2013 Chronicle (Year in review) part 8 - Best of July 2013

July 1 - Chili Cold Blood (And Now the Dawn)

July 2 - Pyres (Year of Sleep)

July 5 - GOATESS (ST) - Pure psychedelic doom.  The sum of Swedish quartet Goatess's debut was greater than its parts and made for one of the best debut records of the year.  Then again, it wasn't entirely unexpected as I can't see legendary vocalist Chritus being involved in anything that isn't great.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Eyes of Zamiel" and "Devil's Wind".  Rating 4/5

July 5 - TOMBSTONE (Where the Dead Belong) - Though the official release date for this one is in January, the album was available for streaming only for months, it wasn't made available to download until this date.  In the end, it was a terrific collection of stoner blues riffs in the Church of Misery mold and a light years leap forward from their 2012 debut EP.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Werewolf" and "No Tomorrow".  Rating 4/5

July 6 - Black Majik Acid (ST)

July 6 - Ride Into the Sun (ST mini-LP)

July 8 - Corsair (Alpha Centauri)

July 9 - DIRTY STREETS (Blades of Grass) - The long awaited follow-up to this Memphis trio's excellent 'Movements' album displayed a soulful veneration of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and the J.B.'s while still sounding like back country cousins to the Black Keys.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Blades of Grass" and "Truth".  Rating 4.5/5

July 9 - EARTHEN GRAVE (ST) - What's not to love about this one?  Ex-Trouble man Ron Holzner, world-class violinist Rachel Barton Pine and a great vocalist in Mark Weiner help make Earthen Grave's debut on Ripple Music a winner.  Guitarists Jason Muxlow & Tony Spillman pile on the riffs like mashed potatoes while Barton Pine pours on the gravy.  This album would be a stand out any year in any era.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Earthen Grave" and "Death is Another Word".  Rating 5/5

July 9 - SHROUD EATER (Dead Ends EP) - Florida sludge metal trio Shroud Eater ripped faces on their third official release.  Power packed doom grooves and aggressive vocals set a tone that sticks to you like a sweaty t-shirt in a mosh pit.  This five song EP proves why Shroud Eater are among the leading [piercing] lights of Southern Sludge.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Tempest" and "Sudden Plague".  Rating 4.5/5

July 16 - PHILIP H. ANSELMO & THE ILLEGALS (Walk Through Exits Only) - Pantera / Down / Superjoint Ritual, etc. frontman Phil Anselmo's debut solo album was a remarkable work from a lifelong metal fan who simply wanted to add to his beloved music without repeating anything that had been done before.  No small task.  Well, the results speak for themselves as Phil Anselmo crafted a stunningly good metal album that simply defies subgenrefication.  It's all the more remarkable considering the 40-something year old had never really written music before.  That's not to downplay the contributions of his backing band, called 'The Illegals' for this particular release.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Walk Through Exits Only" and "Battalion of Zero".  Rating 4.5/5

July 16 - Trouble (The Distortion Field)

July 18 - BORRACHO (Oculus) - D.C.'s resident stoner rock kingpins crushed with their first substantial offering of new material since 2011's critical darling 'Splitting Sky'.  Reduced to a power trio, the band nevertheless delivered a free-flowing album that is not only a worthy follow-up to their debut, but arguably surpasses it.  Get it here. Highlights include: "I've Come For It All" and "Empty".  Rating 4.5/5

July 21 - Fangs of the Molossus (ST)

July 21 - Sumeru (ST EP)

July 23 - CURSE THE SON (Psychache) - 'Psychache' was up for streaming on bandcamp for as many as 7 months before it was finally made available for download to the public on this date.  It took a hot minute for the album to catch on, but when it did it wouldn't let go.  Hands down Ron Vanacore's riffs and vocals and drummer Michael Petrucci's groovy-infested syncopation made this one of the year's top notch doom records.  It was later still pressed to vinyl and released by STB Records.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Spider Stole the Weed" and "Goodbye Henry Anslinger".  Rating 4.5/5

July 23 - MISS LAVA (Red Supergiant) - 'Red Supergiant' was actually released late in 2012 and flew completely under the radar until Small Stone Records caught wind of it, re-mastered it for more depth and re-released it on this date.  This is where you go when you're looking for a full album's worth of relentless stoner grooves.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Ride" and "Desert Mind".  Rating 4.5/5

July 24 - Wicked Inquisition (Silence Thereafter)

July 26 - Dozer (Vultures EP)

July 30 - HOLLOW LEG (Abysmal) - Florida sludge metal quartet Hollow Leg upped the ante in a major way on their second album, providing some of the most memorable moments in the genre all year.  They did this with riffs, memorable lyrics and bone splintering power grooves of atomic blowback proportions.  Seriously, don't let this one fly under your radar.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Ride To Ruin" and "Abysmal".  Rating 4.5/5


Best Album From June 2013:
'Psychache' by CURSE THE SON

Best Song From June 2013:
"Abysmal" by HOLLOW LEG

PARANOID Thoughts:

I've prepared a Top 20 Albums on the Rise list as a companion piece to last night's Top 20 I didn't listen to enough.  Most of the albums on this list I only just caught on to recently or was too busy focused on other albums to devote an appropriate amount of attention to until just recently, and some of them are re-discoveries of albums that simply slipped past me.  Basically, I'm trying to give as many deserving albums a share of the spotlight as possible.  These are all albums on the way up my lists ...

(Deep breath...) The Top 20 Rising Albums That Probably Would Have (or at least Might Have) Made the Top 100 of 2013 List if it was Published Two Months Later (now, exhale ..!):
1). Subrosa - 'More Constant Than the Gods'
2). Arrowhead - 'Atomsmasher'
3). Motörhead - 'Aftershock'
4). Blackwitch Pudding - 'Taste the Pudding'
5). Black Majik Acid - ST
6). Sangoma - 'Diviner'
7). Gaggle of Cocks - 'Low Class Trendsetter'
8). Bayou - ST
9). Zemial - 'Nykta'
10). Eye - 'Second Sight'
11). Fuzz - ST
12). Slasher Dave - 'Spookhouse'
13). Bardo Pond - 'Peace on Venus'
14). Stoned Cobra - 'High & Mighty'
15). Cokegoat - 'Vessel'
16). Doomriders - 'Grand Blood'
17). Earth Witch - 'Earth Bound' EP
18). Foghound - 'Quick, Dirty & High'
19). Ride Into the Sun - ST mini-LP
20). Djinn & Miskatonic - 'Forever in the Realm'*

*Looks like this project may now be defunct according to bassist Jayaprakash Satyamurthy.

Tombstone - Where the Dead Belong (album review)

Cover artwork taken from "The Valley of Dry Bones" by Gustav Doré

"Here lies Paris borne power trio Tombstone (Alex, Johan and Clément).  Their rumblings shook the earth ..."

Tombstone is a relatively new band in the stoner and doom scene.  Don't feel bad if you've never heard of them.  They had a four song demo out last year and it was damn fine.  Thick, thick, smokey vibes nearly had the listener coughing and choking while listening to it.  This is their second release, but their first full-length and there have been changes or updates to the sound (more on that in a minute).  But if you're not already familiar with their demo, this is as good a place to jump in as any.  Tombstone rides the line between stoner and doom the way a witch rides a cursed wretch, suffocating in its granite block heaviness while retaining an eye catching beauty.  The guitar's tone is sharp but edged with fuzz, a fungal blade, studded and barbed with thick and deadly spores.

Strides have been made in a very short time.  'The Devil's Ride' demo was a good, dare I say strong opening salvo from a new band, but compared to 'Where the Dead Belong', it almost sounds inconsequential.  Right off the bat, the first thing you notice is the sound quality of this new release.  'The Devil's Ride' featured a murky production and a bevy of bum notes.  Of course, I just so happen to be the kind who digs that sort of thing, but there's no substitute for getting one's message across in the best light possible.  This new album does just that.

The band has brightened their sound considerably to go along with the greater sound quality.  That beautiful and heavy tone (can it be called a BBT [Big Beautiful Tone]?) is just one manifestation of this brightening.  The change in overall tone is most apparent on the re-recorded "Born of a Jackal".  A theme song for the band of sorts, it's at least three atmospheres less crushing than the original version, but there's a sleekness to the re-recording that makes it go down smooth.  Pressures still remain high throughout the record though, the ... strain ... unbearable ... on "No Tomorrow", a true slow, heavy and downtuned highlight.  In short, the riffs born under the jackal's moon are still sweetly nauseating in their tritonal rollercoastery.

Opening shot "Dance of the Dead" establishes the tone that the rest of the album will follow.  Vertigo inducing Riffs as big as the full moon as seen from the top of a crumbling mountain roll in waves, one after another, always satisfying.  The easiest, most natural thing in the world would be to compare what this band is doing to the stoned vibes of Sleep, specifically from that band's classic 'Holy Mountain' album, but that comparison might be a bit unfair to Tombstone.  Let's not get carried away here.  Still, there's a similar sensibility there to tone, mood and atmosphere.

Like fellow French doom/sludgesters Cult of Occult, Tombstone can infuse darkness into their music without having a particularly dark sound or tone to the instruments.  The darkness comes from the compositions themselves.  "Shrines", "No Sanctuary" and "Werewolf" in particular feature some ebon moods in counterpoint to the more stoner-y tone and feelings found on the record.  You can approach this album from different mindsets and it will sound appropriately different with each one.  In the end however, this album is all about Tombstone churning away riff after riff with a maniacal obsession.

Tombstone save the best of all for last with "Werewolf".  Ten minutes of incredibly dark and looming atmospheres, it's as catchy as it is bass heavy as it is epic in scope.  Somehow, the specific bass tone used here catches the full pregnant belly of the full moon in its all its silver glory, while the guitar and drums captures hectic scenes from the deep woods, the rush of grasping branches in your face and the warm night air running through your fur as you run down your panic-stricken prey.

This album has been streaming on bandcamp since January but was finally made available to download this very week.  Now get out there and get you some!

Highlights include: "Werewolf" and "No Tomorrow"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 40:18

From: Paris, France

Genre: Stoner, Doom

Reminds me of: Cathedral, Church of Misery, Green Shade, Kyuss, Sleep, Space Fog

Release Date: January 16, 2013

Better Reviews:
Temple of Perdition
Welcome to the Void

Doommantia interview

Tombstone on facebook

2012 Chronicle (Year in review) part 5 - Best of May

May 1 - Buffalo Theory MTL (Heavy Ride)

May 1 - The Heavy Eyes (2)

May 1 - SNAIL (Terminus) - Highly melodic, hypnotizing and harmonized, Snail's third full-length and second since reforming in 2008 was one of the best in the stoner rock genre.  It was also one of the most addictive albums of the year, something I went back to constantly.  Download it on the cheap on bandcamp  Highlights include "Ritual" and "Galaxies' Lament".  Rating 4/5

May 1 - Sun Preachers (Faces of Ashes)

May 1 - Whitey (Bostonia)

May 4 - Abyss (ST EP)

May 5 - STEAK (Disastronaught) - I talk about Steak a lot on this blog and for good reason: they're really freaking good.  I geeked out the first time I heard "The Butcher".  It was the perfect thing to throw on during scorching hot afternoons while looking for trouble.  It turns out there's no fooling around with this band however, this is thinking man's music with a storyline that runs throughout the five song EP chronicling the rise and fall of evil space emperor Lazarus.  Can't wait to hear their next effort this upcoming April.  Get Disastronaught here.  Highlights include "The Butcher" and "Machine".  Rating 4.5/5

May 7 - Black Moth (Killing Jar)

May 8 - Horseback (Half Blood)

May 8 - Von Thundersvolt (Demo)

May 10 - The Mermaids of the Lipetsk Shed (Oversea)

May 10 - SATELLITE BEAVER (The Last Bow) - I was so blown away by this 4 song EP that I'm only now beginning to recover.  The things this Polish quartet are able to do in 18 minutes is staggering.  "Roadtrip" contains four distinct parts and none of them repeat.  I still can't get over it.  Multi-tracked vocals give this an Alice in Chains feel, while the tone or vocal quality is more akin to Marilyn Manson.  The playing is something to behold as well, the guitars are like a tornado of distortion and fury.  Each song sounds like a chaotic riot until you realize the band are the masters and in complete control.  Find it here.  Highlights include "Roadtrip" and "Perishing".  Rating 5/5

May 15 - Pantera (Vulgar Display of Power re-issue)

May 15 - TOMBSTONE (Devil's Ride Demo) - This French trio isn't necessarily doing anything brand new, but when the band has such a knack for churning out great fuzzy doom riffs under the aegis of Sleep, they don't need to.  They have a new album coming soon.  Download the Devil's Ride EP for free here. Highlights include "Devil's Ride" and "Watch Me Bleed".  Rating 4.5/5

May 23 - Jess & the Ancient Ones (ST)

May 24 - UNMOTHERED (ST) - Normally I stay clear of black metal but the Austin Texas based 'innovators of haunt rock' hit the right spot.  What is 'haunt rock'?  Blackened atmospheric sludge metal?  You be the judge.  The band features Matt Moulis of the Hidden Hand on drums.  This album is well worth checking out.  Find it here.  Highlights include "Spectre" and "Gravitons".  Rating 4/5

May 25 - AHAB (The Giant) - Ahab's brand of nautically themed doom is epic and daunting like the ocean itself.  There's nothing really catchy here, but that's not the point.  'The Giant' was a colossal success in terms of vision and execution.  It's an experience unto itself.  And the CD booklet is full of great art, no kidding, you should check it out.  Highlights include "The Giant" and "Aeons Elapse".  Rating 3.5/5

May 25 - DSW (Dust Storm Warning) - First off, check out my review of DSW's 'Dust Storm Warning' here if you haven't already.  This was one of my favorites of the year.  Another one I can't stop talking about.  This was one of the purest and most sophisticated desert rock albums to come out in 2012.  Grab it here.  Highlights include "Outrun" and "Space Cubeship".  Rating 4/5

May 26 - WITCH MOUNTAIN (Cauldron of the Wild) - Critical darlings, Witch Mountain's third full-length album and second since their return in 2005 was a highly memorable slice of slow and punishing doom.  Vocalist Uta Plotkin of course is the star of the show and it's her huge voice belting out that is the most memorable aspect of this album.  Highlights include "Beekeeper" and "Veil of the Forgotten".  Rating 3.5/5

May 28 - Open Tomb (ST)

May 29 - Cortez (ST)

May 29 - DARK EARTH (42012) - Dark Earth are a bay area three piece that plays a thrashy style of stoner doom metal.  Their song "Evil King" is one of the catchiest songs I've heard all year, it's still in my head.  The rest of the album is pretty special, too.  Available for free download on bandcamp, don't miss it!  Highlights include "Evil King" and "Dark Earth".  Rating 4/5

May 31 - FROM BEYOND (One Year EP) - Houston Texas based trio From Beyond unleashed their debut four song EP on an unsuspecting world and the world has been a darker, doomier place ever since.  Four songs that are each memorable, they each carry their own weight and each were big hits in the Doom Charts this summer.  I listened to "Evil" for the first time wondering why the hell this wasn't the kind of thing I hear on the radio.  It's a great song with a lot of classic elements of commercial success.  Then I realized, this band is only getting started.  Get in on the ground floor here.  Highlights include "Evil (From Beyond)" and "One Year".  Rating 5/5

Best Album From May 2012:
'The Last Bow' by SATELLITE BEAVER

Best Song From May 2012:
"The Butcher" by STEAK