Friday, November 14, 2008

From Autumn to Warship

I have to admit that I sort of liked the first From Autumn To Ashes LP. Listening to it now is like getting fingernails plucked out one by one but at the time, it seemed good enough. Unfortunately for FATA, they decided to become big pussies and put out two horrible emo-tinged records with female vocal interludes (probably the best parts of these records), ending in their lead singer leaving/getting kicked out of the band. One of those situations.

Drummer Fracis Mark, who already sang the wuss choruses and such, took over lead vocals and led the band with a vicious bark on 2006's Holding A Wolf By The Ears. Unfortunately this record was just one big monotone screamfest and fell flat, as did their record sales. The previous two LP's sold over 150K each, while Holding a Wolf sold only 30K. The band decided to take a break (ie: we're fucking done) and put out a posthumous live record from a show at Looney Tunes on their Long Island home turf.

On November 4th, Francis and new band of dudes released their debut album as Warship. "Supply & Depend" is a GREAT record. Let me repeat that...A GREAT record. Gone is the emo/screamo verse/chorus bullshit. This is a downtuned beast of a record. All the ads for the record stste that it's a mix of Saint Vitus, Snapcase and High On Fire. I figured that it true, this could be one of the greatest things ever recorded. Upon first listen, they musically nailed it. Think dark, doomy riffs, pummeling drums, hefty bass lines and sonically perfect sludgy tones. The vocals aren't similar to any of the band above (maybe High On Fire in brief instances), but all else is right on point.

Check this record out if you're a fan of FATA or not. I think this wipes the floor with 99.99999% of other new bands out there and there is serious potential for this to be embraced by the metal crowds, because this isn't some cheap attempt to jump on some bandwagon...This is something vibrant and new/old that NEEDS to be heard.

"Toil" (live at The Crazy Donkey)...Amazing:

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