Lesbian
Power Hör

A peculiar name for a peculiar band, Seattle’s Lesbian operate with the same style-hopping liberty as Kayo Dot, Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, and Between the Buried and Me, in that they phase between techniques/moods much like hyperspace micro-jumps in the Star Wars universe. Unlike these comparisons, however, they tend to frequent doomier and more psychedelic realms, so naturally they found a home at Portland, Oregon’s Holy Mountain label (Om, Mammatus, Six Organs of Admittance) that’s well-suited for their brand of experimentation. Power Hör features only four tracks, though they range from eight to twenty-four minutes in length, resulting in over an hour of sonic trials and research—like a post-doc Michio Kurihara jamming with Church of Misery without the use of feedback.

“Black Forest Hamm” starts with lurching black-metal chords and tortured vocals from bassist/singer Dorando Hodous, then dips into gothy, Daylight Dies-styled melodies. In turn, this veers into chunky thrash riffage before ending with prog-wristed wankery. After several minutes of ambient washes, “Powerwhorses” picks up with jangly, C Average guitars that switch to sparse doom structures as if the Fucking Champs were attempting to cover Reverend Bizarre in epic-metal fashion. The opening guitars of the 24-minute whopper “Loadbath” strum gently like the most serene Mandible Chatter, then lean toward lighter versions of Robert Fripp’s chordal repetition à la the League of Gentlemen. Guitar synths give an underlying impression of early Pink Floyd for the first five minutes, then the Burning Witch-y (and eventually Cathedral) riffs march in to decimate the quietus with blastbeats, divebombing guitars…and subsequently goes through several more stages of soft/harsh aural modifications. Some sections of “Irreversible” use chord progressions comparable to A Farewell to Kings-era Rush, while others heft a black-metal hammer or previously heard doom trappings.

With eye-popping album art by Sunn0)))’s Stephen O’Malley, Power Hör wiggles its way out of any definitive pigeonholing in the psych-metal field (think again if Yob or Middian popped up on your radar). As the term “lesbian” stands for a freedom of sexuality that’s still limited by specific tenets, so are Lesbian free to experiment within the confines of the metal world.

[Visit the band's website]
Written by Chris Ayers
June 20th, 2007

Comments

Leave a Reply

Privacy notice: When you submit a comment, your creditentials, message and IP address will be logged. A cookie will also be created on your browser with your chosen name and email, so that you do not need to type them again to post a new comment. All post and details will also go through an automatic spam check via Akismet's servers and need to be manually approved (so don't wonder about the delay). We purge our logs from your meta-data at frequent intervals.

  • Vafurlogi - Í vökulli áþján
  • PeelingFlesh - The G Code
  • 1349 - The Wolf and the King
  • Flotsam and Jetsam - I Am the Weapon
  • Glacial Tomb - Lightless Expanse
  • Kanonenfieber - Die Urkatastrophe
  • Deceased - Children of the Morgue
  • The Black Dahlia Murder - Servitude
  • Hammerfilosofi - SOLUS ( Igne Natura Renovator Integra) EP
  • Emasculator  - The Disfigured and the Divine EP
  • Laceration - I Erode
  • Servant - Death Devil Magick
  • Sur Austru - Datura Străhiarelor
  • IronFlame - Kingdom Torn Asunder
  • Pneuma Hagion - From Beyond