Master Musicians of Bukkake Totem Two
Conspiracy Records
Master Musicians of Bukkake, Seattle’s self-proclaimed seers of the mystical noise void, whose psychic vibrations transcend all form and flow forth like shimmering water from the fountain of no-age sound, have partaken in a spiritual journey known simply as the Totem Trilogy. Totem Two, then, finds the seven sons (made up of Earth and Burning Witch members) on the middle leg of their cosmic tour, immersed in an experimental ritual of Eastern mysticism, as though urged on by the many arms of some unnamed deity. The six songs offered here sweep across holy mountain tops like ambient fog and settle on the other side of tomorrow, where the sun lays down its flames and wandering souls speak into the hollow trunks of Eucalyptus trees. It’s a meditation on mourning, but joyous just the same, and offers exotic enlightenment in a easily accessible form.
Like an ancient call from deep within the foggy halls of some floating, forgotten, and fervent cosmic temple of metallurgy, the songs on Zoroaster’s third full-length, Matador, swim between sludge-drenched doom, nerve-rattling drone, and psych-metal mayhem, creating one bastard of a heavy, hypnotic ride. This isn’t just music you hear, buddy, this is music you see. It pulses and surges like a snake swallowing a beehive, it moves in nocturnal, amphibious rhythms, it explodes and flows like an active volcano. On previous efforts, Dog Magic and Voice of Saturn, Zoroaster stayed the low-end course of doom, rarely varying from the path of heaviest resistance, but Matador sees the Atlanta trio free-forming their way through meditative expanses of earth-swallowing sound and noise. Dig the title track, “D.N.R.,” “Odyssey” and “Old World” for the freakiest, Om meets Kyuss examples, while the songs “Ancient Ones,” “Trident,” and “Black Hole” spit out those classic Zoroaster riffs, which sound like High on Fire wallowing in a tub of fuzz. This is a potent, mesmerizing, and audacious heavy metal album, my friends, and tailor-made for anyone with a beard.
Master Musicians of Bukkake
Zoroaster