Showing posts with label Album Reviews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Album Reviews. Show all posts

Sunday, 21 February 2016

R.I.P. - In the Wind

Cover artwork by Adam Burke.
Take the Steppenwolf classic "Born to Be Wild", dip it in Motörhead, drape it in Saint Vitus and cast it in the reaper's image and you begin to understand the level of badassery that R.I.P. is wielding.

I used to watch the show Sons of Anarchy; the first couple seasons were great. But the thing that always struck me as odd about the beloved biker drama was the largely acoustic folk soundtrack. I can understand the exciting juxtaposition of hauling ass down the highway with a soft or slow song playing to provide a kind of mental drag to make you feel like you're going even faster than you actually are, but come on.

When I'm watching the show I'm not on a hog and I'm not feeling the wind. The show could have used some sonic thrust to convey that cruisin' with attitude and authority thing the directors seemed to be going for. At the very least pick a better theme song, "2 Wheel Nation" by Acid King would have been a nice start. "Ridin' through this world ..." has been the butt of too many of my jokes over the years to take the music of S.O.A. seriously.

Which is the long way around to say that THIS, 'In the Wind', the debut album from self-styled West Coast Street Doom outfit R.I.P. is what the show's been missing.

There are only a handful of true bikersploitation hard rock bands in the pleasantly crowded underground heavy scene and R.I.P. may be the best of them. The concept is fairly straight-forward: take the tone of classic doom and rocket propel it with stomping drums, throbbing bass, broken beer bottles and police sirens until the hand gripping the accelerator moves forward, slowly but surely and the pavement tears.

Nowhere is this ethic more apparent than on the chugging "Smoke & Lightning" and the galloping "In the Wind Part 2", although picking standouts here is futile. And don't bother comparing this trio to Black Label Society. That's like comparing the real life Angels to Samcro.

In my limited personal biker experience, the older bikers that I know still listen to classic rock and the younger ones listen to rap of whatever's on the radio. This is unacceptable. But you and I can help. Inform your local bikers that R.I.P. exists, commandeer the stereo and dam the amplifiers with West Coast Street Doom! No doubt there will be groans of protest and maybe a hurled bottle or two, but once the wind gets moving through the speakers a calming sense of rightness will settle over the affair. Three songs into 'In the Wind' and you may have just re-established a sense of order in this mad, mad, mad world.

When TV bikers cruise to a folk rock backdrop and their real-world counterparts do their thing to a rap soundtrack, there's just a littler something off with the world. R.I,P. and you and I are here to set things aright, alright?

'In the Wind' will be released on March 18 by Totem Cat Records.

R.I.P. on facebook

Totem Cat Records

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Thursday, 28 January 2016

SERPENT - Nekromant

Quick note: This is an edited version of the review which appeared at #11 on the January 2016 Doom Chart. (Doom Charts on facebook)

Can you believe this shit? If you took any one of these nine songs and threw it onto commercial rock radio it would blow up the #1 spot overnight. Now, I have a rough idea of how commercial radio works, it’s not a truly organic process, money pays for plays so if there’s no money backing a band you’re not going to hear them on the radio. I get that. But ever since ‘Songs for the Deaf’ came out I’ve been waiting for the big Stoner Rock take over of rock radio and it hasn’t happened. Could this simply be about bands like Fu Manchu and sHeavy not having enough money behind them to break out or have the money people given Stoner Rock the stone cold shoulder? Conspiracy is afoot, I say!

Why do some bands make it big and others don't?

Monster Truck has gotten their names out there as have The Rival Sons to a much lesser extent, but they’re only peripherally part of the stoner rock thing at best. I think the appeal of Rival Sons is their image. It’s cute to see colorful costumes prance around on stage like pirate-themed icecapades.

Heavy metal went wrong when it started taking its image too seriously instead of just existing. It takes about two minutes for affected vocals and face paint to become quaint no matter how tough or dangerous some of these guys try to be in their promo shots. Artifice and affectation are by definition not genuine and no matter how fickle the public seem, no matter how facile their tastes appear to be, people want “authentic” art, they crave genuine art.

The more metal bands tried to cross over the line of decency and step into dangerous territory the more ridiculous they looked. How can you take a band seriously that looks like Kiss after being stood up for a date and left on a street corner in the rain? For that reason it’s been impossible for the general public to take anything even remotely related to metal or even heavy guitars seriously for the past 15 years or so. The last time they gave it a chance it was Nu Metal. To the buying rock radio public it’s “fool me once face painters shame on you, fool me twice and I’ll never be able to explain those old photos to my future children”. So why would the money people take a chance on something like that?

If only they knew about Serpent!

Serpent doesn’t go in for that phoney-baloney crap, they just plug in and let ‘er rip. Here’s what they’ve got going for them: good vocals with no bullshit affectation, killer riffs and an unobnoxiously heavy sensibility. Not to overstate the importance of this band but they could … possibly … save rock and roll from the dustbin of history. We’re so fractured into our little subgroups within the rock and metal community that it’s like we’re all speaking different languages trying to continue to build and maintain this once shiny tower we call Rocking Out and having an awesome time. We could use a new Guns & Roses to unite the hard rockers, or at least get them out of the closet, even if it’s just as a gateway drug to some whole other thing. Serpent could be that band. Let’s be relevant again. Let’s be cool again, rockers. Hell, Serpent could save the world if only the cultural gatekeepers would let them.

Serpent on facebook
 

Sunday, 17 January 2016

MAGIC CIRCLE - Journey Blind

Quick note: This is an expanded version of the short review which appeared at #20 on the January 2016 Doom Chart. (Doom Charts on facebook)


When I was a toddling little scamp headbanging to Motörhead and Quiet Riot records in my uncle’s basement suite I truly felt that this was the way life was meant to be. That this was the way life was ALWAYS going to be and that clearly metal was the only musical option out there that made any kind of sense. Well, a Madonna, a New Kids, a Brittany and a pair of Justins later and I wonder what’s wrong with the world. The radio comes on and the sky darkens, birdsong turns ominous and hidden intentions grow behind every smile.

And then Magic Circle appears.

I don't think it's entirely accurate to slap the doom label on this band. There are elements of epic doom, but I also hear early power metal and an attacking style not commonly found in today's doom with it's sepulchral turpitude. The 'Journey Blind' is more uplifting than that. Don't get me wrong, I crave sepulchral turpitude, but Magic Circle is an exotic treasure within doom's dusty war chest.

In a way Magic Circle becomes a referendum on what doom is, because it seems that any band that doesn't feature wall to wall blastbeats gets slapped with the label. I suppose that doom is more than Iommian riffing at torpid tempos under tales of witches and infernal congress. In a way, doom is the most conservative subgenre of metal, arguably the most conservative genre of music of any kind. Doom it seems, is anything that sounds old and heavy. 'Journey Blind' is a jacked up long-lost metal album from the mid-80s, before the ghetto-ization of metal into subgenres, back when metal was metal and inked jeans and studded leather were kings among fabric. 'Journey Blind' parks you right square in stall 8 of the heavy metal parking lot.

No, Magic Circle doesn't sound like Priest, Motörhead or even Quiet Riot, but they tap into that never forgotten world of unapologetic metal-ness to leave you ‘bangin shamelessly and all seems right with the world again.

And when the ‘Journey Blind’ ends, the sky is still dark, the birdsong still mocks with portents of evil and a killer still hides behind every smile, BUT … when life hands me lemons I can then say, “oh yeah, fucking lemons huh? Give ’em here!” I then proceed to make deep, angry eye contact and suck at those lemons with such virulence that it becomes unbearably awkward for my life’s opponents and they back away slowly.

And that’s how to win with Magic Circle.

'Journey Blind' was released on DD/CD on November 20, 2015 and on vinyl January 15, 2016 by 20 Buck Spin Records


Saturday, 16 January 2016

HIGH PRIEST OF SATURN - Son of Earth and Sky

This review was originally published on the magnificent Outlaws of the Sun webzine on January 9, 2016:

An intriguing and somehow ominous 2011 demo led to high expectations for this Norwegian quartet's first album. When it was eventually released, I remember one main criticism was that it was too one-dimensional and slow. So how did High Priest of Saturn respond on their follow-up?

By maintaining their carefully crafted identity, that's how. But don't be too hasty to judge, haters. You just don't know the band that well yet. Hopefully they aren't going anywhere anytime soon, so you might as well get used to them.

A careful listen suggests the band's familiar range of tempo is more dream-like than plodding, HPOS wrings every last drop of psychedelic essence from their creative cloth. While some doom bands

'Son of Earth and Sky' is an introspective album, the listener is carried along on a magic carpet through long instrumental passages made majestic through the use of Ole Kristian Malmedal's trademark organ. One lazy comparison you tend to see thrown at this band is to the likes of Blood Ceremony. Now, that's some pretty good company to keep but the comparison is totally inept here. Ole Kristian never treats the organ as a lead instrument, rather it's the smooth-running engine that powers the proverbial magic carpet on its psychedelic flight. While the instrument was right up front on the demo, it's now relatively subdued in the mix conjuring subliminal thoughts and moods.

If you're new to the band and you're looking for a place to dive in, look no further than the deep end grooves of "The Warming Moon" as the standout track here. I can't help but feel the band has hit it's stride here with their second full-length. High Priest of Saturn will never be known as a savage band, they have found a particular niche all their own of contemplative moonlight nights in ghostly congress. 'Son of Earth and Sky' is a succubal massage but don't expect to find any happy endings here.


'Son of Earth and Sky' will be released on February 26, 2016 by Svart Records.


Post-Script: A commentor on the Outlaws of the Sun webzine wanted to know if the vocals on this record were distorted like on the band's last LP. I replied: "I thought the demo vocals were smothered in echo, then I heard the LP and they were absolutely drenched. The production has kind of hit on a mid-point, where they're still echo-y but it isn't as pronounced as on their self-titled LP. Fairly thick echo but not necessarily distorted this time around."

High Priest of Saturn on facebook

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Tuesday, 12 January 2016

CONAN - Revengeance

Quick note: This is an expanded version of the short review which appeared at #25 on the January 2016 Doom Chart. (Doom Charts on facebook)

Like a marauding warlord, the band Conan has never lost ground but have only added new territory with every album. In the case of their upcoming full-length, the band's third, that newly gained territory consists of increased percussive dimension. This is the result of new rhythm section Chris Fielding (bass) and Rich Lewis (drums).

Now, I had no problem with the work that Phil Coumbe and Paul O'Neill did on 'Blood Eagle', I did give the album a perfect rating after all. It was straight-forward and to the point the way you would imagine a direct assault would be from the band's namesake. 

But it's also true that as the stories of Robert E. Howard's iconic character progressed, he learned to use his skills as a thief on the battlefield. As time went on, the raging barbarian became an astute field general. 

The same is holding true for headman Jon Davis. Where once a battlecry and full-on sprint across the open field with broadaxe held high would suffice, the band finds itself in new territory, looking before they leap and thinking themselves around corners. Once the enemy is met however, the attack is just as deadly and decisive as ever.

Where ‘Horseback Battle Hammer’ documented a beast awakening into a violent world, foggy and lumbering, ‘Revengeance’ is a final shaking off of the cobwebs. Jon Davis and his band are capitalizing on lessons learned through 10 years of musical conquests to stunning effect. The battle rages on, this time the tactic is guerilla warfare which gives the band a new, progressive tinge. And they're still one of my favorite bands.

‘Revengeance’ will be released on January 29 by Napalm Records.

Monday, 3 March 2014

Aleph Null – Nocturnal (album review)

Aleph Null is an A1 band.  They were one of the first doom/sludge bands that I discovered on bandcamp.  The 'Dale' E.P. was the band’s opening statement and it spoke volumes.  What sold me as an impressionable doom/sludge youngster was the massive guitar tone which drew me back to it continuously.  “Kill the Colossus” in particular is now one of my all-time favorite songs.  “Dale” and “Protogrammar” are no slouches either.  Then came the ‘Belladonna’ E.P. [read the Paranoid review], early last year, which was a psychedelically-tinged change of pace.  The tone was still there but the overall mood had brightened some.  ‘Belladonna’ was capable of thrilling the listener too, with an ever present threat looming that all the psychedelic brightness could slip into a bad trip at any given moment, but my distinct impression was that it was a lighter effort than the chain and shackle-dragging ‘Dale’, and the colors!  Oh, the colors …

Now comes the debut full-length.  Proving themselves to be as restless as ever, ‘Nocturnal’ finds the band reveling in their weighty tone and simplifying things musically, or rather containing them.  I would chart the band’s progress like this:  ‘Dale’ found the band pissed off and brooding, ‘Belladonna’ went cosmic, while ‘Nocturnal’ is Zen, reason in the face of chaos.  In many ways it’s the story of the mental and emotional development of any young outsider from mid-teenage to late twenties.  It’s the backstory of the individualist, the type of character that I like and identify with.  Aleph Null is an easy band to root for.

Simply put, ‘Nocturnal’ is an incredible album.  I’ve had a number of conversations about it already with some online buddies and everyone seems to agree that this album is insane!  “Backwards Spoken Rhymes” is the best new song I’ve heard in ages.  Ages!  Not since Alice in Chains released the song “Grind” in advance of their ultimately disappointing self-titled album back when I was in the ultimately disappointing Grade 9 have I heard such a powerful single that cuts to the heart of a band’s sound.  Chugging riffs and close harmonies are enough to melt my butter every time, but when they’re this good, the stuff just gets flash fried.

And how do they follow up on that potboiler?  With “The Muzzle of a Sleeping God”, that’s how.  A steady stomp and snare march bleeds into a cowbell driven rhythm, punctured by a slowly developing melody during the verse.  Again, this is reason in the face of chaos.  The relatively simplistic rhythm which drives the bulk of the song creates a brilliant conceit for showcasing the complex idea of the segmented verse before the band finally heads into the fray, heads down, charging through, but soon come up against a brick wall as the song ends all too suddenly.  “Black Winged Cherub” then introduces another idea, which is then interrupted and otherwise snuffed by an effectively choppy and effects laden verse.  If you take nothing else away from these song descriptions, take away the fact that it’s so breathlessly difficult to describe what the band is doing succinctly.  Just keep in mind that the band makes it all sound so unforced and natural.  Aleph Null are like Egyptian undertakers, they take what’s given, break it open, stick things in between and sow it all back together.  Thankfully, these undertakers are artists.

“Stronghold” is another of the best song I’ve ever heard, it’s got an amazing chorus with an excellent Black Sabbath like riff (but that tone, though!) leading into a batshit crazy vocal which goes from strength to strength.  But controlled, you see.  It’s plain to see that Aleph Null can handle a livewire, they have the ability of Vincebus Eruptum, control of chaos.  The two part, 15-minute title track which closes the album puts a big wrap on this minor chord thread which had been developing throughout its length.  The constant minor chord textures give ‘Nocturnal’ a rusty or earthen hue and remind me of the classic albums I grew up listening to in the early nineties, not the least of which are Alice in Chains’s infallible ‘Dirt’.

Two years later and they’re still giving it away for free.  This Düsseldorf trio’s impressive catalog now spans three releases, 17 songs and over 100 minutes of music and it’s all available as a FREE DOWNLOAD on bandcamp, there isn’t even a “pay what you want” option, it’s just FREE.  If you haven’t jumped on the Aleph Null bandwagon yet, there is no further excuse.

Highlights include: "Backwards Spoken Rhymes" and "Stronghold"

Rating: 5/5


Total Run Time: 42:24

From: Düsseldorf, Germany

Genre: Sludge, Doom, Grunge, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Alice in Chains, Conan, Slomatics

Release Date: February 15, 2014

!!!Brand New Aleph Null Interview on Sludgelord!!!
Aleph Null on facebook

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Thursday, 27 February 2014

Naked Brown - Not So Bad (album review)

Cover artwork by Przemysław Szukaj.
I won't be coy about this: 'Not So Bad' is the best stoner rock album I've heard in what seems like a very long time.  I've caught my ears on some great albums during that nebulous span, but this one takes the crown.  Bolder, tougher, harder and heavier than most everything else, but also groovier, Polish quartet Naked Brown have recorded one for the ages.  Nearly all the music I hear coming out of Poland is just a couple pounds heavier and few shades dirtier than all the rest and Naked Brown are no exception.  These dudes are rockers and go all the way with it.

The second time I listened to opening cut, "The King Is Back", the drum solo that kicks the album off actually put a smile on my face that wouldn't be wiped off until well into the song, at which point it was down to the more serious business of nodding along / outright headbanging.  I should mention that all this shamelessness took place on a public street, at a bus stop and on the bus.  Naked Brown strips you of all shame and self-consciousness.

Taking an overview of the album you may notice the uniformity of the song lengths, the greatest variation between song lengths appears with the final two tracks, “Storm is Comin’” at 4:26 and “Just Like Luke (Skywalker)” at 5:16.  Those are the shortest and longest cuts on the album.  This may sounds like a pointless detail but it goes great distances towards describing the band’s approach to songwriting.  Naked Brown aren’t going to bowl you over with inventive song structures or outside-the-box thinking, each song is made up of the classic verse-chorus-solo rotation.  Still, some believe that the highest artistic achievements are made within limiting confines.  So, that being the case, the success of each song must fall solely on the strength of the riffs, melodies and drum syncopation.

Like Motorhead, Naked Brown isn’t for everyone, this is heavy rock music for headbangers, pure and simple.  In so many ways, a band such as this (and they don’t come around all too often) are the direct descendants of Chuck Berry in that this is hyper-making music on the cutting edge of contemporary heaviness.  With all that said, the difference between Naked Brown and Chuck Berry or Motorhead is the level of variation between songs within those restricting confines of consistent individual identity and similar structures.  Each song is a distinctive and unique sibling, as opposed to being a genetic twin of the one that came before it.  The one overriding factor of each song is the mood.  This is rarely more evident than between the blues-bar anthem “Made To Kill” and it’s sold-out stadium heavy metal follow-up “T.O.D. the Barbarian”.  That mood or thing that ties it all together is the consistent instrumental tone.  Again, the band works with a limited palette of tones and structures and paints heavy rock masterpieces with a surprising range of styles. 

But just in case I didn’t make myself clear, this is the best stoner rock record I’ve heard in a long time.  Naked Brown errs on the energetic side, much of that has to do with the excellent drumming of Tomasz Wyrąbkiewicz who keeps things moving at a psychobilly pace and pulls everything out of the bag from double kick to cowbell.  Don’t miss this one, my words fall far short of what this album is all about, it simply kicks ass.

Highlights include: "The King Is Back" and "T.O.D. The Barbarian"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 33:49

From: Gdańsk, Poland

Genre: Stoner Rock, Hard Rock, Metal

Reminds me of: Isaak, Motorhead, Palm Desert

Release Date: November 23, 2013

Naked Brown on facebook

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

SOGGY BOB Reviews Blackfinger - Self-Titled


Words by SOGGY BOB 

It's great to hear Eric Wagner at it again. No longer with doom legends Trouble, Wagner is still kicking ass in Blackfinger. Their self titled release is out now on Church Within Records and can be ordered here http://shop.doom-dealer.de/. 

I love this record. Id say this record has more of a Lid (a band Eric was in after he left Trouble in the 90's) feel to it than Trouble. There's a definite Pink Floydian / Beatles vibe throughout the album. Vocally, one thing that really impresses me about this lp are the dynamics. There's a great mix of heavier rocking tunes with some somber slower runes. Even within the songs themselves there's a simple complexity (what?) about them. One example is the tune "As Long as I'm with You". While its title may make the listener think they are about to hear a happy upbeat track, it's actually a very sad depressing sounding song. The piano, strings and Eric's softer spoken voice really make this a very touching song. One of the best on the record. Another one of my favorites is a heavier tune "Why God?" 

There's so much to dig about one. The riffs have a great catchy swagger about them and Eric's chorus is one you won't forget soon. It will get stuck between your ears and sit there for a long time. But again it's the dynamics of the song that makes it so bad ass. You'll just have to hear it for yourself. From the first to last track there's not a filler on the album. So go buy the Blackfinger debut you will NOT be disappointed. You can also see them at this years Day of the Doomed Fest! Buy tix here! http://www.daysofthedoomed.com/


Tuesday, 25 February 2014

Goya – 777 (album review)

FOREVER DEAD, FOREVER STONED

Cover artwork by Hunter Hancock.
Few artists have been able to articulate the unnameable dread of horror better than Francisco Goya.  He is perhaps best known for his ‘Black Paintings’, of which “Saturn Devouring His Son” is arguably the most well-known (it even graces The Obsessed’s ‘Lunar Womb’ re-issue album cover).  But my favorite is “The Colossus” (I recognize that the painting has recently been re-attributed in recent years to a follower of Goya’s, but that is also in dispute.  To me, it remains a Goya original).  The painting features an unclothed man looming behind a green landscape in an apparent mood of rage, tiny peasants flee in the foreground.  What the artist shows us so clearly in this work is that horror can be a matter of perspective.  Put the figure in the foreground and the scene changes to what may be a caravan of death heading toward our now defensively postured “giant”.  Phoenix, Arizona based doom trio Goya live in the same world that we all do.  Their perspective, though hardly unique, informs every note, every syllable of their music and it’s apparent that what they see is a melting pot of horrors even the great artist from whom they take their name would struggle to articulate.

The driving force behind the band is guitarist/vocalist Jeff Owens.  The band’s 2012 demo featured an entirely different lineup, aside from Owens himself of course and featured a much different sound.  It’s impossible to escape the Electric Wizard / Sleep influence as it creeps into every crease and fold of ‘777’, something that was merely hinted at on the band’s demo.  To get a sense of the change in sound compare the old lineup demo version and new lineup album version of the song “Blackfire”.  The vision the band articulates so well is that unnameable dread that ultimately looms over every action taken by man, that life is a losing battle at best and utterly hopeless at worst, in short the essence a particularly vitriolic strain of true doom.

Owens and company discharges vitriol like they were born to do so, which I’m sure they were to some degree.  If you did actually bother to compare the two versions of “Blackfire” or “Night Creeps” for that matter, you will see automatically how much dirtier the new versions sound.  The album is of far superior sound quality to the demo, as it should be, so the ‘dirt’ or grit comes from the performances themselves.  I hesitate to call them ‘sloppy’ performances, as little half-millisecond hesitations and deviations make ‘angry’ seem like the more fitting descriptor.  It’s that extra little build-up that makes every strike, every strum, every accent just a half-millisecond stronger, angrier, more meaningful.  It’s dirtier you see, and there’s a tiny little speck of rage in every pinch of dirt, always has been.

Well if something as beautiful as a flower can grow from a pot of dirt, then something as diabolical as ‘777’ can also spring forth from dirt’s raging potentiality.  And make no mistake, this is a malignant album which takes a jaundiced view of the world.  Of course, as any horror fan knows, and as Francisco Goya understood and helped us to understand, there’s beauty to be found in all that evil.  Like a flower which grows from rage, the riffs on ‘777’ are the tits of Baphomet.  The syncopated guitar / drum interplay is undeniably gorgeous, peaking on “Necromance” (a #1 hit on the Doom Chart).  The riffs are of such a quality that a song like “Death’s Approaching Lullaby” remains hypnotic and driving even while stretching towards 13 minutes in length.  Perhaps the magnum opus and overall mission statement of the LP is closing track “Bad Vibes”, it’s the spike after the touchdown, the rotten cherry on top.


If Goya succeeded in reminding us that all living things eventually fade, die and decay, then they have done so by creating something immortal.  ‘777’ may or may not go down as a doom classic, but to call it the most hate-friendly collection of festering riffs since ‘Dopethrone’ may not be too great a stretch, though the band doesn’t disguise it’s influences well enough to consider it a true classic for those with a sense of the genre’s history.  Then again, it doesn’t appear as though they bothered to try disguising anything, because Goya doesn’t care what I think, or what you think, or what anybody thinks.  They aren’t trying to write doomed anthems for the world, they are in it for themselves, and though that may sound selfish, it’s the only reason to do anything in this world, you just have to know who you are and why you’re doing what you’re doing in the first place to have any success at it.  It sounds to me like Goya have those things sorted out.

Highlights include: "Necromance" and "Bad Vibes"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 51:49

From: Phoenix, Arizona

Genre: Doom, Stoner

Reminds me of: Electric Wizard, Sleep

Release Date: December 13, 2013

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Monday, 24 February 2014

Conan – Blood Eagle (album review)

Cover artwork by Tony Roberts.
Conan is one of my favorite bands.  When I first discovered doom metal, I did it from the ground floor up, by sampling the bands that made the genre: Trouble, Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus and then Pentagram, before dipping a toe into the churning waters of today’s ceaseless flow of new bands.  Conan was the first of the newer bands that I heard that I thought had the potential to have as lasting a legacy as the greats of yesteryear, to be seen 30 years on the way I see those bands listed above.  It’s destiny etched on a crude, blunt weapon.  In short, Conan are a living legend, or at the very least, one in the making.  Their first album, ‘Monnos’ was very good.  Solid stuff to be sure.  The forthcoming ‘Blood Eagle’ is a king-making kind of album.

‘Blood Eagle’ cuts right down to the heart of Conan’s sound, pulsating, pounding, rumbling and most of all, driving.  A death-dealing barbarian stalking with purpose through the canyon pass, one foot in front of the other, knowing the marauders will ambush but ever-vigilant, meaty hand on hilt.  Vocalist / guitarist Jon Davis pens monosyllabic lyrics with clear, precise and uncomplicated meaning, thinking like a Neolithic warrior.  On ‘Blood Eagle’ the music follows suit.  The results are devastating.  This is the album Conan was meant to produce.  I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the band has lived up to its Full Potential here.

Conan doesn't do anything unfamiliar on 'Blood Eagle', those elements that we’ve come to expect from the band are simply heightened, the band’s instincts sharpened.  Played at full volume, Conan’s buzzing heaviness is at a vision-inducing, religious experience level.  When Phil Coumbe’s bass kicks in two minutes into opening number “Crown of Talons” it is positively brain rattling.  The last minute or so of the nearly 10 minute opener is exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s the closest thing to a physical beat down that music can get, just a relentless wash of hammering strikes.  A tone setter indeed, that sensibility is carried over across the entire album.  ‘Monnos’ was split between driving, war-torn action and battle-weary contemplation.  ‘Blood Eagle’ is a tireless campaign of conquest and decimation.

Conan is a band of musical weapons, the more simplistic, the more brutal, the better.  In Conan’s world, engines of war are elephant powered, armor consists of leather and one’s only shield is the wits a pitiless god has granted them.  You won’t hear any psychedelic soundscapes on this album.  Quiet moments of reflection are what happens when the bone-tired victor takes a sip from a blood-clouded watering hole after battle.  Conan’s weapons are bludgeoning and honest.  “Gravity Chasm” embodies this aesthetic, heavy fuzz spikes between smashing drum strikes.  “Horns for Teeth” chugs masterfully at headbanging pace, choking out the listener with changing tempos, dragging out the final moment, easing up then pressing harder.  The lead single, “Foehammer” introduces a table spoon of rhythmic complexity to the album and at no loss to its overall mood [Watch the video below].

Mention should also be made of Davis’s new Skyhammer Studios.  ‘Blood Eagle’ wasn’t the first album to be recorded at the newborn studio (if memory serves that honor went to Serpent Venom), but this is the first album to emerge from Skyhammer that I've heard.  It sounds excellent, resonant and full-bodied with mastering to match.  Depth is at a surplus making 'Blood Eagle' a 44 series of ever-increasing peaks.

An album like this only comes around once every few years and I suspect it’ll be awhile before we hear one as good, as on-point with a band’s sound as this one is.  Whatever you do, don’t miss ‘Blood Eagle’, it’s a sure-fire classic, the crowning achievement of a world-beating band in stride, one that legends are made of.  It’s a document of a band at one with their instruments with a full understanding of what those instruments are capable of, as mentioned above, this was the album Conan was made to produce.

[Also,while waiting for 'Blood Eagle' to hit stores and mailboxes be sure to check out Conan's bandcamp page for a recently released live album right here.]

Highlights include: "Foehammer" and "Crown of Talons"

Rating: 5/5



Tracklist:
1). Crown of Talons (9:48)
2). Total Conquest (6:28)
3). Foehammer (4:55)
4). Gravity Chasm (7:57)
5). Horns for Teeth (5:46)
6). Altar of Grief (9:00)
Total Run Time: 43:52

From: Liverpool, England

Genre: Doom, Sludge

Reminds me of: Aleph Null, Crowbar, Eyehategod, Slomatics

Release Date: March 11, 2014

Conan on facebook

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Tuesday, 18 February 2014

Rogue Transmissions: The Vitasound Projects – American Werewolf In London (album review)

Cover artwork by Kerry Fewster.
Written and recorded over the course of six years by Leeds-based guitarist Ade Mincher, this album sets the John Landis film An American Werewolf in London against a stoner metal / sludge / post-metal soundscape.  Audio clips from the movie are spread strategically throughout the album to highlight the key narrative points to tell the nearly complete story of the film though the album is only 42 minutes long.

I love albums like this, this is pure inspiration.  Don’t get me wrong, the world isn’t exactly drowning in this type of musical project, but every now and then you’ll come across a true concept album.  More than film score / re-scoring and not precisely an instrumental album, Mincher is free from the burdens of traditional popular song structures while jammed into the tight confines of the narrative.  The freedom allows Mincher to go anywhere he wants, but the limiting factor of the narrative puts a border around such expansive territory.  The combination is enough to unleash the full potential of any creative mind and Mincher comes up aces here.

Of course, the storyline itself isn’t the only limiting factor, the underlying emotional punch of the storyline must be delivered at the same time.  Though the film is fondly remembered as one with a sense of humor, there are times when emotions run at a fever pitch, protagonist David’s extreme dread is often undercut by a silly counterpoint provided by the restless spirits of his friend and victims.  Mincher is at his best when tensions are at their highest, sympathizing tangibly with David’s plight.  Madcap intensity peels back from the edges of sanity before the final inescapable truth is accepted and ultimately embraced.

Opening number “The Slaughtered Lamb”, sweats and shrivels with nervous energy and trepidation as protagonist David and his friend Jack enter the public house to be greeted by a hostile environment.  As mentioned above, audio clips from the film are spread throughout.  The music shuts down as the pair are ejected from the pub to proceed “Beware the Moon”.  The omniscient viewpoint remains with the pub patrons while regretful strains pick the music back up.  The protagonists eventually find themselves on the forbidden moors as tension builds musically.  Micher displays skill and a sympathetic ear straight off even as the album and the ideas behind it only begin to take shape.

Later, our protagonist begins to accept that he is a werewolf on the song “Jack”.  Musically, it’s a conversation, an exploration of what it is to be a werewolf.  A hunched kind of stalking, menacing riff builds tension and gets the idea of the werewolf just right.  We all have a bit of the werewolf in us, the hunter, the killer.  It’s the not-so-secret truth of society.  It’s, apparently, the reason we are governed by laws, both secular and religious.  We all have someone in our lives, or know of someone who is basically walking upright because of society’s rules.  Those animalistic tendencies are behind the surface of all of our interactions.  A film like Werewolf in London explores these ideas without smashing you over the head with them, but it’s striking to see a hulking, murderous beast in Piccadilly Square.  Mincher’s Vitasound Project brings those elements to the surface, as “Jack”s disjointed riffing speaks directly to your “inner beast”.  “Prowler” is a creepy tune which, as you may imagine, slithers with a lurking feel, while tension builds via syncopation as David prepares for the inevitable conclusion on “Jack the Reprise”.


Many scores of underground metal bands use film clips in their music, either before or after a song, a practice perhaps most popularized in the stoner/doom genre by Electric Wizard.  The title track from Blood Farmers forthcoming album does an incredible job of interpolating audio clips with lyrics and mood, the effect is akin to a post-modern take on the traditional call-and-response verse.  But as far as I know, few if any albums have surfaced like this one.  It’s not an everyday kind of album with a clutch of hit singles and it isn’t happy, good times party music, but it gets a particular mood just right.  It might not be what you’re expecting “horror music” to sound like, but it is tonally appropriate for the subject film.  In other words, this album is certainly not for everyone, but I recommend you check it out.

Highlights include: "Jack" and "Beware the Moon"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 42:39

From: Leeds, England

Genre: Post-Metal, Stoner Metal, Sludge

Reminds me of: Jeff Wayne, Megachurch, Nova Sico

Release Date: January 31, 2014

Vitasound Projects on facebook

Monday, 17 February 2014

The Electric Revival - Pirate Radio (album review)

The last show I saw was Corrosion of Conformity in December 2012, the last one before that must have been about five or six years earlier.  Aside from hating crowds and still feeling the burn of dozens of awful performances, I just don’t feel much like going out in public in my old age.  Did I mention I hate crowds?  However, discovering that one of the best classic / hard / stoner rock bands in the world is operating right under your nose ought to be enough to drag anybody out of doors, including this curmudgeon, and so it was.  To my mind, local band La Chinga is a must-see.  I made a kind of resolution to see them any chance I get and waited patiently for them to play one of my nights off work.  I didn’t have long to wait as that night ended up being Saturday February 15.

Before the show however, I just had to look into the opening band, The Electric Revival because I’d never heard of them before.  I hoped that if they were good enough to share the stage with La Chinga, then they’d be good enough for me.  Fortunately, they were.  In fact, they’re better than ‘good enough’, I’ve been digging the hell out of these dudes.  It took about 10 seconds of this video before I realized these guys were awesome and downloaded the album immediately from itunes.  I have my regrets in life, but grabbing 'Pirate Radio' isn't one of them.

The Electric Revival is a power trio from Calgary, Alberta, a revelation of energy, instrumental wizardry and facial hair.  Their latest album ‘Pirate Radio’ was self-released last summer but was recently re-launched by Cruzar Media who are helping to put a little added muscle behind the promotion of it.  The Electric Revival plays a punked-up style of bluesy rock n roll which shares a little something in common with ‘De Stijl’ or ‘White Blood Cells’ era White Stripes.  But the story is bigger and heavier than that.  This is classic rock cranked up with fiery eyed focus, old time blues with a rocket strapped to its ass.

It’s not all head down riff mongering though.  There’s a quiet side to the band too.  The band pretty much lays it all on the line on opening track “Got To Be”.  The song starts off with a killer riff, gigantic and stony, just the way you like it, before it gears down a notch for the verse wherein is revealed the falsetto croon of vocalist / guitarist Ian Dillon, a voice which belies his mountain man look and large presence.  Tearing down for the verse the band builds back up again to peak on the chorus.  As a vocalist, Dillon is damn near hysterical, not screaming exactly but occupying a thin space adjacent to.  In short, this is a band that understands dynamics and how to manipulate them.  That ‘quiet side to the band’ consists largely of marshalling forces for the next big throw down, which is always right around the bend.

The next pair of cuts “Poison Apple” and “Hell Hath No Fury” carries over the momentum built up on the opening track, and charges full speed ahead without so much as a pause for breath.  By this point the excitement reaches fever pitch.  Demolition derby tempos stumble into syncopated choruses and it’s a thing of beauty.  Hooks are second nature to Electric Revival, there isn’t a single track on this album that doesn’t pay off with a big, memorable moment.  “Jean Anne” is propelled by a killer groove courtesy of bassist Daniel Toews then flattened out and crushed by a double time shift and raucous riff during the chorus.  That's how this band rolls.

Without a doubt, the big showstopping number is closing track (and live closing number) “See That My Grave Be Kept Clean”.  This is the most dynamic song of them all.  If you missed the video on the Hour of Power you can watch it below.  It’s an exciting song that rises and falls with a huge central riff.  Make this one or "Got To Be" your introduction to the band.

It all comes from the blues.  If you look back historically, most of the legendary bands started out playing blues standards before expanding on the formulae to reach Olympian heights of rock n roll.  How does a band go from “I Can’t Quit You Baby” to “Kashmir”?  Because it’s all in there, all in the blues, it just takes a little digging around to find it.  Electric Revival are such diggers. 

Though it’s a rock n roll cliché to say the album doesn’t even do the band justice and they are a must-see live band, it holds true in the case of Electric Revival.  Live, Toews is like a force of nature, a staggering whirlwind of flying hair and low end grooves.  Drummer Dallas Lobb is the closest thing to a real-life Animal I’ve seen in a rock band, a burl-infested blast, one would think madness itself is approaching from all sides and he must fend it off from his stationary position.  Frontman Ian Dillon is the eye of the storm, the genius behind the fury.  The spirit of experimentation and constant digging is on him, like grass and mud stains.

It turns out the itunes download of the album only tells two thirds of the story.  After the show I was given a copy of the album on CD which features about 20 minutes worth of hidden tracks which count down in between songs.  The extra material doesn’t feel tacked on either.  Take the fully-fleshed out uptempo rocker “Of This Darkness” for example, which plays between “Underground Queen” and the hyper-bluesy “I Will Kill You”.  This isn’t throwaway material, in fact, once you’ve heard the full hour long version of the album, it’s hard to go back to the stripped down itunes version.  The 40 minute version of the album is 10 tracks of no nonsense songwriting and keeps a wicked pace, but the bonus material showcases the depths of the band’s ideas from theramin induced space sounds to full songs, the impact of the album as a whole is only strengthened.

For Paranoid readers in Canada, I highly recommend seeing the band live on their current cross-country ‘Skeletour’.  Most of the shows are on party nights (weekends), and while the BC leg of the tour is over, they’ve still got a long ways to travel.  Come on out and see them because they put on a great show.  Check out the upcoming dates:

February 21 – CALGARY (Broken City)
February 22 – INNISFAIL (The Zoo)
February 28 – SASKATOON (Rock Bottom)
March 1 – WINNIPEG (The Zoo)
March 3 – TORONTO (Cadillac Lounge)
March 4 – TORONTO (The Piston)
March 5 – MONTREAL (Caf Chaos)
March 6 – OTTAWA (Avant Garde Bar)
March 7 – TORONTO (The Central)
March 8 – TORONTO (Cherry Cola’s)

Highlights include: "Got To Be" and "See That My Grave Be Kept Clean"

Rating: 4.5/5


Tracklist:
1). Got To Be (3:43)
2). Poison Apple (3:22)
3). Hell Hath no Fury (3:06)
4). Jean Anne (2:37)
5). Underground Queen (3:44)
6). I Will Kill You (4:55)
7). St. James Infirmary (3:12)
8). Change of Season (2:08)
9). The Hero (3:19)
10). See That My Grave Be Kept Clean (8:19)
Total Run Time: 38:21 / CD version 59:56

From: Calgary, Alberta

Genre: Hard Rock, Blues

Reminds me of: Black Crowes, Dixie Witch, Infernal Overdrive, La Chinga, Satan's Satyrs, The White Stripes

Release Date: February 14, 2014

The Electric Revival on facebook

Thursday, 13 February 2014

The Alchemical Mixutre - Dirt Wizard & Wizard Union (album reviews)

These days it seems like everything is beards, witches and wizards.  Well, those things are undoubtedly cool and far be it from me not to hop all over the latest trends, so I wanted to take the opportunity to bring back an old institution, the Alchemical Mixture, and I ask you, what’s more wizard than that?

Dirt Wizard - 'No Son of Mine'
From: Peoria, Illinois.  Highlights Include: "Season of the Sun"
and "Ged of Earthsea".  Rating: 4/5.  Released: Dec. 14, 2013.
Well, maybe these guys.  Dirt Wizard makes their home in Peoria, Illinois, but uh, you know, they could live anywhere they wanted.  Even on the moon, or even Alaska.  But Peoria will do.  An unassuming kind of place, where none would suspect wizards dwell.  But that’s the beauty of the world, that there are secret wizards and witches all over the place.  As you walk or drive down the sleepy roads of suburbia and you happen to glance or even stare into a living room window on your way past, you truly don’t know who or what you’re looking at.  I for one assume everybody is some form of deviant or other, Dirt Wizard is the magical kind.

Their five song E.P., ‘No Son of Mine’ stays on an even keel, keeping the listener under a consistent spell of stoned wizardry in the vein of Seattle’s Ancient Warlocks or their Northern neighbors Black Wizard.  It’s a crash heavy linear fuzz ride with killer harmonies which gives the music a sense of speed and motion.  Opener “Amis Tabu”, “Ged of Earthsea” and “Season of the Sun” are all jacketed in the warmth of close harmony, which edges tantalizingly close to the edge of dischord by sliding Alice in Chains-style into minor chords.  It’s still a great trick to pull off.  Uh, I mean … illusion! 

Without a doubt, the band’s crowning achievement is the last song of the collection.  "Season of the Sun" is an apocalypse in the sun.  Cacophonic guitars and crashing drums mingle with a top down cruising down the empty highway feel brought about by the bright vocal harmonies, feet up, nuclear wind blowing through your hair.  Feel-wise, it’s like the inverse of Black Sabbath’s “Electric Funeral”.

‘No Son of Mine’ is a solid listen, though at 22 minutes I hesitate to call it truly satisfying.  But, it’s an incredibly promising debut and you get the sense that Dirt Wizard has an amazing album or two up their giant, billowy sleeve.

Wizard Union - 'Smoking Coffins'
From: Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Highlights Include: "Thoth Amon" and 
"Into the Wizard's Sleeve".  Rating: 4.5/5.  Released: Jan. 8, 2013.
Ann Arbor, Michigan’s three-piece Wizard Union has a fuzz-first mentality with chunky riffs which choke off any attempt for melody to flower and grow into anything other than a quick turnaround.  This band reminds me of a stateside cousin of Brighton, UK’s March the Desert.  Wizard Union will flood your mind with fuzz and for my money have instantly established themselves as one of America’s heaviest bands.

It’s a label they don’t shy away from.  The song “Thoth Amon” showcases the band’s Conan-literate side.  It’s a fair association to mix themselves up with.  Wizard Union won’t dazzle you with glittering steel and rippling, oiled muscles.  Instead it’s the dull-edged stone axe which does more damage with the impact of its blade, rather than its cutting edge.

Wizard Union will leave you knock you into next week, concussed, groggy and confused.  The fuzz is thick and meaty, the vocals are gristly and weighing in at a lean 6 songs and 23 minutes, there’s very little fat here, but there’s just enough to add a little flavor.  Wizard Union are a mixture of all the good things in life, Black Sabbath, Howard’s Conan (as depicted by Frank Frazetta of course, or possibly Boris Vallejo and best seen on the side of a rockin’ van) and plus-sized heaviness.  I’ll be back for me, whenever local #420 re-convenes, I’ll be proud to say I support this union.  You can support both these bands by clicking the links on the players below.

Seems like, these days, it would be a rather large union.  At one time, it was a sandbox that the pixie-like Marc Bolan basically had all to himself.  Now, you just can’t get away from wizard rock.  Just to give you an idea of how many witch and wizard themed/named bands there are out there I present this dry list.  Try to imagine it as a wizard’s spell scroll.

Stoned Witch & Wizard roll-call:
Acid Witch
Ancient Warlocks
Arkham Witch
Bell Witch
Black Magician
Black Wizard
Blackwitch Pudding
Dirt Wizard
Earth Witch
Electric Wizard
Glitter Wizard
Lizzard Wizzard
Mage
Magister Templi
Mountain Witch
Old Man Wizard
Red Wizard
Space Witch
Spelljammer
Ten Foot Wizard
Witch
Witch Charmer
Witch Mountain
Witch Rider
Witchcraft
Witches of God
Witching Altar
Witchsorrow
Witchstone
Wizard Smoke
Wizard Union


And these are just the good bands (the ones that I know of that is), there’s a whole world out there of mediocre bands all dying to bring down the wizard name.

Dirt Wizard on facebook
Wizard Union on facebook


Tuesday, 4 February 2014

Vykanthrope - The Devil's Waiting ... (album review)

I promise I'm not going to make this review all about the Paranoid blog ... BUT, we're now getting to a time when the bands that are featured here were founded after the blog started up.  It's hard to wrap my mind around that.  This bone-jarring quartet sails down in their long ships from Evansville, Indiana to make it two such bands in two days (the other being Earth Witch).  They label their music as "viking war doom", so don't take it from me, but this five song E.P. is loaded with berserker fury.  They don't do it with hellfire spitting tempos, but a white-knuckled intensity.  Henry Rollins once reportedly heard The Obsessed described as something like "'somebody getting angry really slowly.'  And the man that's slow to anger stays angry for a very long time", and I think that applies here.

There are moments here so brutal and animalistic you might think the band name is a misnomer and that they are reduced at times to the aspect of ravenous quadrupeds (see "The Devil's Waiting").  But there's more to this band than seething anger.  Opening track "Witch of Circumstance" combines a powerful riff with a strong vocal performance that is both melodic and forceful.  Drums and vocals carry much of the weight during the verse as the guitar drops off to a simmering drone.  The guitar then slips into a psychedelic lead thus revealing a wide spectrum of abilities and styles on display.  And that's just the first five minutes.  Talk about a statement!

"The Wizard" picks up on those psychedelic tendencies and exposes them in a blue light, crafting a slow bass-dominated psychedelic blues groove seasoned in cavernous echo framed around a Black Sabbath-like fantasy vocal.  The fury then boils to the surface during the chorus, first picking up the pace, then pouring on the heaviness before kicking into a smoking lead.  By now the band has come a long way moving through various shapes and styles, but the best and most memorable is yet to come.

"Viking's Witch" and title track "The Devil's Waiting" are like parts 1 & 2 of the same song, one leading into the next.  "Viking's Witch" has a killer slidey riff and has a strong Red Fang feel to the vocals.  The band knows how to bludgeon their way into your mind like an iron fist with a drop off and pick up syncopation during the chorus near the end of the song ("Wait!  Wait!  Wait!").  "The Devil's Waiting" may not be the best, but it is certainly the most memorable song of the bunch.  With no time between tracks a drop in tempo and jumping straight into the verse "God damn fucking son of a bitch, she said / Who the fuck does he think he is?" it'll have you checking to make sure this isn't just another section of the same song.

Again, the band cover many hectares of musical ground on just under 22 minutes and do it within a signature framework.  'The Devil's Waiting' is a strong introduction to a band that was just a twinkle in the eyes of its founders when this blog was new (god damn, man, [sniffle] we were all so much younger then ...).  The sheer volume of ideas, styles and memorable moments on this E.P. combined with a number of solid, key riffs flag Vykanthrope as one of the most promising new bands in the stoner / doom genre.  Now's the time to jump on board the bandwagon (or viking ship), I would if I was you, after all I'd hate to cross swords with these animals.

Highlights include: "Witch of Circumstance" and "Viking's Witch / The Devil's Waiting"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 21:44

From: Evansville, Indiana

Genre: Doom, Stoner Metal

Reminds me of: Ancient Warlocks, Breathe Fire, Earth Witch, Red Fang, Wounded Giant

Release Date: December 21, 2013

Vykanthrope on facebook

Monday, 3 February 2014

Earth Witch - Earthbound (album review)

Excellent cover artwork by Nate Burns.
Every now and then you stumble across something amazing.  Champaign, Illinois doom trio Earth Witch are just such a discovery.  The band started up on ol' Samhain night of 2012 and the 'Earthbound' E.P. is their debut record originally released on bandcamp just under a year from their formation.  It's been made available on cassette through Error Records more recently and all five songs on it are keepers.  Side A kicks off with a pair of future classics.

"Sky Knight" gets the pupils dilating, it gets the heart rate up and makes the palms sweat.  It does this with a heavy riff that's as much "finesse" as chopping a piece of wood, with an unabashedly catchy stop-start pulse from drummer Nathan.  This song was made for headbangin', pure and simple.  The stop-start sensibility allows the song to be a constant builder, the band upping the excitement level with each pass before the song dissipates in a cosmic swamp of doom.  The first half of the song is like a flexed muscle which in the end, relaxes or relinquishes.  Or better yet, the song is like a body sinking in quicksand which ultimately ceases its struggling.

It's also kind of rare to get that full-on Black Sabbath vibe, but Earth Witch pulls it off on "Lunar".  It should come as no shock as the only description the band uses on its bandcamp page consists of two words: "Sabbath worship".  Still, it's a joy to hear.  Mournful vocals and a monolithic, descending riff give way to a descending scale and lead in double time conjuring the ghost of Sabbath but also of a more recent band like Moon Curse, Set or Destroyer of Light.  The song then takes an abrupt turn with a cold and lonely vibe worthy of the song's title.  The band does an excellent job of conveying that lunar feeling of absurd cold and bizarre isolation.  Ivan's vocals are mostly clean and straightforward on this one, but he's given to raunch them out every now and then on the record as a whole.

By now a pattern emerges and a formula is established of a heavy band with one eye on extreme catchiness and the other on crumpling heaviness.  In the first two songs the band doesn't often bother to try to meld the two styles, they simply give you one and then the other.  The final three tracks are shorter with abbreviated instrumental sections.  While the first two tracks roam beyond the 7 minute border with a slower, more instrumentally focused second half, the final three songs keep things moving with only the closing track wandering past the 4 minute mark.  "Aggregate" and "Wizard's Cloak" follow a bit of that one-song formula when taken together, the catchier "Aggregate" leading into the slower, sludgier "Wizard's Cloak".

I honestly can't understand why this band only has some 200 "likes" on facebook, or why nobody has bought 'Earthbound' on bandcamp this year (as of this writing, my purchase is the most recent one and that came in December).  I'm somewhat to blame perhaps, for not getting this review out sooner, but really, this is a mystery to me.  Maybe it's the generic band name, or the cover art which, though amazing in its own right, may convey more of a black metal image, sending the wrong message, or maybe it's that they're from middle-of-nowhere Illinois and not from middle-of-nowhere Norway, I don't know.  What I do know is this is one of the best bandcamp albums I've heard in a long time and it reminds me of the kinds of albums I was finding when I was new to doom, the life-changing ones that made me a fan of the genre for life and lit a fire under my ass to start this blog, albums such as Moon Curse's and Destroyer of Light's self-titled debuts and Set's 'Sacred Moon Cult' E.P. in particular.  I would recommend this five-song E.P. to any fan of the genre, I don't want this band to be my little secret any longer.

Highlights include: "Lunar" and "Sky Knight"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 27:23

From: Champaign, Illinois

Genre: Doom, Sludge

Reminds me of: Destroyer of Light, Moon Curse, Set

Release Date: October 15, 2013

Earth Witch on facebook
Buy the tape from Error Records
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