Junior Bruce - Endless Descent

Tracklist:-

1. Lapis Philosophorum

2. Lion's Teeth

3. Thirteen Zeros

4. Of The Deep

5. Of The Earth

6. The Worthless Ones

7. Interlude

8. Night Hag

9. Lesser Key

10. Endless Descent

The cold is taking hold here and I'm full of food and beer, to keep myself warm of course! Talking of keeping warm, Floridian heavy band Junior Bruce has a new record out. I say warm because staring at the cover art is like staring into hell itself. "Endless Descent" is currently available digitally via the band but it's due out shortly on vinyl via A389 Recordings. Enjoy!

Instantly this album makes me think about all of the awesome gigs I’ve been too. Opener Lapis Philosophorum seems like it’s borrowing from the likes of Crowbar and Down but it’s oh so much more than that. Junior Bruce is one of those bands that can pull this sound off without it sounding cliche. There are swathes of psychedelia and heavy metal flowing through it and that’s fine with me. There’s blasts aplenty on Lion’s Teeth, but not the sort that will turn you off. They keep the pace high and the groove flowing. It’s also the song in which their lead work shines. Musically they’re on a higher plane than the aforementioned bands though. Thirteen Zeros is full of heavy metal flourishes and nods to the old-school. They do atmosphere too, like at the beginning of Of The Deep. What follows is heavy as hell and so much fun. The war fuzziness you feel when listening to Of The Earth is matched it’s guitar sound. The off-time nature of The Worthless Ones is subtle yet as the song progresses, it takes over and buries itself in your head. Musically, there’s not a huge amount of melody going on in the verses but who cares really. If you can’t head-bang and groove along to it then there’s something wrong with you. The feedback that closes it out flows into Interlude, with it’s strangely mystical guitar melodies. Night Hag is a slow-burn that paints a picture. The concept of this record is about a person trying to rescue somebody they love from an abyss full of demons that ends up consuming them (or something along those lines anyway) and this song seems to drag you into said abyss. After that Lesser Key seems almost uplifting with it’s more up-tempo pace. Junior Bruce calls time with the restrained yet extremely bass-heavy title-track, feedback and all. it takes their doom-influence and turns it up x100. It’s a huge ending to the record and well worth waiting for. It seems as though it’s all been leading up to this point for Junior Bruce and with “Endless Descent”, their time has come. You will not be disappointed with this. 

You can steam and purchase "Endless Descent" as a digital download here:-

Keep you eyes peeled for new of the vinyl release via both JB's and A389's Facebook pages below:-

Junior Bruce Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/juniorbrucerocks
A389 Recordings Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/a389recordings