Discover Top Posts Tagged with #drew's views

DREW’S VIEWS

~Words & Photographs by Drew Nez~

The new year has been developing at a slow, but promising pace. 2021 has given opportunities for groups to culminate unadulterated and honed jams for us to indulge and reflect through. Walk with me through some of the early selections that we’ve been given. A spin on a traditional review, a walk through my view.

I. Cosmic Reaper - Cosmic Reaper

An admission to a prison, not of the physical realm, but mind-locked behind a consciousness from within. North Carolina’s COSMIC REAPER cast forth a spell of illusion in their self-titled full-length on Heavy Psych Sounds.

COSMIC REAPER - Cosmic Reaper by HEAVY PSYCH SOUNDS Records

The character of its haunting presence is like a pigmy on the shoulder that guides one forward to sheer demise. Begrudging, yet lingering patterns that march you straight into a cell. A creep of the lock to ensure isolation. Written off, entrapped, or otherwise completely forgotten! You are doomed...

II. Sunnata - Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth

Listening to SUNNATA and the Polish band's fourth album, I began to scribble down my flow of thought.

Burning in Heaven, Melting on Earth by SUNNATA

Beseeched upon a throne, the drone of encroaching winds that carry the shroud of darkness. Cadence stampedes across a vast expanse. War dance in full display, writhing of flame, knowledge, and spirit. Worshippers pace and pause to the impact of the beat ‘round a fire that conjures the essence of the primal. A chorus provides comfort and counsel, as its tales are sung thru mirage for eons.

III. the body - I’ve Seen All I need To See

Baren, absolute pain. Open nerve endings obliterated into defeat. Repeated drawing of a blade on the right to feel. A separation, resuscitation, and deconstruction of the fabric in human nature. Seeking a balance to the suffering within. Imposing of other’s suffering on your own.

I've Seen All I Need To See by the body

THE BODY provide another page in their musical journal, depicting through sound what it means to experience devastation. This is a depiction of one's state of mind, as he walks through a path of self dismemberment, physically and mentally. I’ve Seen All I Need To See describes sonically the settings in which such personal chaos could occur.

#D&S Reviews #Drew's Views #Drew Nez #Cosmic Reaper #Sunnata #The Body #doom metal #stoner rock #occult #fuzz #progressive metal #post-metal #noise #Doomed and Stoned

DREW’S VIEWS

~Words & Photos by Drew Nez~

With the year of fucking 2020 in the rear view mirror, take a moment to think about all the shit we’ve had to sit and watch going on. From the crumbling state of world affairs, socially and economically, to the disconnect with our of loved ones and the ever present touch of humanity -- all of it dissipated on a dime, leading to the mandate of dehumanizing our very faces for the sake of saving each other from one another. It’s crippled many industries in unimaginable ways, although we’ve adapted (still kicking and going strong) in ways that match the perseverance that our community has always carried without question. A pertinent reminder that we can prevail, overcome, and unify -- even when the subject matter is at its darkest.

This is the introduction to a variety segment, where I can provide poetic rhetoric based on the work of musical masterminds that connect with me sonically. It’s an attempt to go over the top and paint the absolute most vivid picture for listeners that are looking for something new, different, and fresh -- maybe even busting any preconceived notions of how a musical piece sounds, in the process. I sure as fuck ain’t the typical writer with pen and quill in hand.

With the news that Bandcamp will be extending their popular “Bandcamp Fridays” well into 2021, I hope this column will shed light and understanding on new music that really does deserve your ear. Follow me now as I guide you through what I feel are a few of the most impactful compositions released over the past year.

Lord Buffalo Tohu Wa Bohu

Tohu Wa Bohu by Lord Buffalo

I can’t place a finger on my whereabouts upon hearing this. Roaming a desolate plane on a far off planet, perhaps. What I can say is that this album perfectly depicts what that would mean. 'Tohu Wa Bohu' (2020) is the latest composition from Austin's LORD BUFFALO. It is, to me, the story of acting on nothing but instinct in search of an entity -- a higher being, perhaps -- with writhing and erratic behaviour, as well as the search for closure, perhaps even a stoic warrior soul of sorts at the brunt of an epic journey. Smooth, ambietic delivery, instrumentally and vocally -- as seamless as the fiddler at hand.

Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou May Our Chambers Be Full

May Our Chambers Be Full by Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou

Consider this a kind of 'David and Goliath' soundtrack of the mind. It tends towards tales of self-indulgence, the disparate perspectives of those who live together intimately, and the dead experience of life. At times, it presents as a kind of duality -- the siren's cadence on the one hand, the wretched guide tugging at the pathos of one’s sense of spiritual direction on the other. One can liken all of the tracks to an experience of being dragged into catacomb under a spell, with the subtext of battle between the gold or filth that lies deep in the gulch of human will. All throughout, backed by an ever flowing orchestra that projects the feeling of being drug down to the deep deep, soothed into an acceptance of fate, and given the yearning to rise again to the surface.

Primitive Man Immersion

Immersion by Primitive Man

Defining depths of wrought horror, Immersion is like a gulch liquid that creeps up the walls and consumes every ounce of hope one could possibly aspire to. PRIMITIVE MAN casts the setting of being totally and absolutely lost in a space, coupled with a sense of anxious foreboding in the pursuit of hopelessness. It’s as if I’m getting coaxed into comfort, but through entrapment. A claustrophobia path set beneath the weight of a constricting tunnel, absolutely void of return.

Rickshaw Billie’s Burger Patrol Burger Babes...FROM OUTER SPACE!

Burger Babes...FROM OUTER SPACE! by Rickshaw Billie's Burger Patrol

Right out the gate, there’s a build of energy and speed in the latest adrenaline shot from RICKSHAW BILLIE'S BURGER PATROL. Like an otherworldly abduction, the almost surgically executed rhythms are enough to sweep you off your feet and violently whiplash your headspace into orbital lift off. The transitions leave my body feeling completely weightless and calm, with the occasional feeling of explosive confrontation with an alien onslaught -- writhing in vacuum, however, prevailing with defiant persistence! All of this on a machine of exquisite fortification, forged thick, riveted precise, and equipped to destroy, with the capability to ward off the gnarliest of foes until the bitter end!