Bottomless Pit: Hammer of the Gods

2007 would have marked the 20th anniversary of the existence of Silkworm, the Midwest post-punk stalwarts from the underground rock scene of the last two decades. Unfortunately, the July 2005 sudden death of longtime drummer Michael Dahlquist, who was killed when he was traveling in a car that was struck by a woman committing vehicular suicide, cut the band’s career short of achieving such a milestone. Rising up from such a tragic turn of events, ex-Silkworm members Andy Cohen and Tim Midgett make a triumphant return to the indie stage as Bottomless Pit. Rounded out by longtime friends Chris Manfrin (Seam) and Brian Orchard (.22), the new group’s impressive debut may boast a title that would suggest a turn to the wailing blooze of Led Zeppelin. Instead, Hammer of the Gods evokes a more romantic spin on the classic Silkworm idiom, as though someone had secretly overdubbed a copy of the first Psychedelic Furs album into a repressing of Firewater. Which, in my estimation, is pretty darn cool.