Doom Chart: Most Paranoid Albums of 01/18/14

Top 30 Albums

#). artist - album title

1. The Great Electric Quest - Chapter II EP
2. Blackwitch Pudding - Taste the Pudding
3. Blizaro - Strange Doorways
4. Earth Witch - Earthbound EP
5. Moosataur - ST
6. Ancient Warlocks - ST
7. Sangoma - Diviner
8. Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief
9. Sonic Mass - All Creatures Strange
10. Black Majik Acid - ST
11. Demon Eye - Leave the Light
12. Doctor Cyclops - Oscuropasso
13. Doctor Smoke - ST EP
14. Arrowhead - Atomsmasher
15. Brimstone Coven - II
16. Uzala - Tales of Blood & Fire
17. SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods
18. Dirt Wizard - No Son of Mine
19. Space Mushroom Fuzz - Burning the Almanac
20. Vykanthrope - The Devil's Waiting***
21. Breathe Fire - breathefire.bandcamp.com/album/epEP***
22. Stone Dagger - The Siege of Jerusalem***
23. Buzzherd - On Sinking Ships ... Rats Drown***
24. Birch Crown - ST***
25. Wizard Union - Smoking Coffins***
26. Asomvel - Knuckle Duster
27. Sandveiss - Scream Queen
28. Wounded Giant - Lightning Medicine
29. Valley of the Sun - Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk
30. Wolves of Winter - ST Demo

*** New Listing

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PARANOID SOGGY Spotlight on:

STONE DAGGER – ‘The Siege of Jerusalem’
Written By Soggy Bob

Stone Dagger...Stone freaking Dagger. 

This is some powerful metal from the one and only Brendan Radigan (Magic Circle/Battle Ruins/Mind Eraser...). This is all his doing. He wrote it it. All of it and it's incredible. With the help of studio musicians (Chris Corry and Justin DeTore of Magic Circle) he's put out an amazing two track demo called The Siege of Jerusalem. If you're a fan of Cirith Ungol, Brocas Helm and Manilla Road (like moi) this is right up your alley. 

Brendan posted a tune on his FB page and it seemed like it shook the earth. The response from everyone was pretty fantastic. The two tunes are The Siege of Jerusalem and Black Clad Rider. The first track, Siege of Jerusalem starts off with a slow riff before Brendan kicks in with his painfully heartfelt lyric "Father I Pray...". So fucking glorious! The song picks up with some tasty leads and Brendan belting out some catchy hooks. I swear Ive listened to this one song nonstop for at least 2 days. Definitely my favorite song of 2013. Black Clad Rider starts a little quicker with some killer riffs and Radigan singing some very up beat lines leading you into the ultra catchy chorus. After a lead by Chris Corry and more great riffs Brendan is back with that amazing chorus to close the song out. This is one hell of a release. Two amazing tunes by an incredibly talented musician. 

According to the Electric Assault Bandcamp page this will be released as a 7" on Feb 18th. Don't be a loser. Bookmark this link and buy it asap. It will sell out in minutes. http://electricassaultrecords.com/

Hour of Power 01/17/14

1. Forbidden Zombi Ritual (Destroyer of Light / Bizarre Tales Vol. 2) PRE
2. Surrealist Appearance (Radar Men from the Moon / Strange Waves Galore) PRE
3. Ethereal Riffian 'Aeolian' Promo PRE
4. Blood Like Cream [Live on Letterman] (Red Fang / Whales & Leeches)
5. The Lasting Dose [Live] (Crowbar / Sonic  Excess In Its Purest Form)
6. The Wounded Kings 'Consolamentum' teaser PRE
7. Legends [iphone demo] (Dryasdust / TBA) PRE
8. Swamp Machine 'Mondo Magic' preview PRE
9. Avaritia (Tempel / On the Steps of the Temple) PRE
10. Apsara (Nibiru / NETRAYONI: Ritual I The Kaula's Circle)
11. The Hidden Masters (The Sword / Apocryphon)

 PRE = Pre-Release / Not yet available

Doom Chart: Most Paranoid Songs of 01/15/14

Top 25 Songs

#). Song Title (artist/album)

1. Burnout Blues (Sangoma / Diviner)
2. Leadersheep (Saturn / Ascending)
3. Sinistra (Wounded Giant / Lightning Medicine)
4. Queen of the Black Harvest (Ice Dragon / Steel Veins single)
5. Robotic Invasion (Fu Manchu / split single w/ Moab)
6. High Priestess (Black Majik Acid / ST)
7. Horse Called Doom (Arrowhead / Atomsmasher)
8. Ruler of Dust (Moon Coven / Amanita Kingdom)
9. Frown Curve (March the Desert / Waves on the Moon EP)
10. Fall Through (Maze of Roots / 2013)
11. Slave the Hive (High on Fire / digital single)
12. 1901 (The Great Electric Quest / Chapter II E.P.)***
13. Gary's Graveyard (Smoke / ST)
14. Blood & Whiskey (Doctor Smoke / Demo 2013)***
15. Come Samhain (Zodiac / digital single)
16. Gunslinger (Valley of the Sun / Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk)
17. Bottomless Lies (Sandveiss / Scream Queen)***
18. Witch Is Burning (Doublestone / Wingmakers)
19. Mrs. Absinthe (Crypt Trip / ST E.P.)***
20. Battalion of Zero (Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals / Walk Through Exits Only)
21. As You Wish (Vista Chino / Peace)
22. The Dog (Hollow Leg / Abysmal)***
23. Oblivion (Switchblade Jesus / Myelin Constellation)
24. Dead Friends (Doomriders / Grand Blood)
25. Ramona Parra (The Myrrors / 7" single)***

*** New Song

Outgoing songs:

The Seeker (Doctor Smoke / Demo 2013)
Champions (Sandrider / Godhead)
Invisible To See (Space Mushroom Fuzz / Stealing Some Time)
Behold, The Annunaki (Brimstone Coven / II)
Echoes in the Void (Black Skies / digital single)
Black C (Black Skies / Circadian Meditations)

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The Great Electric Quest - Chapter II (E.P. Review)

NOW I MUST SCREEEEAM ... "BREAK THESE SHACKLES FROM ME!"

And so we stumble upon a group of seekers from the sweltering climes of San Diego.  They are seekers on a great electric quest.  It's a heavy quest.  Hot and heavy.  Their journey is fraught with giant rock and high stone, their destination unknown, unknowable, unreachable.  The only possible outcome of this quest, is death.  And of course, they are taking you along for the ride.

The Great Electric Quest is always on the lookout for experiences and are willing to push the perceived limits that surround them into the realm of unceasing extremity.  As is the seeker's burden, the outer limit of experience, the reward at the end of the journey is always just out of arm's reach, no matter how far forward they have pushed.  All that is not to create the wrong impression that The Quest is an extreme metal band complete with cookie monster vocals, walls of sound and blast beats obsessed with visions of failure and death.  Rather, the extremity manifests itself in the form of Russian doll song structures and a moxy, an approach, a confidence that pushes limited skill into rarified territory.  The seeker does not fail in reaching for the unattainable, it is in the reaching itself that the seeker succeeds.

The Great Electric Quest take a Kyuss-influenced stoner rock sound and filter it through the progressive sudden twists, shout choruses, shreds on a dime, general vocal inflections and other movements of early metal bands like Metallica.  With each successive spin it becomes harder and harder to remain composed and contain enthusiasm as before long at all you find yourself 'bangin' along raising a leather gloved fist high into the air and you have no idea how that glove got there, but you don't question it either.  It's all part of the Quest, man.  It's also hard for me not to get too geeked up about this band because they remind me so much of me and my buddies in an earlier age.  Back before life crushed us all down (well, some of us anyway [ahem]).  I can't see that happening to these colorful characters though, these are what you might call 'lifers'.

Above and beyond all else, what you get from The Great Electric Quest is positive vibes, which along with the high energy of the songwriting makes this 5 song E.P. a dynamo.  "1901", "Break the Shackles" and "Beers in Hell" are uplifting songs, giving the listener a hearty push start in the direction of a more productive use of one's creative energies.  I told vocalist Tyler Dingvell that his lyrics were empowering and that there ought to be more dudes like him out there using their platform wisely.  Here's what he had to say in response:

"Rock and Roll is empowering!! It's not wallowing in the sorrows of life. It's drinking a beer with your friends and forging on to meet the next challenge. It's empowerment of one and an embodiment of brotherhood. Love for humanity with the absence of fear."

And maybe that's all you need to know about the band to join them in their quest.

Highlights include: "1901" and "Break The Shackles"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 22:40

Tyler "T-Sweat" Dingvell - Vocals
Buddy Donner - Guitar
Corey Ciota - Drums
Mr. Mikey Hurrin - Bass/Vocals

From: San Diego, California

Genre: Metal, Stoner

Reminds me of: Corrosion of Conformity (Blind era), Gentlemen Bastards, early Metallica, Red Wizard, Saturn

Release Date: December 1, 2013

The Great Electric Quest on facebook

Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief (album review)

Dear Rock n Roll,

I bet you wonder what the fuck happened to me, huh?  (I'll get to that in a minute) I bet you cried when you got home and saw all my stuff was gone and you realized that I wasn't coming back.  See, that's the problem.  I see now that you lack the confidence to be all that you could be and that you were holding me back.  Sorry if this is all coming out so harsh, but I realize now how PISSED I am at you because I really do care about you, but I see now how you were holding YOURSELF back.  You have so much potential Rock n Roll.  You could go so far in life.  I really believed in you.  In us.  But, you're a pussy at heart.

While you were playing your unplugged acoustic show at the Ironic Name Disco, I got bored and went out back to have a smoke.  That's when I met them.  They were burning down a church and kicking a hobo down the street in a trash can.  They couldn't give a fuck and they don't take any shit.  They were Satan's Satyrs and they were Wild Beyond Belief.  They took me on the back of one of their hogs and since then we've only stopped long enough for me to pick up my shit and write you this letter.  I don't know when we'll ever stop again, probably when they're all in their graves and me along with them.  I'm not suicidal.  Far from it, I've never felt so alive!  But I understand that this is a kamikaze mission, and that's the way it should have been with us, but like I said, you're a pussy.

I saw you standing there that first time, all those years back, staring at me all vulnerable with your piercings and tattoos.  All this time I thought you were the Bad Boy, but I was SO wrong.  I've found a gang of Real Men.  All those weekend nights you wore your "I don't give a fuck" attitude like a costume, then it was back to the office on Monday morning.  The Satyrs walk the walk 24/7.  Do my words hurt you?  Are you going to write a 7-minute long ballad about it?  Satan's Satyrs and me, we don't have time for that shit.  We just get out on the open road and hassle the man, put a good scare into the wage slaves and working stiffs.  We drove a station wagon off the road, into a tree last week and we don't feel any remorse about it, because you always have a choice don't you?  You have a choice in life to be a loser or taste freedom and take what you want from this world at the tip of a blade.  And you made your choice, didn't you Rock n Roll?  Didn't you!  You better hope to your god that we never find you out on the open road.

So I just wrote you to say, you don't cut it for me anymore Rock n Roll.  You never could satisfy me, not really.  You'd always take me right up to the edge, then pull back.  Why?  Was it out of fear?  Fear of the consequences of truly letting go?  That's what freedom is, but I guess you don't get it, do you?  You never could take me all the way and you never will.  I'd like to say I'm sorry for saying these things and that I'm sorry for you, but I'm not.  I'm sorry for me!  All those years wasted with you, when I could have been getting wasted on pure adrenalin with Satan's Satyrs.

Well, I got to go now Rock n Roll.  Bye.  I hope you learn how to let yourself go, take a walk on the wild side and know what it is to truly be alive one day, I really do.  But I can't drag you up to the Satyrs level, you've got to do that on your own.  We've got some puppies to kick, flowers to trample, fake bomb threats to issue, flaming poop bags to leave and chaos to sew.

Later, loser.

P.S., don't try to talk to me if you see me standing outside our old apartment with all my stuff.  The Satyrs told me they'd be coming by to pick me up in 20 minutes.  That was 12 hours ago, but ... they'll be here ... they'll come back for me ... you'll see ...

Highlights include: "Satan's Satyrs" and "Bellydancer's Delight"

Rating: 5/5


Total Run Time: 39:37

Clayton "Claytanas" Burgess: Bass, Vocals
Jarrett Nettnin: Guitar
Stephen Fairfield: Drums

From: Herndon, Virginia

Genre: Biker Doom, Punk

Reminds me of: Asomvel, Blue Cheer, Early Mammal, Electric Wizard, MC5, The Stooges

Release Date: (re-issue on Bad Omen Records) November 1, 2013

Satan's Satyrs on facebook

Moon Coven - Amanita Kingdom (album review)

Cover artwork by Justin Boyesen.

I first became aware of Swedish five-piece stoners Moon Coven through their one-off single "Ruler of Dust" on bandcamp when they went by the unlikely moniker of Waning Moon.  After sigining to Transubstans Records of Sweden and altering their name to Moon Coven they are about to unleash their five song debut.

The color scheme of the album's cover art is a picture perfect chromatic representation of the band's sound, aquamarine hues doused in smoke, cloudy yet unobscured images conjured not through the artifice of witchcraft, but rather through pastoral feelings and communion with nature (is stoner rock not a movement based around communion with nature through the inhalation of smoke?).  The Baphometan pose of the witch like figure on the cover could just as easily be a tree, the stars her roots and the crescent moon forming a halo around her head the crown.  And why wouldn't it be?  This is the Moon Coven we're talking about, no longer waning but soaring, a crescent moon may show the heavenly body in its weakest phase, but it only last so long before the moon returns to full bloom, to dominate the night sky once again.

Dominating the album from the outset, the opening track "Ruler of Dust" (currently blazing through the doom charts top 25 songs list), remains the band's high point.  A nice sloppy feel to the opening riff as sunshine pours in through the stoner haze, evoking the spirit of Greenleaf / Dozer.  Lazily bouncing rhythms and vocalist David Leban's casual delivery set a relaxed mood which carries into much of the album.  There is a consistent feel to the album, the tone is warm, the delivery inviting.  What sets Moon Coven apart, of course, are the riffs which come at the hands of a three guitar onslaught courtesy of Mr's Leban, Axel Granhammar and Justin Boyesen.

"Amanita Kingdom II", another standout sounds like an outtake from Mountain Witch's 'Cold River' LP which isn't a bad thing.  This has a lot to do with the vocal distortion which gives it that distant feel, Mountain Witch's Rene Sitte favors.  The major difference is that the aforementioned German trio's music is "red" and "black" in tone while Moon Coven's is a very "green" and "grey" sound.  The broken rhythms which are set in motion, then knocked down with a descending, pausey riffs are handled with the stop-motion expert hand of a Ray Harryhausen.  The song, placed right in the middle of the album, is a cool change of pace and guarantees to re-capture the attention of anybody lulled into a hypnotic state by the laidback nature of the first couple tracks.

The band does not fail to capitalize on their opportunity as the album then slides into the song "East", which is currently streaming over on The Obelisk website.  Again, it's one of the highlights on a short album full of terrific moments, you'd have to travel far and wide to find another stoner song with a vocal melody quite like the one found here.  In fact, you'd be hard pressed to find another band with quite the same sound as Moon Coven.  While there are a great deal of 70's moments on 'Amanita Kingdom', any comparisons to throwback eras would more accurately fall under the heading of late sixties psychedelic.  Closing number "We Were Conquerers" displays this quite vividly, as those pastoral feelings abound on this track.

What you're left with is a positive impression, good times remembered through a haze.  Moon Coven's 'Amanita Kingdom' should put them on the map with a fine five song performance of laidback stoner grooviness.  'Amanita Kingdom' will be released by Transubstans Records on January 15.

Highlights include: "Ruler of Dust" and "East"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). Ruler of Dust (7:19)
2). Amanita Kingdom (7:03)
3). Amanita Kingdom II (8:00)
4). East (6:37)
5). We Were Conquerors (5:23)
Total Run Time: 34:20

From: Malmö/Jönköping, Sweden

Genre: Stoner, Psychedelic, Desert Rock

Reminds me of: Dozer, Greenleaf, Mountain Witch

Release Date: January 15, 2013

Moon Coven on facebook

GET IT HERE

Doom Chart: Most Paranoid Albums of 01/11/14

Top 30 Albums

#). artist - album title

1. Sonic Mass - All Creatures Strange
2. Blizaro - Strange Doorways
3. Black Majik Acid - ST
4. The Great Electric Quest - Chapter II EP
5. Doctor Smoke - ST EP
6. Arrowhead - Atomsmasher
7. Blackwitch Pudding - Taste the Pudding
8. Ancient Warlocks - ST
9. Brimstone Coven - II
10. Uzala - Tales of Blood & Fire
11. Sangoma - Diviner
12. SubRosa - More Constant Than the Gods
13. Tombstones - Red Skies & Dead Eyes
14. Earth Witch - Earthbound EP
15. Moosataur - ST
16. Space Mushroom Fuzz - Burning the Almanac
17. Asomvel - Knuckle Duster
18. Satan's Satyrs - Wild Beyond Belief
19. Sandveiss - Scream Queen
20. Wounded Giant - Lightning Medicine
21. Demon Eye - Leave the Light***
22. Doctor Cyclops - Oscuropasso***
23. Valley of the Sun - Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk
24. Wolves of Winter - ST Demo***
25. Velvet Robe - Night Soil
26. In the Company of Serpents - Of The Flock
27. Hollow Leg - Abysmal
28. Sandrider - Godhead
29. Dirt Wizard - No Son of Mine
30. Tombsealer - ST EP

*** New Album

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PARANOID Spotlight on:

ARROWHEAD – ‘Atomsmasher’

I don't mean to rake the coals here, but one of the great debates of 2013 was whether or not certain bands had surpassed their aging influences in creative output.  Arrowhead's guitarist (also vocalist) Brett Pearl makes great use of the incredibly warm tones preferred by Josh Homme when he was the guitarist of Kyuss.  With the John Garcia / Brant Bjork led Kyuss revival act Vista Chino also releasing an album just weeks after 'Atomsmasher' it made for an interesting comparison.  However, Arrowhead is so much more than simple Kyuss-worship and this Australian power trio deserves a better fate than being defined by it's guitar tone.

Don't get me wrong, Orange Amps are a big part of Arrowhead's sound, but to me, 'Atomsmasher' is a collection of great riffs and killer hooks.  One of the band's most distinguishing characteristics are Pearl's excellent vocals.  A nearly perfect stoner rock vocal tone with excellent range to tone things down when needed and then spray gasoline on the fire when it's time to up the excitement with a high flying chorus.  "Horse Called Doom" (currently burning up the doom chart: top 25 songs list), "Blood From a Stone", "Diamonds To Dust" and "Eagle Death Machine" are not only some of the catchiest songs you'll hear in the stoner rock genre all year, but they're also an excellent showcase of the band's emphasis on dynamics, that essential element of the classic album.  This one's got it in abundance.  What you get is 10 excellent tracks and 47 minutes of classic stoner rock.  Is it the most original sound?  Can you hear traces and finger prints of Kyuss and Fu Manchu spread throughout the record?  Does it matter when the music is this good?

If you live in Australia you can order the CD through Von Grimm Records right here.  For the rest of us, follow the link at the Arrowhead listing on the chart above (#6), you'll be happy you did.