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Llorah and Seven Bowls of Wrath…

Llorah - s/tAmong the first releases from French label Atropine is the impressive self-titled debut EP (which is basically their demo) from Llorah—another quality French act helping to solidify the country's stance as a superb provider of this form of dry, churning, pounding material. A totally killer recording with a crisp, natural sense of texture and density highlights the badass rhythm section and its crushing low-end throbs and percussive bursts; while the guitar work ranges from slow, sludgy, menacing power chord rhythms to faster and more mangled riffing that lets more of the grit and dissonance shine (as do the sick vocals, which are sort of a strained lower-midrange sneer/scream). There are also a few more stripped down and atmospheric clean passages that represent the most obvious incidences of the subtly melodic accoutrements that are scattered throughout, as do some of the ringing "post-rock" tendencies that creep into place on occasion. There may only be four tracks, but the total running time pushes 27 minutes, so there's damn sure a good hunk of material here, and though there are indeed some familiar influences and approaches at work herein, Llorah certainly manages to explore a few unlikely twists and turns to keep things interesting. The disc is also beautifully packaged in a brown chipboard "envelope" type of thing, screenprinted with black and white inks, so... this is a great little release all around, and a fine introduction to yet another promising new act.

Llorah "Echos"

I'm not seeing this one available anywhere in the US at this time, so the label's distro is probably your best bet for the time being. Definitely look into this shit if you like what hear:

Atropine






Seven Bowls of Wrath - Salt Your WoundsAlso from Atropine—apparently set to become another consistently awesome French label—is the five-track EP "Salt Your Wounds" from the sadly defunct German act Seven Bowls of Wrath, who apparently called it quits in late-2006 after a mere two-year existence. This succinct 16-minute CD collects the band's material from their split LP with Achilles (which I assume was the only material they recorded), and holy shit is this some punishing work. As with the Llorah disc above, the recording here is very warm and natural, which truly benefits the thundering percussion and massive pulse of the basslines, but this is a much more menacing and aggressive slab of material all around. There are loads of thick, churning power chords and eerie little dissonant textures alongside powerfully burly vocals; while the generally short, furious tracks also touch on that grinding form of contemporary metalcore that explodes forth with intense speeds and in this case some uniquely noisy lead riffs or borderline chaotic surges of unhinged acerbity. But they don't take things too far, they always keep a grip on the reigns and maintain a sense of control. Plus... a lot of the slower, dingier rhythms hit like a fucking ton of bricks! Great shit.

Seven Bowls of Wrath "Salt Your Wounds"

Same story here, I think you'll have to hit the label's distro to get your hands on this one for the time being, but hey: It's worth it. A damn shame these cats called it quits already, but at least this document of their time together hits the mark. Make the grab:

Atropine

Comments

  1. Wow, I’m digging the hell out of both of these bands especially Llorah. It’s fitting that Seven Bowls of Wrath did a split with Achilles because I’m drawing parallels to Achilles and Engineer. Llorah has that powerful-yet-melodic math rock thing going on ala Achilles, whereas Seven Bowls of Wrath has a gritty chaotic(yet controlled like you said) mathcore vibe going on similar to Engineer’s last lp. Actually Sevem Bowls sounds a bit like a combination of said bands. Of course I don’t any of these guys sound the same, just a bit similar. I love this stuff. Damn it’s a good time to be a fan of this type of music with Achilles, Engineer, and Minor Times all releasing new CDs this year.

    5.2.2007 | By Redeemer

  2. Thx a lot for the reviews :)
    7bowls of wrath is available from Crucial Blast webstore (new addition section) and Llorah should be available there in a relatively short while.
    cheers,
    -Pierre

    5.2.2007 | By Pierre

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