Bloodiest - Descent

If you know Bruce Lamont’s work, you never quite know what you’re in for. One thing is certain though, it will never be an easy listening musical experience that you could randomly play on your IPod on the way to work or school.

The Chicago-based musician has been pushing the boundaries of music and in particular metal during the last ten years with his main act Yakuza and with multiple collaborations with other artists like Minsk and Circle of Animals.

Bloodiest is Lamont’s most recent collaborative effort where he is joined by current and former members of 90 Day Men, Follows and Atombombpocketknife, and to a certain extent the overall atmosphere is not too dissimilar from his recent solo project, a progressive rock sonority that dodges easy categorization and forays into quirky experimentalism on several occasions.

This record essentially works the same enigmatic and weird soundscapes of his solo work, with drone, ambient, noise, and shamanic strains laced through a base of psychedelic and progressive rock. The difference is that “Descent” sounds a bit harsher and less introspective than “Feral Songs For The Epic Decline”. Tracks like “Fallen”, “Dead Inside” and “Obituary” find a midpoint between the psychedelic extravaganza of Hawkwind and the atmospheric melancholy of acts like Swans and Earth, completed with some of that sludgy-style march of Neurosis. Dissonant chords, acoustic guitars, tragic piano notes and haunting vocals flow over the steady and tribal rhythm section, painting pictures of acid-induced trips through the desert and melancholic dawns at the countryside. Second song of the album “Coh stands out for sounding like some Mariachis heavily dosed with mescaline and tequilas playing at a Mexican funeral.

Admittedly, this brand of weird and wild music won’t appeal to most members of the metal or rock music consuming public, but for those of you who appreciate this sort of thing, “Descent” is a worthy and solid entry to your musical encyclopaedia. (7/10)

David Alexandre

Band info: www.facebook.com/BloodiestBand

Label info: www.relapse.com

For fans of: Neurosis, Minsk, Swans, Tribes of Neurot