Big/Brave : "nature morte"

This trio is forward thinking and does try sonically interesting things on their almost sludge like albums. They have teetering on the edge of sound vs song in the past, but typically always fell on the side of song, The more emotive experimentation that opens this album tells me things might not fall that way this time. There is drone  and impassioned vocals but not much of a back bone to hold it together, until four minutes into the song. They do things not far removed from the sonic zip code of a band like Brutus, who proved more capable of writing compelling songs, where this bands is being successful at a heavier sound. Some might argue why compare music. There are only 24 hrs in a day I sleep for six of them so 18 hours to listen to music and take away the four hours I spend listening to new music that's fourteen, minus the trips in the car where my partner picks the music, so that is 13 hours. Not time to listen to everything I might want making new contributions compete vs tried and true.

What new are they bringing to the table ? Well the dynamic shift of "the one who bornes a weary load " that goes from frantic pounding to ambiance. This follows the album's formula and by the end almost predictably builds into a the pound of her anxiety attack. I was on the third song, then when I looked back at the computer screen it said I was on the fourth song, so their is a sonic uniformity to what they are doing that finds the songs all beginning to sound the same. When really the fact of the matter is they wasted four minutes and forty seven seconds of my life with a bunch of feed back. In so doing the very fact they plugged instruments in to do so it better than many artists who just looked over their producer's shoulder at the mouse being clicked. 'the fable of subjugation" lacks a backbone and finds her vocals wander aimlessly. Midway into the song the drums wake up and begin to pound things to life again. The punishment to your ears that ensures is not unlike what Sonic Youth used to do live. 

'a parable of trusting" is heavy and find the drums playing a little more of a role, to keep the song moving which as it is rumbles at the more doom-trodden side of sludge. There is an ebb and flow in terms of dynamics, but it largely does not move far and little to hook you in. I appreciate the sonic force, but that is all sound with little to do with songs. However, brace yourself for the flood of reviews that are going to claim this album is incredible. I can never imagine myself wanting to listen to this again. At three and a half minutes there is time for the last song to become an actual song, but instead, it lingers around bathing in its own ambiance. In terms of music as art this is a few strokes of loud colors on a canvas that hands in a rich person's living room to make them feel cultured because they own art. I will give this one a 5. 

Wrekmeister Harmonies : "We Love to Look at the Carnage"

Now on their 5th album these guys have crossed over fully into Nick Cave's neighborhood. I guess that place is called folk. It's sort of dark, more moody. Minimal arrangement and the vocals dominate like folk. Unlike folk they are more spoken than sun. Jamie Stewart from Xiu Xiu lends his voice to the song "Still Life With Prick Cancer" .  Things get weirder here. There is noise floating around. Stewarts vocals are a hushed desperate plea. It works much in the same way as the first song, but with none of the Nick Cave sense to it. I think it's the most subtle use of dynamics I have heard this project encompass. It's very pretty , but not something I would keep in my iPod and put in rotation with Tom Waits or Joy Division. Those acts are more song focused. This paints with the sonics. I often complain about bands being ore focused on sound than songs. Well if you are going to do it and make it the exception to the rule this is one way.

Thor Harris of Swans also adds percussion to this album. That makes perfect sense when you consider the direction this is going in.  It is only heavy in the sense the abrasive turns it takes challenge you. It has been a weird day for music for me as I just finished reviewing the new Today is the Day. If you like this album, you will likely at least appreciate the Today is the Day album as it disregards most conventions of rock music. This is more like the looming dusk that commiting to the kind of darkness you feel.  "Coyotes of Central Park" gets back to the kind of morbid Americana they
simmer in on the first song .  "the Rat Catcher" is almost just like the new mournful post- "Push the Sky Away" Nick Cave. It's well done and there are pleasing sounds from the instrumentation , but it's Nick Cave worship for sure. For minutes in their are more intense electric sounds coming that give it more depth. It's doomy without owing anything to Black Sabbath.

"Immolation"is the last song and it goes into a more atmospheric post -rock sort of thing with the rock elements dialed back. It carries the same kind of narration as the bulk of these songs which fades into the background at this point. I will give this album an 8. It is pleasing to your ears, and well done for what it is , but what it is comes too close to Nick Cave and I already have all of his albums. If you are a fan of these guys you can round it up a half a point.

Aseethe : " Throes"

This band is not at all like my idea of them was. For some reason in my head I thought they were an indie rock band. Perhaps there was a local indie rock band of the same name. These guys are from Iowa. Yes the home of Slipknot. They are tuned low, but nothing like Slipknot. Instead they play a throbbing  version of sludge. Like some bands who are very heavy, the first song kind of stuns you. Their brand of heaviness is one with great sonic weight. Doom paced, but for future reference they offer a good lesson in the difference between doom and sludge if you were having confusion in telling the two genres apart. There is not a dark sorrowful creepiness to what these guys do. Nor do they really owe that great of a deal to Black Sabbath, they may or may not smoke weed, but do not drive Camaros.

This is not to say they follow the text book doom formula. Other elements make themselves known on "No Realm". This is also my favorite song on this album thus far, because it doesn't play it safe and they break way from the pack to do their own thing. As one who reviews albums sub-genres are neat ways of me filing bands into organized systems  of sound. Some bands make soup and throw varied shades of heavy into the mix, the grind core/ death metal hybrids more recently find this to be a thing. They do drone. But I would not say they are drone metal. 'Suffocating Burden" where the most white noise like drone comes from, is more of an interlude than a song. Since to be a song there must be notes , melodies and rhythms grouped together. When they begin to really break the rules on "No Realm" the vocals have more of a punk snarl to them.

The album ends with the oppressive "Our Worth is the New Measure"  The band claims this album is an expression of anger. If so it is tempered with a great deal of brooding here. They lumber with power , but never launch an all out attack. Overall this is an interesting listen . I like how they defy the conventions of sludge . This sounds great, there are songs and not just drone. I will round this up to a 9.

The Body : "I have fought against it, But I can't any longer"

In recent years many musicians I respect have said they like this band when we turn to the subject of what albums they have been listening to of late. Their vocals have always been a sticking point for me. This album opens with dark melancholy atmosphere and female vocals that have a certain allure to them. This serves as more of an intro piece than a song unto it's self. The shrieking vocals I hate, begin to caterwaul against the ambiance going into the second song, though the female songs retain center stage. They are soaring and operate while the abrasive screams sounds like they are coming from a rape victim out on the street several stories below. The fact they are so far back in the mix, makes this my favorite thing I have heard from this project so far. On "Partly Alive" the squawking toucan being tortured they call vocals, is still mixed in a way that finds them fluttering in and out of focus due to what is a glitchy electronic trick. When the vocals are more yelled behind this it works for me. There is  an industrial apocalyptic build up on this song that works more as a drone.

Programmed beat and abrasive waves of over driven synth coast along the disemboweling of another tropical bird, but the brutality of this fine feathered fowl is obscured by the layering of the music around it. This is more industrial than metal, due to the fact it's not guitar driven. They still mange to keep my interest peaked, though it's more upbeat and less darkly menacing than the previous songs. The vocals sound more like Beaker from the Muppets  getting an unlubricated fisting. The female vocals come in a save the song. More pleasing snarled vocals that do not reflect a prostate pounding help build this into one of the album's first metallic moments. I can now say I have a favorite song by the Body. They begin to guide you further into this nightmare with what sounds like a distorted 808. This falls outside the bounds of industrial into the zip code of someone like Dj Shadow. The ear splitting shrieks, which unless aided by some kind of effect are executed at the exact same cadence and pitch on every song and every album I have heard so far . In my personal life I am a sadist and not a masochist, but the fact I continued to go back to their albums made me question this. A more vile black metal gurgled snarls emerges, another vocal color I prefer to the torture bird.

After almost a minute of blown out distortion they take you to a more punishing place that fans of this project might find most familiar. More electronics are layered over this to take a little of the sting out. The more anguished female vocals return and the percussion that's on a more organic battering that could come from an actual drum kit."Blessed, Alone" starts as a haunting piano ballad and finds sludge metal creeping up to over take it as the ballad continues underneath this roar. The vocals start off in strangled rasp that I prefer to the plucked feather plea of the screams that return. However I find myself being able to take it in the smaller doses this albums dishes them out at. The beat to "Sickly Heart of Sand" at first reminds me of something you might find on a Death Grips album until the song really kicks in. I would prefer the use of vocals other than those I already expressed my feelings on. I am recused by a few other angry shouted vocals both male and female.

The album ends with more of an spoken word outro that sounds like Bukowski doing a reading in a coffee shop.The lesson to learn here is I was not a fan of these guys in the least. This album might not find me wearing a The Body t-shirt this year, but shows a great deal of maturity and is not just noise and abrasion for the sake of that but songs that are crafted to paint a picture. It's the sonic equivalent to the hell world warehouse in Silent Hill.


7

Wrekmeister Harmonies : "the Alone Rush"

This duo is not a metal band, but has collaborated with a great deal of metal musicians. This album was conceived in a more isolated setting in Astoria , Oregon rather than Chicago. The only guest contributor to this album aside from the producer is Swans percussionist Thor Harris. You know how I feel about Swans, so I have to cover this. The opening track is a dark introspective piece that is not far removed from Leonard Cohen or the more recent work of Nick Cave. JR Robinson possesses a rich resonate baritone. It anchors this song that would almost float away if not for his voice grounding it. I  am not sure I would call this goth, but it is heading in that direction. There is more of an organic almost Americana feel, that keeps it out of the bat cave.  The introspective tenderness carries over into "Descent into Blindness". The instrumentation might even be more surreal on this song.

Sometimes Robinson's phrasing falls in a way that makes it seem like he is reciting poetry rather than singing. "Behold ! the Final Scream" starts off not as dark, then three minutes in the bring in distortion that broods like a storm rolling in. The synths that float above the distorted guitar give it more of a horror movie feel. What I like most about these guys are Robinson's vocals so whenever those are not as prominent, I am not as drawn in. Fans of harder edged post-rock will enjoy this atmosphere. Lyrically lines like 'if I lie awake at night/ thinking of you drained of life" are what makes the song heavy more than the droning chug of guitar. "Covered in Blood From Invisible Wounds"finds Robinson coming to more of a compromise between a croon and spoken word. The lyrics roll more freely in this manner. "Forgive Yourself and Let Go" begins in an even more delicate fashion. For the first six minutes the song simmers. Samples bubble under the ambiance giving it a more dream like quality.  It is like dreaming of an orchestra tuning up and then things go astray.Things do swell in intensity . This is done in a more post-rock manner than metal.

The vocals finally come in four minutes into the hovering ambiance of  title track that closes the album. Some of the piano melodies in the background give the feeling this could be on the soundtrack of a David Lynch film. While I am not incredibly versed in this project's body of work, this album strikes me as being more introspective. The mood captured is the feeling of being numb after being flooded with loss. I'll round this one up to a 9 as they have obviously created the album they had in mind. In the perfect world I would like something more centered around his vocals, but can see where less in more in their minds. If you are already a fan of this project then you will find this stark piece of work an interesting addition.

Oozing Wound : "Whatever Forever"

I am making it a point of listening to the first song of everything in my in-box. If I'm not feeling it then delete and move on. If something grabs me then I'll review it. This hipster thrash band on Thrill Jockey sounds like they have blown all their speakers as they come at you full speed. The riff to "Diver" is slightly catchier than the opener. The vocals are yelled at you with a nasty sneer. Four minutes into the second song there is a shimmery almost post rock level of sonics brought in and it's clear that they have more in common with Lightning Bolt than Testament. "Deep Space" has more of a punk feel to it. The snare hits are too stiff for me. It does stir itself into a denser storm, but there is something not metal about this.

There is a tinge of a heavier sludgey sound to "Mercury in Retrograde". It circles around the mammoth riff, but never instead of developing more into a song things just soar off into a more chaotic sonic sphere and eventually come back down to earth. The fuzzy lo-fi ambiance that gives this album some of it's charm can hamper certain tones, namely the drums which could be powerful but sound like pop corn popping going into "Weather Tamer" . Though I like the angular attack of this song. The drone off the sonic wells for longer than you would think a supposed trash band should. The plus side is it does darken up the album a bit. Things stay dark for "Everything Sucks and My Life is a Lie".  This is the first place I can hear a grungey side to the band though the song fall victim to a barrage of drums for no reason. There is a more genuine metallic attack to "Tachycardia".

The album closes with the furious "Sky Creep".  It's feral enough and convincingly heaving, but more along the lines of Eyehategod. I'll round this up to a 7.5 , as these kids have potential. I think working more on songs rather than trying to challenge you with cool abrasion is a better investment. If you go into this as an interesting experience rather than wanting to hear  a new thrash band you will have more reasonable expectations.

Wrekmeister Harmonies : "Light Falls"

In a similar sonic space as Swans if we are talking about of the more atmospheric moments. The expanded line-up now features members of Godspeedyoublackemperor!, which also clues you in as to what you are getting yourself into. It's a shame I don't do drugs anymore, because these guys would be the perfect music to drop some acid to if you were feeling more meditative than going with Skinny Puppy. Drums come in to help ground "the Light Burns Us All" which is what the female vocals were chanting earlier in the album. The builds into a heavier pulse. There is more sonic intensity, but it's not heavy as in metal. However this would work better on a list of of non-metal artists that would appeal to metal heads than some of the choices place upon the list that Invisible Oranges released. Not sure how emo or the Arctic Monkeys works for anything, but tepid click bait.

Thematically the album is based around the concept of the gradual change from light to darkness and I can hear how dusk might be conveyed in the atmosphere of "Light Sick". The violin cuts through the minimalist ambiance. The drums once again elevate the intensity by kicking the song into an almost "No Quarter " like groove. There is a very similar dynamic to the formula this album seems to have established on the other songs , starting more sedate then swelling into a sonic storm cloud. The spoken word vocals return on "Where Have You Been My Lovely Son?". This really feels more like an interlude that "Some Were Saved, Some Drowned" pours out of. The vocals rise out of their more narrative to build into more of a yell. The reprise of "Where Have You Been My Lovely Son?" is more of an outro as it doesn't really expand much more on what they have already done, except expand the lyrical perspective.

There are some pretty pleasing sounds on this album that certainly massaged my ear drums the right way, but I am not sure this is an album that I would derive a great deal of listening out of due to the fact it's mainly instrumental and it works of the same vibe for the bulk of the album. I will give this album an 8 as this project successfully recorded what they set out to do and are talented musicians. If you are fan of post-rock this might go a little further for you.

The Body : "No One Deserves Happiness"

I think the reasons I have not been into this band in the past have been put to rest on their new album "No One Deserves Happiness". The tortured bird screams are still squawked in the background, but this is balanced out by layers of melody that are dark enough to appease me. Sometimes the drums have an organic sound at others they are more electronic. The overall result is something that finds the band at the apocalyptic cross roads where sludge and industrial meet. The second song finds the female vocals taking a more dominate role giving more guidance to the song with it's melody. The heavier pound that this band's fans will be waiting for arrives on "Hallow/ Hollow" . There is a little breathing room as the song drones on with the buzz of noise and distortion with the chorus of female vocals dancing around it to save the day. The experimentation begins to break new ground on "Two Snakes" as the beat sounds like it's from a 808 on steroids, the vocals are woven around it with a blend of effects and an additional harsh vocals that is not the normal squawked one emerges.

There is more of an industrial groove to the beat that opens "Adamah". When the vocals come in they create more of a post-punk sound, despite having a more soulful sound than your average Siouxsie enthusiast. "Starving Deserter" finds the varied elements they are forcing into a brutal coupling playing well with one another. What sounds like trumpets create a melody in the background while the female vocals offer a more chanted choral refrain and everyone tries to ignore the squawking in the back ground which brays in the same cadence for every song.One of the stronger vocal lines comes at the beginning of "the Fall and the Guilt".The music behind it is dark droning noise, so the vocals do all the heavy lifting. They dip into an almost doom like dirge on " Prescience". They come to a much more organic place than where they bulk of this album pulses from. The vocals on the closing dirge "the Myth Arc" remind me of Aimee Mann.

I'll round this up to an 8.5, as this is the best thing I have heard from this band so far. Granted I'm not what  they might call a fan, but it has prompted me to take more note of where they go in the future from here. I suppose I be their target audience for this sort of thing as it combines metal with dark electronic elements. Not as close to industrial as say Health they have created a compelling blend of the two. If I was still smoking pot I might be a little more blown away by what is going on here, but as it is, I think they accomplished what they were going for and took a big step in the right direction. Thrill Jockey will be releasing this on March 18th