Batillus/Whitehorse – Split LP (20 May 2012, Vendetta Records)

Good afternoon! Here's some exciting news that just came my way recently. I haven’t talked a whole lot about Brooklyn post-doom heavyweights Batillus, although I did name their album Furnace as one of my “Top 11 of 2011.” Nevertheless, ever since I discovered the band sometime in the early part of last year, I’ve been a big fan of their immensely powerful doom’n’gloom soundscapes.

Well, just recently, Vendetta Records has released a 12″ split that also includes Whitehorse from Melbourne, Australia. To be honest, this is my first time hearing of that band, but anything that involves Batillus is guaranteed to catch my attention. The LP is now available for purchase from the Bis Auf’s Messer webstore, or you can pick up a copy directly from the two bands when they head out on tour together next month (see a full list of dates later in this post). The first 100 copies will be on a limited-edition white vinyl; all the rest will be available in standard black.

However, the two tracks from the Batillus side of the record can be downloaded for free (or whatever price you choose to pay) from their Bandcamp page —

 
Together, these two tracks run somewhere around twenty minutes. Kicking things off in typically sludgey-slow fashion, “Silver Mortar” takes a few minutes to really get into motion. Once it does, though, seemingly out of nowhere the band drops the entirety of its mass directly onto your ears; then continues to crush, pummel, and suffocate you into submission. Then, just as slowly as it had started out, it feels as though the engine begins to cough and stall out over the course of the last couple minutes of the track, until with one final sputter, the power is completely cut off. Following this, “Feral” presents another adventure in smothering, crushing sound; as weighty as the pressure of being deep underwater or buried far underground. Over the first half of the track, the combination of deep bass frequencies with crashing cymbals and nearly-inhuman rasped vocals are almost enough to drive the listener to madness — and then the rest of the song completes the journey, as everything gradually devolves into swirling, formless noise.
 
Grab them both from this Bandcamp widget:

Batillus June 2012 Tour with Whitehorse

Wed 30 May – Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s (no Whitehorse)
Thu 31 May – Atlanta, GA @ Wonderroot w/ TBD (no Whitehorse)
Fri 1 June – New Orleans, LA @ Siberia w/ Dragged into Sunlight, Cough (no Whitehorse)
Sat 2 June – Lafayette, LA @ The Wild Salmon w/ Haarp, Red Shield (no Whitehorse)
Sun 3 June – Austin, TX – Chaos in Tejas @ Hotel Vegas w/ Dragged into Sunlight, Cough, Cross, Theories
Mon 4 June – Little Rock, AK @ White Water Tavern w/ As Dogs, Firing Order
Tue 5 June – Columbia, MO @ Cafe Berlin w/ Battlement
Wed 6 June – Lincoln, NE @ Duffy’s Tavern w/ Ezra
Thu 7 June – Minneapolis, MN @ Medusa w/ Svoboda, Lungs
Fri 8 June – Milwaukee, WI @ Quarters w/ Northless
Sat 9 June – Appleton, WI @ Maritime Tavern
Sun 10 June – Chicago, IL @ Double Door w/ Making Ghost, Alma Negra, Lost Dog
Mon 6/11/12 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Kopec’s w/ Slices
Tue 12 June – Brooklyn, NY @ The Acheron w/ Unearthly Trance
Wed 13 June – Providence, RI @ Machines With Magnets
Thu 14 June – Philadelphia, PA @ Kung Fu Necktie
Fri 15 June – Baltimore, MD @ Golden West w/ Mind as Prison

 
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Batillus: website, Facebook, Bandcamp
Whitehorse: Facebook, Bandcamp
Vendetta Records: website