Dazzling Killmen: Recuerda

Dazzling Killmen is now defunct. You will never again experience live shows with Darin the scary bass player singing along without a microphone, nor will you see his now-dated Dazzling Killmen calf tattoos. There's still no shortage of the vicarious Killmen experience, though. Recuerda is a 76-minute collection of material both previously released and unreleased, but this is no shoddy, B-grade, dug-out-of-the-vaults crap; it stands above the band's other full-length, Face Of Collapse, in quality and substance. Generally, the band scraps the idea of melody and goes straight for rhythm by making every instrument noisily percussive—and ironically, throughout most of the album, the only obvious restraint lies in the bass work, which seems to hold the other players back from shredding their instruments. In the album's quieter moments, tinny strains of melody squeak through and add a sadness to Dazzling Killmen's otherwise-bludgeoning sound, particularly in the jazzy "Ghost Limb." It's hard to say that you missed out on something great, particularly when posthumous releases like this are around, but you did. Left in the band's wake is Colossamite, a Minnesota combo featuring Killmen guitarist/singer Nick Sakes. Colossamite is every bit as intense as Sakes' previous band, but the sound is a bit more math-rocky and sculptural. And in breaks between yelling and pounding, more quiet beauty seeps in. It's a strange dichotomy, like the atmospheric swan trying to emerge from the noisy ugly duckling. Ultimately, All Lingo's Clamor is a great recording, though it's difficult to imagine it sounding very interesting live.