Review Summary: High Alchemy vs. 24 Hour B$
If you've been alive a while and have seen the inside of corporate society (as a legal consultant, I've seen it from many different angles), you have firsthand knowledge of a cosmic conspiracy that rivals anything H.P. Lovecraft ever wrote of. There is only one song title that perfectly sums it up, which I assume was coined by Mr. Cavalera: "24 Hour Bull$#*^".
At any given time, in offices low and high, some part of 7 BILLION DRONES are doing nothing but generating an endless stream of completely useless, nonsensical corporate “0”s and “1”s. What is the damn point? I don’t know, but the people who eat it up are referred to by Huntress as the "zombies of the noise" in the title track of their latest opus.
The "noise" infecting our planet makes Tlazolteotl, the $#*^-eating sin goddess of the Aztecs, sound downright beneficent. The trusty Sphere of Annihilation from Dungeons & Dragons-- a black hole that destroys anything it touches-- is more inviting than our braindead corporate arcology and insidious police state that dictates what we can put in our *own bodies*. No wonder so many of us don’t leave our dirt-shielded basements.
As much as ever, we need to ROCK OUT with our cl*tboners out. So with a dash of sulfuric acid and the white hot crucible of “Sorrow”, Huntress begins the calcination process-- that first technique in the lost sevenfold art of alchemy, and the one symbolic of the ego’s destruction. Jill Janus sings “Sorrow / Can't let go / I'm done with getting old / All I got is breath to hold”. Phil Mucci’s video for this song is pure camp sagacity, reminiscent of the way Robert Rodriguez’s Machete Kills takes Tarantino –esque absurdity and 70s film fetishism to a whole new and gruesome level-- fun.
For one, I experience synesthesia that usually takes a cue, subconsciously or not, from album artwork. But this precious Static was a surprise, unveiling itself to me in fires-of-Mordor orange. By the time you get to “Fire in My Heart”, the seventh alchemical operation of coagulation-- which is symbolic of resurrection of the soul-- has curdled Static into front runner for hard rock album of the year. Jill, a true rock witch if there’s ever been one, is free, and her lusty yell of “Burning for your black art / In flames forever higher / I’ve got the Fire In My Heart” is the ideal soundtrack to freedom and blasting down Highway 34 in the Black Rock Desert-- or perhaps the soundtrack for forming a second body of pure light and exiting stage left through your crown chakra.
Now, this sounds pedantic, but for those who may have never seen a rock star in their whole life, music with a charismatic vocalist has to make certain concessions in its song structure department in order to accommodate the vocalist’s unique talents. This applies even to death metal. With Steve Tucker, Morbid Angel could make the lightning-fast and mind-incinerating Formulas Fatal to the Flesh. But with David Vincent leading the charge, they crafted the lumbering Domination, bearer of the unforgotten lyrics of “Inquisition (Burn with Me)”. Listen to it. “Could you imagine the pain / Why would my countrymen let me down? / They're bearing witness just to save their skin”. That $#*^ is CATCHY, and it is death metal (just to be fair though, Tucker’s chants on "Invocation of the Continual One" are also some of the best things I have ever heard).
I heart extreme metal, but at the end of the day, only a handful of extreme metal bands from each subgenre are truly unique and indispensable. On the other hand, Huntress is singular. As much as it is metal, it is plutonium rock & roll-- which we can all agree, is NOT an element that is common on our planet any more.
At long last, critics need to stop inventing reasons to deny this band their top score. The press generally favors Huntress but many times insists on making up a nitpick in the name of objectivity. I've heard downright absurd statements like "I wish the guitar licks were as catchy as the vocals". Enough already. The band's transfusion of one part Holy Grail DNA happened organically over the course of a couple years of touring, and drummer Tyler Meahl from Holy Grail is guitarist Blake's brother. The chemistry is as exalted and cutting as rare Cognac and violet axinite crystal. A key part of this cosmic spectacle is that Jill has affirmed her alliance with Blake. Ye Creatures far and broad who have made Huntress a success so far, bow your head with me in appreciation of the band in its current iteration. Blake is John Christ to Jill’s Danzig, Jay Yuenger to Rob Zombie, Twiggy to Manson, Allen West to John Tardy, Trey Azagthoth to David Vincent, Jerry Cantrell to Layne Staley, Pai-- um, well you get the point. And if they aren’t the marriage of prolific and brilliant, what is? Three immaculately -conceived and -executed modern metal masterpieces in three and a half years? That is what Terrence McKenna would call a period of high novelty in human affairs.
So here’s the question; with this cruel decimation of any and all competition, will the masses and the critics finally crown Huntress the best band to arise in the current decade? No matter. If this Indian Summer you are lucky enough to be falling in love and on a wild road trip, you could do a lot worse than blowing out your speakers with Static.
