BIRD EATER
Utah
(Exigent)

JESU
Lifeline
(Hydra Head)

EVILE
Enter the Grave
(Earache)

STINKING LIZAVETA
Scream of the Iron Iconoclast
(At a Loss)

WOLVES IN THE
THRONE ROOM
Two Hunters
(Southern Lord)

RED FANG
S/T 

(Wantage)

PURE SOUNDART
Emo is Dead

(Lockjaw)

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Yes, you are. You are in fact way to the left, outside from the scope of my eye and I have to pull a Linda Blair in The Exorcist headturn to even catch a glimpse of you. The thing is, this is as good as it is complicated and elusive of all catchiness, grooves, immediacy, familiarity, sweet flavor, pretty much anything else that one can associate with pop radio, general rock format and standard everyday man songmanship. I Am Above On the Left is a Russian quartet that positions itself way the fuck out there. With An A-Bomb to Wake Up, their overall second release and first full instrumental, the band seems poised to eradicate all musical rational created to this day. The boys know how to pummel and write an oblique song, but fill your record up with nine of the most elusive, dense, devious and obtuse skull-bashing noise-infused scorchers and what you have at the end is pretty much an infernal headache and a record that pulls so many curves it simply escapes you.

Regarding the appeal of I am above On the Left and their latest curveball, can we say anything to the effect that’ll be about two hundred years before the common man can take this. There are two elements clearly present here; noise rock and psyche. Noise dominates the record, with musical arrangements that come to rely as much on natural playing as on the unintended consequences of it; namely, guitar feedback and squealing and the sliding sound produced by fingers sliding down the strings. And psyche in the sense that this could be described as Martian music and like we can only imagine Martian music to be is psychedelic by default, mainly because it evokes a mind altering process.  There is a big element of experimentation here, the freaky jazz of Sun Ra is a definite influence in a track as bloated as “Deaf in the Morning” and it also shows in other songs. Unlike much free jazz, the rock of I am Above On the Left has been planned and is not improvisational.

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