Tag sludge

Cover of the album Eye to Windward by Gigafauna.

Gigafauna—Eye to Windward

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I’ve been a metalhead for decades now. I’d always leaned toward heavier rock, but as I made my way through my twenties, and navigated major life changes and the insanity of medical school, heavier music became one of those key coping strategies. And while my heart remained rooted in progressive music, thanks to a lifelong love of the music of Rush, I began to explore the myriad sub-genres found in metal.

More than perhaps any other type of music, metal embraces variety. There are dozens of different sub-genres, yet all are still recognizably metal. Truth is, it is one of the facets of being a metalhead that I find so refreshing. There is no shortage of different styles of metal that I can dip in and out of, with new styles and sounds to discover.

Some bands find their sound, their style, and settle in and make decades long successful careers from that. My personal favorite thrash metal band, Testament, is a perfect example. On (almost) any one of their albums, it is instantly apparent that I am listening to thrash metal, and honestly that I am listening to Testament. Other bands, however, take the risk of mixing different styles, and do so with varying degrees of success.

Cover of the album Eye to Windward by the band Gigafauna

Enter Gigafauna, a four piece from Uppsala, Sweden. For the sake of disclosure, I will admit that I was unaware of the band until they reached out via the contact form and let me know of their upcoming album, Eye to Windward. Hitting play, I truly had no idea what to expect. What I found, almost instantly, was a band taking that far riskier approach, that chance to mix genres and see what came out.

And what came out on Eye to Windward? A kick-ass album that deftly blends elements of progressive metal, sludge, and melodic death metal with a groove and swagger straight from an 80s hard rock band.

Songs move between moments of heavy grooves, crushing death metal riffs, clean vocals and growls, and back to those heavy grooves. The sense of swagger is ever present, even when the drums move to double time and the growls come barreling in. This all comes together to keep the heaviness from ever becoming overwhelming. Don’t mistake what I am saying: This is a metal album, through and through. But there is a sense of what I would describe as playfulness in how the band weaves together these different styles that keeps if from feeling oppressive.

Some days, I welcome the oppression and darkness that metal can provide. Eye to Windward keeps me engaged with its, at times, crushing heaviness. Yet the variety between the vocal styles and the riffs keeps the album feeling interesting, explorative, and injects a sense of joy into the music, even when the songs are dead serious. This is a difficult trick to pull off, and many bands falter as they try to do so. An excellent example is mid-album track “Plagued”. Harsh vocals start out, with an almost stomping beat. But the band isn’t afraid to take that places, with soaring vocals, textural variations in the guitars, and playing with moments of stripped back drums and bass coupled with layered guitars and vocals. It is an excellent showcase of all the different tools Gigafauna has at their disposal.

Other tracks are more focused. “Pyres” is heavy out of the gate, with my favorite riff on the album. Even here, though, there is a sense of dynamics that prevents the music from ever feeling stale. Album finale, “Vessel,” is a worthy way to close out this journey, taking us through all of the feelings of the album in a fantastic capstone on the experience. A sludgy, progressive, death-tinged epic, Gigafauna sticks the hooks in, tantalizingly hinting at where they may choose to go from here.

That doesn’t mean the album is perfect. There are some transitions that feel less fluid, slightly forced. There are moments where the disparate elements don’t come together perfectly. But that is always the risk when trying to marry these different styles. And while not perfect, the songs are all supremely enjoyable and performed with incredible talent. I am left impressed by the successes found on Eye to Windward, which far outshine the few bumps on the road.

For a band to come out of the dark and really blow me away is no small feat. Gigafauna has done just that with their release Eye to Windward. Mixing metal styles can either pay off or backfire spectacularly, and here it pays off with aplomb.

Mastodon – Hushed and Grim

Peter Jones Leave a comment

I have a bit of a troubled relationship with Mastodon. I fell in love with their 2006 release Blood Mountain and thoroughly enjoyed the albums that preceded that one. Crack the Skye was a progressive opus that blew me away.

But follow up, The Hunter, left me cold. It just didn’t click with me. Nor did follow up Once More ‘Round the Sun, both of them just feeling less aggressive, somewhat more straightforward sound that just didn’t excite me. Emperor of Sand started to win me over a bit more, and I did listen to it a fair amount when it first came out. Yet I just didn’t find myself going back to any of these albums with any sort of regularity.

When I then stumbled across their soon to be released album Hushed and Grim I was intrigued, but can’t say I was excited. Taking full advantage of my streaming music subscription, I added the album to my library and briefly checked out part of one of the tracks that had been released. Again, I felt nonplussed. I wasn’t immediately turned off, but I certainly wasn’t excited. Add to that the fact it was a double album, reaching almost 90 minutes in length, I didn’t know what to expect.

So I suppose it was beneficial that I had an upcoming trip, with an unusual amount of time to listen to music. Because, make no mistake, this album requires a significant investment from the listener.

However, after a number of listens, I found that the investment was rewarded. Hushed and Grim is full (perhaps a little too full) of surprisingly emotional music. Written as a tribute to the band’s former manager who passed away a few years ago, the album is replete with the emotions that go with losing someone close to you: loss, anger, sadness, hope.

There is also a heaviness to the album that draws me back in when compared to the previous albums. The trademark Mastodon sound is present, heavy, a little sludgy, and a very nice use of the multiple vocalists. Hushed and Grim is a journey, and one that I have found rewarding over repeated listens. It isn’t an easy listen, not something you drop in and out of. But if you have 90 minutes to really sit back and listen, I find this the most engaging Mastodon release in a decade.

Bull Elephant – Bull Elephant

Peter Jones Leave a comment

We’ve all heard the advice to “trust your gut”.

It is a time honored saying, and one I fully endorse. In my personal life, I honestly don’t remember a time a regretted trusting my gut. Perhaps that is some sort of memory bias at play. However, I can think of plenty of times I didn’t trust my gut, and regretted it immensely.

And this is in many aspects of life. Personal, professional, and even something as mundane as taking a chance on new music.

That brings us to debut album, Bull Elephant, from anonymous four piece from the UK, Bull Elephant. My gut didn’t just say “buy this album”. No, it said “buy this album this very second, including the art book, you fool, you fool!”

How’s that for a gut instinct? And what an instinct that was.

Disclaimer: I haven’t listened to this enough you to really feel like I can offer a definitive assessment, so this is more of an initial impression. But that impression is impressively positive.

First off, why did my gut tell me so strongly to get this album? Well, there are two reasons. First, did you see that cover up there? I mean, did you really see it? A mix of WWII, mystic arts, and a huge war elephant/Lovecraftian horror hybrid. How metal is that? The answer is thus: all the metal. All of it.

And then there is this, the description from the band:

Bull Elephant is the story of a slain African elephant that occultist Ahnenerbe SS attempted to bring back from the dead as a new form of battle asset. However, before re-animation could be completed it was intercepted by a mysterious witch-shaman, pursuing her own agenda and redirecting the undead creature’s purpose.

Think of the background concept as Raiders of the Lost Ark set to a progressive doom soundtrack where Judeo-Christian mythology is replaced by the even more sinister universe hinted at in the writings of H. P. Lovecraft…. with Nazi assault wolves.

Once again, all the metal.

But fantastic artwork and a beautifully bonkers theme only get you so far. The music has to do the rest. Here, the music does so brilliantly. Bull Elephant are playing a bit of a genre salad here, with the base being a sludgy sort of doom. Layered on top of this are some elements of death metal and atmosphere that wouldn’t be out of place on a post-metal record. Vocals range from death growls to pleasant cleans. Songs are mostly in the mid to slow pace range, with some more propulsive moments.

So far, I love what I’ve been hearing. The guitar tone is heavy, with just enough fuzz to give it a little grime, that seems super appropriate given the theme. The drumming is crisp, with some nice little fills here and there, and never overwhelm, but provide a solid backdrop. Really, everything here has been clicking into place for me. Even though many of the songs are on the long side, and take their time moving from section to section, the album moves briskly, without ever feeling like there is a wasted moment. And just listen to the riff the kicks in “Dread Reactor”, final track. It is a delicious monster of a riff. These lads know what they are doing, and execute excellently.

A concept album with such a ridiculous premise has a very difficult job of not crumbling under the weight of its own ridiculousness. Bull Elephant pulls that off admirably, embracing the concept to the point that you can’t help but be pulled along. This album came out of nowhere and I can’t stop smiling while listening, or even thinking about listening. Cheers you crazy lads, cheers.

Obscure Sphinx – Void Mother

Peter Jones Leave a comment

The genrefication of music has been argued to be pointless. And while I agree that the dogmatic genrefication of music is pedantic at best, harmful at worst, I do think that use of genre in discussing music can be helpful.

It gives some type of context, some frame of reference for the listener. It helps set and manage expectations.

For example, if someone tells me a band I haven’t yet heard plays thrash metal, I have some idea of what to expect. Same with death metal. Take it one step further, and calling something melodic death metal helps me understand I should be expecting something more akin to Insomnium than Cannibal Corpse. While both carry the appellation of death metal, the gulf between those two is very wide indeed.

Furthermore, sometimes the simple fact that music is difficult to place into a genre tells you something. Take, for example, Obscure Sphinx. If asked to genrefy them I’d be hard pressed to decide if I wanted to first and foremost call them a doom band, or a post-metal band, or maybe even a sludge band. There are slow, low guitar lines ala doom. There are dynamics galore with longer songs and ambient passages, followed by bone crushing heaviness ala post-metal. And the sound is just fuzzy and dirty enough that it has those sludge overtones.

And on Void Mother, Obscure Sphinx brings all those elements to bear into one of the most impactful albums I think I have ever heard.

Hailing from Poland, Obscure Sphinx now has three full lengths under their belt, with a fourth currently in progress. Void Mother is the second release, and was my first introduction to the band. The cover art scared the crap out of me. Dolls are terrifying. My grandmother loves them, and her doll collection gives me the willies every time.

So I expected some dark atmosphere based on the cover alone. And Obscure Sphinx delivers that in spades.

First, we have to talk about Wielebna’s masterful vocals. On Void Mother she employs it all. She has captivating and haunting cleans. At times, she pulls back even more, leading to unsettling near whispers (creep doll gonna get ya!). Other times, she unleashes screams that would make a banshee jealous. And let us not ignore her growls. You’d be forgiven in thinking those were supplied by one of the other members of the band, so low and bone rattling they are. But now, all vocal duties are hers, and her ability to employ so many different styles is incredibly powerful.

The rest of the band are up to the task of backing her, and they do so with aplomb. The guitars are heavy, meaty, with that fuzz to really drive home their lines. Yet, embracing the post-metal aesthetic, they are also crystal clear at times, coruscating with the melody. The bass is ever present and appropriately punchy for the heavy music on display here. And the drums impress with their subtlety. Interesting and varied fills and runs sneak in between the thundering playing.

So impressed was I with Void Mother that I worried it would be a one off. I didn’t know how the band could honestly be this good, this early in their career without it almost being some fluke. Thankfully, it is no fluke. Their debut, Anesthetic Inhalation Ritual, and follow up epithaphs are both amazingly powerful pieces of doomy post-metal. Void Mother remains my favorite of theirs, in part because it was my introduction. This is a band well worth watching, and I have become a rabid fan of theirs. Maybe creepy dolls are okay. Yeah, not really.

Neurosis – Through Silver in Blood

Peter Jones Leave a comment

We all know that life can change in a moment.

Sometimes those moments are major events. Other times, they are less so. I’d wager a guess that, at least for people who really love music, there are certain moments, albums, songs, that changed their musical lives as well.

I wouldn’t be overstating it to say that Through Silver in Blood by Neurosis changed my musical life.

Disconnected by Fates Warning, while an all time favorite album of mine, didn’t do much to change how I thought about music. It was still something that was pretty squarely in my wheelhouse. But Through Silver in Blood was something different all together. Discovering Neurosis opened entire new avenues of heavy music for me to explore. And I am grateful to this day that it did.

I’ve talked about heavy music here before (Mammoth Storm, Alruna). I’ve talked about challenging music (Mirror Reaper). Well, here we have both. Through Silver in Blood is dense. It is dark. It is a long album, with long songs. The vocals are uncompromising, with some growls, some screams, some good old hardcore wails.

The guitars build, swell, explode. Neurosis are masters of the fine art of crescendo and denouement. There are quiet moments on this album. Yet the serve to make the heavy moments mean all that much more. This is hardcore music that has been stretched and given room to become something much more, something different. There is some sludge here, there is some punk, and most importantly, we witness, through this and other Neurosis albums, the true birth of post-metal.

The title track starts with industrial noises. Drums then build in slowly and the song adds and adds until it explodes into one of the most punishing tracks I’ve ever heard. It continues to build, flow and wax and wane over the course of its 12 minutes, ending with a pounding drum beat that drives the listener into submission. “Aeon” begins with piano and string, until the bomb drops, almost a full 3 minutes in, with crushing guitars and vocals that could strip the paint right off the wall.

But what makes Neurosis, and Through Silver in Blood, so powerful and effective is their refusal to keep the needle pegged at 11. Dynamics abound, with a scaling back of the songs that prevents it from all feeling like too much. “Locust Star” would be the one exception to this, and even that takes over a full minute to really begin.

I openly admit that Neurosis is one of my favorite bands. Depending on the day, they are either pretty much even with Fates Warning, or possibly just a tad ahead. Through Silver in Blood is my “desert island” album. If I could listen to only one more album for the rest of my life, this would be it. There are enough dynamics, enough amazing music, that this has it all. But it isn’t easy. It isn’t accessible. Not everyone is going to listen to and enjoy this album. Heck, it even took me a while of really sitting down and listening to Neurosis before it clicked for me. But once it did, it clicked hard. And Through Silver in Blood is one of the most important and influential albums that most people have never heard.