NOMAD WAR MACHINE AND SUSAN ALCORN - Contra Madre

This collaboration captures Susan Alcorn in an unexpected but deeply considered setting, working with Nomad War Machine — the improvising metal duo of Julius Masri and James Reichard — on a suite of fully improvised recordings. The results reveal a shared curiosity and an intuitive musical bond, as Alcorn’s fluid, melodic pedal-steel lines are set against the duo’s death-metal-inflected intensity.

The project grew from conversations about Alcorn’s late-life fascination with metal, particularly the hook-driven force of Swedish death metal and its sense of momentum and power. For a lifelong explorer whose background stretched from Texas western swing through jazz and free improvisation, metal offered a fresh point of departure rather than a contradiction.

That openness mirrored the duo’s own histories. Masri’s playing draws equally from free jazz, metal, Arabic traditions, and a deep love of classic Texas swing pedal steel, while Reichard’s path into improvised metal and alternative tuning systems was shaped early by country music and the sound of the steel guitar.

Together, the trio uncover new terrain — heavy, searching, and surprisingly lyrical — pointing toward directions Alcorn was still eager to explore.