Hour of Power 08/10/13

1. Gods of Magnitogorsk (Kröwnn / Hyborian Age) 2013
2. Tie One On (Devil To Pay / Fate Is Your Muse) 2013
3. At Midnight (From Beyond / The Color Out of Space EP) 2012
4. The Contract (Purson / The Circle and the Blue Door) 2013
5. Reborn (Beelzefuzz / ST) 2013
6. Raices (Chinaski / Resiliencia) 2013
7. Full Moon at Noon (Goatess / ST) 2013
8. Red Death (Spirits of the Dead / Rumours of a Presence) 2013
9. Woodbine (Windhand / Soma) 2013
10. Chylde of Fire (Witchcraft / Firewood) 2005 'classic video'

2012 Chronicle (Year in review) part 9 - Best of September

September 1 - Annimal Machine (ST EP)

September 1 - Voltron (Kaventsmann)

September 3 - Alunah (White Hoarhound)

September 4 - GOYA (Demo) - Arizona trio Goya don't do the desert rock thing, they opt for fuzzy doom in the style of Electric Wizard or Windhand.  The compositions and overall sound on their debut release are more highly developed and mature than a lot of demos, at least for the style they play.  Get it here and name your own price.  Highlights include "God Lie" and "Blackfire".  Rating 4.5/5

September 7 - Ice Dragon (Greyblackfalconhawk)

September 11 - ALTAR OF OBLIVION (Grand Gesture of Defiance) - Danish five piece epic doomers Altar of Oblivion scored a pair of number one songs on the Doom Charts by crafting incredibly catchy hooks sung epicly and memorably by vocalist Mik “Meister der Töne” Mentor.  Get it here.  Highlights include "Where Darkness Is Light" and "The Graveyard Of Broken Dreams".  Rating 4/5

September 11 - Beastwars (ST)

September 11 - THE GRAVIATORS (Evil Deeds) - Swedish four-piece The Graviators play at just the right tempo and hit all the right notes on their second album.  The band energetically crunch and bash their way through 10 memorable songs with great big hooks.  Get it here.  Highlights include "A Different Moon" and "Morning Star".  Rating 4.5/5

September 11 - Orchid (Heretic EP)

September 12 - THE BRIMSTONE DAYS (On A Monday Too Early To Tell) - Malmo, Sweden based three-piece The Brimstone Days are a high energy, no-nonsense, back-to-basics rock & roll band.  On their second album they bang off 14 killer songs in 48 satisfying minutes with hardly a detour into ballad country.  These guys get straight to the point and stay on track.  Find it here.  Highlights include "Same Old Story" and "I Need Soul".  Rating 4.5/5

September 13 - Saint Vitus (Scion AV Presents: Saint Vitus Live)

September 14 - SEREMONIA (ST) - Finnish quartet Seremonia's debut album is a short but super creepy collection of 10 tracks, sung hauntingly and mysteriously (to non-Finnish speakers) by vocalist Noora Federley in the band's native language.  It's the soundtrack to a human sacrifice conducted by children with eyes that are unsettlingly knowing, world-weary and wise.  Get it here. Highlights include "Rock'n'rollin Maailma" and "Uhrijuhla".  Rating 4.5/5

September 18 - DOWN (Down IV Part I: The Purple EP) - Superstar NOLA-based southern rockers Down returned after a five year absence and unleashed their most different sounding release to date.  Six songs of crushing traditional doom.  Obviously, it got a lot of mixed reviews, but I like it, I think all six songs are good.  Get it here. Highlights include "The Misfortune Teller" and "Witchtripper".  Rating 4.5/5

September 18 - El Yeti (ST Demo)

September 18 - Ufomammut (ORO - Opus Alter)

September 21 - Spectral Haze (Demo)

September 23 - BLUE ASIDE (The Moles of a Dying Race) - Boston proggers Blue Aside released maybe my favorite prog album of 2012.  It's an album that I like more and more with each subsequent listen.  Cold landscapes and an ever-present feeling of paranoia pervade this album.  Read my review.  Get it here.  Highlights include "The Ice Mammoth" and "The Moles of a Dying Race, Part I".  Rating 4.5/5

September 24 - Garuda (Labyrinths in Stone)

September 25 - SKANSKA MORD (Paths to Charon) - What can be said about this album.  For my money, it's the best thing put out by Small Stone this year.  Just a stupendously solid album, each song has its own feel and is incredibly hooky.  This is the second album by this Swedish quintet who seem to take the Seattle grunge sound of the 90s and dip it into the waters of 70s hard rock all while remaining individualistic and true to their own vision.  No matter how much time passes by (mind, it's only been a couple months), I find myself going back to this album over and over again.  Get it here.  Highlights include "Lord of Space and Time" and "Dark Caves Of Our Mind".  Rating 4.5/5

September 25 - WITCHCRAFT (Legend) - After jettisoning most of the band Magnus Pelander and Witchcraft returned after a five year absence of their own.  The album featured a much different sound than that which made the Swedes legends in the 'retro rock' genre.  It featured an updated take on the sound, and it was for this reason that it took fans a while to finally catch on to the merits of this album.  There are so many highlights on this album they can't all be mentioned, but like Graveyard's latest offering, among others, it's an often politically charged, angrier album.  Get it here.  Highlights include "It's Not Because Of You" and "An Alternative To Freedom".  Rating 4.5/5

September 28 - Bloody Hammers (ST)

September 28 - HEAT (Old Sparky) - This five-piece German super group have one of the most authentically 70s sounds out there.  One could easily play "Warhead" and convince a gullible friend that is, in fact, one of the best songs from the 70s.  Which it kind of is.  Read my original review of this album.  Get the album here.  Also, check this out, pretty cool, no?  Highlights include "Warhead" and "Old Sparky".  Rating 5/5

September 28 - MAMONT (Passing Through the Mastery Door) - This is one of those albums that I like more each time I listen to it.  This stomping, psychedelic stoner four-piece from Sweden have a very unique sound that only becomes more addictive with each subsequent listen.  Read my review here.  Get the album here.  Highlights include "The Secret of the Owl" and "Satans Fasoner".  Rating 4/5

September 28 - Wizard Smoke (The Tickler)

September 29 - MOUNT FUJI (ST) - If you've been following this blog for a while, it's obvious by now that I'm a huge fan of Mount Fuji and their perfect blend of  grunge rock and Pantera style groove metal.  This German quartet's debut full-length release is just one highlight song after another.  Honest, heavy, at times funky and always jaw dropping.  It turns out they have personality to match the music.  Read my recent interview with the band here.  Read my review of Mount Fuji here.  Pay what you want on Bandcamp here.  Visit them on Facebook.  Highlights include "Colossus" and "Head on Fire".  Rating 4.5/5

Best Album From September 2012:
'Paths To Charon' by SKANSKA MORD

Best Song From September 2012:
"Warhead" by HEAT

Hour of Power

Highlights from the week of 10/14/12 - 10/20/12

1). Mark of the Beast (Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell / Don't Hear It ... Fear It)
2). Lonely Devils Club (Captain Crimson / Dancing Madly Backwards)
3). An Alternative to Freedom (Witchcraft / Legend)
4). Rivertown (Bison, Bison / ST)
5). Damn the Sky (Beastwars / ST)
6). The Lost Art of Bong Rips (Goat Bong / Goat Worship and Sodomy)
7). Hell's Heroes (Venomous Maximus (Beg Upon the Light)
8). Earthrise (Vinum Sabbatum / Bacchanale Premiere)
9). Levitation (Down / Down IV)
10). Lord of Desolation (Bedemon / Symphony of Shadows)

Witchcraft - Legend

The first time I heard 'It's Not Because of You', the lead-off single to the long-awaited and much anticipated fourth album from veteran doom/retro rockers Witchcraft, I didn't know what to make of it.  This isn't like them.  Wasn't the song perhaps a little too bouncy, a little too ecstatic?  The riff didn't sound '70s enough.  What a poor choice for a single, I thought, this will only turn long time fans off and not attract many new ones.  So I put the song away for a week or so forgetting about it and moving on to the next thing as 'uncomplicated' minds are wont to do.

Once I put my expectations to bed however and gave the song a second chance it quickly became one of the most addictive songs of late summer.  So fun to sing along to, what with Magnus Pelander's unique vocal delivery, a feature of the group's sound that provides the album with its largest sense of familiarity and continuity among their legendary (pun intended) catalogue.  That's not to say that the band has done a complete 180 but it has expanded into more progressive and (I think) brighter territory.  This album is littered with percussive punctuation!  The overall sound is more dynamic and modern to a greater or lesser extent which is highlighted well with an updated kind of production style.  This is what initially scared me off and probably will scare off a lot of die hards who have had five years to forget the last album and only want a return to the same thing over and over again (not that I can blame that attitude, the sound was great).  Plus, is it just me or has Pelander never sounded so confident in his delivery?

Lyrically, the songs are candid and political, at times introspective and other times anthemic.  Streamlined and hard driving, dynamic and full bodied, that's how I would describe the sound of this album if such words were worth anything when trying to describe music which I don't think they are.  So let's just say that the album is good.  It's probably not what you were expecting but it's Real Good.  It warrants repeat plays and there's so much going on that I'm not going to get bored of this thing anytime soon.  Songs like 'An Alternative to Freedom', 'Ghosts House', and 'White Light Suicide' (recently featured on the Soggy Bog of Doom Podcast (9/25/12)) will be in my constant rotation for months to come.

Turns out that 'It's Not Because of You' was a wise choice of first single for this album afterall, as it is representative of the overall sound which is very dynamic and most importantly Good.  Real good!

Reminds me of:  When good bands change but still sound good.  Highly original.

My Rating:  4.5/5

Genre: Psychedelic, Hard Rock, Retro Rock, Doom

Tracklist
1). Deconstruction (5:10)
2). Flag of Fate (4:36)
3). It's Not Because of You (4:14)
4). An Alternative to Freedom (5:18)
5). Ghosts House (4:17)
6). White Light Suicide (5:17)
7). Democracy (3:49)
8). Dystopia (6:47)
9). Dead End (12:11)
bonus track (on CD version)
10). By Your Definition (5:12)

Release Date: September 25, 2012

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Speed walking down the street / speed pacing around the room while muttering angrily about the government/current state of society.

More info

Better reviews:
The Obelisk
Fast n Bulbous
Dr Doom
Doommantia

Get it here:
http://www.nuclearblast.de/de/label/music/band/diskographie/details/1118640.931546.legend.html