Album Teaser: Allegaeon - Proponent For Sentience

Every now and then a new album pops up that deserves your undivided attention. Today, I'll give you a single teaser from it to whet your appetite - the excellent "All Hail Science".

Enjoy, friends.

Album Review: All Them Witches – Dying Surfer Meets His Maker

Direct from the recording studio of a remote mountainside cabin, hand-built by the band, perched above the fake glamour of Dollywood, here comes an utterly bewitching album of luxuriantly rich sounds. It draws its inspiration from across the dusty plains, glutinous swamps and rolling hills of arcane America and knits together the softer edges of desert rock and folk blues with transient tonal nods to country, pop, psyche and stoner.

The first thing though that hits you about this album however is the unbelievable restraint shown throughout to not swamp the songs with lyrics, instrumentation or verbose affectations. Remarkable, especially when you consider the quality of the musicianship on show and the melodious quality of the vocalist – one Charles Parks. No, here things are stripped back to allow for the essential to shine and the unnecessary to melt away.

Stepping through the doorway and into that initial mellow riff of “Call Me Star”, you are whisked immediately away into All Them Witches’ universe. The tension, the stress melts away and you begin to float. It works as a real statement of intent, forewarning us to expect the unexpected; there are to be no fireworks, no clap of thunder, no desperate need to blast out your ears before they settle. Hewn back to its humble core, it oozes star quality. Sat atop its mellifluous acoustic guitar, the band displays an exquisite touch, gifting the song a lightness and an almost magical quality. Both beguiling and jaw-droppingly beautiful.

The instrumental eight-and-a-half-minute “El Centro” picks the pace up, drowning the listener in a Torche-like melting pot of battering stoner chugs and shifting psychedelic affectations that centres round a two-note riff. Within two tracks they have blown any preconceptions you might have of the band not once but twice. And for the kicker? How about a spot of “Dirt Preachers”? A driving rhythmic build with a grim vocal performance injected with malice and menace and a storming chorus. The viciously slow final section drags up sinister undertones of religious paedophilia by littering the lyrical wordplay with lines like “Come all you children to my arms” and “Twist your fingers, I’ll call you a star”.

Betwixt and between, there is a bluesy lush jam, a half-whispered vocal, a dash of harmonica and a gorgeous acoustic instrumental to wallow in. Venturing down “Open Passageways ” and its pursuing tonal reprise finds ATW managing to morph the goodness of Coldplay’s early naivety with Moby’s “Extreme Ways”. It’s a monster track of acoustic guitar with bowed violin gifting it a folky hue with a sumptuous kick of vocal hook – “Scream and shout and bellow / Chew up your love then swallow”.

Then, as the album draws to a close, the band continues to loosen their belts, resulting in a maddening dropping away of exploratory content. What it does allow them to do, eventually with Monster Magnet hats firmly in place, is jam; to gradually step backwards from the lead to walk beside the listener offering simple chanted echoing incantations and a degree of psychedelic warbling.

The “solitude of the mountain”, as Parks describes it, has indelibly coloured the album, removing it from their harder, faster back catalogue and gifting it a laconic, unforced swagger and a beautifully controlled flow where everything fits with everything else. Having initially been released in late 2015, essentially what you’ve got here is the record everybody missed from their album of the year lists. From here there are no limits.

Also online @ http://www.avenoctum.com/2016/02/all-them-witches-dying-surfer-meets-his-maker-new-west-records/

Album Review: The Midnight Ghost Train – Cold Was The Ground

Where visual art can announce itself as everything from an explosion of different shapes, dimensions and hues or restrict itself to the most minimalist, one-dimensional, single-colour blocks, music can do much the same. This particular beard-toting Kansas trio find themselves at the latter end, pumping out an unfaltering combination of muffled fuzz bass and sludgy, rhythmic chugging. Essentially, they have taken what bands like Orange Goblin, Red Fang and Clutch have done before and refined it to something a little less expansive and a darn sight more punishing.

Cold Was The Ground marks their third foray into long-players and this one thunders along a similar path as its predecessors, crashing in on the listener as wave upon wave of sonic obliteration. Underpinning this dark, suffocating powerhouse of noisome groove, the smatterings of swampy delta blues, gnarly rock n’ roll and virulent stoner metal lie.

Gently ushering itself in with a warping, one-note crescendo, the introductory ‘Along The Chasm‘ suddenly kicks us into the hammering, rhythmic, mile-deep rut where The Midnight Ghost Train demand we remain for the majority of the album’s running time. As we speed on through tracks like the attack-and-release, riff-repeats of ‘Gladstone‘, the chilled-out Monster Magnet-esque drift and rapid wah-wah pedal pneumatics of instrumental ‘One Last Shelter‘ and the dull battery of ‘No. 227‘ we alight on the heart of the album where the band begin to find their soul.

There’s the ripped choral lick on ‘BC Trucker’, thick, dirty and moreishly addictive and ‘Arvonia‘ with its Fu Manchu wall of fuzz and dark, brooding undertones so reminiscent of All Hail The Yeti. Deeper in and there’s the sinister backwoods edge of ‘The Canfield’, the no-frills swagger and bluesy grunt of ‘Straight To The North‘ and creepy, energized panic that so engenders ‘Twin Souls‘. None of these though can compare to the simple, tender luminosity of ‘The Little Sparrow‘. It is the first true glimpse of what lies beneath the bluster – heartfelt emotion. In this case, that emotion is fear. Pure, cold sweat-inducing, neurotic fear.

Undoubtedly, there is a good helping of monotonous, atonal filler here and an infuriating paucity of texture or flavour in a scene so dependent upon small deviations in delivery. However, there is also a more subtle connection to the sordid underbelly that lurks beneath the glossy veneer of so much modern music. Here, you can taste the blood, sweat and tears.

Maybe, if Cold Was The Ground was a painting it would be a Rothko – probably one from his Black-Form series. And like Rothko’s minimalist art, it will have its admirers.

Also online @ Heavy Blog Is Heavy = http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2015/03/18/the-midnight-ghost-train-cold-was-the-ground/

Album Review: All Hail The Yeti – All Hail The Yeti

These Sasquatch-obsessed metalheads are based in sunny Los Angeles rather than the wilds of some wintry country and that is, indeed, rather baffling. Only a mug would believe these songs were written on the beach and their PR blurb leads me to think I’m probably right, labelling them as “the band that turned their backs on their Hollywood homes”. Naturally, there’s still a tendency to assume this monstering about is just all a gimmick to garner attention but the band stick to their subject with dedication and go about their frightful task with plenty of enthusiasm.

They switch between referring to the beast himself in both the third-person (to great effect) and the first-person, and manage to ramp up the tension by digging up and relaying the fables that follow the sightings. There are plaintive roars, chunky riffs and barked lyrics like “Nothing human could be that fast / Was it the monster that crossed the path?” (from the bludgeoning opener “Deep Creek”), “Don’t turn around!” and “He’s come back to take what’s his (your head)” (from the stoner riff worship of “Axe Murder Hollow”) or “Fee-fi-fo-fum / I smell the blood of everyone” (from the pounding thrasher “Suicide Woods”).

The switch up from shoulder-roll to chugfest, which (when you think about it) was always going to lead inexorably towards a wholesome, fist-pumping groove, is magnetic. By hook or by crook, the source of their mojo lies somewhere between the balls-out, whisky-swigging, rock-a-doodle doo antics of Hellyeah, the stoned Southern wallowing of Down, the malignant metalcore of Unearth and the monstrous sludge that Eyehategod sling about.

When they’re not swinging on the lighter, grungier choruses of “When The Sky Falls” and “I Am Wendigod” (presumably they are there as a tool to shuffle the pack), they are digging down into your most primal of fears by mixing in a few meaningful samples, including the spookiest of cinematic scenes across “The Weak And Wounded…” or slowing the pace for its soul-mate “After The Great Fire”. Those cleaner vocals do give the album added dimension, yet, as they stand, they detract from the overal impact. Listen to the opposing vocal forces within “Bloodguilt” (trying to marry Connor Garritty’s impressive, unhinged roars to anything else must be an impossible task), or even the subject matter of “Ruby Ridge…” though and suddenly you’ll realise they are more than just a one-dimensional, flash-in-the-pan act.

They still manage to grasp hold of that combination of morbid fascination and crushing fear, those emotions which walk hand-in-hand with the unknown, by beginning and ending fast and hard. However, for a while, they lose it mid-album, finding that fight-or-flight pressure point slipping through their fingers. This is a debut, remember, so I’d imagine that they still have plenty left in the tank; bigger fish to fry, as it were, than we’ve heard so far, and they have plenty of time left to iron out those creases (like that bizarre, interminable and frankly ludicrous 15-minute swamp and campfire loop at the end of “Jesus Cradle”). Do keep your eyes peeled for All Hail The Yeti – they have the talent to stick around like the tales of the mystical creature they so idolise.

Also online (with extras) @ Ave Noctum = http://www.avenoctum.com/2012/08/all-hail-the-yeti-all-hail-the-yeti-afm-records/

Album Review: Drawers - All Is One

The sheer volume of music out there, divided into a plethora of disparate genres and subgenres, never ceases to amaze me. As lovers of the art form we are all sweeping our musical metal detectors across these heaving, sonic haystacks, searching for the tiny needles in each that prick our attention. The idea, of course, is that we collect enough needles from enough haystacks to satiate our own desire. As we grab our needles to knit our own musical sweater, it’s so easy to forget the vast weight of bands we either fail to pick-up on, or do so and discard.

Drawers are a band who, amidst the trend for those one-word, pluralised bandnames and the resurgent craze for atmospherics and big riffs, are in danger of not getting picked up. It’s clear from, “All Is One”, their debut album about a sailor’s journey to meet his nemesis, that the band have sucked up many different flavours of sludge and stoner metal to produce a hard, smothering sound that’s heavy enough to suffocate.

They start aggressively with both “Capuut Mortem Ocean” and “Black Queen” ripped with the grumbling guitar tone of High On Fire and enamoured with a touch of the dark power of Purified In Blood. “Grey Sailor” piles some of Corrosion Of Conformity’s hardcore feistiness into the mix, dissecting the rhythmic groove into spasming sections. Mostly though, you’ll be hearing plenty of the low-keyed progressive fury of Crowbar and Down, especially in tracks like “Ivory Lighthouse”, “Red Ballet” and “Muddy Smoke”, both in the Anselmo meets Windstein vocal and the weight of dissonance, dissolving the chugs into a singular sound.

Tracks like the short-but-sweet “Blue Keel” and the more expansive “Silver Hand” dig down into cleaner waters adding another brief layer with a more pinched, proggy quality a la Baroness or Isis. “Silver Hand”, in particular, is a winner having retained the driven punch built up from previous tracks to offer a taste of both worlds. Another cracker is the raw power-play, “Golden Adieu”, which simply refuses to cede ground to allow you room to breathe.

With quite a few recognisable influences up front and centre, the task of projecting their own stamp on the project becomes increasingly more important as the tracks roll by. Sadly, by “Purple Ride” and “Electric Seat”, Drawers have succumbed to towing the stoner metal line, mimicking Down almost to the last detail in an attempt to suck up some of their signature, grime-slicked, deep Southern groove, wobbling along the same path, facetiously mimicking their bow-legged gait.

It’s odd that an album whose song-titles feature an array of colours should seem so undeviating, but it’s an album that undoubtedly has an enormous heft to it. It’s for this reason that, despite its lack of variety and tendency to copycat, fans of any of the aforementioned bands should get a kick out of this. For the rest of you, as it stands, if your detector gets one whiff of these Frenchmen right now, it will simply short-circuit and Drawers will find themselves sliding back down to the bottom of that haystack.

Also online @ Ave Noctum = http://www.avenoctum.com/2012/02/drawers-all-is-one-slow-burn-records/

Album Review: All Shall Perish - This Is Where It Ends

Since their last album, All Shall Perish have parted ways with both guitarist Chris Storey and drummer Matt Kuykendall. A large couple of obstacles dumped on their road to stardom then, and just when they seemed to be building up an unstoppable head of steam. So often during these times of trouble the inevitable infusion of so much fresh blood can lead to a weakening of bonds and a blunting of edges. That certainly seemed to be the case early on when they claimed to be experiencing slow progress and subsequently lost one replacement. However, listening to this end result, now Francesco Artusato and Adam Pierce have come in and truly established themselves, they’ve clearly inspired the Californians to even greater heights.

From the first to the last, they absolutely grip it and rip it. This Is Where It Ends is intensely heavy, yet still coyly melodic in parts. The technicality is firing on all cylinders but a little of that exciting, experimental edge and rich layering that featured on Awaken The Dreamers has been left by the wayside. You see, you simply can’t define this band as deathcore and leave it at that. They pick and mix flavours from track-to-track like kids in a candy store. Sure, death and hardcore run through most of their work but there is also a distinct metal edge that hits tech, prog, groove, and thrash all at different times.

One thing is for certain, vocalist Hernan Hermida’s human-suit has split a seam; at times here he’s clearly flashing his green, reptilian skin beneath. C’mon, the man is quite clearly an alien being. No man or woman can make sounds as diverse, rough and bollock-janglingly heavy as these and get away with it. He’s right up there with all the other pink-painted, multi-organed, genii vocalists – Randy Blythe, Mitch Lucker, Guy Kozowyk, [insert your own particular favorites here]. Consider that and then know he repeatedly scowls “We are the dominant species!” during “The Death Plague”. His low, gargled, animal grunts are particularly powerful on tracks like “A Pure Evil” and “Royalty Into Exile” and his scouring pad squeals on “My Retaliation” are enough to turn your brain to mush – “I hope to see you fucking dieeee” – especially when he follows that up by showing off his full range.

The guitars so often split into these two distinct factions, both burble away along threaded arpeggios but one is firing out crisp high- and mid-range melody and the other is laying down dirty, low-end groove – there is a sublime example of this at 3:30 of “A Pure Evil”. They are also there blasting out speeding thrash for “Spineless”, “Embrace The Curse” and the magnificence of “The Past Will Haunt You” – which also features, by the way, an equally addictive barbed riff and pained roar of “How could we be so wroooong?” – oh, their audiences will love yelling that one, fists clenched, at the full moon. The drums are crushing – listen to “Rebirth” for a perfect cross-section of the various speeds and power that Pierce wields. On the downside, the album pacing does feel a tad lop-sided and there is perhaps a little too much of that spleen-slicing groove for my own personal taste, but I’m the sort to go misty-eyed during bits like the softly, softly acoustic outro to “Procession Of Ashes” or the orchestral intro to “In This Life Of Pain”.

Zach Ohren’s steady hand once again has been tasked with the production, and that continuity allows for nothing to dull the impact that the new boys have had. All Shall Perish are back with an album that can easily go toe-to-toe with The Price Of Existence – time will tell if this lasts as long in the memory as that little doozy. The road ahead seems to be straight and smooth once more, and if Hermida’s driving they’ll be once more heading for those glistening lights of the ASP mothership – we’re all doomed, I tells you, doooooomed!

Also online (with samples) @ The New Review = http://thenewreview.net/reviews/all-shall-perish-this-is-where-it-ends

Album Review: The Las's - Callin' All

My review - originally published on TLOBF:

The bizarre story of Liverpool’s The La’s is without equal. They are a band that formed in 1983 and, theoretically, are still in existence, and yet they have only ever released one studio album. They are also a band with more former members than there are numbers on a dartboard; many of those rarely lasting more than a few months. The reason for such personnel profligacy undoubtedly lies at the door of Lee Mavers, the band’s co-founder and singer-songwriter. Leading up to that eponymous debut, back in 1990, Mavers continually shuffled his deck of bandmates and producers (often having it forced upon him by record label pressure), and made them record and re-record tracks over and over again in an attempt to perfect every note so that each song mirrored the particular emotion he desired so badly. Even after it‘s release, it became clear that still all was not well. With Mavers’ self-doubt now stronger than ever before, and with him rarely appearing in public, producer Steve Lilywhite has tellingly suggested that the reason the band have never made another album is because, according to Mavers, they are yet to complete their first...

Full review = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/05/the-la%E2%80%99s-callin%E2%80%99-all/

Review Archive: Loyal Trooper - One Day All This Will Work Out

Self-produced and self-released, Loyal Trooper (AKA Andy Walker) seems prepared to trudge methodically on in his attempt to break into the public consciousness through the back door. With MySpace and YouTube now available he’s got as good a chance as any.

‘Division Street Blues’ is this EP’s class act, drawing comparison with the likes of Frank Turner. It’s upbeat, angst-fuelled and cutting - It follows on from the pace set by the opener ‘Nottingham Wasn‘t Built For Me‘. When things begin to get dark, as on ’Five Year Plan’ the lyrics, along with the music, can get a bit too heavy and cloying - “Will they ever get bored of being self-important pricks“, he hisses.

‘Okay At Best’ picks things back up, with a little help from his friends, and backing vocals and extra instrumentation give it plenty of layers into which to delve. The guitars have a pleasant twang to them and the pistoning drums sit strongly in the mix. To finish with the gentile, stripped-down ‘M1 To The A52’ is inspired. If Andy Walker really is a trooper, then he’s got every chance of success.

Interview: Sick Of It All

Sick Of It All are New York hardcore legends. From their inception, way back in 1984, the band have always stayed true to their original sound, playing it hard and fast at underground music clubs, like the renowned CBGB’s, keeping things simple and steadily building a mighty loyal following. Such is their status that in 2007 a tribute album to the band, entitled ‘Our Impact Will Be Felt’ was released - there certainly wasn’t a shortage of big-name admirers who wanted in on the project. They’ve recently toured with AFI and The Departed and are due back in the studio in 2008 to record a new album. With a UK tour on the horizon, Subba’s John Skibeat caught up with guitarist Pete Koller to find out just what motivates them.

Twenty-two years now and you’re still going at it hell for leather. Is there a place where you draw a line and say enough or will you be rocking it with your zimmer-frames?
Well as long as we all take care of ourselves we can keep going. This is what I love to do, I don't think I would be happy doing any thing else. So, I'm going to do my best to keep it going.

I’ve heard you sometimes take on part-time jobs to fill the gaps between touring and recording. How does this arrangement suit you guys?
I have not worked a regular job in many years. This band is a full time job.

The tribute album to the band, ‘Our Impact Will Be Felt’, features legendary bands like Sepultura and Napalm Death. How cool was it that guys like these contributed to the project?
It was a great honour. We are friends with all these bands and glad that they helped out.

There’s a new album in the pipeline. How’s it shaping up?
It's shaping up slowly right now. We have a few more tours and then when that's over with we can work full-time on the new stuff. I have a few songs already.

Is it still full of political angst like your last album ‘Death To Tyrants’ featured?
This being an election year, I'm sure of it!

You’ve been credited with inventing the Braveheart, also known as the Wall Of Death. How did that come about?
Well, we didn’t actually invent it. We just re-introduced it to the people.

Who exactly are ‘The Alleyway Crew’?
We are the Alleyway crew - the guys in the band. We got the name because we use to hang out in this alleyway in Queen’s; drinking, smoking and joking around. We where kids, we had nowhere else to go. Our friends down at CBGB's would call us that and it stuck.

As one of the longest standing and still most popular bands proudly waving the flag of New York how proud does that make you feel?
It warms my heart. It's a great feeling that people relate to us so much that they stick with us for so long.

You were pretty hardcore when you first started out. How do you feel your music has changed over the years?
Well, we all learned how to play better, write music better
and how to get our thoughts down on paper.

You’re about to start a UK tour in some tiny venues. Are you looking forward to getting to close to the fans as much as the UK fans are to you!?
Oh yes, I love the show in the UK. The people are great fun. Can't wait!

Which bands are you currently into?
Death Before Dishonour and Blood Clot.

Which of your many gigs has been your favourite and why?
The show we just played in NYC. The place was packed and everyone was going crazy. It was a great show.

Finally, on tour do you still stay up drinking into the small hours like you used to or are you all tucked up in bed with a good book and mug of cocoa?
Well most of us stay up drinking and acting the fool but I go to bed early. I got to get to the gym the next morning!

Thanks for your time. Happy touring!
OK, see ya at the shows.

Also online @ Subba-Cultcha = http://www.subba-cultcha.com/features/article.php?contentID=12936