Bottomless Pit

Could Bottomless Pit have chosen a more apt title for their excellent debut release than Hammer of the Gods? The songs on this eight-song disc pummel and crack with the deliberate force of Thor’s enchanted hammer, Mjolnir. Of course, this is likely due to the titanic pedigree of the musicians involved: guitarists Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett previously played with Chicago stalwarts Silkworm, while drummer Chris Manfrin anchored Touch & Go recording vets Seam. Bottomless Pit follows the example set by those bands by crafting organic, warm, mid-tempo indie rock that is equal parts minimal and full, achieving a rich sparseness with added depth from baritone guitar and layers of tastefully employed reverb. Brian Orchard’s reliable bass lines keep everything rooted in a methodical and somber tone that remains engaging and, against logic, uplifting.

It’s the dark tone enveloping the record, though, that makes it difficult to listen to Hammer of the Gods and not ponder the untimely passing of Silkworm drummer Michael Dahlquist, who was killed in an auto accident in 2005, leading to the breakup of the band. It’s easy to picture Dahlquist’s memory presiding over the making of the album, giving tracks like the closing “Sevens Sing” their ethereal, almost haunted timbre
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Still, for a band performing songs like “Dead Man’s Blues,” the album couldn’t sound livelier. Each individual string can be heard as it’s strummed; every sound that’s coaxed from them is earthy and natural. If the hammer referenced in the album title is, in fact, the Thunder God’s enchanted weapon, there is no more appropriate metaphor than that Bottomless Pit are the masters of their element.