2022 is turning out to be just the kind of year we predicted it would be where, with things trending towards a new “normal”, artists are starting to flood the market with records that are either practically bursting at the seams with something to say or ones that have been held up by whatever kind of pandemic-related delays (Production, recording opportunities, personnel, etc…) and are also ready to make some sort of grand statement. Like “Welcome back” in Meshuggah’s case.
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This is it! The one you’ve been waiting for. Forget all other artists because BAIT is here with your most favorite debut of 2022 (Aside from labelmates A Cause In Distress at least). The brainchild of ex-Baddies vocalist Michael Webster and accompanied by former bandmate Jim Webster along with Luke Branch and MRE (Who also produced the record), Sea Change is an anxiety-ridden journey told in 10 parts. If any record captures the feel of uncertainty that the last 2 years has wrought it’s this one with even the recording lending itself to the atmosphere and opting (Mostly out of necessity) for more remote and separate sessions to capture it all.
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Supergroup is a weird fucking term. And completely objective. For me, an artist like Old Man Gloom is the definition of a supergroup put in the same realm as, say, Down, there’ll inevitably be people who are all “Who is even in this band?” (For the record, OMG features members of Cave In, Isis, and Converge i.e. most of the Mount Rushmore of Boston heavy). Again, objective. Which brings us to similarly underground supergroup Absent In Body who feature in their ranks members of Amenra, Neurosis, and Sepultura and have a debut release that, as an essential part of this “supergroup” formula, sounds unlike anything that makes up the sum of its’ parts.
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Hear me out: The Receiving End Of Sirens and Alexisonfire are the flip side of the same coin. Really! If you integrate Dallas Green’s City And Colour project and Casey Crescenzo’s The Dear Hunter into the equation you’d have a fully realized Post-something kind of outfit that’d dominate the upper half of North America. Which brings us to Boston’s Mission To Sleep who, if we’re going by our logic, would sit nicely in the eye of this majestic musical storm playing their brand of emotive Post-Rawk dreaminess that’s lush, loud, and in need of your earholes.
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In a perfect world we’d be writing about the triumphant 16th studio album from the legendary Killing Joke instead of a new EP 7 years out from their last release of all new material, 2015’s Pylon. But it’s not a perfect world so what we get is two brand new Killing Joke songs along with two remixes to tide fans and the world over while that 16th full-length is being completed. And in a perfect world there’d be no need for Killing Joke’s apocalyptic aural symphonies anyhow so celebrate what we have and buckle up for Lord Of Chaos!
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2022 is producing a LOT, and we mean A LOT, of unexpected surprise rekkids in our regular wheelhouse of favorites. We had some hopes that this band called Drab Majesty might be back with a new record (And they just might with a recently announced support slot with AFI happening in the fall) but are completely content with the unexpected news of the sophomore outing from sorta similarly sounding VR SEX.
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I was never really into Biohazard, okay? Despite them being on heavy rotation during Headbanger’s Ball when my musical identity was being formed, I tended to glom onto some of the more melodic Brooklyn-based outfits at the time (Life Of Agony, Type O Negative). That’s not to say I didn’t respect what they were doing but the moment “Punishment” came on while I was waiting for something else Riki Rachtman had teased just meant it was bathroom break time. Sorry?
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We’ve definitely mentioned it before but It’s rare that you come across a band today that sounds like something…else. And that’s exactly the case when it comes to Switzerland’s E-L-R and their fantabulous sophomore outing, Vexier. Within the E-L-R DNA there’s undoubtedly some Isis, some Ruins Of Beverast, some Orochen but as a whole E-L-R sound like, well, E-L-R. And that’s rad as hell.
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In the year of our lord 2022, and over 30 years into their career as Sludge Metal GODS, there’s absolutely no denying what a new Crowbar record is going to sound like. It’s that same kind of comfort fans get when they press “Play” on any AC/DC masterpiece and with their latest, Zero And Below, the New Orleans outfit have managed to craft a quintessential Crowbar record that stays true to their roots while adding a slew of vibrantly vicious new sonic cuts to their already impressive arsenal of legendary tracks.
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If I’m being honest, I tend to shy away from reviewing instrumental records as a general rule of thumb because for me at times it’s a lot harder to nail down the feel of a vocal-less record when you don’t have someone blatantly or obviously emoting over a killer soundtrack. That said, it tends to be a big deal when a record comes across ye olde digital desk sans a voice and gets the kind of response that KYOTY’s Isolation does and necessitates a review from us. It helps, too, that KYOTY is a bit of a regional outfit for us and really helps that the monolithic instrumental sounds they manifest manage to speak volumes without said voice.
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