Beastwars - Blood Becomes Fire (album review)

Stunning cover artwork by Nick Keller

Right off the bat, 'Blood Becomes Fire' features one of the greatest album covers of all time.  Look closely, it's fascinating (see the full wrap-around cover art below).  What story does it tell?  What secrets does it hold?  I could stare at it for hours and come up with a million stories behind the painting.  A thousand words seems positively broke ass when assigning worth to this thing.  There actually is a story behind the artwork and that story is told in the music but I won't dwell on it.  Either way, Beastwars have accomplished goal number one.  Hook them in with great album art: check.

It was around early October that the world was treated to its first taste of the material from this album.  A seven inch promo single for "Tower of Skulls" backed with the album's closing track "The Sleeper".  The a-side right away was killer.  Catchy, doomy, slow and heavy enough to have its own gravitational pull, indeed it was a top 5 song in the Doom Charts.  The b-side was a solid tune as well, but what was this?  It was even slower and more understated than its companion.  I wasn't sure of what was to come.  Their excellent debut, 'Beastwars' was an album of cosmically inclined structures, cathartic moments and fiery dynamics.  It had its share of slow moments to be sure but the two sides of the new single seemed a bit ... subdued compared to the band's previous effort.

After hearing the new album in its entirety, it all makes sense.  What was originally heard and feared as being subdued was actually the first signs of a streamlining process that seems to have taken place within the songwriting that I would describe as akin to High on Fire's 'De Vermis Mysteriis' or Cultura Tres' upcoming 'Rezando al Miedo'.  The new songs may still bounce off the wall, but they are clearly directed and follow a logical trajectory.  The war of the wild beasts continues but an evolution has taken place.  Gone are the Swiss Army knives of kitchen sink songwriting, in come the all-in-one death rays.

As far as I know the first album was written as instrumental music before bringing their madman of a vocalist on board (more on him in a moment).  So it makes sense that the songs on this album follow more traditional song structures.  The result is a lean, fighting trim product.  In a word, the new Beastwars album is bold.

Once again, the band's aptly named smoke-tinged vocalist Matt Hyde delivers an emotional train-wreck, sprawling his guts all over the place.  "Rivermen" is a strong example of this.  You've got to respect a vocalist who really 'lives' his vocals, really 'experiences' his stories.  Occasionally he lets out the vulnerable Dr. Jekyll to draw the listener in deeply, only to turn around in an instant as the screaming, slathering Mr. Hyde.

Apparently he's just showed up at the band rehearsal one day and decided he was going to join the band.  I love stories like that.  Whether or not that's how it actually went down, it's a perfect example of his intensity and ability to captivate.  The band is truly blessed to have him.  He's one of the more sensitive vocalists that I know of in metal today.  By sensitive I don't mean he's sitting beside streams picking flowers and gently sobbing, I mean that he's attuned to the band the way a guitar string is attuned to the vibrations of a tuning fork.  Few are the vocalists who have the ability to match the music for intensity at polar ends of the spectrum.  It would be nice to plant an image of Hyde engaged in a beastly battle with the riffs but the truth is they are so joined at the hip that the idea just doesn't wash.  They are joined at the hip emotionally if not melodically.

Photo by David James

Quaking drums, boiling basslines and rivet-driving riffs tattoo themselves on the listener's brain.  Where the self-titled album was more adventurous in its structures, 'Blood Becomes Fire' has found a comfortable songwriting home and the pay-off has been the memorability of each of the songs.  "Caul of Time", which is currently available as a free download on bandcamp and so far the only other song aside from the two cuts on the single that is available has that epic Beastwars sound with a killer hook, listen to it now on the player below, you won't be disappointed, of course an empty feeling may arise as you crave for more.

Picking out highlights is kind of pointless because this album is solid as granite from end to end ... but "Shadow King" and "Dune" are particularly good aside from the two listed below.  "Realms" highlights the band's understated side excellently.  But really, this is a pointless exercise.  I'm just not hearing any bad, bland or uninspired moments on this thing.  Beastwars just doesn't do bland or uninspired.

A week from today this ship is going to roll in via the band's own Destroy Records but you can book your ticket early by pre-ordering the digital download now on the band's bandcamp page, or you can pre-order the format of your choice on the album's official page (see link below).  You can wait to preview more songs if you'd like, but you'd only be delaying the inevitable.  Once this band gets its hooks into you, they will own your ass.

Highlights include: "Tower of Skulls" and "Caul of Time"

Rating: 5/5


Tracklist:
1). Dune (3:01)
2). Imperium (4:36)
3). Tower of Skulls (4:30)
4). Realms (3:03)
5). Rivermen (4:10)
6). Caul of Time (3:06)
7). Ruins (3:32)
8). Blood Becomes Fire (3:08)
9). Shadow King (4:23)
10). The Sleeper (5:35)
Total Run Time: 39:01

Clayton Anderson – guitars
Nathan Hickey – drums
Matt Hyde – vocals
James Woods – bass

From: Wellington, New Zealand

Genre: Psychedelic, Sludge, Doom

Reminds me of: High on Fire



Release Date: April 19, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: I hear they're now taking applications for a one way trip to Mars.

Better Reviews:
The Sludgelord
No Clean Singing
The Bone Reader
The Metal Observer

'Blood Becomes Fire' official website
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Electricjezus - Грязь поколений [Mud of Generations] (album review)

Cover artwork by Timur Khabirov

The title of Electricjezus' debut album, 'Грязь поколений' translates from Russian to English as 'Mud of Generations'.  It's an interesting title as this fairly new duo leave their dried and flaking crust punk leanings out in a heavy rain of slow riffs, which is not to say that the music is watered down by any means.  It's just muddy.  Electricjezus' brand of muddy sludge is what happens when you take punk and mix it with doom.

'Mud of Generations' features every kind of heaviness one would care to name.  You've got doom, sludge and hardcore sounds, but also heavy vibes, heavy film clips and heavy subject matter.  The lyrics are in Russian but that makes no difference to me, the vocals are quite hard edged and raspy so it all just sounds pretty heavy.  The message is extreme no matter what language the lyrics speak or what they speak of.  At times Ruslan, the vocalist, sounds like a ghost trapped inside of a corpse being crushed and pulped, when the drums thrash behind him one can imagine rotten limbs flailing, it makes for a horrific effect.

Actually, the compositions are split unevenly between their stoner sludge and hardcore punk sound with three of the shorter tracks dedicated to this latter category: "Улицы (Street of Broken Lights)", "Плеть культуры (Lash of Culture)" and "Бассейн (Pool)".  The rest of the album is made up of generally longer cuts that are probably a bit closer to what Paranoid people might recognize as doom or sludge.  Riffy cuts of vile guitar tone and crash heavy drums.

The centerpiece of the album is its title track, "Грязь поколений (Mud of Generations)".  Just the kind of song that this reviewer loves.  A riff straight out of the ancient book of demonic hymns: a slow and massive devil's third workout with vocals howled from the crypt of graves.  It evokes a specific mood, striking the perfect chord of doom.  Somehow, it seems lately I'm hearing less of this kind of material.  A treasure of graves; robbed.  "Все позволено (All Is Allowed)" is another excellent entry into the genre.  Really, it's easy to get caught up into segregating each and every song into it's own subgenre, at the end of the day, Electricjezus gives the listener a string of great riffs played at various tempos with varying degrees of high intensity.  Battering snares, warping cymbals and smashing guitars is just rockin' no matter what speed you do it at.

Ruslan and Oleg, the two guys in the band are quite creative, not only in their compositions but also by how they achieve their sounds.  If I'm understanding things correctly, Ruslan plays "bass" through his guitar by attaching a single bass pickup to the neck of his guitar, he also uses heavy guage strings to get that thick tone.  Oleg uses 22 inch ride or pieces of metal for a hi-hat.  Now, that's industrious.

Overall, the tone and feeling Electricjezus pumps out is the soundtrack to putrefaction.  Thick, foul, abrasive compositions of decomposition.

Highlights include: "Корм (Feed)" and "Грязь поколений (Mud of Generations)"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 43:22

Ruslan Frolov - guitar/bass/vocal/hair
Oleg Skorohodov - drums

From: Dmitrov, Russia

Genre: Doom, Sludge, Hardcore, Experimental

Reminds me of: Lord of the Grave

Release Date: February 19, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: When you can feel yourself rot, you know it's time to listen to Electricjezus.

Better Reviews:
Sludgelord
Temple of Perdition

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Doom Charts for 04/10/13

Top 25 Songs

#). Song Title (artist/album)

1. The Great Escape Of The Giant Stone Man (Void of Sleep / Tales Between Reality & Madness)
2. Lucy Lucifer (Veracrash / My Brother The Godhead)
3. Hillside (Egypt / Become The Sun)
4. Gotta Have It (Crag Dweller / Magic Dust)
5. Lucid (Mount Salem / Endless)
6. Thy Kingdom Gone (Weed Priest / ST)
7. Hacia El 6to Sol (DemonAuta / Caminando En La Luna)
8. Piss Me Off (Hellryde Inc. / Hellryde Incorporated)
9. Damn Good (Palm Desert / Rotten Village Sessions)
10. The Soul's Midnight (Ice Dragon / The Soul's Midnight EP)
11. Welldweller (Lothorian / Welldweller)
12. The Bearded Fool (Old Man Wizard / ???)
13. Let The End Begin (Ancient VVisdom / Deathlike)
14. Howling (Wheelfall / Interzone)
15. The Hammer (Attacker / Giants fo Canaan)
16. On Strings (VolumeFeeder / Crowns & Chains)
17. Pare Huarg (Lord Summerisle / Demo)
18. Astral Sabbat (Jess & The Ancient Ones / Astral Sabbat EP)*
19. Rad Dungeons (The Valley / ST)
20. Your Armageddon (Manlord / ST)
21. Worship The Devil (Glitter Wizard / Hunting Gatherers)
22. Misery Mountain (Black Overdrive / ST)
23. Hangman's Laugh (Wheelfall / Wheelfall / A Very Old Ghost Behind The Farm split album)
24. Wash His Bones (Dead River / ST)*
25. Ride (Miss Lava / Red Supergiant)*

* New Song

Outgoing songs:
Belladonna Wreath (Aleph Null / Belladonna EP)
Submissive To Evil (Vestal Claret / Bloodbath)
Mind (The Heavy Eyes / Maera)

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Tentacle - Ingot Eye (album review)

"Been working on vocals this week. Threw up in my mouth a bit doing one track. I was yelling pretty hard though I guess. Hopefully we'll be able to hear it in the recording."

Though this, Tentacle's second release, contains but four tracks, at 39 minutes in length there's nothing else to call it but an album.  Last year's 'Void Abyss' EP totaled five songs (CD version contained a bonus track) and clocked in at 32 minutes.  'Ingot Eye's offerings are far weightier.  Less droney, more psychedelic, busier, more venomous than before.

Opening attack "The Blackness of My Soul Will Be So Great as to Make the Night Weep" is as long and epic as its title.  At 11 and a half minutes it's a monster which screams of unspeakable things, but to be honest, the time just flies by while listening to it.  The compositions may be longer here but they are more substantial, not only in length but in content.  Where 'Void Abyss' droned, 'Ingot Eye' quakes, cracks and shucks its bonds.  Each of these songs could easily reach into the twenty minute mark without losing the listener's attention.  "The Blackness of My Soul ..." is an epic struggle between a reluctant hero and a shambling dweller in shadows that "will make the night weep".  If you've ever read an H.P. Lovecraft story, then I think you can imagine how the struggle ends.

I won't be the first listener or reviewer to hear the distinctly Lovecraftian tone of the affair, not only in the lyrics, to which the band has done an amazing job of emulating the great New Englander's authorial voice but also in the demonic / aquatic background noises which swim all around the tracks in an unseen dimension that only the most tragic of figures would dare explore.

"Dull Ache", at five minutes, is the shortest number on the album by far.  It's psychedelic guitar echo picks up masses of momentum during the drop outs to turn a slow, lumbering song into one made up of atomic blast winds in the same way that lead is transmuted into gold.  "(Revenge) Dust For Blood" growls with the anger of the forgotten dead to awaken the Elder Gods.  This song is probably closer in spirit and nature to the 'Void Abyss' material, though it's longer.  No stone is left unturned on this album, no grave unspoilt, no gateway untampered.  It really sounds and feels as though they went all out on this one.

Final track "Our Serpent Mother's Kiss" has a classic doomy riff, an organic extension of one the band has used before in "Alone In My Grave" with almost the exact same turn around in the riff.  There's nothing wrong with a band recycling its old material, because it creates a thematic thread throughout their works.

Tentacle's second effort is a haunting affair, a journey through strange eons and weirder dimensions fraught with unspeakable perils, unnamable dread and unpronouncible beings.  It's a step up from 'Void Abyss' with all the stops pulled out and no chance of survival.  Truly doomed music.

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

Total Run Time: 39:01

From: Boston, Massachusetts

Genre: Doom, Sludge

Reminds me of: From Beyond (film), Ice Dragon, H.P. Lovecraft

Release Date: February 12, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: How ignorant is man, with all his scientific understanding, that he should conjure his own demise simply by listening to 'Ingot Eye'?

Better Reviews:
Heavy Planet
Temple of Perdition

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S.I.M.B. - Monday Superblues (album review)

Cover artwork by Gino Angelov

S.I.M.B. stands for Satan Is My Bitch.  That fact alone should provide a clue as to what you're in for on 'Monday Superblues': heavy stoner metal as hard as fossilized dino bones.  Though this is the Dutch quartet's debut album, released by Ozium Records, they've actually been around for some four or five years.  Evidently, that time was not spent in vain, this is polished stuff and the band sounds pretty tight together.  S.I.M.B. never play too fast nor too slow, in fact the tempo always seems to be held to the exact level of slow building tension the listener is physically able to tolerate before succumbing to the bends.

S.I.M.B. is comprised of four dudes who got together in Amsterdam with a mutual love of all things heavy, all former or current members of such underground bands as Artery, Brothers in Blood and Ebanizm, none of them are native Dutch they are all as they say "far from home".  'Monday Superblues' was produced by Joey Zampella, guitarist of legendary New York Groove Metal band Life of Agony and the reunited Carnivore with Peter Steele.  He brings a crisp, consistent sound to the recording and provides a heavy pedigree not often available for underground bands.

Opening trio, "Monday", "Demon Lover" and "So Heavy, So Slow" sees the band inhale slow, heavy riffs and exhale the air of menace.  They get the tone just right and it's obvious that they're not stumbling onto these 'secrets' accidentally.  This is controlled chaos, just like those original masters of stoner metal, Blue Cheer both preached and practiced.  The band comes on like a clenched fist and just starts hammering away at listeners.

Babbata Kefi's vocal chords have seen one too many double Jacks and two packs of smokes on lonely monday nights but suits the heavy sleaze of the instruments hand in glove.  Such is the price of art.  What you get on this record is bikes, sleaze, sluts, spilled drinks and half finished beer cans with orange cigarette butts floating around in them like pet goldfish swimming in piss.  This isn't music for sober-thinking, casually dressed people who know how to keep a schedule.  This is outlaw music.  Playing the record straight through, the third track "So Heavy, So Slow" should be timed to come on just as the downers kick in.  It's as good a title to describe the record overall as anything else one could dream up.  Oh, S.I.M.B. don't shy away nor are they hamfisted with the raging speed demon moments, see the next track in line "Alive" for evidence of this, it's just that the band kicks back and cruises through their compositions with a casual ease at any tempo.

With producer Joey Z. (front, center)

The track "Satan Is My Bitch" says it all, the eponymous cut, the shortest number on the disc.  It's tough, direct, heavy, riff-laden, a good cruisin' tune.  A mood setter on the way to an all-night rager.  Most of the songs are like that, this one being the most concise of the bunch and sums it all up nicely.

What can one say, this is pretty damn heavy stuff, leaning towards the biker rock end of the heavy metal spectrum.  In fact, 'Monday Superblues' is absolutely tipsy with sex, drugs and rock n roll.  Fuzzy riffs and a survival borne toughness lends the record a swagger and propels it to the status of heavy experience in and of itself.

Highlights include: "Demon Lover" and "Mind of God"

Rating: 4.5/5

Total Run Time: 31:26

Babbata Kefi - vocals
Chico P. Monev - drums
Sven - guitars
Huby Hubenov - bass

From: Amsterdam, The Netherlands

Genre: Hard Rock, Stoner Metal, Biker Doom

Reminds me of: Iron Hearse, Mage, Moonless

Release Date: March 25, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: Slap on the old leather cut-off vest, hop on the chopper and ride to the grocery store and back.  It doesn't matter where you go or what you do when the ride is that heavy.

Better Review:
Heavy Planet
Ech(((o))) and Dust
Phantasmagoria in Greek
The Soda Shop

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The Bad Light - Onward Downward (album review)

Cover artwork by Eduardo Cerro (guitars, vocals)

There's always a trace of fear when listening to the latest opus of a favorite new band.  After all, last year's 'Marrow of Sound' was an excellent debut EP from The Bad Light, one that I became quite attached to.  It showcased the band's truly unique blend of stoner blues with hints of jazz elements, especially in the always unpredictable drumming of Nate Gonzales.  I thought quite highly of the effort and was still listening to it regularly in fact when this, their follow-up effort was released a month ago.

As always with The Bad Light, the fuzz tone is something really special here.  It captures the sound and feeling on the high noon sun on the blacktop pavement, it's the sound sweat makes as it pushes through the pores, it boils tars and fries eggs.  I can't tell you whether or not the guitar is double tracked but Edu Cerro never forgets to add a strong dose of melodic counterpoint.  Opening pair "Neuronaut" and "The Judge" sound as though they were written and recorded during the 'Marrow of Sound' sessions, re-capturing the spirit of the band's original offering.

"Looping the Wiring" brings a new sound to the table.  A kind of shucking off of the jazzy improvisational elements to their sound: a straightforward verse-chorus structure with straightforward guitar and drum riffs.  A simplification if you will, showing some heavier or deeper blues influence, specifically The Black Keys particular brand of jump blues.  It's a telling detail that at 3 minutes, 37 seconds it's the shortest of the band's 11 released songs by as much as a minute.  As much as it's a shame to hear the band take a small step away from what made them so unique, they do a bang-up job here.  If this is the direction the band decides to go in, they have not only proven capable of penning the tighter, riffier, catchier, less loping and more structured material, while maintaining a distinctive sound among a widening crop of terrific B.K. influenced bands.

But that's not even the half of it.  "I'll Welcome You At My Door" is the most different of any of their songs to date, a duet for starters, slower and even more bluesy.  The band brought in Kristie Angeline for this duet. A good friend of the band, she matches Eduardo's gruff drunken slurring vocal with soulful force and a comfortable familiarity.

As was their last effort, 'Onward Downward' to me is perfect morning music.  Make that late, late night music.  With the sun coming up over the mountains strangling off the last ancient shadows of the night, desert under foot (if possible).  The whole thing drips with west coast feeling.  Stoned cowboy blues.  There's a few different styles of blues on display here, the more jazzy and organic fried egg fuzz sound of their first demo, a streamlined approach and the rural, back porch, lazily swaying tall grass sound of the duet.  After two EPs worth of eleven tracks, and now some varied material in the bunch, I haven't heard a bad song from this band yet.

Highlights include: "Neuronaut" and "Onward Downward"

Rating: 4/5

Total Run Time: 23:52

Eduardo Cerro - Guitar/Vocals
Nate Gonzales - Drums
Emily Pegoda - Backing Vocals

From: Santa Cruz, California

Genre: Stoner, Blues

Reminds me of: The Black Keys, Heavy Eyes

Release Date: March 7, 2013

Suggested listening activity for fellow non-stoners: 1). Set up two speakers.  2).  Make sure they are facing each other.   3).  Crack an egg and let the contents slide into the space between the speakers.  4). See if the egg doesn't fry.

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Hour of Power 04/06/13 (playlist)

1. Bald Bull (Gozu / The Fury of a Patient Man) 2013
2. The Queen of Death (Necronomicon / The Queen of Death) 2012
3. Of Ghosts and Their Worship (Black Magician / Nature Is The Devil's Church) 2012
4. Black Death (Groan / The Divine Right of Kings) 2012
5. Through The Sonic Haze (Space Mushroom Fuzz / Man In The Shadow) 2013
6. Church of Misery 'They Kingdom Scum' album trailer 2013
7. Hit The Ground (Bite The Bullet / ST EP) 2013
8. Milk Leg (Intronaut / Habitual Levitations) 2013
9. Sweet Mountain River (Monster Truck) 2013
10. Lazy (Ape Skull / ST) 2013
11. Dancing With My Demons (Chains / 7" single) 2013
12. The Devil's Been Busy (Tsar Bomba / Silent Queen) 2013
13. Cultura Tres 'Rezando al Miedo' album trailer 2013