[ aquarius records catalogue

IMPORTANT (Please read to avoid confusion): Some items below may be tagged with a bold, red, all-caps OUT OF PRINT/UNAVAILABLE notice. This does NOT mean that all other items not so tagged are, in fact, in stock — or for that matter, in print and available, though there's a good chance they are. Some folks get confused on this point, and we can see why, so please read this for further clarification and other important before-you-order information. Unlike some mailorder websites, we don't have an electronic inventory system linked to our site, so you can't be sure of what we actually have or don't have in stock at any given moment without asking us — please email our mailorder department for availability status — or better yet, just go ahead and place your order using our shopping cart function and we'll get back to you with the status of each item. If you have general non-mailorder questions, email the store.

Showing results 651 through 700 of 2775.

Wow! Back to the DOOM for these jolly British gents, no more of the tongue-in-cheek discofied retro '70s rock pastiche that, well, sucked, and rendered the majority of their output over the last decade (excepting their mighty debut) pretty much worthless. It's

RealAudio clip: Whores To Oblivion
RealAudio clip: Astral Queen

Ok, raise your hands, everybody into Electric Wizard and Moss and Sleep and Reverend Bizarre and Om and, uh, Solar Anus, do you all have a copy of Cathedral's 1990 debut album Forest Of Equilibrium in your doom collection?? If not, total doom-foul. You must rectify that immediately, we decree. And now's the time, 'cause Earache has just reissued this all-time doom classic with not only an entire out of print ep tacked on as bonus tracks, but also with an extra dvd disc featuring a 40 minute documentary shot in 2009, about the band's early daze... which means folks who DO already have the original might want to consider the upgrade. Now, as we've said before, British band Cathedral's debut was one of the saddest, heaviest slabs of doom ever heard, magically melding slowed-down Sabbath riffage, depressed prog-folk flutes, and ex-Napalm Death throat Lee Dorrian's gravelly vocals. It belongs in any doom metal top 20, maybe top 10, we would argue. And the band never made a better record, though the four song Soul Sacrifice ep that immediately followed this was also pretty fine (and that's what's included here as bonus tracks!). From the morose, molasses-slow strains of album's opening, the acoustic guitar and flute intro entitled "Picture Of Beauty And Innocence" that leads into the majestically crushing "Commiserating The Celebration", the unique quality of Forest Of Equilibrium's take on classic, epic doom metal is evident. Early Cathedral's gruff gothic exhalations and chugging downtuned doomic riffs is something quite special to behold, preferably sitting on a pillow or lying prone on the floor, perhaps wreathed in pot smoke, directly in front of a very loud set of speakers. There's something warm-blanket soothing about it, the utter sobbing misery expressed somehow comforting. These guys never made a secret of their heavy progressive, proto metal, psychedelic '70s influences (proudly listing obscure bands known only to bearded record collectors and aging hippies in their cd booklets' thanks lists at great length) but unlike Witchcraft, for instance, Cathedral didn't attempt to emulate those bands exactly, rather they incorporated certain elements of '70s prog (like the occasional flute!) into their much heavier-than-thou Sabbath/Candlemass derived sludge metal, going to an epic extreme (at the time) hitherto unmatched of sheer glacial-paced melancholia. Remember, frontman Lee Dorrian's former band Napalm Death was one of the FASTEST bands ever, so his next band Cathedral had to be the SLOWEST, the equivalent of grindcore at 16rpm. With of course ultra-long songs (the first track clocking in at over 11 minutes). The Soul Sacrifice ep did see the band speeding up a bit, and Lee letting loose with a few Ozzy-derived "All right!" exclamations, which led eventually to the slightly too much tongue in cheek let's boogie '70s kitsch stoner rock that characterized the middle period of their long career. But never fear, that came later, Forest Of Equilibrium is deadly serious, utterly doomed and despairing. And oh so beautiful. For those who have the original, some further notes on the extra stuff included here: Soul Sacrifice ep includes an extended version of the title track, also on Forest, plus three others: "Autumn Twilight", "Frozen Rapture", and "Golden Blood (Flooding)", all of which could have fit in perfectly well on the album itself style-wise, though the production is a bit different sounding. Then, the bonus dvd documentary about the formation of the band and the making of Forest Of Equilibrium is going to be quite interesting to fans. It even includes an interview with the artist responsible for all of Cathedral's fantastical cover art, and concludes with the music video for the track "Ebony Tears".

MPEG stream: Ebony Tears
MPEG stream: Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain
MPEG stream: Golden Blood (Flooding)

These leading British doom eccentrics doom it up in their usual unique style on this, their eighth long-player. The Garden Of Unearthly Delights sees Cathedral happily (yup, happy doom!) doing just what they want, secure in the knowledge that they've reached a stage in their career where they have fans who love 'em for just being themselves. In other words, their '70s prog obessions are waaaay to the fore here, resulting in the disc's grand finale, a tricky five-hour opus (well, not quite that long, it's more like half an hour) called "The Garden". And we must say they do a better job of it this time than they did some years ago on the equally epic ep-track "Voyage Of The Homeless Sapien". Back then they bit off a bit more than they could chew, now they're up to the task. It helps having a guest female singer with a sweet voice to duet with Lee Dorrian's characteristic gravelly gargle. There's about a million parts to it, bits echoing Led Zeppelin at one moment, Magma at another, etc. etc. But besides that utter progfest, there's plenty of other crushing tracks here to provide Cathedral fans with more in the way of straightforward Sabbathy rifforama (and other surprises), just like you'd expect from these guys. We also have to mention the hidden bonus track on which Lee runs down a list of all their favorite obscure '70s prog/kraut/psych bands, while the band does some heavy vamping behind him! Blast Furnace, Cosmic Dealer, Irish Coffee, Supersister, Icecross, Paternoster, Nosferatu, Hairy Chapter, and a bunch more all get name-checked. Gotta love that. Sorry, we don't have the import digipack anymore with the scratch-and-sniff apple smelling cd, just the regular jewel case edition.

MPEG stream: Tree Of Life And Death
MPEG stream: North Berwick Witch Trials

The UK's Cathedral, a band who first appeared back at the dawn of the nineties, should be well known to a lot of AQ customer types for their undisputed significance to the doom metal scene. Back when they first started dooming it up, doom metal wasn't exactly the happening subgenre it is today, and they were one of the proud few carrying on so blatantly the Black Sabbath tradition. While contemporaries Eyehategod (and before them, Saint Vitus) adapted a slowed-down version of the Sabbath sound and went in a more punk, feedback filled direction with it, Cathedral took Sabbath, slowed it down even more, but also progged it up (flute!) to make at least one majestic, melancholic masterpiece of slo-mo sludge, Forest Of Equilibrium, their debut full length. After that, their long career to date has seen 'em pass through a more commercial, stoner rockin' phase (with unfortunate extra lashings of '70s disco kitsch), several albums worth of that, after which they got a bit more serious and heavied it up for a couple comeback discs (Endtyme in particular) that sounded something like their earlier stuff, before again allowing their innate British silliness (and love of indulgent '70s progressive rock) to take over for the wonderfully WTF? album The Garden Of Unearthly Delights in 2005. At that point, it became clear that Cathedral had been around long enough to get to do indeed whatever the fuck they liked, and what they liked, and still like, is that aforementioned '70s prog! So now, five years later we have their newest opus, and in grand prog tradition it's a double album, that's right, two discs all a-sprawl with progged-out quasi doom eccentricity unlike ANYTHING else (not even Solar Anus). Aptly titled, The Guessing Game. Disc one (dis) eases us into things with an intro instrumental entitled "Immaculate Misconception", all Hammer Horror Hammond organ, malevolent and pounding, heralding (along with the sounds of a crying baby) this latest Cathedral conundrum, the remaining tracks confusionally consisting of, among other things, herky jerky bits, sudden metal riff-storms, folky motifs, cowbell rockin', and characteristically curious vocals from the gruff gargley throat of mainman Lee Dorrian - probably the weak link here for some, his singing never really being Cathedral's strong suit anyway. No offense meant, he's the heart and soul of Cathedral as well as the excellent Rise Above label, but we'd imagine he doesn't ever win any karaoke contests. However, what you ALSO always get with Cathedral are heavy as heck guitars, and yes their axes are still wielded weightily and have THAT tone (recently borrowed by hotly tipped Finnish doomdeath act Hooded Menace, fellow fans of the '70s Spanish "Blind Dead" movies). And, in addition, they unfurl wild psych solos in quite satisfying fashion. So, amidst everything else, purist doom fans should enjoy the heaviosity of such cuts as "Painting In The Dark" and "Death Of An Anarchist", though they'll also have to deal with the headspinning circusy prog with which this album is rife, especially on tracks like "Funeral Of Dreams". Not to mention the almost post-punk-funk of "Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine"!! That'd be the first disc's most weird-ass one, wrapping up with acoustic guitar and whistling, believe it or not. Works for us, though. Forgetting that it's Cathedral you're listening to (not hard) might help, though that realization also adds to the insanity. While we needn't go through it in detail, disc two is equally out there of course, another idiosyncratic melange, full of Sabbathisms and silliness, with surprises (?) ranging from King Crimson-y dramatics to to grinding doompunk to Goblin inspired hairy wah-funk. They get their groove on, all right, sometimes to taste-defying effect... Also we gotta mention the final track, "Journey Into Jade", with lyrics that recount Cathedral's own history/discography, discussing each album of theirs in turn! Even Darkthrone has never done that, yet. Though less open-minded listeners might not hear the forest (of equilibrium) for the trees, devoted Cathedral fans (those who like ALL their stuff, even the most outre) shouldn't be disappointed, and non-doom, non-metal prog peeps might want to give this a spin as well.

MPEG stream: Painting In The Dark
MPEG stream: Cats, Incense, Candles & Wine
MPEG stream: La Noche Del Buque Maldito (Aka Ghost Ship Of The Blind Dead)
MPEG stream: The Running Man

Doomsters, have ye heard the news? UK misery merchants Cathedral, one of doom and stoner metal's A-list acts, have decided it's time to hang it up. They're done with being doomed, after 23 years in the biz. But they also apparently didn't want 2010's The Guessing Game to be their epitaph. That double disc album, one of the weirdest and most indulgently prog-damaged in the whole Cathedral canon (all good things, we think, though!) isn't the last thing for which they wish to be remembered. So, for a final bow, they've come out with album number ten, their self-proclaimed swansong: The Last Spire. And it is definitely less eccentric and experimental than The Guessing Game, more representational of Cathedral across the years - super sludgey Sabbathy heaviosity, some prog twists, NWOBHM-riff-rockin parts, and an overall grim and gloomy vibe, albeit with some hidden humor - the doleful intro track, "Entrance To Hell", makes use of a classic Monty Python & The Holy Grail line: "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" but in such a way that it's actually pretty creepy and atmospheric (and it turns out the reference wasn't intentional AT ALL, according to an interview we read, the Cathedral guys got the idea from some '70s prog record and didn't realize 'til it was too late that everyone was gonna think Monty Python, whoops!). There's even a song named after critically acclaimed Profound Lore doom act Pallbearer (what? oh, nothing to do with them? ok, sorry). That one, at twelve minutes the disc's longest song (but not by much!), complete with acoustic interlude, pretty much brings it all together, "Pallbearer" also boasting some guest female vocals from the singer for the next-big-thing in the female-fronted occult rock scene, Purson. Likewise, The Last Spire seems to have the best of Cathedral's characteristics, from the slow and low doooooom of their Forest Of Equilibrium debut to their latter day psych/prog explorations, without (fortunately) really any of the "stoner-disco" shenanigans they thought were clever once upon a time. In other words, it's Cathedral as most fans will be happy to remember 'em, utterly heavy and still a bit strange and psychedelic. So now frontman Lee Dorrian can concentrate on running his excellent Rise Above label, the rest of the band can carry on with whatever their other projects or hobbies may be (collecting cuckoo clocks? gardening? vinyl digging? graverobbing?) and the world will have just a little less doom in it. In this case, a sad thing. RIP Cathedral, but at least this slipcased cd is a suitable send-off. Rather ironic that Cathedral's last ever album would come out before Black Sabbath's (due in June), we have a strong feeling that this one's likely to be the better of the two, too.

MPEG stream: Pallbearer
MPEG stream: Cathedral Of The Damned
MPEG stream: An Observation

Cathedral. No, don't think light and airy, magnificent house of God. Think massive, weighty, and ancient -- lair of gargoyles, temple to superstition. Despite debuting with one of the heaviest slabs of doom metal heard in 1990 ("Forest Of Equilibrium", which melded slowed-down Sabbath riffage, depressed prog-folk flutes, and gravelly vocals), the blokes in Cathedral soon took a tongue-in-cheek "stoner rock disco" detour for most of their career, only to regain their relevance with last year's seriously doomy comeback "Endtyme". Now, "VIIth Coming" fortunately demonstrates that "Endtyme" was only a new beginning for the band. Straight out of the gate, opener "Phoenix Rising" gives notice that these guys mean business, that business is good, and that their business is, as you may have guessed, killing. The next cut, "Resisting The Ghost", is even faster (for them) and more furious. They still do slow, though, as the following track "Skullflower" demonstrates. It's monolithic '70s riffing and ultra-heavy doom groove all the way, pretty much the formula for the whole album. Sure, the keyboards and spoken-singing of "Aphrodite's Winter" come as a departure, but Cathedral for the most part walk the straight and narrow (left-hand) path here, avoiding the overt silliness and intentional kitsch of past Cathedral travesties. Compared to "Endtyme", this does swing Sabbath-like a bit more, but without reverting to taking the piss like they did for so many years. No, they're now taking seriously their own talent for achieving atmospheres of heaviness and despair (even whilst rockin' the cowbell). Thank you Cathedral, for making it possible for an old fan to like you once again!

RealAudio clip: Resisting The Ghost
RealAudio clip: Black Robed Avenger

Record number three from these Northwestern grunge/punk rockers. We loved their last record and this one is just as good. Snarling, strutting, glammy, sloppy, druggy, sweaty, swaggering, foot stomping, head banging, fist pumping RAWK. An unholy union of the Stooges, Mudhoney, classic rock, punk rock and all stops in between. This is the kind of band that rocks so hard, that when they disappear with your girlfriend in the club's bathroom you almost don't even care. You do of course end up kicking their scrawny little rock and roll asses that night in the parking lot anyway, but you still listen to their whole record on the drive home 'cause it just KICKS SO MUCH ASS!

MPEG stream: No Natural Law
MPEG stream: Reaction

Falling somewhere between AQ faves the Burning Brides and other AQ faves the Electric Eels or Rocket From The tombs, the Catheters are about as close as anyone's come to being a modern day Stooges. Big praise, but this record smokes. It's heavy and noisy and

RealAudio clip: Been There Before
RealAudio clip: I Fall Easy
RealAudio clip: 3000 Ways

Holy shit is this awesome. Some sort of super dense, ultra distorted, noise drenched electronic grind, not at all what we expected from RRR, well, maybe the noise part, but this is just so awesomely heavy and intense and face meltingly brutal. Long swaths of grinding glitchy electronic drones give way to buzzing frenzied gabber-like hyperspeed grind, which in turn gives way to lurching noisecapes of sculpted distorted crunch and maniacal almost black metal shrieks, all wreathed in sheets of feedback, buried beneath layers of grit and grime, everything laced with malfunctioning electronics, fractured effects, and shrieking sine wave like tones. There do seem to be songs, but the various tracks and parts just ooze and sprawl into each other, a heaving massive expanse of constantly shifting heaviness, gnarled and twisted, and fractured and freaked out. Spaced out ambience wraps itself around long slow creepy drones, laced with more sine waves and haunting chantlike voices, full on digital hardcore blow outs pepper stretches of completely fried blasts of melting metallic damage, everything laced with weird samples, children's voices, folky percussion, mysterious vocals, all quickly swallowed up by glitched out slabs of corrosive heavily effected buzz, and shot through with garbled underwater alien vox and buried machinelike blast beat pound. Fucking awesome. Probably the heaviest, most freaked out slab of electronic hypergrind-blacknoize we've ever heard.

Buzzing and drony primitive keyboard-flecked black metal from right here in the U.S. Released on The Black Hand (Rage of Achilles imprint). Really raw and hypnotic. Lots of midtempo, chugging riffs and haunting Burzum-y keyboards that occasionally evolve into

Hailing from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Catholicon spent roughly 15 years cranking out their own blend of blackened brutality before calling it quits last year. The band definitely existed within the realm of black metal, but that's only part of the equation. Not surprisingly, given their origins, you get a nice healthy dose of misanthropic hardcore sludge, Southern style, as well as some early Earache styled death and grind. And there's more, like plenty of spaced out synths and a dark electronic influence at times, none of which gets in the way of Catholicon's blasphemous metallic fury. So basically, there is nothing NOT to like here. Of Ages Past serves as a nice summary for this prolific band, and the bonus audio dvd collects all the band's demos as well as some live recordings, unreleased tracks, and rehearsal tapes. The musicianship is spot on, everyone slays, but thankfully no one ever tries to grandstand. Instead, the band sounds like a dangerous metal machine intent on total destruction. At times, they're super burly and doomy sounding with vocals ranging from death metal barks to black metal shrieking. Everything is downtuned and sludgy sounding but often performed in the manner of early Carcass or Bolt Thrower, or maybe even Discharge if they gave it all up to Satan, but with a definite American vibe. The winding riffs are lumbering and hypnotic, and there are even some surprises, like in "Land Beyond The Stars", where an almost Middle Eastern sounding synth melody gives you an idea of what Omar Souleyman might sound like if he had been influenced by Burzum. Haha, maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but you get the point: the band wasn't afraid to go at it by their own rules. Obviously, this is a good thing. Throughout it all, Catholicon just fucking rocks and will keep you headbanging into the next morning for sure. Highly recommended.

MPEG stream: Blood Ink For The Book Of Life
MPEG stream: Land Beyond The Stars
MPEG stream: Revel In The Ashes

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Easily the most pop oriented & dancefloor friendly release for the catastrophic drum & bass label Position Chrome, Cativo lightens the mood set by Panacea & Problem Child for a melodic drum & bass album jack-knifed with tense two-step swing beats.

Imagine the sweeping epic grandeur of Godspeed You Black Emperor, the glistening frosted filigree of Sigur Ros and the dark folk gravity of Steve Von Till of Neurosis' solo work all combined within one album. Sound good to you? It sure does to us! Such is the case with Catlandgrey's self-titled album. Utter sprawling gorgeousness. Simple spare drumming spread out over swoonsome dreaminess and moody melancholia, horns moan, bells chime, guitars shimmer and drift, vocals whisper and croon, everything wrapped in a glistening mist of reverb, flecked with tiny glimmers of electronica glitchery. So nice. Packaged in a hand numbered black digipak with a tiny flying cat photo affixed to the front and a googly eye!

MPEG stream: The Night Before Thanksgiving (Tale Of Jesus Jose)
MPEG stream: An Attempt To Reach The Hand Of God (Lacking Rhythm)

Solo album from former member of Sun Ra's Arkestra. Featuring remix by Carl Craig.

Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca had to start somewhere, somehow, before they had the clout to recruit for their guitar battalions in a quest to generate his minimalist / maximalist mantras of transcendent noise. Fellow avant-guitarist Tim Catlin has yet to branch out into territories of large ensemble guitar compositions, yet it's certainly exciting to witness the birth of an artist who will undoubtedly join the ranks of Chatham and Branca as one of the premier avant-guitar composers. A few years back, we bellowed loudly about the debut recording from Mr. Catlin, an unassumingly great album of mechanically attacked guitar vibrations entitled Slow Twitch; and now, we are just as thrilled by Catlin's second disc, the equally exquisite Radio Ghosts. At the moment, Catlin prefers the prepared guitar, laid flat on the table Keith Rowe style, and then agitates the entire body of his instrument with any number of mechanical and magnetic means. Fan blades, E-bows, and battery-powered motors are each set up in a variety of strategies to create a complex set of droning vibrations whose multiple overtones send shockwaves of contaminated frequencies across the wood, strings, and metal of the guitar. These sounds are immaculately recorded and given only the bare minimum of mastering to heighten the exhilarating drones. Here on Radio Ghosts, Catlin fabricates the same harmonic dissonance through sustained drones that one might hear in LaMonte Young's dream theatrics or Tony Conrad's blistering violin screech or Organum's cacophonic metallic chorus or Rhys Chatham's billowing mass from 400 guitarists. Yeah, this is pretty much the pinnacle of '60s holy minimalism catapulted 40 years into the future; the only difference is that you've probably never heard of Tim Catlin. Do not miss out on this fucking brilliant album!

MPEG stream: Hysterisis
MPEG stream: Black Magnet
MPEG stream: Mirage

We've been digging the music of Tim Catlin a whole bunch lately, and managed to get this old favorite back in stock. We reviewed it originally a couple years back but for those of you who missed it or only just discovered the music of Tim Catlin, here's what we had to say about it the first time around: Tim Catlin has made maybe the greatest experimental guitar albums you're least likely to hear. One of which is Slow Twitch, released on the under-represented Australian label Dr. Jim's. If you've bought a Christian Fennesz, Oren Ambarchi, Birchville Cat Motel, or Sunroof album you owe it to yourself to pick up Tim Catlin's Slow Twitch. It's really that good. Slow Twitch is not another Max/MSP demonstration of deconstructed guitar samples, nor is it a improvised wall of sound from blistered amplifiers struggling to keep up with high voltage attacks; rather Catlin constructs very low-tech systems of fans, e-bows, and other mechanical devices that keep the guitar strings moving. These experiments are then immaculately recorded with little to no post-production, probably just a couple of edits, snips, and crossfades. In the end, Catlin's automatically propelled guitars resemble the resonant frequencies that Jean-Francois Laporte coaxed out of a bunch of air compressors (or perhaps a Zamboni) on his stellar Mantra disc. Rasping striations of metal vibrating against metal form complex drone harmonics that double and triple throughout the spectrum, with placid low end rumblings sympathetically resonating with angelic shimmerings. Beautiful. Beautiful. Beautiful.

MPEG stream: Metal Fatigue
MPEG stream: Slow Twitch

The amplifier hum rattles the drum head of a snare which in turns vibrates the gong and sets off a resonant frequency on the piece of metal resting on the guitar strings, which in turns rattles the snare again and the cycle repeats itself. This almost sounds like a game of Mouse Trap or any given Rube Goldberg contraption of ludicrous proportions; yet, Australian avant-guitarist Tim Catlin and Milwaukee's own Jon Mueller used such a methodology for the construction of their seemingly simple but incredibly rich album Plates And Wires. Catlin has just come off of the success of his impeccable Radio Ghosts album of rasping acoustic drones on his prepared guitar and joins Mueller, whose treatments of gongs, bells, the drum kit, and percussive elements of all shapes and sizes mirrors what Catlin does to the guitar. When Catlin and Mueller begin to generate their quiet fluctuations of sustained harmonics and constantly abraded textures, their sounds enjoy an organic intimacy. Each droning sound emerges out of an ambient co-habitation and cross-contamination of psychoacoustic manipulation, resulting from very little (if any) digital tricks. Everything flutters elegantly in sympathetic arrangements of interwoven ebbs and flows in serpentine patterns for an album that parallels the acoustic richness of such tactile minimalists as Glenn Branca, Organum, Rhys Chatham, and Jason Khan. Oh yeah, this CD comes housed in an oversized 10" sleeve with artwork by Thomas Kovacich and is limited to an edition of a mere 300 copies.

MPEG stream: Track 1
MPEG stream: Track 3
MPEG stream: Track 5

Two of our favorite avant-guitarist types working together, but fair warning, we have seriously limited stock on this title. The Australian Tim Catlin has long been keen on the unconventional useage of the guitar's six strings and pick-ups, using various motors, vibrators (yes, sex toys), fans, mallets, bows, and then some to generate uncanny drones and resonant frequencies that seem to elude those with a mighty DSP arsenal at their disposal. The last we heard from Catlin was a couple of years ago when he released his groundbreaking Radio Ghosts cd for 23five, right at the same time as his first collaborative project with Jon Muller appeared. Through those projects Catlin came in contact with Rutger Zuydervelt, whose Machinefabriek project has long held sway here at Aquarius records and is also no stranger to the collaborative process. The process found Catlin sending Zuydervelt various tracks for the Dutchman to rework, process, augment, and structure as he saw fit. Zuydervelt detours from his signature sequences of arc, crescendo, release, and collapse in favor of far more Spartan, amorphous sensibility that suspends Catlin's tones, drones, fuzzes, and hums upon a black empty spaces and intimate ambience. The one very Machinefabriek move is found on the shortened program of "Haul" with its grandiose distortion billowing out of the amplifiers like glowing hot lava. Tapped melodies and various loops work through the bulk of the tracks that subtly venture through low-end rumblings and brightly rendered shimmers of Catlin's vibrating strings. Glisten is an aptly poetic title for this beautifully understated record.

MPEG stream: Glisten 1
MPEG stream: Haul
MPEG stream: Skip

Meow. We have trouble keeping that Time Stereo "The Cat" cd-r in stock, but now at least we can offer you this new cd, also of cat sounds. This is from the same label that brought us the ever-popular Frogs and Deep Into The Earth natural sounds recordings (and Woodfire, and Sea & Dolphins, etc.). Cats might seem a bit more warm and cuddly than frogs and fish, but when miked up close and amplified all that purring takes on a massive droning quality, and playful kitten cries become disturbingly angst-filled. There's some twittering songbirds also heard here in the background, which may explain the feline excitement. On the back cover it says something about the cats "contemplating doves that seem to outsmart them every time" -- good, as a recording of cats devouring doves might not be so pleasant. Not that this won't drive your housemates (and housecats, and dogs!) insane if played back at high volume. So don't let the cute n' colourful cover (what's that kitten doing playing with a sewing machine, anyway?) fool you. This is a serious piece of sonic documentation every bit as interesting as a Francisco Lopez field recording *and* as dramatic as a Dead Raven Choir cd-r. MPEG Download: "Biscuits! Purrrr...fect" [/audio/catsbiscuits.mp3] MPEG Stream: "Biscuits! Purrrr...fect" [/audio/catsbiscuits.m3u]

MPEG stream: Biscuits! Purrrr...fect
MPEG stream: Kittens Demand Some Attention From A Contented Purring Mother

San Diego's masters of Carcass worship finally see their awesome debut lp get the digital treatment. Fast and furious, super technical, but kind of sloppy at the same time, Cattle Decapitation take their love of Carcass and all things gore and treat us to

RealAudio clip: Cloned For Carrion
RealAudio clip: Parasitic Infestation

The majority of you won't make it past the name of the band, Cattle Decapitation. Or the album title. Nor will most of you make it past the insane Wes Benscoter cover art, a very blase looking cow shitting out bloody offal and human remains, illustrating the "Humanure" concept. But that's okay, 'cause then you're not the sort of folks Cattle Decapitiation want hanging around. They're looking for folks with a deep love of violence and gore and classic death metal. So if you fit the bill, then by all means pick this sick puppy up. Blasting classic death metal with insanely squiggly leads and inhuman grunting vocals. Definitely their tightest and best record yet. A little more complicated and weird than past efforts, but not so weird that it'll put off the Morbid Angel / Deicide crowd. Definitely recommended!

MPEG stream: Humanure
MPEG stream: Reduced To Paste

The latest from one of our favorite death metal outfits, who with every record, continue to both get better (and more fast and furious) and way more twisted, stretching way out beyond the usual death metal tropes, which is no surprise to us, as frontman Travis Ryan is a longtime aQ customer and has weird and wonderfully varied tastes, which seems to be seeping into their sound more and more. Cattle Decapitation's death metal is about as fast and brutal as it gets, as in utterly inhuman, the speed and dexterity, the intricate arrangements, the furious shredding, and the jaw dropping drumming, all blur into a face melting heaviness, that somehow manages to be melodic at the same time, slipping into serious power metal territory here and there, and some kick ass classic metalisms once in a while, but for the most part grinding away frenziedly, every song rife with insane stop/starts, and all sorts of whatthefuck moments, whether it's the aforementioned power metal melodies, or the child's choir in one song (or maybe it's just processed vox, but still), rad stretches of heavily flanged grooviness (yep!), burst of chugging downtuned ultradoom, but the way that stuff is woven into their relentless onslaught, it's sort of mind blowing. This is like prog at 300rpm, a million parts, changes every few seconds, did we mention the clean heavy metal vocals, so weird, and so cool, and there's even a whole track, a stripped down brooding psychedelic drift, that's all strummed guitars, clean vocals, swirling drones, field recordings, the vibe is almost Alice In Chains / Deftones, and we love those bands so it's super rad to hear this darkly emotive slow jam, between two extended blasts of neck snapping tech metal crush. And that vibe actually extends to the other tracks that feature Ryan's clean vox. And his impossibly guttural bellow sometimes slips into a black metal shriek, which again gives the whole sound a different vibe. Every time we listen to this, we're reminded how goddamn good these guys are, and at this point, if you were only gonna listen to one modern death metal band, we'd have to say it should absolutely be these guys, and Monolith Of Inhumanity is definitely their best, and most ambitious record yet. And even if death metal is not normally your bag, this shit is so fucking amazing, it might just change your mind.

MPEG stream: The Carbon Stampede
MPEG stream: Dead Set On Suicide
MPEG stream: Your Disposal
MPEG stream: The Monolith
MPEG stream: Kingdom Of Tyrants

MPEG stream: The Gardeners Of Eden
MPEG stream: A Body Farm
MPEG stream: We Are Horrible People

Hot on the heels of Cattle Decap's first full length getting its cd release earlier this year (on Three One G, the San Diego based label run by Justin Pearson of The Locust) comes this, their Metal Blade Records debut... and the heavy duty mayhem and cannibalistic carnage continues unabated. Features former Locust drummer David Astor and present Locust drummer (former guitarist) Gabe Serbian. As grinding death metal goes, this is just peachy: awesomely guttural phlegm-filled vocals, squealing rollercoaster guitars, pounding drums, completely energetic, adrenalized and convolutedly catchy songwriting (in the paradoxically monotonous 4/4 way that works for so much death metal). Gross, gore-filled ditties like "I Eat Your Skin", "Colonic Villus Biopsy Performed On The Gastro-intestinally Incapable", and "Hypogastric Combustion By C-4 Plastique" might merge into a boring blur for some, but fans of the form will find their inner 14-year old fully satiated.

RealAudio clip: Testicular Manslaughter
RealAudio clip: I Eat Your Skin
RealAudio clip: Writhe In Putressence

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Three-way split release, the second in this intentionally odd series on Toyo Records. SoCal grindsters Cattle Decaptitation start it off, followed by Nebraska spazzcore freaks Armatron. Finally, the disc is anchored with the approx. 20-minute long "Il Ritorno" from our very own Andee's new post- A Minor Forest band, here dubbed Ticwar 1 (making their first recorded appearance). After the fast/fun assaults of Cattle Decap. and Armatron, the Ticwar track seems (even more) glacially slow and immense. Their lengthy "Il Ritorno" composition touches upon lovely post-rock guitar strum, before lumbering into massive Sabbath / Monster Magnet inspired stoner rock riffing, the groove disrupted by Lesser-style digital glitch fuckery. Eventually it winds down into a gorgeous drone-coda. Experimental stoner rock? Post-metal? Can't wait to hear more (Andee? nudge, nudge). So, quite recommended.

THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

SORRY. Okay, they may not have a non-human vocalist, but they do have a gross animal name, and gross animal artwork and they do support animal rights, so we can't really think of another band more suited to take on the pitbull grindcore of Caninus than San Diego's Cattle Decapitation. For those of you unfamiliar with Caninus, imagine a furious grinding metalcore band, with two pitbulls on vocals. 'Cause that's exactly what this is, for real. Seems daft maybe but it works, Budgie and Basil growl and bark and make some seriously pants-shittingly scary sounds, way scarier than any death metal vocalist grunting and burping out his vocals. Maybe it's also just knowing that these two vocalists could literally rip you to shreds! Caninus's canine fronted death metal grind is matched perfectly by the new and improved Cattle Decapitation, whose new drummer and steady intake of black metal (especially Leviathan) has turned their death metal into an ultra technical blackened grind metal, impossibly complex and so so brutal. Packaged in the most amazing die cut sleeve we've seen in a long time. Cartoonish and creepy and sick! Cool colored vinyl too!

Another quality release from Hydrahead, this time from Cattle Press whose brutal post-hardcore metal recalls the likes of Coalesce, Today Is The Day, and even the heavier elements of Refused. Cattle Press combine blazing grind with slower, heavier moments.

The eighties, aka a decade of shameful sounds and fashions (at least to people our age) continues to be mined for musical inspiration, the latest coming from Catwalk, who make no bones about where their inspiration lies, Big Country, Style Council, The Smiths, and especially, to these ears at least, Icicle Works (remember "Whisper To A Scream"?), Big strummed reverby guitars, a bit sunshiney, a little bit melancholy, held down by some loping fuzz bass, and the vocals drifting in clouds of echo and reverb over the top, both songs here super catchy, hooks galore, but more than that, effortlessly evoking that other era, even more so on the B side, which is slower and more broody and ballady and is laced with big dramatic Breakfast Club choruses. Pretty dang good. Even for those of us who grew up during the real thing.

MPEG stream: (Please) Don't Break Me

Some seriously kick ass true metal from the great white North, a Canadian modern true doom / speed metal hybrid fronted by none other than Annick Giroux, who most definitely knows a thing or two about metal, not only did she edit the awesome Hellbent For Cooking heavy metal cookbook, but she's also responsible for the legendary Canadian metal zine Morbid Tales! Cauchemar perfectly captures the mood and vibe of classic seventies and eighties metal, equal parts NWOBHM riffery, witchy occult speed metal a la Acid and the epic true doom of groups like Pagan Altar. There's even a little Motorhead in there. The riffs are killer, the guitars loud and thick, the drumming powerful, the bass thick and slithery, but it's Giroux's vocals that really make this, sung all in French, haunting and powerful, reminding us of groups like The Devil's Blood and Jex Thoth, in fact ANYone that digs those groups should check this out for sure. But the thing is, the music here is so much more classic metal sounding. The opener is pitch perfect eighties speed metal, laced with plenty of doominess, epic and majestic and heavy as hell, while the second track slows it down for some seriously doom-ed crush, with a swirling psychedelic bridge, Giroux's vocals bewitching and demonic, the whole record sort of slips back and forth between pounding riffery, and plodding dirge, the vocals and overall seventies foresty vibe makes the whole record sound way more psychedelic than most new metal, definitely tapping into the classic Sabbath sound, and making this the sort of band that should appeal equally to the true metal massive, but also dabblers looking for tripped out psychedelic heaviness...

MPEG stream: Le Voile D'Isis
MPEG stream: Magie Rouge

Finally delivering on the immense promise of their 2010 debut ep, Cauchemar have arisen once again from their cold Canadian tomb to deliver their debut full length, and it's just as wild eyed, witchy and (most importantly) HEAVY as we could have hoped for. For those uninitiated, Cauchemar play a fist-pumping brand of doomy true metal, but what sets them apart from the legion of other traditional metal revivalists is the genuine sense of mystery (and mysticism!) to their music. This is in no small part due to vocalist Annick Giroux, who aQ-ers might know better as the mastermind behind the Hellbent For Cooking heavy metal cookbook, and whose trance-like haunting croon lends an unearthly gloom to the proceedings. Her voice is soaked with an appropriately heavy dose of reverb, making it sound as though its being delivered directly from some forgotten stone crypt somewhere, while the lyrics (sung entirely in French!) add a certain elegant menace. None of this is to take away from the other three fellas in the band of course. Musically, Cauchemar often recall the kind of doomy British heavy metal that bands like Pagan Altar and Witchfinder General perfected in the late '70s and early '80s, while their faster moments harken back to the proto speed metal sound of bands like Acid. The melodies are simple and catchy but also carry a certain gothic atmosphere that brings to mind things like ruined medieval castles, misty moors and dank lightless dungeons. The occasional addition of pipe organ adds a certain theatrical flare one might expect from some of the more horror-tinged Italian doom bands as well. Fans of the newer wave of female fronted witch rock bands like Purson, The Devil's Blood or Blood Ceremony would do well to check this out too. Just don't call it occult rock! It's true occult heavy metal, with an emphasis on the METAL.

This is the very first we've heard from Caudal, a trio featuring Nadja's Aidan Baker. Their new lp, Forever In Another World, is one of three new releases on a newish UK label called Oaken Palace, the first totally non-profit label (at least intentionally!), a purely charitable endeavor, that takes all the monies made from record sales and donates them to various environmental organizations around the world. The label focuses on dronemusic and psychedelia, with two of their first few releases being Aidan Baker projects, and the third being a group featuring members of another psychedelic drone outfit we dig, Thisquietarmy, needless to say, sonically this stuff is right up our alley. And we can definitely get behind the label's mission as well, aiming to strengthen the connection between music and nature, in a much more tangible way than just singing about trees or having a forest on the record cover. Taking the concept even further, each group on the label picks a specific endangered species or habitat, to which their record is then dedicated, the record is produced in a super environmentally sustainable manner, 100 percent recycled sleeves, zero carbon vinyl pressing, etc., and then each artist picks a charity related to dedicated species or habitat, and that's where all the money goes. So cool! Caudal have chosen an odd animal, the European ground squirrel. With all the profits donated to support the protection efforts of the Austrian Union for Nature Preservation. Nice. Caudal is another in a long line of recent Baker projects that have been moving away from the doomgaze of the Nadja mothership, and the hushed ultra minimalism of his early solo records, instead focusing on sounds much more spaced out, psychedelic and krautrocky, and it doesn't take more than a few minutes of opener "River's Edge" to lure you in, and drag you down into their gorgeous, laid back, washed out, softly psychedelic sprawl. Thirteen minutes of tranced out motorik mesmer, the drums and bass locked into a gorgeously languid groove, which for nearly twelve minutes remains unwavering and locked TIGHT, with Baker doing most of the textural and sonic heavy lifting, in the first half adding softly chiming spidery melodies, warm chordal swells, shimmering soft focus clouds of dreamlike FX, the vibe super drowsy and drifty, only adding some distorted heft for the last couple minutes, but even then the bass and drums don't blink, anchoring Baker's final swirling squall. "Threever" ups the tempo a bit, sounding not unlike a mellower Circle, total space rock / kraut rock trance out, Baker unfurling gorgeous swaths of sound over the relentless rhythm, super hypnotic, and totally mesmerizing, and surprisingly dynamic, with a handful of subtle tempo shifts, the sound setting into something much more hushed and ethereal, before returning to that hypno rock head nodding groove. "Walrus Tusk Scrimshaw" is a dark loping dirge, the background sounds ominous rumbles and deep resonant swirls, a sort of slow-core post rock doominess that sprawls malevolently, the guitars buzzing and distorted, delivered in fierce arcs, while deep swells shift and pulse in the background, eventually getting downright heavy, but again, it's mostly the guitar, wild sheets of feedback, crumbling downtuned distortion, all draped over that unfuckwithable rhythm section, who play on, unfazed. Finally, "Forever In Another World" finishes things off with an epic stretch of moody minimal hypnorock, again, Circle fans, you're likely to flip, or if not flip, trance out big time, the sound never letting up, or even changing that much over the track's 13+ minutes, the drums and bass busier than before, but still locked tight, while Baker's guitars gradually build, not so much in volume or in heaviness, they seem to expand outward, processed swirls of sound that billow and shimmer, the drums this time following suit a bit, loosening up, the last few minutes, the band in full on psychedelic space rock mode, the sort of druggy dreamy space jam that could easily have stretched on forever. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, 180 gram black virgin vinyl, 100 percent recycled sleeves, includes a download code too!

MPEG stream: River's Edge
MPEG stream: Walrus Tusk Scrimshaw

Dunno if Darkthrone's Fenriz is into Cauldron or not, but we're gonna quote him here anyway: CANADIAN METAL!! Yes, the Cauldron boys are back, with the eagerly awaited Burning Fortune. As fans of the band, or anyone taking a glance at the cover image (demonic woman emerging from sports car) might guess, it's another slice of awesomely, unapologetically '80s styled retro-metal from this Toronto based trio, now consisting of Jason Decay on bass and vocals, Ian Chains on guitar, and new drummer Chris Steve. We loved Cauldron's Earache debut a couple years back, Chained To The Nite, and this is a perfect sequel. Massively melodic, whilst being moderately menacing. Nostalgic, yet fresh and energetic. Once again, catchy stuff that absolutely does not shy away from metal's former glories in the pop arena. That's what we like so much about Cauldron - they're just about the only one, among the many current "new school of old school" metal acts, who aren't too cool to take non-ironic inspiration from the best of the long-gone glammy "hair metal" brigades, while keeping it hard and heavy at the same time. Nobody else sounds like this anymore. Sure, it can be a bit cheesy but that's how they wanna be, and that doesn't preclude 'em from conveying some real emotion. And, like they did last time with their version of Black 'N Blue's "Chains Around Heaven", they add to their old school cred with another cool cover, this time of a song by obscure Detroit horror metallers Halloween. Admittedly, if you were to spin this and then immediately follow it with, say, some vintage Kick Axe, Helix, or Sword (just to mention a few '80s bands also from Canada), Cauldron might not quite measure up, but they come close, the main issue being that Jason Decay can't exactly hang with the likes of those classics in the vocals dep't, though his are decent enough here. And headbangers should certainly be satisfied with the shreddin' guitars (check out Ian Chains' solo spot "Unchained Assault"), along with some substantial bursts of speed now and then ("Rapid City", ferinstance). Also cool: for some reason, Earache has continued the tradition of putting out Cauldron albums at a bargain price, this one's only $8.98, about what a cassette or lp of this would have cost if it had actually been released back in the '80s, like it sounds!

MPEG stream: All Or Nothing
MPEG stream: Miss You To Death
MPEG stream: Breaking Through

Wooooohoooooyeaaaaaaahhhhhhh! This Canadian, old school (yet "Young And Hungry") metal trio of Jason Decay (bass/vocals), Ian Chains (guitar) and Steel Rider (drums), unleash their debut full length! The sticker on the front of this actually says "for fans of Dokken, Queensryche and Diamond Head". Wow, that's a bold move, putting Dokken on there. Diamond Head is currently considered cool of course but Dokken and Queensryche might fall into the too much information category for many of today's black/death/doom/thrash metallers. Of course, one can assume they must be referring to early Dokken and really early Queensryche, which is all right as far as we're concerned. While Cauldron celebrates a certain sort of '80s cheese - the cheesecake album cover ferinstance - it's heavy metal, not poofy hair metal. (The band pictures confirm that these guys don't use hairspray, though it does look like they are familiar with the use of conditioner.) Nor is it an ironic pisstake, though we would hope that nobody would spell night "nite" in their album title without tongue slightly in cheek! Cauldron's inspirations certainly come from the galloping NWOBHM stuff (Angel Witch!), their U.S. progeny Metallica circa Kill 'Em All, as well as the better/grittier side of Sunset Strip glam a la Ratt and W.A.S.P., and arena Ozzy circa The Ultimate Sin, so this disc has got a refreshing, unabashed pop sheen and sensibility, but there's no ballads, nothing like that. Their quick riffing songs�about such subjects as being "Bound To The Stake" (presumably after a "Witch Trial" though that's the not the order in which they appear on the album) or "Chained Up In Chains" (the best redundant title ever, and also the song they contributed to Earache's Heavy Metal Killers comp reviewed here a couple lists back) are more like fist in the air metal, that's both melodic and ballsy, a killer combo of speedy slayage and catchy choruses. Another good song title is "Fermenting Enchantress"! They've got self-aware wit and style enough to appeal to the indie-hipster-metal crowd (a la Early Man, Dead Child, The Sword) whilst maintaining true metal cred, which also derives from the band's previous, doomier incarnation as Goat Horn. And, indeed, they do have some hard rockin' hair metal cred too, since, in keeping with the chains theme, they wrap up this album with a cover of a song called "Chains Around Heaven" originally by LA glam also-rans Black 'N Blue circa 1984. (Andee is so STOKED.) Any unfounded doubts that Cauldron aren't the real deal dissipate with that irony-proof move. We just wonder why they didn't cover Dokken's "Unchain The Night" too... maybe 'cause they don't actually sound like Dokken anyway. What's left to say? Buy this, and turn it up LOUD! Soon you'll have lyrics like "chained up in chains, in the moonlight" stuck in your banging head, and be lovin' it! While they last, we have the deluxe slipcased edition of this, which comes with an extra bonus disc containing two songs, taken from Cauldron's out of print indie ep Into The Cauldron. One of which, "Restless", might be our favorite song of theirs, so lucky for you it's on here.

MPEG stream: Young And Hungry
MPEG stream: Conjure The Mass
MPEG stream: Chained Up In Chains

All the headbangers at aQuarius have been waiting for this, the 3rd album from Toronto hesher trio Cauldron. Loved their others, and this one's no different. In fact, these Canucks are nothing if not consistent, once again delivering damn catchy '80s inspired metal that's heavier and tuffer sounding than most MTV hair metal bands back in the day, but still with a bit of that good old glammy, melodic, pop vibe. Rockin' like Dokken in other words, and yet still matching the very menacing metal mood of the album's cover painting, bleak and gloomy. If you liked their other albums, you'll like this one too - and for newbies, why not start here? As always, Cauldron have a knack for coming up with riffs and choruses that immediately stick in your head like you've headbanged to 'em many times before, with the only real weak link being the workmanlike vox of bassist/frontman Jason Decay, not a lot of power there, definitely not "tuff", but we're used to 'em, and anyway by now his singing is a recognizable, distinctive part of the whole Cauldron "sound" that we can't help but respond to, all part of this band's unique charm, the major portion of which is being non-ironically stuck in, like, 1985. Heck, we appreciate how they put so much effort into writing truly "pop" heavy metal songs despite the fact that they stand very little chance of winding up on the radio, being about 30 years too late for that. Thus, Cauldron are in a way a more honest and respectable band than some of their '80s antecedents, being obviously motivated only by their sincere love of that style of metal rather than any mercenary hopes of commercial success and material gain (and hookers and blow). Underground status, maybe, but arena-sized stardom, never. Too bad! But they do have their fans, us among 'em. Long may they rule the nite!!

MPEG stream: Nitebreaker
MPEG stream: Endless Ways
MPEG stream: Fight For Day

The genre of "pirate metal" (yes, there is such a thing) gets a bad rap, perhaps deservedly so. Maybe it was ok back in the day when Running Wild was the only band, um, running wild with it. But modern "pirate metal" acts like Alestorm and Swashbuckle, while good for a chuckle, are just too silly. You can't help but imagine 'em in frilly shirts and eyepatches, maybe a stuffed parrot on the shoulder or a fake hook on the hand. About as mean and scary as National Talk Like A Pirate Day. Arrr! However, underground Australian black/doom/death act Cauldron Black Ram, featuring a couple members of funeral doomsters Mournful Congregation, are more like what REAL, truly bloodthirsty buccaneers would have listened to, if they were into metal on the Spanish Main. Churning, rumbling riffage, punishing battery, blower bass, guttural vokills, truly vicious rockin' heaviness indeed! And, yes, CBR have a pirate theme, but their lyrics seem more derived from the creepy occult myths that pirates might have believed in, speaking of drownings and disembowelments, cannibals and caverns. The pirates of Cauldron Black Ram's fevered imaginings are like the ones from John Carpenter's The Fog, ghosts and ghouls back from a watery grave. Wicked (sea)sick.

MPEG stream: Fork Through Pitch
MPEG stream: Maw
MPEG stream: Bats

Chicago musician makes an entire album of abstract beat driven trip hop. Nice, especially the first track's strong start, but missing something, perhaps either [1] an MC, or [2] anything to set it apart from the 8 thousand other folks who make music like this. Pleasant listening but not original enough for these ears.

RealAudio clip: All These Todays Just Melt Into Tomorrows

It's so cool that Slumberland Records has been resurrected and is now based right across the bay in Oakland. We love so many of the seminal indie rock records they released over the years from bands like Boyracer, Aislers Set, Beatnik Film Stars, The Softies, Swirlies, etc. Now with bands like Crystal Stilts on their roster they're showing they still have a golden touch for catchy lo-fi greatness filled with irresistible pop hooks. Cause Co-Motion! (exclamation point required!) fit with the label's new direction so perfectly. Borrowing heavily from the scrappier side of Beat Happening or the more lo-fi DIY sound of early Pastels. Short songs that sound like they're coming right out of a dusty garage, filled to the brim with catchy hooks, and played with reckless abandon. Fans of recent outings by folks like Vivian Girls, the aforementioned Crystal Stilts and the great Shop Assistants reissue we've been digging so much will find lots to love about Cause Co-Motion!

MPEG stream: Only Fades Away
MPEG stream: Say What You Feel

The mutant offspring of Devo's ironic neo-traditionalism and Dead Kennedys' dogmatic punk. Like hymns played by members of the Church of the Subgenius or better yet by Branch Davidians. Members of Man or Astroman!

Still sounding a lot like Built to Spill and Neil Young, Caustic Resin (who also hail from Boise, Idaho) expound on the epic density of the BTS sound with the bar-room schlock rock stylings of Estrus Records and ample cues from 70s stoner rock.

"Meaty stoner music" -- says our ADA rep Cory Loverboy Brown -- from sometime Built To Spill backup band.

If all you know about Caustic Resin is that some of their members were part of Built To Spill for a while, then get ready. The newest full length from these potsmokers finds them at their most Crazy Horse with excessive jamming and extended, melodic, seventies-style dirges. Neil Youngisms abound, burying themselves under a layer of feedback and skree.

In 1992, Richard James issued a handful of mysterious singles under the moniker Caustic Window, all the while maintaining his vangarde reinterpretations of UR acid trax and post-rave breakcore with occasional detours into chimingly playful melodies topping eerie drones and shuffling rhythms. Given the timeframe when these tracks were created, they have a lot more in common with the first chapter of the Aphex Twin album Selected Ambient Works Volume One. Caustic Window has often been sited as the most abrasive of the Aphex Twin side projects; and while there are some numbers which Alec Empire clearly used as a springboard for his Digital Hardcore ethos, there's plenty of lilting electronica for the Boards Of Canada crowd. Of course, all of the original Caustic Window singles disappeared very quickly, and reappeared about 10 years ago on the self-evidently titled album Compilation. That set went out of print, which brings us to the modern day where the Rephlex has reissued this material once again so that Richard D. James' electronic brilliance can continue to tickle our ears and rattle our bones.

MPEG stream: Joyrex 14
MPEG stream: Cordialatron

We often talk about the pun as title, or the pun as name of your store. And how it's important that it is actually clever, and makes sense. There's a laundromat down the street from AQ called the Wash Quarters. We get it, headquarters, but you do your wash there, but it doesn't work. There's another laundromat in the neighborhood called the Washing Well! Now, that works, washing sounds like wishing. Same thing with local eyeglass emporium the Frame And Eye. Also sort of clever, I spelled eye, the whole thing like the King And I, but it just doesn't work. Now if they sold jewelry and were called The RING and I, or if they sold random crap and were called the THING and I... maybe it has something to do with rhyming. Anyway, this brings us to the debut from Portugal's Cavalar, titled As A Metal Of Fact. Well, you see what we're talking about. Remember the band TT Quick from the '80s and their record METAL Of Honor? Right. Exactly. Anyway, let's forgive these guys since English is not their first language, and besides, apparently most English speakers seem to enjoy names like the Wash Quarters and The Frame And Eye anyway. But the intent is clear. This is METAL, and the sort of true metal that is played with honor and pride. Actually, Cavalar fall a little more (heck, a lot more) on the Sabbath worshipping stoner rock side of things, which is no bad thing at all. We love Sabbath, and we love bands who sound like Sabbath. But Cavalar sound so much like the Sabs it's downright uncanny. A lot of it has to do with the vocals. in the pantheon of Ozzy-a-like vocalists, this guy's right up there with Steve Hennessey from sHeavy, sounding more like Ozzy than Wino, Magus of Witchcraft and Bobby Liebling of Pentagram all. We often wonder if these vocalists purposefully try to sound like Ozzy, but if that's the case, why do they end up in bands that sound so much like Sabbath? Probably the more likely scenario is that those kind of vocals work best in a heavy stoner Sabbathy rock band, thus they are quickly snapped up by bands looking for the perfect vocalist. So as long as you're not put off by some blatant Sabbath worship, then hell this record is a killer. Huge riffs, amazing drumming, groovy and doomy and catchy, and the vocals, a soaring Ozzy-like whine that fits like a glove. The one negative, bands like this should NEVER actually cover a Sabbath song (Cavalar cover "Hole In the Sky") because then it becomes painfully obvious just how much you owe to Sabbath, that your singer really isn't Ozzy, and demonstrates a little too clearly how fucking untouchable Black Sabbath really are. Regardless, fans of sHeavy, Witchcraft, Burning Saviours and the rest of the Sabbath minions will most definitely want to add this to their stoner doom arsenal.

MPEG stream: Rush
MPEG stream: Deadman
MPEG stream: New Empire

Finally got a new batch of these amazing books, tailor made for us music geeks. Super in depth examinations of some of our favorite records! The cool thing is that they're not just the same old rehashed stories about the bands or artists, and who they slept with and where they grew up (although we like those too!), instead they're about the creation of those specific albums. The writers go really deep into every facet of the creation. The writing is often quite dense and sooo informative. Like a Mojo article expanded a hundred fold! We wanted to give each one an in depth review, but they are all so good and they keep coming fast and furious so we figured we oughta just list 'em. Basically, if you love the record, you're definitely gonna want the book! Also got the Joe Pernice Meat Is Murder book back in stock as well as Andrew Hulktrans's book about Love's masterpiece Forever Changes. And if you're anything like the music geeks here, you're gonna want all of em! Future volumes include My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Radiohead's OK Computer, Jethro Tull's Aqualung.

Finally! Some new music from Chicago drone kraut post everything combo, Cave, whose now sadly out of print Hunt Like Devil record was one of favorite jams of the last however many years. The funny thing too, was that Cave was sort of an accidental discovery, as we were way into the related band Warhammer 48k, whose sound was a confusional crush of noise rock, space rock, and psych rock. So is really shouldn't have been that surprising that some of those guys would split to from another somewhat confusing, but no less appealing hybrid - Cave's sound a sort of post krautrock, looped guitars, tribal percussion, almost funky, definitely groovy, wild and energetic, mesmerizing and totally hypnotic, falling somewhere between the blown out swirl of Hawkwind, the looped mesmer of Circle, but with groovier, almost alien dancefloor vibe, or better yet, some cosmic ritual, like a spaced out drug drenched drum circle, but with heavy guitars. For this ep, the band launch into action with the weird protofunk of "Butthash", a bouncy groover, with swirly synths, caffeinated rhythms, and buried vocals, a bit angular, a little new wave, equal parts krautrock, and spaced out shimmer, but all tangled up and kaleidoscopic, which leads directly into "Machines & Muscles" with its Circle-like guitar groove, some hand drums, very tribal and looped sounding, suspended in a field of space streakings and smears of soft effects in the background, the drums get a little more obtuse, a bit busier, but that main riff stays LOCKED in, until it begins to get ALL tripped out, distorted, effects drenched, swinging from speaker to speaker, dizzyingly tripped out, and then finally, the drums kick in proper, and we're in total hynorock bliss, little bits of keyboard pepper, the stuttery rhythm, the main riff staying solid and unwavering, while all around it various other sounds swoop and shimmer. Fucking awesome. Live they must stretch that out for ages, at least we hope so, in fact we sort of wish that this wasn't only a 7". Thankfully, it's NOT only a 7", as it comes with a cd-r, that includes the two tracks from the 7", and also an awesome even more blissed out version of "Machines & Muscles", the keyboards much more prominent, the vibe much more electronic and new wave, almost like Circle meets Stereolab, with plenty of buzz and glitch, lacing the propulsive groove. As well, there's a brief 85 second closer, that sounds like it was yanked from the middle of an hours-long live drug jam, with tripped out keyboards, buzzing bass, looped drums. Such a tease to only give us a 85 seconds! And as if that weren't enough, the cd-r also includes a super abstract prismatic video / light show, to accompany, Cave's relentless space-y groove, all rainbowed blur and staticky colors, swirling and shimmery and a perfect visual complement. Comes in a full color sleeve, pressed on swirled green vinyl, with a proper printed cd-r, and of course CRAZY LIMITED!!!!!

MPEG stream: Butthash
MPEG stream: Machines And Muscles

At first glance, it might be difficult to know what this record it all about. The sleeve is just a photo of trees and leaves, a dense overgrown forest. Pull out the cd, that too is cryptic, just some random letters on the disc, the sleeve, an old crinkled photo from some seventies porn mag of a topless cowgirl with a gun in her mouth. There's an insert, with a bunch of strange shapes, the word CAVE right at the top. But we know what it is. We've been waiting for this disc for ages. The debut recording from, wait for it� CAVE! Who just so happen to be the spacerock krautrock dronerock riff heavy jam band side project of one Warhammer 48K, who were already spacey and krauty and droney to begin with, so needless to say this is some seriously kick ass, aQ freakout worthy shit. For the attention span impaired, howabout some Hawkwind, Can, Circle, Lightning Bolt, Pharaoh Overlord? Sounds good huh? Well, it's easy to hear bits and pieces of all of those bands in the sound of Cave, a dual drummer-ed riff heavy psych rock, that takes single riffs and hammers at them, pounding and pummeling, repetitive and mesmerizing, a sort of kraut flecked hypnorock, but with all sorts of strange twists and turns, bizarre arrangements, baffling breakdowns, but woven into longform jams that should have anyone into the above mentioned bands frothing at the mouth. The opening track is a gorgeous little tangle of minor key melodies, looped and repeated, over a tense distant drone, thick swaths of keyboard whir over soft tangles of acoustic guitar and space-y backwards guitar swoops, but then the opening riff of the second track kicks in, and it's all fuzzy and feral, the greatest riff Pharoah Overlord never wrote, and they just hang on it, way longer than any normal band would, FOREVER, before the drums kick in, and they're off, a relentless and hooky groove, with brief blasts of super dynamic chaos, before slipping right back into it. Keyboards lay still more hypnotic melodies over the top, vocals, when there are any, are shouted way down in the mix, or are wordless falsetto la-la-la's, adding more texture and sonic complexity than anything. The dual drummers mix it up spitting out occasional tribal squalls, sometimes thick swirls of staticky fuzz wash over the proceedings, but their propulsive fortitude never falters. The first two tracks would almost be enough. Nearly 12 minutes of heavy freaked out space jam nirvana. You can practically feel the walls heaving and the sweat dripping through the speakers. You'll probably need a lie down afterwards. But there's no time, cuz hell, there's 6 more tracks to dig through. The sound is punk rock, lo-fi, but lush and epic, damaged and delirious, like garage rockers raised on Magma and Faust, there's plenty of Neu! in there, Stereolab too then, but it's way heavier than that, the guitars crunchy and thick, occasionally opening up into wailing psychrock blowouts, the drums getting more and more distorted and frenzied. Imagine an amphetamine fueled Circle or Can, but via the basement, the sound a sweat soaked drug drenched mostly instrumental kraut groove Mathy, murky, like the fucked up younger brother of Yes, a Neanderthal krautrock, laced with awesome grinding space rock riffage, blown out squalls of ur-psych, flurries of percussive splatter, chanting cult vocals, bits of what the fuck vocoder (!), but for all the weirdness, the core sound of Cave is THE RIFF. Whether it's a warbly synth, or a superdistorted guitar, or tra-la-la vocals, they all align themselves with that riff, the mission, to entrance, to ensorcel, a heaving, pulsing, throbbing mass, the sound magnetic and irresistible. Endless jams that aren't really, but feel like they should be. Like they are anyway. Transcending the laws of time and space, dragging us kicking and screaming, bouncing and bobbing, into some blissed out basement at the end of the universe, where we subsist of nothing but riffs, drums and FX. We never want to leave. Killer packaging, it's an lp AND a cd, same music on both, fold over full color sleeve, full color one sided cd sleeve (all described above) and a full color thick cardstock insert. And of course, limited, only 500 copies!

MPEG stream: HLD 2
MPEG stream: Hunt Like Devil
MPEG stream: Seans Inner Ear

Along with the new Cave full length, which is one of this week's Records Of The Week, comes this super limited 7", which features maybe our favorite jam from Psychic Psummer, but more importantly, an exclusive and unreleased track on the flipside! And it's a doozy. Hard to figure out why the heck they left it off the record. Could be that it's a bit darker and heavier, which is always a good thing in our book. Fuzzy, spaced out, murky, krautrocky, lysergic, druggy, lots of trippy effects laden psych guitar, a propulsive garagey groove, pounding metronomic drumming, WAY more Hawkwind and Monster Magnet and especially Loop than the full length proper. Think Heads and White Hills and other purveyors of hypno space rock, and this track will definitely push those very same buttons. Bad ass artwork too. LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!!!

The return of our favorite crew of psychedelic hypno krautrock worshippers, with another disc of cyclical, spaced out mesmer, a heady blend of Circle style single riff mantra-rock, classic krautrock stylings and modern minimal psychedelia, all woven into a sound that while reminiscent of much of what came before has definitely been fashioned over the last few records into something distinctly Cave-like. We were actually immediately struck by how 'clean' this new record sound. Polished, produced, whatever you want to call it, these guys have come a long way from their ramshackle DIY beginnings, opener "WUJ" might be the best Cave jam yet, sounding at the outset almost like Stereolab, that same sort of clipped guitars, measured minimal drumming, all amidst soft swirls of faded effects and synthy shimmer, but the band add all sorts of killer melodies, and extra parts, the song overflowing with hooks, slipping from that chugging propulsive churn, to full on soaring pop majesty and back again. The song does eventually crank things up, the guitars distorted, the bass thick and driving, synths everywhere (maybe dragged over to Cave from frontman Cooper Crain's Bitchin Bajas side project) adding a sort of sun dappled new age shimmer, but the final chunk of the song is raw and urgent, the sound getting way more blown out and distorted, totally in-the-red, wild squalls of psychedelic leads, definitely slipping into White Hills, Heads, Hawkwind style heart of the sun space rock territory. The second track "This Is The Best" offers up the other side of Cave, a sprawling chunk of mellow krautrock rhythms, and hazy smoldering synth drones, sounding like some lost Faust jam (maybe from those sessions with Tony Conrad) or maybe Tortoise at their most abstract and tripped out. The Bitchin Bajas vibe is huge here too, when the synths swoop in, they spread out a skyful of kosmische thrum over that motorik beat, and the low slung bass line, which relentlessly drives the track, but c'mon, this is Cave, so about 4 minutes in, the song splinters and transforms into something else entirely, another chugging guitar heavy groove, this one cranking the tempo way up, easy to imagine the live shows, this must be where the crowd starts bouncing wildly and going nuts, cuz even listening to it on record, it's hard to resist the urge. The song explodes in a wild psychedelic climax, before winding down (for about 5 minutes), with a killer drum / synth mathkraut workout, that is one of the coolest jams we've ever heard. And on it goes, the band unfurling epic swaths of looped rhythms, of swirling distorted keyboards, crunchy riffs, pounding drums, all woven into long stretches of hypno kraut bliss, culminating in the closer, "OJ", which almost sounds like a Moon Duo track gone haywire, the bass blown out and crumbling, the synths wildly fluctuating, all of the sounds swirling and shifting, while that main rhythm/groove remains locked tight, and the band chug and churn to the very end, finishing off in a blaze of twisted FX-ed psychguitar swirl. Needless to say, this rules, and is absolutely essential listening!

MPEG stream: WUJ
MPEG stream: This Is The Best
MPEG stream: OJ

[ aquarius records catalogue — C ]