Home Read Albums Of The Week: Caustic Casanova | Glass Enclosed Nerve Center

Albums Of The Week: Caustic Casanova | Glass Enclosed Nerve Center

It isn't hard to fall in love with the D.C. weirdos’ edgy brand of progressive heaviness.

THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On their fifth album, the brain-frying Glass Enclosed Nerve Center, D.C. riffonauts Caustic Casanova pull an expansive range of sounds into their tight, hyperkinetic core — and explode them outward in a kaleidoscope of progressive heavy rock exuberance.

Formed in 2005 as the trio consisting of drummer and vocalist Stefanie Zaekner, bassist and singer Francis Beringer, and guitarist Andrew Yonki, Caustic Casanova chose a path to constantly refine their thrillingly unpredictable music, which careens from sardonic noise rock to proggy sludge in the vein of Baroness, Red Fang and Torche, while also taking inspiration from the gargantuan heft of Melvins to Boris, and fleet guitar heroics with flashes of dark-hued post-punk. With the addition of second guitarist Jake Kimberley in 2019, the now-quartet set their sights on making the most adventurous and prog-rock Caustic Casanova record yet.

Photo by Shane K. Gardner.

Glass Enclosed Nerve Center underscores all their strengths while making the most of the expanded lineup that opened up their sound to new possibilities. Beringer’s reedy, melodic bass dances heavily alongside the two frying guitars to empower a trio of lead voices. Zaenker’s percussion is powerfully inventive across the album’s five expansive songs, sounding equally at home in swinging, Bill Ward stomp as in math-rock jitteriness. Long-time travelers in Caustic Casanova’s orbit will doubtless find Glass Enclosed Nerve Center an exhilarating welcome back that includes the ambitiously sprawling, 22-minute epic Bull Moose Against The Sky, which occupies the album’s entire B-side. Yet those who are new to the massive sound of these raging psychedelic sludge
buffaloes will find outstanding songcraft and rich storytelling that is worth every second and countless repeat spins.

Three, two, one… go!”

 

Photo by Shane K. Gardner.
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