Shotgun Sawyer - Shotgun Sawyer (Ripple Music) [Rich Piva]
Look, I could write 2000 words on why the new Shotgun Sawyer record rules and is an album of the year finalist for sure.I could talk about how lead man Dylan Jarman has figured it out, well, as much as anyone could, facing demons, pressures, and outside forces that threatened to interrupt or even end making them music he loves. I could talk about how the band he has put together for the new, self-titled record is exactly what he feels he needed to make the album he wanted to.
Virtual Symmetry are a Progressive (with just a tinge of Power) Metal outfit based in Switzerland, which was started by Italian multi-instrumentalist Valerio Æsir Villa back in 2014. They’ve been cranking the handle fairly constantly ever since, with Veils Of Illumination being their fourth full length in a discography peppered with a couple of live nuggets and the odd EP.
It’s a beefy piece of work, with the likes of Dream Theater being a clear influence, particularly with regards to the interplay between Villa and keysman Ruben Paganelli and their giving in to the temptation of taking on 21-minute epics (as if an album full of 8-minute pieces wasn’t enough). This isn’t meant unpleasantly – they do it very well, but this isn’t a band or a record for the casual inattentive product of the Tik-Tok generation.
And thank you for that gentleman, because personally I love this sort of thing. If a band is going to take the time to craft, weave, interweave and layer their music as richly as this, then the listener deserves to spend the equivalent time that it takes to reverse that process and peel back that subtlety. Sadly, when there’s a huge reviewing queue, us unpaid scribes don’t always get that opportunity, which is why I know I’m going to be coming back to this one.
The band are a very cohesive entity, and vocalist Marco Pastorino has a broad, powerful and extensive range on him that holds the attention throughout. These songs are rich, complex but fluid and the musicianship really shines out. There is a temptation to throw in a few overt prog technical flourishes, but this sort of music has the core of its market in people who appreciate (and quite often play) this sort of thing.
They can be punchy and catchy – Altar Of The Self or Canvas Of Souls are good, more accessible routes in, with the whopping and appropriately named, given the meandering routes the arrangement takes before Eightfold Path closes the record out (a track which confirms my deeply held belief that most of these epic lengthy beasts start life as separate song ideas and end up being truncated together). Either way it works, and it looks like I’ve another back catalogue to drink deeply of. 8/10
Citizend - The Spiral EP (Majestic Mountain Records) [Rich Piva]
One of the things that makes Majestic Mountain Records one of my favourite labels is that they don’t stick to the same formula for all the bands they work with. Yes, you get riffs all day long and freaking Kal-El, but the label is not afraid to go in a different direction every now and then. Case in point, The Spiral EP by Citizend, a duo out of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Instead of hearing it from me, their bio on their Bandcamp page sums up their direction very well: “Citizend draws inspiration from a wide mix of genres and artists, where Americana and grunge boldly meet post-rock, stoner, and metal”.
This is clearly one of those records whose appeal grows with each repeated spin (although if you are listening to this on a streaming platform, I don’t recommend rotating your device in the manner I’m suggesting). If you like a bit of Anathema at their best, with a bit of melodic Doom then this is going to tick a lot of your boxes. 8/10
How the new drummer and expert recording engineer Cody Tarbell (of Westing and other cool bands) brought what Dylan calls the perfect drum sound to the equation (confirmed). How Dylan’s writing and playing has been taken to the next level for a multitude of reasons.
How the heavy blues rock that makes up the eight (or so) tracks on the record are both expertly executed and super deep and personal from a lyrical perspective. How the album cover, while on the surface seems just like a picture of Dylan that people question if it was a joke, has a much deeper and cooler reasoning behind it. How the band sounds like it is having so much fun playing together and is producing music that they truly love and can stand proudly by.
How even the “hidden” track is, to me, is what new, modern-day blues, should be all about. How the two cover songs chosen for the record show what Dylan is all about musically and his passion for the Blues and all the musicians that built up his love for the genre. How the track Isidur's Bane is ten minutes of blues rock perfection.
How I can listen to Shotgun Sawyer’s version of heavy blues rock on this record ten times in a row and would not get sick of it (I have and I didn’t). I could write about all of this and you could read it, but I would prefer you put on the record and let the blues take you away and burrow into your soul.
This is one of the most real and profound albums I have heard in a long time. I love this record, and you should too. 10/10
Virtual Symmetry - Veils Of Illumination (Independent) [Simon Black]Virtual Symmetry are a Progressive (with just a tinge of Power) Metal outfit based in Switzerland, which was started by Italian multi-instrumentalist Valerio Æsir Villa back in 2014. They’ve been cranking the handle fairly constantly ever since, with Veils Of Illumination being their fourth full length in a discography peppered with a couple of live nuggets and the odd EP.
It’s a beefy piece of work, with the likes of Dream Theater being a clear influence, particularly with regards to the interplay between Villa and keysman Ruben Paganelli and their giving in to the temptation of taking on 21-minute epics (as if an album full of 8-minute pieces wasn’t enough). This isn’t meant unpleasantly – they do it very well, but this isn’t a band or a record for the casual inattentive product of the Tik-Tok generation.
And thank you for that gentleman, because personally I love this sort of thing. If a band is going to take the time to craft, weave, interweave and layer their music as richly as this, then the listener deserves to spend the equivalent time that it takes to reverse that process and peel back that subtlety. Sadly, when there’s a huge reviewing queue, us unpaid scribes don’t always get that opportunity, which is why I know I’m going to be coming back to this one.
The band are a very cohesive entity, and vocalist Marco Pastorino has a broad, powerful and extensive range on him that holds the attention throughout. These songs are rich, complex but fluid and the musicianship really shines out. There is a temptation to throw in a few overt prog technical flourishes, but this sort of music has the core of its market in people who appreciate (and quite often play) this sort of thing.
They can be punchy and catchy – Altar Of The Self or Canvas Of Souls are good, more accessible routes in, with the whopping and appropriately named, given the meandering routes the arrangement takes before Eightfold Path closes the record out (a track which confirms my deeply held belief that most of these epic lengthy beasts start life as separate song ideas and end up being truncated together). Either way it works, and it looks like I’ve another back catalogue to drink deeply of. 8/10
Citizend - The Spiral EP (Majestic Mountain Records) [Rich Piva]
One of the things that makes Majestic Mountain Records one of my favourite labels is that they don’t stick to the same formula for all the bands they work with. Yes, you get riffs all day long and freaking Kal-El, but the label is not afraid to go in a different direction every now and then. Case in point, The Spiral EP by Citizend, a duo out of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Instead of hearing it from me, their bio on their Bandcamp page sums up their direction very well: “Citizend draws inspiration from a wide mix of genres and artists, where Americana and grunge boldly meet post-rock, stoner, and metal”.
I would say the five tracks on the EP lean more towards the first two genres listed with touches of the latter, creating a much needed, more chill experience from all the riffs that are constantly coming at us on a daily basis but not without some heavy that everyone needs. Piano and acoustic strumming greets you on the opener, The Beginner.
This is all about atmosphere, with the synths and strings swirling all around the sparse piano and understated background vocals. The sound does get louder, but not in a here’s a crunching riff sort of way. More like the ocean calm until suddenly a big wave hits the beach, but then quickly dissipates and we are calm again.
This is all about atmosphere, with the synths and strings swirling all around the sparse piano and understated background vocals. The sound does get louder, but not in a here’s a crunching riff sort of way. More like the ocean calm until suddenly a big wave hits the beach, but then quickly dissipates and we are calm again.
Down is the real full first track, where the vocals join us along with some nice dark rock as some serious Nick Cave vibes are present. There is some heaviness to this one and the way the electric guitar joins the fray is awesome. Bands like Firewater and Murder By Death come to mind here as well.
There is a subtle twang to the songs on The Spiral where you can hear where the description picked up the Americana, but the grunge is present too when the guys decide to bring the crunch with the perfect soft loud soft formula. This formula continues on Grinding Bones which turns up the creepy factor too, but in an undertaker from the 1860s Oklahoma sort of way. I get the post-rock thing on this one too, especially during the “chorus”.
Drowning continues the path towards total oblivion, as the songs seem to get darker and darker and I get a Joy Division thing going on here during the louder parts, which is always welcomed. There could not be a more aptly named closer in End Of The World, which stays mostly in the Nick Cave/Murder By Death territory, a perfect way to close. I love what happens around the 2:30 mark. Such a great ending to a really cool EP.
Citizend bring a much-needed respite from the usual heavy we are exposed to. If you are looking for something more chill and darker Americana but still heavy in multiple different ways, you are going to really enjoy The Spiral EP. 8/10
The Old Dead Tree - Second Thoughts (Season Of Mist) [Simon Black]
The Old Dead Tree have been around on and off since the turn of the millennium. This French dark Prog outfit had a notable run in the noughties after a challenging start but ran out of steam in 2008 leaving their fourth album uncompleted.
Drowning continues the path towards total oblivion, as the songs seem to get darker and darker and I get a Joy Division thing going on here during the louder parts, which is always welcomed. There could not be a more aptly named closer in End Of The World, which stays mostly in the Nick Cave/Murder By Death territory, a perfect way to close. I love what happens around the 2:30 mark. Such a great ending to a really cool EP.
Citizend bring a much-needed respite from the usual heavy we are exposed to. If you are looking for something more chill and darker Americana but still heavy in multiple different ways, you are going to really enjoy The Spiral EP. 8/10
The Old Dead Tree - Second Thoughts (Season Of Mist) [Simon Black]
The Old Dead Tree have been around on and off since the turn of the millennium. This French dark Prog outfit had a notable run in the noughties after a challenging start but ran out of steam in 2008 leaving their fourth album uncompleted.
There’s been semi-revivals live since, until the band surprise dropped an EP of material from the cancelled album in 2019, at which point Covid messed everyone’s plans up. Apparently, they were intending to do a farewell show mor recently, and had written a new track especially for this before surprising everyone once more by switching tack and going for broke with a full-length album instead. And here we are…
I had not come across them previously, but I have to say they’ve got my attention now. A lot of Prog has a tendency to sacrifice mood in favour of technical proficiency, yet first and foremost this bunch know how to craft a deeply moody and emotive delivery of the kind that works at a foundational level. Yes, they come from the metal scene, but the haunting Alternative vibe to Manuel Munoz's vocals along with the strong sense of structure and building melody is going to have a much wider appeal.
Unusually for the style although the overall run time is a beefy fifty-five minutes, each of the fourteen tracks keeps things succinct and nothing outstays its welcome. The other thing that surprised me was the sheer variety here. Stylistically this sort of thing can get repetitive, distracting everyone with lots of technical flourishes, but each and ever song on here is distinct from its fellows, and they mostly all stand well on their own. It’s like a good Devin Townsend release – clearly the same artist, but the depth and breadth of their skills stand out and don’t bore the listener.
I had not come across them previously, but I have to say they’ve got my attention now. A lot of Prog has a tendency to sacrifice mood in favour of technical proficiency, yet first and foremost this bunch know how to craft a deeply moody and emotive delivery of the kind that works at a foundational level. Yes, they come from the metal scene, but the haunting Alternative vibe to Manuel Munoz's vocals along with the strong sense of structure and building melody is going to have a much wider appeal.
Unusually for the style although the overall run time is a beefy fifty-five minutes, each of the fourteen tracks keeps things succinct and nothing outstays its welcome. The other thing that surprised me was the sheer variety here. Stylistically this sort of thing can get repetitive, distracting everyone with lots of technical flourishes, but each and ever song on here is distinct from its fellows, and they mostly all stand well on their own. It’s like a good Devin Townsend release – clearly the same artist, but the depth and breadth of their skills stand out and don’t bore the listener.
This is clearly one of those records whose appeal grows with each repeated spin (although if you are listening to this on a streaming platform, I don’t recommend rotating your device in the manner I’m suggesting). If you like a bit of Anathema at their best, with a bit of melodic Doom then this is going to tick a lot of your boxes. 8/10
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