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 BIG BUSINESS – Mind The Drift
(Hydrahead/Riot)
The Skinny: Melvins offshoot explore pioneering spirit
Apart from having THE best artwork since the Dwarves’ Blood, Guts & Pussy, Mind The Drift sees perpetually just-short-of-awesome duo Big Business finally realise their potential. Adding a dedicated guitarist to the band in the form of Toshi Kasai, Mind The Drift sees Big Business consolidate their sound with Coady Willis’s Dale Crover-inspired drum fills, Jarred Warren’s left of centre bass noodling and a bizarre sense of humour. The lolz are something Mind The Drift definitely has, and in no short supply either – tracks like the call and response driven I Got It Online and the sludge rock epic Ayes Have It are gloriously stupid. The album’s pioneering aesthetic is justified, Mind The Drift is an album venturing into uncharted territory for alt-metal and sludge rock.
It’s Worth Checking Out For: the jaw-droppingly fantastic album design and standout song The Drift.
****
 COALESCE – Ox
(Relapse/Riot)
The Skinny: seminal metal/hardcore act break their 10-year record drought
Upon hearing Ox, one of the first things that any listener will pick up on is stark contrast in the approach taken by Coalesce compared to their back catalogue, specifically their 1999 masterpiece, 0:12 Revolution In Just Listening. Clocking in at nine songs and 23 minutes, 0:12 was the perfect mathcore clusterfuck, incendiary, searing and unrelenting in its aural torment. Ox, in contrast, is a 14-song effort with a run time of just under 36 minutes that lacks the sonic intensity to completely immerse listeners in the album. Ox has all of the band’s trademark aggression on cuts like The Villian We Won’t Deny and The Comedian In Question, yet Wild Ox Moan is introduced by a lo-fi blues jams, Where Satires Sour and We Have Lost Our Will are both instrumentals dominated by keys and acoustic guitars. Ox is a great record, but fans of old may be alienated by some of the album’s dynamics.
It’s Worth Checking Out For: The Plot Against My Love
**˝
 HATCHET DAWN – Faith In Chaos
(Amphead)
The Skinny: Melbourne outfit’s debut EP promises more to come
The liner notes from Hatchet Dawn’s Faith In Chaos read like a manifesto. It’s not often you open a CD booklet to read “this group of songs signifies the beginning of our vision”, but Hatchet Dawn’s five track offering doesn’t play by the traditional metal rules. Blending tones of epic doom, horror punk, metalcore and black metal, Faith In Chaos is a snapshot of a band with a defined musical vision and the technical abilities to pull it off. With a flurry of changes in tempo, mood and attitude, these five songs showcase Hatchet Dawn’s exciting promise.
It’s Worth Checking Out For: the sinister doom of tracks like Demon and Perfect Parasite.
***
 SUNN O))) – Monoliths & Dimensions
(Southern Lord)
The Skinny: doomsters get musical
Putting out more splits, EPs, full-lengths and collaborations than anyone cares to keep track of, new releases from the legendary Californian drone band Sunn O))) are sometimes met with a ‘who cares’ attitude from fans who cannot decipher the intricacies of the band’s catalogue. While Monoliths & Dimensions is more of the same from one of the most oppressingly heavy bands in existence, it’s defined by textures and instrumentation unseen on Sunn O))) records. Continuing the black metal ideologies from 2005’s Black One, Monoliths & Dimensions has Mayhem’s Atilla Csihar behind the microphone. When his foreboding speaking voice hits six minutes into album opener Aghartha, Atilla takes Monoliths & Dimensions to a harrowing new level, unparalleled on Sunn’s previous studio records. Under a dynamic mix of conch shells, trumpets, trombones, organs, hydrophones, French horns, alto flutes and clarinets (to name a few) Atilla’s voice makes Monoliths & Dimensions a stand-out Sunn O))) album.
It’s Worth Checking Out For: the choral flourishes of Big Church and the inescapable feeling of doom.
***˝
TOM HERSEY
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