Spirit Mother - Trails (Heavy Psych Sounds) [Rich Piva]
Spirit Mother is a US based dark psychedelic rock band that has been off my radar somehow until now, thanks to Heavy Psych Sounds bringing us their new album, Trials. Spirit Mother is full of atmosphere, with their swirling guitars, psych folk leanings, and full-time violin player leading that charge.
There is a shoegaze vibe I get too, with some serious 90s influence ala bands like Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, Slowdive, and maybe even very early Smashing Pumpkins. Band member SJ not only brings the violin to the party, as her haunting female background vocals partnered with Armand lead voice adds something even more ethereal to the ten songs on Trials, bringing a unique sound to the usual stable of HPS bands and a fresh take on some of the bands mentioned, with the Spirit Mother twist.
Trails opens up with the instrumental intro, Passage, that sets up for what the atmosphere of this record is going to be all about; dark, brooding, but not without some light via the psych guitar and the gorgeous background vocals. The riff on the first full track, the title track, reminds me of the band Walin’ Storms, but Spirit Mother are a bit more contained than Walin’ Storms, as this track is darker and more beautiful rather than frantic and urgent. I love what the violin brings to this track and across the record. Veins is in the same, but brings the 90s alt more to the table. There is a lot of this on Trials, which I am very here for. The layered vocals on this song are just great, and the band picks up that urgency I mentioned earlier and brings their version of heavy on this one, but never losing that atmosphere they have built.
Emerald is a rocker in Swervedriver territory, which of course, rules, but maybe just a bit chunkier than that legendary band. The middle part when it gets all noisy reminds me of something from Verve’s A Storm In Heaven, but again, Spirit Mother rocks more. Below slows it down, leverages SJs background vocals, and really screams 90s goodness. I love how the guitar and violin pair up and the guitar work in general on this one. Tonic is all about the violin and riffs, bringing me back to the Walin’ Storms comparisons with those more urgent vocals.
I love when the band throws in these vibes, creating an excellent yin and yang effect to the running order of the ten tracks. Vessel is my favourite track as it has the quickest pace and has the band at their most rocking and shows they can bring the riffs when they want to. Voyeur is in the same category. Given, on the other hand, is an acoustic driven track that is a bit spooky with the haunting vocals and violin ever-present. The closer, Wolves, starts out acoustically but launches into straight up 90s alt/shoegaze goodness that would make any fan of that genre and time very pleased.
The 90s vibe is strong on Trials, not just musically but overall, (all the song titles are all one word, sound familiar?) but never is Spirit Mother a parody of that time in music. The band, via their psych and heavy folk leanings, male lead and female background vocals, and soft and atmospheric but heavy when they want to be direction, create an excellent record that is not your usual offering from Heavy Psych Sounds. Good stuff. 8/10
Agrypnie - Erg (AOP Records) [Mark Young]
Erg is the latest full-length release from Agrypnie, the post-black metal duo of Torsten and Flo, who between them have been incredibly busy since their inception in 2004, with erg their 7th album. Post-black metal is somewhat new to me, but I have to say that this is quite an experience. A good one at that.
Aus Rauchlosem Feuer (ft. Phil Crone – Secrets of the Moon) explodes into a wall of sound. The fury is there, distilled by the drums whilst the guitar carves out its melodic path. It carries the same kind of approach that Heretoir has, in those ringing chords and it sounds mint. I had some misgivings at first, with that slowly developing start but that soon disappeared. The confidence in having the two opening tracks coming in at 7 minutes a piece is amazing. Meer Ohne Wasser is slower, more focused but still has those mint guitar lines ringing through.
There is some magical stuff on this one, and already its shaping up to be one of those releases that you return to. Their build is just solid, a heady mix of apocalyptic assault and melody that permeates and creates a high bar for them to follow. In terms of following, Sturm (ft. Hupogrammos) comes in as this raw, almost primeval attack that evokes traditional black metal patterns. The drumming on this is just top-notch. Flo, possesses a supernatural touch and skill, putting fills in amongst the blasts. The drums provide a lot of support here, constantly moving and pushing forward and they are a delight.
Blut is a two-part journey, and to me provides the first misstep. Part 1 is presented as an instrumental and is fine within the larger context but feels like they put the brakes on the momentum built so far. For me I don’t believe it makes the album any better for its inclusion and Part 2, if it had been on its own would have kept that momentum going. It does its level best to kick on and drag you along with it, the melody is there, the drumming but it now feels like it is on the back foot. Entität rights that almost straight away. With double bass firing like a minigun spitting bullets into the jungle of Val Verde, its like a controlled demolition as they pepper your ears whilst Torsten offers an almost subtle arrangement, of those ringing chords and keys.
This is them leaving Blut in the distance, it is glorious, the choice of melody lines used is just spot on, and they manage to combine heaviness and clarity at the same time. It’s something they continue to do, mining a rich seam of inspiration with Stunde Des Wolfes going for the throat now with a newfound urgency in their attack, mixing up-tempo for the guitar parts, knowing when to speed up and when to drop that speed off. The speed parts are always welcome, but the songs fly when they are using those ringing lines whilst the drums are taking off. Keeping the speed picking to a minimum makes you sit up and listen to what is actually happening in the song and there is a lot going on here. I was getting ready to write off Geister as another instrumental until Torsten kicks in half-way through, offering more tortured vocals amongst another solid arrangement.
Their final track, Unter Sand is where they bring it all together, and is the album distilled into one track. It has everything – the speed, melody, the clarity of the guitars, all pulled in to make an irresistible final track. It has an energy to it that belies its length, and it doesn’t lose any of its intensity from the moment it starts to the moment it finishes. That intensity is something that can be attributed to the album, each track grabs you and makes you listen, demanding your attention. The only gripe was the instrumental at the start of Blut, others may find it engaging but for me it was unnecessary, and it’s a minor thing especially when you have a collection of songs as good as this. 8/10
Eddie & The Wolves – Tasty Sin (Revolver Records) [Liam Williams]
Jade/Sanctuarium - The Sempiternal Wound (Pulverised Records) [James Jackson]
Up first are Jade, offering three of the five songs featured upon The Sempiternal Wound and their tracks, Third Creation, Cascade and Essential Formulas For Life Transition are probably more in line with a Melodic Death Metal style of songwriting than outright Death Metal, for while the trademarks of Death Metal are in full flow there’s a dramatic air to the songs, Cascade has a particularly interesting and memorable intro, a refrain which is later repeated to great effect.
Jade have a great sound, the songs are layered and composed with no small amount of detail and emotion, big riffs supported by an assault of drums allows the more melodic elements to weave themselves together perfectly and whilst I’m not a huge fan of the endless growled vocals, there is enough raw emotion bleeding through that it all feels so very right.
Sanctuarium are more on the Doom spectrum than their co hosts upon this EP, the proof of which is seen in the duration of their first track, Recomposition Of Carbonised Corpses, a title you’d expect more from Carcass than a Doom Metal band. The equally lengthy track Malodorous Osteophagy in Acrimony follows and both tracks are prime examples of raw, earthy Death/Doom; the chugging riffs, guttural vocals and melodic leads, for me it’s much in the vein of early My Dying Bride.
There’s not a lot to get into with only two tracks but musically it’s a pretty solid affair with my only gripe being the vocal style and levels, it’s low in the mix and more often than not sounding heavily echoed.
Overall a pretty impressive album though Jade most definitely has more of a draw for me. 7/10
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