Brighton, UK holds a special place in Desert Psychlist's heart as it was the scene of one of the Psychlist's most drunken and debauched weekends on this planet, but that aside it is also the home of an exciting band going by the name Milk White Throat, a trio consisting of Guillaume Croizon (drums), Tom Humphrey (guitars, vocals) and Brian Thomas (vocals, bass) who are just about to release, onto an unsuspecting public, their latest EP "House of Fire".(3/8/2018).
Skill and quality are not commodities you can easily fake and Milk White Throat demonstrate, over the course of the three songs that make up "House on Fire", that they have both in abundance. As the first, chiming and heavily effected opening notes of "Future History" ring out the listener is left in no doubt of which direction this band are coming from, the songs complex but articulate guitar work, played over a background of liquid deep bass and intricate percussion and coated in clean impassioned vocals, marks this out,if not straightforwardly so, as prog metal or at the very least prog(ish) metal. Now there will be some who will, seeing the word "prog", immediately stop reading and go looking for something a touch more primal, well those that are maybe thinking along those lines should hold their horses for a second or two and delve a little deeper into Milk White Throat's sonic palette. Yes there are a huge prog(ish) elements to be found here, when you have three musicians of this calibre those elements are bound to float to the top, however there is also enough metal to overload a magnet and enough stoner grit to lay a path with. This mix of complexity and metallic growl is perfectly showcased on the EP's second track "House of Fire" a sprawling and undulating sonic journey that gently lifts you up into tranquil blue skies one minute then plummets you into the pits of a metallic hell the next. "Nearly Alive" follows and closes the EP with a hell for leather prog/sludge/heavy metal romp that is as complex as it is brutal, the band ramping up their metallic side to overload and taking off on all sorts of weird and wonderful musical tangents before slowly fading things into silence.
Desert Psychlist's tale, eluded to in this pieces intro, comes under the heading "what happens in Brighton stays in Brighton" Milk White Throat's story on the other hand, and if there is any justice in this world, says "Today Brighton, tomorrow the World"
Check 'em out ….
© 2018 Frazer Jones
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