Hour of Power 06/01/13 (playlist)

1. Overthrone (Anciients / Heart of Oak) 2013
2. Liquid Gold (Steak / Corned Beef Colossus) 2013
3. Soil (Undersmile / Wood & Wire split w/ Coma Wall) 2013
4. Love is in the Grave (Hellryde Inc. / Hellryde Incorporated) 2012
5. Heathen Child (Demon Lung / The Hundredth Name) 2013
6. Violet Temple (Violet Temple / ST EP) 2013
7. Poison Apple (Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats / Mind Control) 2013
8. Ice Tentacles (Grave Disgrace / Triumphant & Militant Church) 2013
9. Dawn of the Sun (JG Blizaro) 2013
10. The Alcoholik (Superjoint Ritual / Use Once & Destroy) 2002 'classic video'

Hour of Power 02/23/13 (playlist)

Once again, maybe the best HoP yet.  A whole bunch of new videos and new songs premiered this week but not Ice Dragon's "Season of Decay". This fan made video was made a couple weeks ago but was uploaded to youtube just this week so it starts this week's playlist.  The release of Beastwood's 'Alabama Space Witch' is right around the corner so what better way to commemorate the occasion than by showing the brand new video clip of the opening song, "Galactic Bison"?  Kadavar's "All Our Thoughts" video was shot on a phone camera and took roughly half a year to edit.  Now we reap the benefits of all that hard work.  The Brimstone Days shoot all of their music videos in a single camera / single take fashion with no need for lengthy editing sessions, their new one premiered this week and it is memorable.  Australian paisley pop psych outfit Ride Into The Sun have a new single coming out soon, the video for "Hunt Like Wolves" is actually a couple weeks old but slipped under the radar until it showed up in my inbox.  Great stuff.  As is Newcastle-Upon-Tyne quintet Druganaut's compelling album teaser video "Sober Again".  Pittsburgh doom veterans Dream Death's new album comes out the same day as Beastwood's, February 26, and they have released the song "Feast" as a preview which, judging from comments, is catching on like wildfire, much as it should.  As always the Hour of Power is rounded out by highlights of the week's posts, great songs from Palm Desert, DemonAuta, Aleph Null, Crag Dweller, Black Overdrive and Hellryde Inc., in that order.  Maybe a bit static with the imagery but the soundtrack is guaranteed to get your blood moving.  Thanks to all the musicians, readers and browsers for making this another terrific week at PH!

1. Season of Decay (Ice Dragon / single) 2012
2. Galactic Bison (Beastwood / Alabama Space Witch) 2013
3. All Our Thoughts (Kadavar / ST) 2012
4. What Do You Want (The Brimstone Days / On a Monday Too Early To Tell) 2012
5. Hunt Like Wolves (Ride Into The Sun / single) 2013
6. Sober Again (Druganaut / TBA) 2013
7. Feast (Dream Death / Somnium Excessum)2013
8. Acid Phantom (Palm Desert / Rotten Village Sessions) 2013
9. Hacia el 6to Sol (DemonAuta / Caminando en la Luna) 2013
10. Mars Father (Aleph Null / Belladonna EP) 2013
11. Gotta Have It (Crag Dweller / Magic Dust) 2012
12. Misery Mountain (Black Overdrive / ST) 2012
13. Piss Me Off (Hellryde Inc. / Hellryde Incorporated) 2012

The Alchemical Mixture - Annimal Machine, Black Overdrive & Hellryde Inc. (album reviews)

It can be hard to get into a Mexican state of mind when living in or around Vancouver.  Daydreams of hot climes and great food are tempered by 200+ days of rain and fast food chains on every street corner.  But today we're going to try to get there, but not by sheer mental will of effort.  Today we're going to focus on los tres grandes EPs of recent vintage from Mexico by the likes of Annimal Machine, Black Overdrive and Hellryde Inc.  Yeah, that's the ticket.  One listen to any one of these three EPs and I'm sweating my ass off.

The three bands featured here all have different approaches and all sound quite different but they all have one thing in common: they are all "heavy as fuck".

Annimal Machine - ST EP

Highlights include: "Rage" and "Condenado".  From:
Ciudad Guzmán, Jalisco.  Rating: 3.5/5

Annimal Machine is one of the more aggressive stoner bands I've heard, relentlessly attacking their instruments, especially visceral is the heavy hitting of drummer Fat Bastard (who makes the all-name team).  See opening track "Condenado" for evidence of this.  The excitement of the performances really comes across and the band gets into some high powered synergy which is infectious.

While the energy output and aggression levels are high, the band still manages a loose, jamming feel to the three tracks on their EP.  Much like Spelljammer's Vol. II, each of these three songs breaks the 8-minute mark and there's an exploratory feeling.  "A Fistful of Dollars" is a look at the band's slightly more subdued side.  It's slow, especially when compared to "Condenado", but it's not lacking for energy or drive.  It starts off with a good two minute jam before settling into a fairly straight forward structure and a very solid groove.  The final two minutes of the song pick up the energy and excitement level and lead quite well into the true standout track, "Rage".

"Rage" is the final synthesis of what was great about the first two tracks: the heavy hitting instrumental pounding attack and the slower, groovier feel creates a headbanging, blood pumping highlight that simply must be felt and not just heard.  Already my body temperature has gone up two degrees.

The entire affair is laced with a punky 'don't give a shit' attitude and I suspect that the three dudes in the band intuitively 'feel' what they create without overanalyzing it.  Very much a west coast attitude.

Black Overdrive - ST Demo

Highlights include: "War Weather Worshipper" and 

"Soulless".  From: Mexico City.  Rating: 4/5

But due east a-ways, we find Mexico City's Black Overdrive, authors of one of the more promising and exciting recent demos from the underground.  They have a simple message:

Fuck ballads!! Crank it LOUD!!

I, for one, concur, as the sweat collects, beads and falls down my forehead.

Black Overdrive's six song self-titled demo EP is a hard driving and fuzzy kick in the teeth.

Black Overdrive is not the kind of band that paints beautiful pictures with highly complex song structures or atmosphere, their sound is quick and dirty graffiti scrawled on a crumbling wall.  Ripping guitars with the occasional flight of pyrotechnic frenzy and blazing drums create a backdrop for yelled vocals that get their point across needless of melody.

'Black Overdrive' is nothing if not consistent in feel and sound.  And that feel has to do with having one's head in a vice and the sound has to do with the grinding of one's teeth.  It's an intense affair, with no let-up.  Crushing guitars and pedal to the metal drums with the punk ethos prevalent on Annimal Machine's EP flip the bird to big studio magic, hair and makeup bands that are all about quantity over quality.  This is really what ties all the underground bands together throughout the world.  But the question of whether integrity begets quality becomes a chicken and egg thing.

Black Overdrive play what they want and say what  they want, fortunately, what they want is for the best.  "War Weather Worshipper" has already been a hit on the Doom Charts and there's no drop off in quality from there.  Each of the six tracks on their demo EP is killer with a consistent mood (with perhaps the understandable exception of their version of Fu Manchu's "Squash That Fly", although it leads perfectly into "War Weather Worshipper") and casually terrific performances.  There's nothing casual about me at this point, though.  I've got sweat stains on my back and armpits and am hunched over, panting.  But I move forward, ever forward to travel north ...

Hellryde Inc. - Hellryde Incorporated

Highlights include: "Piss Me Off" and "Insomnia".  From:

Monterrey, Nuevo León.  Rating: 4.5/5

Way up north from Mexico City, very nearly at the Texan border we arrive in Monterrey, one of the most highly 'developed' cities in Mexico to listen to the debut EP from one of the country's most highly developed underground bands, Hellryde Inc.

Zakk Wylde-ian guitar squeals and a clean production sound across the board give this EP a kind of sheen that is in stark contrast to Black Overdrive's offering but is no less raw for it.  The power felt on Annimal Machine and Black Overdrive is still dominant here thanks largely to the aggressive performances of Jesús Osuna [Guitar], Guillermo Uribe [Bass] and Javier Arévalo [Drums] and the confident belting of vocalist Edson Lee.

Hellryde Inc. blast through their five songs in just a smidgeon over twenty minutes and it flies by in a  flash.  So many styles and sounds are referenced here that it gives the listener no time to really get settled into the record and become a complacent listener.  Groove metal, southern metal, stoner, doom and heaps of other statements flit by and  in the blink of an eye are splattered across the windshield and quickly forgotten.  It's always time to move on, always time to move forward on this record.  Graveyard visitation feelings abound on "Love is in the Grave".  A nice wavy tall grass sound in the intro and an "I need to go for a drink" vibe in the breakdowns found within the verses bring these feelings to fruition, but the song's brevity gives it an incomplete feel.  Although as I said, they sure do keep things moving at a fast pace in every single way.  Got to keep moving forward, no looking back on the Hellryde lest ye be turned to a pillar of salt, which would no doubt quickly be forgotten and abandoned.

Despite all that, the band manage to invoke a trademark sound and an identity all its own.  Melting tires sliding on hot pavement at night.

So there it is and there they you have it, three EPs, 14 songs and 71 minutes from a trio bands from Mexico that have nothing to do with each other except that they are all hard and heavy and the listening of which will result in a delirium inducing fever.  I see a vision of wavy lines taking shape.  I need to go outside, get some air.  I open the door and ... ah, rain again.  It was all a mirage.

Genre: Stoner, Metal

Release Date: September 1, 2012 (Annimal Machine); November 1, 2012 (Black Overdrive); December 13, 2012 (Hellryde Inc.)

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Take a cold shower or move to Vancouver where cold showers are the norm 250 days of the year.

Better Reviews:
Ride With The Devil Annimal Machine review
Stoner Hive Annimal Machine review
Global Domination Black Overdrive review
Ear Munchies Hellryde Inc review

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