Pyreship - The Liars Bend Low album review

Wide-ranging riff-merchants whip up a sonic storm

artwork for pyreship's The Liars Bend Low

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Barely a year after forming, these sludgy Houston noise merchants debut with a grinding, five-track foray into alt-metal, doom and grunge. Think Soundgarden and Neurosis jamming together in the middle of a Death Valley sandstorm. Rather than skew towards the dense and monolithic, Pyreship have clearly got a feel for crafting memorable doom hooks that suffer no lack of force. Gravity and When Leaves Turn To Blood showcase startling fusions of post-metal, doom and fuzz- drenched psychedelia, building from coarse dirges into roaring avalanches of buzzing riffage. Sharing guitar and vocal duties, Sam Waters and Cru Jordan Jones invest the tracks with sharp, caustic howling. Lyrically bleak, …Low is a murky, sinister affair with scant emotional variance, but then again, Pyreship aren’t trying to make the feelgood hit of the summer. The scale and maturity of the material belies the youth of this band. File under ‘Ones to watch’.

Joe Daly

Hailing from San Diego, California, Joe Daly is an award-winning music journalist with over thirty years experience. Since 2010, Joe has been a regular contributor for Metal Hammer, penning cover features, news stories, album reviews and other content. Joe also writes for Classic Rock, Bass Player, Men’s Health and Outburn magazines. He has served as Music Editor for several online outlets and he has been a contributor for SPIN, the BBC and a frequent guest on several podcasts. When he’s not serenading his neighbours with black metal, Joe enjoys playing hockey, beating on his bass and fawning over his dogs.