CONAN - Revengeance

Quick note: This is an expanded version of the short review which appeared at #25 on the January 2016 Doom Chart. (Doom Charts on facebook)

Like a marauding warlord, the band Conan has never lost ground but have only added new territory with every album. In the case of their upcoming full-length, the band's third, that newly gained territory consists of increased percussive dimension. This is the result of new rhythm section Chris Fielding (bass) and Rich Lewis (drums).

Now, I had no problem with the work that Phil Coumbe and Paul O'Neill did on 'Blood Eagle', I did give the album a perfect rating after all. It was straight-forward and to the point the way you would imagine a direct assault would be from the band's namesake. 

But it's also true that as the stories of Robert E. Howard's iconic character progressed, he learned to use his skills as a thief on the battlefield. As time went on, the raging barbarian became an astute field general. 

The same is holding true for headman Jon Davis. Where once a battlecry and full-on sprint across the open field with broadaxe held high would suffice, the band finds itself in new territory, looking before they leap and thinking themselves around corners. Once the enemy is met however, the attack is just as deadly and decisive as ever.

Where ‘Horseback Battle Hammer’ documented a beast awakening into a violent world, foggy and lumbering, ‘Revengeance’ is a final shaking off of the cobwebs. Jon Davis and his band are capitalizing on lessons learned through 10 years of musical conquests to stunning effect. The battle rages on, this time the tactic is guerilla warfare which gives the band a new, progressive tinge. And they're still one of my favorite bands.

‘Revengeance’ will be released on January 29 by Napalm Records.

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Conan – Blood Eagle (album review)

Cover artwork by Tony Roberts.

Conan is one of my favorite bands.  When I first discovered doom metal, I did it from the ground floor up, by sampling the bands that made the genre: Trouble, Witchfinder General, Saint Vitus and then Pentagram, before dipping a toe into the churning waters of today’s ceaseless flow of new bands.  Conan was the first of the newer bands that I heard that I thought had the potential to have as lasting a legacy as the greats of yesteryear, to be seen 30 years on the way I see those bands listed above.  It’s destiny etched on a crude, blunt weapon.  In short, Conan are a living legend, or at the very least, one in the making.  Their first album, ‘Monnos’ was very good.  Solid stuff to be sure.  The forthcoming ‘Blood Eagle’ is a king-making kind of album.

‘Blood Eagle’ cuts right down to the heart of Conan’s sound, pulsating, pounding, rumbling and most of all, driving.  A death-dealing barbarian stalking with purpose through the canyon pass, one foot in front of the other, knowing the marauders will ambush but ever-vigilant, meaty hand on hilt.  Vocalist / guitarist Jon Davis pens monosyllabic lyrics with clear, precise and uncomplicated meaning, thinking like a Neolithic warrior.  On ‘Blood Eagle’ the music follows suit.  The results are devastating.  This is the album Conan was meant to produce.  I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the band has lived up to its Full Potential here.

Conan doesn't do anything unfamiliar on 'Blood Eagle', those elements that we’ve come to expect from the band are simply heightened, the band’s instincts sharpened.  Played at full volume, Conan’s buzzing heaviness is at a vision-inducing, religious experience level.  When Phil Coumbe’s bass kicks in two minutes into opening number “Crown of Talons” it is positively brain rattling.  The last minute or so of the nearly 10 minute opener is exactly what I’m talking about.  It’s the closest thing to a physical beat down that music can get, just a relentless wash of hammering strikes.  A tone setter indeed, that sensibility is carried over across the entire album.  ‘Monnos’ was split between driving, war-torn action and battle-weary contemplation.  ‘Blood Eagle’ is a tireless campaign of conquest and decimation.

Conan is a band of musical weapons, the more simplistic, the more brutal, the better.  In Conan’s world, engines of war are elephant powered, armor consists of leather and one’s only shield is the wits a pitiless god has granted them.  You won’t hear any psychedelic soundscapes on this album.  Quiet moments of reflection are what happens when the bone-tired victor takes a sip from a blood-clouded watering hole after battle.  Conan’s weapons are bludgeoning and honest.  “Gravity Chasm” embodies this aesthetic, heavy fuzz spikes between smashing drum strikes.  “Horns for Teeth” chugs masterfully at headbanging pace, choking out the listener with changing tempos, dragging out the final moment, easing up then pressing harder.  The lead single, “Foehammer” introduces a table spoon of rhythmic complexity to the album and at no loss to its overall mood [Watch the video below].

Mention should also be made of Davis’s new Skyhammer Studios.  ‘Blood Eagle’ wasn’t the first album to be recorded at the newborn studio (if memory serves that honor went to Serpent Venom), but this is the first album to emerge from Skyhammer that I've heard.  It sounds excellent, resonant and full-bodied with mastering to match.  Depth is at a surplus making 'Blood Eagle' a 44 series of ever-increasing peaks.

An album like this only comes around once every few years and I suspect it’ll be awhile before we hear one as good, as on-point with a band’s sound as this one is.  Whatever you do, don’t miss ‘Blood Eagle’, it’s a sure-fire classic, the crowning achievement of a world-beating band in stride, one that legends are made of.  It’s a document of a band at one with their instruments with a full understanding of what those instruments are capable of, as mentioned above, this was the album Conan was made to produce.

[Also,while waiting for 'Blood Eagle' to hit stores and mailboxes be sure to check out Conan's bandcamp page for a recently released live album right here.]

Highlights include: "Foehammer" and "Crown of Talons"

Rating: 5/5



Tracklist:
1). Crown of Talons (9:48)
2). Total Conquest (6:28)
3). Foehammer (4:55)
4). Gravity Chasm (7:57)
5). Horns for Teeth (5:46)
6). Altar of Grief (9:00)
Total Run Time: 43:52

From: Liverpool, England

Genre: Doom, Sludge

Reminds me of: Aleph Null, Crowbar, Eyehategod, Slomatics

Release Date: March 11, 2014

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Rogue Transmissions: The Vitasound Projects – American Werewolf In London (album review)

Cover artwork by Kerry Fewster.

Written and recorded over the course of six years by Leeds-based guitarist Ade Mincher, this album sets the John Landis film An American Werewolf in London against a stoner metal / sludge / post-metal soundscape.  Audio clips from the movie are spread strategically throughout the album to highlight the key narrative points to tell the nearly complete story of the film though the album is only 42 minutes long.

I love albums like this, this is pure inspiration.  Don’t get me wrong, the world isn’t exactly drowning in this type of musical project, but every now and then you’ll come across a true concept album.  More than film score / re-scoring and not precisely an instrumental album, Mincher is free from the burdens of traditional popular song structures while jammed into the tight confines of the narrative.  The freedom allows Mincher to go anywhere he wants, but the limiting factor of the narrative puts a border around such expansive territory.  The combination is enough to unleash the full potential of any creative mind and Mincher comes up aces here.

Of course, the storyline itself isn’t the only limiting factor, the underlying emotional punch of the storyline must be delivered at the same time.  Though the film is fondly remembered as one with a sense of humor, there are times when emotions run at a fever pitch, protagonist David’s extreme dread is often undercut by a silly counterpoint provided by the restless spirits of his friend and victims.  Mincher is at his best when tensions are at their highest, sympathizing tangibly with David’s plight.  Madcap intensity peels back from the edges of sanity before the final inescapable truth is accepted and ultimately embraced.

Opening number “The Slaughtered Lamb”, sweats and shrivels with nervous energy and trepidation as protagonist David and his friend Jack enter the public house to be greeted by a hostile environment.  As mentioned above, audio clips from the film are spread throughout.  The music shuts down as the pair are ejected from the pub to proceed “Beware the Moon”.  The omniscient viewpoint remains with the pub patrons while regretful strains pick the music back up.  The protagonists eventually find themselves on the forbidden moors as tension builds musically.  Micher displays skill and a sympathetic ear straight off even as the album and the ideas behind it only begin to take shape.

Later, our protagonist begins to accept that he is a werewolf on the song “Jack”.  Musically, it’s a conversation, an exploration of what it is to be a werewolf.  A hunched kind of stalking, menacing riff builds tension and gets the idea of the werewolf just right.  We all have a bit of the werewolf in us, the hunter, the killer.  It’s the not-so-secret truth of society.  It’s, apparently, the reason we are governed by laws, both secular and religious.  We all have someone in our lives, or know of someone who is basically walking upright because of society’s rules.  Those animalistic tendencies are behind the surface of all of our interactions.  A film like Werewolf in London explores these ideas without smashing you over the head with them, but it’s striking to see a hulking, murderous beast in Piccadilly Square.  Mincher’s Vitasound Project brings those elements to the surface, as “Jack”s disjointed riffing speaks directly to your “inner beast”.  “Prowler” is a creepy tune which, as you may imagine, slithers with a lurking feel, while tension builds via syncopation as David prepares for the inevitable conclusion on “Jack the Reprise”.

Many scores of underground metal bands use film clips in their music, either before or after a song, a practice perhaps most popularized in the stoner/doom genre by Electric Wizard.  The title track from Blood Farmers forthcoming album does an incredible job of interpolating audio clips with lyrics and mood, the effect is akin to a post-modern take on the traditional call-and-response verse.  But as far as I know, few if any albums have surfaced like this one.  It’s not an everyday kind of album with a clutch of hit singles and it isn’t happy, good times party music, but it gets a particular mood just right.  It might not be what you’re expecting “horror music” to sound like, but it is tonally appropriate for the subject film.  In other words, this album is certainly not for everyone, but I recommend you check it out.

Highlights include: "Jack" and "Beware the Moon"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 42:39

From: Leeds, England

Genre: Post-Metal, Stoner Metal, Sludge

Reminds me of: Jeff Wayne, Megachurch, Nova Sico

Release Date: January 31, 2014

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Sonic Mass - All Creatures Strange (album review)

Cover artwork by Barney Bodoano.

Much of the latter half of 2012 and the first half of 2013 I was creeped out by goats.  You see, East London's Sonic Mass had song up called "The Goat of Mendhis" for their then-current 'Magnetic Electric' EP [watch it on youtube here].  It was one of, if not THEE most evil sounding song I'd ever heard and probably remains so, taking the impenetrably dark vibe of Black Sabbath's titular song and turning off the lights on it while drawing the curtains closed with the opening line "I am the Anti-Christ".  The scene is then set.  It gave me exactly what I look for in my doom music.  But it traumatized me and every time I look at a goat I now wonder if I'm not looking at the anti-christ.  Maybe I don't understand things like song lyrics and point-of-view, but oh well.

Since the 'Magnetic Electric' EP was released the band has been around the old lineup change carousel and the old bandcamp page featuring the 'Magnetic Electric' EP has been taken down.  It is now an evil relic of the internet age, lost in a haunted scrapyard, spoken of only in harsh whispers.  Also lost is the band's self-titled EP from 2011, gone down the memory hole.  When the band finally did re-emerge this spring they came with what was essentially a completely different sound from what I was expecting (that I kept "Goat" in my constant rotation all along didn't help either, if I'd have payed just a bit more attention to the other songs on the 'Magnetic' EP I'd have seen how little a departure it truly was).  But that doesn't mean that "Widow Stone" wasn't amazing, for those keeping track at home it did make it to the top spot on my Top 25 songs list.  The 10-minute "Widow Stone" was a true epic and we'll touch on that one in a bit, but by the way, that early version of the song has joined its sibling E.P.'s at the bottom of the memory hole as well.  A new version occupies track three of 'All Creatures Strange'.

So why the memory hole anyway?  Is the band so dark and are they so disturbed by their own creations that they feel the need to create ... and then destroy their own monsters?  Are they tortured genius perfectionists, never satisfied with the fruits of their own labors, hiding their history in shame?  I don't know, but if I had to guess, I'd say the band prefers to show their work in completed form, in the best recorded version and also, importantly, the band doesn't shy away from recycling old pieces and concepts from old songs and re-working them into new ones.

All of that leads to this, "Iron Bong", the opening track from 'All Creatures Strange' and the beginning of a sound that has been perfected over the course of years (the band started up in 2007) into the psychedelic showcase before us.  Sonic Mass has proven an accurate name for the band, the idea of it goes far beyond simple heaviness or riff worship.  There is a mass of musical ideas on display, a techno-organic forest of sounds, ideas growing on top of ideas beneath a canopy of distortion.  Changing ideas unfold in non-euclidian nightmares of transmorphism.  Four minutes into the opening track, the familiar pattern changes giving way to a discordant coda, changing the complexion of the whole song, jarring the listener and challenging you to pay attention.  The ears prick up, this is good!  It's something the band does over and over throughout the course of the album, they take you in one direction, hypnotize you, and then when you least expect it, throw a vat of discord in your face.  Sonically, it's a paranoid's nightmare!  It's also an astonishingly simplistic technique that works wonders, hey, bands have doing this sort of thing since the time of The Beatles, but is often ignored by today's bands.  It remains a classy technique to drive dynamics.  The best example of this is the aforementioned "Widow Stone" which begins with an awesome, classic heavy riff and eventually winds up as a mindbending shamanistic ritual complete with eerie backmasking and reverse loops.  It's a completely unexpected turn and it's a beautiful thing.

Perhaps the eeriest thing of all is that the band members themselves seem like just normal guys who just so happen to play music and to take that music into some pretty far out places.  The band gives David Icke a dynamic tongue-in-cheek lift through syncopated landscapes on "Rise of the Royal Reptiles", but as I mentioned earlier some of those far out places are points in their own history.  "Black Acid Nightmare" is a re-working of their own song "Darke Hearse", and I'd say the new version has a bit more oomph.  "Pentagon Chameleon - To The Devil... A Daughter" and "All Creatures Strange" both bump up against the treacherous shores of "sound painting", but remain distinctly musical.  The album, taken in a single dose, is extremely psychedelic, perhaps startlingly so.  Ideas are fluid things here, choruses are memorable and often exciting, the overall tone of the album is one of feeling around the shadow world of an unfamiliar corridor, you may find yourself falling into rooms, tumbling down flights of stairs that are where they shouldn't be or plunging into a murky aquatic world of deep discordant tone.  But one day, and I know it's coming soon, I will make a wrong turn down a corridor lit by moonlight streaming through an open window.  The light will feel safe and inviting.  And I know, friends!  I know that that's when the goat will appear, eyes a-blazing, horns a-gleaming...

Highlights include: "Widow Stone" and "Rise of the Royal Reptile"

Rating: 4.5/5


Total Run Time: 46:24

From: London, England

Genre: Psychedelic, Stoner Rock, Doom

Reminds me of: Blue Cheer, Cream, March the Desert, The Open Mind

Release Date: December 8, 2013

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Desert Storm - Horizontal Life (album review)

incredible cover artwork by Chris Hitchman.

Fuzz.  Beards.  Booze.  Good times.  Enlightenment.

Oxford, England's aptly named Desert Storm aren't out to reinvent the karmic wheel, they just want to take it for a spin, the ultimate roadtrip on 'Horizontal Life'.  In a way, the album title should give you a solid idea of what the band is all about on this one, it's a linear thinking monolith with a 'head down and forge ahead' attitude found in the basic early song structures which build towards increasingly complex ideas with the passage of the album.

For the most part on 'Horizontal Life', especially early in the going, Desert Storm establishes a solid identity that's not entirely separate from the one found on 'Forked Tongues' yet in many ways is miles ahead of it in terms of development.  Listening to the two albums back to back is like listening to a band grow from adolescence into manhood. As for that alluded to identity, Desert Storm spins out Stoner Metal at will and in great abundance like some kind of metallic candy floss.  Mmmm, spikey.

An important thing to note is the band's desire to boot open the doors of perception and take a more thorough look at this stew we call reality.  This emphasis on immaterial matters is explored both lyrically and musically, although that may not be apparent upon a cursory listen of the first couple tracks, it's there and takes greater and greater shape as the album plays on.

But even if you are not one to explore the canyons of your mind, Desert Storm isn't going to force things down your throat.  It's enough to enjoy the raw visceral power on display.  You see, Desert Storm hits you on multiple levels and you can't help but respond in one way or another.

And then "Titan" comes on and throws you for a complete loop.  Its hollow black metal atmospheres of the opening passage make you wonder whether this is the same band playing.  Ah, the wonders of the computer age (did I accidentally play a video or another song or playlist on itunes?  Nothing is safe when clumsy fingers interact with keyboard navigation).  Anyway, the song becomes an epic spaced out journey through parts unknown which for a moment or two becomes a quasi psychological thriller soundtrack from the 1980s.  Somewhere in the mix the band also comes to a boil on some of the heaviest, headbanginest and groovy sections of the whole album.  If that sounds awesome to you, it's not nearly as awesome as the song itself.  The atmospheric wizardry continues into eastern/western headspinner "Gaia" as the full scope of the album begins to come into focus.

'Horizontal Life' is like a classic album from a time when bands not only wanted to, but were encouraged to try new things, take on different textures and styles all on one record.  The band maintains a singular identity but fearlessly ventures into unexpected places.  Not a lot of bands are brave, willing or capable enough to do such a thing.  They were in the sixties, and there hasn't been a lot of this experimentation since, I find.  Corrosion of Conformity's 'Blind' album and some of Alice in Chains' early different takes on their own sound comes to mind but there just hasn't been too much of it.  Desert Storm 'go there' and deserve your respect and the lending of your ear for their efforts.

With 'Horizontal Life', Desert Storm has crafted a sword.  They take the 'stoned' sounds of the desert and having dug around in other gritty areas of the earth, take those stones and raw elements and smelted them down, refining them into a solid piece of metal.  It swings, slices through but also leaves a heavy impact.  Yes, this album is a sword.

Highlights include: "Shadow of an Eagle" and "Titan"

Rating: 4.5/5



Tracklist:
1). Word to the Wise Man (4:09)
2). Shadow of an Eagle (4:38)
3). Astral Planes (5:57)
4). No Slave To Master (5:16)
5). Mr. Strongbatch (3:50)
6). Enslaved in the icy Tundra (6:01)
7). Lunar Domes (3:27)
8). Titan (10:58)
9). Shenzhen (6:41)
10). Gaia (5:26)
11). Hofmann (3:29)
12). Scorpion (4:24)
Total Run Time: 1:04:11

Chris White: Guitar
Ryan Cole: Guitar
Chris Benoist: Bass
Elliot Cole: Drums
Matt Ryan: Vocals

From: Oxford, England

Genre: Stoner Metal, Southern Metal

Reminds me of: Clutch, Diesel King, Peacemaker

Release Date: April 1, 2013

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Ghold - Judas Ghoat (album review)

Cover Artwork by Chris Fane.

Ghold are yet another Soggy Bog of Doom discovery.  It just might be impossible to listen to that show without discovering something great.  This time around it comes in the form of a UK band who fit in well enough musically and were just generally good enough to pull the opening slot for Conan and Bongripper when that caravan rolled through town.  Food for thought for the uninitiated.  It's a good starting place when thinking about the sound of Ghold, and that's a high compliment indeed.  Of course, there are things which set them apart from not just those two venerated ones, but from just about any other doom band you will ever hear.

Press play and what you get is bouncing rollercoaster rhythms that someone accidentally left the "kill" setting on for.  Not so fun after all.  Pretty brutal as a matter of fact.  But no need to go run and grab the old mop and scumbucket because this ride will not induce vomiting.  You heard it here first people!  Fluids may be exchanged at listeners' discretion however, this will most likely result in bloody puddles.

Similarities with Conan run a bit deeper than the surface.  They have that same pituary aggression in the monosyllabic vocals and overall delivery whereby each guitar strum is like a bicep and each snare hit is like an injection of steroids.  Much of the time on the two longer compositions, Ghold plays it slow, standing on a peak, chest thumping and shouting proudly as a ritualistic warning to all the puny people below.  However, when the tempo is turned up, that's when things get freaky, like Bane pumping the juice into his system and blowing up like a pissed off balloon right in front of your eyes.

"Our Sciolist's Ritual" is a funhouse mirror's study in tempo.  From a crawl to a sprint back down to a crawl again over a fifteen minute course, the song takes the shape of a carnivorous plant and it's activities which are as follows: to wait patiently until that trap is sprung.  Then, a veritable feast!  Then, to rest again.  Or continuing with the barbarian imagery: stalk, PILLAGE, rest.

As "That Woebegone" slams in, you realize how special your time with the band's drummer is and why you shouldn't let it slip away unappreciated.  It's a busy and varied performance, once more switching tempos the way swamp dwellers change socks.  It's the song I heard on Soggy Bog and it's my favorite from the tape.  Oh yeah, I got it ('Judas Ghoat') on tape and it's an attractive package.  Both sides of both the booklet and the actual cassette itself are professionally printed.  The booklet, the actual tape and even the artwork itself reminds me of the heyday of tapes, it's got that feel of that all-too brief shining moment between the fall of vinyl and the rise of the mp3 format, when instead of an ipod I would walk around with a backpack full of tapes (for any and all moods and occasions), so that with each step I took I sounded like a walking tictac box.  Sigh ...

Anyway, right, "That Woebegone", killer stuff and as I said, it's the highlight on this tape, the coming together of the various ideas found scattered throughout 'Judas Ghoat' all done up in an intense package.  "Breathe In Beast" has its moments of skull crushing intensity too, but the watchword here is "dynamics".  Things go up, things go down, then just when things are seeming to normalize that when things go all pear-shaped and spin out of control.  It's a bit like the game Mousetrap, remember that one?  The game based on the conceit that 'a better mousetrap' is never as elegant as the one that actually works?  The game where you spent what feels like a solid month of youthful time building some crazy contraption to push a ball through the crazy maze and all told it takes like 5 or 10 seconds and it's done?  Remember that game?  Man, let me tell you, no one ever wanted to play Mousetrap twice.  That or 52 card pickup.  But 'Judas Ghoat' is nothing like that.  In fact, I like it a lot.  Maybe it's because I don't have to sit there and build Ghold's crazy contraptions, I can just listen to and enjoy the end result.  It's a stunner of a debut and though only 4 tracks, at 40 minutes, gives you full value for what you pay, which is entirely up to you, by the way.  Unless of course, you're awesome and you pick yourself up a tape like I did, then it's a modest ₤4.

Highlights include: "That Woebegone" and "Hairshirt"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 39:29

From: London, England

Genre: Doom, Sludge

Reminds me of: Balam, Conan, Highgate

Release Date: April 8, 2013

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Peacemaker - Cult .45 (album review)

Artwork by Jen O'Brien.

Peacemaker are another solid entry into the world of doom metal from the next wave of British doom bands.  After teasing audiences with a three song EP which promised great things last summer, the band finally dropped the full album's worth of material (all three sampler songs are on this album).  Peacemaker doom is streamlined and groove oriented.  If you like metal and you're into doom, then I think you'll like this album.

'Cult .45' is best described as a gallery of power.  This album is a headbanger's dream, showcasing a manly penchant for doing as much with as little as possible.  Simplicity is key here, no need to make things too complicated.  However, within that cloak of simplicity underlies a profound largesse and a pool of ideas that has verily boiled over.  It's like the effect that Ritalin has on a racing mind, it speeds things to overwhelming levels, producing a seeming, exterior calm.  But what appears simplistic and straightforward on the surface is actually roiling with purpose and heavy handed reason.

Riffs topple headlong one after another with all the horrible beauty of unstoppable machines and power grooves filter out any unnecessary movement with mechanical precision.  'Cult .45's 33 minutes are nothing if not economical.  Peacemaker shrugs and hillsides crumble, mountains quake and re-shape the land.  The best riffs are the most simplistic ones and when those riffs are coupled with anthemic vocals the effect is earth-shaking, mountain-moving and relentlessly groovy.

Vocals are deep and gruff while remaining 'realistic', un-effected for the most part and maintaining a naturalistic toughness.  Once again this thing rolls on big wheels, rolling riffs on a relentless rotation within songs and throughout the album.  Orphan-making wheels within wheels.  "Sorrow Trip" takes the general feel of Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and gives it an update for the doomed era.  If the riffs all seem classic, it's because some of them really are.  The band is somehow handling archetypal metal riffs and ideas and doing it with a level of control and (again) economy that is truly impressive, especially for a first album.  It would be so easy to take a hamfisted approach to these ideas and overcook them or smother them in the ketchup of over-exuberance, Peacemaker knows what they have on their hands and know what to do with it.  And though the band exercise an impressive level of control on this album, they retain a looseness to the performances.

At the end of the day I think it's fair to say that, if you are not in a doom band, that this is the kind of music and the kind of style that you would want your doom band to play.  Achieving a zen state of Headbanging simplicity with the air of old school metal wisdom and beer can crushing sensibilities but every inch a doom band, Peacemaker have now made their presence known.  And mountains tremble at their approach.

Highlights include: "Follow the Rats" and "The Siberian Problem"

Rating: 4.5/5


Total Run Time: 33:05

Guitar - Sam Taylor
Vocals - Al Osta
Drums - Rich Maw
Bass/Wizard - Al Lawson

From: London, England

Genre: Doom, Metal

Reminds me of: Beastwars, Demon Lung, Desert Storm, Diesel King

Release Date: June 24, 2013

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Age of Taurus - Desperate Souls of Tortured Times (album review)

For me, Age of Taurus has been part of a wave of traditional doom that I've been standing on the shoreline watching with the binoculars getting bigger and bigger, until all around me start to flee in panic whereas I simply drop what I'm holding, strike a 'Jesus Christ Pose' and enjoy the ride.  For all the confused and headscratching talk on more mainstream metal sites and zines of doom metal 'making a comeback' and tepid announcements of it 'starting to become popular again' and such like it takes good music and strong new bands to even begin to generate a buzz, however low or distant it may be.  Church of Void, Rote Mare, Aniara, Procession, Evangelist (thanks Phil!), not to mention Cardinals Folly and Black Oath, both of whom I've reviewed for Sludgelord (check out the reviews appendix tab), and yes, Age of Taurus build on a solid foundation laid by Argus, Las Cruces, Pale Divine and Gates of Slumber to name a few.  Most of these bands are brand new to me and some of them are brand new period.  This is Age of Taurus' first appearance in over three years (since guitarist / vocalist Toby Wright's original 2010 demo), their first with a full-line up and their debut full-length album.

'Desperate Souls of Tortured Times' did not arrive after three long years without more than its fair share of birth pangs and tribulations.  For one thing the album was pretty much worked out and all written by early 2011 by a then newly minted lineup.  But after a couple of near misses in the terms of personnel changes in the form of guys moving around to different places, the band ultimately solidified its foundation and what promised to be some major shake-ups ended up as only some small tremors.  It was for this reason that the band had to cancel some fairly high profile gigs, much to their own horror.  It was a dark time indeed for the band.

But rays appeared on the horizon like a crown of golden thorns through the gloom, for then came the band's signing with Rise Above, the recording of this album and Age of Taurus playing their asses off in front of live audiences across Europe and yes, even hopping across the pond to play some dates in North America.  Not every band get opportunities like these.  They must be something special, no?

So what was the world waiting so long to hear?

Traditional doom that is as powerful as it is melodic.  Driving rhythms which propel melodic vocals.  Vocals that build momentum by what they reign in as much as by what they unleash.  In the best traditional doom ... er, tradition, Age of Taurus' compositions are well structured affairs with muscular riffs and powerful drums.  As always with Paranoid Hitsophrenic bands, they start with a solid riff and expand on it, speeding and slowing as needed, soloing and incorporating harmonies.

I can't say that Age of Taurus are the most original band in the world, but so much of the appeal of doom and its subgenres is built around bands getting a familiar sound right, without straying too far into well-worn territory.  In that way I can't imagine trad. doom people not digging the hell out of 'Desperate Souls of Tortured Times'.  Again, and as in most trad. doom bands, the vocals stand out above the other elements, but not in a way you might expect.  These aren't the acrobatic and expressive vocals of epic metal.  There's an understatement here that just fits, an overall inoffensiveness that are neither too busy nor lazy.  They hit that perfect Josh Homme point and have a similar tone.

Mostly, Age of Taurus keep things slow and moody especially on "Embrace the Stone", but this album is full of dynamism, within that framework of slow / fast comes some unexpected moments and decisions that are quite satisfying.  This latter song in particular keeps things interesting and fresh and, though the longest cut on the album by about two minutes, holds the listener's attention throughout.  You won't find any long droney or improvised passages on this album, as I've said above this is tightly structured stuff, which should come as no surprise considering how long the band had to wait to record the damn thing.  It's because the band keeps things relatively downtempo for the most part that the songs the band chose to bookend the album with are all the more powerful, fast-paced chuggers.

'Desperate Souls of Tortured Times' is pretty special.  To be honest with you, it sounds a lot more like to confident statement of a veteran band in mid-stride than a debut album from a band finding its niche.  Perhaps that veteran feel comes from the band not setting out to break any molds, rather a strong sense of structure and good taste in influences are the aggregate of this solid foundation.  No, Age of Taurus will not change the way you think about music but they don't need to, they are another reassurance that the best stuff comes in hard and heavy doses of riffs.

Highlights include: "A Rush of Power" and "Embrace the Stone"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). A Rush of Power (6:03)
2). Sinking City (6:04)
3). Always in the Eye (5:09)
4). Walk With Me, My Queen (6:08)
5). Desperate Souls of Tortured Times (5:18)
6). Embrace the Stone (8:02)
7). The Bull and the Bear (5:10)
Total Run Time: 41:51

Toby Wright - Vocals/Guitar
Alastair Riddell - Guitar
Richard Bruce - Bass
Darius Claydon - Drum
From: London, England

Genre: Traditional Doom

Reminds me of: Anciients, Bedemon, Candlemass, Revelation, Witchsorrow

Release Date: May 27, 2013

Better Reviews:
Ech(((o)))es and Dust
Heavy Planet
Sleeping Shaman
Ave Noctum
Last Rites

Age of Taurus on facebook

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OR HERE (digital)

Pombagira - Maleficia Lamiah (album review)

Cover artwork by Matt Doughty & Neil Harding.

Being so new to the field of doom metal has its benefits.  One of them is discovering all the amazing bands that exist within the hallowed tombs of the genre all at once.  Bands that have an established presence and extensive discography.  You get all the discovery without any of the baggage of expectation.  One of them is London, England's Pombagira.  They've been releasing albums for some five years now but their latest, 'Maleficia Lamiah' is my first taste of the duo (Pete & Carolyn).  I discovered them via Dr. Doom's Lair and was swayed by the Lord of Latveria's glowing words, but wasn't sure what to expect when I finally saw the tracklist.

Normally I don't do the 40 minute, two song kind of albums.  I like Acid Mothers Temple and their hour long songs, but typically, the overly long compositions don't grab me.  I like my music either short, sweet and to the point or around the world in under 8 minutes.  That all goes out the window though with Pombagira because they paradoxically do both in a longer format.  It really takes some doing to stop 18 and 22 minute songs from getting boring or lagging, especially those of the slower variety (see "Grave Cardinal").  They do it using the age old secret of a dynamic song structure.  Instead of droning on with one or two riffs, Pombagira incorporate several sections of music with ambient or exploratory bridges into single, yet still catchy, compositions.

Opus one, the title track, "Maleficia Lamiah" is just an incredible piece of music.  I would have never expected to ever find myself repeating the words "Maleficia" and "Lamiah" over an over again, but it's a damn catchy tune with a damn catchy chorus.  The first five minute section of this song will have you finishing your Latin and Greek homework on time for once (or at least finding an institution that offers such courses here in the dumbed-down future we find ourselves in).  It has me "googling" that's for sure.  "Maleficia", it turns out is the name given to the heinous and hideous acts of witchcraft.  Very cool.  It also helps illuminate slightly the title of the Heinrich Kramer, James Sprenger torture manual Malleus Maleficarum (1487), I've got the book on my shelf (I should get around to reading it).  The title of the book translates to "the hammer of witches", but I better understand it now as "the hammer of evil" as witches at that time were seen as the living embodiment of all things evil in mankind but would better be understood, yet again as all things distorted by man's cultural sexual sublimation, manifested as deep distrust of and even disdain for women.  It all ties in with ideas of original sin and temptation and it's all fucked.  Anyway, Lamia was a beautiful queen of Libya in Greek mythology who turned into a hideous child-eating demon.  Also cool.  I'm still not sure what it all means so I turn to my trusty lyric sleeve that comes with the CD and ... I'm still too stupid to understand, but damn if I don't dig the way it sounds.  Section two is a psychedelic soundscape, spilling into a vortex of reverb and dischordant swells, the passing of which is heralded by birdsong into the next section.  Section three is a largely acoustic and understated journey back to the main verse/chorus section of the song.  Like I said, it's a tour de force and an absolutely timeless manuscript on how to tell a story through music and how to make a long song dynamic without ever flagging interest in the listener.

As mentioned earlier, "Grave Cardinal" is the slower of the two compositions found here.  Autumnal feelings in a loam padded forest of dead trees, crisp air like sparkling little daggers in the lungs and there's some ... thing after you.  Buzz saw riffs slice through serenity creating paranoia which eventually slows down to survey the surroundings.  Another excellent vocal melody characterizes the lyrical sections of the song.  The listener never really gets settled in here, before they are whisked away by fear caused by sudden movements and noises without origin.  The buzzsaw riff torches peace and comfort even further, this is the point in the story the song paints in my mind that the listener finds an axe in a tree stump and a rope tied loosely around a tall branch, miles deep in the woods far from help or home.  This is also when the listener in the story realizes that the malignant force chasing them is making him choose the instrument of his own demise.  About halfway through the track, the organ is brought out and brings to mind some 'Dark Side of the Moon' era Pink Floyd, but this is (thankfully) darker and heavier than any song Pink Floyd ever did (aside perhaps from "The Massed Gadgets of Hercules" demo which eventually became "Careful with that Axe, Eugene").

Photo by Vic Singh.

Long compositions and instrumental music can do amazing things, it can create wonders undreamt of in the mind.  I feel indebted to Pombagira for seeding mine with such vivid pictures.  At the end of the day I can't decide which side of the record I dig more, the immediately catchy and accessible but ultimately more exploratory and contemplative side A title track or the slower and moodier but altogether more 'together' and sonically consistent side B.  I dig them both.  Yeah, definitely a halloween-y vibe on the latter side, but still, side A's got some powerful moments ... It could go on forever.  I like them both.

Through the careful use of minor chords for counterpoint and some distantly wailed background harmonies 'Maleficia Lamiah' becomes an emotionally charged album with stunning depth.  Cryptically, I will say, in the winter time, this is woods music, in the summer time this is seaside / beach music but only reserved for the most suppressingly hot and heavy days.

Rating: 4/5



Tracklist:
1). Maleficia Lamiah (18:51)
2). Grave Cardinal (22:06)
Total Run Time: 40:56

From: London, England

Genre: Doom, Psychedelic

Reminds me of: Overall, nothing I've seen or heard.

Release Date: March 18, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: When you're deep in the woods like that do you choose the axe or the rope?  Which one's more useful to you?

Better Review:
Dr. Doom's Lair

The Obelisk interview

Pombagira facebook

GET IT HERE

Special thanks to Dr. Doom's Lair, for introducing me to Pombagira (see link above)

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats - Mind Control (album review)

Uncle Acid (the Jim Jones of Rock?) has returned, Deadbeats in tow.  It's two years later, the skies are a little more smog choked, the streets are a little more crowded and there are just that many more potential Acid Coven cult members.  If word about this band ever got out into the mainstream, it could be a revolution.  What's frightening is that it could very well happen with this album.

The album opens with "Mt. Abraxas" and its interpreted likeness graces the album cover.  Abraxas, of course, is a Gnostic word of various attribution, but most commonly interpreted as their word for God (as per Carl Jung).  The song tells the story of the people who climb the mountain, one after the other, while sadly "they don't know, there's nothing up there".  Meanwhile, Uncle Acid plays with our Sabbath fanaticism by directly quoting the opening riff of "After Forever" (without disrupting the flow of the song!), which as we know was Sabbath's unabashedly Christian apologia from 'Master of Reality' in which Ozzy implored that "God is the only way to love".  It's incredibly ironic that currently Black Sabbath themselves are set to release their first new album in a coon's age with a lead single called "God Is Dead?", which deals with a similar theme that is not nearly as well thought out or well handled as Uncle Acid's opening track.  The word Abraxas, again has more than one interpreted meaning, but I'm going to go with the assumption that Uncle Acid here is referring to God, or some light of spiritual knowledge, understanding or comfort.  This is a brilliant way to start the album and is Uncle Acid's way of inviting the listener into his cult, for first he who seeks a higher truth must first acknowledge none higher than ye olde Uncle Acid.  It's been a long, long time since I felt this way about any single song, or that is to say, thought so deeply about any single song.  It's a highlight of an already bright discography and the seminal moment of the album from which all ideas flow like evils from Pandora's box.

There's a palpable Beatles influence here.  I should say, more of a palpable Beatles influence on this album, expanding on the hints of the mustachioed quartet's influence on Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats previous album, 'Blood Lust'.  Specifically, this Beatlesque feeling comes across most clearly in the form of "Death Valley Blues" and "Valley of the Dolls", which play on the Liverpudlians Indian excursion, during which they famously lived for a month with The Beach Boys, Donovan and Prudence Farrow among others in a Transcendental Meditation camp in the remote foothills of Rishikesh, India.  Another brilliant touch, playing on the fabs' foray into 'religious awakening', which may or may not have been a conscious decision when composing the album.  It may have been a stray mood, thought or feeling floating around when thinking about the themes on this album.  If nothing else 'Mind Control' is a bucket of cold water in the face of 'seekers', the theme being that the titular subject of the album being the end result of religious belief, practice and the following of religious leaders.

But if you think it's all an intellectual exercise without any of the visceral punch that catapulted the band's earlier efforts, then fear not.  'Mind Control' has hooks on chains, beginning with "Mt. Abraxas" and following through with "Poison Apple" the lead off single and goes from there.  When I think about what makes a great and memorable chorus, I think about, when I read the song title does the chorus come washing in to my mind?  "13 Candles" from 'Blood Lust' does this in a big way, as does "Death's Door" and "I'll Cut You Down".  "Mind Crawler", "Follow the Leader" and "Valley of the Dolls" have this in spades as well.  5 out of 9 songs with this hookiness factor is phenomenal.

I was expecting to be let down with this album.  I really was.  I'm a cynic when it comes to music, I'll admit it.  We've all been let down so many times in the past with favored artists not reaching the pedestal our ears have put them on.  It's nobody's fault but our own ... okay, okay, no more tarnishing you with my same dirty brush, it's nobody's fault but mine.  I certainly won't be one to blame the artist, it's human nature to be left behind by the ever-changing wiles of the artist or for the artist to choke under pressure.  After all, this is their label debut (on Rise Above Records no less).  When nobody's watching it's relatively easy to stay loose and do one's best, but once the attention turns one's way, it's understandable to fold under pressure.  'Blood Lust' is such a fantastic record, one of my favorites, that there was no way Uncle Acid would be able to reach those same heights, were they?  That's just not the way things work, right?

Well it is now.  The truth is, in a lot of ways that count, 'Mind Control' is a better overall record than 'Blood Lust'.  Not only is it strong musically, but it's well thought out and executed.  In fact, I'm not sure I've heard a record that was more well planned and executed.  Not for a long time anyway.  While many concept albums play out like great films or novels, 'Mind Control' is like a master's thesis.  And don't get too uptight if your nerdy younger sister starts talking about Uncle Acid at the dinner table, it's his time now, he won't be your prized little secret for too much longer.

Highlights include: "Mt. Abraxas" and "Poison Apple"

Rating: 4.5/5


Tracklist:
1). Mt. Abraxas (7:09)
2). Mind Crawler (4:22)
3). Poison Apple (4:14)
4). Desert Ceremony (5:10)
5). Evil Love (4:08)
6). Death Valley Blues (4:59)
7). Follow the Leader (6:29)
8). Valley of the Dolls (7:11)
9). Devil's Work (6:56)
Total Run Time: 50:30

K.R. Starrs (Guitar, Vocals)
Dean Millar (Bass)
Thomas Mowforth (Drums)
Yotam Rubinger (Guitar, Backing Vocals)

From: Cambridge, England

Genre: Psychedelic, Doom, Rock

Reminds me of: The Beatles

Release Date: May 14, 2013

Better Reviews:
The Obelisk
Sludgelord
Dr. Doom's Lair
Stonerobixxx

Cvlt Nation interview

Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats facebook
Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats on Encyclopedia Metallum

GET IT HERE

Cathedral - The Last Spire (album review)

Before we even begin, I'm going to pre-emptively let the reader in on a little secret: I do not have as exhaustive a knowledge and/or deep and mystic an understanding of Cathedral's back catalogue as others do.  I have their first album 'Forest of Equilibrium' on CD with the 'Soul Sacrifice' EP and a bonus DVD which was a major score for something like 10 bucks down at ye ole Scrape Records.  Anyway, since then I've downloaded and listened to 'The Ethereal Mirror', 'The Carnival Bizarre' and Paul Chain's brilliant 'Alkahest' album, on which Lee Dorrian sings vocals.  What you won't be getting here with this review is an expert's context, where this album fits in to the band's recorded legacy, nor any of that nonsense.  So, what with this being a final album, if Cathedral makes reference either musically or lyrically to their past works on this album, it will fly right over my head.  This album will be judged solely on its own merits, as it should be.  Right, so let's begin then ...

Oh, before we begin the beginning ... this should come as no real surprise but Cathedral and their album 'Forest of Equilibrium' were one of the first doom metal bands and albums that I discovered.  In fact I was so new to it, I didn't even realize that it was considered doom metal.  I wasn't even looking for doom, per se, when I found them.  I found them on Decibel magazine's Hall of Fame records thing, I listened to a track on youtube and went down to Scrape and picked it up, and though it took a while for the record to grow on me, I've been a fan ever since.

Okay, time for some truth now.  What I'm doing is avoiding the issue of actually getting down to reviewing this thing.  I don't want to do it really.  This being their acknowledged swansong, there's too much finality to it all, it's so hard to let go.  It's a fact that looms over the record thematically as well.  The ambient, crow cawing intro "Entrance To Hell" is a bell-ringing call to "Bring out yer dead!" and leads into the 11 and a half minute "Pallbearer" (there's that death theme).  Most noticeable of all are some of the lyrics which are well worth looking into:  "Living in the shadow / of the damned Cathedral" jumps out at you as do the lyrics of the lead single "Tower of Silence".  If one wanted to read into them, the lyrics would certainly appear to tell the story of a conflicted Lee Dorrian who on the one hand is happy to shuck the carapace of the band he has made an institution while at the same time suffering some doubt and anxiety about doing so.

One gets the feeling however, that Dorrian and co. have moved on creatively from most of what Cathedral represents.  One of the band's most signature techniques, that being Dorrian's sing-songy vocal style so familiar and prominent on the earlier albums, makes but brief appearances on "Pallbearer" and "Infestation of Grey Death" and is largely muzzled.  But the riffs are there, the vibe is there for one last blaze and the effort is genuine.  At the end of the day, it's a good job that they didn't just phone the effort in, because knowing this to be the last album, the feeling is that fans might have been happy with a 40 minute album but they went full bore and gave the listener a full 56 minute farewell.

Photo by Ester Segarra.

The morbidity expressed on this record begins to play out like a ritual by the midway point of "An Observation".  It plays out like a ritual in the sense that a funeral is a ritual that is meant to ease the suffering of survivors by "letting the deceased depart".  That's what this album is like.  That anxiety and doubt expressed in some of the lyrics aren't the band's doubt and anxiety.  It's yours.  It's the listener's.  Cathedral do a masterful job here of exhaling all that is left of the potent smoke of inspiration while easing long-time fans out of their high.  Most bands just break-up and are either never heard from again or re-form 20 years later and the vibe is never the same.  Cathedral go more than half the distance for their fans and for that alone they should be lauded endlessly.  This album allows the band to go out on their own terms.  How many bands can say that?

Some twenty plus years ago Cathedral created a monolith.  Without a doubt Cathedral is one of the most influential bands in the Doom Metal genre (just look at and listen to Electric Wizard's first album, then see what they went on to do) and their legacy was secure long before work even began on this album.  Will 'The Last Spire' add to this legacy and win the band legions of new fans?  It hardly matters.  As an exclamation point on a long and varied career it's no slam dunk perhaps, but it allows the venerated band to go out with dignity and is well worth a listen.  With such new wave bands as Witchsorrow, Moss and Alunah patrolling the British shores, the UK stoner / doom / sludge scene is in excellent hands, and it's all thanks to this band, who now turn it over to them to inspire the next generation of doomed and sludgy stoners.

Highlights include: "Infestation of Grey Death" and "Tower of Silence"

Rating: 4/5


Tracklist:
1). Entrance To Hell (3:07)
2). Pallbearer (11:38)
3). Cathedral of the Damned (5:48)
4). Tower of Silence (6:53)
5). Infestation of Grey Death (9:02)
6). An Observation (10:19)
7). The Last Laugh (0:38)
8). This Body, Thy Tomb (8:47)
Total Run Time: 56:10

From: Coventry, England

Genre: Doom

Reminds me of: Alunah, Electric Wizard, Moss, Witchsorrow and every other band in the doom subgenre that has come since them

Release Date: April 30, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Weep, cry and mourn or smile.

Better Review:
Doommantia
Dr. Doom's Lair

Cathedral facebook

GET IT HERE

The Alchemical Mixture - Church of Void & King Goat (album reviews)

Church of Void - Winter Is Coming EP

From: Jyväskylä, Finland.  Highlights include: "Winter Is Coming"
and "Summerland".  Rating: 5/5.  Release Date: August 24, 2012.

Finns always put a little bit of extra muscle and oomph into their doom metal.  It's because of this that my impression of Finns is of burly, bearded and stout men who fear nothing and charge into every place and/or situation head first, taking every step in life with the most vigorous stride possible if for no other reason than to stay warm.  I've never been to Finland.  I get the feeling very few people have really, for various reasons.  One of those reasons would have to be the harsh cold climate.  The northernmost part of the country lies within the arctic circle, which contains roughly a third of its land mass.  We're talking about a place where it's warm for about two or three months of the year.  Warm being a relative term here.  The average temperature in the Helsinki is below freezing a whopping four months of the year.  So it should come as no surprise that a relatively new doom metal band from that country should name their debut EP 'Winter is Coming'.  What the hell is doomier, gloomier and more frightening than that?  What could be worse?

The raging tempest this band puts forth in it's thunderous clamor does nothing to diminish Finland's reputation for birthing men of weather-battled burl and survivalist vigor.  Church of Void washes in from the New Wave of Traditional Doom, a genre built around powerful rhythms, heavyhanded performances, blinding leads and superlative vocals versed in epic themes and structures.  C of V addresses and attacks this criteria like a homeless man at a church sponsored buffet dinner.  I would direct listeners to the "Strongholds of Karak Varn" to see what I mean.  They have power in spades, structures and leads are in check while the vocals reach as far as they can.  Vocalist Magus Corvus isn't the typical tenor vocalist one might expect fronting a band of this stripe, instead he's a bass with an animal ferocity possessed in a wheeling dervish spin of sympathetic energy through track after track.  He may not be the next King Diamond, but he knows feel and he knows how to put that into the record.

Church of Void make a terrific first impression on their debut disc, taking four equally well-composed and distinctive tracks, each with their own feel and memorability factor.  "The Hour is Getting Late" features a gut wrenching sustained double kick frenzy during  the 'middle eight' which only hints of the greatness that is to come from drummer Byron Vortex's terrific performance on EP closer "Summerland".  This latter track is a  dominating showcase of quiet / loud dynamics perhaps in the vein / tone of early Metallica or "Cemetery Gates" by Pantera.  The band does, however, get out while the getting is good, never dragging on or overextending themselves or their stay, leaving the listener craving for more.  The yearning expressed in this last track is a poignant reminder of the frostbitten roots that this band grew out of.

King Goat - Atom (artwork by Freyja)

From: Brighton, England.  Highlights include: "Nuclear Messiah"

and "Cosmic Mastermind".  Rating: 4/5. Release Date: March 17 2013

But now we go from Finland's frost to Brighton's beaches to find another new act in the domicile of doom, King Goat.  Progressive tendencies and suffocating atmosphere is the name of the game here.  King Goat is another one of those amazing Soggy Bog of Doom podcast discoveries (there seems to be at least one every episode), and are also part of a colossal wave of great new bands out of the seaside town on the south of England.  It seems as though each ripple of water that touches the city's shores carries with it a unique and heavy muse who then lays down on the beach and gives birth to a new and quite different sounding band.

King Goat are of the epic doom variety.  Vocalist Jockum is soulful and expressive, singing with a quavering urgency that gives him the air of a mad prophet.  The local doomsayer whom all shun and despise but in the end is proven right as always.  The guitars are chilling and oppressive, the drums plodding but given boosts by some fine cymbal work.

Overall, 'Atom' is a well conceived EP with each song growing organically out of the previous one.  There's no run on effect or anything like that, but there's a tone that wafts up on opening track, "Machine God" that spills outward into each new song, with each one expanding on and adding to the atmosphere.  Tempos are typically of the 'down' to 'mid' kind, drummer Jon understanding that excitement doesn't always have to come from speed, but can also result from tension.  He takes on that often thankless job and gets it just right.

The recording isn't of the best quality, which is understandable with King Goat being such a new band (and from the looks of it a young band as well), I suspect a high quality recording will bring this band's full potential to light.  As it stands, 'Atom' sounds like a live recording and if it is, they already show some nice polish in terms of interplay and tightness as a unit, which is all the more impressive considering there's five of them usually all playing different rhythms.  It's a promising debut, I can't wait to see what they do next.  One gets the feeling that when the scaly and bloated muse visits them again their next release will be something truly epic.

Church of Void on facebook
King Goat on facebook

Fair Warning! Don't Miss ... Ten Foot Wizard - Return to the Infinite

BIO:

"Ten Foot Wizard was formed as a side-project by members of Manchester metal band Bisonhammer in 2009. Since then the band have played just a handful of gigs each year but have garnered a reputation for putting on an incendiary live show, recently supporting Karma To Burn and Witch Mountain.

The band play their own brand of heavy blues rock that owes as much to classic bands such as Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin as to more modern bands such as Clutch, Queens of the Stone age and Fu Manchu.

With the release of the debut album 'Return to the Infinite' on May 2nd 2013, Ten Foot Wizard hope to be playing live a lot more often and carve out a niche for their bluesy beard rock."

Be sure to listen on the player below, click the link and follow through to Ten Foot Wizard's bandcamp page with your beard lovin' support and while yer at it, check them out on facebook (link below).

Ten Foot Wizard on facebook

Also, for our Mancunian friends, be sure to clear your agendas for Ten Foot Wizard's show on FRIDAY, JUNE 7 @ THE DUCIE BRIDGE (152 Corporation St.) in MANCHESTER, ENGLAND. Friday night show, no holds barred!  Great line-up for this show with Space Witch and Bastard of the Skies, too.  Here's a link to the event page on facebook, be sure to check it out and get ready to have your beards rocked right off your northern faces!

Death Ape Disco - Supervolcano (album review)

Cover artwork by Greig Clifford

Along with Enos, March the Desert, Anacondas, Sea Bastard and King Goat, Death Ape Disco are among a terrific crop of newer bands from a burgeoning underground scene in Brighton, a seaside town on the south end of England.  The diversity of styles on display in this group of bands gives evidence of the fertility of the local scene.  Each of the bands listed above is as different sounding as they are excellent.  Among the most outstanding and the most unique of these bands is Death Ape Disco who play a high energy, grunge-crusted brand of rock n roll characterized by discordant vocal harmonies a la 'Facelift' era Alice in Chains.  Their debut album, 'Supervolcano' was released in early March and is deserving of some wider attention and acclaim.

The first thing you notice, is the clean production sound and sharp performances on the record.  'Supervolcano' gets off to a rolling start with three quick, high energy, fast paced tracks, then crests the top of the hill on "Grinding Down the Sun" and there are no brakes.  Closing track "Mars" hits the NOX and the listener is convinced that this album can and will blast off into outer space.

Death Ape Disco's use of high harmonies is often striking, the chords they hit upon are momentous and bold, they are the runway from which the album takes off.  One part Beach Boys, one part Alice in Chains, one part Black Crowes, but distinctly Death Ape.  By the time "Grinding Down The Sun" plays out, it's clear that this is the band's signature, these complex harmonies take over the entire affair, before arriving at the band's eponymous track, which is dominated by close harmonies.  Vocalist Rob Rainford is joined by guitarist Kit Brice to amazing effect, providing an unholy amount of momentum to the affair.  It's a tricky balancing act to have to pull off, especially live, which is why, I suspect, the technique isn't often used by underground bands.  When a band gets it right, it's impressive and terrific.  When they fall a bit wide of the mark, the sound can veer towards ... Nickelback territory.  Fortunately, this band gets it right far more often than not.

Photo taken from melodic-hardrock.com

Not to be overshadowed by the vocals however, instruments actually do play a part here.  Riffs are fast-paced, drums deliver groove by the ton and the band has plenty of stomp despite their tendency to sprint.  Sometimes the guitar work has the tendency to wind and twist like the roots of a tree pushing through pavement, a few more solos would be welcome and one gets the feeling twin headed string tickling monster Brice and Boulstridge have a few great ones in them, but the lack of solos does little to diminish the power and spectacle of the album as a whole.  Mostly the songs are too tightly structured to allow for such flights of pyrotechnic fancy.  On a similar note, drum fills are kept largely to the beginnings of tracks rather than interspersed throughout.  The fact that the band can tightly structure their songs however speaks quite well of their craftsmanship.

At the end of the day, 'Supervolcano' is a terrific hard rock album infused with more than a touch of grunge and southern metal in the C.O.C., B.L.S. vein.  It will surely get the blood pumping through that mangy old corpse and I would recommend this album to anyone with even a passing interest in rock music from the nineties and beyond.

Highlights include: "Kingdom of Others" and "Death Ape Disco"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 34:10

Rob Rainford - vocals
Kit Brice - guitar, vocals
James Boulstridge - guitar
Sam Curtis - monkeybass
Harry Lehane - drums

From: Brighton, UK

Genre: Hard Rock, Stoner, Grunge, Southern Metal

Reminds me of: Alice in Chains, Fen, Mexicoma, VolumeFeeder

Release Date: March 6, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Get in your shopping cart and roll down from the very top of the hill.  Pick up whatever mangled limbs remain, push cart back up to the top of the hill.  Repeat.

Better Review:
Stoner Hive

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