Paranoid Hitsophrenic: DOOM CHART for SEPTEMBER 1st, 2013

Sunday, 1 September 2013

DOOM CHART for SEPTEMBER 1st, 2013

A huge thanks this month to our contributing writers, who make the work of compiling this list and typing it out easier, but also so much fun to work on! These are the folks who made it happen this month: Nuclear Dog, Steve Miller, Gruesome Greg, Katharina Pfeiffer and Joop Konraad and an extra special huge shout out to Pat Harrington of the Electric Beard of Doom radio show for going way above and beyond.

This is the collective unconscious of Doom ... the final word on what's goin' on underground!!

1). VISTA CHINO – Peace (Napalm)
Last Month: - [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Nuclear Dog (Heavy Planet)

It's been a long time coming, with many trials and tribulations that would have completely obliterated the resolve of lesser artists, but the incredible Brant Bjork and John Garcia have persevered, resurfacing as Vista Chino, and releasing their first collection of new music under that new flagship with the release of "Peace". Along with the inspired addition of guitarist Bruno Fevery Vista Chino deliver a powerful and significant stoner rock sound that showcases some unique talent and ability. Of the 2 summer releases from former Kyuss members "Peace" is the current champion. Find the album here.

2). GOATESS – Self-Titled (Svart)
Last Month: 1 [1↓], Months on chart: 2

Words by Steve Miller (Temple of Perdition)

The collective efforts of Chritus (vocals), Niklas (guitars), Kenta (drums), and Findus (bass), originally formed under the monicker Weekend Beast, have released arguably one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Without a doubt, it delivers. The unifying sound of the band's self-titled debut relies heavily on a stoned, repetitious low-end groove which is accompanied by moments of impending doom and bluesy, blissed-out otherworldly excursions. Find the album here.

3). ICE DRAGON – Born a Heavy Morning (Self-Released)
Last Month: #- [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Steve Miller (Temple of Perdition)

Lo-fi vibes and orphaned transmissions are tuned-in and then rebroadcast through the aether on Ice Dragon's seventh long-player, 'Born a Heavy Morning'. AM radio channeled through busted up, acid-damaged transistors never sounded so good. Find the album here.

4). CHURCH OF MISERY – Thy Kingdom Scum (Rise Above)

Last Month: #13 [9↑], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra

A spinning carousel of riffs where hobbyhorses are replaced by dead-eyed men with knives and lengths of rope, Church of Misery's latest album is an expert at gaining your trust, slowly. It pretends to be your friend and can carry on a casual relationship with the listener for as long as it takes, but eventually, 'Thy Kingdom Scum' will get you alone and when it does, it will gut you like a fish. Find it here.

5). BORRACHO – Oculus (Self-Released)
Last Month: 8 [3↑], Months on chart: 2

Words by Gruesome Greg (Hellbound)

True story, I once tried to start a band called Borracho. Hey, it's Spanish for drunk! Alas, these D.C. dudes do the name proud with some heavy-drinkin', heavy-rockin' tunes, emitting a vibe that seems much further south than the beltway. Put it this way, when you pronounce "run" with 17 u's, like they do on epic closer "I've Come For It All", well, that's pretty high, as John Lee Hooker might say. Find the album here.

6). SCORPION CHILD – Scorpion Child (Nuclear Blast)

Last Month: #10 [4↑], Months on chart: 3

Words by Katharina Pfeiffer (Psychorizon)

Texas style BBQ comes rocking all the way and all over the place in the form of Scorpion Child's selftitled debut. The southern five-piece act gathers a fine selection of riff-ridden ingredients from different corners of Rock History - making it hard for one to work in terms of categories, but who cares about those anyway?! These Children of the (R)evolution are on the verge of somewhat of a global conquest. Their sound: "Desert Rock with Glitter on top", their look: "Heavy Hippies gone wild" (if that's even possible), their mission: Have some fun in the sun AND after dark or to quote some other US dudes who kicked some major butts back in the days: Rock'n'Roll All Night And Party Every Day! I'd say: Mission accomplished. Find it here.

7). UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS – Mind Control (Rise Above)
Last Month: #2 [5↓], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra
I suspect that years from now, when many of us think back to the summer of 2013, the soundtrack that will spring immediately to mind will be 'Mind Control'. Uncle Acid and his Deadbeats have been less antisocial of late, with their first ever live shows (including a spot at no less a gathering than the Roadburn Festival) which has led to an opening slot on the Sabbath Euro/UK tour. This album lives up to its title as folks apparently haven't been able to put it back on the shelf. Find the album here.

8). BRUTUS – Behind the Mountains (Svart)

Last Month: #4 [4↓], Months on chart: 3

Words by Pat Harrington (Electric Beard of Doom)

This is the third month in a row that I am choosing Brutus' "Behind the Mountains" for my Doom Charts submissions. I have dug this album since the first time I've heard it and every time I listen to it, I seem to find brand new reasons to dig it. It's safe to say that now three months since it's release, I dig this album more than ever before (Especially since I got it on vinyl!).

Great guitar tones, great blues riffs, good time rock in roll! This album sounds great too, one of the best sounding albums of all the retro-Scandinavian-type bands out there... Listening to the song "Reflections", the guitar tone is immaculate! Jimmy Page would be proud to put out an album that sounds this good!

This album is retro rock for the regular guy! I dig bands that don't take themselves too seriously and Brutus are self aware enough to know that they are the big silly bastard on the bus. Even though much of the lyrics are kind of dark, there is an air of goofiness that weaves it's way through the album. They stay away from a lot of the trappings that many of the recent flock of retro-occulty bands get stuck in. There's even a song about dudes big ass square headed dog! This makes Brutus a breath of fresh air among a genre that is in danger of becoming a cliche of itself.

I want to hang out with these guys. I want to drink multitudes of beer with them. I want to prowl the cobblestone streets of Northern Europe with Brutus late at night, get stoned out of my mind and eat pizza with salami on it while wiping the grease on my already dirty denim vest with the sick Brutus patch on the back.

Yeah I do ... Find it here.

9). BEELZEFUZZ – Self-Titled (Church Within)

Last Month: #- [-], Months on chart: 1
Words by LK Ultra
Beelzefuzz's debut stands in stark contrast to nearly anything you have ever heard before. It would be foolish to call it "risky", it's more like "fearless". An incredibly fast moving album that jumps from unique idea to unique idea, vocalist Dana Ortt's voice is unforgettable and unlike any other not found on the classic rock station. The nightmare circus that Beelzefuzz whips up on this album quite nearly creates a new genre unto itself, and it's a very near thing indeed. Link.

10). LA CHINGA – La Chinga (Self-Released)

Last Month: #36 [26↑], Months on chart: 4
Words by LK Ultra
I think it's probably for the best that you just forget all about the days of Nickelback (who I call Pickle Sack) and Bryan Adams because friends ... for the first time in some 30 years or so, Vancouver has finally re-discovered rock n roll and it wears the face ... of La Chinga! Ball crushing, face munching riffs turn your brain into a throbbing mass of sleaze, and where one's mind is freed, so must the body follow. So all aboard the jean jacket express. You and your long haired buddies have a night of excess ahead of you. Granville Street has never witnessed such a frighteningly filthy caravan until now. Find it here.

11). BLACK SABBATH – 13 (Vertigo)

Last Month: #9 [2↓], Months on chart: 3

Words by LK Ultra

I heard a rumor once that they ran out of room in hell sometime back in the late 1960's. You know, on account of hippies and commies dying in the war and stuff? Well, anyway, hell being hell, the guys that ran the place just couldn't leave it at that, right? So what they do is, see, they unleashed some kind of a force over northern England which was supposed to alleviate the problem. I heard it was supposed to suppurate the pressure points of hell to bring it boiling to the surface, not unlike a geyser letting off steam. That original force served its purpose in its own time but just as it started to burn out, it started creating all these other, similar forces all over the world and before too long the whole friggin' planet Earth was covered in the Damn Things! Anyway, now it's back, that original force and it's sweeping it's way around the world right now, one final time. Crazy huh? Anyway, it's just a rumor ... Find it here.

12). ORCHID – Mouths of Madness (Nuclear Blast)
Last Month: #3 [9↓], Months on chart: 4

Words by Nuclear Dog (Heavy Planet)

Huge, heavy, low tuned riffs are the hallmark of Orchid's music, something they have delivered in spades from their initial EP release, on a recent LP release, and especially on this summer's "The Mouths of Madness" where they have upped the ante by delving a little deeper into the darkness, wrapping uncanny guitar and bass riffs in pitch black wickedness, giving rise to a timbre of shadows and monstrosity. What tops off the toothsome signature sound are vocals at once unique, compelling, and custom made for the music. All in all, this latest album is a black ribbon gift of impeccable conveyance. Find the album here.

13). SAINT VITUS – C.O.D. / Die Healing re-issues (Season of Mist)
Last Month: - [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Gruesome Greg (Hellbound)

Don Dokken could not produce a doom-metal album to save his life. Although the tunes on Vitus anomaly C.O.D. were actually pretty decent, the overall sound makes on long for the SST days (not that those records were well-produced, either). Well, not anymore! This remaster really sounds fantastic, unearthing a lost classic in a way you've never heard it before. That being said, I think the chances of Vitus dusting off a few numbers from this one on their next tour are probably slim to none.

On the other hand, it's pretty hard to improve upon their would-be swansong, Die Healing. When the record first came out in '95, it was intended to be their last hurrah. Hell, they even brough Scott Reagers back on vocals! Let's just say I had to buy this one on vinyl, for posterity's sake. Find the albums here.

14). CURSE THE SON – Psychache (Self-Released)
Last Month: - [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Steve Miller (Temple of Perdition)

If Connecticut's Curse the Son flew by undetected with their 2011 debut, 'Klonopain', then they should be a giant fucking blip lighting up the radar screen with the release of their newest collection of doped-up doom and gloom - 'Psychache'. Rather than rely solely on the plod-heavy riffs that defined the debut, Ron Vanacore has injected the six tunes that comprise 'Psychache' with a nod-inducing sinister groove that falls somewhere along the spectrum of Black Sabbath's 'Master of Reality' and Iron Man's 'I Have Returned'. Find the album here.

15). SPIRITS OF THE DEAD – Rumours of a Presence (The End)

Last Month: #33 [18↑], Months on chart: 2

Words by LK Ultra

Thank goodness for forward looking, nostalgic Scandinavians. Spirits of the Dead prove that they are not just another one of 'those' bands (read Graveyard clone) by treading an ethereally dark path through some fairly progressive territory. Of course, all that dark and progressive 'dressing up' won't buy you a hamburger when you're out on the road or find you a warm bed to spend the night in, Spirits of the Dead satisfy both music lovers and their own hunger with some sweet, sweet tunes. Find it here.

16). CULT OF OCCULT – Hic Est Domus Diaboli (Self-Released)

Last Month: #5 [11↓], Months on chart: 3

Words by LK Ultra

To put it simply, Cult of Occult sounds like the end of the world. So why in the frakk should they be so popular? Is it just a morbid fascination with all things relating to or graphically displaying scenes of death and decay? Naw, they got riffs, as big and as good as a watermelon on a hot Saturday afternoon and heavier than a fat lady's boobs. I'm talking a really, really fat lady, the kind from your childhood nightmares. But I won't be coy, Cult of Occult do tap into our fascination with the dark. Like a good nightmare, 'Hic Est Domus Diaboli' allows us to live, breathe and feel the nightmare, if only for an hour or so before we return to this waking nightmare of jobs, taxes and politics. Find the album here.

17). MOJO WAVES – Lo and Behold! (Self-Released)

Last Month: #- [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Joop Konraad (Stoner Hive)

Mojo Waves are still the same three guys from Finland and they still produce that free-range psychedelic garage rock that we have come to love when they put out their first two EP's. So what's new? Well; apparently the guys met the devil somewhere and decided to sell their souls. The level of commitment and growth displayed on their new record Lo and Behold! is gigantic. Still as manic as ever but with a proficiency that borders on insanity we weave through eight garagedelic tracks that blow you away on every turn taken... (Read the full review here) Find the album here.

18). QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE – … Like Clockwork (Matador)

Last Month: #18 [-], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra

Being forced to listen to so-called "Modern Rock" radio at work is the pits. Most of the new stuff that gets played is castrated and "plingy" or out and out pop, the kind of stuff that has no right to be called "rock" in any way, shape or form. Basically, the mainstream rock n roll landscape is as bleak and desolate as it was in the mid-eighties [okay, micro-rant over!]. Enter Queens of the Stone Age who, along with other such veterans as Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and to a lesser extent Trent Reznor (who makes an appearance on this album), are pretty much flying that freak flag all on their lonesome. It's for this reason that '... Like Clockwork' reminds me of The Who's 'Who Are You' album. Experimental in its approach, and desperately attempting to get a lesson across to the punters, Queens's latest isn't so ham-fisted as all that, but it does blaze a trail, even as it seems there are fewer following their footsteps (in the mainstream) as ever before. Find it here.

19). MAGISTER TEMPLI – Lucifer Leviathan Logos (Cruz Del Sur)

Last Month: #32 [13↑], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra

Any number of newjack old school metal bands go with one sound and one tempo and one vibe on every song and that certainly has its place and makes for an enjoyable ride. Magister Templi however aren't afraid to experiment, giving their album a polychrome look. The album is called 'Lucifer Leviathan Logos', but it may have been titled 'Lovecraft Lucifer Liebling' and I wouldn't have batted an eye. It's a perfectly fitting description of what one may expect inside and it's not a bad thing. Not a bad thing at all. Find it here.

20). SPELLJAMMER – Vol. II (Vinyl released by STB Records)
Last Month: 19 [1↓], Months on chart: 2

Words by Steve Miller (Temple of Perdition)

Feedback drenched tunes with heavily distorted guitars, stoned-out riffs, and an excellent rhythm section are Spelljammer's stock-in-trade. The band is creating and releasing some of the finest stoner metal today and 'Vol II' is one of this year's highlights. Find the album here.

21). DEVIL – Gather the Sinners (Soulseller)

Last Month: #21 [-], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra

While there have been any number of outstanding old school metal albums in the past year, from both true old schoolers returned to wreak havoc (see Satan, Dream Death, Attacker) and a new breed (see Magister Templi, Arkham Witch), not to mention anything released by the ever-consistent torch-bearers of the movement Shadow Kingdom Records, Devil's 'Gather the Sinners' just may be the class act of the bunch. If you're going to smash and destroy just one television set with a sledgehammer this year, make this the soundtrack to your debauchery. Find it here.

22). WEEDPECKER – Self-Titled (Self-Released)

Last Month: #- [-], Months on chart: 1

Words by Pat Harrington (Electric Beard of Doom)

As someone whose got a band called 'Gaggle of Cocks', I can speak to the danger of having sexual innuendo in your band name. Specifically when it comes to the male genitalia, it can be a double edged sword... (insert laughter here).

The problem is, whether they like it or not, people usually get hung up on the name and no matter what, the band gets stuck with having to live up to whatever pre-conceived ideas people have about the name, good or bad. It becomes a distraction.

Enter Weedpecker from Poland. I became aware of them fairly early on as I caught wind of them from one of those FB "Radio Stations" who somehow (maybe telepathically) find bands the second they upload their music to Bandcamp. I was intrigued and the artwork was boss, so I checked it out. I was not prepared for what came next ...

From the first note to the last, this album is fuckin brilliant! It has everything; doom-laden riffs, psychedelic breakdowns and interludes, excellent musicianship, powerful instrumentals, memorable melodic vocals (not unlike Alice in Chains), intensity, beauty, raw energy, it's trippy, it's heavy ... the list goes on and on ...

As I write this, it occurs to me that Weedpecker basically has taken everything I like about heavy music and rolled it into one massive spliff that I've been smoking over and over for weeks.

Don't let the name fool ya, Weedpecker is for real... ya dig? Find the album here.

23). KADAVAR – Abra Kadavar (Nuclear Blast)
Last Month: #11 [12↓], Months on chart: 4

Words by Katharina Pfeiffer (Psychorizon)

If life was a sort of weird extended version road movie with only bumpy paths to take, Germany's finest, KADAVAR are sure to deliver the perfect soundtrack to it. Their sophomore outlet "Abra Kadavar" comes off with some odds and ends, that go beyond your average Sabbathian-touched Psychedelia. As you might have been expecting a lukewarm soup to be served, KADAVAR offer a full range of sizzling earthly Rock meals, garnished with a metallic twist. Although there is no Berlin Desert, only the Berlin Desertfest, you can almost feel the heat and dust coming out of their genuinely old equipment and right into your mind. Still doubt my words? Check out "Come Back Life", preferably watch the video (still showing the old lineup)! If you still don't get it, you're either deaf or dead. Find the album here.

24). STONE MAGNUM – From Time ... To Eternity (Self-Released)

Last Month: #27 [3↑], Months on chart: 2

Words by LK Ultra

This is music with an 'old soul' that cries out for action and lashes out with a vengeance. Doom metal is the pop music of horror and Stone Magnum unleash the true doom on listeners. They appear to do this with a minimum of fuss. Sure, the effort is there, but the effects, bells and whistles found in production and recording techniques and long improvisational instrumental passages of other bands are largely absent. Stone Magnum weave an atmosphere all their own and do it with the tools available at hand, like stone age craftsmen, or in this instance, stone age gunmen firing rocks from a Stone Magnum like those from David's sling. Who knows, maybe that's what a Stone Magnum actually is, a slingshot, a giant killer. Find the album here.

25). NAAM – Vow (Tee Pee)
Last Month: #17 [8↓], Months on chart: 4

Words by LK Ultra

I sat back in my secret place, and I entered a world. There was deep tone there, and vertigo. Deep toned Fuzz and vertiginous Organ. Album intro "Silent Call" gave me the spins and it's a long way down to the bottom of the rabbit hole from there. Things go on in this tunnel world, strange, unaccountable things. Interludes braid between songs and do something fascinating: they actually enhance the songs around them. They work in a similar way to behind-the-scenes commentaries or deleted scenes on a DVD, clarifying meaning and further exploring themes. You can't account for something like that.

Other things go on in this world, acoustic things, swirly things and even droney things. Things that suggest still further worlds to explore beyond the pocket dimension of Naam. Things that suggest a third level of reality from which the raw materials of composition are mined by Naam and carried to higher places to be worked on a polished off. Naam shows you the whole process and makes it coherent, in a sort of dream-like way. But make no mistake, 'Vow' isn't an experimentation-first collection of illogical navel-gazing. Naam may show you glimpses of the process, but it's the finished results that they are most interested in showing, not the laboratory work. It's the finished songs that are the star of the show, not improvisation. The short interludes become an ectoplasmic glue, allowing the album to hang together, creating a fluid environment of ethereal void, through which the listener plummets. Find the album here.

26). BLOOD CEREMONY – The Eldritch Dark (Rise Above)
Last Month: #7 [19↓], Months on chart: 4 / Link

27). WOLVERINE BLUES – Convict (Self-Released)

Last Month: #28 [1↑], Months on chart: 2 / Link

28). BLACK WIZARD – Young Wisdom (Self-Released)

Last Month: #29 [1↑], Months on chart: 3 / Link

29). MOONBOW – The End of Time (Self-Released)