maxonemillion

As far as seasonal association, I always thought of Cannibal Ox‘s The Cold Vein as a New York City winter rap record, but it’s recently found a spot in my summer rotation — maybe it’s the Bay Area’s less-than-summer-like weather, or maybe it’s just my shitty weekday disposition these days (I mostly bump this real loud, early in the morning at work). Whatever the reason, it’s been striking a chord with me lately.

Produced by El P, the music is a dark, heavy-hitting swirl of brooding synth washes and squeals, laid over ominous drums tracks, sometimes thunderous and discordant, other times understated patterns at rolling gaits. Add to that sound the slightly echoed vocals and lyrics slathered in harsh realism, if not a (un)healthy dose of fatalism, of emcees Vordul and Vast Aire, and you’ve got an instant classic.

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Cannibal Ox, “Iron Galaxy,” The Cold Vein [Def Jux 2001]

It’s too bad these guys never put out another full-length studio record…then again, sometimes I wonder if one wasn’t enough. There’s something sublime about the monolithic singularity of this record…no matter the season.

Last fall, Ovipositor hit the road with our friends Generalissimo on a week-long tour up to the Northwest and back. Our first date was in Chico, sort of a warm up show on an off night in a venue that wasn’t necessarily well suited for our whole aesthetic / ethos, with bands that weren’t necessarily well matched with our styles. But whatever, that’s life on tour when you’re not a rock star ― you take what you can get.

One of the bands we played with that night, the headlining act, was an instrumental metal trio (though I hear they’re now a quartet) called Cold Blue Mountain; the show was the release party for their debut eponymous EP. The drummer is an old friend, one of the nicest and smartest guys I know, and one of the most most talented musicians as well, but for whatever reason, I gave the band’s performance ― and the free six-song EP ― a lukewarm review. I seem to remember thinking the music was just okay, but sorta derivative, flavor-of-the-month metal. (And yeah, I’ve rightly been called an asshole on occasion, too.)

I’ve been revisiting Cold Blue Mountain and their EP (produced by Surrogate‘s Chris Keene) quite a bit lately, and I have to say, I really like it. The band is roughly cut from the same musical cloth as bands like Pelican and Isis, but their songs are shorter, simpler, foregoing the epic opuses of heaviness in favor of tighter, more straightforward musical vignettes.

Sure, this stuff isn’t going to change the world, but it’s simple and honest, rooted in crushing waves of riffage with a strong rhythmic backbone and enough songwriting dynamic to keep it engaging. It’s not terribly heady, but it’s not knuckleheaded either, and I think that its instant familiarity and visceral appeal is what I like so much about it.

Frankly, I’ve been feeling lately like I want to be writing and playing simple, heavy music like this. Maybe that’s why I keep coming back to this EP.

Cold Blue Mountain has a page set up over at BandCamp.com, where they’re selling this EP (it’s a pay-what-you-feel-it’s-worth type of situation), but you can listen to the whole thing here, then decide for yourself if you want to go over there and get it…which you should.