SEEN AND HEARD: SERPENTINE PATH, WO FAT, BONEMECHANICS, ANOPHELI

This is a small collection of new songs and videos that I found today. I thought you might enjoy them. I sure did.

SERPENTINE PATH

The few songs I’ve heard from Serpentine Path’s new album Emanations have been flattening — including the one that Invisible Oranges debuted today. It’s the opening track, “House of Worship”. There’s so much tar in the song that you’ll be trying to peel it off your skin with a razor blade for the next month. It’s suffused with thick, viscous, riffs; a trudging pace; and a black, congealing atmosphere. Wretched howling and cobra-like soloing are the icing on this poisonous cake.

If you’re unfamiliar with Serpentine Path, the membership includes the three former members of Unearthly Trance, ex-Electric Wizard/ex-Ramesses performer Tim Bagshaw, and Winter’s Stephen Flam. The album comes out May 27 on Relapse.

Go here to listen to “House of Worship”.  If you haven’t checked out the first advance song from the album, “Disfigured Colossus”, do that now:

http://serpentinepath.bandcamp.com
https://www.facebook.com/serpentinepath

 

 

 

 

WO FAT

Most of you probably don’t know who Wo Fat was, so I’ll tell you: that was the name of the criminal nemesis of Steve McGarrett in the Hawaii Five-O TV series, which aired during the years before a meteor strike killed all the dinosaurs. Recognizing the name, I couldn’t resist checking out a new song from this Dallas-based band named “Beggar’s Bargain”.

I was also heavily influenced by the cover art for their new fifth album, The Conjuring, which is due for release on June 17 by a label named Small Stone (pre-order here). Kudos to Alexander Von Wieding for his killer work.

Not to take anything away from anyone else in this combo, but “Beggar’s Bargain” is all about the almighty fuzz-bombed riff. The riffs start strong from the outset, and as this bluesy, stoner romp unspools they just get better and better. At the half-way point, when the band really start to roll in an  extended instrumental jam, drool started coming out my mouth and I began wondering who had fed me a psychoactive cocktail without me knowing. Soooo good.

https://www.facebook.com/wofatriffage

 

 

 

 

 

BONEMECHANICS

Bonemechanics are a Finnish band, which I figured was one strike in their favor even without hearing the music. Today they left a link to a new video on our Facebook wall. For various reasons, including being in too much of a goddamned hurry, I don’t check out everything that shows up there, but this time I did.

The video is for a song named “White”, which seems to be new (the only other recorded output I found was a demo loaded on Soundcloud about a year ago — here). The video (directed by Jukka Pihlajaniemi) is really good, and I got a kick out of the song, too.

It starts with the hooky rhythms of tribal drums, and then the band hit the gas and start hammering out some beefy grooves, off-kilter beats, and a slew of jabbing, swarming riffs. Jarno Kolehmainen has got a set of lungs on him and puts them to good use, too. Check it out:

https://www.facebook.com/Bonemechanics

 

 

 

 

 

ANOPHELI

This next song comes from an EP named A Hunger Rarely Sated, released last month by an Oakland-based outfit (with one member in London) named Anopheli. The song’s name is “The Embittered Living”, and it has grabbed me with a firm hold — so much so that the next thing I’m doing after I finish this post is listen to the rest of the EP.

“The Embittered Living” is like a crust-punk sandwich — because in the middle you’ll find a d-beat flashfire of fat riffs and lung-busting yells. But on one side of that beatdown is a lead-heavy serving of slow, bleak, melodic sludge/doom, and on the other side is a rolling wave of increasingly sweeping melody that includes some surprising non-metal instruments — as well as a few more concrete hammer blows. Very nice.

http://anopheli.bandcamp.com/releases
https://www.facebook.com/anopheli/