Embedded Files
BASK “The Turning”
BASK “The Turning”
By Lord Randall
I can draw a line of sorts from Denver, Colorado’s (now maybe Nashville, TN’s) ACROSS TUNDRAS and their work in the early 2000s to BASK’s newest and fourth album, “The Turning”, released now in 2025. I could go back further than that, to (also Colorado’s) 16 HORSEPOWER and THE DENVER GENTLEMEN, as well as SLIM CESSNA’S AUTO CLUB, and their use of gothic Americana – usually Western or Southern – to take us back to a time of crop failures, religious camp meetings, exorcisms, Native American “mythology”, what have you. It’s there, I believe…
“Chasm” drones us in, pedal steel and Hammond B3 organ, and intro done as it should be – a truly rare case for yours truly. Subtly transforming, “In The Heat Of The Dying Sun” is reminiscent of elements of DAVID EUGENE EDWARDS’ brilliant initial solo outing, “Hyacinth”, before Zeb Wright’s near-plaintive vocals waft over walloping rhythm and an expansive soundscape, L’Amour and McCarthy conjured by way of stringed instruments. I’ve never found a reason to compare a pedal steel player to Gary Moore, but it’s what I hear in the cascading work of Jed Willis; come to think, there’s a bit of THIN LIZZY happening all around thus far.
Unexpectedly funky (and not in a “sweetened cornbread” sort of way – actually good) at its start, “The Traveler” arrives, and you can hear the slow, Southern drawl in his delivery, the good ol’ boy that might not, after all, be so good once things shake out. Musically, the bridge from 1:57-2:10 gives an idea of the menace under the worn cowboy hat here, then we’re back to “Hey, y’all.” Town, and it’s here first, in “The Traveler”, that we discover a different BASK than we were left with six-odd years ago. Where the foursome (now a quintet) had never been averse to experimentation, already there’s a sense of horizons broadening, a trust and willingness to go “further”, wherever that may lead.
Analgesic and dreamy initially, “The Cloth” infuses a TOOL-gone-Morricone vibe with fellow Southerners VALKYRIE’s sense of cultural identity, hewn from the geography of their past, literal and spiritual. The PR one-sheet describes “Dig My Heels” as “…with boots firmly planted in Tampa Bay death metal…”, but I’m not sure if we’re listening to the same album, because this one is, if anything, recalling STONE TEMPLE PILOTS’ “Purple” era almost too closely (think “Big Empty”). Halfway through, though, we’re moved into an almost reverent space, shades of NICK CAVE’s more tender moments in the piano work, before sweeping up and away to the song’s apex, a firebird taking flight ‘neath the midnight moon.
The lyric “A few more steps, but will I still be lost?” from a rhythmically complex “Unwound” colors the entire track, crashing riffs meeting impressively fluid drumwork from Scott Middleton underpinning a bassline as close to Tony Levin as Jess Van Note has ever laid down. Truly, this is BASK gone HAWKWIND, and it’s pristine. Overflowing with cello, guitarist/vocalist Zeb Wright’s plaintive, aching vocals, and a downright crippling sense of melancholy, Ray Worth [guitars] shines here, weaving darkly shimmering chords and single notes over “Long Lost Night”.
Ending with the title track, what we have in “The Turning” is the most cohesive, most emotionally stripped to the bare bones of its creators, yet most flourishing album certainly to come from BASK thus far, but also to come from this strange genre-less corner of heavy music in some time. Fans of WINDHAND, FORLESEN, and the aforementioned bands, take note or miss out on something truly special.
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