#Ken Trousdell

[doomedandstoned]

Beastmaker Engineers Another Masterwork of Horror

~Review by Svempa Alveving & Billy Goate~

~Photographs by Ken Trousdell~

Inspiration ebbs and flows in metal, as in all mediums of art. Feast or famine. While fans might wish for the next great record from Sleep or Tool, we have no choice but to wait patiently through long periods of drought for new material to emerge. Happily, fortune has smiled on Californian doom masterminds BEASTMAKER, who find themselves flourishing in the midst of an impressive creative streak.

Owning a recording studio has no doubt made it easier for Trevor William Church (vox, guitar), John Tucker (bass), and Andres Alejandro Saldate (drums) to cut through reams of red tape and keep costs manageable as they focus on fine-tuning and disseminating their sound. Over the past two years, Beastmaker has been unstoppable, issuing a cult EP and an equally beloved LP which jettisoned the band to international attention. Now, right on the heels of 'Lusus Naturae' (2016), the Fresno trio has just dropped a ten song sophomore album -- and what a brilliant release it is!

'Inside The Skull' (2017 - Rise Above Records) embraces all of the Pentagram and Sabbath worship you could hope for, viewed through the hazy glasses of stoner rock and fueled by a wicked garage vibe. If the band’s first album took us by surprise with its untethered energy and raw power, this new effort has significantly stepped up the Beastmaker game.

It's hard to live a life of solitude. At every corner someone's hunting you. Stay in the shadows do not show your face. You don't belong within the human race.

For decades, doom and horror have come hand-in-hand and Beastmaker's affection for dark stories of madness and monsters is no exception. Rather than stepping into the stylistic footprint of Electric Wizard, however, Beastmaker seems drawn to the pomp and aggression of Danzig and Mercyful Fate. This marriage of the slow 'n' low and old school heavy metal is perfect for the horrific themes that Inside The Skull explores. A small injection of psychedelia adds a swirling occult atmosphere to the mix that is also quite potent.

"Evil One" is a good example of what you can expect from the album, with nice hooks, fantastic chorus lines, and a vibrant tone. There inspired touches in every song, like the tech-flavored arpeggios accompanying those baleful refrains in "Now Howls The Beast." Trevor's nasal-tone vocals add an extra dimension of evil, as well, as witnessed by "Nature of the Damned."

Every song is structured efficiently, with a back-to-basics approach to riffmaking and a preference for intuitive verses, evident in "Of God's Creation." This filtering process may give us a relatively shorter album, but be assured: each ingredient has a well-chosen place and purpose. Unnecessary passages are snipped, avoiding the tendency of many bands to take a good thing too far. Reducing the fat also cuts back on listening fatigue, which encourages us to spin the record over and over again.

Sonically, Inside The Skull is fresh from end-to-end, thanks to savvy sound engineering that results in pristine clarity and noticeable depth, as in "Heaven To Hell." All of this, remember, recorded and produced entirely by the band -- an astounding DIY effort.

Inside the Skull is an absolutely fantastic album of downtuned throwback metal, delivered with high intensity and attention to detail. Beastmaker presents an energetic work filled with enigmatic themes, edgy riffs, hypnotic rhythms, heart-pounding drums, heavy metal swagger, and the full weight of doom. If the band continues to progress on this level, I see their star rising rapidly. It's no mistake that this latest release found a home on Lee Dorrian's label, Rise Above Records. Perhaps it's too early to speak of Beastmaker growing to Cathedral-level greatness, but this album, at least, could cement the band's place as Record of the Year and certainly one of the great records of decade.

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Film by Billy Goate