Monday, July 20, 2009

RingBearer

RingBearer are a slab of sonic concrete. Hailing from Iowa, these guys come on like a weapon.

With a name that relates to Jesus Christ and the halo of thorns he was forced to wear, you can rest assured that this group is determined to make some waves.

I have not spent a lot of time in the Midwest. I am an eastcoast boy, born and bred. However, I cannot fail to notice that that region of the country has spawned a lot of brutally heavy bands.

In the case of Ringbearer, I can fill in the pieces to that puzzle to a certain degree. According to information I was given by Maxxwell, their guitarist, the band lives in a town of 9,000 with 48 churches and they have, for all intents and purposes been blacklisted from the town. So, that could definitely have something to do with them sounding the way they do.

The thing that impresses me the most about this four piece is their approach to rhythm. In general, aside from timbre, I think that this is the biggest innovation in musical thinking in the underground in general.

Let's look at the first song on the MySpace player, "Church Burner." Right out of the gate, and you're getting bludgeoned by some forceful sonic rage. If you listen to the rhythm of the guitar part, and the way it divides against the drum beat, it turns out to be a grouping of irregular rhythmic phrases comprised of the same riffs.

What's interesting about this is the fact that the guitar part is dividing against blastbeat style drumming. The thing that makes blastbeat so intriguing (and so effective) is that there is no real metre in that style, no stress of strong and weak beats. It becomes a constant rhtyhmic wash with no profile; this is why it supports ultra-heavy musical styles so well.

Anyway, why this is so fascinating to me is that the end result is just ferocious, really nasty and biting. And that's a compliment. It is the sonic equivalent of a severe beating. The phrasing of the guitar part emphasizes certain partials of the blastbeat in such a way that it stays with the tempo and manages to lock in, without actually defining a specific time signature in any way.

When the drummer and bassist fall out and the guitar comes in with the first rhythmically constant, metrically stressed riff, the effect of the former is heightened. All in all, this song is a small masterpiece, taking into account the way the ideas unfold and the way it builds to the end. It's a highly dramatic, "perfect" piece of facemelting thrash. By the time the last chord is played and the song fades out on cymbals and feedback, the tension has become unbearable.

In many ways, this group reminds me of the "great" bands in the grind/death undergound of my high school days; however, this isn't some trip down memory lane in search of the past, just a comparison.

This group is definitely alive in the here and now, as evidenced by the foregoing description. The things these guys are getting up to in terms of song structure weren't even conceivable in the mid-nineties. I simply mean to say that there is something about the overall spirit and sheer sonic weight of this band that is a bit of a throwback. Aesthetically, this band is its own thing entirely, and express themselves in thoroughly contemporary terms.

Playing together since the first week of November, 2008, this band has gelled quickly. From what I have gathered on their MySpace page, they have shows at their own loft apartment, a place called the Wolf Hanger. I can only assume that has helped them to grow so quickly. It's also obvious that they love what they do.

The band has a release out entitled "Cult," and some great merchandise. They are working on a slew of new releases and will make things available as quickly as possible. All of it is available at their MySpace page. Fans of brilliant heavy music need to get behind these guys in a big way. Their desire is to make as many great records as possible and tour the world. Let's all get together and help them achieve that goal.

Check em out at:


www.myspace.com/ringbearer1

No comments: