Dead Register: "Fiber"

This moody rock band out of Atlanta just released a new album. The opener is painted in shades of gray with a casual croon laid over layered hard rock that is on similar meds as A Perfect Circle.If the late Mark Sandman of Morphine jammed with Katatonia the results might be similar. The title track finds the band wrapping themselves around a coiled groove and working off the post-grunge loud to soft dynamics of radio friendly rock with an edge that rose to prominence in the late 90s. While the band self identifies as "doom-gaze". They do not have the mournful qualities of doom nor do I really hear any shoe gaze. They take more of a middle path, with the guitar playing more melodically than paving sonic sprawls around the songs.

The first song that really grabs me is "Drawing Down". Vast is another band that comes to mind at this point in the album. The guitars are well layered and producer Dan Dixon who has also worked with Whore and the Biters did a find job on this album. Some of the vocals tend to wander around the songs and it's the cleaner guitar riff helps anchor my interest into the song.While there feels like a subtle Siouxsie influence might lie under the thick distorted chug that makes appearances throughout . "Grave' winds around a similar landscape to what they have given us in the albums first three songs. Vocally their singer stays in the same register and sticks close to building his melodies with his favorite handful of intervals. The use of a guitar solo to switch things up helps this song and adds a new color to the monochrome storm clouds their sound summons.

"Entwined" shows more restraint and gives the vocals room to fit like a velvet glove over the groove rather than ponder a way around it. This is my favorite song from this album, the band is not doing any different, but doing it in a way that is most effective in serving the song. The more doomy side of the band doesn't emerge until "Incendiary". This gives the vocals more room and allows the texture guitar tones space to shine.Overall this album is not ground breaking, but an enjoyable listen that I can leave on and let play, not dark enough to make it over to my iPod, I will give it a few more listens and see how it grows on me even though I think I get to hear these guys from the other side of the wall from my rehearsal space anyways. Fans of Vast, Katatonia and other moody rock will appreciate the punch that this packs though this really requires metal heads with very open minds and broad tastes as compared to Watain or Graves at Sea this is not metal. I'll give it an 8.5

Troller : "Graphic"

This is the Austin based projects second album. The go for a cold cave like club sound that recalls the 80s. With their singer's moaning croons lurking under the drone of the synths, the lo-fi pop of the minimally programmed drums sounds more like the crack of a whip. Unlike most dark wave band's their goal is not to get you out on the dance floor but to wallow in your own narcotic induced misery. On first listen the effect is similar to that of hearing a really heavy metal band for the first time. You are bowled over by the sonic weight that hits you, so it's not until the second song that you can ask"So can these guys really write songs?". The slow groove and thick atmosphere of "Not Here" provides enough of a smoke screen that the answer to this question is easily found. The singer's melodies seem to have more purpose and their is a bass line punching every thing forward even in the murky swirl.

My wife was not really impressed when I was listening to the album this morning and said it sounded like they are just jamming and making music for people who are high. She went on to state that it reminds her of when you fall asleep watching a movie and the credits wake you up. Unlike the more traditional dark wave this album is very raw. The atmosphere creates a thick drone in some places. The ballad "Storm Maker" is more of a misty drift that could play in the back ground of David Lynch movie. Perhaps not as haunting as Julie Cruise, but in the same school free drug zone. The album is riddled with synth interludes. One of the darker and more compelling moments that emerges from the haze is "Nothing".  There is a more defined beat behind "Sundowner" that helps rein in some of their more kraut rock tendencies. The album comes to close with a swathe of ethereal noise that tries to congeal into a song.

There is some interesting sonic exploration going on here and the album is certainly dark enough to suit my needs, I agree with my wife's criticism in the sense the album could use a firmer hand when in comes to writing song. Many of these drift around like ghosts outside of a dance club rather than being corporeal enough to move people to motion, not that dark wave has to make you dance in order to be effective. I think this needs to be more grounded in song even in the haze of it's gloomy heavens. I'll give it a 6.

Vektor : "Terminal Redux"

Vektor has matured on their new album which contains more thoughtful lapses into layered sonic excursions and melody rather than the more manic thrash found on their first two albums.The band finds more common ground with Voivod than just ripping off their logo on this one. While they don't have that more post-punk dissonance the Canadian band has, these kids from Arizona do show a much more progressive side here. The growth is not without compromise. Some of that compromise comes in the form of the feral fury that previously made the band a heavier brand of thrash than what is happening on "Cygnus Terminal". It's not forgotten and comes roaring back on "LCD" which will make fans of their previous work breathe easier as it takes a step back in thrash more focused on the circle pit."Ultimate Artificer" brings the speed back after an interlude.They come closer to recapturing what thrash bands in the 80s had that their second generation spawn doesn't and that is hooky songs, with vocals that fit with the riffs. They get into some almost black metal blasting to solo over along the way, but it's far from even "Calling in the Coroner".

 I can hear the Slayer influence in places on "Pteropticon". It's not their energy that makes this band their most effective and I think they have a hard time understanding this when caught up in the momentum. The more deliberate chug of "Psychotopia" works much better.Sure there are some cool pit inducing riffs that crop up, but the rule here is cool riffs alone don't make a good song. The vocals stay in a higher rasp some times going into more of a shriek that creates an effect similar to hitting a metal yodel, they are just unable to do this as a note. The acoustic tone leading into "Pillar of Sand" gives a little more dynamic range before taking off into the hyper speed. There is a little more of a hook on this one. "Collapse" finds them actually singing in order to create their "Fade to Black" power ballad. Vocally there is more in common with Pink Floyd than Metallica. When they begin to pick up the pace it is done very smoothly and makes this the best song on the album.

They get back to a variation of their old bag of tricks on the closing rage of "Recharging the Void". They build up into an almost blackened blast on this one. There is a return to clean on this one as well, along with a "Great Gig in the Sky" like female vocal sitting behind it. Once again the clean vocals have a Pink Floyd feel to them.I'll give this one an 8.5, see how it grows on me, if you are a fan of the band go ahead and round it up to a 9 as I have no attachments to them either way, but there is no denying a ton of growth has occurred and placed them a step ahead of bands who just want to recapture the glory of 80s thrash.

Live Review: Chelsea Wolfe @ the Masquerade

The door were very early so we only got to hear the tail end of A Dead Forest Index, when we arrived. Chelsea Wolfe took the stage a little before 9:45. If you have been reading this blog for sometime, at this point you might even think, oh not another Chelsea Wolfe concert review, but this show was very different. The majority of time she has passed through Atlanta she has played the Earl, short of the East Atlanta Restaurant and Lounge. This 300 capacity room, more often than not is one of the city's better sounding venues.As her career has blossomed, Ms. Wolfe has grown out of the venue. The first time passing through the city on the "Abyss" tour found her playing Aisle 5. This time she played the Masquerade, the 1000 person capacity room upstairs in "Heaven" which Chelsea found too dark and at one point asked for more light saying she couldn't see where she was going. Not one of the city's best sounding rooms, normally home to touring metal bands who combat this with sheer volume. Things did get loud. She mainly focused on the new album and "Mers". What I enjoyed the most was how she played around with her approach to the older songs which in the past I have seen played acoustic and more atmospherically when plugged in. She opened with an amped up almost punk version of "Demons". The band was different as well, long time bassist Ben Chisholm was still around , but now has a new drummer Jess Gowrie of Happy Fangs on the drum throne as well as a different guitarist by her side as well.

It was the how of this show that made it special.If I want to hear the album, I'll plug in my iPod. If I am seeing the same artist twice in the course of a year, a change of set list is at the very least expected. Here it was not what songs were played but how they were played, which in some cases were better than the recorded versions. "Moses" being thre prime example here. It was given a dirtier jangle to create an almost grunge like sound that could have come from the "Mistake in Parting" album. A few songs in an energetically it was evident that Wolfe has spent enough time on the road to refine her live show into the elusive tier of artists who are a must see given the fact , each show is an individual experience unto it's own and not just a musician clocking in for work to plow through the songs they have been fine tuning for years. Perhaps it was the new band who were not as tight with the songs as the last band she came through with, but that didn't seem to be the point of the show. It rocked loudly with no guitar solos and drum flurries or any of the pretense that normally turns the boys club of rock n roll into more of an athletic event. If you are at all familiar with her last album "Abyss" which almost received as much coverage as "Murs" then it should not come as a surprise that there were moments in the show that were heavy in almost a metal manner, but more often than not heavy sonically.

 The mix was a little weird as some of the looped backing tracks from her more electronic tinged studio recordings seemed a little loud at times, and the guitars could have been louder. The Masquerade is a big boomy room. It seemed their were some monitor issues and she winced back from feedback when using a digital delay. These sound issues that come with the venue considering is not known as being one of the city's best, did not mar the performance in a manner that was distracting to their performance though energetically the energy shifted slightly on stage when this occurred. If she is coming through your town, she might be playing bigger venues but hopefully she will, find her self getting more love from the sound man than she did at the Masquerade show. If you have seen her before and think you can skip this show without missing out, I understand the pull of gravity the couch can have when under the light of Netflix, but this was a much different show than what you have seen from her and is worth catching.

Avhath : "Hymns"

This review is short and sweet much like this album. Though it's level of sweetness will be called into question. I like Entombed so I am ok with d-beat. The first song proves that it is an effective style of metal, the second shows when it is not as effective and comes across more like metallic hard core. Going into 'the After Math" they employ more musicality in the tribal drone of the songs static build that leads you on for six minutes with nothing happening. They take on a little more of a black metal snarl for "the Solipsist". Dead Air at the Pulpit called these guys a heavier take on Deafheaven and I don't really hear it as they are much more one dimensional. There is a little more of a sonic touch than want your average black metal band employs and a little bit of melody begins to creep into the work with the solo at the three minute mark. But I am not convinced these guys are a black metal band as they only have some of the ingredients tossed into a few songs. This argument could also be made against Deafheaven and I say they were with "Roads to Judah" and the new album has it's moments but they are not black metal in the truest sense either if you want to really split hairs.

This albums has a few choice moments mainly the first song and the last so I'll round this one down to a 6.5. It's more hype than not and has all the qualities hip metal heads who want to stir things up want, making the hip stirrers. These guys are from Indonesia. Though this could bee another Ghost Bath in that regard. They have more hard core roots than metal. The product is more raw than polished. They can play their instruments but don't allow for pretense or pageantry. The album is only 15 minutes and really on 3 actual songs. If this is on any one's end of the year list , question the rest of the entries as well. So maybe that is what they have in common with Deafheaven they make you question do you really like black metal or just the idea of black metal?

Gruesome :" Dimensions of Horror"

This band was spawned after being a touring Death tribute band, as both Matt Harvey and drummer Gus Rios, played on the Death to All tour. So this sounds like a mix of the first two Death albums. The first song brings a sense of nostalgia, but how long this tribute can keep me engaged is another question.  Sure I like the first two Death albums, but why not just download them? In my teen days I remember several locals bands sounding like this so Death influence in death metal is nothing new. The other side of the coin is these guys are fucking good at  re-creating this. So if you are a super crazed Death fan or too young to have caught Chuck and the Boys back in the day then this makes a little more sense. By the time I get to "Amputation" it's wearing on me a little. There are some cool riffs mixed in, but the rule here is cool riffs alone don't make good songs.  I think it's a good thing there are only six songs , because this would be very tiring if there were twelve.

They bgin to pull the plug on "Hellbound" and inject more groove and songwriting into things , making this the album's high point. The opening riff to "Dimensions of Horror" feels like the are leaning in a more Spiritual Healing Direction" the dirty things up on the verse.The less than two and a half minute "Seven Doors" is pretty straight forward death metal and even when Death did it struck me more as filler rather than having any real musical weight on it's own accord . Lyrically growling about zombies could not bore me any more.The title track's  opening riff feels like thet are leaning in a more Spiritual Healing Direction" the dirty things up on the verse. They go back into the "Pull the Plug" type groove on this one, but it's so good it's hard to complain. I'll give this album a 7 as it hardly has an original moment, though I think that's the point. It's well played so Death fans only who are needing a fix or the screams of bloody gore.

Pity Sex : "White Hot Moon"

When it comes to indie rock record labels Run For Cover, has the cream of the crop. They tend to go for more morose artists and this band falls in with the pack. The lyric from this album "nothing matters in a dream" from the opener off this Ann Arbor band's new album is a perfect description of their attitude going into this. The monotone vocals are pretty apathetic and sometimes offset by more sugary female vocals that coo under the fuzzed out drone of the guitars. Their cleaner guitar tone works better for me than the super over driven one. The guitar punches and vocal phrasing is tighter on "Burden You". There is a surreal dreamy feel to their music , but I am not sure they should be described as shoe-gaze. "Bonhomie" gets pretty up-beat, almost to the point of being too happy for me with the chorus' hook the only thing to keep it in play. They are more reflective in "September". I like how the male vocals are mixed differently than the female vocals and sit back in the mix as more of a call and response. Sure the bass line is kinda lazy and could carry the song more than it is, but the vocal interplay really sells this one. "What Might Soothe You" kind breezes by me with nothing really reaching out to grab me and "Plum " strummed with almost a similar indifference even though the two songs don't really sound the same. Its the layered harmony vocals of their female singer than save this one.

There slacker apathy is infectious as it's easy for me not to really care enough. I had to step away from the album to return to this album with fresh ears as I found myself not caring about it as much as I did when their sound was new to me on the first few songs. They lay the Sonic Youth on thickly to the beat of "Orange and Red". The only hint of shoe gaze I pick up here is the vocal line to this song, but it's pretty upbeat. The lazy strum of "Dandelion" floats the song off into a care free lethargy. The male singer's voice comes in on the title track to spread a blanket of indifference. There is more love and care put into "Pin a Star ". It ambles along with feathers in it's footsteps. "Wappen Beggars" has more heft in the over drive and the bass steps up in the mix , but in many ways the song feels like a more distorted version of the previous song, how ever the vocal performance  by the male singer steps up it's game and it's his best showing on this album. Ambivalent indie rock is not our forte here, though we do like Sonic Youth and many of their bastard spawn. We like indie rock if it's depressing enough and the guitar tone or some other factors draw us in . This album was mildly entertaining and has it's moments, more positive ones than not, though I don't really see this as something I would listen to more than the two spins I gave it, but it might be your thing if you are looking for something that doesn't rock to hard and are too young to have gotten into Sonic Youth and Hum, so I'll give it a 7.