Hour of Power 01/05/13 (playlist)

Highlights from the week of 12/30/12 - 01/05/13

1. Lately (The Heavy Eyes - Maera) 2012
2. Set Me On Fire (Bottlecap - ST) 2012
3. Beyond the Stars (Palace in Thunderland - Stars, Dreams, Seas) 2012
4. Turn To Gray (HydroElectric) 2011
5. Sunshine Day (Jethro Toe - 7" single) 1968
6. Seaquake (Yama - Seaquake EP) 2012
7. Symptoms [of the Human Race] (Motherslug - ST) 2012
8. Diggin Down (Black Space Riders - Light is the New Black) 2012
9. Spirits of Fire (Year of the Goat - Angels' Necropolis) 2012
10. Evil Hearted (Dryasdust - Demo) 2013
11. Watch Me Kill You (Salem's Pot - cassette EP) 2013

2012 Chronicle (Year in review) part 12 - Best of December

December 2 - FROM BEYOND (The Color Out of Space EP) - Houston, Texas space / doom trio From Beyond's second EP of their rookie year isn't a complete departure from their first, but it does reveal them as a restless and ambitious band, never content to sit on a sound and ever ready to explore new ground.  Four great songs, each different in texture and style.  'The Color Out of Space' is an advancement from 'One Year' and it leaves me incredibly excited about the future of this band.  I was particularly fond of my recent review of this EP, and so were the band.  You can read it here.  Get it here.  Highlights include "The Dead Still Ride" and "The Color Out of Space".  Rating 5/5

December 2 - Mother Gun (Human EP)

December 6 - MOTHERSLOTH (Hazy Blur of Life) - Madrid, Spain based quartet Mothersloth play a very metallic style of sludge and doom.  Their four song EP is full of chunking and squealing heavy metal guitar, big throaty vocals and the heavy-hitting stylings of their drummer, the wonderfully-named, Gog. Get it here.  Highlights include "Pile of Fortune" and "Goliath".  Rating 3.5/5

December 7 - YEAR OF THE GOAT (Angels' Necropolis) - "Here we go again.  Yet another Swedish retro rock band."  Wrong.  Year of the Goat is a retro band with a difference.  They pay their fair share of homage to times past without slavishly attempting to recreate specific eras.  Rather, they are collageists who take a bit from here, take a bit from there and add their own flame to the fire.  The end result is eight terrific songs, a sweeping album full of excellent performances.  Find it here.  Highlights include "Spirit of Fire" and "I'll Die For You".  Rating 4/5 (full review coming soon)

December 12 - Enos (All Too Human)

December 13 - GEEZER (Handmade Heavy Blues) - Geezer don't lie.  Just look at the album title and that should give you your best clue as to what you might find on this fine 10 song collection.  Fans of Five Horse Johnson or Heavy Eyes will find a lot to love from this New York power trio, but fans of Robert Johnson, Son House, Willie Brown, etc. might love it even more.  Get it here.  Highlights include "Pony" and "I'm Coming Home".  Rating 4/5

December 13 - HELLRYDE INC. (Hellryde Incorporated) - I'm hearing this more and more and I like it.  Monterrey, Mexico's four piece Hellryde Inc play metal with groove and stoner elements.  The guitars squeal, the drums thrash, the bass is distorted to near inaudibility, but the songs and the riffs are built on a stoner foundation.  Check it out, this is high class stuff.  Highlights include "Piss Me Off" and "Insomnia".  Rating 4/5

December 13 - Stonebringer (Ocean of the Brave)

December 14 - THE HEAVY EYES (Maera) - After releasing one of the best albums of 2011, what do Memphis blues heavyweights The Heavy Eyes do for an encore?  They've thickened up their sound, the riffs are bigger, the grooves are filthier, the songs are tighter, the hooks are more memorable.  Simply put, The Heavy Eyes have unleashed a monster of an album, one of the year's best.  "These Men Are Wolves", "Parado", "Lately" and No. 1 hit "Levantado" are just a sampling of the abundance of standout material.  Read my review.  Get it here.  Highlights include "Lately" and "Levantado".  , Rating 5/5

December 18 - SLOW HEART (Dead Friends and Angry Lovers) - The latest incarnation of Ice Dragon and its multiple personae, Slow Heart is a goth / drone rock exorcism.  This project seems to be an expansion of certain moods and sounds found on Ice Dragon's 'Greyblackfalconhawk' album.  Get it here.  Highlights include "We Want The Night" and "Never Trust a Woman (Dressed in Black)".  Rating 4/5

December 19 - OWL (Christmas Mixtape 2012) - Owl's Christmas mixtape is a collection of free ballin' jams and outtakes, but it's no simple throwaway shit collage.  It's a 44-minute noise fest featuring some really good moments.  I don't think this stuff was recorded with the intention of release so some of it can sound rather poorly, but I listen to a lot of scratchy delta blues records from the 30s and psychedelic underground acetates of the 60s so unmastered de-studiofied recording are alright by me.  And who doesn't love tapes?  I was a diehard tape guy before I was a diehard CD guy.  It wasn't until about '98 when labels stopped making tapes that I finally switched over to CDs ...  Get your gift here.  Highlights include "Chromatose" and "The Demon is Born".  Rating There's something very inherently wrong with 'rating' a Christmas mixtape.

December 21 - 1000mods (Valley of Sand EP)

December 21 - WHEELFALL / A VERY OLD GHOST BEHIND THE FARM split - Heavy, heavy stuff from France.  Wheelfall's still warm on the table album 'Interzone' album has been a critical hit.  This is the first new music AVOGBTF has released in two full years, whose album 'Primary Septagon' is a real favorite at PH.  The wait was worth it.  Crushing doom.  Get crushed here.  Highlights include "Hangman's Laugh" and "Navigating on the Seas of Dementia".  Rating 4.5/5

December 22 - PALACE IN THUNDERLAND (Stars, Dreams, Seas) - This three song demo from New England supergroup Palace in Thunderland is the first release from the group since splitting up in 2007.  Back then they weren't a supergroup, they were just a group.  'Stars, Dreams, Seas' shows some different sides but mostly fits into the stoner / space rock genres.  Get it here.  Highlights include "Beyond The Stars" and "Awakened Dream".  Rating 4.5/5

December 25 - Balam - New Song [No Vocals] Preproduction 2013

December 26 - Deaf Flow (Songs From The Dark Side of Uranus)

Best Album From December 2012:
'Maera' by THE HEAVY EYES

Best Song From December 2012:
"The Dead Still Ride" by FROM BEYOND

Palace In Thunderland - Stars, Dreams, Seas (album review)

Palace in Thunderland started out life as Skyball, the main band of four young musicians.  Skyball was a garage rock band that morphed into Palace in Thunderland in 1998.  The band recorded a couple of EPs and an album that was never released and in 2007 the guys in the band decided to call it quits.

Each of the four musicians went on to form other, more successful, bands.  They are Monte Newman (Hydro-Electric, guitar); Andy Beresky (Black Pyramid, guitar); Adam Abrams and Matt Netto (Blue Aside, bass and drums respectively, (Abrams is also in Space Mushroom Fuzz)).  Now, they have returned from travels that must have included stops in spaceports unknown and re-formed a high school garage band as a stoner rock supergroup.  Four youngsters who split, return as conquering heroes.  There's seemingly no shortage of musical talent in the New England area and so, it was destined to be.

The three songs on this demo EP are the first new sounds from this collective band of musicians together in over five years.

"Beyond the Stars" shakes off the rust with a Sabbath-like riff and crash combo that launches the goodship Thunderland out of orbit.  The slabs of Sabbath-ized riffage and chunks of crunching rhythms perfectly frame the super catchy chorus, "Come ... with ... us ... Beyond the Stars!".  "Awakened Dream" carries on the Sabbath feel and doesn't have as memorable a chorus, but makes up for it with more of a melodic flavor..  "The Distant Shore" is a different beast altogether and if I had to guess I would hazard that this is more of a Monte Newman song, which then breaks down towards the end into an Andy Beresky flavored melancholic riff to close out the short, 16 minute demo EP.

It's interesting to be able to hear each individual's unique contribution to the band, it truly is an amalgamation of sounds.  You can hear a Beresky lead, you can hear the power of Monte Newman, you can hear Blue Aside's unique rhythm section at work on the groove.  The vocals are in the Ozzy sound-alike vein which really comes across in "Awakened Dream".  The Sabbath feel is very present overall in the first two tracks, not just in the vocals and guitars but also in the Bill Wardian drumming of Matt Netto.  It seems as though Beresky provides the bulk of the vocals on this disc, though not in the way that most listeners familiar with his work in Black Pyramid would recognize, as they are sung melodically rather than shouted, though it can be hard to tell who is singing as all four are credited with vocals, and it could just as easily be Abrams or Newman singing for all I know.

Though this teaser of what's to come consists of a mere three songs and 16 minutes, it's a satisfying listening experience in and of itself, and it carries within it the seeds of a very substantial release when a full length album eventually emerges.

Highlights include: "Beyond the Stars" and "Awakened Dream"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 16:48

From: Springfield, Massachusetts

Genre: Space Rock, Stoner, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Black Pyramid, Black Sabbath, Blue Aside, Hydro-Electric, Lord Vicar, Space Mushroom Fuzz

Release Date: December 22, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Solidify these sounds into a cosmic surfboard to hold court with shimmering luminescent being of pure dream-state given substance.

Better Review
Hellride Music Forum

Hour of Power 12/29/12 (playlist)

Highlights from the week of 12/23/12 - 12/29/12

1. Defecting Grey (The Pretty Things - 7" single) 1967
2. Mr. Evasion (The Pretty Things - 7" single) 1967
3. U-Turn (The Quartet of Woah! - Ultrabomb) 2012
4. Grind It (Lord 13 - 2013) 2011
5. All Too Human (Enos - All Too Human) 2012
6. These Men Are Wolves (The Heavy Eyes - Maera) 2012
7. I Need Soul (The Brimstone Days - On A Monday Too Early To Tell) 2012
8. The Goat of Mendhis (Sonic Mass - Magnetic Electric) 2012
9. Awakened Dream (Palace in Thunderland - Stars, Dreams, Seas) 2012
10. Night of the Dancing Witch [instrumental version] (Talis - GLOT) 2012
11. The Darkest Night (Death SS - The Darkest Night) 2013
12. Talkin About The Good Times (The Pretty Things - 7" single) 1968
13. Walking Through My Dreams (The Pretty Things - 7" single) 1968