It's been a while, but finally, the return of Frequency Thirteen, and TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!! Yep, in the past we've championed killer discs from Black Vomit, Ice Bound Majesty, Trolskull, Dukkha and Rape Rack, all offering up a truly twisted take on blackened heaviness, and ever since we've been dying to hear more, so this pretty much hits the spot, a massive sprawling double disc compilation, featuring tracks from most of the Frequency Thirteen roster, and as far as we know, all the tracks here are EXCLUSIVE. So if you're already a fan, and snap up F13 cd-r's whenever you see them, then you obviously need this, exclusive new music from Skultroll, Dukkha and Ice Bound Majesty, as well as a whole mess of others.
But for those new to Frequency Thirteen, it's tough to imagine a better introduction to True Sheffield Black Psychedelia. Which is a bit of a misnomer, as much of this is not from Sheffield, much of this is not necessarily black, although it's ALL psychedelic, and it's all TROOOOOOO.
Beadle, who we had never heard of before, open up the first disc with a crushing chunk of looped riffage that reminds us of a more blackened Gore, a lurching, lumbering, hypnotic crush. Which perfectly gives way to a new Dukkha jam, that sounds like classic nineties style noise rock, heavy and crunchy and weirdly melodic, with some awesomely twisted melodies and arrangements, and some wild freaked out guitaring. Brobdingnagian who you might remember from their ep on Rusty Axe spews out some noise drenched black filth, like some sort of Ildjarn Merzbow mash up. And so it goes, the whole disc a twisted, convoluted, buzzy, blasting, psychedelic sonic travelogue, with some surprises along the way. Trolskull, slow things down with their murky heroin house minimalism, buried voices, a muted pulse, swirling swaths of synth. Ice Bound Majesty offer up their fiercest filthiest blow out yet, furious and frantic, doused in effects, with programmed drums so fast it almost sounds like a chest rattling drone. Charles Dexter Ward crafts a weird sort of Dan Higgs sounding bit of ritualistic sea shanty style guitar drone, albeit crunchy and distorted, and War Ethic does some weird super murky grindy thrash, but with some skittery almost jazzy sound blastbeats, and there's more more more more. And that's just the first disc!
The second disc starts out with some super minimal sinewave shimmer courtesy of a band called Syn, before Dukkha kick shit into gear with the most awesome hypnotic looped psych jam, that would make Circle or Cave proud. In fact, it sort of sounds like a mix of the two, but with a bit more metal drumming, and some convoluted tangled arrangements, but always slipping back into super mesmerizing hypno-rock. KPTMichigan unfurl some gorgeous hazy woozy Tim Hecker like gauzy dronemusic, while Scum Also Rises (awesome name) so some strange post industrial mathy groove rock, that sounds WAY better than that description makes it sound, fat fuzzy bass, weird skittery electronics, all fuzzy and blown out. Sluglord stir up some sort of unholy blackened orchestral doom, all dense tones and deep shimmers, and the Disobedients do a sort of super minimal bedroom doom pop, and Trolskull return with some murky abstract rhythmic weirdness, that sounds a bit like a less loose Avarus, a bit more sinister and haunting and a bit krautrock too. And of course again here, there's more more more!
Easily one of our favorite labels, with a roster that should make most other labels bow their heads in shame. And this is definitely one of the few comps where you literally want to hear more from every single band. Fancy packaging too, a fold out die cut full color sleeve, jam packed with about a million inserts, liner notes, an obi... hell, just buy it, you won't be sorry. And odds are, like us, soon you too will find yourself obsessed with TRUE SHEFFIELD BLACK PSYCHEDELIA!!
As "tribute" comps go, this is a really good one. Usually a tribute succeeds only if the cover versions are really different from the originals (for instance, the pop-punk bands doing metal covers on the "I Heart Metal" tribute). At the very least there can be
Blue Cheer of course is the granddaddy of all metal/stoner bands, with their first two and a half classic albums still being heavier in their own way than most stuff released today. And Black Widow have put together a pretty excellent international line-up of their progeny to pay tribute. Pentagram (who are on here twice, and may as well BE Blue Cheer 'cause they do it so well!), Internal Void, Thumlock, Natas, Fireball Ministry, Ufomammut are a who's who of some of today's best doom/stoner acts. Plus there's some more obscure names from the space/prog axis as well. The only puzzle about this comp is that several bands chose to cover songs from Blue Cheer's not-so-heavy early '70s albums, which turn out well, but I can't figure out why they did that, except to be different and demonstrate what big fans they are. Still, quite a bit of 1968's "Vincebus Eruptum" and '69s "Outsideinside" is represented. Right on!
We know people who work at other record stores give each other gifts of music for birthdays and Christmas. Makes sense, that's what they love, right? But from another perspective, there's something just a little too easy about that... "here, I bought you this from the store where we all work". So, 'cause of that, here at AQ we don't have much of a tradition of giving cds and lps as presents.
But, Allan was thankful that Andee broke with tradition last year and mailordered him a copy of this hard to find cd for Xmas. (Andee got himself one too, of course). And now we've finally managed to contact the label directly, over in England, and order a few to sell here at AQ as well.
Definitely any lover of early '70s proto-metal heaviness needs to put this on their wish list. Downer Rock Genocide is a collection of super rare tracks by some really obscure heavy psych/prog acts who kicked around the same scene as early Black Sabbath. And it's pretty darn killer. There's 16 tracks by 14 bands, here they are: Flying Hat Band, Clear Blue Sky, Necromandus, Egor, Monument, Iron Maiden, Gnidrolog, Iron Claw, Red Dirt, Slowbone, Bram Stoker, Hackensack, Bum, and Writing On The Wall. We'd heard of some but others were new to us, unearthed from way down deep in the murky underground of decades past.
Too many gems here to talk about 'em all, but we'll mention a few... Flying Hat Band (2 tracks from them, from a never released 1973 album) was where Glenn Tipton slung his axe before joining up with Judas Priest. No wonder they hired him! We'd never heard FHB's stuff before, and already this comp is worth it just for the badass rockin' doom of their first cut, "Seventh Plain". It's like Comus meets Judas Priest! Clear Blue Sky, who also contribute two demo tracks, is one of the bands we -had- heard before (their album is a Sabbathy treat). And Sabbath lovers will really want this for "Nightjar" by the Tony Iommi produced Necromandus, easily that band's heaviest and best track. So good.
What else? The Iron Maiden on here is NOT the Iron Maiden you're familiar with, it's another, earlier band with the same name but a much doomier disposition. Actually who they really sound like is Wishbone Ash, Argus-era, all folky and epic. Gnidrolog is another one we knew, a great, super dramatic prog act in the vein of Van Der Graaf Generator, who offer up their doomiest "Long Live Man Dead". Red Dirt are a gruff slice of raw, primitive bluesy heaviness, that just got Cup to remark "that music has hairy balls!". Iron Claw kick out the jams big time on "Lightning" from a 1971 cassette only release, Egor tear it up on the blown-out live track "Street" also from '71, Hackensack deliver some wild fuzzed out soloing and wailing vocals on their kick ass cut "River Boat" circa '72, and Bum bring us the pagan "God Of Darkness" from way back in '68. Did Sabbath hear these guys? All of it good stuff for fans of bands like Sabbath, Budgie, Leaf Hound, High Tide... and Witchcraft today. Give yourself the gift of downer rock.
Some of these tracks are from albums, many are demos or archival live recordings. So sound quality varies, but not the occult-inspired, heavy-riffing, proto-metal awesomeness.
The world may be full of doom and gloom, and your shelves may be bursting at the seams will all manner of slow motion sludge and funereal dirges, but there was a time, when true doom wasn't so easy to come by, the world wasn't prepared for slow motion misery and abject musical miserablism, but we were, and we hunted and searched, and thus we discovered Finland's Skepticism. The heaviest, most beautiful, most perplexingly atmospheric music we had yet encountered. It was so washed out and dreamy it was barely metal. So slow and pretty it almost sounded choral. We described the music of Skepticism as sounding like sitting in a church, while a doom metal band practiced in the basement, the huge thudding crush, barely audible through the floor, the sounds intertwining with the warm whir of the church organ, some strangely spiritual sonic confluence, that was as magical as it was mysterious.
And it wasn't just us. The sound of Skepticism spoke to all sorts of people, metalheads, doomlords, drone freeks, weirdo music obsessives, and it made perfect sense, as it was all those things, metal, doom, drone, weird. Add to that, lovely, haunting, creepy, ominous and absolutely fucking brilliant.
So here we have a double disc tribute to the masters of slow motion doomed beauty, from a handful of bands, as with most comps, many we'd never heard of, a few we were already big fans of. And also with tributes, how do you pay tribute to a music that is already so perfect? Do you try to sound as much like it as possible, or change it into something else entirely? Somehow, all of the bands here have managed a little bit of both, enough that this is a gorgeous and epic funereal doom record all the way through. Pretty enough to appeal to folks who just like their music dark and dreamy, but heavy enough to mesmerize the blackest hearted of metalheads.
Right out of the gate, Nest (who we'd never heard of) offer up a 14 minute version of a track off the first Skepticism, and do their own sort of blissed out reverential dronedoom version which might be our favorite track on the comp. Stretches of lilting acoustic guitars over rumbling drones, separated by shimmering keyboards and slow plodding muted riffs, so soft it's barely metal at all, more a sort of droning slowcore. Much like the original, but even more soft and shimmery.
The rest of disc one, offer up more traditional doom versions of Skepticism classics, but each twisted and tweaked enough to be a good fresh listen. The final track on disc one, "The Organium" by Oktor, might be the weirdest, a sort of industrialized, mechanical stumbling doom lurch, with sung / spoken deep crooned vocals. Weird but super cool.
The highlight of disc two is of course Rigor Sardonicous, who we of course LOVE, and who do a killer version of "Chorale", beginning with backwards guitars, which eventually morph into a massive downtuned dirge, with that mournful melody buried in the mix, and the strangely loud cymbals we love so much (see some of our other RS reviews about that). The other groups on the second disc definitely take their liberties, Calmsite, turn their track into almost death metal, Aarni give Skepticism a folky makeover, and It Will Come, start out slow and sludgy, but then slip into some sort of drifting post rock slowcore. It's all pretty awesome. How bad could it be starting with Skepticism songs after all?! But either way, this is an awesome collection of intense and beautiful, slow sad heavy dooooooooom, that most definitely does Skepticism proud.
We remember when Temporary Residence's Jeremy Devine was first putting this tribute to Ozzy-years Sabbath together, some years ago. Before The Osbournes, the Sabbath Ozzfest reunions, the Kelly and Jack backlash, etc. etc. At long last, though, he's finally got it finished. And for Sabbath fans (aren't you one??) it's good fun, and might be a neat way to introduce some young indie-rock-only friend of yours to the music of the best band ever (sez Allan). There's an odd, random assortment of participants to be found here, none of 'em metal bands, and they take a variety of approaches to the material at hand... Wisely, several opt for doing instrumental versions, cutting back on the amount of faux-Ozzy crooning, the likely failure of which would have detracted from what turns out to be a quite enjoyable collection. Thankfully, also, the rule that the weirder and less-like-the-original a cover is, the better, is generally observed here as well.
Briefly, track-by-track:
Track 1, Matmos. Taking the piss? They do the non-song "Fx" off of Vol. 4. A good joke, and very Matmos appropriate.
Track 2, here Japan's Ruins almost render the rest of the compilation obsolete, cramming almost every famous Sabbath riff into one of their insane medlies! Wow. This also appeared as a bonus track on their last album Tzomborgha, though.
Track 3, a blissful post-rock instrumental version of "Black Sabbath" from Grails, lacking the menace of the original but enhancing the melodicism.
Track 4, Fourtet. Lovely. But is it really "Iron Man"? Definitely the least recognizable cover on here. Which gets a lot of points 'cause of the rule mentioned above.
Track 5, Curtis Harvey (of Rex and Pullman) and friends turn in a kinda No Depression country-folk version of "Changes" with female vocals. Real nice and a darn sight better than Ozzy n' Kelly!
Track 6, Paul Newman do "Fairies Wear Boots". More instrumental post rock (hey this IS on Temporary Residence) and very very good. A fine interpretation, recognizable yet renewed, wound up with that post rock tension...
Track 7, The Anomoanon play and sing "Planet Caravan". One of Sabbath's most haunting numbers, not "heavy", well-suited to these folks. A respectful cover that you should try on any Sabbath-haters. It can't be denied. A spacey, psychedelic, folky beauty.
Track 8, shifts moods again, as the maniacs known as Racebannon fuck shit up with a noisy rampage through "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath". Their art-punk-mayhem is the most racous thing on here so far, and certainly captures the "going insane" vibe of mid-to-late Ozzy era Sabbath.
Track 9, maybe the odd one out here, and not only 'cause we have no idea who Greeness w/ Philly G is (thankfully Philly G is not a rapper, indeed, he's got the Ozziest vox on the comp). Whoever they are, they do a grunge by way of the Butthole Surfers run-through of stoner nugget "Sweet Leaf" that ends this comp with a clear reminder of Sabbath's riff mastery.
Overall, something like this is hard to review -- curiousity as much as anything ought to compel fans of the Sabs and/or any of these artists to pick this up. We certainly can say that this is a varied and enjoyable listen!!
The second compilation of the Mego affiliated online audio/visual community Fals.ch. Compiled by Fals.ch heads Florian Hecker and Oswald Berthold, FB50 collects audio works by artists featured in the last 24 online "releases": Koji Asano, COH, cd_slopper, poire_z, Atau Tanaka, Ulf Bilting & Zbigniew Karkowski, *0, Pain Jerk, Runzelstirn & Gurgelstock, Martin Ng & Jim Denley, Frank Metzger and more! Also exclusive tracks by Mego artists General Magic, gcttcatt, Evol, J.O.K.E. and i.d. There are also a few multimedia goodies included in addition to MP3s: a Merzbow A/V loop, an excerpt of a Francisco Lopez performance and a cryptic file courtesy those Gescom pranksters. In fact, the Gescom file is an incredibly hilarious standalone application that makes your computer seem like it's being hijacked by glitch terrorists! Trick your friends and coworkers into believing your hard disk is being trashed right before your eyes! Fun as shit!
In the realms of extreme metal, few bands have had as much impact as NOLA doom sludge legends Eyehategod. Even if said impact is based solely on the number of bands who cite them as a musical influence (read: totally ripped off their sound).�
Do you think we'd have Cavity, Mistress, Floor, Dove, Monarch, Khanate, Goatsblood, Iron Monkey, Bongzilla, Khanate, Moho, Zoroaster, Graves At Sea, Shallow North Dakota, Sourvein, Crowbar, Dot [.], Fleshpress, Marzuraan, Toadliquor, Wellington, Weedeater, Ramesses, Electric Wizard or any of about a million other downtuned doom metal sludge bands without Eyehategod? Don't think so.�
So finally, Eyehategod get their due, in the form of, a two disc tribute album, For The Sick, a massive collection of sonic prayers from various worshippers at the throne of Eyehategod. Lots of the above mentioned bands, as well as loads of other heavy headz like Cable, Bowel, Alabama Thunderpussy, Deadbird, Kylesa, Brutal Truth, Byzantine, Raging Speedhorn, Total Fucking Destruction, Minsk, Lair Of The Minotaur, Bloody Panda, Mouth Of The Architect, Swarm Of The Lotus, Kill The Client and loads more!
Most folks will want to buy this already either because they LOVE Eyehategod, and need to own anything even peripherally related, want to hear their favorite EHG songs done by some of their other favorite EHG acolytes, or they love some or all of the bands involved. Probably for most of us it's all three. Two discs, over two hours, a veritable downtuned doomsludge orgy, guitars grind, low end throbs and buzzes, riffs are glacial and soul crushing, squealing serpentine feedback all over the place, vocals are spittle spewing glass gargling, throat shredding howls, every track a tarpit dirge with pummeling pounding drums, and that strange slowed down almost-groove that seems to lurk within every EHG song no matter how slow or blown out.
Hard not to recommend this. It's slow, heavy, crushing, and it's got some of the most amazing songs ever! "Sister Fucker", "White Nigger", "My Name Is God (I Hate You)", "Kill Your Boss" (What?! No "Hit A Girl"?!) Positive vibes, not. If somehow you've managed to miss out on Eyehategod, drop everything and run out and pick up Dopesick or�In The Name Of Suffering or�Take As Needed For Pain, and then once you're properly indoctrinated into the cult of EHG, come on back and pick this up. The rest of you sludge heads already know you need this...
Anyone, ANYONE, who likes their psych all spaced-out and sludgy, with guitars and (especially) effects in full, uh, effect will definitely want to wash their earholes with this excellent new space-rock comp. Compiler Mason Jones (whom you might know as the ex-guitarist of SubArachnoid Space, currently in project called Numinous) knows his stuff and has pulled together tracks from a stellar international cast of rockers who like to freak-out, drone-on, and/or toke-up. Here's who's here: Kinski, Circle, Gravitar, Overhang Party, Tarantula Hawk, Up-Tight, Vocokesh, DMBQ, Bardo Pond, Acid Mothers Temple, Yeti, ST-37, Escapade, Rubble, Abunai!, SubArachnoid Space, Numinous, Farflung, Primordial Undermind, Fuzzhead, Speaker/Cranker, and Transpacific! Whew. As you can see, with Mason in charge, of course the Japanese contingent is well-represented.
The tracks on here are mostly live recordings, and, as far as we can tell, all otherwise unreleased (with the exception of the Tarantula Hawk one, which is an edit from their now-out-of-print Live At KFJC cd-r). Pretty much a killer comp, ranging as it does from the groove of Circle to the grind of Gravitar, with some bands doin' stuff closer to stoner rawk, others more on the bliss-drone side of things. Now, I might have tried to put the more rockin' cuts towards the front end of the discs, to avoid disturbing the slumber of those of us who like to doze off listening to the more blissful stuff (or maybe left off one or two cuts) but that's just me. Overall, Hall Of Mirrors is fully droned, stoned, and ET-phoned. Recommended.
This disc's compilers have enlisted five suitable bands to make sure this doom-core comp lives up to its subtitle: "74 Minutes Of Extreme Pain." Negative Reaction, Grief, Subsanity, Bongzilla, and Sour Vein all provide some lovely metallic downer dirge.
The long-awaited "stoner rock/doom metal" soundtrack to the perhaps equally long-awaited psychedelic splatter/gore flick "I Am Vengeance" by low-budget underground director Richard R. Anasky, who, inspired in his filmmaking by both '80s slasher movies *and* '80s doom metal like Witchfinder General, hooked up with Meteor City to put together this soundtrack, featuring the likes of Sheavy, Count Raven, Eternal Elysium, The Quill, Bloodfarmers, Space Probe Taurus, Naevus, Lowrider, Las Cruces, and others. I thought that doom legends Pentagram were supposed to be doing the theme song (it's on their last album), but here it's done by Doomsday Gouvernment (ex-members of Count Raven, who appear all over this comp). Anasky's liner notes seem to indicate that the Pentagram track will appear on a *second* volume of songs from the film to be released by doom label Game Two, but I haven't heard about a release date for that. Anyway, this is a fine comp of mostly-new (or hard-to-find) material by some excellent, if obscure, bands -- almost all of whom seem to have singers vying for the "Sounds Most Like Ozzy Osbourne" award!
If you're into heavy rock, psych and metal the way we are, then just one glance at the tracklist for this new compilation should sell you on it without much trouble. Yep, there's a bunch of the heavies here, for sure. Witchcraft! Witch! Pelican! High On Fire! The Fucking Champs! The Sword! and a dozen others. And quite a few of these 18 tracks are previously unreleased, over fifty percent in fact. So not a bad dealio indeed, rockers. This focuses on current indie darlings and more obscure upandcomers as well -- including several from right here in San Francisco -- so chances are you'll hear from a favorite band or two and probably get into something new too. Though the cover art (swiped from an old Metal Massacre comp) seemingly promises old school '80s metal action, that's not really what this is about. We wouldn't even classify a lot of these bands as "metal", really. There's just as much stoner psych and post rock and prog and Melvinsy dirge punk, but it IS all on the heavy side. As far as retro inspiration goes, it's the '70s and Sabbath that get the most nods. Faves? Among the Sabbathy, we already love Sweden's Witchcraft (who contribute a live version of "Queen Of Bees") and Witch (a track from their awesome album) but were also stoked to hear Portland's Danava for the first time, so spacey and rollicking. Of course Dungen's song is great (flute!) and you can't argue with Comets On Fire's blown out psych-noise either. Or with the metallic Yessisms of Diamond Nights. We also dug the unreleased cut by SF's hard rockin' Night After Night quite a bit. Heck it's hard to pick stuff out, there's a lot of cool tracks on here, from a bunch of bands we (mostly) love or soon will...
Ok, here's the fairly drool-worthy list of bands found here (asterisks indicate that they're contributing previous unreleased material): Saviours, Danava*, Big Business*, Black Mountain*, The Sword*, Dungen, Witch, The Fucking Champs*, Torche, Pelican, High On Fire, Witchcraft*, Comets On Fire*, Diamond Nights*, Wolfmother, Night After Night*, Warhammer 48K, Parchman Farm*.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
17 tracks from South American stoner rock bands, including Buffalo and Los Natas.
Double cd covers comp in tribute to Andee's favorite rock band of all time, the mighty Aerosmith! The participating bands mostly hail from the realm of "stoner rock", such as Natas, Alabama Thunderpussy (who do a great "Sweet Emotion"), Atomic Bitchwax, Fireball Ministry, Drunk Horse, The Want, Core, Raging Slab, Altamont, and 18 more! As these tribute things go, a pretty good one. Furthermore, Andee sez: If this sounds even remotely appealing, you oughta order the Aerosmith cd "Draw The Line" too, which we also carry. It's probably one of the best 'rock' records ever. Aerosmith may suck now, but their first 5 records were '70s hard rock at its best; heavy and groovy and amazingly catchy. Their "Greatest Hits" were not their greatest hits. Trust me.
Road To Nowhere? No way, this road leads to stoner rock heaven. Hot shit badasses Fu Manchu, Nick Oliveri, Brant Bjork, Burning Brides, and The Dwarves share the joint (heh heh, pun intended!) with lesser known indie upstarts Big Truck, Winnebago Deal, Truck Fighters, Dig, The Sammies, In The Detail, Baby Woodrose, Leech, and locals Turn Me On Dead Man (unfortunately misspelled as "Dean Man" on the packaging -- guess spelling took a back seat to rawkin'). Oh yeah, and there's also a lil' band here called The Freeks whose lineup includes members of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Nebula, Skin Yard and Earthless!
35 current stoner rock bands, doing covers of cheesy 70's classic rock songs. 156+ minutes. The bands range from well known to not known at all. Highlights include: Raging Slab "We're An American Band", Los Natas "Brainstorm", Alabama Thunderpussy "Hymn 43", Fireball Ministry "Doctor Doctor", Spirit Caravan "Wicked World", Gideon Smith & The Dixie Damned "The Pusher" etc.
The folks at P&P know they've got a good thing going with this Electric Asylum series; appropriately monikered compiler The Psychomaniac keeps coming up with winners. In the grand tradition, here's Volume 4, and it's a relatively hard 'n heavy one, subtitled "Rock Hard British Freakrock", as if they knew that Vol. 3, fun as it was, didn't entirely deliver the dunt rock we crave. Well Vol. 4, as befits that unintentional Sabbath reference, is a lot more tough, less bubblegummy... and that even includes the band on here called Bubbles! (Whose badass glammy proto-punk strut "Zap n' Cat" reminds us of Ronno or maybe even Hard Stuff). Oh yeah, this Electric Asylum is again populated with some goofy names, most of whom we'd never heard of before. Here's the full line up: Hector, Slowload, Rog and Pip, Wolfrilla, Incredible Hog, Smoke, Spunky Spider, Ning, Quiet World, Henry Turtle, Bear Brothers, Hard Horse, Mustard, Tuesday, Godson, Bubbles, Sunshine Kid, Clutch, Jackal, and Sundance. 20 tracks in all, mostly taken from one-off, 45 rpm single only releases from flash in the pan bands we're lucky to get to hear at all, most never made an album and did just one or two 7"s... Actually, the only bands we really knew was Incredible Hog (whose entire album is great), and Wolfrilla (a fave from Vol. 2).
Coming from circa 1970-75, a lot of this can be summed up as a bit Sabbath, a bit Slade, platform boots in each camp. Though, each individual band often seems to emulate other, specific, better known acts. Like, Godson sound kinda the Rolling Stones, Hard Horse are a lot like Nazareth, and Incredible Hog come closest to Led Zep... while Ning's "Machine" is somehow part Steppenwolf, part Gary Glitter. And then there's Smoke's "That's What I Want", which is almost like The Kinks' "All Day And All Of The Night" re-written with a "Sweet Leaf" fixation.
While we're not all that surprised that nobody here really ever "made it", that doesn't mean their attempts to do so are without merit! Not if you like lotsa fuzz 'n distortion, acid guitar soloing, and grunting wailing vox! Get yer fix of obscure '70s proto-metal groovy rockin' pop here.
The booklet contains the usual detailed-as-they-can-be trainspotting liner notes on each and every track (from which we learn useful minutiae such as that Sundance featured original Judas Priest drummer Alan Moore, ferinstance) plus full color sleeve/label graphics and vintage b&w photos... too bad about the crap cover art though.
If they can keep digging up records like these, we'll keep digging these comps! After this, we halfway expect P&P to jump ahead a few years to the late '70s / early '80s and bring us the killer NWOBHM rarities comp we know ol' Psychomaniac has got in him too...
Slow. Low. Downtuned. Crushing. Heavy. Sludge. Dirge. Doom. Buzz. Rumble. Pound.
By now, the appropriate parties should be paying attention, cuz this is for anyone who uses any or all of those descriptors to talk about the music that moves them. Two sprawling discs of ultra heaviness, all weirdly based on strangling scenes from horror movies, all tending toward the slow and low, a handful of aQ faves, a bunch of groups new to us, but all purveyors of metallic crush of one form or another.
The first disc is frontloaded for aQ, beginning with an exclusive track from UK doomlords Atavist, who start things off with some pretty delicate guitar, which is just a slow build toward a heaving wall of lumbering sludge, glacial and epic, pummeling and monstrous, growled vocals, and massive drum crush, but that delicate opening guitar continues on beneath the heaviness above, adding a strange vibe to the proceedings. UK bruisers offer up 3 slabs of feedback drenched Eyehategod worship, not all that slow, but buzzy and stonery and low slung with some awesome superfuzz and wildly howled vox. French one man sludge outfit The Austrasian Goat slows it waaaaaay doooooown, to a gut wrenching crawl, channeling, classic ultra funereal doom, into some gloriously abject sludge.
Up next is The Whorehouse Massacre, a Canadian one man band who spews some sick, super distorted ultra sludge doom, awesome stuff, we definitely need to hear more from this guy.
All the bands on the second disc are new to us, beginning with Stasis, who do their own take on twisted downtuned heaviness, offering up weird acoustic interludes between the blown out bursts of howled and shrieked dirgery. Feast Of Sins are classic funeral doom, even offering up one track of grim black ambience, bookended by some glacial gloomy creeps. Ghost Empire are another rad sludge doom combo, but with a bit of groove, after some super skeletal spaced out ambience, these guys piledrive with churning riffs, big drums, and throat shredding vox. And finally, Welter In Thy Blood, who hail from LA, offer up a seriously harrowing chunk of blackened doom drenched ambience, sick inhuman vocals, super spare drums, riffs that ooze like black tar, the whole track like a Khanate jam played at 16rpm.
Lots of killer stuff, all slow and low and heavy, doom, drone, sludge, if that's your thing, then THIS is most definitely for you.
We always love a good heavy psych/proto-metal mix, that's what you get here on this new comp, twenty tracks of fairly obscure heaviness circa 1968-1974 from the UK, USA, Holland, and elsewhere; as the subtitle says, "a lesson in devilish psychedelics", sure! Making it more of a lesson, they've thoughtfully provided some notes about each band/track in the full-color illustrated cd booklet. Now, what's interesting is that we used to get comps like this and everything was new to us, but now, we know a lot of this stuff, you might too, bands like Incredible Hog, The Way We Live, Armaggedon (the German one), Skid Row (the Irish one!), Rotomagus (with their punkiest tune, "Fightin' Cock"), Schizo (Richard Pinhas' pre-Heldon band, with 2 tracks from their rare 7", sounding like a spaced out Steppenwolf), and big aQ hits Jerusalem (represented here by their devastating "Primitive Man"). We've had full-length reissues from several of these acts, most recently the Francais Metal de Proto of Rotomagus. Great stuff, all of it, and so if you don't know 'em all, this would be a good introduction.
And then, there's actually, on the other hand, quite a few tracks here from band we DIDN'T already know, and thus are glad to hear. Seems that many of them were singles-only bands, so comps like this are one of the best ways to find out about 'em. Some names: The Hook (pretty dang wild and heavy for '68!), Sound Of Imker (both sides of their '69 single), Dickens, Spirit Of St. Louis, Bintangs, Henry Schifter, The Gallery, Inca Bullet Joe, Demian, Zendik, and Rapunzel. Some of those now we're gonna be on the lookout for more by - if there IS any more, 'cuz what's here might be all of it in some cases.
Definitely a expertly-curated dose of old school, fuzz-filled heaviness for folks who dug similar comps like Up All Night, White Lace & Strange, and Downer Rock Genocide. A good range of frantic garage, manic psych, & plodding prog, all proto-something, either metal or punk or both. And by the way, interesting to note that a good 40 percent of these tracks date specifically from 1971, once again THEE year for awesome rock music.
Wow. This is one amazing boxset, visually, sonically, and for a limited time we're selling em, taking preorders now in fact, so if you want one, by all means order away, cuz you are probably gonna want one. Our pal Keith Utech offered to let us sell these special fancy box sets that were otherwise only available via the Utech website; no other store has 'em! (Thanks, Keith!).
So, what's this all about? Well over the past couple of years, Utech put out a series of handsomely packaged cds featuring artwork by Stephen Kasner, discs by Skullflower, Heavensore, Runhild Gammelsaeter, The Stargazer's Assistant, Klangmutationen Schwarzhagel, RST, Final, Aluk Todolo, and Blood Fountains.
This box contains all 9 of those releases, PLUS an exclusive remix cd featuring one track apiece from each of those artists. Those ten discs, which come in a very nice custom engraved, matte black box, are accompanied by a folded booklet featuring text by Kasner and Jenks Miller. In addition, you get a folder, also black, signed and decorated in silver ink, containing nine cards of Kasner's art. Each set is numbered out of 90, signed, and no two are completely identical.
We've reviewed most, if not all of the releases within this fantastical box, so you can look elsewhere on our site for the write ups, though we imagine you probably already know if this is something you want or not. (And might be kicking yourself if you already bought all nine cds separately, yeah, we know...). Basically, very special packaging for a collection of some really great, dark, experimental, heavy, weird cds!!
If you want one, let us know, Utech will get 'em to us really quickly. But we probably won't hold your order for it, we'll either ship it separately when it comes in, or if you're a regular orderer, we can just inlcude it in your next order!!
Proto metal fiends, come get your fix! This new collection of "20 Heavy Nuggets From The Golden Age Of Hard Psych" is definitely in the tradition of other cool comps like White Lace And Strange, Downer Rock Genocide, The Electric Asylum, A Visit To The Spaceship Factory, Psychedelic Minds, etc. Just check out the lineup, names we know (and love) include the likes of Highway Robbery, Bang, Sir Lord Baltimore, Granicus, Power Of Zeus, Haystacks Balboa, Yesterday's Children, Tin House, SRC, and The Litter. Heavy hitters, all of 'em. Now you might already have some of these cuts, if you really are a hard psych / proto metal fiend, but you surely don't have 'em all. And even though we were familiar with a bunch of these bands, there's plenty more here we'd never had the pleasure of hearing before, and these obscurities fit right in with such illustrious company. Most of these tracks are taken from LPs, not singles, usually the band's one and only album, many of which have never been properly reissued or even if they have been, aren't in print anymore anyway.
So what we've got here is a deep survey of vintage late '60s, early '70s North American hard rock action, (proto) metallic, garagey, and psychedelic, chock full of crunching riffs, wild wailing guitars, and rough n' tough vocals. It's all pretty darn heavy for the era, if not quite to the extreme reached across the pond by heavy metal progenitors Black Sabbath (though Bang comes quite close - and hey look there's a song titled "Wrought Iron Man" by a band called Steeplechase). This comp includes the the most fuzzed out and stompin' version of frat rock chestnut "Gimme Some Lovin'" you've ever heard (by Euclid, from their album Heavy Machinery). Of course, fuzz is in copious supply all across this disc, erupting perhaps most savagely on the classic "Kingdom Come" by Sir Lord Baltimore, a majestic six and a half minute epic mixing tripped out lyrics with bursts of ultra distorted guitar. Being one of the tracks, like a few others here, that'd we'd have chosen ourselves for an all time ultimate proto metal mix.
FYI, the other bands on this disc we haven't mentioned yet are: Liquid Smoke, The Finchley Boys, Damnation Of Adam Blessing, Dragonfly, Jamul, Third Power, Head Over Heels, and Landslide. Among all 20, it's hard to pick faves, some are heavier, some are weirder/proggier, some are blusier, some are groovier, some are more melodic, you'll have to decide for yourself. But this is definitely a pretty badass acid rock comp! And thankfully the cd booklet includes informative commentary on each band/track.
Documenting the sound of Middle American hippie rockers heavying it up and heading to Middle Earth, singing songs about wizards, sorcerers, Sauron, and Satan, this is just so up our alley. Heck, there are several of us here, who by virtue of our particular, peculiar subcultural enthusiasms, were primed to flip out HARD over this. So if anything was ever meant to be a Record Of The Week, this sure was! Man, those nerds over at Numero have outdone themselves. It's not like Numero hasn't brought us some great compilations of long lost gems before - heck that's what they DO - they've got a well deserved rep for digging up truly obscure vintage soul music that's also totally top notch stuff. But as you've surmised, this ain't no soul. In the past, Numero have unearthed some wonderful rarities in other genres, from folky female singer-songwriters to Southern rock to power pop. But now, with this latest entry in their Wayfaring Strangers, er, WARfaring Strangers, series of comps, entitled Darkscorch Canticles, they've entered another dimension entirely, a dark and mystical hard rockin' realm of fuzzed-out, bellbottomed, pot-scented, proggy proto-metal basement jams!!
There are 16 tracks of fantastical garage rock from the depths of the '70s to be savored here, rescued from one-off, privately pressed 45 singles done by sub-sub-sub-Sabbath acts that seriously nobody has ever heard of before. That's kind of what's most amazing about this, that these tracks are so great, and yet also so unknown. We've talked to a few friends who consider themselves proto-metal experts, some of whom were rather incredulous about this, halfway suspecting it must somehow be a fake just cuz they didn't already know of ANY of these bands! By the way, we're convinced it's not a hoax - though if it were, that would actually be even more amazing - especially considering there's a densely-packed cd booklet / lp insert filled with vintage band photos, original 45 label graphics, and in-depth, highly detailed liner notes provided about each artist in tiny, tiny print (backgrounded by graph-paper dungeon drawings).
Last year Numero put out a vinyl-only archival collection of tracks by one of the bands found here, Chicago's Medusa, that we thought was pretty cool, and really should have reviewed but for some reason never did (we do still have a copy in stock, in all its black velvet glory!). At the time, Numero told us that release was a teaser for an entire compilation of obscure "D&D" rock of the same ilk that they planned to do, and they spoke the truth. Through the mastery of the dark arts, presumably, they somehow assembled this, digging up an outrageous assortment of over-the-top tunes from all these forgotten bands, whose names alone conjure vibes of myth and magic, sword and sorcery: Wrath, Triton Warrior, Stone Axe, Stonehenge, Dark Star, Stoned Mace, Hellstorm, Wizard, Arrogance, and more - including not just the aforementioned Medusa but also another band from Chicago called Gorgon Medusa. The earliest entry is from 1970, the latest from 1980, but they're all equally ancient-sounding. More like rickety sixties-ish heavy psych really, than anything metallic from the '80s or beyond, the stress here being on the "proto" side of the proto-metal tag. Stuff in the vein of Iron Butterfly and Bloodrock and Bubble Puppy and Captain Beyond.
You get low-budget occult organ prog epicry, and uber-distorted riff-rockin', and spaced out downer rock balladry, and badass boogie in Satan's service. We won't go track-by-track, though we're tempted, but a few of the standout faves for us include Wrath's "Warlord", especially due to the zombified vocals from someone who sounds like a brainwashed adolescent girl / cult victim (the guitarist's wife, apparently) intoning the scary lyrics about "living in lust as Satan must"; Inside's "Wizzard King", a blown-out, lo-fi rocker that asks the musical question: "Don't you wanna be a wizzard king, don't you wanna be free? / Don't you wanna be a wizzard king, don't you wanna be me?"; and Stone Axe's "Slave Of Fear", which sounds like Arthur Brown fronting a very early Black Sabbath or Blues Creation. But there's so much good stuff on here, enough to require a saving throw vs. acid rock or else become completely addicted, spinning this repeatedly.
The art and design deserve a mention as well. Both formats come in slipcased cover art consisting of newly-rendered stylized logos (embossed, in metallic ink!) for each band on the comp, like some artistically-inclined burnout teen doodling on a school binder. In terms of packaging, this really couldn't be any cooler - oh, wait, well, maybe it could - we should tell you, that if you wait a couple months, Numero will be selling (direct mailorder only, not in stores, grrrr!) a special edition of this consisting of the lp, the cd, AND a vaguely D&D-esque BOARDGAME, where the players take on the roles of these rock bands competing with each other in the fantastic realm of Darkscorch. Even if you never actually play the game we're pretty sure it will be an amazing artifact just to look at. It's gonna be, like, $100 though.
Ok, to wrap up: trying to explain why this comp is so rad is kind of like trying to explain the appeal of The Lord Of The Rings to someone who hasn't read it. Or D&D to someone who hasn't played. So just trust us, and we recommend trying those two things as well if you haven't!
Damn. Bevis Frond fan or not, you've gotta be impressed with Bevis's Nick Saloman's new career as the curator of kick-ass comps for the Psychic Circle label. We've already highlighted one of 'em recently, the On The Brink collection of instrumental swingin' psych groovers. Also reviewed this list: the fine British popsike comp Fairytales Can Come True. But this one might just be our favorite so far, seeing as how we're all into the early proto-metal HEAVINESS thing. "Heavy Psych And Power Fuzz From The USA 68-72" is the mouth-watering subtitle here. Sounds right up our alley, and it is.
Saloman must have a heckuva record collection. Taking a look at this disc's track list, we only recognized a few of the twenty bands/songs: Thunder & Roses, The Power Of Zeus, Banchee, Road, Fields... that's about it. And we figured if the unknown others were half as good as we knew those to be, we were in for a treat. Well such is the case, for the most part!! Saloman has dug up some beauts, plenty of ultra-rare, fuzzed-out examples of greasy garage muscle, freaky hairy funk, and Purple Hazey proto-metal riff rockin' from all over the US of A that are making our day in a big way. It starts off strong (and stays that way) with the wailing acid rock guitar and equally wailing vocals of "Penetration" by Detroit outfit Third Power. Next up, this comp takes its name from the contribution by Philly's Thunder & Roses, a very Cream-y track that was later covered by Nirvana (whose punked-out version was a worthy tribute). We also hear from Detroit's The Power Of Zeus, with their stone classic "It Couldn't Be Me" that hiphop headz might recognize as having been sampled on an Obie Trice track. LA's Road, featuring former Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, sound very Captain Beyond on their "Spaceship Earth". And then there's the Zeppish "Steel Dog Man" by a Boston outfit saddled with the unfortunate name Brother Fox And The Tar Baby (can't see 'em hitting the stadiums with that handle). In fact, names might be what held a bunch of these bands back, like The Lemonade Charade and The Yellow Payges, ferinstance. Hardly indicative of the long haired biker badassitude and Hendrix/Steppenwolf/Yardbirds worship found here in abundance. This comp also proves that said badassitude can coexist with some groovy horns on occasion, no problem.
For the record, here's the names of the other bands appearing here that we don't have room to discuss individually: The Hook, Blue Mountain Eagle, Genesis, The Illinois Speed Press, Eden's Children, T.I.M.E., Underbeat, The Uniques, and The Fort Mudge Memorial Dump! And yes, the cd booklet includes notes from NS on each track. Oh and for those heavy psych devotees keeping up / keeping score, you might want to know, is this as good as that excellent Psychedelic Minds Vol. 1 comp from last year on World In Sound? Yes, yes indeed.
Real nice, these new Van Der Graaf Generator reissues are. We're glad they they've now got US distribution, though we'd have happily paid $30 for the import versions (Andee and Allan both did for some of 'em, actually, oops). All the prog fans here are stoked, 'specially since VDGG are one of our top prog faves. We've already listed the reissues of Pawn Hearts and H To He Who Am The Only One, and we'll try to get to them all, one by one... so here's VDGG's second album, from 1969 (following their debut Aerosol Grey Machine, not a part of this reissue series though there is a cd we do stock), maybe the first that really displayed their signature sound in a fully formed fashion. That sound: bombastic, epic, emotional, complex, slightly jazzy, eccentric. And probably an acquired taste. Partly because VDGG's instrumentation isn't the standard guitar/bass/drums -- they've got saxophone and keyboards, mainly, alongside the drums. Plus their most distinctive sonic feature, Peter Hammill's exceedingly dramatic, dominating vocals! Love 'em or hate 'em vocals, we'd venture to guess. His voice is perfect, though, for the sweeping grandeur of VDGG's music, which can be quite gentle (as on this album's most pop hit, speaking loosely, "Refugees"), and at other times so much darker, heavier, and more hectic (as on "White Hammer" wherein Hammill sings about the Inquisition). All this power and passion is reflected in Hammill's intelligent, questioning, quasi-mystical lyrics, and is furthermore augmented by the suggestion of church and worship brought in by the use of the electric organ.
Yes indeed, VDGG is very weird and very much it's own thing... there's definite connections to the likes of King Crimson and Genesis, and '60s psychedelia, but ultimately nothing else sounds quite like these guys. The Least We Can Do, which features a surreal depiction of an actual Van Der Graaf generator on its cover, is a fine starting point and/or an essential part of their discography for fans building a VDGG collection. This reissue, in addition to being digitally remastered and boasting extensive liner notes in the cd booklet, also features two bonus tracks, the single version of "Refugees" and its non-album B-side, "Boat Of Millions Of Years". Recently we came across an old print advertisement for this single, the tag line of which was: "Some of today's violence is innocence defending itself... some of today's music is Van Der Graaf Generator."
Apparently this came out last year, but it's new to us, and when we saw it, we had to get a few, just 'cause of WHO plays in Vardlokk. Check out the lineup: Grutle from Enslaved on growly vocals (in English, with Norwegian for the choruses), Tim Lehi of Draugar on guitar (and excellent cover art as well), Dave Sweetapple of Witch on bass, Terri Christopher of 27 and Dusty Skull on drums, and Iver Sandoy of Enslaved and Jazkamer contributing electronic effects and Moog playin'. Wow/weird. Together, this unlikely underground supergroup kick out a couple heavy cuts of Viking-themed blackened doomic crush, with lots of fuzz, and lyrics about the Vikings arriving in North America circa 1000AD. How can that not be cool? We really wonder just how these particular peeps got together to do this - and if there will be more from Vardlokk or if this is just a one-off...
White vinyl, limited.
From whatever gnarly realm they inhabit, Vasaeleth have crawled forth (or maybe they've learnt to walk, but they ought to crawl - to make an H.P. Lovecraft reference we're sure they'd appreciate), to bring us this insalubrious ep, following up their 2010 debut full-length Crypt Born And Tethered To Ruin. While we had expected another full-length, this is actually just as effective at providing a sonic gateway to festering, sick cosmic scenes (a la the cover art, once again by Antichrist Kramer). With just five songs here, about 18 minutes, Vasaeleth don't hold back, taking a crushing, chaotic approach to their blackened, doomed-out metal of death. All uproarious darkness, indeed! Rolling and rumbling, strangely energetic and even almost upbeat a lot of the time, this sounds like the Cookie Monster getting a good workout - we can see him doing jumping jacks to this, grunting along as the drums beat and blast, and guitars howl and harmonically squeal. Often slashing for the throat, but sometimes slowing into sludgy torpor, the riffage here is perfectly putrid, as are the vokills. Once again, Vasaeleth prove themselves to be one of the most potent and original of the many would-be modern incarnations of old Incantation vying for today's underground doomdeath throne.
The label may be Bay Area Thrash, but not only is this label from the UK, not the Bay Area, but this is most certainly not thrash. Instead, it's a heaping mound of black and crusty doom sludge!!! Vat Of Fat offer up two length slabs of groovy sludgy stoner doom, huge lumbering riffs, barely audible gutteral vox, all crusty and crushing. Think Eyehategod, Electric Wizard and the like. But it's slow and sludgy enough to hit the spot for the more extreme doom fanatics out there (Khanate, Moss, Bunkur, etc...) but this is definitely more riffy. Big old downtuned riffs, almost stoner rock at points, but too caked in their own grit and filth and slow and pummeling to be anything but a gloriously punishing dose of planet crushing deathdoomdronedirgesludge!
As The Tide Consumes, are a much less sludgy proposition, but no less heavy, just a bit more chaotic and a bit less tail dragging. Fuzzy crusty riffs, howling screeched vocals and wild streaks of squealing feedback. Way more agitated and crusty sounding than the stonery doom of VoF, although that said, this is still plenty downtuned and churningly sludge soaked. Almost like someone tried to teach Esoteric to play black metal, or tried to get Eyehategod to somehow sound more like Neurosis. A grinding groovy seriously swampy and sludge-y metallic pummel.
LP only and as with lots of stuff like this, VERY LIMITED.
More Spanish stoner metal for ya! After the fucked up weirdness of Dirty Lust and the flowers and beads spaciness of Fooz, Viaje A 800's straight-forward blend of doom and groove is kinda refreshing. Super heavy, rockin' tunes with Spanish-language vocals.
Boris Vian was a French jazz musician, playwright, novelist, translator of hard-boiled American crime classics, all-around agitator and bon vivant. Serge Gainsbourg was a big fan and intended to collaborate with Vian. Unfortunately, due to Vian's untimely death in 1959, this collaboration never came to pass. This cd compiles much of Vian's work as a cabaret singer. His songs are steeped in the French chanson tradition, social poetics, and dadaist wit & wordplay. As the liner notes exclaim, "Boris Vian is one of those solitary adventurers who has discovered a new world of la chanson." (thanks to our regular customer Rael for the translation!)
Brutal. Beautiful. Brut-iful? it's album number two from Erie, PA's heaviest hitters Village Of Dead Roads (who are one of the "Neur-Isis" crowd's best kept secrets). We dug their debut from a few years back quite a bit, and now on this sophomore release they've unleashed another advanced lesson in sludgecore sonics. Although actually this album is a bit less "experimental" than their first one, dropping the ambient sampling stuff and maybe getting a bit MORE metal, including some rather melodic metallic guitar soloing. There's lots of cool parts, every song with something interesting/artistic to offer musically. Every song also utterly destroying you with its heaviness and aggression, via punishing drums, churning riffs, and throat-shreddingly screamed vokills. Yet, they also manage to incorporate moments of melancholic moodiness inbetwixt the crushing parts, without wimping out or being too post-rock predictable. What we're trying to say, is it doesn't get boring, the way some albums in this genre do (though it may not always fit your mood, for instance if you're, like, happy, and want to remain so).
Heartily recommended to fans of other bands from that Neur-Isis axis! And anything from Eyehategod to Samothrace, Cavity to Cult Of Luna, Black Cobra to Snowblood... Not sure why they haven't become better known, they're as good or better than most, though this might be their final release anyway, not sure, apparently the Village's population is down to just the guitarist/vocalist and the drummer now, both of whom are also in a new (two-piece) band called Cotton Candy, a name which you won't be surprised to learn does NOT describe their sound at all...
There's plenty of bands playing heavy, downtuned, post-rock, post-Isis metalcore sludge these days. But there aren't too many that can make you feel as bad and sad and downright scared as Erie PA's Village Of Dead Roads (great name!) can. They've perfected a totally doomy and diseased brand of pissed off pummel, powered by leadweight guitars and hard-hitting drums, graced with moments of fragile beauty, as they do the quiet-loud thing with surety and aplomb. Whatever primal demons being exorcised (or maybe just exercised) by the band on this debut full-length seem not to interfere with their control of this carefully-crafted, crushing music. The quiet parts are infested with disturbing samples and weird effects, mood dialed all the way negative. When the guitars get cranked, and the band churns out the loping, rumbling riff-scapes, strewn with wretched, bloody-heart-torn-from-chest vocalizations and stonery leads, that mood dial simply snaps off, unable to go that low...
VoDR nod to the melancholic majesty of Souls At Zero era Neurosis and the catchy industrial dirge of prime early Godflesh, but also make us think of the likes of Conifer, Mouth Of The Architect, and maybe a mix of Karp and Katatonia! The more melodic side of VoDR even reminds us a bit of the late, great Engine Kid (one of Greg Anderson's pre-SUNNO))) bands), especially when the clean singing comes in during epic album closer "Cold New World". All those who hunger for both doomy bludgeon and post-rock finesse should pay a visit to this Village Of Dead Roads, a twilight ghost-town being bulldozered and buried on Dwelling In Doubt.
Seems like stoner rockers still lament the passing of the late great Kyuss. And who can blame them, for all the kick ass stoner rock that surfaced in their wake, few could touch Kyuss, the blown out, distortion saturated guitar of Josh Homme, the wild wailing vocals of John Garcia, hell the whole band were practically perfect, and those records still sound as good as they ever did.
And while Homme went on to massive worldwide popularity with the much more mainstream Queens Of The Stone Age, the other ex-members of Kyuss did their own things in the underground, until finally, reconvening, sans Homme, as Kyuss Lives. A bold ballsy name choice for sure, but a single listen was all it took to convince us that, yeah, Kyuss DOES live. Homme however wasn't pleased, and sued the rest of his old band, resulting in a name change, to Vista Chino, but thankfully, the sound hasn't changed at all, and Kyuss DOES STILL LIVE, in the form of Vista Chino, and while Homme's guitar sound and playing was super distinctive, and a huge part of Kyuss' sound, VC manage to make it work with a similarly sun baked, blown out fuzz drenched sound that sound perfect with Garcia's kick ass vox, all wound up in some totally ruling songs that do remind us of classic Kyuss, which is absolutely not at all a bad thing. While every song here is a stoner rock gem, stick around for the second half of the record, which for some reason, seems jam packed with some of the best songs, especially "Barcelonian", with a killer, super hooky main guitar melody, a slinky groove, and a tripped out psychedelic chorus, or the drum heavy, crumblingly distorted "Dark And Lovely", which really is, heavy and hypnotic, spaced out, with some of the most gloriously blown out guitar on the record. We could go on, but needless to say, way recommended for Kyuss nerds and stoner rockers, but all the folks out there into heavy space-y psychedelia (Heads, White Hills, Carlton Melton, all the Cardinal Fuzz bands, etc.) who maybe missed out on this stuff, might really dig it, cuz really, it doesn't get much better than this!
A heavy one here! Vog, from Virginia, and not to be confused with the similarly heavy Yob, are a brute of a band, cranking out distorto sludge epics comparable to the ugly best of Eyehategod, Today Is The Day, and the Melvins. The seven lengthy songs on this debut cd are graced with intense, sometimes clean vocals -- usually effected, though, and layered with deathly screams (this singing really helping Vog to remind us of the late great Acid Bath). These guys REALLY know what they're doing, if you're a fan of any of the bands name-checked in this review you should definitely check out Vog. We were impressed. We got this from Shifty along with that new Hey Colossus Project:Death cd we listed a couple weeks back, and if anything, this is probably even better than the HC.
More Sabbath-inspired doom metal from the pycheDOOMelic label. Germany's Voodoo Shock (strange name, that) rose from ashes of former Rise Above act Naevus. Even if you've never heard Naevus, though, they'll sound familar, with Ozzy-ish vox singing songs full of wonderful doom/stoner cliches like "electric mind" and "rainbow sky". Slow to mid tempo, melodic but ultra heavy, this is in the style of Terra Firma, Sheavy, Trouble, Spirit Caravan, y'know the sort of thing. The riffs are weighty, but Voodoo Shock's perculiarity might be their penchant for spacey mellow parts. Also they cover "Nights In White Satin"!
Ok, with their nasty-sounding name and mostly-black cover art with a festering skull on it, you might get the idea that Vulgaari are gonna be a dark and heavy band. And they are! But their brand of blown-out, brutal death-doom sludge metal is also pretty darn spacey and psychedelic too, making even more to our liking. Vuglaari recorded this, their debut album, as a duo, but have an expanded live line-up, doubtless a necessity if they were ever gonna hope to sound this heavy outside of the studio. So sheer wall-of-FUZZ heaviness is indeed a big part of their equation. But what makes their catastrophic, claustrophobic crush work for us is the way it's interspersed with spacious ambience and eerie trippiness and sometimes out-and-out BEAUTIFUL guitar not-so-gently-weeping moments. Harmonies and all that. Gorgeous harmonies. Yeah, that's a major factor contributing to the greatness of Vulgaari, they're a sludge band that's more than just about the filthy "sound" and the slowness (though they have all that checked off for sure), they've also got some melodic, very "metal" lead guitar shred going on too, which, with the occasional squealing lick, reminds us a little bit of Zakk Wylde. In the context, though, of druggy-spacey-evil atmosphere and uber-low-end chugging riffage, "bendy" riffage that's usually in super slo-mo but sometimes speeds up to bulldozing effect.
Their page on the Metal Archive site lists their lyrical concerns as: "Outer Space, Hallucinogens, Motorcycles, Death". Cool. All of that makes perfect sense with this music, even though of course it's pretty tough to decipher the content of the singer's guttural vokill exhalations. But the occasional samples used to introduce the tracks are definitely about such things. The songtitles too are suggestive ("Outride The Reaper", "Dirt From The Grave"). Recommended heaviness!
Available as compact disc, or double vinyl in gatefold sleeve, that also includes a cd of the album.
The first Vulture Club cd-r was the ultimate man vs. machine battle royale, with the machine winning. A record where the instruments called the shots, an army of guitars and amplifiers, marching across a blackened bloody battlefield littered with the corpses of musicians, the masters now bone and blood, the guitars and amps allowed to ring out, reverberate, to unfurl epic swaths of rumbling, crumbling feedback flecked drone. And we loved it!
The ultimate doomdrone sound, no riffs, no rhythms, just the sound of steel strings vibrating, amplified, played back at incredible volume, in turn causing the strings to vibrate, and the cycle continued... Another one of those sounds that is practically perfect unadorned, we could listen to an E chord ringing out through a wall of Marshall stacks FOREVER. But at some point, the amps and guitars that make up Vulture Club, decided more could be done with their buzz and drone, so they did the unthinkable, they recruited players, musicians, they chose not to give up their freedom, but to work together with their former masters, to create a new world of sound, a world where the guitars and the amplifiers were still in control, but the musicians were able to coax certain sounds from the guitars, to gently bend necks, stretch strings, fret certain notes, and thus, we have Live Young, Die Fast And Leave An Exquisite Corpse. The sound is still dronedirgedoomsludge but just like the debut, that sound is stretched to its absolute limit, a soundworld where notes and chords mean less than timbre and tone, melody is supplanted by power, you can feel the sound more than hear it. BUT, for this new disc (a real cd this time), the action ante has been upped just a bit. Instead of letting the guitars just buzz endlessly, the droning distortion is more dynamic, with percussive attacks, and extended decays, notes and chords barely visible in their flatlined form, the sound pulsates and throbs, creating unintentional rhythms, guitars unleash simple tones which are wrapped in layer after layer of distortion, and allowed to slowly crumble to bits, revealing all the secret tonal color inside. It's all very subtle, this still sounds like a room full of amps cranked to ten, with guitars run through distortion pedals and leaned up against the amps, the sound a glorious low end cacophony, but repeated listening, deep listening, reveals an amazing amount of subtle sonic variation beneath the glacial whirs and buzzing blur. Vulture Club is the sound of SUNNO)))'s and Earth's colliding, the music of black holes, the sound of guitar and amplifier joined in the unholiest of unions, an absolutely glorious sound indeed!
When we first heard about the collaboration, it sounded like a joke, like some internet meme. It did seem crazy, and on the surface, pretty hilarious, but eventually it was proven to be an actual thing. Then when we first heard a little snippet online, we weren't entirely sold, Walker sounded even more over the top than usual, and the title Soused seems to indicate that maybe Walker was in fact completely wasted when he recorded his vocals, cuz it definitely sounded like it. But when we finally got to hear the whole thing, it suddenly all made sense, Walker's vocals, while still insanely dramatic and over the top, were somehow perfect, and SUNNO))), instead of just doing the guitars-against-the-amps drone thing, really seem to be working way outside their comfort zone, and in fact, lots of this record sounds extremely, sonically uncomfortable. Fantastically so. We were so smitten by opener "Brando", we had trouble digging any deeper into the record. Right from the get go, opening with Walker crooning over a whirring organ, shimmery and sun dappled, and what sounds suspiciously like the Guns 'N Roses "Sweet Child O' Mine" guitar lick, but then the thick, viscous drones creep in, accompanied by strange ticks and pulsations, as well as what sounds like a bull whip, as well as the occasional burst of distorto guitar, the combination of that low end creep, and Walker's vocals, as well as a cool feedback/high end that seems to echo the vocal melody, it's pretty powerful, and stunning, weird, but also weirdly beautiful. "Herod 2014" was our next obsession, with it's weird squelchy electronic rhythm, buried in thick rumbling thrum, it's Walker who carries the song, some sort of demented, and yeah, likely seriously soused, torch song, flecked with static, and driven by a slo-mo Sabbath riff stretched out into near static sprawl, Walker's vocals wreathed in lots of mysterious noise, the whole track peppered with what sounds like some strange banshee wail, or pterodactyl cry, but it's somehow so perfect, that it becomes as integral to the song as any other element.
"Bull" is downright balladic after the previous heaving monoliths, but not for long, the song exploding into some serious Swans like pummel, with Walker kicking it up a notch, some loose chaotic drum damage, some junkyard percussion, and a 'hook' that manages to be the catchiest bit on the whole record, the song slipping into slo-mo somnambulant creeps, before launching right back into that 'chorus'. We have to be honest, the first three songs are so perfect, it's not until maybe the 20th listen that we even made it to the last two, but they're similarly broody and bombastic, "Fetish" featuring some seriously buzzed out bass (assuming that's a bass), and like "Bull" before it, another killer 'chorus', that sounds like Swans gone haywire, dosed on some serious narcotics, a wild cacophony of elephant like electronic bleats, churning metallic riffing, monstrous drumming, before settling into what sounds like some sick, mutant strain of kraut-doom. And don't even get us started on Walker's INSANE lyrics, in this case, a refrain of "Choo Choo, Choo Choo mama", which sounds ridiculous, but in the context of the song, it sounds mad, maniacal, and like some sort of twisted genius, which we're assuming it is. Finally, there's "Lullaby", which is one, at least for a moment, until another blurt of atonal, moaning, keening, doom cabaret explodes from the murk, only to settle right back down, most of the track spent in hushed lowercase mode, finishing off super dramatically, a field of barely there guitar rumble, distant sonar like pings, ominous swells, mysterious insectoid clicking, and one final, haunting stanza from Walker. Most definitely a twisted outsider masterpiece, and considering how skeptical we were, it's even more surprising that this might just end up being a record of the year contender for some of us!
All right, psycheDOOMelic is the new doom metal label run by Hegedus Mark, the Hungarian doom/psych freak responsible for the excellent doom-oriented Psychedelic fanzine. Wall Of Sleep's debut ep (four songs, 22 minutes) is one of the label's first releases. WOS feature two ex-members of Hungarian Sabbath-worshippers Mood, and pretty much sound just like what you'd expect! Nothing less, nothing more. Chugging massive doom riffage and Ozzy-possessed vocals (albeit with a wee bit of a Hungarian accent that might take some getting used to -- this becomes particularily noticable on their cover of Sabbath's "The Wizard", the last track here, complete with harmonica!). Did you know that "The Wizard" is the song that converted Allan into a raving Black Sabbath/metal fan back in his college days? So he has to give this the thumbs up, and recommends Wall Of Sleep to all hungry (and/or Hungarian) Sabbath/Sleep/Vitus/Obsessed obsessives out there...
MPEG Download: "Overlook The All" [/audio/wallofsleepoverlook.mp3]
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Following up their 4-song cd ep debut from last year, Hungarian doomanoids Wall Of Sleep return with a full-length. You get straight up Sabbath-worshipping old school heavy doom metal here, from ex-members of Mood (doom spelled backwards, y'know) who were Hungary's leading proponents of the Sab sound themselves, previous to Wall of Sleep's formation. So you know what you're getting here. The vocalist does his best Ozzy -- which, we have to say, isn't much like Ozzy's best Ozzy (you can tell that English ain't his first language, indeed his accent will require some getting used to). There's some nice usage of acoustic guitars and/or keyboards amid the monster riff-outs, as these guys are definitely of the song-writing, not just pure sludge, school of doom metal craftsmanship.
Okay, how bad ass is the name The Wandering Midget for a band name? Well, okay, maybe not BAD ASS, but what a great name. Freaky, weird, certainly might not have you imagining some awesome classic doom outfit, but that's precisely what The Wandering Midget are, classic true doom from Finland. So that's pretty much all pluses across the board, insane band name, true doom, and they're from Finland. And as if that weren't enough they have an amazing vocalist, who sounds like a weird super dramatic Ozzy doppelganger, the vocals so over the top they sound almost campy, yet they fit the music perfectly, especially when they slip into a menacing grrrrrowl.
The sound is super live, the drums way up in the mix, the guitars thick and crunchy, the vocals WAY out in front, the riffs are killer too, that sort of slithery Sabbathy groove, mix in some Pentagram, some Electric Wizard, and you're in total druggy stoner doom heaven!
All the tracks are pretty kick ass, but stick around for the nearly 18 minute closer "Wasteland Shrine", a super slow, lurching doom crawl, with some killer leads, and the vocalist wailing so dramatically, the main riff all killer slow motion Sabbath, complete with a weird ambient interlude part way through, the sounds of what can only be a dungeon, dripping water, footsteps, distant rumbles, the guitar slowly creeping up from the murk, all spidery and minimal, before the band kicks in and launches back into their doomy groove, a majestic lumbering jam overlaid with increasingly maniacal vocals, pounding away, through clouds of effects, until the very end.
The return of The Wandering Midget!! Sounds like the title of some lost Tolkien novel, as it well should. The Wandering Midget are not in fact a 'he', but rather a 'they', and THEY are a group of true doomlords from Finland, who rule the riff and have an amazing vocalist who deftly straddles the line between classic doom wail, and over the top insanity.
We reviewed the Midget's I Am The Gate ep a while back (we still have a few copies left), and ever since had been jonesing for more more more. And now we have it. The Serpent Coven. Nearly an hour of modern doom, troo doom, total Sabbath / Pentagram worship in the best possible way. Massive riffage, pounding drums, incredible grooves, some serious hooks. A bit like Electric Wizard, but not as sludge-y, much more classic sounding. And the vocals, holy shit, a bit of an Ozzy wail, but WAY more campy and over the top, definitely a make or break for most folks, but if you're anything like us, and you love Messiah from Candlemass, Scott Reagers of Saint Vitus, and other high end howlers, then Samual Wormlus (good name!) will fit pretty comfortably in your doom vocal pantheon.
The thing about doom, is it's pretty easy to make, like drone music, simple minor key riffs, tuned way down, lugubrious tempos, and blammo! Wrap that in enough buzz and satanic imagery, and you're doom! But to make doom magical and mysterious is a whole 'nother thing. That requires some sort of alchemy, that is indeed rare, and that sort of power is possessed by a very few, but listening to The Serpent Coven, there is no doubt in our minds that The Wandering Midget is made up of such otherworldly alchemists.
The Midget slip from churning Sabbathy groove, to super slowed down ultra doom, to spaced out doomic drift, all within the space of a single looooooong track, even mixing in some seriously unlikely elements (the strange prog / folk clean guitar into tangled psychedelic space rock middle section of "Bring Forth The Accused" being the perfect example), to create their own unique and seriously idiosyncratic take on a WAY overplayed genre.
ALL HAIL THE WANDERING MIDGET, BOW BEFORE THESE MIGHTY DOOMLORDS FROM THE NORTH, AND DIG THEIR EPIC DOOOOOOOM!
From a label known for supreme downer doom dirge comes this surprise debut by a group of happy, heavy, hot-rockin' throwbacks called The Want, from Jersey. Playing it in the store had amazed customers asking if this was an obscure '70s hard rock reissue. It's not just the tunage that's retro, but the production is authentic '70s sounding too. Amazing. Channelled directly from the likes of Zep, Budgie, Captain Beyond, Free... Great stuff, recommended (despite their violation of two of Allan's many pet peeves: an album title like "Greatest Hits vol. 5", and the unnecessary use of the Greek alphabet on the packaging).
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Debut cd from this Boston doom metal band (which we have been waiting for ever since we reviewed their "Priestess" 12" on list #99, which we still have in stock). In a word: heavy!! Devastatingly so. Compares well to very early Cathedral and Electric Wizard in that department. Indeed, they're going on tour with the Wizard! But their heaviness is moderated with occasional quiet parts -- piano, acoustic guitar, jazz bass interludes, all nice moves giving them an original sound, enhancing the heaviness when the electric guitars crush back to the fore, while also giving "As Heaven Turns To Ash" a bit of a psychedelic, '70s cosmic vibe. Highly recommended to those in the mood for doom!
Our good customer John Botz liked the record so much that he emailed us this mini-essay about it, which we asked him if we could print since it expands nicely (and enthusiastically) upon the points made above: "Let me say up front that of all of the retro movements in recent memory, this stoner/doom metal thing has me scratching my head the most. Yes, I admit that I really enjoy some of this "new"/old stoner metal myself, esp. bands like Eternal Elysium, but as great as old Sabbath was, I think that even Ozzy, Tony, Bill, and Geezer themselves, have to shrugging a bit to the degree in which their sludgy sound has been deified at the turn of the millenium. The other thing about this "movement" that amazes me is how little resemblance a lot of this new doom bears to the original (but, then again, I guess every retro movement only resembles that which spawned it by no more than half, since anything taken out of time by a generation or more is bound to be somewhat removed from the times from whence it came), for example, the "original" retro Sabbathy tribute stoner band was Saint Vitus, which was already quite a bit slower than most vintage Sabbath. Also, many of these new doom bands use gravelly, deathmetalesque vocals (i.e. Burning Witch, who to me, suck beyond being good, if you know what I mean) which bear little resemblance to any circa 1970 vocals, let alone Ozzy's plaintive wail which, in addition to the sludgy guitars and bass heavy sound is what I associate with stoner/doom metal. All of that said, the new Warhorse is damn good, and may actually live up to most of the pre-release publicity! Warhorse's website claims that this apocalyptic doom metal includes some of the "most vicious (I originally typed "viscous," but I suppose you could say that, too) sounds ever put to vinyl...Crushing Bass with Obscenely Overdriven Guitar (yes, they capitalized those words) melted with intense psychedelic effects...bludgeoning doom mixed with soothing, trance-inducing interludes...(sounds like) death metal on quaaludes..." blah blah blah...you've heard it all before, only this album may deliver the goods better than any other that's tried to make such cocksure claims...no, really! Most of the myriad albums that try to emulate the dynamics of "Master of Reality" come off sounding weak to me, but all of the quiet "flowers and beads" interludes on this album are quite effective, and authentic-sounding, with an eastern flavor, like you really are walking into a c.1970 drug den with beads hanging in the doorway. And you gotta love titles like "Lysergic Communion." The vocals? Well, they're of the gravelly kind, but they're effectively recessed into the sound stage so that they are not obtrusive. Anyway, you guys may already know all of this stuff, but I just thought I'd let you know that this collection of doomy dirges may very well be the best I've heard in this new retro stoner/doom metal craze -- in fact (throat clear), okay, here I go (drum roll, please) giving hostages to fortune by making a hyperbolic claim: this could be the stoner/doom metal album to end all such albums."--John Botz
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Super doomy psych-sludge metal from underground heroes WarHorse, in the stoned vein of Saint Vitus and High On Fire. Side One is the title track, which d/evolves into a jam. Side Two tackles an old Wargasm tune. Handsome sleeve as well.
Denver's hip hop punk rock retards the Warlock Pinchers, who flourished in the late '80s/early '90s, are either the stupidest band ever, or the most genius, probably the former, although we think it's some impossible/improbable mix of the two. You may have heard their classic anthem "Morrissey Rides A Cockhorse", a heady, hooky dose of borderline homophobic Smiths bashing, but like all of their jams, it's all in good (stupid) fun.
Their proper albums are chuck full of big dumb beats, crunchy metal riffs, big dumb rapping, and irresistable choruses, they're one of those bands who practically everyone we know LOVES, which makes way less sense once you hear them.
Bomb The Franklin Mint is tough to recommend to anyone but diehard fans, as it's a collection of early recordings, demos and practice sessions. That's not to say that this doesn't rule, it does, but it rules in a way that maybe only WP fans can really understand. Imagine very early Beastie Boys, but way more simplistic, the beats totally primitive, the guitar playing rudimentary, and the lyrics, alternatingly ridiculous, over the top, offensive and/or funny as fuck. And on these early jams, all that stuff is even more magnified, the sound even more raw and lo-fi and capital D dumb, but so fun and funny and infectious and fuck it, AWESOME.
We'd probably recommend tracking down Deadly Kun Fu Action / Pinch A Loaf and Circusized Peanuts first, the proper records do in fact rule, big time, fucked up and funny and funky, but listening to this, even the demos and practice sessions sound pretty bad ass, but then we LOOOOOVE the Warlock Pinchers, so we're not exactly objective. So fans, buy this, you definitely want it, especially for the old stuff, the first tape, most of which we'd never heard, for the rest of you, give it a try, check out the sound samples, prepare yourself for some awesomely inane over the top lo-fi goofiness, and you never know, you just might end up as weirdly obsessed as we are... [Only one sound sample, per the band's request]
Attention hard rockers and proto-metal freaks! Finally, the self titled debut and only release from Canada's Warpig gets the deluxe reissue treatment, thanks to those rockers at Relapse. After numerous shoddy bootlegs, this is the first time this record has ever been officially available on cd, and the first time it's been available at all since the original record was released in 1970. Very much in the same vein as the recent Relapse Pentagram reissues, this is some serious stuff, heavy and psychedelic, groovy and dark, Warpig were a heavy rock outfit very much in the spirit of Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Blue Oyster Cult...
Heavy heavy riffs, thick fuzzy organ, kick ass drumming, and wild wailing vocals, lengthy extended riffing, organs atop guitars, slithery snake-like leads, throbbing sludgy bass lines, and catchy-as-fuck songs...
Every track is a killer: the wild proggy Jethro Tull-ish groove of the opener "Flaggit", the "In A Gadda Da Vida" meets Black Sabbath jam "Tough Nuts", they even had a song called "Melody With Balls" fer chrissakes!! One of the best (and strangest) tracks is the lengthy instrumental epic "Advance In A Minor", a dense moody, almost classical sounding metallic prog workout, with loping minor key stretches of muted low end guitar strum and simple piano chords, strung between killer bursts of mathy prog, staccato and dynamic, the whole track eventually twisting itself into some slow burning hard rocking blow out, propulsive and relentless. Later on in the record is another lengthy jam, the strangely titled "U.X.I.B.", rife with wild wailing leads, a groovy main riff, fuzzed out organ, and long stretches of blissed out space rock drift, with the vocals not joining in until nearly halfway through. Unlike a lot of supposedly heavy "proto-metal" records, where one or two of the tracks rock super hard and the all the rest are just bad twelve bar blues bar rock, every track here kicks ass, heavy and proggy and groovy and spacey and pretty dang metal for 1970. Quite recommended! Includes all new artwork, rare photos and brand new liner notes...
Obscure, awesome 1971 krautrock proto-metal reissued! And they're called Weed. Need we say more? As always, we will say more, 'cause we've got to mention that the heavy electric organ bombast on this album is cranked out by none other than Ken Hensley of Uriah Heep fame, over in Germany on vacation or something. He appears here under the fairly transparent pseudonym of "Ken Lesley"! Having mentioned that, we realize we should probably review some actual Uriah Heep albums on our site one of these days, but this did just get reissued so we're writing about it now. (Sooner or later we will write up some Heep, but suffice to say that their first five albums RULE, circa '70-'73, though they go downhill pretty steeply after that. If you dig Deep Purple and haven't checked out the early Heep, you should.)
Anyway, back to Weed. Thanks to Hensley/Lesley, they DO sound a bit like Uriah Heep, especially on the killer opener "Sweet Morning Light". Despite (sarcastic?) lyrics about "sun shining bright, on everything in sight" and other seemingly positive things, the singer's depressed delivery and the downer dirginess of the heavy, groovy music creates a much darker, doomier mood! It's kinda brilliant, that contrast. Elsewhere, this album features the more mellow, melancholic acoustic balladry of "Loney Ship", one blues rocker, "Slowin' Down", and several other sorts of organ-ornate melodic kraut prog jams. It ends with another heavy highlight, the song "Weed" itself, the album's longest track at 7:14. And it's an instrumental. With a crunching, exceedingly Sabbathy main riff, or is it Led Zep? Kicks ass anyways. For the first and last tracks alone, this disc is something anyone interested in proto-doom should hear.
Also, Weed should get some sort of award as one of the earliest overt "stoner rock" bands ever, just based on their name, right? Them and Leafhound.
This is a downtuned stoner sludge face off between two German outfits, who tackle their Sabbath obsessions in slightly different ways. Weed In The Head start things off with delciate clean guitar figures, which are interrupted by ULTRA distorted blasts of metal riffing, the kind of distortion that is so fuzzed out the sounds are almost crumbling into pieces. Doesn't take long before the clean guitar disappears under an avalanche of groovy sludge, pounding Cromagnon drums and wailing sort of Ozzyish vocals. A weird blend of Sabbathy groove and Kyuss-y desert rock, heavy but most definitely stoney and groovy. Things occasionally slow down into almost Eyehategod terrirtory and eventually bliss out into a druggy trippy Monster Magnet style space jam. Cool!
Gorilla Monsoon (named for the wrestler we presume) counter with their own stoner psych sludge groove, starting out with a gorgeous bit of hazy ambience, all guitar distortion and feedback, before the main riff powers through, kicking up all that ambience into a swirling sonic dust storm. Dark and murky, but a bit more rocking than WITH, and much harsher vocals, that swoop wildly from a King Fowley type growl to a near Khanate like hellish shriek. There are some sludgy Eyehategod moments, lots of loping midtempo fuzz and groove, but like Weed In The Head, Gorilla Monsoon are ultimately channelling the spirit of the mighty Sabbath (heck, the singer's nom du rock is even Jack Sabbath) and there ain't nothing wrong with that.
Packaged in a nice fullcover foldover sleeve and pressed on nice thick vinyl
Even being the sort of person who knows almost nothing about drugs, I do know the usual preferred delivery method for pot is inhalation, not ingestion (to the lungs, not the stomach). Not that you can't cook it up in a brownie, but the guys in Weedeater sound like they just shovel handfuls of weed straight into their gaping jaws, like some sort of drug crazed harvesting machine, or like a stoner rock engineer dumping coal into the engine of a locomotive, which makes sense, as it's obvious these guys need enough weed to power the relentless, downtuned, full bore stoner metal crush found on God Luck And Good Speed.
A relative stoner rock institution, Dixie Dave and company have been spewing their filthy, crusty, blown out, drug rock for going on 10+ years now, and before that Dixie fronted the equally heavy and even crustier Buzzov-en, so this man knows his way around a stoney riff and a druggy groove, and this shit sounds just as good now as it did a decade ago, and I don't even smoke pot. So I can only imagine how amazing this must sound high�
But even NOT high, Weedeater destroy! Like some impossible crossbreeding experiment gone hellishly wrong, one part Eyehategod, one part Sleep, one part Corrosion Of Conformity, one part Bongzilla, guitars tuned so low the strings drag along the ground, amps stacked so high, they need a ladder to crank those knobs to 11. The vocals a harsh demonic mewl, almost more black metal than stoner metal, the drums simple but massive.
Recorded mostly by Steve Albini, except for one track by CoC's Mike Dean, and that track is the weirdest of the bunch, just bass, banjo and baritone crooning, a creepy stoner country ballad, which somehow sounds right at home amidst the crushing low slung heaviness surrounding it on all sides.
Plus song titles like "Wizard Fight", "Weedmonkey" and they even cover Skynyrd's "Gimme Back My Bullets"!
Packaged in a cool mini gatefold lp-style sleeve, the art embossed and printed in gold metallic ink, with a little hymnal inside with all the lyrics, just like a mini stoner bible.
Like some warped children's fairytale designed for seriously stoned adults, all sitting around on dirty couches, bongs in hand, following along in their little storybooks, a strange voice begins to deliver the tale of Jason... The Dragon (oof, a bad pun for sure, and perhaps a vague reference to that other stoner dragon Puff?), but before the voice finishes with his tale, a thick ominous buzz begins to surface, and suddenly everything seems just a little bit more (in)tense, as if the sun was suddenly blotted out by huge black winged shadows, and before you know it, the sky begins to fall, and the ground opens up, unleashing a torrent of impossibly thick, buzzing bass, and pounding skull splitting drum damage, and a harsh demonic rasp, all woven into some seriously blown out sludgey groove, and so begins the latest chunk of drugged out tarpit heaviness from stoner sludge doomlords Weedeater, and if you weren't sold already, give it one more track, cuz "Mancoon" is a seriously ripping slab of ultra heavy downtuned in-the-red sludgeblues groove, with a guitar sound so blown out it sounds like your speakers melting, and that's what these guys do pretty much better than anyone, melding swinging grooves to abject sludge drenched heaviness, stumbling from Eyehategod style feedback soaked death march doom buzz trudge, to almost Southern rock sounding stoner rock, but everything oozing with grit and filth, and wrapped in the sonic version of a halo of flies, every track a lumbering and crushing, slo-mo stoner doom juggernaut, oh that is except for the weird acoustic tracks, like "Palm And Opium" a strange twang flecked lo-fi hoedown, all acoustic guitar, and woozy slide, augmented by thick distorted buzz, and some seriously creepy Buttholes style processed vox, or the record closer "Whiskey Creek", with it's chirping crickets, Deliverance style banjo, the sound or rain falling, some rumbling bass, creepy and strangely beautiful, and then after a few moments of silence, some strange old timey saloon sounding barrelhouse piano, definitely a bizarre way to finish of a bizarre record, but these guys have always been a bit cracked, and fans of slow and low ultra heaviness, and swinging Sabbathy stoner crush, like Sleep, pre-Weedeater outfit Buzzov*en, Eyehategod, Electric Wizard, Dozer, Dopethrone, Bongripper, Acrimony, and the like, it seriously doesn't get much better than this.
