Sumac: Two Beasts (Vinyl LP)
For the uninitiated, Two Beasts is a comprehensive document of where Sumac was in the late fall of 2020. The song hits on all the elements that make the band unique. Bowel-loosening low end? Check. Indecipherable time signature patterns? Yup. Long, empty pauses and repetitive structures? Yessir. Mammoth grooves? You betcha. Two Beasts is experimental metal at its finest, 18 minutes of left turns with enough rewarding pay-offs to make it worth a close listen. The band’s newfound love of negative space and jazzinspired arrangements counterintuitively add an element of danger to the music. If big riffage is heavy music’s best friend and quiet moments its kryptonite, then Sumac seem to operate under the adage keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.
One of Sumac strengths, once again evident on Two Beasts, is their commitment to fidelity. Sumac recordings sound good. It’s hard to imagine music this brutal being so pleasurable to listen to, and it’s a major differentiator between them and their peers. Once again recorded at The Unknown, an old, converted church in the sleepy Washington town of Anacortes, Two Beasts sounds live and meticulously produced at the same time. This is most likely a testament to the exquisite ability of the players and recording engineers
involved; these are music lifers at the top of their game. Listening to Two Beasts, Sumac is a band that can seemingly do anything.
- Two Beasts