BALANCE: BORRACHO, PALLBEARER, AND YES SIR! MISTER MACHINE

I spent so much goddamned time this past weekend researching and writing today’s ridiculously long post about Facebook that I fell even further behind in doing what I like to do best: finding new metal to feature on this site. So, unfortunately, I don’t have much ready for the site today in the way of music. But I’m not totally empty-handed. I have the following collection of musical goodies, which should provide some balance to the site today.

BORRACHO

Borracho are a band based in Washington, DC, who recently made us aware of a new music video they’ve created for a song called “Concentric Circles”, which is the first single from their June 2011 debut album, Splitting Sky. The video was self-produced by the band, directed by their friend Dicky Southcott, and edited by Kevin Bradley. It’s a combination of the band performing the song live, interspersed with film clips of “destruction, atrocity and mayhem” — the band’s words, but quite accurate.

And on top of that, the band have suggested a drinking game of “Boom!” to be played while watching the vid: Every time you see an explosion, chug a beer. Having seen the video, I’d suggest you get a shitload of beer and be prepared to drink fast.

But frankly, you can have a shitload of fun with this video even without a shitload of beer, because the song is irresistible. It’s a high-energy, heavy-assed, rifftastic blast of stoner/doom that will brighten your day and give you a natural buzz. But wait . . . there’s more!

Borracho have recorded a Spanish-language version of “Concentric Circles” that’s available for free download on Bandcamp (here). My Spanish is rusty, but I still love this version of the song, and it’s very cool that they did it. In addition, the band made a second version of the video that includes the slower-paced intro instrumental track (“Redemption”) that immediately precedes “Concentric Circles” on the album. I actually like hearing the contrast of the two together, so that’s the version of the video I’ve got for you here:
 

 

To listen to all of Splitting Sky and buy it in a variety of formats, go to the Borracho Bandcamp page. Learn more about Borracho on Facebook via this link or at their official web page.

Now we’re going to do a complete 180 . . .

PALLBEARER

This Arkansas band’s February 2012 release on Profound Lore, Sorrow and Extinction, is majestically miserable. It captures transcendent feelings of loss and grief in a most compelling and crushing way. To quote from a review of the album on Metal Archives (because I thought this was a great description), “The atmosphere is appropriately apocalyptic, great hulking icebergs of riffs crashing slowly under an icy sea of weeping guitar melodies and tortured vocals.”

The most beautiful and beautifully wrenching song on the album, for my money, is “An Offering of Grief”. Today, a friend of the band, Sean Reynolds Williams (Animetalphycial) uploaded a video he made for the song, editing together excerpts from a 1973 animated Japanese film named Kanashimi No Belladonna. It’s truly amazing how well this video works — it’s as if through some kind of quantum entanglement the makers of that movie were listening to “An Offering of Grief” decades before the music existed, and then gratefully provided the film as a tool for Sean Reynolds Williams to use in 2012.
 

 

Pallbearer is on Facebook here.

YES SIR! MISTER MACHINE

It’s no secret: I have a soft spot for metal bands from remote locales, and so I checked out this band, despite their awkward name, because they’re from the southwest tip of South Africa, in a town about 30 miles east of Cape Town. I found out about them through an e-mail recommendation for their new music video for a track called “Cold Rush Song”.  That song is one of three on a free EP titled “. .. .​.​.” Yes, that’s the title. It looks like Morse code. If it is Morse code, then it means “EIS”, but after that I got nuthin’.

In addition to having a soft spot for bands from places like South Africa, I’ve also got a soft spot for the “Cold Rush Song” video. The music starts with a cool guitar intro that sounds like something out of Appalachia (a passage that returns elsewhere in the song), and then it jumps into a rush of jangling/ringing guitars, booming bass notes, and jagged rhythms. It’s got a hardcore vibe but a compelling sense of melody, and I’m diggin’ the music a bunch.

The video is professionally filmed and edited in black and white, juxtaposing footage of the band performing in a happy crowd of moshers with still photos to create a visually interesting accompaniment for the song. Good stuff.
 

 

Yes Sir! Mister Machine has a Facebook page at this location. You can stream and download their new EP on Bandcamp by following this link.