Red Mesa Are Back in Stunning Form on ‘The Path of the Deathless’

I like to listen to this record in the still of early morning (you can go ahead and cue up opening track “Ghost Bell” right now). I immediately identify it with the dawning sun spreading over a still cool, but arid landscape that it gradually warms to a stunning heat.

RED MESA may draw textures from desert and stoner rock, southern metal, the blues, even avant garde music, but it is a doom band through and through – doom with a strong sludge flavor, I hasten to add. One pictures a grizzled bard with a five-o’clock shadow and his instrument in hand wandering the wasteland with a half-crazed look in his eye, only he is more enlightened than folks assume, for he comes bearing stark tales of the strange thing he has seen and heard first hand.

This is ‘The Path of the Deathless’ (2020), the third full-length from the Albuquerque, New Mexico trio (we last found them in fine form with the The Devil and the Desert), followed by a split with Blue Snaggletooth on Ripple Music’s The Second Coming of Heavy). As soon as I heard the new LP, I knew the band had hit their stride.

Brad Frye’s gravelly vocal attack on “The Path of the Deathless” reminds me of Dave Sherman’s Earthride and Weed is Weed projects.

Coming out of a big hole
Open my mind, open my soul
I walk the path
The path of the Deathless

The song’s mid-section breaks into a quasi-psychedelic interlude with sparse keyboards and a slow walking bass, which builds into a climax that triggered flashbacks to the first Goatess album for me.

The heartbeat quickens with Frye chugging on guitar with the peppy rhythm section of Alex Cantwell (bass) and Roman Barham (drums). And speak of the devil, Dave Sherman makes an appearance on “Desert Moon” (I swear I didn’t realize it until I looked at the album credits seconds ago!). It’s all coming together for me now.

“Death I Am” gives us the more intimate experience seated in the shade from a scorching mid-day sun, with acoustic guitar and traditional folk rock vox accented by pedal steel from Alex McMahon (a New Mexico native from the band Wildwood).

Heat rises off the highway
Buzzards overhead
The desert always stones me
Can’t get you out of my head

Having heard from Mr. Sherman, it’s only approached we hear from the legendary Scott Weinrich, too. Most of us know him simply as Wino, one of the great singer-songwriters of our time, “unsung” in the sense that I don’t think he’s gotten the broader recognition that he deserves (I consider him to be the Bob Dylan of the heavy underground).

There’s nothing left I can give you
Time, Money, or Worth…
Patience is facing your execution
With calm, pride, and dignity

Wino gives an uncharacteristically disquieting performance on “Disharmonious Unlife,” a song about trying to get your life together but meeting with discouragement on the path to recovery and wholeness. A short but sweet solo joins the song’s closing moments, which may be Wino’s.

After a brief but effective page turner (“Revelation”), we’re ushered into the album’s final chapter, “Swallowed by the Sea.” Don’t hate me, but I couldn’t help thinking of the Outback stylings of those early Silverchair tracks as I listened. Perhaps it’s the loneliness of the singing contrasted with the rumbling of the guitar and that soul-stirring violin (from the aptly named Kristen Rad) that accompanies the song’s chorus. Certainly, it’s the most contemplative number of the lot, as we might expect from an album’s “sunset” closer.

Sleep comes and then we wait
For the tide to return
Will the moon allow us to be
Swallowed by the sea

Red Mesa’s The Path to the Deathless is an experience-and-a-half, rich with atmosphere, with a rough 'n’ tumble sound, and heavy lyrical content. It was produced by Matthew Tobias at Empty House Studio (who’s worked with OM and Supergiant) and mastered by John McBain (original Monster Magnet guitarist). Look for the release this weekend via Desert Records on limited edition vinyl, compact disc and digital formats (pre-order here). Today, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you the album’s world premiere.

Give ear…