Tag Archives: Post Rock

Bossk Interview: “Our fans are the best, we never anticipated the level of support.”

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Bossk

Here at Eyesore Merch, it’s no secret that we’re big fans of Bossk, and are happy to be able to sell their varied merch exclusively in the UK. After reuniting and doing a UK tour with Dragged Into Sunlight last year and releasing the fast-selling Pick Up Artist/Albatross 7″, it’s safe to say that Bossk are rolling stronger than ever. If you’re as curious about the backstory for this comeback as we are, and what’s to come, then read on. Don’t forget to check out their merch here.

First of all, would you like to introduce yourself and what you do in Bossk?

I’m Tom, I play bass.

How did Bossk come into formation?

Was the merging of two friendship groups that had all been in local bands together. Coming together to make music that wasn’t like any of the bands that we had done before. We have all known each other for over ten years now. A lot of pot was smoked, a lot of riffs forgotten, but we spent some serious time in each other’s company.

What was the reason that you guys decided to take a break from Bossk in 2008? It seemed like every band on Eyesofsound was doing great especially with the likes of Devil Sold His Soul, Palehorse, Humanfly and Rinoa. It seemed totally out of the blue at the time.

It was a build of things really, not everyone was happy with the new lineup, and jobs, lack of money from touring so hard takes its toll on people after a few years. Watching some of the bands that we played with back in 2005-2008 are some of the best memories that any of us have together.

Now you guys are back, your fanbase seems stronger than ever and you’ve managed to sign up with Jacob Bannon’s (of Converge) label Deathwish Inc. How do you feel about that and how did the deal with Deathwish Inc. happen?

I have worked with Converge on several of their European tours doing merch and have developed a good friendship with Jake through that. They do things right, and I was asking Jake for advice on what direction to take Bossk in once we had reformed. We share similar principles of the music industry and what is actually important and relevant to the artists making and touring music they have spent months, sometimes years writing. Our fans are the best, we never anticipated the level of support we have had since announcing our first shows back, every show we have done has surpassed our expectations.

What was the recording process like for the Pick Up Artist/Albatross 7” and getting Daniel P Carter to do the artwork for it?

We recorded PUA with our good friends Phil Gornell and Lee Malia up in Sheffield, and Albatross in Kent with [a] friend, Martin Ruffin. Both tracks were recorded completely differently, but fit what we wanted each track to sound like. We hadn’t recorded together in a very long time, and was actually a lot of fun! Dan has become a good friend of mine, and I am a big fan of his work. His involvement in the BBC session we did made it feel right that he was involved in the art for this release.


Bossk are pretty well known as a band with its feet in the post-rock/post-metal genre, taking things slow and soft and then smashing in with big riffs and roars, as well as having only seven tracks to your discography (including the cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Albatross). Is this a conscious thing with the considerably short number of songs? Do you think that there’s an overabundance with releases each year with certain artists?

Not really, we wrote PUA as a stand alone track, not part of a collection of tracks, originally just to use as a free download on our website. We have always just tried to write music that was different to our last, but still retaining our own sound. I think that how we are writing music now is very different to how we wrote back in 2006-2007, we are currently demoing the whole album, which we have never done before, so that process is making how we write much faster.

You’re a band that’s quite well connected with others and you seem quite supportive of others, but who at the moment do you see as the bands or artists that you’re especially digging right now?

We always believed that no one gets anywhere without help from others, and that we have always tried to support other bands. For me I am really into a band called Canterbury, and been listening to lots of Crosses, Chino’s new project. I also recently rediscovered my love for Mogwai, and have been listening to their new album on repeat.

Bossk are playing Temples Festival this year, a new festival in Bristol that’s sporting an insane line-up for extreme metal and punk. How do you feel to be playing it and who are you looking forward to seeing there?

Honestly, as soon as I saw that bill coming together I really wanted Bossk to be part of it. Independent festivals that can have a lineup that impressive is worth supporting. The promoters for Temples, and for Damnation Festival, are some of the hardest working folk in the promoting world. It’s truly an honour to share a stage with Neurosis, pioneers of a sound that has continued to grow and evolve over the years.

Bossk has been known to do some unusual merch, with the rolling rest, hemp soap and soon the Bossk BBQ sauce. What’s the usual process in coming up with these sorts of merch? Is it hard to make these products?

Anyone can print t-shirts, we are trying to push ourselves to create music that goes beyond people’s expectations, and we just apply that to all aspects of the band. We made a lot of that stuff ourselves, or through small businesses based in the UK.

What can we expect from Bossk in the future in terms of future releases and tours?

You can expect all of those things. We are finishing demoing the album and have a bunch of shows announced for later in the year, ranging from Paris to Moscow, and a ton of other places we have never been. These will be our biggest run of shows for a while though while we finish the record.


The Bossk Pick Up Artist/Albatross is still available on Deathwish Inc, and be sure to keep up to date on all tour and news updates via Bossk’s official website.

Interview by Rich Reviewz.

Live Review: Deftones – 19th February 2013 @ O2 Academy, Birmingham

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been around three years since Deftones last graced the UK with a tour (rather than lone festival appearances) and judging by the eager queue that forms outside the O2 Academy in Birmingham on that very cold night, it’s been long awaited by many fans.

The mixed crowd alone says a lot about Deftones: 40-year-old punks, young couples folded around each other, long-haired metal fans, a few indie kids sprinkled here and there – all show how diverse the Deftones crowd is and proves that the band doesn’t cater to any one stereotype alone. So then it’s no surprise that the support acts for the night represent the band’s range in both musical styles and tastes.

First up was London’s Three Trapped Tigers; a synth-heavy post-rock band who rely more on electronics than the regular band set-up, and are made up by Tom Rogerson on keyboards and vocals, Matt Calvert on guitar and synths/electronics and Adam Betts on drums. As the trio cover so much ground between them instrumentally, it became clear that they were practically glued to their positions because of it. Although completely understandable, it just didn’t bring the potentially excitable atmosphere as their music indicated at times, which was a shame. In fact, it was perhaps drummer Betts who was the most entertaining due to his frantic flurries during the up-tempo phases. While the set was enjoyable, it didn’t really leave much of an impact personally, yet it seemed that I was alone due to the positive cheers they had between songs.

Next up was California’s post-hardcore outfit letlive. If you’ve been paying any sort of attention to the band over the last year or two, you’ll know that letlive. have whipped up a dedicated cult-like following in the underground via their energetic and highly talked about shows – so much so that the band seem to be nearing mainstream success for it. Any negative connotations you might apply to that sentence would be ill-set however, because letlive. aren’t Mumford & Sons; but a raging beast frothing at the mouth for a feast.

‘Tired’ doesn’t seem to run in Jason Butler’s vocabulary as the frontman pounces across the stage, arms swinging, and apt to leave the microphone in his mouth as he screams to the ceiling. Guitarists Jeff Sahyoun and Jean Nascimento, along with bassist Ryan Johnson, aren’t far behind as they swing their axes while jumping around the stage without missing a note. The band proved that they were right for this tour and probably bagged themselves a bigger fanbase in Birmingham, which is well deserved after the performance they gave.

Finally, after several chants of increasing impatience and thirst, Deftones humbly straddled onstage to a roar of gleeful cheers and wasted little time before hammering into Diamond Eyes, the crowd instantly turning into one big a shuffling battlefield. Chino’s vocals held up remarkably well between the cleans and screams and the whole band were precise and executed it well, which went for the whole set.

The crowd was, to put it bluntly, fucking crazy throughout and only let up a little during the softer moments in the set (which were gifts after being almost crushed on more than one occasion) where the crowd sang in unison instead; which felt magical with the lightshow flowing over us. Chino was pretty fun inbetween songs too, casually interacting with the crowd and the rest of the band (particularly with bassist Sergio Vega, who had his name chanted a few times and looked like he was in his natural environment onstage). The band just seemed at their happiest and closest at this point in their history.

And despite supporting their latest release, “Koi No Yokan”, they only played a couple of tracks from the album (a ‘couple’ being Poltergeist, Rosemary, Entombed, Tempest and Swerve City) and featured a larger number of fan favourites from other albums: “White Pony” made its appearance through Passenger, Change (In The House Of Flies), Feiticeira; “Around The Fur” with Dai The Flu (dedicated to original bassist Chi Cheung), My Own Summer (Shove It), Headup and Be Quiet And Drive (Far Away); “Diamond Eyes” via Sextape, Rocket Skates and CMND/CTRL; the self-titled with Bloody Cape; and “Adrenaline” with Engine No.9 and 7 Words as the encore – the latter of the two being especially brutal to witness.

Needless to say (and unsurprisingly) Deftones killed it and gave more than what the ticket price was worth. By the amount of grinning, sweaty faces I saw once the lights came back on, I think you’d be lucky to find anyone who’d disagree.

Simply unmissable.

Review by Rich Reviewz

Album Review: Cult Of Luna ‘Vertikal’

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Cult Of Luna Vertikal reviewCult Of Luna – Vertikal
Genre: Post-metal/Doom metal
Label: Indie Recordings

Cult Of Luna are a septet from Sweden, who are known worldwide yet have a, dare I say it, cult-like following – not one of the first names you think of in post/doom metal, but definitely one of the most praised and respected in the genres. Generally slow-paced, the band never depend solely on their tempo and grumbling guitar tones alone, often bringing in the softer and ambient influences of post-rock into the mix.

So “Vertikal” is the follow-up to 2008’s mighty “Eternal Kingdom”, and is the first album without vocalist Klas Rydberg – however, this loss has definitely not broken Cult Of Luna by any means. “Vertikal” is a concept album (unlike the set-up for the press during “Eternal Kingdom”) and is based on Fritz Lang’s dystopian science fiction Metropolis, released in 1927, while the Weimar Republic was still in in power in post-WWI Germany. Although the film plot is far too detailed to talk about here, Metropolis focused on class differences and distance, featuring an industrial city suffering under a ruler obsessed with wealth.

So you can imagine with this theme in the members’ minds during the creation of this album that we can expect Cult Of Luna to darken their sound… which is exactly what they did. However, electronic influences appear more prominent than ever, contributing to both atmospheric and industrial sounds during parts of this album. There’s also less of the post-metal vibe here, and perhaps more of a progressive sludge sound – yes, the Isis and Mouth Of An Architect comparisons can still be made at times, but a Neurosis influence is far more obvious throughout the album.

The opening track The One is simply an ambient/electronic intro, starting with dull, echoed thuds before a throbbing drone accompanied by soft keys, rising and falling, join in the digital soundscape. Then I: The Weapon starts with roared vocals and mid-paced juttering guitars – the sound that is easily identified as Cult Of Luna’s signature sound. This continues for a while until the guitars fade away a bit, leaving the drums and bass pound along with synthy keys. The band plays with tension slightly, before hopping into a light groove. The electronics keep interjecting at moments, alternating with growling drone lines, the very proggy Isis keys or just a clean keyboard sound. It’s lovely.

Next is the longest track on the album at just under a staggering 19-minutes. Vicarious Redemption is an epic (in the true sense of the word) journey – going through more sections and changes than you care to count. The track opens with a haunting ambient drone while some percussion slips into it; this very sound is enough to send chills down your spine. This atmosphere proceeds to linger for the first 4-minutes or so, before morphing into a lighter tone when soft, reverbed guitars come in, creating the post-rock vibe. It then returns shortly to the darkness before, sludgier guitars coming in sparingly, almost as if Neurosis themselves are jamming with Luna.

This continues for the majority of the song, except for one spectacular moment just over the 11-minute mark that just jumps on you with no warning: ELECTRONIC WOBS. People may very well link it to dubstep (it’s inescapable these days), but it’s so dark and seething (and there’s no “drop” or anything like that). It’s just a wobbling bassline… and it sounds incredibly evil, especially as the vocals roar in some sort of warp. Then the rest of the band kicks back in, and continues as before, but still reminding you of that incredible moment you never saw coming.

The Sweep opens with zappy synths that sounds like something you’d expect from a nu-wave band; this might sound terrible in writing, but it’s actually pulled off well. The track features little to no of the whole band – at least to the point where it’s pretty hard recognise any guitars if there is any. The fifth track, Synchronicity, has a big Godflesh vibe to it with the ringing guitar and the mechanical-sounding drums, as well as injections of background effects and industrial quips – and that’s basically it.

Mute Departure takes a more standard Cult Of Luna approach but after the band has listened to Celtic Frost’s A Dying God Coming Into Human Flesh a hundred times. It has the similar creeping, mournful guitars backed by a haunting piano as tribal-sounding drums pound in the background. Eventually the explosion of the band comes, but finishes pretty quickly, falling into a mellower section, and then returning to the same style as the “explosion” part. It is perhaps the most obvious track on the album, but it’s still really enjoyable.

Disharmonia is basically 45-second ambient interlude, very much along the lines of something you’d expect from Nine Inch Nails’ “Ghosts I-IV”; which brings the only complaint that this interlude could have been stretched a little longer, because it’s so soothing and lulls you. But perhaps this is meant to bring you into a false sense of security as In Awe Of suddenly interrupts with low chugging guitars, as louder layers are added quickly. You get these glittering echoed guitars at parts with the rhythm rolling onwards slowly, as well as some big luscious feedback play accompanied by electronics. The vocals are pretty sparse too, making it much easier to lose yourself in the whole thing.

Then we arrive at the last track Passing Through, which starts with the almost lazily picked guitars as clean vocals intertwine, with lines like “All is quiet, empty streets / All is quiet, the city sleeps / Close my eyes, on my knees / And time’s passing me by”; soon followed with twinkling glockenspiel. The atmosphere is just so heavy yet sounds so simple and innocent at the same time. Another guitar and the keyboard joins in, ever so subtly (and bringing a slight Isis feel again), as the vocals simple “ahhh” distantly to the end. A completely fulfilling and enlightening way to close the album.

It’s safe to say that Cult Of Luna have opened 2013 with an undeniable metal titan of an album; while showing no fear to experiment with their sound and to blur the boundaries. “Vertikal” will challenge any long standing Cult Of Luna fan, but not in an excluding way, but more as an eye-opener. The introduction or furthering of influences are far from offensive or distasteful: this is as smooth a change in sound as a slow bend is in a river.

There’s also one thing that’s to be said and that is the vocals are far better on this album than ever before, just sounding stronger and not so strained/raspy. The vocals are definitely an improvement here, and with the electronic influence, they make “Vertikal” a far more enjoyable album to sit through from beginning to end, which has personally been a problem with some previous releases. If you’re a Cult Of Luna fan, then this album should be no problem for you… it may just well be their best.

9/10
Favourite tracks: Vicarious Redemption, Passing Through, I: The Weapon.

Review by Rich Reviewz

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