REVIEW: RED NECKLACE - S/T

The last time I heard from Bill Robinson it was a pleasant message of appreciation for reviewing an album by his other band from Chattanooga, Oxxen. Now snarling and blasting out dangerous feedback with Red Necklace as well, Robinson and Patrick Wilkey - who provides drums and “hellfire,” according to Facebook - carve out four songs from forty minutes of thick riffage and thundering drums.

Starting with the glacial crawl of  “Repression of the Snake,” Red Necklace’s eponymous debut album fuses the swampy danger of Primitive Man and the bombastic noise of Behoover, then covers it all with a wintery mix of muddy slush and ice. It’s entirely possible that I’m projecting my own brutal New York February onto these songs, but they possess glacial qualities, in my frostbitten mind. When it comes to doom duos, there’s usually an enormous responsibility on the drummer to punctuate riffs that, without percussive accompaniment, risk feeling like distortion swelling and flickering as a freeform passage. Wilkey particularly shines on “The Swarm,” guiding the song down smoky corridors in some frigid basement labyrinth with confident fills while strengthening structural integrity.

But doom’s success is eventually determined by the mood and attitude of its riffs. Red Necklace grazes various subgenres (Sleep’s bouncy, bong-worshipping stoner doom; the texture of Evoken’s foggy, funereal epics; the grimy sludge of NOLA’s various musical outlaws), but emerges from the album with their own stamp on a genre, matching impressive kineticism with riffs that never feel derivative. The songs occasionally thaw during gentler moments of morose tones and shimmering cymbals, but it’s really just spilled blood momentarily melting the ice. Robinson’s rasp and blackened blues riffs transform 40 minutes into an experience that builds upon well-known metallic foundations (hell, parts of “Repression of the Snake” even feel like “Enter Sandman” at times, if the Sandman was dressed in fresh pelts) and stomps forward with a black boot.

Check out Red Necklace over on their Facebook page, then pre-order their album over on Bandcamp: http://rednecklace.bandcamp.com/

Better yet, order the cassette from Failed Recordings and Inherent Records here: http://failedrecordings.storenvy.com/products/5439073-red-necklace-s-t-cassette

REVIEW: BLACKOUT - WE ARE HERE

I recently had the privilege of seeing Brooklyn’s own psychedelic doom trio Blackout open for Naam and Radkey over at Saint Vitus, and was thrilled to see they have an album coming out soon. While I’m 90% sure their moniker refers to a state of devastating intoxication, on the off-chance they refer to the sunlight-blocking curtains I had to mention that I absolutely approve. As a former insomniac who lived on a vampire’s sleeping schedule for over two years, blackout curtains are my second favorite invention (following the machines that press gummy candies into delightful shapes).

Rumbling into town with the transcendental “Indian,” Blackout remind me a bit of YOB or Acid King in spirit, or Windhand if they were fried in leftover burger grease and liquid PCP. Blackout’s brand of doom is less inclined to conjure woodland spirits with majestic occult hymns than it is to drink a keg of Brooklyn Lager in fifteen minutes flat and turn the empty barrel into an oaky bong. A dirty rock’n’roll energy swaggers into the fray about halfway through “Amnesia,” and that’s where the album really hits its rebellious stride. This raucous attitude is especially prevalent on “Columbus,” which sounds like a severely tranquilized convergence of Melvins and Sleep’s Holy Mountain, and the superb closer “Seven.” The rhythms are occasionally a little stiff, but when they kick into mid-tempo there’s a noticeable increase in comfort and confidence. Blackout may be massively informed by the crunchiest forms of doom, but at its smoky core it’s a rock record that lights blunts over desert campfires, guzzles rye whiskey from a motorcycle gas tank, and happens to be really fucking heavy.

The previously mentioned “Seven” is a 9+ minute rocking slog through a quagmire of peyote-infused swamp water. The track is a hydroponic garden of groovy, burly riffs that take a break from smashing bar stools in pub fights for a trippy interlude. They end the song chewing on a lean, mean riff for a solid three minutes, because it’s god damn tasty enough to warrant those three minutes. While there are some droning qualities to We Are Here, it’s explored organically and never feels tedious.

The band’s performances are solid, avoiding distracting technicality in favor of letting the song’s breathe and prowl on their own. From Christian Gordy’s vocals that feel like a sonic projection of an out-of-body experience, to Taryn Waldman’s steady, dependable percussion, to Justin Sherrell’s enormous bass tone, Blackout are definitely more focused on crafting a gigantic sound than technical wizardry. To me, that’s how doom should be: Creating music so massive you can’t fathom its source. I’ll definitely pay to see Blackout play again, and after you creeps give We Are Here a listen I hope you’ll be there headbanging next to me with a brew in hand.

Listen to 3 of the 6 songs off We Are Here over at Bandcamp at this very moment, and see how the healing powers of rock’n’roll turn your day from dogshit to delightfulfuntimebestdayever:  http://blackout666.bandcamp.com/

And keep up to date with upcoming shows and merch over on their Facebook page:  https://www.facebook.com/BlackoutNYC

GUEST REVIEW: HORSEBACK / LOCRIAN - NEW DOMINIONS

Mister Growls welcomes our second guest reviewer today, Mr. Rick Sahlin, to share his thoughts on the Horseback/Locrian collaboration New Dominions. Unlike the previous guest assignment (Jude Gullie’s review of Evoken’s A Caress of the Void) I had not listened to this release prior. I entrusted this task to Rick knowing that he is a passionate fan and scholar of the full spectrum of music. Take delight in his following musings as he asks difficult questions and gives me cautious credit for not being an elitist metalhead:

“Sean says the leader is into Neil Young. Neil Young is my favorite. I’ve said this out loud many times and Sean must have heard me say that. Lots of people love Neil Young and that’s fine. I don’t need to feel like I have idiosyncratic taste in music.

I just recently heard “Slip Away” for the first time. It was the version from the Year of the Horse album and I fell in love all over again. There’s always another great Neil song to discover.

So there was a chance that maybe I would like this. I initially thought maybe the point of the exercise was to shock the non-metal fan or make him uncomfortable so metal fans can jeer and congratulate themselves for being tough enough or open-minded enough to like the thing that scares or alienates the non-metal fan. But I should have known Sean would not be up to something like that. Sean is inviting me to metal’s house and I am in metal’s house now as his guest. I’m thankful to have been invited and I will a be a respectful guest and I will sample the banquet that metal has prepared.

Why invite a non-metal fan to review metal? Probably you know more about metal than I ever plan to learn. About how metal works and what metal means and how effective this particular metal is. I can only tell you how someone with a limited knowledge of metal and, today at least, more curiosity than suspicion about metal, will receive this.

I was playing “Sway” by the Rolling Stones around my brother. It sounded like the best goddamn song as I was listening to it and it just made me feel great about music and the Rolling Stones and life and I was dancing around with a big grin on my face. When it was over I asked him what he thought about the Rolling Stones and he said, “They don’t need me to like them.” Sharing your music with others is not always rewarding.

But maybe you want to share metal with your friends. Maybe sharing metal with your friends and family will enrich your relationship with the people in your lives and also with metal. I personally wish I knew more people who were into hip-hop because I just need to share my thoughts about hip-hop sometimes and also hear some fresh thoughts from others. I hope everything works out for both of us.

I can't get into the newest Ghostface album but I enjoyed hearing his recent Wu-Block collaboration on a recent walk through the park. The beats are functional. You'll nod your head. There's a song where Ghost and Sheek Louch compare their guns to children they diligently care for. In the intro of another Ghost breaks down his preferences for cold remedies. He browses the Encylopedia Britannica while drinking lemonade and watching Larry King Live on mute. It's just fun.

My metal background: I took a friend’s extra ticket to Ozzfest 2002. Ozzy was fine - the time-tested songs are familiar to a novice and he is a cute and doddering old man. I took my shirt off even though I’m fat and I was one of several shirtless fat guys yelling and throwing up the horns. System of a Down were also fine - you could shout “Disorder!” during that song and alternate between pogo dancing and swaying side to side. I also enjoyed Rob Zombie. I later lived with that same friend for a while and he made fun of my Sonic Youth records.

I've distilled my personal metal canon to 1-2 songs each from the acts I mentioned above and also “Ace of Spades.” I like some of Alice in Chains’s stuff, if that counts as metal. Also I've heard some Sleep and sun0))))))))))) but I’m guessing Mister Growl readers consider that hipster dilettante metal. People are beyond hating “hipsters” I hope, I mean that gets pretty tiresome.

So this album drones. The idea of droning appeals to me.

I’m not feeling this album though and I don’t really have it in me to say much more than that. They lose me at 3 minutes and 30 seconds into the first song when drums make their first appearance and they are not nearly thunderous enough to satisfy my admittedly cliché-informed expectations. I didn’t listen to it all the way through, to be honest. I checked out last track which is a “(remix)” of the first track because I thought it might have some additional aggro-techno drum machine beats you know like a remix but it didn’t.

This very well could be a good or great metal album. As a non-metal fan I am in no position to say and obviously this isn't a real review. But if the newbie or hipster dilettante in your life asks for a recommendation I would suggest more aggressive and demon-y. That is probably what he had in mind when he asked you.

If you want to recommend something to a Neil Young fan I would suggest Several Shades of Why by J. Mascis from 2011. The song “Can I” is just beautiful. Kurt Vile plays on that album and I would also recommend the new Kurt Vile album which is the consensus pick of internet indie culture this month. The consensus chose well this time.”

Not to self: Listen to each album first. Bad job by me. I’ve enjoyed releases from Horseback before and thought I was going to woo someone over to the metal playground with droning Swans-by-way-Burzum-if-they-were-both-from-Arkansas extreme noise. Many thanks to Rick for sharing his thoughts, hopefully we can convince him to review a future release that is appropriately demonic.

Listen to New Dominions here: http://horseback.bandcamp.com/releases

REVIEW: MOUNT SALEM - ENDLESS

 

 

Somewhere in or around Chicago (my gut tells me Ravenswood) there is a coven of witches with impeccable musical taste who conjured Mount Salem from a smoking cauldron of black water. There is very little information available about the members of Mount Salem but the music they’ve created on Endless feels supernatural and triggers my overactive imagination. I’m not sure of the exact recipe the coven used, but it goes something like this: A heavy broth base of massive doom riffs, healthy doses of doped-up Muddy Waters electric Chicago blues, a splash of garage rock (from the darkest imaginable garage, built on an old burial ground), and a hallucinogenic pinch of occult rock psychadelia. And eye of newt, of course. Somewhere there’s a very sad pack of blind newts swimming aimlessly in a bog.

From the opening quote on “Good Times,” provided by none other than Charles Manson, Endless exists on a twisted, ethereal plain anchored by metallic heaviness while supporting the soothing vocals of their female lead singer. A minute into the song there’s already mention of burned churches, and with this musical accompaniment you can picture someone walking through the ashes enjoying the fragrance like floral incense. This is music that creates images, demands attention, and engages all senses. Endless is also accessible in the best of ways: It does not betray its heaviness with catchiness and melody. The riffs that carry these songs on their backs compare favorably to some of the best work by Sleep and Electric Wizard and feel like gentle giants: Huge in size and sound, but displaying soul.

Every song on this album is essential. Even “Mescaline,” the mid-album instrumental intermission, now a staple within the doom genre, is the perfect somber, dreamy departure from the heavy crunch of the rest of the record. Mount Salem has also already perfected what I call “psychedelic dirges,” where the keyboards and vocals dance slyly, even seductively, over ominous, heavily distorted breakdowns. It has all the same mystery and beauty of a Dario Argento horror scene, complete with the stylized bloodletting. Endless ironically concludes with “The End,” perhaps the best example of musicianship on the album, including every element of their signature sound, from smoky, goth blues to brutally loud, fuzzy stoner rock. This song will be my lullaby for a long time.

Endless feels like it’s trapped in the nightmarish head-space of a psychic medium on a bad trip. This is another album that I feel I could play for diehard metalheads and curious rock fans who may be unfamiliar with doom and receive enthusiastic responses from both. While the vocalist may sing that “this is the end of everything,” as a fan of heavy music I will gladly delay the apocalypse for a few more albums from Mount Salem.

Listen to the album here and support the band on their merch page:  http://mountsalem.bandcamp.com/album/endless

And follow them on Facebook to learn more about their upcoming tour:  https://www.facebook.com/MountSalem