(written by Islander)
On behalf of all of us here, we wish you a Happy Monday. Actually, that’s mainly wishful thinking. Some of my colleagues may hope your Monday is as miserable as theirs is. But either way, we hope to make you happier with the following Part 3 of the ongoing Most Infectious Song list. (To see the other Parts and to understand what this list is about, go here.)
HIGH ON FIRE
I was immediately floored ten months ago by the video directed by Lars Kristoffer Hormander for High On Fire‘s “Burning Down.” Back then I couldn’t find any details about how he made it, and I haven’t looked for details since then, but it’s still just fucking stunning to watch it.
photo by James Rexroad
The song was (and still is) damned good too, from the primal appeal of the infernally pulsating and weirdly woozy riffage to the gut-busting punch of the rhythms, from the intensity of Matt Pike‘s raw and ragged yowl to the tripped-out wildness of his extended soloing. The bubbling bass-lines are damned sweet too. And, as I wrote after first hearing it, “the experience is as infectious as chlamydia, so be sure to wear protection when you listen.”
“Burning Down” is from High On Fire‘s 2024 album Cometh the Storm. It was released last April by MNRK Heavy. It’s an easy choice for this song list.
https://highonfire.ffm.to/comeththestorm
https://www.facebook.com/highonfire
MANDROID OF KRYPTON
I had the good fortune last November of getting to premiere this Swiss band’s third album, Cosmic Sarcophagus. In my accompanying review I made abundantly clear how much fun I think the album is — how ingenious and adventurous, how eccentric yet viscerally compelling it is. It’s a musical shapeshifter of a high order.
The first song I heard before diving into the album as a whole was a single they released called “The Waltz of Death.” It grabbed me fast and hung on. Proof of its addictiveness is how often I’ve returned to it even though I spend the vast majority of my time listening to new things.
It’s a high-powered, dirty-toned gut punch, heavy as hell and ferociously mauling, thrashing and lividly throbbing, with a crazed lead-guitar squirming in the midst of electrifying drumwork and big doses of primally compulsive riffage. And the vocals are amazing — wild and raw, a high gritty howl just on the bleeding edge of igniting.
https://www.mtaf-records.com/en
https://mandroidofkrypton.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/mandroidofkrypton
https://www.instagram.com/mandroidofkrypton
ACID MAGUS
The cover art for this South African band’s 2024 single, “Emperor,” hasn’t worn out its welcome since it first seized the attention of some of us here last November. It’s still amazing, something like a vision of a long-dead conquistador reanimated and rising up from its watery tomb, transfixed by a ghostly moth shrouded in smoky vapors. (Credit for this hand-drawn piece goes to Tyrone Le Roux-Atterbury.) The song has stayed with me too.
Acid Magus brand their music “Garage doom on shrooms”, but this new song turned out to be gut-punching and bone-bruising in its grooves and both abrasively scathing and heavily heaving in its riffage, and the strident, sky-high vocals (yes, singing!) are terrific.
The song’s scary intensity grows, and becomes harrowing. The bass thunders; the whirring guitars sear; the drums clobber and cavort; the vocals near the screaming line. After that crescendo, a baritone saxophone or a guitar tuned to sound like one dismally wails, but those tremendous vocals get the last word (or nearly so) way up in the rafters.
“Emperor” was the second single released from this Pretoria band’s forthcoming third studio album. I have a feeling the album will be officially announced very soon.
https://acidmagus.bandcamp.com/track/emperor
https://facebook.com/acidmagus
https://www.instagram.com/acidmagus