Southkill "s/t" CD
[Noreaster Failed]
You'd never guess from the thick and ferocious sound that this band comes up with that the music is handled by two guys: One on drums and samples, the other on guitar and vocals (granted vocals are practically nonexistent). Their style is basically a thick, heavily textured wall of sound that creates an eerie sense of dissonant melody with subtle note choices within thick layers of guitar chords, pounding percussion, and additional background textures. They also make use of clean guitars under numerous effects, which can lend a soundtrack quality to the music at times. There's sort of an improvisational feel to some of this material, but on the other hand it also feels somewhat methodical in its intensity and consistency as far as the tempo and atmosphere are concerned. To some small degree I get a progressive rock sort of vibe from some of the more improv sounding passages, but this is far heavier and just thundering in its crushing density. Most of the songs are very long, averaging around six minutes, with one hitting nearly 13, but the consistency of the sound actually works in their favor to keep things moving. The flow from song to song is perfect, almost like the entire disc is one long song. It's basically all instrumental as well. I think there are a couple of very subtle whispered lines, but I'm not even sure if that's the case. This band would absolutely be at home among the Hydra Head/Tortuga family, and in fact I am at times reminded of 5ive here, but this is more structured and therefore more effective in my opinion. I love the recording. The percussion sounds perfect, the guitars are so fucking textured that it just rules, and everything is totally clear. I don't feel like anything is getting lost. The warmth of the recording accents the weight of their sound a whole lot, and it just sounds awesome for what they're doing. The layout is extremely minimal, and rather strange. I can't tell what the blurry photograph is on the cover, but aside from that and a photograph of a wave spanning the center spread, that's about all you'll get here. The back cover has the tracklist over a photo of a country road, the back of the booklet has the bare minimum of text information regarding the band and the recording, and that's that. A more interesting visual presentation might be nice, but the music speaks for itself here. And I find this to be an enjoyable release. Definitely worth checking out for fans of bands like 5ive and Pelican and that sort of thing. (7/10)
Running time - 36:11, Tracks: 5
[Notable tracks: In the Balance, Do you always act that way?, and the other three are quite good as well...]
Southkill - http://www.southkill.com

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