New Discovery: Generation of Vipers

This looks like my first post in a while about a new discovery, though this doesn't mean I haven't been quietly making them behind the scenes. I was inspired to post a blog about my latest find, Generation of Vipers, as opposed to my other more recent finds because of how easy it was to sink into this album.

So about a week ago I was sitting around wondering what Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou has been up to lately, production-wise.

I sifted through a list of bands I had never heard of, and impulsively clicked on Generation of Vipers--not sure why, but I'm very glad I did. After seeing their album art for Howl and Filth, I had to see what they were all about.

What I heard was very similar to Isis or Neurosis, but a little doomier/noisier and a little more crushing/hardcore-influenced. I'm feeling some fuzz-metal like Torche, and maybe some post-hardcore noise like Unsane in there. And, maybe because I've developed quite a fondness for this genre over the last three years or so, but I found this album far more palatable and accessible than other similar albums.

When I first picked up Through Silver in Blood or Oceanic, I had a little trouble getting what was going on and what I should take away from the music. After half a dozen listens and more time to digest the music, it finally sank in. But Howl and Filth was instantly enjoyable for me.

Another thing I find attractive about this band is how little information there is about them online. I'm used to just typing in a band name into Google, then finding their official website and Wikipedia page. But save a few reviews here and there, there's not much actual information. Most searches turn up biblical websites, which evidently is where the band derives their name.

Supposedly the band signed to Translation Loss, but their website hasn't been updated in a year, so it doesn't even acknowledge GoV (yet?).

Call me Veruca Salt, but this is the information age and I'm used to getting what I want from a Google search. This lack of information is frustrating yet makes me very curious--though I think this says more about how times have changed and my disgusting internet addiction.

Stop listening to me ramble and check out "Eternal" -- the only song they had from Howl and Filth available for streaming on their Bandcamp profile. At 4 minutes in length, it's actually one of the album's shorter tracks. But it's also one of the heavier ones.