I flew through Salt Lake City once. It was the holidays and, because of some bad weather, my flight had been cancelled. The attendant at the American Airlines gate told me I could go home and come back the next day or try my luck flying stand by. I don't think I had a job then so I rolled the dice. By the time I made it to my destination 2 long days had passed and I'd been through 5 different airports. The memory of those 48 sleepless hours spent bouncing around the country are foggy in my mind now but I distinctly remember getting off the plane in Salt Lake City and thinking, "This place sucks. I have to get out of here."
Listening Gaza's latest record, "No Absolutes in Human Suffering", it doesn't surprise me that they call Salt Lake City home. There's a bleakness and desperation to the band's third full length that I imagine infects the very ground of that part of the country. It's ugly and bent on god killing. Songs like "This We Celebrate" and the album opener, "Mostly Hair and Bones Now", are furious blasts reminiscent of bands like Coalesce and Botch. Other tracks like "Not With All the Hope in the World" parse out the destruction and layer on the tension similar to the way Neurosis have over previous records.
Gaza will be sharing the El Corazon stage Fri night with fellow Salt Lakers, the Southern Lord doom & gloom duo Eagle Twin. [Roy Culver]
I vividly remember the first time I heard Eagle Twin. I was sitting at my house, talking about music with a good buddy of mine, and we had just come inside from hanging out on my roof.
A mutual friend came over and put on “Crow Hymn” off of Eagle Twin’s 2009 album, The Unkindness of Crows.
Needless to say, I was totally hooked. After listening to the song in silence, we discussed it, and then listened to the entire album in absolute silence, letting the music take us away.
By the end of the album, the dark, swirling riffs were just stuck in my head, and the album has been a favorite ever since. A few years later and it still remains one of my favorite albums.
The thing that really hooked me about Eagle Twin the most was guitarist Gentry Densley’s tone. Thick, warm, full, fuzzy, gritty and distorted to all hell, yet every note cuts through clearly and cleanly. It just seemed to surround you, like a dark, murky swamp, with Tyler Smith’s hypnotic, foreboding drumming leading you through the gloom.
Fast forward a few years, and now I (as well as you), get a chance to see them play live, and I couldn’t be more excited.
The Salt Lake City duo are releasing their sophomore effort on August 28th via deluxe digipak and digital download with a dual LP version coming out soon after. The album is called “The Feather Tipped the Serpent’s Scale”, and where the last album centered on the mythology of crows, ending with the crows fighting the sun and falling to the earth as snakes, this newest release will continue the story, focusing on the mythology of snakes. [Ryan Schutte]
The local support on this bill is well worth skipping dinner for an early arrival. Seattle's own Grenades are busying working on the details and logistics for the release of their bludgeoning first full length called "Heaven is Empty". They are force in a live setting, and you'll definitely get an earful of what should prove to be one of the finest NW metal releases of 2012 when it finally drops on wax later in the year.
Opening this barn burner is Tacoma band Czar (formally known as Osama Bin Rockin). I think the name change was certainly a good idea, but either way these dudes are no slouches. Expect some brutal riffs.
The show is all ages, $12 at the door, and gets started at 8pm. [Nik Christofferson]
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