New Album Review – Junius “Eternal Rituals For The Accretion Of Light”

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Junius

Eternal Rituals For the Accretion of Light – Vinyl / CD / DD

Prosthetic Records – Release Date:  March 3rd 2017

 

I’ve most likely stated before that it’s impossible to hear every single album ever within the course of one’s lifetime.  If I haven’t put forth that less-than-bold proclamation prior, straight from my personal manifesto, I’m glad that we’re remedying the situation right now.  I feel it is a really pertinent point that comes up quite often in my mundane, so-called life.  All too frequently in conversation, someone mentions a song, album or artist, and it’s completely off my sonic sonar. The people in the conversation are taken aback that I’m not faintly familiar with that of which they so intimately speak.  Often even, something that’s been repeatedly suggested to me as an obscure, long-lost holy grail album or just something that I’m going to completely dig on with my wig on,  I’ve added it to the growing mental bucket list of cool shit to check out, and just never gotten around to following up.  Either way, this inevitably leads to confusion, disbelief, hostility, malevolence and outright violence in close conjunction with the aforementioned conversations: all things that I’d rather avoid if at all possible.

Believe it or not, this does directly relate to my so-called relationship with the band Junius.  I had never heard of them until quite recently.  I discovered them through a happy accident involving chlorine bleach and ammonia, among other household chemicals.  I have the bomb squad and the poison control center on speed dial for times like this when my MacGyver moments go horribly wrong.

Okay….none of that is true, but it would be a whole lot cooler if it were.

 

Music and Merch

 

I stumbled upon Junius when I was checking out the lineup for the Roadburn Festival a few years back, and gazing upon that glorious lineup, I noticed two things: that the bands were getting more and more diverse, and that I had never heard of a good many of them. Wait for it….because it’s impossible for me to hear every band in my lifetime.  For some odd reason, I had an immediate impulse to take some action right then and there.  I decided to investigate some of these bands.  Looking at the list, I picked Junius out of the crowd because it sounded like a cool name for a band, and I simply Googled them.  The Googles told me many things. Lo and behold, they’d been around since 2003, and they were from Boston, Massachusetts, where I often attended shows yet had never seen nor heard of them.  The Googles also told me that they apparently sounded like a cross between The Smiths and Neurosis, which sounded friggin’ cool enough to peak my interest and intrigue my eardrums.  I checked out their debut album, The Martyrdom Of A Catastrophist, and I was suitably blown away enough to immediately order it on shiny golden vinyl.  Thus began my love affair with Junius.  Indeed, there was much to love and adore: the moody yet romantic goth-inspired croonings of singer/guitarist Joseph E. Martinez, the heavy guitar riffs interlaced with pulsing keyboards and throbbing rhythms, just all the right elements that combine the gloomy aesthetic of post-punk with the forward thinking intellectualism of post-rock.

The next step in our relationship was obvious: I needed to check out their second full length, the beguilingly titled Reports From The Threshold of Death. It expanded upon the strengths of the debut and also showed more depth and diversity in songwriting and influence.  I was even further enamored, and took to bringing their various LP’s to bed with me, much to either the chagrin or delight of my other romantic partners.  Fast forward to January 2016, when Junius announced they were working on a third album, and I prepared myself for yet another stage of our ongoing tryst.  Now here we are on the eve of that album’s arrival, entitled Eternal Rituals For The Accretion Of Light.  I can confidently state that this is my favorite Junius album, and when the vinyl is available, I will certainly be indulging in more ways than one.

For me, this album is their high point of artistry: every song just oozes with vividly oppressive, looming darkness, yet never gets bogged down in tangible malice or mere nihilism because of the music’s over-arching transcendent themes, intensely introspective lyrics, and ever-present haunting melodic fancies.  From the opening synth swells and tribal drums to the final hypnotic reverberated chants, the album is just a tour de force trip through the dizzying depths of human emotion.  The moody, longing key shifts of the first track, “March Of The Samsara,” sounds like Hum on a serious and prolonged Joy Division bender with its constant layering and interplay of guitar and keyboard, while the second song, “Beyond The Pale Society” starts off with more frenetic rhythms and urgent textures before settling into a stoic new wave template and climaxing with a soaring, anthemic chorus.  The third song, “A Mass For Metaphysicians”, features lushly alluring croons leading eventually to more aggressive vocal shouts, and when these are combined with the constant barrage of down-tuned guitar chords, it’s heavily reminiscent of the Deftones’ finest alt-metal moments.

 

Pro Band Shot_2 Members

 

The fourth song, “Clean The Beast”, continues in the tradition of the last, and has the album’s most extreme vocals juxtaposed with clever octave guitar licks and slices of keyboard bliss.  “All That Is, Is Of The One” is a short ambient interlude that gives some breathing room before the arpeggiated introduction of “The Queen’s Constellation”, a clever and catchy synth part that thematically repeats itself throughout the course of the tune.  This song has quite a number of twists and turns, and it’s a highlight for me personally.  “Telepaths And Pyramids” is up next, a more sullen and subdued affair that places brilliantly layered keyboards and vocals at the forefront, and spaciously uses the guitars and rhythm section more for emphasis.  “Masquerade In Veils” is another high point, a shorter, mostly acoustic number with monotone goth rock vocals delivered in a gloomy baritone.  A more upbeat affair, “Heresy Of The Free Spirit” is the ninth track.  It’s a song that makes great usage of repetition, drilling particular melodies and vocal lines into the listener’s eager brain.  The closer, “Black Sarcophagus” is another of my favorite songs from the album.  It begins with a slow burning meditation of sound that builds with each passage, gradually peaking with an awesome crescendo of bleak guitar repetitions, drums, synthesizer drones and eerie chants.

This is a serious early contender for my album of the year.  I can really appreciate what this band is doing in terms of a sweeping, grandiose artistic vision; their reverent attention to detail is startling and inspiring.  Although they’re obviously drawing on elements and influences from past decades, Junius are ambitious and innovative.  This is a release well worth checking out in my opinion, as it’s not the run of the mill rock or metal coming out these days.  It’s an intelligent and forward thinking amalgam of diverse influence that brings vibrant color to even the darkest of pallets.  Perhaps there’s a very good reason for this. Rather than copying the styles of whatever heavy music trend is currently in vogue, then rushing to release albums and spending months on end touring, Junius have taken their time on crafting their unique sound and their albums, often first flushing out new ideas in the form of shorter EP’s, and they tour only sparsely.  I know that the conventional wisdom is that a band needs to release an album every two years and spend at least 300 days of one of those years touring to support said album if they want to be “successful.”  Sure, there are bands that do that, and I’m not trying to take anything away from them.  However, in my mind, there’s a big different between a successful band and a successful artist.

Reviewed by Andy “Ding TopUp” Beresky

New Album Review – OverKill “The Grinding Wheel”

Written by

OverKill

The Grinding Wheel – Vinyl / CD / DD

Thrash Metal

Nuclear Blast Records – Release Date: February 10, 2017

 

 

You can count on three things in life: Death, Taxes, and if you haven’t guessed already, OverKill. From 1983’s “Power In Black” demo right up until this very minute, no thrash band, and I mean not a one, has been as consistent and true to their roots as the NJ outfit has. They are just incapable of making a truly bad record. Now, even though the band is largely uncompromising, that by no means indicates they’re standing still. They had the classic Megaforce /Atlantic Records era, filled with youthful, fire-breathing slammers, the decade plus middle run that incorporated chug and groove into the mix, and finally, the 2010-to-now stint, returning to the full-on fury of the early days.

 

New Album Promo

 

So, what I guess I’m trying to get at here is this- “The Grinding Wheel” finds the Kill boys running on a full head of steam.  They are just as defiant and angry as they’ve ever been. The whole affair starts off with a bang, as ‘Mean, Green, Killing Machine’ builds from a rhythm section intro straight into neck-snapping velocity, then all gets nicely rounded out with some Sabbathy doom groove. ‘Our Finest Hour’ is a gut punch with plenty of the micro-second stops and swing the band has nearly patented. The ever-so-slightly slowed up ‘Come Heavy’ shows a darker, moodier side to the proceedings, but still can’t resist the urge to mash the pedal down at key intervals. These three tracks really represent the rest of the album well; the other seven tunes blend these highlighted facets just as sweetly. If you grab the limited edition, you’ll get an eleventh tune…A rousing cover of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Emerald’ to fatten things up.  Oh, just in case you are wondering, Blitz’s contemptuous snarl and lyrical cynicism are as potent as ever.

 

Pro Band Shot

 

I love when the old guard shows the youngsters how it should be done, and “The Grinding Wheel” is ass-whoppin’ evidence to back such a perception. OverKill has been around as long as “The Big Four” and this record is proof-positive that sales or commercial popularity will never outshine integrity.

Words by David “The Lovely” LaMay

New Album Review – VOID CRUISER “Wayfarer”

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VOID CRUISER

Wayfarer – CD / DD

Argonauta Records – Release Date:  Digital album releases February 27, 2017 /

Physical Album Ships around March 10, 2017

 

Ship: Void Cruiser mod.1.0 (Interstellar heavy metal exploration vessel)

Destination: Unknown

Last known location: The Andromeda galaxy

CREW – T-Hug: Low Frequency Engine, Ambience Generator

V-Salo: Soundscape Systems

T-Bag: Battering Apparatus

S-Salo: Fuzz Machinery, Communications

 

Post: Void Cruiser has always been there. Only now the crew have awakened from their cryogenic sleep and they are on a holy quest. A quest for The Massive Resonance. This is how we begin…

And so is how my introduction to VOID CRUISER began. I discovered that this is the third release, the first being 2013’s EP ‘Motherload’ followed in 2015 with the full length “Overstaying My Welcome” and now in 2017 we are gifted with “Wayfarer,” a seven song collection of pure stoner-metal bliss; fuzzed out bass lines, staggered tempo’s and fills running amok with searing, soaring guitar solos that perpetuate every minute that has no other voice voiced communications. Grab your vaporizer/pipe/bong/etc. as we travel along with this mod 1.0 vessel.

 

Live Band Shot 2

 

‘A Day In Which No Man Was Born’ serves as the lift-off and slowly takes you through the entry of the edge of this sector as the background becomes the majesty that is the interwoven expansive net that is propelling you into the unknown ahead with no apprehension.  Instead anticipation as the power chord driven final section of this track shifts as you can almost feel the turning of this vessel which effortlessly flows to the next track ‘I Didn’t Lie, But Know Now I Should Have.’  The band swings right into a blues-tempo’d, doom-slow and low tale of Salo speaking of the “voice” inside of him, letting us see through his eyes what is transpiring within and why he knows why he should have. As the last note rings out, we suddenly hear footsteps and a quick staccato snare pulls us into ‘As We Speak’ where we are told that we will ‘hear with your eyes and see with your ears’ as if he could reach you. Electronic sputters lead us right into the power chord beginning of ‘Madonnas And whores’ where Salo tells us that when he was all alone, in his own narcissistic way, all he could feel was love for everything. Now that he is willing in his own altruistic way, all he can feel is just jealousy as he further exposes the events of the ‘looking for comfort’ and there is no way it’s gonna fall. At the four minute mark, we begin the turnaround portion of this leg of the journey with the tastiest guitar section this record has offered up so far and filled the void around this spinning vessel perfectly carrying you though the ectoplasmic expansion that surrounds you outside until you are told that the ship has been taken over.

 

Pro Band Shot

 

‘Seven Years Late’ is a tale of Salo speaking of ‘your heart of gold, my heart of steel’ and his careening vocal carries you further long. telling of a dream he had, saw his grave, seven years late. Faster footsteps, a coughing man and ‘All Over Nowhere’ begins that Salo is ‘The man that helped you, he’s the man that stabbed your back…’ and then asked if ‘you’re having a good time baby’ with the same monotone sneer you would expect from somebody that tells you he knows for sure that you ‘go around.’ Perfectly accentuated at the end with the same running footsteps at the beginning before final track ‘Maailmann Kallien Kaupunki’ which per a translator means ‘The most expensive House’ which leads me to imagine some spectral equivalent of The House of Heaven or some such. Speaking no Finnish, I can not be positive, but the music of this 10-minute soliloquy gave me a feeling of bliss that carried to the very end as the very last faded out through a backdrop of white noise that seemed endless until it was no more…

Compared to the previous releases, VOID CRUISER have come a long way with “Wayfarer” and have grown not only as a unit, but as a concept and they have executed the concept quite well here. If given the opportunity, I encourage you, the reader, to find their tour schedule and get out and see how this outstanding studio effort is translated to a live forum.  We can not recommend this album enough…

Words by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

New Album Review – Kingnomad “Mapping The Inner Void”

Written by

Kingnomad

Mapping The Inner Void – Vinyl / CD / DD

Ripple Music – Release Date: February 25th 2017

 

Kingnomad is a band out of northern Sweden, and they don’t really mention their actual hometown on any of their biographical information, only that they’re from a small village.  I like that, a little mystery right off the bat, especially for a band with supposed occult leanings.  I use the word “supposed” because it’s clear from this foursome’s bio that they’re a bunch of down-to-earth dudes in it for the ha-ha’s, not hardcore Satanists intent on destroying the universe by hurling curses from Ancient Grimoire of black magic.  That’s fine and dandy, though I’m not sure how many of you caught the recent blog post from the fabulous Invisible Oranges author Joseph Shafer, entitled “Ten Metal Clichés We Can Do Without.”  I’m going to doing something that I’ve never done, and link it here for posterity, because it really spoke to me: http://www.invisibleoranges.com/ten-metal-cliches-we-can-do-without/

Give it a read.  Go ahead.  You might hate the article, and you might hate me for agreeing with the vast majority of what the author has to say.  Why do I bring this up within the context of this review? Well, that’s kind of my thing, isn’t it? No album or band exists within a bubble or a vacuum, and I firmly believe that context and relevancy are extremely important.  I’m also a firm believer in the Zeitgeist, the “spirit of the age”, and if an album doesn’t in some way, shape or form speak to that spirit, then it’s simply not for me.

I may constantly chastise myself for my tangential reviews, though there’s a method to my madness.  I have two diatribes to launch into for this review, and luckily, they flow pretty well from one to the other.

 

Band shot with Ripple

 

Firstly, did you read the Invisible Oranges article?  If you’ve read some of my reviews, you’ll probably know by now that I’m highly critical of quite a number of these things listed.  I remember seeing the title of this article and thinking “Man, they had better have Satan as the number one cliché or I’m going to be extremely disappointed in humanity.”  Thank you, Invisible Oranges, for delivering the goods – I’ve had enough disappointments with the whole of humanity as of late.

Kingnomad manage to encapsulate and incorporate three of the items on the cliché list: Black Sabbath worship, Satan, and Cthulhu.  I’d like to emphasize that the aforementioned article calls for moderation and thoughtfulness, a “less is more” approach rather than an outright abolition of some of metal’s most traditionally treasured golden calves and sacred cows.  I could use plenty of examples from occultism and esoteric traditions to illustrate the validity of this argument, though I’ll instead drudge up one from contemporary popular culture.  In the Star Wars mythos, one of the main ideological differences between the Jedi and the Sith is their interpretation of the Force, beyond the light and dark sides of it.  The Jedi believe that the Force is like a candle, and that a bright burning flame can be used to light many more candles, while the Sith believe that the Force is more like venom, and to spread it out too thinly is to dilute its potency.  When it comes to metal, I’d have to agree with the Sith on this one.  The reason that lyrical subject matters that are traditionally held as taboo carry so much weight and power is their relative scarcity.  It’s the fact that they’re not the norm that makes them so alluring.  The ritualistic and artistic deconstruction of societal barriers releases a wave of liberating cultural energy that can be harnessed into transformative effects.  That’s the basis for a whole system of esoteric practice that’s intrinsically linked to metal, The Left Hand Path (let’s save that particular can of worms for another review, though it is worth mentioning here).  However, as these themes become overused and ubiquitous, they lose their ability to shock and awe; their potency is diluted.  They cease to be the language of counterculture, heterodoxy and ultimately liberation, and instead become the manifestation of a mindless adherence to a tired and cliched orthodox blueprint.  Anything that holds the potential for liberation also carries with it the threat of oppression when it transitions from the realms of the fantastic and abnormal into just another lame-and-tame inevitability of the mundane world.

 

Pro Band Shot

 

In that regard, Kingnomad are not one of the more egregious offenders, as their references to Lovecraft and Lucifer His Dark Majesty are used sparingly and light-heartedly.  The band openly admits that they’re in it for the fun, and that’s just fine with me.  Ghost set the stage for the whole “Scooby Doom” school of metal, and it looks like the good times are here to roll.  As far as the Black Sabbath worship, well…. if you’re playing metal and feel like you’re not indebted and influenced by The Sabs, then you’re doing it wrong.  I’ve attempted to defy the unquestioned supremacy of Sabbath for many years now, to cast doubt on their reign in hopes of finding other worthy usurpers to the crown who’ve lurked in their shadows, and I’ve come to the conclusion that Black Sabbath are kings, lords and masters wherever The Heavy is concerned.  This you can trust.  Plenty of their contemporary proto-metal protégées from the late 60’s and early 70’s left their marks and signposts, though none blazed a trail the way that Ozzy and crew did from the moment that the iconic tri-tone of their title track was committed to tape.

On Mapping The Inner Void, Kingnomad mine the Sabbath treasure troves for what that they’re worth, though their incorporation of the more psychedelic elements of bands like Witch and Mammatus sets them in a place firmly above a mere Sabbath clone.  They’ve got more of that indie rock vibe that started creeping in from the neo-psych movement that Dead Meadow brought to the forefront of the stoner scene.  They’re able to use some of those fuzzy, major key riffs that Dead Meadow pulled off with such poise on their debut and also dive into some of the more nuanced, layered sounds that made Feathers such a breakthrough album.  They’re also going for some of the pop hooks and harmonized vocals that turned Ghost and Uncle Acid And The Deadbeats songs into such mesmerizing ear candy.

Herein lies my second tangent, which is the continued resistance to the melding of the metal and indie worlds.  I bring this up because Kingnomad wisely call themselves “doom rock”, rather than doom metal.  This may seem like a small distinction, though it’s a very important detail to some.  Metal carries with it a sense of tradition that lends itself to puritanism, while rock is more open ended.  I’m a pragmatist who also doesn’t like to falsely advertise; if you’re a traditionalist or purist who is turned off by the bands that I’ve name dropped above, then this album very well may not be for you.  I personally have never been turned off by indie rock getting its proverbial peanut butter mixed in with metal’s chocolate.  I’m a steadfast believer in one of the central themes of the Russian dramatist Anton Chehkov’s continual literary themes: that art needs new forms.

 

Great Live Pic

 

With two tangents down, it’s time to get this review back on track and talk about the music itself.  Kingnomad write slow to mid-paced fuzz-fests characterized by an overall ethereal vibe.  All the songs have a delightful other-worldliness, from the juxtaposition of super saturated and squeaky clean guitar tones, to the wispy vocal delivery and the smidgens of choice samples from horror movies that the band laces into their songs.  There’s some cool synth sounds too, which I’m always a sucker for.  There are seven songs total; the entire album clocks in at just under 40 minutes, so it’s the perfect length for vinyl, and it won’t test either your attention span or your patience.  All the songs are good, distinctive and memorable, making for a inclusive and cohesive listening experience that deepens with repeat listens.  I don’t really have a favorite song, though ‘Nameless Cult’ certainly burrowed its way through the canals of my inner ear and lodged itself unwittingly into my memory with its haunting chords and major key dalliances.  Similarly, the closing track, and the longest of the album, ‘The Waiting Game’ is also a highlight in its epic take on heavy psych rock freak-outs.  Even the shortest track, the instrumental interlude ‘Whispers From R’Lyeth’ confidently stands on its own strengths.  This is fine album in my eyes, especially for a debut.

In case you haven’t noticed, I also have a penchant for offering constructive criticism when I think that it’s pertinent.  With that being said….guys, keep it fun and keep it fresh as you move forward with your musical career.  This is an extremely imaginative release, and you’re going to have to up the ante on your next one to avoid the dreaded sophomore slump.  Look into all the weird fiction that’s out there beyond the wall of sleep.  There are lots of great anti-heroes that you can draw upon for inspiration besides The Adverse One.  Keep drinking your beer and writing your riffs, because you’re obviously onto something, and no one can take that away from you, not even me with my feeble pen and polished words.

Reviewed by Andy “Esteban Dinger” Beresky