[Click play above to stream the premiere of ‘Down Here for Long’ by Godstopper from the Godstopper & Grizzlor split single, out Feb. 17 on Corpse Flower Records.]
Who doesn’t like a quick shot of weirdo noise? From the alliteration of their two names to the madcap, wackydoodle stylizations they deliver on one side, then the other, there isn’t really a level on which the Godstopper and Grizzlor split 7″ from Corpse Flower Records doesn’t live up to its promise. Because basically it promises weirdo noise. Each act — in this corner, Godstopper on side A, from Toronto, Ontario; and in this corner, Grizzlor on side B, from New Haven, Connecticut — has some measure of extreme underpinning, though what they most share in common is a refusal to limit themselves to that. To wit, Grizzlor‘s last 7″, Cycloptic (review here), was rife with grinding elements.
This time? It’s the punker push of “Jack and Diane.” It’s been a while since I’ve heard from Godstopper, who released their debut album, What Matters (discussed here), in 2012 to follow their Empty Crawlspace tape (streamed here) and answered it with Lie Down in 2015, but the line they cross between aggressive noise and alternate-universe pop quirk remains decidedly their own on their two inclusions here: “Down Here for Long” and “Cellophane.” Met with the stomp of Grizzlor‘s “Are You Doing Your Job” and the aforementioned “Jack and Diane,” the split totals just about 12 minutes in length but uses that time masterfully to engage a strange and cerebral vibe. I don’t know if it was the label who got them together or some action on the part of the bands themselves, but they are exceedingly well paired, and it lends the release a genuine sense of curation.
Because of that, and because it arrives as part of an ongoing series from Corpse Flower, one tends to think it was the party responsible for setting the whole thing up, but again, Godstopper and Grizzlor make good neighbors for each other. Both are as much art-gallery as they are barroom-corner, and though it’s short, the split between them benefits from a variety of sound that works on a per-track basis, not merely one divided up by two groups each doing their own thing. For Godstopper — the lineup of guitarists Mike Simpson (also vocals) and Derek del Vecchio, bassist Miranda Armstrong and drummer Adam McGillivray — they open with the two-and-a-half-minute crunch of “Down Here for Long,” which takes on a ’90s-style dissonant push and thud but is neither lacking for the modern in its tonality nor void of melody.
Its hook is arguably the most straightforward of the release — “Jack and Diane” is not, as it turns out, a John Mellencamp cover — and it’s met with a blend of intense thrust and roll that, in the context of how quick the track moves through, is doubly impressive for its efficiency. Their “Cellophane,” then, of course plays off a line of toy-piano-sounding guitar (I think) anchored by Armstrong‘s bassline, bizarre pop backing vocals, and Simpson‘s almost taunting croon. One could call the whole thing post-Mike Patton, but that’s hardly a descriptive measure, and Godstopper don’t seem to have any of the the snide condescension to their experimentation that defines that part of the Ipecac oeuvre. That said, they’d probably be a boon to the label precisely for that reason.
The bass hits hard enough in a start-stop progression and the drums march along correspondingly in “Are You Doing Your Job” to make me think Grizzlor are playing off Brown Album-era Primus, though I wouldn’t actually hazard a guess at their influences one way or another. Working as the two-piece of Victor Dowgiallo (guitar/vocals/engineering) and John Mohr (drums) while crediting Beef McMeat with bass — whom the Mark Rudolph artwork for the release liner has a charming drawing of the band with a cow between them to represent — Grizzlor are for sure the more abrasive of the two acts, and they give “Jack and Diane” a suitable roughing-up, turning the Americana pop of the original into a sneering punker thrust that devolves into noisy thrust, laughter and guitar-driven cacophony before deftly turning back to a last, tense verse and cutting short there with a quick build and hard stop, leaving only needle-skipping noise afterwards with some creepy drone and crackling in the background.
Just in case the actual material wasn’t already weird enough, the tack-on at the end drives the point home without question, and in that works well to underscore the idea of just how easily a band can go where they want when they want after setting their own rules. Really. Both Godstopper and Grizzlor make it plain on this split that they’re going to do whatever the hell they want at any given moment, and yet the entirety of the offering lacks nothing for flow, and with two differing approaches, comes across as cohesive as side A moves into side B. It probably shouldn’t make sense, but it does — almost in spite of itself — and while I’m not sure either band would take that as a compliment to their work, that’s certainly how it was intended.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 31st, 2017 by JJ Koczan
Given the propensity both these bands have shown for being absolutely off their nut, I’d imagine there’s a good chance their upcoming split is going to be noisy as all hell. The streaming track from Grizzlor — a stomper called “Are You Doing Your Job?” — bears that out, and it’ been a while since I heard anything from Godstopper, but the last time I did I seem to recall it being extraordinarily creepy. Seems like one to look forward to bringing them together, even just for a 7″.
Release date is Feb. 17 on Corpse Flower Records, which has preorders up now. Because it’s damn near February. Where did the last month go? How about the last five years?
From the PR wire:
GODSTOPPER And GRIZZLOR: Corpse Flower Records To Issue Limited Edition Split Seven-Inch Next Month; New Track Streaming
Next month, Corpse Flower Records will release part two of a four-part split seven-inch series with GODSTOPPER and GRIZZLOR.
GODSTOPPER is a heavy, sometimes sludgy, sometimes noisy band from Toronto. Forged in 2010, the band’s catalogue features many twists on aggressive music, where supreme heaviness often mixes freely with outright poppy melodies and song structures, alt-rock inspired guitar work, and mood swings varying from the ugly and misanthropic to the pretty and the triumphant. The band’s uniqueness has earned them many accolades from both media and fellow bands, who praise their unusual take on music. Fans of Melvins, Failure, YOB, Torche, and Big Business, pay heed.
Formed in 2014, GRIZZLOR is an American noise rock trio from New Haven, Connecticut, known for their fuzzed out, angular riffs, and abrasive vocals. Early in 2014, the band self-released their debut EP, We’re All Just Aliens, it having been equated to the “chaotic and sloppy nastiness” that is reminiscent of early AmRep bands such as Cows and Halo Of Flies. The record earned critical accolades both Stateside and abroad. Later that year, their second EP and first on seven-inch vinyl, When You Die, was issued. Following another seven-inch and various live shows, the band released its third EP, Cycloptic, which marked a faster, riff heavier writing style, where most songs hover on either side of ninety seconds apiece, released with the Syracuse, New York hardcore/punk label, Hex Records.
On February 17th, Corpse Flower will unleash two brand new tracks from each band limited to 300 copies on yellow vinyl with a digital download. The record comes sheathed in the artwork of Mark Rudolph (Carcass, Coalesce, Battlecross) and is currently available for preorder at THIS LOCATION.
GODSTOPPER’s tracks were captured by Collin Young at B Town Sound in Burlington, Ontario and mastered by Greg Dawson at BWC Studios in Bramton, Ontario while GRIZZLOR’s were recorded and mixed by Victor Dowgiallo at Hermit Cave Studios, Connecticut and mastered by Stu McKillop at Rain City Recorders in Vancouver, Britich Columbia.
GODSTOPPER/GRIZZLOR Track Listing:
GODSTOPPER: 1. Down Here For Long 2. Cellophane GRIZZLOR 1. Are You Doing Your Job? 2. Jack And Diane
GODSTOPPER: Mike Simpson – guitar, vocals Derek Del Vecchio – guitar Miranda Armstrong – bass Adam McGillivray – drums
GRIZZLOR: Victor Dowgiallo – guitar/vocals Beef McMeat – bass John Mohr – drums
Posted in Reviews on January 8th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Last day. It’s been some week. When I otherwise would’ve been putting these reviews together yesterday? Jury duty. Yup, my civic responsibility. Add that to a busted laptop, a full-time job and a couple busy days for news, and you have a good argument for why with Quarterly Reviews prior I’ve gotten up at six in the morning over the weekend before and started writing to get as much out of the way as possible. Oh wait, I did that this time too. Well, maybe it was seven.
Either way, as it comes to a close, I want to personally express my thanks to you for checking it out and being a part of what’s become a weird seasonal ritual for me. I hope you’ve found something (or find something today) that resonates with you and stays with you for a long time. I’m pretty sure that’s what it’s all about.
Quarterly Review #41-50:
Satan’s Satyrs, Don’t Deliver Us
Virginian riff-turner trio Satan’s Satyrs passed the half-decade mark with their third album, late-2015’s Don’t Deliver Us (on Bad Omen Records), just one year after their sophomore outing, Die Screaming! crawled up from the foggy ’70s ether. In addition to touring the US with Electric Wizard, with whom Satan’s Satyrs shares bassist Clayton Burgess (also vocals), one assumes the trio spent the remainder of the year mining old VHS discount-bin horror to find inspiration and fitting subject matter for quick-turning cuts like “(Won’t You be My) Gravedancer” and “Crimes and Blood,” but whatever they did, it worked. As “Spooky Nuisance” jams out its Hendrix-via-Sabbath vibing and the subsequent “Germanium Bomb” leans into yet another impressive solo by guitarist Jarrett Nettnin complemented by the fills of drummer Stephen Fairfield, there’s an element of performance to what they do, but whether it’s the proto-doom of closer “Round the Bend” or the motor-chug of “Two Hands,” Satan’s Satyrs find that sweet spot wherein they constantly sound like they’re about to fall apart, but never actually do. For sounding so loose, they are enviably tight.
Sometimes you have an idea for a band, and it’s like, “I’m gonna start a band that puts this genre and this genre together.” In the case of Aussie four-piece Wildeornes, it’s stoner and black metal coming together on their second full-length, Erosion of the Self. I’ll give it to them, they pull it off. I’m not sure the “arising” instead of “rising” in “Serpent Arising” or the “So fucking high!” at the end of “The Subject” are really necessary, but hard to ignore the fact that before they get there, they’ve nodded at Pentagram, Crowbar, and Goatsnakeand included a couple measures of blastbeats, or the fact that throughout the album they effectively tilt to one side or the other, riding atmospheric cymbals over a rolling groove in “The Oblivion of Being” only to tap into Nile-brand Egyptology in “Incantation for the Demise of Autumn” only to affect Erosion of the Self‘s biggest chorus on “Winter’s Eve.” Whatever genre tag they, you or I want to give it, their roots are definitely metal, but the juxtaposition they offer within that sphere works for them.
Raw groove is at the core of what Oakland, California’s Blackwülf offer on their second album and Ripple Music debut, Oblivion Cycle. Divided neatly into two sides for an LP, its 10 track hearken to a stripped-down vision of classic metal on “Memories,” Sabbath and Maiden both a factor but not the end of the line when it comes to the four-piece’s influences. Somebody in this band (if not multiple somebodies) is a punker. The two impulses play out in a balance of grand stylization and lean production – to wit, “Wings of Steel” sneers even as it puts a triumphant foot on the stage monitor and gallops off – and if the punk/metal battle isn’t enough of a tip-off, let the umlaut serve as confirmation that these guys are going to miss Lemmy (who isn’t?), but their methods ultimately prove more indebted to Judas Priest than Motörhead by the time they get down to “Never Forget,” which touches on some vocal soaring as it rounds out that feels especially bold as well as well placed as a late gem before the slamming-groove-into-Iommic-flourish of closer “March of the Damned.” As much as Oblivion Cycle has these elements butting heads across its span, that’s not to say Blackwülf lack control or don’t know what they’re doing. Just the opposite. Their pitting ideas against each other is a big part of the appeal, for listeners and likely for the band as well.
Four years after issuing their second album, 2011’s Galaxia (review here), late-2015’s Phantom of an Era finds Connecticut’s VRSA a considerably more crunch-laden entity. They’ve have some lineup changes in the past half-decade, which is fair enough, but guitarist Andrius and guitarist/vocalist Josh remain prominent, leading the rhythm section of bassist/vocalist John and drummer Wes through prog-metal cascades, quiet parts shifting on a dime to full-volume assaults or holding off and making the change more gradual as tension builds. Either way, if the end-goal is heavy, VRSA get there, whether it’s the rolling, chugging and growling of “Grand Bois” or the winding and crashing and thrashing of the later “Marble Orchard,” or how closer “Baron Cimetière” sets up its waltz rhythm subtly in the beginning only to bash the listener’s skull with it as the inevitable crushing begins anew. There’s plenty of it to go around on Phantom of an Era, which keeps a consistent air of brutality even as it veers into clean, progressive or atmospheric forms.
As they get down elsewhere with hard-driving, Steak-style post-Kyuss desertism, Swiss four-piece Marant have just a couple of more laid back trips perfectly placed along the path of their debut album, High Octane Diesel. The first of them, “Smoothie,” follows opener “Kathy’s Trophy,” and like the later “Road 222,” it has its more raucous side as well, but the big tone-wash happens with the languid heavy psych roll of closer “N’BaCon?,” also the longest track at 8:47. The effect that varying their modus has on broadening the scope of more straightforward songs like “Evil Schnaps” and “The Good the Bad and the Trip” isn’t to be understated. Not only does it show a different side of the emerging chemistry between vocalist Jimmy, guitarist Sergio Calabrian Donkey, bassist Aff Lee and drummer Sir Oli with Snake, but it gives High Octane Diesel an atmospheric range beyond the desert and into an expanse no less ripe for exploration. Whichever method they employ, Marant engage fluidly across their first record.
Lot of noise, lot of fuckall, not too many songs. Connecticut trio Grizzlor manage to pack seven songs onto a 7” release called Cycloptic (on Hex Records), most of which hover on either side of 90 seconds apiece. Dissonance, grit and tension pervade the offering front to back, and between “Sundays are Stupid” and “I’m that Asshole,” there’s an edge of experimentation in the vocals and rhythm as well, some starts and stops that add to the songwriting, though the peeled-skin noise rock of “Tommy” and the build-into-mayhem of “Winter Blows” ensure that the business of punkish intensity isn’t left out. Was it a danger to start with? Nah. Closer “Starship Mother Shit” and the earlier “Life’s a Joke” rolls out a sludgy-style groove, but with sneering and shouting overtop and hard-edged percussive punctuation, there’s no question where Grizzlor got all that aggression from. If Grizzlor are playing in the basement, somebody’s gonna call the cops.
Bull-in-a-china-shop’ing their way through nine mostly-blistering tracks in 43 minutes, Seattle trio Mother Crone make their full-length debut with the appropriately titled Awakening, a record that melts doom and thrash together with the best of earliest Mastodon and comes out of it sounding righteous, wildly heavy and solidly in control of their methods. Don’t believe it? First of all, why not? Second, check out the six-minute “Descending the North” – the third track after a beastly opening with the mysteriously JFK-sampling intro “Silt Laden Black” and “Black Sea” – which chugs and twists and stomps through its first half only to drop out to just-guitar ambience and burst to life again with a shredding solo finish that leads to – wait for it – the quiet guitar-and-vocals only spaciousness of “The Dream,” which marks a twist into a more experimental middle quotient of the album, the subsequent “Halocline” and furiously building “Revelation” more experimental in form, before the sludgy “Turning Tides” and raging “Apollyon” make the job of the nine-minute closing title-track even more difficult in summarizing everything that came before it. A task of which that song makes short work. For the momentum they build and the brashness they execute within that, Mother Crone‘s Awakening is indeed bound to stir.
Italian four-piece Psychedelic Witchcraft issued Black Magic Man in mid-2015 as their debut EP, and wound up selling through both its limited 10” vinyl pressings. For the Twin Earth Records CD version, it’s been expanded by two tracks – still EP length at 27 minutes – and given new artwork that underscores the band’s cultish bent, which comes across strong in the vocals of Virginia Monti, very much at the forefront of the group’s presentation on “Angela” and “Lying in Iron,” the opening duo that give way to the desert-toned push of the title-track, also the strongest hook included. Drummer Daniele Parrella leads the march into the grungier “Slave of Grief,” in which the guitar of Jacopo Fallai will take a noisy forward position in the midsection, giving way later to some blown-out singing from Monti given heft by bassist Riccardo Giuffrè, like 1967 time traveling to 1971. The production on the last two cuts, “Wicked Dream” and “Set Me Free” is audibly different (Vanni also plays bass), more modernly-styled, but the band’s core intent of living up to their name remains true.
Philadelphia and New York rarely agree on anything, but Chimpgrinder and Miscegenator, who make their homes respectively in those burgs, have come together at least long enough to share a split 7” between them, though of course what they do with that time is vastly different. Chimpgrinder proliferate a raw kind of sludge on their two tracks, not completely void of melody, but more geared toward groove than expanse, “Gates” taking off on an lengthy solo and deciding it’d rather not come back, ending in feedback fading to abrasive noise. That’s a fitting lead-in for what NY’s Miscegenator are up to on the other side, as “Hate Hate Hate” leads off a six-song set of visceral grind. Shit is raw and mean, and it d-beats its way either into your heart or off your turntable – it’s not the kind of music anyone ever played because they were feeling friendly. Blink and its gone, but the punk-rooted abrasion is like as not to leave a scar as closer “Tony Randall was Right” goes slicing, which is a fair enough answer to the pummel Chimpgrinder made their own a whopping five minutes earlier.
The self-titled, self-released, self-recorded debut EP from London four-piece Oak saves its burliest impression for “Ride with Me,” the third of its four component tracks. That’s not to say that “All Above” and “Queen of this Land” aren’t plenty dudely – the vocals of Andy Wisbey see to that – but “Ride with Me” feels particularly caked in testosterone. Somewhat quizzical that it also finds guitarist/engineer Kevin Germain, bassist Scott Mason and drummer Rob Emms (since replaced by Sergiu, it would seem) vibing out for a bit of quiet desert noodling in the middle and ending with a primo shuffle of the post-Kyuss variety. Maybe it’s a fine line when one considers the body of work of Orange Goblin as an influence, but it gives a different context to the two songs before and certainly to the stonerly bounce of “Dissolve” after to know that Oak have more in their playbook than the standard beer-pounding and chestbeating. Should be interesting to hear how the various impulses play out as they more forward.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 6th, 2014 by JJ Koczan
A local fest, with local headliners, but because it’s in Brooklyn, that also means those headliners are world class acts who’ve been around the globe and then some. Naam and While Hills will take the stage at The Paper Box on Nov. 15 to cap a fest that’s been dubbed Sludgefeast. It’s not all Brooklyn bands — the geographical radius seems to have been about two hours north or south with acts from New Paltz, New Haven and Philly — but it’s a strong showing of what Brooklyn heavy has to offer anyway, even apart from the headliners, with Blackout, Eidetic Seeing and Mountain God featured, among others. I don’t know the venue, or at least I don’t think I do (I saw Wolves in the Throne Room one year on my birthday in Brooklyn in a place I might describe as a paper box, but to be honest with you, I don’t remember much else about it), but a good time is a good time and Sludgefeast for sure looks like one of those.
The PR wire has lineup and other info for the calendar marking:
The Bent Unit and Some Pig Present: SLUDGEFEAST
A day of heavy music in Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, November 15
The Paper Box: 17 Meadow St, Brooklyn NY 11206
Brooklyn-based music review blog The Bent Unit and booking agency Some Pig Presents are proud to announce the first annual one-day heavy music festival SLUDGEFEAST. SLUDGEFEAST was conceived as a way to celebrate the best in metal, sludge, doom, psych rock and more from Brooklyn and beyond. In a city where indie, electronic, and revivalist genres dominate the airwaves, SLUDGEFEAST looks to give heavy music its rightful claim, especially as metal and its subgenres see a renaissance of sorts in other parts of the country.
Headlining the inaugural SLUDGEFEAST are Brooklyn’s own NAAM and White Hills. Both are torch-bearers of New York’s heavy scene, and no strangers to the international touring circuit. Since 2009 NAAM has been putting their unique brand of pummeling psychedelia to wax courtesy of Tee Pee records, and are currently awaiting release of their third full length. SLUDGEFEAST will see them newly returned from a 6-week European tour, including appearances at the Berlin Swamp Fest and Valada Reverence Festival. White Hills, described by NPR as a “relentlessly heavy psych-rock band with scorching wah-wah and fantastic outfits,” will hold the festival’s penultimate time slot, and is internationally reputed as a forerunner of modern, heavy space-rock.
Filling out the bill will be Brooklyn-based bands including noise/sludge outfit No Way, self-proclaimed “cave” rockers Blackout, psych-drone shamans Eidetic Seeing, doom titans Mountain God, sludge punkers Wonderbreed, and hardcore/metal masters Blackest. Joining us from the vast outside are Chimpgrinder (Philadelphia, blues/doom), It’s Not Night: It’s Space (New Paltz, space/drone), Grizzlor (New Haven, sludge/noise).
SLUDGEFEAST 2014 is more than a concert: it’s an unholy celebration of the dark, the heavy, the infernal. It’s the dawn of a new reign of heavy music in Brooklyn…
