Bovine – The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire

Brawling, squalling, and impossibly contagious, The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire is an album which charms and harms the senses for easily one of the most thrilling and exciting albums this year. Its sculptors are UK rockers Bovine, a band who has set another bench mark within the realm of exhausting sludge, rapacious heavy rock, and predatory progressive metal alchemy. Released via FDA Rekotz, their new album is a scintillating and threatening tempest of insatiable invention and primal aggression fused into an even greater storm of muscular sounds and equally imposing intensity brought with a sonic persuasion as addictive as it is viciously imaginative.

Tapping up the keen essences of the likes of Mastodon, Kyuss, Black Tusk, and Soundgarden and twisting them into veining for their own startling invention, Bovine has created a brute of an album which is forever evolving and turning on the senses for an unpredictable and compellingly enthralling confrontation. With melodies and barbed hooks as lethal and addictive as the primal rhythms and carnivorous riffing, The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire is nothing less than an album of the year contender.

From the short opening ambient instrumental Barium, there is little warning of what is to follow, its dawning haunting atmosphere a portent of something sinister yet undefined. What does step from its chilled shadows is the rapacious assault Ghost Chair, a track bruising the ear within a short breath of time with crippling rhythms from drummer Damon Cox and the scything and searing guitars of Marcus VVulfgang and Thomas Peckett. Within their encounter on the senses the bass of Christophe Schaunig prowls and leers with pure intimidation whilst the vocals of VVulfgang roar and soar across the attack with a clean but snarling might. Across its blistering presence the shifts in pace and energy are demanding with equally rich rewards, the greed of the guitars and drums insatiable as is their inventive rage whilst all the while that bass stalks and hounds with a resonating beauty.

From the staggering start things only crave and succeed in grabbing a bigger slice of the passions firstly with Thank Fuck I Aint You and then Heroes Are What. The first of the pair is a blaze of towering rhythmic persuasion and burning sonic voraciousness with an urgency to brand the senses with scorching melodic mastery and crushing riffs bound in a ravenous expulsion of bone splintering rhythms and gluttonous intensity. The track devours the ear and beyond, finding an absence of resistance for its appetite in return. The second of the pair takes all that came before and stops it in its tracks, the acoustically led emotive caress with equally expressive vocals a smouldering invitation. This is just its opening gambit though and a minute into its journey the song unleashes another tirade of malevolent rhythmic bombardment from Cox and a furnace of caustic sonic fire. Like the previous songs the stoner/sludge like components are an open vein yet the pulverising onslaught of every atom of the track is an intensely textured maelstrom of diverse and  riveting sounds, peel them away layer by layer and the eclectic and resourceful invention in place is as riveting and impressive as the overall results.

The title track emerges with Cox and Schaunig in control, the metronomic demanding of the drums courted by the bestial throaty grizzle of the bass. A shimmering heat soon is expelled by the guitars to offer a sultry caress to the commanding core, the union leading into a fuller flame of irresistible brilliance. Arguably with a recognisable yet impossible to define breath to its voice, the track is a grunge lilted crawl over the ear with climatic crescendos of seismic intensity and another major highlight on the release which hands over to a fellow conspirator in securing long-term ardour. The Battle Of The Sinkhole is a sensational carnal consumption with an invidious swagger to its debilitating corrosive attack. Again there is something familiar at work but mere intrigue to the enormous rage of malicious beauty at play. As with all tracks the progressive persuasion ensures its voice is heard to bring further mesmeric temptation to the infernal intrusion, and as the song offers its full abrasion things really can get no better.

Of course the likes of I Will Make You Real and Military Wife disagree, both songs making their own distinct and voracious declaration. Across the whole of the album the variety and diversity of sound and imagination is as enrapturing as the sounds and this pair is no different, the first seducing thoughts and passions with a twisting spiral of sonic grooves and scarring riffs with the drums beating a submission out of the listener with jolting invention which borders on emotional and physical affray whilst the second opens up its stoner cauldron for a breath taking excursion through fervent sonic and melodic passional ferocity.

As the equally stunning Not Another Name brings the aural convulsion of invention and bewitching imagination to a close with arguably its finest moment, though admittedly that choice changes constantly, The Sun Never Sets On The British Empire is a release you cannot escape from and the temptation to re-enter its torrents of delicious abuse impossible to refuse. If there has been a better senses battering passion feeding album this year so far we missed it but doubt that there will be many this year which will rival Bovine’s exceptional release.

http://www.facebook.com/bovinemusic

10/10

RingMaster 13/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Coma Wall/Undersmile – Wood And Wire Split

The Wood And Wire Split is something a little unusual in that the two bands making up the release consist of the exact same personnel. The release brings the Oxford, UK quartet of Undersmile together with the same member’s new and simultaneously active project Coma Wall. It is a magnetic release which intrigues and captivates from the first smouldering note to the last shadow impregnated sound and leaves an emotive embrace upon the senses which lingers like an enthralling yet haunting personal nightmare.

The members of Undersmile, vocalist/guitarist Taz Corona-Brown, vocalist/lead guitarist Hel Sterne, bassist Olly Corona-Brown, and drummer Tom McKibbin, formed the band in 2009 and have found a distinct place in UK rock with their monolithic senses prowling sludge/doom sound. Their first EP A Sea of Dead Snakes in 2010 as well as a split EP with Caretaker the following year drew strong attention and responses their way but debut album Narwhal in 2012, potently lifted the band into the fevered arms of fan and critical acclaim. With eager fans in the shape of Henry Rollins and Earth’s Dylan Carlson behind the band, the four-piece has left a strong impact with their teasing, hypnotic, and burdensome sound. Exploring their love of acoustic music in numerous forms with folk/doom textures, the members of the band began writing songs to expand this area and played various acoustic gigs as Undersmile Unplugged, including sets at DesertFest and in support of drone legend Dylan Carlson. Deciding on the name Coma Wall for the project, the band set to work on recording tracks for their debut release, those tracks making up its contribution on Wood And Wire.

The Coma Wall trio of songs begin the release and finds the foursome alone with just acoustic guitars, banjo, and percussion, as well as an enveloping expansive atmospheric breath borne of their creativity. Opening track Summer slowly unwinds its kindling of enticing guitar strokes, banjo persuasion, and delicious vocal harmonies for a smouldering embrace which coats the ear in a sweltering ambience of emotive sunsets and doomy whispers, their impact evoking a melancholic wash across thoughts. The additional shadowed Americana feel brings extra resonance to the heart of the song whilst the slightly primal pulse darkens the elegance with appealing menace.

The following You Are My Death seduces with similar caresses to its predecessor, its warm suggestive presence enflaming the appetite for its sluggish heat and the sirenesque dual vocals of Taz and Hel. The deep cello resonance lying deep within the track equally inspires the passions and enhances the vivid imagery bred by the piece, so that immersion within its luscious textures is nothing more than a formality at the beginning. The track makes way for Cutter’s Choice, the darkest shadows unveiled and allowed freedom to roam the senses with the third of the Coma Wall songs. Once more the bass and mournful strings within the piece spark a rich ardour whilst the irresistible vocals coax emotions deeper into the sombre mesmeric labour of the exceptional track. The best track of the three and arguably of the whole release, it is a compulsive and incendiary doom clad temptation for which resistance struggles to raise a fight.

The Undersmile contribution begins with Soil, its sizzling voice and caustic tones bringing an earthy and riled presence to proceedings. Impossible to escape from or ignore, the vocals continue their golden devilment as found on the previous songs though there is a disturbing menace to their grip now, whilst musically the track explores the coarse and raw side of aural beauty within the droning doom laden intimidation at work. It is not a brutal or destructive sound but undoubtedly is uncompromising and merciless in its intrusive unsettling hold of the senses.

As with the previous track, next up Killer Bob exploits any weakness in the psyche with raptor like emotive stalking and heavily cracking rhythms, all within the corrosive guitar feedback led intensity and punishing morose prowl of a gait. The ante is soon intensified with closing song Hives, its entrance a ravenous cacophony of hungry dark vocal harmonies and savage discord dripping sonics. For the bulk of its stay the song lurches along with primal intent to its rhythmic and blackened harmonic pursuit of the emotions, leading into a climax of intense emotive insanity sparked by the predatory and persistent stance of the track. The piece is suspiciously meditative, if your psychotic tendencies are primed to explode, though the track equally could ignite any neurosis to hideous conclusions.

Released via Shaman Recordings and mastered by Billy Anderson (Sleep, Neurosis, Melvins), Wood And Wire is a stunning release from two sides of one impressive and dark emotion sculpting band. Fancy having your deepest fears and secrets exposed than this is the outstanding mental key to open them up.

www.facebook.com/pages/Coma-Wall/443763845670135

www.facebook.com/UndersmilE

8.5/10

RingMaster 05/04/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Kowloon Walled City: Container Ships

   With soundscapes as stark and imposing as the namesake of its creators, Container Ships the new album from Kowloon Walled City is a colossal and impacting journey led by thick tsunami like compelling atmospheres which border on oppression and intrusive melodies which span beauty and ugliness. It is a startling release which will floor newcomers to the band and leave existing fans feeling the band has touched new heights in their creativity.

Released through Brutal Panda Records, Container Ships is the second album from the band and follows their full length debut Gambling on the Richter Scale of 2009. It has been a long wait for many such the impression their first album and debut release the Turk Street EP the previous year made, though between the two albums there has been a couple of split releases with Ladder Devils/Fight Amp (2010) and Thou (2012). It is fair to say all their releases have brought strong values of acclaim but the new album is set to thrust the band to the widest recognition and responses yet such its impressive stature and imagination.

The release is an imposing encounter with sonic walls which tower over the senses and a destructive ambience which saps them of all resistance. The seven tracks which make up Container Ships are not exactly corrosive confrontations but erode with a blistered sonic tongue releasing an unrelenting intensity and a shadow driven emotive rub which enflames thoughts and passion. Evocative rather than provocative, though the release has no weakness in inciting reactions, it is a powerful invocation of the dark and light of existence, the beauty and the grotesque.

Brewing a consumptive blend which draws upon sludge, post rock, and noise, as well as metal, the band engulfs and informs with incredible weight and substance within a clarity which allows every aspect an influential voice whilst reinforcing their combined potent intent. It would be wrong to say it is not an easy listen but the album certainly employs more than its recipient’s ear to make its inevitable persuasion impressive and long lasting. The release opens with The Pressure Keeps Me Alive, a restrained and uncomplicated expression to its presence which proves ‘simplicity’ can easily evoke the strongest feelings, imagery, and thoughts.  The guitars of Scott Evans and Jon Howell unveil slow prowling riffs and tight melodic lashings to mesmerise whilst the rhythms of bassist Ian Miller and drummer Jeff Fagundes pound and manipulate the senses into a willing submission and intrigue allowing the sonic story telling of the guitars to paint their tonal tales. The vocals of Evans, a delivery which lies between squalling rage and earnest passion, shape the heart of the intent within the song and like the music finds a melodic heat within the challenging and disruptive invention.

The impressive start is left in the wake of the following 50s Dad, an abrasive slab of anger and discord dripping intensity. It is a glorious caustic lean on the synapses, a scorched venom filing away at the senses. In a release of nothing but highlights the track is an incredible fire which stands out especially though soon equalled by the just as immense Beef Cattle, a sludge/rock opponent with a doom kissed breath and debilitating energy. Both songs leave nothing less than smouldering pleasure though to be fair every song achieves that result.

The seven minute plus title track is an imposing beast of overwhelming ambience and smothering atmospheres conjured by the slow tempo menace of sound and emotion. Whether creeping over the senses or barging them aside the band creates a presence which leaves no aspect of the body unaffected or glowing in satisfaction. This bleak and challenging treat next hands over to the darkly passion of Cornerstone with another striking mass of down-tuned glorious might and the ‘lighter’ and quite masterful Wrong Side Of History, a song with a sonic majesty which burns like a furnace upon the ear whilst thrilling with pure enterprise.

The album ends with another epic in presence and intensity, in the barren landscape ambient shape of You Don’t Have Cancer. It is a haunting and slightly apocalyptic emotional wrap around the body from ear through to the mind and the perfect overpowering conclusion to what is a remarkable titan of a release.

Recommendation to immediately check out Container Ships is the only thing left to say, Kowloon Walled City a band sure to reshape your musical future.

http://inthewalledcity.com/

RingMaster 02/12/2012

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

The Great Sabatini: Matterhorn

The new EP from Canadian grind metalers The Great Sabatini leaves a dirty big permanent indentation on the senses and psyche that is as welcome as it is destructive and intrusive. Matterhorn is no release to get your quick fix of infectious and undemanding pleasures from for it is a crippling, desensitising, and cruel intrusion that is far more rewarding and extensively satisfying. The EP leaves one grasping for a safety point, a ledge to use for some resemblance of security but the  eight tracks that make up the release only whip  away the balance and sure footing time and time again. It is not an easy listen but it deeply exhilarating and worth every single violation it delights in swamping its recipients with.

Formed in 2007 the Montreal quartet of Steve, Sean, Rob, and Joey (Sabatini) create sounds that have found themselves drenched in or pulled from the combined might of grindcore, math metal, sludge, noise rock, and progressive metal. They then twist them into a precise yet seemingly chaotic and openly oppressive dehabilitating corruption or as they call it and themselves, “swamp trench arithmetic.” Their first year saw the release of their debut EP Burning Wilderness and plenty of shows plus a coast to coast Canadian tour the following year, early evidence of the band work ethic. First album Sad Parade of Yesterdays arrived late 2009 supported by a North America tour, the band all the while picking up a formidable underground following and acclaim. Over the past years they have supported the likes of Coliseum, Today is the Day, Fuck the Facts, Threat Signal, Psyopus, and Bionic gaining further momentum if not yet the breakthrough their sounds deserve. The 7” single Napoleon Sodomite of last year accompanied what is an insatiable gigging regime the band seems to have but it is with Matterhorn that one feels they might at last find their deserved place in the attention and thoughts of the bigger musical world to stand nearer to the likes of Unsane, Today Is The Day, Botch and Converge.

Released through No List Records, Matterhorn attaches itself to the ear with rumbling riffs and a predatory bass in the opening City Limits. Soon it sidesteps in pace and tone into a caustic and intimidating questioning of the senses. It is a thick and muggy assault that takes its time like a jabbing boxer, finding the weak spot and bruising it with a towering intensity and seismically sonic probing. The vocals are coarse and intrusive to combine with the not so much brutal but heavily demanding sounds.

Zacios follows with again an opening fingering and teasing of the already inflicted wounds. Once inside it quickens its energy with concussive rhythms and a groove that winds tighter and tighter around its victim. It is raw with the baritone bass licking its lips as it prowls the song and the guitars cutting through with direct and intrusive melodic acidity. Nothing is clear cut in sound or intent with everything coated in feedback and filth dripping distortion but nor is it impossible to hear and enjoy the individual elements that make up the tsunami of intensity, the production perfectly appreciative and understanding of the sound.

The band throws one off kilter a little with Invisible Door, or rather lulls one into a sense of relief with its ambient soothing and beautiful yet disturbed atmosphere. With an emotive piano leading the way with estranged sampled voices and a marvellous distressed sax in the background the song takes one to a back street world, a place of shadows which then suddenly lurch out from the brilliant Null And Void. The song is the highlight of the release, muscular, threatening and opposingly vibrant, the track a persistent aggressor that leaves a breathless and grinning wasted wreck in its wake.

The closing duo of songs Wagons and Sad Parade of Yesterdays finish things up just as impressively. The first introduces itself with an ethnic like beckoning before expanding into a scorched mesh of incisively cutting guitars and overwhelming impactful energy. The closing ten minute Sad Parade of Yesterdays is the most impressive if not the favourite on Matterhorn. The track reflects the EP title in its massive heights of quality and invention from the band. The most progressive and stirringly open song it brings all the impressive elements of the band to a full and breathtaking journey.

Matterhorn is accompanied by free digital release The Royal We EP produced by Topon Das of Fuck the Facts which offers more of the same excellent and challenging sounds. The Great Sabatini takes your senses and thoughts to leave them floundering, whimpering and enthralled not to mention deeply satisfied.

RingMaster 21/04/2012

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Lo!-Look And Behold

Australian rockers Lo! are not exactly newcomers having started in 2006 but it has taken a few years before their powerful sound has finally caught on. Everything has a time and theirs looks like being now with the release of their debut album Look And Behold via Pelagic Records, the crushing sludge/hardcore/ black sounds within ready to invade the senses of a much wider audience. The Sydney quartet came to the attention of the Pelagic owner Robin Staps with their 2010 debut EP, he becoming enthused with them after hearing its staggering sounds, now with his label unveiling the band to a much bigger arena it is hard to imagine anything less than wave upon wave of eager fans flocking their way.

The first thing apparent with the music of LO! is the diversity in the band’s music, their forceful sound a heady mix of thumping riffs and rhythms impregnated with creative melodies and intriguing directions and detours within songs. The members are no newcomers to music and it shows with a confidence and sureness to their songwriting and ability as well as the variety they bring.  Formed by guitarist Carl Whitbread after the demise of his previous band Omerata, he explains the diverse sound, “Having quite a diverse range in musical tastes (everything from death metal, to electro, to classical), I wanted to find a way to bring my favourite elements from different genres into the music, without it sounding like a blatant mish-mash of styles”. Adding the combined power and skills of bassist Adrian Shapiro, drummer Adrian Griffin, and the threatening intense vocals of  Jamie-Leigh Smith, the band have unleashed a sound that grabs more than just attention.  

A  brief atmospheric instrumental ‘Hath’ opens the album, the first of a trio (‘Seraphim’ and ‘Doth’ the others) throughout the release that bring a respite to the intensity elsewhere, not that they are interludes, they add an extra atmospheric element that brings the ferocity in the other tracks even more into focus. The first full track ‘Deluge (Carnivorous Flux)’, shows the aggressive tracks are not just about power and sonically hammering sounds. These songs are infused with melodic and striking elements that never become ordinary or expected and always engage as deeply as the tracks intensity delves. The track comes in with an immediate eagerness to challenge; predatory riffs from the driving guitars and the hardcore vocal attack show a band with intent to bring music that is unpredictable and testing but ultimately always satisfying.

As mentioned the songs come with their own distinct flavours with not one slipping below the band’s high standard. Though kindred in aggression and deliberation the distinctiveness to songs is very rewarding, whether the sludge/ hardcore blend of ‘Bastion’ veined with irresistible light grooves or the incessant sonic groove of ‘Aye, Commodore’ that teases and plays with the senses as pleading growls shout out, all songs gratify gloriously.

The musicianship is impressive, with groaning dark basslines and ominously heavy riffs alongside rhythms that crumble defences. The tracks often have a mischief quality to their energy resulting in something even more addictive and engaging. The dark aggressive ‘Indigo Division’ and ‘Moira Kindle’, which carries a wonderful melodic Faith No More feel from the start, are both stunning examples of their wicked intent with their wanton sounds.

   Look And Behold is a complete joy and though there is the feeling of much more to come from the band even within the release itself, it shows a band now and certainly ahead that will leave a definite mark on metal. Lo! have taken time to come into view but they are determined to stay there and with releases like this it is a formality.

RingMaster 16/10/2011

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