by rudyards | September 27th, 2013
Child Man (Houston, TX)
https://youtu.be/xiN_P4xz1b4
Childman Reunion Show featuring members of Morgue City, Golden Axe, The Drunks, Anguish in Exile & All is Blac
Keo - Vocals
Larry - Guitar & Vocals
Tony - Bass
Kelsey - Guitars
Spike the Percussionist - Drums
Bowel (Houston, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/bowel
“Vore epitomizes the very sense of sludge-death itself, delivering a powerful crushing endless stream of misery that seems to never end as it smites every living cell in your body. Vore shows how much Bowel has developed since Ploughers of Land & Sea, incorporating some newer elements into their songs and even some more technical work.
“Dump Truck” starts out blatantly slow enough to make you want to vomit, but just as your brain begins to unwind it speeds up and begins to drive downward, Lyrics being at this point spit out at you as if you have always been in the wrong, I imagine myself stuck in traffic now having cement poured on me till I drown. Shortly after this stint of speed it returns to a pounding pace, akin to what a steamroller does to a road.
If “Dump Truck” didn’t do it for you in slowness, then “Knowing Not Knowing” will finish you here, starting out with a set pace of sludge nonsense and a blazing solo set to it. My least favorite song on the album due to its repetitiveness it changes up in the middle to a chunkier spewing riff and remains an inconsistent mash till the end.
“Relentless Deviance” starts out strong with a driving riff and back and forth lyrical exchange of high to low growls, and sets itself solidly and then begins to harmonize with the guitars. Continuing in this fashion till about a quarter of the way through it begins some yowling that sounds of druids moaning at the moon, invoking the rite of spirits to procure evil. But this isn’t a bad thing because it fits perfect for what’s going on in the song. Finally finishes with another solo of epic size and proportion closing out with a loud bang.
“Slither Killer” is the song on the album that if Bowel were able to make a “quiet” song this would be the one. With good technical work in a few quartered out parts of the song it changes tempo and riffage throughout the song and then goes into a little prelude of creepy guitar sweeping foreshadowing the violence to come. It holds true to its word by then coming out swinging with a muddy and grinding riff backed by the former mentioned sweeping and obstinately saying fuck you, refusing to back down from its perch, calling madness upon the unfortunate listener of this album.” – Encyclopaedia Metallum (Album Review of Vore - 2011)
Burn The Boats (Houston, TX)
https://www.reverbnation.com/burntheboats
Rising from under the waves…..
The end of February 2008 was the first time that Stevie (vocals), Floyd (bass/backing vox), and Charles (guitar) first got together in a small, dirty room at Francisco Studios that once served as a storage closet. That first meeting would produce a song, and would set the tone for the band as these three would comprise the core of the band that was to become Burn the Boats.
Both Stevie and Floyd were veterans of the local Houston scene, having played in several bands most notably, and respectively, The Scourge, and Morgue City. Stevie and Floyd had met up a couple of times prior to Charles joining, but admittedly, not much progress had been made in those early meetings. Once the three were together, the song ideas came rather easily, with Stevie sitting in on drums until a permanent drummer could be added.
Word of mouth led a friend of a friend named Derek to try out for the open slot in June of 2008, and he nailed all 4 tunes that had been written up to that point. Derek was a multi-instrumentalist that played in several bands, including an AC/DC tribute band named Brian’s Johnson. During Derek’s time in the band, BtB shared the stage with such national acts as DevilDriver, In this Moment, Opeth, High on Fire, and Baroness. However, as a result of Derek’s obligations to the other bands, his time in the Boats was limited and he left in early April 2010.
The drum throne wasn’t empty for long as Brandon came in at the end of April 2010, and put his stamp on all the songs in that first practice. With Brandon in tow, the Boats set about to play shows that helped to showcase their blend of new and old school influences infused with a dose of melody. As BtB played more shows, the consensus was that their sound was unlike the majority of bands playing out regularly. With the emphasis being more on songwriting than just a bunch of complex riffs thrown together, the songs have more of a natural flow that will keep the listener engaged.
The New Year found the Boats opening for The Sword, and winning over a slew of new fans. However that momentum was short lived as the curse of Spinal Tap reared it’s ugly head, and yet another drummer change was to come. Brandon returned to school full time and no longer had the time to devote to playing in a band. A temporary drummer was found to fulfill a previously scheduled obligation in early April of 2011, however, the search continued for a fourth permanent oarsman. That search has now ended at the end of October, as Brandon has rejoined the fold.
BtB is garnering internet radio airplay with the songs Release the Kraken, and Lost at Sea. Both songs are getting rave reviews from listeners, stateside and across Europe. Hoping to ride the waves of momentum that the airplay is stirring, BtB will release a Kraken 7″ single by year’s end, and will hopefully follow that up by releasing a full length album.
