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ALARIC  self-titled  LP   (20 Buck Spin)   16.98


As more and more bands are revealing an affinity for the sound of dark 80's post-punk and death rock for inspiration, I'm hearing a lot of amazing new gloomy heaviness coming out that draws from what is some of my favorite music of all time, the sinister black-clad rock of Bauhaus and Sisters Of Mercy, the occult power of Fields Of The Nephilim and Killing Joke. This sound has emerged over the past decade with more accessible bands like Interpol and the like, but what I've always wanted to hear is this influence coming through in heavier, more aggressive music, and with fantastic new albums from Anatomy Of Habit, Deathcharge, Hateful Abandon and Alaric that all have their own unique take on this particular set of influences, I'm finally getting my wish.

Made up of members of several well-known bands from the Bay Area metal/punk scene (Noothgrush, Cross Stitched Eyes, Dead & Gone, among others), Alaric brings the gloomy, shadowcast atmosphere and delivery of 80's darkwave and goth to a pummeling, vaguely metallic sound that also has some subtle traces of Neurosis that I can hear in some of the band's heavier moments. It's probably more that Alaric mines some of the same influences that helped to define Neurosis's sound, the application of metallic crunch to the apocalyptic tribal power of early Killing Joke and Amebix. This is incorporated into a set of heavy, driving songs on Alaric's debut that range from the wash of chorus-heavy acoustic and electric guitars that lead to the apocalyptic dirge of "Eyes" to the churning tribal rhythms and swirling reverberant bass-driven power of "Ugly Crowds", with the grim lyrical matter delivered via singer Shane Baker's Brit-accented moan. There are several songs on here that crank up the heaviness such as the lumbering "Your God" with it's militaristic pummel and moments of almost Swans-esque crush, but the bulk of the album is spent driving the gloomy minor key melodies, anthemic choruses and propulsive, bass heavy n' doom-laden crunch forward through ever darkening clouds of urban dread.

This album is pretty killer, one of the best of the new fusions of dark heaviness and post-punk gloom to come out this year, definitely recommended.


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