True Widow - As High as the Highest Heavens and From the Center to the Circumference of the Earth (2011)

One hell of a title, huh? I have a feeling this band jokes around often. Sure, could there be some great meaning in the naming of the record? Absolutely. However, as a band, long album titles are usually never taken seriously, due to the complications in promoting such a long title. Also, they call themselves a "stonegaze" band. Made up genres should never be taken seriously, such as the wonders of "crunkcore". What will people think of next? Intelligent or not, "stonegaze" does sufficiently describe this band, though most people think True Widow hearken back to the genre of "slowcore". All this genre talk is making me nauseous. Just know this, True Widow sound like a louder version of Low, or as a coworker told me, "pretty sludge".

By now most of you will not want to check this band out, which is fine. But you would be doing yourselves a disservice in passing up a great record. Do you really think I would post something I didn't think was wonderfully brilliant? As High As... is a long record of sprawling guitars and clean vocal melodies. That is what I enjoy about this band, that they are able to translate normally abrasive sludgey riffs into something with more melody. What is even weirder is that you can kind of tell that they band is from Texas. I am a firm believer of a person's landscape affecting their art, and it shines through in this case. Texas can be a pretty desolate, sprawling place, which shines through in the music. The songs meander through a grim place, slowly coming around time and again for air. The opening track "Jackyl" bears the weight of this feeling, as the opening chord hits you like a ton of bricks. I also really enjoy the pace of "NH", a ponderously slow jam that turns to be incredible catchy. This is also followed by the single the band is pushing, "Skull Eyes", another catchy tune that displays the pretty side of the band, in which the pretty is dragged through molasses. I would also like to point out the song "Interlude", which acts as it's title suggests, but reveals much more. The song breaks up any monotony through the obvious acoustic guitar work, but the atmosphere brings a whole different element. Sparse static is in the forefront of the song, almost as though it were recorded on the plateau of some mountain in Texas. Really beautiful stuff here.

Whether True Widow has a knack for pulling your strings or not, there is something beautiful in this record. How it brings you to the lowest depths of a sparse Texas well, only to glimpsed at by sunlight around every corner is exciting. It is this slow, heavy, and melodic dynamic that makes this band special, cut out from the rest. Give it a try, and proceed to buy the beautiful 180g double LP. I did.

Tracks:

1. Jackyl
2. Blooden Horse
3. NH
4. Skull Eyes
5. Wither
6. Boaz
7. Night Witches
8. Interlude
9. Doomser

(You would almost think they were a Euro Doom band with song titles such as those...)

Tow me a line.

***BONUS VIDEO***
The track "Aka" off of their first album, True Widow.