Seeing the apparent name of this band as ‘TSLCORSASZ’ put me in mind of some guttural scratching of an evil metal lord of darkness clearing his throat after having had a nasty cough. It turned out, however, on further investigation, that the band’s name is in fact the even odder The Sustained Low 'C' of Richard Strauss’ "Also Sprach Zarathustra", a Toronto band I saw in what must have been one of their first gigs, fourth on the bill playing in a skater half-pipe in a room above a bike shop (kvlt?). There have been heaps of bands inspired by and then named after other bands’ albums or songs, but this is the first time I’ve seen a band named after a particular note in a piece of music about a book vaguely about an ancient religious figure. Still, this apparent intense focus, attention to detail and opening out onto grand myth manages to come through not only in their elaborate name but in their new 7” Lime/Meat, released late December on Hypaethral Records.
The band has been constructed out of some of the finest components of Toronto’s metal scene, such as the energetic ferocity of metal titans Titan and the engagingly oppressive atmospheres of Gates’ absorbing drone. Aside from a free demo download (available on Bandcamp), this appears to be the band’s first recording, and they’ve burst out of the blocks snarling.
First track ‘Lime’ allows five whole seconds of feedback before we’re launched into furious, gritty and complex black metal, with tremolo-picking and slightly hardcore-influenced vocals. The entrance of some angular, rotating technical riffs adds further elements of rhythmic discordance, as does a guitar solo which lurches manically as if up against the walls of a forgotten underground cell. Always controlled, and always balanced well in the mix, neither of these elements is permitted to interrupt the raging flow of the track, all of which is kept in a disturbed state by the frenetic drumming. With the onset of the seasonal advertising spreading like an infection through late November, the sheer amount of percussion present in some sections of the first track conjured images of the metal lord of evil in festive mood, grimly agitating a fully-laden Christmas tree… This breakneck drumming style is a key part in making this a great piece of focused black metal rage, using every variety of sound available from the kit and keeping everything in a permanent state of tension, saturating the sound with rattling and jabbing attacks coming from every angle.
Second side ‘Meat’ continues with a taut, punchy explosion into a slightly slower collection of growling riffs, with lead guitar entries keeping things interesting and a hollow, indistinct growl complementing the impassioned shouty vocals that howl around the rest of the two tracks. Cycling around sections again with subtle variation and embellishment, the track closes with an ascending and expectant drum roll, fittingly closing the barely-12-minute-long release with a sense of anticipation for what’s next. In this case, what’s next is straight back to the beginning for another listen to this dense and rewarding debut.
