Experimental rock duo New Age Doom, drummer Eric Breitenbach and guitarist Greg Valou, thrive on collaboration and collectivism. Since the early drone metal improv of their debut, their approach has become orchestral, gathering a group of players around who can push rock through its expected confines and there’s more. As creative catalysts New Age Doom generate new energy in their partnership projects. They worked with the Great Upsetter, Lee Scratch Perry shortly before he passed and delivered that seismic soul searcher of an album ‘Guide To The Universe’. Then in 2022 recording with Norwegian Dream popper Tuvaband they produced There Is No End, a slab of impressive raga-rock expansionism.
Now comes the third chapter in their trio of collabs ‘Angels Against Angels’ , on We Are Busy Bodies, a set of righteous, raw power songs made with the incomparable H.R., lead singer of hardcore legends Bad Brains. As always with all of New Age Doom’s work the intention here stretches much further than homage or revival. As Eric Breitenbach reveals “We didn’t just want to revisit history, but to make a sound that doesn’t exist anywhere else”. That’s a bold undertaking but one that the duo, their tight gang of supporting musicians and H.R. himself take on with relish and conviction. Talking about ‘Angels Against Angels’ Greg Valou has hinted “I’m glad our discography is finally starting to catch up to our live shows” and from the off it’s clear that the album features New Age Doom’s most riff-centric, sonic excavation yet.
Life On The Other Side Part 1 andPart 2 hammer home that perspective. Part 1 might start gently with H.R.’s weathered wise words and some tweeting birds but as he draws out “love” with a snarl the record’s foundations get pile driven into place. It’s a pounding doom metal advance with circling synths and H.R’s sage-like voice hovering over the tumult. Dynamic escalation is at the tune’s core. Pummelling riffs, cymbals thrashed, klaxon sax warnings and jubilant trumpet head for the crescendo then slowly subside with H.R. purring with satisfaction. The segue into Life On The Other Side Part 2 takes a short breath then punches in with the snare beat jabbing sharp. There’s a math-rock meets Morello edge in the definition here before a mega drum rumble and searing fret scrapes close the first announcement of‘Angels Against Angels’.
With a band which features three drummers (Breitenbach, Benedicte Pierleoni and Alan Cage), the roaring brass of trumpeter Dan Rosenboom and Gavin Templeton on saxophones plus bassist, guitarist Tim Lefebvre, it’s clear that mass and scale are critical to the album’s thrust. Eric Brietenbach has said that “The vision was to bring H.R. into a space he hasn’t visited in a long time, a sphere he helped create and pioneer” so unsurprisingly full blown hardcore has to feature. Angels Vs. Angels shows that H.R. has lost none of his vocal intensity as he matches the song’s wild tempo, eye bulging sax skronk and squalling lead lines. His operatic vibrato is also still active, bringing drama and a spiritual insistency to the molten grunge meets filmic ambition of One Heart.
As ‘Angels Against Angels‘ unfolds you begin to recognise that this is much more than a pally collaboration, it’s a coherent, seriously considered statement. There’s a carefully sequenced balance at work with each track merging into the next to build the cumulative power. Naturally a dub sensibility binds the whole story together. Radio On is a mystical highway-driving song, rich with righteous Rasta poetry and musical complexity, all woven around the deep bass groove. Snatches of band member Crookone’s scratching and the violin of Pussy Riot’s Alina Petrova’s violin add to the emotional depth of the song. Those strings also merge with Andy Morin’s synth arpeggios and some fluttering brass lines on the luscious We’re All the Same, a cut innovates with a Jah Wobble-esque gusto.
Perhaps on Aethiopia Dub the bass/reverb/delay envelope is opened the furthest as it layers up a thick mist of swirling dubtronica around echoing horns, clarinets and surf guitar. Certainly tracks like this confirm that the New Age Doom/H.R. partnership want to reach out further with a Mars Volta-like vision. The rock raging Time Gets So Hard is just as expansive, tinged with Arabic scales, Anatolian psych and H.R.’s impassioned soothsaying.
You might say that Valou, Brietenbach, H.R. and the assembled New Age Doom big band take an ‘all or nothing’ approach to their soundscaping on ‘Angels Against Angels’ but this is one collective that can consistently operate at maximal level without losing impact. Consequently closing track, the two part Amaseganalo reaches even higher. While Part 1 has H.R. seeking resolution over a Gaelic-toned Lankum drone, Amaseganalo Pt 2 follows an anthemic trajectory. With chiming guitars and tympanic drums, the looping anticipation builds to a widescreen Big Music reveal. ‘I’m a survivor’ H.R. tells us at one point, sharing out hope and when his final, sharp ‘that’s it’ lands as the horns fade, you’re still left with a glimmer of light.
Mighty music, massive sounds, New Age Doom and H.R. were never going to hold back.
Get your copy of ‘Angels Against Angels‘ by New Age Doom & H.R. from your local record store or direct from We Are Busy Bodies HERE
