Kurt Ballou is the guitarist for Converge and runs/is Godcity Recording Studio. In both of these capacities he has been a big part of making some of my favorite music ever. Screw the commonly used term “arguably” – Converge’s last record is their best/hardest record yet. And Kurt’s recording style presents live-sounding documents of aggressive bands that includes a ferocious midrange bite (see Young Widows, Disappearer, or Ghengis Tron, for example). It’s a compelling antidote to the heavily-edited/eq’d ProTools default deployed by most heavy music. He’s also an unabashed music fan who’s given some thought to what he likes.

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Whilst going through a massive pile of CDs on my desk earlier this week I came across a copy of Only Living Witness’ Prone Mortal Form. I wasn’t cool enough to have known about Prone Mortal Form when it came out in ’93, and in fact I only discovered it when Shadows Fall covered “December” on their Fallout From the War b-sides record a few years back (see? those things work). But I’m so glad I didp; since rediscovering this CD earlier this week I’ve been jamming it non-stop… so good.

Here’s Only Living Witness performing the record’s title track back in the day in what looks like a sweaty basement or VFW hall. Wish I could’ve seen this band live in their heyday… the audience looks pumped.

-VN

I hadn’t, until Andrew @ Aversionline posted a very personal homage to the Boston-based band’s seminal album Innocents, consisting of lots of lines like this: “The album’s that fucking incredible. Seriously.”

That’s the kind of passion that speaks to me as a music fan, and not that I wouldn’t listen to whatever he posted anyway — but this especially piqued my interest. And it’s fucking great, part Corrosion of Conformity badassed-ness and part punk DIY fuckyou-ness. The best part about it is that like Andrew’s post it drips with emotion, from the raw, heavy guitars to the impassioned vocals. And that voice? One of a kind.

Fans of Shadows Fall might be familiar with their cover of Only Living Witness’s “December” on the B-sides album Fallout From the War, the original of which is on OLW’s MySpace page.

Check out Andrew’s piece on Only Living Witness at Aversionline. Here’s a link to an mp3 to whet your appetite, with one more on the site:

Only Living Witness – “Downpour”

-VN

[Only Living Witness on MySpace]