Finally comes the debut of the long-awaited project that unites Simon Neil from Biffy Clyro and Dave Lombardo from Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, former Slayer and a etcetera impossible to transcribe. I remember the first words about this plan. Napalm Death and Daughters were mentioned in Neil’s mouth to describe the sound of Empire State Bastard; It’s not these groups that come to mind when you hear the band, but many others. But let’s go in parts: this album is, apart from a Neil fetish that successfully seeks to deviate from the expected canons of Biffy Clyro, another piece of evidence that Dave Lombardo was a musician before working with Mike Patton and John Zorn and a different one after those personal and work relationships. It’s almost a no-brainer, but here Lombardo shines again with all his classic and modern tools. In this case, the sound environment is reminiscent of many things: the dense riffs and dark climates make us think of Black Sabbath, the twisted nature of some formats is reminiscent of Billy Gould’s particular way of composing from Faith No More, the Melvins flutter at many moments, Dave Grohl’s metal self seems to have been in some recording sessions and there are several more nods to other groups, including the fine fierceness of Therapy? and the frenzy of Death Grips. The good thing is that, even in such a concoction of references, the project manages to sound entertaining and even solid, although not in all the minutes.
The thing begins in style with “Harvest”the description of a hallucination that does not go as planned: the gargoyles stalk the protagonist of the lyrics in the middle of a sordid park, the screams and frantic riffs do justice to such overwhelming. “Blusher” tightens the nuts and offers more tightness and includes growls deathmetaleros between arrays math.
In “Moi?” things get interesting, the shadow of the alternative appears (More references: Nirvana, The Jesus Lizard!). Desperation continues, but now with nuances and melodies. Here, with the appearance of the almost unnecessary “Tired, Aye?” (a kind of drum solo decorated by voices that play at hooting) is when the road gets rocky. With the exception of the Slayerian riff from “Palms Of Hands” and the surfer beat of the rusty and effective “Sold!”, the disc parks the surprise, repeats itself and does not exceed the best moments of the first half. It is true that the ending leaves a good taste thanks to “The Looming” with its epic doom and a good instrumental development that removes the mud in math arrangements.
Con “Rivers Of Heresy” Something similar happens to what happens with the records of another of the projects in which Lombardo is involved, Dead Cross. At first it sounds moving and striking but, as it is repeated, it ends up losing interest. Like he doesn’t want to hear it again right away. It is that the level of intensity –in some cases without a clear meaning– that the music proposes ends up sounding far above –by quantity and stridency– its most eclectic and creative parts. Come on, in this first approach Empire State Bastard missed the opportunity to release a very good EP. It will be necessary to see how the concept develops live and taking into account the laurels of those involved, it is possible that they turn the tortilla around.