Do you ever go through phases of listening to the same music over and over and over again? Why would I listen to something new when I could listen to X ten times in a row, or that song off Y a couple of times a day? Sometimes something new and cool does fall through the cracks in the brain that is somehow mine, and these two are prime examples of how to get me off the Vemod train.
Saidan – Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity Self Released/Jems Label
Having already been featured on Only Death Is Real with their previous two full-lengths, Saidan are hopefully not new to you, dear reader. Their black metal through a punk lens take on the genre is as exciting as it is refreshing and this duo from Nashville are one of the most interesting new projects out there. Originally starting life as a solo endeavour that leaned heavily into Japanese horror mythology, Saidan have grown their sound and their outlook in the years since their debut and with Visual Kill: The Blossoming of Psychotic Depravity, they have on their hands an album with bounding riffs, harsh vocals and ferocious drums. Lyrical themes read as though the band found an horror screenplay in a creepy abandoned house on a dead-end street and the inspiration follows through the grotesque "Sick Abducted Purity" and the outlook of the maniacal narrator we are beholden to.
The Japanese fascination of Saidan’s first offerings seem to have been put to the side with Visual Kill, with only trace elements showing through the artwork and the occasional callback riff – it could be my imagination but the interlude of “Seraphic Lullaby” is hauntingly familiar – and with that comes a more rounded Saidan who have the confidence of a band on their third album and the assurance that they can rely more on who they really are. And they are a band who deal in gorgeous guitar passages that belie the horror in their words — "Switchblade Paradise" deals in stunningly beautiful riffs while the lyrics conjure deeply disturbing images as the song progresses towards its climax and the eerily calming "Seraphic Lullaby."
This solemn interlude only serves to allow the punches of "Veins of the Wicked" to hit harder as Saidan revel in the stomping beats of the drums and a vocal that reaches further into the ether for a sliver of hope in the darkness. Hope is not something that Saidan are well versed in, though, and the pitch black of the night creeps increasingly closer as the album moves closer to its final moments. "Visual Kill" Is one of the most frenetic on the album and therefore the track that ties into the punk aesthetic a little more than others. Its dynamic vocal approach meshes succinctly with the guitar breaks that writhe with sly malice as the song cycles into higher gear with each passing moment before giving way to the melancholic finale of "Suffer" and its viewpoint from within the claustrophobic grave our protagonist has found themselves in. A fitting ending to the terror that they wrought throughout the album.
Thou - Umbilical Self Released/Sacred Bones
Are Thou the hardest band out there? The obvious answer is yes, of course, but why? Is it that the music is full of hardened emotion and terrific grit? That the vocals are wrenched from the depths of the soul and forced through the thin veil of reality we call life? That Thou make no apologies for their radical outlook and thoughts? I suppose all three are true and there's surely much more that makes Thou so important to the underground and beyond, not least because they are open to having those tough conversations and don't shy away from how utterly bizarre and complex living in the modern world is while trying to maintain a somewhat coherent moral code. Man, life is fucking weird and hard.
Umbilical and its weighty palette of noise and sludge imbued riffs is an album that ties itself to the Thou outlook in its willingness to explore the extremities and the opposing side. "Narcissist's Prayer" is a diatribe on those looking to help but only for their own gain, their own importance, not the cause at hand and this theme follows through like a glaring red thread as the album trudges towards its heavy end. Songs speak of change for the wrong reasons, needing to be seen for the wrong reasons and offering help for the wrong reasons, and Thou make it clear that those are the weakest of the herd. "House of Ideas" and "The Promise" call out those wretched creatures in layered guitars and blistering vocals that hit with an edge of disgust.
It is not only the wider world that Thou are sickened by, but perhaps also themselves, as their music has always had a touch of the introspective about it then it stands to reason that the band are taking a closer look at their own values and actions with Umbilical. The word itself creates images of attachment and need, as though the weaker aspect needs the stronger to survive. "Emotional Terrorist" takes the position of using ones words against them, or your own against yourself, and that each moment you live is going to one day come back to destroy you if it isn't doing so already. That's a crushing idea to hold in yourself and against yourself and one would hope that time could change the hatred that must lie at the root of such ideals. Although, hope is something that Thou have yet to come across if Umbilical is their response to the dread that we feel every single day.
