This last year New York has offered a premium taste of music in the heavy metal corner. Whether it be in the form of long awaited live shows, a fresh and emerging band, or an institution that continues to build on a grind of a career; metal and the like has recently been a hotbed of interest and it keeps finding ways to stretch it’s appeal to a distant fan base. I’d say it’s taken a lot of elbow grease to get something of a column going in the name of the genre, but with all the raw action of the East Coast’s premier city forging its identity, I’m only left with the menial job of reminding and highlighting the musical happenings to be excited for — as well as the ones to avoid. But while there’s a lot of heavy and strange brewing here on the East Coast of the states, there’s obviously much more from around the globe that commands our attention and respect. It’d be impossible to feign bias towards the states, so it all needs to be encompassed. So, with no further adieu, here is the very first edition of Musings of a Deviant…cheers!
Reviews – Gnashed in the Teeth
Obituary, Inked in Blood – Just when everyone was sick of hearing about the kick-starter and the premature album release barbeques, Tampa Bay’s premier Death Metal crew finally came through with a record, and it sounds exactly the way you’d thought it would. Inked In Blood is unmistakably an Obituary record. It’s not better or worse than the last several they’ve thrown our way, just a general Obituary record that could’ve been released a decade or two ago. There’s something to be said for a band sticking to their guns though and when it’s Obituary, get ready for a pummeling from the Brothers Tardy.
Sunn O))) & Scott Walker, Soused – On paper this should be a good record. Sunn should be minimal enough and Scott Walker should be a menacing creep, but that’s far from the outcome of the collaboration. For every enticing moment on the collaboration there’s an influx of irrelevant fluff. Maybe a good ten or fifteen listens are required to digest the genius, but as of now, Soused is much too contrived for me to be sold on.
No Mercy, Widespread Bloodshed (Love Runs Red) –
The initial reaction to Widespread Bloodshed as a new record was that it sounded as stock as one can go for thrash metal but after giving it more of a fair shake, it’s undoubtedly a solid 42 minutes of unforced partying. It’s no coincidence though, hanging around Slayer and Exodus in the early days is more than a right of passage. Some might say that this band is a continuation of Mike Muir and Mike Clark’s work together in Suicidal Tendencies, but this is a bit more macabre than the crossover vibe.
Electric Wizard, Time to Die –
I always get the feeling that the sky is falling when I hear good Electric Wizard. Even when there are riffs, grooves and vocal patterns, there’s still a gloomy ambience that permeates all of it. It’s a unique approach and EW are one of the juggernauts of their style, having produced over the last two decades a blend of stoned, crust-ridden doom which looms overhead. I’ve given Time to Die a couple spins this week and I keep having to remind myself about daylight savings.
At the Gates, At War with Reality – I’m told, yes I’m told that this is a great comeback record, but what are these Swedish death-metalists supposed to be coming back from? 1992 or their most recent hiatus?
Pallbearer, Foundations of Burden – There’s a troop of indie rockers somewhere who are getting into the heavy shit. I just can’t understand the Pallbearer hype. They write songs, play out of loud amps and have some hair? You don’t say. It’s cool how style and aesthetic mean substance now. But all biter critique aside, this band is a bore.
Godflesh, Lit Only by Fire – Godflesh sounds as cold as ever. It’s been over a decade since Justin Broadrick dove this far into the classic sound of his brainchild. Of course, his musical activity continues to splinter into every direction, producing and remixing music under various monikers; Jesu, Final, Grey Machine and most recently J.K. Flesh. It was less than a year ago that Decibel released a flexi-disc containing a Godflesh cover of Slaughter’s “Fuck of Death”. And then seeing them around that time only left all of us hungry for something as substantial as this record. A World Lit Only by Fire is still growing on me as it is apparent all the elements are here: the sharp but unsettling riffs, the soullessness of the beats, and a bass frequency thick enough to cure your head cold. It’s interesting how J.K. Broadrick having his hand in such a varied pallet of musical endeavor can stimulate and keep fresh a sound so fundamental to his overall career.
Banished from the Time Capsule
Defecation, Purity Dilution (1989) – A massive Napalm Death and Voivod North American tour has just been announced and is set to blast through New York City on February 2nd. In the meantime I’ve been exhausting both Napalm Death and Voivod catalogues as well as those of related projects, namely Napalm side bands. One record that refuses to ware thin is the debut from Defecation; the Mitch and Mick Harris duo. The project is said to have been a ploy set by the two Harris’s in order to have a label sign and front them the equipment that Earache couldn’t afford for Napalm Death. They got their contract from Nuclear Blast in 1989 and released a full length called Purity Dilution. It takes no more one listen of this record before you feel like a defecating savage. An associate once tried to tell me that that it just contained Napalm’s throwaway riffs but that’s far from the truth. Aside from Purity Dilution predating Mitch’s studio involvement in Napalm, the record as a whole is much rawer than the Scott Burns Florida sound. In addition to the vocal delivery being animalistic-primitive, the riffs devastate while crusting around the edge of death-grind territories. Glad to have made the move on this one.
Show of the Month
VIRUS back to back in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – October 24th and 25th
It’s been nearly 10 years since Carl Michael-Eide had an accident that left him paralyzed in his ankles and unable to return to the drum kit. In lieu of these limitations, he’s grown increasingly productive as a guitarist and vocalist in both of his bands; black-thrash veterans Aura Noir as well as his eccentric and avant-garde rock outfit Virus. But while he’s been productive in the studio, the live aspect of Virus has taken a while to come to full fruition. Having taken years to launch as a live act and then only playing select high-profile Euro-festivals, Czral has finally broken down and made the first venture to the states. Not only did Virus play 2 back-to-back shows at Greenpoint, Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus Bar but they performed it raw, stripped down to the original lineup. Czral, Einz and Plenum, played their dismal brand of avant-surf just the way it was written.
In the recent months I’ve seen some unbelievable shows but I don’t remember enjoying anything as much as I did on either of two nights of Virus. Of course, it was soothing to see a band so unique and separate of any clique, but that still doesn’t give them enough credit. It’s a thrill in and of itself listening to Eide’s dynamic crooning sweep over the intricacies and angularities of each dissonant guitar part, but hearing the live presence of the bass helped to breathe uncharted dimension into every song. Meanwhile Einz was holding it down with finesse behind the drum kit, never letting up on the swing.
This run set a high standard for seeing music, and while I had the luxury of a short walk from home, I met people who’d made the trek from all directions and distances of North America. Virus is clearly a group that is obsessed over, and it is beyond merited for a number of reasons. As far as the show was concerned, nobody thought they’d ever get to see Virus, let alone see them at their purest and most intense.
