This is the kind of thing I like to get for review! Fayetteville, Arkansas's Deadbird have toured with Municipal Waste, and played with Kylesa, Torche, Harvey Milk, and Weedeater. And they've also put out a brutally heavy, epic, contemplative sludge masterpiece, Twilight Ritual, and it's out today for your purchasing and listening and cherishing to the end of time (and believe me: if you're into this sort of thing, you will). These guys share a bassist with Rwake and take a lot of influence from such bands as Eyehategod, His Hero Is Gone, and Asunder.
It busts out the doors with “Into the Clearing,” which takes its oddball twist early on with an acoustic passage. That doesn't take long to start speeding up into ultra-crusty territory made famous by such bands as Asbestosdeath (that's the hardcore band that evolved into Sleep, for those who don't know). This track strikes a nice balance between the two extremes.
“Death of the Self” sounds like the musical equivalent of an angry bear. The guitar work here is really cool, with huge, uncompromising, fast riffing that still manages to keep that stoned, heavy as hell sound, and the sung vocals sound really good, although the emphasis is kept on the sheer heaviness of this whole thing.
The opening guitar riff of “Rule Discordia” sounds like something Earth would do, to me. The awesome southern rock-tinged vocals and the aggressive drumming, however, do not. I really like how the guitars here have a hypnotic, droning effect, kind of along the lines of Earth on Pentastar, in that riff-based, but repetitive way that sticks in your head. Of course, the complexity of this is a few notches higher than that. The really punk rock section in the middle with the sort of bastardized thrash lead guitar is pure gold. The vocal harmonies near the end, and the acoustic outro pretty much bring this track into full-on awesome overload.
The beginning of “Feral Flame” reminds me either of an Operation Ivy song or a Leftover Crack song, and I'm not sure which. Maybe both. The vocal rhythm is all Leftover Crack, but I guess my point is that this song is all punk rock at the start, with a really, really crusty edge to it. Appropriately, it's also the shortest song here, clocking in at about five and a half minutes. It's almost two minutes shorter than the next shortest song. Of course, it doesn't take long to slow down into a murky sludge. The guitar solo has an awesome southern rock sound to it, that cuts right through everything.
“The Riverbed” couldn't start out farther away from where “Feral Flame” ended if it tried. The opening is acoustic with reverb-drenched vocals with a cool classic rock sound to them. The vocal harmonies kick in a couple minutes in and the song builds from there. Of course, this thing is eight minutes long, and the distortion kicks in after three, without disrupting the flow of the song as it was. The vocals get more and more hoarse and crusty, not losing the melody they started with, regardless, until about five minutes in, where that cool “angry bear” sound this singer has pretty much mastered comes back in full force, over bludgeoning riffs and heavy but melodic leads.
The title track, “Twilight Ritual” starts out with a slow, repeating chord progression that builds into a heavier version of itself with more “angry bear” vocals. I dig how the lead on this part sounds like it's melting the tubes on the amp, or like it's being played through a Russian Big Muff with an almost-dead battery. It's got this nice, scratchy quality. This track kinda trades off back and forth between soft parts and heavy parts, with most of the emphasis on the heavy. I couldn't think of any better way to end this album, than with some of the most majestic sludge a band can make. And that's exactly what you get here.
Anyway, these dudes are on tour now. Here are the dates:
Jun 24 2008, WONDERLAND w/ Hail!Hornet & Lord By Fire, Richmond, Virginia
Jun 25 2008, REGGIES w/ Sourvein & Black Tusk, Wilmington, North Carolina
Jun 26 2008, DRUNKEN UNICORN w/ Zoroaster & Black Tusk, Atlanta, Georgia
Jun 27 2008, THE HAVEN w/ Black Tusk, Orlando, Florida
Jun 28 2008, TRANSITIONS SKATE w/ Black Tusk & Dark Castle, Tampa, Florida
Jun 29 2008, SLUGGO’S w/ Parabellum, Pensacola, Florida
Jun 30 2008, BANKS STREET BAR w/ Haarp and A Hanging, NOLA, Louisiana
Jul 1 2008, RUDYARDS, Houston, Texas
Jul 2 2008, ROCK BOTTOM TATTOO BAR w/ Religious Vomit, Pillcrusher & more, San Antonio, Texas
Jul 3 2008, RED 7 w/ Mala Suerte, Lions of Tsavo, Mammoth Grinder & Faithhealer, Austin, Texas
Jul 4 2008, BAR OF SOAP w/ Mala Suerte, Dallas, Texas
Jul 5 2008, DOWNTOWN METAL w/ Mala Suerte, Seahag, Parrabellum & tba?, Little Rock, Arkansas
And more info can be found at the band's MySpace page.
-Soup
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