anooooooooooooother review

yep yep yep, another review!

http://www.live-music-scene.co.uk/cd-reviews-content.asp?id=51

Castrovalva - Mini Album

By Dudley Baker

Even before you’ve began listening to Castrovalva there is already a vague sense of enormity in the coming experience. Like trying to steer a boat across an ocean, there always the possibility of a massive wave about to hit which slams your little boat and leaves you clinging to an oar. Song titles such as ‘Triceratops,’ ‘Bison Scissor Kick’ and ‘Belhausen’ all help conjure a sense of scale, which is probably why they made this a mini album.

When you put the album on though you see why, and your suspicions are all confirmed. A brief wireless broadcast lulls you into a false sense of security, before pummelling you with ‘Max Rhodes,’ a sort of fuzzy stoner workout reminiscent of that most epic of epic bands Kyuss, praise indeed. But it’s not all mega riffs and fuzz, not ALL… And this is where that illusive and tricky term 'prog' pops up. I don’t mean prog as in Rick Wakeman in a silver cape playing and Minimoog, more the sort of jazzy obscure time signatures that always keeps things fresh. Thankfully, after a brief four numbers we get an interlude of sorts in the way of ‘London Kills Me.’ A sort of ambient respite on a treated organ, a good way of calming your ears down and letting some of those images of erupting volcanoes fade away.

But they’re back again all too soon, and your boat is being thrown about once again in the storm. This time though, you’re clinging to the mast with a massive grin on your face.

www.myspace.com/castrovalvamusic

time to rest

Hey hey, so our March mini tour is pretty much over, was great fun playing with the horses and shark guys for a few days - met some great people, saw some awesome things, now its time to sleep loads until our slot at the British Wildlife Fest in Leeds on Sat March 28th, more details on that will be posted soon.

xxx

p.s pictures and things of our few days of fun will be up soon.

another cd review to check out

http://nsrcdreviews.blogspot.com/2009/03/castrovalva-castrovalva.html


"Castrovalva – Castrovalva

Like, woah dude. This bass-and-drums duo may hail from Leeds (home to many other wonderful experimental rock acts like Bilge Pump, That F***ing Tank and big-new-things in waiting Pulled Apart By Horses), but it’s the sounds of the American underground that Castrovalva pay homage to on their debut mini-album. Using the sonic arsenal of Lightning Bolt to power Melvins-esque sludge riffing, in under half an hour Castrovalva manage to conjure up the sound of the Earth’s bowels loosening in terror: short, sharp noise bursts like “Bison Scissor Kick” and “Triceratops” boast a primeval stomp whose visceral impact most certainly isn’t for the faint hearted. Although there is a tendency for the tracks to blur into one mass of stampeding sonics (only the mercifully short ambient interlude “London Kills Me” and Leemun Smith’s insane wailing over “Bellhausen” alter the formula at all), for a record of this length it’s hardly an issue – and frankly, when it’s a sound this powerful, it’s not much of a complaint to begin with. With a full-length due later in the year and a variety of support slots lined up (including one with doom-gaze maestros Nadja), 2009 looks set to be a good year for Castrovalva, and this mini-album starts things off very un-nicely indeed.

Review by Mark Corcoran-Lettice"

woah

had a SUPER gig in newcastle last night, mega props to the get involved crew for sorting out an awesome night.

pulled apart by horses sweated like real men, the night was fun and we versus the shark were great! we're playing with canadian drone monsters nadja on saturday and back with the horsey and sharks for sunday and monday, pictures and love to follow! xx

i split my jeans right up my arse in newcastle xxx

followed by...

another review:

http://www.unpeeled.net/albums.html


CASTROVALVA: "Castrovalva" (Brew Records)
RELEASED? 4th May.
SOUNDS LIKE? Hard rock,
modern, inventive, violent and
subtle. Technology is deployed
with wit and skill so we get sliced
as well as battered. The guitars
are magnificent, the opener, "Max
Rhodes" being a glorious
headfuck of metal wah-wah and it's
all good to great from there on in
as they cheerfully and smartly gut
art-rock, prog-rock, math-rock and
late 60's psychedelic rock to make their own seamless Frankenstein.
IS IT ANY GOOD? This is fucking brilliant, twelve out of ten, if it's not the rebirth it's certainly the tasty fried afterbirth of hard rock.
WHERE IS IT? www.brewrecords.net

best review ever?

I think so!


http://www.getreadytorock.com/reviews2009/single_reviews0309.htm

CASTROVALVA Castrovalva (Brew Records)

www.myspace.com/castrovalvamusic

This young band's first full release on the Brew label, and from the outset serious case of 'What The F**K??!!'

The two piece band (drums, bass, noise manipulation) kick off with 'Max Rhodes', a driving bass line that is hypnotically alluring and extremely annoying at the same time, worsened by the fact that everything is distorted.

Some interesting work, between metal, rhythms and axe work; occasionally disjointed, but the big problem is the noise. Between feedback and distortion this leaves your brain, eardrums and bowels numb and fuzzy. It's not a pleasant feeling. **

Review by Joe Geesin


Joe Geesin, will you marry us? xx