Lest We Forget:Psalm Zero : "The Drain"

These guys are now touring with Liturgy. Features one of the dude from Castevet and another from Dirty Projectors.  This came out last year but is too cool not to cover.  The songs cover a ton of ground at times almost seeming like they are jumping around to suit the two vocal styles on this album. Sometimes the electronic elements work better than others. The album in general would have benefited from a darker mix. The second song winds it's way through many interesting passages, but I am not sure if it feels as effective as it did on the opener, though there is still plenty to like here. While what the band does is certainly a fresher take on certain sounds, they are not as baffling as many of the reviews I had read on them seem to suggest. But that's why I do this cause somebody has got to speak the truth. They share some common ground with Wreck& Reference on "Chaos Body" but it's a more straight up metal attack. Even after the militant shouting they manage to turn the band around an return to some dark goodness. The clean vocals could use some effect on them to make them sit better into the mix sometimes it sounds a little like karaoke. The singing creates more of a post- punk effect on "In the Dead" which is the first song that grabs me right off the bat.

In interviews I read with the band before listening to this, which is never a good idea unless you have nothing to better to do and  I am sure I  did, they said Katatonia was an influence. Which as hipster as they Brooklyn scene is surprises me. Though they did say Discouraged Ones era, so the newer more alternative stuff is too mall metal for them. The melodies are not depressing like Katatonia , nor is the singer close to Jonas. On the closing song "Meanwhile" it sounds more like an indie rock band's take on A Perfect Circle with a little more math in the equation.This was not the album of the year by a long shot and I'll give it an 8, but it might grow on me, worth checking out as some of the issues I had with the mi might not phase you.



4

Lest We Forget : Take Over and Destroy: "Vacant Face"

This came out last august but is too awesome to not have on here, so for instances where we missed the boat and it's still in the harbor we have our "Lest We Forget" column. The first song throws in almost every element I like in music and metal, there is a darkly ambient intro that vomits up some metal with hardcore and death metal leanings, yet manages to bring Celtic Frost to mind.At the end this song even employs gothy clean singing that would make Atriarch proud. Haven't keened in on the lyrics there is something about a complacent stare. They have synths accenting the riffs to the goth soaked "Summer Isle". Some times his goth voice reminds more of Bella Morte or 69 Eyes rock n roll vein of death worship rather than the more hipster Ian Curtis take. It's not what you would expect to be haunting the deserts of Arizona.


Only two songs break the four minute mark, yet these guys managed to cram a lot into every song, with out sounding bi-polar like Mr. Bungle and they are less sprawling and bouncy than Sleepy Time. There is a Swedish metal feel to "Glance Away" with more owed to In Flames than At the Gates. There is an intangible element that keeps this from having that mall metal cheese to it. They adhere to more conventional parameters of metal in almost a Goatwhore like manner on "Split Screen"  That Swedish influence I heard earlier is not clearer to me as the Wolverine Blues era Entombed rears it's head. This hammered harder into place before the goth creeps out of the casket on "Terminal Burrowing". They also rip into some rowdy rock n roll in a spastic manner not too far removed from Kvelertak. And then some melodic guitar begins to please my ears as they put their vampire teeth back in. A pick slide kicks up the dust on "Deep End" the Entombed influence here marries Venom before the more melodic side is invoked by the synths and the spooky vocals aren't far behind.

There is some dark nasty goodness in "Dominance Shifts" but until the goth part comes up some of the metal becomes a blur of blasts and bellowing. There is some old school "NWOBHM" riffing that jumps up onto the monitors on "Battle  Moon". Which might be my favorite song that holds a powerful enough chug so the goth parts don't steal the show. One first listen it didn't hit me how much they went into the darker sound until I sat down with some head phones and began picking this apart. At the same time when the goth side of the band is the predominant sound on "Where Seasons Lay" it doesn't have the same impact, I think they are a metal band first and a goth band second or third. After a synth interlude the album closes on an even darker note with the ominous "Attrition". The guitar has tons of punch, the bass is largely buried and the drums have a raw room sound them. The lyrics to this song jump out as they roar about gouging out their eyes. The clean guitar solos that slide into place around the four and a half minute mark show these guys can really play. Some of the more roaring Entombed moments became a blur in places, but I think this album deserves a 9.5  and look forward to hearing more from them.

Lest We Forget...Big/Brave : "Feral Verdure"

Here is a blast from the most recent past as this album came out last September on Southern Lord and really slipped through the cracks. This is a damn shame because there is some pretty good stuff here. At full length their is thirty three minutes of music is varied interpretations of the word. This counts as an album since it's longer than  the twenty eight minutes of Reign in Blood" There is more gloom than doom and noise than sludge like qualities, but feels more like if PJ Harvey got depressed and began jamming with Jucifer. Tempo wise there is an angular lingering not unlike that of True Widow. Things here much rougher around the edges and are not draped in that western re-verb.The vocals also have more enthusiasm , The singer flexes the dynamic muscles of her vocal chords on "A song for foxes" she drops down into more a Hope Sandoval register. The album's heaviness lies in it's emotional bleakness.

The tension of the guitars to " Let Us Rest Our Dead..."  unfolds into a noise slathered clamor which rocks out to much  the call them slow core. They become more aggressive on " Bigot" pounding the chords like a Swans song.  The instrumentation takes on a drugged hesitation and could work on the sound track of a David Lynch movie, despite the vocals being very straight forward not only on this song , but through out the album leaving her voice to at times anchor the songs to the only part that is retaining it's sanity. The apocalyptic blues title might apply to a song like "There are No Victories". "A Song For Marie" is just a wall of feedback and noise serving as ore of an interlude and providing a storm for the gentler vocals of " Feral Verdure" to come out of. The guitar and drums tumble into the song behind her vocals. Leaving her voice naked for the bulk of the song. She has some emotive moments , but the deliberate disjointed nature of the song after the wall of noise preceding feels like the album ends with more of a fizzle. This is still balance out by the fact that this really defies jumping on any of the current band wagons ,making this band very unique. I'll give this a 9 and look forward to hearing what the future brings from them.