Matriarch - “Magnumus: The 44th Scribe and Lorde of the Hallucinaunts” (Album Review)

By: Eric Crowe

 

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 20/04/2015

Label: Self released

 

 

This is really an amazing release, from start to finish. It took me a minute to catch the feel of the album, but once it hits home, it really hits you. Tons of tone and texture, beautiful and unrelenting and a complexity these guys have really tapped into. This is recommended for fans of Buried At Sea, FULCI or Sea of Bones. Give it a solid listen, support these guys and tell them The Sludgelord sent you their way!

 

“Magnumus: The 44^th Scribe and Lorde of the Hallucinaunts” DD track listing:

 

1. Moonburn

2. Bathed In Blue Light

 

The Review:

 

This 4 piece hailing from Denver, CO delivers one heavy and diverse slab in just 2 tracks. Described as “no frills caveman dope sludge, delivered via a pants-shitting wall of sound at a catatonic, gravity-bending crawl”, I would have to agree on all accounts. Made up of a lot of ex-members from a variety of awesome bands, including, Rebreather, Low Gravity, Garthok & Siamese Royalty, it all comes together perfectly here, but that’s enough talk about what you

 

can read online, here’s what’s in the music…

 

The journey begins with “Moonburn” with a sonic washing of tonal build and feedback, before breaking into the first riff, which has a light airy feel to it, comparable to early Pelican. The riffs have a lot of movement and progression within them, not just generically recycled over 32 measures, but there is a continuous flow to them and the song. Right around the 3 minute mark, perfectly grimy vocals charge in, adding another layer of filth in this ever evolving track, which turns for the heavier at this point. The vocal parts are sparse and not too wordy, but well spaced to keep it interesting. The delivery is mid ranged and throaty and once you start to feel the hypnotic effect and flow of the riff, it totally drops out to a deeply mellow place, keeping you in a light float; executed with excellence, and this is where “Bathed In Blue Light” takes over. Such a seamless transition in tracks, I love it.

 

Building and playing off of one another, that light floating feeling begins to sink, and the drones and absolute heaviness of the tone begins to pull you under. So slow and weighty, just simply go with it and enjoy where the journey takes you. Vocals keep flowing in and out at intervals, just slightly keeping you grounded. Within the drifting drones, added layers of solos wash in with perfect taste and don’t get all noodley and distracting. Then with beating the last bits of life out of the final riffs, it comes full circle with a minute of feedback and tonal washing.

 

This is really an amazing release, from start to finish. It took me a minute to catch the feel of the album, but once it hits home, it really hits you. Tons of tone and texture, beautiful and unrelenting and a complexity these guys have really tapped into. This is recommended for fans of Buried At Sea, FULCI or Sea of Bones. Give it a solid listen, support these guys and tell them The Sludgelord sent you their way!

 

“Magnumus: The 44^th Scribe and Lorde of The Hallucinaunts” is available here

 

Band info: bandcamp

Corrections House - 'Know How to Carry a Whip' (Album Review)

By: Mike Wilcox

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 23/10/2015

Label: Neurot Recordings

From ‘The Hall of Cost’ to the close of the album the listener is privy to something unique, something special….something that is angry and upset.  With talents from an array of accomplished bands bleeding a sludgy-industrial muck into your brain, Corrections House reminds you that you aren’t the only one who hates your job, your city, your society...all of us do…

Know How to Carry a Whip CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Crossing My One Good Finger
2. Superglued Tooth
3. White Man’s Gonna Lose
4. Hopeless Moronic
5. Visions Divide

6. The Hall Of Costs
7. When Push Comess to Shank
8. I Was Never Good At Meth
9. Burn The Witness

The Review:

I want to preface this review by stating that in addition for my appreciation of darker metal I also firmly appreciate industrial music.  It’s not uncommon to find Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly, and others on my queue.  That being said when I read about Corrections House releasing a new album, ‘Know How to Carry a Whip’, reflecting on their first release, ‘Last City Zero’, I became excited.  Corrections House is a very interesting creature, seemingly operating as a whole only functioning via contributions from its independent parts: Mike IX Williams from Eyehategod spews his realities of a broken nation over Scott Kelly (Neurosis) on guitar, Sanford Parker of Buried at Sea on drums and processing, and Bruce Lamont of Yakuza adding haunting atmospheres on saxophone. 

Unlike Corrections House’s first release, ‘Last City Zero’, this album carries with it a much more collected and organized feeling as opposed to it’s former which, in my opinion seemed like a broken string of poems.  Great tracks stand alone, but not the same degree of coherence as ‘Know How to Carry a Whip’.  By the end of ‘White Man’s Gonna Lose’ the listener has been forcefully thrust through a truly dark blend of Sludge/Doom and Industrial.  Whatever these dudes put into their coffee they should keep drinking it, because as you are whipped into ‘Visions Divide’ you swear that someone switched the track for ‘Ghost Riders in the Sky’, with that unmistakable, raw, and baron Scott Kelly western voice.  Sax kicks in from Bruce Lamont and the mental picture is enhanced.

While there are similarities that I can draw to Corrections House’s ‘Last City Zero’, I don’t feel the need to because I honestly don’t think that was the intention of the album.  From ‘The Hall of Costs’ to the close of the album the listener is privy to something unique, something special….something that is angry and upset.  With talents from an array of accomplished bands bleeding a sludgy-industrial muck into your brain, Corrections House reminds you that you aren’t the only one who hates your job, your city, your society...all of us do…  

‘Know How to Carry a Whip’ is available here

Band info: facebook | bandcamp

Buried At Sea - 'Migration' Reissue (Album Review)

By: Chris Bull

Album Type: Full Length (Reissue)

Date Released: 12/2015

Label: War Crime Recordings

After the squeals of feedback, the chords, drums and vocals kick in simultaneously with the force of a boot to the face. A trance like middle section battens down the hatches and prepares for the eventual destructive storm that soon develops.  You're left feeling like a survivor from the Titanic; battered and bruised but thankful to be alive to tell the tale.  This record is absolutely essential for fans of crushing doom

‘Migration’ LP track listing:

1). Untitled (I)

2). Untitled (II)

3) Untitled (III)

Buried at Sea is

Bill Daniel | Drums

Jason Depew | Guitars

Brian Sowell | Bass, vocals

Sanford Parker | Guitars, vocals

The Review:

If I was asked to use 3 words to describe Buried At Sea I would say 'REALLY FUCKING HEAVY' because Sandford Parker and Co really are heavier than you.  'Migration' was released in 2003 and perforated eardrums on its initial release. Now reissued through Parker's own War Crime Recordings for the first time on vinyl, it's a chance for those who missed the boat (a maritime warship in this case) to get on it and sink with it. 

'Untitled I' which is a reworking of 'Man In Search Of the Perfect Weapon' from their 2002 demo, attacks the senses from all angles. After the squeals of feedback, the chords, drums and vocals kick in simultaneously with the force of a boot to the face. A trance like middle section battens down the hatches and prepares for the eventual destructive storm that soon develops. It builds and builds before cutting out to let some sound effects creep in, then it's all hands on deck as the riff from the aforementioned demo song rears its colossal brow from the murky depths.

Some wintry wind noises bridge the gap between that and 'Untitled II' before its bone crushing guitar sound saws through with the doomiest riff on the album. A fragment of a post metal riff is played before it gets ridiculously heavy again and I'm beginning to wonder what I've done to deserve such a level of sonic punishment. The song goes through several transformations before settling on a hammer and nails doom. 'Untitled III' was called 'The Aquanaut' on the demo and is the song I've listened to the most by BAS. Building from a brooding melodic guitar riff, the track gathers momentum before cutting out and another bludgeoning riff takes hold.

Vocals from Parker and bassist Brian Sowell work in tandem and to devastating effect, occupying slightly different frequencies with their screams. Even when they split the vocal duties they still sound devastating. After a run of riff and hammer, it's over. You're left feeling like a survivor from the Titanic; battered and bruised but thankful to be alive to tell the tale.

This record is absolutely essential for fans of crushing doom. If you have this digitally or on CD, now’s your chance to hear it in its rawest form. Hipster doomsters beware; abandon ship, this is the real DOOM.

‘Migation’ is available here

FFO: Sea of Bones, Minsk, Neurosis, Eyehategod

Band info: facebook