Album Review: Mr. Bison, Seaward
Posted in Reviews on December 17th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
Seaward is the fourth album from Cecina, Italy’s Mr. Bison, and unquestionably the most progressive. Issued through Subsound Records and Ripple Music, the seven-track/39-minute collection brings together songs based around the a narrative of the sea itself, drawing on mythology about the creation of the Tuscan Archipelago as seven pearls broken off a necklace by Aphrodite — those love goddesses, so clumsy — falling into the water and making the islands. Good fun, and a nice linkup for a record from the Italian coast with seven songs on it, but Seaward reaches broader in terms of its actual subject matter and storytelling, as the three-piece of guitarist/vocalists Matteo Barsacchi and Matteo Sciocchetto and drummer/noisemaker/vocalist Matteo D’Ignazi engage not only myths and ancient stories — “Oudeis” translating to “no one” or “nobody” from Greek, but referring also to Odysseus — but look out over the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea in the opening title-track, “I’m the Storm” and the penultimate “Underwater.”
Should it be any surprise that the album flows? That it’s immersive? No. It’s about water. It damn well better flow and be immersive. But the scope of Seaward is a considerable shift from where the trio could be found in terms of aesthetics even two years ago. Their 2018 offering, Holy Oak (review here), certainly had its proggier moments, but carried them amid a tonal warmth born of heavy psychedelic impulse, and their roots in playing more straight-ahead, uptempo, post-Truckfighters heavy rock on their first two records, 2016’s Asteroid and 2012’s We’ll Be Brief, were still evident in some of the material. Seaward is a rock album, to be sure, but as the band showed earlier in 2020 on their split with Spacetrucker (review here), they are pushing toward a cleaner-toned flourish, perhaps less driven directly toward warmth of tone but distinctly broader in melody and more accomplished-sounding on the whole. Since Barsacchi — the lone remaining founder of the band — brought in Sciocchetto and D’Ignazi on Asteroid, the band would seem to have been pushing in this direction, but there’s little mistaking the proggy intent in these tracks.
Certainly, Mr. Bison aren’t the only group who’ve embarked on more complex structures and methods over the last few years — heavy rock as a whole has moved in this direction, fueled in no small part by the work of Elder and a few others — but there’s an underlying classic sensibility too in Seaward, and “Seaward,” the song, still opens with a mighty roller of a riff once it kicks in from the quiet introduction. The title-track may or may not have been composed for the purpose of leading off the LP, but it’s definitely suited for it, hitting into its verse before the three-minute mark as Mr. Bison find nuance between the ’70s style of heavy prog — Captain Beyond, et al — and modern heavy execution. But it’s the focus on melody that’s most striking, and the fact that while individual songs have gotten longer on the whole — Holy Oak had two tracks over seven minutes and Seaward has one in “I’m the Storm” (7:40), but that’s the longest song the band have made and the average of the surrounding cuts is higher — the band have managed to keep their songwriting sensibility intact.
Second cut “From the Abyss” emphasizes this, fluidly picking up from the end of “Seaward” with a shorter, more straightforward run on a short linear course, with a memorable chorus and instrumental thrust, giving way to vocals and lush guitar deceptive in its nuance for how peaceful it sounds. The final surge feels a bit manic in comparison, but they still manage to bring it down in time to end the song for a smooth transition into “I’m the Storm,” which brings a thicker chug as it might be expected to do, but coats it too in melody, pushing the distortion lower in the mix so that it’s part of the overall affect rather than entirely consuming, though the final echoing shout of the title line brings to mind Stoned Jesus‘ “I’m the Mountain” just the same. The residual drift marks the end of side A, and “I’m the Storm” is no less suited in its place than was “Seaward” at the outset, but the 6:45 “Oudeis,” introduced by organ in the spirit of Celeste and other classic Italian prog, is a special advent as the centerpiece of the tracklisting as well.
Scorching guitar, high-energy lead vocals that shift into harmony as the song moves into its midsection, and a proggy shuffle to accompany, “Oudeis” is clearly intended as a focal point example of Mr. Bison‘s sonic evolution — a show-piece, if there were shows — and it leads into side B with the sense that not only have the band taken on this sonic growth, but they’ve brought it to bear with the necessary control and mastery. As with “From the Abyss,” “The Sacrifice” follows “Oudeis” with a more forward motion, but the multiple layers of vocals, continued organ line and tension in the guitar and drums builds toward what’s arguably Seaward‘s most satisfying payoff. It’s ironic that it should come on the shortest track, but the vitality on display speaks for itself. With the subtle shift of an atmospheric intro, “Underwater” returns to more patient fare, but remains somewhat angular in its groove, coming apart later as its core strum leads the way out toward closer “The Curse.”
Saving room for one last push, Mr. Bison bring their watery proceedings to a close with “The Curse,” and in so doing offer one final linear build, perhaps the album’s most direct up to that point. A layer of guitar solo floats airily over the central riff, giving ambience to an earlier chug complementary to that of “I’m the Storm,” and the song’s ending, cut after a verse, feels somewhat sudden but leaves little more one might ask that isn’t delivered. The same is true of Seaward as a whole. Mr. Bison bring vitality to sonic progressivism in such a way as to distinguish themselves from their many peers of similar intent, and it is the energy of their material, as well as the theme, that allows them to tie together heavy rock and progadelia with such grace and class. Where their course might ultimately bring them has only become more of a mystery with this turn, but they’re only more exciting an act for that, and for the richness of craft they harness here.
Mr. Bison, Seaward (2020)
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