Unitron Kylesa - Exhausting Fire

"Exhausting Fire" is the seventh studio album by stoner/sludge metal band Kylesa. This was my introduction to the band, I never heard of them until stumbling upon them on YouTube. I decided to take a listen to their newest album, and what I got was quite an interesting mix of influences.

In "Exhausting Fire", I hear influences all the way from Alice in Chains to Pink Floyd. The opening song 'Crusher' is easily my favorite on the album, opening up with chugging sludgy riffs and haunting vocals from Laura Pleasants. The song switches from the aforementioned chugging guitar to more mellow psychedelic passages reminding me slightly of some of Melissa Auf Der Maur's solo work. These two factors continue throughout the whole albums, with a mix of tracks being dominated by each different sound or both. 'Inward Debate' is another favorite of mine, and it constantly keeps a crushing guitar riff throughout.

The drumming is especially really impressive, the aforementioned song having interesting drum sounds. It's hard to explain, but in a lot of songs there's this sort of clicking noise. It almost sounds like the drummer is clacking the drumsticks together, which makes for quite the unique drum sound. The vocals on the album are also strong, especially the aforementioned haunting vocals of Laura Pleasants. Philip Cope's vocals are a bit more punk-y, which is a nice contrast with the eerie quality of Pleasants's vocals.

Another favorite song is 'Shaping the Southern Sky', which has a Black Sabbath feel to it. It has a driving yet doom-y riff, reminding me of some songs from "Master of Reality". It also has some psychedelic elements reminding me of "Meddle"-era Pink Floyd. Speaking of Black Sabbath, at the end of the album there is a cover of 'Paranoid'. This is a pretty interesting cover, as Kylesa slows the tempo way down to one of Black Sabbath's few faster songs. It brings a new interesting sound to a metal classic.

Overall, while the album does get a little weaker during the second half of the album, "Exhausting Fire" is an excellent album and certainly makes me want to look back in their discography. If you like sludgy doom mixed with psychedelic and punk, I highly recommend checking this out. Hope you found this review helpful.

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Phonebook Eater 7/10

Purple Sludgefest.

Since the 2006 album “Time Will Fuse Its Worth”, Kylesa’s straightforward sludge-feasts have appealed to me. The great banquet arrived with “Static Tensions”, a monster of an experience that can be nothing but a treat for the senses of a serious metal-head: an LP that consistently keeps you hooked thanks to its thick stoner atmosphere and catchy songwriting. Other fans, however, are more drawn to the follow-up, “Spiral Shadow”, whose sound glides towards more adventurous pathways, losing a bit of heaviness down the road. 2013’s “Ultraviolet” to me feels like a return to the catchiness of “Static Tensions”, displaying however a whole new brand of contrivances, which assembled together construct an album unlike anything Kylesa has brought to life before.

The new production understandably has turned off some fans; but it is the main game-changer. Thanks to some rough reverberation, a vividly psychedelic vein flows throughout each song. It is this vein that makes Kylesa’s groovy pulses sound so different. Furthermore, I must add that I’m sensing a greater sensibility towards melody than usual, which drives these Stoner Metal vibrations on even smoother ground.

Once again, Kylesa stick to one of their best talents, which is being able to remain consistent in terms of impact throughout the album, by spicing things differently for each track. But even when the distortion levels are turned down, there’s still a good life pulse that brings the music on such high planes of energy. Weak spots for sure are not absent, and some of the songwriting either trips or gets lost in the haze of the production. But songs such as “Exhale”, “Unspoken”, “Long Gone”, “Vulture’s Landing” and “Drifting” are episodes not to be missed, and greatly contribute in constructing another steady and pleasant Kylesa record.

Phonebook Eater 7/10

"Spiral Shadow" is a big mix of emotions and musical variety.

American Stoner Metal band Kylesa’s 2009 release, “Static Tensions”, was one that was hard to follow, because of its use of successful formulas mixed together well. But “Spiral Shadow” comes right behind it in terms of quality, and in some points, there is even a slight improvement: however, overall it’s not as solid and enjoyable as the previous album.

There are pretty noticeable changes in direction the band takes on this new album: the distortion has lost a bit of its original impact, favoring however a more atmospheric sound, cleaner passages that include diverse guitar effects and more rich arrangements; this way, many of these moments are remindful of Sludge Metal's more atmospheric side, except for the fact that Kylesa have always been straight to the point and have always done the job quickly, and it is no different here. The type of impact the band delivers is also very varied; from tense, anxious moments, there are also more optimistic and cheerful ones, or angry, violent ones. Previous albums by the band have had more of a monotone attitude and never changed their perennial state of anger.

Again with a short 40 minute album, Kylesa with “Spiral Shadow” show they can blend many things into one another in order to make a more different, elaborate and musically luxurious sound. But they're making the album as a whole a little less solid and a bit more sparse. The great songs are still here, like the opener “Tired Climb”, which is nauseatingly aggressive for the most part, but it also has a cool, tense and anxious build up. “Crowded Road” has a Doomier, heavier feel, while the guitar tapping of “Don’t Look Back” almost reminds of Math Rock, with a somewhat strange and very subtle Pixies influence in the songwriting. The second half of the LP, while it still has a few good moments like the solemn closing track, is a little less emotional and impactive, focusing more on showcasing interesting filter effects rather than concentrating on the songwriting.

An album with a very wide range of sounds that still however remains faithful to Stoner Metal. Although a bit one sided (superiority of the first half to the second), it remains enjoyable pretty much all the way through, and delivers excellent songs that will become, in my mind, Kylesa classics.

Phonebook Eater 8/10

"Static Tensions" is one of the most enjoyable Stoner Metal releases of the last few years.

Kylesa are an American Sludge/Stoner Metal band; 'Static Tensions' is their fourth album, the LP that finally brought them up to popularity among the stoner metal community, after a few, more average and disappointing albums.

The first thing you notice in 'Static Tensions' is how different it sounds compared to previous Kylesa material: it is clear the band have found their own, original take on this kind of music. They have massive Sludge Metal/Hardcore Punk influences in most of the vocals , as well as in the heavy, crunchy, and extremely loud guitars; but the original aspect of the music is probably the rhythm section, which often incorporates more exotic percussive patterns that replace simple drum fills. However, the drummer in this band does not hesitate in blasting bursts of velocity, making Kylesa basically sound like the more drugged out, intense and in- your-face cousin of Mastodon. The great thing about this new style is that slower, clean moments are not rare, and still hint at that Psychedelic feel that is just as powerful as in the more intense moments, especially thanks to the clever addition of female vocals and the hazy production chops.

'Static Tensions', in it's most intense passages, reminds not only of the Hardcore flashes but also of clever, well structured Sludge Metal. Despite this raw blend, Kylesa manage to be extremely accessible in every single song, proving amazing songwriting skills. It is pretty rare to find a band that can successfully write catchy melodies, be adventurous, and surround you with total, blissful distortion, all at the same time.

With only forty minutes 'Static Tensions' is by far the most solid Kylesa album. Although each song maintains a similar style (the clean moments though are all different from one another), they never bore all together, and together shine as one. Of course, there are specific highlights, like the amazingly face-bashing first track 'Scapegoat', the more dualistic (soft and aggressive) nature of 'Running Red', the hypnotic atmosphere of 'To Walk Alone', or the straight-forward catchiness of 'Almost Lost'. Each and every one of these songs has a different character, many of them present a different structural form, and all together they form a quite functional family of tough boys.

'Static Tensions' is an extremely enjoyable, fun, catchy, and aggressive listen, despite not being the most cheerful camper out there. Yet, the solemnity of this band's music could add some new canons to future traditional Sludge Metal.

Phonebook Eater 5/10

"Time Will Fuse It's Worth" is a well constructed album that however gets old pretty fast.

Kylesa is an American Stoner Metal band that has received much attention from the Stoner Metal community, later on in the first decade of the new millennium, with albums like “Static Tensions” and “Spiral Shadow”. Before the times of popularity, there was “Time Will Fuse It’s Worth”, an album positioned at the core of the band’s discography, being a follow-up to two more obscure and more average sounding albums.

Even though it shows significant improvement over Kylesa's past releases, the sound on "Time Will Fuse It's Worth" is far from being mature: By listening to the entire thing, it comes obvious that the band has not yet found its distinct style. The result is a cluster of Stoner/Sludge songs that sound standard and generic compared to other, groundbreaking material from the same genre. The slower moments give a little tease of uniqueness, but it's not long lasting.

Unfortunately the album, despite its relatively short running time, gets old pretty fast, it becomes easily predictable and boring. But good songs are here, especially in the case of “Between Silence and Sound”, the only track where there is a loud and clear burst of uniqueness. Other songs, like “Ignoring Anger”, “The Warning” and “What Becomes and End”, although having generic sound, are proof of great songwriting on behalf of the band. The presence of an intro, intermission and outro give the album an interesting impression of experiencing a mad-circus show, one at times good and at times frustratingly flat.

“Time Will Fuse It’s Worth”, despite its flaws, promises an overcoming of mediocrity on behalf of Kylesa (unlike, let’s admit it, a lot of albums). It turned out of course that Kylesa actually did step up with their game; today, they're one of the most respected Sludge Metal bands.