Albums•November 29, 2011•14,246 views

Noriega Desolo

01. You Are God Songs 02. Bernard 03. Detriment 04. Life By Myself 05. Ballacaust

2009 Viable Records

Our score 9

1/2/2010

After garnering attention throughout 2007 and 2008, Los Angeles' Black Sheep Wall had a brief but bright existence in the extreme music scene, both domestically and abroad, with their brand of gut-bustingly heavy, doomy hardcore. Now with the bulk of its line-up making up the like-minded Noriega, a similarly sludgy monster has reared its head with Desolo, the new band's debut EP for upstart label Viable Records. Imagine Black Sheep Wall re-envisioning its I Am God Songs full-length in a more cohesive, concise, EP-length record, and you might be on the right track for what Noriega is and has become. If you've got to pinpoint the band's sound, though, have fun. The whole 'Band A-meets-Band B-meets-Band C, but with a lot of Band D influence' thing won't really work for Noriega, since it would just leave readers scratching their heads much more than making sense. Just know that it's not too far from Black Sheep Wall's sound that garnered some acclaim, but doomier in a different way, sludgier in a similar way, and dirtier in the cleanest, best way possible. Pretty much, it's like Black Sheep Wall, but not really. But sort of...Or something. Doom-driven, mathematically-constructed hardcore Sure. That ought to work for argument's sake. From the opening jazz-sounding dissonance of "I Am God Songs," to the 12-minute closer, "Ballacaust," Desolo is all over the map in its short, five-track length. On the latter track, vocalist Trae Malone joins guest screamer Chris Lindblad (Admiral Angry) amidst a wall of feedback from guitarist Andrew Hull and bassist Brandon Gillichbauer, topped by drummer Jackson Thompson's cymbals crashes, showcasing Noriega's ability to keep such a long song interesting in a completely different way from the aforementioned opener. All over the map though it may be, though, Desolo's 27 minute length is decidedly heavy and handily performed. On top of all that, the digipack display is wonderfully refined; it's elegant but simple, engaging and cleanly crisp at the same time. Plus, there's meaning behind the musical madness. Dedicated to Admiral Angry's Daniel Krause, who passed away during the album's construction, Desolo is slab of heavy, original extreme music used much as a release for what Jackson coins negative energy. The result: a record as mutually meaningful to the band as it is monstrously heavy to listeners. Bottom line: Desolo is forward-thinking, musically-astute, and heavy as fuck. What's not to like Angular riffs, some serious passion, and almost completely devoid of boring derivatives, this is a keeper. Whereas Black Sheep Wall might have been heavy because heaviness was the goal, Noriega is heavy not only because of its content, the momentous music factors in there too. "Life is conflict, and we want our music to express this," Jackson says about the band. The only conflict here is wanting more of a good thing and having to wait until Noriega gets cracking on a full-length.

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Shellac_01_ 1/2/2010 7:58:49 PM

9/10 really? Just listened to the one song on Myspace and it is nothing new or innovative nor is it a better version of something that has been done before. For me it is completely forgettable. Maybe the other songs are better but if they are, why did they put the shitty one on Myspace?

Noriega Desolo

37 comments

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