Posted in Whathaveyou on September 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Reading, UK, heavy rockers Morass of Molasses released End All We Know (review here) earlier this year through Ripple Music and with it not only reaffirmed the trio as rock songwriters, but saw them expand their sound as well into psychedelic and progressive styles. Their third LP, the band — baritone guitarist/vocalist Bones Huse, bassist Phil Williams and drummer Raj Puni — took to the road for 11 dates in the UK this past Spring to support, and next month, they have three sets of weekender gigs booked to mark their 10th anniversary as a group.
Morass of Molasses signed to Ripple last year following the success of 2019’s The Ties That Bind (review here), and they returned to Desertfest London for the 2023 edition this past May, having played there previously in 2018. Their 2017 debut, These Paths We Tread, arrived after 2015’s So Flows Our Fate EP, and all the while — a couple years in there notwithstanding — they’ve kept a steady pace of live work, and they’re obviously set to keep that up. I don’t know what’s in the works for next year yet, but they’re a staple of the UK’s various heavyfests, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see them listed on a few more bills as we head toward the New Year. A band driven by passion keeps going. It’s like the fourth law of motion.
Congrats to Morass of Molasses on 10 years. Nothing to sneeze at, especially in an underground as crowded as England’s. The band posted the following on their socials:
MORASS OF MOLASSES – **AUTUMN TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT**
A little over 10 years ago, three hairy blokes got together, and started making some pretty filthy riffs. One EP, and three albums later, we are still going strong, and continue to enjoy sharing our music with everyone. There have been ups and downs along the way, but ultimately we still love what we do, and want to keep pushing ourselves to create.
This short Autumn Tour honours that sentiment, and in a way is a commitment to keep on writing songs that both challenge us as musicians, and those who choose to come along for the ride.
Expect new material, but the same zest for Life we always have on stage. Come join us.
13/10 Fiddler’s Elbow London 20/10 The Facebar Reading 21/10 The Gryphon Bristol 22/10 The Deco Portsmouth 27/10 Ivory Blacks Glasgow 28/10 Percy’s Whitchurch 29/10 Duffy’s Leicester
Morass of Molasses: Vocals/Baritone – Bones Huse Lead Guitar – Phil Williams Drums/Vocals/Percussion – Raj Puni
Posted in Reviews on April 17th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Kind of an odd Quarterly Review, huh? I know. The two extra days. Well, here’s the thing. I’ve already got the better part of a 50-record QR booked for next month. I’ve slid a few of those albums in here to replace things I already covered blah blah whatever, but there’s just a ton of stuff out right now, and a lot of it I want to talk about, so yeah. I tacked on the two extra days here to get to 70 records, and in May we’ll do another 50, and if you want to count that as Spring (I can’t decide yet if I do or not; if you’ve got an opinion, I’d love to hear it in the comments), that’s 120 records covered even if I start over and go from 1-50 instead of 71-120. Any way you go, it’s nearly enough that you could listen to two records per week for the next full year based just on two weeks and two days of posts.
That’s insane. And yet here we are. Two weeks in a row wouldn’t have been enough, and any more than that and I get so backed up on other stuff that whatever stress I undercut by covering a huge swath in the QR is replaced by being so behind on everything that isn’t said QR. Does that make sense at all? No? Well fine then. Shit.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Ecstatic Vision, Live at Duna Jam
This is a good thing for everyone. Here’s why: For the band? Easy. They get a new thing to sell at the merch table on their upcoming European tour. Win. For the label? Obviously the cash from whatever they sell, plus the chance to showcase one of their acts tearing it up on European soil. “Check out how awesome this shit is plus we’re behind it.” Always good for branding. For fans of the band, well, you already know you need it. I don’t have to tell you that. But Ecstatic Vision‘s Live at Duna Jam — as a greater benefit to the universe around it — runs deeper than that. It’s an example to follow. You wanna see, wanna hear how it’s done? This is how it’s done, kids. You get up on that stage, step out on that beach, and you throw everything you have into your art, every fucking time. This is who Ecstatic Vision are. They’re the band who blow minds like the trees in the old videos of A-bomb tests. They’ve got six songs here, a clean 38-minute live LP, and for the betterment of existence in general, you can absolutely hear in it the ferocity with which Ecstatic Vision deliver live. The fact that it’s from Duna Jam — the ultimate Eurofest daydream — is neat, but so help me gawd they could’ve recorded it in a Philly basement and they’d still be this visceral. That’s who they are. And if we, as listeners, are lucky, others will hear this and follow their example.
Oppressive in atmosphere regardless of volume but with plenty of volume to go around, Portland all-doomers Usnea return after six years with their third full-length, Bathed in Light, a grueling and ultimately triumph-of-death-ant work spanning six songs and 43 minutes of unremitting drear positioned in the newer-school vein of emotionally resonant extreme death-doom. Plodding until it isn’t, wrenching in its screams until it isn’t, the album blossoms cruelties blackened and crushing and makes the chanting in “Premeditatio Malorum” not at all out of place just the same, the slow-churning metal unrelentingly brutal as it shifts into caustic noise in that penultimate track — just one example among the many scattered throughout of the four-piece turning wretched sounds into consuming landscapes. The earlier guitar squeals on “The Compleated Sage” would be out of place if not for the throatripping and blastbeating happening immediately prior, and whether it’s the synth at the outset and the soaring guitar at the end of “To the Deathless” or the Bell Witchian ambient start to closer “Uncanny Valley” — the riff, almost stoner — before it bursts to violence at three minutes into its 8:27 on the way to a duly massive, guttural finish for the record, Usnea mine cohesion from contradictions and are apparently unscathed by the ringer through which they put their audience. Sometimes nothing but the most miserable will do.
The more one listens to Kingdom Cold, the impressive Magnetic Eye Records debut LP from Melbourne, Australia’s Oceanlord, the more there is to hear. The subtle Patrick Walker-style edge in the vocals of “Kingdom” and the penultimate roller “So Cold,” the Elephant Tree-style nod riff in “2340,” the way the bass underscores the ambient guitar and layered melodies in “Siren,” the someone-in-this-band-listens-to-extreme-metal flashes in the guitar as “Isle of the Dead” heads into its midsection, and the way the shift into and through psychedelia seems so organic on closer “Come Home,” the three-piece seeming just to reach out further from where they’ve been standing all the while for the sake of adding even more breadth to the proceedings. If the Magnetic Eye endorsement didn’t already put you over the edge, I hope this will, because what Oceanlord seem to be doing — and what they did on their 2020 demo (review here), where “Isle of the Dead” and “Come Home” appeared — is to work from a foundation in doom and slow-heavy microgenres and pick the elements that most resonate with them as the basis for their songs. They bring them into their own context, which is not something everyone does on their fifth record, let alone their first. So if it’s hearing the potential that gets you on board, fine, but the important thing is you should just get on board. They’re onto something, and part of what I like about Kingdom Cold is I’m not sure what.
Thoroughly fuzzed and ready to rock, Reading, UK, three-piece Morass of Molasses follow 2019’s The Ties That Bind (review here) with their third album and Ripple Music label debut, End All We Know, breaking eight songs into two fascinatingly-close-to-even sides running a total of 37 minutes of brash swing and stomp as baritone guitarist/vocalist Bones Huse, bassist Phil Williams and drummer Raj Puni embrace more progressive constructions for their familiar and welcome tonal richness. With Huse‘s vocals settling into a Nick Oliveri-style bark on opener “The Origin of North” and the likes of “Hellfayre” and “Naysayer” on side A, the pattern seems to be set, but the key is third track “Sinkhole,” which prefaces some of the changes the four cuts on side B bring about, trading burl and brash for more dug in arrangements, psychedelic flourish on “Slingshot Around the Sun” and “Terra Nova” — they’re still grounded structurally, but the melodic reach expands significantly and the guitar twists in “Terra Nova” feel specifically heavy psych-derived — before “Prima Materia” combines those hazy colours with prog-rock insistences and “Wings of Reverie” meets metallic soloing with Elder-style expanse. Not a record they could’ve made five years ago, End All We Know comes through as a moment of realization for Morass of Molasses, and their delivery does justice to the ambition behind it.
Real headfucker, this one. And I’ll admit, the temptation to leave the review at that is significant, since so much of the intent behind Fuzzy Grapes‘ Volume 1 seems to be a headfirst dive into the deepweird, but the samples, effects, of course fuzz and gong-and-chant-laced brazenness with which the Flagstaff, Arizona, unit set out on “Sludge Fang,” the Mikael Åkerfeldtian growls in “Snake Dagger” and the art-surf poetry reading in “Dust of Three Strings” that becomes a future cavern of synth and noise before the “Interlude” of birdsong and meditative noodling mark a procession too individual to be ignored. Three songs, break, three songs, break goes the structure of the 25-minute debut offering from the five-piece outfit, and by the time “The Cosmic Throne” begins its pastoral progadelic “ahh”s and dreamy ride cymbal jazz, one should be well content to have no idea what’s coming next. Once upon a time elsewhere in the Southwest, there was a collective of kitchen-sink heavy punkers named Leeches of Lore, and Fuzzy Grapes tap some similar adventurousness of spirit, but rarely is a band so much their own thing their first time out. “Made of Solstice” harsh-barks to offset its indie-grunge verse, fleshing out the bassy roll with effects or keys from the chorus onward, jamming like Blind Melon just ran into Amon Amarth getting gas at the Circle K. “Goatcult” ties together some of it with the harsh/chant vocal blend and a cymbal-led push, finishing with the line “Every day the world is ending” before the epilogue “Outro” plays like a vintage 78RPM record singing something about when you’re dead. Don’t expect to understand it the first time though, or maybe the first eight, but know that it’s worth pursuing and meeting the band on their level. I want to hear what they do next and how/if their approach might solidify.
Conveying genuine emotionality and reach in the vocals of Michelle Malley, the four-track Solace EP from L.A.’s Iress turns its humble 16 minutes into an expressive soundscape of what the kids these days seem to call doomgaze, with post-rock float in the guitar of Graham Walker (who makes his first appearance here) atop the solemn and heavy-bottomed grooves of bassist Michael Maldonado and drummer Glenn Chu for a completeness of experience that’s all the more immersive on headphones in a close-your-eyes kind of listen — that low contemplation of bass after 2:20 into “Soft,” for example, is one of a multitude of details worth appreciating — and though leadoff piece “Blush” begins with a quick rise of feedback and rolls forth with a distinct Jesu-style melancholy, Iress are no less effective or resonant in the sans-drums first two minutes of “Vanish” in accentuating atmosphere before the big crash-in finishes and “Ricochet” offers further dynamic display in its loud/quiet trades, graceful and unhurried in their transitions, the surge of the not-cloying hook densely weighted but not out of place either behind “Vanish” or ahead of “Soft,” even as it’s patience over impact being emphasized as Malley intones “I’m not ready” as a thread through the song. Permit me to disagree with that assessment. The whole band sounds ready, be it for a follow-up album to 2020’s Flaw (which was their second LP) or whatever else may come.
Long-running Finnish troupe Frogskin ooze forth with extremity of purpose even before the harsh-throated declarations of 10-minute opener “Mistress Divine” kick in, and III – Into Disgust maintains the high (or purposefully low, depending on how you want to look at it) standard that initial millstone-slowness sets as “Of Vermin and Man” (8:30) continues the scathe and tension in its unfolding and the somehow-thicker, sample-inclusive centerpiece “Serpent Path” (7:21) highlights violent intention on the way to the shift that brings the atmosphere forward on the two-minute still-a-song “B.B.N.T.B.N.” — the acronym: ‘Bound by nature to be nothing’ — which feels likewise pathological and methodical ahead of closer “The Pyre” (11:46). One might expect in listening that at some point Frogskin will break out at a sprint and start either playing death or black metal, grindcore, etc., but no. They don’t. They don’t give you that. And that’s the point. You don’t get relief or release. There’s no safe energetic payoff waiting. III – Into Disgust is aural quicksand, exclusively. Do not expect mercy because there’s none coming.
No strangers to working in longform contexts or casting spacier fare amid their doom-rooted riffery, Helsinki’s Albinö Rhino downplay the latter somewhat on their single-song Return to the Core full-length. Their first 12″ since 2016’s Upholder (review here), the trio of guitarist/vocalist/Moogist Kimmo Tyni, bassist/vocalist VH and drummer Viljami Väre welcome back Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (also of Space Rock Productions, Øresund Space Collective, etc.) for a synthy guest appearance and Mikko Heikinpoika on vocals and Olli Laamanen on keys, and the resultant scope of “Return to the Core” is duly broad, spreading outward from its acoustic-guitar beginning into cosmic doom rock with a thicker riff breaking doors down at 9:30 or so and a jammed-feeling journey into the greater ‘out there’ that ensues. That back and forth plays out a couple times as they manifest the title in the piece itself — the core being perhaps the done-live basic tracks then expanded through overdubs to the final form — but even when the song devolves starting after the solo somewhere around 22 minutes in, they’re mindful as well as hypnotic en route to the utter doom that transpires circa 24:30, and that they finish in a manner that ties together both aspects tells you there’s been a plan at work all along. They execute it with particular refinement and fluidity.
Self-released posthumous to the defunctification of the Quebecois band itself, Mystic Vulture ends up as a rousing swansong for what could’ve been from Cleõphüzz, hitting a nerve with “Desert Rider”‘s blend of atmosphere and grit, cello adding to the space between bass and guitar before the engrossing gang chants round out. With its 46 minutes broken into the two sides of the vinyl issue it will no doubt eventually receive, the eight-song offering — their debut, by the way — makes vocal points of the extended “Desperado” with its organ (I think?) mixed in amid the classic-style fuzz and “Shutdown in the Afterlife” bringing the strings further to the center in an especially spacious close. But whether it’s there or in the respective intros “The End” and “Sarcophage” or the proggy float of “Sortilège” or the Canadiana instrumental and vocal exploration of the title-track itself, Mystic Vulture flows easily across its material, varied but not so far out as to lose its human underpinning, and is more journey than destination. It’s gotten some hype — I think in part because the band aren’t together anymore; heavy music always wants what it can’t have — but in arrangement as well as songwriting, Cleõphüzz crafted the material here with a clear sense of perspective, and the apparent loss of potential becomes part of hearing the album. Some you win, some you lose. At least they got this out.
Expansive metal. Azimuth is the fourth long-player and first in seven years from Chicago progressive/post-metallers Arriver, who answer melody with destruction and crunch with sprawl. From opener “Reenactor” onward, they follow structural paths that are as likely to meld meditative psych with death metal (looking at you, “Only On”) as they are to combust in charred punker aggro rage on “Constellate” or second track “Knot.” The 10-minute penultimate title-track would seem to represent the crossroads at which these ideas meet — a summary as much as anything could hope to be — but even that isn’t the end of it as “None More Unknown” makes dramatic folkish proclamations before concluding with a purposeful nod. “In the Only” winds lead guitar through what might otherwise be post-hardcore, while “Carrion Sun” duly reeks of death in the desert, the complexity of the drum work alone lending gotta-hear status. Plenty of bands claim to be led by their songs. I won’t say I know how Arriver assembled these pieces to make the entirety of Azimuth, but if the band were to say they sat back and let the record write itself and follow its own impulses, I’d believe them more than most. Bound to alienate as well as engage, it is its own thing in its own place, and commanding in its moments of epiphany.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
On March 31, Morass of Molasses will head out on not-at-all-their-first UK tour getting some road time in ahead of their slated appearance at Desertfest London 2023 (info here). The trio have played live as steadily as possible since the 2019 release of The Ties That Bind (review here), which was issued through Wasted State Records ahead of their signing with Ripple Music last Spring.
I have no info on the subject, but it doesn’t seem unlikely that an album announcement will follow at some point soon, maybe ahead of the start of this run. Bands don’t usually get picked up by Ripple with nothing going on record-wise, and by the time these shows are done it will have been a full year since they were signed. Shit happens, vinyl takes forever, and so on, but ‘band might have album’ doesn’t feel like particularly off the wall speculation here. As I have to keep reminding myself, 2019 was four years ago, however stuck-in-trauma’s-amber much of the time since feels.
That they’re getting out is a good sign, regardless of what it may or may not directly herald. Dates follow below, as posted by the band:
MORASS OF MOLASSES – **TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT**
We have some illuminating news to brighten a fair morning. This spring we embark on our annual pilgrimage to take our new songs out into the world once more. Returning to familiar places where we have been gratefully welcomed in the past, and adding a unexplored venues along the way. Expect fresh merch, and a new set for you all to indulge.
So the real question is, which show will you come to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 2nd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
I mean, what can you say to this other than ‘can I come?’ I’ve known this festival was capable of some real-deal shit over the last decade, but this is absolutely epic, which is a word I do my best to avoid. And they end it by saying there’s more to come. God damn. Really. God damn.
Wow.
Here:
Desertfest London announce over 40 bands for 2023
Friday 5th May – Sunday 7th May 2023 | Weekend Tickets on sale now
Desertfest London is rounding off the year with an ear-shattering bang, announcing a mammoth 43 artists to their 2023 line-up. Joining the likes of Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats, Graveyard, Kadavar and Church of Misery, the Camden-based festival also welcomes back Corrosion of Conformity as headliners.
Pioneers of a groove-laden sound that is undeniably their own, Corrosion of Conformity have not been back on UK soil since 2018 so expect big, loud and memorable things from their appearance at Desertfest next year. Corrosion of Conformity have been due to play the event since 2020 – making their return one of the most widely requested in the event’s history.
Japan’s own avant-garde maestros of down-tuned psychedelia Boris leap over to London alongside the crushingly loud tones of NOLA’s own Crowbar. One of the most exciting bands in recent memory King Buffalo, make their long-awaited debut plus Desertfest favourites, Weedeater are back after five long years of chugging whiskey lord-knows-where.
The pace moves up a notch with New York City’s noise-rock guru’s Unsane and British punk-legends Discharge, all of whom bring a detour from the slow’n’low sounds the festival is best recognised for. Montreal’s Big | Brave will play the festival for the first time showcasing their experimental and minimalist take on the notion of ‘heavy’, whilst the doors to the Church of The Cosmic Skull are open, as they ask Desertfest revellers to join them in a union unlike any other.
Desertfest also warmly welcomes noise from STAKE, British anti-fascist black metallers Dawn Ray’d and London’s loudest duo Tuskar as well as some of the best recent stoner acts in the form of Telekinetic Yeti, Weedpecker & Great Electric Quest. Elsewhere the weekend will also see Wren, The Necromancers, Dommengang, Samavayo, Morass of Molasses, Sum of R & GNOB offer up unique live performances.
Rounding off this beast of an announcement are Acid Mammoth, Deatchant, Zetra, Trevor’s Head, Our Man in The Bronze Age, Wyatt E., Iron Jinn, Mr Bison, Troy The Band, Oreyeon, Warren Schoenbright, Early Moods, Longheads, Terror Cosmico, Thunder Horse, TONS, Vinnum Sabbathi, Bloodswamp, The Age of Truth, Earl of Hell and Black Groove.
Weekend Tickets for Desertfest London 2023 are on-sale now via www.desertfest.co.uk with more acts still to be announced.
Day splits and day tickets will be on sale from January.
Full Line-Up for Desertfest London 2023: UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS | GRAVEYARD | CORROSION OF CONFORMITY | KADAVAR | BORIS | CROWBAR | CHURCH OF MISERY | WEEDEATER | KING BUFFALO | BLOOD CEREMONY | DISCHARGE | SOMALI YACHT CLUB | UNSANE | BIG|BRAVE | INTER ARMA | CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL | VALLEY OF THE SUN | STAKE | MARS RED SKY | SPACESLUG | GRAVE LINES | GAUPA | TUSKAR | TELEKINETIC YETI | WEEDPECKER | DAWN RAY’D | WREN | GREAT ELECTRIC QUEST | THE NECROMANCERS | DOMMENGANG | ECSTATIC VISION | SAMAVAYO | MORASS OF MOLASSES | SUM OF R | HIGH DESERT QUEEN | GNOB | EVEREST QUEEN | ACID MAMMOTH | DEATHCHANT | ZETRA | CELESTIAL SANCTUARY | TREVOR’S HEAD | OUR MAN IN THE BRONZE AGE | WYATT E. | MR BISON | TROY THE BAND | PLAINRIDE | IRON JINN | OREYEON | WARREN SCHOENBRIGHT | EARLY MOODS | LONGHEADS | TERROR COSMICO | THUNDER HORSE | TONS | VINNUM SABBATHI | BLOODSWAMP | VENOMWOLF | THE AGE OF TRUTH | EARL OF HELL | BLACK GROOVE | MARGARITA WITCH CULT
Posted in Whathaveyou on April 26th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
It was not so terribly long ago that I looked not-all-that-hard at the poster with the announcement of Morass of Molasses‘ Spring 2022 tour, saw a Ripple Music logo in the top corner and wondered out loud if that might portend some alliance being formed. Turns out, yes, that’s precisely what’s up, and Ripple has indeed snagged the Reading, UK, trio for their next album, which as I understand it is already recorded? Don’t quote me on that until you see the press release about it, but I think that’s where we’re at.
In any case, no doubt the band could use that bit of good news, as they had to cancel the last portion of the aforementioned tour owing to the fact that they all got covid. Bummer, right? Turns out that’s still a thing. Of course, in light of that, one would never hold against them the fact that those shows booked will not be played at the previously scheduled time, and I’m sure if there aren’t makeup dates already in the works there will be soon enough. After all, they’re signed now and it’s best to handle these things in as pro-shop a fashion as possible.
When’s the new Morass of Molasses out? Beats me. What do I look like, Scoops The Reporter? I’m some schlub from New Jersey typing on his laptop while his kid’s in the bath. This ain’t the Pentagon Papers as regards journalism. I saw the image below on Twitter and bothered Todd from Ripple about it, he confirmed, and that was that. You want anything else on the matter either subscribe on Bandcamp or ask Bob Woodward.
Congrats to the band though, and nice to have it official rather than just the subject of the day’s rampant speculation. I’d say I called it, but really all I did was read the poster.
Here’s the deal:
Morass of Molasses on signing to Ripple Music
Ripple Music has been on our radar for a while now. In fact, we nearly joined forces on our previous record, but alas the stars didn’t align. That did however mean the path was clear for this new offering. We already feel warmly welcomed, and part of the Ripple family.
Morass of Molasses: Vocals/Baritone – Bones Huse Lead Guitar – Phil Williams Drums/Vocals/Percussion – Raj Puni
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 23rd, 2022 by JJ Koczan
Just a band hitting the road in their native region to support their last record and herald the coming of a new one. God damn it feels good to think of that as a normal thing. Morass of Molasses released their last album, 2019’s The Ties That Bind (review here), through Wasted State Records, and that’s plenty nifty, but if you squint a careful eye on the poster for the Reading trio’s upcoming UK tour — starts April 8, ends April 23, goes North and South in England and Scotland between — you’ll note in the top left corner a logo for Ripple Music. It’s by no means the only logo on the poster, between the band’s own and various other promotional concerns, but there it is, top left. Pretty prime placement for a band who, to my knowledge, haven’t been announced as signing to the label. Yet.
So I’ve got a brow raised above my recently-squinted careful eye, then, as to what will unfold as the band get ready to unveil their next full-length in earnest. In the meantime, intrigue.
Here’s the poster and dates:
Morass of Molasses – April Tour
After over two years of waiting, Morass Of Molasses are finally back on the road with ‘The Fall & The Rise’ Spring UK Tour. We will be revisiting many of our favourite places to play, but also adding a nice healthy chunk of new venues. Expect music celebrating our whole career up to this point, including new songs from the up and coming album. So why not have a look and see if we are playing some where near you!
08/04/22 – The Swamp, Reading 09/04/22 – The Star Inn, Guildford 10/04/22 – The Louisiana, Bristol 13/04/22 – Trillians Newcastle Upon Tyne 14/04/22 – Bannermans Bar, Edinburgh 15/04/22 – The Freebird, Newcastle Under lyme 16/04/22 – The Star and Garter, Manchester 17/04/22 – Duffy’s Bar, Leicester 20/04/22 – The Black Heart, London 21/04/22 – The Bunkhouse, Swansea 22/04/22 – Firehouse, Southampton 23/04/22 – The Four Horsemen Pub, Bournemouth
BUY MUSIC, MERCH AND TICKETS AT https://linktr.ee/morassofmolasses
Morass of Molasses: Vocals/Baritone – Bones Huse Lead Guitar – Phil Williams Drums/Vocals/Percussion – Raj Puni
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 9th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
The UK being the hotbed that it has been for heavy acts over the last, say, 50 years, I guess you can do this kind of two-day festival there comprised mostly if not entirely of homegrown outfits and still have it be botha show well worth seeing — think the borders will be open by September? — and the kind of thing where you could easily add another day of bands. I don’t know what social-distancing regulations will be in place in Manchester come end of summer, and to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t care. Elephant Tree and Conan headlining a two-dayer after live music has been on pause for a year and a half? That’s a gig worth watching if the floor’s made of lava, never mind whether or not you’ve been vaccinated.
People gonna be d-r-u-n-k.
I probably don’t need to tell you how refreshing I find it to see a list of logos and band names on a poster, even one with a cartoon butt. Again, I don’t care. I’ll take what I can get at this point.
Friggin’ Sigiriya? Chubby Thunderous? It’d be like five years’ worth of the UK-based bands I’d love to see all piled onto one bill.
Alas:
Finally the day has come to release the line-up we’ve been so eager to share with you all.
We know it was a great disappointment not to be able to host shows in 2020, but this is set to be such a monster of a weekend to make up for it.
Special thanks to the support from our partners in Lizard King Promotions / Stonebaked Promotions / The Sophie Festival
Reading, UK’s Morass of Molasses are former denizens of the unceremoniously defunct HeviSike Records — those bands should form a support group, or at very least make a patch for vests; “we were there” — and they emerge from that particular, well, morass of molasses, in order to deliver The Ties that Bind through Wasted State Records, a tight-knit collection of swinging heavy rock grooves punctuated by drummer Raj Puni (also some vocals) and bluesy licks from lead guitarist Phil Williams met with baritone guitar to provide low end and the post-hardcore vocalizations of Bones Huse, who seems to be in the real-time process of developing his approach as a singer. He and Puni seem to come together on the folkish side A finale “Legend of the Five Sons” — amid flute from Matt Ainsworth and guest backing vocals from Sian Greenaway of Alunah — in a quieter take, and the same happens, minus flute, plus percussion at the end of the record in “The Deepest Roots,” but in the louder material, Huse‘s style shows screamier roots he’s moving away from, resulting in a cleaner bark that reminds of Snapcase without some of the direct aggro attack.
The first Morass of Molasses album, 2017’s These Paths We Tread, also supports the argument of a progression underway in his vocals as well as the general breadth of arrangement, but as much as Morass of Molasses — who are not nearly so sluggish as their name would suggest, by the way — seem to delight in the contrast between subdued moments like the barely-there acoustic album intro “The Darkening” and the sudden crash-in of lead single “Woe Betide” (premiered here), it’s the latter that ultimately frames the primary impression of The Ties that Bind, and Huse‘s pushing himself vocally is a part of that. He sounds more confident here than on the debut, loud or quiet, and one expects the growth will continue across whatever the band do next from here. As it stands, songs like “Estranger” and “Persona Non Grata” arrive with all the more edge for what Huse brings to them as frontman.
Following “The Darkening,” “Woe Betide” and the catchy “Death of All” build considerable momentum in rockers-up-front fashion, the latter with a chugging, start-stopping riff that works its way into a kind of sludge boogie, with Puni‘s toms driving transition into and out of quick spoken-word parts en route to the next assault. A final run through the hook ends with an echoing shout and a moment of silence before “Estranger” crashes in on its bluesy lead guitar line from Williams, clearly taking a more patient approach from the outset. The vibe persists throughout most of the track’s six and a half minutes, though Morass of Molasses aren’t shy about the build that’s happening all the while any more than they are about the subsequent payoff thereof, which arrives announced by a single snare hit just past the 4:20 mark (obviously) in harder fuzz and harsher throat, culminating in a grungy nod backed by consistent kick drum before finally letting go into a drift of whispers and feedback.
It’s from that natural but still thoughtfully done finish — the band clearly put emphasis on how one song feeds into the next as they were building The Ties that Bind, and indeed, the record all the more lives up to its name for those efforts — that the acoustic-led “Legend of the Five Sons” rises to cap side A with the contributions of Ainsworth and Greenaway, both contributions helping feed a sense of nature-worship that pulls away from some of the more interpersonal themes of songs like “Woe Betide” and “Estranger,” let alone “Persona Non Grata” still to come. But again, Morass of Molasses revel in the departure from one aspect of their sonic ideology to another, and they’re all the more able to pull off the sudden shifts in mood for that, each half of The Ties that Bind effectively framed in these folkish moments with bursts of aggression between. It’s like when you try really hard not to be mad but then you are anyway.
“Legend of the Five Sons” gives way easily to “As Leaves Fall,” with an interplay of electric and unplugged guitar, and soon enough, the feedback-soaked, shout-topped start of “Persona Non Grata” is underway. The longest of the album’s total nine tracks at just under seven minutes long — the record runs an LP-ready 38 minutes — it rolls out a righteous groove through much of the proceedings, pulling back to give Puni and Williams a bit of space during the bridge before the bigger-sounding finish, and then shifts, via feedback, into a concluding stretch of acoustic guitar, tying together with “As Leaves Fall” in a way that the tracks on side A seemed less interested in doing. Likewise, “In Our Sacred Skin” seems to push even further in bridging the gap between one side of their personality and the other, with a cleaner vocal style on display, acoustics layered in at various points, and still plenty of force surrounding to offer vicious counterpoint.
Still, that penultimate cut feels especially important in showcasing how Morass of Molasses might continue to draw the various sides of their approach together, and as they close out with “The Deepest Roots,” the proceedings still seem affected by the energy of the song prior, that tension overlapping in a way that underscores its resonant execution. I won’t profess to know where Morass of Molasses might be headed creatively after The Ties that Bind, but in a UK heavy underground that’s nigh on saturated with bands, their clear drive to distinguish themselves in terms of sound can only do them well as they keep moving forward. Most importantly, on The Ties that Bind, they come across like they want to do precisely that, and their willingness to push themselves into new styles of performance while also looking to others to bolster their own work in service to the songs likewise speaks to the proper placement of their priorities. With a firm sense of the earth under them, Morass of Molasses feel like they’re coming into their own here, and one hopes that’s precisely the case.
