Hirax – Blasted in Bangkok
Having just written about Hirax’s 2004 release, The New Age of Terror, I was inspired to find the piece of music from my youth that actually turned me onto the band in the first place. A few search functions later, I found myself on eBay and within mere minutes, I was paying a king’s ransom for Hirax’s 1987 7” demo, Blasted in Bangkok. But, it was worth every penny. You see, I picked this disc up around ’88 or so, played it forward, backward, sideways, upside down . . . basically, the songs became a piece of my being and I remember being sprawled out on my bed vegging out to the cover photo. I ended up trading the disc to some dude for a pile of loot, but truth be told, I don’t remember what any of the stuff was and couldn’t even be certain if I retain any of said loot in my collection. So, back to present day and Blasted in Bangkok is being handed to me by poor, underappreciated postman Sal, and it was like being in high school all over again . . . sans the alienation, massive waves of depression, and bad acne.
Amidst some healthy doses of nostalgia, I slapped the piece of wax on the turntable and applied needle to groove, and man! It was like I had never stopped listening to this thing! Rumbling bass and drums tore out of my speakers as “Fear the War Within” cuts through the shit and starts the pit. Despite the poor production or mix or what have you, the song is arguably one of the best tunes Hirax has ever committed to tape. Odds are, the song wouldn’t have had the same impact on me if it were produced to a sterling quality, the rawness of the recording truly captures the emotion of the music. Filled with mid tempo breaks coming out of speed metal passages, Katon W. De Pena’s soaring vocals and cry for equality, “Fear the War Within” shows the band stepping away from the traditional speed/thrash metal of the time and crossing over to more of the hardcore vibe. For me, this whole song comes together perfectly . . . primarily, it’s the lyrics and the way they seem to effortlessly flow out of Katon’s brain. For the past twenty years, I’ve sung the first verse like I was spinning the disc on a daily basis.
Flip this bad boy over to the B Side and prepare to have your face blown off by “The Beginning of the End.” Opening up as a true speed metal classic, Hirax then drop down to a killer guitar driven mid tempo mosh part. Man! What a killer groove! The huge bass volume gives the song a dense hardcore feel, but at the same time, has a warm tone that works as a nice counterpart to the more sterile and rigid guitar tone. Again, hearing this song for the first time in twenty years, it’s as if I had never stopped giving this disc love. I found myself immediately singing in tandem with Katon as he attacks the choruses and then I was a whirlwind of flailing limbs, completely oblivious of any obstacle that was in my path. I love Hirax . . . and it all started with Blasted in Bangkok. It appears that in 2000, the band re-released this demo on 10” white vinyl and included another track, so . . . it looks like I need to make another trip to eBay. www.blackdevilrecords.com
Heavy Water Experiments – Single
Heavy Water Experiments is one of those bands that have never been easy to pigeon-hole. Going back to when they were known as Imogene, I remember listening to them and thinking, ‘They’re heavy, but melodic; loose and spacey, but progressively complex.’ Heavy Water Experiments will always challenge the most discerning music listener, at the same time as they create a rich textural sound to have humming away in the background of one’s daily activities. So, when we received the new single from the band, we were excited beyond all belief, immediately racing to the turntable to give the sky blue vinyl a spin. As per usual with HWE, the bass is heavy . . . man, its heavy! But this time around, as the A Side single of “Hermes Told Me So” hums along in its mesmerizing fashion, we begin to recognize the elegant textures of the keyboards as they create a semi-transparent wall in the background of the song, Robert Salguero’s drum work channels a bit of the late, great John Bonham’s thundering attack, but maybe even more impressively, multi-instrumentalist David Melbye’s softer, more melodic vocal approach. God! The more I listen to this song, the better and better it gets. Heady and intelligent lyrics sung with an airy voice, mixed with the shimmering sound of the keyboards and propelled by a dense wall of rhythmic sound . . . does it really get any better than this?
The heavy drone tone of the Heavy Water sound continues with the B Side track, “The Plunge.” This time along though, the band seems to stretch itself more than what I’ve heard in the past. “The Plunge,” while still harboring many of those late 60’s psychedelic sounds has a heavy pop feel to it. For some reason, I keep thinking of the Mary Tyler Moore show when I hear this, when in actuality, the song would fit better with the imagery of a darkened basement during the Summer of Love . . . lava lamps bubbling away, couples curled up in bean bags, soft clouds of smoke from burning incense or a fired up joint . . . I love the subtle guitar interlude in the middle of the song and the big gong crashes. This song, like many in the bands repertoire, is deceptively complex; filled with great ambient portions of sound while retaining a heady musicianship that would befuddle the average musician. All we need now is a 12” version of Heavy Water Experiments so we can really get our freak on! www.heavywaterexperiments.com
The Fitt – S/T
Sludgy, virulent, mean, and nasty, The Fitt is a new find for me. Submitted by Big Neck Records, this 7” is comprised of six tracks and all of them massively distorted nuggets of sound. I’m not really sure if one would consider these guys doom metal or sludge metal or stoner metal or what, but the common theme throughout all of the sound is the heavy density of the tones. On initial listen, I thought the pressing was at 45 rpm, but upon switching to 45 and listening, well . . . it was Alvin and his furry little friends were smoking a lot of herb and living in squalor, firing off some of the most insane music in their illustrious careers. But alas, the disc is pressed at 33 1/3 and after giving it the self titled disc a few more spins, it all began to make a lot more sense.
When you first hear “Hawk Eyes,” there’s no doubt that you’ll think something is wrong with your sound system. My God! That bass is everywhere! Then, as the rest of the instruments are identified, it’s readily apparent that The Fitt are hell bent intent on leveling cities by sheer sound intensity. The instrumental “M80” opens the B Side and is as powerful as the titled would insinuate. Like every song on the disc, the music is dense. Not just the bass tones, but the guitar tones, the vocals, hell . . . even the drums just sound unnaturally heavy. “Killer” is an unrelenting beat down with a quasi-psychedelic wrinkle. Listening to this song is akin to peering through a cloud of pot smoke and seeing the hazy images of this musical trio hammering away at their instruments. The distorted vocals lend the greatest hand in making this song sound like a trip to a face to face meeting with one’s darkest fears. The effect is one of claustrophobia and paranoia. The effect is fucking freaky! www.myspace.com/thefitt
- Pope JTE
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