RLYR's moniker is an upcapped, vowel-less tribute to Yes' 1974 album Relayer. You know, the one with the incredibly epic gatefold art by Roger Dean? While RLYR isn't quite a fantasy-themed fusion/prog-rock band, the members know a few things about heroic and heavy instrumental rock that storms the gates of delirium. On their debut album, Delayer, guitarist Trevor Shelley de Brauw (Pelican), drummer Steven Hess (Locrian) and bassist Colin DeKuiper (Bloodiest) cross swords with the metal and experimental rock they regularly inhabit, but more importantly imagine worlds beyond our own.
"Reconductor" begins somewhere in the filthily caked industrial sludge of Swans, but with moody repetition and an ultra-crisp production reset for the robo-age. As the wistful melody emerges, its hooves digging through the hard earth, de Brauw's fuzzy and graceful guitar tone is mammoth, yet warm against DeKuiper's melodic and pronounced bass. Hess is never flashy but monstrous on the kit, as he rolls through the emotional complexities that "Reconductor" narrates. Five minutes in, RLYR reveals the melody's true nature: a stoner-rock riff that glides like a dragon through canyons.
Delayer comes out June 17 on Magic Bullet.
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