When Thought Eater and Iron Jawed Guru entered the studio to record the songs they had written, there was no plan to release Vortex 6, a split between the two bands. Fortunately, Grimoire Records introduced the two bands and they decided to release their music as a split.
Vortex 6 is purely instrumental. Thought Eater kicks the split off with their twelve string bass-led music, creating hypnotic, riffy songs. It’s soaked in fuzz and plods along at a mid-tempo pace.
“Some of the riffs on Vortex 6 were inspired by the concept of 12-tone composition (devised by Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg),” says bassist Darin Tambascio. “In a tone row (which is the basis of the 12-tone technique) all 12 notes of the chromatic scale are played before repeating one of the notes. While most of the riffs do not exactly follow this composition technique, we were able to apply this concept in a general sense to expand the tonality of the riffs.”
Iron Jawed Guru doesn’t shy away from bringing the fuzz on their half of the album either. The two piece knows exactly when to change things up, never holding onto one riff or idea for too long.
“These particular songs were born out of a broken marriage, the unwavering support of friends and dealing with mortality…” says drummer Roy Brewer of Iron Jawed Guru’s half of the split.
Grimoire Records will release Vortex 6 on October 21. Preorders for the instrumental split are available here.
