Review: SPLIT by Greylock & BEDTIMEMAGIC
Duos in heavy music are nearly always an intriguing prospect. The limitations that naturally come with only having eight limbs and two throats to work with means that the music requires an extra energy that often leads to something magically creative. Think of Lightning Bolt, Death From Above, Mantar, Om, The Body, Big Business, BlackLab... if you've seen any of these band's live you'll know the kind of exuberance that emanates from them. Even slower droning bands like Bell Witch and Bismuth have a certain intensity to them that comes from the elemental connection of rhythm and melody.
Greylock and BEDTIME magic are two Boston, MA based duos who despite their inherent differences, share that same visceral nature. This split album features five tracks from each band which show off their uniquely raw styles of heaviness. The two acts not only display their individual sounds in their own songs, but provide a cover of each other on their respective halves. The tracks flow into each other on each side brilliantly, and it makes for the kind of engaging and coherent listen you don't often get on a split record.
Greylock are a sludge and doom band, producing a harsh and brutal sound akin to the likes of Primitive Man, Fister and Unearthly Trance. Their music sounds absolutely huge not just though the extreme volume but also the punishing force of the riffs. The two members, guitarist/vocalist Mike and drummer Jesse, combine their performances together brilliantly into a dark and depressing form of intense sludge.
Their side starts with the slow building sounds of Do Not Revive. The funeral doom tempo drums and droning guitars are overlaid by a harrowing throat-shredding vocal, and as the the instruments fade only these howls are left. Pusher takes the energy up a notch with a faster beat and pulsating vocal. The track also brings in some discordant tremolo guitar chords that whirl constantly through the track. The Eighth Day picks the speed up a bit, working itself around a more definitive sludge riff and breaking things down into a doomy finale.
The cover of BEDTIMEMAGIC's King Size is more than triple the length of the original, although considering that was only 38 seconds long it still only makes the cover two minutes in length. Other than the distinctively heavier tone, Greylock replace the chaotic blast beats and clashing punk vocals with a mid-tempo groove and a deep powerful roar. Amplified Nothingness sounds like it could be a Boris song-title, and musically it begins with a similar groove to the Japanese legends, but with Greylock's now familiar dark style. The track grows in feverishness throughout, and by the end feels like it's ready to implode under it's own emotive tension.
BEDTIMEMAGIC, as the name might suggest, are a little more eccentric with their sound on this record feeling indebted to hardcore punk bands like Cancer Bats, Converge and Trap Them. Their sound is deeper than many duos, as they add some extra flavour with a foot-pedal organ that's somehow played by drummer/vocalist Morgan (sounds like the drumming octopus to me!), and a distinct dual-amp tone from bassist/vocalist Nicholas.
Shuteye is a short, sharp burst of sinister fury to open things up before the band drop into Blanket Statement. It opens with a quieter passage and a more intonated vocal that reminds me of The Banner at their most solemn, before shifting into a catchy groove that is immediately reminiscent of Cancer Bats.
Surprisingly their cover of Greylock's Wagon Jumper doesn't quite follow the reverse formula to Greylock's cover of their track. The original is nearly four minutes of relentless depressive aggression, and while BEDTIMEMAGIC's cover feels like a more concentrated version, it still maintains much of the suffocating atmosphere of the original. At three minutes it's the longest track on their side of the record and also the most brutal.
Lying Softly sounds like a heavier version of Daughters, with the instruments constantly crashing into each other with absolute ferocity. There's a couple of brief moments of calm, but it's not long before the duo start tearing everything to pieces again. Now I Rest finishes things off with a stunning run of hardcore hooks and blast beat riffs. The ending is quite terrifying as it builds into a cacophony of harsh noise before a sudden stop into an uncomfortable silence.
Both sides of this record are excellent, with both duos performing to their absolute finest and giving us five amazing sounding tracks each. There is a richness and depth to both band's sounds which belies the fact that they are both duos, and it's a fantastic example of how the intimacy of a two-piece can work so well in heavy music. If like me you enjoy the coarse and organic sides of both sludge and hardcore, then hopefully you'll love this split as much as I did.
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