Monday, September 5, 2011

ENORMICON - Storm of Swords CDEP review


ENORMICON - Storm of Swords CDEP
Self Released
Genre: Post Rock
Rating: 4/5

According to this band's promo material they're supposed to of had influences ranging from the likes of VOIVOD to MASTODON, to name just two. As fate would have it I like neither of those acts. Instead I'll go with my gut and say after listening to it I think this Texas trio reminds me of an early era CLUTCH, HELMET and FUGAZI hybrid. Yeah that sounds more to my liking and not surprisingly to some extent I have a history with those bands. Although I hate to say it (no I don't) but this band is late by around sixteen years since around 1995 is when the era of post rock ended. Right now there's a forty something year old guy in his parent's basement outside of Minneapolis wearing a COW's t-shirt and clutching a copy of Strap It On crying "you're a liar!" Whatever, all I'm saying is that ENORMICON would have fit well in that music scene back in the day. But now it's being pushed as "progressive-minded, heavy stoner rock/metal." Personally I'd rather be snorting meth off of a whore's ass in a seedy motel room while this was playing in the back ground on a boombox instead of doing a bong hit to it but hey that's just me. Of course I modernized that metaphor. If this was 1994 I would've referenced the time a friend of mine found his roommate dead on the floor of his bedroom from a heroin overdose. The only reason he bothered checking in the guy's room is because the last thing the guy was playing on his turntable was a HELIOS CREED LP and it was skipping for two days. So maybe it's about time for a Post Rock Revival?

OK maybe not and that way ENORMICON from Denton, Texas (is there a college nearby?) can have all the glory. Look this thing has Post Rock written all over it from the stand out heavy bass lines, to the clean sounding real guy angst style vocals, to the one word song titles (just two but still) and the chunky riffs. Seriously I was writing for a zine all through that 90's Post Rock era and this band, if they were around then, would've been on top of the fuckin heap with their mugs on the cover of SPIN or NME. Storm of Swords is only six cuts but each one is strong. The band adds plenty of bass groove to entice then starts punching you in the head with powerful riffs and snare centric drumming. After that it's jazzy fusion structures and dissonant psych feedback laid on top of your body like a sheet from the morgue while the attendees are slam dancing. Only two of em of course because all the doctors are shoe-gazing or what I use to call "the Chapel Hill genuflect". For examples all you need to do is check out the cuts I'm referencing which are "Slaghammer", "The Gargantuan", "Dark Forces" and "Fury". Excellent stuff here people but hey it's just an EP's worth with a running time of a little over thirty minutes. Perfect for a pre-college class blast back in the day though maybe even a kegger. I didn't go to college but my taxes had to of paid for at least one slacker going to the local state university, majoring in fuckin up. The irony of it all is that guy probably has a wife whose ready to leave him, two fuck trophies (children) and defaulting on his mortgage. While I'm here listening to a cool new band from Texas. Like I said, this is cool sounding stuff now let's see what happens with a full length in the future.

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/enormiconmetal

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