Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Burning Bright...

DrAlienSmith - Phosphorus EP (2015)


Coming out a year after DrAlienSmith's first EP, Phosphorus features five tracks blending doom, industrial, heavy psych, and a spice rack of other influences for a quick but admirably experimental journey.  With an ability to write engaging material in both slow crawls and more animated material, DAS hits a good balance between the two.  Right now, my favorite piece is the title track, with its controlled moodiness and how it develops that quality, and while there's enjoyment to be had in that, I found myself wanting the wildness to go further, by letting the feedback have a stronger outlet or just cranking up the volume.
It's an EP that rewards close listening to the details, though, with what feels like an obscured outer-space story shaping its instrumental pieces (although that could just be the NASA cover art working its magic).  The years of mixing-board experience held by Al Smith (the man behind the alien) gives the album a great sense of textures and frequency-management (not always dominating the material, but ever-present), while the spikes of harder/more guitar-based punch are used sparingly enough to retain impact and strong contrast.  Cool stuff, worth checking in on for fans of dark & heavy music looking for something out of the ordinary.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Bill Laswell, Chord, Factrix, The Sleepers, Sunwølf




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