Welcome back! I hope you don’t mind the mess this time. I dislike it when people say this when you enter their house, as it usually means their house is ten times cleaner than mine. However, this time my house really is a mess. We are in the midst of a big renovation as we speak so everything is dusty and there are tools everywhere. The bathroom really needed some work. As I have two left hands I am not doing the hard work myself. I want this bathroom to last a while, so it seemed a better idea to outsource the job to someone who knows what they’re doing. So far this has been a wild ride. Let me tell you all about it and I am sure we can make this into a soundtrack-like affair.
The valley of despair
This whole journey started with a leak. A leak we only discovered because our wifi was down for a bit. Once I opened the closet where our wifi router is situated I noticed a dripping sound. This is something you don’t want to hear (in a closet with loads of electrical equipment). You can imagine my despair. This calls for desperate music of course, the kind of music Shores Of Null can provide. I raved about their previous album Beyond The Shores long ago. That album was a super slow, doomy album dealing with loss and the stages of grief. I expected another gem like that. What I got was something else, something I did not expect (like I did not expect a dripping sound when looking for the router). After delving into the band’s past I now understand that Beyond The Shores was a bit of a diversion for the band and their new album The Loss Of Beauty is a return to their original sound. A sound that has a lot in common with the likes of Ghost Brigade and Amorphis. It is doomy, but a bit more uptempo and with beautiful melodies. What the bands mentioned have in common with Shores Of Null is the exceptional quality of their singer. All three can sing beautifully, but are also very strong when it comes to harsher vocals. This is the kind of dark music that helps you through periods of light desperation.
The shimmers of hope
Of course the first thing to do is find the source of the leakage. It turned out to be coming from the bathroom, or to be precise: from the shower. There were some easy repairs that could be done, but that would only hold for a short amount of time. That’s when you look into your savings account and decide it is time to start a renovation project.
Off we went, shopping for a new bathroom interior. Once you set your mind to it, you start to hope for a bright future with a beautiful bathroom. The sky's the limit (as long as your savings account allows, of course). Spanish band Santo Rostro released an album that really fits the mood. The hints of ‘70s doom metal make for a bit of a doomy background, but the prog and noise-rock influences make this sound much more hopeful. Después No Habrá Nada somehow reminds me of some band that I am sure is from the ‘90s, but I can’t figure out which one (this is so frustrating!). So let me try telling you what they sound like by namedropping a load of different bands. There is that doomy vibe that reminds me of the more uptempo Black Sabbath tunes from the ‘70s, but there are traces of Mastodon (I am thinking Leviathan), but there is also some radio-friendly stoner vibe going on à la Queens Of The Stone Age. Add to that some psychedelic and/or prog influences and you should get close to this album. And, I have to say, the production of this album is amazing. Everything is clearly audible and the sound is very organic. The production sounds very spacious, which is something I miss in a lot of modern production.
So, once we decided about the future style of our bathroom we walked out of the store feeling great about ourselves. There were a couple of tough decisions to be made and we made them. Perhaps you recognize this, but in situations like this I feel like I am on top of the world. So we walked out of that store with some serious swagger. The perfect soundtrack for that feeling is Eyes. I have talked about this band before and what I said then remains true. They are still playing around with some Refused and Anchor influences and some dashes of musical madness like Euglena. This is still is a band with more swagger than most bands can even dream of. Congratulations differs a bit from Underperformer, with a few more slower tracks. Underperformer is an album I still come back to a lot. It is not that hard to imagine giving Congratulations the same treatment. I am pretty sure this album will end high in my year end list. I am curious to see how these tunes translate to a live setting, so I hope to be able to see this band live one day!
Frustration builds up again
Unfortunately we went through a pretty frustrating stage after that. First of all, we had to dry the walls and the ceiling. Of course we had the incredible luck that it just rained for week after week. This didn’t help. The continuous noise of those drying machines can drive a person mad -- I speak from experience.
Lasso recently released their third EP Ordem Imaginada and it is the perfect soundtrack for the frustration of the continuous barrage of noise in the background. This Brazilian band plays furious and frustrated hardcore punk. It rages aggressively in short, sharp bursts mixing that with something their Bandcamp page describes as “tense brooding.” The sound is dense and the tempo is fast with a couple of excursions into mid-tempo stomper country. The first two EPs are already amazing, but this band turns out to be the kind of gift that keeps on giving. This third EP sounds as urgent as hardcore can be. It is the perfect soundtrack to play as loud as possible to block out the noise of those dryers in the hallway. The aggression is also cathartic in a way.
Once the walls were dry we were expecting deliveries. This turned out to be a frustrating process with stuff being broken, delivered later then agreed upon and a couple of products that were all of sudden not in stock anymore. We were on the phone a lot to get everything we would need or to figure out which store could provide us with the products that were out of stock.
Our frustration turned:, alternating between anger and something calm, stoic even. Spanish band Hoy Es Siempre Todavia released El Mapa De Mi Albedrio recently which provided a perfect soundtrack for this period of our project. Their brand of post-hardcore switches between these two moods perfectly. Their sound is not something we haven’t heard before, although they do prove themselves to be able to compete with the top of the genre here. Their songwriting really is top notch; their songs flow naturally from one mood to the next. It never sounds forced. The production is a bit muddy at times, which adds a certain rawness that fits them like a glove.
What makes this band stand out is their singer. He is instantly recognizable when singing clean. He sounds more deep, more post-punk, at times applying almost speak-sing style vocals. I can imagine folks disliking it, but I can really appreciate his sound. Especially considering the immense force he has in his rough vocals. The artwork deserves special attention too. I love this kind of art where you look once and think “Nice map” and you look again and think “Huh, that’s not a map, that’s a portrait!” It is brilliantly executed.
Getting ready for that Hulk smash
Once we had everything, we were ready to go. The project started with clearing the bathroom of everything. There is something satisfying about smashing tiles off the walls. There is music that fits this kind of work perfectly, like there is music that is perfect for running (crossover like Power Trip usually does the job for me) and music that is perfect for lifting weights (when I see someone very muscular I can’t help but think: this person must enjoy Dyscarnate when lifting).
This particular activity asks for something that is brutal and slightly groovy. Something like Muerta En Vida. Their album El Pacto is precisely what you need if you need something broken down. El Pacto packs a punch like no other. It is a brutal mixture of late ‘90s groove metal, some sludge, a bit of death metal and, at times, breaking out of that groove to thrash around a bit. Play it loud and what needs to be destroyed is destroyed in mere seconds. On a side note, our contractor did not agree and preferred to listen to a radio channel playing pop tunes. To each their own, huh?
We start to reconstruct
Once everything was cleared we were ready to rebuild. Of course, first there is boatload of work to be done that you will never actually see the result of. These hidden jobs take a lot of time, which can be a bit frustrating as no one will ever know how much work was actually done. We are now entering the phase where we can start working on all those jobs like tiling, jobs that determine the look of our new bathroom. We can’t work with music like Muerta En Vida here.
We need something to keep going, but something that aims at creating something better. Death Pill from Ukraine recently released a self-titled debut album that fits the bill. Death Pill play hardcore with a metallic edge. At times it reminds me of Comeback Kid’s debut album, Turn It Around. The metallic edge is a bit stronger at times, so at times I am reminded of Figure Four’s riffing style. The vocals sound pretty pissed off, but at times we are surprised with catchy clean vocals, like on “Die For Vietnam.” It took me two songs to be won over for this record that, lyrically, not only fights against societal pressures, but also strives to create a better, fairer world. No one can oppose that, right?
What we hope for
For now we are still in a dusty and messy place, but of course we hope and work for a better home. I am pretty sure that somewhere next week, once the dust has settled (and everything is cleaned) we will be on a bit of a natural high. A feeling like that doesn’t last, but the first time I use that new shower, enter the bathroom to brush my teeth, I am sure I will be so happy. It provides a certain natural high.
Some music can give you that kind of feeling as well. It allows you to drift away, to space out without using any kind of stimulant. Just close your eyes and allow yourself to explore space or your mind. Voyage To Innerspace, the new album by Finnish psychedelic rockers Deep Space Destructors is one such album. Their Bandcamp states the band was started from a mutual love of kraut, prog and psychedelic rock. I would like to add stoner to that list -- I can hear some influences from that scene. The band mixes the drive that some desert bands employ with psychedelic influences and ‘70s prog, somehow reminding me of a more rock-oriented version of Sammal combined with a more experimental King Bufallo.
This is the second time I get to talk about the artwork that accompanies the release I am discussing, but again this deserves some extra attention. It perfectly fits the upbeat yet freaky vibe this album oozes. I also love the old school graphic novel feeling it gives me.
Having said that, I will send you on your way. That dust is everywhere, you might want to knock it off your clothes when you leave. See you next time.
