Sometimes, but by no means always, I'm drawn to music by hearing it; a song on the radio, a random tune pulled up by Pandora, a snippet in a TV show, and of course, live bands. Sometimes, the artwork can quite simply entice me to take a listen--that's exactly what started me listening to Marillion, walking into a record store, many-many years ago, and leaving with an unheard-yet album, just-because of the sleeve. (It's also what would have me picking up and picking out Gemini Syndrome's albums even if I hadn't heard the music, yet.)
But sometimes, the name of the band just begs a listen. You win some, you lose some... for example, I couldn't resist checking out We Butter The Bread With Butter because, for crying out loud, whoever names a band like that??? (See the review for the answer.)
And so today: I couldn't resist checking out, He Whose Ox Is Gored. The name conjours up Vikings and rampage and ancients and myths and legend and darkness and primitive-yet-possessive man... and what do you know, that's exactly how the music sounds. An alchemic mix of sludge, metal, prog, trance, synth, drone, psychedelic, stoned, Viking-from-Seattle... vocals taking backstage to the instruments yet deeply entrenched and as a whole, rather beautiful. In a heavy-yet-dreamily-hypnotic-way.
Check out He Whose Ox Is Gored's music on their website. You can find their album, The Camel, The Lion, The Child as digital downloads on Amazon and iTunes as well as on the band's website. More info about the band on Facebook, too.
This album deserves to be on vinyl... just saying.
He Whose Ox Is Gored have a few dates left on their current tour--catch them if you can!
No comments:
Post a Comment