American Heritage/Foe/Art of Burning Water "split" CD
[House of Stairs]
A three-way split CD from some great, and apparently relatively unknown sludgy rock based groups that should be well on their way to more attention. American Heritage (Chigaco) starts things off with three tracks of sludgy and rhythmic heavy rock with some unusual melodies and some riffing that almost sounds like a dirtier take on traditional metal. They've got some sweet drumming going with nice fills and an almost tribal sort of edge on occasion with lots of runs around the kick drums and toms, and I really like the deep vocal yells. The slow and doomy "Forget" is certainly their best track, thicker and more menacing, immediately standing out as a forceful glimmer amongst the prior two songs. The rugged bite of the guitar tone definitely bugs me, but other than that the recording is pretty good. I'd suggest upping the bass and smoothing out the guitars a tad, but leave the drums and vocals as they are. Instrumental London trio Foe are up next with one 10+ minute track ("Myrmidon") of their rhythmic and technical math rock styled attack, chock full of quirky time signatures and dissonant riffs with tons of changes and a surprisingly awesome sense of melody and arranging. It's not an easy task to take such a long composition with no vocals and keep it interesting, but Foe definitely does so with a constant barrage of winding riffs that never let up. Their sound is great. The drums are totally natural, the guitars are clear and in your face with ample distortion, the bass tone is perfect and plays a good role, etc. I think I'd actually like to hear the guitars drop back and give the bass more room to run around, but things sound really good. Art of Burning Water (also from the UK) closes with four tracks not unlike their companions on the disc, though a bit more aggressive musically, and definitely more insane vocally, what with the over the top low screams leaving a mark only to be contrasted by raspy singing. The writing is similarly focused on rhythm with pounding basslines and plenty of pull-off riffs all over the place. This is definitely the most diverse band of the bunch, not only due to the vocal variation, but due to the increased degree of tempo changes and overall variation from song to song. Plus the bassist kicks ass. He's got a total fucking Steve Harris style of hammering away and running all over the neck. I love that shit! As for the production, it's good, but I feel like details are getting lost. It's slightly muddy, barely, and at the same time there seems to be a minimal amount of separation in areas of the mix that can cause things to loosen up too much. It works though, I can deal with it no problem. The layout's pretty damn cool, combining bright colors with black ink illustrations and bizarre collages of imagery that are very well put together. Each band has one panel inside the booklet for their tracklist and recording information, but none of them include lyrics, so I'm not sure what's going on in that department. This is an excellent split. I'm most impressed by Foe and Art of Burning Water, but American Heritage could be incredibly promising as well. My only minor complaint with this disc stems from the bands' similarities to one another - it's not the general similarities that I mind at all, it's the overpopulation of pull-off riffs! They're fine in their own right when used properly, as they are here, but damn... there sure are a lot of 'em between the three bands! Keep an eye on these three for sure... (7/10)
Running time - 41:09, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Forget, Myrmidon, The Well (Because We Are), Destroyer Disgraced]
House of Stairs - http://www.houseofstairs.com

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