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 it’s 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 Atmospheric Sludge Metal, except for the fact that Kylesa have always been straight to the point and have always done the job quickly. The type of impact the band delivers is also very varied; from tense, anxious moments, there could be 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 (“Static Tensions” was the first album to change that a bit more).

Again with a short, forty minute long album, Kylesa with “Spiral Shadow”, although showing they can blend many things into one another in order to make a more different, elaborate and musically luxurious sound, are 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 impactful, focusing more on making interesting effects rather than concentrating on the melodies themselves.

An album with a very wide range of sounds that still however remains faithful to Stoner Metal. Although a bit one sided because of the obvious superiority of the first half to the second half, 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 heavy, crunchy, and extremely loud guitars; but the original aspect of the music is probably the rhythm section, often incorporating a more exotic percussion that replaces simple drum fills. However, the drummer in this band does not hesitate in blasting fast 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 have that Stoner feel that is just as powerful as the other more intense moments, especially thanks to the clever addition of female vocals.

“Static Tensions”, in it’s most intense passages, reminds not only of the Hardcore gigs 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, where each song, although all of them maintaining the same style (the clean moments though are all different one another), never bore all together, and together shine as one. Of course, there are particular 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, and 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 could add some further canons to future Stoner Metal.

Phonebook Eater 5/10

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

Kylesa are an American Stoner Metal band that have 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 this popularity, there was “Time Will Fuse It’s Worth”, and album that stands in the middle of the band’s discography, being a follow up to two more obscure and more average sounding albums.

The sound still isn’t quite mature on this album, however, it shows significant improvement. But, by listening to the entire thing, it comes obvious that the band have not yet found their style, thus making merely some decent Stoner/Sludge that however sounds pretty standard and generic. In the slower moments however some hints or originality can be heard, an originality that is different from the one of following albums.

The album, despite the less than forty minutes of length, gets old pretty fast, becoming a bit predictable and boring. The good songs are here however, especially “Between Silence and Sound”, the only track where there is a loud and clear burst of uniqueness. The 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. Then the intro, intermission and outro give the album almost a feeling of a show that is being presented, a show that can be at times wonderful and at times frustratingly flat.

“Time Will Fuse It’s Worth”, despite it’s flaws, gives a promise that Kylesa would overcome mediocrity (unlike, let’s admit it, a lot of bands) and stand-out as some of the most well-respected Stoner Metal bands in the late 00’s. It kept the promise, fortunately.

UMUR "Spiral Shadow" is the 5th full-length studio album by US sludge metal act Kylesa. The album was released through Season of Mist in October 2010.

While I found "Static Tensions (2009)" to be an enjoyable and powerful release, I´m ultimately much more fond of "Spiral Shadow". It´s simply more memorable and features better songwriting. The album is a quality sludge metal release to my ears containing both raw sludge metal riffing, a slight (occasional) touch of hardcore punk, mellower psychadelic tinged sections and good variation between raw male and female vocals. The fact that the band features two drummers is also much more obvious on "Spiral Shadow" than on the predecessor. While it´s not used to as great effect as for example the Melvins have done since 2006, the inclusion of two drummers in the band is still a great asset that works wonders on some of the tracks.

...in the end "Spiral Shadow" is one of those albums that caught my attention from the first to the last note and still does. Allthough not quite as eclectic and bold as Baroness development from the "Red (2007)" album to the "Blue (2009)" album, I hear quite a few similarities in the way that Kylesa travel beyond "regular" sludge metal aestethics on "Spiral Shadow". It´s enjoyable and it´s admirable and fully deserves a 4 star (80%) rating from me.

UMUR Static Tensions is the 4th full-length studio album by American sludge metal act Kylesa. The album was released in March 2009 by Prosthetic Records.

The music on the album is powerful and at times adventurous sludge metal. Filthy and raw vocals, occasional tribal drumming and some heavy and raw sounding guitars are some of the ingredients on the album. The opening track Scapegoat even features some punk/ rock´n´roll elements. The quality of the tracks is high, the musicianship great and the production powerful. Static Tensions is simply put a quality product. When that is said I´d like to hear more memorable moments as some of the songs don´t stand out enough. When the band are most adventurous or rock out they really shine though. A 3 - 3.5 star rating is well deserved.