Seattle post-metallers Wyoming Young and Strong will release their new EP, Bend the Night, on March 31 digitally and follow-up with a 7″ vinyl version on April 20. The release contains three songs, and they’re pretty short, with two on side B under three minutes each and the longer title-track on side A, and it’s the first the formerly-all-Josh duo/now-with-a-Jason trio have been heard from since 2021’s impressive debut album, Black Wire (review here), which took elements of noise rock and heavy-progged ’em up with more than an edge of aggression to suit, managing to stay atmospheric all the while. Something of a tightrope to walk for a relatively new band, and despite the brevity, I’d expect Bend the Night to expand outward either along the same lines or, you never know, maybe take a radical turn and do another thing entirely. Maybe they’re part punk. Who’s to say?

Not me, clearly. I got files to check out but there’s some technical glitch to be worked out in terms of the bitrate of the audio, so it sounds pretty rough as I try to dig in. The intensity comes through, however, and the band seem to be continuing with the barrage the album started. [EDIT: Got fixed files, and indeed it’s a basher and much fuller sounding than the low bitrate version; gotta know your mp3s, folks.] No way am I about to complain about it. I’m not sure if bassist Jason actually appears on the recording — the EP art only lists Josh Williams and Josh Engelhardt, but there’s time to clarify as we get closer to the digital and physical releases. Don’t worry about it, is what I’m saying. Mostly to myself.

From the PR wire:

Wyoming Young and Strong – ‘Bend the Night EP’

Release Date: Digital Friday 3/31/23 and physical release of seven inch on 4/20/23

A lone hero in a world that seems pit against him, Wyoming traveled the universe after his home was destroyed by ancient titans. On his adventures, Wyoming has challenged mystical shamans, travelled through time to worlds of ice and gloom and unrest, and grappled with his own mortality in the lonely black of space. Continually tried by ancient magic, Wyoming struggled and survived despite arcane forces that seemed to perpetually test him.

After learning the tales of their ancient extra-dimensional brother, Wyoming Young and Strong took up the challenge of bringing the lost folk songs of this epic hero to our world. They hope his stories will guide others and make sense of the frustrations of youth and burdens of strength in a dwindling America. Josh, Jason, and Josh have arranged these songs in the tradition of Bass, Drums, Guitar, and Vocals. As the ancient seers before them, they deliver these songs to you in a way that aspires to make Wyoming proud.

Recorded by Jeffery McNulty at the Killroom Studio in May 2022. Mixed by Jeffery McNulty. Mastered by Levi Seitz at Black Belt Mastering. Art by Brian Kim.

Tracklist:
1. Bend the Night
2. Artifice
3. Winter War

Wyoming Young and Strong is Josh Williams and Josh Engelhardt.

https://www.facebook.com/seattlemetal
https://www.instagram.com/wyomingyoungandstrong/
https://wyomingyoungandstrong.bandcamp.com/

Wyoming Young and Strong, Black Wire (2021)

Seattle guitar/drum two-piece Wyoming Young and Strong will make their full-length debut with Black Wire on Nov. 27. The band, comprised of vocalist/guitarist Josh Engelhardt and drummer/vocalist Josh Williams — yup, they’re Josh all the way — take their moniker from a line in one of Wyoming’s state songs. The one called “Wyoming,” as it happens. The lyric goes, “On the breast of this great land/Where the massive Rockies stand/There’s Wyoming young and strong, the state I love!” Wyoming, indeed, is among the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen, and I haven’t been everywhere, but I’ve been hither and yon in my time, and I once watched pink sunrise hit the snow-capped peaks of the Alps from out of an airplane while listening to “In the Court of the Crimson King,” so that’s the scale I’m working from. Wyoming, up in those Rockies, is some gorgeous shit.

Black Wire builds its own sharp peaks and broad valleys across 10 tracks and 47 minutes of careening, noise-informed heavy. They acknowledge the likes of Mastodon as an influence, and that’s there, but with the sometimes combined barks of Engelhardt and Williams, the sludge-meets-burgeoning-progressivism style of their riffs and rhythms, cuts like “Black Wire,” opener “Redland Wanderer” and bookending finale “Age of Iron” feel more like mid-period Kylesa, and that, especially considering Black Wire is their debut preceded just by 2019’s Death and Ruin four-song EP, is a striking impression to make, with Engelhardt bridging that Phillip Cope-ism with the open swagger of West Coast-style noise rock.

In Seattle, that might be emphasized by Akimbo and Sandrider as much as Shellac or Neurosis, but either way, it points to the idea that Wyoming Young and Strong are from one place and speaking to and of another. That makes their sonic blend all the more fascinating, since while Black Wire wants nothing for raw impact or sludgy tonality, it also makes a statement in terms of atmosphere.

This happens not just in its three instrumental pieces, the spacious guitar of “Treetops 1,” the more drum-led “Treetops 2” and the longer, penultimate drone/noise stretch of “Treetops 3,” but within the other songs as well, and even the rushing “Race Into the Sun” and the intermittently bombastic “Hellish Allies” (premiering below) carry as much in mood as they do in sonic heft. The not-quite-centerpiece (hard to do on a record with 10 tracks) “One Last Sleep” establishes its urgency both in the insistent churn of its central riff and the drumming that underscores its early buildup and that later holds the song together.

It is a different kind of progressive impulse than they show on the prior “Abandoned by the Elders,” which is slower in unfolding and marked by quiet/loud trades, but that only serves to let Wyoming Young and Strong come across as a more dynamic unit on the whole, strengthened by the inherent barebones-ness of being a guitar/drum duo while still able to craft a sense of space in their work and variety in their songwriting. Further, they sound like they want to grow, and they sound like they already have since the first EP. Where Black Wire might take them, I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem outlandish to think they might seek to move outward from the rhythmic and melodic impulses they’ve shown here.

The Rockies are sharp, jagged-looking. Peaks are points. I live near Appalachian foothills on the other side of the country, so where mountains might be tempestuous in some minds’ eyes, they grow just as patient over time. Will Wyoming Young and Strong do the same? No clue, but perhaps most importantly, Black Wire makes it seem like it’ll be fun to find out.

You’ll find “Hellish Allies” below, followed by more info from the PR wire.

Enjoy:

Wyoming Young and Strong is a Josh duo in Seattle, Washington laying down some sludgy tracks. While not from Wyoming, they write music that speaks to the frustration of being young, strong, and inspired in rural America. With dual vocals highlighting the heavy guitar and drums, WY&S released the four-song ‘Death and Ruin’ EP in 2018. They have since been playing shows gathering support around the Pacific Northwest through their energetic live performances. Their debut full-length ‘Black Wire’ is coming on November 27th, 2021.

https://wyomingyoungandstrong.bandcamp.com/album/black-wire

Black Wire tracklist:

01. Redland Wanderer
02. Race into the Sun
03. Treetops 1
04. Abandoned By the Elders
05. One Last Sleep
06. Treetops 2
07. Black Wire
08. Hellish Allies
09. Treetops 3
10. Age of Iron

Credits:
Recorded by Wyoming Young and Strong in Spring 2021 at Sodo Magnetic in Seattle, WA.
Mastered at Black Belt.
Art photos by Juha Penttinen. (https://juhapenttinen.com/)
Art layout by Brian Kim.

Wyoming Young and Strong:
Josh Williams – Drums, Some Vocals
Josh Engelhardt – Guitars, Most Vocals

Wyoming Young and Strong on Instagram

Wyoming Young and Strong on Facebook

Wyoming Young and Strong on Bandcamp

Wyoming Young and Strong on Spotify