INTERVIEW: Denver down-tuned blackened sludgers Oryx are all about that bass

By: Mark Ambrose & Aaron Pickford

Alvino Salcedo (C)

The two-piece metal group is a risky venture: for every stellar example that incorporates multiple registers, tones, and intimate dynamics (Bell Witch, NEST, Obsidian Tongue) there are a dozen that do not sound like anything except an inept demo tape (which I politely won’t call out here).  Thankfully Oryx, the Colorado by way of Santa Fe two-piece, fall solidly into the former group: a balanced collaboration that sounds like a symphony of savagery.  While “Stolen Absolution” is a sophomore release, this marked their first album as a two-piece – a sort of second debut, more distinct, assured, and unique than their prior effort, “Widowmaker”. 

Skip forward nearly 4 months since the release of this record and the band are set to play some of the biggest shows of their short tenure, what’s more the band are set reinvent themselves again.  This week I hooked up with drummer Abigail Davis to get the low down on their forthcoming shows and she tell us about their decision to change up the line up once more, to present Oryx 3.0

So Abbey, welcome to THE SLUDGELORD! Could you tell our readers a little about how you started playing music, leading up to the formation of Oryx?

Tommy (guitar, vocals) has been playing in metal and punk bands for most of his life. I picked up the drums in high school and then really dove headfirst into it once Tommy and I started jamming five years ago. We helped run a DIY show space in Las Cruces, NM called The Trainyard. We lived right down the street from it, so we would show up at around midnight and play as loud as we wanted without bothering anyone. We just kept playing together until we felt ready for shows.   Oryx was born.

For those people unfamiliar with Oryx, is there any bands on the scene past and present that you would use as a reference point bands to describe your band, and who or what continues to inspire you and push you to try new things?

Bands like Earth, Man is the Bastard, Eyehategod, Drunkdriver, Corrupted, and Noothgrush are all huge influences on us. Currently active bands like Primitive Man, Yob, Bell Witch, Thou, and The Body continue to inspire us and pave the way for heavy music in general.

What can you tell us about your latest record “Stolen Absolution” and where do you feel it sits within the context of current doom scene

With ‘Stolen Absolution’, we set out to create an album that could represent our live sound more accurately and articulate our voice better than any of our other previous recordings. We feel the album stands strongly on its own in the current doom scene, but it’s also a mash up of several genres and with darker undertones that black metal or blackened doom fans could appreciate.

Alvino Salcedo (C)

Does anything spring to mind when you think about the completion of “Stolen Absolution”and for those paying attention to the article, they may notice a change.  So with that in mind, how is the mood in the camp at present?

After “Stolen Absolution” released in February, Tommy and I re-evaluated what we wanted for the band. We decided that we wanted to see this band evolve and grow beyond what we’ve been able to achieve as a two piece. We figured that one way to try this would be to incorporate a bassist into the mix. Over the past several months we have been writing new music with our newest member, David Saylor. We met David years ago when we played with his band Terminator 2. David brings a unique style to the band and we are happy to have him on board. Having a new voice to collaborate on song writing feels like a fresh start for the band. It’s also allowing Tommy to expand on his guitar parts in ways we’ve never been able to do before. It’s an exciting time for Oryx!

With you new record released and a new member on board, how is your schedule shaping up over the next 12 months?

Well we are excited to announce that we are heading back to the studio in June to record several tracks for an upcoming split. This time we are recording with Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios in Oakland. This is a bucket list recording studio for us. We have two big shows in June as well. We are opening for Ufomammut on June 9^that Sister Bar in Albuquerque, NM and then we open for the legendary Sleep at the Ogden Theatre here in Denver on June 11^th. For these two shows, we will have a friend guest subbing on bass while David travels back to Texas for some shows with Terminator 2. Get ready to see Oryxdebut as a three piece for these shows! We also have plans to tour in August. Those dates and cities will be released soon.

Finally, do you have any last words?

Thanks for the interview and the support, SLUDGELORD! Cheers!

“Stolen Absolution” is available here (CD) and here (Tape)

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM REVIEW: Of Feather And Bone, "Bestial Hymns of Perversion"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: March 23, 2018

Label: Profound Lore Records

It’s a stellar record, one that cuts deep and infects your blood supply.  I suggest you subject yourself to this trauma and damn the consequences.

“Bestial Hymns of Perversion”CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Repulsive Obscurity

2. Resounding from the Depths

3. Lust for Torment

4. Mockery of the Ascension

5. Hymn of Perversion

6. Pious Abnormality

7. Throne of the Serpent

The Review:

               

There are a few tried and true methods when it comes to hair-raising metal album intros.  Some really solid menacing spoken word, particularly religious insanity culled from a crackling radio transmission.  The patented horror movie sample of practically any Mortician song.  So when I heard demonic chanting and what can only be described as the buzz of carrion flies, I knew I was in for some relentlessly grim death metal.  I did not expect, however, that with “Bestial Hymns of Perversion”, I’d be wading into a grim, necrotic nightmare that may also be one of the best releases of the year.  With their second full-length, Of Feather and Bonehave completely reinvented themselves as one of the most devastating death acts operating today.

               

Aforementioned opener “Repulsive Obscurity”, after the descent into sonic madness of the intro, centers on drummer PW’s double-kick assault.  This is tribal warfare music, not tech wizardry – every hit sounds like it’s rattling against bloodied skins, reverberating through a chasm of evil.  The thick, fuzzy tone of DG’s guitar is pure filth, without ever losing the discernable, disturbing riffing.  AS’s bass is much more subdued but essential, a clean counter to the buzzing fury of the six-string assault.  Meanwhile, AS and DG counter guttural death growls with agonized, frayed higher register shrieks.  The combination is particularly unnerving.  Which isn’t to suggest its pure cacophony – tracks like “Resounding from the Depths” have an oldschool punky rhythm break that bely the trio’s earlier hardcore roots.

               

“Lust for Torment” may be the standout track for me on a record without a moment of filler.  The breakdown, punctuated by cracking snare work, frenetic fills, and pinch harmonics that will make you scream “fuck!” while you’re sitting all alone in traffic, is one of the most enervating musical moments of my year.  Plus the mid-song crescendo is the type of chugging riffing that mosh pits were made for.  The tortured high end vocals of “Mockery of the Ascension” are almost too distressing after such brutality, but Of Feather and Bone is not here for your weak bullshit.  Instead the tribal rhythms coalesce again, around a blissfully simple guitar line.  The minimal, tremolo lead work is as effective as any sweep picking, and far more memorable.

“Hymn of Perversion” is a testament to how aware Of Feather and Bone is of the power of space – sometimes they allow room to breathe, only to collapse back in with so much intensity that you may suffocate.  And throughout all this chaos, the production is never muddied, never too busy, always unflinching in capturing the relentless assaults on display.  When PW blisters his snare with furious blast beats on “Pious Abnormality”, not one hit is lost – no mean feat when the distortion is so primal.  “Throne of the Serpent” closes as the album began – with sheer, unmitigated power.  DG and AS weave a sinewy, descending guitar riff that is beyond sinister – it’s downright malevolent.  With tradeoffs between chugging rhythms and high-end tremolo, slowed down tribal drums and breakneck blast beats, the closer builds to a nauseating expulsion of raw energy, before dissipating in another cloud of buzzing flies.

It’s hard to express just how grim and powerful the whole experience of “Bestial Hymns of Perversion” is.  It stuck to me like a layer of grime you really need to scour yourself to get off.  Even when I felt unburdened from the filthy tones and punishing rhythms, I had to go back, re-traumatize myself, and contemplate just what was so unsettling and compelling about the whole thing.  For one, it’s a major departure from their frenzied, punky debut, “Embrace the Wretched Flesh”.  There’s far more skill, more despair, more wrathful intensity.  But there’s something ineffable about the primal necromancy these guys dredge up for “Bestial Hymns…”.  It’s a stellar record, one that cuts deep and infects your blood supply.  I’m likely to keep returning all year, like the scene of an atrocity I can’t erase from my memory.  I suggest you subject yourself to this trauma and damn the consequences.

“Bestial Hymns of Perversion” is available here

Band info: facebook|| bandcamp

INTERVIEW: Primitive Man @ Meat Locker, Montclair, NJ (8/11/2017)

By: Mark Ambrose

Denver’s Primitive Man has amassed a truly impressive discography since their debut, “Scorn”, was released in 2013.  Remarkably, 2017’s “Caustic” is only their second full-length, but gathered rave reviews from every heavy music outlet that matters.  Rather than exhaust their prime material on a number of splits and EPs, Primitive Man seems to have an endless supply of brutal riffs and despairing lyrics to hammer into sludge masterpieces.  Ethan (guitar/vocals), Joe (drums), and Jon (bass) took a few minutes to talk to THE SLUDGELORD before their November 8 gig with Bell Witch to talk about their record, touring, and the inspiration behind their bleak, uncompromising music.  Primitive Man will be embarking on yet another US tour this spring with Spectral Voice.

While there has been steady output from Primitive Man, it’s been four years since the last full length.  What made now the right time to release a full length album?

Ethan: We had a year and a half where we were doing a lot of touring and we were just writing a lot of songs in the process.  There was enough material there for a really long record and it just came together that way.

Jon: Because we did all the other stuff, too, we just wanted a really focused Primitive Man release.  Those were all splits and shit.  It’d been so long since our first record.

Ethan:  Yeah, the reason we did all those splits is because we wanted to see things through.  It took all of that time to get through that stuff.

Joe, you’re relatively new to the band.  What has the process been like?

Joe: Yeah I’ve been with the band about a year and a half.

Ethan: Two years.

Joe: Wow.  Yeah two years.  I started practicing with these guys about two years ago and the idea I generally got from these guys that we’d work toward a full-length.

And you’ve become comfortable in this lineup since you’ve been touring nonstop?

Ethan: Yeah we’ve played a lot of shows in the last two years.

Any standout locals that you’ve enjoyed playing with?

Ethan: Figures, from Omaha.  Heaviest.

Jon: Swollen Organs.

Joe: Worthless from Milwaukee.

There seems to be a lot more political content to your lyrics that many heavy bands seem comfortable with at the moment.  What’s the process like when writing?  Is it a concerted effort to address political, racial, or economic themes?

Ethan: I’m just writing about the life that I’m living, the way that I’m experiencing it.  My perception of the world around me.

What are your nine to five lives back at home?  How is that work/band balance?

Ethan: I mean, yeah we all have regular jobs that we go to.  I’m a substitute teacher.

Joe: Jon and I both work at bars back home.  We’ve committed to this situation so we’ve somehow found ways to balance our home lives with Primitive Man.

Jon: It’s still really hard, though.  I lost a job coming out for this tour.

Ethan: It doesn’t always work out that well.  We arrange our home lives around this.

Jon: Even just with partners and stuff it’s hard.  You go from living with someone every day.  Ethan’s been with his wife a long time.  I’m with this lady and living with her – it’s hard.  But it’s also that I wouldn’t have it any other way.  You just make it work.  The technology really helps.

What do you guys do to wind down?  Any music, books, movies?

ALL: Smoke weed. *laughter*

Jon: And eat chicken wings.

How has traveling with Bell Witch been for this tour?

Ethan: Oh great.  We’ve known them for a long time, before all this. 

Jon: They’re frosty little darlings.  Love those boys.

And what does 2018 look like?

Ethan: We have a split coming out.  Bunch of touring.  And writing music – keeping it going.

The End

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Glacial Tomb - "Cognitive Erosion" [EP]

By: Chris Bull


Album Type: EP

Date Released: 11/04/2017

Label: Old Cathedral Cassettes

From the opening drum fill that leads to some face ripping riffage of 'Black Hole, White Teeth' all the way through to the creeping, crescendo  of 'Burial Shroud', it's a tour-de-force of extreme music.

“Cognitive Erosion” CS//DD track listing:

1). Black Hole White Teeth

2). Of Flesh And Worship

3). Entropic Decay

4). Burial Shroud

The Review:

To start with the most random pop culture reference here; do you remember the short lived WCWwrestler Glacier? He was a complete Sub Zero (of Mortal Kombat fame [yep, that's a 2nd pop culture reference]) rip off. He was hyped, full of promise and ultimately failed to deliver. 'Cognitive Erosion' from Denver's Glacial Tombis the polar opposite (excuse the pun); it's no bark and all bite.

The 4 tracks on this EP are chocked full of scathing, blistering, HM-2 worship and while crusty grind is the meat and potatoes, Glacial Tomb season the tracks with some crushing sludge/doom when the time is right.

From the opening drum fill that leads to some face ripping riffage of 'Black Hole, White Teeth' all the way through to the creeping, crescendo  of 'Burial Shroud', it's a tour-de-force of extreme music. Sure, the guitar sound suffers from an almost digital sound, but this is enough of an appetite whetting to have me hungry for a full length. I'd love to hear these guys let loose on an analogue studio; the results would undoubtedly double the effects of global warming.

“Cognitive Erosion” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook