Record Review: Kylesa - From the Vaults, Vol. 1

Kylesa - From the Vaults, Vol. 1 (Season of Mist)
By Nathan G. O'Brien on Scene Point Blank

It’s been a little over two years since Savannah, GA’s beastly crew of psychedelic-hardcore-crust-punk-sludge-metal purveyors Kylesa have released their last full-length record, Spiral Shadow. While the band continued to work on a sixth studio album, which is slated for release later this spring, they also wanted to give the fans something special in the interim. From the Vaults, Vol. 1 arrived in mid-November. Just as its name implies, it’s an assortment of tracks culled from the band’s back catalog. It’s not a massive, quickly thrown-together, best-of set though; but rather a twelve-song collection of unreleased material and alternate versions of existing tracks. Over the course of a year, the band combed through old songs, covers, live sets, and B-sides; gathering the ones they felt would fit together well. They rerecorded some, remixed others, and added whatever finishing touches it is that people who employ a savant-like attention to the details do. (Some time during the mid-‘00s, I saw these guys nearly lose their collective cool and walk off stage when an equipment malfunction prevented their per-recorded song intros from playing.)  ...full-length review continues here.