Jawbox on Cello - A Benefit for Cal Robbins

Speaking of Dischord, Gordon Withers has put out an all-cello tribute to Jawbox. The record is a benefit for Callum Robbins, son of J. Robbins, frontman for Jawbox, Burning Airlines, and Channels. Cal was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which affects the brain's ability to communicate with muscles. He cannot stand, crawl, or sit without support, and faces a lifetime of this, as SMA has no known cure. It's heartbreaking that his parents are thinking about a wheelchair for him at age three. Their only income comes from Robbins' work as a producer and engineer (he did Modern Life Is War's Midnight in America, Clutch's Robot Hive/Exodus, and Wino's upcoming solo record for Southern Lord). See the links below for more information on Cal, SMA, and how you can help.

Motorist (Gordon Withers)
Motorist (Jawbox)

Next to the human voice, the cello is the most expressive musical instrument. Its extremely wide range allows it both to growl and shriek, and Withers fully utilizes it. String tributes to bands are decidedly hit-or-miss; the relative simplicity of rock often feels flat when stripped of distortion and percussion. Not so with Jawbox, whose music exhibits counterpoint and harmonic ingenuity surprising even to me, a longtime fan. Withers has preserved much of the power of Jawbox's songs, while exposing the melodies behind their electricity. The result is not as explosive, of course, but then again, prime Dischord tempered aggression with abstraction.

Savory (Gordon Withers)
Savory (Jawbox)

Jawbox were arguably the best at adding emotion to that mix; "Motorist" devastatingly casts friendship/romance as a car crash ("So turn your back / Just drive on past / Cause nothing is better / Than getting out fast"). Robbins' voice here sounds a bit like Page Hamilton's; Zachary Barocas' kick drums flutter desperately under Kim Coletta's Kim Deal bass line. As for "Savory," to this day I still have no idea what it's about. (The video for it is even more baffling.) But as music, it's breathtaking - pulsing dissonance, weeping bends throughout, the afropop-esque miasma of the pre-chorus. The chorus is relatively upbeat, until the relative minor chord at 3:12 pulls everything out from underneath, as Robbins' voice trails overhead. It's like a rollercoaster just before it plunges.

Jawbox on Cello is available physically from Gordon Withers' MySpace, and digitally from Amazon, iTunes, and eMusic. All proceeds from CD sales will go to the Cal Robbins Care Fund. You can also make a direct donation via PayPal here.

Cal's story
Cal Robbins blog
Interview with J. Robbins

For Callum is another benefit record for Cal. Its two discs compile tracks by Channels, Jawbreaker, Joe Lally, Mission of Burma, Travis Morrison, and others. It is available physically and digitally. All proceeds will go to the Cal Robbins Care Fund.

Circus Lupus - Super Genius

Speaking of Joan Jett, she produced a 7" in 1992 for DC's Circus Lupus. The pairing was odd - jukebox queen and Dischord geeks - but it showed she had good taste. (The tracks also appeared on 1993's Solid Brass.) Circus Lupus were one of Dischord's more aggressive bands, not counting its straight-up hardcore acts like Minor Threat. Someone accurately described them as Fugazi meets The Fall; their rhythm section was organic and bass-heavy, while Chris Thomson's vocals threatened to leap out of the speakers and scrape you.

Breaking Point
Amish Blessing

In high school, a classmate of mine visited his DC area hometown for Christmas one year. He returned bearing armloads of now-classic math and noise rock - Jesus Lizard, Helios Creed, Dischord in its prime. Of the Dischord stuff, Circus Lupus flipped my wig the most, specifically 1992's Super Genius. At the time, I listened mostly to mainstream metal, so while Circus Lupus weren't that heavy, they seemed much more strange and threatening. The music was so dry and off-balance, and Thomson always seemed to wander into songs rather than enter them normally.

Now Circus Lupus don't sound so hostile - the guitar work often seems downright delicate - but that's probably because I've been conditioned by their offspring. Bands like Blues, Black Elk, and Fight Amp owe much to this sound. Before mathcore, there was math rock, and long division alone could split heads.

Super Genius is available physically from Dischord and digitally from Amazon.

Metal Mixtape: Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap Australian album cover

AC/DC's "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap" has taken up literally hours of my life. It's strange for a single - the breathing sounds on beats 2 and 4, rare singing by Malcolm Young, ridiculous lyrics about being a contract killer. When I tracked down covers of the song, I discovered that AC/DC tribute records are a huge cottage industry. (See here for an exhaustingly exhaustive list.) I have not included every cover of "Dirty Deeds" below, as there are far too many mediocre rock versions. Instead, I've highlighted some of the coolest, strangest, and worst covers. First, the original for reference.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC)

Bay Area thrashers Exodus covered the song as a bonus track on 2004's Tempo of the Damned. It's a surprisingly good fit; Steve "Zetro" Souza's sneer slots in nicely between Bon Scott's and Brian Johnson's. Trixter's version is as bad as you'd expect. It comes from the Undercovers collection, which also takes on Nine Inch Nails' "Terrible Lie" and the Beastie Boys' "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)." I have not dared to go there.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Exodus)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Trixter)

Oddly, two women have covered this song. Interestingly, both are avowed/alleged lesbians. (Note how each alters the line "For a fee, I'm happy to be your back door man.") Girl group icon Lesley Gore ("It's my party and I'll cry if I want to") does a rather bubbly version. It appears on the compilation When Pigs Fly: Songs You Never Thought You'd Hear, which includes, among other things, a duet by Ani DiFranco and Jackie Chan on Nat King Cole's "Unforgettable." Joan Jett's cover kept me awake many nights during my adolescence. It's hands down the best cover of "Dirty Deeds," amplifying the menace of the original with over-the-top reverb, keyboards, and a friggin' sax solo. That vocal melisma at 2:47 is so hott.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Lesley Gore)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Joan Jett)

Even more oddly, "Dirty Deeds" has yielded not one but two bluegrass versions. The first, from the Back in Bluegrass tribute, is a yawn. However, Hayseed Dixie's cover on A Hillbilly Tribute to AC/DC is a barnburner. (The rest of the album is worth a listen; "Hells Bells" translates surprisingly well to bluegrass.) I've also included an acoustic version from If You Want Strum, You've Got It. (Tribute album titles kill me.) It's a coffeehouse rendition that bowdlerizes the third line to "You want to graduate, but not this bad." Lame!

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Back in Bluegrass)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Hayseed Dixie)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Acoustic)

"Dirty Deeds" has also inspired a fair bit of schmaltz. A recent cover on Lullaby Renditions of AC/DC (from the Rockabye Baby! series that includes infant-appropriate versions of Tool, The Ramones, and Metallica) hides the melodies in a miasma of flatted and sharped thirds. On the other hand, a holiday version on Hell's Bells of Christmas is straightforward. The as-advertised cover on The Rock-A-Billy Tribute to AC/DC is enjoyably bouncy.

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Rockabye Baby!)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Christmas version)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Rockabilly version)

Electronics and "Dirty Deeds" don't mix well. Buddha Lounge Renditions of AC/DC has a bhangra-style take that isn't too far from the "Macarena." 16 Volt turn in an industrial metal atrocity that so wants to be Nine Inch Nails. Even worse is the cover on 2005's Hip-Hop Tribute to AC/DC. It's just the song with the lyrics poorly rapped. Who greenlighted it???

Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Buddha Lounge)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (16 Volt)
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Hip-hop version)

Finally, parodies. Seattle radio personality Bob Rivers did a lovely piss-take called "Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep." Queercore icons Pansy Division didn't cover the song, but they spoofed the album's artwork on their Dirty Queers Don't Come Cheap 7".

Dirty Deeds Done With Sheep (Bob Rivers)

If you've gotten this far, you might as well download the whole shebang. You know you want to hear 54 minutes of "Dirty Deeds."

Metal Mixtape - Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap [79.0MB .zip]

Abacinate - Ruination

"Abacinate" is a real word, not just a Slayer lyric. It means to "blind by holding a red-hot metal plate before someone's eyes." New Jersey's Abacinate aren't quite so painful. In fact, they're quite pleasant. Ruination (Epitomite, 2008) is a death metal kaleidoscope of Carcass harmonies, Cannibal Corpse pick squeals, Suffocation breakdowns, rising Death licks, and even a snippet of Gothenburg melodies to which I'll turn a blind eye. The riffs are strong, and the grooves are infectious. One gets the sense the recording session was actually fun. Movie samples help in this regard. They're not as profuse as with Graf Orlock or Killwhitneydead, but they're good for a surprise or two. The production is perfect - heavy and steely. I'm not hot on death metal these days, but I've been playing this nonstop.

Six and Eight Hard (Nickel Each)
Sadist Misogynist

Ruination is available physically from Abacinate's MySpace, and digitally from Amazon.

Thanks to Dave Schalek for the recommendation.

Rob Halford & Pantera - Light Comes Out of Black

Speaking of Vinnie Paul, Pantera collaborated with Judas Priest's Rob Halford on a song for the soundtrack of 1992's Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. Now, all I know about Buffy is that she fucks up Google searches for the band Slayer (solution: type in "-buffy"). I've watched but half an episode of the TV show, which is evidently hardly related to the movie. But seeing as how the cast includes a young Hilary Swank, a pre-Punisher Tom Jane, Rutger Hauer, and Paul Reubens aka Pee-wee Herman, I just might have to rent it sometime.

Rob Halford & Pantera - Light Comes Out of Black

However, it would not be for the soundtrack. Stay far, far away. Any album with Toad the Wet Sprocket is DOA. I could give a toss about Susanna Hoffs and The Divinyls (not playing their one song). The C+C Music Factory song is bad, even for C+C Music Factory. Mary's Danish turn in a downright insulting cover of "I Fought the Law." The Cult and Matthew Sweet phone it in, though cult Canadian rappers Dream Warriors make a respectable, if completely unexpected, appearance. If you're curious what Ozzy Osbourne would sound like with Van Halen for a backing band, look no further.

The one bright spot is appropriately titled "Light Comes Out of Black." My two favorite sounds in the world are a woman's orgasm and a cat's purr. (An ex pointed out that they have the same name.) #3 is probably Rob Halford's voice. This song really isn't that special; it's just Pantera doing straightforward metal. But when Halford's voice comes in, I know everything will be all right. The guy could sing about mowing the lawn, and it would still sound epic.

In fact, he probably is singing about mowing the lawn. The lyrics seemingly string together random fortune cookies: "Light comes out of black / Stand and face the fear / Give him eye to eye / Walk the walk right here." If Halford's lyrics made sense, I wouldn't like him half as much. No other singer has a higher awesomeness of voice to awfulness of lyrics ratio. Well, Phil Anselmo comes close - and he conveniently shows up here to sing backups. The Halford + Pantera concept would turn into an actual band called Fight, but in 1992, it was merely background music for Kristy Swanson.

Meshuggah - obZen

Few things amuse me like watching people try to mosh to Meshuggah. At a recent show here in SF, a crew of guys took off their shirts and pushed past people to get to the pit. (Did they plan beforehand to take off their shirts? Like girls wearing matching outfits?) At first, they tried to "fuck shit up." But they quickly grew confused at Meshuggah's poly-limbed math meters. Meatheads standing shirtless, trying in vain to count past four: priceless.

Bleed
Combustion

Yet Meshuggah provoke a profound bodily response. People sway, nod their heads, or simply close their eyes. It's trance music in the true sense. The key is Tomas Haake, whom only Vinnie Paul rivals in steely precision and groove. Meshuggah cut through the testosterone bullshit that "groove" in metal usually entails, and tap into something truly primal. Yes, they're cerebral - but towards physical ends. Their sonic vice grips probably light up the same areas of my brain that addiction does. Like how certain psychedelic experiences weren't possible before synthesized drugs, Meshuggah couldn't have existed 30 years ago. They're that rare band for whom today's antiseptic, hyper-compressed production is perfectly appropriate.

"Bleed" is the metal song of the year so far. Its rapid-fire kicks and engine-like riffs recall Bad Company (the drum 'n' bass group, not the classic rock outfit). Whenever it starts up, my brain experiences something like a small orgasm. I also love the cyborg limp of a beat that Haake unleashes near the end. "Combustion" revisits Meshuggah's thrash beginnings, but with a muscular new chassis. This is exactly what thrash should be doing - moving forward, not engaging in the silly costume ball that's currently glutting the market.

Nuclear Blast sponsored a drumming competition for "Bleed." You can see the finalist videos here. They range from professional to extremely artsy. (One features a hand puppet; another, pots and pans.) Hearing people try to tackle Tomas Haake's foot work only highlights how insane the real thing is.

Tid - Bortom Inom

Swedes can bring the umlauts, too. Tid hail from Linköping (and Stockholm) and have a bassist named Björn, a guitarist named Söderberg, and songs titled "Synvända" and "Västanvind." I can't do much with the Swedish lyrics other than bask in the profusion of umlauts and cute little circles above the letter "a." (The one in Mikael Åkerfeldt's name is almost angelic.) And that artwork! It screams "'70s synth project." You had me at ELO.

Se

Tid don't bring progressive cheese, but psychedelic hardcore doom. That sounds like a bad MySpace description, but it's literally true. Bortom Inom is like a cross between Cave In's psychedelic pop period and their later return to heaviness. Spacy, gauzy tones alternate with huge, ball-dragging distortion, with midrange hardcore-ish screams. Tid evoke that Boston hardcore-gone-sludge vibe (Isis, Old Man Gloom, Zozobra), but more melodically; they're keen on bittersweet oscillations between major and minor thirds.

I don't understand why Tid aren't on Hydra Head yet with Technicolor all-over prints by Aaron Turner on white hoodies. This EP is godlike. "Se" is a towering edifice of "awesome." These four songs last almost half an hour, and almost make me want to start smoking weed. Best of all, this EP is free to download - in both MP3 and WAV versions, complete with artwork! Tid couldn't have packaged this gift more nicely. Do them and your ears a favor, and grab this EP here.

Azaghal - Omega

Azaghal have come a long way since their primitive 1999 full-length debut. They've sharpened their knives to the point that Omega (Moribund, 2008) evokes the same rush as when I first heard 1349 - storming, belt-fed black metal with riffs that flow like lava. The hyperspeed hook that starts "Tämän Maailman Prinssi" is neck-snapping. (I love how Finnish bands hand out umlauts like AOL CD's.) At 1:19, the riffs turn sad and epic, like Angelo Badalamenti scoring a war movie; trills then flick like forked tongues. I just used three straight similes, but this music leaves me little choice.

Tämän Maailman Prinssi
Kaikkinäkevän Silmän Alla

"Kaikkinäkevän Silmän Alla" carves Slayer trills before exploding in melodic ecstasy. My notes for "Vihani Raivoavina Valtamerinä": "another firefight of a blastbeat-palooza, some majestic Viking harmonies hidden in there." Phrygian modes rear their head, too; some riffs suggest Behemoth if they had stayed on the cusp between black and death metal. Lots of variation here - lilting 6/8's, blistering thrash, stomps that pound oaken staffs into the ground. What's with the silly artwork? It's like a conspiracy theory pamphlet. You can't win 'em all, but Azaghal come damn close.

Omega is available from Moribund, Relapse, and The End.

Nadja, Russian Circles

Nadja seem to have emptied their hard drive onto CD's, sent them out, and gotten signed to 10 labels simultaneously. By the end of 2008, they will have put out 15 releases in two years. That's too much. But it's about right if you consider each album as a song. Make one long ambient fuzzfest, divide it into tracks, call it an album - next! At Pitchfork, I've reviewed two recent Nadja reissues, Skin Turns to Glass and Bliss Torn from Emptiness. (The artwork for the latter is above.) I've also reviewed the new Russian Circles record.

Nadja - Bliss Torn from Emptiness (excerpt)
Russian Circles - Youngblood

Metal hockey fight songs

Illustration by Dan O'Connor For the glorious full-size original, click on the image

I love metal; I love hockey. The two should go together, right? Well, maybe. Darkest Hour recently threw together a fight song for the Washington Capitals that makes Ministry's for the Blackhawks sound like "Bohemian Rhapsody." Even for a fight song, it's moronic. Rehashed At the Gates riffs with unbearably repetitive chanting? Let's hope it's a one-timer. Pantera didn't do much better with "Punk-Off," their Dallas Stars fight song. But that rhythm section! The "Cowboys from Hell" quote is cute, too. In punk, The Boils made an EP devoted to the Flyers, and there's the Bruins-fonted Slapshot (though to my knowledge, they never made a Bruins-centric song). Someone get a metal fight song for the Atlanta Thrashers, stat!

Pantera - Punk-Off (Dallas Stars fight song)

In minor league hockey, Unearth recently wrote a fight song for the San Antonio Rampage. You can hear it here. Andrew W.K. also did a ditty for the Arizona Sundogs; see here.

Avsky - Malignant

The intro to "Fuck Your Values, Fuck Your Beliefs" is a direct throwback to Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath," heavy metal's big bang moment. Church bells toll over stark tritones, as iron boots trudge underneath. Eventually, the mid-paced slog of mid-period Darkthrone settles in. Most of Malignant (Moribund, 2008) is mid-paced, a refreshing change from black metal's usual blur. Avsky (Swedish for "disgust") understand that heavy requires slow, a principle that makes me prefer Darkthrone after their classic records. Blastbeats crop up occasionally, but otherwise this record is built for headbanging - see the huge, curmudgeonly hook that starts "The Filth." Yes, Malignant is derivative, down to its cover - see Ihsahn's The Adversary - but why mess with the template when one can perfect it? Darkthrone haven't sounded this caustic in years.

Fuck Your Values, Fuck Your Beliefs
The Filth

Malignant is available at Moribund, Relapse, and The End.

Angel Eyes - ...And for a Roof a Sky full of Stars

After being doused in NeurIsis/instru-metal/post-metal the past few years, I took a break from the genre for a while. Upon hearing Chicago's Angel Eyes, I realize my problem has been not with the message, but the messengers. This is exactly how this stuff should be done - smart, emotional, directed; none of this "eight minute songs for the sake of eight minute songs" nonsense. On their latest EP, Angel Eyes have a grand total of two tracks (which they didn't bother to name) sprawling across nearly 27 minutes.

One (excerpt)
Two (excerpt)

It's almost all gold. Angel Eyes are like if Mono were doomier, with hardcore screaming for vocals. The vocals are a little harsh for the material, but they mostly stay out of the way. Guitars are the meat here, with Mono-style tremolo picking and delicate melodies (even the EP's title is Mono-esque). But they also drop proper heaviness, balancing out the upper register. The riffs flow smoothly and subtlely; I'm amazed that musicians can keep it together so long, both compositionally and performance-wise. The EP comes in a cool cardboard sleeve with lyrics printed on the inside. I am burned out on this sound, but when it's done this well, it's still a joy to hear.

...And for a Roof is available for cheap at Underground Communique, No Idea, and Aquarius Records.

Members of Angel Eyes keep a blog here.

Brown Jenkins - Angel Eyes

The artists that speak most to me tend to speak ineffably. They convey feelings without names, gray areas between coarse distinctions like happiness and sadness. One of my favorite such feelings could be called "hollowness," though that's not fully descriptive. Dub reggae is hollow, for example, and doesn't always speak to me. Both sound and harmonic content have to embody this feeling. Successful instances: Prong, Beg to Differ and Prove You Wrong. Metallica, ...And Justice for All. Later Coroner. Godflesh, Pure - but not Streetcleaner, which is very "filled in."

Pale Conqueror
Angel Eyes

Godflesh as black metal might sound like Brown Jenkins. This Austin-based one-man outfit runs Godflesh's discordant open strings through creaky production. The cold goosestep rhythms come from Joy Division, though I also hear Killing Joke. I can't tell the songs apart, but no matter - the sound is so grippingly personal that I'm content to wallow in its frigid dirtbath. The growling is incomprehensible, and the promo came with no lyrics, yet this record chills my marrow. The triumph of sound over language is the apex of metal; however unconventionally, Brown Jenkins has hit it.

Angel Eyes is available from Moribund and The End.

Trapped in a 13th Floor Elevator

On October 15, 1999, starting at 11 pm, Nicholas White was trapped in an elevator for 41 hours. Although a surveillance camera captured this, security guards didn't notice. Above is footage of the entire time, greatly sped up. You see White fiddle with the buttons, try to escape out the top, and examine the contents of his wallet to kill time. His situation is Kafka-esque, most so when he opens the doors, only to be greeted by a wall. Sadly and understandably, he cracked from the experience. I highly recommend reading the full story at the New Yorker. You will learn a lot about elevators.

Terror Squad - Chaosdragon Rising

Throw NWOBHM, Voivod, Eddie Van Halen, and '70s prog into a blender, and you'd get Terror Squad. The Tokyo thrashers beat the NY rappers to the name by six years, but Chaosdragon Rising (Worldchaos, 2006) is the first I've heard from them. It blows me away. Any band that cites Bulldozer, Converge, and friggin' Jake E. Lee as influences deserves a look. The guitarists seemingly got their chops solely from '80s guitar magazines; they're probably well-versed in Steve Vai's work with David Lee Roth. They can do ripping thrash and even a little grindcore, but they also let loose jazz fusion licks that betray higher learning. At 1:45, "Helldozer" goes into straight-up '70s Rush - dig how the guitar harmonies blossom left and right - then says, "Fuck that" at 2:09 and returns to MC5 riffs. The singer even makes like Stooges-era Iggy Pop; "We Bite" also has Stooges-esque saxophone skronk. "Fight Forever," too, takes a prog breather before reloading its thrash machine gun. I haven't felt such raw, snotty energy since I heard Kill 'Em All. Bonus points for the most amazing album artwork I've seen in years - it's Hokusai gone metal. Each song has its own artwork (16 panels in total), and the whole thing feels like a Japanese comic book. You can see some of the images here.

Fight Forever
Helldozer

Chaosdragon Rising is available from The End.

Mono - Yearning

I have a yoga teacher who starts her classes with forced meditation. It's forced because nowadays, it's almost impossible for minds - mine, at least - to be still. She tells us to empty our minds, and makes us sit...and sit...and sit...and sit... Of course, my mind refuses to empty. In fact, it goes into overdrive. It's cold in here. I've got work to do. Why is this taking so long? By the end of meditation, I'm ready to leap out of my skin and strangle her.

Yearning

Mono can be like that. This Japanese band builds long, achingly patient songs. They're incredibly, and sometimes frustratingly, dynamic. Their quiet parts often can't cut through the din of everyday life, like office machinery and street noise. But if you turn up the quiet parts, you risk getting blown out by the loud parts. Classical recordings work this way, too.

Thus, Mono are best heard in isolation, either in headphones or live. They're loud, yet demand intimacy. I saw them open for Pelican; their mini-tornadoes of sound got lost in the huge concert hall. Later, I saw them open for High on Fire in a club, and they were brilliant. Such a pairing might seem odd, but Mono held their own.

"Yearning" shudderingly climaxed that set. Like most Mono songs, it started small. I knew where it was going - but that doesn't make cars headed for cliffs any less thrilling. After a bulbously pregnant pause, everything crashed in. It was a K.O. Hit between the eyes, I saw colors. Lights flashed, hair flew, balls shook. Mono kept swinging away, clawing at strings with black metallic heat. (Wolves in the Throne Room came to mind.) I was horripilating like crazy.

The studio version of "Yearning" on Gone: A Collection of EPs 2000-2007 ably captures this power. That's engineer Steve Albini saying, "You're rolling" at the beginning. Make time to sit still through its 15 minutes. It will reward your patience.

Gone is available from Relapse, Interpunk, and The End.

Hayaino Daisuki - Headbanger's Karaoke Club Dangerous Fire

Holy crap! This shit is insane! It's Jon Chang from Discordance Axis! Over '80s thrash and power metal! At twice the speed! Evidently, "Hayaino Daisuki" is Japanese for "I love speed"! I'd believe it! Only one guy in this band is Japanese! The guy from Mortalized! But their MySpace says they're from Kyoto! But Metal Archives says they're from Hoboken, NJ! Not nearly as glamorous! If Dragonforce played grindcore, it might sound like this! It's like drinking 10 Red Bulls! And washing them down with a Twinkie! It's a complete sugar rush! I can't stop listening to it! It's like those super-fast "TV" songs from Ministry! But four in a row! I've listened to this at least 10 times today! Easily! Not good for my high blood pressure! It's only $9 from Hydra Head! And $3.89 from Amazon digitally! Decibel described it as, "Slayer if the vocals sounded like the scream on 'Angel of Death' all the time"! That sold me instantly! You buy now, too!

Horobit Monogatari

Birushanah - Akai Yami

Birushanah are one of the stranger bands I've come across. Even at 924 Gilman St., an intimate venue that reduces icons to mortals, they puzzled me. Their setup consisted of drums, fretless bass, guitar, vocals, and makeshift oil drum percussion. Songs were long and intricate, yet seemingly randomly thrown together. Vocals teetered between yowling and singing. The two drum kits pounded out mighty unisons, yet I couldn't lock onto their grooves. Out of this din popped fretless bass slides and chords. It was one of those "what the hell was that" experiences that leave one vaguely pleased.

Akai Yami (excerpt)

Even in the isolation of my home, Birushanah still baffle me. "Doom" would be the closest genre. But with percussion having equal (if not greater) weight with guitar, Birushanah are nowhere near as heavy as fellow Osakians Corrupted. In staggering gait, Khanate could be a reference point, but Birushanah have more overt method behind the madness. Their trademark is subdividing eight-beat phrases into groups of three and five (13- and 17-beat phrases also crop up). The initial three feels familiar, as 3/4 time is common in metal. But the following five feels foreign; my body just doesn't move in 5/4.

In between these odd grooves are melodic bass mutterings and Japanese acoustic bits. I don't know much about traditional Japanese music, but those tonalities seem to dominate the riffing. I think I also heard a koto at one point. (You can play a virtual koto here, and a virtual shamisen here.) Even though Akai Yami sounds unstructured, it's actually tightly scripted. After a short intro, two massive tracks chew up 20 and 17 minutes, respectively. The tracks are more like suites, with discrete passages adding up to a whole. It's rare that a band so organically melds its native sounds with metal.

Akai Yami is available from Level Plane, Relapse, and Interpunk.