With three full lengths and a handful of EP’s behind them, Italy’s Black Oath have built a cult following since the late noughties, been featured on a Black Sabbath tribute disc and released an underground classic in 2015’s ‘To Below and Beyond’, an album which definitely pushed the band farther up the league table. A hard act to follow, 2016’s ‘Litanies In The Dark’ EP acts as a mere distraction, plugging a gap by featuring four leftovers recorded between 2012-2015. A couple of these tracks are worthy of adding to the Oath canon, others not: as is often the way with leftovers, they are sometimes left over for a reason.
Category Archives: Album & EP Reviews
ZACH ASHTON – People & Places
Written across five continents, Zach Ashton’s fifth album – as it’s title very much suggests – is somewhat of a musical travelogue. Introspective, mellow and possessing an old spirit, these songs come across like the ultimate late night, almost smoky listen, with the Mexican-born singer-songwriter recounting experiences with the people and places that inspired him and seemingly on occasion left him slightly angsty. It’s one of those records that creeps into the subconscious slowly – an affair where the music eventually leaves an indelible mark, where once it just felt like pleasant listening material. Like the best of the quiet Josh Rouse or the less obtuse Ryan Adams, these songs come with a timeless feel.
THE MELTAWAYS – EP
Part of Brooklyn’s extensive DIY punk and garage rock scene, The Meltaways are angry. Their self-titled release appeared on Mirror Universe Tapes in the summer of 2016 and thrust the influence of riot-grrrl music from the 90s sharply into the complacent face of the present. Via a recording that sounded like an explosive basement fury channelled into a collective of musical positivity, the trio presented combustible levels of attitude within their socio-political bursts of noise.
THE NEEDY SONS – Vis-A-Vis
Originally a live project where friends played cover tunes and numbers from their respective catalogues as a way of letting off steam, The Needy Sons is a Boston supergroup of sorts. Mike Gent has recorded several albums with power pop/rock outfit The Figgs, Ed Valuskas has associations with Gravel Pit and the legendary Bill Janovitz has recorded various solo albums as well as being a member of Buffalo Tom (whose ‘Big Red Letter Day’ is one of the finest albums in the history of recorded music). Augmented by Eric Anderson and with their debut album ‘Vis a Vis’ mixed in part by Mike Viola’s matey Ducky Carlisle, you could say this band got off to a good start.
THE FOREIGN RESORT – The American Dream EP
“Welcome to our faceless lives” implores The Foreign Resort’s frontman Mikkel Jacobsen during ‘Suburban Depression’, a neo-gothic, downbeat look at the dark side of the modern world. Set to music conjured through a remoulded sonic image of the 80s and released as a standalone track via the Danish band’s Soundcloud account, this is both the perfect introduction to The Foreign Resort for unfamiliar ears and an equally perfect homage to the sounds of some thirty years previous. The recycled sounds of a Peter Hook-esque bassline placed against the measured rhythmic pacing of The Cure’s classic ‘A Forest’ forge ahead, as the tale of “your own private hell” unfolds. With the repeated refrain and suggestion that “everybody’s empty now” being bandied around with sheer abandon, some may experience knee-jerk feelings that the track itself is depressing, but nothing could be farther from the truth. There’s a sense of knowing within this band’s gothic throwback of a sound. As the track builds, never ever shifting from the basic rhythm – pulsing, pulsing – and the guitars increase, the bass holds firm and despite the familiarity, The Foreign Resort strike musical gold.
It’s not a fluke, either.