Ever since their 2014 EP The Doubt (Flenser) garnered serious attention and wowed underground audiences, Kristina Esfandiari’s King Woman have had an air about them that something special was on the way.Continue reading
Tag Archives: Relapse
Davie Allan/Joel Grind – Split EP
For those of you who are unaware (and I dare say there will be a few), Davie Allan is a Californian guitarist probably best known for his work on a variety of biker movies in the 1960s. Taking the traditional surf guitar sound, he twisted it into something entirely different using the newly invented Fuzzbox. Allan’s fuzzed up guitar tracks have been used in many films over the years, most recently in Quentin Tarantino‘s Inglourious Basterds.
Joel Grind, on the other hand, comes from a completely different arena. His band Toxic Holocaust have been tearing up the Thrash scene since their inception in 1999. Their (or rather his, as Grind played all the instruments on the band’s first few releases himself) brand of Punk/Thrash relying more on creating sweaty, violent carnage in the moshpit rather than any kind of bizzaro Surf Rock atmosphere. Grind is no stranger to his music being used on soundtracks either though, having ‘Bitch’ from ‘Conjure and Command’ (Relapse) blasting out during a car chase in a Season 5 episode of Sons of Anarchy.
An entirely instrumental affair, this split four track EP (Relapse) consists of some seriously dirty hard rockin’ surf music with a greasy ’60s/early ’70s vibe. From the moment the motorbikes cease their revving at the beginning of Allan’s opening track ‘Recycled Too’ you are immediately thrust into a world of psychedelic, violent biker movies like Devil’s Angels, The Wild Angels or even Werewolves on Wheels where Hell’s Angels smoke weed, drop acid, have hairy, leathery sex, and beat up anyone who looks at them in a funny way. And all this happily continues with his second track ‘Buzz Saw Effect’.
Unsurprisingly, Grind’s contribution is somewhat heavier than Allan’s. ‘Peacekeeper’ kicks off his side of the disc enthusiastically, while second cut ‘The Invisible Landscape’ is driven by a more traditional clean surf guitar tone. Also, being instrumental tracks only, people who aren’t familiar with, or don’t usually care for, Grind’s Dalek-receiving-a-proctological-exam vocals don’t have to worry here.
If Rob Zombie directed a movie about Hell’s Angels on acid fighting a gang of machine gun wielding Go-Go dancers on the back roads of Hell, then this would absolutely be the soundtrack.
8.0/10
GARY ALCOCK
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Boris with Merzbow – Gensho
The dizzying heights of pretentiousness. Oh, that’s what I decided to rename this split EP between legendary Japanese artists Boris and Merzbow. Some who may read this review will probably consider me an asshole for not caring about this collaboration. Fine by me. See this whole affair lasts just shy of 150 minutes. Two hours, 29 minutes and 25 seconds to be exact. So I had a fair amount of time to daydream and check e-mails during Gensho’s (Relapse) running time.
And I can already hear some of you dismounting from the high horse to let me know that both the Boris and Merzbow LPs are meant to be played simultaneously. Well thanks for enlightening me. That only makes this slog last 74 minutes, which is about 20 minutes longer than it should be.
Maybe I should be commending both acts for deciding to take the path less traveled on. But the more I think about Gensho’s gimmick, the more annoyed I get. By sticking with the simultaneous premise you limit how fans can consume the music. I can’t truly listen to it in the car, or through my headphones while at work, now can I? And if I cue it up at home I better have two sets of turntables.
There are some non-drowsy moments. During ‘Rainbow’ I was digging the fuzzed waves of guitar distortion that accompanied the whispery vocals. Boris’ ‘Sometimes’ also plays around with this soft/harsh dynamic with results that are sort of like a drum less Radiohead B-Side.
From what I gather the concept for Gensho was born after a joint gig between Boris and Merzbow. See, that wouldn’t be as frustrating as it’s a one off event that most in attendance likely enjoyed, but don’t ask of me to pay for as an experience that doesn’t translate to listening at home. You remember Metallica and Lou Reed’s Lulu? Gensho doesn’t stray far from that level of self-indulgence.
4.0/10
HANSEL LOPEZ
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Gadget – The Great Destroyer
It might be ten years since Sweden’s Gadget vomited their brilliant last album The Funeral March (Relapse) all over our collective faces, but it’s safe to say that time has most definitely not mellowed them. Charging at you with all the subtlety of a lobotomised orangutan swinging a lead pipe, their third full length release The Great Destroyer (Relapse) lives entirely up to its name.
Not so much carefully combining elements of Hardcore, Grindcore, and Death Metal as mashing them together by stamping on them repeatedly until a fetid brown liquid begins oozing out from underneath, Gadget’s only intention is to get in, get out, and leave you feeling like you’ve gone twelve rounds with a runaway steamroller.
But it’s not just unrelenting speed they hit you with. Oh no, there are other types of lovely auditory pulverization to endure here as blastbeats and frantic, slashing riffs turn into mid-paced grooves and thundering breakdowns at the drop of a hat. And just when you think you’re getting a reprieve, in comes another whirlwind of attitude, led from the front by vocalist Emil Englund, his singing style a cross between a walrus having its throat ripped out and an exasperated geography teacher venting his rage at a class of disinterested teenagers. And if that isn’t enough for you, Napalm Death‘s Barney Greenway stops by to punch you in the face with a guest appearance on the thirty eight second ‘Violent Hours (For A Veiled Awakening)‘.
If you enjoy music which leaves you with a sore head, ringing ears, a big grin, and a string of drool hanging from the corner of your mouth, then The Great Destroyer is the album for you. Got Attention Deficit Disorder? No problem. The lengthiest track on here is the five and a half minute closer ‘I Don’t Need You – Dead and Gone’, while the others rattle in around the sixty second mark.
The production is dense and claustrophobic, but also clear enough to hear the individual skill from each musician. Guitarist Rikard Olsson may sound like his arm is about to come off at the shoulder and hit someone in the face but there’s control and definition amongst the blur of speed, and rhythm section William Blackmon (Drums) and Fredrik Nygren (Bass) make playing this fast seem almost effortless.
Listening to ‘The Great Destroyer’ is like having the Drill Instructor from Full Metal Jacket spitting abuse into your face for half an hour. It’s like having to watch a repeated loop of that part in American History X where Edward Norton tells that kid to bite the kerb and stamps on his head. It’s like trying to catch a cement mixer between your teeth, and it’s like watching an enraged gorilla hurl itself against the safety glass after beating its keeper to death with the bones of its former keeper.
Enjoy.
8.0/10
GARY ALCOCK
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Primitive Man / Sea Bastard- Split EP
Around the same time last year, Primitive Man and Sea Bastard released two of the most hateful – and well received – products of the year. The former’s vicious EP Home is Where the Hatred Is (Relapse) and the latter’s nightmarish split with Keeper (Dry Cough Records) were followed by a joint tour of the UK last spring and, with this split release (Dry Cough Records), the bonds the two outfits have forged now become indelible.
Primitive Man’s two tracks kick us off, and with a familiar feel: the band’s squalling, Blackened Sludge given added horror by the face-melting roar of Ethan McCarthy. The clanking, Low-end ferocity of ‘Cold Resolve’ is certainly augmented by some of McCarthy’s most fearsome barks to date, and the portentous squeals of the sinister drop are enough to collapse the nervous system. The resonance of bass and drums launching us into ‘Servant’ also have a primal minimalism which clears the bowels: its fizzing, sparing riff a tolling bell which flays the skin with each swing, McCarthy’s voice the scouring brush rubbing salt in the open wounds, the brief quickening a Deathly flash. It’s a terrifying assault: appalling, guttural, startling, physically affecting…and damn satisfying.
Another near-20 minute slice of snaking pummel from Brighton’s finest closes this tormenting platter. ‘The Hermit’ largely follows the Bastard template but unusually, so gradually you hardly notice, it gathers pace through a viscerally pounding, pregnant centrepiece. Oli Irongiant’s deep, singular, painfully slow riff sets the tone before the lumbering behemoth is brutally awoken by the pulverising rhythms of Steve Patton and George Leaver. Telling the tale of the persecuted Northern monk St Cuthbert, Monty’s screaming roar wraps itself around the mellow hundredweight like your favourite Serpentine villain, rising and falling with each line, carrying that Sabbath-esque quickening toward a low, nefarious final movement which is both torturous and earth-shaking.
This “split” has been in the pipeline for some time and, thankfully, it’s been worth the wait. Crushing and hostile, these are two of the most exciting Doom-centric bands around right now and to have them both on one plate is a horrifying bliss.
8.5/10
PAUL QUINN
Magrudergrind – II
After a handful of years away from the studio, Magrudergrind has returned with their heart-racing album, II (Relapse). For twenty-three and a half minutes, the grindcore outfit will punch you in the stomach, throw you to the ground, and then help you back up for more. I personally did not have a large sample size of the bred in Washington D.C., now in Brooklyn, NY trio prior to listening to this album, but this album has put me on a quest to find more. A perfect mix of grindcore and power violence kept me interested from start to finish with no real breaks in the action.
I always find it a bit difficult to pick out favorite songs on an album where most of the tracks are less than two minutes (not saying that is a bad thing either). One of those songs is actually just shy of three and a half minutes, ‘Black Banner.’ As one of the few points in the albums where things slow down and get heavy, this abnormally long track from Magrudergrind will have you violently head bang and then two-step all over your living room. Speaking of long songs, the other longer than typical track on the album is ‘Unit 731.’ This song starts off with that slow, heavy feel again but eventually snaps into a more traditional grindcore song. The song certainly felt like it had multiple personalities with these two sides to make up one of the more memorable tracks on II.
I was very impressed with this latest effort from Magrudergrind and probably in part that it took quite a few years to get some new material. Yet, it sounds like not a single step was lost from the group.
7.0/10
TIM LEDIN
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Behemoth Book A Headline Tour With Myrkur, Will Perform The Satanist In Full Live
Blackened Death Metal legends Behemoth have booked a headline tour of the USA this spring, where they will play their acclaimed album The Satanist (Metal Blade) in full every night. Opening the tour will be black metal artist Myrkur, in her first major tour of the USA.
A limited number of premium ticketing packages which include a commemorative laminate, meet & greet session with the band, an 18″ x 24″ poster set (three posters), 42″ x 42″ wall flag, and general admission ticket are available now at showstubs.com/Behemoth. Only fifty fans per show can purchase the package, so reserve yours now!
At every concert fans will also have the chance to view “The Congregation” exhibition at each venue. Dubbed, “a symbiosis of Behemoth and Toxic Vision,” the display showcases the collaboration between the two parties. Over the years, the artist behind Toxic Vision (Sharon Toxic) has worked closely with the band to create their stage outfits, music videos, stage/photo props and more.”The Congregation” is a new experience and built solely for this tour.
Behemoth frontman Nergal comments:
“We’ve always pushed ourselves very hard trying to reach the highest peaks of artistic creativity. This time around, we are not only coming back to perform The Satanist in its entirety, but are also bringing along a collaboration that’s unheard of! Toxic Vision, who is a renowned and absolutely brilliant artist and designer from Canada whom we’ve worked with on several projects in the past (Behemoth stage gear, video clips, costumes…), will be accompanying us on this trek with a unique exhibition called ‘The Congregation.’ We are beyond excited to see how these synergies coexist! Sharon, it’s an honor to welcome you aboard!”
Toxic Vision CEO Sharon Toxic also commented:
“It is a real honor to work alongside Behemoth and have this opportunity to bring a vision to life! We aim to dazzle and inspire, I am inviting everyone to step into the dark world of ‘The Congregation’ – an exclusive showcase of my work with Behemoth. Nothing like this has been done before, and of course, nothing is really as it seems with Toxic Vision. This is a culmination of craft and magic … once you step inside, you might never find your way out.”
Behemoth tour dates, with Myrkur
Apr 21: Theatre Of The Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Apr 22: Webster Hall – New York, NY
Apr 23: Royale – Boston, MA
Apr 25: Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre – Montreal, QC
Apr 26: The Phoenix Concert Theater – Toronto, ON
Apr 27: St. Andrews Hall – Detroit, MI
Apr 29: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Apr 30: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
May 01: The Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS
May 03: The Gothic Theatre – Denver, CO
May 04: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
May 06: The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
May 07: The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
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Guest Post: José Carlos Santos Top Ten Albums Of 2015
As we dash towards the holidays and the end of the year Ghost Cult is feeling good about this season of giving. So we are giving our fans a chance to get to know our partners, peers, and friends from bands in the world of music. They will chime in with some guest blogs, end of year lists, and whatever else is on their minds as we pull the plug on 2015. Today we have José Carlos Santos, who writes a lot about music, being Senior Writer for both Terrorizer and Rock-a-Rolla UK, Chief of staff for LOUD! from Portugal, shared with us his favorite 10 albums of 2015.
1. Solefald – World Metal. Kosmopolis Sud (Indie Recordings)
Pushing the envelope isn’t the half of it. The first song on this truly revolutionary record is called ‘World Music With Black Edges’, and that’s exactly what it is. It should be just about all the guideline you’ll need before embarking on this journey. Black metal, electronics, Frank Zappa and African sounds, among many, many other things, are thrown into a free-flowing, astoundingly cohesive whole. In an age where having two songs that don’t sound like each other is already considered “genre-hopping”, Solefald are one of the few bands worthy of the term avant-garde.
2. Royal Thunder – Crooked Doors (Relapse)
The best pure, true rock album in years, Crooked Doors sees Royal Thunder fulfill the potential they have always shown, and move up to the pantheon of the greats. It feels and sounds timeless – if you hand it to someone and say that it’s a lost 1978 classic, it’ll make the same sense as if you’ll tell them it’s 2024’s album of the year you just brought back from the future in your time machine. A great song is a great song, and they’re all great here.
3. My Dying Bride – Feel The Misery (Peaceville)
My Dying Bride are back to the masterpieces – 14 years after their last truly great record, The Dreadful Hours, Feel The Misery recaptures the tragic sorrow and the decadent grandeur we’ve always loved from them.
4. Revenge – Behold.Total.Rejection (Season Of Mist)
Because fuck you.
5. Dødheimsgard – A Umbra Omega (Peaceville)
The other band alongside Solefald that warrants the proper use of the avant-garde tag, Dødheimsgard have given us a mysterious, shape shifting record, full of dark nuances and details that we’ll still be discovering come the time for the 2016 lists. The best thing Vicotnik’s done since ‘Written In Waters’ – and yes, I’m including ‘666 International’ in that appraisal.
6. Tau Cross – Tau Cross (Relapse)
Amebix are no more, long live Tau Cross. Not only is this the logical successor to the astounding ‘Sonic Mass’, it’s also enriched by the extra talents of Voivod’s Michel “Away” Langevin and crusty guitarists Jon Misery and Andy Lefton, all of them lead to greatness by the might of Rob Miller, who is still one of the most unique songwriters in extreme music.
7. Sigh – Graveward (Candlelight)
Sometimes you’ll have to pause halfway through ‘Graveward’ and wonder how is this possible – roughly five million tracks are all going in a different direction, all at once, and yet everything makes perfect sense, there is order and flow in the middle of the craziness and chaos. Alongside Solefald and Dødheimsgard, you’ve got enough insanity this year to wreck your brain for years to come.
8. Therapy? – Disquiet (Amazing Record Company)
Most of you might only know Therapy?’s most popular phase, but the true essence of the band has been in their last four or five fiery, adventurous and energetic records. ‘Disquiet’ is the best of them all, a mix between instant punk-ish gratification and deep, deceptively simple songwriting that’ll allow for multiple repeat plays without a hint of exhaustion. Also, closer ‘Deathstimate’ is a serious contender for song of the year, or decade, or whatever.
9. Goatsnake – Black Age Blues (Southern Lord)
It’s been a 15 year wait, but for each year of absence there’s a kickass bluesy riff that’ll stay in your head forever. Goatsnake just picked up where they left off, literally – the first song is called ‘Another River To Cross’, a nod to ‘Flower Of Disease’s closer ‘The River’.
10. Steve Von Till – A Life Unto Itself (Neurot)
Rarely has such a subtle and generally quiet record packed such a thunderous emotional punch – the Neurosis guitarist/vocalist might present himself in the sparser, most minimalist fashion, just one man lost in the woods with an acoustic guitar, some effects and his coarse, haunting voice, but these songs will reach down into your heart and squeeze it with the force of a thousand men.
Limb – Terminal
If you visit their Facebook page, this London, England set of rabble-rousers’ bio simply states: “Tune it down, turn it up.” And now that I’ve given Limb’s new album Terminal (New Heavy Sounds) a few spins I have to wholeheartedly endorse that mantra.
For a band that’s only been around since 2011 the rattling guitar tone and stellar production sure sounds confident. Rob Hoey’s throaty barks serve as the perfect complement to Pat Pask’s downtuned blues and Tom Mowforth’s forceful but controlled work on the drums. In terms of sonic quality, these Londoners sound on par with most doom acts on imprints like Relapse or Profound Lore. It’s groovy enough to show to your dad, but has enough impact to satisfy the younger heshers.
Terminal starts off with ‘Three Snake Leaves’ and at a running time of 1:45 it sets the stage for the headbanging to come, but it also drove me to a realization. Compared to typical Doom or Sludge offerings the songs on Terminal tend to come and go very quickly. There are four tracks that are done and over with in or less than three minutes. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it won’t wear out its welcome, but it makes you wonder how numbers like ‘Mortuary Teeth’ would’ve turned out given a little more room to grow. Truth be told the best songs here like ‘Spoils of a Portrait King’ and ‘Cocytus’ happen to be the longest in terms of length and for slowing the tempos down to Jimmy Bower levels of guitar crunch. And I’m not saying that playing slower is the key either as ‘Down by the Banks’ has a Clutch level of self-assured heavy rock swagger.
I don’t want to make it seem like this is a bad record by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, there’s only one moment on Terminal that feels uninspired and it’s the appropriately titled ‘Sleepwalkers.’ It’s all just a matter of these young Brits adding some tweaks to the songwriting.
England started it all with Black Sabbath and kept that momentum going over the years with legendary noise merchants like Cathedral and Electric Wizard. Only time will tell if Limb are up to that task, but I like their chances.
7.0/10
HANSEL LOPEZ
Myrkur – M
Those who caught last year’s startling eponymous EP from Danish priestess Myrkur will surely be frothing at the mouth in anticipation of début album M (both Relapse). The bewitching amalgam of aesthetics and frozen agonies decorating that EP is, it seems, the template here also: the tremendously affecting medieval harmonies and instrumentation of opener ‘Skøgen Skulle Dø’ gradually fired by a solitary scream and tremolo underpin, while the drop into the eerie coda is both stirring and unnerving.
The early stages of the album show a progression from that début, thanks in no small part to the production skills of Ulver’s Garm, and a host of guest musicians including Teloch and Christopher Amott. The tuba and piano marking ‘Hævnen’ are incredibly effective, whilst truly powerful roars and explosions of sound are balanced by winsome intonations. The lead guitar of ‘Onde Børn’ is augmented by apt pedalwork, giving it an ethereal quality which deafens the down-mixed, trad metal-style riff and blastbeats. As subtleties threaten to engulf, harsh strings produce a delightfully jagged, edgy coda for an almost perfect unity twixt the two poles.
Vocals are at times both exquisite and euphoric: the spellbinding ‘Vølvens Spådom’ a siren’s call, the blend of ecstasy and mourning given staggering might by a reverberating riff. The marching, resonant drums of ‘Jeg Er Guden…’, meanwhile, are enhanced by chiming bells and delightful switches from languid inflections to coruscating rasps. Indeed it occasionally feels as if the Black elements of Myrkur’s sound are something of a supporting cast: the heartbreaking beauty of the Tori Amos-esque ‘Nordlys’ and closer ‘Norn’, plus the lamenting ‘Bissan Lull’ sticking in the mind longer than the nonetheless effective ‘Mordet’ with its blend of Black and NWOBHM rhythms.
There remains enough hostility on offer to keep our extremists intrigued: ‘Skaði’ in particular, with truly chaotic, fearful passages akin to Aevangelist infesting its haunting body, leaves the bones nicely chilled. That something special is at work here cannot be ignored, and M is further proof that this talented, inventive lady is set to confound, attract, entrance and unite disparate factions for years to come.
7.5/10
PAUL QUINN