"I did not care about metal at all and then, all of a sudden, I wanted to listen to nothing but Medusa for a week. (A week with forty days)." - Sasha Frere-Jones (The New Yorker)
“En Raga Sül is a no-nonsense, no-fucking-around pile up of thrash, hardcore and noise-rock that rarely lingers long enough to be casually cast as any. Think The Stooges jamming with members of the Melvins and Slayer: harsh, challenging, engaging and relentlessly dynamic…†– Metal Hammer
“Nearly every track wrings pure joy from menace, while rocking like a towering great bastard.†- Terrorizer
"...gritty, garage-y punk the way it's supposed to be played when you're not worried about how your t-shirt fits or what black metal records Johnny Hipster has in his collection that you don't...unbelievably sooty, dirt-caked riffs of Slayer, Lightning Bolt and Noxagt as transposed by the Melvins, the Jesus Lizard and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion...noisy excellence..." - Decibel
“Veering from attritional pounding riffs, vile screams and distorted vocals to more full-on, full-speed punk intensity, this is consistently ace stuff.†– Rock Sound
"Medusa harnesses the power of Slayer's most evil riffs and filter, twist, and abuse them via the record collector, nerdworthy triptych of Melvins, Lightning Bolt, and The Jesus Lizard. At times they are surprisingly melodic, other moments sound like they're trying to separate your arms from their sockets in order to use them as battle re-enactment swords, and sometimes they're trying to do both...there is definitely no fucking around." - Outburn
"...these guys assault Melvins-style doom with a nasty punk rock cockslap" - Prefixmag.com
"Medusa's live show is a brick wall of glorious energy and pure noise that faultlessly combines deep down-tempo and battering momentum for a rare, one-of-a-kind sound." - NUVO
"Medusa takes their idea of a heavy metal riff, and then just pounds the shit out of it for two minutes straight in a repetitive, thundering way. And I've got to admit, it's pretty awesome. These short bursts of songs are what keeps the album fresh and listenable." - Punknews.org
“EN RAGA Sül takes you through a small medieval atmosphere where you seem unsure about everything around you, but there’s something peculiar keeping you from leaving. From shiny, screaming guitars, to distorted thrash metal riffs and drumming like a giant banging away on aluminum pots, this album is able to keep you on your toes as each track plays through with a forcible, menacing manner." - WayTooLoud.com
"Each riff is a dirt-encrusted, cracked diamond, rammed down our throats like a gimp's ballgag. Vocalist Scott VanBuren froths and screams in glee as it goes down...Medusa make raw, physical music, fit for dancing and involuntary auto-face-punching. Straight from the pit mine to the mosh pit." - CerebralMetalhead.com
"After listening to 'En Raga Sül' , I didn't know whether to raise my hands in victory or hang my head in defeat. Either way, I got my ass kicked. This band's moniker fits them well, as Medusa surely have all the makings of a mythological beast of legend." - TheSaltyPirate.com
EN RAGA SüL HypeSheet:
An unknown name to many outside of Clash of the Titans fans, Medusa stand poised to deliver a sonic deathblow to all that is false with En Raga Sül, the deadliest 15 tracks to grace a vinyl platter in a long fucking time. Consisting of 3/4ths of the creative nucleus of the juggernaut Racebannon, Medusa bludgeon the listener with a riff-centric cyclone that sounds like Slayer playing Melvins covers through the MC5’s equipment. You’ve never heard anything quite like it, and when En Raga Sül is over, you will be left beaten, torn, and begging for more oxygen, and one more listen.
Toiling amongst the shades for their formative years, Medusa spent almost 5 years constructing a solid lineup and a solid stable of impure jams designed to level and destroy all that stands in their path. En Raga Sül is their only recording to date, and living proof that the way of the tortoise is often times the correct one for those who walk the left hand path. Instead of releasing some watered-down “BS†in the name of record sales and hype, Medusa honed and crafted a maelstrom of tar-stained riffs, thunderous drumming, and vocal incantations with more drama, tension, and hatred than an average Destiny’s Child practice. Sludgey riffs knuckle-drag themselves out of the dankest of swamps, only to careen into fast distorted oblivion at the drop of a hat, with the listener losing 5d20 with each successive passage.
Tracks like 'Wicked Father', 'Rain un Thunder', 'Throne of God', 'Flesh Fly', 'Destructor', and the title track leave no room for breath, false moves, or faked jacks: this is the real deal. No girl clothes, no banjos, and no weak shit. Medusa is a blood-thirsty riff-centric weed machine that eats life and shits death, and En Raga Sül takes no prisoners. Less an “album†and more of a trance-inducing black ritual of catharsis, Hawthorne Street Records, Monotonstudio Records and Medusa have teamed up to deliver a bestial 12 inches of raw fury. The question is, are you strong enough in constitution and intestinal fortitude to stand up against the 15 tracks on En Raga Sül? (D.Britts)
MEDUSA @ the Bluebird May 26th, 2009
from Indie Volumes Magazine .
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