https://www.high-endrolex.com/18

Review & Full Stream: Garden of Worm & The Wandering Midget, Split 7″

Posted in audiObelisk, Reviews on January 25th, 2018 by JJ Koczan

Issued late last year, the untitled split seven-inch between Garden of Worm and The Wandering Midget finds the two outfits with plenty in common between them. Some preliminaries: Both hail from Finland. Both are trios. Both got together in the mid-aughts and have released two full-lengths to-date, and both work in an intricate and sometimes subtle vein of progressive, classic-sounding doom. In addition, though they’ve stayed productive in the meantime, both are several years removed from their most recent full-lengths, though they’ve shares shorter offerings in between. In other words? Yeah, getting The Wandering Midget and Garden of Worm together for a split release makes sense, even if in so doing there’s an emphasis placed on the differences between their methods.

Each three-piece offers one track. Garden of Worm bring “Whirls” and The Wandering Midget “Man with Black Hole Eyes.” “Whirls” hits the six-minute mark and “Man with Black Hole Eyes” pushes that mark, so it’s fair to say they’re pushing the limits of what a 7″ platter — even one with the backing of three different imprints in Rämekuukkeli, Acidmen and Pariah Child Records — can hold. They treat stylistic boundaries much the same way, with Garden of Worm on side A measuring out light-grey-toned heavy psychedelic vibe in “Whirls,” which builds on the classic progressivism of 2015’s sophomore outing, Idle Stones (review here) while pushing even further away from a strict adherence to what’s commonly thought of as doom.

Understated, almost laid back vocals give “Whirls” a pastoral vibe in its rolling second half, but this emerges only after the song’s first three minutes embark on a patient, Doors-worthy psychedelic meander, building gradually to the first verse that seems to arrive just a little late on purpose — Garden of Worm making their audience wait, even after the crashing drums of J.M. Suvanto have clearly brought the first of the two movements to its head, S.J. Harju‘s bass and E.J. Taipale‘s guitar living up to the titular “Whirl” all the garden of worm the wandering midget splitwhile. That loose psychedelic feel is maintained, but “Whirls” is unmistakably doom as well, though effectively filtered through classic progressive heavy rock in a way few bands can pull off so well. In six minutes’ time, Garden of Worm reemphasize the individualism of style that’s made their work to-date so satisfying to follow while reminding of the forward potential still so evident in what they do.

A percussive dirge from The Wandering Midget on side B’s “Man with Black Hole Eyes” has a folkish tinge, despite resonant sonic heft particularly stemming from the low end of bassist Thomas Grenier. It’s been over a decade now since the Lappeenranta trio arrived in 2007 via Eyes Like Snow with their I am the Gate compilation — I still remember getting a slimline CD promo copy in the mail, and yes, I still have it — and though part of what they do in paying homage to doomly gods is inherently regressive in form, there’s a freshness to the melancholy of “Man with Black Hole Eyes” that, as the song rounds out with a few lines of vocal harmonies from Grenier backing guitarist Samiel Wormius — the trio completed by drummer Jonathan Sprenger — there is an unmistakable sense of sonic persona running in measure to the post-Reverend Bizarre rolling rhythm at the center of the song. A strong and emotive vocal performance from Wormius gives “Man with Black Hole Eyes” an underlying human presence, but really, it’s the slogging rhythm brought to bear without going over-the-top in terms of tonal weight that gives the track its roots in downerism, gracefully executed and still somehow raw and minimal-seeming.

The Wandering Midget, who had a split out last year as well with Swedish-via-Roman outfit Hands of Orlac are nonetheless creeping up on being six years removed from their second LP, 2012’s From the Meadows of Opium Dreams, and especially listening to the poise with which they deliver “Man with Black Hole Eyes,” that seems like plenty long enough. They’ve always been an outlier — in part I think because of their non-preferred-nomenclature moniker and in part just because they’re bizarre — but “Man with Black Hole Eyes” is a reminder that since the days of I am the Gate there’s always been something intangible and strange about their modus and it’s a due relief to know that hasn’t changed in the time that has passed. Without knowing any plans in that regard or if any batch of new material might be in the works, I can at least say that “Man with Black Hole Eyes” is enough to leave me wanting more from The Wandering Midget, and presumably that’s part of the impetus behind the split in the first place.

Though it’s been out for a while, the split hasn’t actually been streamed anywhere as yet, and I consider myself very fortunate to be able to host the digital premiere of it today. Find it below,followed by more background on the project, and please enjoy:

December 2017

The first plans about this split were made already ten years ago. After that these Finnish bands have played a lot together so it is only natural that they finally share a vinyl too. Luckily the songs are not as old as the original idea.

Garden of Worm started its career with plain doom metal. During the years the band has developed towards more innovative and original sound but all the time maintaining very down-to-earth attitude and warm atmosphere. Whirls is once again a fine example of these qualities.

On the other side of the single The Wandering Midget delivers a heavy punch with an intensive doom metal song. Man with Black Hole Eyes includes a large scale of emotions and heaviness, which suits the genre’s finest traditions.

Besides the unforgettable musical moments the record offers beautiful artwork by Tommi Musturi and skillful calligraphy by Jusso Pilhjerld.

Garden of Worm:
S.J. Harju – bass, vocals
E.J. Taipale – guitar, vocals
J.M. Suvanto – drums

The Wandering Midget:
Samuel Wormius – vocals, guitar
Thomas Grenier – bass, backing vocals
Jonathan Sprenger – drums

Garden of Worm on Thee Facebooks

Garden of Worm on Bandcamp

The Wandering Midget on Thee Facebooks

The Wandering Midget on Bandcamp

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

audiObelisk: Second Grave Stream “Drink the Water” from New Antithesis EP

Posted in audiObelisk on September 16th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

The new two-songer from Second Grave is something of a beast. In right about 18 minutes, the Massachusetts-based four-piece sum up the machinations of their prior self-titled full-length debut (review here) and also push the bounds of their emerging aesthetic, frontwoman Krista van Guilder (ex-Warhorse) belting out memorable choruses for both “Mourning Light” and “Drink the Water” as the two songs on Antithesis seem to lock in stylistic combat with each other. Meeting on the line between doom and metal, “Mourning Light” and “Drink the Water” each offer no questions as to their allegiances, but more importantly, as they make their way through, Second Grave sound consistent and confident playing to whichever end they so choose.

To wit, the marauding riff of “Mourning Light” runs at a faster, NWOBHM gallop — van Guilder and Chris Drzal‘s guitars winding around the pace set by Chuck Ferreira‘s drums and the bass of Dave Gein (also of Black Pyramid/The Scimitar) — while “Drink the Water” offers more morose fare, thoroughly doomed with a classic, Euro sensibility about it, heavy, lumbering, but with a tinge of emotional drama underpinning. Looking at the comparative runtimes for the two, “Mourning Light” at 6:38 and “Drink the Water” at 11:41, there’s an immediate understanding that Second Grave have a varied methodology, and the pairing of one right with the next brings that all the more into relief, but at no point do Second Grave sound like they’re putting on airs or cloying at sonic diversity for the sake of pretense.

With “Drink the Water” especially, the natural balance in the band’s sound comes out in the fluid tempo changes and the catchy hook, both of which give way to crushing, slow-paced crash topped with vicious screams emphatically delivered by van Guilder. Feedback-soaked madness ensues, and if nothing else, Second Grave finish out Antithesis on some of their darkest and most oppressive atmospherics yet.

Antithesis was recorded by Clay Neely at Black Coffee Sound and mastered by John Brenner of Revelation. Second Grave will support the Oct. 31 Pariah Child Records release (limited to 500 10″ vinyl copies) with a slot at Stoner Hands of Doom XIII at Strange Matterin Richmond, VA, on Nov. 9.

Enjoy “Drink the Water” on the player below:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

Second Grave on Thee Facebooks

Second Grave’s website

Tags: , , , , ,

Revelation Interview with John Brenner: A Guided Tour of the Inner Harbor

Posted in Features on November 21st, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Their third new studio album since getting back together as Revelation and issuing 2008’s Release on Leaf HoundInner Harbor is an album that bleeds authenticity. After a while and the work that the Baltimore trio of John Brenner (guitar/vocals), Bert Hall, Jr. (bass) and Steve Branagan (drums) have also done as the concurrent act Against Nature, one almost comes to expect a level of musical humanity in the sound, but Inner Harbor (review here) takes the unpretentious progressive elements in Revelation‘s approach and pushes them further, evoking the melancholy in which they’ve always trafficked without sounding like a put-on or over-the-top in any sense that might apply.

Yet I wouldn’t call Inner Harbor reserved. In the interview that follows, Brenner talks about the process of paring down the six tracks to fit them on the LP version of the album (released by Pariah Child Records, as opposed to the CD on Shadow Kingdom or the free download available through the band’s own Bland Hand imprint), and it seems like a process involving little if any restraint, resulting in an album that went from 60 minutes to 35. Tracks like “Jones Falls” and “Terribilita” aren’t likely to overwhelm with a sonic assault, but both convey effectively the raw emotional aspect that’s at the heart of classic doom.

Because Revelation are a constantly evolving process, however,that emotionality comes with some stylistic shifts that anyone who heard either Release or 2009’s follow-up, For the Sake of No One (or the earlier records, for that matter), could be easily surprised by — most notably the extensive incorporation of progressive synth alongside the guitar, bass and drums. Revelation have never been about expansive arrangements or overly indulgent explorations, instead finding effective conveyance through relatively simple, traditional means and tones, but on a song like the closing “An Allegory of Want” or “Rebecca at the Well,” they’re showing more of a classic prog influence — i.e. Rush — and making it work within the context of their long-since-proven ability for songcraft.

The changes might not be so devastating for anyone who’s followed Revelation since they got back or Branagan, Hall and Brenner‘s work in Against Nature, but the Rush influence was something I specifically wanted to explore in the back and forth with Brenner, along with the evolution of their self-recording process and the differences that have emerged between Against Nature and Revelation over the last few years. Brenner, an admitted introvert but no less sincere in his answers than he is in the music he writes, was especially poignant in discussing the meaning behind the title Inner Harbor, and how important the interpretations of individual words is to him both in the band and in general.

And maybe those parts are specifically worth a look, but honestly, the whole thing makes for a good read. You’ll find the complete 5,500-word Q&A after the jump.

Please enjoy:

Read more »

Tags: , , , , , ,

Revelation, Inner Harbor: Patapsco into the Chesapeke

Posted in Reviews on October 18th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

It seems strange to think that three years would pass before Revelation put out another record. The trio of John Brenner (guitar/vocals), Bert Hall (bass) and Steve Branagan (drums) released For the Sake of No One (review here) late into 2009, and it was the third of three full-lengths issued in a 16-month span (not counting the …Yet So Far reissue on Shadow Kingdom, but counting the previously unreleased self-titled from 1988). Still, it’s been three years and that time has brought some changes in Revelation. Not in lineup, or in their general writing ethic, but like much of Revelation’s music itself, the shifts the band is making stylistically are subtle. Their new work, Inner Harbor (free download through Bland Hand, CD forthcoming on Shadow Kingdom, vinyl through Pariah Child), is a full 10 minutes shorter than was For the Sake of No One, but more pivotally, its six tracks find the long-running Baltimore trio pushing into new, progressive territory, with keyboards featuring heavily in line with the guitars on tracks like “Rebecca at the Well” and closer “An Allegory of Want.” At the same time, Inner Harbor presents both the most active songs of Revelation’s new tenure – marking the middle of the last decade the point at which they got back together after disbanding after 1998’s Fourteen Inches of Fury four-way split – with the surprising upbeat motor-thrust of “Eve Separated,” and the most subdued tracks in terms of production, the opening title-track being no less a signal of a shift in modus than the aerial photo of Baltimore’s inner harbor is set when set against the classic art and sculpture that served as covers for For the Sake of No One, 2008’s Release, or Revelation. Additionally, as the band’s alter ego, Against Nature, has begun to distinguish itself from the three-piece’s work in Revelation by adding vocalist Ron “Fez” McGinnis for their latest album, Fallen Rock, released earlier this year, Revelation has in turn stepped out from its morose past to become something more aesthetically complex. Of course, they remain doomed, and when they want to, Revelation can elicit a plod second to none within the sphere of Maryland doom – see the early moments of “Jones Falls” – but they’re by no means limited to just that here. Less so than they’ve ever been.

Seems silly to put it in some kind of “casting off expectations” narrative, since Bland Hand is the band’s own label and it’s not like they’ve ever been shooting for having their songs used in car commercials or the reflective moment in your favorite sitcom, but one way or another, Inner Harbor is less tied to genre than anything Revelation has put out previously. It remains tonally gorgeous, with Brenner and Hall emitting rich warmth to match Brenner’s quiet vocal style and the often soft, straightforward drumming of Branagan, but “Rebecca as the Well” has a darker atmosphere and thicker pulse, and second track “Terribilita” comes as close to a shuffle as I’ve ever heard from Revelation in its intro before keyboard sirens – if I find out that’s a guitar, I’ll be genuinely surprised, but Brenner reportedly a big Rush fan, so anything’s possible with layering – underscore a fervent verse nod. Many of these shifts in approach and/or method can be chalked up to simple comfort. Revelation did not rush to get Inner Harbor out – if they had, it probably would’ve dropped in 2010 and been a much different album – and that extra time seems to have served the songs well. In particular, Hall’s performance on bass throughout these tracks is stellar. The final moments of “Terribilita” make a striking example, but no more or less so than the second half of “Eve Separated,” on which the bassist weaves a rhythm under Brenner’s guitar solo that proves no less engaging than that solo itself. Even in the slower stretches of “Rebecca at the Well,” Hall is forward in the mix and a huge part of carrying across Revelation’s emergent prog fetish – though in that regard, the synth really is at the core and it’s not so much that Hall is putting on a clinic technically as much as he’s playing thoughtfully and artfully on these tracks. With a more dynamic production, the ending swirl of “Rebecca at the Well” might be even more of an apex to close out the album’s first half, with layered solos, synth and Hall’s bass and Branagan’s drums holding down the rhythm beneath, but they’ve retained an element of DIY in their recording, while also staying true to their live sound. In any case, they more than get their point across.

Read more »

Tags: , , , , ,

audiObelisk: Revelation Premiere “Terribilita” From New Album Inner Harbor

Posted in audiObelisk on August 27th, 2012 by JJ Koczan

Anytime you can see Maryland doom stalwarts Revelation, consider doing so highly recommended. First off, they don’t play live that often, and second, the trio of guitarist/vocalist John Brenner, bassist Bert Hall, Jr. and drummer Steve Branagan are a direct line to the defeat at the heart of classic doom. The band’s earliest material stems back to the beginnings of the ’90s, but even more than 20 years later, the emotional atmosphere they capture isn’t quite like anything else.

Revelation will be playing this Friday, Aug. 31, at Stoner Hands of Doom XII in New London, Connecticut, sharing the stage that night with Earthride, Pilgrim, Lord Fowl and others. To honor that event, and to spread word of their ongoing productivity, the band sent over the new song “Terribilita.”

The track comes from Revelation‘s upcoming full-length, Inner Harbor — one assumes named just as much for the hurts that stay with us as for the inner harbor of Baltimore — which will see release in the coming months. Shadow Kingdom will have a CD out, and Inner Harbor will be out on vinyl through Ireland’s Pariah Child Records. As with all Revelation releases and everything the band does with their alter-ego Against Nature incarnation as well, the album will also be available for free download from Brenner‘s own Bland Hand Records.

Before we get there, though, “Terribilita” brings forth Revelation‘s oft-understated vibing with previously unheard clarity in the recording. Brenner‘s guitar sounds fuller and more vibrant than ever, and even Branagan‘s drums come through more clearly even than on 2009’s For the Sake of No One, nestling into tight rhythms alongside Hall‘s always classy, always grooving bass. Decades later, Revelation remain an underground treasure.

Please enjoy “Terribilita” on the player below:

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

For more info and schedule information on SHoD XII, check out the fest’s official website.

All of Revelation and Against Nature‘s impossibly huge and ongoing discographies — including rare live recordings — can be downloaded for free over at Bland Hand‘s website, as well as releases from Iron Man, Beelzefuzz, Pale Divine and many others. Keep an eye on Shadow Kingdom‘s page too for news on the physical pressing.

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,