The Granulating Durftanic Mills: Random Musings on Carcass, After Shows, and Chicago Metal Festivals I Did Not Attend

On any given day, I have a lot of thoughts, most of which are incoherent nonsense like "Who picks up more chicks/dudes: killer whale trainers or helicopter pilots?" (orca trainers, hands down).  Occasionally these thoughts slip into coherent nonsense, which is an interesting and scary change of pace; interesting because it's nice to think about things, and scary because I have this blog with which to share my musings with the world, where they will remain online forever and undoubtedly become the basis of future societies.  On with the thoughts!

Russian Circles - Guidance

Chicago native instrumental act Russian Circles has always demonstrated the rare, almost contradicting dynamic of keeping their musical output interesting while keeping their formula relatively simple. Behind the thick bass grooves of Brian Cook, the varied guitar stylings of Mike Sullivan, and the stupidly-tight drum work of Dave Turncrantz, the band has managed to keep each release equally unique while also maintaining a pleasant familiarity. Guidance is certainly no exception to this trend. By dichotomizing the volumetric peaks and valleys of their sound, Guidance serves as a prime example of how seamlessly the band can weave the ominous with the tranquil and everything else in-between on the emotional spectrum.

Hammers of Misfortune - Dead Revolution

Hammers of Misfortune continue to tow the line for so many great metal bands; Slough Feg's affinity for all things Celtic, the keyboards of ELP and Yes, and the absolute storm of guitar work which pays homage to Queen's Brian May's harmonics, then puts them over the top. It has been 5 years since their spectacular 17th Street was released and not a moment too soon. Dead Revolution continues where the band left off; making music for everyone in the rock spectrum, that just so happens to be metal. The band has been busy with many side projects such as Vhol and Vastum as well as adding a new bassist and a drummer in the interim. So how does this all shake out into one package?

Podcast #7: "The Lost Episode Avenged"

In this episode of the Brutalitopia podcast, as the title suggests, Mick, Durf, and Tom are joined by "former" guest Keith Spillett. The mastermind behind The Tyranny of Tradition, Keith takes the crew on a journey through the inner workings of The Tyranny of Tradition, baseball, guilty pleasure bands, and dozens of other side-tangents.

Listen in after the break!

Noire - The Tracks of the Hunted

Noire is a self-described progressive black metal band from Winnipeg, Manitoba, and until recently, I had never heard of them (this was rectified, as most of my musical ignorances are, by the good folks at No Clean Singing, at which point I immediately fell in love with the cover art).  Shortly thereafter, the band's new EP The Tracks of the Hunted showed up in the ol' Töp inbox, and I gave it a listen.  I then immediately wished it was 40 degrees colder, overcast, with a frigid arctic wind chilling me to the bone, because that weather would fit the music on The Tracks of the Hunted so much better than this silly summer sunshine.

We'll Do It Live Fridays: Pelican - "March to the Sea"

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Yeti on Horseback - The Great Dying

Let's get the easy out of the way first: Yeti on Horseback is a transcendent fucking band name.  It is the LeBron James meets Barry Sanders meets Mario Lemieux meets Ted Williams of band names.  It's cool as hell, sounds great to say out loud, and also tells you exactly what this band is going to sound like.  And their debut album, The Great Dying, is similarly exquisitely titled (and has some truly redankulous cover art.  But because we've all been taught not to judge books by their covers (so to speak), none of this would matter if the music Yeti on Horseback makes on The Great Dying isn't good.  So do the tunes equal the band's name and album title?

Lightsabres - Hibernation

Every so often, an album comes to you, out of nowhere, and you decide to listen to it.  A friend didn't recommend it, you don't know anyone in the band, you've never even heard of the band, you opened up a promo email to check out a different band... whatever the case, it was nothing more than a desire to try something new, nothing deeper.  And so you throw it on in the background while you drink your coffee and play with your dog.  And you're focusing on your dog, and playing fetch in your apartment, but you keep getting distracted by this music you've put on.  So after you tire your puppy out, you get another cup of coffee and sit down to properly listen to the music, this mysterious album that took you off your fetch A-game.  And what you discover is something like nothing you've really heard before, something with familiar pieces but a fuzzed out, unknown whole.  Something like if Bon Iver decided to make a Red Fang album (Stoned Iver?), or Sufjan Stevens put his energy into distortion pedals instead of quirky, paragraph-long song titles.  What you've discovered is Lightsabres, the one man project of J. Strömshed from Sweden, and his album Hibernation.

We'll Do It Live Fridays: Dream Theater - Stream of Consciousness

To anyone who's either read our blog or known me personally for any extended period of time, you would know that Dream Theater will always have a soft spot in my heart for being one of my key gateway bands into metal. They're one of those bands that I'll always go to bat for; even if their latest output is less than astonishing (see what I did there?).

But for this edition of "We'll Do It Live Fridays", I proudly present a clip from their 2004 live concert at the legendary Budokan. It's a song that not only is my favorite Dream Theater song, but also supports the notion that they could easily be an instrumental band if they wanted to.

Enjoy "Stream of Consciousness" after the break!

Gevurah - Hallelujah!

"Atmospheric" is the variety of black metal that I tend to enjoy most. "Regular" black metal, while I certainly appreciate its history and evolution, has admittedly never been something I would consider a part of my wheelhouse. Perhaps it's been so instilled in me that black metal, at its core, HAS to be comprised of lo-quality instrumental recordings and shrieking, throaty vocal screams that anything else that ventures too far outside that box would come across as illegitimate. Lo and behold, it took just one listen of Canadian black metal duo Gevurah's full-length debut, Hallelujah!, for me to realize how ridiculous a preconceived notion that really was. By reinforcing black metal tenets with immense amounts of energy and volume, Gevurah has made an indelible entrance into the metal limelight, one that is easily among this year's most memorable so far.