Red Lion, PA’s premiere anarcho-black doom folk noise duo return with a vengeance on their sophomore effort.
If Corporations Are People is a more focused affair than their excellent debut, Only Dead Birds Sing Over the Graves of Fallen Kings. Here, the seemingly diametrically opposed styles of folk minstrel Timothy R (Stone Breath, TimeMOTHeye) and black doom noisician Brian Magar (Layr, Pyroclastix) blend perfectly, allowing their distinct voices to be heard as one. Blazing black metal onslaughts bare the mark of Timothy’s droning vocals and acoustic instruments, while medieval troubadour tracks reveal an underlying distortion and grim, hissing vocals. Strategically placed politically-charged noise compositions merge Negativland with Aube. It’s the spot hidden deep in the woods where the organic old guard and techno-futurists meet and realize their motives are one and the same.
With a direction firmly in place, Albatwitch have room to explore their possibilities within a liberal framework that allows any and every possibility, so long as it represents the individual members. Let’s see where they go next.