I’m on an early shift at work,
which means I am walking in at a very early hour. You see some weird stuff in
Victoria’s quieter moments.
For example, yesterday I saw a
bike with a large plush doll of Kermit the Frog strapped to the frame. Then
today, about a block away, I found a lone green arm which I was almost certain
was Kermit’s, severed and left in the street. What hell had Kermit endured in
that 24 hours? Had he fell in with a bad crowd or was he just in the wrong
place at the wrong time? Would Sweetums take his terrible revenge on those responsible? My sleep-deprived mind wandered darkly.
Ahem.
Well, this next band isn’t afraid
to let their minds wander darkly.
Disc 640 is….Dark Ages
Artist: Bison B.C.
Year of Release: 2010
What’s up with the Cover? All must kneel at
the altar of the fire dragons! Is this
altar the harbinger of a second dark age, as per the album title? The drawing
could certainly use some Renaissance perspective work.
How I Came To Know It: My friend Ross introduced me to Bison
with a song called “Slow Hand of Death”
off of their 2008 album “Quiet Earth” (reviewed way back at Disc 192). I
liked “Quiet Earth” a lot so decided to give them a shot on their next album.
How It Stacks Up: I have two Bison B.C. albums, this one and the
aforementioned “Quiet Earth.” “Quiet Earth” is by far my favourite.
Rating: 2 stars
My first exposure to Bison BC
brought back all my love of heavy metal as smoothly and subconsciously as
muscle memory. Two years later, “Dark Ages” has all of the same ingredients
that had me falling for this band, but somehow failed to connect the same way.
“Dark Ages” chugs along with the same
visceral energy. It has the same pounding guitar chords and the band is just as
tight, but for some reason it lacked the signposts I needed to get into the
record.
The vocals have that guttural doom
quality that would have once filled me with dread and awe but now feel kind of
shouty. One thing I really like about the previous album’s song “Slow Hand of Death” is that I could understand
them when they sing “Slow hand of death!”
during the chorus. Maybe I couldn’t hear the rest of the lyrics, but I could
hear ‘slow hand of death’. It was
strangely comforting to at least know what was going on, even if it was some
form of creeping death.
I don’t expect this doom metal sound
to be focused on the lyrics, but occasionally I would like to hear them. The
opening track, “Stressed Elephant” is
about elephants taken into captivity, and never forgetting their destroyed
lives, as they dream of revenge for the crime done to them. It is awe-inspiring
and thoughtful, and I’d like to better understand it.
The song arrangements on “Dark
Ages” are dense even for metal, with a thick miasma of sound on almost every
track. They push the loudness pedal all the way to the floor when taking the
foot off the gas just a little would have made these songs that much better. As
it is, I couldn’t quite get my ears around them.
The songs are very long (46
minutes of music in only seven songs) but for the most part the band knows when
to advance the musical concept so they don’t drag. “Fear Cave” in particular is nicely divided up into equal parts
dread and power.
It was also nice to see the
Wendigo trilogy completed. On “Quiet Earth” we had “Wendigo Pt. 1 (Quest for Fire)” and “Pt. 2 (Cursed to Roam).” “Dark Ages” adds “Pt. 3 (Let Him Burn),” which is the best of the bunch and also
conveniently explains why that quest in Part One was so important.
The first album was a go-to album for
me when writing my last book and a bit of a sentimental favourite, but the
magic doesn’t repeat on “Dark Ages.” There is a lot to recommend this album, particularly
for those who love heavy music, but it didn’t emotionally connect to me the way
I need this kind of music to. As a result, I am going to pass it along to
someone who will appreciate it more than I did.
Best tracks: Fear Cave,
Wendigo Pt. 3 (Let Him Burn)
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