2013 Chronicle (Year in review) part 6 - Best of May 2013

May 1 - Geezer (Gage EP)

May 2 - Ten Foot Wizard (ST)

May 3 - Procession (To Reap Heavens Apart)

May 7 - APE MACHINE (Mangled By the Machine) - By this point in the year, the Ripple Music machine was really rolling and it was impossible not to get mangled by it.  If this album was just a hefty stoner record of no inconsiderable girth, it would be notable simply for how good it is.  But that it was recorded in a single take, front to back with no pauses between songs, makes it an essential listen.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Gun You Down" and "Angry Man".  Rating 5/5

May 10 - MAGISTER TEMPLI (Lucifer Leviathan Logos) - Old school metal combined with doom and occult / esoteric references set the foundation for this Norwegian quintet.  This was one of the more satisfying and memorable albums of the style released in 2013.  Anyway, it`s hard to go wrong with that mix of influences, Magister Templi concocted a killer potion indeed here.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Master of the Temple" and "The Innsmouth Look".  Rating 4/5

May 10 - SHALLOW GRAVE (ST) - This Auckland quartet released one of the most addictive albums of the year.  It was brutal, sludgy and doomy with droney passages which played out like time spent tied to a chair in a shed or basement waiting for the next round of torture to begin.  This album is a rare combination of dark and aggressive.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Chemical Fog" and "Nameless Chants".  Rating 4.5/5

May 12 - MAMMOTH STORM (Demo 2013) - This apocalyptically heavy trio must have emerged from deep inside a snow filled caldera.  One day Mammoth Storm and Salem's Pot are going to tickle fight to see who is Sweden's heaviest band.  All us mortals the world over will be destroyed in their convulsive jocularity.  No happy endings here, just mass.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Volcanic Winter" and "Ancient Apocalypse".  Rating 5/5

May 14 - KADAVAR (Abra Kadavar) - German retro rockin' trio Kadavar's rise was a meteoric one.  Within the space of a single year the band went from one that few outside their home territory knew about to releasing a six song album with polyrhythmic structures to being signed by Nuclear Blast and releasing a streamlined straight up hard rock record and becoming everybody's favorite buzz band.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Fire" and "Doomsday Machine".  Rating 4.5/5

May 14 - UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS (Mind Control) - UK quartet Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats (named after a band former Cactus vocalist Rusty Day formed shortly before his murder) came out of their shell this year, conducting interviews and releasing promo group shots at the behest of their new label Rise Above Records.  They also made their live debut at the Roadburn Festival (!!! [that's some venue for a debut performance]) and later toured the UK with no lesser personages than Black Sabbath themselves.  Most importantly they released their third album and all-important follow-up to 2011's terrific 'Blood Lust' which had scored the band significant underground buzz.  As always of course, opinions were split on the creative success of the record with the majority falling victim to the album's deadly charisma.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Mt. Abraxas" and "Mind Crawler".  Rating 4.5/5

May 15 - CULTURA TRES (Rezando Al Miedo) - South American sludge heroes Cultura Tres had a great year, signing to Devouter Records in late 2012, then successfully touring Europe shortly before releasing this terrific album.  Hooky, heavy & haunting, the album took Alice in Chains style harmonies and dragged them through the sludge.  'Rezando al Miedo' was one if the great albums and one of the great creative leaps forward for any band this year.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "La Ley Del Dolor" and "Hole In Your Head".  Rating 4.5/5

May 15 - Kings Destroy (A Time of Hunting)

May 17 - Evangelist (Doominicanes)

May 21 - A Pale Horse Named Death (Lay My Soul To Waste)

May 21 - ROTE MARE (The Invocation & The Kingdom) - It's not easy hearing someone pour their guts out on record but when the net results are an airtight split and a stellar pair of full-length albums it becomes a little easier to handle.  Sifting through the entrails reveals gem upon gem and any stretching of creativity expands to new heights, never thinning out.  Traditional doom never sounded so passionate.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Suicidal Slayer" and "The Thief".  Rating 4.5/5

May 24 - Steak (Corned Beef Colossus)

May 24 - Vidunder (ST)

May 27 - BLOOD CEREMONY (The Eldritch Dark) - Canadian quartet Blood Ceremony's much anticipated third album came out of left field with a folk / doom tidal wave of top notch storytelling with more than ample memorable moments to match.  A decidedly more colorful record than their previous effort 'Living With The Ancients', 'The Eldritch Dark' has been a mainstay in my Top 10 records of the year since its release.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Goodbye Gemini" and "Witchwood".  Rating 4.5/5

May 28 - Age of Taurus (Desperate Souls of Tortured Times)

May 28 - ALICE IN CHAINS (The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here) - Alice in Chains's second album since their 2009 resurrection was simply more of what you've come to expect from the grungy legends.  It's a great album, full of hooks and harmonies, big metal poses and faux cowboy ballads.  The thing I like about it most is that it exists.  Original review here.  Get it here.  Highlights include: "Stone" and "The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here".  Rating 4.5/5

May 30 - Witches of God (The Blood of Others)


Best Album From April 2013:
'The Eldritch Dark' by BLOOD CEREMONY

Best Song From April 2013:
"Mind Crawler" by UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS

PARANOID Thoughts:

And the award for record label of the year goes to: Rise Above Records.  Forget that the label is currently embroiled in a minor controversy with all-world label signees Electric Wizard, 2013 ought to be remembered for the consistently high quality of the label's output.  Everything the label released was awesome and each album that came out seemed to be better than the last.  Any one of the albums listed below would have been at or near the top of any other label's best releases list for the year, the fact that label head honcho Lee Dorrian managed to rush them all out the door in the space of a single year makes you wonder whether the anti-trust lawyers won't be coming after him some day soon.

Top 10 Rise Above Records released albums from 2013:
1). Iron Man - 'South of the Earth'
2). Blood Ceremony - 'The Eldritch Dark'
3). Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - 'Mind Control'
4). Horisont - 'Time Warriors'
5). Cathedral - 'The Last Spire'
6). Moss - 'Horrible Night'
7). Church of Misery - 'Thy Kingdom Scum'
8). Age of Taurus - 'Desperate Souls of Tortured Times'
9). The Hidden Masters - 'Of This & Other Worlds'
10). Purson - 'The Circle & the Blue Door'
Last year's winner: Small Stone Records.

Mammoth Storm - Demo 2013 (album review)

By far the heaviest of the new breed of bands to come out this year is Swedish trio Mammoth Storm.  When I listen to this I think how incredible it would be for the Liverpool band Conan to play some shows in Sweden with Salem's Pot and Mammoth Storm.  Then I get greedy and think of a way to try to bring that 1000 gees heaviness to my neck of the woods for a Saturday or Sunday night show.  A man can dream.  Needless to say it would be the heaviest show in the history of western civilization.  It would be the closest thing to re-creating the Byford Dolphin explosive decrompression incident from a stage.

Mammoth Storm's music is the kind of organism that can survive in extreme environments.  While the otherwise fragile human body can only withstand so much strain, it's a rare and amazing feat that these three lads from Sweden can even be in the same room as their instruments, let alone play them and survive.  This is the soundtrack to an underwater volcanic vent.  This is music that takes a casual stroll on the ocean floor, whistling with its hands in its pockets.  I'm saying it's extremely heavy and durable is what I'm saying.

So now you know what to expect going in.  You've got your pressure suit on, you've got your respirator in your mouth and you're ready to dive into the molten-making caldera of Mammoth Storm.  What is this stuff all about anyway?  Energetic stoner doom with a nod toward the national heroes of the Land of Nod, Sleep themselves and Electric Wizard.  Vocals are of the gruff, gravel-gurgled variety, a tough sounding voice for a tough sounding band.  It's not the kind of thing you haven't heard before, but rarely have you heard it done this well.  This is certainly one of the most promising demos released this year and you hope they never lose that heavy, heavy edge moving forward.  In some twisted way, the demo is almost too professionally recorded, you want to hear this band at its muddiest, swampiest, most imperfect form possible.  Something in what they do brings that impulse out.  It's music to hasten decay, an ink blot which turns into a shadow which then feeds on all that is bright and vibrant and begins to grow to eventually encompass the totality of the earth.

There are so many nerd debates in the forum of music, one is originality versus orthodoxy.  Now, I don't want to turn Mammoth Storm's review into a soap box or anything, but there's a lot to be said for a band that doesn't necessarily bring a whole lot that's new to the table but gets it bang on the money regardless.  Riffs that sway drunkenly and shamble like rotting corpses and vocals from putrefied chords drag out those feelings of discovering Electric Wizard or Dopelord for the first time and feast on their guts.

Come to think of it, this has got to be the best demo of the first half of 2013, at least of releases that are explicitly labelled as demos.  Naga's demo is excellent (see the review), Crowlord's is amazing too (review coming soon), but that got taken down from their bandcamp page and there are a number of others that have placed different bands of various styles on the watchlist for future developments, but Mammoth Storm's heaviness and spot on riffs can't be denied their place atop the mountain.

Of course I look forward to what comes next from the band but these three tracks, all of which are over seven minutes in length will keep me plenty busy in the meantime.  Dig in.  If you like heavy as balls, downtuned, monstrous music with just the right amount of catchiness without the pop sheen then Mammoth Storm is highly recommended.

Highlights include: "Volcanic Winter" and "Ancient Apocalypse"

Rating: 5/5


Total Run Time: 23:39

Daniel Arvidsson - Bass, Vocals
Christer Ström - Guitars
Emil Ahlman - Drums, Organ

From: Parts Unkown, Sweden

Genre: Doom, Stoner, Sludge

Reminds me of: Belzebong, Conan, Dopelord, Mamont, Mara, Salem's Pot

Release Date: May 12, 2013

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