Yidhra Stream Cult of Bathory EP in Full
Posted in audiObelisk on December 16th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Los Angeles-based doomer foursome Yidhra release their new EP, Cult of Bathory, on Friday through Black Voodoo Records. The four-songer arrives pressed up in 300 copies on a 10″ platter with digital and CD versions to follow (a rare swap in pressing order), and sees the band take a step further thematically from their 2013 full-length debut, Hexed, exploring modern/current subjects through a veil of coded references and metaphor.
One wouldn’t exactly call Cult of Bathory subtle as it mines desolate landscapes and pummels front-to-back in a burled-out assault of sludge riffs atop rolling doom grooves, but in its imagery and atmosphere, its songs give a glimpse at a world gone dark, and the brutality they emit almost immediately as the opening title-track unfolds from its swinging intro into the aggressive, guttural first verse en route to a chorus in which vocalist/rhythm guitarist/thereminist Ted Venemann seems to nod directly at Metallica — see pronunciation of “Bathory” vs. Master of Puppets‘ “Battery” — mirrors the brutality their songs would seem to be interested in portraying.
The lineup of Venemann, lead guitarist/vocalist
Dave Krocker, bassist Thomas Harris (since replaced by Erik Brasher) and drummer Chris Hannan use “Cult of Bathory” to establish a uniformly grim vision that persists throughout the subsequent three tracks, “Iron Mountain,” “The Adversary” and “Reign of Terror” exhibiting a sonic breadth in kind with the underlying dedication to weighted spirits and sonics. “Iron Mountain” is the longest of the four inclusions at 8:11 and uses its added space for a subdued, semi-psychedelic midsection jam that holds its underlying tension in Hannan‘s toms and some spacious volume-swell swirling.
They build their way back to the full-toned assault, naturally, and finish side A with a few measures of extra bashing. The thread continues as “The Adversary” launches side B with gruff chugging in tradeoff with quieter verses and dudely roll that gives way after the halfway mark for a briefer sojourn into minimalism that, similar to “Iron Mountain,” kicks back to maximum heft, en route to “Reign of Terror,” which is more uptempo but still unabashedly driven by the lower end of the tonal spectrum. A late solo feels in its element over the faster backing, and “Reign of Terror” justifies its closer position through a general uptick in the energy level that hits its apex in a post-slowdown fit of chugging and pace build, cutting out to finish cold, which is suitable enough to the preceding vibes.
Produced and engineered by Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Trouble, many others) at Skull Seven Productions, where Yidhra also recorded Hexed, Cult of Bathory is a strong follow-up to that full-length release, showing that the style the band proffered there and on the prior self-titled EP in 2009 was the ground floor of a development that remains underway. Crisp in sound and pointed even in the bluntness of their execution, the EP’s tracks are available to stream now on the player below ahead of Friday’s release date. Please enjoy:
Black Voodoo Records will release YIDHRA’s Cult Of Bathory on December 18th, 2015 on 10-inch vinyl in three limited edition color variants: 100 blood red splattered, 100 purple sold exclusively through Black Voodoo Records, and 100 standard black. Cult Of Bathory will be available on CD and digitally in early 2016. Stay tuned for details. Teaser tracks to be unveiled in the coming weeks.
