News.RttP{Who Carries The Lantern demo & song reviews}

Who Carries The Lantern [5.5/7]

In a welcome respite from the usual go-around (I go to a show, at least one band doesn't have a bass player, I whine about it on the internet but headbang during their set and buy their merch anyway), half of the bands on this bill did cut down their instrumental distribution, but in a way that (decade-old snark about godheadSilo aside) I'm fundamentally more comfortable with. WCTL was the first of the guitarless bands on the bill, and though their doom/post-metal sound wasn't the tightest match for the rest of the bill, that's Ammonia Booking for you; Robin apparently has a fetish for bills that hang together only tenuously, probably for "if the kids are united" reasons as much for maximizing turnout. Here, as on most other occasions, the head-scratching quickly gave way to appreciation; WCTL got a good long set for an opener, and filled it with diverse, heavy, developed, and often melodic music that you might not immediately expect from a vox-bass-drums three-piece. This was some good stuff, and though they played for quite a while, there was never a sense that they were falling into a rut, which is often the case with drum-and-bass bands. They didn't have anything recorded available, which is a shame, but I was able to pick up a button that unfortunately isn't on my rig yet.

Review of entire show-
http://munster-iv.blogspot.com/2009/07/eye...noctum-with-closed-casket-bone.html

http://munster-iv.blogspot.com/

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Who Carries the Lantern - "Delectus Personae" [download]

Sometimes the hero in the movie has to put on their black leather jacket and go someplace menacing (like an autobody shop) in order to get valuable information. These menacing places are usually playing some pretty intimidating music. Music like Who Carries the Lantern's "Delectus Personae" a perfect piece by which to bludgeon and/or be bludgeoned. If you forgot your blunt weapon, that's OK, just turn this track up a little bit past half-way and any unsuspecting soul will be caught momentarily off-guard by the sheer brutality of WCtL's savage rhythm section (although one gets the idea that the entire band is the rhythm section). And it was recorded in an auto body shop.

"Delectus Personae" starts with a 7.5 second squeal of feedback/noise, the kind of which makes one check all their connections to make sure that the audio equipment is properly set-up. After this brief test of the Emergency Hardcore Broadcast System, the group slams into place like an anvil hitting a dusty floor. The band is almost mathematically precise in their guitar-less rhythmic performance, thundering in perfect time with one another like a well-choreographed beating.

The vocals are harsh in the way you might expect, but there is a distinct feeling of solidarity to the sound of "Delectus Personae." Sometimes the vocals that come with such hard music sound almost tortured by the other sounds, but they sound perfectly at home in the ultimately tasty "Delectus Personae."

http://www.bostonbandcrush.com/