Low Estate : " Covert Cult of Death"

The album title must refer to the fact that despite the hipster marketing, this is death metal mixed with Amp Rep styled noise rock more than it's hard core or black metal. There are touches of black metal influences in the guitars , but not enough to make these guys actually black metal. I originally checked these guys out because the drummer from Sannhet is in this band, but they do have a powerfully heavy sound. The fact they deliver this pounding with more smarts than the average death metal band speaks to their strengths in terms of how they have crafted the over all sound.There is a more sludge like tempo to "From A Sliver Tongue". There is a dissonance to their aggressive chugging that keeps things interesting.

There is a smoother more melodic groove to "Comfort In Futility" which is the first song that really sells me on their brand of death metal. There is still a chaos to it. There is more attack on "R- Complex" to the point of going into blasts. Sung vocals eventually crop up on this song. They just call out ominously in the background. A cleaner guitar tone opens up "Circle of Error". The bass tone is pretty fantastic here and the song has a darker creep possessing it. They border black metal here , though dipping their toes into it even to this extent doesn't make them a black metal band. "Days of Days" is more of a full frontal assault. The sung vocals come back in with a Swans like baritone.  Dwid from Integrity joins in on the more Converge like metal core of "Masked Illusion" which works with with it's jagged dissonance.

The mean ass bass tone gives heft to the riff going into "Forced" . They are like a more rabid version of the Jesus Lizard here. The more spoken vocals give a more post-hardcore narrative to this brand of hybrid metal. Three and a half minutes in and its hard to not nod your head to this. There is more of a whiplash to the mean spirited stomp of "Shame". One thing these guys have going for them is they don't drag the songs out .Instead they cram a great deal into each punch these songs throw. I'll round this up to a 9, despite having the feeling I might not get a ton of mileage out of this one. A lot of bands these days thrown genres together to create this kind of hybrid these guys do it in a way that still feels like the own it.

Sannhet : " So Numb"

The band from Brooklyn's 3rd album opens with thundering drums pounding into a ethereal drone. Driven yet dynamic as the melodic swathes of guitar color this in a much different manner than how thye have painted their songs before.  This is the second instrumental album I have reviewed this week. The first was Mogwai's new one and this album might share some of the post rock moments, it feels like a much different creature than what Mogwai does. It  would be more fitting to call this driving and aggressive music than heavy, and certainly not metal. They delve further into a more Cure like atmosphere on the second song. The drummer and the bass player are the conspirators when it comes to who is giving this album it's grit as the guitar floats over it like shimmering clouds made of glass. One thing I like about this album and their others is it stays true to who they are as a band, without retreading the same ground. Nothing about this album really feels all that black metal any more, but if it had it would have revisited similar ground. A fact I can be split on at times but here it seems to be working.

The first hint of their black metal past is in the drums to the title track that flirt with a blast beat and try to not actually commit to it. I don't think this fact and in of itself is what keeps it from being black metal, I think it has more to do with the feeling emitted from their music. Around the two minute mark the guitar does so really beautiful pondering. The drummer Christopher Todd continues to impress with his playing. "Fernbeds" has Thom Wasluck coming in to add a guitar solo. Opening with delay heavy bass, it falls somewhere between Pink Floyd and Joy Division. When it comes to solo's we are not talking about actual metallic shredding , but melodic sonic interplay. It is actually one of the album's best songs. "Salts" is dark and brooding, there is a an ominous tension and I like the electronic feel to the percussion, It feels more like 80's Cure.

"Way Out" continues with the post-punk vs post-rock feel. There are more more aggressive almost black metal accents in a few places that pound the point home in a similar fashion as a blast beat. The songs on this album are very concise and don't drone on yet the band manages to make much of this album carry a hypnotic sway. Vocals are my favorite part of most songs so to keep my attention with out them deserves applause. The guitars do a great job of carving out sonic slices and work well with the drums to touch on metal dynamics with out being mired into metal. 'Secondary Arrows" doesn't form it's own identity until I really hear a guitar melody emerge and guide the song on it's way. The tempo shifts and gets to some extent heavier on "Sleep Well" . The moods shifts a lot on this song but the most impressive part is when it locks in on the groove thanks to the bass player. "Wind Up" is pretty much just ambiance and feels more like an outro than a song so not counting it for the purpose of this review.

While this is not a metal album by any means , it is a collection of interesting songs that would still sit well against the band's other material in a live setting. Some of the best drumming and bass playing I have heard this year. I think they have come into their own and can claim a spot next to bands like Russian Circles in making sonically heavy music. While Russian Circles might possess the more overt metallic moments Sannhet now opts to use other colors in their expanded pallet. Not sure how much play I will get out of this due to the nature of this beast, but enjoyed what I heard and think fans will enjoy the ride so I'll round it up to a 9.The album comes out August 25th.

Cvlt Nation Sessions : Joy Division's "Closer"

I think most of my readers here are aware of  my connection to Cvlt Nation. So it should come as no surprise that I am going to review their  Sessions album which focuses on Joy Division's "Closer" album. They have done this with a wide range of punk, metal and post-punk classics so it makes sense that this album is up for the cover treatment. When looking at the kind of bands featured on this they all fall in line with the sort of artists the website has branded itself with. We agree on many things, the difference in our musical tastes tends to be Sean and company come from more of a punk rock background and steer away from some of the more commercial bands we touch on here. I like what I like regardless of if they are on Century Media or only releasing their albums in a limited 100 copy cassette pressing. In fact I like better production most of the time.

First up is "Atrocity Exhibition" covered by the drone project Ambersmoke admitted to not liking this song or this album and that is evident because for the bulk of the song  the beat is really the only thing this has in common with the original, though it eventually takes on a shape closer to the original. Lunch is a band much more suited to cover "Isolation".  While it's a similar delivery perhaps a little faster phrasing, The vocals are a little higher than Ian's , but over all the do the song justice. A Black People handles "Passover" . They deviate from the blue print but being a death-rock band this is done in the best way possible. I assumed Shadowhouse would also take good care of "Colony" and I was correct.  They might even have come closer to the bulls eye than Lunch. There is an almost 90s industrial feel to the vocals on Sun Splitter's cover of "Means to an End". They nail the guitar riff for sure.

Sannhet's take on 'the Eternal" shows their respect for the band but still honors their own sound. The guitar playing is some of this album's best. They surprise me by using vocals on this one. Rule of Thirds is up next with "Decades". Another band that I had a feeling would at least musically capture the feel of the original. The vocals are where things really wildly differ and from their it twists my ear askew. The bass player knows what time it is for sure though.The band maintains their identity for sure. Going into Scott Kelly's cover of "Isolation" I was not sure what to expect. The music is more minimal and Kelly sticks to his more folk approach than the kind of singing he delivered in Neurosis. He does honor the feel of Ian and the boys. Overall I think there are some good pairings of artist with songs, the stand outs here being A Black People, Shadowhouse, Sannhet and Sun Splitter. If you are a Joy Division fan this is worth a listen as you might find some new bands you like in the process.


 

Interview: Sannhet

I got the chance to sit down with the guys from Sannhet and we talked about various aspects of the varied sub-genres they are often attached to, along with other musings.Right off the batI hit it off with their drummer Chris who was wearing a Youth Code shirt and I was wearing a Swans shirt so we had one of those mutual admiration band shirt moments and from there we were just friends catching up

Wil -So what is it about the scene in  New York that enables the scene to pump out so much great metal?

Chris -Diversity, the space and room to be yourself, after living there for over a decade all the touristy elements fade, but it's a melting pot.

Wil -What is it that makes New York  the place where most US black metal is being pumped out? 

Chris - It can be depressing.

AJ-It's the chicken stock of the soup, you can taste it in there but there are a lot of other pieces thrown in.

John- There are not in bands that I would say are a hundred percent traditional.

Wil -the closest to that would be Mutilation Rites

John-We are friends with those guys and they don't even consider themselves black metal. There is genre bending, taking the influence. How can you be black metal in New York, you are not in Norway. Not out in Nature with  epic landscapes. There is not much else in common except we do get a lot of snow. I think Liturgy still self identifies as black metal.

Wil -I heard  Bone Thugs N Harmony was influence on their new album.

John- It's Hunter's take on rap metal and I would rather listen to his take on it than Limp Bizkit. To some extent saying your black metal raises suspicion because  then you are trying to ape your heroes. It's like the hardest question is what do you sounds like and most bands in New York just try to names a bunch of bands that they hope you have never heard before.

Wil- To bring up another genres, you guys often get called post- rock and while many post-rock bands have long sprawling songs, where you guys are much more concise and seem to place more of an emphasis on songwriting, so what is your song writing process like?

John- It's changed a lot since the first album. On the first album we were a two piece. Aj joined the band allowed us to build structures, where I used to do a lot of looping and did more of the typical post- rock thing where we would take one idea and build off of it.  Now there is more freedom.

AJ- Some times I wold just have a whole drop box of Chris just beat boxing. So now I might take an Idea and have Chris work around it.  Then we will put something else on top, the go back and edit the revised version.

John- I am more of a rock n roll, post-rock guy and Aj will alternate from writing bass lines that are hooky like post-punk, with more of a pop element, rather than my droning dirges.

AJ- So the songs take on this internal dialogue there are these different elements fighting to be heard.  On the next record we might take a different approach.

Wil -You mentioned post-punk would you say that bands like the Cure and Joy Division are an influence.

John-Yes we love Joy Division, we did a track coming out on Cvlt Nations Joy Divsion tribute comp. We got one of the lesser known songs which surprising for us is one of their more droning songs so ironically it sprawls out more than are normal songs. The more well known Joy Division songs are up beat.

 Chris- The Thing that we have in common with post- punk is there is some some beauty to it and some urgency.

Wil- In black metal aside from Darkthrone's more rock moments and say Emperor, the vocals tend to become a static layer of white noise, so the fact you are instrumental do you find that to more freeing?

John -Yeah, like you said the vocals can be a tonal. it frees up space and is less distracting without vocals. there are those types who just can't listen to anything without vocal, then there are others you get turned off to it if the screaming comes in. I think we try to fill up that space so you don't notice.

AJ- We recorded guitars for three months so if we had vocals when would have had to commit to that story . we have trouble with commitment.

John- With screaming you are pigeon holed as metal.  Then theres Deafheaven where there are people who don't normally listeN to metal that listen to them.

Wil- Do you feel your role in the band is to bring the aggression while John paints the background with more texture?

AJ -I feel like I do a lot of more poppier parts. It's  the sweet to the sour.

John - They are the architects I paint more in broad strokes , they are the scaffolding.

Chris pulls up a Youtube video of Bob Ross painting happy trees.

Wil- There's  the happy trees

AJ- Our trees tend to be more depressing.

Wil- So how do you get your bass tone?

Aj- That is one of my favorite questions ever ,  fender I need to take every thing apart and fuck with it. I got these customs pedals made by this guy Tony Balls who makes these pedals that combine the old rat pedal sound. The  full and throaty sound  comes from mesa zone , so there is that vintage bass sound with a modern eq, without which I would sound like Emmure.

John- Not sure we could ever sound like Emmure.

Wil - You would need more break downs .

John -and I don't know if could palm mute like that.

Wil - You also need to get basket ball jerseys.

 AJ- Sannhet basketball jerseys coming soon, they would  be black on black. Most bass players who want to sound better should just play with a better drummer. It's all me sticking tight to Chris.

Wil- So to bring us another genre you are often attached to...shoe gaze, how has that been an influence?

John- I was into guitar rock then shoe gaze should me what you can do. Rock is about the riffs. Shoe gaze is about the texture. In shoe gaze there is that contrast of light and dark

Chris- That's also in post-punk but with more energy.

John -Also with a band like My Bloody Valentine they can be very visceral  in terms of volume.

Wil-  I think of all the 90s trends shoe gaze deserves the come back much more than grunge. How do you feel about what bands like Nothing and Whirr are doing?

AJ- I love what Nothing does.

John- Deafheaven does it to but from a more avant garde angle. Some of these bands you can't tell if they are from 91 or 92. I like that people can hear that in use and can appreciate those references.

Wil - For me instrumental music has a cinematic feel, are movies and visual arts and influence on you?

John -It is for me.  I like movies that are moody and atmospheric. AJ brings the literal visual element to our shows. I connect to David Lynch be it the scores he does or something like the music from Twin Peaks.

Wil -On "Empty Harbor" there was a jazz like element that reminded me of Twin Peaks.

John- There is that Angelo Badalamenti tone.  Also into things like "Holy Mountain. Did you see "There Will Be Blood?" The soundtrack is like snippets of sirens and that movie is really just a character study. You just learn more about Daniel Day Lewis's character and nothing really happens.

AJ - 'Under the Skin" is another one like that. That is how we see the songs as more of a character study.

John- There is a theater in New York that once once has a night where they play a silent music and have a noise band play to it and they asked us to do one. But it would depend on if we can write something of that length to play for just one night, because we do not improv, that is just not what we do, no jamming, we have to tell a story.

Wil- What are your tour plans ?

John- We are going to do some festivals , hit out west, some short runs that make sense geographically.

AJ- We are playing NXNE, Hopscotch, the Empyrean. Glad Andy Stott asked us to play.

Wil- One thing about your label Flenser is it takes you back to the day when you could by any album by Metal Blade and you knew it would be good. I'm really into that new King Woman.

Chris- Yeah that one is good there is another one that flew under the radar last year Boduf Song's "Stench of Exist". Its dark singer songwriter.

Wil- Like King Dude?

AJ- Less Johnny Cash, more in a register normal people can sing in.

John- Yeah they are really having a great year this year.

Chris- I love Wreck & Reference.

John- But yeah it's like back in the day with Hydra Head

Wil- They put out those early Converge album that made me feel guilty and put down the bong when some one told me they were straight edge. It's like that band Mineral, I stopped listening to them when someone said they were Christian.

AJ- On some message board there was a rumor that we were christian because out name means the truth.

John- We don't have anything against religion.

AJ- I do I am against all organized religion.

John- I suppose if they were Christians then they assumed that since Jesus this their truth it must be ours. But Jesus is not our truth.

Liturgy & Sannhet @ the Masquerade 2015.

Trying to make it a point to review all shows the following morning when my ears are still ringing. Last nights show at the Masquerade started off for me out back interviewing Sannhet, so I caught the tail end of the Horse Lords set. While he are a prog/ math rock band from Baltimore, that has more in common with the Secret Chiefs than they do ....insert any black metal band's name here... with two drummers one of whom makes frequent use of a sax, they had a bite , but the emphasis to their instrumental exploits was not heaviness.

Next up was Sannhet who seemed to have a bigger draw than Liturgy, not sure if people just didn't want to stay up until ten on a Sunday night. For those of you who know the multi- tiered venue, the Cro-mags were playing downstairs and I was tempted to catch a few of their songs since I have never seen them with the original singer, so that might have factored  in for others since the punk and metal scenes in Atlanta ride a blurred line with one another. Sannhet took the darkened stage with samples and feedback before hammering into their set of blackened post-rock. Two things were brought to my attention. One that the sound in what is the Masquerade's smallest room has vastly improved. Second that Sannhet is much more intense live. While due to volume alone this is true for most bands, they connected energetically in a way that I haven't felt from Russian Circles. The mellower sections of atmosphere were slightly glazed over that was one element, they must feel sit better on album than in the live setting.

Their drummer Chris Todd delivered the trio's most impressive attack of his instruments as his sticks were a blur, though bassist AJ made you wonder how the band ever existed without him. The audience remained engaged through out  the duration their set. This  crowd was by an large a metal crowd, though not of the denim jacket variety. The beards were somewhat limited, perhaps because this was an all ages show. Where I was standing every seemed to have worked at a college radio station, so that might give you an idea, there were no Burzum shirts anywhere to been seen. Nor did any of the bands ...Liturgy included have any pretense that they were black metal. Hot on the heels of their well recieved now album"the Revisionist" Sannhet came across as the darkest act of the night. Their light show coordinated by their bassist, consisted of well place strobes. There was a projection running but it sat on the stages black back drop not giving it the most visual impact, instead it looked as if the band was playing with a layer of static over them.

Liturgy took the stage promptly at ten and the crowd had thinned reminded me just how behind the times Atlanta is when it comes to black metal. They had fanfare of noise blaring through the p/a before punching into a set that stuck to their newest album "Ark Work". So Hunter did not utter one scream. The clean chanted or rapped vocals were normally low in the mix and he had a layer of chorus on them so thick that when he thanked every one at the end of the night no one could understand him. This offset the most common complaint I hear in regard to the new album, the lack of  the harsh black metal screams.The last time I saw Liturgy it was just the two guitarists Hendrix and Gann, playing to a drum machine after their bassist and drummer dropped off mid way into the tour. So it was good to see the full band intact.

It was a night for drummers as drummer Greg Fox stole the show until they hit the instrumentals that took on the thick mid paced chug and he would relax. Hunter's ringing bell like guitar tone sounded crisper than his previous visit and he  obviously seemed more confident with the full band behind him. The sharp ringing of the guitars that is an exercise in speedy yet angular math , made it clear that this is something that might been influence by the likes of Lighting Bolt and Swans these guys have created some that is very much them and not being replicated nor a carbon copy of what was done better  in Norway 20 years ago. Despite Liturgy's nay sayers this show reconfirmed my affinity for the band and also made me want to give Sannhet's new one a few more spins.

Sannhet : "Revisionist"

Despite the fact that I generally don't like instrumental music , I have been looking forward to checking out Sannhet's new one. The lushly intense post-rock with easy on the ears , but with out vocals the songs tend to run together and to be honest all sound the same. The drumming is one of the albums strong points as is the effects drenched guitar tone what really has to do little more that let a few chords ring out. These guys have been called black metal before, but even calling them metal at this point is a bit of a reach, but the taunt syncopation and soaring ethereal bliss of the guitar does grow on you with repeat listens.

There are some moments where the intensity builds to a point of heaviness  falling somewhere in-between Russian Circles more  recent black metal infatuated moments and Deafheaven. But never gaining the kick of the latter. The bass tone goes for more of an Isis like thump when it steps back in the mix to hide behind the drums and a burlier tone when coming to the forefront. The meaner tone could have made this album heavier if it was more predominate. This does have some shoe gaze like qualities , the main one being the liberal doses off effects that can at times sound like My Bloody Valentine.

The blast beats begin to crop up on "You Thy" which gets off to more of an indie rock start before the drums really converge in on it. The blasting sections don't feel all that dark, so while it's played in a black metal manner it doesn't feel like black metal. They  let go into  a spacey swell of "Sinking Forward" that feels like it is ending before it was allowed to get any where, never giving the pay off you sensed it was building toward.The first stabs toward metal feel like they are being made in the intro of "Atrium". The intensity is a little more oppressive with the melody moaning, but it's the dusk not the darkness. Even when it stomps down like heavier shoe -gazed sludge.The following two songs run together even after repeat listens. "Empty Harbor" takes a more Twin Peaks approach to it's almost jazz like lead in, this leaves "Mint Harbor" to stand revealed as pretty much a intro for the closing song.


"False Pass" finds the band reaching into the most black metal moments of the album. With the astral shimmer of guitar splashed upon the blast beats.The spills out into a more sonically scathing climax. I am still looking forward to catching these guys when they open up for Liturgy, however I think there is an ample amount of hype attached to this album, which will more than likely end up on the end of the year "metal" list for hipsters all over. No new ground is being broken broken here. Still they captured some sounds that drew me in and made this enjoyable back ground music , but not something I just have to have. Give it an 8.

Catching Up With 2013 : Sannhet's " Known Flood"

Sannhet is an Instrumental band from Brooklyn who released this full length back in February.  It's only slightly more black metal than the new Russian Circles, but avoids the middle of the road Tool riffs. While the fact for the  entirety first song I was not obsessed with waiting for the vocals to come in . means they are doing something right. I was pulling up their Metallum page , which informed me they were instrumental. So it's not what I normally listen to it is well crafted by guys with some undeniable talent.

The use of samples often helps fill the void left by the lack of vocals. The album is intense with sweeping passages but is a pretty soothing listen.Like Russian Circles , their drummer works over time to keep things moving, though this guy might be even better, while less intricate in his high hat work, he does have the power of the blast beat to turn to when it is needed, and it feels like he hits harder. By the time the album gets to "Endless Walls" they have still kept my attention, but I have begun to wonder how much longer this will last, as the song slowly bubble awake. This song is largely ambient noise that reaches a boil after the first two an a half minutes, and even then there is tension when there should be release, but maybe thats the game they are playing.

They increase in power on " Moral" which has a heavy sonic payload. "Slow Ruin" gets off to a more relaxed but no less ominous start, the syncopation heads in the more Russian Circles direction. It reaches the highest altitude from chilling ambiance to blasting and with a seven minute running times it has long enough to wander the scope of dynamics  without being too self indulgent. "Haunches" finds some growling emerge, it is very low in the mix and coupled with the tom pound sets it up to sound like Neurosis. But this goes to show that vocals on their own don't make the song more interesting as the screams are pretty typical mid range more of a hard core or sludge feel to them.

The bass line to "Still Breathing" gives a darker creepiness , allowing the samples and the guitar to haunt the song as it drifts in."Flat Lands" serves as more of a noisy outro than a song. Overall this album has a good mood to it and holds my attention as an instrumental album, I will give it an 8.5 thought I'm not sure how much mileage it will get on my iPod.