We’ve been here before. Not that I mind at all because Los Angeles’ Tombstones In Their Eyes I’ve become familiar with the last few years, listening to the band’s music. The 5-person band, while straying away from anything heavy, does come across much like a desert rock band, sans the metal. There’s always been a beauty surrounding its constructed numbers, usually monophonic but the texture all around is soothing as the sweet, lazy voices move across the landscape. It’s no different on Under Dark Skies (Kitty Robot). “You Never Have To Love Me” alone, encompasses all of that but here starting off with an acoustic guitar and builds around it. Distorted guitars are majestic and alluring, drawing in listeners all around, regardless of preference. At this point, I thought I could probably call it but the band does surprise with its melodies on “Sick So Sick,” but “Alive And Well” is infectious, with the same wall of guitar melodies we’ve become familiar with and the harmonies are so inviting. It doesn’t get much better than this.

DÄLEK & CHARLES HAYWARD – HAYWARDxDÄLEK

Since the tail end of the 90s, very few artists have continued to write and record music with feverish bursts of creativity. But for many of them, death, creative differences, mental health issues, and troubles of all sorts have forced many away from stages and studios. But it’s the few, the very few, who storm studios, release material, and continue to push the boundaries that never seemed to exist.

Prolific emcee/producer dälek is no stranger to collaborations, his most recent team-up with Faust’s Hans Joachim Irmler creating the singularly explosive Anguish. This time around, he’s joined by legendary This Heat drummer/multi-instrumentalist Charles Hayward for the HAYWARDxDÄLEK (Relapse) release. The album was written in a whirlwind of 2 days, and the results just might surprise you. The album, over an hour’s worth of material, while mostly instrumental, doesn’t suffer from a lack of vocal inclusivity as tracks stand on their own. Yeah, that cat’s out of the proverbial bag, but it’s something to be expected. The opening “Increments,” with its rumbling bassline, is accentuated by Hayward’s hi-hat and crash cymbals with a rhythm that’s not only hypnotic but allows for an oratory sensory explosion. At just over four and a half minutes, it barely registers in length, and you don’t want it to end, to explore the layers of sound around it. While there are incendiary moments throughout the album, some rides are a slow simmer, taking leisurely strides until arriving at their final destination. That’s how “Between The Word And The Drum” slinks through. For the first two minutes, the buildup is a quiet and low-key affair as percussion slides into keyboards and then, dälek offers his thoughtful wording. This is when Hayward hits drums, allowing the buildup to gain much more traction. While you may expect a free-flowing release filled with experimentalist movements, this is much more rhythmic, and when dälek spits that chorus, “between the word and the drum,” you’re completely sucked in!

“Breathe Slow” is hard, in-your-face objectivity coming from dälek. While he spits aggressively over the noisy rhythm, spewing his words that stem far from braggadocio, he doesn’t take himself completely seriously, and you can hear it in his words when he says, “You can take 75% of what I spit with some levity/I burn my own fucking effigy, born in the obscenities.” If he were a dragon, I’d say he was breathing fire. But he also acknowledges his comrade at arms here within the chorus spitting, “Ay yo son, you burning me x3/ this heat reaching further B” and he does it with a refined finesse.

There’s no escaping the sound manipulation throughout the album, which is all-encompassing. From a production aspect. “Salvage” is so theatrical and stunning. The singular movement captivates, and the dirty string samples are filled with so much drama you just want to hold on and ride it out. One thing about dälek, though, is that he’s never strayed from saying what’s right. Not known for being a political emcee, some of his subject matter may be politicized, recognizing what’s wrong in the world. “Sharpened tongue comes standard/they compliments (looking) backhanded/2025, and they still fear a black planet/freedom comes when we demand it” is off the powerful “Asymmetric” and it’s obvious, dälek doesn’t mince his words. Both he and Hayward create a sonic space that’s inviting for all… well, maybe not for those sucking on the corporate teat, but you get it. “Sojourn,” though, at almost 11 minutes long, is a musical sculpture that defies gravity. Again, it’s a slow burn that eventually collides with the sun as Hayward’s drums mesh with the keys and layered sounds. Yes, this is special, and we understand the level of sound manipulation as levels rise and eventually fall. And then there’s “As Children Chant,” where dälek rides the soundwave, carefully choosing his words in order to offer clear imagery. The music, while seemingly dark, is fitting as he grips his mic tightly, reflecting on the past 70 years of assault on culture, a country, men, women, children, fathers, mothers, sons & daughters. He finds balance within the unbalanced, echoing words many offer, day in and out. This is a beautiful, politically charged number.

Without a doubt, both dälek & Charles Hayward are masters of their craft, with the ability to hold everyone’s attention with just one note. With HAYWARDxDÄLEK they have redefined what anyone is capable of and has the ability to do within their respective medium. Sound manipulators? No, they’re sound assassins. If there was any complaint, it would probably be that these two should have worked together sooner. But I can only guess that time and fate happened at this very moment for this specific moment. Genius.