review: Radiant Knife -- proggy sludge

Radiant Knife

The Body

28 August 2020

This recording is actually more accessible than the band name might otherwise suggest. The name might make you think of the genre of “serialkiller, methsicko, sewerdwelling, squatterdrugaddict, little-skill-big-mouth, punkcrustsludge, garagerodent, noisetoiletjunkie” music. Phew! It’s not that! That’s good because today I am not ready for the latest band playing “serialkiller, methsickso, sew” ah, forget it, I am not going to spell that genre again. I’m not ready for that genre, that’s my point. I mean, c’mon, my parents have sent me to Alaska to live with grandma now, you know, and I can’t be blasting music like that around her because she’ll be like, “I think you need help, Angie! I’m calling the cops!” and then they will drag me to the asylum again and I just got out last month and I don’t want to go there so soon again. I’m taking my medication and trying to stay out of trouble, you see.

But enough about me. How have you been? You’ve been alright? Awesome. I’ve been watching a lot of Jeopardy lately and listening to Radiant Knife. So, about Radiant Knife. (Oh, by the way, I have finally stopped carrying a knife in my purse. My counselor says that I’m showing maturity by not needing to hide weapons in my purse anymore now that I am out of the asylum and living with my grandma in rural Alaska where I do not encounter other people unless we go to Bob’s Corner Store some ten miles from here). This recording has a very nice quality to it in that it sounds good to the ear. The thumping noise (they don’t have bass guitar, apparently) and the drums sound great. You can hear the noise of the cymbals (assuming it’s drums, who knows these days).

The music itself is doomy in a sludgy way in tone but uptempo, with a certain rock flair (wooo!), that makes the music sound good, and not boring, and most importantly, not annoying (you know how some sludge just sounds like a gremlin witch having a temper tantrum in slow motion) even though it is heavy, simple Sabbath-ish riffs. Well, not so simple because they have a certain progginess. The guitar sound is sludge but the songwriting is a bit proggy and uptempo, making this way spicier than normal doom or sludge, and putting them in a bit of a different niche. The vocals are not gremlin witch style, but have some singing and some (not annoying) screaming, and there seems to be lots of reverb (or effects) on the vocals for a trippy-tricky feel.

If you would like to hear band as heavy as sludge but with a proggy and spicy take on that heaviness, then you just might be the person that this band is looking for. Alright, well, I can’t tell you anymore about this music because Jeopardy is on now and I want to see what the answer is for the “Final Jeopardy” round. Grandma and I consider Alex Trebek a Canadian treasure.

The Body by Radiant KnifeThe Body by Radiant Knife