3rd quarter, the third part...
They say trouble comes in threes.
I think you’re headed for a whole lot of trouble… KENmode is happy to oblige. Lock-down isolation does a mind unwell. The long time underground stalwarts have crafted what could be their most confrontational piece yet. Steadfast in their angular riffed, blower bass driven lock groove noise rock post everything style further amplified with a no wave aesthetic and, how the hell is it even possible, more aggro. Not sure if Hamilton and the brothers Matthewson needed the kick to go to 11 but, welcoming Kathryn Kerr as full time member and noise-crafter sure seems to be the trick. Yes, you do deserve this. Is it just a coincidence “The Desperate Search for an Enemy” makes me think of Playing Enemy and Voivod? I know I always joke (not joking) about Playing Enemy and Great Falls writing the best Voivod songs Voivod didn’t write, well, “Unresponsive” is the best Swans song Swans haven’t written.
No good deed goes unpunished. And one noise rock adjacent great deserves another. Oklahoma City’s Chat Pile opens with what sounds like 808s pounding just the way Roli Mosimann brings it with Swans and Wiseblood. Street level socio-political and personal missives that sound like a discourse between Steven Wright deadpan narrative and David Yow caterwauls set to a diseased cross breeding of Swans, Scratch Acid, Jesus Lizard and Distorted Pony.
We’ve been without a Blindead record for a few years that Dramaturgy from Abysslooker really hits that sweet spot. I had previously mentioned on facebook about “Chalice of Grief” having an intent and style similar to starkweather’s “Wilding.” I can without a doubt say these guys are more technically proficient in certain aspects… hell, some of their acoustic stuff here is more lush a la Queensryche than we have achieved. Add to that there are strains of their native country’s traditional folk stylings in some of these acoustic moments. Abysslooker plies their trade in dynamics and atmosphere and it is masterful across the board. The fact they are ballsy enough to open an album on a primarily acoustic based song that isn’t building up to a cathartic explosion is something else commendable and places emphasis on the entirety of the album rather than a collection of random songs.
We are starting to show exceptions to my rule of keep synthesizers and keyboards out of metal… I’m old, set in my ways, sue me. I’m a founding and card carrying member of the synths and keyboards out of metal club. However, what I do notice is more often than not those metal bands that utilize said instrumentation the best tend to dwell in the funeral doom and sludge field. And with that we come to DVVELL. Hailing from Santa Cruz with two members wielding synths along with the conventional drum, bass, guitar format. Again, not deviating too far from the Winter, dISEMBOWELMENT, Esoteric playbook but doing more than enough to stand out and be noticed since the synth component of this band is more along the lines of power electronics and death industrial projects such as IRM, Budrus, Anenzephalia. An excellent debut album of low end rumbles, lurching riffs, electronic depth charges, slow rolling pounding drums.
EGO DEPTHS have returned to seize the funeral doom throne with a glacial procession of elongated riffs, guttural howls, throat singing, ritual drone, Asian-derived scales and instrumentation. Imagine Winter, diSEMBOWELMENT and Esoteric atop the Himalayas incorporating the various cultures' instrumentation and musical idiosyncrasies. Magic, mystery, epic grandeur.
The Endless finds Dreadnought reaching the pinnacle of progressive melodic metal heights. Interestingly enough there are moments throughout that harken to classic Genesis all with the beauty of there being no need to debate who you like more - Collins or Gabriel. All joking aside this album is quite an amusement ride. What else is a breath of fresh air is the fact the musicianship is top notch yet not overly complex from an academic standpoint or pretentious with guitar pyrotechnics. They simply arrange free flowing songs that have great sense of logic and purpose when it comes to utilizing dynamics. Of course the fact they compose without much repetition within a song is a welcome feature for me as all unfolds in individual narratives.
Debut ep from Pyra satisfies in all its blackened death glory. Strong first effort which makes sense given they are seasoned players from established Italian bands. Relentless drum performance, a vocalist that has a guttural approach recalling a Left Hand Path LG Petrov, some of the riffing is sort of a cross between Deathspell Omega and Teitanblood where there are eerie hanging chords and a subsonic chugging. While there are not really any guitar parts that one can call out as being specifically memorable it’s more about the overall atmosphere the mix of styles is conjuring and underlying buzz of insects with nauseating unchords and dissonant textures.