The uprising of dirty rock has been happening for several years now, and on the metal side most notable is the success of Georgia’s Mastodon and the slew of bands who have followed the dirt roads they traveled on: Blacktusk, Kylesa and Baroness. These bands, plus how everyone “in the know” is all about loving the Melvins (hey, Nude With Boots was great!) sludgy, swamp metal is everywhere now including southern Missouri. Leading the pack on a trip from St. Louis to Savannah are the beloved black robed ((Thorlock)).

Seeing ((Thorlock)) live is immediately arresting. They are not just 3 dudes in jeans and band t’s, but are Druidic priests in black robes. I can’t get over this, there is just something compelling about the visual element of their show that I feel forced to pay attention. Fortunately, the visual shtick isn’t the only thing about ((Thorlock)) that keeps my attention: their music friggin’ rocks.

Their songs are full of behemoth-sized riffs, great vocals that are powerful without losing their sense of melody and they sounds huge, which is more difficult for a three-piece. On their 2008 self-titled record, a few song titles indicate they also have a sense of humor: “Assneck,” “Triceratops,” and the chorus to “Mississippi Wheelwash” is “Giddy up, amigo/Vamos muchachos.” They even cover “Deuce” by KISS. The band obviously don’t take themselves too seriously.

No matter how silly the content of their songs seem, ((Thorlock)) is serious about rocking your face off. On record and live it is damn near impossible not to nod along. Perhaps ((Thorlock)) have addled my brain with their religion of cannabis-soaked riffs, I can no longer tell. Call me a believer either way because I am ready to follow this band to the swamp lands.

((Thorlock)) have a new 7″ coming out later next month that I cannot wait to hear. You can download their self-titled record here as well as stay up to date on ((Thorlock)) news and other good St. Louis based sludgy and heavy bands at Pissfork.net. Long live the South!

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Psyopus‘ 2004 debut album Ideas of Reference is an in depth study in regression. Contrary to other technical metal albums released in 2004 (Dillinger Escape Plan‘s Miss Machine, Pig Destroyer‘s Terrifyer, as well as less-tech Converge and Mastodon with You Fail Me and Leviathan respectively) which, in one way or another, were more progressive and dynamic, and begged the listener to gape in awe of their massive scope and depth and be terrified of the monstrous wall of impenetrable sound they created; Psyopus ripped open a black hole.

Beginning with the vacuum that is “Mork and Mindy (Daydream Lover)” and through all 9 songs that comprise Ideas of Reference, Psyopus make void, as opposed to leaving behind destruction and dead bodies, erasing what each previous section was building with the one that would follow; breaking it down into small parts and examining each for fitness.

While their complexity at first listen seems like random, mashed together parts, each song is an actual song which was a serious anomaly in the aftermath of the “breakdown-core” and “part-core” bands in the early part of the Aughts. The songs contain repetition, unity of key centers, rhythmic and melodic repetition and variation, inversion; like Stravinsky at his more chaotic moments, Psyopus is full of Ideas and fleshes each out nicely in the 9 tracks.

From blast beats to syncopated grooves, to punctuated rhythms that require a calculator or a slide rule to count, Psyopus’ beats are in their second semester of calculus in the school of mathcore bands. But the drums do not build in complexity so much as they work through current problems, rhythmically tearing the song apart as it plays. The melodic instrumentalists move in similar fashion. The guitar and bass are both working out problems of their own, often intersecting, than chasing down separate strands only to intersect again but inverted. Often too bass and drums relegate themselves to the background so the guitar can explore variables only it is fast enough and small enough to fit into. You see this throughout Ideas. Despite the proficiency of Psyopus bassist and drummer, it’s obvious that the guitarist is the real Einstein of the group.

Psyopus’ guitarist Christopher Arp is a quadruple armed, eight fingered mammoth handed man whose fingers can stretch 12 frets and his pinky can move independently of his ring finger. He is the love child of Dillinger Escape Plan‘s Ben Weinman and Morbid Angel‘s Trey Azagthoth that was conceived while on methamphetamine. Arp’s guitar playing is faster than imagination on Ideas and is at times chaotic and discordant, moving minor 2nd notes up and down the neck, to jazzy and progressive playing 9th, 11th, 13th and 211th chords but it is never stagnant. His secret weapon is placing both hands on the fret board and playing two set of melodic lines at the same time sounding as though a second guitarist is present. Do not be mistaken, he is one and he really can play that fast. It is that speed and two-handed technique that give Psyopus such a distinct, almost obsessive compulsive sound. Their minds seems to justify the notion that playing every note possible, as quickly as possible, is the only way to keep the demons away. And if challenging Psyopus is anything like how Charlie Daniels says it is, the demons would do good to stay away.

Pysopus’ Ideas of Reference is an escape, an exercise in reversal, an attempt to erase. With each step forward the band creates backwards momentum, and moving backwards is the future.

I’ve made the EP available online here: http://stlpilots.bandcamp.com/. You can download it for free in many formats including high quality mp3s, FLAC and others. I’ll be uploading our 2008 three song, and the final full length once it’s finished. So keep an eye out.