New Colonial Wound Health & Rifle Club – Lazer Beam
Colonial Wound are a new find. Lazer Beam and Health and Rifle Club hail from where I stay in this Sonoran Desert suburb wasteland. The Sheet is pleased to be able to share these songs wit anyone willing to listen. Onward to the music.
Colonial Wound – I – New Morality Zine Records
I don’t get to check out nearly as much as I would like. This came my way via a mighty podcast called Axe To Grind. So shoutout to New Morality Zine (label and zine) and Axe To Grind. If you like hardcore and punk, you may want to check out both. They dissect hardcore and what they self proclaim ‘ hardcore adjacent’ bands (love that term).
” I ” is probably one of the better songs I have heard in “hardcore”. If you have the means you can support this band here and probably other streaming platforms. I choose Bandcamp because they are not Splodgify. Fuck those guys, but if your band is on Spoojify I understand (it’s promotion) and if I am a fan, I still love ya. Back to topic.
The Colonial Wound track called “I” is intense hardcore bordering on metal.
They have a proficiency that is slightly technical. Meaning they can play well. The riffs are more complicated than a bunch of teens jamming in a garage or basement. However they are not in the camp of Cynic, DEP, Meshuggah, which is another side of the coin. As a result, Colonial Wound is in city limits of hardcore.
They take day trips to the tech metal countryside and villages but still seem to live in the realm of heavier hardcore that offers a sense of dread and tension.
I am all about that as this type of vibe is good to get you pumped up for whatever high stress or high energy scenario you may be in. Grab your muskets and support your colonial allies. Update : the new release Degradation containing “I” and two more songs has dropped. Get it here. https://newmoralityzine.bandcamp.com/album/degradation
Health and Rifle Club – Masquerade single
Yet another group from Arizona. Health and Rifle Club definitely have some indie rock shoegaze leanings. Here is a favorite of mine they released pre – pandemic https://healthandrifleclub.com/?fbclid=IwAR0rrv4D-xcxmCE1HVlyayAjBxvmcDiXMj-AfQL-bH2sRStx8Dx_TBYT2so
This band is currently a three piece. Their sound is rich and full for a trio. This track and others lives in the suburbs between the cities of ‘shoegaze’ ‘alternative rock’ (the un-ruined indie kind) and various eras of ‘new wave’. By suburbs I mean it resides between, yet in all of those spaces, and not lacking the luster you may find in a city.
Moving along, if you favor “Tropics Can’t Stop Us ” in link above then “Masquerade” is akin to that song. I sense a subtle, yet dark, undercurrent unlike ‘Tropics’. The vocals have a feeling of longing and reverie. The guitars and other tracks come in and out leaving only rhythm section. The new wave flavored vocals drive their intent home. This track will be released very soon. In the meantime you can find them on Instaham here. https://www.instagram.com/healthandrifleclub/ and their own well designed webpage with even more info https://healthandrifleclub.com/
Lazer Beam s/t LP – LCF Records
I’ve blogged about this band before. Lazer Beam released a few singles off of this before it’s April 9th release. I’ve been trying to keep up but basket weaving proves to be more demanding that I thought, and Lazer Beam is dead set on a steady schedule of releasing material. This LP features 10 songs. Check out a quick few words re: one video and track here https://meatsheetfanzine.com/andrew-wk-and-mogwai-babalon-mogwai-new-singles/
As a result I’ll cover a few of the tracks that were not released until the LP releases.
“In The Moonlight” like a few or many on this rekkid is very reminiscient of the Palm Desert Kyuss guitar tone.
“In The Moonlight” has a heavy , groovy , riff and a sing along vocal that could easily lodge itself between your ears. Lucust French – the person behind this project, possesses a sensibility that is well versed in blending heavy rock riffs with melodic ‘pop’ elements. I would not want to take on that task at the risk of sounding too much like QOTSA (Lazer Beam does sound like QOTSA) Lucust’s vocal melodies and timbre sets him apart from being too much like Josh Homme vocally. Also he does not sound like John Garcia of Kyuss. So if you take the vocals for what they sound like, he’s got his own thing going on.
The riffs are very much like something you may hear on the Man’s Ruin , All That’s Heavy – Meteor City, TeePee roster but Lazer Beam still arranges things in a way that is unique. That’s my take.
“Silver” is an infectious headbanger. I don’t want to call out bands from early 00’s who attempt to have their take on Sabbath, QOTSA , Cactus and the like. Lazer Beam hits the mark more accurately than those aforementioned bands.
Lazer Beam rises above getting stuck in the quagmire of being so derivative that all you hear is a copy of other bands. I get lost in what is going on in each track rather than comparisons to Lazer Beam’s influences. “Adam and Eve ” is the surprise sleeper on this. Lucust’s vocals are strong and slight soulful, if not a tiny bit tortured. This alone made this song ‘jump off the page’ so to speak.
In conclusion, this first album is a groovy, heavy, asskicking.
Thanks for reading, if you like any of these bands, share them. Your support is of utmost importance. Stay tuned for Soul Blind, https://soulblind.bandcamp.com/album/promo-19 Mismiths (yes Misfits meets the Smiths) https://batcaverecords.com/pages/mismiths plus many many fine tunes