Fell To Low : "Low in the Dust"

This band from Southern Cali has been getting some buzz on the forums with people begging for leaks of the album. So I though since its in my inbox I might as well check out what the fuss is about. They go from moody dark dissoant washes of guitar to jerk you back into to more burly post-hardcore sections, that owe a lot to DC punk. "Urizen" defaults to a rowdier punk style and is not as compelling.This is the same song they released a cassette single for when they went on tour last year if it sounds familar. There is a moodier and mathier Fugazi tone to "Mapmaker" that also has a rough edged tone not unlike Hotwatermusic. The guitar has more jangle and clang to it than distortion. The vocals have a reckless howl. Some times the howling sounds like they might be training to carry some kind of a tune. The angular mainia of "Boundary" give way to a nine minute song that weaves around some passages that came a much dark brooding than you average math-rock band. The chant of layered vocals circles another another as the instruments take the song on a dizzying spin.

 On "Truman" things get even more sprawling almost to the point of Explosionsinthesky if they had an itch for punk rock which in turn brings to mind bands that fell under the banner of "Emo" like Planesmistakenforstars and Mineral . They end up rocking in a more Planes manner, flowing back and forth between melodic guitar that floats off with you like a lazy river, before the storm driven waves crash down. They close the album in a wild drunken clamor. Some of the jangly indie rock guitar tones are cool and I like the fact they just don't one, two, three, go...into the song. The band punches into the song gradually, before the spastic explosion occurs, in a manner like Fugazi used to kick it. This song is over twelve minutes as well, so their wandering tendencies are not something that they got from punk rock. I suppose if you were hell bent on referring to what they do as noise rock, you could, but there is more form and function. They take a stab at singing in the final three minutes of the song. It's a low monotone, we are  too cool to even try style of singing. This album surprised me and turned out to be darker and more ambitious than I had assumed they would be. If you only like the quick punk ditty and long jammy sections come crawling out of the anger then still listen to this album and broaden your horizons a little. I'll give it a 8.5. Regular reader will know that I am over the twelve plus minute song. They make good use of the time they do spend some of the more punk moments seem like they are dumbing it down at times, but overall it's impressive and certainly worth your time if you are looking for new math rock. Revelation Records is releasing this album july 24th. oh yeah before you listen below, go "like" my facebook page to stay in the loop https://www.facebook.com/abysmalhymns