Deer Creek split with Ice Troll

When I think about music in Colorado, I picture John Denver getting off stage and receiving a lit joint from Dave Matthews, the headlining act, ready to tear it up in front of a sunset on a mildly frosted mountainside. Further in town, the walls of a house are shaking because in the basement Deer Creek is drilling to hell with their epic american doom metal.

Do they have delay pedals? You bet. Does their drummer know exactly when to finally hit us with some mountain-solid double bass? Finally, yes. Some of their riffing can get repetitive, but I give them a pass because it's so catchy and sludges so well. Melodic vocals in metal can be a real deal breaker for me. Often they're too clean and christian, or they're too hyper and power metally. You know, almost happy. Paul from Deer Creek hits that sweet spot; lifeless at times, but never weak, and never ignoring the value of creative phrasing.

On the other side of this tape we have Ice Troll, who I don't know as much about. They play instrumental ambient metal, which can be really cool, but I think ambient music lends itself too easily to songs without structure; songs the band didn't think were worth memorizing. It's cool if you can play well and make cool sounds, but Ice Troll just keeps rocking out at the same pace, with no surprises and no hooks. Heavy muzak. Low effort songs played by good musicians.

This tape can be bought here.

"ᏬᏙᏩᏌ" by Vuduwasa

Vuduwasa is a four piece from my town, Bloomington.   They play heavy music and call it Swamp Metal.  It is slow, moody, and heavy.  Unique in the sense that it is sometimes simultaneously so grungy and so sterile.  I get the impression that everything is EQ’d to correct presets so that no instrument (or drum) oversteps their determined frequency range.  I was troubled at the lack of buzz in their amps until I heard the intro to Return to Detritus and felt comfort in knowing I hadn’t transcended to a new dimension of magical demon guitar amps. Really though. It sounds super pro.  Not in a bad sense.  Just a sense.  Don’t be fooled by the kvlt album title.  

Not every riff will hit you hard and stick but every song has at least one moment that will make you remember to play it again. Even as I type this, I can’t help but clench my fist. Skunk Ape is not one to take sitting down. The grim poeticism in Rite of Reclamation will make you feel the world’s weight in a paper bag, trudging home from the Big Red, slower than you notice.  Crushed.  Interlude conjured feelings of younger days, with so much time to jam the old acoustic while my friends skated.  Having a place to smoke usually made it worthwhile.  Smoking set the riffs free.

As the album progressed, I kept thinking, “Wow. That sounds so metal. Why don’t I ever do that?”

Each track on ᏬᏙᏩᏌ is expertly arranged.  As lengthy as some are, I haven’t once wanted the band to move onto something else.  Each tune turns out more epic than expected. 

Note for note, the vocals never sag but the loose doubling doesn't always do it for me.  Still, they serve as a reminder that heavy music isn't really so serious.  You might wear the face of a tragedy, but inside you are filled with the joy at the rumble of speakers.  

Taylor Wood can hold a scream for a long time.  Something we should all aspire to!  At moments I think he sounds like Phil Anselmo but at other times I hear something so expressive, unique, and KVLT. Or is it cvlt?   I’ve been saying it since 2009 and I don’t even know.

For a band’s first release, I was half-hoping for something more raw.   Where will Vuduwasa even go from here?  I would like to see them succeed in every intended sense but selfishly, I’d like to hear them make an album so wrong but so right, like Celtic Frost’s Cold Lake.  I guess nobody makes an album like that on purpose.  

I told the social media I’d like to review their new and unpopular albums.  It seems like I should blog about things other than books and pizza.  However I don't want anyone to care extra about me or think I'm an authority because I do this.  I just want to practice writing.  

I might not review more stuff from local Bloomington bands.  We'll see.  The zone likely won't be as fun if it enhances my decidedly minimal social life.  I don’t want to be distracted by thoughts of other people more than I already am.  So maybe I’ll just do this one Bloomington release.  It’s hard to see things properly when they are so close up.  I know this but wonder.  Is there even such thing as an unbiased album review?

We do live in a weird town with a lot of bands.  There are often famous bands here that I don't even know about.  Why should I spend my time trying to plug them?  On the other hand, I do know Vuduwasa.   They’re probably the local band I’m most likely to just hang with.  I’m stoked Evan sent me their tracks in advance so that I could do this review!  Great work.  I wouldn't change a thing.  

"Songs of the Steer’n Wheel Gripper" by Serial Mouse

On their bandcamp page, Serial Mouse claims to transcend genre. Still, I’m going to try to categorize them.   From northern Indiana, Serial Mouse plays occasionally extreme progressive rock, likely recorded in a garage (onto a digital 8 track), to be blasted over the deafening engine of your antique hesher van.  You and the gang might pull over and cash a steel reserve.  By the time you remember to turn the stereo down, you're already blasting off toward the deepest dimensions of bumfuck.  

The scenery is bleak but still you must race forward. To where? Who gives a RAT’s ASS?

I met Serial Mouse’s drummer/lead vocalist/auto harpist/sampler/visual artist back in December 2017 when Atkinson played drums in a metal fusion band (think rototoms and fretless bass) called Angel Grave.  Their show made me want to buy my own conversion van and pair of paisley slacks.

Serial Mouse seems to have formed at Angel Grave’s funeral.  Actually, it’s a little more up my alley than the old band.  At times I'm reminded of King Crimson, if they'd only been raised in the early 90s.  My favorite track is Nest Decaying, mostly because of its pronounced bass line.  My 2^nd favorite is probably Emerald Visions of an Unborn Czar.  The last two tracks give us more of a definite black metal vibe, which I especially appreciate when mixed with the rest of their sound.   I was surprised, since the northern darkness hadn't showed its face much in the earlier tracks.  Perhaps if that had been so, I'd have obeyed the temptation to pause and work on my drum chops for a bit.  These guys get fast.  

I love homemade albums.  They are the only pieces of music I want to review here in the zone.  I love how every amateur recording engineer has their own host of interesting quirks, giving a rare shine to every release.  Love it.  Still, we are forced to take the good quirks with those less desirable.  On this release I love the close-up, uncompressed sound of the drums.  I can articulate most of the guitar work but, I get that reverb is often used, the amps themselves sound too far away for me.  It does, however, add to the played in a garage vibe.  The amp sound doesn’t bother me as much as the lack of bass guitar.   The few times I can hear a bass, it is too far off for me to discern.

Even if you don’t buy the digital album, I recommend DEFINITELY checking it out. To me, Songs of the Steer’n Wheel Gripper is nothing short of sick. I give it an A+.