We know lots of you SunnO))) fanatics missed out on the various versions of the GrimmRobe Demos 2lp. So we're happy to report that we finally got a bunch more of these in. Supposedly the LAST pressing, on good old black vinyl (the best sounding BTW). Not sure how long they'll last, so act fast.
Now all serious connoisseurs of depression, death, doom and utter grimness have reason to celebrate. No, we're certainly not talking about G.W. Bush's second-term inauguration! It's music we're going on about, and for fans of that brand of heavy, doomful drone that we know so many of you AQ-customers are, this IS good news: the re-release of the debut album from not-so-dynamic doom duo SUNNO)))! Yes! So log off of eBay, save your ninety bucks (that's what Southern Lord says the original cd was going for) and thank 'em for at last reissuing this disc, previously out on Hydrahead subsidary HH Noise Industries back in 2000. And yes, there's a BONUS TRACK. Sixteen minutes and forty seconds of bonus track entitled "Grimm & Bear It"...those jokers. That brings this album to over 72 minutes in length, perfect for enjoying your own mini-coma in its ambient embrace. Of all the SUNNO))) cds since, this remains perhaps the closest to the original template of worshipping Earth II to a T.
For some "historical" perspective (and for any who are puzzled, to explain that last comment), let's revist our original review of this disc, upon its first release:
"Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy!"
And as some of you have mentioned to us, the Southern Lord website lists a super limited purple vinyl version, but those are available only via direct mailorder from Southern Lord and are most likely gone already anyway.
Now all serious connoisseurs of depression, death, doom and utter grimness have reason to celebrate. No, we're certainly not talking about G.W. Bush's second-term inauguration! It's music we're going on about, and for fans of that brand of heavy, doomful drone that we know so many of you AQ-customers are, this IS good news: the re-release of the debut album from not-so-dynamic doom duo SUNNO)))! Yes! So log off of eBay, save your ninety bucks (that's what Southern Lord says the original cd was going for) and thank 'em for at last reissuing this disc, previously out on Hydrahead subsidary HH Noise Industries back in 2000. Now this classic comes packaged in a jewel case, instead of a spray painted hefty bag sleeve. And yes, there's a BONUS TRACK. Sixteen minutes and forty seconds of bonus track entitled "Grimm & Bear It"...those jokers. That brings this album to over 72 minutes in length, perfect for enjoying your own mini-coma in its ambient embrace. Of all the SUNNO))) cds since, this remains perhaps the closest to the original template of worshipping Earth II to a T.
For some "historical" perspective (and for any who are puzzled, to explain that last comment), let's revist our original review of this disc, upon its first release:
"Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy!"
Rumbing distortion. Doom. Drone. The vibrations have begun, another SUNNO))) disc is upon us!
As you probably know, the shorthand description for this band is that they're the SUNN that orbits Earth (the band). But actually this release from Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's heavier-than-thou SUNNO))) proves that (as we knew all along) they exert their own gravity in the universe of dark heavy drone musicks. Previous efforts like "Flight Of The Behemoth" have been faves round here, and they also made a fan out of pagan psych-rock maven / monolith expert Julian Cope, who appears here on the 25 minute opening track "My Wall" reading an epic poem! It's a bit like Current 93 but of course waaaay heavier. SUNNO))) has some other heavy friends involved with this recording too, among them the mighty Joe Preston (Thrones, ex-Melvins, ex-Earth!) who brings in some of the fucked up programmed drumming that makes his Thrones project so special. Meanwhile, Jessamine/Fontanelle's Rex Ritter not only plays on the disc, but took care of the recording and mixing too. And the doom-folk direction that Cope's presence suggests is furthered by vocal contributions from Nordic ice witch doom vocalist Runhild Gammelsaeter (whom some will know from her band with Greg Anderson, Thor's Hammer). The final, spacey track with her and Preston dueting is a dronefolk dream. Holy Wotan! Space rockers, drone fiends, pagans, and doom heads alike all should worship this dark SUNN... And we're told the recording session apparently yielded enough material for more than one album, thus there should be a White2 to look forward to someday!
MPEG Download: "The Gates Of Ballard" [/audio/sunngates.mp3]
MPEG Stream: "The Gates Of Ballard" [/audio/sunngates.m3u]
Besides Boris, SUNNO))) are the undisputed masters of the limited, the repackaged, the-must-buy-for-a-single-track, the must-have-every-color-vinyl, a crazy cult of completism. Almost every release by both bands, has seemingly been offered in multiple limited releases, slightly altered versions for Japan and the US, ridiculously limited runs, and impossible to get tour only editions. We put up with it, cuz, well, both bands rule, and continually kick our asses. And it's kinda fun chasing down weird hard to find releases and super limited editions. To a point.
We're happy to report, that unless you are one of the very lucky ones, saw the band on tour, or spent a fortune on eBay, then these three Japanese reissues are absolutely worth rebuying, as each one includes a bonus disc (or discs) that most folks probably never got their hands on. In fact, we were never able to get any of them for the store. So we'd wager lots of you will be super psyched to pick these up, even if you already have the Southern Lord version. Especially since buying the original versions on eBay would probably cost as much as these multiple disc Daymare versions, and they look amazing, re-designed packaging by Stephen O'Malley, printed inner sleeves, cool miniature lp style gatefold jackets, obi's, really really nice. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES too, so these will probably not be around for long...
White One is bundled with the very rare LXNDXN Subcamden Underworld Hallo'ween 2003 (The Libations Of Samhain), a cd originally released on Arthur Magazine's Bastet label, which features a single 50 minute live track, recorded on Halloween 2003 in London, a massive roiling downtuned dronescape, plenty of slow motion riffing and bowel loosening rumble, as well as a pretty funny interview which took place on Resonance FM and features Edwin Pouncey (aka Savage Pencil) interviewing what sounds like a VERY stoned, and slightly goofy Anderson and O'Malley. Even though the live track is a killer, it's worth it for the interview alone!
And just in case you need the scoop on White One, here's our review from when we first listed it:
Rumbing distortion. Doom. Drone. The vibrations have begun, another SUNNO))) disc is upon us!
As you probably know, the shorthand description for this band is that they're the SUNN that orbits Earth (the band). But actually this release from Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's heavier-than-thou SUNNO))) proves that (as we knew all along) they exert their own gravity in the universe of dark heavy drone musicks. Previous efforts like "Flight Of The Behemoth" have been faves round here, and they also made a fan out of pagan psych-rock maven / monolith expert Julian Cope, who appears here on the 25 minute opening track "My Wall" reading an epic poem! It's a bit like Current 93 but of course waaaay heavier. SUNNO))) has some other heavy friends involved with this recording too, among them the mighty Joe Preston (Thrones, ex-Melvins, ex-Earth!) who brings in some of the fucked up programmed drumming that makes his Thrones project so special. Meanwhile, Jessamine/Fontanelle's Rex Ritter not only plays on the disc, but took care of the recording and mixing too. And the doom-folk direction that Cope's presence suggests is furthered by vocal contributions from Nordic ice witch doom vocalist Runhild Gammelsaeter (whom some will know from her band with Greg Anderson, Thorr's Hammer). The final, spacey track with her and Preston dueting is a dronefolk dream. Holy Wotan! Space rockers, drone fiends, pagans, and doom heads alike all should worship this dark SUNN... And we're told the recording session apparently yielded enough material for more than one album, thus was born White2 which would follow not soon after!
And the vibrations continue...like the ice age envisioned in that recent movie The Day After Tomorrow, White2 by Earth-worshippers SUNNO))) has finally arrived to obliterate all life foolish enough to have futilely flourished in the interim since the release of their previous album White1 last year. It's doom time, folks. For the unprepared among you, we should explain that the Earth just mentioned is of course the band not the planet, with Earth (and SUNNO)))) being the lowest of the low, sub-Melvins, drone-out, heavy-riff-ruling outfits around. Earth came first, but over their last few albums SUNNO))) really have moved beyond the Earth tribute phase, and certainly crossed over from the metal realm into the indie-rock and avant-experimental spheres as well, with an Arthur magazine sponsored tour and write-ups in The Wire to prove it. Maybe they're now the hipster "metal" band of choice but we won't hold that against them -- they're freaking good! (Believe it or not, we hear that some folks in Poland have formed a band in tribute to SUNNO))), known as MOOND)))! If they release anything we can get, we'll let you know.)
White2 was recorded at the same sessions as White1, which saw the core SUNNO))) duo of guitarists Stephen O'Malley (Khanate, Burning Witch, Lotus Eaters) and Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, Engine Kid) augmented by guests including Rex Ritter (Jessamine) and Joe Preston (Thrones, Melvins, Earth itself) both of whom appear on this disc. White1 also featured a recital by none other than head Head Julian Cope. He's not present on White2, but in his place they've installed someone perhaps even more pagan: vocalist Attila Cishar, the Hungarian black metal icon best known for fronting Norway's infamous Mayhem on their classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album!
This disc ("optimized for blackened sub-bass systems" just so you know) clocks in at 63 minutes, divided amongst three long tracks, the first of which, "Hell-O)))-Ween", starts things off as you'd expect: it's a sonic glacier, prime Earth-styled SUNNO))) drone-grind. But track two, "bassAliens" moves into weirder, more abstract territory, a haunting, cave-dwelling improv whose electric noises could be the awakening of some cosmic Cthulhoid monster. Then the last and longest track "Decay2 (Nihil's Maw)" ups this album's quota of terror and beauty both. A spacey, droney, dark dreamscream from the throat of Attila... White2 is metal maybe, experimental yes, and quite a scary success. The farther-out stuff on this disc could be and has been rightly been compared to the music of Keiji Haino, cloaked in the same blackness. From riffage to ritual, recommended.
Besides Boris, SUNNO))) are the undisputed masters of the limited, the repackaged, the-must-buy-for-a-single-track, the must-have-every-color-vinyl, a crazy cult of completism. Almost every release by both bands, has seemingly been offered in multiple limited releases, slightly altered versions for Japan and the US, ridiculously limited runs, and impossible to get tour only editions. We put up with it, cuz, well, both bands rule, and continually kick our asses. And it's kinda fun chasing down weird hard to find releases and super limited editions. To a point.
We're happy to report, that unless you are one of the very lucky ones, saw the band on tour, or spent a fortune on eBay, then these three Japanese reissues are absolutely worth rebuying, as each one includes a bonus disc (or discs) that most folks probably never got their hands on. In fact, we were never able to get any of them for the store. So we'd wager lots of you will be super psyched to pick these up, even if you already have the Southern Lord version. Especially since buying the original versions on eBay would probably cost as much as these multiple disc Daymare versions, and they look amazing, re-designed packaging by Stephen O'Malley, printed inner sleeves, cool miniature lp style gatefold jackets, obi's, really really nice. LIMITED TO 1000 COPIES too, so these will probably not be around for long...
The bonus discs on White Two seem to be the ones everyone is after. A criminally limited double cd (one 3", one 5") originally released on Scott Slimm's aRCHIVE label, we tried to order 100 copies, but it sold out so fast we never saw a single copy. So now here's your chance, a double disc of live SUNNO))), recorded live in Brooklyn in 2004, featuring SUNNO)))as a trio, O'Malley, Anderson, and Rex Ritter from Jessamine. ANd again more of what you love. Slow and heavy and strangely beautiful...
And just in case you need the scoop on White Two, here's our review from when we first listed it:
And the vibrations continue...like the ice age envisioned in that recent movie The Day After Tomorrow, White2 by Earth-worshippers SUNNO))) has finally arrived to obliterate all life foolish enough to have futilely flourished in the interim since the release of their previous album White1 last year. It's doom time, folks. For the unprepared among you, we should explain that the Earth just mentioned is of course the band not the planet, with Earth (and SUNNO)))) being the lowest of the low, sub-Melvins, drone-out, heavy-riff-ruling outfits around. Earth came first, but over their last few albums SUNNO))) really have moved beyond the Earth tribute phase, and certainly crossed over from the metal realm into the indie-rock and avant-experimental spheres as well, with an Arthur magazine sponsored tour and write-ups in The Wire to prove it. Maybe they're now the hipster "metal" band of choice but we won't hold that against them -- they're freaking good! (Believe it or not, we hear that some folks in Poland have formed a band in tribute to SUNNO))), known as MOOND)))! If they release anything we can get, we'll let you know.)
White2 was recorded at the same sessions as White1, which saw the core SUNNO))) duo of guitarists Stephen O'Malley (Khanate, Burning Witch, Lotus Eaters) and Greg Anderson (Goatsnake, Engine Kid) augmented by guests including Rex Ritter (Jessamine) and Joe Preston (Thrones, Melvins, Earth itself) both of whom appear on this disc. White1 also featured a recital by none other than head Head Julian Cope. He's not present on White2, but in his place they've installed someone perhaps even more pagan: vocalist Attila Cishar, the Hungarian black metal icon best known for fronting Norway's infamous Mayhem on their classic De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas album!
This disc ("optimized for blackened sub-bass systems" just so you know) clocks in at 63 minutes, divided amongst three long tracks, the first of which, "Hell-O)))-Ween", starts things off as you'd expect: it's a sonic glacier, prime Earth-styled SUNNO))) drone-grind. But track two, "bassAliens" moves into weirder, more abstract territory, a haunting, cave-dwelling improv whose electric noises could be the awakening of some cosmic Cthulhoid monster. Then the last and longest track "Decay2 (Nihil's Maw)" ups this album's quota of terror and beauty both. A spacey, droney, dark dreamscream from the throat of Attila... White2 is metal maybe, experimental yes, and quite a scary success. The farther-out stuff on this disc could be and has been rightly been compared to the music of Keiji Haino, cloaked in the same blackness. From riffage to ritual, recommended.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Whoa, an Earth tribute band! Y'know, Earth, the slower than slow, heavier than heavy Sub Pop combo from a few years back, the band that took the Melvins molasses drone riffing over the edge. They're not around anymore (and weren't that great toward the end anyway) but this project (featuring members of Burning Witch/Goatsnake/Engine Kid) revisits Earth's genius genesis (back when Kurt Cobain used to play with 'em), for some long long tracks of primordial dirge. One track is even named after Earth leader Dylan Carlson. And of course the band name Sunn is derived from the amps of choice for both outfits, appropriately so 'cause it's the amps more than the guitars that you hear here. They're not covering Earth tunes, but are essentially following the same formula towards drone metal godhead. Essential for all devotees of the ultra-heavy! Each disc, with a handsome paper sleeve cover, comes sealed in its own spray painted hefty bag!
It was inevitable really. The Japanese masters of Orange Amp-powered drone-sludge and the robed priests of low end doom. How could it not happen? In fact, if you remember the 2005 April Fool's AQ list, we actually jokingly predicted this epochal event! Although in our version it also included Earth, each band playing one note of the world's heaviest E chord.
The real question was never IF it would happen, it was when. And how. Especially how. C'mon, how on earth can you fit that many amps in a recording studio. They must have used an airplane hanger, either that or they filled a high school gymnasium with Sunn and Orange stacks and microphones, and actually played in an entirely different room.
Regardless, it happened, and it sounds as good as you might imagine. Both bands completely compliment each other. SUNNO))), whose slow motion riffing borders on pure ambience, is given a serious propulsive shove, with more structured riffing and the addition of DRUMS!!! Boris get dragged back into the gloriously glacial tarpit of their older records, discarding their current garage rock rrrooooaaar for that classic slow motion doom trudge. However you look at it, it's basically the best record either band has put out. It's like an EVEN heavier SUNNO))), with bigger riffs and pulverizing doom rock drums, and of course wailing psychedelic leads. For Boris, they've taken their blown out grooves and dipped them in tar, added a million more pounds of guitar firepower and made the best Boris record since Flood.
But it's not all pulverizing doom riffage. There's plenty of dark droning ambience too. Huge stretches of swirling guitar rumble, dreamy swaths of wispy steel string shimmer. murky and haunting, processed vocals and minor key melodies swimming in a black sea of echoey ambient guitars and sizzling cymbal shimmer. The strangest track is probably "The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)", sort of the Boris / SUNNO))) version of a torch song, with FX smeared piano, strange buried rhythms, and hushed vocals, like a doom metal Mazzy Star.
The closer "Bloodswamp" is 14 minutes of churning downtuned guitars and shimmering Sunroof! like ambience. No riffs really, or if they are there, they're stretched into thick streaks of black fuzz. A furiously epic coda to a fucking amazing record.
The first 5000 copies come with a bonus disc titled SatanOscillateMyMetallicSonatas (a nod to Soundgarden, there?) that features a single 28 minute track called "Her Lips Were Wet With Venom" guest starring Dylan Carlson from Earth! Before we go any further... are you thinking what we're thinking... April Fools? SUNNO))) and Boris And Earth!!! And I bet you at least some of the bonus track is in E!! Boy, did we call it. And actually Atsuo from Boris confided in a friend of AQ that indeed, part of the reason they got Dylan to guest was because of that April Fool's review! How cool is that?!?
Anyway, the bonus track is a monstrous wall of churning guitars, with occasional howled almost death metal vocals buried way down in the mix, and languorous Earth Hex-like twang guitar draped lazily above a churning blackhole ambience. So good.
Besides Dylan Carlson of Earth, there are lots of other guest performers including Jesse Sykes, Joe Preston from Thrones (also ex-Melvins, ex-Earth), Kim Thayil from Soundgarden (aha) and Rex Ritter from Jessamine.
Packaged beautifully in a mini cd style gatefold, with AMAZING cover art, black on black with weird muted color and text printed in glossy varnish and metallic gold, both bands be-robed and standing in a cornfield, a full color booklet attached to the inside, a metallic sticker on the front, each copy individually numbered.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Okay, it's that time again, you know, when we tell you about a new, slightly different version of a Boris record you already have. And then you decide just how much of a Boris (and in this case, SUNNO))) as well) freak you really are.
This is the Japanese version of the recent collaborative effort between Japanese sludgelords Boris and their American counterparts, glacial doom merchants SUNNO))). Arguably the best release from either band in years, it's alternately achingly lovely, and crushingly brutal. But what's the deal with the Japanese version, and do you need it? Well, if you're as Boris obsessed as most of us are, the answer is yes. First off, it's got amazing new artwork. A gold and black slipcover with shimmering spot varnish text over a subtly altered booklet, on nice paper and with a fold-out Japanese insert. But it's the five minute bonus track that may have most of you shelling out another $20. A five minute alternate version of the track "The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)". Already the record's strangest and most haunting track, female vocals hover over slow shifting slabs of glistening sound. Like doom metal gone slowcore. But on the alternate extra track, the "Black Sheep" version, the doomy moody slowcore is transformed into a string quartet, all warm soaring strings over swirling shimmers, drifting sun dappled melodies over swoonsome melodies and long drawn out chords. Quite pretty, and very much a strange addition. But is it worth buying all over again. Well, it is missing the bonus disc that came with the first pressing of the American version, but if you missed out on that completely, this is obviously essential. If you have that one already, well, it just might be worth it to have both. Up to you.
Here's what we had to say about the original disc:
It was inevitable really. The Japanese masters of Orange Amp-powered drone-sludge and the robed priests of low end doom. How could it not happen? In fact, if you remember the 2005 April Fool's AQ list, we actually jokingly predicted this epochal event! Although in our version it also included Earth, each band playing one note of the world's heaviest E chord.
The real question was never IF it would happen, it was when. And how. Especially how. C'mon, how on earth can you fit that many amps in a recording studio. They must have used an airplane hanger, either that or they filled a high school gymnasium with Sunn and Orange stacks and microphones, and actually played in an entirely different room.
Regardless, it happened, and it sounds as good as you might imagine. Both bands completely compliment each other. SUNNO))), whose slow motion riffing borders on pure ambience, is given a serious propulsive shove, with more structured riffing and the addition of DRUMS!!! Boris get dragged back into the gloriously glacial tarpit of their older records, discarding their current garage rock rrrooooaaar for that classic slow motion doom trudge. However you look at it, it's basically the best record either band has put out. It's like an EVEN heavier SUNNO))), with bigger riffs and pulverizing doom rock drums, and of course wailing psychedelic leads. For Boris, they've taken their blown out grooves and dipped them in tar, added a million more pounds of guitar firepower and made the best Boris record since Flood.
But it's not all pulverizing doom riffage. There's plenty of dark droning ambience too. Huge stretches of swirling guitar rumble, dreamy swaths of wispy steel string shimmer. murky and haunting, processed vocals and minor key melodies swimming in a black sea of echoey ambient guitars and sizzling cymbal shimmer. The strangest track is probably "The Sinking Belle (Blue Sheep)", sort of the Boris / SUNNO))) version of a torch song, with FX smeared piano, strange buried rhythms, and hushed vocals, like a doom metal Mazzy Star.
The closer "Bloodswamp" is 14 minutes of churning downtuned guitars and shimmering Sunroof! like ambience. No riffs really, or if they are there, they're stretched into thick streaks of black fuzz. A furiously epic coda to a fucking amazing record.
Killer collaboration, another one of those team ups you might not have ever necessarily imagined happening, and even if you did, you probably didn't think it would sound this good. The core SUNNO))) duo do their thing, thick roiling riffage, warm and lush, surprisingly propulsive, and weirdly catchy, Steve Moore from Earth contributes some gorgeous gauzy organ drones and Joe Preston handles the vocals, deep growl, part intoned, part almost crooned, and of course Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, offering up little flurries of industrial hiss, and bits of subtle glitch, taking voices and sounds and lopping them back on themselves, Vainio's contribution subtle, but practically perfect. Easily one of the coolest SUNNO))) tracks ever, maybe better than anything on the recent Monoliths And Dimensions.
The flipside features a live jam from Suicide mainman Alan Vega, recorded last year, live and lo-fi, lots of glitch and skitter, a sort of fractured electronica, Vega's vocals super effected, looped and chopped, dense and stuttery and seriously tripped out.
And the closing track on the B side is a stripped down, very Angels Of Light sounding acoustic number from Stephen Burroughs, former frontman for industrial icons Head Of David, his first recording in a decade, his voice rough and raw and simple, the guitar playing fantastic, the song dark and mysterious and haunting.
LIMITED TO 3000 COPIES, half on white vinyl, half on clear, we have the clear, housed in plain white hand stamped covers, but open the cover up (you might have to tear it open) and inside is some gorgeous original artwork.
ALSO ON VINYL!!!!
This one's been in the can for a while now, apparently recorded live some years back, a pretty monumental meeting of the musical minds, Norwegian post black metal experimentalists Ulver, and our very own masters of the dronedoomdirge, SUNNO))). Perhaps this collaboration speaks well of both groups, as it's nearly impossible to peg which outfit's sound came out on top. In fact, it seems like both SUNNO))) and Ulver created something entirely new for the occasion, touching on sounds from the past, but mostly conjuring up some truly collaborative musical magic in the moment.
Three long songs, the opener, a slow symphonic build, all shimmering, pulsating guitars, dark sonic swirls, and most surprising horns! But they sound perfect, and the result is something haunting and stately, the guitars gradually build momentum, and soon, it's a cloud of tangled guitar buzz and horn bleat, a cosmic black jazz maybe? Regardless, it's nearly nine minutes before the drums come in, and when they do, the song doesn't explode into something more metallic, instead, it somehow blossoms into something even more majestic and epic, the horns soaring alongside the buzzing guitars, it's almost like some sort of metallic court music, you can almost imagine, some mysterious leader, being led in on a litter, carried by hulking hooded figures...
The first track bleeds right into the second, another sprawl of layered guitar buzz, and moody ambient murk, laced with thick bass thrum, and soaring melodic swells, the mostly guitar driven buzzscape, growing ever more tense and intense, almost like some minimal Godspeed jam being spun at the wrong speed, ominous and sinister, and hauntingly beautiful, all culminating in the 14+ minute closer, that really does sound like dark jazz, the opening few minutes sounds like a super sinister Martin Denny, vibes draped over twang flecked Earth-worthy guitarscapery, woozy, and Morricone-esque, very filmic, those sounds gradually giving way to a dark symphonic drift, laced with some twisted cosmic synthery, the final movement, more like some spaced out avant prog, the vocals coming in a it of a surprise for sure, transforming the sound into some sort of dark prog balladry, the sound aching, minor key and melancholic, with distinctly (gypsy) folk vibe, the last few minutes, a gorgeous sprawl of dark drone psych folk, ominous and darkly dreamy.
Super striking understated red and metallic gold cover art courtesy of SUNNO)))'s Stephen O'Malley as well...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
In an attempt to record an album that will induce coronaries in record collectors worldwide, the current monsters of sludge: Sunn 0))), Earth and Japan's mighty Boris, got together and recorded a single track, 11 minutes long, one chord, an E to be exact, with each band handling one of the notes in the chord. Sunn 0))) deftly tackle the G, as if it were a blackened, dying sunn. Earth spews forth the B, with as much vitriol as they can muster. And of course Boris offer up a soul crushing E to complete what is quite possibly the heaviest chord ever recorded. EVER! Unfortunately this is super limited, in fact we didn't get any copies at all. We're currently bidding on the only copy in existence on Ebay right now. The Buy It Now was $25,000, so the fact that the bidding is now at $18,301 and the reserve has still not been met is not very encouraging. But c'mon, three bands, three notes, one chord, eleven minutes, one copy. You just can't put a price on that!
And while we all want to own the first edition of this already out of print triple threat sludge match cd, rumours on several message boards suggest there will be a repress, another single copy, but this will be the timeshare version. For a small fee, you will be able to own, listen to, and gaze adoringly at the cd for a brief period of time each year (determined by the number of buyers, limited to 365, so at the very least you can own the disc one day a year), before a courier shows up to deliver it to the next owner. We'll of course keep you posted.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Don't get too excited. By the time you read this, it will be long long long gone....
First released way back in 2001, SUNNO)))'s 00Void was later re-released on Japanese label Daymare, which included a bonus disc, on which Nurse With Wound remixed and re-envisioned the record, and transformed it into something haunting and surprisingly lovely. That bonus disc was recently reissued on vinyl (with some slight alterations, apparently), and now Southern Lord has re-released 00Void along with, while limited supplies last, that Japanese bonus disc. So if you have the Daymare version, you don't need this, but if you missed out on this before, grab one before they're gone.
First our review of 00Void:
00Void is in fact, SUNNO)))'s first proper album, the preceding Grimmrobe Demos, being just that, demos, but sonically, it picks up right where Grimmrobe left off, huge undulating slow motion riffscapes, epic, majestic, glacial, ominous and black hole heavy. Although it hardly seems necessary at this point, for those who have managed to somehow avoid SUNNO)))'s sonic influence, SUNNO))) began life as the world's first, best, only, (and last?) EARTH tribute band, emulating and bowing before the glacial "power ambient drone" metal of Earth, creating a little cult of the dronedoomdirge faithful, long before the hipster set caught on, but this record, as much as Grimmrobe before it made a case for SUNNO))) as their own entity, sure they owed every aspect of their sound to the band they were birthed to honor (still do really), but they managed to subtly imbue that same sound with their own influences and experience, creating something even more slow and low if that were even possible, setting yet another standard for heaviness.
So on 00Void, SUNNO))) indulge in pure unfettered doom, loosed from any sort of rhythmic constrictions, unmoored from traditional song structures, letting riffs and tones and pure vibrations emanate from their wall of speakers, like some monstrous black tuning fork, almost more a physical sensation than an aural one, but those movements of blackdrone infused with a musicality that blossoms slowly the deeper you allow yourself to sink. Suffocating, pummeling, crushing, oozing, but also soothing and beautiful. Maybe one of our favorite SUNNO))) records for sure. And if the pure grim heaviness of the three originals wasn't enough, 00Void also includes a cover (or, an interpretation, anyway) of a Melvins tune! Another band who were dabbling in slow motion heaviness long before it was cool...
And here's our review of the bonus disc, Nurse With Wound's take on 00Void:
A fantastic disc of haunting drones and abstract soundscaping, constructed using the glacial doom of SUNNO))) as the building blocks, which is surprising considering how shimmery and serene much of this is.
The opening track is one long slow billow of sound, gentle clouds of muted metallic reverberations, deep resonant chiming tones, soft smeared bass notes, all blurred into a creeping drift, that is more Chalk or Coleclough than SUNNO))). The second track is evenmore abstract, isolating, or adding voices, peppering the dreamy drone with strange metallic clang, moaning horn like bleats, sprays of hiss and buzz, all over a warbly wandering bassline, the vocals driving the song at points, a nasally croon entangled in the tracks gauzy gurgle, the bass getting thicker and thicker, coated in grit and grime and hiss, the vocals effected and almost demonic, breaking glass, weird industrial clatter, and lots and lots of hisssssssss.
The final track, another gorgeously minimal drone, the sound of SUNNO))) smeared and blurred and muted into a hushed thrum, soft subtle layers shifting and blending, warm and rich and textured but simple and spare, near the end, voices and radio static surface, but still barely audible, another whispered layer beneath a sea of tranquil hushed whir. Pretty dang cool, even if it's fairly far removed from the sound of the original, but then again, that's sort of the mark of a good remix as far as we're concerned.
As with most things Southern Lord, extremely limited, each one numbered, and most likely not available for long.
The ominous revving of a juggernaut engine. Shifting tectonic plates. Glacial drone-riffs as death-knell backing for the sinister intonations of ritualistic incantations in a foreign tongue... That's SUNNO))) we're talking about, all right!
Imagine a sealed white room, an otherwise-empty space with the cowled-in-black SUNNO))) set up on black risers, their massive backline of amplification and instruments also duplicated as full-scale frozen white sculptures manufactured of cast resin and salt by NYC artist Banks Violette. Entombed within, the band plays alone to no audience, the massive resonation of their sub-sonic prayers self-referentially worshipful, a cosmos unto itself. This LP contains music written as the soundtrack to such a performance, which took place at a gallery in London, England in June of 2005. These actual recordings, though, were studio-recorded in 2006 and feature the core SUNNO))) duo of Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley joined by guests Atsuo (of Boris), Joe Preston (of Thrones), and Hungarian black metal icon Attila Csihar (of Mayhem). There's two side-long tracks: "Belulrol Pusztit" is a creepily quiet, hushed ceremony, Attila's whispering reptilian rasp met with rattlings and rumblings, hinting at the waves of distortion and feedback to be unleashed on the louder, heavier Skullflowering of "Orakulum"... DOOM!!
This limited (black) vinyl version of Oracle is probably the only format we're gonna get, though there IS (or was...) a compact disc edition, a double cd in fact, containing everything on this LP plus an extra disc's worth of live material called "Helio)))sophist", but it was only available for sale at SUNNO)))'s recent shows. If, and it's a big IF, they have any copies left over after their tour then we're told we may get a few, but considering that copies of that 2cd are already selling for hefty sums on eBay (fie on limited editions!!) we won't necessarily count on getting any... So probably best to grab one of these while you can...
Latest in the seemingly endless list of Phil Anselmo projects: Pantera, Down, Viking Crown, Necrophagia, Southern Isolation, Eibon, Christ Inverter, and now Superjoint Ritual. For SR, Anselmo has enlisted the help of Eyehategod/Crowbar guitarist Jimmy Bower, Hank Williams III's drummer Joe Fazzio, and a bass player who is known simply as III, supposedly for contractual reasons similar to those that kept Anselmo a secret member of Necrophagia for so long. And the record has all those familiar Anselmo sights and sounds, fuzzy downtuned Southern groovemetal guitars, Anselmo's melodic screech, lurching, hypnotic tempos, and fierce pounding sludge metal rhythm section. But the sound here is much more raw and immediate, speedy and punky and noisy all over the place, but as with all Phil's bands it all gets reeled back in just right and becomes a sludgy groove before running wild again. Reminds me more of Pantera than Down, just so you know. Good stuff.
The debut demo from these East Bay doomlords gets a deluxe vinyl reissue, and will be the first time most folks get an earful of Swamp Witch, and in a seriously overpopulated scene, SW definitely do their own thing, in fact, from the first few seconds, we were a bit thrown off, cuz the vibe was way more stonery and classic metal, not sludgey or really even all that doomy, we were ready for some soaring eighties style metal vocals to swoop in, they definitely would have fit, but before that can happen, the song shifts gears and slows to a lurching crawl, accompanied by some demonic vokill bellows, some serious stonery sludge, but then that opening riff resurfaces, and adds some serious melody to the proceedings, this time with added sort-of-leads, but it's what keeps this from being just another slab of boring doom, and it's that push and pull that makes the track so good, the band easily shifting from that lurching crawl, to the more propulsive classic metal rocking and back again, the cool thing being that you can almost feel the pull of the opposing sound the whole time, the sludge-y parts sound like they desperately wanna explode into melodic metal, and the melodic metal parts feel like they're on the edge of being sucked into the black tarpit dirge of the sludge parts. Then at the end it gets sort of psychedelic, with some crazy, sorta shrieked vocals. Such a killer track, definitely worth the price of admission right there. Then there's the second track, which is a bit more traditionally stonery sludge, but with a KILLER main riff, that again, slows down to an absolute slo-mo creep, a chugging, churning crawl, and so it goes again, the band lurching from stonery dirge to creepy crawl, finally culminating in an outro that's all swirling psychedelic feedback.
The sidelong flipside is a doozy, the brooding title track takes ages to get revved up, building lots of tension, the vibe super cinematic, all swirling feedback, and groaning bass rumble, keening melodies, all blurred into smeary swaths of mournful minor key sound, and when the song kicks in, it's MASSIVE, so heavy and blown out, some seriously brutal ultra doom crush, the sound remaining mostly entrenched in a tarpit dirge, the variations this time for the most time arrangement wise, some mathy chugging, a slightly more midtempo, groovy stretch, with some killer psychedelic guitars, which eventually bliss out into another feedback drenched guitardrone finale.
So killer. Not sure how we haven't heard these guys before now.
And if these three tracks are still somehow not sludgey enough for you, do some searching on the internet, and you can find a killer 'chopped & screwed' version, which finds the whole thing slowed way down, fucked with, looped and layered, stuttery and staggery, replete with weird scratching and DJ manipulations, as well as woozy, pitch shifted DJ Screw like vocals. Wish they would have pressed up an extra lp and included this version too...
Super nice packaging, a heavy gatefold sleeve, with a little baggie with two buttons, the lps pressed on 180 gram vinyl. Also includes a poster, a patch and a download code!
Self-titled records are strange. They are definitely a statement. It's sort of like 'our record doesn't NEED a title, it speaks for itself'. We can't help but think sometimes though that it's just pure laziness. The sort of band who would forgo an album title are only a hop skip and a jump away from ditching song titles too. And then what's next, no band name? That's part of the fun, part of the magic. Part of the unique world that a band creates. Sometimes the title of a song or album is exactly what makes us want to listen to it. Along the same lines, we're often frustrated by bands who have multiple self-titled records. Quite confusing, there's the OLD self-titled one, and the NEW self-titled one. But what about these Swedish metalheads. Not one, not two, not even three self-titled records, BUT ALL FOUR of their release so far are self-titled. Even their first seven inch! And they HAVE gotten rid of song titles, opting instead for numbers. So I guess it is all about the music after all. So yeah, the music, that's why we're here, right? All we can say, is what the hell happened to Switchblade?! Something seriously scary we'd have to guess. Last time we checked in, they were one of those metallic post rock metalcore hybrids, exploring drifting loping melancholy rhythms that would explode into chugging grinding sludgy metal freakouts. They also had a strange Albini-esque vibe, big booming drums, really spacious recording.
But now. Holy shit, these guys are a whole lot scarier. A lot slower. Even heavier. It's like they discovered their inner Khanate. This is downright doooooomy. It's almost like the last Switchblade record played at 16rpm. In fact, maybe it is... Hmmm? Anyway, this has much more in common with Moss and Bunkur and Earth and Nadja and Marzuraan and Khanate, than the bands that occupied a similar sonic space as their last record, the Pelican's and Isis's and the like. The new Switchblade is a slow lumbering beast, two lengthy tracks, one 16 minutes, one almost 30 minutes, each a plodding, slow motion, glacial, dirge. Riffs are drawn out and allowed to drift and dwindle before the next riff arrives to take over. The drummer sounds like he only has one drum. And one cymbal. But both of them are really BIG and really LOUD. But unlike some of the sludgelords this disc is obviously indebted to, Switchblade keep their sound warm, and spacious. This isn't murky or muddy. It's wide open and spacious, the guitars are clear and bright, distorted sure, but more thick and heavy than downtuned and sludgy. A bit like recent discs from the Angelic Process and Nadja, a sort of beautiful sludge. the first track is the more overtly evil of the two with super creepy harsh whispered vocals, like Gollum from Lord Of The Rings, a raspy demonic growl. The second shorter track, sounds a bit like a heavier version of slowcore legends Codeine, with whispery crooned vocals, drifting minor key chords, all strung along a skeletal doom plod. Haunting and malefic, but at the same times strangely delicate and introspective. A truly mysterious and utter metamorphosis. We can hardly wait to hear what their fifth self-titled release will bring...
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Oooh. Hexagonal!!! And a picture disc. It hardly matters what music is on it, does it?? Especially since it's a limited edition "Black Friday" Record Store Day style release, not long for this world, and we are down to our last 3 copies!
But, in case you are for some reason curious about the music too, we can tell you it rocks. Two songs from everyone's favorite hipster heshers (ha, well, we like 'em), one from their recent Warp Riders opus, the Thin Lizzy-ish "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire", backed with a previously unreleased tune in a similarly heavy, sci-fi '70s stoner rocking vein, "Farstar".
And it comes with a hexagonal sticker too.
Not to be confused with the sludgier Sword from Virginia or the '80s Sword from Canada, or indie rockers The Swords Project or Idyll Swords or any of the umpteen other bands metal and otherwise called Sword or something like Sword... THIS Sword hails from Austin TX, and is mightily hyped as the next big thing in the indie/metal crossover world, a la The Fucking Champs or Pelican. They're at the very least the next Early Man. And sound a bit like that Brooklyn retro-metal outfit (with the Ozzyish vox). They're also touring with 'em, playing here in San Francisco around the corner from Aquarius at 12 Galaxies next week, Tuesday the 21st of February. I (Allan) am for sure gonna go... 'cause this band (and Early Man too) have the potential to slay live, judging from the studio recorded evidence. Actually I've been curious about The Sword for a while, heard some good things about these guys first when our pals in Slough Feg (or was it Hammers Of Misfortune?) played with 'em in Texas. Then I guess they also got some good press at SXSW. So, here's their debut full length on the Kemado label (home also to Diamond Nights, Tarantula A.D. and Dungen among others). And, put briefly, it rocks.
Their pounding, uber-heavy, swords (duh) and sorcery stoner metal reminds us a bit of Zebulon Pike, and A LOT of High On Fire (and also, thus, Sleep). Those aforementioned vocals especially. Their lyrics and graphic imagery are all seemingly inspired by Norse mythology and the music, rather than being a black metal blur, is suitably heroic as well -- charging, triumphant, and almost wearying in its relentless bombast... which is why the mellow respite at the beginning of speedster "Iron Swan" is welcome, and the hills and valleys of the album's longest, proggiest, most epic tune "Lament For The Aurochs" give it staying power. The Sword sure sound serious, taking the weightiness of stoner/doom metal and putting it to old school, dual guitar, fantasy metal use. We imagine many fans of The Fucking Champs and Mastodon and some of the other bands mentioned above will indeed like this.
See nearby for our review of this band's new album Gods Of The Earth, for which this limited edition 2-song picture disc vinyl 10" was a teaser. We've just got a handful. It's got album track "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" on side A, with the non-album cut "Codex Corvidae" on side B.
The artwork features the band's logo superimposed over a skeletal horse rising from an erupting pool of glowing magma, a typical scene in ancient Hyperzephria.
If you're gonna call your metal band The Sword (not just Sword, of which there have been a few, but THE Sword) you've got a lot to live up to. So maybe it's not such a surprise that lots of folks in the scene have been hatin' on this band 'cause somehow they're not "true" enough. And/or they got just too darn popular. Ironic hipster metal they get called. We've probably said it ourselves. But of course what's ironic is how 'cause a band gets big, suddenly they're not cool anymore. Now, it does seem that Austin's The Sword live charmed lives, young undoubtedly hipster dudes bringing the heavy to a maybe not entirely metal audience, getting all kinds of hype with only one album (well, now two) to back it up. That there's OTHER bands out there equally worthy who don't get on MTV or Guitar Hero, we won't deny! Better bands, even. Heck, the world ain't fair. But that doesn't mean that The Sword aren't good fist in the air fun. C'mon, their High On Fire meets The Fucking Champs brand of HEAVY, guitar harmony laden, stoner/doom rumble, replete with swords & sorcery fantasy metal '80s influences, might not be the most original or imaginative thing ever but sounds pretty good to us, even if they're certainly no Slough Feg.
And this sophomore effort, Gods Of The Earth (oooh, full of themselves, are they?), is probably up a songwriting notch or two from their Age Of Winters debut two years ago, though following the same general template, so if you liked that one you'll like this too. There's a couple melodic acoustic guitar intros and interludes, but mostly massive amps to 11 guitar crush and drum pummel the rest of the time. The Sword's seriously stentorian riffage rules, conjuring images of conquering armies sweeping savagely across ancient bloody battlefields. Kings and wizards, rogues and rangers populate their lyrics, and they even do a song about an axe. It's all very D&D, straight faced no joking (which should be a point in their favor). If The Sword's songs were airbrush artwork they'd go great on the side of your van.
'Tis true, sometimes their rather relentless (or shall we say epic?) chugga-chuggery and lackadaisical singing/shouting (Sleep style, as is much else of their sound) can eventually sound a bit been there done that. But not when you're fully engorged with headbanging lust, which you as a redblooded metalhead ought to be! That is, as long as you're not being a scene policeman too worried about what's metal and what's poseur to have a good time. What do you want to be, high school hall monitor or sword-swinging barbarian berserker?? The Sword offer you the choice of either role we suppose.
PS we don't have the vinyl of this yet, but we DO have a few copies of their recent picture disc 10" with album track "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" backed with the non-album cut "Codex Corvidae"!
It's The Sword....in SPAAAAAAAAACE! Well, that is, the popular stoner doom quartet that so many "troo metallers" love to hate have released their third long-player, and this time trade their lyrical fixation on Norse mythology for more of a science fiction theme. Or cover art, anyway. And, really they don't sound too much different as a result. Still super heavy and riffy and kinda catchy despite the vocalist's limitations, and just as worthy of Guitar Hero inclusion as they ever were. What we are noticing, though, is maybe their Texas roots coming more to the fore, The Sword's typically Sleep-like sound now infused with some serious '70s boogie! The single "Tres Brujas", for instance, has a Southern Rock feel for sure, same with "Lawless Lands". Meanwhile, the cowbell-rockin' "Night City" and others like closer "(The Night The Sky Cried) Tears Of Fire" reveal The Sword's debt to another '70s influence: Thin Lizzy.
Delving into this disc, though, we do discover that the sci-fi (or rather, science fantasy) deal is for real: this is in fact a full-on concept album, with a cryptic nerdy narrative running though such heavy tracks as "Acheron/Unearthing The Orb", "The Chronomancer I: Hubris", and "The Chronomancer II: Nemesis". Hmm, we almost suspect that their brief two weeks of touring two years ago with San Francisco's Slough Feg somehow rubbed off on 'em. There's even Space Pirates in the story!
So, If you like The Sword (and we do, even if sometimes we get a bit bored if we hear too many of their songs in a row) and don't mind 'em doing something just a bit different, you'll likely like Warp Riders; to possibly damn with faint praise it's their least boring album yet!! No, seriously, we're digging it. Not as doomy as they once were, but more hard rockin' is what we're sayin'.
And if you don't like The Sword (or don't think you do), c'mon and give this one a chance anyway, as they're definitely trying out some new (old) stuff here and doing it well. And maybe the haters can give 'em a break now, as they're 3 albums in, and that counts as paying some dues, right?
We just had a big "Witchcraft weekend" 'round these parts... The incredible Swedish doom/prog rockers played two shows in the vicinity -- a packed one at Slim's in SF and also a much more intimate one at a place down in the woods near Santa Cruz (which was thus even more amazing). Several of the AQ staff made it to both shows, and are still recovering. Witchcraft are such cool guys, very down to earth and friendly despite all the ego-stroking rock star adulation that they've begun to receive... and totally deserve, 'cause they ROCK like nobody since about 1972. Their new album The Alchemist is still in heavy rotation here at the store, and MORE new Witchcraft is, geeze, icing on the cake.
The Sword from Texas are another young band of fairly retro doomsters we like who got pretty darn big pretty darn fast... makes sense the two bands would team up for something, in this case a limited edition 12" vinyl only split ep!
On Side Sword, you get a brand new composition from them called "Sea Of Spears" and also a cover version of Led Zep's "The Immigrant Song"! Witchcraft fill the flip with three tracks, the first of which, "You Bury Your Head", was originally released in 2002 as the b-side to their debut single (this is that recording, not the re-recording of it found on their first album). Then there's "Queen Of Bees" and "Sorrow Evoker", newly recorded versions of songs found on Witchcraft's Firewood album. FYI this record is already SOLD OUT at the label, so...
Hey all right, now a couple years after the cd reissue, the UK's Acme label has also pressed this on vinyl! No BBC bonus tracks here though, just the original album. Some of what we said 'bout it before:
We KNOW this is gonna be one that the legions of AQ customers into psych, prog and other late sixties/early seventies heaviness will want. And even if that's not one of your primary musical specialties, this would be a good choice to check out anyway if at all curious.
British psych/prog power trio T2 released this one amazing album on Decca in 1970, the bizarrely-titled It'll All Work Out In Boomland. Somehow, that lp didn't make much of an impact at the time (although the band did play the Isle of Wight Festival) and has pretty much been forgotten by all except obsessive psych/prog record collectors. Until now, it's been pretty hard to come by - the previous cd reissues we know of were either crappy bootlegs or rare, expensive Japanese imports. We've always wanted to list it, though.
T2, composed of drummer/vocalist/songwriter Peter Dunton, guitar whizz Keith Cross, and bassist Bernard Jinks, played HEAVY psychedelic bluesrock (a la Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer), mixed with progressive stylings (incorporating acoustic guitar, piano, mellotron, strings). Their songs combine Cross's big fuzzed-out hard rock riffs and psych-skronk leads with mellow, melancholic pretty parts and Dunton's gentle, whispery vocals. Very melodic yet heavy, totally classy and special. For instance, the song "No More White Horses" perfectly weaves amped up electric guitar feedback fury into a tasteful tapestry that also glows with lovely piano and majestic horns. Boomland also features T2's side-long, 21+ minute long masterpiece "Morning", a massive, memorable epic of many moods, a track meant to musically and lyrically describe (or potentially enhance?) an LSD trip, as the text and elaborate diagram included underneath the cd tray explains! There's two other songs on the album proper, the storming opener "In Circles" (which reminds us of stuff on Stray's first album, if you know 'em) and the calmer, exquisitely beautiful "J.L.T.", replete with lush orchestration.
Definitely one of the best bands from those magical years of the early '70s! Certainly one that should be better known. Do you dig the fuzzy, proto-metal heft of the aforementioned Blue Cheer? And also heavy progressive Krautrock stuff like Amon Duul II, Gila, Necronomicon, and Out Of Focus? Well kinda put those two together and you'll have some idea of T2's genius. Or imagine Randy Holden's Population II project gone all symphonic. Also, if you're into early, pastoral British psych/prog like In The Court-era King Crimson, Wishbone Ash, or the more obscure Bachdenkel then you need to hear T2! And for weird, psychedelic cover paintings, this is up there with Culpeper's Orchard, another lost '70s heavy druggy psych classic that we could compare this with musically as well.
Boomland is the kind of thing that turns up in the personal "Top 10 of All Time" lists of those lucky enough to have heard it.
British psych/prog power trio T2 released one amazing album on Decca in 1970, the bizarrely-titled "It'll All Work Out In Boomland". That LP didn't make much of an impact at the time (although the band did play the Isle of Wight Festival) and has
T2, composed of drummer/vocalist/songwriter Peter Dunton, guitar whizz Keith Cross, and bassist Bernard Jinks, played HEAVY psychedelic bluesrock (a la Cream, Hendrix, Blue Cheer), mixed with progressive stylings (acoustic guitar, piano, mellotron, orchestration). Dunton's songs combine big fuzzed-out hard rock riffs and Cross' psych-skronk leads with mellow, melancholic pretty parts and gentle, whispery vocals. Very melodic, very heavy yet beautiful, totally classy and special. Definitely one of the best bands from those magical years of the early '70s! (If you dig the aforementioned Blue Cheer, and can imagine them crossed with heavy progressive Krautrock stuff like Gila and Amon Duul II, or even early, pastoral British psych/prog like King Crimson, you've got some idea about the genius of T2.)
The seven tracks on this self-titled, 45 minute cd were recorded in 1970, intended as the follow-up to "Boomland" -- but the band broke up and this material languished in the vaults until this cd release. Had it come out at the time, who knows -- maybe people would have caught on and T2 would be more than just a cult band today. But, that's the way it is, and here's your chance to join the cult...
AQ's favorite instrumental psychedelic space-rock prog-keyboard crust-metal outfit, San Diego's terrific Tarantula Hawk, has produced two great full-length albums (both of 'em self-titled), one on Life Is Abuse and this year's Neurot labels release. But, of course, fans like us want more. So, thankfully, there's also these two live, not-quite-tour-only cd-r releases, of which we've managed to acquire a few. TH's grind-drone music is a great live experience, dense and dark, and while you'd have to have a IMMENSE stereo system to replicate the loudness and power of their shows, it's still good home listening even at more moderate volume.
"Desert Solitaire" documents a show in August of 2000 at something, a festival I guess, called the One Gathering in San Diego's Madre Grande Sanctuary. 80 minutes, one track! Fuckin' epic and eerie. Godspeed You Black Emperor needs to get schooled by these three guys.
The title of the other cd-r, "Live At KFJC 07.15.01" is rather self-explanatory. Basically, last July the Hawk (space-)rocked the hell out of the studio of one of our favorite Bay Area college radio stations for 32 minutes. Both discs sound great, dynamic and heavy.
AQ's favorite instrumental psychedelic space-rock prog-keyboard crust-metal outfit, San Diego's terrific Tarantula Hawk, has produced two great full-length albums (both of 'em self-titled), one on Life Is Abuse and this year's Neurot labels release. But, of course, fans like us want more. So, thankfully, there's also these two live, not-quite-tour-only cd-r releases, of which we've managed to acquire a few. TH's grind-drone music is a great live experience, dense and dark, and while you'd have to have an IMMENSE stereo system to replicate the loudness and power of their shows, it's still good home listening even at more moderate volume.
"Desert Solitaire" documents a show in August of 2000 at something, a festival I guess, called the One Gathering in San Diego's Madre Grande Sanctuary. 80 minutes, one track! Fuckin' epic and eerie. Godspeed You Black Emperor needs to get schooled by these three guys.
The title of the other cd-r, "Live At KFJC 07.15.01" is rather self-explanatory. Basically, last July the Hawk (space-)rocked the hell out of the studio of one of our favorite Bay Area college radio stations for 32 minutes. Both discs sound great, dynamic and heavy.
The wizened seer tentatively flips the last card, her eyes illuminated by the dancing firelight. Her eyes widen as she gasps, before letting out a croaking grotesque cackle. "In your future... I see... MUSTY TASMANIAN WIZARD ROCK!" Well, congratulations! It must be your (Magician's) birthday, because no finer fate can await gods nor men than the prospect of delving into this arcane helping of mystical, mythical, organ-driven heavy folk prog from far off Tasmania. The Warrior's Spell comes hurtling across the astral plane courtesy of Tasmania's Heavy Chains Records (undoubtedly one of our fave new sources for weird & wonderful heavy rock and metal, along with Minotauro, having recently brought us the Outcast ep and latest The Wizar'd album), and conjures all of the torchlit corridor mystery & dusty crumbling aroma of some of our favorite proto-metal, proto-doom & witchy folky proggy rock bands, all swirling Hammond organ, plucked acoustic strums, seriously epic heavy riffing, plaintive flutes & distant nasal vocal prophecies. Uriah Heep is obviously a major touchstone here, the album title and cover clearly paying homage to the technicolor fantasy wonder-realm of Heep's 1972 opus The Magician's Birthday specifically. But just us clearly one can hear the sepia-toned Medieval echoes of Rainbow and the crackly mournful dirge of Pagan Altar. Tarot also shares their vocalist with another one of our favorite obscure quirky heavy acts, The Wizar'd! And while here he sounds significantly less theatrical and maniacal than in his other wilder doomed project, his more restrained approach in Tarot lends the music a much more sombre, majestick, archaic air. Very highly recommended for fans of all of those aforementioned groups as well as anything from early Wishbone Ash to Witchcraft to Comus to The Lamp Of Thoth to the Darkscorch Canticles compilation. Consider us well and truly... under the spell!!!
Most doom metal can be pretty easily classified, categorized or pigeonholed, whether it be stoner doom, funereal doom, sludge, epic doom, doom-folk, death-doom, psych-doom, dooooooooom or whatever other variant folks have cooked up. While plenty of bands do manage to transcend their classification, rare is the doomy beast that defies categorization all together, which is most definitely the case with Northwest duo Taurus, made up of Stevie Floyd (from psychedelic avant doom duo Dark Castle) and Ashley Spungin (of late great mystical metallic garage rockers Purple Rhinestone Eagle). Together they have conjured up a sound we could describe as impressionistic doom, or maybe abstract doom. Right from the outset, the various doomic elements, the usual sonic tropes are recast, filtered through the lives and experiences of these two woman, the result super dynamic, ultra heavy, extremely atmospheric, darkly ritualistic, hauntingly psychedelic, the opening track's main riff sounds like slo-mo Voivod played by Greg Ginn, all woozy and warbly, over churning drum pound, and laced with both deep witchy crooned vox, and more harsh vokills, all wound in a dizzying atonal sonic spiral that's harrowingly hypnotic and utterly mesmeric. But before that even happens, there's a gorgeously terrifying intro assembled from looped riffy churn, pounding percussive bombast, weird sample voices, and more howled shrieked vokills, a tense, and intense push and pull. The sound soon settles into something a bit more traditionally metallic, but only just, the vibe more like slowed down black metal than doom. It's like Deathspell Omega at 16rpm, barring the brief squalls of frenzied blackened freakout, but again, like that first track, the sound is warped and avant, even choice of notes, melody, rhythm, all seem obtuse and OTHER, which gives the whole record a sense of OTHERness, an outsider quality, that infuses even the most orthodox of moments with twisted pathos and deep emotion.
After those two relatively brief tracks, Taurus unfurl an epic psychedelic sprawl with "Set Forth On The Path Of The Infinite", setting the stage with swooping backwards melodies, simple ukulele (!) melody, reverbed samples, dense throbs of crumbling low end, a slow build bit of black ambience that sounds more like some lost arthouse soundtrack, and even when the drums come in, instead of exploding into a metallic onslaught, the track lopes and lumbers. And again, in swoop the guitars, and they're strange and alien, the melodies difficult, obtuse, accompanied by feral vocal howls, the song bursting into action in fits and starts, the sound ebbs and flows, eventually switching gears completely, with soaring angelic vox, over a backdrop of thick drum pound, and a slowly melting tangle of guitar keen and moan, before finishing off with another bit of haunting folkiness.
The tracks here are less riffscapes, and more a sort of ever shifting landscape of doom-ed sound, the riffs that do surface, are often indistinct, not so much riffs, as loose tangles of notes and chords that seem ghostly, and gauzy, occasionally indeed coalescing into proper riffage, but just as often drifting apart into something less distinct, more blurred and smeary, those sounds oozing and bleeding into each other, what in the hands of a more traditional doom outfit, would be more riffy and song-like all howl and pound, here becomes something ethereal and darkly psychedelic, abstract and ephemeral, and yeah, it's still heavy, but that heaviness is only loosely tethered, instead it's allowed to drift and dissipate, like on the other epic track here, "Increase Aloneness", which layers choral vocals over some roiling organ, a sort of blackened disembodied prog, by way of Arvo Part perhaps, here the build is slow, and distinctly non-metallic, samples only adding to the creepiness, to the twisted emotion, until finally, a MASSIVE riff comes cascading in, and the song is transformed into a churning, chugging behemoth, but that riff occasionally flickers and blinks out, leaving just Spungeon's double kick drum bombast, and that swirling psychedelic organ, building tension until the riff returns and so it goes, back and forth, light and shadow, love and hate, a tense/intense blackened majesty, an impossibly epic culmination of it's various constituent parts. The final track features Wrest from Leviathan adding vocals (he plays in a new group with Floyd called Devout), and we were expecting straight up some straight up black buzz brutality, but instead Wrest's croak drifts wraithlike atop a swirling morass of whirring organ, loose almost jazzy drumming, surrounded by dense billows of mysterious murk, and lush, decaying layers of drone and thrum, a sinister sprawl of grim psychedelic ambience, and textured cinematic moodiness, a Cold Meat Industry style sonic brood building to a bleak coda, suffocating and soul shearing, all by way of something infinitely more black and unknowable. No/Thing is harrowing and heavy, dense and demonic, but also spiritual and personal, intimate and introspective, and fucking fantastic.
We have both the lp version and the cd version, and for a very limited time, we also have just a tiny handful of the super limited, ultra deluxe BOXset version of No/Thing, which includes the colored vinyl version of of the lp, the cd version as well, a large silkscreened back patch / tapestry, a double sided lyric sheet / mandala, all housed in a hand screen printed, stained and shellacked wooden box, each one hand numbered and limited to 100 copies, and again, we only have a two or three...
Pummeling, cavernous and, needless to say, HEAVY. Portland's Tecumseh offer up another cathartic dose of slow motion, glacial rust. Dream-doom realizations of soul sucking necromancy. Sprawling, low-end riffs shrouded in warm distortion, drifting feedback and subtle electronics. And like we've said before, with this type of ambient sludge, its all about THE RIFF, and Tecumseh has definitely got it down. So while some of this plays like an homage to Earth 2, Avalanche and Inundation manages to take things a step forward. The gorgeous chord progressions move with a tectonic hugeness that is more marvelous and immersive than most drone-sludge outfits. Towering and fully engulfing, Tecumseh's brand of heavy hypnosis will weigh you down into infinity and leave you there to rot. Usually a three piece consisting of two basses and one guitar, Tecumseh appears as a five piece here with two other dudes on electronics and cymbals (at least that's what we heard, since the liner notes don't mention instrumentation). This cold ripping disc of hollow desolation is highly recommended for your next descent into hell.
This one is for the slow and low crowd. More gorgeous slow motion sludgery, crawling dreamdronedoom, a slow black sprawl, but unlike the current crop of guitar-against-the-amp droners (and no dis, we love that stuff), this disc by the trio Tecumseh, harkens back to the classic Earth 2, the record that spawned a million sludge bands, by reintroducing the riff. And as we must have mentioned before, it's always ALL about THE RIFF.
So all three looooong tracks here, begin with a riff, downtuned of course, nearly to the point of dissolution, and slowed way down, so that 9 or 10 times through the riff might cover half a side of vinyl, and that riff is stretched out as far as it will go, the notes drifting in blackened expanses of buzz, no drums to speak of, it's all about the riff. EXCEPT, for something strange going on in the background. A constant low level hum, the soft swirl of wind like whirs, all manner of subtle buzzing and layered drones, all woven into a constantly, but subtly, shifting background, in front of which, Tecumseh's slow-low grind creeps and crawls. Not so much heavy as it is meditative, it's very dreamy and soothing and mesmerizing, not to take anything away from these guys, cuz I'm sure this sort of band prides itself on it's heaviness, but this is the perfect metallic drifting off music, almost like they've discovered some new genre, sludge-ambient, doom-age, whatever you decide to call it, it's pretty amazing, and fans of all things slow motion, downtuned and yes, heavy will dig this big time.
Packaged in gorgeous thick fold over gatefold sleeve, hand screened, blue metallic on grey, and of course quite limited...
Latest batch of grim drifting blackness from these Portland low end necromancers, two side long tracks, still using Earth's classic 2 album as a template, but taking that churning glacial riffage and stretching it even further out, infusing the sound with more ambience, more subtle electronic flourishes, adding space and strange shifting textures, a glancing listen will still conjure up visions of robed axemen, and fog drenched walls of glowing amplification, but Tecumseh offers up the sort of ritualistic heaviness that rewards total subjugation, each track an immersive world of black buzz and rumbling creep, rife with mysterious melody, and all manner of sonic wonder.
As with past releases, the band strike a perilous balance between suffocating crush, and blackened mesmer. The A-side here is the perfect example, lumbering low end thrum, pulses and throbs, underpinned by wheezing ephemeral synths, a shimmering texture barely audible through the wall of crumbling riffage, but then it gets even heavier, and more dense, as layer after layer are piled on, and the various strands of rumble and buzz, coalesce into a seriously crushing, massive funereal dirge, corrosive, distorted, but still strangely tranquil and hypnotic, the whole track locked into a woozy soporific lop. So minimal, the sounds is more drone than metal, the undulating riffscape warm and liquid, laced with sweeps of muted electronics and buried bits of whir and glitch.
The second side starts off much more eerily, with distant voices, streaks f feedback, the sound of some overheard ritual, wrapped in cavelike acoustics, subterranean and haunting, eventually, peals of lower register buzz begin to surface, and again the track builds gradually, thickening and growing darker and blacker and heavier, slowly slipping into another expanse of rumbling glacial dirgery.
And while this was meant to play at 45, give it a spin at 33, even more abstract and minimal and dronelike, the heaviness and crush transformed into something way more abstract and psychedelic.
LIMITED TO 333 COPIES, housed in super swank, 3 color hand screened jackets, with printed cardstock inserts.
This one was a long time coming. We reviewed a tape ages ago by a boy/girl duo from Oakland who made a gloriously grim, dense blackened ambience that pushed all our buttons. That tape sold out super quick, and thus we began the wait for more. A wait that kept stretching out longer and longer. The two became disillusioned with the East Bay, and made their way northward, landing in Portland, and still we waited. Until finally, we received word, that there was indeed more, and it comes by way of the mighty Malignant Records, home to much fantastic blackened noisiness and ambient miserablism, a perfect home for these two, and for their Teeth Engraved With The Names Of The Dead. And you think that sort of move would temper their abject grimnity, a new friendlier neighborhood, a new home, might lighten up their shadowy sonics, but if anything, they've dragged some bad Oakland energy with them up North, cast their very own musical pall over this new land, and molded it into this fierce sprawl of hateful, harrowing blackness.
A guttural rumbling haloed in distant feedback opens the proceedings, a sonic representation of a scorched earth, swirling hiss, and dense tectonic low need vibrations, the sky full of strange electronics and muted FX, a sonic calm before the blacknoise storm as it were, the sound slowly mutating into a stretch of undulating grey thrum, over mysterious transmissions and disembodied voices, until helicopter like pulsations, choppy waves of rhythmic throb, churn and chug, blurred into a cascade of gristled, crumbling distortion, under which, mournful melodies drift drowsily, a strangely effective juxtaposition of harsh noise, and tranquil ambience, that builds to a furious hissing frenzy, before fracturing into a finale of sonic shards and decaying sonics. From there on out, sheets of noise wash over chiming tones, and stretched out drones, keening high end filigree buried beneath squalls of chaotic howl, the slow builds strangely mesmeric and almost melodic, processed vocals smeared into the roiling noise, thick gassy swells underpinning skies streaked with soft noise shimmer, and more haunting, buried melodies, the sound epic and majestic and mournful, aching melancholy wreathed in jagged crunch and grinding buzz, eventually erupting into what is essentially black metal, with all the metal sucked out, a heaving throb of grim black fury, the vokills monstrous and harsh as fuck, all tangled up in dense black swirls of sound, tripped out and impossibly psychedelic to boot.
The record culminates in the epic 25+ minute "When Storms Come", which is a bit like their version of Burzum's "Rundtgaing", a sprawling ambient epic, but in this case, Teeth Engraved's ambience is a churning morass of brown noise, blurred and soft focus, heavy and blown out, but muted and murky and blunted, the result more mesmerizing and hypnotic than brutal, a tough feat with what is essentially a half hour of noise, but here, it manages to soothe and entrance, and is the perfect black noise comedown bliss out finale for sure.
Housed in a DVD style case, with a printed insert.
A doom metal super-group (or, to borrow a pun from Julian Cope, a stupor-group) featuring members of Sunn O))), Goatsnake, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Cathedral, Burning Witch, etc... (that is, Stephen O'Malley, Lee Dorian, Greg Anderson, and Justin Greaves).
Tectonic, Teutonic, yeah Tekhton is a good name for this heavy dirge/doom metal plus post rock (?) band from the Netherlands. This is their second opus, and it's a doozy of FUZZ laden riffage slamming repeatedly into your head, alternating now and again with much quieter, prettier parts, even acoustic strum and spacey synth. There's gruff, emotive singing, sometimes verging on melody, that works with both sides of the loud/soft equation. Tekhton make some allusions to geologic processes, and while a lot of this is subterreanean and slow-mo (and thus massively heavy) they speed up too for the occasional earthquake... their songwriting full of interesting complexities that keep the listener's ear engaged, along with one's emotions, that are already probably firmly in the grip of this intensely doomful music.
We mentioned pretty parts, well the prettiest here might be the indeed glorious "All Is Glory", that track being a mostly gentle, sorta spaced out psychedelic ramble, that's mesmerically mathy too, repetitive in a nicely Circle-ular way. Didn't Om and Six Organs do a record together? Did it sound like this song? Probably not but maybe it should have! (Oh, right, that was a split not a collaboration.)
Call it post-rock or not (maybe doom-prog would work as well?) this does remind us of post-rock stuff, but keeps it doooooooooom too, old school even, with any tendencies towards fancypants artsy-fartsiness utterly bludgeoned by the likes of, ferinstance, the crushing creepycrawl that is the appropriately titled "Tectonic Mass".
Super recommended, in particular to fans of a specific variety of AQ-beloved bands from Harvey Milk to Khanate to Pharoah Overlord to The Body to Boris. And we're detecting a definite Melvins influence on tracks like "Tooth And Nail", also a good thing.
It's been two long years we've been waiting to hear more from mysterious UK outfit Tenhornedbeast, after a mindblowing cd-r of�"epic sprawling primitive doom/drone" that was so limited it was gone in a flash.�
This is THB's first proper full length, and just as we'd hoped and expected, it's epic and intense. Massive and cavernous, abject and utterly terrifying. Dark ambient, but so much heavier than that would lead one to believe.�
From the very first track, the listener is sucked into some dark otherworld, a long sprawl of oozing black slither, chanted monk like vocals, crashing distant percussion, and crushing swells of deep rumbling blackness. It's a slow trawl through the bleakest pits of the underworld, filled with groaning melodies, creaking and threatening to crash to the ground like rotten timbers. The first of three ultra long tracks is "Our Lady Of The Lightning Bolt", a nearly twenty minute threnody of mournful strings draped over glacial slabs of slow shifting blacks and greys, streaks of feedback and shards of high end skree spread out over the top, the sound becoming more and more intense and distorted, like a rising tide of amp buzz and guitar rumble, peppered with haunting dynamics and strangely orchestral arrangements. "Strength Through Fear" is a brief respite from the black hole crush, a menacing melancholy string section, being performed in some underground cavern, the notes ringing out against the dripping black walls, eventually being smeared into an intense fuzzed out chordal wash that gradually swallows everything else whole.�
The record's centerpiece seems to be the 22 minute "In The Teeth Of The Wolf", a terrifying guitarscape, that plays out like a harrowing journey through some bombed out razed landscape, nothing but smoldering blackness, distant thunder, ruins and chaos, a thick patina of corrosive guitar drone laid over everything like some warm wet blanket, a metal riff deconstructed and pulled apart, smeared and blurred, until it all coalesces into a slow motion pummel, an industrial plod beneath a monstrous guitar part, doom metal, abstracted and mechanized, stretched out over an army of hissing steam engines, of pounding martial drums, soaring triumphant melodies, nearly obscured by skies full of flame and black smoke, definitely one of the most intense pieces of music we've heard in ages.�
The record unwinds with a gorgeous drawn out black veil of sound, a rib cage rattling thrum, densely layered swells of distorted low end throb, woven into a subtly melodic, almost static dirge, that churns relentlessly like an orchestra of fog horns, before drifting off in a fuzzy cloud of hissy shimmer.�
Gorgeously packaged in a matte brown digipak, adorned with a haunting image of a shadowy figure holding an antlered skull aloft, beneath a strange symbol, printed in glossy reflective ink.
One day we got an email from one of our mailorder customers who mentioned he was currently listening to a band called Tenhornedbeast. Just the name had us frothing at the mouth. Then when we asked him what it sounded like, his response "epic sprawling primitive doom/drone" had us on the internet in seconds flat trying to track down copies for the store. Well, the good news is that we did manage to get some for the store. The bad news, as is often the case, is that it was incredibly limited, is already out of print, and we got the very last 20. So be prepared to be disappointed if you're not super quick on the buy button trigger.
Okay, now that we got that out of the way, let's get to the heart of this beast. Tenhornedbeast, a band that does indeed traffic in an epic sprawling primitive doom / drone. The do have a drummer too, but he mostly offers up little cymbal flourishes here and there, a big snare splat every long once in a while, the meat of the beast though is obviously the churning squirm of downtuned guitars, riff upon riff, all dirty and scuzzy and lo-fi and gorgeously doomy and drone-y and dirge-y. That sound we can't seem to get enough of. And again, VERY LIMITED. WE HAVE 20 COPIES. ONCE THEY ARE GONE THEY ARE REALLY GONE FOR GOOD.
Every once in a while, someone will release a record, and we can't help but feel like it was made specifically for us. And for you. Some records just perfectly speak to the aQ aesthetic, as undefinable as that seems to be. This is another one of those cases. Someone thought it would be a perfect combination to match up UK one man ambient drone outfit Tenhornedbeast, with UK slow motion doomlords Marzuraan. And it is perfect. And a fantastic idea, but just because something is a great idea, doesn't always mean someone thinks of it. And we're not saying we had been thinking someone should get these two bands together specifically, we're just glad they did, and we sort of wish we HAD thought of it. But that's neither here nor there. The important thing is that it happened, and now we can all luxuriate in the deep dark heaviness both of these bands explore. And while the bands are indeed different, their aesthetics are not all that far removed. The both exist in some blackened nether region, haunting sonic realms, where heaviness can be expressed in both utter darkness and extreme force, sometimes both, and once in awhile neither.
Tenhornedbeast offer up a nearly 30 minute long sonic ritual, beginning as a bit of swirling black minimalism, but slowly building to a truly intense wall of doomdrone, the sound thick and textured, a churning cauldron of low end buzz and downtuned disembodied riffs, all brought to a boil and poured out in a viscous black torrent, left to flow like some subterranean river. But these deep drones are laced with melodies, and keening high end shards, allowed to shine forth occasionally, but often swallowed up before they can fill those caves with their unnatural light. The track continually changes shape, sound and timbre, various shades of grey and black, lightening and darkening as the landscape changes, a haunting journey through some lost world, where sound replaces sight, allowing us to navigate ever deeper.
Marzuraan counter with what must be one of their prettiest tracks ever. It's still sludgey and doomy, but the notes ring out, the melodies almost soar, the sound fuzzy and glimmering, almost like these guys have caught the shoegaze bug as well. Washed out and blissy, super melodic and melancholy, but the coolest part is that the track seems to warble and waver, almost like someone is manually adjusting the tape speed, so the notes sound drunken and drugged, the track lurches and weaves drunkenly, only adding to the haunting and off kilter beauty. Part way through, the riffs get a little more riffy, and then the vocals come in, a moaning distant croon, and we're most definitely in serious Jesu territory, but that weird speed shifting hitch, keeps it from sounding too pretty, or two blissy. But if these guys keep heading in this direction, they could definitely give Jesu, and Nadja and other metallic shoegazers a run for their money.
The packaging is super swank, a three panel gatefold, each of the front panels diecut with each band's symbol, printed inside and out, housed in a thick plastic sleeve with a sticker affixed to the front.
Sophomore album from these Swedish stoner rock/doom metal practicioners. As with their debut, this is heavy, groovy, psychedelic stuff that owes the usual big debt to the Masters Black Sabbath. Vocalist Lord Christus (ex-Count Raven and St. Vitus!) has the Ozzy-vox down cold, and his band sweats out a suitable bottom-heavy riff-oriented accompaniment to his wailings. Good stuff! For
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
As the vocalist says like two seconds into the first song, in his best Ozzy-ish drawl, and amid a swirl of distorted guitar, "Whooaaa! Let's go!" What you get here is some quality stoner metal from Sweden, featuring some guitarist guy from death metallers Unleashed (whatever) and vocalist Lord Chritus (formerly of both Count Raven and Saint Vitus)...Fans of the similarly Sabbath-y band sHeavy and other bands on the groovier side of the stoner rock spectrum (Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Roachpowder, Monster Magnet), grab this.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Thee new issue of this metal readin' essential has Norwegian black metal icons Satyricon on the cover, just in time for Christmas, we mean, their new album. Also: Bloodbath, Cradle Of Filth, Cynic, Paradise Lost, Napalm Death, Aura Noir, Misery Index, Down, and many many more - in fact, there's a brand new section "Choice Cuts" devoted to brief bits on a whole bunch of more underground acts, like Oakenshield, Book Of Black Earth, Phazm, SerpentCult, Guillotine, Outlaw Order, and plenty more we'd actually never heard of before.
Plus lots of other features, including a 20th anniversary label report on Lee Dorrian's stoner/doom institution, Rise Above. And of course tons of reviews, one of the main reasons to pick this up every month for sure. Also, there's the usual free sampler cd stuck to the cover.
Best pull quote of the issue: "I spelt 'U' as 'V' so it looked cooler". That's from the "Choice Cuts" piece about Swedish one-man band Doom:Vs.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
THE magazine of "extreme" metal (all metal, really, except for really wimpy glam/pop/hair metal stuff that doesn't really exist much in this day and age), England's Terrorizer, presents their first issue of 2009, which includes their '2009 Preview' of exciting upcoming releases (from Absu to Voivod), the results of the 2008 Reader's Poll, their writer's picks for the top 40 albums of '08 (number one: Enslaved, and hey, Jex Thoth clocks in at 30), and all sorts of other stuff. There's the usual massive review section, and news flashes, and ads for insane European metal festivals you'll never get to go to. Then of course interviews, with the likes of cover stars Children of Bodom, Ephel Duath, Saxon, Architects, and others, including a ton of brief bits on less-known bands, among whom we noted The Wizar'd and The Devil's Blood. What else? A scene report on Swedish metal new and old, a look back at the making of ...And Justice For All, and more - including the usual bonus cover-mounted cd sampler w/ tracks by Behemoth, Kreator, Bullet, and others. Lots to delve into here, headbangers!
Latest issue of UK heavy music powerhouse Terrorizer. On the cover, Taiwanese black metallers Chthonic (a particularly awesome and creepy cover shot btw!), inside there's Behmoth, Bolt Thrower, Ulver, Neurosis, Death Angel, Glorior Belli, Burnt By The Sun, as well as part one of Terrorizer's Sludge Special, featuring a rad oral histroy of sludge and of course a brief history of Eyehategod. There's also a cool feature on Until The Light Takes Us, the new black metal doc made by Aaron from noise pop band Iran.
And as always, a ton of features on new and upcoming bands, loads of reviews, records, cds, reissues, shows, books movies, and this issue comes with a double cd, one of the discs featuring exclusively unsigned bands!
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Awesome cover - Immortal!! The larger than life face of Abbath staring out at you in perfect corpsepaint.
Also this ish: Slayer, Nile, Venom, Marduk, Baroness, Secrets Of The Moon, My Dying Bride, Evile, and plenty more.
On the free cover-mounted sampler cd: The Ruins Of Beverast, Skeletonwitch, Destruction, Gwar, Paradise Lost, Belphegor, and a bunch of other less well known acts.
As always, an essential metal periodical.
On the cover for some reason, Turisas. And inside this new issue of our favorite glossy metal mag from the UK, there's also Agalloch, Baroness, Impaled Nazarene, Kverlertak, Orange Goblin, and plenty more. Plus tons news and reviews of course. And the usual ads for insane European metal festivals we wish were could be at. And then there's the bonus cd sampler stuck to the cover. Metal, metal, metal!
Morbid Angel are on the cover, no apologies from them. Inside, also, Ulver, Autopsy, Fucked Up, Hell, Amorphis, Portrait, Brutal Truth, 40 Watt Sun, Enforcer, and (among other things) a "Crust Special" featuring Amebix, Gallhammer and Trap Them. Plus the usual reviews, news, and ads for crazy European festivals we'd love to attend. Stuck to the cover, a cd sampler w/ trax by Arch Enemy, Gallhammer, Dark Castle, In Solitude, Black Crucifixion, Portrait, and others...
Joey Jordison from Slipknot is this issue's cover star, but don't let that deter you (actually the interview might be interesting, the pull quote on the cover is "I am close to losing my mind"). Elsewhere this ish, there's pieces on Cave In, Kvelertak, Cannabis Corpse, Decapitated, Sepultura, Karma To Burn, In Flames, Shining, Deven Townsend, and a feature on the return of thrash's "Big Four": Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth, Anthrax. Plus all the usual other good stuff, reviews, news, bonus cd sampler (hear some of that new Morbid Angel here), etc. As always, recommended reading for all metalheads.
If you love metal, you really ought to be reading the two metal mags we carry regularly, Decibel and the UK's Terrorizer. Years from now, you'll wish you had a copy of this issue so you can nostalgically look back on 2011 and remember cover star... Tom G. Warrior!! Hey the former Celtic Frost / current Triptykon front man is a good interview. Weird dude. Also this issue: Premonition 13, Toxic Holocaust, Opeth, Runhild Gammelsaeter of Thorr's Hammer, Decapitated, Iwrestledabearonce, Book Of Black Earth, and plenty more including short bits on Disma, Volture, and others. The occasional Decibel/Terrorizer overlap happens with a Skeletonwitch studio report (really?). And there's the usual big batch o' reviews etc. Oh, and a free cd sampler stuck to the cover, with everyone from Twisted Tower Dire to Orthodox on it...
