Brutally Short #1: King Giant, Bearstorm, Khemmis, Valkyrie, Dreadnought

(image by our buried alive intern)

This is the inaugural post of our "Brutally Short" column. Our hands certainly aren't clean of producing them, but we know reading long-winded reviews can be tedious. In an effort to not let so many albums slip through the cracks, "Brutally Short" will deliver around five reviews or so of albums our staff has been recently listening to.

Reviews for Brutally Short #1:

King Giant - Black Ocean Waves
Bearstorm - Americanus
Khemmis - Absolution
Valkrie - Shadows
Dreadnought - Bridging Realms

Check out the reviews after the break!

King Giant - Black Ocean Waves

Tucked somewhere in between middle era Corrosion of Conformity and Kyuss' Blues For The Red Sun are Virginia's King Giant. Black Ocean Waves is the band's 3rd overall installment, and while the band lacks a label for backing you'd hardly know it from the sonic waves that crash over the deck of the ship on the album's cover. Frontman Dave Hammerly feels like a cross between Glenn Danzig and Jim Morrison and his voice is carried by the excellent musicians that are behind him; Todd Ingram's leads and solos are excellent. The midpaced riffing with plenty of stoner distortion give you an impression of the band's sound and it is amazing that with a metal scene chock full of "stoner this" and "sludge that" that King Giant remains an unsigned enigma of commercial success waiting to happen. I'm sure the band couldn't care less about that, all they do is rock out for their own sake, something I'm sure their fans can back quite strongly.

-Tom

Bearstorm - Americanus

There are a lot of words that describe Bearstorm's new album Americanus, and you need most of them when you're describing the band.  Starting with a southern rock base, the band adds a cup of sludge, a dash of black metal vocals, and a flourish of stunning guitar acrobatics; the end-result is every bit as good as the best home cooking.  To say there's a lot going on in Bearstorm is a bit of an understatement, as every second of Americanus is overflowing with activity, as guitarists Greg Bates and Kelsey Miller (who also handles fiddling) weave in and out of bassist Jay Lindsey and drummer Patrick DeRoche's pummeling, infectious rhythm section, all while Michael Edwards gives you the impression he's going to scream so hard he'll rupture his lungs.  There are a lot of bands who treat genre boundaries with disdain, but few of them eviscerate the lines the way Bearstorm does.

-Durf

Khemmis - Absolution

Big sweeping doom metal that tugs at your heartstrings are what Khemmis are about on their debut LP Absolution. Fans of Warning, Pallbearer and 40 Watt Sun will flock to this album in droves and it only makes sense that 20 Buck Spin is the label behind it since it represented so many other like minded bands before them. There is plenty of melody to be found within these slow doom dirges too; like piercing the air within a tomb with blasts of ebullient energy. 'Antediluvian' evokes major love for bands from Bongzilla and Weedeater, to more classic doom bands like Black Sabbath and Pentagram. While their songs are not as grand in scale as say Pallbearer, they certainly get through a range of emotions and the album closer 'The Bereaved' is no exception. A 9 minute venture that won't soon be forgotten much like the loss of a loved one. Khemmis' debut is a massive statement to doom metal; they are here and not leaving any time soon. 

- Tom

Valkyrie - Shadows

"Hard rock" is sometimes treated as a pejorative term in the metal world, sort of the nerdy little brother to heavy metal.  Don't tell those people, but Valkyrie is here to punch the older brother right in the mouth.  Shadows is a heavy, guitar-driven rock album of the highest order, pushing heavy guitar riffs and catchy hooks through a southern sludge filter with just a hint of early Queens of the Stone Age sleaze, resulting in one of the most fun, down and dirty records of the year.  The opening riff of "Mountain Stomp" will get your head bobbing the second you press play, while "Wintry Plains" sounds like a hurricane in slow motion, a dizzying fuzz of riffs and wails that sucks you in and leaves you gasping for air when its hypnotizingly beautiful bridge arrives.  If there were any sort of justice in this world, Shadows would have singles all over the radio all summer long.

-Durf

Dreadnought - Bridging Realms

"For fans of: Agalloch, Jethro Tull, The Moody Blues, Yes, Helms Alee". After you're done scratching your head, go ahead and scratch your head again because this snippet from a press release is entirely accurate. Denver's Dreadnought brings a mind-bending amalgam of styles and influences to the table with their appropriately titled second album, Bridging Realms. It's an album that is extremely layered but at the same time extremely approachable. The album is thoroughly saturated with nods to the progressive rock giants of old; pianos, saxophones, flutes, and clean guitars are all a part of Dreadnought's mixing pot. Other strong ingredients in this collaborative stew are the screeching of black metal-esque vocals and low-fi distorted guitars. Bridging Realms is an album that at any moment could sound like a 70's horror movie soundtrack composed by Goblin and the next sound like something that was coming out of Norwegian black metal scene in the early 90's. If you've been yearning lately to listen to a truly genre-bending experience, look no further than this offering from Dreadnought.

- Mick