Godflesh: World Lit Only By Fire

After 13 years here is the full length we have been waiting for. I had mixed feeling about the ep, this is the follow up to. Can Justin and Co make entire albums worth of engaging material with the Godflesh sound after all these years? The album stomps off in the direction you would expect from the band. In the very straight forward industrial pound. Justin's vocals the choked bark. The guitars tightly pound like a machine. The first and second second don't really have much that separates them. I had to look at my iTunes to see if it had moved on to another song. The powerful hammering in effective , but the album gets off to a rather flat dynamic."Shut Me Down" crashes in to save the day. The beat is still industrial it just carries a different pound and a groove that doesn't totally come across like mall metal. Sound effects in the background help to capture the dismal landscape they are painting.

There is a more melodic underbelly to "Life Giver Life Taker". The chords ring out into a cold machine like world.The bass sound has the same titanic thumps that has driven so much of their material and Justin's clean vocals are set back into the distance. The more straight forward , yet angular blend of sounds captured on "Obeyed" is effective but not as compelling as the previous song. The band continues to play it rather safe of "Curse Us All". Not to say there are not some crushingly heavy riffs on the song, but that is what is expected of  the band. They hit a more Ministry like tone on "Carrion" is heavy as hell, but also manages to crunch into some darker new ground , even if only by a few degrees. The garbled effects on the vocals are particularly effective.

One of the best songs on the album is the ripping "Imperator" that finds the bands classic sweet spot in blending the metal crunch of industrial with a more Killing Joke like sense of melody.  The guitars layer stark dissonant chord over the war dance of the primal pummel. The band lumbers over it's own momentum. The thick thump causes songs like "Towers of Emptiness" to not capture the same range of dynamics others songs on this album have. The more atmospheric drone at the end of the song helps save it from stagnation. They close out the album with the strong "Forgive Our Fathers" that has a sludged out tempo that borders on doom. The clean vocals moan out from the crumbling building the guitars sound like they are razing in the background. I'll give this one a 9 in hopes some of the songs that didn't grab me at first it continue to grow on me, the album scores so high because  when the songs excel they that really hit it perfectly and make  this worthwhile.  

Pig Eyes : S/t

Seems to be band's first proper full length. Caught my interest as it's a Swedish post-punk project that features members of In Solitude. It is more up beat and user friendly than I thought it would be going into this. While I have read reviews slagging the band for wearing their influences on their sleeves, I can't really hear that. In fact they are a welcome relief from the flood of post-punk bands just wanting to Joy Division, which is my main gripe about the way this movement is going.

The album is plenty dark enough. The bass tone is gnarly and is one of the main contributing factors to it's shadow side. It opens with a fuzzy and taunt take on modern punk. The vocals are screamed in rather typical faux British . There are some almost doomy riffs lurking around like troll under the bridges in this song. The lyrics take some effort to make out, there is something about revolution in there, so I suspect anti-establishment and disillusionment seem to be the topic.

The album feels less punk as it takes you deeper into their cave. The jangle of the guitar in "Black Path, Clear Spot" wants to make it know that it's not metal. The vocals take a more melodic moan to them and finds us closer to goth here. The guitar tone is really chilling here. The woobly effects are right where they need to be.

The guitar tightens up on "Up the River" to create a very Fugazi like groove. The bass and drums sync up right where they need to be to give the song the push it needs. At seven minutes this instrumental is doing something right to keep me engaged. Though I prefer songs like "Silver Dad", where the crazed spewing of the vocalist adds a chaotic narrative. As the song builds it sounds he is having a nervous break down.

On "Warlord" it sounds like the band recycles one of the riff's from "Sister". Its a good song but the fact that element figures in so heavily is somewhat a distraction.  The "Edge of Seventeen" feel makes this one of the most straight up rock n roll songs on the album. The album closes with the pt. 2 of "Up the River". This is also the first song that bears any likeness to Joy Division. Some of this is in the monotone drone of the vocals. The same doomish vibe coats this song.The drums take a lingers pulse rather than establish more of a beat as the song hypnotically drives the point home.
Not what I expected this to be but an album that is going to get a lot of repeat listens as it is very dark and encompasses most of the elements I like for in this type of thing even if some of the rock n roll elements can at times be heavy handed.I'll round this album up to a nine point five as every other element aside from that recycled riff should grow on me. As for fans of In Solitude, this is more along the lines of "Sister" than their more Merciful Fate slanted days.

Electric Wizard: "Time to Die"

Once a upon a time this might have been considered black metal even though we now know it to be doom. The opening horror movie like sample sets a darker tone for the U.K. band.They have lost none of their powerful rumble and as doom grows desolate with each release trying to suffocate the band before them Electric Wizard has shown up to hold their ground. The ten minute opening track track sets the bar high for the rest of the album.The chant of "We Wanna get high / before we die" comes before the title that follows,so death is one of the album primary topics. The title track is less sprawling. The band has a tighter grip on their doom like attack. The vocals are more of an after thought here, and the song feels more like a jam despite being more singular in purpose than the opener. In some ways this reminds me more of classic St. Vitus, particularly in the arrangement.

They come back stronger on the 11 minute opus "I Am Nothing". Slower paced in it's rumble,with a vocal chant holding it's center. The song eventually launches into a sonic cosmos, where bands like Hawkwind tend to soar in their psychedelia. The fiendish samples return on "Destroy Those Who Love God". Here they take on a creepier sludge sound scape. The use of the organs set back in the mix are extremely effective in conjuring visions of the Manson Family paying Sharon Tate a late night visit. This is more of an interlude, but is still very entertaining in the picture it paints. They return to the death theme, this time with a more cerebral slant on "Funeral in Your Mind". The guitars take on a more seventies rock "We Love the Dead" carries a drugged out sluggish shamble to it's morbid declaration. The verses on this song are spacious. There is a less oppressive weight pounding down on you here. In this manner they look back to more traditional doom that came out of the 80's.
The rock groove keep coming with "SadioWitch". This sinister whine of the vocals continues to keep it's grim narrative in a similar fashion as it seem to stick with when not launching into a maddening chant. The lyrics are clearer here and seem to be comparing love to drugs. The love of drugs is certainly a prime element to the conception of this album.

"Lucifer's Slaves"   takes on a slightly more sinister ambiance, though it rumbles forward at a pace not unlike what the band has already established. It only slows further drag the dirge into the dirt of it's fresh grave. This had has employed more effective melodies in the past than they seem to be doing here , so I'm not sure if they feel they must offer up melody on the altar of sacrifice in order to be heavy. The bass is really the only instrument that wanders off to break away from the drone and do something interesting with it's fills. "Saturn Dethroned" is more of just and outro that might as well be a part of "Lucifer's Slaves" as it doesn't really do anything but let the keyboard have their moment in the spotlight, that could have taken place within the confines of any of these songs to have made them more dynamic.I'll give this album an 8. The weight of it catches you by surprise at first and lures you into it's orgy of black magic, but the longer you stick around for this party the more you begin to sober up and question the song writing. If you love these guys , then you will continue to do so, as like Motorhead, they are continuing to give you more of what you want from them.

Ellorsith:"1959"

Caligari Records is releasing a hypnotizing album by a Scottish Band called Ellorsith. A concept album of sorts based upon the Dyatlov Pass Incident, where nine hikers led by Igor Dyatlov mysteriously died in the Ural Mountains of Russia. There death were said to be caused by "a compelling natural force" which  is not only the title of a song on this album,  but could also be an apt description of  Ellorsith's sound. Theories surrounding the incident have ranged from paranormal activity to secret weapons testing. Ellorsith is surrounded by similar mystery as they have very little internet prescene and their album was released on a limited cassette run of only a hundred copies pressed. This ep's lo-fi coldness recreates the atmosphere of the story this band is trying to tell. Mixes black metal with nasty death metal. The vocals are a subterranean gurgle.

"Marasmus" launches off rather abruptly. This is a more straight forward death metal approach, though dark enough until it's hard to tell at times where the death metal begins and the black metal elements end. Most of the time when something is described as blackened, the other elements aside from the black metal are dominate and the black metal is a blast beat here and there some dissonant guitar of vocals that take on a more anguished shriek rather than a guttural bellow.Here they are blended in a more unique and subtle manner. Though upon the first listen to this band it would be hard to think of them capable of subtleties.The mournful guitar melodies that come toward the song's final moments are unexpected.

"Lichrye" the proceedings pick up pace. The vocals take on an almost sung bellow that reminds me of Entombed.The songs winds around into angular chords creating an odd dissonance as the song winds to an end. This dissonance is returned to on the closer"Compelling Natural Force". The bursts of black metal here seem convulsive, as they occur with no warning. The songs slows when not in the blasting seizures. The drumming is more nuance in the cymbal accents. This might be the most well constructed song on the album. At nine minutes it's also the longest, though by black metal standards these days that's just the intro. Ellorsith is not about letting a minute go to waste, if for no other reason than they don't want to give you that much breathing room. Midway into the song when the languishing chords cry out into the night, it is one of the most melodic elements they touch on. Falling in the weird chasm between doom and depressive black metal. Any reluctance felt initially by the first impression of  raw claustrophobic nature of the raw production. If forgotten by the end. Even the rough haunted house theatrics , where it seems they are going with the Yeti theory, doesn't cast too cheesy a shadow on the albums close and is  forgivable after "Compelling Natural Force" was so beautifully constructed.

I'll give these guys at 9.5, The murky production at the onset isn't my thing , but in the end these guys prove that they have more than just sheer rawness to work with. This is going to be one of the best underground metal releases of the year.

Manilow:" Cease and Desist"

You have to wonder if this band did not derive the title of their spanking new lp from a letter they might have gotten from Barry. Even adding band to their name in most search engines brings up the "Mandy" singer. It does seem to be a trend in  underground punk rock these days to choose names that thwart Google searches. Punk has always prided it's self on not being the most accessible of genres. With the inner webs now bringing even the most obscure gutter punk to Apples all over suburbia just as easily as some one might find Slipknot. O.k, maybe a few clicks further than Slipknot, but not if you know where to look. Manilow's sound is more accessible than some, as the guitar sounds big and fuzzed out like something that wouldn't sound out of place on a stoner rock album. This might be due in part to the fact Tim Cedar of Part Chimp engineered this album at Dropout Studios in London. But even with the big Marshall Stacks in your face boom of the album, there is still plenty of anarchy in the Uk.

Not unlike the Jaguar commercial that ponders why Hollywood casts the British as villains , due to their accent. The same could be said with punk rock. Almost to the point that many American artists try to emulate the dialect in order to sound punk. SO this just comes naturally to the Brits in Manilow, despite the fact the opening guitar is pretty straight up rock. Vocalist Dean Moston's old school punk sneer,  offsets the fuzzed out guitar tone. The post-man shows up to make it more post-punk with the sinewy tension of the serpentine guitar groove of  "Law Here". The lingering vibrato in Moston's voice on this one carries a similar sense of unease as Jell Biafra's manic ranting. The subtle arrangements don't stick the chorus in  your face too heavily despite the predominant backing vocals.It moves almost like a Fugazi song on cruise control. At over five minutes such indulgences would be odd if these guys leaned a tad closer to being straight up punk.

The bands takes on a higher powered rumble on "Taking Control" that finds the band back in a more punk vein, but earlier punk along the lines of the Mc-5's "Sonic Reducer".Clocking in a t under two minutes the song kicks in the door for wham, bam, thank you mam. They on a steady almost grunged out stoner vibe on " Vitamins". The vocals here stay in the punk sphere of things, leaving "Law Here" as the only song that strays from that and also makes it the strongest song on this ep , because it gives a wider range of dynamics. The more rock moments left to the desert fuzz of the guitar leads, which when branching out into more jammy solo passages give the song odd breathing and an almost psychedelic element.

If you like your post-punk heavy on the punk, or like some rock in your punk rock these guys are loud yet thoughtful in their approach. Fans of Hellacopters, Beastmilk,the Dwarves will all find some common ground here too.

Cold Blue Mountain " Old Blood"

This California based band was an instrumental act before adding vocalist Brandon Squyres. Their second full length find the band starting things off with a somewhat symphonic lead in to the "Seed of Dissent" leaves you wondering just what is behind the curtain before the band throws itself into hateful yet highly textured brand of doom. The vocals have a gnarly rant to them. First impressions are this band is a much more lavish take on what Alaskan did on their latest release. The vocals of this band are preferable, as they have almost a more hardcore anguish to them versus just sounding like burly lumberjacks  hoarsely hollering at  you.


 Doom is no doubt one of the predominant ingredient.When the drums lead the pound of "New Alliances" the hard core influences stand out among underlying the morbid lurches into darkness the band frequently delves into.The post rock passages they wander of into at the three and a half minute marks, is a refreshing interlude. Though they don't ever make you fee like you are being smothered by the oppressiveness of their pounding, as the guitars don't stray to far from melodic sensibilities even when they are baring their teeth.I'm sure some one will want to label this atmospheric sludge, while that title is not unfounded, doom has a certain beauty to it's mourning sound that this band often stumbles upon, despite riffs like the powerful sludgey chug at the end of "New Alliances". One foot is firmly planted in the post rock realm bands like Russian Circles trudge in. The heavy guitar being offset, by more delicate flourishes of distant melody.They had their thinking caps on when they pieced these songs together. They adhere to the cool riffs don't always make a good song, not that there is any shortage of cool riffs lumbering about here. The band knows when to pulls those cards and they punch more powerfully in so doing. The big biting crunch of these monolithic riffs rips right into as needed.

The scathing scream setting over the clean twinkling post rock lullaby"Retreat" if an effective use of juxtaposing some of the bands dynamic range, in a way that isn't the obvious loud to soft , soft to loud formula. They return to some of the moodier doom tempered with the delicate dreaming of their post -rock side. Moments like these are where you can also imagine comparisons to Deafheaven being made, particularly in the vocal delivery.

Closing out the album with the 11 minute "Demise" the band starts at a languid pace simmering up into their hesitant hammering. By this point in the album the band is really going to have to make some drastic turns to hold any surprises, as you begin to get used to their formidable range. Hesitance turns into procrastination, which evolves into plodding during the the song as it almost the entire song to reach the build which is just a gradual shift in the dynamic intensity of one riff they continue to force fed .

Overall fans of  many facets of heavy music will find something that resonates with them. I'll give this one a 9 for now and see how it grows on me. The vocals tend to be a little one dimensional for my tastes, but I do like the more blackish hardcore approach they take, so that element is a mixed bag. These guys are onto something good so lets see where it goes from here.

Population : " Beyond the Pale"

This Chicago band is pretty convincing and right on time for Halloween. Rather than riding the night train to the easiest route to goth, the bands vocalist helps them sound like if the Cramps had taken a div into death-rock. The raw production makes this sound like it could have be recorded on a budget during the 80's. The archaic drum machine sounds they have dug up, help keep up the suspension of disbelief. They some times indulge themselves on interludes of samples and varied noises to create atmosphere.

The vocal delivery get weirder on "On Rubicon".The phrasing is over accented and dramatic.They fuse many of the styles which fell under the goth umbrella, be it post-punk, dark wave or deathrock. Their singer latches onto some pretty catchy melodies. On some song the results are more mixed than others, they take a more new wave melody and throw it against a oddly angular tapestry to see it it will stick on "Pray For Rain". The backing guitar track that buzzes like a tripping bee behind the main melody seems like the song is going in two directions at once. "Sleepwalker" proves to be a much smoother ride. The overwrought squeak to the vocals becomes endearing here. The vocals often find themselves sounding more like Valor than Rozz Williams when it comes to the manner of emoting.The gloom often feels like window dressing for these swirling new wave songs, sometimes finding themselves as dancey as "I'd Stop the World to Melt With You"

The guitar sounds best when locked into a hypnotic drone like the one it finds on "Spears of Silence". There song writing shows a knack of hooks in the vocal patterns to "True North",which also to some extinct makes these guys one of the first revivalist bands that winks in the direction of Fields of the Nephilim" mainly in the phrasing of the vocals and how their singer dips into a growl of his lower register . They creep their way out onto the German Dance floors on the shadowy "Volkslied". The quirk of the vocals tests it's limits. Trying to find the lines where emotive begins and absurd ends. The guitar tone also shines on "Wine On The Lilies", almost carrying the wavering effects upon it more like what a shoe-gaze band might employ, but on this swirling sway of a song it work, as it is not quite as dark as the bulk of the album. In most cases this would bring complaints, but these guys have established themselves as being morose enough for me so it's ok for them to come for a breather and stretch out into other emotional territory. This album is the kind of fun I want especially at this time of year. Some of the over the top vocal performances slightly  distract from the songs direction as the singer wanders around the song, not unlike some of Christian Death's less focused moments, but overall this album is enjoyable and the wacky vocals flux ate in such a manner it's hard to fault them so I 'll give this one a 9.