Posts Tagged ‘JJ Koczan’
Album of the day: Venomous Maximus – The Mission
Posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: Texas has a long history within the heavy underground, whether it’s ZZ Top casting a heavy Southern influence for the likes of Honky to take as gospel or Solitude Aeturnus reaching into the depths of doomed emotionality and emerging with one of the genre’s most formative approaches.
Houston-based Venomous Maximus are a kind of one-band melting pot. On their 2011 12” EP, The Mission (Cutthroat Records), the double-guitar four-piece bring together old and new, brash and foreboding, to result in a stew that’s remarkably their own. From the cover art, one might expect something in league with the likes of Doomriders, and I suppose there’s a bit of that thrash to a song like side A’s ‘The Rider’, but the gallop in the riffs of Christian Larson and Gregg Higgins feels more culled from Iron Maiden via High on Fire, and Higgins’ vocals – often doubled – are more trad doom and harder to place specifically.
It’s a nuanced blend across The Mission’s four component tracks – ‘The Mission’, ‘The Rider’, ‘The Gift’ and ‘Wicked Ways’ – and it might take a few listens for the full breadth to reveal itself, but the way the songs touch on and reference other bands’ works without ever being fully derivative of them justifies both time and effort.
Presented on a gorgeous purple platter, The Mission also comes with a CD version called MMIX-MMXI that includes Venomous Maximus’ two-song debut 7”, Give up the Witch / The Living Dead. Even so, the whole thing accounts for a little over 26 minutes and 17 of it belongs to The Mission proper, so it’s a quick listen and the band adhere to pretty straightforward metallic structures, making the songs accessible as well as fast.
Stylistically new school in a kind of post-Mastodonic punk, the title-track launches with forward push on the upper end of mid-paced, like doom sped up and energized without losing sight of its bluesy base.
Continue reading: The Obelisk: REVIEW: Venomous Maximus, The Mission
(Courtesy of JJ Koczan / The Obelisk)
Tags: Album of the day, Cutthroat Records, Give up the Witch/The Living Dead, JJ Koczan, MMIX-MMXI, The Obelisk, Venomous Maximus
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | No Comments »
Album of the day: Black Pyramid – II
Posted on Monday, January 30th, 2012
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: After releasing their self-titled MeteorCity debut in 2009 to a more than warm reception from the heavy underground, Northampton, Massachusetts, battle doomers Black Pyramid proceeded to hit the road on several tours and unleashed a tide of singles and splits. 2010 saw a split with ...read more
Album of the day: Corrosion of Conformity – Corrosion of Conformity
Posted on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: From their teenage punker beginnings to being a Grammy-nominated major label darling to influencing a generation of heavy Southern bands, few acts can claim either the enduring relevance or creative scope of Corrosion of Conformity. The North Carolinian band, which passes its 30th year in ...read more
Album of the day: Humo del Cairo – Vol.II
Posted on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: While it rested its strength in laid back desert atmospherics, the 2010 self-titled debut album from Buenos Aires rockers Humo del Cairo was more a show of potential than a distinguishing statement. It made the trio a band to watch. The quick-arriving follow-up, Vol. II ...read more
Album of the day: Totimoshi – Avenger
Posted on Thursday, December 15th, 2011
As we move towards the end of 2011, here’s a worthy record that we overlooked the first time around earlier this year. Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: As they approach 15 years of existence in 2012, hard-touring Los Angeles trio Totimoshi return to the heavy crunch of their earlier albums ...read more
Album of the day: The Book of Knots – Garden of Fainting Stars
Posted on Monday, December 12th, 2011
As we move towards the end of 2011, here’s a worthy record that we overlooked the first time around earlier this year. Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: The third installment in New York experimental rockers The Book of Knots’ alleged trilogy of concept albums, Garden of Fainting Stars, released by ...read more
The Obelisk: The Top 20 of 2011
Posted on Saturday, December 10th, 2011
This list is made up of my personal picks, not the results of the Readers Poll, which is ongoing. It was an impossible task to keep up with everything that came out this year. I’ll say flat out that I didn’t. There are records that I just didn’t get to ...read more
Album of the day: Negative Reaction – Frequencies From Montauk
Posted on Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: There is a physical difference that coincides with the sonic one between singing and screaming. They come from different places in the throat and the diaphragm, use different muscles, hurt differently, and when a vocalist switches from one technique to the other, no matter how ...read more
Album of the day: Electric Moon / Glowsun – Sun and Moon Split
Posted on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: Caked in a foamy, lysergic head, the Sun and Moon split between French and German psychedelic trios Glowsun and Electric Moon practically floats into the ears. It’s just five tracks, but both bands jam their way to just below 42 minutes on the limited 180 ...read more
Album of the day: The House of Capricorn – In the Devil’s Days
Posted on Sunday, October 30th, 2011
Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: Like last their debut in last year’s Sign of the Cloven Hoof, the second album from New Zealander doom foursome The House of Capricorn – titled In the Devil’s Days – is cumbersome. Surpassing that record’s 59 minutes with a full 72-plus, they stretch the ...read more
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