You can’t swing a sacrificial cat without hitting a band of occult-fixated rockers these days. Thankfully Taurus dwells on an arcane plane all its own. The Portland duo of Stevie Floyd and Ash Spungin employ organ, synthesizer, samples, ukulele, thunderous guitar riffs, and voices that veer from spoken-word chants to infernal ethereality; their new full-length, No/Thing, unearth depths of psychedelic despair and sinuous ritualism that few have coaxed forth before. Famed metal producer Billy Anderson (High On Fire, Melvins, Neurosis) manned the boards for the recording and also contributed guest vocals to “Increase Aloneness”; somehow his added, ominous presence doesn’t do anything to detract from Floyd’s and Spungin’s icy isolation.
No/Thing will be self-released on April 1.