Blue Heron – Everything Fades Review

By Carcharodon

Albuquerque, New Mexico’s Blue Heron dropped their debut record, Ephemeral, in 2022. I remember briefly listening to it at the time, but it didn’t leave much of an impression. Dipping in again now, I think that was very much a Me Problem because Ephemeral was a solid slab of desert stoner rock, tinged with both blues and grunge. And I slept on it. Stoner is a genre mired in mediocrity but, for me, when a band hits its stride, it’s so goddamned satisfying. Bands like Kyuss, whom we’ll be hearing more about below,1 had this ability to just carry me away, born on the languid desert winds. Now back with their sophomore record, Everything Fades, whatever sort of journey Blue Heron wants to take me on, it’s one I’m determined not to sleep on!

On Everything Fades, Blue Heron picks up where they left off. And why not? They set themselves a great base to build on and have done so in every respect. Most of the material falls slap bang in the middle of a sand-swept bridge, leading between the lands of Kyuss and Sleep. Huge, distended guitars from Mike Chavez (ex-Spiritu) rumble and flow across a world drowning in reverb and languid melodies, while Steve Schmidlapp’s bass thrums its way through the open dunes. There’s also more than a bit of early Clutch (opener, “Null Geodesic”) and Orange Goblin (closer, “Flight of the Heron”) infusing the smoky sound on show. Not satisfied with the desert, however, Blue Heron skilfully weaves in Dirt-era Alice in Chains (particularly on “Swansong”), adding extra depth to their songwriting. The star of the show, however, is singer Jadd Schickler (also ex-Spiritu), who shows himself to be hugely versatile. His vocals range from a beautifully rich, bourbon-drenched husk that evokes Sleep’s Al Cisneros and early-career Neil Fallon, to a delicate bluesy style, which was uncannily familiar.2

Everything Fades truly kicks off the moment that Schickler’s gritty voice is first unleashed. After that, Blue Heron never looks back. The Kyuss worship is both clear and very well done (“Dinosaur” and “Trepidation”) but there’s a lot more going on than that. Both Jam Room-era Clutch and the rougher edge of early Down, or even Neurosis, shine through in places. It’s the title track that showcases Blue Heron’s absolute best, as the song glides effortlessly from Kyuss’ desert blues, Ricardo Sanchez’s drums awakening slowly from a sun-drenched daydream, to kick off into big, Orange Goblin stoner territory. At the three-minute mark, Schickler drops down from his coarse bellow, which perfectly tweeters on the verge of cracking, to a delicate croon, which reminded me most of Mark Lanegan.

Coming in at a tight 38 minutes, there is very little fat on Everything Fades, which is a welcome surprise for a stoner record.3 Indeed, Blue Heron show themselves to be very talented songwriters, with nearly everything they try coming off, feeling fluid, organic, and crucially, effortless. It has to be said that “Clearmountain” feels a bit light on ideas and notably weaker than the rest of the songs, with Schickler’s normally stellar voice also feeling like it’s straining. However, the lyrics for that track properly got me for some reason, as Schickler husks “Don’t stand upon my grave and weep, I am not there; I do not sleep, I am the thousand winds that blow.”4 That slight misstep apart, the thing that really holds back Everything Fades is the production. At a shocking DR2, it often sounds shallow and crushed, with the drums eating up the space that should be available for the guitars (see “Bellwether” and “Flight of the Heron,” in particular). This is a real shame as Sanchez’s work behind the kit is solid and I love Chavez’s guitar tone, which sounds mellow and organic.

With Everything Fades, Blue Heron has improved on Ephemeral, showing themselves to be skilled songwriters. The songs flow and the album is at that perfect length where each time the last notes of “Fight of the Heron” fade out you’re left wanting just a little bit more. Undoubtedly a very good record, if Everything Fades had better production, it could easily have been a great one.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 2 | Format Reviewed: V0 VBR mp3
Label: Blues Funeral Recordings
Websites: blueheronabq.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/blueheronabq
Releases Worldwide: September 27th, 2024

#2024 #35 #AliceInChains #AmericanMetal #BlueHeron #Blues #BluesFuneralRecordings #Clutch #Down #EverythingFades #Grunge #Kyuss #MarkLanegan #Neurosis #OrangeGoblin #Review #Reviews #Sep24 #Sleep #StonerMetal #StonerRock

Generation of Vipers – Guilt Shrine Review

By Dear Hollow

I’ve heard Generation of Vipers described as a Neurosis-meets-Amenra plus a substantial shot of aggression.1 With four full-lengths and a split with fellow Tennessee post-or-sludge-adjacent metallers under their belt, the act’s sound remains stalwart—or stagnant, depending on the listener. Thick and bottom-heavy riffs dominate, from staggered Isis-esque rhythms, and rolling punk-sludge beatdowns à la Black Tusk, to ominous plucking straight outta Abraham. Although a decade exists between the last full-length Coffin Wisdom and Guilt Shrine, it’s business as usual. Guilt Shrine will not change your mind about Generation of Vipers or post-metal in any way, but the aggression adds a jolt of intensity that rises above the muck.

Guilt Shrine’s tracklist tumbles across your ears like boulders in a landslide, Generation of Vipers chugging and barking their way through seven tracks and thirty-six minutes. While the balanced opener “Joyless Grails” and the southern-fried bruiser “Lux Inversion” deal with a sturdy balance of haunting melodies, highlights embrace the attack of cutthroat intentions. “In the Wilderness,” for instance, features a swarm of vicious riffs that hit you like the arsenal of post-metal Hammer Bro, balancing shredding palm-muting, punk chord progressions, and an unshakeable groove to get stuck in your head. “Elijah,” although not without its fair share of menacing placidity, utilizes these plucking movements and the empty silence to amplify the crushing weight that follows, concluding riffs pushed to a shuddering maximum. Generation of Vipers features a solid mix and production, guitars able to morph between galloping mammoth chugs and stinging melodies, while Joshua Holt’s vocals are sermonic and fiery, commanding the brig with charisma and fury, although the production has its issues.

Generation of Vipers adds a neat steel toe to the boot of post-metal. But the blueprint remains rooted in Through Silver in Blood and Panopticon, with touches of the Masses, and very little else sticks out beyond classic post-metal accomplished aggressively. This means that the crime that Generation of Vipers is guilty of is a lack of memorability resulting from the maximum safety and the seeming recognizability of the riffs and melodies. Their Amenra-isms are sparse, limited to albeit tasteful forays like “Elijah” and “Guilt Shrine,” or passages of “Lux Inversion,” but even the latter’s melodic template feels a tad like a weaker version. After the relatively pointless interlude “Doesn’t Mean Anything,” the most blatantly anticlimactic track here is easily “A Quiet Life,” no thanks to the production in which the ominous plucking quickly overpowers the riffs. It’s a problem that leaves a stain on “Guilt Shrine” as well—robbing the two tracks of their instrumental punch. As such, the album structure is a tad uneven, with the back half robbed of momentum.

Generation of Vipers isn’t interested in shaking up post-metal, and that’s fine. Guilt Shrine picks up exactly where Coffin Wisdom left off even after a decade, with sludgy riffs and an undeniable fire burning in the trio’s belly, with a touch of menace and darkness. However, although the production falters on the back end and there are weaker songs aboard, Guilt Shrine is a pleased-as-punch post-metal album that sounds a lot like Neurosis or Isis. I’m pleased to have found them, and I look forward to what they’ve got next.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Translation Loss Records
Website: facebook.com/generationofvipers | generationofvipers.bandcamp.com
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

#25 #2024 #Abraham #Amenra #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #BlackTusk #GenerationOfVipers #GuiltShrine #Isis #Neurosis #PostMetal #Review #Reviews #SludgeMetal #TranslationLossRecords