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Eagle Twin<br />
The Feather Tipped the<br />
Serpent’s Scale<br />
Southern Lord<br />
Street: 08.28<br />
Eagle Twin = Yat-Kha<br />
+ Dale Crover +<br />
Enemymine<br />
In 2009, SLC’s Eagle Twin<br />
rele<strong>as</strong>ed their debut album, The<br />
Unkindness of Crows. The work<br />
w<strong>as</strong> exquisite, and immediately<br />
demanded the attention of<br />
international doom and sludge<br />
audiophiles. The fable of the<br />
crow continues in this year’s<br />
rele<strong>as</strong>e, The Feather Tipped the<br />
Serpent’s Scale. Guitarist and<br />
vocalist Gentry Densely is<br />
a m<strong>as</strong>ter storyteller, guiding<br />
listeners through his dark,<br />
mythical narrative with low,<br />
throaty vocals. On some<br />
tracks, he sings the part of<br />
the narrator (“Horn, Snake,<br />
Horn”), while in others, he<br />
sings in first person (“Ballad of<br />
Job Cain Pt. 1,” “Ballad of Job<br />
Cain Pt. 2”), detailing Crow’s<br />
battle against the sun and<br />
Crow’s metamorphosis into a<br />
snake. Lengthy instrumentals<br />
drone with heavy, downtuned<br />
guitar riffs, providing a<br />
perfect musical landscape for<br />
listeners to digest the intense<br />
thoughtfulness that the<br />
album’s lyrics provoke.<br />
“Paradise w<strong>as</strong> always made<br />
from snakes, this thing that<br />
cannot die, bleeds through<br />
history and molts a million<br />
faces of agony,” Densley<br />
utters in “Snake Hymn,” my<br />
favorite (and the longest)<br />
song on the record. Densley’s<br />
musical darkness builds,<br />
breaks and slithers over the<br />
steady pounding of Tyler<br />
Smith’s perfectly tracked<br />
drums. Smith’s unbridled<br />
yet consistent, heavy hitting<br />
proves his talent and why he<br />
remains one of my favorite<br />
drummers. The double-vinyl<br />
version includes a bonus<br />
track on Side D: “Ghosts<br />
of Eden,” recorded live in<br />
Hamburg, Germany in 2010.<br />
The LP version also bo<strong>as</strong>ts an<br />
uncropped version of the cover<br />
art designed locally by Brian<br />
Taylor of Copper Palate<br />
Press. Gatefold art includes<br />
the work of Densley and his<br />
brother, Tyler Densley. The<br />
final track, “Epilogue, Crow’s<br />
Theology,” states, “Crow<br />
realized there were two gods/<br />
One of them much bigger than<br />
the other/Loving his enemies<br />
and/Having all the weapons<br />
…” I hope that there are<br />
more chapters in this already<br />
epic tale and that Eagle Twin<br />
will reveal them soon.<br />
– Angela H. Brown<br />
Peter Fryer –<br />
Writer<br />
1. Japandroids –<br />
Celebration Rock<br />
2. Christian Mistress –<br />
Possession<br />
3. Dawnbringer –<br />
Into the Lair of the Sun God<br />
4. Enabler – All Hail the Void<br />
5. OM – Advaitic Songs<br />
Justin Gallegos –<br />
Writer<br />
1. The Ripe – Into Your Ears<br />
2. Purity Ring – Shrines<br />
3. Animal Collective –<br />
Centipede Hz<br />
4. James & Evander –<br />
Bummer Pop<br />
5. Zulu Pearls – No Heroes, No<br />
Honeymoons<br />
Anna Gedal –<br />
Writer<br />
1. G.O.O.D. Music –<br />
Cruel Summer<br />
2. The Lumineers –<br />
The Lumineers<br />
3. Heartless B<strong>as</strong>tards – Arrow<br />
4. Santigold –<br />
M<strong>as</strong>ter of My Make–Believe<br />
5. Kendrick Lamar – Good Kid,<br />
M.A.A.D. City<br />
Steve Goemaat –<br />
Writer<br />
1. N<strong>as</strong> – Life Is Good<br />
2. With the Punches –<br />
Seams & Stiches<br />
3. The Ghost Inside –<br />
Get What You Give<br />
4.Minus the Bear –<br />
Infinity Overhead<br />
5. Converge – All We Love We<br />
Leave Behind<br />
Gregory Gerulat –<br />
Writer<br />
1. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds<br />
– Re<strong>issue</strong>s<br />
2. Alabama Shakes – Boys &<br />
Girls<br />
3. Ty Segall Band – Slaughterhouse<br />
4. Frankie Rose – Interstellar<br />
5. Pallbearer – Sorrow and<br />
Extinction<br />
Henry Gl<strong>as</strong>heen –<br />
Writer<br />
1. Aura Noir – Out to Die<br />
2. Visigoth – Final Spell EP<br />
3. Merlins Beard – Voodoo<br />
4. Gypsyhawk –<br />
Revelry & Resilience<br />
5. Odium Totus – Nullam<br />
Congue Nihil<br />
Eric Granato<br />
– Distribution<br />
Manager<br />
1. Aesop Rock – Skelethon<br />
2. Brother Ali – Mourning in<br />
America and Dreaming in Color<br />
3. The Raveonettes –<br />
Observator<br />
4. Dusk Raps –<br />
Throw Away the Key<br />
5. P.O.S. – We Don’t Even Live<br />
Here<br />
Timo H. – Writer<br />
1. Swans – The Seer<br />
2. The G<strong>as</strong>lamp Killer –<br />
Breakthrough<br />
3. Wendy Rene –<br />
After Laughter Comes Tears:<br />
Complete Stax & Volt Singles +<br />
Rarities 1964–1965<br />
4. Flying Lotus –<br />
Until the Quiet Comes<br />
5. Pye Corner Audio – Sleep<br />
Games<br />
Ryan Hall – Writer<br />
1. Spoek Mathambo – Father<br />
Creeper<br />
2. Evian Christ – Kings and<br />
Them EP<br />
3. Padang Food Tigers – Ready<br />
Country Nimbus<br />
4. OMBRE – Believe You Me<br />
5. Busdriver – Beaus$Eros<br />
Sean Hennefer –<br />
Illustrator<br />
1. Every Time I Die – Ex Lives<br />
2. Converge –<br />
All We Love We Leave Behind<br />
3. Blur – 21<br />
4. Rufus Wainwright –<br />
Out Of The Game<br />
5. Gallows – Gallows<br />
22 SaltLakeUnderGround slugmag.com 23
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