Witching Waves – Concrete/Chain Of Command

Duos especially within the ranks of garage rock and punk are becoming a real source of imaginatively flavoured treats this year, the likes of the garage punk blessed album Ghost World from The Creeping Ivies and the sixties garage pop punk glory of the self-titled Kristy And The Kraks EP just two examples currently igniting the passions. Now we have a further mesmeric abrasing triumph from UK band Witching Waves to enthusiastically drool over.

Hailing from London, the band is the creation of Emma Wigham (Weird Menace) and Mark Jasper (Sound Savers Recording Studio), two musicians bringing the maybe now expected union of guitar and drums for a fevered grip of noise. What does not feed expectations is the imaginative caustic beauty of the two songs making up the limited cassette single, Concrete and Chain Of Command simultaneously seductive and rapacious as well as strikingly dramatic. Sound wise the band brew up a raucous and evocative mix of garage punk and post punk, but also a healthy melodic acidity which teases and captures the imagination even further. It is an abrasive encounter but one with incendiary tempting to fire up ears, thoughts, and passions.

Witching Waves began in the April of 2013 and since forming has bred a strong reputation for themselves through their stripped down attention grabbing sound and their appetite to share it across as many shows as they are able. There is a definite ’77 independent feel to the sound and presence of the band, in their approach to music and a DIY attitude. The new Soft Power Records release follows the band’s self-titled release on Suplex Cassettes last year and threatens to cast Witching Waves into a whole new intensive spotlight.

First track Concrete wraps itself around the ears with a scuzz kissed lure of guitars and belting rhythmic incitement, the track teasing whilst demanding attention. The opening hook has a definite Buzzcocks lilt to its grazing potency, an enticing call coaxing in the similarly pleasingly honest vocals of Jasper. The song manages to be melancholic and vibrant at the same time, never favouring either trait but giving both a healthy voice to intrigue and involve thoughts. The entrance of Wigham’s equally unfussy voice sparks a small urgency in the beats though the song never breaks a sweat across its enthralling body. For just a two piece there is plenty of variation and adventure within the encounter, the outcome bringing the idea that if the Yeah Yeah Yeahs became The Cramps it would sound like this.

The song is a masterful persuasion and skilled provocation of emotions but only an appetiser for the outstanding Chain Of Command. The song is glorious and outshines its companion with ease. An opening croon of guitar with its slight surf rock twang steals full attention first before an additional citric groove weaves its way around the senses. Both provide a sultry suggestiveness to cling tightly too, rhythms only caging their potency until the song erupts into a thumping stomp of flaming dishevelled sonics, coarse melodic toxicity, and anthemic rhythmic and vocal seducing. The track scorches the senses with its sonic fire, at times meandering and exploring barely connected pastures before reeling it all in for ridiculously infectious and insatiably addictive choruses, maybe better described as orgies of seductive brawls. The song alone will make you develop a stalker like appetite for Witching Waves and in companionship with Concrete provides evidence that this is potentially a boundary pushing band of the future.

The single is a very limited proposition so it is suggested to act fast, its 25 blue cassette option already sold out leaving 75 baby pink versions to be snapped up, though there is a 12” vinyl EP planned for the summer also on Soft Power.

Concrete/ Chain of Command is out on April 21 via Soft Power Records.

http://softpowerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/concrete-cassette-single

http://witchingwaves.tumblr.com/

9/10

RingMaster 20/04/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

 

Kristy And The Kraks – Self-Titled EP

Casting a seductive web of sixties and garage punk, Kristy and the Kraks has a sound which sidles up to the imagination with lips pouted and provocatively swaying hips before adding a sonic glaze to the affair which permeates psyche and passions with equal tenacity. Hailing from Vienna, the band has just released their debut self-titled EP, a release consisting of four songs said to be inspired by Le Tigre and Julie Ruin. It is a raw and enchanting blaze of punk enterprise which croons and teases as its scores the senses in a presence which for us is best described as The Cramps and The Creeping Ivies meets The 5 6 7 8’s and The Crystals.

Kristy and the Kranks is the creation and union of Kate Kristal (Rabe, Dot Dash) and Ana Threat (The Happy Kids, Bretzel Krake Hoffer), the two coming together for the project in the spring of last year. Providing a temptation of two sets of vocals, a single guitar, and a basic stand-up drum set, the pair alternating instruments for certain songs, Kristy And The Kraks mesmerise with their sound. Like the best strains of garage punk the band makes a startling first impression, one which challenges and intrigues predominantly but it is not long before their lo-fi wiles and simple melodic toxicity become an irresistible and captivating temptress.

A resonance of drums opens up the EP as I Don’t Love You No More steps into view, the initial beckoning soon joined by sultry calls of guitar, both aspects gentle in their persuasion and gait at first. As the vocals come forward a more flaming voice emerges in the guitar strokes, their acidic tempting deliciously raw edged as they align with the smouldering harmonies which skirt the similarly heated vocal lead. The chorus brings a flush of urgency behind its melodic enticement which then switches to and fro with the previous more even tempered but fiery narrative. The song and sound is quite compelling, like a humid union of The Shangri-Las and The Fall and thoroughly absorbing.

The following Twentyone is forty two seconds of irresistible addictiveness. It is simply a hypnotic stride of beats inflamed by scuzz grilled guitar with intermittent vocal shouts striking across its bow. There is very little more to it but boy is it effective and inflammatory for the passions, riling and lighting them up for the next up No No No No No. The third song, which has also been the source of the band’s debut video, opens on a sensational throaty twang of guitar, its resourceful baiting of the imagination complemented by harmonic waves of vocals and a courting percussive coaxing. The song flirts with its moves and sounds, its swerves and tempting as raw and seductive as you could wish for. There is something primal about the song and the overall sound of the band, an instinctive lure which you cannot tear yourself or emotions away from, with this track arguably the most naturally bewitching of the four.

The just as masterfully magnetic Suicide completes the contagious incitement, the song veining its shadows with sirenesque harmonies entwined in rich guitar colour as well as a rhythmic punctuation. It all combines to provide a gripping drama with a healthy whisper of The Slits to its invention.

The EP is a magnificent debut, a release which increases its persuasion and beauty over each dive into its vibrant uncluttered depths. A release for garage punk, post punk, and lo-fi melodic punk fans, Kristy And The Kraks has announced themselves with one lingering fascination of a debut. Expect to hear and enjoy a lot more of this charismatic band.

The EP is available as a limited edition 7″ as well as a digital download via Totally Wired Records now!

http://totallywiredrecords.bandcamp.com/album/kristy-and-the-kraks

http://www.facebook.com/kristykraks

9/10

RingMaster 19/04/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Tim Paris – Dancers

Dancers is the ideal title for the debut album from London based Parisian Tim Paris, each of its tracks whether an open flirtation or a more chilled proposition, a vibrant adventurous waltz. Better known as one half of It’s a Fine Line with Ivan Smagghe, Paris has sculpted songs which pull the imagination into unpredictable and vivacious soundscapes. Each one is distinct and stands alone in the tapestry of the release but have a symbiotic union which provides one refreshingly inventive landscape for senses and emotions to bask in. Dancers ebbs and flows in success across its body it is fair to say but only to waiver within a constant magnetic seduction which never relinquishes its strength.

As renowned for his remix invention which has seen him reinterpreting invention from the likes of The XX, Femi Kuti, Battant, Au Revoire Simone, Ewan Pearson, and Tiga, the DJ, producer, and musician now unleashes his own electronic alchemy through the album, merging the purest essences of synth pop, new wave, post punk, electronica, disco, house, and much more for transfixing and evocative aural climates. Dancers provides insights into richly flavoursome cinematic scenes but also ones which have an intimacy which goes beyond voyeurism to draw the listener emotionally into the imaginative investigations. Featuring a wealth of guests, the album is also a collaborative affair embraced by the creative ingenuity of Paris.

Opening track Golden Ratio strides boldly in on punchy beats and an electro tinkling which reminds instantly of Love Cats by The Cure though it takes little time to show its own distinct tease to the coaxing. The song then infuses intriguing melodic lures which do not nestle easily within the established pulse of the song but only accentuates the awakening potency. Featuring Georg Levin of Wahoo, the song opens up warm arms of melody bred enticement and smooth vocal expression which are themselves veined by intriguing twists of enterprise and electronic investigation. The post punk strict rhythmic heartbeat steers the journey allowing thoughts to take in the radiant sights and absorbing atmosphere. It is an adventure which midway takes a breath to return with an even more masterful hold on the appetite, a case of absence making the heart grow fonder.

The enticing start is matched by Rain which sees the guest appearance of Coco Solid of the Parallel Dance Ensemble. The song drips slightly chilled riffs down upon the ear whilst a rhythmic shuffle hurries across the senses. It is another alluring start given extra drama by the skirting dark throated bass, the combination building a striking premise which is enriched further by the cyber kissed vocal narrative. The repetitive spine of the track bewitches constantly; the stark core holding Joy Division/Bauhaus like predation around which the elegant and mesmeric call of the song spreads and croons.

The metallic breath of Outback, Stones & Vinyl soaks the ears next, the initial caress of the song courting a John Foxx essence which never leaves the infectious persuasion. As the track explores its seductive canvas, building and colouring the imagination with inspiring textures, the instrumental toys with the senses further, stretching its provocative enveloping with an additional Bill Nelson like invention. Like standing on a heaven lit cliff top whilst warm winds and sights wrap rivetingly around the senses, the song puts the listener in a hypnotic almost meditative emotional trance.

The following Minireich which features Sex Judas and Rupert Cross and Disco Ellipse both create a transfixing dancefloor bred temptation, though the pair tantalise and shimmer in their enticement rather than leap upon the eagerness of feet. The first has a definite Yello feel to its mischievous invention, vocally and in the devilish temptation offered whilst its successor is a cybernetic tango, flashing sonics and dazzling electronics spraying their bait around before the emotive weave of distressed melodies and restrained bedlam make their play successfully for the passions. Those nor the next up Unsung Deaf Hero fire up the same intensity of hunger and thrills as the opening songs but all captivate and refuse to release the album’s hold, the third of the trio a smothering wash of thick ambiences and funk spawned vocals casting a dark dance of inciting suggestiveness and mystery.

Dancers is back to dominating senses and mind with the outstanding drama of The Grip. With Ben Shemie, Paris lays a noir bred sinister atmosphere within which guitar and rhythms stalk the imagination, the encounter a soundtrack which could easily grace any caped crusader or futuristic darkly shadowed enigma. All the tracks allow the mind to run riot with their aural paint but this more than most conjures up stories and emotions to intoxicatingly bask in.

You’ll Never Know also creates a tenebrous encounter to immerse within, it’s again noir crafted riddle an imposing and incendiary fuse for an adventurous mind to run with whilst ears welcome the varied vocal hues and electronic weaves. It is a blend which is just as alluring in the slightly lighter Extreme Nails, its celestial stroll within a heavy but slow rhythmic frame a beacon for the listener to explore in their own design. Shadows as across most tracks are never far away with their tempering relish though they have to take more of a backseat within the fruity exploits of Heaven Parking which again sees Sex Judas involved. There is a subdued but visible lunacy to the song which brings thoughts of the eighties Martin Atkins band Brian Brain. It is a thrilling revelry which steps aside for the equally delicious Backseat Reflexion to close the album. The song sees Forrest joining Paris in a last irresistible seduction, electronics and melodies aligning within a shadow built emotional seduction.

It is a masterful end to a similarly consummate release, Dancers offering a collection of emotive and provocative vignettes which absorb thoughts and passions like a sponge for exhilarating experiences and adventures. Apart from the length of a few tracks stretching their staying power to clutch at straws in an attempt to temper the enthusiasm, Tim Paris has provided his finest hour with his own solo release, the first of many we hope and suspect.

Dancers is available on 2 x 12″ vinyl, CD, and download right now via My Favorite Robot Records.

http://www.facebook.com/djtimparis

9/10

RingMaster 12/04/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

 

Tense Men – Where Dull Care Is Forgotten

    Bringing a primitively lustful tingle inside with its post punk bred fusion of noise and psyche rock, the Where Dull Care Is Forgotten EP from UK band Tense Men, is one of those delicious treats which flicks all the right switches. Band and release is a ripe proposition for those with a strong appetite for post punk, repetitious discord, and minimalistic adventures of noise and maybe less tasty not for those with different appetites, but we would suggest still a rewarding encounter leaving a lingering mark whatever your penchant.

    Tense Men was formed in 2011 by Cold Pumas guitarist/vocalist Oliver Fisher and singer/drummer Richard Phoenix of Sauna Youth. Combining drums, guitar and a loop pedal the duo made people stand up and notice with a clutch of live performances before recording the six track Where Dull Care Is Forgotten. Since its recording the Brighton band has expanded with the addition of Omi Palone bassist Liam O’Neill. Now with its release via Faux Discx on 12” vinyl and digital download, the debut EP from Tense Men is poised to push this union of craft and noise sculpting into an eager awareness, its success on the strength of the release something hard to doubt.

    As soon as opener Stages Of Boredom scars the ears, imagination and an already assumptive hunger are lit as guitars lash the air with sonic persistence matched by a rhythmic enticement. The first piece of insidiously addictive weaponry is unleashed within seconds, a repetition driven groove entwining the senses with seductive potency as the vocals of Fisher offer a mutually monotone seeded suasion. Into its full drone bred swagger, the track baits the emotions with a mix of The Gaa Gaas like psyche temptation and the post punk causticity and repeating moroseness of Joy Division. It is a magnetising provocation which worms itself under the skin with an insatiable toxicity and an intensively powerful lure into release and band.

    The following RNRFON resonates through bone as its rawer body presses on the senses with a bass cast coaxing rapidly joined by equally unrelenting rhythms. Across their flanks shards of caustic guitar sear the air before the vocals join the affair with a sombre wishful tone to their delivery. The track reminds of another English band; The St Pierre Snake Invasion with its rawer punk lent persistence, again restrained torrents of repetition veined by squirreling guitar leading the passions into another ardour clad response. With a coat of discord to the jangling swipes of Fisher’s strings in dramatic contrast to his vocals and the low hum of the track, Tense Men has imagination, theirs and ours, tightly clasped in their hands.

     Lie Heavy (Desperate Times) has a thicker rapacious throat and presence to its sound, Mary & Jesus Chain with a touch of Birdland coming to mind whilst the enticing jagged guitar melodies add a touch of The Fire Engines to the abrasive incitement. Though the song does not spark the same depth of greed as its predecessors it still leaves satisfaction basking in a resourceful web of noise which the title track tries to exploit further with its slow and patient consumptive breath. The dark wash of the track almost swarms as it offers its doomy pressure, the drone preying on body and thoughts and in a different guise repeated through the equally potent Nonentities. The track has a slightly lighter atmosphere which also ventures into a Reid brothers inspired premise as its predecessor, but still allows no respite from the intensity and mesmeric call that unbridled reduplication brings.

    The EP ends on a riot to match the incredible start of the release, Opiate Glow the dramatic treat. The rawest punk spawned track on the album with post punk voracity, the tempest emerges from a two barrelled incitement into a ridiculously contagious stroll, rhythms and vocals simultaneously beckoning and taunting before expulsions of furious guitars and energy savage the air. It is an outstanding trap which has more than a whisper of Wire to its devilment, in fact the song like a close relation to the legend’s track 12XU, just a few generations on in the family time line.

     Where Dull Care Is Forgotten is a fabulous release, a scourge of nostalgic and modern smothering which ignites the passions from start to finish. Whether Tense Men will have to bide its times as its members return to their day jobs we will see but already the anticipation for their next offering is impatient.

http://tensemen.tumblr.com/

http://fauxdiscx.bandcamp.com/album/where-dull-care-is-forgotten

9/10

RingMaster 10/03/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

 

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

OH CAPTIVE to release ‘Advanced Creature’, out 28th April‏

 

Oh Captive’s STUNNING DEBUT EP RELEASED!

 

 

 

Rising Bristol post-punk quartet ‘Oh Captive’ nationally unleash their debut EP ‘Advanced Creature’ through all digital outlets on Monday 28th April.

 

 

Hailing from the South West, Oh Captive produce innovative music that rails against the din of predictability and still rings true with compelling clarity. Sparking glowing comparisons to the likes of Coheed & Cambria and Twin Atlantic, Oh Captive have crafted a sound of their own, and the evidence can be heard on their brand new hotly-tipped EP entitled ‘Advance Creature’.

 

 

Originally formed less than two years ago, Oh Captive cut their teeth with countless hours in grimy rehearsal rooms before BBC Devon Introducing beckoned in early 2013. By the year’s end, Oh Captive had shared stages across the UK with Sonic Boom Six, Straight Lines, Max Raptor, Sharks, Blitz Kidz, I Divide and Scholars. The foursome fully honed their songs in the live arena in anticipation for completing a debut EP that would prove to startle and sparkle in equal measure.

 

 

Advance Creature peddles a firecracker brand of intensely melodic post-punk, where concise hooks pierce the air with disarming force. There’s honesty and maturity to Oh Captive; their sound is raw but emotionally redolent, ferocious but refined. The oft-kilter phrasing of the songs has enough to engage even the most discerning ears. Although the band never once crosses the border into over-indulgence, they still manage to create an effective ruse for a pop sensibility that’s ripe for FM playlists. And in Tim Kelly, Oh Captive have a frontman whose infectious, yet understated vocal delivery throws the spotlight on compelling vocal melodies. Behind that await rousing choruses, the dovetailing guitar melodies of Curtis King and an airtight rhythm section compromised of Tom Hitchins and Chris Hill. The post-punk outfit have a record that is sure to raise them to new heights, and with UK shows in the pipeline throughout the year, just watch them soar.

 

 

 

 

www.facebook.com/ohcaptive

 

Cross Wires – Assembly EP

     Hankering for a slice of post punk infused new wave with that irrepressible eighties originality? Then a healthy purchase of the exploration of the new Cross Wires EP is your next mission in life.  Assembly is a riotous stomp of energetic imagination and deliciously niggling invention, a quartet of songs bred in the birth of those genres but equally ripe with a modern psyche stirring mischief. It teases, taunts, and romps with the senses like a discord draped devil child to quite easily and unrelentingly stir up the passions.

     Hailing from Bethnal Green and Romford in the UK, the foursome of vocalist Jonathan Chapman, guitarist Peter Muller, bassist Pete Letch, and drummer Ian Clarke has been sculpting an impressive reputation for their sound and live performances since their debut at The Others in Stoke Newington in late 2010; subsequently playing across the capital and home county Essex at notable venues including the Camden Barfly, Sebright Arms, Queen of Hoxton, 93 Feet East, The Half Moon, and Hoxton Underbelly. Two EPs, Forward/Repeat and Animal Heat announced the band to a wider audience in 2011 whilst a third, Dark Water, the following year only helped cement and accelerate their emerging presence which the outstanding Assembly will surely add another enthusiastic gear to.

    Cross Wires bring inspirations from the likes of Buzzcocks, The Clash, The Cure, Gang Of Four, and Wire into their own inventive devilry as well as that of XTC whose song on the White Noise album, the band named themselves after. To be honest anyone reaping the influences of one of our eternally favourite bands is given a head start with us though their music obviously has to do the talking, which on Assembly it loudly does. From the beginning of the opener Stranger’s Bed, the band lays an infectious hand on the imagination and passions as they cavort with the relish of a maniacal puppeteer. Thumping anthemic drums seize instant attention, setting things up for the jangle of guitars to add their own bait around the expressive vocals of Chapman. Into its infectious stride soon after the track stomps with a rhythmic vivacity and range of hooks which the Buzzcocks would be proud of, indeed the overall sound has a rich essence of the Mancunian band as well as the discordant enterprise of Medway band Houdini. It is an undemanding and thoroughly giving slab of post punk pop with a fuzzy breath to increase the appeal.

     Acid Bath, like the first, makes the strongest entrance possible. This time it is the bass stroking the ears with a riff certainly Gang Of Four inspired, its carnivorous voice and suasion an irresistible lure which only increases with the scythes of guitar and unpolished enticing vocals. The chorus of the song loses some of that initial potency as the thrust of the track softens but replaces it with a virulent causticity which touches on The Fall. Once more band and song has feet lurching around with eagerness whilst voice and energy is seduced into action with ease, the same results achieved by the brilliant I Want To Be Your Man (Again). The best track on the EP swaggers in with a slow swerving of its hips and a persistent flexing of its sonic audacity, the track a hybrid of all the good things already gracing the release, taking those qualities and invention into a loftier frisking of the passions. It is an exhilarating exploit raising a lustful greed once thought lost to those times in the eighties.

   Final song White Dress makes a less dramatic entrance than previous songs but is soon, through a precise hook within thumping rhythms, unleashing another Shelly and co styled persuasion with the Cross Wires imprint. It traps satisfaction in a lustful romp of angular enterprise and refreshing adventure and though the weakest of the four songs, in that it does not unleash the demon inside as certainly the previous pair of tracks do, White Dress still provides a magnetic proposal to sell your dignity for and a delicious end to a thrilling release.

     If any of the bands mentioned or just simply punk, new wave, and post punk in general lifts your temperature then Cross Wires is a band to set a fire in your thoughts and emotions, though as Assembly shows, expect the unpredictable and something which is certainly seeded in those glorious older times but takes you on a new adventure. With the Assembly EP free at http://crosswires.bandcamp.com/album/assembly-ep there is little reason not to be part of this extremely promising and exciting band.

https://www.facebook.com/CrossWires

9/10

RingMaster 21/02/2014

 Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

Coven 13 – Destiny of the Gods

There is a sense of insanity to Destiny of the Gods, the new album from Detroit metallers Coven 13 (also known as just Coven), an almost schizophrenic intrigue and unpredictability to its invention which is just compelling. It has flaws and is wildly undulating in its persuasion at times but equally there is something which works away with a deceitful seduction that makes you want to return to its manic lair, and often. The band is tagged as doom metal but that is also a falsehood of sorts as though that essence does offer a loud whisper at times it is no more vocal than the gothic rock and certainly classic metal side of things, with post punk and numerous more extreme flavours also making their presence known. The result is a sound and release which at times seems unsure of its direction whilst simultaneously being confident, actually wanton in its intent and journey. It just adds to the magnetism wrapping the release and with several needed encounters Coven 13 ultimately makes a uniquely enterprising persuasion.

Coven formed in 1985, the line-up of bassist Roger Cyrkeil, guitarist Todd Kreda, drummer Brian McGuckin, and vocalist David Landrum coming together over a short time to write and create music with influences from the likes of Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Iron Maiden and themes inspired by Celtic and Nordic themes. Their well-received debut album Worship New Gods was self-released on their Crom Records in 1987 as the band built a formidable fan base in Detroit and beyond. A name change followed when approached by the original band Coven (of One Tin Soldier fame) which saw 13 added to the name. 1991 saw the release of Ragnarok again on Crom as a demo cassette and though again well favoured it failed to match the success of its predecessor. The same year saw the departure of Cyrkeil and though the band continued for a short while it came to an end in 1992. In 2005 the band reformed for 4 acclaimed reunion shows which was followed by a hiatus of sorts for Coven 13 until 2011 when the original members came together working on new material. The line-up also saw the addition of Richie Karasinski who had been a long-time friend of the band and who Cyrkeil has tried to enlist in Coven 13 from the start but could not due to the guitarist’s commitments and projects. Entering the studio last year the band have stormed back into action with the Shadow Kingdom Records released Destiny of the Gods, a record which has uncertainties taunting thoughts but still makes for a generally riveting and enjoyable exploration.

A harsh atmospheric climate draws in opening track Thor’s Twins, the song breaking the scenery with an instantly gripping dark bass and guitar beckoning. It is a gentle coaxing which erupts into a charged gait veined with a combination attack of guitar and bass with a prize-fighter hook which seals an immediate submission from imagination and emotions. There is also a punk breath to its lure whilst the entrancing vocals of Landrum add a gothic rock lilt alongside the dark group harmonies. Alongside a dark heavy metal stirring it all makes for something unexpected and enthralling, like a union of Sisters Of Mercy, Danzig, Joy Division, and Venom which excites and awakens a strong appetite.

That anticipation is soon diminished a little by the following Winds of Revelation, a track which is straightforward classic metal for the main with none of the mystique and hypnotic adventure of the first track. Mid paced and certainly well-crafted, guitars and rhythms firmly making it a more than decent proposition, the track lacks the spark to ignite any real passion and a lot is down to the vocals of Landrum. On the first song he was forceful and a perfect fit for the sounds but here stretching whilst his boundaries and tussling with numerous notes it simply deflects form the strong sounds around him. He is certainly a more than decent vocalist in certain scenarios as shown on the album but has obvious limitations which this time around leaves doubts a strong reaction.

Elfstone opens with a pulsating heavy bassline and another irresistible groove which is right out of the eighties gothic rock songbook. Once again a hunger is sparked even with the wandering vocals which at times excel and in others dismay. Like Iron Maiden meets The Mission, the track and album has the listener back in its hands ready for crawling intensive drama of Walpurgisnacht and the brilliance of Isle of Man. Both have a doom presence not always open across the album, especially in the first of the two but also further potent varied spicery to favour the appetite. Isle of Man though stands wide apart from the rest with ease, the track a broody and bustling tempest of dark punk and gothic imagination. It is a masterful beast of sound and predation, at times reminding of Southern Death Cult and Theatre Of Hate and in others Type O Negative and Fields of Nephilim It is virulently contagious with Landrum outstanding and takes top honours with ease, the only complaint being it is less than two and a half minutes long.

The thrash fuelled Frost Giants keeps the album thundering along with skill and intensity whilst Witches Kiss brings a little southern heat into is seventies keys clad presentation, variation upon Destiny of the Gods another certain success. The song like its successor She Rides the Dawn do not reap the same strong responses as others, again a lack of that spark and the vocal discrepancies though the guitar inventive grooves and solos impress.

The album ends on a high through firstly the excellent Cult like Solitary Days and a quite enjoyable and surprising cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees’ Spellbound. The band make a very satisfying fist of the song, yes Landrum is no Siouxsie Sioux but holds his vocals to add expression and flair to the song whilst McGuckin without creating that rolling pulsating hypnotic slavery which Budgie made his own, brings the track into an anthemic and dramatic tempting for the passions. With keys adding a delicious elegance to the stomp the track is an excellent conclusion to an overall enjoyable release. Yes Destiny of the Gods is a bit of mixed bag, falling flat when venturing into the classic/heavy metal stance and excelling when employing a much wider experimental  array of styles and imagination, but one which makes the return of Coven 13 very welcome.

http://www.coventhirteen.com

7/10

RingMaster 19/11/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Young Knives – Sick Octave

Unpredictability and imagination not forgetting compelling ingenuity has always fuelled the sounds and invention of Young Knives, their unique blend of post punk and indie pop never low on surprises and persistently high on infectiousness and experimentation. The UK band’s new and fourth album Sick Octave as expected is no departure from that intent but takes the exploration and experimentation of their songwriting to new riveting heights. Taking further the challenging enterprise which has been hinted at on previous albums through songs like Tailors, I Can Hardly See Them, and Storm Clouds, the trio dives head first into a hungry invention which maybe ebbs and flows a little in its success but undoubtedly emerges within the new release as an ultimately magnetic adventure.

Financed through Kickstarter, the wholly DIY made album is a mesmeric landscape of striking and seductive persuasion, one which tests and pushes limits for band and listener but rewards richly, especially the more time  you spend in its taunting arms. There are moments and tracks where quizzical expressions find a home on the face but even in those less persuasive times the Young Knives leaves a temptation which ensures you feel a need to explore just that little more. Whether Sick Octave will find the success and responses of previous albums such as their debut Voices of Animals and Men of 2006 and Superabundance two years later, amongst certainly more fair weather fans is debatable but for those with an already waiting appetite for the band’s deeper aural research it is a release which potently satisfies.

Released on their own Gadzook Recordings there is a feeling of freedom to the album, something which possibly was pent up and restrained on earlier releases from label restrictions. Through a comparison to its predecessor alone, the 2011 album Ornaments from the Silver Arcade, there is a bolder, braver, and hunger to the invention upon Sick Octave which feels like the band has been able to uncaged  a new bolder creativity, and they have never been slouches in that department from day one. Young Knives opens the album up with the brief 12345, an entangled vocal countdown made by children which is the first raising of eyebrows. It is immediately forgotten though with the arrival of Owls of Athens, the song exploding into view with eager electro bait. Like a jaunt with Sigue Sigue Sputnik whilst a haunted sax wails appealingly in its riveting sky, the track roams around the senses with an addictive bait washed with melodic brass flames and the fine vocals of Henry Dartnall, ably backed by the rest of the band. The song is a smouldering temptation, one which never truly explodes but teases and provokes with craft and a contagious invention to immediately awaken the passions with its spellbinding presence.

The following We Could Be Blood opens up another distinct tempting avenue. The bass of The House Of Lords emotively twangs across the ear at first to be soon joined by Dartnall’s voice and the caressing touch of a Hammond organ. With the beats of Oliver Askew firmly framing the start there is an eruption of melodic fire from within the gentle stroll, an energy which subsequently shares time and position with the melancholic call of the track. One of the slow burners upon the album, the song is a pleasing encounter which sets the emotions and thoughts up nicely for the strikingly impressive suasions of All Tied Up and White Sands. The first from a raw feisty start, the guitars chewing up the opening ambience, strolls through a warped tango like weave of rhythmic and sonic enterprise. There is a Talking Heads breath to its body that plays mischievously within the darker heavier croon of the song, shadows which have the scent of Joy Division to their encroaching. It is a masterful venture soon surpassed by its sensational successor. White Sands is a schizophrenic rhythmic bewitchment which manages to rein in its full insanity to make an addictive cage for the predacious bass lures and carving guitar strikes, the mix an imagination stirring narrative led by the continuing to impress vocals, the album Dartnall’s finest hour so far one suggests.

Something Awful, a song inspired by Dartnall’s Grandfather and his battle with Alzheimers, opens up deeper intensive lyrical shadows with a  brewed intimidation within the words with is powerfully interpreted by the music. A melodic swagger with bright tones crossed with rapacious challenging furies, the track is a thrilling provocateur for the senses and thoughts which flows into Preset Columns/ Default Comets, the track a less convincing evolution of its predecessor which leaves thoughts a little uncertain even after numerous flights through its sonic soundscape.

Both Bella Bella and Marble Maze ignite greater strength within the open appetite for the album, the first of the two a chilling cross between Wire and Blur whilst the second sees the band in many ways reverting to the sound and structure of earlier songs in their career but with an approach awash with emotive strings and spiralling intensity which burns a deep satisfaction into thoughts. Both songs fail to match some of the earlier heights crafted but still keep a fascination intently alive as does the jazz bedlam of Green Island Red Raw, the song a wanton scattering of ideas within a containing cloak of timing and restraint which just works if without setting blazes in the passions, though the bass work is quite delicious.

From the decent enough short rub of scuzziness that is Score, the album goes out on a major high with firstly the excellent Bed Warmer followed by the closing treat of Maureen. The penultimate song is a wonderfully abrasive and fiery encounter which rubs the senses up the right and wrong way to leave them wanting more whilst succumbing to the rabidity fuelling the energy and invention of the song, again something which harkens back in a way to their Young Knives…Are Dead EP with an extra sinewy splatter of Baddies infectiousness to it. The final song is the band at its melodic and lyrically incisive best whilst stretching their inventive boundaries. Another David Byrne like inspired festivity flirts with the dark veins of the song whilst its chorus is a virulent call which lays a healthy dose of funk spicery into the mix, with Dartnall at times delving into his finest John Lydon squall.

     Sick Octave is an enthralling and thrilling release which suggests the next chapter of the Young Knives adventure is going to be a highly captivating one. The album may not be another Superabundance but it is without doubt a charismatic tantalising slice of instinctive excitement.

http://www.young-knives.com/

8.5/10

RingMaster 04/11/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Nonagon – The Last Hydronaut

Carving out a noise which simultaneously torments and seduces the senses, US band Nonagon is an encounter which challenges and rewards with an equal intensity and vitriolic craft. Their third EP The Last Hydronaut takes no prisoners, its offering demanding and invigorating with a squall which blends stretches of punk and garage rock with noise and post punk/post metal irreverence. To be honest the six track release and songwriting of the Chicago trio defies any exact definition of their violations but that is just the start of the enjoyment and potency of the release.

Nonagon was formed in 2003 by drummer Tony Aimone (ex-The Blue Meanies, J. Davis Trio, Taylor), bassist Robert Gomez (ex- Der Lugomen and of Martian Law), and guitarist John Hastie (ex- Jumpknuckle). The band released the No Sun EP in 2008 and the People Live Everywhere EP last year, the first a more punk driven causticity whilst its successor shows the beginnings of the varied corrosive endeavours which ignites The Last Hydronaut. The new release sees the band taking another step forward, it’s uncomfortable and compelling presence a fury of unconventional and uncompromising uniqueness as destructive as acid and as thrilling as a magnetic storm.

Opener Razing All Boats instantly ignites ears and emotions, its initial crowding of the senses a tempest of sinew driven rhythms, bass predation and antagonistic riffing. That starting scourge never changes across the track but with the squalling vocals and niggling groove irresistibly capturing the imagination, the song makes a constantly riveting and dramatic introduction to the release. The throaty bass prowl and unpredictable rhythmic caging reminds of early Killing Joke in a union with The Fall whilst with the scowling punk vocals across the grazing riffery the song aligns a mix of Converge and at times Melvins. It is an excellent rage soon matched by The Pfister, another virulent torrential abrasion which teases, taunts, and tantalises with a multi-flavoured acidity. The bass makes the early call before sonic guitar scrubbing disguised as a groove employs its excellent toxicity upon senses and emotions. The vocals help create a presence which recalls eighties band The Three Johns whilst the melodic intent of the barbed groove with discord an enthralling bedfellow adds elements of The Fire Engines to the outstanding confrontation.

For those old references the EP and sound is a refreshing wind of modern inclination which King Corky takes to another depth of potency with addiction forging niggling grooves and guitar temptation. Less immediate than its predecessor but no less intense and dramatically contagious, the track creates a daunting consuming web prowled by the excellent bass courting of the ears, its crawl and enticement as rapacious as the equally predatory drum exploits which builds an enthralling frame for guitars and vocals to spurt their fractious sonic brawls from.

Both Elvis and Affinity Fraud increase that intensity previously taken to darker places to even heavier testing heights, the first with a rigorous almost destructive presence whilst the second of the two twists and turns with a scalding and scathing invention of melodically drenched sonic hunger. Though neither quite lives up to their predecessors, the experimental invention and hunger to push their boundaries is undeniably fascinating and gripping, the second at times almost bringing whispers of pop punk to bear within its sour laced pungent enterprise.

The final track Hydronauts completes the excellent release with more of the same adventure in a new appealing guise for the EP, vocals and guitars acerbic bait inside a continually arresting and incendiary rhythmic ingenuity. The Last Hydronaut will not be an easy listen for some and noise manna for others. For us with repetition and spellbinding droning as much a bewitching antagonist as the rhythmic conjuring and sonic tempestuousness, the EP is a gripping and exhilarating trial for nerves and senses.

http://www.nonagon.us/

8.5/10

RingMaster 22/10/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com

 

Deathline – Every Dying Breath

photo Beki Cowey

    Taken from second album Nova which came out last year, London/Helsinki electronic rock duo Deathline release new single Every Dying Breath to once again stir up and bring a compelling caustic breath to air and senses. A blend of industrial rhythmic provocation, swarming dirty electronics, and post punk starkness veined with tender melodic tempting, the singles is a magnetic confrontation which without igniting burning fires in the passions stokes them up into a healthy hunger for the band’s invention and imagination.

Consisting of Jennie Werlemar (vocals/bass) and Kaoru Sato (guitar/programming), Deathline bring a reworked version of Every Dying Breath coating it in a hazier almost suffocating atmosphere and acidic ambience. It is a creature which permeates every pour and thought whilst engaging them on a corrosive dance of enterprise and enchanting mystery. The opening call of the song is a close relation to Blondie’s Atomic, a whisper which never truly evaporates as the track wraps its causticity and temptation around the ear. The vocals of Werlemar are dark and sinisterly seductive complimenting the shadows of the track whilst the keys and guitar temper each other’s strengths to sculpt a union which pulls appetite and imagination deep and eagerly into the song’s textured depths. With elements of Artery and Jesus and Mary Chain also making their essences open within the psychedelia licked sonic soup, the song is a vibrant and enthralling lure which earns and offers stronger rewards with each journey within its stifling beauty.

Two remixes of the track follow to differing effects. The first is from Danish electronica duo holm/mirland and clears away the sonic smog of the original but loses the depth and crowding entrapment which works so well. It is a decent enough take but stripped down even with a more electronic punctuation, the track is merely a passing smile between the broad dark grin of the lead track and the riveting lip spread of the following Shaken Not Remixed version from The Dead Zoo. Again this track receives a clean-up but in its place a stringed embrace and orchestral wash fills the dramatic gaps left empty by its predecessor. With a Bond like breath and smouldering melodic heat the track is an immersive and absorbing flight which even makes a valid suasion on our less than eager thoughts on remixes.

The release closes with a demo version of The Death Line, the track a beguiling conspirator with shadows for an emotive, filth littered sonic waltz which leads the imagination into a fall within a noir narrative and aural isolation. It is a pleasing end to an equally satisfying and eventful release. Every Dying Breath is an attention grabbing riveting tempter for both Deathline and Nova for all new recruits and confirmation of the band’s qualities for existing fans.

https://www.facebook.com/theDeathline

7/10

RingMaster 07/10/2013

 

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard from

http://www.audioburger.com