Intrinsic Action - Live Archive 43

Intrinsic Action - Show 43 - June 24, 1993 - Spiral - NY, NY

The Sludgelord on Anatomy of Habit

Monday, 19 January 2015

Anatomy of Habit - Ciphers + Axioms (Album Review)

Album Type: Full-Length

Date Released: 3/11/2014

Label: Relapse Records

‘Ciphers + Axioms’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1). ‘Radiate and Recede’

2). ‘Then Window’

Anatomy of Habit is:

Theo Katsaounis | Percussion
Will Lindsay | Guitar
John McEntire | Drums
Kenny Rasmussen| Bass
Mark Solotroff | Vocals

Review:

This album is a masterpiece of huge noise. Anatomy of Habit has produced a musical titan composed of two halves: the rolling ‘Radiate and Recede’ & the intense ‘Then Window’. Anatomy of Habit simply roll with unrestrained mass in their sound, using what sounds like a stadium to push wave after wave of fuzz and bass over the listener. The songs aren't short jaunts through ideas either, but winding 20+ minute paths that wind through poetic ideas. The band is basically a super group, using members from other notable acts: Mark Solotroff (Bloodyminded), John McEntire (Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Gastr Del Sol), Will Lindsay (Indians, Wolves in the Throne Room), Theo Katsaounis (Joan of Arc), and Kenny Rasmussen (ex Radar Eyes). These talented individuals have brought you an album that is closer to art, than just simply heavy music. I have minced words too long, let’s dive in!

The first epic, ‘Radiate and Recede’, is pretty spot on. The entire song is basically following a tidal pattern of having the guitars and, I think, string accompaniment roll in at measured times, to flow over everything. It's like God slowly rolling up the volume of universal life to just drown out petty humanity. It's somewhat akin to white noise, the repeating chords and notes just seem to blank out whatever is inside your head, while Solotroff simply gives an odd beauty with his nearly chant-like vocals. It’s a weird combination, but one that sticks in the listeners head pretty nicely. He doesn't alter his cadence, using a monotone baritone to deliver his simple lines, but it winds well with the building wall of noise and doom rolling around you. The vocals do change in a couple of spots, where he gets some scream time in, but nothing as terrible as screamo or other style so terrible. It arrives in time with a huge change in tempo and attitude with the band, and peaks to break into the lulls it so commands. The song, when at its simplest, uses percussion and minimal guitar to just leave a resounding space for Solotroff's voice to echo into infinity, which has to just knock angels out of their clouds. The ending of ‘Radiate and Recede’ is really heady, as it becomes more plodding doom, with a subtle transition from the earlier parts. It gets all kinds of heavy.

‘Then Window’ is quite different from ‘Radiate and Recede’, it starts with some heavy feedback, which then just morphs into differing textures and patterns. After about a minute of that, they go right into a heavy marching pattern, with the stringed half playing quite percussively with the drums. It has a purpose, and it's not stopping for anything. The vocals are in the same vein as ‘Radiate and Recede’, following a specific pattern and still that odd chant singing. This is by far my favorite song, as it has a bit more energy than the first song, and also because of the change in the last 7+ minutes of the song. The first 13 are more traditional doom and rock styled, as you have intense grooves with extremely hard delivery. It almost sounds like they had to get this last one out of their strings, so they went for broke on some sections. It goes immediately from groove city to light sections with minimal playing and more vocals. The lighter sections aren't to leave you hanging, as they slowly ramp up from behind to deliver right back into heaviness. The change happens at the 9 minute mark, where the song just starts fading out from the vocals, like they were all just sneaking out to leave Solotroff alone with himself, but then he stops on the repeated line of "Ciphers, and Axioms", and the song takes a rolling, ambient feel. It's like watching the baby float through 2001: A Space Odyssey, it’s just epic. It’s rolling noise with an underlying riff right below it, probably best on certain chemicals. 

Overall, ‘Ciphers + Axioms’ by Anatomy of Habit is one of the best albums from last year, perfect for the heavy aficionado who likes to mix it up with their collection.

Words by: Hunter Young

You can pick up a CD/LP copy here.

For more information:

Official Site | Facebook | Bandcamp

Poster for Anatomy of Habit - January 23, 2015 Show

https://www.facebook.com/events/776678689035697/

Tonight: Anatomy of Habit - Listening Party

Metal Hammer on Anatomy of Habit

Here's the complete Metal Hammer review we mentioned. Pretty amazing!

Avant-doomsters perform multi-dimensional soul-surgery

A bastion of experimentalism for some of the metal avant- garde’s heaviest hitters, Anatomy Of Habit’s Relapse debut throws out the rulebook and stretches ambitious fingers towards the threshold of perception.

An alchemical mix of doom, noise and goth-tinged post-punk, renowned vocalist Mark Solotroff intones mantras that may make little sense within the bewilderingly powerful moment, but when delivered with his solemnly intoned baritone nevertheless feel revelatory in magnitude, as the music flourishes to collapse around them. Tumultuous crescendos of Neurosis-like riffing melt into dreamlike ethereality, the two 20-minutes-plus tracks avoiding the pitfalls of waning attention span by constantly evolving. Much akin to the experience – and that really is the word for music like this – of listening to Swans for the first time, it can be overwhelming in its cinematic scope. Not like listening to music in the traditional sense, it is about surrendering yourself to a sonic mystery, a dimension of enigmatic potential, never knowing what is around the corner and emerging 40 minutes later feeling altered on a subconscious level.

FINAL VERDICT: 8/10

http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/reviews/2014-10-14/anatomy-of-habit-ciphers-axioms

Daily Rock (Switzerland) on Anatomy of Habit

From Daily Rock: "This album will help you prepare for the coming winter."

ANATOMY OF HABIT – Ciphers + Axioms

Anatomy of Habit – Ciphers+Axioms

Deux c’est peu, ou, beaucoup, c’est selon ! C’est aussi le nombre de chansons de cet album, donc peu ! Mais, la qualité est au rendez-vous, donc beaucoup ! Les titres sont longs, ils s’étirent comme nos habitudes, qui se jouent du temps et de nos attentions. Le groupe use de ‘stratagèmes post rock’ en incluant des instants contemplatifs et mélancoliques superbes. Il y a des sonorités quelque peu « indus » (qui rappellent Swans ou The Book Of Knot), ce qui rend les choses mois évidentes qu’il n’y paraît. Il faut être pleinement attentif pour pénétrer l’anatomie de ces deux titres. Mais une fois que l’on est pris dedans, on découvre des riffs bien heavy, des atmosphères sombres, voire malsaines grâce à cette voix, qui oscille entre lumière et noirceur. Cet album t’aidera à préparer la venu de l’hiver.

http://www.daily-rock.com/anatomy-of-habit-ciphers-axioms/

Metal Hammer on Anatomy of Habit

From Metal Hammer (excerpt):

Avant-doomsters perform multi-dimensional soul-surgery

A bastion of experimentalism for some of the metal avant- garde’s heaviest hitters, Anatomy Of Habit’s Relapse debut throws out the rulebook and stretches ambitious fingers towards the threshold of perception.

http://metalhammer.teamrock.com/reviews/2014-10-14/anatomy-of-habit-ciphers-axioms

Life is Noise on Anatomy of Habit

Sounds Like Hell: Anatomy of Habit

By Matthew Tomich on November 6, 2014 | Leave a comment Tags: Anatomy of Habit 

Sounds Like Hell is an irregular feature on noise rock.

 

Anatomy of Habit carry themselves with the same seriousness as Neurosis, which is to say that this is a group of people who do not fuck around when it comes to their craft. When I first saw them supporting Pelican in their native Chicago two years ago, that was what stood out: the religiosity of their musical expression, as though the music was part of a larger, unspoken ritual.

So it’s fitting that ‘Radiate and Recede’, the first of two tracks from their forthcoming LP Ciphers + Axioms, proceeds with like a netherworld hymn. While Neurosis flourish on catharsis and release, Anatomy of Habit prefer to let tension bubble to the point of listener discomfort. Mark Solotoroff’s doesn’t so much sing or speak as he delivers emotionless incantations over snarling guitars and dual percussionists who sound like they’re shattering glass with every beat. This is uneasy listening, equal parts beautiful and distressing, meticulous and psychologically draining, the way challenging art should be.

http://lifeisnoise.com/2014/11/06/sounds-like-hell-anatomy-of-habit/

Anatomy of Habit Album Streaming on Pitchfork

Listen here: http://pitchfork.com/advance/583-ciphers-axioms/

Wire on Anatomy of Habit

Thanks to Louis Pattison for the positive words!

Anatomy of Habit - Premiere of "Radiate and Recede"

The A-Side track of the upcoming Anatomy of Habit album, Ciphers + Axioms, is now streaming exclusively on the Heathen Harvest website. Check out "Radiate and Recede," in its entirety...

http://heathenharvest.org/2014/10/16/exclusive-premiering-new-track-from-anatomy-of-habit-ciphers-axioms/

Relapse Announces Anatomy of Habit Pre-Order

Anatomy of Habit's Relapse debut is coming! 'Ciphers + Axioms' arrives November 10th and can now be pre-ordered from Relapse Mailorder here: http://bit.ly/anatomyofhabit

Listen to a sample from the album on YouTube here:

http://youtu.be/2aClfKwn9IU?list=PLq6NULtuhFummy6wxzJNsMvuc7U_JFC_wOr

on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/relapserecords/anatomy-of-habit-album-trailer

‘Ciphers + Axioms’ is an intensely terrifying tranced-out post-metal / noise-rock masterpiece. Anatomy of Habit is made up of current and former members of BLOODYMINDED, Tortoise, The Sea and Cake, Gastr del Sol, INDIAN, Wolves In The Throne Room, Joan of Arc, Radar Eyes (Chicago, IL), and more.

Listen to their previous releases via Bandcamp here: http://anatomyofhabit.bandcamp.com/

Anatomy of Habit Sign to Relapse Records

Relapse Records is proud to announce the signing of Chicago, IL quintet Anatomy of Habit. Formed in October 2008 and featuring current and former members of BLOODYMINDED, Tortoise, Wolves in the Throne Room, Joan of Arc, Indian and many other bands, the group play a haunting, psychedelically terrifying blend of doom metal, post-punk, death-rock, noise-rock, and shoegaze. Anatomy of Habit, composed of Theo Katsaounis (Percussion), Will Lindsay (Guitar), John McEntire (Drums), Kenny Rasmussen (Bass), Mark Solotroff (Vocals), have released an eponymous LP (2011) and EP (2012) plus a CD compiling both vinyl only releases.

Stream 'Anatomy of Habit' Here

The band recorded their upcoming Relapse debut with renowned producer Sanford Parker (Corrections House, Cough, YOB) at Soma Electronic Music Studios in Chicago and it is expected to see a late 2014 release.

The members commented on signing to Relapse:

"Anatomy of Habit is thrilled to join the Relapse family, which in many ways is already very close to us. The label has been a strong supporter of the Chicago dark/heavy music scene that we are part of, and several of our friends have records on the label, including Indian (who we share our guitarist Will Lindsay with), Bloodiest, High Confessions, Circle of Animals, Minsk, Locrian and Chris Connelly. Vocalist Mark Solotroff has seen his noise releases (BLOODYMINDED, Intrinsic Action) supported by Relapse mail-order over the years, he added synth tracks to Brutal Truth's 2009 album, Evolution Through Revolution, and to Indian's latest album, From all Purity, he has worked closely with Locrian since their inception, he released a CD by former Relapse artists Dead World, and he released the vinyl version of Chris Connelly's Artificial Madness on his BloodLust! label. The band feels like we are in very good hands and we appreciate the ongoing interest and support that Relapse has shown us, practically since we formed in 2008. Working with Sanford Parker on our new album brought us that much closer to the label, so it finally seemed like the right time to seal the deal. We are excited to get the new record out into the world and we are already writing material for our next album."

http://www.relapse.com/label/anatomy-of-habit-sign-to-relapse-records.html