Men With Mallets - Nephilim.

Men with Mallets – Nephilim – CD – Sonic Entrails - 2020.

https://sonicentrails.bandcamp.com/album/men-with-mallets-nephilim

     1.    Watchers.

     2.    Taken.

     3.    The Judgement.

     4.    Banished.

The work of Men with Mallets has always been fascinating for me, I was extremely impressed by their last album Leviathan. This stand-alone EP provides me with more to marvel at. As always Men with Mallets is John Shapter and Blind Johnny Smoke.

Slow churning sounds build up to deep rumblings and drones to create the opener Watchers. I like the deep, floating dream like state of the work. The addition of suspenseful sounds makes for an impressive Ambient introduction to Nephilim.

I feel as if I am by the Sea when Taken begins, deep arching drones cut across the sea like sounds, the beauty of the work intensifies here. The drone noises seem to pull my imagination across a landscape. Due to this there is this mental pull between land and sea. Another form of drone enters the picture and feels as if it represents the sky, the listener is then taken to an even fuller landscape of sound.

I’m pulled back into an intense dreamlike state for The Judgement which has gradual build-up of singing bowl sounds that seem to continually multiply and grow. This bares similarities of sound to the other tracks yet has an individual mood and argumentative feel of its own as various drones play off each other until things die off.

We are left with a desolate landscape for Banished, quiet sounds and subtle noises combine to do this. There is a gradual, subtle rise in sound that pulls things to the forefront with a lesser intensity than the previous tracks. This still ties into the rest of the EP, yet it is also different to all the other tracks as it is a lot bleaker, but it winds Nephlim down to an end.

I had quoted the last album as one of my highlights of 2019, this, for me, is a high point of 2020. It feels like an album stripped down to its most relevant, strongest tracks to make for a perfect work. The rich textures and subtle variation in the work combines to make an excellent EP.

Nevis Kretini 2020.

Men with Mallets - Leviathan.

Men with Mallets – Leviathan. Sonic Entrails. CD. 2019. https://sonicentrails.bandcamp.com/ 

Track list.

1.    The Eyelids of the Morning.

2.    The boiling Deep.

3.    200 Miles Long.

4.    You Will Hear the Call.

5.    Seven Spheres of the Archon.

6.    Break the Head into.

7.    Chaoskampf.

8.    Wreathed. Twisted into Folds.

9.    The Missing One.

10. About Her Shadowy Sides.

11. Swallowed at The End of Time.

My introduction to Sonic Entrails was an odd one, John E smoke contacted the blog about his releases on the label. After chatting, it turns out we were both going to see Tunnels of Ah in Birmingham, so we arranged to meet up there and give me the CDs. We met up and he gave me Leviathan and a Mannequin Factory album to review. John puts on gigs in Dudley, makes music via different projects and runs the Sonic Entrails label. It also turns out that I’d previously reviewed his Flesh-Eating Foundation project in my older reviewing days many years ago. Babyland were also covered on that album, thus I was also introduced to Babyland for which I am eternally grateful. Meeting up was way better than the usual anonymous brown envelope through the letterbox.

Leviathan is the first Men with Mallets release, John Shapter and John E Smoke are behind the project.  Leviathan uses singing bowls, gongs and chimes – these are recorded acoustically and with contact mics. Sounds were then processed to become the tracks on this album, which is the first part of a trilogy about the mythological water beast Leviathan.

The drones are used to the effect of Wartime air sirens as if to create an urgency to the album’s opening track. The subtle interactions and play offs between the sounds form slow, sonic conversations across the length of Leviathan. At times the work is atmospheric and suspenseful as the drones really pulsate and contact mic sounds scrape across the sounds. The depth of sound across the album is deep, the noise factor comes through in the intense volume that some of the sounds are pushed to, so that they distort but this still ties in well with the overall sound as the slow pace is constantly adhered to.

As an album everything ties in well together, it’s been mastered well, and the selection of tracks doesn’t affect the flow of the album. There are subtle variations in the use of gongs, chimes and singing bowls with different samples and sounds apparent on different tracks keeping the range varied so things don’t get boring. The frequent rises in sound levels make Leviathan challenging as it immerses itself in some very deep atmospheres. This is a strong album and one of my highlights of 2019.

Nevis Kretini 2019.