Uncategorized – Page 14 – DISPATCHES FROM THE VOID

Wolves In the Throne Room-Thrice Woven

One of the great band names in metal. It just alludes to something that has gone terribly wrong. Whether that be that something has decimated the reigning monarchy and the resulting desolation has resulted in actual wolves taking up residence in the former throne room or implying that members of the royal court are conspiring against the king and queen, it just conjures a vivid picture of wrongness.

This new album sees the Wolves pulling things back to an earlier time. The past few releases has seen them experimenting with drone and ambient atmospheres. Thrice Woven sees them heading back into more of the black metal that they are known for. This album is a welcome sight since we lost legendary Pacific Northwest black metalers, Agalloch. It seems as though fans of this sub-genre are going to have to look to Wolves In the Throne Room as the band to take up the mantle.

The sound on this one is vintage black metal that is more focused on the environment and nature than on the traditional subjects addressed by their Norwegian brethren. You’ve got five tracks in total and all are extremely lengthy. If you’re a fan of this genre, this album will feel like home. It’s comfortable and haunting. Give a listen.

4 flip flops out of 5

Chelsea Wolfe-Hiss Spun

Well, that’s just a downright terrifying album cover. She looks like one of those hairy spiders that you’ve cornered with a broom and she is damn near close to jumping out and biting your face off. I don’t even like looking at this damn thing. Which is a shame, because the album contained within is a pretty damn good slab of drone/goth/sludge madness. Actually, the album cover is a perfect visualization for the bleak contents therein.

Credit where credit is due. The only reason I got into Chelsea Wolfe in the first place is because the punk rock fiancée took me to one of her shows a few years ago. So, kudos to you, sweetie, for finding a good one. I can’t say that her initial performance really did a whole lot for me. The performance and music were more of a curiosity than anything because it wasn’t the type of music that I normally gravitate towards. However, since that first live impression, Miss Wolfe has been incorporating a heavier sound into her past couple of releases. It’s not metal per se, but it’s definitely heavy as shit. She combines an ethereal vocal style that kind of epitomizes mental anguish and layers it on top of some serious drone guitars and bass textures. The whole thing is very unique and very gothic. This is music for the apocalypse.

As a public service announcement, she will be playing live this Friday night at the Paramount Theater. Me and my flip flops will be in attendance. I dare you to go and wear anything other than black. I’ll buy a beer for anyone who shows up in pastels.

4 flip flops out of 5

Sacred Reich and Byzantine, The Rock Box, San Antonio, 10/1/2017

One thing about live shows is that you’re never quite sure what you’re going to get. This is live music performed by real people who are dealing with a number of variables. Over the years, I’ve seen sound and lighting issues. I’ve seen band fisticuffs break out on stage. I’ve seen band members jump into the crowd to mix it up with belligerent fans.

With this in mind, I see a sign posted stating that Sacred Reich will unfortunately not be doing their VIP meet and greet due to an illness. “Well, that doesn’t bode well.”, I thought to myself. It turns out that lead vocalist and bassist, Phil Rind, was battling a case of the flu. This wasn’t a real big deal because, honestly, I was primarily at the show to see openers, Byzantine. Sacred Reich was one of the rabble of thrash bands popping up in the mid to late 80s and they really only managed to achieve a cult level status. They only put out a few albums and then just kind of quietly disappeared. They are currently celebrating the 30 year anniversary of their debut album, Ignorance.

Since I wasn’t a big fan originally and after seeing the illness posting, my expectation level was somewhat low. However, they put on a very lively show and showed me why they have managed to keep a fairly large cult following over the years in spite of not producing any new material in years. Rind was in fine form and I wouldn’t have even realized he was sick unless he had mentioned the flu during the show. They had the crowd singing all of the lyrics to their more well-known songs. Overall, consider me impressed. I’m going to have to go back and revisit some of their albums.

The band I really went to see this evening, Byzantine, was also having frontman issues. Chris “OJ” Ojeda came out and said that he blew out his voice a few days earlier, but that since this was the last date on the tour, he was just going to let it all hang out for this performance. It seemed as though he had a bit more trouble with the clean vocals than the normal growling vocals. Overall, he managed just fine and only had a couple of spots where his voice just cracked and couldn’t handle the range the vocals called for.

Byzantine is one of these bands that is really hurt more by their appearance and awkward stage presence than anything else. They honestly look more like guys you would see on a construction crew than a hard-hitting metal band. You could tell that most of the people in the crowd who hadn’t heard of Byzantine before this show weren’t all that impressed when they first came out. That changed after a couple of songs into their set. Byzantine is just blistering and by the end of their set, it was apparent that they had won over quite a few new fans.

Byzantine-To Release

Byzantine-Justinian Code

Sacred Reich-One Nation

Sacred Reich-Who’s To Blame

Mastodon-Cold Dark Place

Like a nice after dinner mint, Mastodon follows up this year’s full length release, Emperor of Sand, with this little EP. Normally when a band puts out an EP this close to releasing a full length album, the EP is made up of throwaway tracks from the recording sessions of the LP. Sometimes these songs can be cool, but a lot of the time you can tell why the songs didn’t make it on to the new album.

In this case, however, you’ve got an EP of self-contained songs that sound nothing like the songs from Emperor of Sand. I think that is given to the fact that these songs were originally planned to be a part of a Brent Hinds solo affair, but then later just morphed into something they decided to release under the Mastodon banner.

This EP is not really an acoustic piece, but it is generally a softer version of your normal Mastodon sound. Melodic and dark is what you can expect. For some reason, comparisons to the Alice in Chains EP, Sap, kept coming to mind while listening to this album. Both are more subdued in nature and capture a more haunting aspect of the band.

My only complaint is that it is not a full length release of this type of music. You only get four songs. This is the type of Mastodon that I like. It’s not as heavy as normal, but it showcases the more progressive side of the band. I like it when they take chances.

4 flip flops out of 5

Caligula’s Horse-In Contact

Yep. That’s a prog album cover alright. Bright colors. Trippy landscape. All the boxes are checked.

The album contained within does not betray the proggy announcement of its cover. Caligula’s Horse is a group of Aussies who have only been at this game for less than 10 years. After hearing the finished product, it’s kind of hard to believe these guys are relative newcomers. This is a bright and polished piece of professional prog.

As opposed to some prog bands who let the keyboards take the lead, this is a very guitar oriented album. The songs are very melodic and soaring in nature with certain passages that get downright heavy in places. It seems as though these guys were inspired in part from the whole djent movement when getting down to the heavy parts. As such, the prog presented has a very modern 2010-ish sound. You’re even treated to one spoken word track on the album that sounds very much like a monologue that could have been ripped out of Les Miserables.

In a year of very strong prog releases overall, this is one that will find itself near the top of the prog heap by year’s end. Check it out if you have any prog inclination or curiosity.

4 flip flops out of 5

Vattnet-Vattnet

Image result for vattnet

A few years ago at SXSW I happened to catch a band from New Hampshire called Vattnet Viskar. This is one of the cool things about SXSW: going to a showcase to check out a couple of bands and then stumbling upon a really cool band you knew nothing about beforehand. Vattnet Viskar was a black metal band, but not black metal in the traditional sense. They didn’t sport corpse paint or any evil imagery. Honestly, they didn’t even really look like metal dudes. They just looked, well, like normal people. But, their brand of black metal was bleak and atmospheric. Kind of in the same vein as Agalloch or Panopticon. They put out a couple of full length albums and they were really cool.

Hence, a year or so ago, their vocalist/guitarist decided to call it a day. The remainder of the members decided to push onward with an abbreviated name and a brand new sound. Alas, we have the debut of Vattnet with their self-titled album.

This is just an odd direction. Black metal screams have given way to soaring clean, almost emo-like vocals. Gone are the blast beats and tremolo guitar pickings. These have given way to a more post-rock/pop sound. It is really a jarring change. I’m honestly kind of confused on keeping the remnant of the name Vattnet since this new project is so distant from the original band’s sound. I think it probably would have served better to just entitle this new project something completely different.

At any rate, let’s focus on the music at hand. Honestly, I really wanted to like this, but it just didn’t do anything for me at all. All in all, it reminded me most of a less ambitious version of Coheed and Cambria. I’ve listened to the album a couple of times now and I can’t seem to recall much of any of the songs. It is just sadly an album that isn’t memorable or interesting in any way.

1 flip flop out of 5

Prophets of Rage-Prophets of Rage

I know I shouldn’t start a review by comparing the current incarnation of the band to the past one, but…….

Oh, Zack, you are really, really missed.

For those of you not in the know: Prophets of Rage is the remnants of Rage Against the Machine where they have substituted original vocalist Zack de la Rocha with a turntable and two microphones.

It feels like this album should be a helluva lot more pissed off than it is. It’s not like the anger isn’t present in the lyrics on here, but the presentation just lacks that extra “AAAAAAARRRRRGGGGHHHHH!” that it needs to push it over the top. That extra something missing is Zack, plain and simple. Chuck D (Public Enemy) and B-Real (Cypress Hill) do a capable job in filling in on the vocals, but they just never measure up to the conveyance of desperate rage and “fuck off” attitude in which Zack used to spit throughout the Rage Against the Machine discography. Even though Rage was a rap/funk/metal hybrid, Zack always seemed more of a punk rock vocalist than a rapper. His screams of angst just perfectly captured the frustration trying to be conveyed. Chuck D and B-Real are rappers through and through. I really thought Chuck would bring more anger to the proceedings like he did with early Public Enemy stuff, but he just somehow comes across very subdued. And B-Real is just high…so it’s not really surprising that he isn’t spitting venom. Even musically, Morello, Wilk, Commerford and new guy, DJ Lord, present an album that has its interesting moments, but doesn’t approach the in-your-face approach of past albums. The album is also sadly absent a true anthem to rally around. There’s no Killing in the Name, Guerilla Radio, Bulls on Parade, Township Rebellion or Testify.

Now, let me pull it back a bit because it’s not all bad. I think if this was just a band starting out that I would have had a much more positive reaction. Living on the 110, Radical Eyes and Unfuck the World are all really catchy tunes and have gotten stuck in my head after listening to the album a couple of times through.

Maybe I’m not being fair to these guys, but it just seems like the past pedigree that the players have laid down in the past justifies holding them to a little higher of a standard. This is a serviceable effort. But, damn. With all the shit hitting the fan in the world right now, this album should have come out swinging a little harder. Legalize Me ain’t gonna cut it. We need something to get the blood boiling.

3 flip flops out of 5

The Contortionist-Clairvoyant

The Contortionist is one of these bands that started their career out in the death metal world and have proceeded to evolve further into the land of prog with each successive release. This latest album really feels like a band throwing the gauntlet down and announcing themselves as one of the leaders of this new wave of prog metal bands. If you fancy yourself a fan of Anathema, Riverside, A Perfect Circle, Cynic or the more mellower moments of Between the Buried and Me, then The Contortionist is a band you should definitely check out.

Clairvoyant straddles all measure of different tones and emotions. There are heartbreakingly tender and emotional moments throughout that are played against harsh and discordant rhythms. The pace and diversity found on this album keeps things from getting stale or boring. This album is really a perfect illustration of what a stellar prog album should be. It’s technically impressive without devolving into self-indulgent wankery. Everything included serves to feed the song.

This is a band with a very high threshold going forward.

4.5 flip flops out of 5

Belphegor-Totenritual

Real metal music is always going to have dark undertones. It’s part of the appeal. It makes the whole enterprise a little risqué. Black metal takes these dark undertones to the extreme in both imagery and lyrical content. There’s kind of a dividing line between the black metal bands into two camps. One hand side you have bands like Ghost, who are more of a tongue-in-cheek campy embrace of the dark side while mocking the stuffiness and hypocrisy of organized religion. It’s more of a Vegas-style show than anything approaching real evil.

On the other hand, you’ve got bands like Belphegor. These guys are not fucking around and are honestly a tad scary. In addition to being into all things Satanic and blasphemous, these dudes hail from Austria. I’ve always kind of viewed Austria as a more rigid version of Germany. I just can’t really picture these guys in this band ever smiling or laughing. Do they ever have fun? Do they frolic with puppies? Do they go to the park on a sunny day for a picnic or to fly a kite? Do they secretly binge watch seasons of Grey’s Anatomy and swoon over McDreamy when they aren’t on tour? I’d like to think that they do, but, shit, I don’t know. They may just be this grim all the time.

So, seeing as though these guys are scary as shit and listening to one of their albums pretty much reserves a spot for yourself in one of the lower rings of hell, why should you give their new album a chance? Well, it’s pretty damn good, that’s why. Is it worth spending the afterlife in eternal hellfire? Probably not, but it’s still a solid black metal album. The normal Belphegor sound is your traditional black metal with blast beats all over the place and Helmuth’s anguished screeches and wails overtop. This time around, it seems as though Helmuth and his minions decided to pull back on the reigns of the sonic chaos a bit. The latter half of the album has a decidedly slower pace which actually results in the songs sounding a bit heavier than normal. It was a really nice decision and direction for the band. I really think that this new album may open them up to a little wider audience. I mean, they aren’t going to be booked on the Jimmy Kimmel show anytime soon, but I think this album ends up being their biggest seller to date.

3.5 flip flops out of 5

Nervecell-Past, Present…Torture

One of the cooler aspects of metal is the global reach it has gained over the years. Let’s face it: along with it being the most awesome musical style ever conceptualized, it is also about community. There is something about this music that touches people of all different kinds of cultures, backgrounds, religions, etc. and brings us all together in celebration of heavy riffs and black t-shirts. It is with this thought that I bring you today’s review of a band from Dubai called Nervecell. Yeah, Dubai!! How awesome is that? Heart of the Middle Eastern desert and these guys are blasting some serious death metal. I love it! Heavy Metal: bringing people together since 1969. Kumbaya, bitches!

Much like some of the other metal bands to come out of the Middle East (Melechesh and Orphaned Land come to mind), these guys let their Middle Eastern musical heritage blend into the metal that they create. This is my first exposure to Nervecell and upon the first couple of spins of this new album I am seeing them as a less brutal (or br00tal, if you will) version of Nile. In contrast to Nile, they have slowed things down a bit and aim to bring a little more groove to the proceedings. There’s not a whole lot of variety among the tracks presented. It seems these guys are about creating a pounding riff and just following it to its straightforward end. It’s a nice solid album even though it’s not really breaking any new ground.

3 flip flops out of 5