Blog Closed

Howdy,

I will no longer be updating this blog.

I took a break a while back and as I was feeling like getting back into writing about metal, I saw that Contaminated Tones was looking for another reviewer. Given that this is 1 of only 15 metal websites that I regularly follow, I was really eager to throw my name into the mix. Luckily that is where I will now be putting up my reviews! I have a few reviews done all ready and am liking it to the point where I currently don't want to devote any time working on this blog. I am very excited and hopefully will be putting stuff up there for a while into the future and think this will encourage me to be a more prolific and better writer.

I love metal so its fun for me to listen to and write about and Contaminated Tones was a site that I had respected for a while. All of my metal news sources/blogs etc. share many common traits, inclding:

(i) Honest - Too many places praise everything under the sun and act as an uncritical marketing extension;
(ii) Articulate - Some metal reviewers out there focus too much on imagery or humor without really getting into the music; and
(iii) Underground - I like Slayer and Iron Maiden as much as the next person, but some websites/magazines ignore bands that don't have high-res glossy band photos and press kits, I all ready know what Natchmystium  and Amon Amarth sound like.

So, with that ringing endorsement, I hope whoever stumbles upon this post will head on over and check out Contaminated Tones: http://contaminatedtones.blogspot.com/


- Apteronotus

Check Out Progenie Terrestre Pura

Progenie Terrestre Pura is a spacey black metal band from Italy the reminds us all that you can mix electronic elements into black metal without sacrificing the heart of both genres. On April 15, 2013 the band release their first full-length U.M.A., which uses the electronic influences as a musical set design for the metal riffs. This is beyond a mere background effect because it creates a rich and immersive environment that is worthy of equal attention with the band's heavier side. Post-metal elements are also visible, mostly through the long song structures that have slower melodic changes and liberal repetition. Consequently, there is an overwhelming sense of atmosphere that is never suffocating. Rather, the sound is almost antiseptic and this works because the space theme suits the band's decisions to be clean, beautiful, and expansive. A comparison to Samael's Passage is warranted, but Progenie Terrestre Pura is absolutely its own entity. Although U.M.A. contains the two songs from the band's 2011 demo, it still makes for a complete and exciting album.

Also, the band's taste extends over to the remarkable cover art, which couldn't be any more appropriate for their music:

You can listen to Progenie Terrestre Pura here: http://progenieterrestrepura.bandcamp.com/album/u-m-a

Links:
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Progenie_Terrestre_Pura/3540331201
https://www.facebook.com/ProgenieTerrestrePura?v=app_178091127385

Avariel - Avariel

Avariel - Avariel 

What's the Rush?

In this prematurely released demo from 2009, there is no doubt that the hamstrung vocals are the strongest element. Following the usual gothic/symphonic metal formula, Avariel saunters forward with Shannon Kelly’s singing, embellished with guitars and synthesizers. Avariel is strongest and most promising during the moments where the band sticks to the staples of their genre. There, the songs have a sense of cadence with fairly timed build-ups and crescendos that display a more than competent structure. But each time the band deviates from this and steers more toward ballad or poppy territory, the songwriting becomes stagnant and flat. More problematic is how the songwriting can not compensate for how weak each instrument sounds.

Worst of all are the drums, tinny programmed drums are not exactly rare in metal demos. While the drum lines are programmed with serviceable variation here, the actual samples are strikingly and distractingly poor. Were they were recorded from a cheap keyboard that had tears in the speakers and water damage? Unlikely, but the result is the same and even immediately apparent due to “Bleed” starting off with the very worst of it. The demo will even come across as cheap and unfinished for listeners who have been inured to distracting drum samples because of the shoddy synths. This is bad news for a symphonic metal band; attempting to channel the richness of a symphony with a few simple synth pads is difficult. The task becomes impossible when those synth pads also sound inferior, melodramatic, and cheesy. “Tunnel’s Light” in particular showcases an exaggerated synth motif, a slurry of notes so devoid of character that it both bookends the song and serves as a transition from its climax. Adding bland digital guitar and bass tones on top of this heavy handed aspect of the band also fails to salvage the demo.

Unreasonable and disappointing decisions kill the hydra’s last head - vocals. Avariel’s misuse of the vocals is a mix between deliberate decisions and an apparent rush to release a demo. Deliberate vocal sabotage occurs mostly on “Tunnel’s Light” featuring ridiculous effects that adulterate the vocals: a 1970’s telephone sound-quality effect and an obnoxious tremolo effect. This is really irritating and reeks of poppy pandering, but unfortunately isn’t the only way that Shannon Kelly’s vocals are misused. While clearly capable of singing in each song’s range, she does so inconsistently even within individual songs. She wavers between a raw and strained performance to effortlessly hitting higher notes, giving off the impression that the recordings were too rushed to allow for better takes.

While there is some promise and talent in the songwriting and vocals, the demo falters through its poor instrument quality and boring poppy proclivities. Clocking in at around 15 minutes, the decision to have a ballad for the second song is also puzzling and disappointing. Although only a demo, Avariel should have recorded this after they had more professional sounds and given more time for Shannon Kelly to consistently sing the vocal lines.


Link: http://www.metal-archives.com/band/view/id/127862

Check out Metallus Compilcious, a compilation

http://metallumcomp.bandcamp.com/
https://soundcloud.com/metallum-compilcious/sets/metallum-compilcious

I am a big fan of The Metal Archives in general and I particularly enjoy the "For the Musicians" sub-forum of the website. There you will find dozens of dedicated musicians discussing just about everything involved in the process of making music. Recently 14 of those musicians have rallied together to form a nice compilation that the musicians themselves are working to promote. You can listen to the compilation at the above Bandcamp or Soundcloud links and download it for free.

Here is the tracklist along with links for some of the projects:

1. Only a Shadow Remains - The Human Virus
http://onlyashadowremains.blogspot.com/
http://www.metal-archives.com/band/view/id/3540353221

2. Oshiego - Blade of the Conqueror
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Oshiego/83081
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Oshiego/112790763272

3. Dark Sacrament - Upon A Torch
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Dark_Sacrament/3540317024
https://www.facebook.com/darksacrament

4. Hermanessences - Despise Existence
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AglD-Qc9k0w

5. Theophagy - Born to Defy
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Theophagy/3540311352
http://theophagy.bandcamp.com/

6. Mountain Grave - Rage and Ruin
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Mountain_Grave/3540291000
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Mountain-Grave/124992890845759

7. Antica Arcana - Vacillation Forest
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Antica_Arcana/3540322943
http://www.reverbnation.com/anticaarcana

8. Terrestrial - Supreme Organic Architecture
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBNXmghMJoI

9. Morbid Footnote - The Politics of Inbreeding
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Morbid_Footnote/3540357300
 http://morbidfootnote.bandcamp.com/

10. Primal Order - Tears of Gold
 http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Primal_Order/3540310215
 http://www.primalorder.avorym.nl/media.html

11. Andrew Highland - Rebirth of Evil (demo)

12. Nucleus - Biopsy
 http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Nucleus/3540347128
https://www.facebook.com/nucleusmetal

13. Alpthraum - Nothing
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Alpthraum/3540323594
http://alpthraum.bandcamp.com/

14. Black Smith - Deadly is the Cure (demo)
https://www.facebook.com/BlacksmithMetal

I am not really a compilation person, but this was a great way to explore a bunch of projects. I was glad to hear a bunch of really well-done and creative material on here. This was both a fun listen and a testament to the knowledge, ability, and skill the Metal Archives' user base is capable of.

Fleurety - Department Of Apocolaptic Affairs

                                                Fleurety - Department of Apocalyptic Affairs
                                                             Incoherent Irritation

Fleurety’s “Department of Apocalyptic Affairs” is unusual. Despite how unbelievably incoherent it is, nearly every turn in the music manages to be irritating. For the sake of context, this Norwegian duo is perhaps best known for either their first full length and highly regarded black metal album “Min Tid Skal Komme” or from the fact that Alexander Nordgaren stopped singing after damaging his voice due to impossibly high pitched whistle-register vocals on the band’s earlier releases. Here, Fleurety diverged from their past and took a hard left into experimental territory while simultaneously plummeting in quality. Experimentation can be refreshing, no one likes stale music that merely reiterates what has been done in the past. “Department of Apocalyptic Affairs,” however, shows how novelty alone is painfully insufficient to create an album. Indeed, novelty is the only real driving force here, and little attention was given to more important considerations like vision, structure, or melody. Curve after random curve yields new musical ideas, directions, and disappointments. This failure is haphazard and thoughtless eclecticism.

Opening up with “Exterminators” is helpful for understanding the problems. Within the first two minutes you can get a strong sense of most of the album’s major deficiencies. We are introduced with a silly circus melody joined with wacky flanger guitar and a walking bass that ambles its way into a third unrelated direction. This third direction later turns out to be a genre change. Jazzy, intimate, and silly female scatting vocals abruptly make the bass more comprehensible, but without remedying the impression that we have started a new song. Naturally, some dissonant guitar chords then chime in, only to be interrupted by a nonsense piano diddle. This is in turn followed by a boring guitar riff that comes across as something between an echo and interminable repetition. The entire album often keeps going on like these first two minutes do, failing to sustain any kind of atmosphere or even establish a mood other than disorganization and silliness. Even the component parts that make up the songs are grating because of how they fail to mesh together. Sure, it isn’t completely awful. The bass lines are often interesting and more vivacious than what is normally expected in metal. Still, everything feels entirely out of place and even individual components that may have some merit become grating when carelessly thrown together.

The primary style and source of novelty is the amalgamation of loungey elevator jazz and black metal somewhat in the vein of experimental releases from the same era such as Mayhem’s “Grand Declaration of War” and Dødheimsgard’s “666 International.” When listening to it though, one would think there were also half a dozen other genres involved at all times because of how indelicately these two major themes are blended. Abrupt and pointless changes in music sections sound like the band made two separate albums in different genres, cut them into chunks, and then shuffled together like a deck of cards. The Mayhem comparison provides a nice contrast even for those unfamiliar with “Grand Declaration of War.” “Shotgun Blast” features Maniac on vocals and presenting the lyrics in a harangue-the-listener style as he also used on that album, but as the rest of the music meanders around with dance pad sounds it just feels like random nonsense. Next consider how Dødheimsgard’s more industrial approach also used similar dance percussion elements with driving bass lines to create an interesting mood, which we never hear with this despite the similar parts. Fleurety fails to match their contemporaries in quality because their quest for a more experimental and eclectic approach sacrificed too much of their central metal roots. This does not mean that the album is flawed because it sounds too much like dance music or jazz. Instead, the problem rests with how it tries to be a metal album without the metal, and this leaves the band with no organizing principle or direction. A particularly glaring example of this lack of direction is how with only 8 tracks the duo felt it necessary to include two very similar versions of the song “Face In A Fever” with each member having their own edition. Fleurety’s unwillingness to even settle on one version of the song means you end up listening to it twice, and this is just another instance how the failure to synthesize ideas leads to ruin.

When an album simply fails to come together, it is unfortunate and can result in a failure. This goes much further, its exhausting and obnoxious. More prominent than the obnoxious elements I mentioned earlier are the vacuous vocal decisions that rapidly drop the quality from incoherent to awful. After singling out Maniac’s beatnik poetry reading on “Shotgun Blast” it is hard to pick from the numerous examples what might be next most irritating item on the list, but the cartoon super-villain vocals at the end of “Facets 2.0” are nearly as awful. Again, the surprising part of this is how with so many vocals styles why none of them manage to be anything but aggravating. Even the relatively inoffensive female vocals on “Facets 2.0” sound strained, thin, and wholly inferior to the band’s “Last-Minute Lies” EP version of the same song. The album’s incoherence also makes it naturally exhausting but this is compounded by bad pacing decisions such as having the sixth and seventh tracks so mild and one dimensional (yet still incoherent) that they create the sensation that the album is coming to a close. Not so. Instead, after about 14 minutes of creating that feeling, the album actually ends with a song whose gauche saxophone intrusions had worn out their welcome when the song was the second track.

“Department of Apocalyptic Affairs” does some new and unusual things for a metal album but fails to ever be interesting or organize these various ideas together. Combine this with how irritating so much of the album is and you get something that is far worse than a run-of-the-mill failure.

Jute Gyte - Discontinuities

Jute Gyte - Discontinuities

Sui generis

The wildly outlandish Jute Gyte is an unquestionably unique musical project. With the occasional tremolo picked riffs and glass shards in the throat vocals, it is obvious that Jute Gyte has taken some cues from black metal. However, outside of these superficial aspects of “Discontinuities” there is no sense in trying to think of the album in terms of existing metal sub-genres. It is best to think of the project as extremely experimental. Jute Gyte takes melodies that are so unusual that they almost sound like accidents and layers them with seamless and oddly natural asymmetry. Think of how a flounder twists and flattens as it ages. The end result of Jute Gyte’s twisting asymmetry is alienating yet spectacular, while “Discontinuities” has its flaws, the album clearly illustrates how Jute Gyte is absolutely unforgettable.

Experimentation permeates every moment of “Discontinuities” in ways that are readily apparent yet deep seated. Dissonant waves of jangling jump out one after another, starkly assuring the listener that the full yet unfamiliar sounds will persist, instead of being used to contrast or highlight soothing melodies. Even the calmer and relatively sedate sections of music are still unsettling and weird. This may not sound like anything new on paper, but the use of a 24-tone guitar means that the album uses notes that typically are not used in Western music. To oversimplify, normally on a guitar you can play 12 different notes but this album uses a guitar that allows for 24.

Ultimately, this is just another tool that Jute Gyte uses to create uncomfortable soundscapes. Instead of making everything sound out of tune, the dizzying flurries of notes are jarring, but deliberate. This approach keeps the experimentation from sounding either haphazard or manufactured, and with such an important change to the guitar this success is vital. As past albums have shown, Jute Gyte does not need a 24-tone guitar to make off-kilter music. At its heart, “Discontinuities” is unusual because the overall approach to composition and melody immerse the listener into an alien world. So while Jute Gyte utilizes many tools like a 24-tone guitar or polyrhythms, which do influence the composition, the central focus is still on the music rather than how it was put together.

Despite the overwhelmingly dissonant nature of the music, the mood isn’t nearly as abrasive as one would expect. Outside of the shrieking violence in the vocals, there is a peculiar and even paradoxical calmness in the tone that supersedes the frenzied parts that make up the album. Most of the time this feels like a stalwart sense of direction that guides the notes along the way through all of the chaos and is perfected at the end of “The Haunting Sense...” This is also a key part of how enveloping waves of clashing notes can be. Infrequently however, this quasi-calmness sounds like the cold emotionless side effect of contrived musical ideas. Fortunately, “Discontinuities” mostly maintains a strong direction through the very same technique that helps create some of this paradox of calm chaos. This technique is the careful layering of melodies on top of one another to bury you deep in dissonance.

The typical path in music is to have many parts acting mostly together, as a flock of birds to create a whole, Jute Gyte instead favors more independent parts that coalesce to create a coherent whole. As a key part of this, melodies do not clearly stop and start together. Picture how the molecules of air inside of a jar are always moving around, yet that air never separates into chunks of its component elements. This speaks to the calmness in Jute Gyte’s chaos, as one melody drifts off into bizarre territory another melody is still pulsing or repeating. Each part is moving but the mix as a whole remains consistent. Look to how the persistent drums, plodding rhythm, and bass smooth out the angular melodies in “Supreme Fictions....” and “Acedia.” This is how there is such a sense of both change and stability and it makes the alienation fantastically alluring by forging its own sense of logic and structure.

Fleshed out and detailed with synths and a warm sinuous bass, “Discontinuities” also relies on them to round out the abrasive vocals and angular approach to the guitar and drums. The synthesizer in particular immediately drapes other instruments in its emotional color as when the eerie and light chords of “The Failure of Transmutation” sneak into the mix. Flourishes like this serve to keep the rough and jangling parts within the realm of the unsettling rather than creating more of a harsh atmosphere. Contrary to this, the drums feel bare and mathematical, yet follow the overall emotional intensity of the music enough to make their dryness fade away as an issue. 

While the large majority of the focus is on the composition rather than underlying technique, there are times where the album fails on this point. Sometimes the album is overbearingly alienating when the sense of calmness stops being unsettling and starts getting tiresome. Undue repetition is the culprit here, but it is a repetition of patterns rather than particular riffs or notes. The more structural example of this is in “Romanticism Is Ultimately Fatal” where the intro’s predictably declining melody repeats and then later gives way to a chugging riff that similarly rises without going anywhere. Sounding like the musical equivalent of a staircase drawn by M. C. Escher, these parts and the title track “Discontinuities” unfortunately come across more like sketches practicing with a new tool (a 24-tone guitar) than complete pictures. Still, both songs are strong. “Romanticism....” has perhaps the most eerie melody of the album, which is beautifully reinforced by electronic flittering. The minimal instrumentation on “Discontinuities” serves as useful break from the chaotic music, even if it is far too long and repetitive. There, the quiet screaming noises that bookend the song are also an excellent and subtle detail.

With this radical level of experimentation, the degree to which the album feels natural rather than manufactured is impressive. Perhaps it is unsurprising then that Jute Gyte is a one man band, the work of Adam Kalmbach whose experimental tendencies have gone untempered by the compromises that often happen with collaborations. “Discontinuities” is daunting because of its strangeness, its hour long length, and a certain kind of majesty that isn’t immediately obvious or instantly rewarding. Still, the album has lasting power far beyond whatever novelty it provides. Although supremely strange, it is more importantly a great album because of how the immersive layering makes such an alienating experience one that is absolutely worth repeating.

Jute Gyte's expansive discography is available to download (and as far as I know every release is free) or purchase a physical copy of here: http://jutegyte.bandcamp.com/

Metal Archives Page: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Jute_Gyte/3540308568

Check out Horse Drawn Death Machine

 
Horse Drawn Death Machine is a band hailing from Ohio that skillfully fuses sludge metal with stoner rock on their EP "No Light." The band's Rich rhythm tone serves well for serving up crushingly heavy riffs over which they let some stoner rock leads soar. Rather than a slow sauntering pace, Horse Drawn Death Machine mixes these elements with the high energy and climactic sense of early Neurosis. So instead of sounding like sludge mixed with some self indulgent solos the band alternates speed with force and stays aggressive and powerful because of it. The vocal work mirrors this, with higher pitched almost hardcore punk ethos for faster delivery and a deeper shouting for a heavier feel. The bass player's deft decision making undoubtedly plays a part of that killer rhythm tone.

Although the band claims to have black metal influence I am not really hearing it on the "No Light" EP unless I actively think about a riff and consider how it could possibly be influenced by black metal. Still, it is a killer EP and the closing song "Dark Days" is excellent and alternates at times between wild guitar work and just crushing rhythm sections. The self titled EP on the other hand has some punkier sounding riffs and Cradle of Filth high pitched double tracked with lower vocals stuff on "Pulling Teeth" that I really wasn't feeling. The only thing that I would say is up to the quality of "No Light" is the bass work. The difference is really striking because both EPs are 2012 releases and I am not sure I would be able to recognize that they were both from the same band without knowing beforehand. The band's self titled EP is also on their bandcamp and is available to download for free, but obviously I recommend listening to "No Light."

You can listen to and download Horse Drawn Death Machine here: http://hddm.bandcamp.com/

Links:
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Horse_Drawn_Death_Machine/3540361582
https://www.facebook.com/horsedrawnmetal

Vermont's Amadis Has Awesome Cover Art

Have you ever looked at cover art so cool that it made you repeatedly think about a band whose music you have never heard? This happened to me with Amadis and the cover art for their promo-release "Hell Devil!" which is just so unbelievably metal that I couldn't get it out of my mind. 

Typically any manner of meta-metal raises a red flag that warns any potential listener that there may be stilted, cheesy, and lazy music ahead. Few other musical inclinations can be as problematic because once a band starts deliberately acting metal it can detract from the ultimate goal of writing good music. After all, when a band is just having some fun things can become an inside joke aimed at amusing either the band or metalheads as a whole. But being funny or amusing is completely different from making music that is engaging and interesting, although good music can be both.

I recently delved deeper into Amadis's Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/amadismetal, where I was nothing short of delighted to hear that the band didn't succumb to the cheap trap of funny yet forgettable. On their page you can watch a music video that while not nearly as over the top as the cover art is pretty fun and has the music to back it up. Amadis's brand of power metal comes across more like straight heavy metal from what little I have heard but it really works, be sure to check it out. I would group it along with the whole traditional metal revival movement based on the sound and 2010 release date.

With that in mind, the vocals are supremely important and vocalist Sid Distic can deliver despite the cringe worthy moniker. In short, the material you can listen to is powerful enough that if I could ever purchase anything by them I would without any hesitation. I wish I could hear more from the band other than what is on http://www.myspace.com/amadismetal but, in lieu of getting more into the music I will just talk about the cover art.

Now onto the cover art for "Hell Devil!" According to the band's Metal Archives page, the cover art was illustrated by Matt Dixon and wow! Here it is:

Where to start? A Tyrannosaurus Rex is a pretty good place. Notice that beyond being a hugely imposing predatory dinosaur, it also has a headphones that are undoubtedly blasting "Hell Devil" and more importantly a gigantic rocket launcher neck collar. Take a moment to let just this one part of the picture sink in. Good. Now consider that the T-Rex also has a scope manacle apparatus that we can only assume is part of an advanced ocular targeting system.

What is great about this T-Rex is that it encapsulates the awesomely excessive anachronistic juxtaposition of science fiction and fantasy elements in the work. A castle with a satellite floating above, a knight and a jet engine on a supercharged car with spikes in the front, guns and a birdlike creature that might just be that thing you ride in Joust. At this point you might be wondering who the sinister looking eyeliner-scowly-eyebrow gentleman is. I have no idea but I assume he is a bad guy from that look on his face. Yes! Hell Devil!

The great thing about all of this is that from what I heard, Amadis's music is just as awesome as their choice in cover art.

Kaosmos - Kaosmos

Kaosmos - Kaosmos

On paper, mixing guttural death metal vocals with clean singing might sound like a terrible idea for a thrash/power metal EP. In practice, Kaosmos does an excellent job blending these elements by keeping the death metal vocals low in both pitch and volume. This way they serve as an added texture or an emphasis by harmonizing with the main vocal line. Teetering on the line between power and thrash metal, the band manages to maintain the hard edge of the latter without compromising what can be the former's keen sense for song structure. Power metal inspires the clean vocals and booming bass more heavily than any other part here, and complements the thrash wonderfully. Kaosmos manages to pull several parts together to create a coherent EP that is enriched through its various elements.

When the vocals aren't carrying the music, the energy levels drop because the riffs don't jump in to intrigue the listener. This is much more vocal centered than much thrash. Guitars often only rhythmically strum power chords in a gallop when not soloing. This weakness in the riffs ability to carry the entire weight of the music can also be heard in the song "My Angel" as it drags along due to this and from an overall ballad type approach that comes across as incredibly generic. Contrast this with the next track "Rage "where the guitar riffs are much more aggressive but the vocals follow a really simple pattern of short quick delivery on almost every beat, a boring staple of thrash. These two songs show you where the cracks are in Kaosmos's synthesis.

While far from perfect, this EP is still an interesting and satisfying mix of power and thrash with an unusual sprinkling of death metal vocals.

Links:
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Kaosmos/3540349107
https://www.facebook.com/KaosmosOfficialFanPage
https://www.youtube.com/kaosmosthrashmetal

Thanks to Vlad Nowajczyk, Editor-in-Chief of Hard Rocker Magazine for letting me know about this band. https://www.facebook.com/HARDROCKERPOLAND

Check out Votnut!

Votnut manages to show quite a bit of promise in their self titled EP. This is impressive because it clocks in at under 9 minutes and despite reminding me of Anaal Nathrakh there is unquestionably a unique style at play here. Great riffs, enviable guitar tone, and ample aggression. While I like songs that are longer than the six on this EP, it sounds like Votnut has plenty of ideas and can string them together well enough to make this a really exciting release.

You can listen to Votnut here: http://votnut.bandcamp.com/

Links: 
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Votnut/3540360575
https://www.facebook.com/votnut

Eric Pellegrini - Volume I

Eric Pellegrini - Volume I

A Guitar Player’s Backing Track

What happens when you have music that is serviceable while simultaneously uninspired? If “Volume I” is any indication, then the result is surprisingly disappointing.

“Volume I” suffers primarily because Eric Pellegrini's songwriting is almost solely guitar oriented. However, this album is not a vanity piece. Rather, it is a genuine effort at balanced melodic death metal which fails to manifest itself as such because Pellegrini develops songs only through the instrument with which he is most familiar, the guitar. As metal is generally very guitar oriented, this makes for an inoffensive album, but one that is substantially flawed and derivative. While the drums, vocals, bass, and even rhythm guitar all sound passable; they do very little for the music other than serve as an enervated accompaniment.

This instruments-as-background-sounds problem exists even on the final outro, where one would expect the sense of direction on the album to be at its height. Instead, “The World is A Stage” features fine albeit programmed drums, acting as a mere accompaniment. It feels like there is no person behind the drums, no emotion even. We have various beats and fills that are there just without purpose other than making it sound finished. Instead of being slightly off in this respect and raising the question of whether a real drummer would do this, it screams loudly that no drummer would do this. “Volume I” is like this for much of its duration, and it isn't limited to the drumming. While nothing in the instrumentation crosses over into the realm of sounding overly offensive or bad in of itself, a real harm is still done because of how mechanical, routine, and predictable this backing-track style makes the album.

The exception is of course the guitar work and it is here that the album is at its strongest. Still, Pellegrini adheres conservatively to the scènes à faire of melodic death metal. Some chugged riffs, some harmonizing, some melodic tremolo riffing. Without being a backdrop like other aspects of the music, the guitars are still very predictable and routine with only rare signs of personal flair. Consequently, the album’s zenith is still a point far from excellence, which is important to consider because of how lifeless the remainder of the instruments are.

In the solos, you can hear this all quite clearly, they are unimaginative yet competently played. The first half of the solo on “Discrepancy” isn’t far off from a guitar player practicing scales over a metronome. Some arpeggios also come in, as expected, but with a tinge of neoclassical influence showing some of that personal flair. This is a sign that Pellegrini is creatively trapped in the confines of melodic death metal. For example, the best and most creative bit of the album is the clean section in “Discrepancy” where we get nice neoclassical melodic layering. An earlier example is in “The Black Feathered Vixen” with a similarly influenced clean section that is a bit sloppy, but still one of the album’s high points.

While competent in the vocal department tonally, Pellegrini's delivery fails for feeling emotionally blank and constrained by the guitar melodies. The whispered style on “Ringmaster” and various flirtations with double tracking fail to improve this problem. The raspy style of vocals are very pedestrian for this kind of death metal, and it appears that Pellegrini can effortlessly maintain that sound. Unfortunately it sounds like he phoned it in. Moreover, the fact that the vocals are more intelligible than in most death metal is an enormous disservice here because it draws attention to the incessantly exasperating lyrics. To understate the problem, the lyrics are the weakest element on this album. It absolutely detracts from the music when you hear lines like: “I refuse to lie, I will keep my wits about me” “I fucking hate, you ripped my heart apart” and “I, want you back, in my life, come to me, mi amore.”

In essence, “Volume I” serves more as backing sounds for Pellegrini to play guitar over than as something meant to be listened to as an album. This would have been fine, were it not for the problem that the backing music supports some really generic guitar work.

Links:
Bandcamp - http://ericpellegrini.bandcamp.com/
Metal Archives - http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Eric_Pellegrini/3540330570 
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/EricPHeavyMetal?sk=app_2405167945

Cool Sangre Y Tierra documentary

The fine people over at http://blackmetalownsyou.blogspot.com/  recently had a post about a documentary, which you can listen to here: http://www.prx.org/pieces/89004-sangre-y-tierra-what-blood-what-earth 

This excellent documentary is about Marvin Quinones, the sole person behind the Massachusetts black metal band Sangre Y Tierra. Quinones comes across as both intelligent and affable. Still the piece doesn't shirk from sharing some of Sangre Y Tierra's aggressive music with us, and we get to hear quite a bit of it. The documentary also does a good job at letting Quinones speak and giving you a sense of the sorts of things that drive him musically.

Looking towards his own Puerto Rican ancestry as an influence, the raw yet atmospheric sounding Sangre Y Tierra (an apt name) broaches lyrical themes relating to the Taino people. This influence also extends beyond lyrics into instrumentation through the fantastic use of the cuatro, an instrument in the guitar family that is also the national instrument of Puerto Rico.

As both a guitar teacher and counselor, Quinones clearly has experience in communicating with people, and he is a very interesting person to listen to. That, combined with the really cool music is why I highly recommend listening to this documentary. As if that wasn't enough, we also get to hear a bit from Nicholas Holtz, the man behind another Massachusetts black metal band - Disguster.


Links abound:
Sangre Y Tierra on Metal Archives: Sangre_y_Tierra
Sangre Y Tierra on Bandcamp: http://sangreytierra.bandcamp.com/
Additional Downloads for Sangre Y Tierra: http://grindcorekaraoke.com/
Disguster on Metal Archives: Disguster

The Return

I have decided to start up this blog again. New posts will happen at least every Monday. Over time I have realized the value in shorter blog posts, so that will allow me to cover more bands while still sporadically doing longer reviews like I used to.

My Guitar Defretting Project

This post will chronicle the process I went through in taking a fretted guitar and turning it into a fretless guitar. I tried to write this in a way that most people can understand, but you probably have to have some musical knowledge to fully appreciate it. For those who don't, the pictures explain it pretty well. Also, some of this stuff was dangerous and I am not providing full instruction on how to do this safely, only showing what I did. Anyone trying to emulate what I am doing does so at their own risk to their physical well-being and to their property, I am only putting this up to provide information. Whenever you start a project make sure you know how to use every tool and the risks of every substance in order to keep safe.


Why did I do this? 

Well, in Western music we typically use only certain frequencies to make music. For example, the A above middle C has a frequency of 440 Hz, and if you double that you get the octave of that A, which has a frequency of 880 Hz. In between these two A notes we find other notes by dividing the space between the frequencies by 12 which gives us the 12 notes normally used in Western music in what is known as 12 tone equal temperament.

You can visualize this on the guitar by looking at how the frets literally divide the string to create different notes. I took the frets off of my guitar because I wanted to play the notes between other notes, but the frets made this difficult and forced me to try to bend to accomplish that. I was aiming for 24 tones (a type of microtonality), as if I had twice as many frets in the same amount of space. This got me thinking that I would be better off with the flexibility of having no frets so that is what I did. I am very happy with the sound I have achieved through this project and will hopefully provide some songs using my fretless guitar so people can hear some of the things it can do in the context of heavy metal.

How did I do this?

First I purchased a cheap used guitar with a serviceable neck. I wanted a guitar with humbuckers because I figured that would work better for metal. For those who do not know what that is, look at how the pickups (black rectangles on the body) have two rows of magnets (the silver dots). Without having frets I was very concerned with how the intonation would be, meaning notes might not be in the right place. To check this I played each string at its 12th fret and played the 12th fret harmonic to make sure they were the same note. I also looked down the length of the neck to make sure the frets were parallel with one another to ensure that the neck was not twisted. Lastly, I made sure the action wasn't too high because I figured that a fretless guitar would be good for legato technique and smooth slides. All of this was, of course, part of what you should normally look into when purchasing a guitar.

Next, I assembled some of the necessary tools for removing the frets. Before that I used my string cutter to remove the original strings, which as I will explain later, I would not be using. A guitar in standard tuning is typically under around 85lbs 38kg of tension. This means that it was important that I detuned each string before cutting them, otherwise I would have risked them snapping into my eye.

I put the guitar on pizza boxes to keep everything off of the carpet. You can also see that I covered some of the guitar with painter's tape to prevent scratches. Regular tape would be too sticky and leave unwanted residue. From left to right in the above picture you see my string cutting multi-tool, my fret pullers, some gloves I ended up not using, and above the gloves a soldering iron. I found several sellers online for the defretting tool but picked one of the cheaper offers that I found on eBay.

I then used the soldering iron to heat the the fret closest to the bridge. I had read online from several sources that this would help expand the fret to ease removal and help loosen any glue. These frets were not glued in and I felt that heating the frets did not really add much when I tried removing one without doing so. I kept heating each fret anyways, but it is important to not overdo it and risk burning the wood. I did so for about 20 seconds each. I would then use the defret tool, starting along each side and working from there toward the center, walking the fret out of its slot. I then placed the frets on a damp towel so they would not scorch anything. As I did this there was some minor chipping of the fretboard and you can see in the above picture how rough it looked immediately after.

Above: This angle shows how the chipping was relatively minor.

I then moved the project outside. At this point, I should have covered the entire guitar in tape to protect it as I was working with messy materials. Here you can see how I filled each of the gaps left by the fret with wood filler. I used a darker wood filler because I felt that a lighter color would clash with the orange from the sunburst pattern on the body. I also did not want the lines where the frets were to be invisible so that I could still use them as a visual reference of where notes used to be. This is why I did not use clear epoxy, which was also too viscous to work with easily. When applying the wood filler I put latex or some plastic type gloves on to keep the wood filler off of my fingers. I then pressed it into each gap.

To remove the excess I started sanding. I spent a lot of time sanding during this project. For those who have never sanded before, practice on some scrap wood first and remember that you go from low grit to high. Sand with the grain of the wood. If you start with too high a grit it will just take longer but if you start with too low it can leave scratches, so to reiterate, test first. I used a normal flat sanding block, but some people prefer radius blocks to give the neck a slight curve, these can be purchased from Stewmac.com

After sanding approximately forever, I brought the guitar inside to marvel at the flatness and smoothness. I ran my fingers up and down the fretboard to feel that I had not missed any spots. First, I had to remove the tape which was covered in the very nice smelling sawdust. That sawdust is the primary reason aside from protecting from scratches that you want to cover every inch of the guitar. I almost got sawdust into the pickup area before I realized this.

Here you can see the extent of the chipping. Anywhere that the wood filler is not perfectly straight is a place were it is filling in wood that I took off when removing the frets. It may be hard to see, but I assure you that I did not do a perfect job. I re-taped the guitar to prepare the neck for finishing. I was very careful to have an edge of tape straight across the fretboard so that I would not get any finish along the side of the neck.

Due to humid and rainy weather, I had to wait before finishing the neck because it would not dry as quickly in those conditions. To pass the time I took a look at all of the frets I had removed. Above, you can see that I put the shortest fret right next to the longest. This is a good visual representation of something that is hard to see on the guitar, i.e. the neck is thinner by the nut and gets thicker by the bridge.

Before adding any finish I used some paint thinner to clean the wood and fully remove all of the sawdust. I purchased some kind of environmentally safe stuff that was "less" poisonous and also of a comparable price. Still, this entire part of the process was done in a well ventilated area - outside on a porch with a fan. I made sure it was not too windy of a day out so nothing would blow onto the guitar, but to be extra safe I also constructed a wall out of used pizza boxes around the guitar to cut down on wind. This is why I was eating so much pizza at the time. I normally eat healthy but I just had to eat delicious pizza for the sake of the guitar project. Apparently there are other ways to get cardboard though.

For the finish I used Minwax® Fast-Drying Polyurethane. Along with the paint thinner, I first tested the look of this on a piece of scrap wood. I used the clear semi-gloss and applied it with a bristle brush which I handled to make sure there were no loose hairs that would get stuck onto the neck. I used semi-gloss because I wanted some shine to the neck but not so much as to be distracting. Stain is not really necessary when you are finishing a wood with such natural dark beauty to it, as a fretboard should have, so I just relied on the polyurethane to protect the wood from the strings without adding any color. After the first coat the finish was a little bit uneven in some places where the wood was naturally more absorbent.

After adding a second application, the finish was beautiful. The above picture shows how reflective the neck was, you can see the railing on the deck and even the house next door. I was sure to allow the first coat to dry before adding the second. I also had to use some tweezers to remove a mayfly that decided to land on the neck and also some tiny piece of leaf. The mayfly even survived!

Here is a close up of the neck. The green and blue at the top of the picture is just reflected light from the sky and a nearby tree. Here you can see that the finish is pretty smooth and also how the wood filler is pretty damn straight but not 100% perfect because of small chips. The next step was to sand the finish with a very high grit sandpaper to smooth out the final product. After that point the neck was like touching a piece of wet ice it was so smooth.

Here it is after the sanding. The last step was to add strings and play!

What strings did you use?

What an astute question! Without frets, the string will vibrate directly against your fingers and the fretboard itself. This absorbs energy faster than when it vibrates against metal frets, which means you loose sustain (notes won't ring out as long). To protect the wood from the strings, I put on a set of flatwound strings. Flatwounds have some of the strings wrapped in a ribbon of metal where typical strings (roundwound) have some of the strings wrapped in round wire. For this reason, flatwounds are smoother and will cause less wear on the fretboard. They also have a jazzier tone, which is not terribly noticeable when playing with the distortion needed for extreme metal, although the slides are certainly smoother.

To help remedy the sustain problem inherent in the fretless I also used a heavier gauge string, 11s. (D'Addario ECG24 Chromes Flat Wound, Jazz Light, 11-50 to be specific.) Heavier gauge strings have more mass which helps them vibrate longer. To compensate for the greater mass of the strings I also downtuned the guitar to C, which is fine for extreme metal.

How does it sound?

Pretty damn awesome, hopefully I will get some recordings up in the end of July. I really enjoy the end result, the sustain problem is not really that noticeable, and the fretless guitar is incredibly versatile. Slides are beautiful and playing the right note is much easier than I thought it would be. I love being able to play the notes between the usual notes with ease. The downsides are pretty minimal:

First, since I never lowered the nut, when I play notes close to the nut the strings bend at a drastic angle to the nut. Ergo, I never play notes before the first fret because I worry about damaging the string. Second, playing chords is really damn hard so far. This is because I can no longer rely on the frets, if I play a power chords in C standard tuning, two of my fingers would have to be perfectly vertical. I normally play power chords with three fingers, but with the fretless I have to barre the 5th and the octave using my ring finger. So, have to change how I play most chords but intervals are still easy enough. Another thing that makes chords difficult is how the tips of my fingers create more sustain than the rest of the finger does. So if I was barring a suspended fourth, the higher root and 4th will sound louder than the lower pair. Still, I love it.


Lastly, if anyone has any questions or comments feel free to leave a comment or email me: Mr.apteronotus at gmail dot com.

Local Band Review (New Hampshire): Black Norse - Real Mud Fake Blood

Black Norse - Real Mud Fake Blood

 In Need of Less Mud and More Blood

Muddy, messy, and mushy. With cover art showing peeling paint and women soiled (with what I think we may fairly assume is real mud and fake blood) a little dirt should be expected from this stoner doom band. And while I appreciate raw impassioned music as much as the next metal fan, Black Norse’s sloppiness here mucks up their music. The sound is so messy it is like the guitar player has down tuned a lot without using a heavier string gauge (this makes the strings really loose and easy to accidentally bend out of tune). A more pressing problem though is the way the songs are structured and how they come across.

Let me explain via anecdote. As I child I remember seeing a new school building that was constructed out of modular buildings. Each classroom had been constructed elsewhere as nothing more than a big rectangle with a finished interior and they were then all brought to one location and plopped down together and later deemed a school. Unfortunately, Black Norse’s approach comes off as if they have adopted the same philosophy in constructing their songs. Each riff is a suitable rectangle, not awful but nothing special, and the riffs are structured with the same mishmash between form a function. In other words the band has riffs but can not string more than three of them together to make a song. Part of this is how the riffs flow from one another, but the lack of an effective bass section is equally responsible. Bass lines connect rhythm and melody while also providing a backdrop for melodic change. To hear both problems, listen to “The Orc” from 1:30 to 2:00 - it builds up tension and the ascends to nothing and then listen to the lead riff parts where there is no backing bass melody. It ends up sounding choppy and aimless.

Black Norse still have some things going for them. The overall vibe is kind of cool even if it continually stops to move onto the next idea as if “Real Mud Fake Blood” was a jam session. The other highlight is that the vocals have a really nice timbre although the overarching composition problems are also evident in the vocal lines. The vocal style is what you would expect in stoner metal, echoey and chorus laden, and here the vocalist has a good voice for this. See for the first half of “High Elf” for example. Everything else drops away momentarily as we get to hear a few lyrics, neat.

The riffs themselves are really forgettable low chord strumming interspersed with rockingly trite guitar licks. On “Festival of Sin” you can hear that kind of Cathedral harmonizing that gives off that not-very-heavy but satisfactory stoner doom vibe. In the same song you can hear one frustratingly frequent motif, a heavy part followed by faster single 12th note triplets that the guitar player can barely manage to play (and faster than the drummer can do anything interesting with.) These sloppy triplets also happen at the end of “The Gallop” and the train wreck of the solo on “The Phoenix” which really breaks up that song’s pacing.

On a related note, other solos on the album are particularly illustrative of the band’s weaknesses. First, the guitar solo on Feast is really uninspiring, it comes way out of left field and is oddly dropped into the song. It also barely breaks through the bass in audibility because of the mixing and how the band chose not to use any particularly high notes. It comes off like the guitarist is most just meandering through a pentatonic scale and never really takes the melody anywhere. The end of “High Elf” has a similarly out of place series of solo flourishes, the last of which has a cringe worthy off note. A little feedback and the sounds of sliding and scraping can be great for creating a certain feel but Black Norse just goes too far with the sloppiness.

However, a stronger track is “Angel Women” but even there the band uses long rests to hide a jagged riff transition. Doing this breaks up the all ready short song on a 27 minute album and the band does the same thing with a rest on “High Elf” - building schools out of rectangles with riffs that do not follow one another.

Underlying these guitar riffs is drumming which is similarly boring and emasculated. I feel like the same 16th note fill is totally overused, but more problematic is how monophonic everything sounds. Bass, drum, guitar, vocals - they all fall on top of one another instead of adopting their own niches in the musical ecosystem. Examples of this happening are after the solo in “The Gallop,” how the vocals follow the guitar melody in the closing track, and how every other accented backbeat the guitar plays in the main riff on “The Phoenix” needs a snare hit. The instruments lack a distinctive identity.

“Real Mud Fake Blood” ends up sounding like a jam session. A forgettable one. My understanding is this was done by two people - if so, it may serve the band well to get new blood to help each instrument become more independent while forcing compromises to create a coherent whole for the band’s sound.

Have a listen for yourself - a digital version of this album is available for purchase and for listening at: http://blacknorse.bandcamp.com/album/real-mud-fake-blood

If you like the music, be sure to follow the band’s facebook page as they have live shows and a new album in the works: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Norse/160079360686298

Local Band Review (New Hampshire): Eerie - Amplifier theosophy

Eerie - Amplifier theosophy 

(I wrote about Eerie's live show earlier.)

In what is likely best classified as falling under the drone-laden side of doom metal, this pleasant demo is emotionally pensive with a twinge of remorse, rather than the solemn and mournful tone one might expect from music in this sub-genre. Indeed, Eerie’s “Amplifier theosophy,” while entirely without vocals, is quite a reflective piece of music. As each note rings out it makes you feel like you are at home remembering things that you wished had never happened. Although rather slow and drone influenced, it is still interesting enough to listen to in its own right because it never degrades into the realm of background noise. Also, despite having drone influences, the band wisely refrained from down-tuning guitars until they sound like churning stomachs.

“Amplifier theosophy” is a pleasant and relaxing listening experience primarily because the band conveys the negative themes discreetly - mostly through emptiness in the composition. This allows the for the intuitive composition and awesome guitar tone to shine through, take over, and sooth the listener. This guitar tone is wonderful throughout the entire demo. Rich harmonic undertones serve to heighten the relaxing feeling, and with the word “Amplifier” as part of the demo’s title such a high-quality timbre is not at all surprising. Here, chords almost glimmer, which is important because the riffs themselves are not always particularly memorable and having each moment sound so good helps make up for the fact that there melody does not develop very far. 

This is what I mean by intuitive composition, i.e. the melodies are essentially arpeggios of the underlying chords or arpeggiated chords interspersed with single note quasi-solo leads (in a slow way). Nothing on this demo is unexpected and it all sounds like it strictly sticks to a single key signature. Because of this, if the band did not do so well at creating a relaxing mood the music would end up sounding really hackneyed. Instead, the almost obvious melodies create that homey feeling without coming off as boring, but it comes close. It cuts both ways because without anything melodically jarring or abrasive you can just sit back and listen. Additionally, some riffs sound very rock influenced and the whole demo kind of melds together as one song.

The most obvious comparison I can think of is to Earth's “The Bees Made Honey in the Lion’s Skull” yet Eerie ends up sounding noticeably darker and heavier. Although musically soothing, there is a delicate sense of weakness/remorse in the music. For a exemplary example, listen to how at the start of “And Graciously...” that full enveloping sound momentarily peels away for the short part of the riff with the quick triplets. It shows the band using relatively empty sections to create a darker mood. These darker feelings are amplified by how sparse the drumming can be throughout the demo (e.g. transitions during “And Graciously...” and the first couple minutes of “Both in”). When Eerie decides not to have chords ringing out, the sparse drum work makes the music quite minimalistic. Considering that there are no vocals, it is surprising that the demo does not sound sparser but Eerie effectively uses relative emptiness as a compositional tool.

Despite the weaknesses, the demo is still good. Consistently full and engendering an enveloping feeling without having a single grating or unpleasant moment, Eerie is a band worth paying attention to.

- Eerie now has a full-length out and the band has instructed people to message them through their Facebook about it. 

- Ordering information for the demo can be found here: http://opalsoundstudio.com/about.
- You can listen to Eerie here: Eerie's Reverb Nation page.

Hellige - Demo

Hellige - Demo

Cavernous and murky, Hellige’s 2012 Demo is a fantastic march right down the line between black and doom metal, combining the best aspects of both genres. The first thing you may notice is how the deep rhythm guitar acts out the music tectonically, slowly shifting but with massive movements that parallel the bass line. This makes the core of the music incredibly heavy. On the production side, this demo is full of low end frequencies so the deeper parts come out fully and with rich timbre. All of the music’s subparts are drenched in reverb, which helps give the demo its cavernous sound. However, the key to the atmosphere is how the band melds all of the composition’s parts together.

The often slow and plodding rhythm shows a clear influence from the more radical fringes of doom. While some of the black metal influences include the usual tremolo picking, the overall lineage to that genre often comes through with crafty subtly. Tremolo picking is used either sparingly such as on “A Philosopher’s Crown” or in a way where it is not immediately obvious such as on “Obnubilum.” This lets the band put black metal’s wall of sound atmosphere to better use than most black metal bands do. Rather than an assault of repeated notes, the tremolo picking colors the overall music and is almost hidden by the reverb and massive bass end. Another subtle black metal influence on the guitars can be heard in the dark (tritone) oriented lead riffs throughout the album. As the doomier riffs march along in low notes, the odd almost dissonant black metalish melodies tactfully ring out to add more memorable character to the riffs.

All of this makes the music almost overbearing, and it can leave you fatigued. Long songs work to amplify this effect, yet the band avoids creating a repetitive atmosphere like we see all too often in both doom and DSBM. “Degraded to Mortals” is an excellent example of Hellige doing this, and the obvious interlude in the middle clearly shows how the song develops from point A to B. This great songwriting ability keeps the long songs interesting yet still entirely coherent. In fact, the demo provides several moments for the weary to rest, some of the songs include both intro and outro sections which offer momentary relief from the crushingly heavy atmosphere. However, no particular part of the album jumps out from the murky atmosphere as marvelously perfect.

 

Vocally, Hellige uses a variety of styles but the predominant ones alternate between resembling Nocturno Culto’s work on “Soulside Journey” and “A Blaze in the Northern Sky” but with deeper and doomier death metal vocals. Other vocal styles include the profoundly ominous and quiet choir-type vocals in the later part of “Obnubilum” and the howling rasps toward the end of “A Philosopher’s Crown.” Overall, the vocals serve much in the way as the lead guitar, adding color and texture to the song rather than carrying the all of the melody as is seen in other bands. What is refreshing is how restrained the band is in this respect. Hellige lets you mull over each part of the music without feeling the need to fill every last second of their songs with vocals.

Oddly enough, it is the drumming that usually forces the band’s energy forward. One can imagine what this demo would sound like with constant run of the mill blast beats or constantly slow and boring doom type drumming and either situation would be detrimental. Instead the drumming is fantastically dynamic and creative. The way that rhythm and apparent speed are connected is nothing less than artful. What makes it odd is that the drums are the best ingredient on this excellent demo because most metal is really guitar oriented. Keep in mind that the drums are not carrying dead weight but merely forcing fantastic music forward. While Hellige is far from drum music, if you listen to “The Rotten Waste” the fantastic drum work should become readily apparent, particularly at around four minutes in. Killer beats and monstrous fills.

Given that this is a demo, it may seem petty to point out minor flaws. But there is nothing major for which the band could be faulted aside from a lack of any truly awe inspiring riffs. Therefore the demo is great, but could be better. A minor reason this demo is not closer to perfection is how the tone of the bass and rhythm guitars comes off as a bit weak. While the sound is rich, it still lacks a little bit of that kind of distorted tone that makes music like this all the more overbearing and powerful. While it can be hard to strike the right balance between a cavernous reverb saturated sound and an aggressive guitar tone, Hellige only barely missed the mark. I would prefer something closer to Mournful Congregation’s distortion along with all of Hellige’s reverb. In other words, everything on the low rhythm and on the bass just comes off as slightly too soupy. Aside from that, the band might be able to get a slightly better sound with spiffier production but this demo is so good that we are really talking about marginal improvements.

The fact that the band was able to provide over forty minutes of such high quality music on this demo shows that Hellige’s excellence is not merely fleeting.  As this is their third demo in as many years that point should be clear. It stands to reason that as they keep making music that the minor imperfections will be ironed out and the band will release stuff that is damn near perfection. With Hellige, everything just works.

You can check out and download some of Hellige’s music here: http://helligearg.bandcamp.com/

New Release: Auspicium - For the World that Was and that is to Come (Maine)

Auspicium - For the World that Was and that is to Come

Atmospheric black metal band Auspcium, hailing from Maine, just released a new album on March 13, 2012. "For the World that Was and that is to Come" is the band's fourth full length album, and as of the time of this post Auspicium is providing it for free to download. The download link can be found at: http://blackmetalownsyou.blogspot.com/ (AKA Attila the Hun), which is a good website to check out and is run by Auspicium's sole member Patrick Hasson. Hasson is also the man behind the band Avulse and releases these works through his label First Church of the Left-Hand Path.

I am listening to it now and the majestic music aptly fits the album cover, so download it before spring rolls around.

Local Band Review (Massachusetts): Ehnahre - The Man Closing Up

 Ehnahre - The Man Closing Up

Waves and Mesas.

With Ehnahre’s “The Man Closing Up,” the traditional role of melody in metal is thrown out the window. This is true even comparing them to more experimental death metal bands. Instead of focusing on melody, the band crafts songs by varying the degree of musical intensity. This rejection of melody is accomplished through the use of combinatorial 12-tone technique which allows the band to create atonal music. To perhaps oversimplify, 12-tone techniques are a way to make sure that music is not in any particular key, i.e. no one note is emphasized. This approach results in a sound which many people may find melodically disorienting. But, does this sound have any value or is it just an academic exercise?

Well, “The Man Closing Up” ends up as a good but not great album. Yes, there are riffs in the sense that certain atonal melodies are repeated. However, the band’s alternations between fast, slow, soft, and quiet are the heart of the album’s compositional approach. Variations serve to replace the structural role typically played by melody. Unfortunately these variations are often too radical yet infrequent. Their inconsistent use erodes away the primary pillar of the album’s form. In short, Ehnahre are excellent when they subtlety alternate between low and high waves of intensity and range from good to boring when they have radical mesa-like changes and flat sections without changes. To illustrate this concretely it is helpful to compare Part II with much of the rest of the album.

At about 1:20 into Part II the band transitions from mid paced dissonant chords with guttural vocals to longer drawn out notes. These sections of long notes are interrupted with a motif from earlier in the song until the interruption becomes the norm and harsher vocals replace the earlier gutturals. Although chaotic and jarring in each part, the song as a whole has an unrelenting flow because of these transitions. The speed and intensity of Part II rises and falls like a series of waves with ever increasing peaks. So while the intensity is changing from soft to loud to create much of the songs structure, that same intensity is also rising. This build up leads to a remarkable point in the album - guitars tremolo picking a single note. Just as this melodic stripping and high speed picking enters we are introduced to clean vocals. As a coda, the band returns to earlier motifs in the song and ultimately closes with a solo vocal phrase. Brilliant.

This walk through of what happens in the song should illustrate that as new elements are introduced, they are peppered into the song. Oftentimes this occurs as other instruments remain comparatively consistent, such as guitars covering for dramatic changes in the drumming. This is in stark contrast to how at many points in the album the structural transitions are more radical.

Picture courtesy of www.namastesouthafrica.com

Where Part II can be visualized as waves, much of the rest of the album is more like a flat desert spotted with a handful of mesas. To abandon metaphor in favor of definite examples, look at the cacophonous start of Part III. The first two minutes of the song are vicious and unrelenting but in a nearly uniform fashion. It ends up almost as a wash. Then when everything drastically stops we have nearly uniform low intensity. Much of the album follows this pattern, e.g. another “mesa” occurs about 2/3 of the way through Part IV. 

While these flatter parts with drastic cliffs are often still quite good, many of the quieter and slower bits can grow quit boring. Rumbling bass, random pick scraping, and weird noises all create a huge amount of tension and the sensation that the band is about to delve into another onslaught of sound. It creates an effect similar to that in horror movies: quiet high frequencies are used to build anticipation right before some loud crashing noise surprises you (a falling broom), only to have some other jarringly loud noise scare you again (the second time its the monster.) Take for example Part IV. At about 8:15 you hear a guitar strum so soft, weak, and alone that you almost feel bad for it. You hear it again. Once more. Then suddenly it jumps back loud as hell as an introduction to the song’s heavy part. However, the first 8 or so minutes of the song can be fairly boring just as boring as when the monster is not around in a bad horror movie. Moreover the introduction itself is really drastic despite this use of musical foreshadowing.

Some things in this unusual album somehow manage to stand out as unusual. With the overwhelming weirdness of the album, the vocals are remarkable in their conservatism. Although the rasps and growls are a fundamental part of how the band controls their intensity, the vocals are pretty standard for metal. While this foil serves an appreciated balancing function against the work’s overall weirdness, it may go a bit too far to the point where more straightforward vocals end up out of place. Additionally, the closing female vocals are eerie, but I can not at all see why they are there. It feels like a reversal, the band punted on their concept in lieu of something sounding more traditionally like an ending.

“The Man Closing Up” creates a mood through alternating between crushingly heavy and fast sections and slower quieter bits. This mood is thoroughly odd and creates a sensation of restlessness as the ear waits for a melodic or rhythmic resolution that will never come. Waiting through the silences also creates a strong tension in the music, as the bursts of remarkably technical musicianship are not always predictable. While this works for the band, the album can be quite flat. The atonality makes much of the music easy to forget - no hook, no chorus.  While it is remarkable for absences and silences, emptiness here is more interesting conceptually than it is musically. After stripping away traditional melody the band is left with texture and unfortunately that texture is oftentimes too flat. While it frequently leaves me impatient, this is an interesting album with spark of brilliance. It is entirely possible that this impatience is exactly what the band intended, but Ehnahre may have done too well conceptually for their own good.