Doom Chart: Most Paranoid Songs of 12/25/13

Top 25 Songs

#). Song Title (artist/album)

1. Ride to Ruin (Hollow Leg / Abysmal)
2. By Endurance We Conquer (Argus / Beyond the Martyrs)
3. Monster of the Highway (Black Rainbows / Holy Moon EP)
4. Madness! (Space God Ritual / Eldritch Tales)
5. Queen of the Black Harvest (Ice Dragon / Steel Veins single)
6. Sin revolución no hay evolución (At Devil Dirt / Plan B: Sin Revolución no hay Evolución)
7. Forevermore (Old Man Wizard / Unfavorable)
8. *Last Prediction (Dozer / Vultures EP)
9. Echoes in the Void (Black Skies / digital single)
10. Champions (Sandrider / Godhead)***
11. Robotic Invasion (Fu Manchu / split single w/ Moab)
12. Frown Curve (March the Desert / Waves on the Moon EP)
13. Leadersheep (Saturn / Ascending)
14. Oblivion (Switchblade Jesus / Myelin Constellation)
15. Sinistra (Wounded Giant / Lightning Medicine)***
16. Ruler of Dust (Moon Coven / Amanita Kingdom)
17. Fall Through (Maze of Roots / 2013)***
18. Black C (Black Skies / Circadian Meditations)
19. Gary's Graveyard (Smoke / ST)***
20. Invisible To See (Space Mushroom Fuzz / Stealing Some Time)
21. Come Samhain (Zodiac / digital single)***
22. Tears of Blood (Tombstone / Evil Seed single)
23. Dead Friends (Doomriders / Grand Blood)***
24. Dawn Rising (Red Fang / Whales & Leeches)
25. Slave the Hive (High on Fire / digital single)***

*Get it on itunes
*** New Song

Outgoing songs:

The Willow (Doctor Smoke / Demo 2013)
SWB (Exiles / Wreck)
The Bringer of Light (Doublestone / Wingmakers)
Seven Veils (Uzala / Tales of Blood & Fire)
Shrubbery the Warlock (Mountain Witch / Cold River)
The Universe Is Mine (La Chinga / ST)
Late For An Early Grave (Victor Griffin's In~Graved / ST)

• Last Chart
• About the Doom Charts

PARANOID Spotlight on:

ZODIAC - "COME SAMHAIN" 
Debuting at #21 this week, Zodiac's "Come Samhain" was released on Halloween night on the Queensland quintet's bandcamp page, it's only the fourth recording that the band has issued.  There are platoons of under-the-radar bands that are almost due for some serious exposure and everybody has their own list of these bands, but near the top of mine would be Zodiac.  It's not a great mystery as to why the band hasn't made a ton of noise in the underground press or other venues.  Before Halloween night rolled around the band had exactly three songs to their credit, all of which can be found on their debut 3-song cassette, also available on bandcamp, released in February [review here].

There's a haunting quality to vocalist Ben Peters's voice as he wails soulfully over pitch perfect slow doom riffs provided by Leo Price & Ryan Cooper.  Zodiac slip comfortably into an epic sound and respect tradition by doing a 360 to most epic doom bands and blaze their own trail, avoiding eye contact with familiar road maps.  Soon as "Come Samhain" kicks off, you get a sense of the dynamics at play: a syncopated rhythm [backed by Mikel Elborne on bass and Will Learmouth smashing drums], a pausey riff and the uniquely timbred belt-it-out-to-the-people-in-the-cheap-seats vocal delivery of Peters.  All of these elements converge upon an unsuspecting listener for a "name your price" deal on bandcamp [see embedded link at the listing above].