Last week I went to see the reformed Dazzling Killmen in concert. They played here in Baltimore as part of a short east coast tour. The band originally broke up in 1995, thirty years ago! In the underground math rock / prog punk scene this tour is a huge deal.
Dazzling Killmen originally consisted of Nick Sakes on guitar / vocals (later of Sicbay, Colossamite, Upright Forms and others), Blake Fleming on drums (later of Mars Volta, Laddio Bolocko and tons more), Darin Gray on bass (later of Grand Ulena, On Fillmore etc) and Tim Garrigan on guitar (also in the band Skryptor). They had a short and powerful run in the late 80s and early 90s.
While Darin Gray and Tim Garrigan did not participate in the tour, it was still awesome! Evan Jagels and Ben Greenberg filled their giant shoes admirably.
I recently read that there is a group touring as Little River Band that has no original members, with most joining in the 2000s (well past their 1970s prime). To top it off none of the current members are even Australian! I also saw that a group called Kansas is touring with no original members either! The original drummer still records with Kansas but does not tour for health reasons. The rest of the members are all new, just like Little River Band. I think we can give Nick Sakes and Blake Fleming a pass here by calling themselves the Dazzling Killmen.
To say they are an inspiration in my musical tastes and particularly my drumming is an understatement. In my mind they were one of the original brutal prog bands: seamlessly combining the rage and power of punk rock music with the complexity of the best classic progressive rock bands. Their 1995 full length record, Face of Collapse, (which they played in its entirely at the concert) has been in heavy rotation for me ever since I heard it 30 years ago. Face of Collapse is today’s pick!
| Don’t Miss A Pick! |
|---|
| Do you want to get Phil’s Phriday Picks delivered to your inbox every Friday? |
| Do you like being social? Follow Phil’s Phriday Picks on Facebook. |
A couple of the songs are short and pack a ton of ideas into a very small space. The guitars stop and start and switch gears on a dime. The bass plays complex yet funky rhythms and the drums are a non-stop barrage of mathy tom patterns and blast beats.
“My Lacerations” is one of those examples, clocking in at just 1:29. The unison lines between all the players are something special. The band is totally locked in.
“Windshear” is slightly longer. It creeps just past the two minute mark. It has a monstrously heavy repeating riff that switches quickly between dirge and full on blast. It also has these long breaks that builds tension where they hit a note and just hold it seemingly forever. Of course, Nick Sakes wails above it all like a lunatic. Great stuff!
My favorite song on the record is probably “Bone Fragments”. It starts with a constantly shifting beat that basically was the template for what Dillinger Escape Plan started doing years later. About halfway through it quiets down, with the vocals practically in a whisper and a groovy almost post-rock sound. It slowly builds back up to the full on rage of the beginning. An whiplash of a journey.
The centerpiece of the album is definitely the title track. It is a 14 minute epic that can only be described as deranged. It has a little bit of everything: the fast punk prog unison lines (sometimes sounding like an even more bonkers NoMeansNo), a choppy riff that gets sped up and slowed down like a drunk falling down the stairs, a march like dirge, a series of blast beats, an ambient section with clean guitar, and it ends with a feedback laden coda with singing that sounds like someone is at the end of their rope. Total insanity! If you only hear one Dazzling Killmen song, this is the one:
Three decades later the entirely of Face of Collapse still sounds heavy and intense. It has lost none of its original power. I’m not sure if they plan on touring again, but if they do I highly recommend checking it out. It really brings the songs from the record to a whole new level. Don’t believe me? Here’s their full set:
Awe inspiring!
