! CollegePaperServices.com can fully satisfy your demands in King Dude himself shows up on “Succubus,” and that’s fun, especially followed by the penultimate downward march of “Disappear,” the greatest consumption is saved for “Souffle de Mort” (“breath of death,” in English; it’s not about eggs). In that 10-minute finale, marked out by the French-language declarations of dissertation presentation http://alemon.ch/?dissertation-explicative-le-colonel-chabert kanawha county schools homework help rules writing college admissions essay Shazzula Vultura, Wolvennest not only make it plain just how far they’ve brought you, but that they intend to leave you there as well.

Wolvennest on Thee Facebooks

Ván Records website

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Lammping, New Jaws EP

A 15-minute playful jaunt into the funk-grooving max-fuzzed whatever-works garage headtrip if Toronto’s Lammping is right on the money. The four-piece start channel-spanning and mellow with “Jaws of Life” — which is a righteous preach, even though I don’t know the lyrics — and follow with the complementary vibe of “The Funkiest,” which would seem to be titled in honor of its bassline and conjures out-there’est Masters of Reality in its face-painted BlueBoy lysergics over roughly traditional songwriting. Is “Neverbeen” weirder? You know it. Dreamily so, and it’s followed by the genuinely-experimental 40 seconds of “Big Time the Big Boss” and the closer “Other Shoe,” which if it doesn’t make you look forward to the next Lammping album, I’m sorry to say it, but you might be dead. Sorry for your loss. Of you. This shit is killer and deserves all the ears it can get with its early ’90s weirdness that’s somehow also from the late ’60s and still the future too because what is time anyway and screw it we’re all lost let’s ride.

Lammping on Instagram

Nasoni Records website

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Lykantropi, Tales to Be Told

Tales to Be Told is the late-2020 third long-player from Swedish classicists Lykantropi, following 2019’s Spirituosa (review here) with a warmth of tone that’s derived from ’70s folk rock and vaguely retro in its tones and drum sounds, but remains modern in its hookmaking and it’s not exactly like they’re trying to hide where they’re coming from when they break out the flute sounds. Harmonies in “Mother of Envy” make that song a passionate highlight, while the respective side-endings in “Kom Ta Mig Ut” and “Världen Går Vidare” add to the exploratory and roots-proggy listening experience, the album’s finale dropping its drums before the three-minute mark to allow for a drifting midsection en route to a class finish that answers the choruses of “Spell of Me” and “Axis of Margaret” earlier with due spaciousness. Clean and clear and wanting nothing aesthetically or emotionally, Tales to Be Told is very much a third album in how realized it feels.

Lykantropi on Thee Facebooks

Despotz Records website

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Mainliner, Dual Myths

Japanese trio Mainliner — comprised of guitarist Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), bassist/vocalist Kawabe Taigen (Bo Ningen) and drummer Koji Shimura (Acid Mothers Temple) — are gentle at the outset of Dual Myths but don’t wait all that long before unveiling their true freak-psych intention in the obliterating 20 minutes of “Blasphemy Hunter,” the opener/longest track (immediate points) that’s followed by the likewise side-consuming left-the-air-lock-behind-and-found-antimatter-was-made-of-feedback “Hibernator’s Dream” (18:38), the noisier, harsher fuckall spread of “Silver Guck” (19:28) and the gut-riffed/duly scorched jazz shredder “Dunamist Zero” (20:08), which culminates the 2LP beast about as well as anything could, earning the gatefold with sheer force of intent to be and to harness the far-out into some loosely tangible thing. Stare into the face of the void and the void doesn’t so much stare back as turn your lungs into party balloons.

Mainliner on Thee Facebooks

Riot Season Records website

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DayGlo Mourning, Dead Star

On a certain level, what you see is what you get with the Orion slavegirl warriors, alien mushrooms and caithan beast that adorn DayGlo Mourning‘s debut album, the six-song/35-minute Dead Star, in that they’re suitably nestled into the sonic paraphernalia of stoner-doom as well as the visual. With bassist Jerimy McNeil and guitarist Joseph Mills sharing vocal duties over Ray Miner‘s drums, variety of melody and throatier shouts are added to the deep-toned largesse of riff, and the Atlanta trio most assuredly have their heads on when it comes to knowing what they want to do sound-wise. The hard-hit hi-hat of “Faithful Demise” comes with some open spaces after the fuzzy lumber that caps “Bloodghast,” and as “Ashwhore” and “Witch’s Ladder” remind a bit of the misogyny inherent in witchy folklore — at the end of the day it was all about killing pretty girls — the grooves remain fervent and the forward potential on the part of the band likewise. It’s a sound big enough that there isn’t really any room left for bullshit.

DayGlo Mourning on Thee Facebooks

Black Doomba Records webstore

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Chamán, Maleza

Issued in the waning hours of Dec. 2020, Chamán‘s 70-minute, six-song debut album, Maleza, is a psicodelico cornucopia of organic-toned delights, from the more forward-fuzz of “Poliforme” — which is a mere six and a half minutes long but squeezes in a drum solo — to the 13-plus-minute out-there salvo that is “Malezo,” “Concreto” and “Temazcal,” gorgeously trippy and drifting and building on what the Mendozza, Argentina, three-piece conjure early in the proceedings with “Despierta” and “Ganesh,” each over 10 minutes as well. Even in Maleza‘s most lucid moments, the spirit of improv and live recording remains vibrant, and however these songs were built out to their current form, I’m just glad they were. Whether you put it on headphones and bliss out for 70 minutes or you end up using it as a backdrop for whatever your day might bring, Chamán‘s sprawling and melted soundscapes are ready to embrace and enfold you.

Chamán on The Facebooks

Chamán on Bandcamp

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Sonic Demon, Vendetta

Italian duo Sonic Demon bring a lethal dose of post-Electric Wizard grit fuzz and druggy echoed snarl to their debut full-length, Vendetta, hitting a particularly nasty low end vibe early on “Black Smoke” and proving willing to ride that out for the duration with bouts of spacier fare in “Fire Meteorite” and side A capper “Cosmic Eyes” before the second half of the 40-minute outing renews the buzz with “FreakTrip.” Deep-mixed drums make the guitar and bass sound even bigger, and such is the morass Sonic Demon make that even their faster material seems slow; that means “Hxxxn” must be extra crawling to feel as nodded-out as it does. Closing duo “Blood and Fire” and “Serpent Witch” don’t have much to say that hasn’t already been said, style-wise, but they feel no less purposeful in sealing the hypnosis cast by the songs before them. If you can’t hang with repetition, you can’t hang, and the filth in the speedier-ish last section of “Serpent Witch” isn’t enough to stop it from being catchy.

Sonic Demon on Thee Facebooks

The Swamp Records on Bandcamp

Forbidden Place Records website

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Sow Discord, Quiet Earth

Sow Discord is the solo industrial doom/experimentalist project of David Coen, also known for his work in Whitehorse, and the bleak feel that pervades his debut full-length under the moniker, Quiet Earth, is resonant and affecting. Channeling blowout beats and speaker-throbbing crush on “Ruler,” Coen elsewhere welcomes Many Blessings (aka Ethan Lee McCarthy, also of Primitive Man) and The Body as guests for purposefully disturbing conjurations. Cuts like “Desalination” and “Functionally Extinct” churn with an atmosphere that feels born of a modern real-world apocalypse, and it’s hard to tell ultimately whether closer “The World Looks on with Pity and Scorn” is offering condolence or condemnation, but either way you go, the bitter harshness that carries over is the thread that weaves all this punishment together, and as industrial music pushes toward new extremes, even “Everything Has Been Exhausted” manages to feel fresh in its pummel.

David Coen on Instagram

AR53 Productions on Bandcamp

Tartarus Records on Bandcamp

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Cerbère, Cerbère

Formed by members of Lord Humungus, Frank Sabbath and Carpet Burns, Cerbère offer three tracks of buried-alive extreme sludge on their self-titled debut EP, recorded live in the band’s native Paris during a pandemic summer when it was illegal to leave the house. Someone left the house, anyhow, and the resultant three cuts are absolutely unabashed in their grating approach, enough so to warrant in-league status with masters of misanthropy like Grief or Khanate, even if Cerbère move more throughout the 15-minute closing title-track, and dare to add some trippy guitar later on. The two prior cuts, “Julia” — the sample at the beginning feels especially relevant in light of the ongoing Notre Dame rebuild — and “Aliéné” are no less brutal if perhaps more compact. I can’t be sure, because I just can’t, but it’s entirely possible “Aliéné” is the only word in the song that bears its name. That wouldn’t work in every context. Here it feels earned, along with the doomier lead that follows.

Cerbère on Thee Facebooks

Cerbère on Bandcamp

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Dali’s Llama, Dune Lung

They’ve cooled down a bit from the tear they were on for a few years there, but Dali’s Llama‘s new Dune Lung EP is no less welcome for that. The desert-dwelling four-piece founded by guitarist/vocalist Zach and bassist Erica Huskey bring a laid back roll to the nonetheless palpably heavy “Nothing Special,” backing the opener with the fuzzy sneer of “Complete Animal,” the broader-soundscape soloing of “Merricat Blackwood,” and the more severe groove of “STD (Suits),” all of which hit with a fullness of sound that feels natural while giving the band their due as a studio unit. Dali’s Llama have been and continue to be significantly undervalued when it comes to desert rock, and Dune Lung is another example of why that is and how characteristic they are in sound and execution. Good band, and they’re edging ever closer to the 30-year mark. Seems like as good a time as any to be appreciated for the work they’ve done and do.

Dali’s Llama on Thee Facebooks

Dali’s Llama on Bandcamp

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Savannah, Georgia’s Kylesa released their final album, Exhausting Fire, on Oct. 2, 2015. The record came out on Season of Mist, and as was their wont, they did a bunch of touring to support it before and after it came out, including playing what was then Psycho California and I’m sure five or sixty others. By the time Exhausting Fire was six months old, though, in April 2016, they announced they were essentially on permanent hiatus, “no set date to reconvene.”

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen worse, but that was kind of a bummer way for Kylesa to end, and to even look at the title Exhausting Fire, one gets the sense that the group — who had already pared down from being a two-drummer five-piece to just guitarist/vocalists Laura Pleasants and Philip Cope (the latter also bass and keys) and drummer Carl McGinley (Jay Matheson also plays bass on the bulk of the outing) — saw it coming. They’d spent years road-dogging. My prevailing memory of them live will always be sitting on grass watching them play with the two drummers set up on a flatbed trailer on a little hill behind a now-gone record store at SXSW one year, but I saw them plenty of times and they always delivered. From their second album, 2005’s To Walk a Middle Course and 2006’s Time Will Fuse its Worth through 2009’s Static Tensions (review here) and the increasingly progressive trio of recordings for Season of Mist in 2010’s Spiral Shadow (review here), 2013’s Ultraviolet (review here) and Exhausting Fire, they never put out the same album twice, and though their fire may have been exhausting — while the lyrics in bulk feel more about personal relationships (not that a band isn’t one), “Night Drive” could easily be read to be about touring — they still pushed themselves forward in their approach and style.

That resulted in some righteously heavy moments, as with the opener “Crusher,” or the riff-forward side A closer “Shaping the Southern Sky,” or the oboe-inclusive “Blood Moon” on side B, but also a more brazenly and more confidently melodic take than they’d ever shown before. Granted, their reemergence from having two drummers was inherently going to realign the dynamic of the group as a whole, making room for that melody to flourish, but one of the overarching narratives of Kylesa‘s discography is the ratio of shared vocals between Cope and Pleasants becoming a defining element of the band. More even than on Ultraviolet, there’s a sense of individual authorship in the songs — he brought this part, she brought this one, etc. — but both parties are still evolving in this material. Cope takes on an almost gothic New Wave aspect with “Moving Day,” backing himself on keys, while Pleasants offers an ahead-of-its-time heavy post-rock with side B leadoff “Falling,” underscored by the weighted punctuation of McGinley‘s drumming.

Songs like “Inward Debate” and “Lost and Confused” find one or the other in the forward position, or effectively switching or working in a thoughtfully constructed arrangement, and by the time they get to the penultimate “Growing Roots,” they manage to pull together a sound like heavy Weezer — which I have to imagine that, if they saw this, they’d take as the compliment it’s intended to be, since “Growing Roots” sounds like heavy Weezer is what they were going for. With Cope at the helm as ever at The Jam Room in Columbia, South Carolina, Kylesa‘s exploration never really ended — until of course it did — and even while there were signature elements of their style in their deceptively angular riffing resulting in the mounting rhythmic tension of their verses headed toward a chorus release, or even the touches of psychedelia worked into “Shaping the Southern Sky” or the arrival of the last shove in album finale “Out of My Mind,” those came accompanied by evident growth that was no less an essential component of the band’s work.

The melodic burst at the end of “Lost and Confused.” The conveyed monotony of “Night Drive.” The boldness of the verses in “Crusher” and the simple fact that that song leads off while being so dynamic rather than just an up-front rocker. There’s so much on Exhausting Fire to argue for Kylesa as an undervalued, taken-for-granted band. It’s not their heaviest album or their most rawly aggressive — maybe that would be their 2002 self-titled, with Cope fresh off his time in Damad; recall their split with Meatjack if you dare — but Exhausting Fire is also more than a band burning themselves out or already being burnt. It’s them turning exhaustion into expression, and it still resonates effectively.

I didn’t review Exhausting Fire when it came out. I don’t remember why. I’d spent a decade at that point listening to them and considered myself a fan, but I was a little scared off by the title, and it goes back to what I was saying before about the band knowing the end was coming. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear that from a group whose work I’d enjoyed so much. Like how Abbey Road is bittersweet because you know they knew it was over, one last blowout. That’s kind of the vibe that hindsight puts to work across Exhausting Fire, but even in that, their work as songwriters and the chemistry between Pleasants and Cope continued to move forward from where it was a couple years before. It wasn’t until earlier this week that I actually gave Exhausting Fire a fair shot. Now I want the CD. Go figure.

Both Philip Cope and Laura Pleasants have remained active since Kylesa called it a day. Cope produces a swath of acts at The Jam Room and features in the band Oakskin, who have a few singles up on Bandcamp and took part in last year’s Mutants of the Monster virtual festival, while Pleasants has pursued more New Wave and post-punk-inspired atmospheric songcraft with The Discussion, who reissued the 2017 EP Movement Towards a New Beginning (originally just called the European Tour EP) and offered the new single Deathtripper B/W A Forest in 2020. There’s been no word of a reunion and I wouldn’t expect any anytime soon — so it’ll probably happen five minutes after this is posted; that’s how it usually goes when I say something like that — but Kylesa merch continues to be available and their albums still sound vibrant these years after the fact, like they were made to do.

As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.

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Okay. Everything is awful. Mostly me. I’m the worst. Let the record show.

Oh man, I miss the record show.

Anyway. It was just one of those weeks. Muddling, middling, head down, just-get-through-the-day-to-another-one-for-fucking-what kind of week. I mentioned last week the telehealth appointment about meds. Holy fucking shit that was weird. And awkward, and uncomfortable. Dude was asking me questions like I’m supposed to sit there and do Depression Theater for him and talk about how I don’t want to get out of bed or how daily tasks are hard for me and I just said fuck it. “I’m sorry, this is making me really uncomfortable and I’m going to end the call. Thanks for your time.”

Nothing resolved, but at least pulling myself out of that situation felt good. I was weirded out the rest of the day though. Is this really how people do medicine? I’m a fucking stranger tell me about the time you spend curled up on the floor? Shit. I said to him, “I’ve been in treatment long enough to know when things aren’t right.” Fine. So dance for me, you pill-seeking monkey.

I recorded some vocals last Sunday. Sang clean a bit, which is hard for me because I know I’m not good at it and that’s like the omega of self-fulfilling prophecies. A vocal coach once quickly cut to the core of me and said, “Someone in your life once told you you couldn’t sing,” and that’s true. Anyway, I got through it and then went back on Wednesday and added a bunch more screams to the track, because that I can do and of course that’s what the person whose project it is was into. Can’t blame him. Anyway, it came out fine and I think the song will be out in a couple weeks. It’s a Joni Mitchell cover, but I rewrote most of the lyrics so they didn’t feel misogynist coming out of my mouth.

The Patient Mrs.’ semester begins next week. She’s back on campus not quite full-time, I think. I don’t know. Shit changes daily. She’s worried about getting tenure, trying to get writing done while teaching. The Pecan has been in virtual preschool the last couple weeks because the fucking plague is a thing and he maybe goes back next week too to in-person instruction. We don’t even know yet and it’s Friday. He was just finally sitting in the chair long enough to sing the days of the week (which is to the tune of the old Addams Family theme song, hilariously enough) and months of the year (to the tune of something else I can’t put my finger on just now; if The Patient Mrs. reads this as she sometimes does, she’ll probably tell me and I’ll slap my forehead, which is how I do).

I’m sure there’s more, but between that and the general overhang of dread resulting from impending fascist insurrection, is any more really necessary? Look out for a video interview with Lupus from Kadavar on Monday. I talked to him yesterday. Had never interviewed him before and probably should’ve by now, but he was nice.

Great and safe weekend. Don’t forget to hydrate and wear your mask and social distance and all that stuff.

FRM.

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The Pinx‘s exclamatory five-track Electric! EP, out now, puts guitarist/vocalist Adam McIntyre (also now of StoneRider) back in the drivers seat as regards production after relinquishing the helm for the band’s 2019 third full-length, Sisters and Brothers. The Atlanta-based four-piece offer five new tracks on the quick-turnaround short release — they also put out a couple holiday singles last December — and whether it’s the opener “Victimless Crime,” the pointedly catchy “Bad Behavior,” the semi-psychedelic centerpiece “Hammer of the Dogs” or the rushing “It’s Electric” or the turn to ’70s Southern fluidity in the double-lead guitar and harmonies of “See You Later,” McIntyre and the band around him comprised of guitarist/vocalist Chance McColl, bassist Charles Wiles and drummer Cayce Buttrey bring efficiency right to the forefront of the work they’re doing. Stylistic turns are quick and unannounced but a pleasure to follow. Pretense is nowhere to be found. The material is well written, well performed, well produced. It sounds like rock and roll to me.

That’s almost a novelty in an age of genre-minded hyper-specialization, but The Pinx comport themselves with a classic methodology while letting the recording itself carry across the energy of the band to which the EP’s title is so clearly alluding. Electric! is something of a stripping down as compares to Sisters and Brothers, and that’s reportedly the idea, but if you had to pick a time to go to ground, reset, and push yourself to do something kind of new in the studio, well, it’s not like there’s a show to play instead. Not to be glib or anything, but if the cathartic burst of these tracks is productive for McIntyre — also a prolific solo artist — and the group as a whole, then so be it. “See You Later” brings in some of the embellishment of the band’s more Southern rocking work, as noted, but even that is more about drive than pastoralism, and whether it’s a one-off or an entire realignment of purpose, it suits The Pinx well. Electric! is engaging while asking shockingly little of the listener other maybe than that they keep up, and frankly, doing so is what makes the thing fun in the first place.

The EP is out and you can stream the full thing below. “It’s Electric” is the second video collaboration between The Pinx and esteemed psychotropic-oil-duder Lance Gordon of The Mad Alchemy Liquid Lightshow, who gets his hands dirty so you can get your mind dirty. Of course I’m going to tell you to watch the video — colors are pretty and it’s premiering below — but you should know in so doing that Electric! takes on a number of directions, and the push here is just one of them.

You got three and a half minutes for rock and roll? Of course you do.

Enjoy:

The Pinx, “It’s Electric” official video premiere

Adam McIntyre on “It’s Electric”:

“I met Lance of Mad Alchemy when my other band Stonerider opened for Graveyard and Radio Moscow. They had this fellow working lights doing that old-school Fillmore West projection and I just started asking him questions. I liked the idea that the ‘light guy’ wasn’t pushing buttons and faders, but actually putting his hands into this stew of colors and bathing the bands in his magical creations. Lance and I just clicked. I saw the possibilities for connecting with the crowd in a different way, and it took a while and a pandemic, but I found the card he gave me back in 2013 and finally started working with him. It wasn’t live shows, as I’d always expected we’d do, but making videos instead. I gave very little direction to him. He’s playing off of the music, so I’ve already given him the music as my direction. His visual interpretation is his own.”

The Pinx are back with another collaboration with visual artists Mad Alchemy, whose dynamic, psychedelic oil projection backgrounds have graced the stages of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Temples, Radio Moscow, Graveyard, Circles Around The Sun and many more. This video showcases a few new editing tricks to bring out the dynamics in the music. Oil Projection by Lance Gordon, Titles and editing by Ryne Freed.

As for the song, it says what it does, does what it says. This is The Pinx in pure, sweaty and electrifying ROCK mode.

Recorded and mixed at Bear Pause by Adam McIntyre
Mastered by JJ Golden at Golden Mastering

The Pinx are:
Adam McIntyre – Lead Vocals & Lead Guitar
Chance McColl – Lead Guitar and Vocals
Charles Wiles – Bass & Backing Vocals
Cayce Buttrey – Drums & Backing Vocals

The Pinx, Electric! (2020)

The Pinx website

The Pinx on Thee Facebooks

The Pinx on Instagram

The Pinx on Bandcamp

Based in Miami and Atlanta, the Southeastern two-piece of Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and Evan DiPrima (ex-Royal Thunder) form the core of Moon Destroys, and their mission, at least judging by the bit of their aptly-titled debut EP, Maiden Voyage, that I’ve had the chance to hear, would seem to be to further blur the line between heavy and prog, which is a barrier that over the last several years has only become increasingly obscure. Inevitably that will lead to a snap-back/regression sooner or later, but that’s years away, frankly, and in the interim, an outfit like Moon Destroys, which brings shades of Montoya‘s brighter-tinged guitar work along with guest vocals from Cynic‘s Paul Masvidal and Mastodon‘s Troy Sanders — working that prog angle — makes for a fascinating as well as head-spinning listen. You can stream “Blue Giant” below, which is the cut with Sanders, and it’s one to keep up with, but it proves worth the effort to do so.

Something cool to check out that doesn’t sound like everything else? Yeah, I’ll give that upwards of four minutes out of my day, thanks. Preorders are also a thing.

Dig:

MOON DESTROYS (ex-TORCHE, ex-ROYAL THUNDER): Announce Debut EP Maiden Voyage coming March 27th

MOON DESTROYS is the brainchild of guitarist Juan Montoya (ex-Torche) and drummer Evan Diprima ( Brother Hawk, ex-Royal Thunder). Having written together in various configurations for over a decade, they now come together under the auspices of celestial forces with a new project to unveil their mesmerizing debut EP Maiden Voyage.

An experiment of truly galactic proportions, MOON DESTROYS blend heavy riffage with psychedelic flourishes and vivid imagery across two intricately designed centerpiece tracks; “Blue Giant” along with “Stormbringer” featuring the gorgeous vocals of Paul Masvidal (Cynic) and layers of synths from Bryan Richie (The Sword). Three instrumental bursts connect the pieces together to create one mind-melting trip across the cosmic highway! Maiden Voyage is an absorbing, dynamic and forward-thinking debut that explores the new frontiers of heavy music in the 21st century.

Maiden Voyage will be released on March 27th on LP/Digital via Brutal Panda Records and is available for pre-order at this LOCATION.

Tracklisting:
1. At The End Of Time
2. Blue Giant (feat. Troy Sanders)
3. The Shores Of The Cosmic Ocean
4. Stormbringer (feat. Paul Masvidal)
5. The Edge Of Forever

https://www.facebook.com/moondestroys/
https://www.instagram.com/moondestroys/
https://www.moondestroys.com/
https://www.facebook.com/BrutalPandaRecords
http://instagram.com/brutalpandarecords
http://www.brutalpandarecords.com

Moon Destroys, “Blue Giant”

Mastodon, Leviathan (2004)

Later this summer will mark 15 years since the release of Mastodon‘s second album, Leviathan. No doubt there will be something down to celebrate the anniversary, either by the band itself or by the label, Relapse Records, who put it out, and one could hardly argue. What was one of the best heavy albums of the aughts remains infectious in its energy right from the outset of “Blood and Thunder,” the tense riff paying off in a guest vocal appearance from Clutch‘s Neil Fallon as the Atlanta four-piece of Troy Sanders (bass, vocals), Brent Hinds (guitar, vocals), Bill Kelliher (guitar) and Brann Dailor (drums) crafted a tempest befitting the song and album’s seafaring, Moby Dick-derived theme. “White whale, holy grail,” and so on. Across 10 tracks and 46 minutes, Mastodon demonstrated a dynamic approach that not only took a leap forward from their 2002 debut, Remission, but was essentially a leap forward for heavy metal, striking out in a direction that saw no reason to compromise between impact and progressivism, driven by Dailor‘s snare-overload mania on drums to conjure an urgency that by then was lacking in the dominant creative staleness of metalcore, and that hit with a diversity of songwriting, a balance of melody and burl, and a winding course that every bit sounded like the future. Leviathan‘s impact was immediate and a decade and a half later, it is ongoing.

I got married in a Leviathan t-shirt. Relapse still sells it — it’s the one with the whale from the incredible Paul A. Romano cover art on front — and it felt classy enough to with a tuxedo. Like Metallica before them and Conan after, Mastodon had their time as a band who, when you saw someone else wearing their shirt, it said something about them. Around the time of Leviathan, it was safe to assume that person knew what was up. Radio had largely abandoned metal unless you had a satellite account. Social media existed if you were willing to sit in front of a computer to get it — and plenty people were — and file-sharing had largely gone underground from the Napster fallout. Print media existed but was unmistakably in decline, and the sphere of digital outlets was nowhere near as broad as it was today. Still everyone, seemed to agree on this record. Granted, Mastodon were a big enough band to divide opinion — people either actively liked or actively disliked them — but consensus generally was Mastodon had created something special in the furies of “Ísland,” “Iron Tusk” and “I am Ahab,” the surprising Southern rock departure in “Megalodon,” the sprawling crescendo of the 13-minute “Hearts Alive” and the more melodic and catchy “Naked Burn” and the righteous preach of the second guest vocal spot, this one from Neurosis‘ Scott Kelly — who’d join Mastodon in the studio and tour with them on more than one occasion — and it was their ability to control it that truly made their sound so powerful. Yeah, they were absolutely putting on a clinic in terms of technicality, but whether it was the throaty moans of “I am Ahab” or the acoustic comedown in closer “Joseph Merrick,” there was nothing Mastodon did that loosened their grasp on the material. I once heard Tom Araya or Kerry King from Slayer — can’t remember which — describe Dave Lombardo‘s drumming by saying that it sounds like the whole song is going to crash and come flying apart at all times, but it never does. With Mastodon during the Leviathan era, that was the whole band. They struck at the perfect generational moment to spearhead a new wave of progressive metal, and the impact of their work in doing that is continuing to flesh out. At this point, they’re a band other bands grew up listening to.

Was Leviathan the Millennial Master of Puppets? I don’t know, but it was definitely the Leviathan, and that seems like enough.

There have been continual vinyl pressings done since the release, and my only issue with that would be it would preclude listening at such a volume as to vibrate the stylus over the platter, but for me, Leviathan has always worked best in linear form. A 46-minute CD, front to back. I won’t discount the appeal of a side flip as a moment to catch one’s breath — arguably necessary after “Aqua Dementia” — but the way the songs tie together while still providing standout moments, and the breadth of the album as a whole, it just seems to function as one larger piece. Even the way “Ísland” ends and “Iron Tusk” picks up on the next beat, or the way “Blood and Thunder” seems to cut with just the slightest stutter into “I am Ahab.” With the recording of Matt Bayles, Mastodon were able to capture a blend of nuance and pummel that, no matter how many others would try to pick up on what they were doing, remains largely unmatched by whatever measurement you care to use.

Before Blood Mountain surfaced in 2006, Mastodon departed Relapse for Warner Bros. subsidiary Reprise Records. I remember their statement about the signing was almost apologetic. They’d go on to do what many consider their greatest work in 2008’s Crack the Skye, but to be honest, by then they’d pretty much lost me. I’ve still never really sat with that record or anything they’ve done since, though I’ve seen them live on several occasions between then and now. The Hunter in 2011 and Once More ‘Round the Sun in 2014 garnered mixed reviews, but 2017’s Emperor of Sand seemed to do well for them, which is fine. They always have a good showing in the year-end polls here. Once Blood Mountain came out, the balance of impact and intensity against melody and progginess shifted, and once that happens on such a scale, there’s no real going back. I’m sure I’ve missed out, but somehow I don’t think Mastodon are exactly hurting without my ultra-fandom. I continue to appreciate Leviathan and Remission, and even the earlier Lifesblood EP and split with American Heritage — plus that time they covered Thin Lizzy‘s “Emerald”; that was fun — to a lesser extent, for the landmark accomplishments they were. Are. Will continue to be. That’s probably enough.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

—

I have a cold. Fuckers. The baby gave it to me, which, yes, I take personally. No doubt he meant to do it. Malicious intent behind it and all that. He’s been letting me know via boogers all week what he thinks of my pitiful attempts at parenting. Can’t say I’d do different were I in his position. I am pretty awful at being a dad.

Next week we’re down in Jersey for a good portion of the time. Kind of a surprise jaunt south, but we’ll be there long enough for me to go see YOB, Voivod and Amenra in Brooklyn and that’ll be fun assuming I can remember to bring my camera. The show is at Warsaw, which I’m not sure I’ve ever actually been to, but has been doing shows for a long time. Keeping my fingers crossed for a photo pit so I can actually go and both take pictures and enjoy the show. We’ll see.

This weekend is a new episode of The Obelisk Show on Gimme Radio. Sunday, 7PM EDT. Listen at http://gimmeradio.com. Please. It covers some cool stuff from the Quarterly Review and other odds and ends that have been kicking my ass lately, like the new Valley of the Sun, which is easily their best work to-date.

Notes for next week? Yeah, I’ve got some. Hang on.

Okay Subject to change, of course:

MON 04/01 THE DRUIDS REVIEW; CEGVERA VIDEO PREMIERE; KANDODO VIDEO
TUE 04/02 THE DEVIL AND THE ALMIGHTY BLUES REVIEW; MORASS OF MOLASSES PREMIERE
WED 04/03 STONE MACHINE ELECTRIC VIDEO PREMIERE
THU 04/04 THE DRY MOUTHS ALBUM STREAM
FRI 04/05 YOB LIVE REVIEW

Busy busy. Probably for the best. Even with this cold, which I’m very much hoping will dissipate over the weekend and both I and the baby can leave bastard-mode go back to our non-boogery selves. We shall see.

In the meantime, slept poorly last night. I went to bed after picking The Patient Mrs. up at work, circa 5PM, but was reading a Deep Space Nine book (Ascendance, if you’re curious) and didn’t get to sleep, so came back downstairs for Pecan bedtime ritual and subsequent delicious leftovers dinner, then did my own futz ritual and went back to bed. I was asleep around 8PM maybe, or before that, and the alarm went off at 4AM to get up and come do this. Was up around 10:30 though, my head reeling and congested. Always forget about that with colds. You have to find just the right angle so the mucus drains and doesn’t drown you while you sleep. Shit is difficult.

And yet there are people who believe humans were intelligently designed, like your snot was made in the image of god. Even if you want to believe humans were “designed,” intelligence would not seem to have been a factor in the slightest. If it were, people probably wouldn’t believe in things like intelligent design.

But hey, how ’bout that Mueller report though, huh? Turns out no one’s coming to save us.

At least it’s baseball season.

I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’m gonna go grab the baby, who’s awake, and start the day. Please check out Forum, Radio and merch at Dropout.

The Obelisk Forum

The Obelisk Radio

The Obelisk shirts & hoodies

As to just how many decades ahead of her time Jarboe remains, science is still unclear. A new study published in the journal Physics postulates that in fact her work doesn’t emanate from this timeline at all, and is rather an import from another dimension. Certainly there are arguments to be made in favor of such theories, but the inarguable fact of her massive catalog speaks to more localized cosmic origins. Her work is, however, consistently unique unto itself, and she’ll add to the aforementioned discography next month by issuing The Cut of the Warrior via Translation Loss. Comprised of four songs and three remixes — a certain amount of manipulation in the material is to be expected, no? — it’s the first Jarboe outing since… last year, when she released the 4CD Artbox, which easily lived up to its title.

We go now live to the PR wire at the portal between universes:

Jarboe announces “The Cut of the Warrior”

Translation Loss Records
December 14, 2018

Jarboe offers a spiritually enlightened work titled “The Cut of the Warrior”. Four gorgeous compositions that pull inspiration from Jarboe’s kinship to buddhism are meticulously crafted and presented. The album is armed with three alternative mixes/collaborations with Byla (featuring members of Gorguts, Dysrhythmia), End Christian and Kris Force (Amber Asylum) while being housed in a stunning layout by Dehn Sora.

“The Cut of the Warrior refers to the practice of Chöd by illustrating repeated attempts to cut through the ego”, explains Jarboe. “The Chöd practitioner seeks to tap the power of fear through activities such as rituals set in graveyards and visualizations of offering their bodies in a tantric feast in order to put their understanding of emptiness to the ultimate test.”

“The Cut of the Warrior” will be released on December 14, 2018.

Track Listing:
1. Wayfaring Stranger In The Bardo
2. GodGoddess
3. Feast
4. Karuna
5. Karuna (Byla mix)
6. Wayfaring Stranger In The Bardo (End Christian mix)
7. GodGoddess reprise (Kris Force mix)

Album credits:
Written, performed, recorded by Jarboe
Mastered by Kris Force

Album layout by Dehn Sora
Video by Monto Mccleery

https://www.thelivingjarboe.com
https://www.facebook.com/TheLivingJarboe
http://translationlossrecords.bigcartel.com/
https://translationlossrecords.bandcamp.com/

Jarboe, “Ode to V”

Preorders are up now for Reborn of Dead Light, the second album from Georgian four-piece Dead Hand. The record is out Sept. 7 through Divine Mother Recordings and features the artwork of Jean Saiz, also known as the guitarist/vocalist of Floridian dark-sludgers Shroud Eater, with whom Dead Hand shared a split release (review here) late in 2016. That was the last time Dead Hand were heard from, but the band have the opening track “Alabaster and Bone” streaming right now as well as the CD bonus track “Them Bones,” a cover of the opener from Alice in Chains‘ classic Dirt album which, indeed, may never have sounded dirtier than it does with Dead Hand‘s take.

Both of those cuts are streaming below for your perusal. Before you get there, the PR wire has info, tour dates and links, all of which looks like this:

Sludge/Post-Metal DEAD HAND’s upcoming album ‘REBORN OF DEAD LIGHT’ set for release Sept. 7th via Divine Mother Recordings; Pre-orders available now!

Dead Hand is a full widescreen sludge experience. With keyboard-expanded instrumentation and the panorama of post-metal, they’re a truly doomed, sonic horizon whose bleak beauty deliberately unfurls a slow-rolling tsunami to sweep oceanic ruin over fallen kingdoms.

‘Their second full-length, ‘Reborn Of Dead Light’ is set for release on September 7, 2018, via Divine Mother Recordings. The album was recorded and mixed between February and September 2017, with mastering completed in January 2018, all by Matt Washburn at Ledbelly Sound Studios in Dawnsonville, GA. The striking album cover artwork and design is by Jean Saiz.

Reborn Of Dead Light – Track List:

1. Alabaster and Bone
2. Reborn of Dead Light
3. Parapraxis
4. Amaranthine
5. Them Bones (**bonus track, CD only)

– Vinyl press is limited to 250 copies on Green and Black Merge, with full color jackets and insert. Includes digital download code.

– Compact Disc (CD) is limited to 50 copies on full color disc, with two-panel insert on Black Arigato Pak jackets. Includes digital download code. **The CD version includes the bonus track “Them Bones”, a Dead Hand cover originally recorded by Alice in Chains, and featuring Eric Crowe of Crawl on guest vocals.

Upcoming Live Dates:
Sep. 07 – Macon, GA @ Grants Lounge (w/ Hexxus, Crawl, Soul Abuse) – Album Release Show
Sep. 08 – Birmingham, AL @ Nick Rocks (w/ Mother’s Keeper, Hexxus, Inclination Of Direction)
Sep. 14 – Asheville, NC
Sep. 15 – Jacksonville, FL
Sep. 16 – Gainesville, FL
Sep. 17 – Valdosta, GA

DEAD HAND is:
C. Carr – Guitar, Vocals
S. Williams – Bass
S. Harris – Synth, Vocals, Trumpet
C. Harper – Drums

deadhandcollective.blogspot.com/
deadhandcollective.bandcamp.com/
facebook.com/deadhandcollective/
instagram.com/deadhanddoom/
divinemotherrecordings.com/
divinemotherrecordings.bandcamp.com/
facebook.com/divinemotherrecordings/
instagram.com/divinemotherrecordings/

Dead Hand, Reborn of Dead Light (2018)

Dead Hand, “Them Bones”