Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
When you are as inundated with music, be it new, old, or otherwise, as I and my peers are, you begin to feel like a treasure hunter after a while. You get so bombarded with releases, so overwhelmed at times, that you’ll either question your supposed passion or worse, crack under the weight of maximum intake.
Thankfully, I have not reached either of those points along this path yet, but admittedly, I do wade through a lot of muck to locate the periodic pearls. When you do find that occasional diamond in the rough, then all that you have endured pays off. Today’s subjects, Connecticut’s Bone Church, just provided me my most recent pay-day.
It comes in the form of their recent five-song self-titled Devil’s Night (October 30) début release. In fact, a début is a milestone for any band, sure, but some are bona fide landmarks. Such ones are so game-changing, so monumental that they will resonate across the waves of time itself it seems. Bone Church, aka Dan Sefcik (guitar, bass, lyrics), Rob Sickinger (drums, lyrics), Jack Rune (vocals), and Pat Good (bass), have assembled such a structure here.
They poured a foundation of solid, guitar-hewn, heavy concrete-like rock, then added skeletal rhythmic reinforcement akin to rebar. They moderate the density, and intensity, of both constructs with an emotional temperament that’s riveted into place with vocal swagger.
Your membership into this sonic congregation begins with the doomy blues of “Altered States“. With fuzzy riffs, soaring vocals, and occult-laden lyrical imagery, the song oozes proto-metal elements and retrograde tints. They are delivered with differing variances of energy, sometimes subtle and gradual, other times furious and fierce.
With the bar set and the hammer dropped, other fantastically ass-kicking cuts like “Crimson Crown” and the southern-y, psychedelic, instrumental “Sacrament” continue the sermon. Powerful, electrified evangelism to save your very soul, or at least peel the flesh from it.
Regardless of what you’ve felt up until this point, the unholy spirit of ethereal audibility arrives with the one-two punch of tracks four and five. “Pale Moon Sacrifice” and “Too Far Out“, both clocking in at over seven minutes each, create a true cause for alarm. I say such because this, my friends, is assuredly how heavy rock and roll is done in the year of the floored 2017. For the record, “Too Far Out” is definitely my favorite track and if it is too far out, then you’re too old, man.
Take note, players and lovers of underground music for the new, début testament of Bone Church has materialized its presence. Working in mysterious, intriguingly musical ways and finding the captives of mundane mediocrity, and setting them free, allow Bone Church to become your house of worship.
Come join the service via the Bandcamp embed below and once there, you can offer alms of $7.00 and become a member for life!
For Fans Of The Sword, Priestess or Sergeant Thunderhoof.
