Are Scissorfight leaving? Nope. They ain’t. At least not until there’s more fucking rock than you ever have seen.
Such was the inarguable mission statement of the New Hampshire heavy riffers’ return EP, Chaos County (review here), which was issued last year via Salt of the Earth Records and served as my pick for the Best Short Release of 2016. Being the first offering of any kind from the band in a decade, “We Ain’t Leaving” is probably as much about saying “we’re back” as delaying any kind of premature departure, but one way or another, its huge, swaggering groove, granite-weighted tonality and gruff vocals get the message across to any and all willing to hear it: Scissorfight still destroy. That’s basically been their thing all along.
Chaos County returned them to the task with particular efficiency and force. The arrival of vocalist Doug Aubin and drummer Rick Orcutt alongside founding guitarist Jay Fortin and bassist Paul Jarvis only seemed to bolster the steamroller that the EP’s five tracks became, and as the leadoff, “We Ain’t Leaving” (also listed as “We Ain’t Leavin'” on the release itself) was the opening salvo that introduced listeners to the new hand from which Scissorfight‘s collective middle finger to planet Earth extended. Having hit the road in Europe this past Spring to play Roadburn 2017 (review here) and Desertfest London alongside compatriots Backwoods Payback, it seems only fair that the official video for “We Ain’t Leaving” should also come from the stage.
It finds them on their home turf — if I’m not mistaken, it’s The Shaskeen, in Manchester, NH — at a recent gig following their return from abroad, and you can see their rabble-rousing ways in full effect among the locals. Compiled in part from submitted footage from the show amid scenes of natural violence, car wrecks, and so on, “We Ain’t Leaving” portrays the riotousness for which Scissorfight have enjoyed a long-earned reputation live, and shows that while they’re long past the 20-year mark as a band, they’re still just getting (re-)started. Don’t expect them to leave anytime soon.
Some live dates follow the clip below. Please enjoy:
Scissorfight, “We Ain’t Leaving” official video
Scissorfight live: Friday Oct 13 2017, The Stone Church – Newmarket NH Friday Oct 20 2017, Empire – Portland ME Friday Oct 21 2017, Great Scott – Allston MA
Posted in Reviews on March 30th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
From harsh doom to urban pastoralism to heavy blues rock to rolling doom nonetheless metallic in its defiance, Day Four of the Quarterly Review spins around a swath of styles and hopefully, hopefully, finds something you dig in the doing. It’s been a long week already. You know it. I know it. But it’s also been really good to dig into this stuff and I know I’ve found a few records that have made their way onto the already-ongoing 2017 lists — best short releases, debuts, albums, etc. — so to say it’s been worth it is, as ever, an understatement. Today likewise has gems to offer, so I won’t delay.
Quarterly Review #31-40:
Unearthly Trance, Stalking the Ghost
Brooklyn’s Unearthly Trance make a somewhat unexpected reentry with Stalking the Ghost (on Relapse), their sixth album. In the years since 2010’s V (review here), guitarist/vocalist Ryan Lipynsky has delved into a wide variety of extreme genres, from the blackened fare of The Howling Wind to the deathly-doom of Serpentine Path, in which Unearthly Trance bassist Jay Newman and drummer Darren Verni also shared tenure, but reuniting as Unearthly Trance feels like a significant step for the three-piece, and on tracks like “Dream State Arsenal” and the darkly post-metallic “Lion Strength,” they remind of what it was that made them such a standout in the first place while demonstrating that their years away have done nothing to dull the surehandedness of their approach. At eight tracks/52 minutes, Stalking the Ghost is a significant dirge to undertake, but Unearthly Trance bring pent-up anguish to bear across this varied swath of punishing tracks, and reassert their dominance over an aesthetic sphere that, even after all this time, is thoroughly their own.
Probably a smart move on the part of Heavy Traffic spearhead guitarist Ian Caddick and drummer/vocalist Tav Palumbo to swap coasts from Santa Cruz to Brooklyn ahead of putting together their sixth (!) full-length in three years and Twin Earth Records debut, Plastic Surgery. Cali is awash in heavy psych anyway and Brooklyn’s been at a deficit (as much as it’s at a deficit of anything) since space forerunners Naam became one with the cosmos, so even apart from the acquisition of bassist David Grzedzinki and drummer Dan Bradica, it’s a solid call, and one finds the fruits yielded on Plastic Surgery’s dream-fuzzed blend of heft and roll, heady jams like “See Right Through,” the oh-you-like-feedback-well-here’s-all-the-feedback “Broth Drain” and winding “Medicated Bed” finding a place where shoegaze and psychedelia meet ahead of the low-end-weighted closing title-cut and the bonus track “White and Green,” which finishes with suitable push and swirl to mark a welcome and vibe-soaked arrival for the band. Hope you enjoy the Eastern Seabord. It could use you.
In the second Saturn album, Beyond Spectra, one can hear one of retro rock’s crucial next movements taking place. The Swedish four-piece, who debuted on Rise Above with 2014’s Ascending and return with a periodically explosive 10-track/45-minute outing here, find a niche for themselves in adding dual-guitar NWOBHM elements to ‘70s-style (also ‘10s-style) boogie, as on the scorching “Still Young” or opener “Orbital Command.” They’re not the only ones doing it – Rise Above alums Horisont come to mind readily – but they’re doing it well, and the last three years have clearly found them refining their approach to arrive at the tightness in the shuffle of “Wolfsson” and the creeping Priestism of “Helmet Man” later on. I’ll give bonus points for their embracing the idea of going completely over the top in naming a song “Electrosaurus Sex,” but by the time they get down to closing duo “Silfvertape” and “Sensor Data,” I’m left thinking of the subdued intro to “Orbital Command” and the interlude “Linkans Delight” and wondering if there isn’t a way to bring more of that dynamic volume and tempo breadth into the songwriting as a whole. That would really be far out. Maybe they’ll get there, maybe they won’t. Either way, Beyond Spectra, like its predecessor, makes a largely inarguable case for Saturn’s potential.
Measuring its impact between doomly traditionalism and attitudinal fuckall, Lucifer’s Fall’s II: Cursed and Damned (on Nine Records) is a doom-for-doomers affair that tops 55 minutes with its nine tracks, recalling Dio-era Sabbathian gallop on opener “Mother Superior” and landing a significant blow with the slow-rolling nine-minute push of “The Necromancer.” Shades of Candlemass, Reverend Bizarre, and the most loyal of the loyalists show themselves throughout, but whether it’s the crawl in the first half of “Cursed Priestess” or the blistering rush of the clarion centerpiece “(Fuck You) We’re Lucifer’s Fall,” there’s an undercurrent of punk in the five-piece’s take that lends an abiding rawness to even the album’s most grueling moments. One looks to find a middle ground in songs like “The Mountains of Madness” and closer “Homunculus,” but Lucifer’s Fall instead offer NWOBHM-style guitar harmonics and soaring vocals, respectively, only pushing their stylistic breadth wider, playing by and breaking rules they’re clearly setting for themselves rather than working toward outside expectation. As a result, II: Cursed and Damned keeps its fist in the air for the duration, middle finger up.
Over the course of six-minute opener “A New Architecture,” guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw gradually moves the listener from abrasive noise to sweet, folkish acoustic guitar backed by amplified wavelengths. It’s a slowly unfolding change, patiently done, and it works in part to define Uptown (on The Flenser), the Pelican guitarist’s six-song solo debut long-player. Noise and drone make themselves regulars, and there’s a steady experimentalism at root in pieces like “Distinct Frequency,” the low-end hum and strum of “You Were Sure,” and the should’ve-been-on-the-soundtrack-to-Arrival “Turn up for What,” which unfurls a linear progression from minimalism to consuming swell in eight minutes ahead of the more actively droning 11-minute sendoff “From the Black Soil Poetry and Song Sprang,” but de Brauw manages to keep a human core beneath via both the occasional acoustic layer and through moments where a piece is being palpably manipulated, à la the spacious distorted churn of “They Keep Bowing.” I’m not sure how Uptown didn’t wind up on Neurot, but either way, it’s an engaging exploration of textures, and one hopes it won’t be de Brauw’s last work in this form.
Someone in Scuzzy Yeti has roots in metal, and the good money’s on it being vocalist Chris Wells. Joined in the Troy, New Hampshire, five-piece by guitarists Brad Decatur and Jason Lawrence (ex-Skrogg), bassist Wayne Munson and drummer Josh Turnbull, Wells casts a sizable frontman presence across the five-tracks of Scuzzy Yeti’s self-titled debut EP, belting out “Westward” and “BTK” as the band behind him hones a blend of classic heavy rock and doom. The sound is more reminiscent of Janne Christoffersson-era Spiritual Beggars than what one might expect out of New England, and the band amass some considerable momentum as centerpiece “Conqueror” and the shorter shuffle “Knees in the Breeze” push toward slower, lead-soaked closer “Flare,” which finds the lead guitar stepping up to meet Wells head-on. They might have some work to do in finding a balance between the stylistic elements at play, but for a first outing, Scuzzy Yeti shows all the pieces are there and are being put into their rightful place, and the result is significant, marked potential.
The insistent push from punctuated Denver trio Urn.’s self-titled debut demo/EP is enough to remind one of the days when the primary impression of Mastodon wasn’t their complexity, but the raw savagery with which that complexity was delivered. Urn. – the three-piece of Scott Schulman, Graham Wesselhoff and Jacob Archuleta – work in some elements of more extreme metal to “Rat King” after opener “Breeder,” both songs under three minutes and successfully conveying an intense thrust. The subsequent “Stomach” ranges further and is the longest cut at 4:45, but loses none of its focus as it winds its way toward closer “To the Grave,” which in addition to maintaining the nigh-on-constant kick drum that has pervaded the three tracks prior, offers some hints of lumbering stomp to come. As a first sampling, Urn.’s Urn. is a cohesive aesthetic blast setting in motion a progression that will be worth following as it develops. Call it rager metal and try not to spill your beverage while you windmill, you wild headbanger.
2016 found San Diego aggressors Nebula Drag making their self-titled, self-released debut (review here) with a record that seemed to work in willful defiance of their hometown’s psychedelic underground while at the same time occasionally nodding to it. The forebodingly-titled Always Dying three-song EP does likewise, launching with a vengeance on “Crosses” before burying the vocals and spacing out behind the crashes of the more languid-rolling title-track and giving a bit of both sides with the four-minute closer “Flying Fuckers.” It’s almost as if the three-piece of Corey Quintana, bassist Mike Finneran and drummer Stephen Varns, having thus completed their first album, decided to boil it down to its essential stylistic components and the result of that was this 14-minute outing. An intriguing prospect, but it could also be these were leftovers from the prior session with Jordan Andreen at Audio Design Recording and putting them up for a free download was an easy way to give them some purpose. In any case, if you haven’t yet been introduced to the band, Always Dying is an efficient telling of their story thus far.
If their moniker doesn’t have you immediately running through the most legendary of cheat codes, congratulations on being born after 1990. Cleveland burl-sludge metallers Contra make their full-length debut on respected purveyor Robustfellow with the 10-track/41-minute Deny Everything, and if it sounds like they have their shit together – at least sound-wise – it should make sense given the pedigree of drummer Aaron Brittain (ex-Rue), bassist/guitarist Adam Horwatt (So Long Albatross), guitarist Chris Chiera (ex-Sofa King Killer) and vocalist Larry Bent (ex-Don Austin). Be it established that songs like “Snake Goat” and “Son of Beast” are nobody’s first time at the sludge rodeo. Fair enough. Doesn’t mean Contra don’t establish their own personality in the overarching fuckall and total lack of pretense throughout Deny Everything – hell, seven-minute closer “Shrimp Cocktail” proves that on its own – just that that personality has roots. What Contra wants to do with them still kind of seems up in the air, but something about these tracks makes me think the band likes it that way. See the aforementioned “fuckall.”
Comprised of four songs tracked live in the trio’s native Córdoba at 440 Estudio, the self-titled debut EP from Argentine trio IAH – guitarist Mauricio Condon, bassist Juan Pablo Lucco and drummer José Landín – would seem destined to catch the attention of South American Sludge Records if it already hasn’t. In the interim, the three-piece have made the instrumental EP available as a free download and its unpretentious heavy psychedelics and edge of rock-minded thrust on opener “Cabalgan los Cielos” and the early going of closer “Eclipsum” more than justify their intention to spread the word as much as possible. Set to a balance of post-rock guitar, the bassline of “Stolas” carries a progressive inflection, and the fuzz that emerges halfway into second track “Ouroboros” shows a desert rock influence that blends well into its surroundings as a part of a richer sonic entity. A nascent but palpable chemistry at work across its 26 minutes, IAH’s IAH could portend expansive ideas to come, and one hopes it does precisely that.
Posted in Features on December 30th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
Please note: This post is not culled in any way from the Year-End Poll, which is ongoing. If you haven’t yet contributed your favorites of 2016 to that, please do.
—
Yeah, I know I said as much when the Top 20 Debut Albums of 2016 went up, but I take it back: this is the hardest list to put together. And to be honest, there’s a part of me that’s hesitant even to post it because I know as soon as I do someone’s going to be like, “No way you dick your entire existence is shit because you forgot Release X,” and very likely they’ll be right. Up to the very moment this post is going live, I’ve been making changes, and I expect I’ll continue to do so for a while after it’s out there.
So what’s a “short release?” That’s another issue. Pretty much anything that’s not an album. Singles, digital or physical, as well as EPs, splits, demos, and so on. The category becomes nebulous, but my general rule is if it’s not a full-length, it qualifies as a short release. Sounds simple until you get into things like, “Here’s a track I threw up on Bandcamp,” and “This only came out as a bonus included as a separate LP with the deluxe edition of our album.” I’m telling you, I’ve had a difficult time.
Maybe that’s just me trying to protect myself from impending wrath. This year’s Top 30 albums list provoked some vehement — and, if I may, prickishly-worded — responses, so I might be a bit gunshy here, but on the other hand, I think these outings are worth highlighting, so we’re going forward anyway. If you have something to add, please use the comments below, but remember we’re all friends here and there’s a human being on the other end reading what’s posted. Thanks in advance for that.
And since this is the last list of The Obelisk’s Best-of-2016 coverage, I’ll say thanks for reading as well. More to come in the New Year, of course.
Here we go:
The Obelisk Presents: The Top 20 Short Releases of 2016
1. Scissorfight, Chaos County EP
2. Earthless / Harsh Toke, Split
3. Mars Red Sky, Providence EP
4. Mos Generator, The Firmament
5. Soldati, Soldati
6. Monolord, Lord of Suffering / Die in Haze EP
7. Wren, Host EP
8. Goya, The Enemy EP
9. The Sweet Heat, Demo
10. River Cult, Demo
11. Stinkeye, Llantera Demos
12. Megaritual, Eclipse EP
13. Ragged Barracudas / Pushy, Split
14. Mindkult, Witchs’ Oath EP
15. Iron Jawed Guru, Mata Hari EP
16. Brume, Donkey
17. Bison Machine / Wild Savages / SLO, Sweet Leaves Vol. 1 Split
18. BoneHawk / Kingnomad, The Second Coming of Heavy: Chapter Three Split
19. Wicked Gypsy, EP
20. Love Gang, Love Gang EP
Honorable Mention
An expansive category as ever. In addition to what’s above, the following stood out and no doubt more will be added over the course of the next few days. If you feel something is missing, please let me know.
Presented alphabetically:
Cambrian Explosion, The Moon EP
Candlemass, Death Thy Lover EP
Cultist, Cultist EP
Danava, At Midnight You Die 7″
Dos Malés, Dos Malés EP
Druglord, Deepest Regrets EP
Fu Manchu, Slow Ride 7″
Geezer, A Flagrant Disregard for Happiness 12″
Gorilla vs. Grifter, Split
Holy Smoke, Holy Smoke! It’s a Demo!
Karma to Burn, Mountain Czar
LSD and the Search for God, Heaven is a Place EP
Pallbearer, Fear and Fury
Reign of Zaius, Planet Of…
Sea of Bones / Ramlord, Split
Shallows, The Moon Rises
The Skull, EP
Snowy Dunes, “Atlantis Part I” digital single
Sun Voyager / The Mad Doctors, Split
Valborg, Werwolf 7″
Notes
Was it just the raw joy of having Scissorfight back? No, but that was for sure part of it. It was also the brazenness with which the New Hampshire outfit let go of their past, particularly frontman Christopher “Ironlung” Shurtleff, and moved forward unwilling to compromise what they wanted to do that made their Chaos County so respectable in my eyes. Having always flourished in the form, they delivered an EP of classic Scissorfight tunes and issued a stiff middle finger to anyone who would dare call them otherwise. They couldn’t have been more themselves no matter who was in the band.
At the same time, it was a hard choice between that and the Earthless / Harsh Toke split for the top spot. I mean, seriously. It’s Earthless — who at this point are the godfathers of West Coast jamadelica — and Harsh Toke, who are among the style’s most engaging upstart purveyors, each stretching out over a huge and encompassing single track. I couldn’t stop listening to that one if I wanted to, and as the year went on, I found I never wanted to.
I was glad when Mars Red Sky included the title-track of the Providence EP as a bonus cut on their subsequent album, Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul), both because it tied the two releases together even further and because it gave me another opportunity to hear it every time I listened to the record. Their short releases have always shown significant character apart from their full-lengths, and this was no exception. I still tear up when I hear “Sapphire Vessel.”
To bounce around a bit: Had to get Mos Generator on the list for the progressive expansion of the live-recorded The Firmament. Stickman was right to put that out on vinyl. Both Monolord and Goya provided quick outings of huge riffs to sate their respective and growing followings, while Megaritual’s Eclipse basked in drone serenity and the debut release from Sergio Ch.’s Soldati provided hard-driving heavy rock with the particular nuance for which the former Los Natas frontman is known. It’s the highest among a slew of first/early outings — see also The Sweet Heat, Wren (Host was their second EP), River Cult’s demo, Stinkeye, Mindkult, Iron Jawed Guru, Brume, Wicked Gypsy and Love Gang.
Ultimately, there were fewer splits on the list this year than last year, but I’ll credit that to happenstance more than any emergent bias against the form or lack of quality in terms of what actually came out. The BoneHawk and Kingnomad release, the Ragged Barracudas and Pushy split, and that heavy rocking onslaught from Bison Machine and company were all certainly welcome by me, and I’ll mention Gorilla vs. Grifter there too again, just because it was awesome.
—
One more time, thank you for reading, and if you have something to add, please do so in the comments below. Your civility in that regard is appreciated.
This is the last of my lists for 2016, but the Readers Poll results are out Jan. 1 and the New Year hits next week and that brings a whole new round of looking-forward coverage, so stay tuned.
[Click play above to stream Scissorfight’s Chaos County EP in full. Out Oct. 28 on Salt of the Earth Records.]
Takes Scissorfight about 17 minutes to reclaim their position as the Granite State Destroyers with their new EP, Chaos County. Actually, it’s much less than that. By the time guitarist James Jay Fortin has made his way through the first riff cycle of opener “We Ain’t Leavin'” — a declamatory statement in itself — with his unmistakable low tone that should be marketed as a nutritional supplement to foster beard growth, Scissorfight make it clear that they’re back and, as new frontman Doug Aubin assures in a guttural delivery, they’re not going anywhere, “until there’s more fuckin’ rock than you ever have seen.”
It’s been a decade since the New Hampshire outfit’s last album, the Jaggernaut — which was, indeed, thought to be their swansong until their reunion was announced at the start of this year — and as Chaos County brings them out of this extended absence, it comes as a particularly bold re-entry as founders Fortin and bassist Paul Jarvis bring aboard Aubin and drummer Rick Orcutt.
The two newer members replace vocalist Christopher “Ironlung” Shurtleff and his brother, drummer Kevin Shurtleff, and particularly for Aubin, those are considerable shoes to fill as a frontman. Those who saw Ironlung on stage or heard his burly, always-clever lyrics could tell you he was a significant presence in Scissorfight even as he moved toward cleaner singing on the later offerings of their original run.
How does Scissorfight handle this monumental change? In typical Scissorfight fashion, of course. They don’t give a shit.
Really, that’s all they can do. Fortin and Jarvis, after years together in acts like Mess with the Bull and Supermachine, who each had something to offer but never quite took hold in the same way as their prior outfit, wanted to reignite Scissorfight, and presumably there will be plenty who decry the lineup changes, but after listening to the five tracks on Chaos County (out on Salt of the Earth Records), hearing the energy and the force behind all five — “We Ain’t Leavin’,” “Seventies,” “Giardia on My Mind,” “Nature’s Cruelest Mistake” and “Tits Up” — as captured by Benny Grotto at Mad Oak Studio (more on the recording here), as a fan of the band I can only think it’s their loss.
Those approaching Chaos County already familiar with Scissorfight‘s work — and after the changes the heavy rock underground has gone through in the last decade, I expect there will be many who aren’t — might find it helpful to think of it along the lines of 2000’s New Hampshire full-length. Shorter, obviously, but that was arguably the point at which the band began to turn from their even-more-aggressive earlier work toward the burl-groove style of 2001’s landmark Mantrapping for Sport and Profit (discussed here), and Chaos County, aside from sharing some artwork similarity in the landscape (plus skull), the new EP moves Scissorfight to a rawer, meaner place, especially in what Aubin brings on vocals.
Yeah, they’re still having fun in “Seventies” — about the ’70s; its gas, rock, boobs, etc. — and the centerpiece highlight “Giardia on My Mind,” on which Jarvis adds banjo flourish while Aubin digs into lyrics about the actual “beaver fever” one gets from drinking contaminated river water. Winks, of course, abound. Scissorfight never had much use for political correctness, and one doubts that will change, but frankly with “Giardia” in the title and lines like, “A cool mountain stream is full of beaver piss,” their public service announcement comes through loud and clear.
The subsequent “Nature’s Cruelest Mistake” nestles into a right-on roll, led by Fortin‘s riff — a more forward drive and tight interplay between verses and choruses that seems less insistent than the jerky starts and stops that rush through “Seventies” earlier on, and the band as a whole comes across as their most comfortable there. It’s a little slower, but in a way that “Seventies” kind of feels like it wants to be, and if nothing else, it shows that Scissorfight are getting back to a position of making their songs work in different ways.
Shaking off the rust? Maybe. A decade is a long time, and it feels even longer for rock and roll, but from the raucous gurgles of “We Ain’t Leavin'” to the got-drunk ode “Tits Up” that caps in high-octane, encouraging mega-chorus form — Fortin backing Aubin on vocals as he also does on “Giardia on My Mind” — Chaos County stands in the tradition of Scissorfight EPs like 2000’s Piscataqua, 2002’s Potential New Agent for Unconventional Warfare, 2003’s Deathchants, Breakdowns and Military Waltzes Vol. 2, and 2005’s Victory over Horseshit, in finding their band feeling their way through a stage in their progression hopefully en route to a next full-length (their seventh, if one counts the 2001 limited-release, American Cloven Hoof Blues).
Ultimately, how a given listener feels about the prospect of new Scissorfight as they move forward I think will depend a lot on the individual — some won’t be able to get past the changes, but there’s an entire generation to take their place at shows — and on how much road-work the band are able to do, if they can get to Europe, and what they do in the studio to follow-up Chaos County, be it another EP or, hopefully, an album that can stand up to the crucial statement that not only are Scissorfight back as a reunited act looking to push ahead of where they were 10 years ago, but are ready to declare their victory once more on an ongoing basis.
A working band, in other words. The next year or two will be telling, but the fact that Chaos County ignites such looking to the future instead of longing for the past should be taken as proof of the EP’s success. It demonstrates that there is life for Scissorfight in this incarnation, and more, it fucking rocks in a way that no one else has quite been able to match since the band went away all those years ago. Welcome back, Scissorfight. You have been missed.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 19th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
If at least one of the names in Onera‘s rather formidable pedigree doesn’t stand out to you, take the sheer abundance of them as a sign that you might want to get introduced. For me, it’s vastly underappreciated doomers Morgion and likewise overlooked heavy rockers Cortez that did the trick. The New Hampshire-based newcomers comprised from former members of these outfits and more have just issued their first release in the form of a three-song melo-doomer title Olde that they seem to be hoping will get picked up either itself for label support or will lead to same for their next offering. Digging into the tracks, they’d seem just as much at home on Cruz del Sur as Candlelight. Kind of a lot of dark-vs.-light playing out within each song, all of it very metal, very doomed.
The PR wire offers the following:
ONERA: Doom Outfit Featuring Morgion, Keen Of The Crow, Cortez, December Wolves, And Watchmaker Alumni Releases EP
New Hampshire-based doom metal quintet ONERA proudly presents their debut EP, Olde, which has just been independently released by the band, and is now streaming in its entirety. Though the entity of ONERA is very new, the outfit unites a team of veterans from a wide array of revered acts including Morgion, Keen Of The Crow, Cortez, December Wolves, Watchmaker, and others who have been active in the scene for several decades.
In September 2015, the members of ONERA entered Amps vs Ohms in Cambridge, Massachusetts to capture their debut recordings. The members’ cumulative resumes and influences intertwine and carve out a unique sound for the band. Mastered at New Alliance East, the three-song Olde EP presents just under thirty minutes of glorious doom metal rapture, rife with heavy, melodic, dynamic, and progressive elements which help create an intense, organic, and primeval aura.
Olde Track Listing: 1. Unruhe 2. Stil As Stone 3. Cold Hand’s Caress
ONERA is promoting the release, shopping their music to labels, and continuing to put on impressive live performances throughout the Northeast.
Posted in Whathaveyou on June 1st, 2016 by JJ Koczan
I was fortunate enough to visit Mad Oak Studios last month as reunited New Hampshire bruisers Scissorfight were recording their upcoming EP, Chaos County. The short version? I liked what I heard. The songs are there. The tone is there. And if you were a fan of the band during their first run and are apprehensive about what a new lineup means to the smartassed thunderstomp they once wrought, then rest easy. Scissorfight still sound like they wouldn’t think twice about handing you your keister.
The four-piece announce today that they’ve been picked up by Connecticut’s Salt of the Earth Records (who also have a brand new website) for the Chaos County release, and in addition to that nifty news, they’ve also got a teaser for the EP with a sample of what was, when I last heard it, called “’70s Rock.” The running theme will become clear immediately upon hearing it.
More to come closer to the release, but here’s the announcement from Salt of the Earth:
From the majestic peak of Mt. Washington, It is with great pleasure we announce this stupendous news!!!…We have signed New Hampshire maniac riff hurlers: SCISSORFIGHT!!!
That’s right! The almighty SCISSORFIGHT have re-emerged from a secret location in the northern notches of the White mountains, with Doug Aubin on vocals and Rick Orcutt on drums, along with founding members Paul Jarvis and Jay Fortin. New blood, new tales and an unquenchable thirst for riffs and volume, they are better then ever!
SCISSORFIGHT have covered many miles over the years, and its obvious that they are running with a full tank of race fuel feeding their fully blown and antlered f250 monster truck…These new songs are UNSTOPPABLE…
We have booked Mad Oak Studios to help capture the band in all its sonic mountain glory. Hopefully the walls can withstand the blunt force riffage.
Music this good has an urgency and a fire that has to be heard to be believed. So get fucking ready for the new SCISSORFIGHT release…. “CHAOS COUNTY”
Posted in Features on March 18th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
It’s been 10 years since New Hampshire’s Scissorfight released their last album, Jaggernaut. The label they put that out on, Tortuga, no longer exists. They toured for that record with Orange Goblin and I saw them in New York. The venue? Closed. An entirely new generation of heavy rock and roll fans has come along in the time since Scissorfight were laid to rest, and there’s a very good chance that its collective ass is about to be taken to school.
This year started with the announcement that Scissorfight had reunited, under the guidance of founding guitarist Jay Fortin and bassist Paul Jarvis and with newcomers Doug Aubin and Rick Orcutt on vocals and drums, respectively. In particular, Aubin has some sizable shoes to fill — the band’s former frontman, Chris “Ironlung” Shurtleff, was a landmark presence up front, riding their thick-rolling grooves and leading like a madman through bizarre tales of obscure history, pop terror and the occasional bit of backwoods motherfuckery.
Fortin, as it happens, isn’t unaware of the challenges facing Scissorfight. It’s just that, in the true tradition of the band, he could give a shit. So Scissorfight have been steadily announcing live appearances — the first of them March 27 at The Shaskeen in Manchester, NH — and regional trips like a weekender in July with Backwoods Payback and Gozu as the initial steps of a reunion that, as the guitarist has said all along, will eventually lead to new material to play alongside the classic burl of “New Hampshire’s Alright if You Like Fighting,” “Outmotherfucker the Man” and the ever-essential “Planet of Ass.”
What shape that new material will take — album, EP, etc. — is still up in the air and depends on how the writing goes, but as Fortin explains, there’s no shortage of riffs cobbled together from years in bands like Mess with the Bull, Supermachine and Dieselwulf, and as he steps back into Scissorfight, he begins to realize how much of a common thread was drawn through everything that came after, between then and now.
Complete Q&A with Fortin is after the jump. Thanks for reading.
Posted in Whathaveyou on January 8th, 2016 by JJ Koczan
It’s the news New England has been waiting for. New Hampshire’s Scissorfight will return in 2016 with a new singer, new drummer and new material.
I don’t know if I’d call a Scissorfight reunion inevitable, but it sure as shit is welcome. The Granite State Destroyers put word out that they have added two new members and they’ll start doing shows again this year playing old material and new.
That last part is of course of immediate intrigue. New Scissorfight? 2016 marks a decade since their last album, Jaggernaut, was released, and while I’ve no doubt the band — founding guitarist Jay Fortin and bassist Paul Jarvis plus newcomers Doug Aubin (vocals) and Rick Orcutt (drums) — can find a label to pick them up in the wake of Tortuga/Hydra Head going defunct, it’s a surprising proposition out of the gate. With the establishing of an official Facebook page for the band and an online merch store in the last couple months, their reunion isn’t exactly out of the blue, but I’m dying to hear what it sounds like.
New and old. Scissorfight 2016 — hell yes I’m curious. Might be worth a trip to New Hampshire if they’re playing out, though I don’t know if you ever saw them back in their day, but they drew a pretty raucous crowd. Angry New Englanders letting out workingman’s aggression to songs about pirates and outmotherfuckering the man, which, of course, they may yet do.
As one would have to expect, the announcement was short and bullshit-free. It follows this photo, which is old but rules nonetheless:
Hey fans of scissorfight!
Please be aware that scissorfight is coming back with two new members! Doug on vocals, Rick on drums. We will be playing live shows. We will be paying homage to the classic songs of the past and we will be presenting new material for your thrashing pleasure!
