After watching Audrey Hepburn scream in a basement apartment for over an hour in Wait Until Dark (1967) it was time to get back to the music stack. I started scanning with my finger through Black Sabbath, Sir Lord Baltimore, Sleep, and finally, to Diarchy CD in the stack. Even with its sleek slipcase, the red in Diarchy’s album made itself introduced to my eyes real quick.
I pull it out. Slam it on the table. Sniff the fresh print ink. And fold open the sleeve. The diarchy of two-headed massive eagle barely clinging the snake which was the proverbial melody of the album and the two heads were the two rhythm sections, drums, and riff. The brilliant art and layout have been done by the masterful ease of Anoop Bhat. I scoop the CD out of the sleeve that had a much-coveted layout and as soon as I see Bulldoper, the pastel blue of Melvin’s Bullhead album with fruit basket comes to mind.
Before the dissection begins it is pertinent to note that the album ‘Here Lost We Lie’ is as Heavy Rock as possible, the band and the sensibilities ensure the aim that is coveted. The album is classic riff worship that has certain welcoming and unwelcoming incursions to melodies.
The spin begins. Let’s go to Mars, dude.
The intro ‘Love‘ is a melodic three-minute serenade that might aspire to stand along with Iommi’s Orchid or Fluff. Melodic incursions are very frequent in this Sabbath-esque album, however, ‘Love’ comes off as a false starter that with the determination of preparing the listener to be held by the balls after 3 minute-mark but loses its momentum too quickly in its over-produced caged sound and instead comes off a tad too unwelcomed. As soon as Love fades away, ‘Bulldoper’ with its perfect intro riff and production (instantly reminding one about Sabbath’s Supertzar) reassures that there’s a lot to be told by this album. The intro riff is perhaps the best in the album, a band that adopts 70’s Heavy Rock noise ethos should never compromise with the production of the riff because the Riff is all we have, the Riff is all we worship. Bulldoper has tonnes of toned downswing music drumming, the jazz-oriented Ward drumming and the solo goes hand in hand in this song. Following the destructive trail of Bulldoper is ‘Gunpowder’ that has Sabbath Bloody Sabbath’s riff with Priest-like lyrics and vocals minus the falsetto printed all of it. The song jams itself pretty well with the album and still manages to achieve individuality; the drum and guitar are rudimentary and work in cohesion, something imperative for good Heavy Rock. At about 3:21 of the song lurks one of the best riffs in the album. The lyrics of the album up until this point and most of the lyrics after it doesn’t speak very loud or coherently but as long as the riffs are alright, it works.
‘Rorschach’ has a problem with both melody and riff, the drums beg to be toned down in production and the outro has an incessant Indian-music scale that does not quite gel, however, the vocals ace the test in this song. Riff worship does not imply that riff shalt not be diverse instead it insists upon variations on the theme of riff oriented music. Diarchy has its influence by bands like Sleep or maybe Kyuss that have mastered such variations. The title song does the variation on the riff perfectly in terms of both drums and riffs. The latter of the final two songs off the album ‘Wallflower’ has a much better acoustic and somber sensibility than the first song ‘Lover’. The album concludes.The album is Heavy Rock fun and pure riff. It doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it doesn’t have to, the wheel has been invented, and all it does is worship the wheel as giants like Sleep, Eyehategod, Melvins did. Only they did it with an eye for detail. The album’s a bit overproduced & the melodies are not very sure but the consistent energy, great riff writing and the very fact that somebody out there in the country is coming so close to 70’s Heavy Rock ethos is something to be very, very excited for.
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