Butchering at its Best

It’s difficult to appreciate how the “experimental” moniker is often affixed to other descriptors of the Athens, GA three-piece rock band, Lazer/Wulf, with a cursory listen. On the first pass, they can be written off as thrash, hard-doom, or speed-fusion metal. But when you key on some of the sonic expressions produced on their latest LP, The Beast of Left and Right, you have to conclude that there is more than meets the ear with this chiefly instrumental band.

The star of the show, at least in the beginning, is relative newcomer drummer Brad Rice. “Choose Again” opens the album with an all-out assault of the trap kit, warring with demonic triplets and octave-led riffs. When the song starts moving forward, it’s gradual, like a car easing onto the accelerator. There is enough variety in the eight-plus minute opener that you forget there are no vocals. When they do come in more than halfway through, they too are engineered with a natural flow, laying beneath the music like just another instrument.

“Lagarto,” the second track, introduces some industrial sounds in Rice’s percussion, which is quickly overshadowed by Lazer/Wulf’s own tightness and creativity. This track and the next two are all short, which makes for a less-than-satisfying result. The songs don’t last long enough to expand on the riffs they have created, and as is the case with “The Triple Trap,” there is some repetition that feels incomplete.

The majority of The Beast of Left and Right reveals a band who is not afraid to try anything while at the same time being comfortable with who they are. The rare vocals are natural – not screamed, not growled, not showy. They may be laden with effects, like in “Who Were the Mound Builders,” but that is consistent with the rest of the album. The album finishes with “Mutual End,” a song that sounds close to but not exactly like the opener, giving The Beast a palindromic feel, which is exactly what Lazer/Wulf intended – a puzzle that sends the listener back to the beginning, to start all over again and listen for lost pieces both left and right, backwards and forwards.