Slow Burning Rage is a zig-zagging trip through an uneven landscape toward a visible but distant horizon.
Ryan Parrish is the mastermind behind Slow Burning Rage. He plays most of the instruments on all the songs and is joined by a long list of talented musicians who add spice to his creations. Parrish is best known as the drummer for Bleach Everything and Iron Reagan. With Slow Burning Rage, he connects the dots between the different musical worlds he inhabits in interesting and unusual ways.
The album opens with a squawking saxophone on “Agonal Gasp.” Free-from jazz perturbations follow; a cataclysm of sound. It is an upsetting, well-titled song. “The Slow Burn of Madmartigan” strikes a different tone altogether. It is considerably more linear while still being fascinating in its composition. It is a guitar driven number that could be the soundtrack for a road trip down a haunted highway. Next up is “El Tio (Curse of the Caves),” and, surprise, it is completely different. It is eerie, with a rambling bass line and an echoing general presence. There is a sinister build in the background that gives you chills.
“A.L.A.S.” is a quiet yet powerful ambient piece leading into the grinding “Scaphism,” a song that leaves you hyped up. The final movements have a light but worrying ephemerality to them, particularly “Transience,” but also “Dark Thunder…” The final track, “…Crystal Nebula,” takes you out to sea. While there floating on the waves, you realize you are actually in space, or maybe in some other not-earthly realm, some in-between order. The feeling is not reassuring, but neither is it threatening.
The album overall is a collection of feelings and moods. Under the right circumstances, a person could experience it as a journey. It is not loud metal music but it does have heavy moments and it offers the possibility of insights. Recommended.
Slow Burning Rage is out today, Friday, December 17th through Pax Aeternum. Take a look at the Bandcamp page for more info.
Links,
Flying Fiddlesticks Music Blog 