Aerosol Jesus Hatches Some Bizarre and Distressing Heavy Music
An army of listeners grumbles about the lack of ingenuity and experimentation amongst present-day metal and hardcore bands. They have strong grounds to have a whinge on this issue, howbeit there are definitely bands who are offering something out of the ordinary and weird at the same time — I agree, only a sprinkling of bands belong to that category. It’s hard to outline the style of Aerosol Jesus’s music using a single tag. Sharing current and former members from Grindhouse, Pascagoula, A Hundred Black Kites, Solleme, Stone Hand, Nemophilist and Bodily Fluids, the Brighton based unit brings influences from doom, sludge, noise, crust, early post-hardcore/screamo and even black metal and breeds something extremely dire, unrestrainedly heavy, and repulsively murky. And today, we’re pleased as hell to give you a little taste!Guitarist Rauiri simply likes to tag their style as “Heavy”, whereas bassist Sam finds himself comfortable using a more descriptive method to define their sound, such as dark, ambient, heavy, emotional, etc., and drummer Frank thinks it’s quite difficult to define their genre. However it is not difficult to detect the influences of theirs.
In the early days, black metal flourished in a different way; black metal artists stayed away from infusing sludge, crust, post -hardcore or noise components with their music. Many purists even think that those styles of music do not fit into black metal. These days, many artists are crossing the border, and Aerosol Jesus is definitely down with experimentation in their sonic landscape. “Yea, black metal can be great but it can be mixed with other genres to great effect. In the end, we just wanted to create something emotive the fact it mixed blackened parts with more doom and hardcore elements probably didn’t cross our minds that way it just happened,” Rauiri expresses.
Frank supports Rauiri’s view, “The beauty of that is being achieved today by so many bands is that there is less and less restriction for the merging of various genres and we’re proud to be able to be in a time where this is defining new music.” And bassist Sam thinks no different than his peers, “More and more music is being created every day and to carry any genre forward, I believe it should be given the space to evolve, otherwise it’s in danger of being forgotten or becoming exclusive to those elitists.”
Despite their involvement in various musical ventures, members of Aerosol Jesus are not keeping it as a side-project. Tom, the other guitarist, informs, “We all play in various bands but would not call Aerosol Jesus a side-project. We take all of our bands and music in general very seriously and it’s a huge part of our lives. Being creative and emotional people, it’s great to be able to put forward different sounds and ideas to the different bands we play in, which ultimately helps to keep each band fresh. We like to think we maintain a good commitment and balance to each project we are involved in.”
Asked about the lyrical topics and their linkage with politics, frontman Oli answers, “None of the tracks have any political leanings, the songs are all about mental health.” Whilst many listeners and apolitically themed bands wish to keep politics out of metal, Aerosol Jesus dissents with this view. Oli believes, “Bands should be free to discuss anything if that topic is important to them. Music should be free of boundaries. All art should be able to provoke an emotional response and connect with people.” Frank delivers, “You can’t stop somebody from expressing what they think, even if it is something you detest. However, it’s important that each person understands that they have a platform and that they will get challenged if it’s something that another person disagrees with. It’s fundamental for a person to understand the consequences of what they believe or the attitudes that they have and whether there is a future for that kind of mentality.”
Debut EP Failure, consisting of four distressingly composed tracks, will drop on April 28 through Astral Noize on tape format. Astral Noize has already been supporting noisy, crushing and forward-thinking music through their online and printed publication. Glad to see its expansion as a record label.
Aerosol JesusS played at Seek & Destroy Fest (Green Door Store, Brighton) last March, and an EP release show in Brighton at The Bees Mouth alongside Human Leather will take place on the 28th of April. They are currently planning to embark on an England and Scotland tour during the summer.
Today, we are exclusively premiering “Lurch Leech Grasp,” the fourth track of the EP. As hinted, their music is indeed difficult to pigeonhole. Homicidal sludgy tones and anguished fueled screams dominate the entire song with the support of noisy atmosphere, thick basslines and plodding but ear-shattering drum hammerings. The track ushers in a dystopian climate that is intensely surreal and virulently malicious.
The vocalist Oli states, “The track is about pressures to conform to stereotypes, changing yourself to suit someone else.”
Follow Aerosol Jesus on Facebook, email astralnoizerecords@outlook.com for placing orders.
