Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean : "Decay and Other Hopes Against Progress"

I have seen this band from Springfield described in a few different fashions. Most of which played up the doom side of the band, but I think a more honest assessment could sum this up by saying they are a more dismal version of Eyehategod. Once you get further into the opening song it drops down to a more doomy bass line and you begin to hear they do not share the same punk rock roots as Eyehategod. Equal parts sludge and doom, the screamed vocals are abrasive enough to steer them more towards being a sludge band. The guitar shows more restraint and offers some introspection on the second song, though the vocals come at you with the same aggression. Vocally this colors the song with one dimension. So by the time we are at "Four Cubits and a Span" the pounding has already slightly numbed us to the heaviness. The riffs pulls you in a little more with its chug. 

While riffs are arranged with an odd angular feel there is still a great deal of melodicism in them. The vocals go into a more spoken words type narrative sitting pretty far back in the mix. The fuzzed out distortion sounds more blown out going into "Hollow Feeds the Emptying Death". The shuffle of the song has more of a blue bleached boogie to it's flavor of more swampy doom.When listening to with headphones on it seems there is an intentional under-produced feel here, making it seem like they just plugged right into their amps, some of you might like this sounds and even prefer it. It makes for a more what you heard is what you get experience live. The is more feedback and the dirty sound remains on "Escape! Harmony is Disclosure". The first minute it sounds like they are pounding ass they ponder how to actually get into the songs. This is something they don't agrees on until the powerful rumble of the song kicks in. This has more of the sludge like density to it.  The riff does however develop a groove that is easier to listen to.

So when they embrace doom and the more groove oriented elements of sludge then these guys step out from behind the shadow cast over them by Eyehategod. Perhaps you do not feel it is fair to compare them or any band to Eyehategod since the whole genre of this kind of thing was created by them and it's like comparing a doom band to Black Sabbath. To those people I extend my middle finger and say it's the bands job to show me who they are otherwise I can just listen to Sabbath or Eyehategod, so give me a reason to listen to Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean. This can be problematic for many sub genres of metal. I'll give this a 7.5.

Unreqvited ; "Disquiet"

Ok, the debut album from this black gaze band/ Lets see how long they can go without sounding like Deafheaven. Before you know you are on the third song. The post -rock element is a bigger deal here than the black metal. When they black metal comes it's in the sonic blur of blasting. While Deafheaven was not the first band to dip their toes in these waters, the way the static vocals sit in the mix almost holding their ground as the bands only metal elements bears a similar dynamic. The vocals are more anguished and depressive than what Deafheaven does. The keyboards also help to separate them from the bandwagon. Though sometimes make them indulgent and clutter up the album with atmospheric interludes.

The melody to "Maydena" is pretty thoughtful. The vocals when they do break the surface come out in the mix for so it doesn't sound like the are as far back behind the water fall of guitar they are trying to howl out from behind. The piano melodies also help give them some more identity. They hit more of a sonic sweet spot with this song, where they needed to be earlier in the album. Not that what they were doing previously was bad it was just not as lush or dynamic, which if you are a regular reader of this blog then you know those are two qualities I ask for from music.It is easy for these guys to lose their way and get consumed in the flowery piano parts, so what is the band's strength can also be their weakness if not balanced out. They take the flowers to more of an extreme on "Death" which closes out the album, while it sounds really huge when the guitars come back to add a more metal dyanmic it also takes them five minutes to get to that part. The bulk of this sounds sounds more like something from a movie soundtrack.

These guys do have a strong sense of dynamics I think on future album's it will be about finding the unhappy medium that is more metal, but retains the more symphonic side to what they do. So this si more like taking a symphonic black metal band and combining it with a atmospheric black metal band and then having them write the sound track to a movie. I'll give this an 8, as they do hit on some powerful moments and succeed at what they do , though they haven't convinced me they are a full blown metal band it sound like just a color they like to dabble in.

Street Sects : "Rat Jacket"

The first thing that grabs me with this is how far the vocals have come. This puts it more in the realm of many of the industrial influenced bands from the 90's who were not industrial, but dark and gothy with drum loops fortifying the drums...think bands like Stabbing Westward and God Lives Underwater. The vocals even go in a almost Jane's Addiction direction some places when a note is sustained. The influences are all over the place though as some of the grooves even remind me Fugazi. The vocals to go into harsher yells and growls when the dynamics call for it. While this is not as organic as many of the band's whose names have surfaced this far in the review, they are invoking more of an organic feel than what was actually going on in the studio. There is a more experimental intro to "Total Immunity". The vocals pretty much hold it together as the arrangement oddly shifts in a very chaotic fashion. I think samples are used very well in this album, and add to the atmosphere, though I obviously have a soft spot when reminded of music from this era.

There is almost a Marilyn Manson like feel to the aggression and attitude of " Early Release". The vocals are passionate , but not goth. The pounding this song locks into is both original and heavy, though in that sweet spot I love where something is heavy sonically and emotionally , but not metal. Two minutes into this song it has already taken through the fun-house once in it's herky jerky arrangement. I can hear how Skinny Puppy also has an influence in how the song just shifts into other parts. It may or may not be real drums on this song, though the fact I can't tell means even if they are programmed they have done a good enough job of fooling me that it is a mute point. There is a moment of ambiance going into "At Least In Prison I Had You"  before going into a militant post-punk beat that contrasts the croon of the vocals. The guitar is adding odd angular melodies on the edges of the song as it continues to stomp along in a jarring fashion.

Color me impressed as hell by the growth this project is showing on the ep. I'll round it up to a 10 now, I think the elements that hit me in weird ways in certain places is just more of a matter of me getting used to what is going on here. I know I can leave this album on and let it play repeatedly and wish that there was more here than just these four songs, but I think it offers promise in terms of what we can expect from these guys. This comes out October 6th on the Flenser.

Gwar : "the Blood of Gods"

You may or may not know that Gwar used to be one of my favorite band's in High school. I think I checked out after "This Toilet Earth" as the song writing took a dive after that. Hard to imagine the band going on without Oderus. Blothar the new singer, is the old Beefcake the Mighty taking on a new mantel. So they promoted from within. I can deal with this better than if it was some new guy they just brought in.The new sound does take some getting used to even though, he did handle the vocals on the song "Nice Place to Park". So his voice is not totally alien. It does have more of a Blackie Lawless like metal quality which does help them out when it comes time to cover "If You Want Blood". This album needed a few listens before I could connect the changes.  It with a much more straight ahead metal feel in the vein of mid 80s thrash.  "Viking Death Machine" might touch on their punk roots , but it is a more rock n roll song.

It's not until we get to "El Presidente"  the band connects with who they really are, not matter who is wearing what costume. There get back into more of West Coast 80s rock thing on "I'll Be Your Monster". It has punk drive to it , but is rock n roll at it's heart. "Auroch" is more metal, but moves at more of a punk speed. Didn't really wow me. This is a case where much like Black Sabbath, Dio is technically the better singer, but Ozzy has a charisma to his voice that wins you over. The same could be said by the void being filled here, though I was a little disappointed by the AC/DC cover at the end because through out the album we are getting some raspy rock yelps that made me think he could do a good Bon Scott, but he doesn't go for it. One such moment is his performance on "Swarm" has a classic metal feel and the song overall is a better balance of these foot on the monitor rock moments with who Gwar is as a band.

Sawborg's is better than some of Techno Destructo's moments on earlier albums.The more theatrical elements of their brand of story telling are in place on "Death to Dickie Duncan" which is a about a mascot of  some fast food chain. They go full on thrash for "Crushed By the Cross" which musically reminds me of that time period post "This Toilet Earth" that I was not as into. The thrash vibe returns going into "Fuck This Place" though it stays more on the metal side of the fence than punk. "Phantom Limb" is a power ballad that is an ode to Oderus Urungus. It's one of the album's better songs. At the end of the day it's a fun listen, it might fall short of "Scumdogs" or  "America Must Be Destroyed" , but it's much better than some of the bands less inspired albums of the 00s. So I'll give it a 9.

Grave Pleasures : "Motherblood"

What once was Beastmilk carries on as Grave Pleasures , this is their sophomore album under this banner. It is more aggressive the sense of melody held in the first returns for "Doomsday Rainbows". Though it still holds onto a tense core. The first song throws it self at you with a much more reckless abandon, so we are hearing more sides from this band. These guys have a very high bar to hurdle consider how much I liked the last album. I need more of the baritone croon we get on the verses of "Be My Hiroshima".  They are much more energetic going into "Joy Through Death" , but prove to be wise in giving the vocals some room to breathe. The bass and drums continue to race with one another with a punk feel on "Mind Intruder". There is more immersive embrace of the kinetic punk energy. Perhaps not as nuanced as the first album , there are moments like on the first song before the chorus where they back off a little, but as a whole this album is more focused on maintain it's momentum and I can imagine would make for a fun live show.

It took me a second listen to "Doomsday Rainbows" til I picked up on the fact the guitars are driving almost like late seventies Judas Priest. What I think has improved on this album are the lyrics. The paint a picture of a world that is colorfully bleak. The first time I notice some variance in the guitar tone is on "Laughing Abyss". It has a more sardonic vocal, but barrels straight head with restrained fury. There is more of a Gang of Four like punk feel to the groove of "Falling For an Atom Bomb" . They bringing the soundtrack to an apocalypse you can bob your head to. There is a more throbbing groove to "Atomic Christ" that might make this one of the album's best songs, along with the guest spot by David Tibet from Current 93.

There is no mistaking the punk in the opening guitar riff to "Deadenders" it moves into an ode to dancing with skeletons. Then "Haunted Afterlife" guns at such a similar tempo and phrasing of the melody, so I keep alternating between the two trying to find the differences aside from the lyrics. The only one seems to be it backs off a little more on the chorus of the last song. So aside from this I don't have many complaints about this album it's an easy listen and I can just let it play. So I will round this up to a 9.5.

Primus : "the Desaturating Seven"

Based off of a children's book this does have the narrative concept album feel.It is not until they get into "the Seven" that we get into the kind of grooves you expect from these guys. There is a tension to the opening song, it just feels like it's an intro to the album rather than a song on it's own two legs. The Rush quality to their music is more apparent in how some of the progressions wind around themselves. The harder quality that used to bring them close to being metal is not present and really I haven't listened to much these guys have done since the "Brown Album", so the direction they are currently in is not much of a surprise to me. They have been through more drummers than Spinal Tap so it is good to see Tim Alexander back in the fold.

In many ways this album flows like "2112" or "Caress of Steel" with the interludes of clean guitar bridging this album together. If you like more progressive noodling then this is an album for you as it takes some time before the drums converge in on "the Trek". Two and a half minutes later the drums kick in. Two minutes later the groove comes back in stronger making the song more engaging. With only two songs over the 7 minute mark these songs are not long wandering jams and fairly compact for these guys. Claypool's vocals take on more of a ranting Tom Waits like pattern as the bouncing "Scheme" comes to life. Alexander's drums sound very crisp and I like what he does with the accents on his cymbals here.

There are a bunch of guitar noises and noodles being boiled going into  "the Dream". Making it another song where we are over two minutes in before the drums kick it. This is darker and harder. The groove stays pretty angular so it doesn't hook me in as strong though I like the mood.  The formula for this album is clearly lets hang on the tension for two minutes before getting into it , though this one goes past that point. The drums mainly just come in as accents. While we know what Les Claypool does, I think once we are past "Pork Soda" the novelty of that had worn off and it's how well does that work in context of a song. The chemistry of the trio is still intact when they hit the groove ,as they recapture some of the feel of their older more classic work on this one. As a whole Primus fits back nicely into their brand of prog rock I'll give it an 8.5 as fans will dig it.

Jess and the Ancient Ones : "Horse and Other Weird Tales"

While not tremendously impressed when I saw this band open for King Diamond a few years ago, I think they have potential so have some hope fore their new album "the Horse and Other Weird Tales " . I continues to find the band steeped in groovy 60's rock almost like Coven with go-go dancers. So keyboards play a huge role. There is also a very jammy quality, not unlike some of the Doors more upbeat moments. The vocals are strong and soulful , but far from doing anything new. Combining elements of both Momma Cass and Janis Joplin, the results are not largely different from a band like Shocking Blue. So full of flower power that aside from the lyrics it's hard to find the more up tempo songs dark.It's three songs in before we come across something that is darker with the song "Your Exploding Heads" . This is has more of a blues soaked swing to it.

One thing I can say this album has going for it is the song are not long drawn out jams like the Devils Blood could sometime wander off into . "You and Eyes" starts of with a great groove and then spaces out into more of a Pink Floyd place, but it works well dynamically. 'Return to Hallucinate" breezed by me the first so perhaps I was having a flash back. Upon second listen it finds it on par with the with rest of the psychedelic flavored rock presented thus far, the chorus having a little more drive than some of the other songs. "Rainbow Mouth" is not unlike sped version of  "Inna Gadda Davida" . 'Minotaure" starts off much slower and builds back into the pace that dominates most of this album.

On of the album's longest journeys is the closer "Anyway the Mind Flows" which is darker . This mood wise comes closer to doom. The chord progressions give more of a wink in that direction. While this song would go over well with fans of doom, I think the album is generally too upbeat for those who are into slow, deep and harder music. Some of the more progressive passages step back from the tension. This album is easy to put on and let fade into the background. It's well played and they have recreated the sound they are going for. I think the way this music can be a slave to the time period they are trying to take you back to is what causes it to falter in the originality department. I will give it an 8 as it has some strong moments in terms of song writing and fans of this sort of thing will enjoy it.