Matterhorn Vol. 1. The World Began Without Man...
Thinker Thought Records
On Vol. 1. The World Began Without Man…, Matterhorn takes the familiar destruction-of-human-civilization post-rock theme, splits it up into five stages/songs, and parlays it into a thick-riffed, heavy metal aural story. However, the Colorado trio (all ex-members of The Great Redneck Hope) forgo the more ambient, spacey, and experimental sound most instrumental post-rock bands employ, choosing instead to cash in on their namesake and deliver our demise through mountainous, fuzzy, sludge-leaning chaos that’s as much Karma to Burn as it is Russian Circles, but both will get you where you want to go when it comes down to it. It all plays out in about thirty minutes and covers mankind’s legitimately scientific impending doom, including volcanic unrest (“Stage One: Long Valley Caldera, 8:32 a.m.”), cyclones/typhoons (“Stage Two: Armada Storm”), whatever “The Currents” is about (“Stage Three: The Currents”), radiation (“Stage Four: The South Atlantic Anomaly”), and asteroids (“Stage Five: 99942 Apophis”), all of it a crushing and (at times) melodic attack no doubt laying the groundwork for whatever Vol. 2 is going to delve into. Probably an apocalyptic afterlife or something, who knows. You gotta get through this hopeless bastard first.
Listen to “Stage One: Long Valley Caldera, 8:32 a.m.” from Vol. 1. The World Began Without Man…!
The denim-clad lads in Valient Thorr have some of the best beards in the biz, and are crackpot experts at harnessing — and wielding — the beard’s potent rock n’ roll power. From the moment they found themselves stranded on Earth they’ve been an irrational, socially objectionable tour de grease, freaked-out stoner punk cavemen raping AC/DC riffs for kicks. Stranger, the North Carolina-by-way-of-Venus band’s fifth full-length, is as pumped up as the rest of ‘em, attacking your way of life from all sides and beating you about the head and neck with broken skateboard decks. Human fallibility and all-around douchebaggery are the focus of Valient Himself’s beer-breathed ire, and when combined with the electric assault of songs like “Double Crossed,” “Night Terrors,” and “Sudden Death is Nothing,” it makes for a bloody, sweaty, metal show that’ll call to mind Bible of Devil, Red Fang, or just some plain ol’ classic Thorr. Stranger might not have the same kind of impact as Immortalizer — or Total Universe Man for that matter — but it’s a righteous, rippin’ riot regardless.
Check out the video for “Double Crossed” from Stranger!
I’m not going to say that Dax Riggs (former Acid Bath and Deadboy & The Elephantmen front man) is the best singer/songwriter in America because, well, I can’t actually prove a statement like that, but he’s awfully fucking good, and I can’t think of too many people who come close to touching his evil, dark, misanthropic folk rock. As experienced on 2007′s We Sing of Only Blood or Love, the Louisiana musician’s solo outputs contain all the folly and misery of suffering, loneliness, torment, and death — meaning they’re completely and utterly human — and Say Goodnight to the World once again represents our most dire straits via rolling graveyard shuffles (“Say Goodnight to the World,” “I Hear Satan,” “Sleeping With the Witch”), fuzzy rockers (“Gravedirt on My Blue Suede Shoes,” “No One Will Be a Stranger,” “Let Me Be Your Cigarette”), and swampy, haunting dirges (“You Were Born to Be My Gallows,” “Like Moonlight,” “See You All in Hell or New Orleans”). Of course, it’s his babbling, bourbon-basted, bayou tongue that really puts the hoodoo in his musical voodoo, like he’s channeling his inner dead Elvis with a mouth full of curses and bats, which is why his cover of “Heartbreak Hotel” is one spooky, bad-ass moment. Do yourself a favour and get into Dax Riggs if you haven’t already.
Matterhorn
Valient Thorr
Dax Riggs