Empire State Bastard – Rivers Of Heresy (Review)

Rivers of Heresy is the album that no-one anticipated, from a band that no-one saw coming. Empire State Bastard are the project that have brought together A-List Rock star Simon Neil of Biffy Clyro, Mike Vennart (ex-Oceansize / Biffy touring guitarist) and a legend of Metal in ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo. Quite the combination you might think, and it’s almost impossible to conceive the chaos and experimentation in heavy music the three have concocted until you hit play on this fine debut, released on Roadrunner Records.

The music was initially conceived by Neil and Vennart on tour buses as far back as 2010, when Biffy Clyro travelled the world with the two mates wanting to explore together their mutual love for weird-extreme music in all its forms, providing an ongoing project marinated over the years as an outlet for a style that just wouldn’t have been able to see the light of day in Neil’s wildly popular day job. The record grabs you by the jugular from the off with the distorted Hardcore haze of ‘Harvest,’ which delivers a delicious hook with a smattering of clean vocals in the chorus, and some highly impressive trademark double kick-drumming from Lombardo.

There is a loose almost improvisational feel to the song which sounds like it’s being jammed live in a darkened room, and the phrenetic heaviness that Empire State Bastard purvey continues wildly into the anarchic ‘Blusher.’ The tone then drops with the bubbling and minimalistic ‘Moi’ where Neil’s distinctive dulcet Scottish drawl is instantly recognisable as the track builds. ‘Tired Aye’ is totally unique as Neil screams in isolation over naked Fusion-Jazz inspired thumping from Lombardo, while ‘Sons And Daughters’ has an infectious old-school sounding riff with dominant punk inspired vocals.

From here the record flows from the relentless distorted grooves of ‘Stutter’ and ‘Palms Of Hands,’ to another huge dive in pace with the entirely experimental and left-field drop of ‘Dusty,’ before heading back into the mire with the quirky stuttering distorted rhythm of ‘Sold!’ Rivers Of Heresy ends with the band showing even more adventurous writing on ‘The Looming,’ which lulls you onto a false sense of security with melodic clean vocals and a stripped back dark and melancholic arty Post-Rock vibe, slowly taking its time to build into an eventual hypnotic cacophony, with Neil once again punishing his vocal chords for our aural pleasure.

This is an extraordinarily unique offering and although Neil clearly has demonstrated an impressive talent for writing a fine song over the years, the fact he can turn his hand to something so different which when crafted with ideas from Vennart also stands out from the music it’s inspired by, is a testament to a rare creativity. Simon Neil has recently gone on record as saying “I’ve unlocked this part of my mind and body now” (Guitar.com) … so it very much seems as if this is far from going to be a one and done ‘super-group’ project. Which is good news, as on this showing we are all naturally going to want more ESB in our ears. 4/5 – KZ

Words by – Abstrakt_Soul