Posts Tagged ‘Riffs’

Listen: ‘Ritual Control’ by sleepmakeswaves

Posted: 13 March 2024 in Recommended Streams and Videos, Singles and EPs
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Australian instrumental post-rockers sleepmakeswaves have released another single from their forthcoming album "It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It" following the addition of two more US shows to their growing world tour dates.  The band took to social media to tell fans about the new single: 

"’Ritual Control’ was first demoed as ‘Dr. Riff Has Arrived’. I still wonder whether we were mistaken to have not kept the old title.  Otto originally presented the song skeleton to us with the concern that maybe the riffs were "too dumb". In fact, Tim and I responded, they are the *perfect quantity* of dumb. Sure, these riffs aren’t going to earn a PhD. But they will hold down a full-time job, get the kids to school on time and read the occasional piece of challenging non-fiction on weekends. Courageous and heartfelt conversations like this are the core of what effective post-rock songwriting is all about.  New album out next month!"  -Alex

Listen to ‘Ritual Control’ here:

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The new album It’s Here, But I Have No Names For It, released on 12th April, was produced by the band themselves, at Golden Retriever Studios in Sydney, Australia. Written during the pandemic, it was originally recorded during 2022 just before the band embarked on a 3 month tour for their previous EP trilogy ‘these are not your dreams.’ Further recording was completed in 2023, including string arrangements by Simeon Bartholomew (SEIMS). The record was then mixed by Andrei Eremin (Closure in Moscow, Tash Sultana, G Flip, Luca Brasi) in Philadelphia USA and mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering in Boston USA.

The first single ‘Super Realm Park’, prefiguring the record as a whole, is a majestic return to the classic hallmarks of the band’s melodic post-rock sound, whilst introducing new production and arrangement elements. Fans of the band’s heavy bombastic aggression will resonate with tracks such as ‘All Hail Skull’ and ‘Ritual Control.’ They also shine with invigorated melodic and emotive performances and arrangements on tracks like ‘Black Paradise’ and ‘Terror Future.’ Retaining their signature approach to heavy dynamics and crescendos the band are still at their unmatched peak when they turn their hand to cataclysmic emotional epics such as the title track and the album closer ‘This Close Forever.’

The band released a statement to fans, saying: 

"The mysterious phase of nothingness, crucial to the smw creative process, is over: our new album is finally done. Thank you so much to all our listeners for your patience. It has been a slow but intense labor of love and we are proud of the songs on this record, and grateful for the many people who helped bring it to life. Hope to see you on the road in 2024, more show announcements to come, and we truly hope the new music we’re about to release resonates with you in the same way it does with us.   Love smw”

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Eville – Messy (BLAIRTHEPRODUCER REMIX)

Posted: 2 February 2024 in Reviews, Singles and EPs
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2nd February 2024

Christopher Nosnibor

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… so the cliché goes. ‘That must make me Hercules’ was JG Thirlwell’s response on the Foetus track ‘Grace of God’ from the album Flow. He’s a man who should know, having not only forged a career on the outermost limits of the fringes and survived a brief spell on Sony and else controversy and vilification and general unpopularity as a contrast to a rabid cult following add up to in combination.

Eville are living proof of Thirlwell’s take. When they wrote and first released ‘Messy’ they could not have had the vaguest inkling of just how messy things might get. Theirs is a classic story of disappointment and industry failings, but also of bloody-mindedness, stubbornness and ultimately of resilience.

While Eville’s debut release, ‘Messy’ was picked up – and received enthusiastically by a minority of outlets – and you know, I will take a moment to blow the Aural Aggravation trumpet here, because despite our extremely limited capacity, we do get behind those acts we recognise as having clear potential and which, given the right exposure could and should break through.

Instead of a straight-up re-release, they’re following up ‘Leech’ with a killer remix of their second single. Blair the Producer’s twist on it preserves the blunt force and ferocity of the original version, but brings some extra edge. It’s beefy as fuck and is the definitive sound of nu-metal for the new generation.

No doubt there’ll be middle-aged twats bemoaning how it’s too pop or it’s not the same as the shit that was coming out twenty-five years ago. Middle-aged twats – and generally people over the age of thirty-five, who’ve hit the wall and concluded there’s been no decent new music since they were twenty-one – are plain wrong, and they should be directing their dissatisfaction inwards, and not only examining their own sad old lives, but remembering what is was like when they were in their late teens and early twenties. The sad old cunts who still revel in the days of Britpop might want to remind themselves that the golden age they so revere was largely a revival of various bygone eras, primarily the days of 60s pop and mod – mashed up and rehashed. These people are missing the point that progress happens, and the next generation will inevitably pick up on the music of the one before, or the one before that, and make it their own, and instead of bemoaning kids and their lack of ideas, should take it as a compliment that they’ve picked up the baton and are running with it in their own direction. Eville have that baton clenched tightly, and are running far faster than the pack right now.

ZAHN – Adria

Posted: 19 November 2023 in Albums
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Crazysane Records – 24th Nov 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

The press release describes Zahn as a ‘German post–modern noise rock ensemble’, while their bandcamp bio offers ‘A bold escape from your daily life through technicolor transmissions of post–rock, krautrock, dark jazz, noise–rock, post–punk and electronic music. Influenced by the likes of TRANS AM, THE JESUS LIZARD, METZ, THE MELVINS and TORTOISE’, adding that ‘Adria is a compelling soundtrack to a 1980’s anti–utopian road movie!’

As a prospect, it’s head-spinning, sounding like an everything-all-at-once hybrid, and the actuality isn’t much different. There are plenty of driving grooves, largely propelled by solid bass and insistent drumming, but there are also some angular riffs and big splashes of noise.

The first track, ‘Zebra,’ boasts a bulbous bass with some big low-end and some easy, noodly synths which wibble and wander agreeably and mellifluously… and then towards the end it builds and distorts and things get altogether more twisted and less pleasant. And this is a feature characteristic of the compositions on show here. They don’t mash everything into every second simultaneously, and there’s none of that jazz / Beefheart kind of stuff that sounds like each band member is playing a different tune in a different key and time signature all at the same time. There are times where that kind of avant-gardism most definitely has its place, and works, but this isn’t what Zahn are doing here. In keeping with the road movie concept, the pieces are constructed around transition.

The ten-minute ‘Schmuck’ is a magnificent example of their ability to do mellow, with clean sounds and even a tinge of a country twang, it swings along breezily and evokes sunshine and expansive vistas. Then, near the seven-minute mark, the bass steps up to a crunching grind and things get a whole lot noisier, from where it builds into a big, driven riff which crackles with energy. ‘Yuccatan 3E’ is another colossus of a cut, running to almost nine and a half minutes and manages to take it time in pushing outwards and working a single passage for a fair while, but equally packs in at least three or four songs’ worth of ideas.

The changes feel organic, and sometimes emerge gradually, and at others there will be a sudden and unexpected swerve, and there’s so much happening that the absence of vocals barely registers.

Because the mood, tone, and tempo differs so radically between songs – and between sections – Adria very much does feel like a journey, through space and time. ‘Apricot’ is a sparse synth work with crispy vintage drum machine snare cutting through quavering analogue synth sounds – then, without changing the instrumentation or the simple repetitive motif, it goes massive. A post-rock Depeche Mode chronically undersells it, but it’s as close as I can get, at least off the top of my head. The final minute is an extravagant climax, and truly magnificent.

The majority of the album’s eleven tracks run past five minutes, with the majority sitting more around the seven-minute mark, but the eleven-and-a-half-minute ‘Faser’ is the album’s megalithic centrepiece. It blasts hard with a fuzzy, scuzzy repetitive riff cycle with stoner rock tendencies, and it’s dynamic and exhilarating. Dropping down to bubbling synths in the breakdown around six minutes in, the threat of a re-emergence of the heavy lingers suspensefully. When it does land, it does so with a vengeance, before transitioning once more into something altogether different again, skittering its way into Krautrock territory.

The power blast of ‘Tabak’ hits square between the eyes and feels unexpected however expected it actually is. These guys are absolute masters of the unpredictable and varied structure, and conjure some highly evocative and atmospheric passages, and while the playing is technical, it’s not technical for its own sake: there’s nothing showy or extravagant, and the focus is very much on the compositions, the structures, and the impact. ‘Amaranth’ piledrives a full-on doom riff, slogging away at it for what feel like an eternity. It’s a heavy trudge, and really hits the spot – again, when you least expect it.

Adria straddles many, many genres, and does so in a way that’s incredibly imaginative. The key to its success is its execution, which balances precision with passion.

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Bedsit – F.I.D.O.

Posted: 22 September 2023 in Singles and EPs
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Forever Underdogs – 22nd September 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

I Got quite excited by Hull’s Bedsit on hearing their last release. Perhaps the summary in their bio explains it, more or less, in pitching the band as being of interest to fans of Basement, Nothing, Yuck, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and in next to no time, alongside my raving about them, they’ve come from nowhere (ok, Hull isn’t quite nowhere, but it works as a narrative) to airplay from Steve Lamaq and applause from Louder than War.

The joy of F.I.D.O. lies not only in its being a great tune, but from its gloriously lo-fi, crunchy sound. A twisty riff played almost tentatively by way of an intro is suddenly smacked along in a tidal wave of rhythm, bass, drums and it recreates the buzzing vibe of Dinosaur Jr on ‘Freak Scene’ or ‘Girl from Mars’ by Ash. It buzzes, it vibrates.

They’re pretty strident in their messaging here, and this is certainly no feel-good tune, as much as it’s a nihilistic howl that goes against the grain, and is certainly not a call of solidarity with their peers and contemporaries, It’s a shake, a slap, a sneer of derision that says ‘get a fucking grip!’

“F.I.D.O. is for the countless artists who labour to perfect their work, manifest their passions and achieve success, only to be left screaming into the void for years on end. It’s about the ridiculousness of dreams and the temptation of surrender. We’re made fools by our expectations of the music industry and the life of an artist, coaxed by visions of giants from a bygone era. The iconic rockstar is dead, or worse yet, duplicated posthumously in a vapid monetary mockery. It seems impossible nowadays for an independent artist to ever get heard, break out, be seen. When art is entwined with identity, emptiness can feel like death.

Why do we even try? Where does that spark come from, and is it at all worth trying to keep it alive? If an artist is neither seen nor heard, do they even make a sound?”

It’s a sentiment that not only do they fully espouse in their work, but one I can back to the absolute max. It’s not about the technicality, but the raw energy, and it’s right up and in your face, and then when the vocals come in against that welter of guitars, it’s absolutely fucking glorious. There are numerous references I just can’t call to mind, but there’s a dash of Therapy? and a pinch of Bilge Pump in there, and the refreshing thing about Bedsit is that while so many contemporary acts who bring that 90s vibe present sanitised, cleaned-up interpretations, Bedsit keep it raw, rough and ready – and in doing so properly capture the spirit of the era they’re so deeply rooted in.

F.I.D.O. is a massive, grungy monster. Driven by thick riffs and thumping percussion, the melodic and contrasting vocals land between Nirvana and MSP with aa hint of Fugazi as they melt grunge in a pot with post-punk and post-rock that maybe hits a spot in the region of Trail of Dead. But none of this really touches the rush and the squall.

The bottom line is that they’re bursting with energy, and they’re a band you can believe in. ‘F.I.D.O.’ kicks all ways, and the amount of ass-kicking they packing they pack into four minutes and twenty seconds is incredible.

The single comes backed with ‘Click Track’, a frenzied thrashing furry that’s pure and brimming with passion.

Feel the force.

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I Am Low – Úma

Posted: 30 August 2023 in Albums
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Majestic Mountain Records – 29th September 2023

James Wells

One day, I’ll see a press release or bio for a stoner rock back that doesn’t reference Queens of the Stone Age. But I don’t expect that will be any time soon. They are, of course, the only band of the genre to have graced the mainstream singles and album charts around the globe, so it’s a handy touchstone for reviewers whose experience is limited to the mainstream and likely a useful reference for radio folks who operate a more limited sphere of reference for the benefit of listeners who tend not to really explore beyond, well, their back garden.… but how many who are seriously into the style hold QOTSA as their benchmark? I’m not knocking them in the slightest, because I very much dig their shit – but the best-known and most commercially successful exponents of any genre are rarely the choice of those with a deeper knowledge and appreciation. It’s the same as picking the Pistols as the definitive punk band or Oasis as the quintessential indie act.

‘Gunman’ crunches in with a gritty riff, and it’s gritty riffs that dominate the album – as they should, of course. There’s something about the production… the bass is ultra-low, almost subliminal, and there’s a lot of space and separation; the quieter moments find the guitars switch to clean, and ripple and echo, not seductively, but compellingly, absorbingly forging texture and atmosphere.

They go slow early, with the second song, ‘Dead Space’ going deep from its chiming, hypnotic intro via its lumbering riffage and evoking hot nights and open skies while bringing both heavy psychedelia and mellow melody to proceedings.

The songs alternate between the slow and reflective and monster rifffery, but even then, it’s the riffs which stick in the mind: ‘Ruins’ and the Soundgarden-esque ‘Pigs’ drive hard and fast, while ‘Wake’ is driven by rolling drums and chunky bass, the harmonies and brooding grind inviting comparisons to Alice in Chains in places.

The nine tracks on Úma strike a neat balance between melodic and meaty, hitting a sweet spot that feels just right, with ballsy riffs and tunage meeting in the middle to make for a solid album.

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Listen: ‘Invocations’ by High Priest FULL ALBUM STREAM

Posted: 25 June 2023 in Albums
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Chicago riff-doom four-piece HIGH PRIEST officially present their debut full-length Invocation to the world, now streaming everywhere and available in record shops across the galaxy from 23rd June 2023.

The band comment: “Our debut album Invocation is the culmination of years of hard work and collaboration”, guitarist John Regan writes. “We wanted to represent our breadth of influences and create something new while harkening back to the bands that inspired us to play music in the first place. I am the most proud of this record of anything I’ve ever worked on, and I’m so excited to share with the world.”

Hear it here:

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Watch: ‘Something Ominous’ by Molybaron

Posted: 15 June 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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French/Irish alternative rock-metal outfit Molybaron, known for their energetic, hard-hitting sound, return with their most intense track to date, the aptly titled ‘Something Ominous’.

‘Something Ominous’ is an explosive, riff laden track, describing a fabricated invasion unleashed upon an unsuspecting public. Designed to instil widespread panic, meticulously orchestrated events are broadcast, creating a convincing illusion of extraterrestrial aggression, strategically deploying staged encounters and simulated attacks. As fear spreads, the population succumbs to the manipulation, allowing the state to exploit the chaos and implement their agenda of control.

Check out the video for ‘Something Ominous’ here:

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Listen: ‘Forgotten Place’ by SPLIT//BITE

Posted: 29 May 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Norwegian metallic hardcore four-piece group SPLIT//BITE have recently shared a new song off the band’s debut EP, which is set to be released on June 9th via Loyal Blood Records.

SPLIT // BITE is a fresh new four-piece group from Bergen, Norway, yet all members have a vast experience in other projects from the local hardcore and metal scene. The band’s debut EP "404 ends" shows a highly-energized quartet playing a chaotic and pummeling metallic hardcore full of heavy riffs and caustic vocals.

Set for release on June 9th via Loyal Blood Records, this new EP is according to the band "about establishing a precedence in a society defined by cultural norms adapted to your average joe. With this we bring about subjects like existential anxiety, apathy, and also artistic freedom. We preach this through our intensive tempo, and a clear message from start to end."

Listen to SPIT//BLOOD here:

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Stream: ‘Sado Sex for Dummies’ by Loose Sutures – FULL ALBUM featuring Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes

Posted: 26 May 2023 in Recommended Streams and Videos
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Fuzzy stoner/garage punk group Loose Sutures has released their third record, Sado Sex for Dummies, today (26 May) via Electric Valley Records. The Sardinian act’s first studio outing as a trio, the album features a couple of other guests, including the heavy rock royalties Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.

States Loose Sutures: “Sado Sex for Dummies is the ultimate guide for all the pervs across the globe! On this sticky tour, you’ll find all you need: how to escape from a party gone wrong and survive a spell to your bone, chronicles from a highway shooter, valentines from Lucifer, and so much more. So whip out the whips and let’s welcome violence!”

Listen here:

Assembled in 2019 by four roughnecks, Loose Sutures plays classic ’70s riffs with a pinch of modern punk attitude, conjuring a blend of stoner and garage energy and displaying an abundance of evil beats, venomous fuzzes, and raunchy lyrics. Loose Sutures’ music has been praised by fans and critics for evoking a dark and seductive atmosphere reminiscent of cult exploitation movies.

Depicting killer profiles and kinky love stories, the Sardinian group presented their self-titled debut LP in March 2020 via Electric Valley Records. They followed it up with the sophomore album, A Gash with Sharp Teeth and Other Tales, the following year via Electric Valley Records; it later saw a Japanese edition in the Spring of 2022. Introducing the newly recruited Giuseppe Hussain (who replaced Gianpaolo Cherchi, guitars/vocals), the album is “a journey delving into lust with filthy guitars, stoned rhythms, and creepy voices escorting you deep inside the sticky core of what you fear yet desire at the same time.”

Loose Sutures again encountered a lineup change in 2022 when Giuseppe Hussain left the band, leaving the band to operate as a trio. It was a setback, but they refused to let it hold them back. Longtime fellow Marco “Grey” Manca joined to take care of the role of Giuseppe on the “High Heeled Barbarians Tour” around Europe the same year.
Sado Sex for Dummies, as the name hints, is a complete handbook to satisfy the needs of the pervs, sadists, and killers out there. An invitation to indulge in fuzz-drenched, punk-‘n-roll violence, this third record from Loose Sutures has no shortage of lurid stories. While there is a touch of evolution, the album has not strayed too far from the band’s established hard, fast, and crude sound. To add more spice to some songs, the album features some guest musicians, including the legendary Nick Oliveri and Alain Johannes.

Get ready to be taken on a frenzied ride into the depths of your darkest desires.

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Boris & Uniform – Bright New Disease

Posted: 24 May 2023 in Albums
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Sacred Bones – 16th June 2023

Christopher Nosnibor

They’re the first to admit that this pairing may seem like an unusual one, having first teamed up for a US tour in 2019: as the bio notes, ‘Sure, both bands harness the power of big, blown-out riffs, but Boris’s rock heroics, lysergic sprawl, and monolithic sludge summon a different energy than Uniform’s mechanized bombardments and frenzied assaults.’ But often the most exciting and unexpected results emerge when pairing contrasts rather than sameness. Put two drone bands together, you can predict the outcome will be amplified drone; sludge with sludge equals more sludge, and industrial matched with industrial is unlikely to yield any great surprises. Yes, pairing like with like makes sense, it’s safe, there’s an intuition and interplay that comes from familiarity with the territory and the form, and fans will likely be happy being served a double helping of what they like.

But neither Boris nor Uniform are acts who are overly concerned with appeasement: that isn’t to say they don’t care about their fans, but more that they both trust their fan bases to be broad-minded and accommodating of the idea that creative fulfilment is integral to their existence. Even those more casually acquainted with their respective catalogues will recognise that both Boris and Uniform are driven, not by the desire to entertain, but to follow their creative instincts. The way these manifest musically are very different, but in this context, the parallels become more apparent, and it also becomes easier to understand their mutual appreciation for one another. And neither act is new to the spirit of collaboration, with Boris having have collaborated with the likes of Sunn O))), Merzbow, and Keiji Haino, and Uniform having previously released a blistering collision with The Body back in 2018, as well as remixes with Zombi more recently.

It will be news to no-one that this is big on riffs, that it’s loud and heavy, but this is a collaboration like no other: ordinarily, artists will bring their ‘thing’ to the table, and the songs will represent the meeting in the middle ground. This isn’t so much the case on Bright New Disease: the two acts are given equal billing and play evenly to their strengths and stylistic methodologies: but don’t necessarily play ‘together’ in the conventional sense. But when did either Boris or Uniform do ‘conventional’?

The album’s first track, ‘You are the Beginning’, aired online a few weeks ago, is the perfect combination of the two bands’ individual sounds: hard, heavy, the blistering harsh industrial intensity of Uniform, angular, antagonistic, crackling with the punk-tinged rage of Michael Berden, suddenly melts into a wild blitz of fretwork which paves the way for a monster thrash workout. Even the tone and texture shifts from harsh treble to murky mid-range, and it feels like a song of two halves. Quite unexpectedly, it works. When you weight up the value of any collaboration the question is always ‘is it different from or better than their independent works?’ Bright New Disease throws a curveball in that it’s a yes and a no at the same time, and that’s the genius of it.

The explosive ‘Weaponized Grief’ is a sub-two-minute blast of feedback and fury, and another thing which is notable about Bright New Disease is just how short the songs are. While there are a couple over four minutes and the finale, ‘Not Surprised’ does just creep over five minutes, the majority are significantly shorter, and condense a lot into those brief times, too.

‘No’ goes all-out grindcore / thrash in a two-and-a-half- minute flurry of churning guitars, but at the same time there’s something vaguely Spinal Tap – or Melvins –about its overblown excesses, and this may be a short album, but it’s high impact, and that’s true of much of the album: they slam down riff after riff with relish. ‘Endless Death Agony’ brings together the boldest excess of Boris with the most brutal attacks of Uniform, with a shrieking guitar solo fading out ahead of a most punishing riff with more solo mania blistering and melting on top, before the megalithic slow grind of ‘Not Surprised’ drags its way through the pits of hell.

Apart from the gloomy atmospheric suspense of the intro to ‘The Look is a Flame’ there really isn’t much respite on Bright New Disease. It’s harsh, heavy, relentless, by turns sludgy and slow, or otherwise frantic, frenetic, explosive – and packed with surprises, from the murky ambience of ‘The Sinners of Hell’ to the bubbling electronica of ‘Narcotic Shadow’ that sounds more like DAF collaborating with A-Ha and the straight-up glam pop of ‘A Man from the Earth’. Never could I have anticipated describing anything involving Uniform as ‘glam pop’. But then they kill it hard with ‘Endless Death Agony’, which is some brutal shit. Bright New Disease is everything all at once: it’s often punishing, sometimes spectacularly theatrical, and (almost) always heavy, but it’s smartly realised and expounds the importance of identity as both bands showcase and celebrate theirs in triumphant tandem.

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