2013 Chronicle (Year in review) part 4 - Best of March 2013

March 1 - IRON HEARSE (Get in the Hearse) - This UK biker doom power trio has a well-groomed but still sleazy sound and 'Get in the Hearse', their first album in about six years fired on all the right cylinders.  I was lucky enough to be sent a copy of the CD and it's still in the mix here at ye ole homesteade.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "A Slow & Heavy Ride" and "The Ultimate Atomic Man".  Rating 4.5/5

March 4 - BLACK CAPRICORN (Born Under the Capricorn) - This vinyl only release teased me for the better part of the year before I finally got a hold of a copy of the files, thanks to guitarist/vocalist Fabrizio (again, thank you!).  It turns out 'Born Under the Capricorn' was an Italian psychedelic doom highlight with an experimental approach on Side A and some real bashers on Side B.  This album is slowly rising as more and more people catch on to it.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Tropic of Capricorn" and "Double Star Goatfish".  Rating 4.5/5

March 4 - Diesel King (The Grey Man EP)

March 6 - DEATH APE DISCO (Supervolcano) - Not to start a write-up with an oxy moron but Death Ape Disco are one of the more "polished sounding" of the "grunge-revival" bands [my label].  This UK quartet is gifted with sharp riffs and even sharper vocals, discordantly harmonized for maximum efficiency.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Kingdom of Others" and "Death Ape Disco".  Rating 4/5

March 8 - THE MANGLED DEAD (Hate Humans) - This Ice Dragon related project is a filthy Misfits inspired vision of what every white suburban teenager in the land wanted their band to sound like.  Well, these Bostonians actually did it, heavy punk ballads about vampires and other ghouls.  This EP is a brown bag full of fun.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Frankenstein Pays The Rent" and "Mutated Dracula".  Rating 4/5

March 9 - Aniara (Caress of Darkness)

March 12 - Cough / Windhand (Reflection of the Negative)

March 12 - WEREWOLVES IN SIBERIA (The Rising) - The Mangled Dead weren't the only ones slopping shovel-loads of horror sounds on the graveside [see the Paranoid Thoughts section below], this one man horror synth project offers one of the purest visions of throwback horror film inspired music out there.  The reason for this is the man behind the band has a background in metal, not something every horror synth slinger can claim.  Basically, Werewolves in Siberia is no dabbler, the horror is mean and intense.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Destruction" and "Blood Moon".  Rating 4/5

March 16 - Chivo (Cantankerous Rock)

March 16 - Olde Growth (Owl EP)

March 17 - King Goat (Atom)

March 18 - Intronaut (Habitual Levitations)

March 18 - POMBAGIRA (Maleficia Lamiah) - UK duo Pombagira's latest offering is two songs and 40 minutes of psychedelic doom.  Haunting melodies and haunted moods permeate the album which opens up like a kaleidoscope of song ideas while retaining a strong character, both within the new group sound and within each song.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Melficia Lamiah" and "Grave Cardinal".  Rating 4/5

March 22 - DEVIL (Gather the Sinners) - Devil's second full-length record was a triumph for metal, pure and simple, the way it ought to be.  Face ripping riffs, snarling vocals and stomping, crashing drums, this is a guaranteed recipe for head banging and 'Gather the Sinners' is steeped in it.  This is easily a top 5 album from a great year for rock n roll and doom.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Restless Wanderer" and "Ladies of the Night".  Rating 5/5

March 22 - High Priest of Saturn (ST)

March 25 - MOSS (Horrible Night) - Rise Above Records had a busy and highly artistically successful year and for me, it really began with Moss's 'Horrible Night'.  For one thing Olly Pearson did away with the growl and actually sang on this record while the band unleashed some of their older influences to create a satisfying and infinitely more accessible record.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Horrible Nights" and "Dark Lady".  Rating 4/5

March 25 - SHININ' SHADE (Sat-Urn) - This was one of the surprise records of the year for me.  Wasn't sure what to make of it on my initial spin, the record soon found traction with me and I found I couldn't put it down.  This Italian quintet moved through a psychedelic soundscape of doom with excellent vocals from Jane Esther-Collins.  Original review here.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Our Time and Space" and "Over-Sea Nightmares".  Rating 4/5

March 25 - S.I.M.B. (Monday Superblues)

March 26 - VICTOR GRIFFIN'S IN~GRAVED (ST) - I would put this album at or near the top of my list of albums I didn't listen to enough this year, such are the perils of running a full time music webzine, things have to keep moving forward.  But Victor Griffin's authentically old school doom remains a steady if trickly constant at the Paranoid Compound.  Get it here. Highlights include: "Late For an Early Grave" and "Digital Critic".  Rating 4/5

March 30 - Grey Host (Dawn for Vultures)


Best Album From February 2013:
'Gather the Sinners' by DEVIL

Best Song From January 2013:
"Restless Wanderer" by DEVIL

PARANOID Thoughts:

I've been a horror fan my whole life.  I'll remember watching Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984), Basket Case (1982) and April Fool's Day (1986) with my twentysomething metalhead uncle for as long as I live.  They really set the stage for a lifelong obsession with the genre.  This year my passion for all things horror was somehow, amazingly doubled or even tripled (I didn't think I had any more passion for horror in me to give!).  It was albums like the ones you'll find on the list below that did it for me.  Doom is the music of horror and nearly any doom metal album has that horror feel, but this year I managed to get into other kinds of horror music, such as the John Carpenter inspired horror synth.  It's an interesting subgenre of electronic music because if it wasn't for horror FILMS, the sounds might not be something you might associate with horror MUSIC.

Abysmal Grief, Moss, Cult of Occult and a whole bevvy  of others might have made this list, but it would have gotten ridiculous.  At its best, doom IS horror, so let's just take that as a given.  However, a number of albums related to doom metal find their way onto the list below for standing out, sounding different and incorporating elements of horror music / lyrics that go above and beyond the call of duty.

As I was thinking about putting this list together late last night / early this morning, I wanted to see if there was anything amazing that I had missed so I did a quick 'horror' tag search on bandcamp and came up with a couple things.  For the most part I found John Carpenter inspired dance / house music which only makes me want to commit horrors of my own, but I did find something that was exactly what I was looking for.  The album is called 'Spookhouse' and it's by a one-man synth tickler by the name of Slasher Dave.  The album would probably be higher on the list if I'd had more than a single day to process it.  Anyway, it's one to look out for ...

Top 10 Horror themed albums from 2013:
1). Head of the Demon - 'ST'
2). NYMF - 'From the Dark'
3). Blizaro - 'Strange Doorways'
4). Werewolves in Siberia - 'The Rising'
5). Oranssi Pazuzu - 'Valonielu'
6). The Mangled Dead - 'Hate Humans'
7). Slasher Dave - 'Spookhouse'
8). Rob - 'Maniac OST'
9). Lazerhawk - 'Skull and Shark'
10). Wolfmen of Mars - 'Universal Madness'
Honorable Mentions: Abysmal Grief - 'Feretri' & Cult of Occult 'Hic Est Domus Diaboli'

Werewolves in Siberia - The Rising (album review)

When I'm not reviewing albums or interviewing bands and musicians, I write fiction, specifically horror fiction.  Writing fiction without music is like building with bricks and no mortar.  To me, Doom is the music of horror and that's one of the reasons I got hooked on the stuff in the first place.  Now, most bands within the Doom genre don't often directly borrow elements from Goblin, John Carpenter or Mike Oldfield (although some do), the horror in Doom is a manifestation of fear and morbid musings.  The bands within it often push the music of horror into new places and dimensions.  Werewolves in Siberia does not fall within the genre of doom, nor does it fall under any of its various subgenre, but, from a purely retrospective point of view, it represents the purest strain of horror music one can encounter.  Werewolves in Siberia is a one-man horror synth project out of Idaho.  Chris Cavoretto, the man-wolf from Siberia (by way of Idaho) behind the music, comes from the worlds of metal and hardcore and slathers his compositions in those sensibilities.  Fans of late seventies / early eighties horror films and their soundtracks will find a lot to love in his latest offering, 'The Rising'.

There are other electro horror synth artists out there that one can find on bandcamp: Umberto and Giallo Disco stir from the same pool of inspiration, but Werewolves in Siberia separate themselves from the pack.  Even within this weird subgenre they are different.  Where those other artists can be labelled as IDM with a dark twist, Werewolves is pure darkness with an electronic twist.  The visions of Dario Argento, Lucio Fulci, Don Coscarelli and George Romero are the very substance of 'The Rising'.  What makes Werewolves worthy of your attention as a Paranoid Hitsophrenic reader are the metallic touches Cavoretto brings to the table, most notably on "Destruction".  Heavy bass synth that at times recalls the most violent tones and textures of Nine Inch Nails' "Pretty Hate Machine" while attaining an iconic hook.

"The Hunt for Humans" is a fine example of how the music will grow and mutate from a basic idea or framework into something more complex and ultimately more horrible.  Use of solid drumming, of which Cavoretto statesis the one element of this project he considers to be directly influenced by his metal roots, increases tension, gives it a high 'danger factor' and grounds this mostly digital creation in a solid reality.  In this way, the music itself illuminates the name of the band, where slow building music becomes a living metaphor for lycanthropic transformation.

"Night of the Flesheaters" and "Blood Moon" keep things moving along this same track.  Ever-expanding darkness and ever-increasing tension.   As each song starts, one often gets the mental impression of a small group of survivors huddled together in a stairwell exit or tomb or forest etc., the song structure itself then becomes a study in the imaginary characters not quite making their collective escapes.  That's what kind of album this is.  There is no happy ending here.

Of course, it's this image-making, however bleak, which is the real appeal of this album.  The truth is, had such horror luminaries as those directors listed above not enlisted the aid of such composers as Goblin for example, this kind of album would hold no charms for rock and metal people.  As it is I can't recommend Umberto and Giallo Disco here because their sounds, though inspired by the very same horror films and soundtracks of the seventies as WIS, are simply too bright and dance oriented.  Thankfully, Werewolves in Siberia's vision is as pure and unrelenting as it is dark.  'The Rising' will not inspire you to dance, 'The Rising' will inspire you to turn all the lights on and lock all the doors and windows.

I don't need to tell you, this kind of thing is not to everyone's taste, but it is to mine.  I love the horror films and their soundtracks that were coming out around the time I was born and just before.  This was the genre's peak.  'The Rising' represents a return to the summit for frightening instrumental synth music.  This album is a flame thrower to the kerosene of imagination.  'The Rising' is pure horror music.

Highlights include: "Destruction" and "Blood Moon"

Rating: 4/5


Total Run Time: 28:20

From: Siberia, Idaho

Genre: Horror, Synth, Electronic

Reminds me of: Blizaro, John Carpenter, Giallo Disco, Goblin, Northwinds, Qosmic Qey, Umberto

Release Date: March 12, 2013

Better Reviews:
UK Horror Scene

Zombie Hamster interview*

Werewolves in Siberia official website

Werewolves in Siberia on facebook

*special thanks to Zombie Hamster website for introducing a rich world of synth driven horror music to me through this interview!