GREYMACHINE FINALLY HAS A RELEASE DATE!
I first wrote about Greymachine last September, when I foolishly thought the band was called Grey Machine; then Gary Suarez wrote about them again back in May. There wasn’t a lot of actual news to report, though; the supergroup – which includes amongst it ranks Justin Broadrick, Isis’ Aaron Turner, Diarmuid Dalton of Godflesh and Jesu and Dave Cochrane of Head of David – had a free single avail for download or purchase on vinyl, but no release date for their full-length.
Well, now they have a release date. August 4 on Hydra Head. Mark it in your calendars.
That free single, “Vultures Descend,” is trippy as fuck, and if the thought of a Broadrick/Turner team-up doesn’t make your dick hard, you must need viagra. Or, y’know, be a lady.
Here’s “Vultures Descend.” We’ll give you more news on the album as we get it.
Grey Machine, “Vultures Descend” – from Disconnected (out August 4 on Hydra Head) [Download]
-AR
Okay, fine — I’ll admit it: I’m on a non-weed kick. Or, lemme correct that — I’m on a non-weed buying kick. ‘Cause I’m still down to smoke from time to time but I get really compulsive about le ganj, and if me have a bag in me clutches, ima puffaleel every day of the week….which is all well and good in theory (not really), but seriously I’ve been doing that for way too long and I need to get ahold of myself before my brain dwindles down to a scant shred and I can’t properly form a sentence (let alone impart my wisdom to the youth of America). Will power, shmill power — that concept doesn’t really come into play when th’erb attaches itself to your lungs like black venomous goo on Spiderman.
The stuttering riff that opens both “Hall of the Dead” and Isis’ new album Wavering Radiant recalls the openers of the band’s two best tracks: Celestial’s title track and Oceanic’s “The Beginning and The End.” And yet, in true Isis fashion, once the riff and song itself slowly unravel, “Hall of the Dead” establishes a personality of its own, somehow both a return to form after the misstep of 2006’s In the Absence of Truth and a unique statement in itself. It has the Isis hallmarks – Aaron Turner’s gruff bark (and droning clean vocals), Aaron Harris’ sturdy yet subtly inventive drumming, reverb-drenched guitars either filling up the room with expansive post-rock riffs or obliterating it with a battering ram of down tuned sludge, busy bass lines crab-walking underneath it all, and a buildup that brilliantly segues into a beautiful wave of guitars – but has new elements as well: the keyboards have never been this present (usually used for just a blanket of ambience, they’re a central instrument all over Wavering Radiant), and there’s a new sense of focus that holds the song together.
A couple of months back I published 
By and large I think that re-mix albums are a total waste of time; only once in a blue moon does anyone manage to come up with anything interesting (or, at least, more interesting than the original track), so they often seem like cash-ins in the vein of “expanded edition” re-releases.
I’m always surprised when folks tell me they’re not so into Isis….yeah, I know-weird, right? How could you not get into that epic, thunderously heavy, totally melodic sound?
