Climb Into Ourselves – Mike Scheidt of YOB Talks Touring

Posted on March 6, 2015 by News Team

Doom metal lords YOB have hit the road on a tour of the US, continuing to tour behind last year’s astounding Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot) release. Ghost Cult Chief Editor Keith Chachkes caught up with front man Mike Scheidt recently to preview the tour with Enslaved, Ecstatic Vision and Witch Mountain. Mike also chatted about touring in general opening for Tool in arenas versus small clubs.

Mike started our chat with some kind words about Enslaved and his being a fan of theirs:

“I’ve listened to Enslaved… I think the first album was Eld (Osmose), the first full-length album. I did have an Emperor/Enslaved album on CD as well. Over the years they have changed on pretty much every record. I am a big fan. My favorite is Monumension, and Below the Lights and Eld still hold a real candle for me. Mardraum (Beyond The Within) too. We are definitely fans of them. We got to see them one time at Roadburn, which was mind-bogglingly good. So just being able to go out with them is an honor for sure.”

Witch Mountain, playing a western US run of dates with YOB, holds a special place for Schiedt from a personal and professional standpoint.

“We’ve probably played with Witch Mountain 40 or 50 times. Our very first Portland show YOB ever played was with Witch Mountain played. So we have very old roots there. And their drummer Nathan Carson owns Nanotear Booking, and he has been booking us for the better part of 10 years too.”

Speaking about the coast-to coast spanning tour of North America, he was reflecting on the cities and people: “We have a lot of friends all over the place. I think in most places we are playing we have people we are stoked about seeing, as well as playing for all the people coming to see us, and making new friends, of course. Los Angeles, we have a lot of friends down there. Same with Seattle and Victoria, British Columbia. Vancouver. Chicago, we have a lot of friends in Chicago. We haven’t played Boston in a while so it will be great to play there again. We have a lot of good friends in Little Rock Arkansas, and Austin too. We haven’t been to Toronto or Montreal since 2011, so it’s gonna be great to go there. I don’t think there is one city we aren’t really excited about on this tour.”

Speaking about the challenges of touring, Mike offered up this assessment of YOB’s time opening for Tool.

“We toured with Tool for two weeks, and that was kind of like jumping out of an aeroplane without a parachute every night. Still, we just approached it… our view of it was “these guys picked us”. Some of those guys are our friends too, and they picked us for a reason. So we totally just threw every calorie of energy into our set. Arms raised, screaming. Instead of a 500 person club, it was a 20,000 person arena. We didn’t change anything about what we do. It just takes a little bit longer to connect with the room, that’s it. We were ready to be booed every night. We didn’t get booed, but I think some people were clapping that we were getting off stage! (laughs) It was just a crazy scenario to accept that we would even be in a place like that. But who knows?”

“We’re getting ready to go out with Enslaved, and some of their crowd is, I’m sure, not our crowd. The work of the band is two-fold. Of course we want to be received well. It’s also personal work. There’s stuff that we do, and stuff that we do for ourselves. It’s a discipline. We climb onto the stage and climb into ourselves. We climb into us and we let the music take us where it takes us. We want to share that with anyone who wants to come on that ride. Whatever happens is fine. We have no control over that. All we can be is ourselves.”

WORDS BY KEITH CHACHKES

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth – Brothers of the Sonic Cloth

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Steve Tovey

Come on, admit it: how many of us believed that man-mountain and Grunge legend Tad Doyle was no longer with us?! The most unhealthy-looking of the colossi who bestrode Seattle in the early 90s was nevertheless a commanding figure of the scene, and one of the most quietly admired. Though away for some considerable while, it seems his present outfit Brothers of the Sonic Cloth has been gently simmering for eight years, and this eponymously titled debut album (Neurot) is the first substantial harvest.

The sheer depth and fulminating power of the huge riffs and rhythm section through opener ‘Lava’ is nerve-shredding and, despite a middling pace exposing some old Grunge tendencies, the harsh growls paint a murkier picture. This is reinforced by the funereal rate of the sinister ‘Empires of Dust’; a delightfully morose crawl through the swamps of Sludge, shot-through with a mournful lead which enhances Doyle’s evil croak wonderfully. The opening few minutes of ‘Unnamed’ take us on a varied journey, evocative keys giving way to a monstrous pounding and a nasty, Deathly Doom, Doyle’s growl occasionally evoking Tom G. Warrior. Indeed the overall feel of the track is Triptykon-esque: a swelling, reverberating Stoner groove sandwiched between pulsating, slashing verses and a brutal, industrial coda.

With such a broad range of sub-genres hit already, the only issue here is that the album can’t seem to make its mind up where to go. ‘La Mano Poderosa’ is an at times ponderous bundle through Crowbar country, powerful and crunching yet uneventful; while the emotive, ominous, gently throbbing ‘I Am’ is a crushing depiction of Pearl Jam‘s more subtle moments, Doyle retching and screaming in anguish. The bonus track ‘The Immutable Path’ is an Om-style incantation, quietly rumbling drums and atmospheres combatting the threatening vocal, intoned like a spectral Orson Welles – it’s a spooky sound as Doyle has grown to bear more than a passing resemblance to the acting titan.

Overall this is an intense experience, an album full of resonating weight and passion, and more direction would have turned it into an utter rip-snorter. Welcome back Tad.

7.5/10

Brothers of the Sonic Cloth on Facebook

PAUL QUINN

Ghost Cult Magazine Album Of The Year 2014 Countdown! #15 to #11

Posted on December 9, 2014 by Steve Tovey

…And so we continue with our countdown of the Official Ghost Cult Top 50 Metal releases of 2014 by bringing you Albums 15 to 11. As we get closer the top, the sheer unadulterated quality of the albums covered is astounding, and every one of our Top 20 should proudly sit in your collection already. And if it doesn’t, you should get investigating immediately…

15. GODFLESH – A World Lit Only By Fire (Avalanche)

Joining the growing list of bands who have returned from a leave of recording absence in style, Justin Broadrick resumes where he left off thirteen years ago, delivering dissonant, nihilistic, industrial cold post-metal. Innovators and leaders to a previous generation of bands, Godflesh returns with metallic precision and destructive poundings.

“The crushing landscapes of Streetcleaner (Earache) are recalled in the merciless dehumanised beats yet the harshness of the eight string guitar has taken this unforgiving creation an even blacker more disturbing feel. The momentum never lags throughout this fearsome monolith feeling urgent and vital throughout. It may be their first full length in thirteen years but every fibre of the bands DNA has mutated into an even more virulent strain of post-Sabbath paranoia whose icy claws cannot be escaped.”

Read ROSS BAKER’s 8/10 review here

14. INDIAN – From All Purity (Relapse)

Extreme doom has never been in a healthier or more prolific state, and is a scene with a surfeit of reeking repugnancy spread over a growing horde of performers. Oozing themselves to the very peak of the sludge mountain is Chicago’s Indian, with a release that tests the very limits of just how hideous a piece of music can be and still be appreciated. Essential art, manifested as abhorrent compositions.

“Over the course of 39 harrowing minutes, Indian attempt to batter the listener into submission with a ceaseless barrage of spiky sludge riffs that aren’t afraid to repeat themselves to make their point well and truly felt, percussion that hits as hard as a drunken preacher taking his belt to a cowering sinner, horrible harsh droning noises that sound like a possessed radio broadcasting live from Chernobyl, and all topped off with Will Lindsay’s throat-shredding howls and screeches.”

Read JAMES CONWAY’s 8/10 review here

13. OPETH – Pale Communion (Roadrunner)

On Heritage, Mikael Åkerfeldt led his Swedes away from a technical Death Metal past towards the Prog Rock light. With Pale Communion, transition completed, he perfects the marriage of Opeth and their new slant, constructing a beautiful, reflective, warm and overwhelmingly natural album that speaks in an altered, more progressively refined tongue to the previous voices of Opeth.

“Fast forward three years and Pale Communion is, in many ways a continuation of such a direction, but one that see’s Mikael’s uncompromising view drawing more clearly into focus. Harking back again to the late 60s and early 70s this eleventh studio opus features fluid dexterous drum patterns, moody distorted organ work and another all clean and highly proficient performance in the vocal department. Where Heritage felt somewhat disjointed on occasion Pale Communion is richly woven into a tapestry of ornate and complex elements rather than flitting from one genre to the next.”

Read ROSS BAKER’s 7/10 review here

12. YOB – Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot)

Like one of their own dark, weighty epics, Yob’s career is slowly unfurling, opening out as expansive riffs draw out of the dark, and slab-heavy tones meld Post and Doom Metal. Yob’s previous two albums, in particular, have been preparation for this career defining opus, where the permutations of delicate beauty and unsubtle heavyweight guitars are woven skilfully.

“Clearing the Path to Ascend begins by showing a return to the inventive aspects of …Cessation with a gently repetitive chords, and mellifluous tones riding a colossal riffs that move with the speed of a tortoise. All four tracks far exceed the ten-minute mark yet none here exceed their welcome. Combining the best aspects of the band’s aforementioned last albums this is a perfect blend of weight, hostility, melody and ecstasy, and will need many plays to yield its full array of splendour.”

Read PAUL QUINN’s 9/10 review here

11. TOMBS – Savage Gold (Relapse)

While predecessor Path of Totality (fortunately not a dub-step album, like Korn’s of the same name)) was a great album in its own right, it is in 2014 that songwriter Mike Hill, backed by a crystalline production by Erik Rutan, has finalised the blueprint of how to merge granite flecked post-Metal with rusted Black Metal, bathing us all in cold, exacting, current, intelligent and hostile extreme music, where the caustic overwhelms.

“Savage Gold, the third album from Brooklyn quartet Tombs, is certainly no easy listen. Since their debut release Winter Hours in 2009, the band have attempted to show just how black and post-metal should go together and once again stand head and shoulders above the competition, for Savage Gold is a triumph in visceral aggression and brooding atmospherics.”

Read JAMES CONWAY’s 9/10 review here

Compiled and additional words by Steve Tovey

Ides Of Gemini – Old World New Wave

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Old World, New Wave (Neurot) might only be the second album by Los Angeles trio Ides of Gemini but it doesn’t half feel like a seminal moment for the underground band. Perhaps under some unfair scrutiny in the lead up to their debut album, 2012’s Constantinople, much of the naysaying and internet sneering was silenced largely because Ides of Gemini have what is unquestionably “A TALENT”.

The “talent” in question is the voice of lead singer Sera Timms. It is quite brilliant and you can understand all too easily why you would want to base your oeuvre around what Timms can do with her vocal chords. Herein lies part of the problem for Ides of Gemini in general and for Old World, New Wave in particular. Knowing how to manage talent properly is a skill – it takes time, application and insight. Not everyone excels at it and on the evidence of Old World, New Wave, Ides of Gemini, whilst not necessarily in danger of failing, have made some fairly rudimentary mistakes.

Opening track ‘Black Door’ suggests that they understand the talent management dilemma and are determined that they are not going to be a project based around one person’s vocal talents; no siree, they want you to regard Old World, New Wave as a “band effort”. The intent cannot be faulted but the execution can be- you don’t make a band sound like a band by simply turning up the drum track, I’m afraid. It’s a mistake that echoes across the entire record – in fact, at times you can’t move for being aurally assaulted by a tom-tom.

The second challenge is that of song writing. Whilst all of the songs here move along at an agreeable mid tempo clip with plenty of drums (see above), guitars and wistful vocalizing, many of the ideas feel unfinished. You can admire the band’s love of the arcane, the idiosyncratic and the other worldly, but what you can’t do is hum any of their tunes. There’s enough melody across the record to keep you listening but you keep listening in hope rather than expectation of reaching a high watermark. Regrettably, none comes and you’re left with the uncomfortable sense of all the songs seemingly blending into one rather like an occult blancmange – nice enough, but not exactly a proper trifle.

At the end of the day, Old World New Wave is alright, but that’s it – just alright. With a talent as good as Timms, though, you’re only left with a needling sense of disappointment that a talent like hers should be allowed to soar, not snore.

6.0/10

Ides of Gemini on Facebook

MAT DAVIES

On The Road…. With YOB and Pallbearer

Posted on September 19, 2014 by News Team

YOB and Pallbearer are both out on the road in support of stellar new albums. YOB’s Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot) received a 9/10 from Ghost Cult earlier this month. Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore) was a rare 10/10 from us and was our August Album of the month. Both bands recent teamed up for a co-headlining run of dates in the UK and Luke Denham of Luke Denham Photography caught both bands in front of his lens. A full review is coming soon. In the mean time, enjoy these shots!

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YOB on Facebook

Pallbearer on Facebook

Luke Denham Photography

Yob – Clearing the Path to Ascend

Posted on August 28, 2014 by Steve Tovey

Those who feel that the grand, experimental The Great Cessation was bloated and overlong, or that the fantastic follow-up Atma was a little too commercial, have not truly embraced the second coming of Eugene, Oregon low-end trio Yob. They are, of course, still revered by large swathes of that fraternity and, as a result, this first album in three years seems like it’s been a long time coming.

Atma was all muscle and power; like Leviathan-era Mastodon on zopiclone, with Mike Scheidt‘s remarkable vocals at times a falsetto evoking an angry Geddy Lee, at others Brett Hinds incarnate. Clearing the Path to Ascend (Neurot) begins by showing a return to the inventive aspects of …Cessation as opener ‘In Our Blood’ sets out with a gently repetitive chord, the mellifluous tones soon riding a colossal riff moving with the speed of a tortoise, augmented by harsh vocals. A brief lull broken by an explosion of noise returns to the crawling weight, from which the track builds to a crescendo aided by an undercurrent of lead running a length of steel through it.

The brutality continues with the ensuing ‘Nothing to Win’, a faster, rolling rhythm with cavernous, semi-tribal drums down in the mix, the power of the shimmering riff almost sickening. Scheidt’s vocal is phenomenal, veering from the roar of a deranged gorilla to screamed choruses, via passages of spat malevolence; while Travis Foster keeps up a sensational pace through the first seven minutes before dictating an eerie, somewhat aboriginal comedown in a remarkable show of drumming.

‘Unmask the Spectre’, with its whispered vocal and subtle guitar initially offers stark contrast before the unstoppable creeping juggernaut crashes in once more, Scheidt’s evil roar reminiscent of Bastard of the Skies’ Matt Richardson. The tide is stemmed occasionally by those softer interludes, the voice hushed but frantically straining to be let loose, before returning to that slow, deliberate pounding. A throaty blues lead is employed here giving a mournful edge around the halfway point and breathing real emotion into a track which throbs and glides, briefly deliberating too long before closing in a euphoric crash of snail-like rhythm and spacey atmospherics.

Epic closer ‘Marrow’ sees a reappearance of that post-style jangle, before a laconic powerhouse of a riff leads that high vocal on a psychedelic crush through the cosmos. When the moving keys and a voice so deep it’s almost inaudible bring the track down it introduces a passage of real beauty, affecting leads dragging a titanic, howling riff and some real passion from Scheidt as the swell gradually builds to the desolate coda of what is essentially a prog-doom ballad, and arguably the band’s finest moment.

All four tracks far exceed the ten-minute mark yet, unlike …Cessation’s occasionally meandering nature, none here exceed their welcome. Combining the best aspects of the band’s aforementioned last albums this is a perfect blend of weight, hostility, melody and ecstasy, and will need many plays to yield its full array of splendour.

9.0/10.0

Yob on Facebook

PAUL QUINN

Corrections House – Live At The Echoplex, Los Angeles, CA

Posted on January 22, 2014 by News Team

Super-groups have become a dime a dozen aspect in the music world, where players from well recognized bands team up to create music in a variety of ways that allegedly differ from their point of origin. Corrections House is that rare project where four personalities brought together spoken word pieces and experimental rock and metal into an experience beyond what many could truly comprehend.

Corrections House features Mike IX Williams (Eyehategod vocalist), Scott Kelly (Neurosis guitarist), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza saxophonist) and Sanford Parker (Minsk bassist/noted producer who handles keyboards and extra percussion). Their live set consists of their entire Last City Zero CD, along with “Hoax The System”, which closed the set.

The foursome had an interesting set up, as Williams’ lyrics came from his book Cancer As A Social Activity, as he recited lines from it in between songs. The show operated as part experimental metal show and part spoken word set, which blended well and his words were quite powerful yet grim. Lamont and Kelly both traded vocal lines at times with Williams, adding to their atmospheric vibe to their sound. Plus Parker playing the multi-instrumentalist role switching from keyboards to percussion gave them a cold industrial-esque vibe on top of their already darker overtone.

Despite only having a limited amount of material, Corrections House still managed to resurrect a powerful live show and left quite an impression. The four members bring a lot to their overall sound and made it quite the interesting experience. Hopefully this won’t be the end and future material is in the works, either musically or through future writings by Williams or any of the other members. This is something fans of dark, experimental music should not miss as it is unknown how often they will be bringing Corrections House onto the live circuit.

Corrections House on Facebook

By Rei Nishimoto

Featured Conversation: Bruce Lamont of Corrections House

Posted on December 20, 2013 by News Team

Corrections House is a super group of sorts, bringing together five creative minds into project that evolved in front of the public’s eyes and ears. Featuring Scott Kelly (Neurosis), Bruce Lamont (Yakuza), Mike Williams (Eyehategod) and Sanford Parker (Minsk), they quickly evolved their experimental sound into this powerhouse project and took the world by storm.

Lamont was vague about how the band moniker (as well as many other specific points about the band’s overall message and vision), due to their Minister of Propaganda, Seward Fairbury, being missing in action at the time of the interview. Lamont said Fairbury is the spokesperson of the band but could comment further on his involvement.

As for as what is known about Corrections House, they made a huge splash into the world with a brief North American tour in 2013 and an underground buzz grew.

“I think close to a year,” explained Lamont, about how quickly Corrections House came together. “It evolved into a band out of some previous collaborative efforts. Scott Kelly and myself collaborated. We’ve done some shows together as well – his solo and my solo stuff. Mike (Williams) and I have also collaborated a number of times, some noise and experimental works. We discussed to doing a tour and doing a collaborative effort at the end. Sanford (Parker) got mix as well and said why don’t we write some songs and start a band. So we did and went on the road for three weeks in January and February of 2013 with three songs recorded. We did some solo sets which all merged into one thing. Then the collaborative works at the end – that was it. Then it blossomed from there.

As of interview time, Corrections House has done one North American tour of twenty or so dates and a couple of one off shows in Chicago prior to their debut European tour.

“We did one three week tour. It was twenty plus shows,” said Lamont. “We are doing a European run when our record comes out. It’s twenty shows when we’re there. Then we have a West Coast run in January, and then we’re going back to Europe in January. We definitely have enough shows under our belts – definitely comfortable in the live setting.

He explained how they make the set list work with a minimal number of songs. “We were interweaving ourselves in and out of each other’s stuff. The set would begin with Sanford and Scott (Kelly), and then I would come in, and then Mike would do something. Then we would go in and out of stuff, which is the basis of a lot of the recordings of the record.

They released their debut full length Last City Zero (Sargent House), amidst a strong buzz in the underground music scene, where fans as well as the press were raving with anticipation over the release. Despite the hype, Lamont claims this never influenced a second of Corrections House and their decisions on how to operate this project.

“No. I could speak for all of us and none of us think like that. It was something we wanted to do. We love each other and working together is satisfaction enough. As far as there being reaction to it at all, obviously it’s nice that there’s positive reaction but there was never a thought about it.”

The lyrics behind Last City Zero works like poetry in motion, and the members of Corrections House creating a piece of musical works that went beyond anyone’s expectations. Inspired by writings taken from his book, it took on a life of its own and created a work of art.

“Like it says in the liner notes of the recording, it said it was either taken from or inspired by Mike’s book, Cancer As a Social Activity, a few years back and went from there,”

Lamont explains:

“Things were written with that in mind. Everybody had their hands in that kind of stuff. Majority of it is Mike. He’s an amazing lyricist. His spoken word stuff – you get a sense of it in couple of the songs. He did “Last City Zero”, which is the second to last piece which he does a spoken word thing. When we play live, we would change it up and do different pieces every night. His choice of words is excellent. Normally I’m not so critical of it because it’s been done so often and poorly. I could say every night the three of us watching him is captivating by what he’s saying and the way he articulates his words. It wasn’t just us who felt this way. The crowd was pin drop quiet. They were hanging on every word. The guy’s the real deal. It’s amazing what he could come up with.”

Vocals were also a collaborative effort. Even though Williams is the main voice in Corrections House, Kelly and Lamont also take part in the vocal mix- “We all sing. Mike sings the majority of the vocals. The three of us – me, Mike and Scott – Sanford does some backing stuff, but Mike sings not all of it but a good amount. It’s like the song ‘Serve Or Survive’, the first song on the record – Scott starts, then me and Mike. Then we go back and forth.”

Musically, each member has its unique styles from their individual bands but found a medium into creating Corrections House’s dark, experimental sound.

“It’s still a collaborative effort. It was still all of us working with each other. In various situations, we recorded in multiple studios. Sometimes at the same time and sometimes not, but we were able to bring it together. Sanford is not only a member of the band but he’s also the main engineer of the band. He was there or bringing things together and making it cohesive. The base of all the writing was already there, but he pulled it all together. Having the engineer one of the creative entities makes things a lot easier.”

Lamont’s saxophone sounds do shine through on the record and once again his role shines through in Corrections House. He speaks about his background and his writing style:

“I trained in my youth. Then I gave up for a while, and then I picked it back up 15 or 16 years ago. I had some formal training, like a one on one basis. But I do have that training and can read music, but I didn’t intend on becoming a jazz player. I do have interest in other music besides that – heavier stuff, experimental music, noise and soundscape. I started tinkering with the horn and electronic by manipulating sound and looping pedals. I’m into that kind of stuff. It’s a lifelong challenge trying to do something different or taking a different approach or not settling and getting comfortable with one idea or style. I try to take in as much as possible. I listen to a ton of different styles of music, internalize all of that and somehow seep into the creative juices – keeping the mind open to new possibilities.”

Corrections House is embarking on their debut European tour in December. Fans there should be expecting quite the experience, and will be hearing much of Last City Zero live. Lamont explained:

“We’re going to play the majority of the record. We may have some open-endedness, more like the first tour we did. We always like to keep the audience and ourselves on our toes. We may have some improvisational moments. We’ll see where it takes us. Mostly stuff off the record and a song off our last seven inch – that’s basically what you can expect.”

Corrections House on Facebook

REI NISHIMOTO

Corrections House – Last City Zero

Posted on December 5, 2013 by News Team

“Supergroup”.

That word alone conjures up many strong opinions depending upon who is in it and what we believe they are in it for. But there is one thing most fans can agree on. Known musicians from different groups who decide to embark on a project together should represent the best of what those individuals bring to their “home” bands. This ideally combines into a mind-bending experience in which we get to hear what those same bands may force those musicians to shelve, rein in, or repress.

Needless to say most of these blended projects are either too trendy, too lackluster, ego-fueled, or seem to be songs not good enough to make the cut in the musicians’ main groups. Sometimes the combination of people just doesn’t work, or the overall sound is so far from some of the members’ usual sound that they may as well not be involved.

I am very pleased to say that Corrections House nails it. Not only should most folks know at least two of the members once heard, the lesser known members bring enough to the party to make this release even more exciting and intriguing. The Corrections House lineup is Neurosis‘ Scott Kelly, Eyehategod‘s Mike IX Williams, über producer/Minsk/Buried at Sea‘s Sanford Parker, and Yakuza‘s Bruce Lamont. These are four people you might see drinking together at some European festival, but never attempting to blend their unique sounds together without it sounding like a train wreck. However, this works, and it works brilliantly.

Corrections House had released the Hoax The System/Grin With a Purpose EP/single earlier, but that really just hinted at what was to come. Curiously, neither of those songs are on this full-length, Last City Zero (Neurot), which is just a sonic immersion. There is nothing one-dimensional about this group or their music. It is engrossing, never allowing you to get comfortable with a tempo, a style or an approach. The songs are great and each one is its own bird without losing overall cohesiveness. This is achieved without Kelly, Williams or Lamont straying too far from what marks them musically, but giving them a type of musical space where they can do their thing and then some without forcing it. Kelly‘s screams still cut to the bone, but his guitar playing remains utilitarian, showing a tasteful restraint when he could have easily made too much of being the only guitarist. Williams voice is unmistakable, but here he shows more of his poetic side. Lamont‘s saxophone seems to appear exactly where it should, even though this is the last instrument you would expect here. What ties this all together is the keyboard/electronics work of Parker, whose sonic landscaping appears to be the basis from which of a lot this well seems to spring. Each member is flexing his maturity and confidence in what he does, and it sounds so natural that it’s almost unfair such artfully crafted, yet deliberately unsettling music is their first release together.

Standouts include the opener ‘Serve or Survive’, with starts out with a very Neurosis feel at first, but twists into something different; ‘Party Leg and Three Fingers’ has a very cool swerve to it; ‘Dirt Poor and Mentally Ill’ has an almost dance-y Ministry bent, with Williams citing poetry in the middle break. Williams‘ poetry is the focus of the title track, which features a beautiful, minimalist guitar melody as a backdrop.

Like their main bands, there is no relegating this music to the background. It is so insidious, stark and sure of itself that it righteously demands your full attention. Corrections House has much more depth than labels such as “Doom” or “Experimental” could ever justify. This review is prejudiced by the fact that I was lucky enough to catch them live during a stop in Atlanta, where the experience was that much more intense and suspenseful. Not only are these men masters of their own individual sounds, they have managed to create something together that is bigger than themselves. And that is a “Supergroup” that gets it right.

10/10