(written by Islander)
“The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft agley”. Once again those immortal words of Robert Burns come to mind on this Saturday. I’m not thinking of our regime’s war plans in Iran, because they clearly weren’t “best laid”. No, I’m thinking of my own plans for this roundup of new music, which were extensive but then doomed by my own misbehavior last night and the steep price paid for them this morning (I’m not in jail or a hospital, and I’ll just leave it at that to avoid further embarrassment).
I gave serious thought to just abandoning all plans, but decided that a feeble effort late in the day would be better than none at all, so I made four choices that I hope you’ll enjoy (the music is most definitely not feeble, and the selections will provide something of a musical roller-coaster ride as you make your way through them).
OLD MOON (U.S.)
I’ve been meaning to get to this Portland (OR) band’s new music for weeks, and finally did. Two songs from their new album Home To Nowhere are now available for listening, one released as a single last fall (“Obsidian“) and one released this past January (“A Rest To My Name“). Both songs were also the subject of videos which I’ve included below (note that the video for the earlier song doesn’t include the track’s extended symphonic introduction).
The lyrics of the more recent song are particularly haunting. They arrive after un-voiced words on the video screen that are maybe even more soul-sinking. Those words appear as a strange, ethereal melody unfolds, itself haunting. The band gradually introduce a grim low-end throb, heavily pounding drums, viciously gritty snarls, wild howls, caustic screams, and dismally pealing guitars.
The song’s desolating intensity continues to build toward a fever pitch of flickering fretwork, hurtling drums, and wailing melody, drenching the listener in moods of staggering anguish before letting us go in a reprise of the opening’s lonely piano keys.
By comparison, “Obsidian” is immediately more hard-charging, with bounding beats that get muscles moving, and it formidably braids together musical and vocal expressions of fury, torment, agony, and depression. Darting keyboards and mysterious, exotic fretwork melodies provide attractive accents, and the screaming vocal intensity is striking. The song is every bit as multi-faceted and compelling as the more recent one.
Home To Nowhere will be released by M-Theory Audio on May 8th.
https://oldmoonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/home-to-nowhere
https://www.facebook.com/oldmoon.om
A PREGNANT LIGHT (U.S.)
This next song, the solo work of Damian Master, was released about two weeks ago as a standalone single. In introducing it at Bandcamp he makes references to Manilla Road and Iron Maiden, “as well as nods to the speedy harmonized riffing of X Japan and Rotting Christ“. More than any other song I chose today, this one made me glad I woke up, when my un-well body and clouded head were insisting I shouldn’t have bothered.
“New Jack Swing” is, in a word, glorious — a glorious divergence from APL’s usual musical proclivities. Above galloping drums the riffing and keys ecstatically blaze, vividly dart, and joyously scream (Master furiously screams his heart out too).
There’s fight in the music as well, and a phase that comes across as grim determination, like backs against the wall, while bright tones flicker and then wail. With big drums booming the fires blaze and spark again as Master packs in a plethora of piercing, high-energy riffs and a soaring falsetto voice to create an electrifying finale.
https://colloquialsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/new-jack-swing
http://instagram.com/DAMIANMASTER
https://www.facebook.com/apregnantlight/
FYRNASK (Germany)
The next song, “Í Munnlausri Dýrð“, is the second single from Fyrnask’s new album Íosir, which will be released by Ván Records at some point later this month (there have been pressing plant delays). I shared some thoughts about the first single here in December.
In this new song the music furiously thunders and brilliantly sweeps and sears, but it also becomes powerfully menacing, frighteningly perilous, and dauntingly dismal in its feeling. The intensity is almost overpowering, and thus Fyrnask wisely include a more dreamlike and drifting phase — though even that experience is scary. The song startles in other ways too, including the vocals soaring from beastly snarls into extravagant yells.
The snow-bound and blood-spattered video is a captivating narrative as well; the diabolical lighting of the hooded Fyrnd’s face as he savagely snarls the lyrics is especially well-chosen.
https://fyrnask.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/Fyrnask
DELIVERANCE (France)
The name of the forthcoming fourth album by Deliverance is intriguing: The Voyager Golden Banquet. Their past music has usually been intriguing too, and so is the first single revealed from the new album.
“The Banquet – part 1” is the peunultimate song on this record’s space odyssey, with Part 2 bringing the interstellar excursion to a close. The band explain: “The Banquet Part 1 allows us to see the light at the end of the tunnel, inspiring strength and hope to continue this journey that may not be over…”
What an interesting song this is! It does create sonic visions of cosmic mystery and wonder, but it also rumbles very heavily (the bass is a huge presence throughout) and viciously cracks the percussive whip, and the vocals are unhinged in the furious maliciousness of their gritty howls — though as in Fyrnask’s song they also extravagantly soar.
When the pacing turns into a stomping march, the riffing inflicts a dissonant, blaring, head-hooking throb, paving the way to a piercing, quivering, mind-warping keyboard solo (at least I think it’s a keyboard!) that brings the song to very trippy but also hard-hitting close.
The new album will be released by Les Acteurs de l’Ombre on May 22nd.
https://ladlo.bandcamp.com/album/the-voyager-golden-banquet
https://www.lesacteursdelombre.net/product-category/preorders/
https://www.facebook.com/deliveranceband/