Blasted Caskets & Fallon Gallons

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:26):
Good morning, rockers, or afternoonwherever, whatever time you were choosing to
enjoy this podcast. This is that'snot mettal and today it is I would
say, the last big one.It's the last sort of segmented as usual
big one because today we are,of course your weekly rocky metal podcast.
We talk about everything that you wantto know over here, and today is
the day where we do the reviews, and that means that we have eight

(00:48):
records that we are auditioning out toyou that we recommend. I would say,
you know, at least you goand listen to genuine Yeah sure,
you know you probably recommend all ofthese yeah Got albums we're gonna talk about.
It's gonna be fucking good if youare looking for your like last batch
of albums that you are really lookingout for this year of like you know,
oh, maybe I have to domy end of year list soon.

(01:10):
Is there anything I've missed? Hopefullysome of the really cool stuff we have
today might fill in some of thosegaps for you. I really really think
it will. My name is Parenhishwith me today as ever, for these
episodes, We've got Sam Dignon,We've got Elliott Paisley, how are we
being up to anything cool this weekwith some exciting news. Yeah. I
was at a couple of shows thelast couple of days. I went to
see The Sisters of Mercy, which, if you are part of the T

(01:32):
and M discord, have been along sort of source of like, oh,
will it be good or not?Because they have a very very patchy
live reputation. There are people inthere who've seen them all times. They
were like, yeah, I've seenthem be good. I've seen it be
just absolutely like we've had to walkaway in disgrace. I always seem to
luck out on these things. Idid it with Black Sabbath towards the end,
I seem to have done it againhere. It was pretty fun,
Like not the most amazing show I'veever seen. You know, Andrew is

(01:55):
a mumberly man, and it alwaystakes me a couple of songs apart from
when I'm seeing Godflesh to kind ofget around the head around like oh,
yeah, that's what a drum machineis going to sound like, rather than
like full life band power. Butlike I could see them, like the
fog machine wasn't cranked up enough tothe point where I couldn't see and the
light show was actually pretty cool.Andrew did what he had two For the
songs, they're like nine unreleased songs. They all have accumulated over the last

(02:17):
fucking thirty ars or whatever. Theymostly sounded pretty good and like you know
when the last four songs are likeTemplar Love to end the encore, and
then just the three big hits fromFloodland, Dominion, Lucreatian, my Reflection,
this corrosion like. It was anenjoyable time for sure. And then
last night I went to go seethis like Italian disco synthpop act called a
Nuovo Testamento, who were brilliant.They were like forty people there and it

(02:39):
was just like, uh, they'vedone this brilliant remix of psychic dance routine
by Scowl and they're playing a showwith them in like la I think.
And if you want to hear thatgreat song from that eat Scowep done in
like full on goth disco form,I cannot recommend that track enough. It's
fucking great. That was all veryfun. Indeed, reviews that we have

(03:01):
this time come from the Gaslight Anthem, Green Lung Dying, Wish, No
Bro Autopsy, Wayfairer under dark andMalacarpatan. I like that the further I
went down that the less recognizable aswords they became. But before that,
we do have some news. Andwhen you say excited news, Elliott,

(03:23):
I am sure that you are referringto definitely not some of the views that
that we have a little bit later, and you were probably referring to the
fact that an Instagram post went upa couple of days ago from the Nails
accounts with a picture of a veryhappy looking Todd Jones standing next to mister
Kirkbaloo. Todd seems to have modelhis haircut on Kirk Blue, so it's

(03:46):
like two, you know, mullety, smiley looking lads. With the news
that Nails have presumably just recorded anew album that's going to be out in
the summer of twenty twenty four throughNuclear Blast Records. Nails are one of
the I think a lot of uswill agree like that, we'll probably have
as one of the most exciting thingsto happen during our sort of times of

(04:08):
being into particularly obviously extreme heavy music. Nails when they were around were a
perfect band. They fell apart inan imperfect way but the way their music
was and just how they came atyou as a band was pretty perfect.
Like I was like they were onthe best bands who just sucked at being

(04:30):
a band. Yeah, Like theyreally were the Free Records. I mean,
they're like one of the bands thatgot me into Like I kind of
always didn't hate brind but I waslike, you know, one of those
that kind of like looks for distanceand then definite a band All Life,
particularly band All Life, was likefuck me, like this is this is
I like the fact that we've gotthis is the first thing in news.
You know, there are lots ofyou know, sort of grindy power,
violency bands whatever who come and go, but like Nails that appealed beyond that,

(04:55):
you know, Like Nails was likeit was almost like one of those
death Heaven type moments of like fuckingpeople. Yeah yeah, like when you
would ever be one of us droppedand like that, again, that went
well beyond even just our kind oflike stinky corner of the world, wasn't
it. Yeah, Like, ifyou were listened to this podcast in twenty
sixteen and maybe you think normally isn'textreme stuff, I'm sure that a lot
of you will have heard those Nailsrecords, and many of you will have

(05:16):
fucking loved them. Who knows whowas in Nails, because last thing we
heard of them was several years ago. Everyone apart from main man Todd had
departed and they'd only had, youknow, the one sort of pretty stable
line up the whole time they werearound in the twenty tens, and I
guess we sort of assumed that thatwas the end because then they went quiet.
But first alp in eight years,Nails are going to be back next

(05:39):
year. How excited are it?This is the best album. It's not
even a full Albu and Nelson,but the best album announcement in I don't
even know, because there's been newsrumblings at least for a while that Nails
were back, like since twenty twentyor maybe like twenty twenty one. It
was like, yeah, no,there's gonna be new Nails, And the
longer it went on, it justseemed less and less likely. And I

(06:00):
mean, like you say, thatrun of albums from Unsilent Death to You'll
Know You will ever be one ofus. I feel like people maybe of
a certain age or of a certainwhatever getting into music at that time,
they were kind of the benchmark forheaviness. They were like the go to,
but the way the people in theeighties was like napalm, death or
venom or rain. When Rain andBlood came out, it was like,
oh my god, when you andevery one of us in a band real

(06:21):
life hit was like, well,that's the hardest you can make this particular
kind of thing. Challenge anyone elseto go harder. And it's still like
years later, over a decade,for some of those things, it's not
really been matched. I don't thinklike you' put on a band in all
life and it's just fucking sickening.And for me, it's one of the

(06:42):
best runs by any band in thetwenty first century. And even like that
single they did in twenty nineteen,which no one even really talks about anymore,
is amazing. I don't want toknow you. And then the sol
MAT's Cavalira, fucking everything they everput out was just gold standard. Everything
they seemed to do. They wereterrible in terms of outside of that,
but yeah, my gods, yeah, I you know, like, you

(07:04):
know, I would be pretty surprisedif they came back and the lineup was
the same like if the pre thetwo guys had rejoined. I know that
Taylor Young is generally pretty you know, busy these days between still being and
several other bands, twitching tongues andhaving his you know, recording and so
on. I don't necessarily know ifthose guys would want to go back to

(07:24):
being in Nails, But and Iguess that that is the kind of you
know, the question, would itbe the same with a different you know,
particularly different drama, Yeah, withthe guys whatever, But I mean,
fucking Kurt Baluze recorded that, youknow, I doubt hurt He's going
to look out and go, Yeah, that's not quite as good as you
know, up to scratch where wewanted it to be. Yeah, it's
very exciting. It is like Iwas like, uh, because of that

(07:46):
way all end and I was like, gad about Nails and then I put
on you will never be one ofus, and I was like, oh
fucking hell. Like I said,Todd looked happy in the picture, which
is kind of rarity, and it'slike seems good vibe. Yeah, So
I'm like I'm going into this onegiving him a answer like right, you
can right some wrongs here now lookingforward, to the Nails album, you
are now allowed to come be oneof us. We did in the caption

(08:07):
say something like love you all,and I was like, yeah, they've
got a presh guy, like he'sgone out into the desert and meditated for
a while and now he's back andthe albums that you can come sit with
us. If the albums are stillhardest pissed, I would be fine with
that kind of attitude. Yeah,very very exciting immediately, of course,
one of the most anticipated records fornext year, even though it will be
maximum twenty minutes long. But whattwenty minutes we hope those will be?

(08:31):
Or the return of Nails. Iguess you know, one enters and one
goes also swap. You know,some people will have more attachment to me.
I have one of those people whohad an attachment to this band at
one point in their life. Butjust yeah, I don't even I don't
want to turn this into a bitof a punching bag thing because the guys

(08:54):
in question you kind of feel forthey did nothing wrong. Yeah. Issues
put out a statement this week thatthey were going to be going on a
little run of three shows. Ipresume they're all in America. Yeah,
three shows in America which aren't tofunction as their farewell shows. And I,

(09:16):
again, I never liked this band, so I am not the best
judge. But Sam, you seemedto be quite surprised that I didn't realize
they hadn't already split. I genuinelythought they quietly just like what was the
vibe I guess the last few years, so obviously they well, we all
kind of fell apart for them whensinger Tyler Carter got like quite serious allegations

(09:39):
against him and departed from the band. And then they were kind of like,
that's both their vocalists now out ofthe band. What are they going
to do? YEA, did theyrelease anyway albums or anything. I don't
recall any other recorded output like comingat that point. They might have done
like like an instrumental track, becausethey're all like the basis is, like

(10:01):
there's twenty musicians in Issues. Theywere just you know, doing like quite
metal court points. But it alljust kind of seems to come a part
at that point, and then quietlythey they sort of shifted off and they
were doing other things. Members wereplaying another band, So I thought that
was that was it? Like Issueswere done quietly. I guess they kind
of felt the same, but they'relike, we should put some kind of

(10:22):
official stamp on it and be like, these are the last shows we're going
to play as a band. Yeah, And I and I respect that because
having everything sort of derailed by youknow, a series of releases that were
not as well received, or bythe second album where it all went wrong
for them that kind of critically likefrom the art because the first time everyone
still loved and then it was areally bad second album stalled the momentum.

(10:46):
Third album looks like it's getting backon track. Oh wait, no,
our vocalist is are wrong, andso like we can't even Yeah. So
the having a kind of downturn inhow much enthusiasm there was for the band,
followed by the most recognizable sort ofstar presence in the band having to
be removed, and then followed byCOVID hitting and obviously, you know,

(11:09):
any very little momentum they had asa band completely stopped. Yeah. Like
I said, the rest of theseguys in this band, you know,
I respect this decision. I hopethe people who were like, you know,
the long time issues faithful go outto those shows. Where they are
able and you know, they're ableto sort of give it a nice send
off. Like I said, II never liked this band. I found

(11:30):
them actively very annoying musically, butI can at least go, well,
it's just it wasn't aimed at me, you know, that kind of talented
musicians. They were doing a genremix up and stuff that was never really
going to be my bag. It'sjust I guess it is a bit of
like a you know, I remembera decade ago when people were really fucking
jazzed about first album. I wouldstill rate highly if I didn't have to
be like, oh yeah, theguy singing is well, let's do all

(11:54):
that in a different kind of way. But just you know, a bit
of a stamp of like, yeah, there's a band from ten years ago
who were all the rage. Youknow. Unfortunately you may kind of look
into it no longer to be oneof us. In the words of Todd
Jones, I guess another one comeback, really weird one. This The
Hope Conspiracy Surprise released their first musicin fourteen years. It is an EP.

(12:18):
It's four tracks long. The HopeConspiracy, I guess, is summed
up by one of my friends whois maybe fifteen to twenty years older than
myself, posted something that's gonna belike, apparently all the bands I liked
fifteen years ago are all just comingback now. Can We spoke about another
such band last week, The HopeConspiracy really fucking good hardcore band when they
were around. And then Kevin particularly, we've known he's been continually just fired

(12:45):
up for that time because he's beenthe vocalist in All Pigs Must Die,
and he just always sounds completely vicious. I put this EP on and again
immediately that crusty kind of production jobso fiery. Kevin sounds farro It's really
angry lyrically. But they've got comparedto you know, Nails Trapped, them
more pigs of a Star he kindof some of the bands he's you know,

(13:07):
gone alongside with more recently. They'vegot slightly more that kind of rock
and rolly hardcore thing. And there'sa track Dogfight on it that has like
a really gallowsy riff and that wasa really nice hit or something like that.
Today. You know, I reallyliked the CpG and the hopes of
those bands that kind of knew ofhad never gone super deep in on but
like what I've heard, and Iwas just was like, oh yeah,
this is just fiery, yeah,seeming a little bit that sort of rock

(13:30):
and roll kind of touch of melodic, kind of hardcore like stuff going on
in as well. It just meanit's not so because like course to get
violent as a nails or trap themwhatever. But yeah, I had a
really fun time with this, justsor ep that that closing that dog fight
where yeah he has got that likepunk kind of like swinging sort of swaggled
to it really cool. Yeah,I mean full house because for me,

(13:52):
the Whole Conspiracy always one of thosebands that I think I never went in
on them because I only ever heardthem discussed in the context of other bands
where people would be reeling off shotcalled bands from the early two thousands,
oh yeah, and the Hope Conspiracy, So I never gave it really the
time of day. And sticking thison like ten minutes long or whatever it
is, four tracks like crusty dBwith big rock and roll ifs sounds really

(14:13):
pissed off suits me. Yeah,Cole Blue is a good record if anyone
wanted to go back and find outwhat was going on with a hope experiously
many a year ago. But likeit's like eight minutes this of just nastiness
good stuff, right there is there'sa segment of this show that we sometimes
do, which I like to callI have learned this exists and now you
two two. Uh. The firstsegment of that is Palais Royal band,

(14:39):
another band that I feel like wehaven't spoken about in so long they continue
existing. They have covered Bullet withButterfly Wings, which I feel like Bullet
butterfie things. Right. I'm notgoing to say that, you know,
the Bashing Pumpkins in their prime weren'ta great band or anything. And I'm
not even gonna say this is nota good song, because that would be
a mental thing to say. Butit's a song that, in certain voices

(15:01):
or whatever, would have the capacityto be quite annoying. It's fair to
say. It's like there's a reallyfine line that has to be treaded with
Bullet with Butterfly Wings, else itbecomes quite grating. Palo Royale not the
right land to tread that line.Ah. I was just like, oh
man, the voice he's putting onwhilst he sings it where he's at some

(15:22):
points he's trying to like Billy Corgan. At some points he's not. And
it's just like both sounds shit andthere's no bite. Like again, but
by things I mean, I thinkit's a fucking incredible song and it's got
like Corgan at his most kind ofbraggi and pissed and snotty and just full
of like venom. Remove that andI see what you mean where it doesn't
It does not land as a songat all. This is fucking awful.

(15:46):
Like I kind of I saw theheadliner. I was just like, oh,
I'll be sort of a shrug.These drums make that last blink on
it two albums sound like led Zeppelinfour. Like I know people don't really
like Billy's voice, but this soundslike he doesn't like Billy's voice. It's
like he's taking the piss. It'slike so like prissy and grating the whole
time. It's like, like yousay, Billy Corgan kind of dances on

(16:08):
the tightrope with some of the stuffhe doesn't bullet with. Butterfloes I think
is a good example where if hegoes too far either way, it could
be a bit annoying. And it'slike, oh, this is what everyone
else he is who don't like theSmashing Pumpkins. Yeah, and uh the
next part of that is uh.Bon Jovi this week released a Christmas single.

(16:30):
I have not seen a single worduttered about this. I just found
it when I was, you know, trowling for news and I was like,
what, no one. I thinkI'm the first person to have heard
the bon Jovi Christmas single that wasreleased at least three or four days ago.
I mean, this is this isthe Mums, isn't it. This
is like exclusively like but what Isaw it's called Christmas and Christmas Like,

(16:51):
well, I know how that chorusis gonna fucking go, don't I Like,
you don't need to listen to thesong to know exactly where it's going.
And it's just it's like, Ilove but this is like, I
mean, this is the first musicthey've released since the twenty twenty album when
he tried to do political I know, and again I've not cared for bon
Jovi album forever basically, but likein my lifetime, you can argue,

(17:14):
but this is this is so nafisn't it? Like I mean that music
genuinely sounds like a little cassio keyboardpre recording track. I couldn't believe how
cheap it sounded. Yeah, andlike John of John bon Jovi, like
he's had his vocal troubles live,but I presumed they would find a way
to protect and disguise that in thestudio. And I don't know if they

(17:36):
haven't bothered or by the sound ofit, couldn't afford to because he sounds
just he sounds so bad. Andbon Jovi are kind of one of the
bands you think in their pump coulddo a good Christmas song, But it
feels like everything they do now isjust kind of some move for attention,
Like they did a political album noone really cared. Okay, well let's
we'll do Christmas. I don't Idon't want to know what comes next.

(17:57):
Yeah, reading festival to speaking ofthem just before having added as headliner,
I think that's very predictable, consideringthey weren't on the download bill and where
else are they going to go.Also, their rescheduled shows from the tour
they had to cancel got announced forlike the weekend just after reading or a
couple of years afterwards, so itwas like makes sense. And also TNM

(18:19):
relevant spirit Box are on there.Maybe they'll have a bunch of Megan the
Stallion fans who just learned who theyare come and turn up. That would
be cool. Otherwise, you know, you know, that's that's our representation
there. I think that's about allwe can realisticly ask for this In terms
of more live music news, I'mI'm very upset about currently. I'm very
sensitive on the center, but Iguess I need to give you guys the

(18:41):
moment to be excited. Nay PalmDeath have announced the twenty twenty four edition
of a tour they've done for yearsand years now. It's called the Campaign
for Musical Destruction. I went tothe one earlier this year. The lineup
was not this good. Let metell you next year's edition features Pick Primitive
Man and worm Rots. Fucking hell. I saw this, and I particularly

(19:07):
I saw Pig Destroyer, who thencoming over to the UK is like quite
a rare event, and that makesworm Rock coming from Singapore feel like the
second biggest event of this particular thing, and I went, what the fuck?
And then I saw Liverpool, Whatthe fuck? Pick Destroyer playing in
the city where I currently am based. And then I saw the date and
went, no, how have theyput the Northwest date on both tours?

(19:32):
This is the same night I'm gonnabe going to see Cattle Decapitation, And
I'd already bought that ticket like fuckingweeks ago because they were like, tickets
are running low, and now Idon't really know what to do. I'm
like, do I sell my Cattleticket to try and go see Pig Destoryer
in Liverpool? Or do I miss? Like it's I'm I'm very upset about
the fact and everyone else seems tobe just fine and everyone's like, oh
yeah, I get to see thesetwo tours in the same week, or

(19:53):
fuck you. You guys are excitedI've seen I've never seen one more Pink
Destroyer and I'm just like, god, damn this package. Like and again
like loving is primitive man, Butwhen they're like the kind of the weak
link on the lineup, that alsokind of says just how fucking spectacle and
they will be like one of theheaviest bad Oh yeah, I'm sure they
will be fucking like really cool live, but you kind of go like,

(20:15):
oh, don't be primitive man onthat lineup Like that, that's the sort
of step of just how fucking goodit is. God fucking damn as a
package. This is going to bethe most insane, intense ort of nights
for extreme melk You're going to seenext year, isn't it. This was
like cartoon rubbing your eyes, liketongue wagging sort of thing. There's just
no way. And honestly, I'venever parted with money for a show so

(20:36):
quickly, because I mean, whatyou've got here is the band that invented
grind cores, one of the mostimportant extreme bands ever, if not the
most important, the band that kindof perfected it by taking it to artistic
heights and the best grind band ofthe last fifteen years, and primitive Man
coming to inducing continents like just yesplease and like you say, like worm

(21:00):
is kind of oh yeah, andplaying because I just slapped over the bottom
of the lineup insane, Like justhonestly, this is like the Big Four
for me. I am so excited. Yeah, it's fucking absolutely ludicrous,
and I'm gonna be just like CornerYeah, trying to work out for the
next fucking several months. Can Ibe in two places at once? Probably

(21:23):
not? And my my favorite headlinesince the one where the guy from Stained
like killed multiple coyotes and fucking spelledout like Trump twenty twenty four, whatever
the fucking was said. I'm gonnaread this headline Verberton God smacks Sully Erna
finally releases his documentary on himself.Fair enough, someone else, right,

(21:49):
could be like, I'm gonna chroniclewhat is his documentary on himself gonna be
about? Just COVID denial? Likewhat the fuck I'm going to watch this?
I mean, I'm not going towatch this because we know my feelings
on Godsmack. I mean, I'mnot watching because I love God's smack.

(22:11):
But I mean maybe I'll be provenwrong, but I've never found Sully a
particularly compelling figure, and I don'tthink it's going be abut to Scott Walker
documentary. But I want to knowwhat he finds compelling about himself. I
want to know what he stand alone. Yeah, it's all lies down alone,
not quite you know, the Beatlesdocumentary andthing like that in terms of

(22:32):
like, oh yeah, that's apiece of one God's match on my note
because it was on Prince of Persia. I agree, Eliot, it's like
the idea of like what fascinatingly likeI don't know, like biased pearly,
like you know, Persona or theman from Godsnap put forward about himself,
but that he feels is so rightto make it documentary about beautiful stuff.

(22:53):
All right, Patreon supporters, thisweek, it's pretty fucking busy right now
in terms of like cramming things inbefore December arrives, and we obviously have
a whole load of stuff to dothere. So around this time we would
normally be announcing album clubs. Iknow we missed them last month as well.
Things have just sort of piled up. Album club will make its triumphant

(23:15):
return fully in the new year,but we have a priority to fit in
before all of that new end ofyear stuff in December. It's the small
matter and I'm sure it's what mostof you we wanted us to do as
well of closing up the alis inChains special. So next week, part
three of three of alis in Chainsthat is of course the William Devall years,

(23:37):
we are going to pick up withthe reunion and a little album called
Black Gives Way to Blue. Thenwe are going to carry right forward assess
all the slightly less discussed stuff sincethen and generally assess the entire legacy and
wrap it all up at the end. So really again, I've been a
little bit anxious to be like Iwant to get into that. I want
to I want to fucking you know, talk about rainy of and all these

(24:00):
kind of things like I'm excited todo it. And I guess the most
recent thing it is the fact thatwe had our Saw and Exorcist Believer chat
for the tim horror folks, whichwas very, very funny, like one
of the more like laughing on episodeswe've had in a hot minute, some
of my all time favorite T andM quotes. As I said, we

(24:21):
were on some tangents, absolutely insanestuff being prompted by some pretty insane movies.
So that is there. As saidAlison Chase, Part three coming very
very soon. So thank you everybodywho used to support us at patroon dot
com slash that's dart Metal Reviews foryou know. The main point of discussion.
We are here for gathered today.Like I said last week, this

(24:44):
last episode can be a little scansometimes for a last dose. We have
got some really strong stuff. Ithink part of it is just the fact
that I think it was like thelast week of October, after we'd already
done our review shows, slows ofthings came out, but that continuing on
it in Novenber, we have gotsome stuff for you. We are going
to start with the big name establishedband of the bunch, a comeback album.

(25:07):
In fact, the Gaslight Anthem historyBooks is its name. Sam.
In the years that the gas LightAnthem were absent, how much did you
want this album? You know?Like, was it a case of what's
done is done, the legcy iswhat it is, or like, were
you pining for more gas Light Anthem? Well, obviously I still got like
four Brian Fallon records in that time, which like they were different question,

(25:33):
you know, but they're still youknow he writes songs or so away,
he sings so away that there wasjust there's ways about Brian fan that he's
going to go about things that aregoing to give me that part of that
hit that I want. But Idid, especially after they initially sort of
started coming back around. Was iteighteen twenty nineteen when they first started playing
shows, and I was like,Okay, if you're gonna do this,
I want like a prop for youand I want something creative and that came

(25:57):
a few years later when they properlycame back last year. So I like,
I was always kind of like,even though I was getting those kind
of like Gaslight and from Light albumsfrom Brian, I wanted the Fall.
I did still want the full thing, the Fall sort of comeback package.
Yeah, the Gaslight Anthem, Iguess notable as being like by far the

(26:17):
biggest band in the sort of substyle that we lovingly slash, you know,
derisively, dependent on which one ofus is talking to call Springsteen core.
That like pure American heartland rock asit is properly known, but filtered
through the lens of punk specifically,that makes it a bit more us you
know, things you would see onEpitath records whatever. I suppose that they
are the one of those too havegotten legit big, right, like as

(26:40):
you know, one of the lastmoments of rock music having mainstream popularity in
the kind of mid two thousands,I know, you know, obviously now
we have bands like the Menzingers,who, through continued hard work, have
like reached a point where they canpretty consistently fill pretty good venues tour after
tour. But the gasl Anthem onlytheir second album, The fifty nine,
sound like Blue Overnight in a wayyou don't really see with rock bands very

(27:03):
often these days, legit big record, they're like actual Bruce Springsteen's best mates.
Is I guess part of the GasAnthem's legacy the fact that they are
the only band of that kind oftwenty first century heartland punk style to have
gained any legit kind of mainstream success. Yeah. I think that would be
part of it, because I thinkthat's why were they then kind of splinter

(27:25):
off in this and they do goa bit more i'd say, like classic
rock and sort of appealing to acard. They aren't just punks some people
who listen to the ship we listenedto, so because they had all the
ones who got legit big, theydo kind of seek to appeal to a
wide audience beyond that. So thatis gonna certainly color part of their legacy.
Yeah. Earlier this year we didan album club on their previously final

(27:48):
album, Get Hurt, which wasan interesting one for me because for me,
it's like, Okay, I don'tlike this kind of thing very much,
and I don't like this band,so to go, this band I
don't like normally made this last albumthat was genally viewed as like a misfire.
You know, they tried something different. How do I feel about that?
That was kind of interesting? Thisone? I think? Is it
fair to say that after some ofthe kind of weirder, clunkier creative choices

(28:08):
and get Hurt, this is youknow, there are things about it that
are different, but in core sortof approach a more typical gas like Anthem,
you know, fair they're like thatthe more normal idea of I guess,
like what a comeback album is goingto be. You kind of want
the band that you missed. Yeah, this is what is the thing with
the arm that struck me is thatthis this felt like, oh okay,

(28:30):
this is the Gas Anthem just back. It's it's got that thing, you
know what we said about when theMen's gives, you know, where it's
an older, more kind of likenot as like fiery fast version of them.
But this sounded like, oh yeah, this is the Gas Anthem.
This is not them trying to dokind of like big kind of grungy arena
rock stuff like they were trying todo and Get Hurt and some of those
more kind of misguided decisions. Thisis just oh yeah, cool the gas

(28:52):
Anthem writing songs that sound like BruceRingstein. Cool. Yes, But there
are some less crowd pleasing aspects aroundthis album. It's it's no surprise really
the experience I had with this,and I was always you know, approaches
with you. I'm always going toput that on the back burner and let
you know, the Gasla Anthem fanskind of just dictate the narrative. But

(29:15):
this record is a few weeks old. We haven't seen a really big rush
of love for the Gasla Anthem,at least oncet our you know, podcast
audience, the way we did forexample, Alexis on Fire last year when
they released their their album. Thereare a number of people who we like,
love the Gasa Anthem who have saidthey've been really let down by this,
some of them involved in this podcast. Some of them are we I

(29:36):
put up a pole because I wasinterested on the Facebook group that we have
and I said, you know,Gasla Anthem fans, that's directly who I'm
talking to here, what you makein this new record. And I think
it ended up being something like sixtyforty of people who have been let down
by this album versus people who reallylike it. And when I first put
up the pole, I was like, oh my god, this is going
to be brutal because the first bunchof votes was like more like eighty twenty

(29:57):
or something, so am maybe aslittle of a surprise that despite all of
that, you do love this album. So what do you make about like,
you know, not just me forgetI'm here, but you know some
of your fellow Brian fallon you know, foot Kisses not liking this album so
much. Well, the thing islike, outside of the three first singles

(30:21):
that they dropped, which I waskind of like love at first listen on
them, I wasn't blown away thisalbum at first. This album took a
while because I had it about amonth before it came out. Even as
well, I've had this album forclose to two months now and I've listened
to it an awful lot in thattime because when I hit pout it and
I was kind of just like,Okay, I'm like this is you know,
it's recognized with the guests anthem,but I'm not falling in love right

(30:41):
away with it. And it's kindof taking some time. Outside of the
positive charge history books and little firesthose ones, and there was the thing
is because they put out the freelike kind of three of the most upbeat
songs on it as the singles,and then a lot of this album is
it's quite slow and quite introspective,and it was kind of a weird adjustment.

(31:03):
I was like, Okay, there'sa lot more of that sort of
stuff. So I had to sitand listen to it, and that means
I don't think it is as immediatelycrowd pleasing because a lot more of it
is on the slower side. Andso it took me a while to just
that, but once I did,and these songs just kind of like seled
in with me, and it justeventually became this like warm blanket of an
album that I just felt very cozyand comfortable listening to. And that was

(31:26):
I think the experience I got atthe end of it was at was like,
oh, this is introspective and wearygasl Anthem, but one that I
find once like all the bit sortof fence places and some of the choices
of production and Brian not being askind of like bit belling out as years
and being a lot more weary.Once I adjusted to that, I was

(31:47):
having a much better time with this, and I have eventually fallen in love
with this album. Yeah, Ithink the idea that this is an album
that you really need to kind of, you know, let a simmer and
it will likely grow on you ifyou are like a gaslan Anthe fan,
I think that's a fair one.I also think maybe there are choices and
details around it that maybe make itnot so inviting to actually want to spend
That is. I can understand thatI don't have that issue myself, but

(32:12):
I can understand where that might bea thing that some people might. Yes,
you have your say first, youknow one of your favorite other bands
they are back. What is greatabout this album? I mean, I
think the best songs in it areas good as I could anything I could
possibly want from The gas Anthem.I think history Books, the title track,
which I like. When that songgot announced, it was kind of
like, oh yeah, Gus,I just paut a song and Bruce springs

(32:34):
and is guesting on it. That'sjust like, Okay, I can't not
like this. But the lyricism Ithinking is there's some good storytelling on it.
It's kind of quite a comforting,kind of like they've always been there,
like because it's now that's very likelooking back on breakups and all that,
and so you can kind of tellthat that's even if it's bright singing
about stuff that isn't the band breakingup, it is clearly kind of like

(32:57):
all about reconnecting, rediscovering your loveand passion and like a spark of things.
And I feel like you get thatand you get on the journey the
album goes on, and when youget those most really burst through, like
I say, history Books Positive Charge, which was the first single and on
the album, when that riff actuallykicks in, now it's a real shot
to kind of like jolt you backin after some really nice but quite subdued

(33:20):
songs. Though those sort of slowersongs for me, they are built on
really nice melodies, some really nicedetails to them. It's again, it's
not even a really wow show stoppinglike oh my god, you're going to
remember this part of this, butit's and it's got like a lot of
like details and touches like that thatI found really just enticing and engaging and
rewarding. When I sort of letthem all wash over me, elliotts you

(33:44):
as you often do, I guessI imagine will come at this at a
place of being somewhere between Sam andmyself in terms of kind of history with
and sort of predisposition for liking thiskind of thing and this band. So
the Gas Like Anthem's return for youagain, I don't know how much anticipation
there may have been for this happenwith you, but a general assessment like

(34:05):
how like I said, there isa split even amongst kind of big Gas
Anthem fans with House Records going down, So I don't know where you're gonna
end. Well. I think Isaid this when we reviewed the single,
but I was never a massive fanwith her around in the first place.
I think they've got a fair fewreally strong tunes and maybe a good band
to have around, and like youwere saying, one of the last major

(34:25):
crossovers, so that I've always kindof admired them in that sense. But
if there was never another Gas LaAnthem record, I wouldn't have cared,
to be honest, And having listenedto this a few times, I totally
see why so many fans aren't reallytaking to it, because this is a
much more gentle, subdued, maybeeven like Patient record than their classic material.

(34:49):
In fact, this record I thinkmaybe is more in common with the
National than anything other than Bruce BruceTein. Yeah, I can see that.
Well, this is why I saidthey kind of crossed over to a
pill earlier beyond and what like oursort of corner where it does appeal to
people who don't like rock music andpunk or anything like. That's it,
and I like, you know,like we said, I can see why
that would alienate some people, butI prefer the National to almost all the

(35:15):
other things that went into the Gaslike Mix before. So while this record
does have less bite and is quitea polite album, you could say,
I think I've worn to this alot more than even a lot of the
Gas like Faithful. I think it'spretty good. No, yeah, I
understand that. I said, you'recoming from a place of sort of like

(35:36):
not having that many expectations, andthey've done a thing you like a bit
more so fair enough, I waslike getting ready for this to be one
where again Aroun'm you know, fightingthe corner against you two, bullying me
again, like extremely bizarre twist offate. I am acting as the voice
of majority of Gas like anthems.You're still the majority of Gas Anthem fans,
because I will say is reviewed likeway better than Get Hurt did.

(36:02):
Anyone's kind of got there a lotof Gas Anthem fans I've spoken to and
be like, no, I likethis. It just it took a it
took a minute. And again Ithink the gas Anthon fans who aren't into
punk will probably have a bit moreof an easier time enjoying the plighter aspects
of it. Yeah, it's onefor the mums out there. Why is
why is this record so low fi? Because like the first was it positive

(36:23):
charge? Yeah? The first thingI remember hearing that and thinking, wow,
this sounds so creaky and old,and maybe that is the effect they're
going for. Right Again, We'renot gonna do absolute Yeah, we're not
going so particularly punk again. It'syou know, kind of weathered and rickety.
I think, as opposed to yourposition, Elliot, which is entirely

(36:43):
fair enough for me, I findthem sort of wet and boring in their
youth, so they've for me,they've not got the spice to really do
anything with that kind of weathered,rickety kind of sound. Having the whole
album rather than just that single bethat is where you go, okay,
like this, you know there's aclear creative choice to go in that kind
of direction. But then I sawthis quote from Fallon in the press release

(37:04):
where like you're talking about Sam,the kind of reconnection everything he said,
none of us wanted to make avery somber or serious record showing how much
we've matured. The overall mood wasa feeling of excitement to be back together
and making music that means something tous. What do they think they've made?
I say that on a song likeLittle Fires, I mean that's bursting
with them kind of just like exuberantly, kind of like playing trying to be

(37:25):
like an order version of the poment. So well, that's what's d of
was like tripping over itself at points. But I agree a lot of this
album is quite serious and somber,and that single by far one of the
most lively tracks on it, andit sounds quite good compared to a lot
of this, Like I always findthis stuff a bit like that. So
whatever my problem is, I findBrian Fallon as a songwriter to be one

(37:47):
of the most white bread vanilla mento have ever become revered in rock music.
Was the most interesting word for meto talk about because there's weird,
ill fitting choices on there. Himgoing back to the Ryan Fallon thing.
I mean, you can play BrianFallon bingo on. So much of this
album was like lines that you know, only Brian Fallon could write that,
the whole black jeans and autumn likecome on, I had so little to

(38:10):
say about this afternoon nap time ofan album. I I really need you
guys to to help me out fairenough, Like I can't fathom not loving
what Brian Fallon does, like he'sboring, boring, But I because this

(38:32):
is the other thing is I willsay this, this feels like a in
a word way that there is thereis more of the solo Brian Fallon stuff
in here as well as kind ofthis feel like a Gas Anthem album is
it's kind of this weird mix betweenwhat he was doing on his solo stuff,
which again I still say it's quitegaslightly but it was a lot more
kind of low key and that sortof thing. But this is just that

(38:54):
with a bit more of a bandkind of four band effit when there's actual
guitar solos and she like that goingon here as well, but it is
still very much Brian Fallon doing thatquite like kind of like I'm going to
write a love song and I'm gonnasing about like jeans and all of that
sort of shit and being a weathermanand the moon, like all the sort

(39:15):
of things, and then lines I'mjust like, yeah, okay, Brian,
But I'm also still like I justmy heart kind of melts every time
he SEMs like that, and Ihang on his every word, So I'm
not the person to kind of likecome out there here and those like Brian
Fallon boring. See. I thinkthis records pretty good, but I can't
really disagree with anything. Parents sayinglike this is kind of a milky tea

(39:36):
Madeira cake record, like there's notmuch on it where you go, holy
shit, what have they done there? But well, I even said that,
I said, this is not likea sort of Showsman record, but
it's a warm blanket of an albumfor me that I have only time with.
Yeah, and like listening to itthe first time, I think maybe
I'll sympathize more with people not likingit because I did. I was kind
of bracing myself for it to kickoff at any moment, and there are

(39:57):
a couple of bits that are moreup temple, but generally speaking, this
is a very laid back gas Lanthmrecord. But I mean, we're gonna
get to another record we're talking aboutthis month, which I do have this
problem with, and it's it's thatthing where if you're gonna kick off and
it's going to be exuberant and exciting, make it really exuberant and exciting,
and if you're not, don't bother. And in this case, for the

(40:22):
most part, they haven't bothered.And I think those are generally speaking,
the best songs on the record,Like Michigan nineteen seventy five, that very
pleasant, like a bit of asort of a Glockenspieley thing, which adds
a bit of we're not really color. I don't know what you'd call it,
maybe like a lighter shade of gray, but just adds more stuff to
it. Spider Bites, I think, is a really solid opener, kind
of understated and tasteful. Autumn withthat, they say black jeans an autumn

(40:45):
lyric. I mean there's no bitewhatsoever, but it's very nice. I
mean, I wear black jeans inautumn. It's about you. Yeah,
I mean that the weather Man doessound a little bit like Foster the People,
which sounds like a really cruel thingto say. That's more brutal than
anything I've written down. But whenit was on, I was like,

(41:07):
hey, this is you know,I'm not I'm not upset by it.
I'm not offended by Like, amI going to be going back to this
record in a year's time? Probablynot. But I wasn't particularly bored either.
I was just enjoying the The BrianFallon show. Yeah, I think
Spider Bites as an opener. Thevery first riff was like, oh,

(41:27):
that's not quite the first sound Iexpected on a gasol anthem, Like it's
kind of sort of creaky rock androll thing where the production, which again
we've kind of sketched around the productionon this, is extremely I just keep
thinking of the word dead right likeit is just atget. I don't use

(41:49):
the word dead in a insulting way. There are albums I love that particularly
kind of dead sound to them,But the first riff in that song that
has a kind of interesting effect withthat sort of sound, and and then
it just hits a wall of likenothing interesting happening, and I lose interest.
But those first twenty seconds pretty oddfleThe rest of this is some of
those boring shit imaginable. That autumntrack My Head is just like dropping off

(42:12):
my shoulders, going through again pointsof interest. Very funny that the two
guests on this album are Bruce Springsteenand Stephan from pupp I think Yeah,
fair play to the gas like anthemfor being like the mediating factor between those
two. They are like the middlepoint, aren't they. Yeah, And
that's Stephan's song, that's Little Fires. I guess that's the song that they
think is like earth Ad or somethinglike. That's got you know, it's

(42:35):
got a sprinkle of punk in there. What fallon kind of wakes up his
delivery a little bit. That thatwas one you could imagine sitting on some
of the earlier line sink or Swimor some of those sort of gas anthems
where they always have that one songwhere they they play a bit faster and
then they get a bit of like, oh yeah, they were they were
a punk band once upon a time, Like you can get that from Little
Fires. Yeah, I live inthe room above her has like an attempt

(42:57):
at a riff. For me,it's good riff, like that it's a
bit like when they did like thehard rock riffs on Get Hurt. I
tripped over it's a feet cunkly alittle bit, but I went on something.
I think that that song is kindof like going, oh, you
know, we did have someone getHurt, let's do it right this time.
And I think that is the onewhere they actually really nail what they
were doing on Get Hurt is onthat song. Yeah, but there are

(43:17):
a bunch of tracks on this thatI couldn't even write notes on because like,
at least at least Spanish love songsstepping their foot off the gas on
their Layers record introduced some of thesekind of new wave elements and those other
sounds to kind of replace it.I know, like the gas Anthem already
had a moment of kind of experimentationon Get Hurt. It didn't go well,
but for me, all I kindof had left here was like the
husk of the gas light anthem.You don't want foster the people. I

(43:43):
mean that tire track with Bruce SpringsteenI found to be so lethargic and stuff
like that, where it is howyou think a big part is again in
the production and stuff, because thatand Positive Charge are songs where you can
feel there's like some rock song melodyreally trying to reach out there, but
they sound both in the performance andthe recording they sound really creaky. And
I think that's maybe the thing thata lot of the you know, Gaffle

(44:04):
Athm fans who aren't vibing with thisare feeling its like there's I can recognize
the band I loved in there,but it's just such a like thin,
rattily kind of weak version. Ido I do get you on the production
meaning because it's such a deliberate stylisticchoice to me that I'm kind of like,
well, no, it's what they'regoing for. They are going with
this like weathered vintage sound. Ieveryone like the title track. It works

(44:27):
brilliantly, especially when you have Brucecoming in and he's just like cruding around.
I was like, Bruce, youcan just I can't help it.
I'm just like my heart every whenhe just starts crooning on that song was
like any ability for critical thought disappearsbecause Bruce Springsteen is currently singing and you
get the little bits of him andlike Brian kind of like trade off each
other a little bit and I'm like, this is all I want. I
can't like, I don't know whatto say. You know, like I've

(44:52):
wanted a Bruce Springsteen gas at fromproper collaboration and not just videos, not
just videos of them doing each other'ssongs together. Yeah, Like, so
I I got I wanted from that. I think that song is for me.
The melodies and that song are sostrong that they completely break through any
kind of potential production limitations that somepeople might have of it. I just

(45:12):
think same with on positive charge.When this am hits heights of the melodies,
spider By, it's another one.I'm like, any kind of creaky
productions, you say, can't holdback how much I love these melodies,
and then see I'm kind of teamPerrin on history Books. As a song,
I think, like, I reallylike Bruce Springsteen, but he's he's

(45:34):
kind of dipping into Roger Waters territorywith the no come on, come on.
That's harsh. It feels a bitlike a kind of first draft on
his part, which I mean thatthe idea, but like I mean,
the melodies they singing are good,but I'm not that taken this performance.
But a song like Little Fires thatto me is one of the songs where

(45:58):
you go, oh, this isthe thing that made the Gaslight Anthem a
special band the first time around.And they made this really weird choice in
that song to speed up and slowdown, which initially I didn't think worked
at all, but now I thinkit adds a little flash of its much
needed excitement in a song which Ialready think is good. But we we've
all agreed in the record that's generallya bit more subdued and patient. And

(46:22):
yeah, I mean, I'm generallypositive on this record, but I can
see why my parent you don't havemuch to say about it, because I
also don't. Despite the fact Ilike it, I come away with not
a lot to talk about. Ithink it's something where if you add maybe
one or two more like lively songs, even that would be the difference maker
for a lot of people. Youwouldn't even have to cut some of the

(46:43):
slow ones because it's only ten tracks. Like if you had it as twelve
tracks and had just two more songsthat we know were there to pick up
the pace, I for a lotof the issue people would have would disappear
because there's just a bit more toit and I think it's when you get
to that one tother thing is itWeatherman and Empires. I think it is
where they are back to back ismaybe the only part where I kind of
go like, oh, this slowsdown a bit too much. Yeah,

(47:05):
I mean Lifetime of Preludes is avery funny title to sum up their eternal
blue balls ing of their music.The last like brutal thing I will say
about the gasal anthem is I don'tfeel any life or chemistry in them as
players. Is the thing. Andhere's the thing when it comes to them
as a band, right because Iknow the reason that you have come two
times time again, Sam to lovethem is Brian's nice melodies and he's nice
stories. He's so nice. Butlistening to the players play together, it's

(47:30):
so fucking dull on this album.And the rhythm section is so like rudimentary
and it's horrifically clunky at times,which is exacerbated big time by that horrible
drum sound they have on this ofthat kind of weird low VI thing.
The Mensingers, who are now inlike their kind of middle age period of
a band themselves beginning to be thatthey have that sort of chemistry together they
have that this is those guy gobouncing off each other. That like the

(47:52):
slower, more middlely Mensinger's new albumis like we've already got that new Nails
next to this, and the drummingis so stiff with that recording, it's
just fucking like you know, it'salready fucking full of embalming fluid. And
so at that point you go,what is actually the point of the band,
the gas La Anthem getting together again? Because if it's just nice man
Brian Fallon and his nice melodies,that is the drawer anyway, and he'd

(48:13):
be doing that for years. Whatdo you get out of the gas La
Anthem coming back? But no,because that's the thing is someone who has
listened to those so Fallon records,you can feel the difference of this band
as a unit playing and again that'sprobably like if you if you also want
to use you know, Brian Devoteewho like pause every set of records as
well as you might not get that, but for me I'm like, oh

(48:34):
no, no, you can feeland again like I see what you mean
when maybe like the drumson and theproduction not being the most kind of like
dynamic thing but there is touches ofhow they're kind of just slotting together,
which do just give a different canvasto what Fallin is working off of.
He's gone from like having no coloror texture solo to having one extra color

(48:57):
and one extra testure with a band. Okay, fair like like fair enough?
Yeah, I mean again, Idon't even hate I guess inherently them
doing that thing, because like I'msaying, stuff that gets a certain power,

(49:20):
having that almost like dead eyed rusticsort of quality, like maybe this
is the gas like Anthem's Eternal hailsdot dot dot dot dot dot, but
like it's just a band who Ifind boring anyway, they're boring demos,
right. I can see both whya devotee would go along with it because
they just love hearing this man singersongs and you know, going in this

(49:40):
kind of more delicate direction. Icould also see why someone will be disappointed
by a long white ended by thisAnd like I said, I wanted to
like open the floor and let thegaslight fans and some fans just dictate the
narrative. But as we've seen,we do have a real split there.
I still think it's less overall divisivefrom my encounters than Get Hurt was.

(50:01):
But sure, But again, Ithink the thing is is within those first
four records, they are like forme, two absolute like ten out of
ten classics, and the other twoare great albums. So I think,
like one that earlier one, theyset such a kind of like high bar
that if they're not hitting that,people are going to think be more kind

(50:22):
of like critical and harsh on it. And I think that's where both this
and Get Hurt have been hit slightly. I think this is more. I
would still put this up there closeto on the level like American slang.
I might even prefer this to Americanslang. But I might be alone in
saying that because I know a lotof people like that album. But yeah,
I mean, ultimately we can onlyrefer to the big Gasol Anthem fan

(50:44):
here and you love it, solet that be the takeaway from the review.
But by the sounds of it,maybe some of you agree with me
as well. I guess. Letus know. History Books by the Gasola
Anthem second lead review this month.If you want some big, unadulterated melodic
rock music, but something with abit more bizaz and a bit more energy,
We've got an album for you today. It's from a band called Green

(51:07):
Lung. The album is called ThisHeathen Land. It is album number three
from Green Lung, and I thinkthis is the case where they have had,
you know, very much more andmore eyes on them as they've gone
along. We review them for thefirst time on album two, Black Harvest,
back in twenty twenty one and aroundthere, and since they're in particular
in the UK, I feel likethere's been people kind of rubbing their hands
together, going this band, thisband are going to be something, and

(51:28):
it felt like the side of theUK metal scene that isn't you know,
based around your metal core stuff andthe more kind of more mainstream fair usually
at the moment, a lot ofpeople were kind of getting ready to crown
Green Lung as like the next bigband and kind of willing them on to
do it. Maybe they weren't actuallythere yet, but there was definitely people
talking about them with that kind ofthey're going to be massive sort of tone
about it that maybe isn't the mosthelpful time and sometimes puts bands at disadvantage,

(51:52):
but regardless, they've signed to NuclearBlast for this one. I heard
rumblings about this album of like,you know, they've really gone there.
They've knocked out of the park.They've made their stab At like a big
album, and I thought, youknow, we'll wait and see, you
know it, is it hype orhave they really done it? I am
now a Green Lung fan, certainlybecause I thought they were good before.
You know, there was obviously somethingthere, but any sort of like deally

(52:14):
dallying in whatever, I'm definitely inthe club now. This is one of
the biggest leaps in quality between albumsthat we've kind of talked about, i'd
say recently in terms of albums whenwe covered the last one and are now
covering this. I think this isspectacular. I mean the jump up like
and it's like they've totally changed thingsjust better in every way. Yeah,
Like I liked the you know,I liked Black Harvest quite a lot.

(52:37):
I quite liked it as well.I had had problems that I'd kind of
got a bit hung up on,but it wasn't negative. But yeah,
this is I didn't even have problems. It was more that like, yeah,
this band are you know, they'regrowing and they're going somewhere. But
this is the first out Green Longalbum where I'm like, yeah, that
is excellent, Like that has notjust one but a ton of songs.
I'm gonna remember, like far farfrom now. Women not reviewing this album

(52:58):
or anything, and it's really exciting, I guess, to have particular review
to be like not just a bandthat we liked doing good things as per
but a fulfillment of promise, Likethis is the kind of thing we get,
you know, a few times ayear. Maybe it's the moment where
you can really start shouting and golike, yeah, everyone listen to this
full house. I was in thesort of same boats both of you.
I kind of liked Green Lung.I wouldn't say I love them. I

(53:19):
saw them at Bloodstock a couple ofyears ago, and they kind of I
kind of knew then that they hadsong power, but for whatever reason,
they didn't quite break through that barrierfrom going wow, this is a nice
band too. This is a genuinelygreat band. And I hadn't heard those
rumblings you were talking about. Sowhen I put this record on and the
first three or four songs just cameroaring out the traps, it was like

(53:45):
it was like the homecoming Queen thatI wasn't expecting. It was just like,
oh, yes, more deep purple, thank you. Yeah, like
green Long if you've not been awareof them to this point, they play
a kind of seventies stone a doomy guest. I know theoretically it would
apply, by I don't really likeusing the stoner term too heavily with them
because that makes them something like BeelzaBomb or something, which really they got

(54:06):
way more in common with kind offlamboyant seventies, like classic arena rock,
like Queen meets Sabbath. How Ilike, yeah, all of those things,
and you know that's absolutely their skillset, particularly on this album.
I think their name makes them sounda bit more like a weed band,
but someone pointed out to me thatit's probably more like trees and forests being
like the lungs of the earth,and I was like, oh, yeah,
that does apply. But they theyturn all of these kind of fixations

(54:29):
on, like the weird pagan pastof the United Kingdom, an ultra specific
British kind of reference points. Likethe full title of this is this Heathen
Land, a Journey into a cultAlbion. There's a prologue track which sounds
like kind of nineteen seventies British TVquite kind of shit. The guy they
get through their cover art is RichardWells, who, like I have got

(54:50):
like books and movies and things kindof his art all over them because he's
like the guy in the UK forlike, oh we need like a poster
for a field in England or somethingto look kind of folk horrory. Get
him. It always throws me.This bander from London, like the literal
biggest metropolis if you think they haveto be from like Suffolk or like by
Stonehenge or something. But they turnthose things into bangers that make people want

(55:10):
to be in on those things becausethe songs are so big because I like
the shit they're referencing, right,I love that as well. I'm in
it. That surface level appeal.Bands like that, I think have a
risk of, you know, appealingto those people who are only already in
on those same interests, and itcan limit a band's trajectory as much as
it can be kind of a thingto draw people in if the music itself

(55:31):
doesn't have that universal appeal. That'swhat I think they've smashed on this.
Yeah, I absolutely agree, becauseagain I'm totally down for all the folk
horror kind of like dressings that theyput all around all of this. But
what they've just done this time isthey've combined that with undeniable just kind of
hit songwriter within the framework of metalstones. This is cracking the formula of like

(55:55):
Ghost, essentially blending huge hot melodyand like pop sensibilities in the songwriting with
like just British stonery doomy heavy metal, and it is just such a irresistible
combination when you wrap it up inall this kind of like witchcraft and folk
horror kind of like lyricism and everythinglike that, and it never it just

(56:19):
it's such a fun journey from startto finish to go on that I just
it was I was gonna, like, okay, cool, what this is,
And then the moment that chorus onthe Forest Church hit, I was
like, They've that's it. They'vethey've cracked it. The moment that kind
of comes in and I've not hadthat chorus leave my head since I first
heard this album. Elliott, youkind of said it. The opening run
of like three four songs on thisrecord is genuinely ludicrous. I think people

(56:45):
kind of overlook and when it comesto what bands are going to be popular.
People overlook song power for sound.Oh it sounds like this, so
it's going to be popular. Thisis not a style of music that it
is inherently popular now or you presumeto be popular. But you put this
on and you just go, thisis genuinely arena size Rainbow Blois to throwback.

(57:08):
And if there wasn't another band alreadydoing it on the biggest stages possible,
with the biggest show, it wouldfeel like such an enigma. Because
when Prologue with its kind of dungeonsince and the way it introduces the record
with it's time to explore this heathenland, and then that sabbath bloody sabbath
risk comes in, It's just likewho who likes heavy metal is not immediately

(57:31):
swept up in that, Like again, I'm really slamming razor sharp riff,
and then I'm gonna going back tothe age of said of all for that,
I'm going to say the thing Idon't like hearing other people say that
chorus is fucking massive. It's sofucking deniable likes something because it comes to
that verse, which is like hisvocals in that verse could be like they

(57:53):
tread that line though. They couldbe so annoying because he's so full of
characters that all these like keyboard andsymphon, and I was like, in
another world, I could not likethat. But whenever it comes round to
the down to the Church, I'mlike, every time, it's fucking just
belt it out, like it's abit lazy. I think to compare anything

(58:14):
that does like spooky nineteen seventies acult arena rock, to ghost And because
a lot of these albums doesn't soundlike ghosts, I'm only doing that is
because I was saying, is thatthat No, No, the pop and
the metal kind of perfectly completely agreeto be in terms of, oh it
sounds like ghosts whatever. A lotof this album doesn't. The Forest Church
does sound like a ghost song,right, because the nasal vocally does sounds

(58:35):
particularly sort of popparish there. AndI mean this in a positive way,
because that chorus they you know,that thing of like there's a thin nasally
kind of voice, but it getsfilled in by all this like jubilant choir
and this general sense of reverence andit makes you want to throw your hands
up and cry for absolution. Right. That chorus is incredible, the way
it lifts up further, it goesalong and you're like down to the forest

(58:57):
church like it's so the the riffsand the verses are kind of like,
you know, funereal and evil,like the like you might as well be
doing fucking like hubble bubble Caldron bubbleon those verses. Right. The theater
is all there, but it topsit off with a hook and a melody
that it's just like at that properfucking standard, Like it's a hook that
doesn't just you know, fill inthe gap of this is where a chorus

(59:17):
goes, but it smashes it andit goes there. And then Mountain Throne
has this like big fucker like greasyriff biker rock and roll like something I
have an Orange Goblin song or somethingriff. But the way the singer lets
that main hook fly, you knowfrom Subterranea, it's like proper control of

(59:39):
where you're gonna direct the Evan Flavorsong with with something like that, And
yeah, we spoke about that asthe lead single. It's even better in
the album. There's like at leasttwo other songs of this album I like
more than it. It's fucking brilliant, and then the two songs either side
of it, I like more thannineteen five, which the real move And
in this run suddenly you are hitwith Maxine Witch Quick, which, oh

(01:00:00):
my god, you are grooving allover like the Goblin disco dance law to
that one that's simp. I waslike, oh, let's fucking go.
It made me howl with laughter thefirst time I heard it, and I
love that. I was just overjoyedto hear it. You know, the
tone is so fun, but themelody is unforgettable. The second you hear
it's's like, come on, let'sgo party Tome. It's like it's got

(01:00:20):
spooky Highway star like this record isso much deep purple on it. And
when they really bring it to thefour, bring it to the four like
that song, it just makes mesmile. Like in this run, I
would say that Maxine Witch Queen intheory is probably low. I'd probably have
it below Mountain Throne and the ForestChurch, but I can't physically do that

(01:00:42):
because the organ sounds like John Lordand that is a sound that just tickles
my heart. So and it justagain the whole thing. Maxine Witch Queen
just as a title, it's like, you're going to like that. Yeah,
they've they've nailed that ability to reallyjust play yeah that song immediately,
I'm gonna remember that one and likeI love they tease you with the chorus
on too pronged chorus again, it'sthat the main keyboard line, dude,

(01:01:02):
do do do Do Do Do DoDo That itself is hooky, and at
first it feels like the chorus isjust gonna be cycle that round again and
go Maxine over it and that'd beenough, right and a lot, and
they kind of do that at first, and then it comes around again maxon
which it's like, holy shit,that is gonna go off on that tour
they've got coming up, like thatis undeniable single. And there's, like

(01:01:23):
you were saying, Elliott, likethis sort of nineteen seventies occult rock thing,
like it's not inherently like super likehit factory stuff, but occasionally one
of those bands will knock out justa fucking like party song and you go,
yeah, that is a hit thatis irresistible. Who like what person

(01:01:44):
who hates fun right is not goingto have fun during that? And they've
done it there and straight off thebat that's three songs all a row there
that are all different feels that willcompletely nail what they are and all have
fucking mega like hooks that are youknow, gonna completely any live show they
do straight out the bat. Whenthey riff, it's not just like you

(01:02:05):
know they've they've done that kind ofupbeat stoner biker riff on Mountain Throwne.
You get the really stately kind ofpower on something like the ancient ways.
They obviously have fondness for all thesedifferent sort of corners and bits of what
like doom metal and classic rock andall these kind of things are they've not
just gone oh yeah, Electric Wizardwill do that like you know so many
have done over the years. Onefor Sorrow turns up and it's like Cathedral
have turned up. Like the guitartone is so heavy, like we're not

(01:02:28):
kissing the go go anymore. Weare like in a fucking like funeral mass.
It is crushing. The production onit is like immense, like One
for So has like a real senseof like grace and class in and amongst
how fucking heavy that riff hits andit's still melodically so strong when we how
it burst off in that chorus wherelike, even when they're doing the the

(01:02:50):
classic Doom song at this point afterthat said that ludicrous of opening trio of
like fun songs, it's still somelodically just impect all that. Even I'm
like fucking love Doom right now,like Maxine Witch Queen and One for Sorrow
might be one of the biggest jumpsin vibe from song to song consecutively you
could find on like something that youcould seeably call like a stone or a

(01:03:13):
doo metal album. You know,in god knows how many years, I
didn't think about that that until thispoint. That's weird to have those two
songs aft to each other, butthey make it work. But it's just
that run of like each like Isay, each song this album, I
think you said about almost the entirealbum, where each song does actually really
justify its existence in being its owndistinct feeling its own distinct vibe, and

(01:03:35):
just nailing whatever what they set outto do each time, and it never
feels kind of just like it's eightsongs this album and each one is like
totally justified and not feel like asingle filler album track. Yeah, there's
no redundancies on this record, everysingle song kind of scratches in it that
this style of music should And Onefor Sorrow, I mean, it might
be my favorite song on the record, and it's that huge climactic chorus and

(01:03:57):
the argento synth line to the end. Yea proper phantasm, doesn't it.
It's great? Yeah. And thenlike you know, this record isn't a
particularly sinister listen, Like the horrorelements are there, but it's more kind
of I think when they really leaninto it that six for the Devil,
the Devil himself on that song,it's it goes hard and it's again like

(01:04:19):
it's not something that I thought GreenLonghanded. I always thought they were kind
of like a doom metal kind ofscrappy doo like loads of energy are not
necessarily very dangerous, but they canwhip that out the bag moment's notice and
it is still fun. And thento go from that song in something like
the Song of the Stones, whichsounds like pentangle or whatever, and then

(01:04:41):
to pull that off and for itto not feel, you know, like
they're trying their hand misguidedly at somethingcompletely different, likes it all works.
There's a sense of kind of witchyglee on this album, well, I
think the singer is really coming intohis own. I think the best moment
they had had prior to this wasthe song Graveyard Sun from Black Harvest,
which like it's kind of like grandoccult ballad, and he sold that song
really well. Basically every song onthis is better than that one. But

(01:05:04):
here that ability to without being likean obvious powerhouse Ronnie James Deer type singer
or anything, make those things flyright. But as you say, he
injects kind of character and a snarlof conviction into it when it needs to
go kind of dark and impish.There's one point no warning in Hunters in
the Sky. He just does likea rob halford circa painkiller screech. But

(01:05:27):
then the kind of what you're saying, like the real moments where it leans
into like like I said, he'sfucking lounging over a cauldron or something and
you look at the man and yougo, you don't look like that,
right, Like you there's not muchabout you that really conveys like, yeah,
that is a genuine occult kind offigure. But he's able to turn
it on in the voice and theplaying the guitar solos when they're give Hi

(01:05:49):
the spotlight just as much so theyalways like elevate the songs. The one
in ancient ways is like Brian fuckingMay. There's so many Brian May kind
of like big rocking like guitar shows, because it was like a real sense
of like pomp and camp and theaterto all of this album. But it
never it never kind of undermines it. I mean some of the stones just

(01:06:09):
said that that's the most kind oflike around the cordron, and that's when
they're going all in on that folkthing where that not done right. That's
where I always get turned off onthese sort of albums as I kind of
perform. But even when, likeI say, I'm so immercy on at
that point, even when the flutegets busted out on someone's stone or whatever
it is they're playing, Yeah,like whether the women's is, I'm like,
fucking bring it on, because it'sall just another really well fort out

(01:06:30):
element and I'm just so invested bythat point because again, the melodies are
so strong. His character and vocaldoes just make me believe, like again
you say you don't look at me, he doesn't look it. But because
of what he can where he cantransfers the vocalist. I kind of I'm
believing he's, you know, inhis little stone circle druid and everything.
I mean, some of the Stonesis just so wick a man, you're

(01:06:51):
expecting britt Ekland to start pounding onthe wall going hey there. But like
the secret thing on this album hasthought put in in terms of like not
in an elaborate concept kind of way, but just the way you look at
like a nineteen seventies rock album andthere's a clear side A and a clear
side B and an ever flow betweentracks that don't just do the same thing.
And Paranoid makes sense, Rainbow Risingmakes sense. This has that runner

(01:07:15):
songs we spoke about. It's brokenup by song of the Stones in the
middle. Oceans of Time is likean immense, like proper album closer,
you know, like this yearning,romantic, graceful piece of songwriting, which
the first time I listened to that, I recognized the lyrics straight away and
it's so funny. Well, it'sso funny that on their journey into a
cult Albion record they've done a Draculasong. So yeah, he went he
went to Whitby once he got aboat put him in there. But the

(01:07:39):
ending surge with that ah no,you feel it. Meana a feel it
too. It's fucking fantastic. Itfeels like it's got the kind of big
swing for the fence's ambition of thosetimeless classic rock type records and the way
their big ending moments kind of approachthe you know, the the circumstances,
the feels, and the tempos,like we're saying, they flip wonderfully from
song to song. Good at allof them. There's not any one area

(01:08:00):
where that's an obvious weak patch.You're not so good at the slow stuff
or whatever. You know. Isaid, Ancient ways is kind of more
like that kind of mid paced theatricaldoom with guitars that like raw with that
production job guitar tone, stuff likeHunters in the Sky more that kind of
head banging feel even does like anooh at the start to bring it in,
like punching the air like fucking less. There's a head bang. There's

(01:08:21):
nothing inst about it, is thething. I think that's one of the
big determined the facts about what youwere saying, it about what kind of
stuff like this feels like it isfor you know, doom heads and what
stuff feels like it is kind ofrock star and that's what this feels like.
It's loaded with ridiculous backing vocals,those incredible like relishing the line like

(01:08:41):
solos, enormous keyboards out the wazoo. Like we get loads of great albums
in a year that maybe excel morespecifically in a niche, right, like
if this thing appeals to you,whatever, go for it. We've got
some of them coming up at theend of the show. But this is
one of the albums this year thatfeels like you just have to kind of
insist that everybody this thing checks itout because it's in the grand scheme of
things. Still a small band,right and they've written an incredible set of

(01:09:03):
bangers that feel like they just havesuch a great sense of widespread appeal.
This doesn't feel like a small Britishband pointing out this album because again,
production wise, it sounds immaculate.I can't knock the production. I mean,
everything sounds sounds like money's been thrownit, you know, yeah,
but it sounds heavy like again,but it doesn't like sacrifice the melody in
terms of having the guitar's crunch,but it's not you know, the guitars

(01:09:25):
aren't sanded down sound wet, soit can have that poppier appeal. It
just has every aspect. It's justso perfectly in tuned and I'm just like,
this feels like this, this shouldbe a big band doing this,
and I'm hoping that it does havethat crossover where people really start to latch
on and get on get behind GreenLung because it's just the quality, because
it nails all the stuff that youwant a record like this to nail.

(01:09:47):
Because on one hand, it doesstill have some of that sort of insular
britishness where like on Hunters in theSky the Lywick goes when you hear the
horn blow above Kroc and Tour,you'll know that you'll never escape from them
more. It's like, how areyou even from London? Like that is
the It's from Whitby to Whitechapel,Like, yeah, you are like you
formed in nineteen sixty eight. Thisis this is not rock star behavior and

(01:10:10):
the slices. But then you know, moments later Oceans of Time, Well,
I was like this sounds more likeWhite Snake than Warning, Like it's
got kind of long way from Homeforlorn love song kind of still thrusts the
air. It's got the drama likea glam tune, but it's kind of
this big, lumbering doom song andit's kind of got that. It's got
a populist quality that most occult rocksort of doing stuff just doesn't have,

(01:10:33):
and maybe, you know, doesit in turns out, maybe it's deliberately
you know, alienating, but whenyou can write songs of this quality,
you'd kind of be a fool notto. Yeah, it's an album where
you know, when you see thesechoruses live, you're just gonna want to
throw your hands up in the airin elation and belt along. It is
as crowd pleasing as a seventies styledoccult do record about obscure British folk horror

(01:10:56):
feasibly could ever be right, andthe vibe is specific, but the song
craft is beyond that, and thatI think is a really great thing when
bands can tap into that, andthat's why I think Green Lung have done
here. So please do check itout. It's called This Heathen Land.
Our trip to hardcore this month takesus to Dying Wish. Their second full
length album is called Symptoms of Survival. Dying Wish went from a name who
are like kind of on people's lipsand a kind of all watch this space,

(01:11:18):
they're coming kind of way to reallyarriving in twenty twenty one with their
debut full length Fragments of a BitterMemory. And I remember it arrived and
I'd had my eyes on Dying Wishfor a couple of years, and I
had to kind of recalibrate when myhead was up with them, because I
was associating them with that sort oflike bruising modern hardcore bands like Knocked Loose,
Year of the Knife, et cetera. I was not expecting the full

(01:11:41):
length package to be as nostalgic asit was. It was such a throwback
to like early two thousands melodic metalcores. It kind of threw me for
a loop a bit of firsth itwas so retro, but at that thing,
it is exceptional, like the bestalbum in that particular kind of style
that we had probably had in youknow, a good old while. Yeah,
I mean I was because it was. It was when Emma rocked up

(01:12:02):
on that not Loose track was thefirst kind of like, oh, who
is this Who's this band? Andthen Dying Wish and it was like those
early EP's were more just nasty hardcore. And then when that DEBM came along
and it was just two thousand andfour worship, I was like, I
fucking love it. Like that wasthat was when that ranked super my interview
list because it was just doing athing that I'd been yearning for someone to

(01:12:24):
kind of tap back into at thatlevel of quality. Again, like you
look at the the last couple ofKills Struckles when they weren't at the level
that Dying Wish were on that.So I was so down for them doing
that nostalgic throwback metal core to thatlevel. Yeah, I think it.
The proof of was the fact thatit had a lot more staying power with
its songs than a lot of hardcorewe cover. Like there are tons of
tracks on that album. Fragments area bit of memories. One like that

(01:12:45):
stuck with me in the moshcore momentswhere they know the fucking the bullet and
all that kind of shit stuff thatyou are slathering to see life because you
want to go after those moments.And this one's turned up and I feel
like almost like of a Cruel taskMaster, Because now I'm like, this
doesn't sound quite like the last one. But if the top tier of modern
hardcore bands for me is like CodeOrange, you know, Turnstile, vain

(01:13:09):
not loose, I would have towatching Tongue sort of in that kind of
company. The next tier of likeJesus Peace Scowl currently Year of the Knife,
Dying Wish I would have firmly inthere. I really like Dying Wish.
I mean, I love Dying Wish. I would not quite on your
your Code Orange Turnstile level, butthey are front runners in the sort of
the rest of the pack. Ithis is now, and that just kind

(01:13:31):
of goes, oh, let's justdo a thing I like for thirty two
minutes and just solve the good feelingsin my brain and just make me happy,
and like it's so tuned to justhit a spot for me where I'm
like fucking love everything about this again. Yeah, what I mean though about
being not quite like the last oneis the actual throwback element feels more like

(01:13:53):
specific moments in this, I guess, whereas the last album is like everything
about how it sounded was almost likeyou could have dug it up from two
thousand and two and something like trustKill or something. This feels maybe it's
because it's higher budget and it feelsmore modern, but like specific ideas and
songs really draw heavily from that kindof past. But perhaps it is the
right move actually to kind of thenupdate I guess what they're doing a little

(01:14:15):
bit. Yeah, I think that'sfair because I think there's kind of like
spin halfway, Like half songs domare just two minutes of just like pure
fire and rifts and anger, andthen the other half is that just like
end of Heartache, you know,good out of a minute. Yeah,
because I must have listened to thatfirst record when it came out, but
I don't. I don't really rememberit. And you're saying that you put

(01:14:36):
them in with hardcore bands like CodeOrange vein that sort of thing. After
listening to this, that seems likea slightly odd fit to me somehow.
I don't know it's because it's sosteeped in the kind of nostalgia nostalgia throwback
element that feels weird to put themin with contemporary bands. But for me,
but this, I mean, thiswhole record. They didn't really need

(01:14:58):
to bother with press releases for becauseon site you know exactly what it is.
It's like it's gonna be Poisoning thewell early kill switch, that sort
of suicide silence looking logo, theShadows for looking album cover, the poison
the Wells sounding title. It's likethere's there's no element of obfuscating what it
is that they do, even likeyou look at the track list and it's
like, I can't guarantee that Kissof Judas isn't an early as I Lay

(01:15:21):
Dying song, do you know whatI mean? It's like the whole thing
is kind of wilfully derivative, Soit feels weird to me put them in
with those bands, but I likethe thing that they do, so in
terms of quality, yeah, yeah, it could be. Yeah, I
think you know. It starts withthe title track and that beat down groove

(01:15:43):
is just so obnoxious, and Ithink it's a production in terms there's a
real tightness in the chugs and thatlike ending breakdown it has when those verses
hits. Obviously it's based in whatyou're saying, but in comparably to the
last one, even for almost likekind of ghost inside Dish that they're kind
of most heavy, like it feelsa little bit more twenty tens and on
in terms of how it sounds.You know, watch My Promises Die right
after fucking hell of a burly stompon that like super powerful and thick for

(01:16:06):
to day right, Like it doesn'tfeel quite so much like a like a
lost album, right I think,like, what's my promise di is?
Whe where when that clean part hits, it still sounds like it could be
That's what I'm saying specific ideas.And there's like at the Gates riff where
she shouts go and it's like,yeah, there we go with doing that
bit, so I shually mean wherelike it's it's less the whole thing.

(01:16:30):
But that song to me still justsounds like I guess it is doing the
four thing but trying to blend witha bit more modern sensibilities rather than just
doing pure throwback. That's what Ifeel. I guess I'm trying to say
that the approach on this album kindof is and I feel like they're kind
of they're ekeing towards landing that maybeI think. You know, Emma is
one of the most charismatic personalities incontemporary hardcore, just through her screams right,

(01:16:53):
which is a hard thing to do. Most of them sound the same,
right, but like when she's snarlingat the upper end of her range
on this, it's brilliant. Ittakes a I think it's it's tongues of
lead where she goes for almost thiskind of like black metal register on like
one of the blasts, and it'slike super sick. And then she drops
a bitch in the mosh caol onKids of Junus, which is so nowhere.
It's funny, but it takes amoment that at the Gates Sea,

(01:17:15):
you know, Imperium in the middlecircle a bit type riff. It takes
a moment that to come in.You know, it's like you're halfway through
the second song. It's almost likethey've beaten you with kind of you know,
some more modern hardcore for a fewminutes, and then they go tempost
witch, we've dialed back the clock. Well watch my promised story when that
starts. And I thought it soundslike August Burn's red with a bit of

(01:17:36):
attitude, like and I don't knowif that's the sort of Verra maybe you're
thinking of as well. I meanstuff like starved. To me, that's
pure early darkest hour. Pray forMe is basically three beatdowns put together to
make a song. Pray for Meis when they go all dying fetus like

(01:17:56):
they're doing quite that so heavy,like it's legit death metal, you know,
slam come hardcore riff, just howlow end is yeah, no,
Pray for Me, like when theygo on that just like pure most low
end, but then frying like pinchharmonics and all that too, and have
the fucking die my Enemy mosh calllike all that stuff is like, yeah,
we're just gonna go fucking hard thistime, and it's like, oh

(01:18:17):
yeah, cool, I just wantto, you know, swing your fist
round to that. I just havehow fucking like corstic and just like genuinely
pissed off sounding memories of course,like ninety percent of this record, and
at any moment when she's not singingbasically yeah, I think it's when,
like I said that point halfway throughwatch My Promise die, when that kind
of more two thousands metally riff comesin. I love that you because it

(01:18:41):
brings you know, that more openlymetal approach to like thrash and speed and
melody. That's very my sensibilities,right, And those things are a throwback,
but it was a brilliant trick,you know, And it's great to
hear riffs like that being done whenthey're not everywhere anymore. And I think
it gives dying wish in those moments, like this sense of kind of light
and life that they can year intoaway from the really heavy stuff where they're

(01:19:02):
still scathingly intense with it. Butit kind of it does open up the
dynamics of what those kind of songscan do that maybe some of their you
know, more kind of straight aheadkind of peers don't quite do. And
like you know, Slaught the Soulis one of my favorite things ever.
The riff and kiss of Judas ismeant for me. But they do this
thing where as a hardcore band,they have an emphasis on brevity, and
I think part of this album whatyou're saying, kind of the split sam

(01:19:25):
on this album. Yeah, it'slike part of this album are almost like
a sweet because Starved and Pray forMe, which you mentioned, almost don't
feel like they could be two distinctsongs. It feels like they see straight
intead opening from Pray for Me.I totally see what you mean. It's
it's so smoothly and collectively it's stillbe like four minutes long, right,
like those things put together. Butthen you go into Part to Your Grave

(01:19:46):
and paved in Sorry, it's likeanother separate see, which is like the
big melodic bit where you assume youmean when you have these bruisings of songs,
there's an emphasis on that, thatbrevity in me that sometimes songs almost
feel like little kind of sketches sortof join together in little parts, and
there is a clear divide I thinkon this album between those moments where they
do that and when they go forsomething kind of more fleshed out, not

(01:20:10):
just like two minutes of mosh,and I think it's you know, at
the moment, it's almost like someparts of like slightly outweighing the others because
you have these tiny little bits,and then the last track is like the
obvious outweyer of the rest. Interms of like scope, I think Part
of Your Grave really strong song likefits a bunch of different ideas and sections
in the way it manages to movefrom kind of like legit blast beat to
the melodic vocal is impressively smooth andnatural. Like those things they have managed

(01:20:35):
to work out how to put thosethings together. And I guess just as
they make you wait for the guitarmelody, they make you wait a little
bit for any vocal melody. Likeit's the same kind of track where it's
like you're settled into the album atthat point and they go, oh,
there is this other thing here.Partial great, feels like there's sort of
moment with the album really steps upfor me after those first few songs.
Again, I just love this fromstart to finish. But when they find

(01:20:56):
those sort of extra pockets they cantap into it, just it just I
guess because that is so aggress somewise, it means those most they do switch
up into the melody, it makesthem stand up more rather than just shoehorning
in a chorus into every song andkind of just like so it just feels
like, okay, we're just doingthat every time when they when they let
the melody ring out or they changethe tempo or anything like that, they

(01:21:18):
put off in a way that actuallyfeels like it's enhancing the listening experience and
taking you taking a song forward ratherthan just being done for the sake of
it. Yeah, as like athirty minute odd listening experience of the overall
record. They've clearly organized in suchwhere it's gonna have these kind of ebbs
and flows of like for a coupletracks here you're going to be fucking going
just full throttle, then this trackwe're gonna slow. Then you have more

(01:21:40):
melody, more room to breathe orwhatever I think it means. Again,
when you look back, you're whatwas that song, you know, compared?
Maybe I think I'm compared to thelast where it was like again Innate
First, Prab, it's a bitof memory. These are all like fucking
meg even when they are like InnateFirst is almost all fucking brutality, But
they are like super fucking memorable intheir own right. But this has almost
more focus on the kind of thejourney overalls the record. I think we

(01:22:00):
were joking a little bit Earliert thatthey're bringing kind of fly Leaf back a
little bit. We're kind of thetwo thousands of nostalgia in the Melodi vocal.
But I do think has a reallygreat voice and they would be a
lesser band without the range that thatmelody brings. Well. Yeah, and
the thing that surprises me is thesong where that really flies is fly leafs
If You Will is the sole realdeviation in style I think in paved in

(01:22:24):
Sorrow, Yeah, that's the Firthattempt at like a full on clean ballad.
Yeah, and it's probably my favoritesong on the album, which really
is weird because when we were talkingabout the single and it was like,
oh, you know, I'm notthat keen on the fly leafy bit,
but this is like fly Leaf ifthey were good, because instrumental ruined me.
Elliot, no sacred cows here,like I mean, instruments, big,

(01:22:49):
sort of self tizled deaftones vibe Ithink, and like you said,
a really strong lead vocal performance.And as much as I say, it
sounds like fly Leaf, the kindof balance of weight and delicacy. It's
not that dissimilar to hum but abit more Mid two thousand's MTV and I
feel bad saying the song that soundsbasically nothing like the others is my favorite.

(01:23:12):
But for me, maybe it's itsposition in the record as well,
because you know, talking about this, all the talk about sequencing. For
me, the reason why thirty twominutes of this is basically perfect because it
kind of feels like two EPs witha really meaty insalute. In the middle,
we get five songs of spiky,metallic hardcore, this song, which

(01:23:33):
is my favorite, and then you'rekind of refreshed for the next section.
And I don't know, maybe ifthere were more songs like this, if
it was sequence differently, it wouldn'tbe my favorite. But on repeated listens,
this was always the song that Iwas looking forward to the most,
which I don't think i'd say aboutmany of these hardcore bands who go melodic.
I mean, I think it beingpositioned like right in the middle of

(01:23:54):
the record does mean it is surean easy one to stand out. It
just says it does separate things out. I think it's well though, because
when they're when they're doing this orof their emotional ballad, it still never
feels too wet and sappy. Emma'sstill got loads of like parent conviction and
her vocals, and when it doeskind of like break at the end and
you still get that final minute wherethey're allowed to go heavy with it,

(01:24:15):
it just means it's it's a balladthat doesn't feel again like it's trying to
just be like, oh, wehave to, you know, do the
nice song. Now it's still likea ballad by way of what Dyane Wish
are looking at as their core sound. Yeah, I think it's actually my
least favorite song on this record,and it's because it's it's a decent first
attempt at that thing. But Ithink it's something they can surely do a

(01:24:36):
lot lot better with in I agreeit can be improved on, but I
think it's a really good Like I'mnot saying it's a bad song. I
think it's it's a you know,I'm glad it's on this record. The
last thirty seconds in particular, whenit really goes like they are, that's
a brilliant thirty seconds right there.I think it's it's a little more passive
in getting there than they I hope, can really really nail. You know,
it is very funny when that justtransitions. It's just absolute filth forgetting

(01:24:58):
on the very next track. Butit's stuff like that that I think they're
building at the moment rather than beingcompletely you know, a finished article torn
from your silhouette. We had likeway towards the beginning of this year.
For me, it's like that's thebiggest immediate burst of kind of light and
energy on the album. What theyhave in that song is brilliant, right,
Like the ingredients are there the immediatelyof that first riff of sensation or

(01:25:19):
the melody that arrives as top draw, but they've done it in this really
bite sized package. And I canremember saying like, Rosa Sharon is brilliant
for the first two minutes, butit doesn't get transcendentally brilliant until the bridge
and the outro, right, Andevery time that song arrives in this record,
it's electric, and then it's gonereally quickly, and I want to
see them get more out of thosemoments. And then on something like that

(01:25:42):
ballad track that you know they havesort of dedicate a little bit more time
to I guess keep the pulse ofit really alive the whole way through,
and they don't have to abandon theviolent shocks to do that, because that's
part of who they are as well. I think it's Kinks like that to
iron out, where this is aband who had a really great debut.
There is a lot of promise inhere of how they can and keep pushing
it and get more out of itand not just be pigeonholed. Has that

(01:26:02):
band who sound like two thousand andtwo Trustkill Records. Right, it's a
strong album. I think the factthat I am ultimately hoping to end up
viewing it as kind of a transitionaryalbum between them reaching even higher heights should
be a positive thing. Yeah,I see where you're coming from with that,
I think for me because I kindof agree, but because I'm just

(01:26:23):
so attuned to like this thing.And again, in a year where metalcore
has not exactly like more than ayear, you know, metalcore has been
in the shitter for quite a whilein terms of like what most bands are
doing. So when I get aMedicore record, that does just make me
go, ah, this is howit should be. Medical bands, please
make your album sound like this,Like have your guitar tone that actually sounds

(01:26:45):
violent and dangerous when you're doing theclean bits. Don't process it to shit.
So I'm so just like, I'lljust relish every second of this,
like thirty two minutes and again theamount of times I've finished it, and
then just hit player on it straightagain because I'm just like, excise me
a fix of that, because it'sso just punching to the point I can
totally see where're coming from and Iagree. I think if they can further

(01:27:08):
improve on the the the flashes oflike melodic brilliance on this even more than
I think Album Free could be wherethey really hit it. But I'm still
totally just loving every second of this. Yeah. Next album, it's from
a band called No Bro. Itis the quite wonderfully titled Set Your Pussy
Free. This band No Bro.They are Canadian. I think I may

(01:27:30):
have mentioned them briefly before because Isaw this band opening for Pup last year.
I think it was and that's notnecessarily a show where for me and
my taste, right, I'm goingto walk in and I'm guaranteed to be
particularly enamored by the support bill,Right, But these guys were playing as
I walked into the room, andwithin seconds I was just so endeared by
their energy. There's like five orsix women on stage, one of whom
has like a massive setup of bongosaround them and she's just fucking hammering away

(01:27:56):
on them and they're whizzing through likethese little ditty kind of ramones, runaway
type songs, and they were sofun live. And I checked out this
record that they had at the time, which was the also brilliantly titled Live
Your Truth threadso Gnah, and ithas one killer track on it called Eat
Sleigh shardon A, which will justgo around in your head like all the
ones on this album do, butmaybe overall didn't quite stick with me as
much as there kind of live energydid. This record feels exactly like you

(01:28:20):
want a band like this to feel. This record is such a fucking party.
I challenge everybody to not smile whenyou listen to this record. I
mean, I'm completely on the samepage with you on this one. I
love seeing them live. I'm youknow, very in tuned to enjoy this
sort of thing anyway. And thisalbum is just fizzy and just bubbly and

(01:28:43):
infectious, joyful whatever you want tothrow it it like. It is like
the moment hit play on it andI'm getting that little handclap and I'm like
again, it's it's immediately sort ofspeaking my language of like, oh yeah,
this is the kind of fun ramonesypunk, pop, punk, garage
rock, every kind of like bitthey want to go down on it.
It's just a blast. Will startto finish. Oh no, don't do.

(01:29:10):
Something you said earlier made me think, is this going to be about
no brow could he not think thisrecord is just like an absolute bag of
joy. I think it's a mixedbag. I'll say it like that because
there's stuff that you're saying that Igo, yes, yes, one,
yes. There are some issues withit where they might be completely distinct and

(01:29:32):
unique to me, but maybe wecan come to those later, because I
think there was a lot to likeabout this. I mean, I saw
with the good stuff, they canwrite a really catchy hook. I will
say that even after listening to thisrecord once. When I first heard it,
there were hooks immediately in my head, like I don't want to be
on the internet. Let's get outto hear Cashing on my cachet really fun,

(01:29:56):
all of them just they have thatphizy energy you were talking about,
like and particularly that I don't wantto be on the internet. On Delete,
Delete Delete. It's like a Descendantsong, but it's less Revenge of
the Nerds are more book smart andthat's great, like let's go out here
again that's been stuck in my head. Not really simple, but just great.
And yeah, cash on on MyCashing reminds me of Sleigh Bells.

(01:30:19):
It's kind of broken out of tune, woes over the top, and it's
just great. It's probably my favoritesong on the record. And you know,
that cash out line is fun.I just like, there are certainly
moments on this record I go,yes, I totally see what the I
feel bad that I've come in andsaid this all at the top. I
feel maybe we should come back tosome of the things I'm about to say.
Yeah. Well, I mean Iwill open up just saying, like

(01:30:41):
again, I'm the one who broughtthis record forward, right, And I
feel like that should say something becauseI feel like stuff like this that is
just super fun, endearing, nobullshit, no trends, DIY punk rock
music like this. It's kind ofTNM Hallmark right, stuff like this,
you know, it's kind of lightpower pop or like punk or like pub
rock, whatever it may be.There's not always actually the largest supply of

(01:31:02):
those records that are really fucking goodand that will stick around in your memory
for very long. Realistically, Ionly genuinely like maybe one or two records
like this a year. There arethings that we cover that I know a
lot of you guys like, anda lot of the you know, you
know, the audience vibe with orwhatever, and that's cool and we cover
it, but for me, theykind of exit my brain immediately. I
really I kind of love this record. It is so sticky and just so

(01:31:25):
just like shit eating, grin inducing. And that's why I'm so keen to
be like everybody who loves this.Like fucking hell, I don't even know
if it's my favorite song on it, but I have had in my head
for weeks that where my girl's thatwere my girl that because that's not my
vocal age, but my god,it's so infectious. It is the most

(01:31:46):
most fun. It's a bit likewhen the self titled peppew record came out,
and I haven't really cared for anythingthat band have done since they went
kind of more in the heartland thedirection. But that album that they had
with the kid in the cool songglasses on the Bike on the front,
and there was all these like daftminute and a half bangers about skateboarding and
ordering gas and stuff. Yeah,and that those songs have lived in my

(01:32:08):
memory so much longer than they fuckingshould write like a minute a half song
about ordering a pizza, But Ifucking it's ingrained in there. This is
like more fleshed out than all thoughit's got all this extra stuff and extra
flavors in there. Obviously very distinctlyfeminine as well, but in the same
way, I am going to beable to just recall songs and hooks to
mind from this for fucking ever,I think, I mean, just let's

(01:32:30):
do drugs, drugs, drugs,drugs, drugs, drugs. The cover
art is a thing of beauty.It perfectly contents. You mentioned the opening
title track for me, like thatmight be my favorite song with this because
it's this legit, snarling kind ofriff that's cool, but they complete it
with those claps, right and thenlike cheerleader chanting spelling their name, and

(01:32:51):
it is on this kind of youknow, bratty runaways greaser song or something.
But the best thing about that songthe chorus backing vocal, right,
because you could so easily have justhad that main vocal, but that fucking
doctor Roxo rocker roll Cloud said.The free so funny, and I love
that it's there like they've obviously meantthis as like this kind of big like

(01:33:13):
motto for life, the calling cardanthem, and for me, they fucking
smash it well for me again.This whole album is all about just you
know, liberation and just kind oflike that's what the cover is, yeah
exactly, And so starting with thatthat's freend like not giving a fuck,
like they'll do that like they putyour right hand in your left every put
your hand up left on two andthen and then just when you get that
peree backing vocal, it's all soknowingly a bit silly, but it's kind

(01:33:38):
of like fuck it, have fun, don't worry, like you'll be fine,
yeahs free exactly that the backing vocalat the end of Cash and on
My Cachet is just going like ah, kind of at the end. And
they filled in a lot of thesegaps on this with its like ridiculous extra
shit, And every time you capsomething like that in the mix, it
makes you giggle. It makes meat least enjoy the song, like even
more like the garage rock. Thenthey have on top of the punk,

(01:34:00):
like the sauntering insistence in a song, like you get to that second track
and you go, oh what theycall this, Oh yeah, let's do
drugs might as well, and thenit's just so carries itself with just such
a like they've obviously had such aridiculous time recording this, Like you can
tell they are having so much funthe chorus and nobody knows with the baby

(01:34:23):
kind of back and forth like justblowing the roof off the place. It
often has this like rock and rollslamming piano part throughout a whole song,
extra like garage kind of dance percussion. A song like AI sex Spot starts
all these like hand drums and stuff. It's just like so much of this
is made for kind of doing fuckinglike snorkel diving on the dance floor,
and it's just so good completely likeall of that like do whatever you fucking

(01:34:45):
feel like any moment, like whenyou've got fucking I don't feel like it,
which is kind of like just ramblingaround for like the verses and then
the release and that the way theygo from that like slacker drifter spoken word
thing too, you know what it'sYeah, it's ridiculous, just like belt
it out. And I think that'sit is everything about this films that they've

(01:35:06):
had fun making it as much asit's so much fun to listen to,
and some of you you get like, oh, you know, it sounds
that they had fun making. Itcan be a bit of a backhanded compliment
for like, well, they're enjoyingit, but it's a bit listening.
I'm like, no, they're fun. They're having translates straight to me.
When they're having fun with this,I'm having just as much fun. Elliott,
what do you? What are yourI guess your your hang ups with

(01:35:27):
this record? What about this?Is it the ridiculous ship that I clearly
think is amazing? No, no, no, not at all, Like
that's that's not the thing that irksme. Again, I kind of said
this earlier, but I'm conscious thatsome of the things I'm going to complain
about are distinct to me and won'tresonate with other people that hear this record.
I just for me sort of pointone, and this isn't their fault.

(01:35:48):
I just don't like that kind ofgaragee punk sound. Okay, that's
that is a kind of a dealbreaker. Yeah, it's it's kind of
got that whole fucking rocking, butyou know, not too hard. Like
it's the kind of like the bandin Scott Pilgrim. It kind of sounds
a bit like that, And it'swhy I never got on with the White
Stripe then being a Canadian garage rockband Scott Pilgrim was is one of those

(01:36:12):
things that was playing in the backof my mind when I was listened to
this is like, yeah, thiscould be on the Scott Pilgrim soundtrack.
Yeah, and you know, forsome people that would be great, but
it's like, it's the reason Inever got into Death from Above or the
White Stripes, who are like thekings of that sort of thing. And
I don't know if it's never doneanything for me. It kind of feels
a bit like a low fat cheesecakeor something where it's like, listen if

(01:36:32):
I want cheesecake, I don't wantto. And I kept thinking about,
like, you know, like likethat Pony record earlier year that people fucking
loved, and for me, again, that's one of those I don't remember
anything about that record. I rememberit sounded a bit like songs that were
on like Disney comedies from the earlytwo thousands, and that's it. Whereas
this, the raucous energy of it, that total fucking you know, delete,

(01:36:54):
delete, delete is They played thatsong when I saw them, and
it's the first time again I'd neverheard of them. I went home and
I was looking for that song.They played my find it and then but
the hook stayed with me for likea year. Yeah, and then it
turned up here and I was like, oh, hello you again. And
that to me is just like perfect, you know, twenty twenty three online
ramons like one minute forty three fizzyenergy, the nervous frustration it gets put
into, It's just like raucous asfuck, fun as fuck pop tune.

(01:37:16):
And for me, that just totalrock and roll abandon of it hits me
with this record in a way alot of them, don't. I mean,
I kind of wish there was alittle bit more of that on this
record, the the punkier, fastersongs, because quite a lot of it
is still quite slacker, and I'mtotally in on the slack of stuff.
But when like delete delete comes inand it is just like that pure like

(01:37:40):
burst of punk, like just likea fizzy drink exploding everywhere and you've just
down to like six cans of redbulln and you bounce with the wolves.
A bit more of that would havebeen like the thing that would have just
made this even sweeter for me.Yeah, I think the moments where they
do that definitely translate best. Imean you the thing you're saying about the
title track being full of energy orwhatever. I think if that had a
cleaner set of lyrics, it couldbe the opening credits to something like Skins,

(01:38:04):
which it's a groover man. Imean maybe, but it all just
sounds a bit polite. And whereMy Girls At again? That chorus is
good, but a lot of thatsong it feels like the sort of song
that two main characters in a Netflixshow would be shouting over at the back
of a venue. And I don'tknow that maybe sounds really rude, but
it's like it's not that thing you'redescribing isn't translating to me. I mean,

(01:38:27):
let's do drugs, which is kindof amusing, but it sort of
feels like CIA music, Like itfeels a bit like some kind of psyopter,
you know, stupefy the youth sothey don't rebel, and I mean,
I don't feel like it. Again. That chorus is great. I
can't hack those verses, like it'slike the Talking Heads, but Dave Burn's
got a sideways cap on. It'slike, I don't know for me.

(01:38:53):
For me, I think this recordpicks up a lot in its final leg.
I think sort of when it calmsdown, it's like being with a
really drunk friend where the booze firsthits and you're like, okay, okay,
let's just you know, okay,fine, yes, no, yes,
yes, oh we're singing now,okay, good good, And then
when they kind of sober up andslightly get to grips with it again,

(01:39:14):
I think the run of like cashingon my cachet. Nobody knows, let's
get out of here. Who thehell am I? They're all really well
written songs, and no bro like, they're clearly very talented writer. It's
like you say that, I don'twant to be on the internet hook that's
in my head all the time,and I don't think you can be a
bad band and achieve that sort ofthing. Really, I'm just almost I

(01:39:36):
think it's because the stuff I likerobs up so close next to the stuff
I don't like, then it makesit a bit more frustrating for me.
Like where my girls at. There'sa lot you know obviously saw them with
pup, the way they have thatlike big burst of like fat distorted guitars
and melody at the start with thewhoa that shit that hits me in a
similar kind of way that you know, completely knocks any of that fucking like

(01:39:58):
fake band, creative for TV orwhatever kind of like image, which I
know exactly what you are getting at, because that's how I feel about a
lot of the ones that people like. Right because again this isn't really my
world. But the lyrics in thatsong half that initial burst, they're so
simple. It's not you know,poetry, you know, but it's very
The melody is great, and ithas that thing of it makes you just
want to kind of hear that storyand hang out with these people. It's

(01:40:20):
so fully sweeps into the sentiment onthat song. For me at least,
it has that kind of dirty andill thing of like writing a song that
cuts right to the just like initialunblenished seed of why people start bands and
like rock music and make you wantto go and do it yourself. It
fucking rocks where they just do thelet's go no bro into the chorus.
It's so just like infectiously just likefuck it dive straight in who cares whatever?

(01:40:43):
And like again for me, likethis record shits all over the Dirty
Note record from this year, whichI thought was you know, good,
but we spoke about being less thanthe run they've been on this has I've
forgotten half those songs. I'm notnever forgetting loads of these and then give
me more at the end. Islike it's like demented, like kids eating
eighteen lollipops on the called disco rockand roll. Fucking ending. It doesn't
leave you any room or moment tobe bored. It's so just like grabbing

(01:41:06):
you and shaking you about. Forme, it's just it is like it
is pure sugar rush right Like it'spure fucking down everything, twenty nine minutes
of just like completely fuck it,b free, breathless attitude, and it's
the like pound for pound, momentfor moment, how much of that they
fit in makes this just one ofthe most like it will put a grin

(01:41:28):
on your face records I've heard thisyear. Like I completely I understand all
of your complaints partially because, likeI said, I share them for like
many other bands or things in thiskind of scene. So I don't know
where you're coming from. I dothink you will be in a minority.
I think the most like people whothere will be people who share it,
but most people who are listen tous right now. Who will put this
record on will just have the fuckingtime of their lives. Oh again,

(01:41:49):
I live in this sort of area, and I think this is just a
wonderful, joyful blast of like goodfeelings and happy fun times. Yeah,
you know, it's got that Canadianindie punk thing. But at the same
time, part of it's like,what if really good Eagles are death metal,
you know, like swing your hips, get the bomb goes out,
let's dance and there's like AI sexspots that like funcking like swager on that

(01:42:10):
is like, oh, that's whatLike a lot of those gage with bands
I don't like, that's what Ikind of wish they sounded like. Yeah,
And for so many of those bandsI do find to be extremely sort
of neuted in a studio capacity,whereas Nobro have that kind of raggedy edge
of like it feels like it's kindof been thrown together in the moment,
and that makes it work so muchbetter. It's, like I said,
it's twenty nine minutes long. Somany people love this kind of shit,

(01:42:30):
even if they've not had this putin front of them. For me,
it's so rare that I love somethinglike this this much, and so if
that is you like, I insist, if you like just fun rock music,
you've got to listen to this nobroalbum. There will be so many
of you where this is made foryou. It's called set your Pussy Free,
and you know we recommend you dojust that. Okay, second half
of the reviews, we will switchinto our more kind of underground extreme fair.

(01:42:55):
There is a bit more of thatthis month, because the last month
has been really fucking busy in termsof like big, high profile, critically
acclaimed extreme metal records. So ifthat's the kind of thing you want to
hear some of, then join usthroughout the rest of this episode and we'll
dish you up some good stuff,we hope. First stuff, we are
going to go classic band of thebunch and it's Autopsy. Their record is

(01:43:16):
called Ashes, Organ, Blood andCrypts, which Elliott you pointed out sounds
a bit like a kind of head, shoulders, knees and toes scenario where
you can very easily fit in atorn he okays, hacks Aws and graves.
They're just listing ship. I mean, they've got that is gonna be

(01:43:39):
gonna be when Autopsy retire it's whenthey truck can't go it with a four
thing album. They've used all ofthe words it's gonna be like file piss
dust. It has been. It'sbeen a really busy couple of months for
death metal legends. Like we havecoursed High Cannial Corps, so we spoke
about not long ago. We've alsohad around that time Dying thus Cryptopsy,

(01:44:00):
there was a Suffocation album this month. They've all come out the woodwork.
I think we will find a personalglee in taking the time to properly talk
about the new album from Autopsy.Elliott basically threaten to quit if we found
the time to talk about Corey Taylorin not this. It's a fair point.
Yeah. I'm glad though, becausethis is the second Autopsy album in
pretty much a twelve month period.Because the one we had last year it

(01:44:24):
did slip through our reviews cracks,so it kind of came out a busy
time. This one had a bitmore impetus on it. I guess that
one had a bit more imptus onit as like it was the first one
in a long old time. SoI'm glad that we've got the opportunity here
to kind of like rexify that andtalk about new Autopsy. Autopsy are if
you heard our album Club we didnot too long ago on the Sickening Mental
Funeral album. They're one of ourmaybe collective favorite kind of old school death

(01:44:46):
metal bands. Particularly. I havealways seen them being of that whole era
of bands the most for just likethe real death metal freaks out there,
you know, because like Dying Fetusand Suffocation, they've got these kind of
hardcore crossovers. Cannibal Corps are massAutopsy to me epit of myze just getting
your hands all in the sticky guts. That is sloppy, sloopy, poopy,

(01:45:08):
old school gore death metal. Theymake records that when we spoke about
Mental Funeral, which is very's themost so in this direction, but it's
always there. They're pretty weird andfreakish, and they're very unique to their
own personality, even if they've reacheda point where now you kind of always
know what you're going to get.Sam, you were quite taken aback by
what a slimy old band Autopsy were. I suppose it's probably the first,

(01:45:29):
you know, Reunion era newer materialthat you will have heard from them.
Were you at all, you know, were you invigorated by checking out what
this band sounded like thirty years onfrom the one you had last heard.
I mean, the first of Ilistened to this album was I'd stayed up
till five am watching wrestling and hadto steal gap at like nine am the
next day, and I put iton just kind of like bash my.
I was like I need to Iam delirious and sleep deprived. Stick autops

(01:45:50):
on and just kind of like bashaway the cobwebs, and god, it
did that job. This was likethere was there was something quite just nice
about like using this as reinvigorate myself, because it is I think this is
quite like Walk and Blood and crips. This isn't quite as like sloppy and
disgusting as Middle Funeral is, butfor like a sort of veteran sort of

(01:46:10):
legacy Definite band still got a niceamount of like gor sod like grossness to
it alongside you know, thrashing riffsand big hefty grooves. Yeah, I
think we're I guess we're in abit of sort of phase three autopsy ALB
because obviously there is sort of theinitial classic run in the late eighties and
early nineties. Then after about fifteenyears away, they reunited, perhaps a
little bit of a harbinger of allthose great extreme metal comebacks we got in

(01:46:33):
the twenty tens, because I wasa real glut of those around kind of
twenty thirteen, fourteen, you know, Carcass, Gore, Guts, God,
Flash at the Gates. Autopsy intwenty eleven released there, I think
phenomenal comeback album of carbaternal Elliot.I was quite hardened to hear that you
share the specific affection for that albumthat I very much do. The thing
that you normally have to know aboutAutopsy is that they're very prolific in an

(01:46:55):
era when like a standard weight ofwhat you'd expect for a new album from
a band is like three four years. Autopsy came back and immediately they seem
to retain like that old era's workrate with them, because every year they
released something pretty much and it's literallyall great everything they released in that early
to mid twenty tens period, andthen all of a sudden it just stopped,

(01:47:15):
didn't they. Yeah, I thinkwe took them for granted. They
were trying to show us what wewere missing, because in my time of
being an Autopsy fan. That's whatthey did. It was like macarb,
maternal, headless, ritual, Turkit, Saxles and graves within what two and
a half three years? Like EPsin most years, they didn't really supple
length. Yeah, and then itwas just sort of the odd EP here

(01:47:38):
or there, but basically a fiveyear drought a thing between Comora. It's
known as some EP in twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen and counting the grotesque is
that one? Yeah, yes,very good. And then last year Morbidity
I kind of say it Morbidity triumphant. Morbidity triumphant. When that came out,

(01:48:00):
it was like, Okay, saveat this one, save at every
second because who knows, like wemight have to wait another seven years for
another Autopsy record, and then twelvemonths later we get one that might be
even better and a contender for thebest autopsy record of Phase two and three.

(01:48:21):
Wow. I am head over head, over ashes, organ blood and
crips. Yeah, because they werestill playing shows in that time. Like
I don't know what happened. Itwas like this band just seemed to be
able to shit out an album ofquality death not every single year, and
they just dried up for a periodof time, which they would usually have
put out about five more records.And then I don't know if it was

(01:48:41):
a pandemic or what, but theycame back again. They've had a slight
lineup change. Maybe that reinvigorated themagain. It's just like nothing's happened.
Second autopsy in two years running againbrilliant. I certainly agree in terms Mobidity
Triumphant, the I Guess come Back, come Back album whatever like that was
really good. Maybe it was justan affection for the ones that I came
out when I was a teenage.For me, it's not like Upper End
Reunion Autopsy, like Macabaturner was afucking monolith. I also have a real

(01:49:04):
love for the one they left offwith the last time, which is Torny
Case Haxles and Graves. Yes,but Morbidity Triumphant really good, absolutely worthy
the standard they set themselves this one. I think it's not toppling my favorites
from those early twenty tens, butI do agree. I think it's personally
might be even a little bit betterthan the one they came back with last
year. Having another couple of differentflavors in the mix they didn't have,

(01:49:27):
and again compared to like some ofthose albums that we haven't reviewed, right,
Like the Dying Fetus album is great, right, it's Dying Fetus again.
They had quite a while away aswell, but they've hit a spot.
The Suffocation album pretty good, right, the Ryptopsy album that came out
pretty good. This one, I'mglad it's the one we're reviewing because they
just put an extra smile on myface beyond any other ones that just go,
yeah, that's my fucking guys.They're ripping it. I mean,

(01:49:49):
this is it Like I mean yousaying that you have more of a affinity
for the initial Reunion stuff. I'msaying it might be the best. And
it's in the conversation for it.It's in the comversation with macar and Tourno
kits some great I think it wouldcertainly I think as a very strong shout
of being on the podium, rightUnion, Death of Reunion, Autopsy and
stuff, and that is pretty good, fucking going. It's great this record.

(01:50:12):
Yeah, and the last one hadthis kind of woozy, kind of
speedy up and slowing down qualities towhich was maybe a bit more like mental
funeral, which so people people.I don't know if it again, I
don't know if it was just thedrought we had or if it really was
a more popular autopsy record, butthat seemed to get more interest than certainly
the last couple of the initial ofthe initial reunion ones. This might be

(01:50:34):
the most at it autopsy record inI was gonna say a decade, but
there's only been one since then,But like of the reunion ones, it
might be one of the most likego for the throat and I just love
that, Like you say, it'sjust the sound of it comes on and
just like that's those are the boys. Yeah. I think one of the

(01:50:54):
things that's really endearing that autopsy tome and why I think they are still
valuable today next to some of thoseother death mot bands who on a surface
level, sure similarly they do akind of does what it says on the
tin thing. But I think partof why it is actually worthy, like
still reviewing autopsy records about comparison,is they have this very old school approach
of working together where they've always beenlike the weird spiky punk band of those
death metal bands, like you know, LinkedIn to what we were saying about

(01:51:16):
how they kind of seem to operateon like a turnaround timetable of a band
of an older era. But theirmaterial always has this feel to me of
stuff that has been jammed out ina room somewhere, and there is a
spontaneity to it that makes their albumsjust continually fun and refreshing to listen to,
even still finding the daftist combinations ofwords and then spinning like comic book

(01:51:36):
splatter horror stories out with them.Rabid funeral, How the fuck does a
funeral become rabids? But autopsy go, well, have we got a story
for you? Let us tell you? And I love that. You know,
what has should have been sacred isnow me hemic violence. It's brilliant.
I love that opener. I lovewhen a death metal album starts and
the very first riff makes you wantto like punch the air and all the

(01:51:58):
symbol stabs like it's sick. That'swhat I mean about, like waking me
up for my sleep to state ishit him playing getting greeted with that rift,
I mean, I mean that openingis fucking brilliant in terms of just
like blasting you with evil riffs.That that bit like a minute where they
kind of flip between the groove andthose kato blasts and then back and forth
like changing up changes from like thethrashy stuff to just like fat drunkard falling

(01:52:20):
through the buffet table, like thefuneral swing that it goes for only autopsy
really do it like that? Yeah, that mid tiple group where the vocals
go like ah, like that,and it just so that that is that
is what he's doing at that point, and it just sounds so sick and
repulsive in the best way. Andthen that's on back off of the song.

(01:52:40):
It just kind of like gets reallyweird, like it's decomposing as it
goes like drags up that, yeah, for the second half in a way
that were the basses kind of likewandering up and down. That's that's what
I mean. That's like a fiveminute track that starts like bulling a china
shop, Yeah, and then itends weird creepy doom with like an actual
bass guitar melody, and that feelslike something that's been really fleshed out organically,

(01:53:01):
you know, that doesn't come togetherin a clunky, sterile file sharing
way. That's the sound of thefour guys in autopsy figuring out something in
real time together. They've always hadthis cool thing where on their longer songs
they seem to get tired by theend, which sounds like a criticism,
but it's so enjoyable to listen to, because when you see five minute autopsy
song, you know, well,the last minute it is just gonna be

(01:53:23):
like, yeah, it's like allof the flesh has fallen off. Yeah,
like a corpse with bits just droppingoff. It is what that sounds
like. And as much as Ilove his vocals, I'm very rarely paying
attention to what he's saying. ButI had when I had the song for
the first time I had a song, did he just say the casket is
blasted? Like, why isn't thaton my T shirt? As we speak?

(01:53:45):
And then when that song, likeyou say, it just sort of
chokes on its own vomit and dies. And then the next song he just
says throats. I couldn't believe theyhadn't had a song called Throatsaw before.
I guess hack saws are pretty popular, but people't really gone for the throat
saws before. And then I rememberthat hook every time it comes around,
right, throat saw brilliant on thatlike unhinged toppling down a flight of stairs

(01:54:08):
punk death that or avalanche that theydo, you know, freakish guitar silos.
I love like that you're saying withyou know Rifer, the way he
does this kind of like garbled cripkeeper arrating the story hooks you get out
of him. My favorite one inthat is No Mortal Left Alive, which
has that skip that is really liketwisted with the guitars and make it feel
really gross. And Chris on topof it is doing this like really rhythmic

(01:54:29):
enunciation ode there is No Mortal LeftAlive and that's the more restrained hook of
the two. Then he goes onmanic and he starts going everyone's dead eye's.
It's just like so splattery and frenziedin a way that those more straight
down the line brutal death metal bands, they don't evoke that through having more
kind of uniformity. There's a genuinesort of like someone's let a nutter loose

(01:54:50):
feel that you get in this.I don't know if Autopsy realize how funny
No Mortal Left Alive is as asong title. I had the exact thought.
I was like, presumably there arelots of immortals around. Again,
when that bleeds in, it's almostgot a kind of like jazz metal black
flag riff, which you know,in the hands of another band could be

(01:55:12):
quite a brainy cerebral move. Butthen by the end, like you say,
you're spinkicking to a man, justgoing everything's dead, Everything's fucking dead.
I mean you were said about likehis kind of like narration storytelling and
like the cripken thing. Well ofEntroughs is the one for me where that's
kind of got that sense of grandeurand then it's like doing the whole squills
of torment filled my mind and thesheet is everywhere on that one. It's

(01:55:33):
beautiful. There's so much character becauseagain, like with a lot of extrict
like the realty mans, I cansometimes feel like with the vocal is there,
they can be interchangeable. I don'tfeel that Autopsy. I'm like,
no, there is a character tohis vocals that makes him distinct in his
kind of like weird just like vomitingdelivery and lyricism. It's like, no,
that's made from autopsy. Yeah,it's it's the punk band thing.

(01:55:56):
You know the way you were here, just some random punk guy. You
pick up a microphone and got somethinginsane, but you'll remember it, right,
it's not fully honed whatever. Theyhave that spirit they always have done.
It's you know, the way theyapproach grooves and rhythms have a kind
of old school seventies eighties feel tothem that is so refreshing. It's like,
you know it Sabbath meets Celtic Frostmeets the Dead Kennedy's you know,

(01:56:18):
through death metal. It's getting alot out of a little and well of
entrails. Is like where it goespure, like slow slow Celtic Frost,
note bending evil, And I thinkthis ABM is particularly good. I think
in terms of having the the dynamicsof the different flavors of Autopsy. It
does really really well as a tracklist because on the other side of the
coin toxic death fuck with uh,which you have to know the fuck is

(01:56:43):
spelled with no C, just oneK right. Fuck. It's a fucking
tune that is, it's catchy,it's groovy, it's got that again kind
of bull in a China shot,mid tempo, totally just want to like
mosh and stamp about but the commitmentto the bit. There's a bit between
the chorus and the verse where Chrisjust like off the mic is like coughing
and spluttering. I like to imaginethat actually happened. I like to imagine

(01:57:05):
he was just kept that in likemaybe, but for me, it's kind
of like he's you know, he'sbreathing in toxic fumes as he's singing,
because what is it, It's atoxic death. Fuck of course, what
else is he gonna do? ButI like to imagine they just did.
Like it's so fucking rad in thealbut here just like it's like it shouldn't
be, but it is in termsof the context of what they built.

(01:57:27):
And I'm gonna remember that track onthis album. It's not interchangeable with any
others. And like there's always aload of songs on each record that you're
jazzed about, right, and likewe can actually nerd out about what our
favorite individual Autopsy tracks on each albumare, right, rather than just being
a pulverizing experience as a whole,which again I love it. I don't
think this is a too negative butlike that Dying Fetus album, for example,
that Suffocation album, they are morelike that. Like for me,

(01:57:48):
I go, yeah things I particularlylove on this, I love that.
I love Marrow Fiend, which doesjust like legit heavy metal struck riff.
It's like when hell Hammer used todo riffs that you could tell were taken
from heavy metal bands but really greasedthem up. And then Rifer on that
one, he's like just very comprehensiblydeath muttering, I don't care if you
bleed, like on that riff,it's so cool, like that's it again.

(01:58:09):
There are hooks in there the wholeI don't care if you suffer.
I don't care if you bleed,and like, yeah, that your life.
It fades my fetish whatever. Itis like that at the end,
lie like there is memorable vocal likelines from him that just keep it again,
way more engaging than there are alot of the more interchangeable death melt
stuff. On the face of it, Marrow Theme seems like one of the
less mental songs, but the mainriff it's built on at least, I

(01:58:31):
mean, it is sort of Gothicera Paradise Lost, and that gives a
way to a riff that sounds likeAutopsy doing a spy theme and that's all
in the first ninety seconds, likeit's proper and again the things that will
be memorable Again, I don't evenknow if I'm laughing at it or genuinely
loving it. But death is theanswer, which doesn't sound like a typical

(01:58:53):
Autopsy song until it comes on soundinglike Slayer and the lyrics are just listing
questions where death literally is the justshouts death a lot, Like I haven't
quite paid attention to that part.I need to go back and find that
that sounds brilliant. Yeah, Likethe production I think is the perfect kind

(01:59:14):
of you know, it sounds upto standard to now like it's you know,
if some mopen put mental food on. It was like all the shit
is this? This sounds good?Right? But it has the same kind
of like cracking bones under your feetlike Sonics just blood feats that they've always
had the bass. I have toreally you know, Greg Wilkinson, who's
the new addition they've had to theband. He's been brilliant for them so
far, and he's been a producerfor like lots of like newer horrid death

(01:59:35):
metal bands like Undergang and Vastam andstuff. And he gets it because he's
not only is it like that,but also they've always had that black Sabbath
approach in a death metal band,of like, the bass is going to
be important, it's going to beaudible, it's going to carry melodies in
its own right, even if theriffing is simple. It's not like a
fretless tech death thing, you know, but it's going to be bubbling away
like something of an older era.And that is you know, when they

(01:59:58):
do that like kind of little creepyhand of doom type moment at the end
of the title track, having themoments of like that funeral march subtlety instead
of just being like on ten Goremaniacs every single moment. And then right
after that that evil like Slayer harmonyriff in Bones of the Wolves that follows
it is like so good for howit's been set up. Again having my

(02:00:18):
critical hat on, I think forme, the album peaks with Toxic Death
Fuck, which closes off this brilliantrun of the first eight tracks. The
last three songs are very good autopsystuff, not quite as memorable for me
as the first two thirds, butagain I look at those and I go
death of the answer sounds like avery good lyrics but also go It's pretty
hard, has that wicked based doompart in the second half. Coagulation has
a great riff, like it isa delicious dose of bangers. I haven't

(02:00:41):
got around to picking up the lastone yet, like physically, and they've
put out one. I think Ido like more than it. Yeah,
And I mean, like you sayin the thing is in the nineties,
Autopsy one of the most like radicaldeath metal bands around in terms of every
album sounded completely different from its neighbors, and there is something sort of,
on the face of it, slightlyweird about them having that history and then

(02:01:05):
in both reunions kind of more orless settling on a mix of the first
two records with I mean, there'sbits on this struct remind me slightly of
actually unspeakable, like Coagulation, theway that opens, it's kind of similar.
Pretty much everything you get now isone style of Autopsy. And would
it be cool to hear them doother things? I suppose, But who's

(02:01:26):
going to replace what Autopsy do,Like no one, But they're finding fresh
things to do with it, Likethey haven't written toxic death fuck before,
right, that kind of weird songthey haven't done that no more or left
Alive feels like, you know,its own distinct kind of song. You
Obviously you couldn't say this when wewere getting into Autopsy because they've been out
of the game for so long.But I think we absolutely need to put
Autopsy in like the higher end ofthe conversation now for the most consistent death

(02:01:49):
of a hands of all time,like it's Cannibal Corpse. Aside, I
don't know who in that field hasproduced this many wins album after album that
make me feel like that good everytime a new one comes out, like
you are never disappointed. Yeah,i'd literally that. That's the first time
I thought that. And even shitFun is fun, Yeah, I know

(02:02:12):
you couldn't. You couldn't say itwas shit fun being where they left off,
which again I quite enjoy. Butit's more like they've what they've talked
like five or six reunion albums now, not including the EPs, and it's
all brilliant, like one of thecoolest bands forever, Ashes, Organs,
Blood and Crips. The last stretchof reviews for the year, in fact,
we had three black metal records.I know that feels like a lot

(02:02:33):
it's because they're all massively different.These are three records worth covering for completely
different reasons. We have had somepretty wicked stuff from that world in the
last couple of months that will pleaseany stripe you know a black metal fan.
We are going to start with oneof my favorites, Wayfarer, American
Gothic. This band is American ShockHorror. They've been about band for about

(02:02:54):
a decade. Over that time,I think they've been a bit of a
sleeper in that they keep you know, they've been releasing records consistently and without
necessarily having like a big, palpablebreakthrough album. They've just reached a point
where they've gone from being a sortof also ran to slowly becoming one of
the absolute most exciting bands in theunderground World's Blood in twenty eighteen was really

(02:03:15):
fucking good. Then for me aRomance with Violence in twenty twenty was where
I went, oh shit, Ithink I love this band, and then
American Gothic, building off of that, has been so well received in kind
of underground circles. In the lastfew weeks. It just got to like
number three or something in Decibel's Albumof the Year list that they've just published,
and it's almost like, in general, like all of the kind of
built up work of their last severalalbums is now kind of paying off,

(02:03:38):
and this album feels like a muchbigger deal and name in these conversations than
they were last time out, Elliott, Some of the I guess obvious black
metal predecessors of this band are bandsthat we have spoken about sharing a love
of, but Wayfairer, I thinkmore than most bands, it's fair to
say, who follow in those kindof footsteps, have developed their own kind
of slant on that American atmospheric blackmetal template. Have you kind of like

(02:04:01):
how far back with Wayfair do yougo? Like have you had tabs on
these for the last few albums orare you having the moment that a lot
of people seem to be having rightnow of like having this like now pretty
fully formed thing popping up. Yeah. It was in a weird way sort
of both like I hate kind ofknew of them, and I knew people
that really liked them, and I'veheard some stuff along the way and thought
that sounds really good. I'll chetthat out. This is the first time
checking out a full record and sortof getting the full Wayfairer experience, and

(02:04:27):
I think, well, I'll haveto go back to those other records.
But it does have this kind ofair of sort of significance to the whole
thing. I think this feels like, whereas before I kind of knew roughly
what they were going for, thiskind of feels like the like the calcification
of what it is they've been threateningto offer until now. You can tell

(02:04:49):
I might have got that wrong,but that's sort of my perception. I
mean, I think you can seethat they're treating as that from the fact
that they've stamped that title on it. Right. Yeah, it's like,
you know, this is American Gothic. Finatively, I agree in terms of
like this is them going, well, we've this is almost like the cap
on what we've done as a bandso far. These guys are from the

(02:05:09):
Denver, Colorado scene that seems tohave produced like half of the great underground
bands in the last decade. Isaacthe drummer of this band. He drums
in Blood Incantation. Several of themare in the excellent, much more fantastical
black metal band storm Keep. Maybethis is kind of the surface level perspective
of like a British outsider in theimage that I might have, but Wayfairer
feel the most Denver Colorado in themusic that they make, right Like,

(02:05:31):
their music is steeped in American history, Americana musical influence, and when you
think about Colorado, that image ofthe American West, the frontier, the
rocky mountains, Wayfairer feel like they'rein a lineage not just with those other
Denver bands who have kind of poppedup at the same time, but a
much longer history of kind of Americanart dealing with that subject, right Like,

(02:05:53):
I can't think of many bands inmetal right now who are this adept
at creating such a specific world andimage to explore through their music. And
they have, like again, overa series of records. Every element from
the esthetic to the titles, tothe instruments that are used, in the
style of which they are played,it all feeds into this synergy. And
here they've gone, like I said, American Gothic. This is a black

(02:06:14):
metal record that brings in gothic countryand dark Americana completely into this like fully
living, breathing world. I jokingmy nerves was like yeeha, black metal,
but absolutely it is. But I'malso like, yeah, but they
clearly are going for this so distinct, like this is Western cowboy, like

(02:06:35):
a vote going in all in thehistory of the West and really kind of
kinds up that and like because meanby so much it is about the storytelling
and the fantastic aspects and that's kindof applying that to like say, the
sort of American West and the kindof the change of that. And I've
found this I'm not like totally like, oh my god, this is amazing

(02:06:56):
it, but I found this justsuper interesting and captivating that I feel like
sticking with it and then maybe checkingout some more of their stuff will yield
more rewards for me. Yeah,I think, like you say, the
cowboy thing, I think, willit either draw you in or put you
off? And they go that wasa selling point for me. Absolutely,
yeah, sure, And to me, I think it's again, I don't

(02:07:20):
know what the rules are. Cowboysare cooled, pirates aren't. It's it's
it's not our fault. But somethingabout cowboy black metal, like you said,
it sounds weird. It's the outlawthing. Well, that's it.
And again, when you think oflike American folk and that sort of thing
partner with black metal. You mightthink, oh, like Panopticon, but's
got this more like Mountain Man alonein the wilderness feeling. But this has

(02:07:43):
a sort of drama and swagger toit, and it's not a cowboy like
Rawhide or hang Him High or somethinglike that. It's like there will be
blood. It's that kind of dark, sinister frontiers and almost like if Tribulation
were more interested in you know,Cacti than venice I, I can like,

(02:08:03):
you know, align myself very muchwith again in the kind of circles
where this swims in. It hasbeen super, super praised. I think
this is one of the very bestmetal records of this year. Like it's
going to be high flying, it'sfucking fantastic. This everything because again,
I've been a big fan over theirlast couple of records, increasingly kind of
realizing that they had something special goingon. And I think it's so obvious

(02:08:26):
that everyone has kind of realized now, like shit, yeah, everything that
they be building is like fully,it's all there, you know, And
the slide guitar, for example,one element right, it's it's a crucial
feature of their sound. It's notjust oh, they've whapped this in there,
right. Their rifts feel like slideguitar riffs like and I'm when that
sound is used to create darkness andtension, I'm a real sucker for it,

(02:08:48):
the way that kind of like slightlyclanging, like clean but with a
harshness. Still the guitar passages inlike the thousand Tombs of Western promise how
it works there, but then itcontinues to bleed into even the more distorted
metallic riffing that they do. Theystill have that sort of slading kind of
effect. They have such an identifiableway now of like writing and performing these

(02:09:09):
rifts. It's like the stuff thatthey've been consuming and they've immersed themselves in
has now fully like bled into theway they write and arrange metal songs.
And I find it transfixing. Imean, I totally agree with that point
that I never felt like again,I'm just like, oh, that's that's
the black metal tremlo riff that likeevery band will play there. They never
kind of feels like it's tacking thatbecause they're always channeling it through that Western

(02:09:31):
thing, and like I say,like I love the bit, so they
just go purely on the slide guitar, like the opening two thousand Tombs of
Western Promises. I'm like that immediatelykind of like caught my attention. And
then how they how they do stillmix that with a more metallic approach.
It feels like, I say,an actual integral part of the sound and
not attacked on kind of gimmicky instrumentthat they've gone, we'll just do a

(02:09:54):
bit of slide guitar here. Yeah, And it's complement in the fact it's
one of the best production jobs youwill ever hear black metal record, right,
Like I think it's Arthur Rizik whothey've done it with, and it
just it sounds gorgeous. It's thick, right, it has base. Everything
pops in your headphones, but younever question it being kind of you know
black metal or of the Earth orwhatever. And the imagery that they create

(02:10:15):
with that, like it's again,it's almost like a tale that's unfolded over
their records at this point, becausethere is so much about specifically, you
know, the transition of the AmericanWest as this idea of you know,
cowboys and horses and those kind ofwide open spaces moving into industry and capitalism
really kind of tightening its fist aroundaround the area. And that's what so

(02:10:35):
many those great many Westerns do,right, And that's what you're saying,
you know, the kind of theSergio Leoni Corbucci Westerns or whatever. They
a lot of them deal with thekind of passage of like one state into
the other and how that then kindof sets the stage for the world we
have today. That's what Wayfair arereally go in for, I think,
and that their last album, youknow, that had kind of all the
songs about kind of the arrival ofthe railways and kind of industrialization, you

(02:10:56):
know, the Eyron Horse. Goingback to World's Blood Now, which is
two records ago, that feels somuch more kind of dusty and ghostly,
but almost like unspoiled, right,Like it was like that record is almost
like just natural landscape. And thisrecord they've described it as being like a
funeral for the American dream, right, it's like set in the kind of
you know, around the ideas ofthe kind of the early twentieth century when
I guess those institutions that we havetoday, and that sort of fate becomes

(02:11:18):
maybe slightly unavoidable because I remember whenthe last Roper came out. I said
something along the lines of like,they write black metal passages to soundtrack the
huge oil fire scenes and there willbe blood. This came out like the
week after Killers of the flower movie, which I yeah, I was like,
oh my god, that could havejust been on the Killers of the
Flowering soundtrack. It feels like I'vehad both of the things swirling around in

(02:11:39):
my head at the same time.That scene of them dancing underneath the oil
wrapping from the ground, I'm like, that was just in my head during
that soon. I was like,great synergy on that one. They there,
but they really did. But it'sthat level of like thought and the
ideas that stop it being just like, oh, some gimmick band, right,
oh, you know the cowboy blackmotband. Theyre gonna get their bandoes,
like what and you can mosh toit. It's you know, they the

(02:12:03):
sonic experiment. Parentation is valid initself, but the way, like a
lot of people might be prone tofor any metal band that experience with sounds
outside of that comfort zone, youknow, they're drawing in from a specific
point in time or theme or whatever. View it like that they are really
fucking doing something with it. Likethey know their shit. They're engaging with
history, and they are creating somethingspecific and artful that is, you know,
relevant now. And I think theoverall package of what they've done on

(02:12:26):
this is one of the most it'sa great you know, the next recor
we're going to do kind of hasa really you know, a consistent sort
of through line to it as well. But for me, this is just
like absolutely, I can live inthis record for fucking hours and hours at
a time. I was just flawedby how they want to marry the two
ideas, and again, thinking aboutit now, it doesn't seem too like

(02:12:50):
un obvious because what a lot ofthe great black metal has is this kind
of feeling like it's always existed,kind of like the way great folk music
feels like it there's no who wroteit, it just it just is.
And that kind of like you say, mourning for the natural world. As
these oil rigs are going up,you can see how black metal could be

(02:13:13):
the vehicle for that sort of thing. And yeah, I get in the
songwriting songs like the Cattle Thief andReef on the Oil Fields, the way
they swing and sway rather than stompingor striving like black metal tends to it
kind of lurches like it's got saddlesaw and it's like they could have put
that in a more traditional black metaltempo and it would have been fine,

(02:13:33):
but just moving the tempos slightly andyou're in that zone. And again those
refrains with the where the steel guitarkind of bleeds into the distorted riff and
it kind of has this two prongedattack or effect of both making you go,
wow, I can't believe they've donethat, and also going these two
things aren't too dissimilar, like,yeah, natural bedfellows, Like the Cattle

(02:13:58):
Thief is the longest track, it'snine min it's long, and it is
just like this constant stream of likeincredible guitar work, double bass drums that
sound like staggeringly powerful, but it'snot that kind of will Putney thing of
just sound like a wind turbine.It's like blowing your you know, your
your speakers in. This is morelike you know, propulsion of fucking thousands
of horse hoofs. Right, it'skind of and it feels that you are

(02:14:18):
constantly moving forward into different you know, you know locations, and one of
you use the word drama to describethis, which is absolutely what so much
of it is. Right. Thelead rift in to Enter My House Justified
is so anthemic. There's no shrinkingviolet, hide the rift behind the wall
of tinpot distortion or anything like thatgoing on here. That's an immediately catchy
fifth in the air, powerful bitof heavy metal there, and they evolve

(02:14:41):
it and they put these kind ofextra flourishes and these little drum double bassed
drum rolls and stuff. Yeah,and it brings a heavy metal tear to
my eye, you know. It'ssuch a powerful bit of you know,
musical storytelling. I mean, likesend to My House just fine. That
feels that almost like the most traditionallyblack metal moment on the album for a
lot of things. But it's stillagain, it's got so much more going

(02:15:03):
on in the ideas and the storytellingand the world building that I do.
Again, this is just a reallyimmersive album, Like we're going back to
like the Calfief. When you getthat middle section where you get those clean,
chanting vocals, it just it's justa the rest to that drouge winn
and it feels like it's never justsettling on one idea or just tacking something

(02:15:24):
in as as kind of like agimmick. It's all really carefully fought out
in place within these songs to totake you on the journey the album intense.
I do find this a little bitfront loaded. This album is that
my one kind of right is.I think False Constellation is a really good
closer, but I like it's likeafter Tay to My House Justified, there's

(02:15:48):
that to that bit where I feellike it doesn't quite hit the highs of
the I think it's because those firsttwo tracks are spectacular and and Reap and
oil Fields being it's like really golyhaunting kind of like moment that follows.
It's such a makes such a goodfirst impression that the back half of the
ALBM hasn't quite won me over inthe same way. Yet that's just me

(02:16:09):
again, I said before, Ineed to live with this album a bit
more and wayfair in general. Butif I had to be like my one
little nigga, I say feel wasa little bit front heavy. I love
High Planes Eulogy that is one ofthe best songs on the record. Fel
like just this yearning neo folk ballad. It almost sounds like low, which
isn't a turn I was expecting whenthis record came in, But it's a

(02:16:33):
fantastic It's a stop gap without feelinglike a stopgap. And these are the
sort of things where a lesser bandmight fall down because it's like I always
probably put something else here and youknow, switch it up, and it
ends up just sort of being acool idea of a lesser quality. But
I think it's one of the bestwritten songs. And it's interesting that you
said to end of My House Justifiedis the most black metal, because for
me, is that all black plumesof God's Country, those like the two

(02:16:54):
that feel like yeah. But Ithink the most black metal moment would be
on on False Constellation, because thatis maybe the only time where they drift
into that. I'm not gonna sayit's kumicky because it isn't, but that
thing which goes in your head whenyou hear Cowboy black metal, because that
riff that the first half of thesong at least hinges on sounds like sort

(02:17:16):
of a classic im Mortal song,But then that rusty saloon bar piano melody
comes in, and again in Prinson, we think, how would those two
things gel, but I think it'sexceptional. I don't think this record,
I'm not you know, I can't. I can't agree that this record dips
at the end. I think asa body of work, it's pretty consistent.

(02:17:37):
Yeah, Like for me, likeHigh plays Eulogy. Yeah, we
entered the track Reaper on the OilFields, which you know, you wouldn't
say the Black Nettal song, right, Like, that's a pure kind of
gothic country song. And again they'rethey're drawing on this lineage of bands kind
of in the region around them,you know, bands like sixteen horse Power
and all this kind of stuff thathave done that kind of you know,

(02:17:58):
that kind of folk music and soon that just exists very much kind of
as part of that point in timeand that point in space, but that
somehow on that song they've given thatthe same kind of distortion and edge the
rest of the record has, soit doesn't feel like a deviation, right,
It's so haunting and the like theyalmost do that kind of you know,
singing through a megaphone thing, whichcan be a bit cliche, but

(02:18:20):
when bands do it appropriately and createthat kind of like contorting, uncanny,
droning kind of sound, like ChelseaWolf's somebody who's done it really brilliantly at
times as well, it feels,you know, like a Reaper on the
oil Fields. You know, they'vegot that kind of knack for pairing a
sound just a perfect title, sowell you can go, what does this
album sound like? Oh, blackplumes over God's Country is what it sounds
like. But High plays Eulogy asa contrast, because Reap on the Oil

(02:18:43):
Fields is really distorted and ghostly,and it's this is more immediately conveyable as
like the more mournful one, andit's you know, like that that sorrowful
kind of enduring question of you know, kind of we we've overridden our environment
to create this kind of new industrialworld, you know, and that goes
on was it worth it? Youknow? And the melodies are so strong
and you've got the organ and thatthat's one of the most beautiful songs I've

(02:19:05):
heard this year, and I think, like lyrically, this band are quickly
becoming like one of my absolute favoritesworking you know today, Like I mean,
these planes will make for your shallowgrave. They'll wrap you in a
flag and forget your name in Reaperon the Oilfields is so good. But
the way they perfectly match up withthe drama and the music right like to
enter My House, Justified creates thatimage of you know, a rider almost

(02:19:26):
being like physically chased down by like, you know, this new time and
this new age that you know arrivesand kind of overcomes them, and that's
what we're talking about, the kindof transition between one state to the other.
And they've brought in these clean vocals, which they've really elaborated on this
record from those styles again kind ofGothic country and so on, and they're
these really low, kind of gothymasculine tones, and they are like these
kind of ghostly moans, kind ofreverberating over the planes from this lost world

(02:19:50):
that doesn't exist anymore. And Ithink the way they so naturally bring this
things together is epitomized by what Elliottwas just saying about the the closing track,
False Constellation is the rare kind ofblack metal that doesn't feel like any
other band on Earth could written it. Like. False Constellation has those heavy,
twanging, slide guitar influenced takes on, as Edit says, like an

(02:20:13):
immortal riff or something, and putsin that piano line, which there must
be a specific name for it.I plead ignorance because you know, I've
never been to the West of America, but that specific tone of piano that
sounds like you've walked into a saloon, right yeah, And I know,
the dusty, clinky kind of thing. And the use of that to carry
that main melody on that guitar riffis fucking sensational. And again it launches

(02:20:35):
into all of this like double bassand everything, but it's the that etherial
you know, high planes, cleanvocal that carries that entire song and grabs
the ear. And they've just fullylike those things. They are completely embedded
within each other's worlds at that point. I mean, I do really like
oh hu on that closes where it'slike, even when it's blasting, it's
kind of got this like hazy,like like say it fear kind of thing

(02:20:56):
over which it feels never feels actuallyintense. And even when musically it is
the most intense they're playing, it'sa weird kind of like balancing act of
doing that about it, kind ofoverriding the atmosphere of the song. And
I think that that's the stuff thatI'm like, Yeah, that's where you
can just tell the craft and kindof care they've put in balancing these aspects
and not betraying the different elements oftheir songs worked really well. Yeah,

(02:21:18):
it's a tremendously powerful album. Ithink that they are so clearly confident now
in their kind of their statement,what they're trying to do, their execution
of it, all the different thingsthey've drawn together for this, there's no
visible edges. It has this justlingering, you know, haunting kind of
death and sorrow. But because itsounds so fucking good, I just find

(02:21:39):
it an absolute pleasure to listen to. Yeah. I mean this was a
real blindsiding one because, like Isay, i'd heard some hyper around Wayfair
before this, so I new peoplethat like them, and I just I
didn't know they were capable of this. I might have to go back and
revisit some of those other records becausethis is really really exceptional. Yeah.

(02:22:01):
The last three albums are like athree album curve of them, like finding
what their sound is gonna be andthen properly like you know, building building
that tower from the ground up andreally really nailing it is, and you
know it's been a wonderful journey togo on, but having this now as
like again the moment where it seemsto have gone ah for everybody and everyone's
like gets it. It's really is. It's one of it for you know,

(02:22:24):
kind of more underground metal or whatever. But I guess in general,
I think it is one of thestandout records of this entire year, speaking
of I guess being haunted by industrialization. Let us jump to a band in
the UK. It's weirdly specific,isn't it, under Dark As our next
band, they are releasing their secondalbum, Managed Decline. This actually is

(02:22:46):
a late one. Like a lotof the records we're doing here, we're
pulling from the kind of last coupleof busy weeks, but this one is
out today. I thought it wasappropriate. We are talking about a few
really great and you know, characterfull extreme metal releases from different parts of
the globe in this episode, whichcheck in on something that is going on
in the UK as well. Iwill say that if the albums either side
of this one in particular in thisepisode are pulling from very specific worlds and

(02:23:09):
themes and so on, sonically,this is one that I think if some
people do find some of those elementsoff putting. Might be a little bit
more easy to go down because thisis a band doing, you know,
a kind of a post black metalsound, and from record to record they've
kind of increased the scope of whatthey can do with that. I thought
the first Underdark full length from acouple of years ago was decent. It
had a cool mix of kind ofscream out elements and so on into a

(02:23:31):
kind of black metal mix. Maybeisn't immediately the most geared towards me,
but it was decently well done.This one, I feel, has pushed
the sound further to the point whereagain we can start really going. You
should really check this one out,I think, I mean of like the
kind of free black metal albums you'veput in us out the closing one of
the few years episode, this isby far my favorite of the bunch.

(02:23:52):
This is what I'm saying. Thisis the one where like it's the most
geared to me of it hits directlyYeah, yeah, because it is.
Again I'm always more in tune forthat postbat metal stuff like that, the
prettier moments, the kind of moreI say that that that sort of Screamo
being the narrative, having the Iappreciate you getting the lyrics sent to this
one because having that and being ableto kind of go along with it that
does enhance experiences record because there isa story that flows for it. But

(02:24:16):
everything about this just really tapped intothings and like, oh god, yeah,
this is what I really like onthe sort of the more black extreme
metal front. Yeah, this albumis even more than the Wayfarer one.
It's a direct concept album. Youcan see all these dates in the song
titles. It is a record abouta being in an industrial town in England
and the long term kind of downwardspiral of sort of you know, life

(02:24:37):
and opportunity just kind of falling awayfrom a place like that. The record
begins, you know, kind ofaround the time of a Thatcher, and
then it traces the general gutting ofa place like that and how that reaches
into the present day and affects peoplewho might not even be born at the
start of this record. And there'syou know, there's a transitionary track later
on called Race for a World thatno longer exists. That kind of thing
another reason why I thought it wasapproped to do this was you know,

(02:24:58):
we spoke so heavily about when wegot the news at dawn Raid and called
it quits a couple months ago.These are some of the bands that are
kind of, you know, continuingcarrying that particular kind of torch forward.
There's obviously a lot of kinship withAshen Spires Hostile Architecture record there spiritually Panopticon's
Kentucky. You can bring in,even if you will, the likes of
Wildlife by a Loud Dispute. Yeah, no, I like I Again,

(02:25:20):
that's where this does tap into moremore my sort of thing is I can
see the link to that. Thisis just the horrifying black metal version of
it based, isn't it. Butyou know, you're, you're, you're
following like a lot of characters inone town over the years and how the
conditions affect them this kind of town, and you know, the experiences of
you know, leaving one like Ispent my school years in a mining town

(02:25:41):
in Cornwall, which is achingly familiarto a lot of what is described on
this record, like the way thereis this sort of heritage celebration in a
place like that of a history thatis gone and nothing really came in to
replace it, so it was justempty. I think conceptually and narratively,
this is a really powerful record likeup there with the Way Fairer one that

(02:26:01):
obviously that requires like a lot ofattention reading along as you're doing it,
because it's you know, the lyricson this when we were referring to those
moments, it's not fun that you'regoing to pick up just from hearing the
vocals at the start are almost likecompletely unintelligible as as a sonic experience,
though, first and foremost is whatI think records like this should be judged
on, because the concept, Iguess could fall into the back without a

(02:26:24):
lyrics she and just you know,acts as an inform of where the music
should go, which is valid initself. But that's I think again one
of the things that they've stepped upon this, Like there is a clear
emotional register of what they are aimingto do and what to evoke, and
I think their songwriting has progressed prettyencouraging. I really do like this record.
Yeah, I mean, I thinkthis is very good. I mean,

(02:26:45):
like you, I heard the lastrecord around the time it came out,
and I thought it was pretty cool, but I didn't go back to
it all that much. Once Ikind of started to get the glean of
what this concept was and what theband were doing this time around, it
became very interesting. I mean tobe honest, post Blackmail of this kind
of punch your tighter variety isn't necessarilymy bag when it comes to black metal,

(02:27:07):
but I kind of like how theytake that style which can occasionally feel
a bit I wouldn't say soulless,but maybe lacking in fury, and they
fill it with fury. Because Iunderstand what you're saying about how you need
the lyrics to really get the story, because like you say, it's not

(02:27:28):
really intelligible, it doesn't inform themusic all that much. I think where
it does inform the music is inthe ferocious performance. Yeah. I mean,
they know what they are going foras a band and what emotion they
are trying to evoke, and theydo obviously is that guided the songs to
the points they're at, and theydo have this ability to just cast a

(02:27:52):
powerful emotional mood from the get go. You know, Manage to Climb part
one. The first riff just hasthis yearning weight and do in it and
I love that. I love whatthey do that. I love you know,
the intro track almost sounds like thekind of horn bands that you'll find
outside Tesco at Christmas, but they'rereally sad right foreboding intro to Yeah album,
the moment that you get that kindof overture thing, I was like,

(02:28:15):
Okay, this is gonna be abit bleak, and then yeah,
when that doomy riff kind of burstin and managed to client It's like once
I said you need lix. Theyare telling the story through the music as
well, and you are conveying allthat emotion with all the all the all
of those aspects. Yeah, Ijust said that that intro it feels like
a very sort of English reference point, I guess, which is kind of
appropriate for the scene setting of it. And then managed to climb you know

(02:28:37):
it. It is fucking violent whenit goes, but it set you up
to this place of kind of melancholy, and I think the song capitalizes on
both of those things kind of,you know, superbly, And I guess
with the arc of the record,that does almost become like an overture for
the whole record, right like allof the rest of the album spills out
of the kind of the real heartacheand desolation of that first song. I

(02:29:00):
think managed to climb one contender forone of the best songs on the record,
and I think in terms of drawingyou in is very successful in that
it's a ten minute song that slalom'sbetween two striking moves, which you'd say,
I would say are white hot rageand a kind of defeat, which
I imagine the two feelings you wouldassociate with the story of this record.

(02:29:22):
It is kind of one and theother. It's a pretty I wouldn't say
one note like it's just all miserable, But this song in particular, I
think sets those two things up reallywell. And then again, once you
get into the lyrics, I thinkthe two things do marry up more and
more. Like Matrimony has some ofthe meanest riffing on the record, and
the lyrics on that sort have akind of particular level of bile. When

(02:29:45):
that it goes, I would neverhurt a kid. If that fucking thing
won't stop screaming, I might justslip my wrists. It's like that could
be on a paper Chase album orsomething. It's so naked and vicious yeah,
I like them. The last verseof employment almost reminds you of like
a minus strike version of Pig DestroyersGirl and the Slayer Jacket. Yeah,
like there's that kind of that isthat the really good way of you know,

(02:30:05):
having that sort of like stream ofconscience of sort of writing here,
but it has that there is aclear influence from Screamer, right, Like
I said, that's been there fromyou know, the previous album and before
then as well. But musically itcomes out in those you know, there's
moments of just kind of She'll justbe sort of wretching into nothingness, you
know, like the music has takenon some of these more post rock passages,
and then it carries this genuine sortof pain and dejection in that,

(02:30:28):
like even on the prettier parts,there's some kind of ugliness that has to
be spilled out. And likely thatparticular verse I just mentioned, they put
on these kind of big emotive crescendos, you know with the band that really
makes those things feel like climaxes anyway, even if you're not exactly following on
with you know, the exact words, and I think they've upped that just

(02:30:50):
immediate ability to kind of tug onheart strings in a more specific, pointed
kind of way, because the waythese songs start just has you like,
you know, putty immediately at thestart, or something like employment, because
the guitars themselves seem to just kindof bleed so much. And again for
me, obviously if you like thingslike the Spalbard record, there's a lot
of Harry Cury for the Sky inthere for me as well. But like

(02:31:11):
that, this is like an absolutepointer of like, if you're looking to
get further into black metal, wherewhat kind of thing you should go for
next? Because that real kind ofemotional earnestness on display from the second you
hear it is you know, maybewhat you like, and this is really
filled with that. But because itis, as you say, a kind
of nastier version of some of thosethings like that employment, that same song
big fucking Thumping Groove, it's notI agree with what you were saying,

(02:31:33):
Elliot in terms of like some ofthe post black metal stuff. Even though
it's like you can have a screamedvocal, it is almost like as wet
as black metal could be. Ifit's not delivered, it's not grounded in
something, and this grabs you forthe throat in the same way. You
know, they'll set you up toa bit of a cry and then they'll
fucking choke slammy, you know.I mean that's it. There's more dirt.
Because I think back to one ofthe first alms we reviewed and Laja

(02:31:54):
on the podcast was that Harry Curryfor the Sclab and we're like, it's
good, but it's very doing onething and it's just doing it over again.
This has those moments where it we'lllike say, have those gorgeous crescendos
that are sort of drenched in thatemotional pain. But then when it needs
to hit hard and I they say, slam you to the ground, And
do think it's it's a black missRubb, But it's it's not just you

(02:32:15):
know, one emotion. It's it'sshades of misery throughout it. And again,
like match Remaine, you say,like that songings like genuinely evil sounding,
and it ties into the themes oflike a mother basically hating their child.
And when it gets in those nastymoments, it musically takes those turns
to convey those things into it neverfeels too one note like a lot of

(02:32:39):
I said, I am some wayyou mean where a lot of postbamar can
potentially fall into that trap. Yeah, I mean that song has a death
doom element. Like there's a partwhere you know, the vocals just move
into this like nightmarish guttural sort ofend. It's the only time on the
record that it really does it.But it's great that it lands at that
moment, and you know the recordis meant to be this kind of spiral
of decay, so it's the kindof thing, you know, it starts
off sad like, it's almost likeacknowledging the end is kind of coming,

(02:33:01):
and then it evolves into into uglinessas like things do get worse, and
so you start to get stuff likematrimony and then like Enterprise just really violent,
which is which it's a super fuckingbleak song. Enterprise like if not
managed to climb one. I thinkEnterprise is the standout moment on me.
It was the one that really caughtmy attention, and again not just through

(02:33:22):
me in the lyrics, but justhow like violent and then it kind of
flashes around and it's just devastatingly heavyand it just never gives your moment to
kind of like catch your breath fromhow oppressively bleak it is. Yeah,
because post black metal, I thinkin particular, is normally praised for being
really spacious and atmospheric and you know, all of that good stuff. A

(02:33:43):
song like this it almost does theopposite. It uses the same tools but
to be kind of suffocating and stressinducing. And again, just to go
back to the lyrics, something likeYou're just a function open wide. It's
like Dax Riggs ji ay, likethose guys were proud of something so blunt
and horrible. Like again, notparticularly crass or crude or explicit, but

(02:34:11):
it's just this blunt six word phrasewhich just kind of makes your skin crawl.
Yeah, I agree. And youknow they've described that song as well
as being like a kind of ametaphor for the kind of fetisization of entrepreneurship,
and that's such a like a sick, darkly ironic inversion of that kind
of ideal that you know, thekind of people in this, you know
story aren't realistically going to be ableto achieve. It's really impactful the way

(02:34:35):
they do that, And there isthis kind of vicious, dejected chorus part
in there as well that I can'ttake the things I've seen you were supposed
to keep me safe. Part hasthat you know, rhythmic almost like scattered
or something, but kind of likeyou know, it from a nunciation standpoint,
it kind of hits more punchally.I think it'd be really if they
could you know, eke more alittle more out of that. You know,
I think Dawn Ray did that ontheir album this year, those kind

(02:34:56):
of really you know, it thriveson those like big ba and a waving
kind of moments. If they canyou know, balance that continually with those
almost like you know, vomited spokenword emo parts or something. And then
on the arc of the record againlike managed Decline too offers this kind of
reprieve from all of this, butit's tinged with the kind of regret and
sadness of everything that's gone before it, and you know, lyrically the classic

(02:35:18):
kind of I'm getting out of thistown you know thing has some really you
know, much more nuanced approach onit there about what that actually means and
the sort of kind of perpetuation ofmindset that might be occurring there. And
then alongside that, you have,you know, the way that is kind
of this moment of you know,bitter sweet sort of release at the end
has these kind of you know,slightly proggy guitarics and stuff that come in.

(02:35:39):
They are some much needed doses ofcolor at the end, but not
in a way that kind of undermineswhat they've built or lets the kind of
decay off the hook. And againmaybe it's the fact that I can picture
like the exact fucking empty post industriallocations in the area that I grew up
in and some of the people therein these kind of you know stories.
But it's quite a haunting, reflectiveend to the whole experience. As far

(02:36:03):
as you can get out of thisone, there is a system, like
a systemic problem that is inescapable.And again that's where you get that that
Dawn raid kind of just like likeanti cab toist, anti fascist. We
were talking, you know, talkingabout some of the King album that has
in Kinchit with the start, Imean, Great Britain is one that you
could bring in to mind absolutely somesimilar ideas you know running through it.
I think for this kind of youknow, contemporary black metal that isn't all

(02:36:26):
super evil, right like, ithas that crossover with post rock and post
hardcore scenes and stuff like that.Obviously some of those are particularly based in
the UK. I think this isa very admirable record, like they've really
they've seen something through. This isone that I didn't necessarily see coming.
Like I thought they were a goodband, but something of this sort of
scope and very specific kind of focus. I'm very impressed with the way they've

(02:36:46):
you know, really lean into thatkind of thing. And I think,
you know, the narrative on it, some of the images and the concepts
are really going to stick with meactually writing the music to tie it all
together. They've had a really strongcracket, you know, like I quite
let's get my hand copy of thisone. It's one of the last sort
of great albums of the year.I think, well, there are a
few out today are the ones.But if you don't know this band,

(02:37:07):
particularly if you're in the UK,I guess because they're on your doorstep.
But you know, if you're notas well, they are called under Duck.
They're not a big band, sothey're really worth hearing. Finally,
maybe Turn of the Industrial America orIndustrial Wasteland England is not your thing.
Maybe you want to go to agood old fashioned, spooky Castle, Have
we got the band for you?Mala Carpatan is their name. Their fourth

(02:37:28):
record, which was released a coupleof weeks ago, is called Vertumnus Caesar.
I fucking love this band. They'remad, you're fun. I mean
we've all taken our turn to,you know, give an album someone else
really likes a kick in. Ithink it's my turn. No, are
you surprised I don't like this album? Come on, Like, I'm not
gonna like say it's all complete bollocksand like that, because there's obviously a

(02:37:52):
lot of really accomplished stuff on thisalbum, like, but it's so just
so. I was like, Ithink this I'm a listener. I engage
music on an emotional level, right, Like, That's why I fucking love
that Underdark record. That's why youknow, I was hanging about how much
I can listen to mister Fallon singingabout nice things. This is one where
if you are if you want tolisten to music on like a technical level

(02:38:13):
or that, I think there's allthat. On an emotional level, this
is this felt completely hollow to me, and I just really found nothing to
grasp on rather than like, that'sa pretty good riff there and that instrumental
track is batshit crazy. Yeah,I'm not gonna I'm not gonna tell you
you're wrong, obviously, because howyou emotionally engage with, you know,
a piece of music is entirely youknow, down to the individual. But

(02:38:35):
I will say this record brings mean awful lot of emotion, and the
main one is joy. Like thisrecord makes me. This band in general,
like they make me smile, andthis record like it I'm glad like
you had fun with this because Iwas, like, I totally see why
you've brought it on and like becausethere is a mix of like gothic nonsense

(02:38:58):
and big heaven are riffing and weirdmental turns here and there, and I
can totally see where you've had likefun walking around this pointed castle of silly
bollocks. But for me, itwas just just it. This was quite
an exhausting listen. Yeah, well, I mean, let me say you
know again, I've brought this injust because I thought I heard it and

(02:39:18):
I thought this is so mental.This is just it's so much more interesting
than most things that we get theobtuses to talk about. It's obviously,
it's the most niche thing we're talkingabout. Most of you won't, you
know, go for it, Andthat's perfectly fine. You know, it's
a small, niche thing for areason. But in terms of just a
record that, like I said,just lights me up with how full of
ideas and how fun and how willingto commit to its ideas it is,

(02:39:41):
I thought, this is such ablast, and I do think there are
things about this in terms of Iguess their trajectory as a band that are
increasingly kind of showing signs of somethinga little bit more and something really worth
celebrating. Elliott, your reaction toSam being the spoilers part particular time around
means that I know you get exactlywhat this record is doing and what it's

(02:40:01):
going for. Isn't this fucking brilliant? This album is so fucking good.
I The thing is, I dounderstand, but I also don't understand,
because yes, there's a sort ofcerebral heady quality to it where you can
sit by the stereo and study it, but that's not the level on which

(02:40:24):
I enjoy it. I just lovebeing transported to their world, not knowing
what they're going to do next.This was my first exposure to malocup.
Yeah, I was gonna ask.Yeah. It was again sort of similar
case of Wayfair. I'd heard thename banded around. I recognized a few
of the album covers. When Icheck this one out, I have no
memory of ever hearing them, andit just combines so many of my favorite

(02:40:46):
things. It's like first wave blackmetal, traditional heavy metal, some psychedelic
folk, and the silliest prog rockon the prog bollocks. That just that,
that's the stuff. When they gointo that every time, it's like,
oh, please stop it. Butyou like goblin, right, Yeah,
I know, Like I get whatyou're saying. It's nineteen seventies Italian

(02:41:07):
horror soundtract is what they're doing.They're doing that at points, but other
times it just it's a stupid,daft mix of things, and it just
I don't know. I just Iwas just exhausted and just worn down by
this whole experience. Yeah, well, we're gonna have an absolute fucking party
with this, Elliott. I don'twant to show on your party. I

(02:41:28):
understand that these things that they're mixingtogether are quite desperate and it might sound
like a mess, I think,but they take these weird things and they
kind of use the best elements ofeach to enhance the others, because you
get that ragged, visceral quality ofthe early black metal, the otherworldly transportative

(02:41:50):
nature of psychedelic folk, the crazyflights of fancy of space rock, and
then just the joy of a goodsharp rich the proper heavy metal gives you.
And I think it to an extentit uses the strength of those things
to compensate for the shortcomings of others, because you know, first wave black

(02:42:11):
metal is really exciting, but isit particularly nice on the ears? Maybe
not, so you could have agorgeous, folky texture to sort of tickle
the brain. Every now and thenprog can be exciting and unpredictable. Is
it all that catchy? I don'tknow. Is a speed metal rift catchy?
Absolutely? And when you just havethose things sort of sometimes shoulder to

(02:42:33):
shoulder, sometimes weaving together, Ijust have a massive smile on my face
the whole time this is on.Yeah, you get it, you get
it. I feel like every sixmonths or so we need like an underground
record that I think is absolutely brilliantthat Sam does not understand at all.
The last one is that that DoDHeims Guard record. I don't know if
we had one. I don't remembersince the DoD Heims Guard record. I've

(02:42:56):
fur this to that because at leastthis one's got some sick rifts on it.
Whatever track four is called. Ican't remember the song titles because they're
that opens that song and like againbecause I saw came Home quite harsh this.
There are riffs and moments in songswhere I'm like, yeah, fair
enough, yeah. But the thingabout this is like there is it's like,

(02:43:16):
on a technical perspective, a lotabout this. I mean, production
value. For one thing, they'reclearly not This isn't musoh like, they're
not periphery, yeah right, it'sthey're going for something particularly atmospheric. But
there are things about this where thishas genuinely some of the most like classy,
outstanding songwriting and playing a musicianship I'veheard on a record this year,

(02:43:39):
and I didn't necessarily expect it becauseI have been a Mala Carpatown fan for
a little while. Right. Theyare a name that if you are deep
into your cult heavy metal you maybe familiar with over the past decade or
so. They are a Slovakian heavymetal band and to me, what they
kind of were, and I guessstill are to a degree, is they
were the most exciting kind of modernincarnation of a tradition that exists in particularly
kind of Central and Eastern European likestrange esoteric metal heavily unique to that region,

(02:44:05):
like obviously you know Hell Hammering CelticClot in Celtic frost Ins in Switzerland.
But in the late eighties of thenineties, when the Scandinavian bands in
black metal were really like dominating thescene, you'd have bands like Masters Hammer
and Roots in Czechia. You'd haveTormentor in Hungary. You know, you
go a bit more south, you'vegot mortuarye Drape in Italy, like just
you know, even sort of howStrange and one off Merciful Fate were in
Denmark, who obviously carries over alot into this, but like Cut,

(02:44:28):
often it's behind the iron curtain witheven less resources than normal black metal,
and some of the weird bands thatdeveloped there. Some of those bands you
might recognize, some of them youmight not. Doesn't matter. What we
are talking about is just crazy eccentricEuropean metal that trades in follow the herd
uniformity for boundless personality. They areheavily inspired by the folklore in history of
their surrounding region. They are fullof just witches and devils and weird bog

(02:44:52):
creatures and all this great stuff.They've just come off what they've called their
kind of folk horror trilogy, whichwas dealing with all of that. This
is a concept down about the HolyRoman Emperor Rudolph the Second, who was
big into occult alchemy. That's thekind of shit. That's what you know.
All the bottles and shit on thisalbum cover, that's what that is.
It is pure outlandish celebration of weirdshit through weird heavy metal. And
I love it what we're saying aboutthe green lung thing, right, and

(02:45:13):
how green lung make those quite nichereference points very universal to everybody. Mala
Carptan, don't Mala Carpatan is thatfor people who like that. I fall
into this and it's one of thebest fucking things I've heard all year,
Like honestly that the English translations ofthe lyrics are so so good. More
so the last couple of albums whenit was like the folk demon stuff,

(02:45:35):
but they got these really long trailingtitles and you go, oh, I
wonder what that means, and youlook at it and it's what the juice
did that old hideous hag pour intomy cup enough? Why didn't I think
it would be that? Or aboutthe one who obscured his mind with drinking
and ended up having to spend thenight inside the pig sty or within the
dense woods. The witch is hidingher hut on magpie legs, just like
awesome comedic shit. Whenever I domy next vinyl tap video, this band

(02:45:58):
will feature heavily because I bought somethingmental with their whole discography in it.
But I did the rare thing withthis if I preordered it on vinyl,
and I didn't listen to anything beforehand, so I just got old school experience
of like sitting down, putting iton my turntable, experiencing it all there
for the first time, which witha record like this, feels so appropriate.
But what I really love is I'msome of those bands I mentioned,

(02:46:20):
those obscure European metal bands I'm abig fan of, Like I love Tormentor,
which was famously was like a TillochyHars band before he joined Mayhem.
They've only got a couple of demoreleases and stuff from like back then.
In that time, being a MalaCarpatan fan has been like seeing in real
time, what if one of thoseweird cult first wave black metal bands blossomed
into something like really crazily ambitious andmultifaceted, because every record has had this

(02:46:45):
really surprising leap in fidelity for whatyou would have initially expected from them.
The one before this, they wentin this deliberate direction of like, we're
playing this first wave black metal thing, but we want to make it cinematic,
and we want to have like astory, and we're going to evoke
the images of a story at cand points and songs. This one is
now the point where I'm like,yeah, actually, if you were going
to go for Mala Carpeturon, ifit vaguely sounds I thought you'd be interested

(02:47:07):
in more. People can actually goin on this record because it sounds better.
The song craft is much more inthat kind of like they've done these
ten minutes songs. Now they're goingto write more like five minute kind of
prog heavy nettle songs with like clearlicks and rifts and everything, and it
is just mental mental, fun.It's just so good to listen to something
where it feels like there are norules. Yeah, not in love and

(02:47:31):
not in a way where they're going, oh, you're not going to see
this coming black. Oh you're freakedout, aren't you. It's just like
if you're in a metal did itmakes sense? Yeah, there's no part
of it where it's like, oh, aren't they being wacky? But there's
I will concede that, Yeah,it's not. It's not like was it
between the Barry of Me when wedid Their Colors arm and I was like,
there's just sainy bollocks on this albumthat it's just like stupid pulling out

(02:47:52):
this at least gonna go like it'sa bit more structured, so when it
takes his turns, it's not likejarring and annoying. The elements are consistent.
Yeah, and there are moments whereI am sort of jarred, but
like you say, it's not inan annoying way, like the end of
track three, which is pure likeren Fair folk and that going into track

(02:48:13):
four and I don't know the songsoles, which yeah, it sounds like
stand up and shouts, and it'slike that's just the fucking business. But
again, it doesn't seem like acalculated Oh, they won't see this coming.
It's just like you've got to theend of that song, do you
guys like di oh yeah. Butthen that track four gets the bongoes out
done it like I wanna go tothe the the beginning, because a big

(02:48:35):
part for me is, you know, again, if you were talking about
how to engage with this on anemotional level, I would use albums like
Abigail by King Diamond Yeah as likea reference point for what you do.
And it opened very similarly in termsof again, the first song past the
intro translates as the carriage moves southwestthrough the dark blue distances, which makes
tons of sense because it has thatgalloping arrival at the mansion vibes of like

(02:48:56):
King Diamonds, Abigail and those likekick heavy metal leads that it has.
They are if you are of mypersuasion, they are so fun and pleasurable
to listen to, like it's it'sclassic. No other kind of music does
this heavy metal playing, And ifyou like that kind of musical storytelling via
heavy metal, they arrive at thingslike ah yes, a harpsichord that's the
perfect moment to introduce a harps ofchord to this kind of thing. See,

(02:49:18):
that's the thing is I don't Ididn't get much of the storytelling from
the music. And that's why Iassume you mean with Abigail comparison. But
Abigail you've got you know, storyand do all that, and I think
the musical thing is really effective.There I didn't really like. And again
I like, obviously I didn't getthe lyrics or something that, but I

(02:49:39):
didn't find the music was particularly effectivein kind of like leading me through either.
See well, I went into Ididn't know anything about the concepts,
but I definitely felt the world,Like when the harps are chords and all
the other stuff, I was like, I'm in Bowser's castle. Like that's
my infantile like assessment of it.But is that kind of runaway ghost train

(02:50:01):
through the haunted mansion in the middleof the mountains. And I think,
again, as nice as it isto understand each beat on a concept record,
I think if it's able to sortof capture the general vibe and get
you there, that's that's a success. Yeah, build a world and immerse
me in it, and that I'mI'm done right, and this has that

(02:50:22):
in I think that's unignorable, Ithink, and they have, like I
said, they've been around with fora few years. This is their fourth
album. They started way more thatscrungey first wave black metal kind of tone,
and again I might not necessarily bethe kind of thing I would have
brought onto the show for more peopleto hear. I'm a big fan of
their album Nord Carpatan Land, whichfor that kind of like filthy tone is
just rift central, right. Thisis by far their cleanest recording job,

(02:50:45):
and it's really put that kind ofclassic heavy metal lead playing and so on
at the forefront in a way thatfor a band like Malacarpatan, who still
have a vocalist who's just the gruntinghis way for the whole thing, it's
borderline classy, right, And theystill have this kind of early eighties extremely
off flavour at point Maharal Alglen fuckingrips right, just no nonsense. The
title track has this like really erraticfrantic riff that is like the kind of

(02:51:07):
early eighty teutonic thrash of like earlyCreator Destruction sodom when they're all kind of
proto black metal anyway, and theydo this thing where they've last on the
drums, where it is in thatkind of ratterly way like people did before,
people like Mick Harris or Pete Sandervialkind of turned up and went,
this is what a blast peat isthat kind of like thing that's like Sarcophago
do or something of like it's justpounding on the snare runaway freight train thing.

(02:51:28):
But that title track has this likeabsurdly sick mid section with these lead
parts like dancing up and down thethreat board and that it's like everywhere there
should be a really brilliant classic metalguitar lead on this, they've put one.
You know. It's like they've startedout being Venom and hell Hammer and
now they've gone, oh yeah,but now we can be andy La rock

(02:51:50):
for a while. It's so audaciousto have somehow done that, and at
the same time that the elaborate heavymetal thing has been upped very accordingly.
This is like a prog album,which this is so an album for you
obviously not you, Sam, butif you are, if you like eccentric
nineteen seventies dudes in huge capes onkeyboards, but you also like grotty eighties

(02:52:13):
black metal, and you want thatflavor channel through it. Right, You've
got melotrons on this, you've gotsurprise flutes, you've got cowbells and the
track. You've both gone to itbecause I think it is undeniably fucking just
both impressive but also sensational. Thefourth track again, the first time I
sat down with this album, itmade me actually like scoff and punched the

(02:52:37):
air when it hit because the riff, you say, do o for me,
it's straight out of Bomber, rightlike, it is fast. It's
fast Eddy Motorhead worshiped, the samething you'll get in Midnight right Like,
it just rocks the second you hearit. But then they take that riff
and they put it on this likeskipping thin Lizzy rhythm that kind of dead
there. And if that hasn't wettedmy whistle enough, they fill that same

(02:53:01):
track increasingly over his run time withsynths and then like bongos and it turns
into this like prog rock motor synthtrack. It is so rad. I
don't know what the fuck I'm doingduring it. It's just these guys know
how to rock. That's all youcan say from that evidence like they know
their stuff, They've got the sourceto do it. It is just what
a brilliant idea that they would havequite done before. And I love it.
I mean, that is probably myfavorite track of the fans because of

(02:53:24):
like again, I can't I can'tdeny that riff like the is sick.
It's so badass track as well.I didn't mind that one with like the
Gothic symphony piano bits and all thatand like that. But yeah, like
again that was where I was goingto go into it, and then it's
top of me, is right?Is the one track I'm like, maybe
I can get with this. Theythen follow it up with what is essentially

(02:53:46):
like just kryptonite to me and justmaking me like, oh yeah, you
know, a a instrumental space progpile of nonsense, Like let me say,
uh, I think again, theband together, I think, are
undeniably ridiculously good players at this stage, which considering again they started off sound

(02:54:07):
like Venom and hell Hammer. Suddenlylike the guitar leads are like top drawer,
the bass guitar playing because the mixisn't overloaded with like big scary monster
the sorted extreme metal stuff. It'sbased on these kind of classic sounds.
The bass has to be up toscratch at times. It reminds me of
even like some of like the newerthrash bands we've done, where they've gone
all like progressive space rock, andthey've had these like big, you know,
wide open blowings of their sound.The reference points become more obscure here,

(02:54:30):
but there's a similarity there. Isaw that track five was going to
be an instrumental, right, andbecause it opens side B, I just
assumed that that'd be another spooky introorgan piece or something. It is a
full on six minute prog instrumental track, and it is the most at it
ridiculous prog instrumental on a metal recordI've heard in a while. But at
the same time it is structured andhas melodies and develops in a way that

(02:54:56):
is like, you know, youwere thinking, oh, yeah, how
did Rush do instrumental? How didIron Maiden do instrumentals? And this fucking
goes there. I it's one again, I said earlier. I understand why
people don't like it, why it'snot going to be to certain people's taste.
I also don't understand because it's somuch fun. Like that thing you

(02:55:20):
were saying earlier about like, oh, you know it sounds it was fun
to make about the Nobra record.I have that same idea about this mental
freak out jazz prog metal song.Like you just think the people in the
band are clearly very talented, butit's not like, oh we're going to
show off and yeah, you're notgonna be able to see what we can
do and it's all very flash.It's just mental songwriting that is also kind

(02:55:46):
of unthinking, like and again instrumentalsome people like, you know, just
throw a vocal on it. Wherewould you put it? There's no space.
Yeah, I can't deny that.This is just not for me.
I except like the first Pie whereit's just this kind of like spacey prog
thing I was. I was tryingto tune out and then you get like
the metal comes in basically doing thiswaltzing BN. I was like, ah,

(02:56:09):
this is this is gonna exhaust me. And then like to know that
we get Doctor Who theme time,like oh yeah that is that thing where
like the synth tones in that andthe keybo metals in it are the most
out of like nineteen seventies Italian horrormovie, and like, I will live
in that shit forever, right,because there is the section in the second
half of that song which literally soundslike one specific part directly ripped from the

(02:56:31):
Goblin Suspirior soundtrack. I know,the bit talk about and I'm like,
give me the Goblins of Spirit soundtrack. Cool, yeah, But I mean
it's because of this exhausting mix ofthings has worn me down. It's like
the gallup part is like pounding alongwith the bass, and the synth is
this kind of weird like alien fluctuationpart, and it's like, you know,
I've seen Goblin like a bunch oftimes, because they turn up metal
festivals and stuff like that and theytalk and it's like you're at a metal
festival and you've got Goblin playing onone stage and like some you know,

(02:56:54):
like fucking Merciful Fate or something playingon the others. And if you don't
think that's a good mix of things, sorry, you're in the wrong camp.
Like it's just it's got this madenergy and momentum as a track,
and it doesn't like it doesn't soundsimilar, but for me, it reminds
me of the horrendous album in termsof just like free spirited and eccentric.
It is like what we were sayingabout, like this is having so much
fun playing music together because they've lettheir imaginations go and they're capturing everywhere it

(02:57:20):
takes them on record. But withthis album, there is again that's very
specific theme and world that they've dialedinto, so they're not throwing in things
that don't make sense like it is. I mean, I literally only noticed
writing the fucking notes this particular runthrough listening to record, I do a
bunch now that the final track isten minutes long, because it is just
a seamless string of like natural ideasand evolutions and the melodies. You know,

(02:57:41):
Ghost on Prequel started doing these likebig seventies folk prog laced instrumentals with
like hell Vetta's fonster and all thatkind of stuff, with the really strong
keyboard melodies and guitar parts. Thisis in terms of the lineage of it,
it's exactly the kind of shit thatTobias would be inspired by to like,
you know, do that kind ofthing. Yeah, and I think
it's of a comparable standard. LikeThat's the thing with this record is as

(02:58:05):
much as it is a laugh throwndown to motorhead riffs and three note black
metal riffs that Venom would throw outfor being too basic, when you get
moments of real, atmospheric, multilayered, textured beauty, it's, I
don't know, it just it elevatesthe whole thing. So much accomplished this
I can't believe how accomplished they've got. And as songwriters and as players and

(02:58:26):
arrangers, it's just like, it'sa blast. This record, like this
stuff, to me, it's likean anidote to all that is stale and
formulaic in metal. You know,it's so energizing. Here is a bunch
of Slovakian ghouls in a castle inthe deep forest having the fucking time of
their lives making music that is good. You know, it's fun, it's
well written, it's imaginative, it'ssurprising, it's you know, it's the

(02:58:48):
most necro thing we'll review today.It is the most niche. But it's
so listenable for the just the breathless, colorful energy of it. So,
you know, if you don't likeprog, if you don't like eighties metal,
then sure, but my god,the mix of things is like I
said, one of the most uniqueimaginative things that we reviewed all you.
In fact, the band are calledMalacarpatan. This particular record is Vitumnus Caesar.

(02:59:11):
Thank you so much for listening.Please let us know what you think
of any of these records if youhave not heard some of these bands before.
There is so much joy to behad with a lot of these records.
And that is the last batch ofreviews you're going to get from us
for a little bit, because thatwas the last one of the year.
We will let you know exactly whenwe are going to be needing your help

(02:59:31):
for the album of the Year showsand everything like that. We're going to
have you know, Hyperblast between nowand then so we can kind of flesh
it all out. But that isof course what will be coming in December
the next couple of weeks on thePatreon as well as our saw X and
Exus Believer does Horror. This weekwe will have of course, the culmination
of the Allis in Chains special.Please get your fucking Malacarpatan on, get
your nobro on, get your gasplatanthem on. If you will, you

(02:59:52):
know, stick it, stick itto one of us, whichever one of
us it was, who was negativeabout some album you love, have the
fucking time of your life in it, and shake your fist at the direction
of one of us in particular.Get on board for all of it.
We'll see for all of that wegot coming up with. Cheers.

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