Black Math Horseman - Wyllt - Expanded Review

         With their first album Wyllt, slow-burners Black Math Horseman provide a brooding and ultimately cathartic addition to the doom metal and dark psyche rock catalog. A big part of stoner rock and doom metal’s appeal is, of course, the almighty monolithic riff. Black Math Horseman don’t ride out monstrously fuzzy riffs like Kyuss or Melvins, but the album boasts its fair share of nasty, wall-shaking, low-register guitar work (see “Deerslayer and “Origin of Savagery”). While it would be easy for these powerful musicians to riff first and ask questions later, BMH set themselves apart with really deliberate songwriting and production. Wyllt is meticulously constructed in terms of song structure, dynamic shifts, and orchestration, but unquestionably stays on the near side of the “post-rock” barrier and avoids the drawn-out metalgazing that might turn some listeners off of bands like Mono or This Will Destroy You.  

          Torment of the Metals” is a fine example of the band employing structure to create surging emotional tension, proving that metal bands can use more than just down-tuned dissonance, lyrical malevolence, or crushing overdrive to sound heavy or dark. This track, like many of the others, starts slowly with a distant, almost tempoless treble strum and patiently folds in rising, hypnotic bass drums that, in turn, act as foundation for the lead guitar melodies. Rather than follow any verse-chorus-verse structure, melodic leads are subtly passed around from guitar to bass to guitar to vocals, introducing melodic variations and additional sonic layers as the songs progress through their dynamic contrasts. “A Barren Cause” might otherwise sound like standard stoner sludge with its ham-hock drums and overdriven bass lines, but anguished guitars fade in and out to keep time over the muddy riffs and create a dogged uneasiness that relentlessly pulses the song forward. The guitars gradually become more and more piercing and eventually blossom from mood-setting accompaniment into the song’s centerpiece, intertwining with late-arriving vocals on the way to a quaking finish. Black Math Horseman, like their spirit cousins Isis, seem to have a destination in mind as they play out each phrase, making Wyllt an uncommon find in a genre where cohesion and careful arrangement are often scrapped in favor of weighty, blurred grooves or the simple pleasures of aping Tony Iommi.

         Black Math Horseman’s measured sense of composition wouldn’t really matter if the band’s component sounds didn’t complement each other so well. Producer Scott Reeder (formerly a bass player for Kyuss and Unida) made sure that no particular instrument or tonal quality dominates, giving the album a layered clarity that highlights the each instrument’s precise phrasings and the album’s quiet spaces. Ian Berry and Bryan Tulao’s restrained and razor-sharp guitars peel off doubled guitar-bass lines and float above singer Sera Timms' entranced vocals; drum fills are well-placed and never feel extraneous. These layered atmospherics, which recall a cleaner-sounding Mouth of the Architect, are complemented by a tight and unyielding rhythm section (the first lines of “Tyrant” follow a drum-and-bass mind-meld that immediately evokes Al Cisneros and Chris Haikus from meditative doom grandmasters Om) that shifts from background groove to primary pummel to great effect in the songs’ rumbling crescendos. The vocals are generally ambient and monotone, but pair well with the lead guitar’s lilting eighth-note agitations to suffuse the album with an ominous mysticism. (To be completely honest, I can’t understand many of the lyrics, but they sure sound creepy).

  All of this comes together to make some darkly satisfying rock music, but some of the tracks would benefit from a little less control and a little more raucous abandon. When Timms finally looses her throaty wail on the final track “Bird of All Faiths and None/Bell from Madrone”, it sounds singularly gnarly, operating as an explosive conclusion to the preceding tracks’ dark, controlled build-ups. Despite any slight shortcomings, this is consistently compelling heavy music – by turns, mysteriously slinky and impressively forceful. (If you don’t listen to the album in its entirety, try “Deerslayer” and the portentous “Torment of the Metals” which sounds like the musical equivalent of saying, “Enemies whom I am pursuing slowly but surely, pee thy pants in fear of my calculated rage during the next seven minutes and four seconds.”)

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