CALGARY METALFEST 2013: MOUTH OF THE ARCHITECT

ATMOSPHERIC HATRED

It has been a wildly transitional few years for the Dayton, Ohio sludge outfit Mouth of the Architect. Members have served overseas in the military, had children, gotten married, faced serious alcohol-related health problems and, perhaps most importantly, matured. It is a far cry from the hard-drinking and sometimes violent ways of old.

“We all lived in a house together pretty much. When we were writing Quietly (2008) and when we were getting ready to go up to Seattle to record it, all we did was sit around and get hammered and write music all the time,” explains Steve Brooks, guitarist and vocalist for the band. Keyboardist and vocalist Jason Watkins, drummer Dave Mann, guitarist Kevin Schindel and bassist Evan Danielson round out the current incarnation of the project, which has seen multiple members depart since their inception in 2003. “It was really a crazy point in our lives.”

Given the aforementioned troubles, it’s been a lengthy five years between the last record and the upcoming Dawning, which will be unveiled on June 25 via their long-time home, Translation Loss. The label has released all of their full-lengths and EPs (with the exception of the For the Sick Eyehategod tribute album in which they contributed a cover of “Story of the Eye”).

Comparatively speaking, the tracks from Dawning released thus far pack a ferocious punch when compared to their somewhat tepid discography. While they previously called nearly exclusively upon the genre masters like Cult of Luna, Russian Circles, ISIS and the like, the band is now integrating nihilistic dirge, blues, and subtle variations. Perhaps the collective hardship explains it, but regardless of the reason, it’s a welcome change of pace for Mouth of the Architect.

Catch ‘em at Broken City as a part of Calgary Metalfest on June 7.

By Tanner Wolff