Tag Archives: bands from North Carolina

MAKE – Pilgrimage of Loathing

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MAKE – Pilgrimage of Loathing cover ghostcultmag

It is not often when I finish listening to an album for the first time that I say “what was that” and I actually enjoyed the album. Pilgrimage of Loathing (Accident Prone), latest from North Carolina psych-doom trio MAKE, is one of those few albums. Each song has its own personality and story yet they all seem to just flow together. From the first riff to the final note, you are put on a rollercoaster of music and emotions.

Opening track, ‘The Somnambulist’, has a very tribal feeling opening with crescendo drumming over delay guitar effects. It then climaxes into fuzzy bass, heavy guitar distortion, and eventually leads to the vocals which felt very black metal. Being the longest song on Pilgrimage of Loathing, it only makes sense to have the most twists and turns in structure and really the emotions in the song. With easily the strangest song title on the album, ‘Two Hawks Fucking’ acts almost like an intermission in what was an angry first half of an album. This track really stands out from the rest as it is not only an instrumental piece, but is also very calm. Heed my warning, this is not a turning point in the album especially the second ‘Human Garbage’ starts up. With a flip of a switch it seemed, the aggression was back in full force. If MAKE was looking for a sludge song that was heavy on the hardcore side, they nailed it. Lastly, the North Carolina natives make sure to squeeze in a stoner doom track, ‘Dirt’. Slow and heavy from start to finish with harsh vocals over the top make for a song that you will lose yourself listening to.

Never has a band sucked me in so quick to an album before like MAKE has done with Pilgrimage of Loathing. Each time I listen through the record, I find I enjoy the album as much as I did the first time I listened. While I have read this is the angriest MAKE has been thus far, I can safely say there is more emotion to this album than just anger. This fact alone separates the album from a large amount of good albums this year has produced, up to a great album where only a select few have reached.

9.0/10

TIM LEDIN

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Kindler – Cosmic Revelations

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Kindler Cosmic Revelations album cover ghostcultmag

Kindler are a three-piece progressive rock band from Asheboro, NC who are certain to make an impact within their genre as they grow. With their début album Cosmic Revelations (Self-Released) the band showcases why they are worth paying attention to.

The main thing that stands out on this album is how talented each of the members are. First and foremost, this album has some of the best bass playing I have heard in ages. The bass guitar and lead vocals are both handled by Cameron Fitzpatrick, who showcases some impressive vocals. He gets a lot of time to show his vocal range and depth on this album, hitting some impressive high notes throughout the track-list. The other two members are brothers (drums) and Stephen Wiley (guitar), both also provide backing vocals, which are used to create strong vocal harmonies at key moments on the album. All instruments are played with a great deal of technical ability, which is important for the prog-rock genre.

Stand out tracks on the album include the space rock styled ‘Morning Ours’, the somber and emotional ‘Iron Heart’ which carries echoes of a softer Opeth track [think their Damnation album], progressive metal track ‘Eden’, and ‘Scars’ which is a personal favourite with focus on strong vocal harmonies, simple percussion, and acoustic guitar. One thing that kept this album from getting stale is the mix of styles on showcase here. Each track brought another aspect of the bands sound to the table, keeping things dynamic and exciting. Tracks that tried to be more progressive in style did drag on a bit, namely ‘Remembrance’ and ‘Morning Ours’; each being 6+ minutes long, felt like they could have been shaved a bit without losing any charm. Overall the song writing is a strong point, whereas nothing really felt that memorable or new, everything was solid and nothing felt like filler.

While this album doesn’t tread any new ground, it succeeds in ways I didn’t initially expect from this band. It managed to be enjoyable from start to finish, and ended up having something for everyone due to its diverse sound. This makes it an easy recommendation for most if not all music fans. This band is worth keeping an eye on, and leaves endless ways to expand their sound. It should be interesting to see where they go next.

7.0/10

MATTHEW BLANCHARD