When a band’s influences are on the stranger side, can that band still claim to be strange, or are they just pulling from the weirdos that came before? Well, in the case of the Texas foursome Labyrinthine Heirs, the answer is definitively that they are also still, very much, indubitably, big time oddballs. When the closest comps range as far as Virus and Shellac ‒ acts as forward thinking as they are weird ‒ you know a band is looking to find a specific niche within an already pretty specific niche. On their self-titled debut, Labyrinthine Heirs largely pull it off, and based purely on their nutty blending of styles ought to appeal to a good number of idiosyncratic tastes.
Most of all, it rocks, and weirdly so. You’ll want to air guitar to the blunt chugging and knotty noise hooks, scoop up the ringing bass tone with a spoon, and keep the menacing vocalist at a safe distance. That latter figure is where the band’s more demented side really takes hold. Evan Sadler’s delivery is a little death metal spokal, a touch Creepy Hamlet Pub Proprietor, and a good amount of grotesque goblin goodness. With lyrics that meet the style (“What am I… digesting…” in “The Loop of Human Flesh Told in Perpetuity” is just… what), you get an overall vibe that both complements and contrasts the blackened noise exterior.
The five songs that make up Labyrinthine Heirs range from five to over ten minutes, and each carries a very subtle but notable and deliberate sense of dynamics that does just enough to carry things forward. The longest of these, centerpiece “The Conceited Determination of Nimrod,” shows a bit of all of the band’s sides. The vocals sound extra ill when things are quieter, while the heavier, doomier material sounds like Faustcoven, Virus, and slow Soundgarden all at once. There’s a very delicate balance between maintaining an uncomfortable (but rockin’) vibe and keeping things moving forward just so. It might not be enough for some listeners, but others ‒ and I imagine you know who you are by this point ‒ won’t ever want to leave this ratty and rattly environment.
So yes, Labyrinthine Heirs is a clear case of “not for everyone,” but there’s no denying how fully formed they already sound on their debut. There’s also no denying how appealing these disturbed vocals, weird grooves, dissonant hooks, and lurching rhythms are when delivered all together. It’s a natural weirdness, an inborn oddballery. So please, Labyrinthine Heirs, I beg you: don’t ever become normal.
