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Rangda, "False Flag"
My longstanding hope that the child-eating Balinese demon queen will release an album has yet to come to fruition, but I am now able to content myself with the next best thing, as her name has been appropriated for a staggering improvised collaboration between Chris Corsano, Sir Richard Bishop, and Ben Chasney. By turns violent, soulful, and mantric, False Flag is an unpredictable, spontaneous, and sometimes uneven debut, but also a fascinating and attention-grabbing one.
False Flag begins in an extremely chaotic and abrasive way, as the very brief "Waldorf Hysteria" is essentially two minutes of unmitigated frenzy from all three players.Aside from the fleeting Middle Eastern-tinged surf guitar motif that leads into it, the guitars could’ve been played by literally anybody frantically moving their fingers and their pick as fast as possible.As such, it is simultaneously underwhelming and overwhelming. These guys are capable of much, much more (as they later prove), but they sure woke me up and made it clear that things might get quite blistering.The album actually begins in earnest with the second track, "Bull Lore," which occupies some sort of odd nexus between classic rock, noir, and ripping blues-y guitar solos.It’s quite an unexpectedly restrained, melodic, and conventionally "rock" piece (especially after the album’s searing introduction), but quite an enjoyable one.It is weird to hear Bishop playing a straightforward rock guitar solo or Corsano acting like a simple supporting drummer, but there are occasional eruptions that make it clear that I am still listening to the same band.
The trio resumes trying to tear my head off with the incendiary third track, "Fist Family," as Bishop and Chasney trade clashing and howling sustained notes over what is essentially an absolutely apocalyptic drum solo.It is the first moment of the album where it all finally clicks and it seems like Rangda have some chemistry, as the two guitarists seemed to intuitively grasp that Corsano’s drumming is the song, then set about finding the perfect way to complement it without competing for the focus.
"Sarcophagi" continues album’s sequencing theme of alternating back-and-forth between unhinged entropy and restrained melodicism.I think Bishop handles lead guitar again, unfolding a beautiful and soulful solo over an absolutely sublime chord progression that continually threatens to turn into a solo itself.Corsano, for his part, seems to have finally found the sweet spot between being wildly explosive and pretending to be a regular drummer, as he manages to stay very busy and Corsano-esque without intruding into the foreground.It’s simply a great piece, period, capturing the trio at their individual and collective heights.
As expected, "Serrated Edges" plunges back into the cacophonous maelstrom, a feat that it doesn’t pull off as well as "Fist Family."Nevertheless, it certainly whips up quite a frenzy and Bishop and Chasney manage to inject a bit more of their personalities into this one (which is not easy when you are fighting to be heard over a Chris Corsano eruption).It is followed by the album’s closer, "Plain of Jars," which steers the trio into more pastoral territory with an epic, Eastern-tinged, and psych-inspired jam.It isn’t my favorite piece on the album, but it certainly meanders along in amiable fashion, never outstaying its fifteen-minute running time.That might be because it seems like the least improvised piece here, as it features seamless transitions between sections and, more tellingly, dual-guitar harmonies and an overdubbed piano.Thankfully, it catches fire at the end, as Bishop and Corsano both let themselves get a bit wild for the outro.Also, it made me suddenly realize that I would probably like a lot more vintage psychedelia and hippy-tinged krautrock if the drummers had not been so damn dull.
I’d love to know how much of this album was actually improvised and how much preparation was involved, as the band had only played together for a total of 90 minutes before playing their first show and these recording sessions happened soon afterward.Neither Bishop nor Chasney delve much into the stylistic territory that they are best known for, which could either be the result of a deliberate decision to do something different or just what comes out when they are suddenly put on the spot.Either way, it is illuminating to hear this side of their playing.There are definitely a couple of great pieces here ("Fist Family" and "Sarcophagi") that can stand with any of the band members’ individual work, but much of the album tries to get by on raw power alone or seems to just teasingly hint at greater potential.That said, it is a major musical event just for these three guys to wind up in the same room together and such a sudden union is destined to yield wildly varying results.False Flag isn’t quite a great album, but it definitely has some serious flashes of brilliance and makes a strong argument for making every possible effort to see these three play together before their other activities pull them apart.
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