Robert Mathis is another man in black,
who wields his acoustic only to warn and illuminate. Not entertain
you with infectious little numbers. His baritone pipes call to mind
other darkly dressed gentlemen, from the likes of Nick Cave to Adam
Turla. Mathis has been recording his brand of muddy doom-folk under
the Human Fly handle up and down the eastern seaboard for the past
couple years, while this is the first full recording to feature a
full band. Everything II: Variations on a Theme is simply a different
rendition of the bare boned Everything Feels Bad At Once. This
re-imagined take on the low key original, unplugged version is more
of a companion piece, meant to complete a sonic puzzle. But don't
worry - it still sounds like lonely drives down desert highways, and
soaking in the blood of haunted motel rooms. Where the comfort of
city lights are reminisced upon via barren toned licks that teeter
between The Damned and Alice in Chains.
Everything II was recorded in a modern studio
on a whim, to reinvent sooty folk as sprawlingly evil grunge. It was
all done in one fell swoop, so all the darkness you hear is natural,
and not produced by robots. Clarity ups the stakes, giving The Human
Fly a greater sense of immediacy. Tracks like The Fine Line and
Severed Head come alive with blaring distortion and words that break
on Mathis' demented hollering. The
electricity in the strings still allow for opportunities to create
foreboding atmosphere, while bass creeps around like carnivorous ivy.
Climactic, surging guitar payoffs are
the fire and brimstone behind backwoods preacher sermons.
Gritty ballad You Remind Me of Martha,
is plain theatrical, adding emotive muscle to exposed bones.
Primitive Ways is like a more treacherous depiction of a Cramps
single, that one might hear over the opening credits of an Italian
60s horror film. The latter, along with Moth are grunge bliss.
Driving backbeats bring Mathis' excellent songwriting up from the
cellar. The upbeat ADHD is miles away from atmospheric bleakness, yet
is a reminder of of how The Human Fly can take a new form, with his
knack for many faces. An anti-super hero, who when stripped away of a
backing band is still prolific.
Everything II: Variations on a Theme is
perfect if you ever wanted to know what it would sound like if Danzig
teamed up with Cobain circa 1992. Madness and nihilism have never
sounded so heart warming. If having two versions of a release is
worth doing at all, than its worth doing right. And this is done so,
so goddamn right.
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