Rorcal
. . .
On one hand, this is long overdue. Over a year ago, I started a column called “Slow & Low” to highlight music of that nature. Then I abandoned that idea, because I started thinking that albums should be discussed individually, not in groups. But the sheaf is stronger than the stalk. So where appropriate now, I will discuss the sheaf.
On the other hand, I’m jumping the gun. To varying degrees, these bands take on the “song vs. sound” issue that has recurred throughout this blog. (See, e.g., here, and Mike Scalzi’s discussion here.) I should pin that issue down, but my thoughts on it aren’t concrete yet. So instead I’ll present three bands that help make that issue un-pinnable.
These bands group themselves in my head as “European bands moving slow, heavy music forward with a slightly futuristic feel”. The European part is key; I don’t hear American bands taking these kinds of turns. Usually the biggest risk American bands take is, “Ooh, clean singing!” Then they return to their whiskey and beer. Europeans, in contrast, have an artsy streak that informs their aesthetics. These bands all have stark, minimal, black-and-white visuals that fit their music. And their sounds make them interesting, not their lyrics. Two of these records come without printed lyrics, and another is in French (which I don’t know). That’s OK. Perhaps the album is the song is the sound is the album. Or something like that.
Rorcal photo by doozle
. . .
Rorcal
Heliogabalus
. . .
Switzerland’s Rorcal raise the song vs. sound issue most blatantly, via a single, 70-minute song in Heliogabalus. On one hand, no album should be 70 minutes long. (Dave Allen, once of Gang of Four and now a digital media guru, has a good argument against the primacy of the album. He says that the album is an artificial construct foisted upon artists due to technological considerations.) On the other hand, a 70-minute song can be interesting. Classical symphonies have lasted much longer.
Rorcal are no classical composers, but it’s interesting to hear them grapple with long-form composition. Most bands of this ilk are rightfully called “funeral doom” because they threaten to kill listeners through boredom. By now, striking a note and letting it ring for too long has lost its novelty, no matter how big one’s amp stacks are. But this stuff can work live. I never listen to Monarch! or Trees on record, but I like their live punishment (review). Rorcal’s innovation is adding lots of variation to the time-stretching doom shtick.
I’m pretty sure that Rorcal recorded Heliogabalus in parts, because it has so much going on. (It would be impressive, however, to witness a 70-minute continuous performance of the piece.) It starts with Khanate/Burning Witch worship (though no such worshiper has matched the originals in terms of discipline and control), topped with Godflesh-esque harmonics and seconds/ninths. Then it morphs and morphs and morphs and morphs. Electronic textures come in and come out. Guitars start exploring the upper registers, at times coalescing into black metal-esque tremolo picking (Tennessee’s Argentinum Astrum have also mined this territory), at other times forming abstract sheets of sound like a less deft Dysrhythmia. Sometimes these elements boil down to pure noise, and sometimes they form tonal chord progressions. It’s a massive sandwich to bite into, and it should probably be sliced into pieces for easier digestion – but then again, easy digestion is not what this is about.
. . .
Danishmendt
Un Passé Aride
. . .
France’s Danishmendt also have a serious Godflesh jones. But the influence is more in the blood than as a blueprint. No mechanized crushing here – the ground is always shifting. The midrange scrapes, crinkles, and buzzes relentlessly. Vocals channel the urban howl of Mike Hill; riffs evoke the sludge-via-lonely-sidewalks of Unearthly Trance. “Tombs meets Unearthly Trance” sounds like the best thing in the world – and Danishmendt are a good way there, but they’re not there yet. The songs don’t have the presence yet to stand up and announce themselves. But like the other two records here, Un Passé Aride is more about the ride. And what a ride it is! Imagine the lonely tunnels of Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels; power plants aglow at night with obscene brightness; the dirty, relentless energy of Kowloon Walled City, “The City of Darkness”. This record pulses with the energy of cities at night. Covert violence and soul decay do their nightly dance, lit by crackling electricity. Electricity has let humans take on a second, vampiric life at night. This is its soundtrack.
. . .
Eibon
Entering Darkness
. . .
I wonder if Danishmendt know their fellow Parisians Eibon. Eibon are not the Phil Anselmo/Fenriz project, but a former Eyehategod clone (I reviewed their promo CD almost three years ago) that’s become much more interesting. Black metal and post-metal now inform the sound; yes, “blackened sludge” has reached Europe. Entering Darkness is as if Isis had continued down a bleaker path after Panopticon (also a nocturnal record – none of these bands sound good in daylight) instead of softening and becoming “richly textured”. I’ve listened to this record for about half a year, and it requires a lot of attention to digest. That’s because it’s incredibly subtle. The songs are like heavy men who move like cats. Textures slide in and out, probably wearing trenchcoats, and unhappy souls keen in the distance. This record is so subtle, it sounds awful in earbuds and awesome in proper headphones. If I smoked weed, I would blaze away to this record, except that it would probably fill me with paranoia. Smooth and scathing this is; if you don’t watch out, you’ll fall into its maw.
“Entering Darkness”
. . .
Eibon is the only one I can listen to right now and I love it!!! If anyone has suggestion other than these 3 bands please post them here. Refreshing sounds! Thanks Cosmo.
These band seem to have more of a sludge base/root than Doom Metal.
I agree, Eibon are really good.
@ The Path Less Traveled Records : Check out Process Of Guilt. They released the best record of 2009, in my opinion.
I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of these yet, but I will. I’ve found I really like funeral doom, when done right. Evoken is best, but Ahab is right up there. Other similar things worth checking out include Ea, Omega Massif (free album download on that one), Kodiak (another free album download), and Year of No Light. I also hear good things about Blood of the Black Owl, but haven’t heard them yet.
That’s all I can think of, off the top of my head.
By the way, the words “free album download” are links in the above comment. They don’t appear any different for me, but the links are there.
Cosmo, what ear buds are you using? what headphones?
audiophile: I personally use Sony MDR-XB500, a pair with very nice sound overall, especially bass (essential for doom). They also make a higher-end in the same series, I think they’re MDR-XB700.
audi0phile – I never thought we would get to the stereo gear nerd question, but here we are! My earbuds are a cheap pair of black Sonys with a volume control, maybe $10 or $15. My real headphones are Beyerdynamic DT 250, which I love and recommend.
@ The Path Less Traveled Records
To the already mentioned bands to check out I would also add Colosseum (fairly polished (in terms of production) funeral doom), Esoteric (quite psychadelic funeral doom), Nortt (not easy listening at all, very black funeral doom), Pantheist (pretty blackened funeral doom, more emotional), Black Wreath (Depressive funeral doom). Out of all of them though I would most highly recommend Ahab and Process of Guilt, they’re probably the most crushing, most accomplished and most accessible. That should keep ya goin’
Slow & Low #2: Doom forward, EU-style I liked your article.Btwwonderful topic.
I don’t know about you but the opening of the rorcal track/album is just awesome. that high hat sounds so lonely!
….thats as far as i’ve got.
That Rorcal track/album is blowing my mind. There’s no reason it needs to be just one track, though. They could have at least put in track breaks at 32:40 and 44:45, at the very least. For my own use, I’m going to split it in iTunes (you right click and “get info” on a track, go to options, set the start and end times, hit “OK”, then right click again and “convert to” AAC or MP3, or whatever–I did the same thing with Corrupted’s El Mundo Frio).
I’m going to split it at these points:
11:50
25:01
32:40
44:45
59:00
You could split it even more if you want (like 35:48 and 53:03, for example) depending on how much you want to digest at a time.
@full metal attorney
Why split it if the band intended to make it a single song? I did something similar with my own band (a 32 min, much thrashier song, not doom) and I hate when people ask why we didn’t split it; It was meant to be listened to as a whole, not as edits… I understand the reasoning you have but I hate the procedure you take.
I burned the Rorcal to a CD and listened to it today in the car while running errands, along with the new and controversially Scion-financed Magrudergrind EP. The difference in tempos probably did damage to my brain, though the unexpectedly doomy final track on the Magrudergrind EP does make for a nice transition between the two.
As for the 70-minute long track, my point of reference for that is the Melvins’ _Lysol_, which seems to me like the blueprint for a lot of glacially paced doom. Even though it features distinct songs (including a flipper and Alice Cooper cover), it’s one continuous track, and it works best that way. The songs, all of which slower-than-slow, really build on each other, and the overall effect is considerably greater than the sum of the individual parts. I’ve only listened to the Rorcal once so far, but the same seems to hold true for it.
Cool column, by the way.
Full metal and cosmo:
Those beyer’s look pretty sweet, definitely would be worth a go. I have a bit of a history with sony earphones too, so it’s hard to knock on em (MDR V6, monitor series).
However…I challenge you guys to see if you can’t lay hands on some proper ear buds. I roll cheap 40$ sony buds now since I tend to break things, but my sound engineer of an uncle once gave me a set of Shure in ear monitor buds. You could feel the kick drum in your forehead. The beauty of these guys was they essentially used your skull as a speaker. Fucking killer.
Cosmo, you should definitely do some audio gear article(s).
@ audiophile: There’s one other thing I wanted to point out about those headphones. They’re comfortable, and I wear glasses, so that’s saying a lot.
@ Eric Syre: I listened to the whole song/album once. I’ll probably listen to it that way again. And splitting it into individual tracks doesn’t take away my ability to do that. But it does give me the ability to put them in the same shuffle rotation with all the rest of my music, when the mood for shuffling strikes me. If I had only a 70 minute track, I would never listen to it on shuffle.
The longest track in my library is Swallow the Sun’s “Plague of Butterflies”, at 34:42, and I’m thinking of splitting that one up. 25 minutes is really as long as any single track should be. Look at Meshuggah’s Catch 33–it’s one song, but they were kind enough to split it into tracks (though not necessarily at logical points).
Audi0phile – I appreciate good gear, but I can’t afford high-end stuff, and I’m no expert on the topic. I find what works well and go with that.
As for earbuds, I’ve broken and lost so many pairs that I know not to drop any significant money on them.
I enjoyed everything I heard here. As I could download it, I’ve been listening to the Rorcal more than the others.
There’s something about an album-song that I dig. It forces you to enjoy the album as a whole rather than continually listening to that one song with a cool riff in the middle, or the last 4 tracks which are a killer end to the album.
I listen to the third Fantomas album and Melvins’ Lysol quite a bit. Both of those could have easily been cut into tracks, but they didn’t and it forces you to listen to it front to back. I have used both to zone out at work or even on the commute home. And Rorcal has been helping at work this week too.
Thanks as always for the new music tips!
Info: Rorcal HELIOGABALUS downloadable version is not cut in 66 parts, only the CD version has got that special thing. It must be kind of a technological limitation, I don’t know… You Love it or you Hate it but HELIOGABALUS just sounds fucking deep and loud.