Now that my head has stopped swimming… Last Friday I saw Grayceon, Drain the Sky, and Birushanah play at Annie's Social Club. I had about 4 hours of sleep the night before, thanks to the Game Developers Conference and its various parties and social events, and was feeling quite somnambulant on my way to the venue. Thankfully, the droning, ambient thunder of Drain the Sky was the perfect match for my state of mind; and I could just stand off to the side of the stage, soaking in the aural deluge. My only regret is that I was too tired to bring along my camera, so I have no photos of the event. Afterwards, I picked up their recent debut album, Haunted by Rivers (they also have a 12-inch EP out, Introduction to the Past). First off, the format could not be more perfect. The whole thing comes wrapped in your standard 12-inch gate-fold record sleeve, displaying the muddily beautiful artwork of bassist Carl Auge. Inside, the package contains both (blue) vinyl and CD versions of the album, satisfying both the audiophiles and punk purists desire for a near-obsolete format, and saving me the trouble of downloading the mp3's to burn a portable version for my discman; all for a measly sum of eleven bucks. As for the music… both the guitar, played by George Wunderlich, and bass pluck haunting melodies amidst sparse vocals ranging from clean, but raspy whispers to deep, hoarse shouting and desperate screams (contributed by all members of the band), all of which evokes walking through an unfamiliar forest in the deep of night, with only the light of the moon breaking through the trees occasionally to light the way. When the music does kick into overdrive, it doesn't so much build up slowly in an epic fashion as it does trip over the thick kudzu vines, stumbling headfirst into the raging, titular river. The whole album aims to fill the listener with a general sense of unease, aided significantly by the shifting time-signatures and unusual, complex rhythms provided by drummer Jason Willer; with beats popping up unexpectedly, or absent from places they should seem to be. At some points the meter repeats, not in a familiar 4/4 time, but more like that of a needle skipping across a record, playing the same part over and over, but cutting off abruptly each time. The uncomfortableness reaches its peak with a voice-over recording accompanying the antepenultimate track, spouting conspiracy theory; where the listener has no choice but to ask themselves if the band actually believes what is being claimed, or if it was included just to add to the atmosphere of tension… and to wonder what life would be like if such things were really true. And why does our money have that pyramid with the eye on it, anyway? http://www.alexkerfoot.com/2008/02/28/now-that-my-head-has-stopped-swimming/ Alex Kerfoot http://www.alexkerfoot.com/
Somewhere between the burly, sledgehammer beating of the legendary His Hero is Gone, the epic violin swept crust punk of Crimes Against Humanity Records' criminally underrated Remains of the Day and the boiling escalating heat of Neurosis (think from Souls at Zero up until Through Silver in Blood) lies the crippling debut album from Oakland, California's Drain the Sky.
While DTS doesn't have a violin player, they still bring back fond memories of Remains of the Day in terms of stretching the boundaries of how murderous, cutthroat punk can find peace in a sea of tribal percussion and hypnotic distortion.
Drain the Sky waste no time in getting their point across with foul, diseased air creeping up from the bowels of the Earth in the apocalyptic drone n' lull of the title track; the first waypoint of our descent into madness. Repetitively entrancing instrumental noise wafts beneath a strained, serial killer form of singing. In fact the DTS kick-off track doesn't incorporate a single bit of booming heaviness into its palette instead choosing to seethe with a malevolent ugliness which remains beautiful throughout. All of this brooding peacefulness is shattered with the tribal drum rumble, overdriven noise and vomit-laced vocals that begin "Sightless." DTS prove themselves to be above cloning technology with a crusty bleakness that dances across boiling pools of nimble, fill-driven jazziness and menacing plunges into a well of surprisingly agile, white-knuckle punk rage. Crushing riffs unfold with emotional, melodic weight that beautifully contrasts the nerve wrenching vocal abuse making for a smashing foray into the twisted, turning world of DTS.
The ill-at-ease ghost of HHIG strikes full-bore for the throat with the speeding bullet smash n' crash of "Concrete Memories", which sees the band planting one foot in circle-pit insanity and the other in an intricate maze of mystical vulnerability. In other words; extreme, brazen hatred morphs into introspective, multi-layered hatred with rhythms snaking in and out of punk and post-doom complimented by a two-headed vocal attack that puts the final nail in your coffin.
Flow is a key word all throughout this collection of songs as I couldn't even tell "Concrete Memories" had come to an end and we're introduced to the haunting guitar ambience, tribal percussion crunch and lush bass frequencies of "Starving in Time"; perhaps the band's defining moment. Here they leave the vocals in the lurch, allowing the entire unit to conjure up a muscular wall of sound that draws you in invitingly with each rising accentuation of the instruments. Finally, they are fed up with the subtleties and unleash a ruthless nailbiter of a conclusion that maxes out the distortion to the breaking point with teeth-through-tongue vocal anxiety spewing out simple but pivotal lyric fragments.
DTS are at their most captivating on the 7+ minute album centerpiece, "A Fragile Mind"; a literal monster of heaving audio tidal waves capsizing a deep sea liner. Sorrowful, nearly rocked out post-doom riffs create an atmosphere more foreboding than anything that your average spacious, crush metal outfits are even remotely capable of. Sleazy, down and out vocals bring the crust elements to the forefront of the song about midway through and create a truly dangerous element not found in your Isis, Neurosis and Cult of Luna copycats. The neat thing is that the rhythmic playing beneath said vocals is downright jazzy and not typical at all. Then just when you think they'll continue to beat you into submission with their mellow yet edgy tendencies, DTS steamrolls your mind with a barrage of glacial heft that is akin to a big chunk of ice pummeling through your cranium.
Also on par with the might of, "A Fragile Mind" is the skin-peeling punishment delivered by, "The Spoils of Doctrine". Shredding your mind first with a HHIG anti-everything bellow the band shifts into more disturbing waters with those sleazy, spoken vocals riding the crest of Wormwood's strangest, most hypnotizing quirks.
Haunted by Rivers is a flat-out winner in my book and establishes DTS as a band that has a helluva lot more to do than rehash all of the droning, post-metal outfits out there. These guys travel their own crooked path bringing in the full-throttle fury of crust-punk. Think the above named bands in addition to other crust-doom-melodic outfits such as Wormwood, Wake up on Fire and Squalora. DTS are epic but they aren't catering to the genre's norms. Instead they are crafting something completely sinister that still knows its way around a good hook and a majestic drone. Who says "post" influenced material can't take a bazooka to your skull these days. One of the best bands to do this kind of stuff since the unrelenting Wake up on Fire walked the Earth. Haunted by Rivers is well worth your hard earned dollar and should appeal to all of you that crave something a bit out of the ordinary. They're a bit crust, a bit towering post-metal and a hair of thunderous doom…and all good for anyone willing to give 'em a chance. Oh yeah…I hate the word "post" more than ever in recent times but what are you going to do. Moral of the story is that DTS are light years ahead of anything with the "post" label and much heavier, edgier, sleazier and emotional. Check 'em out! Visit the Level Plane website at www.level-plane.com
Drain the Sky - Haunted by Rivers
By Jay Snyder
October 30, 2008
(http://www.hellridemusic.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18733)
