Kalas

So forgive me if this review seems to revolve around Matt Pike a lot, but people here in the Bay Area are kind of obsessed with him, he's like our Lemmy or Wino; we like to follow his actions and judge his progress.

Perhaps they should have removed the K from the name and called the band "Alas," because here is one band that simply did not live up to it's potential. Textbook "supergroup" syndrome: a group of known quantity musicians from other respected bands come together and the results do not meet up to the expectations of the drooling, unrealistic fans. I first heard of Kalas, or Scum Angel as they were called at the time, when I saw the motley crew of musicians hanging out in the illegal bar of the "Big Soundwave" (now OMC) rehearsal space in West Oakland. That bar, before it was reported by an anxious parent, (and swept under the rug before the city could intervene) was an excellent spot to run into and hang out with members of High On Fire, Dystopia, Machine Head, and many others, but I digress. I gathered from the stoned combinations of people I saw hanging out that a new band had formed with Matt Pike on vocals (only!), Paul Kott from High Tone Son Of A Bitch and Cruevo on guitar and Andy Christ, from Eldopa and Econochrist on guitar, with a lesser known, really junked out looking rhythm section. Cool! There was quite a buzz in Oakland about this band at the time. You've got to remember that this was a time when you would still see Matt Pike around town, or on BART, on his way to work as a prep cook or ditch digger, or whatever his day job was back then, before he had a huge steady income of street cred, and he was still just learning to have his shirt off ALL THE TIME.

And so when Scum Angel started playing out, it WAS really cool (and weird) to see Pike without a guitar at first, but then you saw he always looked kind of bored without one. Then, for legal reasons, they had to change their name from the fun, sleazy Scum Angel, to the more majestic but less cool "Kalas." The band was certainly capable, but I don't know if people went to the shows for the music, or just because it was a fun thing to do at the time. The songs were never EXTREMELY interesting, a little bit downtempo, but not with the monolithic stoner stomp of Sleep or slow High On Fire, and never as fast as the ripping uptempo High On Fire. Also, neither guitar player in the band was as good or exciting as Pike, so his talent was kind of wasted as JUST a singer. Towards the end of the band, they started playing some better songs, and there was a rumor of an upcoming version of the band that would have Pike on third guitar, but this didn't materialize before the group dissolved, supposedly because Relapse Records demanded that Pike not play in any other band besides HOF.

I didn't buy the album straightaway, but waited until years later when I found it in a used bin. When I finally listened to it, my suspicions were confirmed. The songs are lazy, meandering, pointless. They never get as heavy or fast as you want them to. The riffs are pretty simple, mostly of medium tempo, and hardly ever effectively utilize the two guitars (except for an all too brief harmonized section in Frozen Sun, but oh wait, that's the SINGLE song where Pike is credited with lead guitar, so it's actually a three guitar part. It took three guitars to make the song interesting!) Solos are occasional and rudimentary (one at the end of Media Screams). I don't know if they just weren't trying too hard, expecting to coast on the reputation of their personnel, or whether they were just all on WAY too many drugs to give a fuck. Seriously, I'm sitting here listening to this, well into side two now, and there's barely a memorable riff, and they have yet to pick up the pace. The only good thing to come from the boringness of the music is that you can focus on Matt Pike's voice, which in this scenario is right out in front, and he's doing some interesting dynamic stuff in the quiet parts that you don't hear in High On Fire.

The engineering and production by William Samuels at Tone Studios is capable and clear, but this might have actually hurt the band because a dirty mix could have been more exciting, more fun perhaps? the Samurai/Kami demon themed artwork by W. Ralph Walters is also pretty cool, and the vinyl version comes with an oversized booklet to really show it off, but I don't exactly understand it's connection to the music. There are no songwriting credits for this album, so I don't know who's responsible for all this underachievement. No way of knowing if Pike was contributing any riffs, or just lyrics? Maybe some music that was too mellow for High On Fire? Or just not good enough?

All in all this is a not awful, but pretty boring record that does not merit repeated listenings, from a bunch of guys who are all in, or have been in better bands, and should have produced something more exciting. Supergroup scenario, typical letdown.