Kaldeket & Svisselsant: a Big Bovine Industrial Wastes Double Review
Rock ‘n’ roll Black Metal is alive! (And it lives in Minneapolis.)
Big Bovine Industrial Wastes is a Minneapolis-based, DIY internet label dedicated to raising money for charities. A self-described “resource of various unpleasant sounds”, BBIW serves as an umbrella label for the various projects of musician Travis Minnick, former drummer of False. Proceeds raised from digital sales on BBIW’s bandcamp are being donated toward sexual violence organizations in Travis’ community, such as the Minnesota Indian Women’s Sexual Assault Coalition.
The music shared so far is firmly rooted in black metal, punk, and their offshoots; ranging from personal, “romantik-motorik” black metal, to uhhh… deranged, leguminous, technicolor synthpunk. If none of that last sentence made any sence to you just keep scrolling and slap the embedded play buttons below to hear the two freshest slabs from BBIW.
Kaldeket – Vitiate
First up we have Kaldeket, a joint project between Travis and former False keyboardist, Kishel. What does it sound like you ask? Well:
Dig if you will a picture
Guitar and keyboard heroics
“What if Prince wrote big ass black metal?”
My thesis, readers
Can you picture this?
Dream, if you can, some solos
Dope melodies, harmonies too
Windir and Krallice-esque flourishes
Drumming real fast
This guy’s a fast drumming boo
Look out y’all, it’s that Minneapolis Sound; riffs and keyboard solos and drum acrobatics for days. And yes, this is reminiscent of False at times! But whereas False’s music built and compounded and ultimately released into vast, uneasy expanses, Kaldeket writhes and gnashes and tears along at a breakneck pace with a more overt display of melody. Breathing room, rather than manifesting through aforementioned expanses and drastically decreased tempos, emerges via shifts in emphasis from guitar to synth leads; e.g. the kick ass choral key + vocal chant that closes out “Dissolute Intentions”, or the shift to big ole triumphant synth leads at 1:19 of “448c” and 2:33 of “Arrogant Function”. “Arrogant Function” also has some primo Windir-worship at about 4:30 that will leave you pining for some fjords, or perhaps a quick dip into the purifying waters of Lake Minnetonka.
Game… Kaldeket.
Svisselsant – Svisselsant
Yo was Kaldeket kool and all that but you just don’t have tens of minutes to get grim and trv to? Did you dig the latest from Grandeur and Spider God but wish that they had trimmed a bit of the fat? Have you had your attention span wrecked through caffeine abuse, coming of age with the internet, and too much grindcore? Then take a jaunt with Svisselsant! (I really hope that rhymes).
This is big punk hours… er, minutes. And while there’s no synth this time around, this is so fast and quick you won’t have time to miss them. Most songs are well under 2.5 minutes here. Can they play slow? Svisselcan’t!
While heavy dollops of melody and speed are common ingredients to these two latest BBIW projects, the accenting flavors differ. Kaldeket’s marriage of big, poignant melodies with angular, borderline dissonant guitar maneuvers is replaced by some truly grueling and unrelenting fret work in Svisselsant. The bass in particular gives some galloping, meaty heft that often feels absent from a lot of black metal. Mötorhead momes’, y’all. One of my notes read “big bassy bass track 3” so yeah, give “YANHEDA” a listen for an example. Oh, and once again, rad drumming all around. Travis, my guy, your calves must be TAUT.
Of the two, I’m more partial to Kaldeket, the ambitious, bombastic 1999 to Svisselsant’s more raw, rough n’ ready Dirty Mind. That being said both EPs are essential 2021 listens if you’ve got that hankering for melodic black metal, and I’m definitely stoked for whatever BBIW has in store next. Hopefully a Purple Rain or Batman.
If you dig these releases, pick ’em up on BC, and give Big Bovine Industrial Wastes a follow there and on social media!
