2013 Chronicle (Year in review) part 3 - Best of February 2013

February 2 - Attacker (Giants of Canaan)

February 5 - Ancient VVisdom (Deathlike)

February 5 - MOTHER OF GOD (Anthropos) - This album may have first appeared digitally in September 2012, but it was officially released by Small Stone Records in early February.  The Swedish quartet play a good mix of stoner and grunge which really reminds of some of those classic albums from the '90's.  Matter of fact, this album can be downright addictive.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Windows" and "230".  Rating 4.5/5

February 9 - Vestal Claret (Bloodbath)

February 11 - Megachurch (Megachurch 2: Judgment Day)

February 12 - KROWNN (Hyborian Age) - Kröwnn were one of the true success stories of this year.  I know, I know, they are not filling up stadiums around the world and millions of people are not "wearing the Kröwnn", but success is relative and I'd chock up this freshman Italian doom power trio as successful in their first venture.  'Hyborian Age' was on everyone's playlist in Stonerdoomland for months on end (at least that's how it seemed to me) and for a band with no history, no label hype and no deep pedigree, it seemed quite the accomplishment.  What made Kröwnn the "it" band was the only thing that mattered: the quality of the music itself.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "For the Throne of Fire" and "At the Cromlech".  Rating 4/5

February 12 - MOTHERSHIP (ST) - Mothership self-released their self-titled album in mid-2012, but the band was picked up by Ripple Music and the album was issued on CD and vinyl through the label this year (I've got my copy on CD) so I'm counting it as one of the best albums of 2013.  'Mothership' burns through eight tracks of white hot rock n roll and you'd be an idiot to let this one slip past you ... the way that I had done.    Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Lunar Master" and "Cosmic Rain".  Rating 5/5

February 13 - Dead River (ST EP)

February 13 - TENTACLE (Ingot Eye) - Following up on 2012's 'Void Abyss' EP was no easy task and yet 'Ingot Eye' leaves the band's sludgy doom metal debut reduced to a puddle of slag in its wake.  This Ice Dragon off-shoot does to bleak doom what beards do to a man, in short, it brings an element of class and sexiness to the table.    Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Our Serpent Mother's Kiss" and "The Blackness of My Soul Will Be So Great as to Make the Night Weep".  Rating 4.5/5

February 14 - The Machine / Sungrazer split

February 15 - The Flight of Sleipnir (Saga)

February 15 - LOTHORIAN (Welldweller) - Belgian doom announced its noisy presence this year with this quintet's Acid Cosmonaut Records debut.  Six songs, three of them instrumental, explored extremes of sludgy heaviness and stoned bliss, Lothorian came with riffs and purpose.  Needless to say, a full-length is heavily anticipated.    Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Welldweller" and "Doomsday Calling" Rating 4/5

February 17 - ZODIAC (ST) - There hasn't been a time since 'Zodiac' was released, that one of its three songs haven't been caught in my head.  There's just something about this Australian band of hardcore punkers dipping low and slow into doom that brings out the freshness in the genre again, while still remaining respectful to the giants of the past.  Great riffs and amazing vocals, they also released a one-off single on Halloween.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Brother Death" and "Vertigo".  Rating 5/5

February 18 - MOUNT SALEM (Endless) - Recently signed to Metal Blade Records, this doomy Chicago quartet's self-released debut hit all the right buttons of occult rock, throwback Sabbathian riffs, some killer organ and the beautiful vocals of Emily Kopplin.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Lucid" and "Hysteria".  Rating 4/5

February 19 - Electricjezus (Грязь поколений [Mud of Generations])

February 19 - VOID OF SLEEP (Tales Between Reality and Madness) - This album was one of the craziest records of the year, full of ideas, both clipped off and fully realized, Void of Sleep were never truly content to settle into a single mood, instead they explored different styles but always in a progressive and doomy context.  Simply put, this Italian quartet's full-length debut was insane!  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "The Great Escape Of The Giant Stone Man" and "Ghost of Me".  Rating 4/5

February 22 - Jess & the Ancient Ones (Astral Sabbat)

February 25 - WEED PRIEST (ST) - One day the name of Weed Priest will be legend in the world of doom.  Occult drenched and densely heavy, this Irish / Lithuanian trio's full length debut clocks in at six songs and one hour of pure doom.  Following a lengthy demoing process, the band recorded this album in an abandoned church on days of significance to occult practices, well let me tell you, it shows!  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Thy Kingdom Gone" and "Walpurgia".  Rating 4.5/5

February 26 - Dream Death (Somnium Excessum)

February 27 - NIBIRU (Caosgon) - The mindbending hijinx of Italian bands only began to escalate at this point in the year, Nibiru's 'Caosgon' may have been the trippiest, most mindbending and perhaps most challenging of them all.  The music is hypnotizing and the lyrics are in a dead language, what else can I say?  This five track CD arrived in my mailbox and promptly shipped me off to another dimension, a dark dimension full of mindless ones and demons with heads of fire.  The band didn't stop here either, they released three more songs to explode brains with throughout the year.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Invokation IV: Heru-Khentan-Maati" and "Smashanam, The Crematorium Ground Of Kaly".  Rating 4.5/5


Best Album From February 2013:
'Anthropos' by MOTHER OF GOD

Best Song From January 2013:
"Brother Death" by ZODIAC

PARANOID Thoughts:

If there were such a thing as a Doom World Cup, it would have gone to Italy in 2013.  A consistently high quality of output from a variety of bands with a nearly unifying sound of psychedelically laced doom spread across the nation (including even the often ignored and forgotten island of Sardinia [Black Capricorn]) set apart the country shaped like a boot.  Italy has long been a breeding ground for Doom Metal and horror films / music from the incalculably important contributions of Paul Chain and Steve Sylvester of Death SS and horror prog legends Goblin to more recent terrific underground bands like Doomraiser, Black Land and Bretus.  This year however, the bar was raised significantly.

If it's true that rising tides raise all ships, then hopefully this is only the beginning of a continuing glut of excellent psychedelically influenced doom bands from Italy.  The country has long had an important presence within the genre, this year things have only been ramped up by a number of newer bands making their mark.  A number of terrific bands made their full-length album debuts including Kröwnn, Void of Sleep, Ape Skull, Fangs of the Molossus, WoodWall, Throne, Tangerine Stoned, Lizard Queen, Deep and Manthra Dei while Italian labels such as Acid Cosmonaut Records have stepped up to the plate in signing the bands and releasing the albums.  The past year also saw the return of Death SS with their 'Resurrection' album and the re-discovery of early doom gem Run After To by Shadow Kingdom Records and the re-release of their two albums from the late 1980's 'Run After To / Gjinn and Djinn' onto a single disc, making 2013 the year of Italian psychedelic doom.

Top 10 Italian bands / albums from 2013:
1). Abysmal Grief - 'Feretri'
2). Kröwnn - 'Hyborian Age'
3). Void of Sleep - 'Tales Between Reality & Madness'
4). Shinin' Shade - 'Sat-Urn'
5). Ape Skull - ST
6). Blood Red Water - 'All the Ills of Mankind'
7). Black Capricorn - 'Born Under the Capricorn'
8). Fangs of the Molossus - ST
9). Black Rainbows - 'Holy Moon' EP
10). Nibiru - 'Caosgon'
Honorable Mention: WoodWall - 'WoodEmpire'

Weed Priest - ST (album review)

Artwork by William 'The Elder' Faithorne.

Weed Priest are a band that I've been keenly interested in ever since sampling them on the Grip of Delusion: Book of Riff-Elations comp.  Of the nearly one hundred songs from the compilation that I was previously unfamiliar with, Weed Priest's entry stood out for its fantastic riff and authentic, no-nonsense doom sound.  I immediately downloaded the rest of their demos from their reverbnation page and became quite hopeful of what I saw as a bright future for the band.  Of the eleven songs demoed by the band over the past three or four years, six of them made the final cut for their official full-length debut.  Happily, the previously hinted at song, "Thy Kingdom Gone" made the final cut and becomes the centerpiece of this sweeping work.

Weed Priest draw a black curtain of atmospheric doom, billowing with ebon dark moods and eldritch energy.  The recording of this album took place on Samhain at what the band calls a location of spiritual significance: the deconcecrated ground of the abandoned Franciscan Church on Henry street in Limerick.  Here's the stunning proof [Also, see photo below].  Indeed, as per the liner notes the music contained on their debut disc was channeled through the band rather than written by them.  The feel the band puts into this album leads one astray from contrary argument: I wouldn't doubt their word

One thing that makes the band stick out among a crowded field is their ability to remain approachable in the face of their panoptic referencing of musky and fog-shrouded ambience, esoteric influences and neo-pagan indulgences, never straying too far afield of solid and accessible stoner doom riffs as their basic starting point.  To wit, "Walpurgia" features one of the best riffs this reviewer's ever heard, barring Mr. Iommi originals.  "Erichtho" is not far behind in terms of quality of riffs.

So the music is approachable, still there's extremity involved in this record.  Vitriolic vocals of the grinding kind, more barked than sang stab across each composition, soiling the delicately laced tapestry of floating and distant melodies.  The length and vintage of these six tracks gives an idea of the pace and unblinking focus this band has in crafting the best possible album with the best possible songs.  The fact that they cut it to six tracks while drawing from a pool of eleven songs of mostly similar high standard is further evidence of this.  That they waited for the perfect time and place to record the album under what they considered to be the optimal conditions for atmosphere also speaks highly of this.  In other words, Weed Priest is a band that gives a shit about the quality of their music and will not settle for second best.  Not in terms of quality, not in terms of effort.  There is nothing that rings phony about this band or this album.

The albums opens with a clip from the 1971 film The Devils and spills forth like graveyard mist into opening track "Final Spell".  The listener is buckled in for a 13 minute doomfest which the band has chosen to shoot a promo video for (see video below).  It's a good choice as it represents the best combination of length and memorability of song to make the most lasting impression from the album.  The ending features an mournful passage that captures the mood of devastating revelation perfectly (it's something the band has a knack for and we see this ability again two tracks later on "Walpurgia").  As previously stated the next two tracks "Erichtho" and "Walpurgia" are built around some killer riffs.  "Erichtho" has some great guitar / drum interplay and builds great riff upon great riff before coming to "Walpurgia" which sits atop the gleaming tower of riffs that are on display.

"They Kingdom Gone" is just a great song, a riff that is like staring into the spinning void of a pandaemonic gateway (or Galway), without question the abyss stares back at the listener.  The song becomes very much a call to battle with its pounding toms and ringing tones that are like a clarion call atop a hill during an overcast dawn.  A battle with demons, but which side are you on here?  To the right, the defenders of the hill, on the left the invaders.  The final two cuts each tip the scales at over 11 minutes long.  The title / eponymous track, "Weed Priest" is a slow doom monster with bendy riffs and some seriously heavy hitting on the drumkit.  I'm telling you, "Weed Priest" is heavier than the planet Earth itself.  The album finishes off with the 13 minute plus "Day of Reckoning", a hypnotic, riff based number with warning sirens that takes its time in building to the final conclusion.

Some of these songs are as much as four years old which is to say that listeners shouldn't expect a workhorse like pace from this band in the future.  One record every three to five years from now to eternity would certainly make this reviewer happy.  The mere fact that the band has taken years to develop the songs and never strayed from their original intent but only polished them up should give the reader an idea of the quality of the songs on this album and the focus this band has.  There's no doubt these six songs will stand the test of time and induce future generations to the wonders of doom.  This record already has the feel of a future classic, one that will be around as a reference point for doom heads and as a recruiting tool to snag initiates to the genre for years to come, much like 'In the Rectory of the Bizarre Reverend', Witchsorrow's debut or 'Sub Templum'.  'Weed Priest' is an unqualified success.

Highlights include: "Thy Kingdom Gone" and "Walpurgia"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 1:00:52



Adam De Monlung - Guitars, Vocals
Ragas Walpurgis - Bass
Adrian Elatha - Drums

From: Galway, Ireland

Genre: Doom, Sludge, Occult

Reminds me of: Dopelord, Moss, Set

Release Date: February 25, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Draw blood and create something from nothing.

Better Reviews:
Sludgelord
Temple of Perdition
Born Again Nihilist

Weed Priest on facebook
Weed Priest on ReverbNation
Weed Priest on Encyclopedia Metallum

Hour of Power 03/02/13 (playlist)

1. Final Spell (Weed Priest / ST) 2013
2. Onyx & Obsidian (Black Pyramid / Adversarial) 2013
3. Slumber Sermon (Mansion) 2013
4. Southern Sun (Devil / Gather The Sinners) 2013
5. Turn The Tide (Spiritual Beggars) 2013
6. Blood On My Hands (Void of Sleep / Tales Between Reality & Madness) 2013
7. Bring Down The Rain (Sideburn / IV Monument) 2012
8. Earthrise (Vinum Sabbatum / Bacchanale Premiere) 2012
9. Delayed Space (Romannis Mötte) 2013