Rhode Island's Pilgrim released their second disc, II: Void Worship, in April on Metal Blade and the band is coming into town next Wednesday for a show at The Acheron with like-minded doom metalers Age of Taurus (Rise Above Records).
Metal Blade describes Pilgrim's new disc as: "eight new epic tracks laden with tales of sword and sorcery, death, doom and destruction. Recorded at Moonlight Mile Recording by audio mastermind Mike Moebius, II: Void Worship delivers an absolutely unrivaled quality of tone and heaviness that many critics felt their original effort Misery Wizard had lacked. The band takes a new approach to their song writing, replacing meditated, repetitive hypnosis-inducing dirges with more calculated and demented powerhouse riffs. They build, shape, and climb into frenzied climaxes and fade into sweet sonic releases, molding perfectly crafted rock songs into twisting spires of evil doom metal masterpieces. It is obvious that Pilgrim has matured, both musically and as individuals, in their past two years of global conquest."
For the show at The Acheron, Pilgrim and Age of Taurus are playing with the two-piece dirge/drone band Holly Hunt and gritty Brooklyn noise-makers BLACKOUT (as in blackout drunk). Tickets are $10 and doors are at 8PM.
Durham, NC alt-rock band Red Collar announced that a limited edition red vinyl pressing of their debut release Pilgrim will be coming out soon on Loose Charm Records.
It looks like there will be 300-500 copies pressed on transparent red vinyl.
"All of them will be hand numbered and on nice, red vinyl. All of the sleeves will be screen-printed. The track order was re-worked to give the album more of a Side A/Side B flow and the first 100 copies will be printed with special metallic silver ink. Due to length we couldn’t fit all 11 songs on one record so every copy will also have a download card for all 11 album tracks plus one bonus cover song that we will post more about soon." -- from Red Collar's blog
There is a lot to be said for a band that comes on and hits it as hard as Red Collar did at their show at Piano's. I was expecting the show to be somewhat low-key given the early set time (8PM) but, while the band varied the pace, they didn't slow down in intensity during their 40 minute set. Red Collar drew a good-sized crowd and their set left the enthusiastic crowd hoping for more.
A number of reviewers have compared the band to Fugazi but I couldn't hear the basis for this when listening to the band's debut disc Pilgrim (To my ears, Pilgrim sounds like a cross between the Hold Steady and New Model Army). After seeing the band play live, I can now see where the Fugazi comparison came from. Jason Kutchma and Mike Jackson interlock their guitars with both a style and intensity similar to Fugazi's Guy and Ian.
For more info on the band, there was a detailed piece written up in Durham's IndyWeek.com a few months back.
There is a distinctive 'british' feel to this disc with its precise production, melodic rolling bass lines and atmospheric guitar licks. With the vocal urgency of singer Jason Kutchma and the big hooky choruses, Red Collar's debut CD Pilgrim comes across like New Model Army meets the Hold Steady.
While Red Collar have have big sing-along choruses like Hold Steady, Jason Kutchma's lyrics are a bit more vague than the lyrical story telling of Craig Finn but yet seem to explore many of the same themes. There is a reoccurring theme across Pilgrim about being lost and struggling to find one's way. On a few of the cuts, Red Collar extend this inward-looking introspection to working class anthems about the death of the American dream. Given the current economic malaise, tracks like "Rust Belt Heart" are particularly poignant. Here are some of the lyrics from Pilgrim which are representative of the band's outlook.
- "There's such pain in dreaming, in the failure of attempt but the sting of disappointment is less than the pain of regret...I'm so sick of the cool, so sick of the cost and I'm tired of my hereos always being lost." -- "Radio On"
- "Oh f*ck! Not this shit again! I had a map and a plan but I'm lost, I'm lost. Follow mother's advice or daddy's course. They thought they knew love before the divorce." -- "Tools"
- "Ghosts of glories reign here, clothes are shadows of former selves...They're sending us home one week before we get our pension. 'Clean out your locker, gentlemen, we wish you the best' and then they watched the men walk down the suicide steps." -- "Rust Belt Heart"
With the driving intensity that is captured on this studio recording, these 'ragged but right' anthems should make for a great live show. The band has obviously taken a page from the Dischord playbook as they have the following quote up on their website: "When we play live the goal is always to be able to break down the barriers between the band and the audience. When we can get past the ‘we’re up here playing and you’re all down there watching’ and get to a place where we’re all participating in the same thing, where there is no us and them, that’s when we feel like we’ve succeeded as band, and, in the end, isn’t that what rock and roll is about? ”
Red Collar are playing Monday night (7/13) at The Charleston in Brooklyn and Tuesday night (7/14) at Piano's.
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