Posted in Whathaveyou on March 5th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
A quick and heartfelt congratulations to Amy Tung Barrysmith. Last week, her band Year of the Cobra released one of 2025’s best records and yesterday it was announced she’ll take on bassist duties in a full-time capacity for Amenra in Belgium. You might recall at Desertfest New York last year, Barrysmith was in the lineup for Amenra‘s set (review here), and while I’m not sure how it’ll all work with Amy in Seattle and Amenra in Belgium as regards “rehearsal space adventures,” I’m happy to see Amy-ra become a thing.
The band made it official on social media. Amenra have two EPs out later this month on Relapse, a five-night residency March 26-30 at Ancienne Belgique in Brussels, and are confirmed for Desertfest London, SonicBlast Fest in Portugal, a bunch of Euro shows in April where Amy will pull double-duty as Year of the Cobra support, and almost certainly a slew of others. That and darkness is how they do.
Their post:
We are overjoyed to finally announce that our friend Amy Tung Barrysmith will be joining AMENRA on bass.
We have known each other for almost a decade now and really had a great time on our East coast tour together. We are looking forward to more adventures on the road, studios worldwide and our rehearsal space right here. We are blessed to have you aboard 🖤
She just released a new record with her band @yearofthecobra – go give it a spin!
Here are some words from Amy herself :
“I am so incredibly honored and excited to announce that I will be joining Amenra. Having this opportunity to play and create art so powerful and moving is very humbling and I look forward to the beautiful music and memories we will make for the many years to come. Thank you, Colin, Mathieu, Lennart, and Bjorn and to all of the Amenra fans for your immense trust and love.”
photographs by the magnificent @afcortes taken in his studio in Brooklyn NYC
Posted in Reviews on February 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
They make the point themselves. Year of the Cobra. It says it right there on the punkishly distressed-looking front cover, with a picture of the band in digitized black and white, like a picture off someone’s phone. Year of the Cobra. The photo itself is notable, as neither bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (now also of Slower) nor drummer Johanes Barrysmith are looking at the camera, but both seem to be looking out from under some industrial-looking covering. The Prophecy label is there, subtle and almost punk rock, just the logo with the catalog number under the band’s name to tell you it’s self-titled.
As for the photo, maybe a train station, a bus stop? The implication of touring life, of movement, of quick-get-this-picture-done-so-we-can-catch-this-ride, is prevalent, which is suitable to who Year of the Cobra are as a band, and indeed, the eight songs and 41 minutes of the Seattle duo’s third full-length build on the accomplishments of 2019’s Ash and Dust (review here), marking a crucial moment in the life of the group that they meet with some of their finest, heaviest songcraft.
For it, the two-piece teamed with producer Matt Bayles at Studio Litho (Bayles also mixed at The Red Room, while Brad Boatright mastered at Audiosiege). Known for his work with Isis, Sandrider, Mastodon, 1000mods and a slew of others, Bayles brings clarity enough to highlight the nuanced shifts in Amy‘s bass tone throughout, going from the rumble and infectious nod at the outset of opener “Full Sails” to the punchier fuzz that accompanies the uptempo push of “Daemonium,” while still giving the impression that Year of the Cobra are a band who hit hard, which if you’ve ever seen them on stage you already know is true to life. The entire message of the album, from the fact that it’s self-titled to the grainy pic to the stonervana riff in “War Drop,” the lyrics of which cast present real-world warmaking as catchy and maybe therefore inevitable, a chorus reference to the Wailing Wall putting the song in the time and place of the ongoing wreck of slaughter in Israel and Palestine.
The use of “drop” in the title — modern slang! one would pretend to clutch pearls were one not too broke for even imaginary jewelry — is emblematic of a continuing dialogue with pop influences that surfaced in 2017’s Burn Your Dead EP (review here) after the band’s debut album, 2016’s …In the Shadows Below (review here), laid out the foundation in heavy low end groove and breathy melody. Ash and Dust refined this aspect of their sound, and it’s part of how they’ve grown here as well. Amy‘s performance in “Alone,” which caps side A, not only justifies that song’s would-be-centerpiece positioning in the tracklisting, but reaffirms her power and reach as a singer. In a band that gets so much out of just two instruments sound-wise, Amy‘s voice has become the sneaky third instrument.
The depth of emotion conveyed in “Alone” is a decent example of that (prefaced by the crescendo of “Full Sails”), as much Cranberries (there’s even a mention of lingering) as a keyboard-laced Pallbearer, but also how much work the vocals and lyrics are doing in “Daemonium,” which comes across as a story of confronting someone who’s committed sexual assult — the rush of an interrogation in the chorus: “Did she make it alright?/Did she make it that night?/Did she put up a fight/You know…/Was she quiet?/Or Did she moan inside?/Did she look at you with her hollow eyes?/Did she say a word?/Did she scream in pain?/Did she close her eyes?/Did she plead and beg for her life?” — while framing it in the second-person, “…Did she look at you,” and that somehow conspiratorial, locker-room-talk-ish “you know,” taking the conversations some men have with each other and turning them into an accusation. It is striking, effective, efficient, and purposeful. There are examples of Year of the Cobra mastering their sound, knowing themselves as players and as a band together, as songwriters, all over these tracks.
The flourish in the vocals to help carry “7 Years” back to its hook, or the keyboard-laced post-doom daring-of-hope that takes place in the seven-and-a-half-minute “Prayer” at the end, the hey-let’s-go-on-tour-for-a-month sweep of “Full Sails” — these and others here are nothing less than Year of the Cobra owning their sound and demonstrating full command of their approach to manifesting it. In other words, whether dug into the sprawl of “Alone” or the shove of “Daemonium,” reaching to new ground at the end of the record or reinforcing their proclivity for planting their songs in your brain across the span, Year of the Cobra are doing their best work to-date right now.
Year of the Cobra feels like an album the band have been building toward for nearly a decade as they’ve explored, traveled, and developed across each of their releases, and it may be that two, three, six (?) years from now, they’ll put out another record that’ll be a step forward from this. Great. That doesn’t change the palpable feeling of intention that comes from so much of what’s happening across these eight songs, or the creative triumph of their making.
These, taken with the way in which confrontation of “Daemonium” is likewise one tool in their arsenal, alongside the longing of “Alone,” the brooding sensibility of “The Darkness,” or “Sleep” in which the breadth of bass tone in the verse reminds of Type O Negative circa World Coming Down — not a compliment I give lightly, though with the toxic nature of a lot of that band’s lyrics, they’d be a somewhat ironic influence if they actually were one — the lurch and hint of threat in the melody of “Sleep,” and so on, give Year of the Cobra range beyond that which can come from changing a tempo or clicking a pedal on or off. There’s aural scope to the material, but emotional and expressive scope as well.
From a band in a format that often derives an essential part of its character from configuration — i.e., one hears ‘duo’ and expects a certain kind of rawness — Year of the Cobra are more complete as two than many are as four or five. This self-titled confirms the potential of their work to this point and opens new avenues for them to continue to progress. Given the level of execution across the board, there’s no way Year of the Cobra doesn’t shine as one of 2025’s best releases in underground heavy.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 3rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
I did some bio writing earlier this Fall for the upcoming third Year of the Cobra LP, which is self-titled, so I’m not going to pretend not to have heard it. Instead, I’ll tell you outright that it feels from opening track “Full Sails” onward like an absolute arrival point for the duo of bassist/vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (also Slower) and drummer Johanes Barrysmith — a fully realized take on what their last album, 2019’s Ash and Dust (review here), laid out in terms of bringing melodic influence from outside the bounds of doom/heavy-whathaveyou and daring toward pop songcraft, while remaining darker in their purposes in a way that knows goth exists but is and wants to be something else too. The songs are correspondingly complex and purposeful, and the band have never sounded better. The only bummer news is it’s not out until the end of February.
The good news, though, is there’s a video up now for second track “War Drop” that emphasizes a lot of what I’m actually talking about above. You’ll find it down at the bottom of this post and I’ll just hope to have more to come on the record between now and what feels like but surely isn’t the far future in which it will arrive. If you read this site with any regularity (sorry for the typos), you’ll know I keep notes throughout the year. Year of the Cobra is the first entry in my notes for the best albums of 2025.
The PR wire takes it from there:
YEAR OF THE COBRA reveal first video single ‘War Drop’ and details of self-titled new album “Year of the Cobra”
YEAR OF THE COBRA premiere the video ‘War Drop’ as the first single taken from their forthcoming new full-length. “Year of the Cobra”, the third album of Seattle’s doom sludge duo has been slated for release on February 28, 2025.
YEAR OF THE COBRA comment: “The track ‘War Drop’ was the last song that we recorded with Matt Bayles”, vocalist and bass player Amy Barrysmith explains. “I honestly did not think that it was going to make the album when we were listening to it as a demo. After Matt had worked his genius, we ended up choosing it to be our first single. It’s funny how things work out sometimes. I like this song because it has a little unexpected time change and I love nerding out on things like that.”
Tracklist 1. Full Sails 2. War Drop 3. Daemonium 4. Alone 5. 7 Years 6. The Darkness 7. The Sleep 8. Prayer
Produced & engineered by Matt Bayles at Studio Litho, Seattle, WA (US) Mixing by Matt Bayles at The Red Room, Seattle, WA (US) Mastering by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege, Portland, OR (US)
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 2nd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
First of all, this lineup is pretty badass. This year’s Rain City Doom Fest was originally billed as the release show for the new Year of the Cobra LP, but my understanding is the album has been delayed. It’s great, keep an ear out for it. In any case, the Seattle two-piece are still playing, alongside Bell Witch, who’ll headline in their particular morose, crawling, consuming fashion, and The Well, who will trek up from Austin as they do from time to time, presumably to remind everybody in attendance how fucking underrated they are. Those three alone make it quite an evening.
Those three also rest at and near the top of a 10-band bill with Ape Machine, Sorcia, Sun Crow and others showcasing from Washington/the Pacific Northwest, and the uniting factor is heavy as two stages play out over the course of one packed evening. This is the fourth year of the fest — I thought it was five, but I recall being very wrong about that last year — and it’s set for Dec. 14 at El Corazon and Funhouse. I don’t anticipate being in that part of the world at the , but it would be one to see if you are.
The PR wire has details:
Rain City Doom Fest announces lineup for this years festival in Seattle on December 14th!!
Rain City Doom Fest 2024 will be held at El Corazon/Funhouse in Seattle on December 14. This is the 4th year of this annual festival that showcases heavy music of the PNW and beyond. This year’s lineup will include some of the Seattle areas most esteemed active doom bands including Bell Witch, and Year of the Cobra who will be making this show their album release party. The festival is also pleased to welcome The Well as special guests from Austin, TX.
For more than a decade, Bell Witch have sent tides surging over the seawalls of the song form, unraveling conventional expectations about the ways music stations itself in time to absorb a listener’s attention.
Dynamic duo Amy and Jon Barrysmith make up the doom-y twosome that is Year of the Cobra, a Seattle-based sludge metal band. Moaning vocals accent what reeks of Black Sabbath coming back through a long, dark tunnel. The rippling hums of Amy’s ever-expanding bassy tones are complimented by the dynamics in Jon’s drumming, shifting effortless from laid back grooves to pushing, driving climaxes. Amy’s easy voice over Jon’s steady splashing lulls you in, only to hit you with the surprise, brutal left-hook!
A heavy psych rock/proto-metal power trio based out of Austin, Texas, The Well’s lethal blend of knotty prog, punk, and bluesy doom rock invokes names like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, Sleep, and Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats. Citing a desire “to blend different musical styles as diversified as Joy Division to Blue Cheer”, the band, which consists of Ian Graham, Lisa Alley, and Jason Sullivan, came together in 2012 out of a shared love for extreme music, cult horror films, and dark mysticism.
Completing this incredible lineup are some of Pacific North West’s finest doom bands. Each bringing their unique twist on the genre:
Witch Ripper
Washington’s WITCH RIPPER have seamlessly welded together the contemporary heaviness of such hard-hitting acts as MASTODON, GOJIRA, and BARONESS with the anthemic bombast of classic artists in the vein of QUEEN and DAVID BOWIE from the start.
Slow Goat
Gamy riffs cut from the flank of the Pacific Northwest
Ape Machine
The name APE MACHINE is a nod to the days of reel-to-reel magnetic tape audio recording; a fitting moniker for the heavy-hitting quartet as the band plays through vintage tube amplifiers and lays down its songs using exclusively throwback quality studio equipment.
Sorcia
SORCIA hails from the Snoqualmie Valley in the backwoods of Seattle, Washington. Combining blues-laden groovy riffs, heavy doom and raw grunge with the added dynamic of dual vocals, they deliver their own method of Pacific Northwest stoner sludge metal.
Sun Crow
Rain-soaked doom blues, moss-covered stoner rock, grey sky heavy psych, whatever they call it, SUN CROW summons the old spirits of high volume heavy rock into close quarters and paints the ceiling and walls with magnets, wood, and glass.
Melancholia
True to its name, MELANCHOLIA explores dread and anguish in all of its malformed glory through the lenses of crushing doom/sludge, ferocious black metal/death metal and raw, primitive crust punk.
Mother Root
Two brothers making noise in the backwoods of the Snoqualmie Valley.
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 1st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
So here’s what happened. All of a sudden, toward the end of last week or whenever it was, a bunch of cool bands started to announce they were touring with other cool bands. Package tours are a long-held tradition, especially for times when money’s tight in various spots around the world, and a decent way for acts to sometimes share road expenses as well as give club crowds more reason to leave the house. Whether it’s Greenleaf and Slomosa or Dopelord and Red Sun Atacama in Europe, Mars Red Sky and Howling Giant or — the subject at hand — Austin, Texas, trio The Well and Seattle duo Year of the Cobra; none of these sounds like anything other than a killer night in the making.
But for The Well and Year of the Cobra, there are a bunch of other shows both bands are playing in addition to those they’ll do together, with the former heading to Tennessee later in August for Muddy Roots and the latter with a few dates in the Pacific Northwest in early June, and so on. There wasn’t one general announcement for the tour that I found on socials, so I took the dates that were posted by each band, the Branca Studio art that accompanied, and I decided rather than try to parse out who’s where for one broader list, to just have them as they are.
The Well‘s dates are under the band’s name, and ditto that for Year of the Cobra, whose new album I think is recorded — another announcement to wait for — and will hopefully be out in the coming months. Both their latest LP and The Well‘s were in 2019, so if you said they’re due, fair enough. Do I honestly believe I needed to tell you about organizing two posts into this single one? No. But I did anyway, because that’s how it is when you’re neurotic. Now you know.
From social media as noted:
THE WELL
YOU KNOW WE CANT STAY AWAY FOR LONG! STOKED TO HIT THE ROAD WITH @yearofthecobra THIS SUMMER!
More dates to come; here’s a teaser with some killer artwork by the goat @branca_studio
7.19 – Tulsa, OK – Mercury Lounge 7.20 – OKC, OK – Blue Note Lounge 7.21 – KC, MO – recordBar 7.22 – Minneapolis, MN – 7th St. Entry (18+) 7.23 – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle* 7.24 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl* (all ages) 7.25 – Albany, NY – Fuze Box* 7.26 – Providence, RI – Alchemy (all ages) 7.27 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Music Venue* 7.28 – NY, NY – The Bowery Electric* 7.29 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie* 7.30 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506* (all ages) 8.4 – Dallas, TX – Ruins* 8.6 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock* 8.7 – LA, CA – Permanent Records* 8.8 – Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar* 8.9 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial* 8.10 – SF, CA – Kilowatt Bar* 8.31 – Cookeville, TN – Muddy Roots Festival * – w/ Year of the Cobra
YEAR OF THE COBRA
Yo! Excited to announce our US tour with @thewellband. More dates coming soon, but for now…we feast!!!
6.1 – Bellingham, WA – The Shakedown 6.2 – Vancouver, BC – The Cobalt Cabaret 6.9 – Portland, OR – Polaris Hall 7.20 – Libby, MT – Montvana Festival 7.23 – Chicago, IL – The Empty Bottle* 7.24 – Youngstown, OH – Westside Bowl* (all ages) 7.25 – Albany, NY – Fuze Box* 7.27 – Manchester, NH – Jewel Music Venue* 7.28 – NY, NY – The Bowery Electric* 7.29 – Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie* 7.30 – Chapel Hill, NC – Local 506* (all ages) 8.2 – Lafayette, LA – Freetown Boom Boom Room* 8.4 – Dallas, TX – Ruins* 8.6 – Scottsdale, AZ – Pub Rock* 8.7 – LA, CA – Permanent Records* 8.8 – Long Beach, CA – Alex’s Bar* 8.9 – Sacramento, CA – Cafe Colonial* 8.10 – SF, CA – Kilowatt Bar* 8.11 – Santa Cruz – Moe’s Alley* *w/The Well
Posted in Reviews on February 16th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Guitarist Bob Balch would seem to be on something of a creative binge, between an impending Fu Manchu 2LP and recent releases from Yawning Balch and Big Scenic Nowhere, and with Slower he presents a manifestation of the ultimate beer-drunk band idea. “What if, like, you took Slayer, and slowed it down?”
That’s what Slower is on paper. The songs of seminal Californian thrashers Slayer, played slower. The reality of Slower, which is the Balch-led project’s Heavy Psych Sounds-delivered debut album, is a selection of five covers that offers a richer experience than the math of the band’s purpose might lead one to believe. The Slayer originals they’ve chosen to rework — “War Ensemble,” “Blood Red,” and “Dead Skin Mask” from 1990’s Seasons in the Abyss, “The Antichrist” from 1983’s Show No Mercy and, to close, the title-track of 1988’s South of Heaven — are classics within the sphere of metal, and are treated with due respect even as they’re rearranged and turned into something pointedly not what they originally were.
This is done with care and love of the source material, and a sense of curation that is all the more resonant with the lineup Balch assembled for the project. Drummer Esben Willems (of Monolord; he has a solo album coming in addition to appearing here) in Gothenburg, Sweden, vocalist Amy Tung Barrysmith (Year of the Cobra) in Seattle, and bassist Peder Bergstrand (Lowrider) in Stockholm comprise the ‘main band’ on the record, developing a persona of their own even on covers through means of the rearrangement process. That is, they took the songs and reworked them. No one here is inexperienced or incapable. If you believe in supergroups, Slower‘s pretty damn super even before you get to Laura Pleasants (The Discussion, ex-Kylesa) and Scott Reeder (currently Sovereign Eagle, ex-Kyuss, The Obsessed, Goatsnake, needs to do another solo record, etc.) swapping in on vocals and bass, respectively, for “South of Heaven” at the finish. A goofy, fun idea for a band/album as Slower might be, the end result is pointedly not bullshit where it very easily (perhaps with different personnel) could have been.
Underlining the point: Slower is not a tossoff. It’s not a joke band. While indeed the songs are largely reduced in tempo, there is an aspect of the project that feels a bit like the impetus behind it was Balch wanting to take on playing both the Kerry King and Jeff Hannneman (from whose 2013 death the band never really recovered) solos, which he does with all suitable respect for the personalities of Slayer‘s two guitarists, whammy squeals and speed enough to speak to thrash. If that was the case, fair enough for the homage. It’s just a thing not everyone could do at the level it’s done here. Some of those shredfest ripper solos are no less iconic than the lyrical declarations of the choruses to “War Ensemble” or “Dead Skin Mask,” and they are put on a pedestal along with a treasure trove of groove that was lurking beneath the furious intensity of the originals. “War Ensemble,” opening here as it does on Seasons in the Abyss with some transposed urgency, unveils its central riff as a righteous nodder with Bergstrand bringing new tonal presence to the verse, Willems‘ casual double-kick giving an easy ride into the stop, and Barrysmith in immediate command.
The five-minute original becomes the 10-minute cover (it is both opener and longest track; immediate points), and as a lead-in for “The Antichrist,” “Blood Red” and “Dead Skin Mask,” “War Ensemble” blends the familiar — it was one of Slayer‘s many landmarks and a live-set feature for decades before the band ‘ended’ (never say never) in 2019 with 12 records and enough influence to make a project like this happen across microgenres — the surprises it holds and affirmations it makes are crucial to what follows. One doesn’t necessarily think of Slayer as an atmospherically-minded band, though they were at times (and perhaps a second Slower LP could honor Slayer and Sabbath both in opening with the storm at the start of “Raining Blood”; uniting worlds or at least disparate ends of the same one), but Slower dig into “The Antichrist” and find a gritty slog that becomes insistent in a chorus that takes the already-doubled vocals and adds backing tracks to emphasize a depth that is Slower‘s own in a song that, being a deeper cut — as opposed to a Slayer ‘hit,’ I guess? they did used to play their music videos on the tee-vee sometimes — allows Balch (who trips out the midsection admirably taring toward psychedelia), Barrysmith, Bergstrand and Willems to flesh it out and find a new path to the rotted-soul ascension of its title figure.
The melody emergent in “The Antichrist” is expanded upon in “Blood Red,” the centerpiece of the CD and presumed side B opener on the LP, as the verse riff becomes a strut and the chorus opens to a breadth Slower have been holding in reserve. It’s an un-pop singalong, complete with backing ‘oohs’ for “You cannot hide the face of death/Oppression ruled by bloodshed/No disguise can deface evil/The massacre of innocent people,” which are lines that sadly retain their relevance these 34 years after the fact, and are more sinister for the sweetness of Barrysmith‘s delivery. With “Dead Skin Mask” and “Seasons in the Abyss” still to come, “Blood Red” has a harder road making an impression, and that was true with Slayer‘s version as well in 1990, but amid the forward roll and chug of the verse and the arrival-point feel of the hook, it is the vocals even more that distinguish it as an unexpected highlight.
And I know Slayer have a ton of iconic tracks, from the prior-mentioned “Raining Blood” through “Disciple,” “Angel of Death” — maybe better to leave that one alone? — and “Piece by Piece,” but especially the first and maybe only time out, pairing “Dead Skin Mask” and “South of Heaven” at the end of Slower‘s Slower feels natural. The latter came before the former, and is arguably the most ‘doom’ Slayer ever got, where “Dead Skin Mask” showed up on the next album and refined those very purposes. Both are the kinds of songs dudes get tattoos of, but as they have all along, Slower tread carefully in terms of balancing respect for where the songs came from and taking them where they want to go. Not to be understated is the subversive element of a woman delivering the lyrics to “Dead Skin Mask,” which was never explicit but strongly implied misogynist violence, and Barrysmith resounds in the chorus, where “Dance with the dead in my dreams…” becomes a chant and all the more consuming for that. While I wish they repeated that finish four or five more times, I’m happy to take what I can get.
As noted, “South of Heaven” brings a lineup switch, Reeder stepping in for Bergstrand — the inclusion of those two speaks as well to Balch wanting to bring a new sense of presence to the low end; he could easily have handled bass himself as an afterthought; as is, bass becomes an essential part of the character of the band in a way Slayer‘s Tom Araya probably wouldn’t have expected — and Pleasants taking over for Barrysmith. Dark toned, Balch begins on guitar and Reeder and Pleasants soon join for the opening build, ending of course with the line “Before you see the light” stretched to fill the new spaces in the riff before the guitar, bass and drums stop cold to let Pleasants croon the second part of the lyric: “You must die.”
Shit, I’m ready. Let’s go. If you could get audio tattooed on your person, that moment might be worth carrying around for the rest of your life but it’s already ingrained in the heads of Slayer fans, so take that as you will. Pleasants toys with the verse arrangement somewhat, perhaps covering some awkwardness in the patterning born of the change in pace with effects and layering, but it’s nothing that feels out of line with the mood or atmosphere Slower bring to “South of Heaven,” the stinkface-inducing stomp of Willems‘ drums glorious in manifesting a sense of methodical aggression over the chaos referenced in the chorus — “Chaos rampant/An age of distrust/Confrontations, impulsive habitat (or ‘sabbath’)” before they got right down to it, “On and on, south of heaven” — as Balch likewise digs deeper to find a nastiness of tone that is undeniable. It ends, as it invariably would, with shred given over to noise and a tease of the thuds at the end of “Postmortem” that, on 1986’s Reign in Blood, mark the transition into “Raining Blood” itself. The message seems to be: maybe next time.
Generally speaking and across a wide range of contexts, I suck at fun. Accordingly, I was a little apprehensive in taking on Slower because I felt like maybe it would be a party and I wouldn’t really be able to get my head into the right space for it. That’s not how it went, either in terms of the atmosphere of the record or my listening experience with it. I don’t know that Slower will or won’t do more — certainly no one involved lacks other projects to focus on — but I hope they do, and as a love letter to Slayer, the execution of these songs and the obvious heart and thought put into them, Slower resonates, however familiar you may or may not be with the originals.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
There’s comment from project participants Bob Balch (who spearheaded the idea), Esben Willems (who drums on the entire record) and Peder Bergstrand (who plays bass on all but one track, sharing space with Scott Reeder) below, and when you can hear from members of Fu Manchu, Monolord and Lowrider, I sincerely doubt any comment I might make matters. Those three speak below on how Slower — the conceptual covers project that, yes, dooms up select Slayer tracks both originally speedy like “War Ensemble” streaming below or, duh, slower, like inevitable closer “South of Heaven” — came together, and with Year of the Cobra‘s Amy Barrysmith on vocals for the majority and The Discussion‘s Laura Pleasants (also ex-Kylesa) taking over for the aforementioned finisher, it’d be a release of note no matter who they were taking on.
Maybe next time out they’ll do Duran Duran. Or maybe they’ll finally unveil the insistent creep at the heart of “Raining Blood.” I won’t claim to know, but given both personnel and source material, I expect this will be a beacon as the underground emerges from the generally-dead doldrums of January and takes on 2024 in earnest. Looking forward to it, in other words.
But album preorders are up now, so don’t let me keep you. Heavy Psych Sounds announced last week it had snagged the oops-kind-of-a-supergroup outfit for this release, and Jan. 26 is the listed arrival date. By all means, dive in. From the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds to announce SLOWER upcoming debut album – presale starts TODAY !!!
– new super band feat. members of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Kylesa, Lowrider, Monolord and Year Of The Cobra – SLAYER tracks in a SLOWER mood
Today we are stoked to start the presale of the upcoming SLOWER self-titled debut album !!!
RELEASED IN 10 ULTRA LTD TEST PRESS VINYL 100 ULTRA LTD SIDE A – SIDE B BLACK/ORANGE/WHITE VINYL 150 ULTRA LTD COLOR IN COLOR TRANSP. BACK. RED/SPLATTER BLACK VINYL 500 LTD NEON GREEN VINYL BLACK VINYL DIGIPAK DIGITAL
TRACKLIST SIDE A War Ensemble – 10:39 The Antichrist – 8:13
SIDE B Blood Red – 6:30 Dead Skin Mask – 6:08 South Of Heaven – 7:11
Bob Balch from FU MANCHU here. The idea for the SLOWER project started around four years ago. I was teaching a student how to play “South Of Heaven” by SLAYER but she was a beginner so we slowed it down. I thought that sounded cool so I tuned down to B standard and tried it. I added some drums and thought “someone in the doom community should do this and name it SLOWER.”
A few years later I befriended Steven “Thee Slayer Hippy” Hanford, best known for his work as the drummer in the influential Oregon punk band Poison Idea. He was backstage at a FU MANCHU show. Oddly enough I was wearing a POISON IDEA shirt and he told me that my shirt sucks. I asked who he was and why he was in our backstage. He told me and I felt stupid. We started drinking whiskey and talking about music. We stayed in touch over the next year or so and during Covid I told him about my SLOWER idea. He asked me to send him tracks. I waited too long because the day I sent the tracks he passed away. Totally tragic. I’m glad I got to know him even for a few years. He was a monster musician with a giant heart.
He will be greatly missed.
I shelved the project for a while after that. One day Esben from MONOLORD posted about musical collaborations. I love MONOLORD so I thought what the hell. I sent him some tracks and he killed it on drums. So I sent more. Then more. Shortly after that we started reaching out other musicians to get them involved. That’s how we ended up with this lineup. Everyone that contributed completely knocked it out of the park and I can’t thank them enough.
This project has been a long time coming and I’m beyond stoked on how it turned out. Without all of the players involved, Steven Hanford and my baritone Reverend guitar it wouldn’t have happened. Thanks to everyone involved and I hope you dig it! I’m a giant SLAYER fan so it’s been a treat to dig into these classic songs. Hopefully we can do another record in the near future. Look out for shows because they will happen!
Esben Willems – When Bob first approached me with the idea and I heard his scratch guitars, my first thought was “This is genius”. Those iconic tracks we all know by heart suddenly unveiled an unexpected dimension. I’m really proud of how this turned out.
Peder Bergstrand – “This might be blasphemous considering the circumstances, but when Bob reached out and asked if I’d want to play bass on sludged-out Slayer covers, I had to admit some of these tracks were brand new to me.
That made the experience even more special though, hearing and playing on the Slower version first, and then comparing to the original. Bob has really transformed these songs into something totally their own, and on a personal level I feel the rest of the band’s insane performances pushed me to my most inspired playing to date.
So incredibly stoked for people to hear this album.”
CREDITS
“War Ensemble” “Dead Skin Mask” “Blood Red” “The Antichrist” Esben Willems (drums) MONOLORD Peder Bergstrand (bass) LOWRIDER Amy Barrysmith (vocals) YEAR OF THE COBRA Bob Balch (guitars) FU MANCHU
“South Of Heaven” Esben Willems (drums) MONOLORD Scott Reeder (bass) KYUSS Laura Pleasants (vocals) KYLESA Bob Balch (guitars) FU MANCHU
SLOWER is: Esben Willems (drums) MONOLORD Peder Bergstrand (bass) LOWRIDER Amy Barrysmith (vocals) YEAR OF THE COBRA Laura Pleasents (vocals) KYLESA Bob Balch (guitars) FU MANCHU Scott Reeder (bass) KYUSS
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 19th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Well yeah, I mean, you look at the cast of characters here and you know those riffs are monstrous. Slower‘s kind of a no-brainer, and I’m not trying to be clever and knock the concept, because actually I know the concept works. Someone, at some point, has sent you some YouTube clip of Slayer slowed down. It sounds killer. That Bob Balch — already signed to Heavy Psych Sounds as part of Big Scenic Nowhere and Yawning Balch, also of Fu Manchu, PlayThisRiff.com, ex-Minotaur, and so on — decided to do it for real with Esben Willems (Monolord, Studio Berserk) on drums, and Laura Pleasants (The Discussion, ex-Kylesa) and Amy Barrysmith (Year of the Cobra) sharing vocal duties, well, I mean, well yeah. Yeah. Of course. Yeah.
I wouldn’t have minded if Peder from Lowrider — who shares bass duties with Scott Reeder (Kyuss, Goatsnake, The Obsessed, etc.), as he should — got a song to sing, as his voice is perfect for something airy and open, which some of Slayer‘s material could be (re-)interpreted to be, but Heavy Psych Sounds just signed the band and both the label and Balch say they hope more is coming, so maybe that’s a future possibility. Balch also mentions live shows. That’d be a fun one to see at a festival in some field somewhere, hopefully properly hydrated.
If you can dig it, and oh, I think probably you can, here’s the info from the PR wire:
Heavy Psych Sounds to announce SLOWER (feat. members of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Kylesa etc.) signing for their debut album !!!
*** SLOWER *** – brand new project feat. members of Kyuss, Fu Manchu, Kylesa, Monolord, Lowrider and Year Of The Cobra –
We’re incredibly stoked to announce that the brand new super band SLOWER signed to Heavy Psych Sounds Records for their debut album !!!
ALBUM PRESALE + FIRST TRACK PREMIERE: October 31st
BIOGRAPHY
Bob Balch from FU MANCHU here.
The idea for the SLOWER project started around four years ago. I was teaching a student how to play “South Of Heaven” by SLAYER but she was a beginner so we slowed it down. I thought that sounded cool so I tuned down to B standard and tried it. I added some drums and thought “someone in the doom community should do this and name it SLOWER.”
A few years later I befriended Steven “Thee Slayer Hippy” Hanford, best known for his work as the drummer in the influential Oregon punk band Poison Idea. He was backstage at a FU MANCHU show. Oddly enough I was wearing a POISON IDEA shirt and he told me that my shirt sucks. I asked who he was and why he was in our backstage. He told me and I felt stupid. We started drinking whiskey and talking about music. We stayed in touch over the next year or so and during Covid I told him about my SLOWER idea. He asked me to send him tracks. I waited too long because the day I sent the tracks he passed away. Totally tragic. I’m glad I got to know him even for a few years. He was a monster musician with a giant heart.
He will be greatly missed.
I shelved the project for a while after that. One day Esben from MONOLORD posted about musical collaborations. I love MONOLORD so I thought what the hell. I sent him some tracks and he killed it on drums. So I sent more. Then more. Shortly after that we started reaching out other musicians to get them involved. That’s how we ended up with this lineup. Everyone that contributed completely knocked it out of the park and I can’t thank them enough.
This project has been a long time coming and I’m beyond stoked on how it turned out. Without all of the players involved, Steven Hanford and my baritone Reverend guitar it wouldn’t have happened. Thanks to everyone involved and I hope you dig it! I’m a giant SLAYER fan so it’s been a treat to dig into these classic songs. Hopefully we can do another record in the near future.
Look out for shows because they will happen!
SLOWER is: Esben Willems (drums) MONOLORD Peder Bergstrand (bass) LOWRIDER Amy Barrysmith (vocals) YEAR OF THE COBRA Laura Pleasents (vocals) KYLESA Bob Balch (guitars) FU MANCHU Scott Reeder (bass) KYUSS
