Greylock / BEDTIMEMAGIC – Split (Tor Johnson Records, 12 February 2021)

Good afternoon, and a Happy Monday to you all!

Submitted for your enjoyment, I’ve got a split tape that came out a couple months back — each side features a handful of tunes by a different Boston-area duo (included among which is a cover of one song by the band from the other side). These represent fairly disparate genres within the general metal mise en scène, so hopefully there should be something for everyone here. Off we go…

Greylock

First up is Greylock, whose tracks contain sludge/doom of a rather primal variety. Opener “Do Not Revive” is extremely minimal in its arrangement: essentially built upon a riff of two sustained three-note phrases, accompanied by thunderous half-time drumbeats and barbaric vocals. From there, the tempos and complexity trend gradually upward over the course of the following four songs — including the penultimate “King Size” which was originally by their friends and neighbors from the opposite side of the split — although those initial qualities (primal, thunderous, and barbaric) absolutely remain consistent throughout.

BEDTIMEMAGIC

The second half of the tracks come courtesy of BEDTIMEMAGIC — although in terms of overall length, their contribution is almost exactly half the running time of the “A” side, which is why you’ll find the second half of side “B” is an encore presentation of the five BEDTIMEMAGIC songs, except in reverse.

The reason this material is half as long as the first band’s is simple: because each song is approximately twice as fast. While still dipping their toes in the same pool of sludge as their flip-side compatriots, there’s no trace of doom here — rather, we find ourselves all the way in the more hardcore- and noise-rock-adjacent end of the spectrum, with the harsh shouting, waves of static and distortion bringing to mind comparisons to Eyehategod or Unsane. In other words, the name BEDTIMEMAGIC — as well as the sleepy-themed track titles (“Shuteye,” “Lying Softly,” etc.) — is clearly not meant to be taken literally.

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You can download this split release through the Bandcamp widget below — or it’s available in exclusive cassette varieties: clear with a metallic gold liner from Tor Johnson here, translucent hospital green from Greylock here, or in computer white from BEDTIMEMAGIC here.
 

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http://greylock.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/greylockboston
http://www.facebook.com/greylockboston
 
http://bedtimeboston.bandcamp.com
http://www.instagram.com/bedtimemagic69
http://www.facebook.com/realbedtimemagic
 
http://torjohnsonrecords.com
http://torjohnsonrecords.bandcamp.com