Into Orbit, the instrumental masterminds from New Zealand, have this month released Unearthing. It comes with a fantastic bit of artwork by an artist called Nick Keller, which perfectly visually displays the impact this band are capable of creating through their music.
Like a heavy post rocking lasagne these two, Drummer Ian Moir and Guitarist Paul Stewart, build up layers of tasty delights with their seemingly limitless musical composition and performing abilities.
I was a massive fan of their first release, Caverns as you will see here, and Unearthing is no different. In fact it's better.
There is still the creation of these stunning musical landscapes in tracks like Stone Circles and the haunting brilliance of Scattering Light. These soundscapes can be breathtaking, inspiring and really set a mood and atmosphere.
But, they are packing more punch now. This was already evident as coming into their writing with the earlier release of Gilgamesh, which is on this album. But is also carried through the album in tracks like the opener Dark Matter and Caldera, my favourite track on the album, brimming with chugging heaviness and spacey lead lines.
What I do like is the varying length of tracks. This is not an album full of 10 minute self indulgent musical masturbation pieces. The tracks do what they need to do and end and are therefore full of impact. There are epic numbers, such as the fantastic Equilibrium, and there are shorter ones. There's not point where you think 'this is going on a bit'.
Into Orbit still create music you listen to in a dark room wanting to take a musical journey and feel nice and zoned out. But it's now also music you can listen to when driving a fast car or undertaking an epic, dangerous journey.
Both musicians put in a fine display of their very obvious talent for performance and composition. The drumming in the outro of The Archer is something which shows off Moir's range of styles and he brings as much to the table here as the stunningly creative layered guitar work of Stewart.
If progressive heavy post metal/rock and epic soundscapes is your thing, you really need to spend a few quid on this album. Here's a handy link for you to do so!
After listening to the talents of Cloud, I've had a thirst for more atmospheric, heavy instrumental music.
Some stuff I've found sounded worse than that time you heard your folks shagging. Some of it has been pretty good but not quite exploring the heights I'd hoped for.
Into Orbit contacted me saying I could download their stuff, for free, from Bandcamp, so I thought I'd give it a listen. What do I have to lose other than time? (My precious, precious time)
What I can undoubtedly say is they hit the spot for me with their brand of epic, atmospheric sound scapes. Bringing together ambience and heavyness as though they should have always been married. This music takes you places.
Into Orbit are but two men, Paul Stewart on guitar and Ian Moir on drums. Their hometown is Wellington in New Zealand. Moir said "We've played in a few different bands together over the past 10 years, mostly metal stuff. This band came about when we decided to have a casual jam with just the two of us about three years ago. Paul had just bought himself a loop pedal, he was playing around with that and I was jamming along on the drums. It all felt pretty organic and songs just started kinda flowing out of the jams. We realised that, with Paul's loop pedal and plethora of other effects we could create a full band sound with just the two of us. We decided to stick to that because we were finding the creative process so smooth with the two of us and didn't want to jeopardise it by adding someone else"
Bringing together ambience and heavyness as though they should always have been married. This music takes you places
Style
Their music it is at times light, serene, full of resonance, warm and comforting, and in the same track it can become heavy, aggresive, dark and at time mechanical, deranged.
Within the compositions, there are well thought out layers of sound that keep you alert and involved in the music. Stewart uses effects to create broad soundscapes and Moir's drum work is at times inspired and always well performed. Their ability to compose thoughtful and interesting music completes the package.
They are not members of a particular scene in New Zealand, but this suits them. Drummer, Moir told me "New Zealand is a small place. There are some great bands, and there are scenes, but I'm not sure where we fit into it, and to be honest we don't want to be part of a scene, we just want to play with great and interesting, different bands. Some of our favorite local bands to play with over the past year have been really stylistically diverse, experimental, alt-rock, post-rock, punk, doom, funk, country-drone, extreme metal. Our fans seem to be really diverse, they don't come from one place musically".
And you can see why they are appreciated by a wide ranging audience. They identify themselves as experimental rock, which is quite fitting but theres a lot of rock ground covered, with metal, prog, ambient and drone all thrown in. So often you read bands associating themselves with an abundance of genres and when you listen you're scratching your head digging around for the metal element they said they had. For Into Orbit, the multitude of references is completely relevant.
"New Zealand is a small place...and there are scenes, but I'm not sure where we fit into it, and to be honest we don't want to be part of a scene, we just want to play with great and interesting, different bands".
Soundtrack
There was a great soundtrack released in 1984, written by Mark Knopfler, for a film called Cal. It was ever present in my household growing up thanks to the eclectic taste of my step father. Listening to Into Orbit envokes happy memories of listening to Cal in my youth. Whilst stylistically completely different, Into Orbit's compositions hold the same ability to paint a picture and portray an atmosphere through sound. Their music, especially the excellent album, Caverns, is like a soundtrack to an epic, unwritten film.
If you let it, it can make the imagination run wild. When listening I envisage floating over stunning rural scenes, and then epic battles full of passion and bloodlust. (can someone recommend a psychiatrist?)
There's songs that inspire thoughts of adventures and danger, one being the excellent Gilgamesh their newest track described bt the band as an "enigma" spawned from a jamming session.
When listening I envisage floating over stunning rural scenes, and then epic battles full of passion and bloodlust.
They take you on a journey while listening, but non of this is by design. Moir says, "The music tends to happen in the moment, before any thematic ideas come into it, I guess at that point it's about following an undefined 'feeling' of where the song is going. The themes come into it when a song is finished and we take a step back from it and think about song titles and artwork to fit the vibe, which explore those kinds of themes".
Live
I couldn't begin to envisage how Into Orbit came across live before learning about Stewart's loop pedal, Moir explains; " Paul's loop pedal is basically our 'third member'. Paul lays down the layers of guitar loops live on stage, and I do my best to stay in time with it! You might notice on our releases, that multiple guitar parts don't (come) in at once, but one layer at a time. I guess it's a limitation in being a loop pedal duo, but it's also helped define our style".
Whilst Moir describes the limitations of the loop pedal, as a listener you may feel it adds to the build up of the compositions, creating a progressive feel. The fact it is recorded in this manner must also add an authenticity to live performances that are played and built up in the same way.
New Albun
Into Orbit are working on a new album, hopefully to be released this year. When I asked about it's progress I was told, "6 months ago I would have said it was about 6 months away from completion, but we're constantly changing our minds about parts, and about which songs to include on the album. . . Our writing/arranging process involves a lot of experimentation, sometimes it takes a while to hit on something we're 100% happy with, and it's pretty hard to predict when we'll get to that point."
It's refreshing to know that putting out the right material, that which best reflects the band's development and direction is paramount over purely getting something out.
Whilst we eagerly await this release why don't you head to Bandcamp and download their back catalogue. Sit in a dark room, put on your headphones and enjoy a bit of impressive creativity and above all, amazing music.
I can not begin to tell you how happy I am to finally own this EP. Ever since happening across the track Grim Reefer months ago I've been sporadically trying to find a social media and sales outlet for this band.
It's not their fault, it's my own technological stupidity. After realising I could expand the info under the YouTube info and a bunch of links to everything I've ever wanted was there all along. Lesson learnt, I'd be embarrassed about it if I cared enough about technology.
So anyway, Cloud...
Who Are They?
They are Jeff "Trash" Hartwell on guitars, Josh Dower in Bass and Scott Rebarchek on crash symbol smashing duties. They are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Style
Instrumental. Epic. Atmospheric. Stoner Doom Metal. And that is all that is required to be said.
Cloud EP
Today in art corner we have an album cover by Mark Paich, and lets face it, it fucking rocks.
The opening track, Cosmic Carousel, starts with a guitar intro that posseses all the eery resonance of a church organ and grand acoustics of being recorded in a religious building. We're then introduced to the fuzzy, angry riff that eventually paves the way for the heavy blues tone that takes control and drives the song. The leads, using a cleaner, more classic warm tone add a nice additional layer to the track. The track travels from atmospheric to balls out rock and back again, hitting truely epic status halfway through with almost tribal tom work and reverb laden guitar tone.
Unpolished is like a little bridge between the two main tracks on the EP. Again, full of atmosphere, all played over the sound of running water and rain. Its a swampy, not heavy but dark and moody, peice.
Then you get to hear the magnum opus of the EP. Grim Reefer. Everything is on point in this track. Incredible drum work, driving bass both overlayed by heavy but crisp guitar work. All the instruments do their part in creating epic soundscapes in this track. This is 7min 34 second of my life that felt like 1 minute, such is the power and draw of the music. You simply must hear this track.
I'm every bit as impressed with this EP as I hoped I would be, having finally found it.
If you can buy it ($6) buy it here, it's a must have in Doomers collection. You can also have a listen below, it's a little bit of genius;
These guys who have another recording on the way so give them a follow and see whats next.
Since being fortunate enough to listen to the sublime Gravel Drag, I have been on a bit of an instrumental binge. So I was very pleased when Mike Milan Dedic contacted me to see if I'd like to hear his completely self composed and performed self titled EP.
The Artist
Mike is from Toronto, Canada. He is a self taught, (yes self taught, not classically trained, not Van Halen's evil twin, and believe me when I say, when you hear him you might call me a liar!)
He started playing guitar at the age of 12 and his influences are far and wide but include Randy Rhodes, Van Halen and Ritchie Blackmore, elements of all can be heard here.
Style
Put simply, the guy is a shredder and I mean this in a guitar sense not a super villain fighting mutants turtles, but I bet he could.
He incorporates melody, more speed and attack than Usain Bolt on steroids, technical excellence and moments of relative simplicity underlining the skill, and as my step dad always told me "when writing songs, sometimes less is more".
The E.P - Mike Milan Dedic
The 5 track E.P opens with Energy, a grandiose opening that develops into a tune with speed and melody that would suit an Iron Maiden album nicely. This leads into Zoom, a more laid back affair, still with elements of speed but an easy listening rhythm line that keeps it plodding along nicely.
Run has a machine gun intro and quickly becomes a comfortable melody driven sound and Launch is my favourite track with it's epic soundscape. Both include stunning solos but Epic has changing timings that really peak the interest, a great track.
The last song, Shall We Dance, warmingly reminds me of Gary Moore's "Still Got The Blues" era with it's bluesy tones and solo work. It's a lovely way to finish this release. He doesn't site Gary Moore as an influence but it is impossible not to draw these comparisons on this song.
The album is a grower, it improves with every listen and I feel the quality of compositions improve as the album goes on with the last two being standout. It is a thoroughly enjoyable listen for fans of technical guitar work, shredding and or a classic metal sound. Some of the guitar work is simply draw dropping.
The album is available from most outlets including Google Play, iTunes and Amazon ans it's only a few quid.
If you would like to follow Mike then check out his Facebook page.
I'll leave you with a little taster of what you will experience on this release....
Who are they?
Gravel Drag are 3 piece instrumental riffing band from Bedford Virginia. They are made up of Steve McKinney on Guitar, Ben McKinney on Drums and Chris Bower on Bass.
They create heavy rockin' southern groove inspired tunes that will stick in the brain of any lover of riffs.
Are They Any Good?
Fuck Yes!
Why?
Sometimes thinking is hard, especially when you have the brain capacity of a fart. This is why I am so happy I when I find instrumental music I like. No lyrics with clever hidden meanings to try and decipher is sometimes a blessing. This is music that needs no words, it speaks for itself, out and out Rock 'n' Roll that you can listen to deeply and take it all in or have in the background while you go about your daily business.
It is also a blessing to find an instrumental band who tick all the boxes in terms of your favourite genres of metal, mine being groove and stoner. Fortunately for me (and you) these guys do all of this, and they do it very well. The Album: Sly Fox
Sly Fox is a head banger from start to finish. One thing that caught me immediately is the snare drum resonance which makes it stand out and the which in turn accentuates the groove feeling. Also the use of the crash symbols, at times even more so that the hi hat, give you the constant feeling of satisfaction that only a crash symbol can.
The bass and guitar parts are solid, well written and performed, without ever being flashy and irritating. They provide plenty of teeth gritting, snarling, head nodding moments.
Throughout this album there is no filler, every track is a good stand alone piece of work although I will talk about a couple of tracks that particularly resonated with me. They touch on psychedelic, groove metal, hard rock and doom metal sounds at points giving enough variation for it to keep you completely hypnotised throughout.
"Warbeast" stands out as a very strong track on the album. One reason for this is because it shares it's name with the band Warbeast, who have to be seen to be believed! Secondly because the opening riff reminds me of a song I wrote back in the day of trying to be a rock star in a band with my mates. But it stands out mainly because it's one of those tracks you hear and think, "fuck me I wish I'd written this". It moves from between different riffs and each one you hear is a pleasant addition to the song.
"The Legend of Sly Fox" has some groove parts that are simply joyous. When I sat parked up in the car listening to this track, the car was rocking so much I got reported for dogging!
"Knockout King" is a brillaint closer. Short, punchy with some of the best drum work on the album. I've listened through this record 6 or more times now and everytime this song ends a have a feeling of disappointment that the album has finished! Surely that is a sure sign of some great work?
The album has a raw, live feel which is always a bonus on recorded output for me. The feeling that these guys are just in a room together jamming, having fun, really comes across and adds to the listening enjoyment.
You can buy this album on bandcamp for $3. Yes just $3. Or in English money £2.08! So why haven't you bought it yet? It's a small investment for a great quality listen.
Other Music
Since releasing the album they have released this video for a song called "We're on Kill". It's a great tune and the perfect visual representation o their sound.
Gravel Drag are a band that I dare say fans of every genre from straight out Rock to Thrash Metal would appreciate in some way. I've not come across many instrumental bands, especially in rock and heavy music that manage to deliver, so far, consistently quality song writing. So if you enjoyed the songs included please invest, follow and support this band.
