Post Posting: Spook the Horses, Zyclops, Cavern
It took over a year, but I have finally got around to post posting again. Get ready for some excellent post-metal rated on a post-sensical scale.
Spook the Horses / Empty Body on Pelagic Records / August 28, 2020
I nearly passed on checking out new music from Spook the Horses since I remembered their last release, frankly, snoozed my horses. It was a very slow, moody affair that was, at the very least, unique. One of those “I appreciate what they are going for, but it ain’t for me” deals. It had all the post-metal sounds you’d expect, but without the metal part. I am grateful they recognized that this is not the year for subtlety and turned up the intensity from two to 10. Empty Body is post-metal without the waiting. With all but one track under 5 minutes, they had enough fantastic grooves and furious riffs banked to get around that pesky build-up time. With the drum and bass driving the energy throughout, the guitars are free to scatter dissonance and melody wherever they see fit. It’s a solid record, folks. My horses hath been spooketh.
3.5 out of 5 Ripostes
Zyclops / Inheritance of Ash / January 31, 2020
Carcassbomb dropped a blurb on these guys a few months back, but I think they deserve an extra mention. The quartet from Austin might shy away from the “post-” label but can I hear enough influence to see it fit here. Where most new post-metal uses Cult of Luna as its starting point (see above), it’s nice to see a band use some Isis influence instead. It has that nice sludge backbone with a cutting guitar tone that I enjoy so very much. “Wind” might be my favorite track here, bringing doom into the mix as well, and with a killer slow-but-effective melodic theme. Oh yeah, and did I mention it’s NYP?
4 out of 5 Confusing Signposts
Cavern / Powdered / August 28, 2020
It’s rare that I find a new band that I really enjoy while gathering news for the blog, but Cavern has captivated me from the first single. Instrumentally, the trio would have caught my attention with its expertise in the post-rock genre. The drums take the Pelican approach with funky tom-driven rhythms during the verses. The guitar’s clean echoing tone fills in a ton of space with its ever-shifting melodies. They are masters of the pulse that infuses the listener with hopefully-pessimistic energy, but what really solidifies this as a great album is the way they successfully weave a vocal track inside, and not on top of, this chaotic landscape. It’s one thing to have a great voice, which is obvious here, but another altogether to be able to create such magnificent hooks. It’s produced by Kurt Ballou and mastered by Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg, so of course, it sounds fantastic as well. The only fault of Powdered is that it is criminally short.
5 / 5 Post Posting Posts
