Both bands made heads turn last year with vinyl releases from Wisconsin-based Gilead Media, and the label is wasting no time nurturing their talents with this highly-anticipated split. While the groups have had short careers and a limited number of shows under their bullet belts, they write music with the confidence and fury of musicians who have been working together for decades.
Only the third track FALSE have ever recorded, “Heavy as a Church Tower” is a monstrous, hate-filled work that churns its way through sensible insanity and features some of the best drumming in black metal today. Vocalist Rachel’s haunting shrieks swirl effortlessly through the madness, each breath more powerful than the last. With their lengthiest offering to date, it’s clear they understand the complexities of long-form tracks and know how to keep the listener’s attention from waning. The band’s relentless, high-speed passages never grow tiresome as the guitars cycle through vicious melodies that either explode and dissipate in an instant, or grow and contort into multi-dimensional beasts. Like their 2011 EP, the keyboards add much with little without straying into symphonic territory. The track is both hauntingly familiar and uniquely original.
Hailing from Baton Rouge, Barghest is everything FALSE is not. The band sticks to a different spectrum of black metal, with their two tracks worshipping influences from the low-fi and underground scenes. They play straightforward, raw grimness that sounds like it was ripped screaming from the bayou, still dripping with soggy filth. Gutteral vocals occasionally make their appearance to add to the overall terror of the band’s ugly sound and the muddy production only adds to their intrigue, forcing you to listen intently for every twisted note and rotten fill. Never-ending tremolo buzzings entangle you in their desiccated grip and don’t let go until you’re gasping for a breath. This is dirt worship in the best possible way.
FALSE tour dates and more news after the jump!
Barghest’s half of the split is streaming at Gilead Media’s Bandcamp page and FALSE’s is over at the Deciblog. Gilead will be taking pre-orders here at the end of July for the 12” to be released September 18.
FALSE full US tour.
8/31 – Minneapolis
9/1 – Milwaukee – House early show, late show at Quarters.
9/2 – Ft. Wayne, IN – Harrison House
9/3 – Detroit, MI – House
9/4 – Huntington, WV
9/5 – Richmond, VA – Strange Matter
9/6 – Baltimore, MD
9/7 – New Brunswick, NJ
9/8 – Brooklyn, NY – Acheron
9/9 – Philadelphia, PA – Golden Tee
9/10 – Pittsburgh, PA – Roboto Project
9/11 – Columbus, OH – Carabar
9/12 – Indianapolis, IN – Vibes Music
9/13 – Chicago, IL
9/14 – St. Louis, MO
9/15 – Columbia, MO – Hairhole
9/16 – Kansas City, KS
9/17 – Omaha, NE
9/18 – Denver, CO – Blastomat
9/19 – Albuquerque, NM – House show
9/20 – Las Cruces, NM – The Trainyard
9/21 – Phoenix, AZ
9/22 – San Diego, CA
9/23 – Los Angeles, CA – Blue Café
9/24 – Los Angeles CA – Vacation Vinyl (early show), LAPP Pad (late show)
9/25 – San Jose, CA
9/26 – Oakland, CA
9/27 – San Francisco, CA
9/28 – Santa Rose, CA
9/29 – Sacramento, CA
9/30 – Chico, CA
10/1 – Salem, OR
10/2 – Portland, OR – Beach House (early show), The Space (late show)
10/3 – Olympia, WA
10/4 – Seattle, WA
10/5 – Missoula, MT – Zoo City
10/6 – Billings, MT
10/7 – Minot, ND
10/8 – Fargo, ND
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