Guitar fanatics, rejoice: from some windswept, lysergia-drenched plane occupying an alternate dimension, the ultimate dual-six string power trio Rangda has emerged once more to tear asunder our worlds and test the mettle of the metaphysics which guide our collective perception of reality.
Rangda consists of three of the most fearsome instrumentalists in the improvisational/noise rock and avant-garde communities, in guitarists Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls) and Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance), and drummer Chris Corsano (of a great many bands & lineups). With the expansive amount of work that these three individuals have outside of their shared universe, there is not a moment of wasted time spent in the music that they create.
“The Sin Eaters,” a video for the song off of their newest album The Heretic’s Bargain trumpets the call for those connoisseurs of snaking notes of sinuous, fuzz-laden guitar. Our visual foray into that trippy landscape (directed by Elisa Ambrogio, of Magik Markers) – an inventive, somewhat unsettling animated play, in which we see the unfolding of the seven deadly sins – is accompanied by the crunchy buzzsaw rhythm of Chasny and Bishop’s dueling guitars, while Corsano hammers away in symmetrical synchronicity.
Those expecting a simple, crushing wash of guitars, or the soft blush of San Francisco pop-psych should beware that this is not that psychedelia: this is a three headed beast whose path tends towards the darker edges of alchemy. Chasny’s aggressive, wide-open chords are like an infernal gateway; indeed, you have to wonder how his Hexadic disciplines have influenced and interacted within the context of this titanic underground supergroup.
To truly grasp the scope of this trio’s power, it’s completely necessary that they be experienced live. Fortunately, Rangda is touring behind Heretic’s Bargain, and are currently on the road, crushing skulls and splitting eardrums as these words are reaching from my fingertips through to your screen. Little more than twenty four hours ago as of this writing, the Boston Hassle welcomed these giants to Cambridge to perform an otherworldly set of music from this album, as well as from previous collaborations.
And, even more fortunately, “The Sin Eaters” succinctly encapsulates the group’s crushing power, delivering a scorching neural bomb to cleanse your sonic palette.
