I’ve seen Howl Ensemble play and as musicians they look nothing like the sort of band you’d think (after listening to this) they should look like; coming over as a bunch of Heavy Metal escapees.
I’ve seen Howl Ensemble play and as musicians they look nothing like the sort of band you’d think (after listening to this) they should look like; coming over as a bunch of Heavy Metal escapees.
(Katzwijm) http://www.katzwijm.com/
A rumbustious record, full of fizzing post rock structures that break down, or meander off to nowhere in particular; in the way lots of post-rock does. Luckily it’s not really a post-rock record. This LP has slightly more of a psychedelic feel to it; things like the break in Cloud [sic!] [sic!] and Apocalypse are reminiscent of early Floyd – that era where Gilmore’s not really replaced Syd fully. Bits tread into Van der Graaf Generator territory too. On some parts of Time = Warped all we miss are Hammill’s operatic vocals. What about quoting Ginsberg in (best track) Howl, eh? That prompts a Neanderthal fuzz-out that is a bit Speed Glue & Shinki in places. I’m all for that. But (best of all) there are some very appealing subtle builds up of melody which also pick up on a steady and subtle groove now and again. And this is a refreshing relief; we don’t get any of those 5th rate sub-Godspeed chord progressions. Phew.
I’ve seen Howl Ensemble play and as musicians they look nothing like the sort of band you’d think (after listening to this) they should look like; coming over as a bunch of Heavy Metal escapees (they give it away on Gunslinger). It matters not; probably one of the subliminal reasons why I really like this record when I normally have very little time for post-rock or math-rock. The titles are a bit ‘Rawk’ too; Gunslinger!? I ask you… really. Good stuff though, a bit of a grower this LP, you need to give it some time.