Finally managed to snag a few copies of this recent retro-doom obscurity from last year, the debut album by a band masterminded by one Howie Bentley, the guitarist of an equally obscure power metal outfit from the '90s called Cauldron Born. Lyrically and atmospherically, it's inspired by classic Hammer horror films and Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic vampire novel Carmilla, along with an assortment of other weird fiction and poetry. Musically, it's all about chugging doom RIFFS, total Black Sabbath/Witchfinder General/Pagan Altar worship, heavy guitars thick with fuzz... Vocal duties are handled by Phil Swanson, whom AQ customers may know as the voice of Hour Of 13 and Seamount, among other stoner/doom acts. His depressive Ozzy-ish delivery fits the arcane, Sabbathy vibe quite well, this sounding something like a more "cult" Hour Of 13. Bentley himself takes over the mic for the album's last and most lengthy track, the 13 and a half minute "Karnstein Castle", and his much deeper voice, droning away, only increases the doom factor. Old school occult-metal obsessives should check this out while we've got 'em...
Gotta mention the band photos, each band member pictured individually, out in the winter woods someplace. We find 'em amusing, in that it kinda looks like all three of the trio could be the same person in different stages of life...
Another strange sonic missive from this mysterious (black? doom?) metal outfit, whose first record was a big hit around here, the strangely monickered Uterine Acid Swishes, a confusional sprawl of clean post rock guitar jangle, downtuned noise drenched doomic dirgery and grim blasting blackness, all wound up into a seriously twisted chunk of outsider blackdoom metal weirdness.
Like Uterine Acid Swishes, Last Living Dream is made up of three ultra long songs, the shortest about 15 minutes, the longest nearly 27 minutes, and that half hour jam just so happens to be the opener, and begins with some spidery skeletal guitar (some slide guitar too it sounds like), a little piano, all wreathed in echo and reverb, melancholy and minor key, before the sound of birds leads us into the song proper, and explosive blast of frenzied riffing, pounding drum damage, and some seriously gurgled demonic growls, the melodies insectoid and buzzing, the track slipping from blown out and dense to more muted and melodic, but fierce at all time, lurching from frantic blast, to midtempo pound and back again. Dizzying and chaotic. About 7 minutes in, the track peels back in a chorus of shrieks, leaving some atonal clean guitars to drift over the echoey drum crunch and guttural vocal bellows, the vibe sort of twisted and poppy, but still blackened, leading into another blown out blast of black buzz, before finally stumbling into a funereal ultradoom plod, the distorted guitars dissipating, leaving just weirdly recorded drums, distant jangle and those vokills, only to burst into another wave of pounding fury, and finally unfurling with a weird abstract post rock jangle meander.
"Where Ghosts Go To Die (The Swamp)" is almost like a second part of the first song, a pounding churning blackness, laced with mesmerizing melody, the drums boomy and low fidelity, their strange sound only adding to the already strange vibe, this track too slipping from relentless blasting, to lumbering sonic death march, to cool tangled midtempo mathiness, with plenty of chug and grind and pound, finishing off with some creepy classical piano, before finally slipping into the final number, "Through A Tunnel Of Trees", swirling winds, strange percussion, spidery guitars, a tangled haunted ambience, almost militaristic sounding with those drums, the heaviness creeping in, a super sludgey doomy drift, the vocals and guitars spreading out in a black fog, over the pounding drums, minor key melodies drifting up from the deep, a few bursts of black blast and a few twisted bits of blurred fuzzed out guitar churn later, the track shifts gears and settles in a spaced out, Hypothermia like outro, all booming drums and chiming, crunchy guitars. The whole thing more polished and songy than the last record, but no less grim, twisted and doomy... black, bleak and HEAVY.
Daptone's The Budos Band has always been pretty fantastic, kicking out the killer instrumental '70s style Afro-Soul-Funk jams, super tight and groovy and quite authentic-sounding (even though they're from, like, modern-day NYC). We've dug all three of the ensemble's previous albums, but Burnt Offering (pointedly not titled Budos Band IV, even though it follows II and III) might be their best one yet. First, it's got some cool artwork of a Gandalf-lookin' wizard on the cover, a total stoner/psych image that looks like it should be on a Sleep album (or the side of a van). That art might clue you in that The Budos Band has been goin' through some changes... well, what's happened is that they've seriously heavied up their sound, the guitar parts are fuzzier and riffier, supposedly inspired by '70s heavy psych and proto-metal, like Black Sabbath and Pentagram!! They're still quite funky, though, so it's not a total extreme metamorphosis into doom metal or anything. We had kind of figured that meant this would sound like '70s Zambian garage-fuzzsters the Ngozi Family or Witch, but no, not exactly, 'cause what with their big horn section, they still sound like, well, themselves, but just with an additional edge of fuzzy, gritty guitar. Along with the hard-hitting rhythms, and spirited, darkly soulful brass, it's pretty darn cool. Think Fela Kuti gone super heavy psych, with a dark Ethiopiques vibe. Also, this new Budos Band sound reminds us of that awesome Italian 'library music' reissue by Blue Phantom, just a bit. Oh, and we halfway wonder if this transformation wasn't perhaps inspired by the success of Swedish Afro-fuzz voodoo psych sensations Goat?? Certainly Goat fans ought to dig this, too!! Super recommended.
Digipack cd, or gatefold vinyl w/ download.
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Some of the AQ shoppin' stoner rock contingent ought to remember Buffalo, an honest to gosh band of Austrialian proto-metal pioneers from the early '70s. We used to stock a 2-fer-1 disc (can't get it anymore, dang) that collected their more Monster Magnet than Monster Magnet ever wuz albums Volcanic Rock ('73) and Want You For Your Body ('74). Missing that disc as we do, we were happy to find a few copies of this, a cd reissue of their prematurely tired-of-living debut from 1972. Dead Forever (nice title, they had a knack for that) was originally released on Vertigo, and at the time Buffalo were probably tipped as an Aussie version of Vertigo best sellers Black Sabbath. Close, no cigar, but what they're smoking has its charms anyhoo. This album's a graveyard of grinding dirgey yeah-yeah-yeah rockers, the kind that demand (as the back cover literally does) you to "play this LOUD". You've got to 'cause this band's lurching riffs and electric psychedelic blues bashings need all the help they can get since producers back then didn't yet know exactly what real metal required. True, this has a few quiet, balladic numbers on it (not bad ones either) but will be 'specially valued for trudging lead-foot boogie blooze proto-DOOM like you get with the album-closing title track coffin-nail-hammerer. For folks who also dig the similarly lost and wasted, stoned guitars and wailing vocals of such acts as Captain Beyond, Randy Holden, Juan de la Cruz, Toad, Leafhound, and Sir Lord Baltimore.
First off, this is the current, stoner rock Buffalo from Argentina, not the '70s stoner rock Buffalo from Australia. We reviewed this Buffalo's Temporada de Huracanes album a couple years ago, and also their more recent split with Astroqueen. Now they're back with an equally rockin', and equally Kyuss-y / Queens Of The Stone Age-y follow up. Yep, they might owe ol' Josh Homme a royalty check or two, but you can't fault 'em for doing what they do, really damn well. They've got big fuzzy guitars and big, desert rock melodies, that's for sure. Lots of moody / heavy dynamics. If you like their countrymen Los Natas, you should definitely give these guys a listen too. Imported on the slow boat from Argentina, so you gotta be patient if we run out...
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We LOVE this band. You should love this band. How can you not, that is if you're lookin' for some proto-metal, psychedelic stoner '70s rawk action?? Buffalo is 100 percent the Real Deal. These Aussie rockers were basically what Monster Magnet (and all the other bands in the modern "stoner rock" scene) would have liked to be, doing it first and best back in the day. Once upon a time, we used to stock a 2-on-1 reissue of Buffalo's Volcanic Rock and Want You For Your Body albums (from '73 and '74, respectively) but that's been out of print for ages now. So we're super thrilled that the Aztec label from Down Under has brought Buffalo back into circulation, as part of a '70s reissue campaign featuring a bunch of other Aussie acts we're eager to check out, like Coloured Balls (reviews pending). Both of these Buffalo discs are authentically heavy '70s cock-rock from the band we've judged to be Australia's answer to, if not Black Sabbath, at least Grand Funk... no, better n' heavier than that. Sir Lord Baltimore, for sure. Did we say cock-rock? Hell, there's even a penis on the cover of Volcanic Rock! The lyrics are of the sort that amusingly confuse being sexist with being sexy (a la Spinal Tap), as in Want You's lead off track "I'm A Skirt Lifter, Not A Shirt Raiser", and they're delivered with much gusto and backed by some powerful guitar riffing that blows those stoner rock bands of today out of the (bong)water.
Volcanic Rock is unstoppable, definitely an aptly titled album. Music for rolling Mad Max style on the highways across the Australian outback. Bonus tracks include the single versions of crucial cuts "Sunrise (Come My Way)" and "Shylock". Want You For You Body is equally awesome, and features the powerful "Dune Messiah". Killer vocals on that one and you can't get much more '70s than a song about Frank Herbert's popular sci-fi classic, short of writing songs about Tolkien! Bonus tracks include a live version of "United Nations". And the fact that you can't get both albums on one disc anymore is made up for by the presence of the aforementioned bonus tracks on each cd, digital remastering, thick booklets, and generally nice presentation in digipacks.
So if you're a patron of our "proto-metal" section, into Blue Cheer and Bang and Leaf Hound and the like, you've gotta get Buffalo!!! Same deal if you're a fan of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Heavy Rocks style Boris, etc... Highly recommended.
[Also available, is the Aztec reish of Buffalo's debut Dead Forever, which we'll list next time!]
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Another recent release from the same Argentinian stoner rock label that brought us that weird-ass Dragonauta album we highlighted on our last list. If the Dragonauta is somewhat akin to the more "progressive" direction taken by their fellow countrymen Los Natas on recent albums, then Buffalo hews closer to early Los Natas -- that is, they are heavily into the "desert rock" cult of Kyuss. Catchy, heavy, groovy stuff with some definite Josh Homme worship in the guitar dep't. But Kyuss isn't their only influence, as the first track "Gracias" makes clear -- it's a recording of someone fumbling with a cassette deck, playing snippets of classics by everyone from Sabbath to ZZ Top to the Misfits. But Buffalo come closer to Kyuss -- or actually, Homme's even more successful, post-Kyuss outfit Queens Of The Stone Age -- than anything else. And they're damn good too. Whatever they lack in originality they make up for in energy and attitude and musical talent. Not to mention that taking after QOTSA requires some measure of eccentricity -- spacey prog keyboards, musique concrete elements, and acoustic folk jams do get incorporated into their stoner rock ass-kickery as well. Good stuff! Includes live video Quicktime clips as well.
NB. not to be confused with the '70s Australian band Buffalo, though I'm surprised these guys weren't aware of those far-off forerunners to their sound.
We LOVE this band. You should love this band. How can you not, that is if you're lookin' for some proto-metal, psychedelic stoner '70s rawk action?? Buffalo is 100 percent the Real Deal. These Aussie rockers were basically what Monster Magnet (and all the other bands in the modern "stoner rock" scene) would have liked to be, doing it first and best back in the day. Once upon a time, we used to stock a 2-on-1 reissue of Buffalo's Volcanic Rock and Want You For Your Body albums (from '73 and '74, respectively) but that's been out of print for ages now. So we're super thrilled that the Aztec label from Down Under has brought Buffalo back into circulation, as part of a '70s reissue campaign featuring a bunch of other Aussie acts we're eager to check out, like Coloured Balls (reviews pending). Both of these Buffalo discs are authentically heavy '70s cock-rock from the band we've judged to be Australia's answer to, if not Black Sabbath, at least Grand Funk... no, better n' heavier than that. Sir Lord Baltimore, for sure. Did we say cock-rock? Hell, there's even a penis on the cover of Volcanic Rock! The lyrics are of the sort that amusingly confuse being sexist with being sexy (a la Spinal Tap), as in Want You's lead off track "I'm A Skirt Lifter, Not A Shirt Raiser", and they're delivered with much gusto and backed by some powerful guitar riffing that blows those stoner rock bands of today out of the (bong)water.
Volcanic Rock is unstoppable, definitely an aptly titled album. Music for rolling Mad Max style on the highways across the Australian outback. Bonus tracks include the single versions of crucial cuts "Sunrise (Come My Way)" and "Shylock". Want You For You Body is equally awesome, and features the powerful "Dune Messiah". Killer vocals on that one and you can't get much more '70s than a song about Frank Herbert's popular sci-fi classic, short of writing songs about Tolkien! Bonus tracks include a live version of "United Nations". And the fact that you can't get both albums on one disc anymore is made up for by the presence of the aforementioned bonus tracks on each cd, digital remastering, thick booklets, and generally nice presentation in digipacks.
So if you're a patron of our "proto-metal" section, into Blue Cheer and Bang and Leaf Hound and the like, you've gotta get Buffalo!!! Same deal if you're a fan of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Heavy Rocks style Boris, etc... Highly recommended.
[Also available, is the Aztec reish of Buffalo's debut Dead Forever, which we'll list next time!]
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
Fans of the currently popular "stoner rock" contingent (Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet, Kyuss, that sort of thing) should definitely check out this 2-on-1 reissue of some authentic heavy '70s cock-rock, from Australia's answer to, if not Sabbath, at least Grand Funk...no, better than that. Did we say cock-rock? Hell, there's a penis on the cover. The lyrics are of the sort that confuse being sexist with being sexy, but are delivered with gusto and backed by some powerful riffing that could teach some 90's bands a thing or two for sure. If these dudes were around today, chances are they'd have a picture disc 10" out on Frank Kozik's Man's Ruin label...
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'70s heavy rock from Poughkeepsie...rockin'.
Our proto-metal pick of the week! Bullet were an early '70s UK power trio led by guitarist/vocalist John DuCann, previously a member of The Attack, Andromeda, and Atomic Rooster. A while back, when we reviewed a reissue of Atomic Rooster's classic Death Walks Behind You, we talked about DuCann, calling his post 'Rooster band Hard Stuff "one of proto-metal's best kept secrets", and guess what? The existence of these recordings by Hard Stuff precursor Bullet were an even bigger secret...
After being booted from Atomic Rooster (despite having written several of that band's biggest hits), DuCann formed this new group, Bullet (briefly before that called Daemon), with a fellow former 'Rooster, drummer Paul Hammond, along with bass player John Gustafson (ex-Quatermass), who could sing and write as well. The idea, it seems, was to play music even harder and darker than Atomic Rooster did... and the results were some high energy, riffy, rippin' stuff indeed, with song titles like "Sinister Minister" and "Hell: Demonic Possession". Distorted, fuzzed out jams for sure, but with a pop side to 'em too. They soon changed their name (for legal reasons) to Hard Stuff, and produced two excellent albums full of heavy-duty "hairy funk", Bulletproof (1972) and Bolex Dementia ('73), before a near-fatal car accident on the German autobahn involving 2/3rds of the band ended their career prematurely.
But it turns out that while they were still called Bullet, back in 1970-'71, they'd privately demoed this rough disc-ful of music, now properly released for the first time (sort of, see below) after resting for decades in DuCann's vaults. Since, currently, there don't appear to be any reissues of the Hard Stuff albums available to us, this is the next best thing. Now, if you already have yourself some Hard Stuff, you might not need this...but you'll probably want it. Many of the best songs did wind up being re-recorded by HS for their debut, but there's also lots of other cool jammy tracks on here where you get to hear DuCann really go off on his guitar, plus it's certainly rad to hear the raw early versions of catchy Hard Stuff staples like "No Witch At All". There's 17 tracks total (well, 15 really, as two of 'em, "Door Opens" and "Door Closes" are both but brief sound FX), that remind us of other proto-metal faves like Dust, James Gang ("Taken Alive" in particular), Stray, Leaf Hound, and Granicus...
The cd booklet contains extensive liner notes, in the form of an interview DuCann himself, getting in depth into the whole Bullet/Hard Stuff story. Though he doesn't have a lot to say about Daemon, who at one point had a singer named Al Shaw who perhaps appears here too. And FYI, this same material was once previously reissued on cd (a bootleg?) under the Daemon name by the Kissing Spell label.
What is wrong with the world today? The sun is shining, the flowers are blooming, babies are coo-ing, breezes are blowing, waves are lapping, clouds are drifting happily across a bright blue sky, but all everybody wants to listen to is hateful evil grim brutal downtuned miserable soul crushing anguished slow motion funereal death drone ultra doom. Not that we're complaining, but it is curious. There's been recent renewed interest in slow motion metal masters Earth, as well as a growing obsession with self-admitted Earth worshippers Sunn 0))), the massive ambient-metal explorations of Japan's Corrupted, the stomping garage psych meets doom drone of the mighty Boris, and a constantly growing roster of similar sonic sickos: Esoteric, Khanate, Asva, Fleshpress, Dot [.], Marzuraan, Ox, Rigor Sardonicus, Sons Of Otis, UFOmammut, Skepticism, Whitehorse, Planet Aids and now Bunkur. We've been trying to track down this cd for ages, and somehow ended up listing and reviewing the Planet Aids cd, a Bunkur side project, before we had even received the Bunkur discs. Well, now they're here and you won't be sorry. This Dutch outfit traffics in massive, miserable, impossibly lugubrious doom metal. This is a single 65 minute track, drenched in reverb and crackling amp buzz, crumbling distorted guitars howled vocals, very loose and spread out, the riffs exist in huge expanses of SPACE, a blackened vacuum of buzz and echo and the occasional trailing off of a vocal growl or a slowly dissipating feedback vapor trial. The kicker here though, and the thing that makes Bunkur so weird (and cool) is the drumming, stumbling lo-fi tripped out rhythms, that drift from plodding caveman pound, to spacious barely there accents, but most surprisingly hover in some strange alternate world of dub. Yep, you heard us, DUB. The drums often demarcate wide open spaces with a strange dubbed out, instantly recognizable: BAP BAP Bap bap bap bp bp bp bp .... a single snare hit that repeats, stuttering into oblivion. Giving the whole thing a weird hellish doom-dub vibe. Like Khanate recording with Lee Perry maybe? Okay, maybe not quite as extreme as that, but the dub is definitely there, whether purposeful or not. And it's really cool. Fans of dismal doom death drone and all things slow and sick will find this absolutely essential. Packaged in super cryptic metallic grey and black packaging with extensive liner notes in a completely unreadable rune font!
It's been 5 years since the last Bunkur record, the appropriately titled Bludgeon, possibly one of the slowest, heaviest sickest doomdronedirge discs EVER. Corrupted, Esoteric, Khanate, Asva, Rigor Sardonicous, Skepticism, Fleshpress, all heavy and slow, but it always seemed like Bunkur managed to push that sound a little further. And if anything, record number 2 from these guys, titled Nullify, might have thrown down the gauntlet, creating a single, sprawling, 77 minute cloud of oozing slow motion black hate. Until Corrupted come through with their rumored triple disc single song, Nullify might just rank as the one to beat. That is if by beat, you meant create a doom record, that was impossibly slow, with instruments tuned insanely low, a sprawling skeletal song structure that is so spare and sparse it seems essentially structureless, with vocals that sound like you're vomiting up your internal organs, drums that sound like they're playing to some subterranean deathmarch, and basslines that aren't really lines at all, more like subsonic tones emanating from some bottomless pit. Cuz that's what it would take to out-doom these Dutch destroyers. But hell, why bother, better to just sit back, and let Bunkur's filthy black tide wash over you.
Slow, and epic, not really 'heavy' as much as dense, dark, deep and dismal, in fact Nullify almost sounds more ritualistic and abstract than doomy, like a heavier blacker Abruptum, lots of rumbling and groaning and howling and creeping and oozing, here and there the band do lock into something more propulsive, and by that we mean like 4 or 5 bpm, the drums offering up some chaotic fills, the bass swelling and undulating, but just as quickly whatever forward momentum is generated is dispelled and the band grinds back to a near static rumble. In a weird way, this is almost a drone record, strangely soothing in fact, a blurred smeared expanse of rumbling buzzing low end, the vocals and grinding riffage, so low and filthy and downtuned, that they just sound like more layers sound, but strap on some headphones, and it's like being sucked into hell, a harrowing sonic journey through the deepest pits of the underworld, every crushing thrum like the soul shattering footstep of some massive demon, every streak of hiss like a fiery blast of hellbreath, intense and brutal, massive and mysterious, punishing and pummeling, a gorgeously grim expanse of ultra, mega, multiple o'd, beyond funereal, kvltish hell doooooooooooom. And thus, gets our highest, or perhaps lowest, recommendation.
Not to be confused with the recently listed Grave Temple cd we reviewed, The Burial Chamber Trio is basically exactly the same as Grave Temple, just swap out one SUNNO))) for another. So it's still Oren Ambarchi and Attila Csihar, but this time it's Southern (Over)Lord Greg Anderson instead Of Stephen O'Malley, and where as the Grave Temple was a cd, this is VINYL ONLY. And while in some ways there are sonic similarities, the sound of the Burial Chamber Trio is much more aligned with the sounds of the mothership (aka SUNNO)))) than Grave Temple.
Two sidelong tracks, vocals, guitars, bass, and electronics, with Anderson trading in his axe for a bass guitar, Side A begins with swirling clouds of FX, electronics, weird processed vocals, before Ambarchi's guitars roll in, sounding not at all unlike SUNNO))), huge and buzzing, left to drone and rumble and pulse, a blackened mysterious slow motion riff, dripping and crumbling over the black abyss. Speaking of black, this wouldn't have sounded at all out of place on Black One, strangled vocals, the churning riffage, the black ambience, near the end of the side, everything erupts into a furious melee of processed guitarnoise, swooping electronics, damaged voices, everything hissing and whirring and rumbling and shrieking before fading out completely.
The B side is much more tranquil, almost no vocals, even more SUNNO)))-like, the same basic ingredients as the first side, but more spread out and blissed out, the guitar a slow motion wall of sound, cutting a huge swath through a sea of buzz and drone, an endlessly hypnotic ur-drone, that ends up sounding more spacey and psychedelic but still plenty heavy...
LIMITED TO 2000 COPIES. Vinyl only. Amazing black gloss on black matte artwork by Seldon Hunt.
Buried At Sea's Migration cd from 2004 was one of Aquarius' steadiest, dooooooooooomiest best-sellers up until it went totally, sadly out of print. Seriously, we sold a ton of those. And deservedly so, as this Chicago band's debut really did compare favorably with the likes of both Khanate and Pelican, a sludge/postrock marriage made in the lowest reaches of Hell. Migration was followed by a one-sided collectable 12" vinyl ep... and that was that. We thought this band was dead and buried themselves. And maybe they are, but -hallelujah!- have visited upon us this new cd release on Neurot. Perhaps this is a posthumous release of lost recordings, it's called "Ghost" after all. We don't know. What we do know is that it's one megalithic track, just under 30 minutes of music, about as slow and heavy and dreary as anything we'd heard from them... or anyone else! A trance-inducing funereal trudge through realms of spaced-out swooshing psychedelic effects. Early on, "Ghost" establishes a grinding repetitive throb, not so much head banging as head nodding, and wrist slitting. This depressive doomdrone heaviness gives way eventually (at around the 12 minute mark) to a quiet passage of tolling chimes, and then cathartic vocals groan forth over more metallic, energized riffage as "Ghost" relentlessly steamrollers onwards... further into a phantom void of disturbing electronics and shuddering low-end despair. Obviously, recommended to all into Buried At Sea, as well as the likes of Corrupted, Khanate, Orthodox, Ufomammut, SUNNO))), etc.
Here's a heavy AQ fave, finally repressed after more than a few months MIA, and back in stock! From our New Arrivals list #184 last year:
Buried At Sea are a bulldozer, shovelling clods of earth down your earcanal. Clods of toxic corrosive landfill, to be precise. And if you love heaviness and doom like we do, you'll understand that we mean that's a good thing, and you'll definitely want to pick up this, the first release from a quartet of Chicago doom-mongers who possibly named their band after the Saint Vitus song "Burial At Sea" (and are not to be confused with fellow doomsters Graves At Sea!). Slow, sludgy sickness for doom-heads. Crushing. Feedback. Disturbed vocals (or indeciperable samples?) buried in the mix. And once in a while, the Buried At Sea guys strip the mastodon they're riding down to a skeleton of bones and bask in the beauty of its terrible form (i.e. quiet parts, occasional interludes of even doomier loneliness and despair). Three untitled songs, 39 minutes! Thus it's closer to a full-length than an ep, although ep priced. The nastiness of Khanate meets the post-rockiness of Pelican, with the heaviness of both. The hole they're digging has also previously been excavated by the likes of Electric Wizard, Eyehategod, Warhorse, the aforementioned Saint Vitus, and all the other bands who operate heavy machinery under the influence of drugs and alcohol in hopes of unearthing the long-buried lich-corpse whose Satanic shadow Black Sabbath was but the first to glimpse...sorry...getting a little carried away there! But with their relentless grinding riffage and use of space and dynamics Buried At Sea are worthy newcomers whose Migration is an excellent debut.
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
SUPER LIMITED single sided 12" of massive, hyperviolent, downtuned stoner doom sludge. Corrosive and sinister, slow and unbelievably brutal. We raved about the cd a few lists back, and this 12" does not disappoint. Cover art and etching on the non-playable side by Stephen O'Malley (Sunn 0))), Khanate, etc.). One original, and a blistering cover of Eyehategod's "White Nigger" with Brutal Truth's Kevin Sharp guesting on vocals.
Enjoying this so much right now, it's hard to actually write about it, I just want to sit and listen... but here's what I've managed to come up with so far:
Oh yeah! We've been looking forward to this second album from Sweden's Burning Saviours for months, it was supposed to come out earlier this year but got delayed until now. Basically, we can make this simple if a) you've heard the first Burning Saviours and liked it and/or b) you're a fan of that -other- Swedish band that channels Pentagram, Black Sabbath and all that good obscure early '70s proto-metal heavy prog psych stuff, namely Witchcraft. If those conditions apply, then get Hundus, 'cause this new Burning Saviours disc is just as good as their amazing debut, sounding (due to shared influences, and perhaps something in the water over there in Sweden) EXACTLY like Witchcraft's equally fine retro-proto-metal. But again, we don't see them as being blatantly unoriginal vis-a-vis Witchcraft or anything, it's just that both bands are so good at capturing the authentic vibe of their heroes, making music well worthy of the upper echelon of Vertigo swirl label heavies.
Those not already tuned in and turned on to Witchcraft / Burning Saviours / the current retro-heavy-psych scene, well, you're gonna think this sounds like Black Sabbath. And maybe a bit Led Zep too, especially some of the vocal phrasing on the epic "Lilly Marion". And some of the riffing and soloing reminds us of very early Judas Priest, in their pre-leather, psychedelic Rocka Rolla phase. So, obviously, lots of appeal here to classic rock lovers! One thing that really makes Burning Saviours sound so great is the "openness" of their sound, spacious and clean, every part hitting our ears just right... the more quiet n' pretty moments making us think of -another- current band of retro-obsessed Swedes who are favorites 'round here, Elope. Even the heavier riffing is still sorta laid back, loping.
Witchcraft definitely already have a cult following (and are gonna be touring the States soon, hitting SF in October with Danava, yeah!), and these guys deserve the same... but their name just isn't as good as "Witchcraft" is it? Burning Saviours are named after a Pentagram song, but maybe we'd have chosen a different one... coulda been called, uh, The 20 Buck Spins? No, that's no good either. Well anyway, another essential hippy-doom album that really seems like it must have been recorded in 1971 and recently unearthed!
Long hair, bellbottoms, loud guitars, Swedish accents... and they spell fire "phyre". It's the new Burning Saviours. What more do you need to know?
Ok, here's the quick recap. First there was Witchcraft, the Swedish band that magically conjured an authentic sounding seventies stoner/doom/psych thing a la Pentagram, Black Sabbath, and a host of other early '70s bands more obscure (many of them wielding both flutes and Mellotrons along with the heavy, proto-metal riffs). Then we discovered *another* seemingly timelost Swedish band, Burning Saviours, who were almost more Witchcraft than Witchcraft. Not a case of one band ripping off the other, more a case of both bands liking Pentagram, Sabbath, and the self-same host of obscure '70s proggy proto-metal acts... and being equally talented at bringing their influences to life. They both debuted with self-titled albums. Then Witchcraft released Firewood, and Burning Saviours released Hundus. It was kind of like having four Witchcraft (or Burning Saviours) albums instead of two! Fans debated which band was "better" but why bother, we love 'em both.
Earlier this year Witchcraft released their third album, the much-lauded The Alchemist. A definite step forward for them, if not a break with the past. And now Burning Saviours have come out with their third album, Nymphs & Weavers. For them too, something a bit different. Maybe a lot different, 'cause they have had to make some lineup changes. Their original vocalist/guitarist decided to leave the band to pursue his academic studies, so they replaced him with a new singer -and- a new guitar player.
The new Burning Saviours is still a heavy-riffed '70s-styled retro-proto-metal affair, never fear. But they have diverged from the "Witchcraft" sound of their previous albums to some degree, perhaps in large part due to the different voice and style of their new singer. Unlike his predecessor, he sounds nothing like Bobby Liebling of Pentagram (remember, Burning Saviours is named after a Pentagram song). He definitely brings in with him more of a traditional Swedish folk influence (he plays flute too). They had that before, of course, the folkiness, but it's more pronounced now, more like a metal Dungen or something. His sometimes solem, soaring vocals remind us a bit of the the singer on New Dark Age, the pagan masterpiece by UK epic doomsters Solstice. Apart from the singer, who Burning Saviours fans will either get used to or not (we're certainly warming to him but do miss the old guy), the this album already seems as comfortably classic as something actually from 1971 or so, full of the usual righteous heavy rock riffage, stick-in-your-head melodies, Heepish organ jamming, electric folk-prog jiggery, and, like Witchcraft too when they ham it up on stage, a bit of whimsy -- it features the heaviest song ever to boast a title like "Dreaming Of Pastries"!
After releasing a limited edition 7" vinyl single by Swedish retro-psych-metal sensations Witchcraft (last year's long gone "If Crimson Was Your Colour") it makes sense that UK stoner doom label Rise Above should follow that up with a 7" from Witchcraft's lesser known doppelgangers Burning Saviours, who also hail from Sweden and are equally influenced by Sabbath, Pentagram, and sundry obscure heavy psych-folk-prog acts from the early '70s.
There's two new non-album tracks here, "The Giant" and "The Clown", both of 'em loping, leaden doom groovers with tons of vintage feel.
Not sure if this means that Burning Saviours will now join Witchcraft on Rise Above's roster for their next full-length, but in any case we're eager to hear more from these guys, as over two albums and this single they've managed to match Witchcraft's magic track-for-track.
We don't know how they do it. Black magic presumably. If you thought that Sweden's Witchcraft were eerily able to conjure the spirit of early '70s proto-metal doom rock a la Black Sabbath and Pentagram (which they are) and you want MORE (of course you do), well, you're in luck. We've discovered that Witchcraft have some friends, another Swedish band called Burning Saviours who ALSO possess this arcane ability, incredibly enough! You've gotta hear 'em. Burning Saviours are pretty much dead ringers for Witchcraft, which means that they are equally inspired by Pentagram (heck, they're named after a Pentagram song, "Burning Saviour"), Sabbath, Witchfinder General and all sorts of decades-past, metal-prog-psych heaviness. Their songs have got all the bellbottomed basslines, laidback soloing, gentle folky melodies, Ozzy-sincere vocals, and doomful riffs needed to make for an authentic-sounding escape to that mystic, misty, downer domain that we (and bands like Burning Saviours and Witchcraft) like to imagine the '70s to be...long-haired lads worshipping pagan gods with guitars and amplifiers and flutes -- yes, flutes, much to Andee's approval (Andee's been taking flute lessons for a few months now, in a bit do become even MORE prog, and he knows how to play four whole notes already!). Burning Saviours wield flute with aplomb on two tracks, "Spread Your Wings" and "Trees And Stones", which will doubtless garner 'em comparisions to Jethro Tull, although we doubt they go in for the one-legged flute pose, and besides there were lots of other '70s heavy psych/prog acts that utilized the flute -- Murphy Blend, Gravy Train, Clear Blue Sky, Mammut, Los Dug Dugs, Out Of Focus, McChurch Soundroom, Nosferatu, Alrune Rod, Culpeper's Orchard and plenty more obscure acts who were probably more inspirational to Burning Saviours, not that we're knocking Tull. And let's not forget that Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath was known to set aside his guitar and pick up the flute upon occasion -- once, famously, in concert when we was so stoned that he spent, like, two minutes with his eyes closed, holding the flute nowhere near his lips, while blowing directly into the microphone as bandmates Ozzy, Bill and Geezer looked on and tried to restrain their mirth. Or so the story goes. ANYWAY, our point is sort of that if any of those bands mean anything to you, and/or you also dig Black Sabbath, then this should be right up your alley! We only wish this album was longer than the relatively lean 34 minutes that it is. But if you've been lovin' Witchcraft's recent Firewood, you'll be happy to have this -- indeed, it might even be BETTER than Witchcraft. We're not sure yet. And that by itself is about as high a recommendation as we can give!!
A few weeks back we gushed and gushed like crazy over this legendary doom classic, all gussied up and elaborately re-packaged and re-issued by the fine folks at Southern Lord. Well, we just got our hands on the Japanese version, now a triple cd instead of a double cd, the packaging very similar, the only real difference being that the Southern Lord pressing came with a download card, so you could download some demos and live shows, well, that's what's on the third disc here. So if you already downloaded those tracks, you don't really need this unless you want to own those tracks on cd. And if you somehow missed this the first time around, and the $42 price tag doesn't scare you off, then by all means grab one! It's worth it. And be warned, we only got a handful, so when we run out, be prepared to wait for us to get more from Japan.
FINALLY!!!! The reissue all DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM heads have been waiting for! The monolithic BURNING WITCH! For those of you that don't know, before SUNNO))), before Khanate, Stephen O'Malley, along with Greg Anderson at least in the beginning of the band, were digging a mass grave of tortured, drugged to hell, low as fuck, abstract blood smeared DOOM in the band Burning Witch. We're pretty sure most people knew that already and are eagerly awaiting this dark treasure. First off, this is probably my (Matt) favorite doom band EVER, so I'm biased, but this record changed me forever, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing. This record makes me want to hide in my room.
The sound of the Witch is everything you can hope for in a heavy band, BRUTAL guitars downtuned to the center of the earth, plodding, fucked up rhythmic patterns, twisted harmonics beating against each other, piercing feedback, noisy textures, and ANGUISHED vocals, courtesy of the ultimate goth, Edgy 59. The vocals range from high pitched, bamboo shards under the fingernail, tortured screeching, to low pitched, classic metal crooning, and even some death metal grunting to boot! All of these songs are structured in interesting ways, the sounds stretched out to the point of transcendence, spacious and demented, but strangely melodic. Every sound on these discs is allowed its own room to live and breath/wither and die, fully resonating in your cavernous skull, until your eyes glaze over, and catatonic fugue state is achieved.
This collection includes both the Towers... EP, which is more of a pummeling, savage slab of heaviness, and also The Rift.Canyons.Dreams EP, which is maybe a little darker and more abstract...both totally inhuman, both completely menacing, and essential to any fan of DOOM. Also includes some tracks from the Goatsnake split, which is loooong out of print, and also a third bonus disc with a killer live set, plus some never heard BW demo material. SICK!
The packaging is also AMAZING, This double disc set comes with a beautiful bound booklet, filled to the brim with cryptic occult iconography printed in stunning gold ink, and some appropriately scary band photos, along with some commentary from that fella Aaron Turner, you know that dude? Totally scary, completely demented, innovative, weird, HEAVY as all the laments of hell's dammed souls combined! Pretty much essential for fans of all things, uh, doooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomy!
RECOMMENDED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We've got just a handful of these expensive new Burning Witch 4lp/dvd boxes, they're fancy and SUPER limited, so odds are once we sell out we won't be able to get more. Seems likely that only super obsessive fans are gonna want this, but just in case, here's the aQ lowdown on Burning Witch, via our review of the 'complete' Burning Witch double cd we reviewed a while back, we'll get to the box and all the craziness it contains in a moment�
FINALLY!!!! The reissue all DOOOOOOOOOOOOOM heads have been waiting for! The monolithic BURNING WITCH! For those of you that don't know, before SUNNO))), before Khanate, Stephen O'Malley, along with Greg Anderson at least in the beginning of the band, were digging a mass grave of tortured, drugged to hell, low as fuck, abstract blood smeared DOOM in the band Burning Witch. We're pretty sure most people knew that already and are eagerly awaiting this dark treasure. First off, this is probably one of our favorite doom bands EVER, so we're maybe biased biased, but this record changed us forever, and we're not entirely sure if that's a good thing. This record makes us want to hide in our room, lower the shades, and never come out.
The sound of the Witch is everything you can hope for in a heavy band, BRUTAL guitars downtuned to the center of the earth, plodding, fucked up rhythmic patterns, twisted harmonics beating against each other, piercing feedback, noisy textures, and ANGUISHED vocals, courtesy of the ultimate goth, Edgy 59. The vocals range from high pitched,bamboo shards under the fingernail, tortured screeching, to low pitched, classic metal crooning, and even some death metal grunting to boot! All of these songs are structured in interesting ways, the sounds stretched out to the point of transcendence, spacious and demented, but strangely melodic. Every sound on these discs is allowed its own room to live and breath/wither and die, fully resonating in your cavernous skull, until your eyes glaze over, and catatonic fugue state is achieved. So this new vinyl box set includes these 4 lps (and we're including all the pertinent technical details direct from the Southern Lord):
--Towers� LP: Recorded by Steve Albini during the vernal equinox 1996 at Robert Lang Studios, Seattle. Originally released as a demo tape in 1996 then released by Slap-A-Ham on vinyl in 1998. 2k were pressed. Southern Lord released a cd version (including Rift.Canyon.Dreams) in 1998. Remastered from the original 1/2" master tape (lost until this version) by Mell Dettmer.
-- Rift.Canyon.Dreams: Recorded by Aaron Evil during the autumnal equinox 1997 at Robert Lang Studios, Seattle. Originally released by Merciless Records on LP in 1998. 500 were pressed. Not only is this lp super rare the covers were very flimsy so most existing copies have a lot of cover damage! Southern Lord released a cd version (including Towers) in 1998.
-- Bleeder b/w Rift.Canyon.Dreams.: Bleeder was a unreleased track from the Towers... (Albini) session. It originally came out on the split cd with Goatsnake on Hydra Head in 2000 now out of print. This song has never been released on vinyl (although test pressings for the Goatsnake split were made finished vinyl was never produced), the Rift.Canyon.Dreams track was an unfinished outtake from the Rift.Canyon.Dreams session. It was mixed/completed by Dahlquist & Randall Dunn circa 2003 and then released on a split with ASVA (BW bassists Stuart�Dahlquists' then new project). 475 copies were pressed. The track was remixed by O'Malley and Dunn in 2007 released on the "Crippled Lucifer" 2xcd reissue via SLR and is the version presented here.
-- Live at the China Club 1996: Raw, grimm live evocation is the only Witch recording ever released with original 2nd guitarist Greg Anderson. This incantation was captured in Ballard, WA at the China Club (previously known as the Red Dragon) in 1996. The Witch was opening for At The Gates and Napalm Death. Anderson played 2 shows with Burning Witch, this being the second (and last!) This is the first time this is available on vinyl. Although not as realized as the studio recordings this give a dark vision of the horror that was to come!
Wowsa! There's also a perfect bound 40 page 12" X12" book that the label describes as "an aggressive visual documentation of the History of Burning Witch", packed with rare photos and liner notes from Aaron Turner (Hydra Head Records / ISIS) and Chris Dodge (SPAZZ, Slap-a-Ham Records). There's also a DVD of never before released Burning Witch performances. Including the band's first ever live show in Seattle from 1996, and features SUNNO)))'s Greg Anderson on second guitar. Also included is an infamous Burning Witch performance on Public Access television!! All the lps are 180 gram vinyl, all housed in Stoughton printed tip-on and direct to board jackets. Everything packed in a heavy duty�Stoughton made slip-case. Phew. You know you want one. We sure do!
Revelation: Sick Again is the legendary long lost unreleased final album from North Carolinian stoner sludge sickos Buzzov*en, and while recorded over a decade ago, it languished unreleased due to various legal difficulties, which were just the latest, for a band who essentially existed in a world of difficulties and dysfunction, be it jail, drugs, violent shows, band breakups, cancelled tours, but of course all of that stuff found its way into the groups nihilistic, heavy as fuck, drug addled sound. Recorded during a period of "exhaustion, drug-induced confusion and frustration" (although how that differs from other Buzzov*en records we're not entirely sure), Revelation: Sick Again is everything we've come to love about Buzzov*en: woozy, slithery Sabbathy riffage, sheets of feedback, big pounding drums, Kirk Fisher's whiskey soaked glass gargling yowl, songs that slip from blasting and frenetic, to wasted and druggy, long stretches of droned out blackened lumber dropped between bursts of low slung sonic swagger, and filthy crusty metallic crunch, the tracks peppered with strange samples and lots of grit and grime, the sound a gnarled melding of Black Flag's My War and classic Sabbath, sludgey, groovy, heavy, wasted and warped and so goddamn good.
Not sure why we never reviewed anything by these pot fueled purveyors of crusty sludge, could be that all of their records predated the list, but we have shown much love to post Buzzov-en stoner sludge combo Weedeater, the thing is, everything we love about Weedeater, existed in Buzzov-en, even more. Heavier, sludgier, stonier, crustier, filthier, these five songs were recorded right before the band disbanded in the mid nineties, and the band are on fire, lurching, churning, downtuned heaviness, KILLER riffs, caveman drum pound, vocals buried WAY down in the mix, from pounding dirge, the thrashing chaotic crunch, the band just sound relentless and fucking ultra intense here, could be that it was close to the end, could be the fact that the whole band was falling apart to problems with drugs, whatever it is, this stuff sounds fierce and violent and raw and on the edge. The sound is weirdly murky and muddy, blown out, but not super hot sounding, more blurred and buzzy, but it suits the mood big time.
There are of course goofy samples before most of the songs, which seems par for the stoner sludge course, and there's the totally demented drugged out 16 minute "Nod" which does in fact sound like the whole band nodding off mid song, captured on tape, a stumbling, abstract soundscape of guitar buzz, and weird voices, swirling effects, deconstructed riffage, total psychedelic sonic headfuck, which rules, but it's the other 4 songs that put most of Buzzov-en's contemporaries, past and present, to shame. These tracks may have been recorded 15 years ago, but they still sound incredible, and anyone into the current crop of drug metal heavies, who somehow missed out on these guys back in the day, well, now is the time to make things right. The liner notes mention a possible new Buzzov-en record in 2010 as well, we can only hope...
When we first heard about this, we had to check the calendar to make sure the release date wasn't April 1st. But no, this is real, the latest collaborative project undertaken by everyone's favorite Japanese psychedelic heavy rockers, Boris, wherein they team up with, yes, Ian Astbury of The Cult!! Seems like something out of an episode of Ripley's Believe It Or Not, does it not? Well believe it. BXI is Boris + Ian (or times Ian?), and the disc's blatant/redundant title makes the concept plain.
So... what do we think? Well what do YOU think? Basically, a lot depends on A) what you think of Ian's singing, which may or may not depend on how big of a Cult fan you are or once were, and B) how much of a hardcore devoted Boris fanboy (or girl) you are. If you like everything Boris and/or Ian Astbury, then this is for you. Otherwise, maybe check out the sound samples before reflexively "adding to cart" just 'cause it's a Boris (related) release.
This 20 minute, 4 track ep includes 3 songs newly written by the BXI unit, plus a version of The Cult's "Rain", from their 1985 album Love, sung by Boris guitarist Wata. The fairly dynamic first track, "Teeth And Claws", finds Astbury wailing about how "animals will save us... yeah, yeah they will, yeah they will, yes they will" over some sub-grunge, big-beat, quasi-heavy quasi-psych that wouldn't sound out of place on most modern rock stations. The next song, "We Are Witches", is much "tougher" and more metallic, with chunky distorted guitar chug. After that, comes "Rain", which is the best cut here in our opinion. Wata's gentle, dreamy vocals are a nice change from Astbury's overwrought rock dude yowl, and guest guitarist Michio Kurihara's stinging acid rock leads are glorious. Though, if they'd chosen to cover "Love Removal Machine" we'd have been into it too... The finale, "Magickal Child" is slow and majestic, with Astbury being dramatic but not ridiculous. Still, it's the closest Boris has ever come to U2 territory, that's all. Kurihara also plays guitar on this track too, again a plus. It's kinda funny he's on this disc with Astbury, in a six-degrees of separation way, since Kurihara was a member of Tokyo retro psych act White Heaven, who sounded a lot like The Doors, whose frontman Jim Morrison was of course famously portrayed by Val Kilmer in a movie, wait no that's not it, it's that The surviving Doors recently toured with Ian "The Lizard King II" Astbury as their singer, didn't they?
Really, not bad as long as you don't hate Astbury. But also, not what we were hoping for (well, had we ever envisioned this collaboration in the first place). Boris definitely seems to be meeting Astbury much more than halfway here, this coming off more like Astbury with Boris as a backing band (or Boris paying tribute to him for some reason) than Boris doing some weird and heavy Boris thing and then making it weirder by having the guy from The Cult sing on it. Oh well, we'll admit we're Boris (and/or Cult) fans enough to pick this up just for "Rain" alone, and then can enjoy the other tracks to varying degrees, or not...
NB. vinyl coming soon (within a couple weeks).
Ok, let's start adding 'em up. This band gets point for their name, first off. 'Cadaver In Drag' is both disturbing and humorous enough to be worth a nervous chuckle (it's even funnier if you imagine that they know something about the Swedish death metal band Cadaver that we don't know). And their knack for names extends to album and song titles too, especially that of track two, "Fuck This Place". Could be an anthem for folks sick of living in, say, Kentucky (from whence Cadaver In Drag hail). Plus, they get points for this being released on the Animal Disguise label, run by one of the guys from Mammal, whose recent album was an Aquarius Record Of The Week, last week. That certainly piques our interest. And also then there's more points for this being picked, before it was even released, as an Album Of The Month (October 2007) by pagan pope Julian Cope on his Head Heritage website, which puts 'em in league with such past heavy AQ faves as Harvey Milk, Orthodox, Om, Death Comes Along, Vincent Black Shadow, The Heads, SUNNO))), and others. As always, we recommend reading his reviews.
So, before we even heard this, Cadaver In Drag had already run up the score pretty high in their favor. And now that it's here, and blasting on our stereo, the verdict is: hella more points!! For being a totally fucked, mesmeric mash of doooomic sludge metal and shrill psychedelic noise rock... part Khanate, part Wolf Eyes (or Mammal), and, as Julian Cope sez, part Les Rallizes Denudes. Nasty, noisy, nauseous. Early on in both the first two of this disc's three tracks, some angsty, wretched screams carry on about something or other, but those are quickly forgotten as Cadaver In Drag concentrate on their plodding, powerful instrumental raison d'etre: monomaniacal repetitive riff-bashing, each track an extended, distorted, metallic, trebly throb, crashing and clanging, staying more or less the same for up to 19 minutes in the case of the first and longest cut, the aptly titled "Walking Through The Gates Of Hell". However, subtle, simple shifts in sound do occur, almost as if they're playing their own destroyed dub versions of these compositions. It's like Skullflower covering Super Roots 3 (or 5) by the Boredoms, if you can imagine that sort of sickeningly hypnotic hybrid. Or Eyehategod and Hair Police (a member of whom contributes synths here) locked in a minimal march to death, freaking out with as few chords as possible, but plenty of FX. Or Cavity vs. Harry Pussy... Yowza. And it must be said that Cadaver In Drag does mellow the fuck out for the almost melodic, calm-in-comparison album closer "Secession '61". Nice. Points for that too.
Rockadrome's Vintage division comes through with the proto metal goods yet again, this time reissuing the 1975 debut album from Minnesota hard rockers Cain (put out on compact disc once before by Rockadrome's previous incarnation Monster Records, but long out of print). First off, you know this is gonna be heavy when you see that cover, graphically and grossly depicting an actual pound (or more) of actual flesh overflowing from a tin can marked Cain. "8 Prime Cuts" it says on the can. And there are, 8 prime cuts of good ol' '70s American riff rock. (Plus four more bonus tracks from '78 on this cd reish.) It's along the lines of Grand Funk, Starz, Bad Company, Ted Nugent, Moxy, with some hints of Angel and Blue Oyster Cult...
Frontman Jiggs Lee's barechested vocals lead the charge with barroom bravado, as Cain kick out their jams, consisting of hard hitting party time grooves definitely made to be blasted LOUD out of muscle cars in the Midwest. Full of funky rhythms and dramatic crescendos, Cain's music is basically swaggering cock rock, with nods to both glam and the proggier fare from the likes of Led Zep and Queen (there's even flute in the intro to the second track, "Katy"). Speaking of Queen, you gotta love a band that has a song called "Queen Of The Night" and then another one, two tracks later, entitled "South Side Queen".
If you liked the recent Rockadrome reissue of Poobah, you'll want to check this out too. And for even more proto metal awesomeness that's shown up here this week, see also our review of the Up All Night various artists collection!
Latest from this one man UK avant black metal outfit, whose Temporary Antennae record on Profound Lore we raved about a while back, a four song ep that like Temporary Antennae, and most of the other Caina records, veers all over the place, taking seemingly disparate sounds and parts, and weaves them all together into something cohesive and compelling, mysterious and a bit bizarre.
The record opens with some sunshiney post rock, all warm sun dappled synths, simple drums, whooshing major key shimmer, epic and majestic and pretty, which only makes the second track that much more menacing, with it's overdriven crumbling guitars, its growled demonic vokills, its weird spaced out arrangement, more doom than black metal, until the song revs up and blasts blackly before slipping into something much more abstract, the vocals remain, but the music transformed into something more jangly and poppy, the sound once again shifting back toward something blown out and blissy, a soaring emotional coda that does not at all match the song's ominous beginning.
The third track is the most fucked up of the bunch, beginning with some plodding, weirdly melodic depressive black metal, before everything drops out leaving just the guitars, to unwind some folky fluttery melodies, over subtle bass throb, and warm synth swells, eventually dropping out completely, leaving just some sampled voices, which just so happen to be Jim Jones from the People's Temple recorded in Guyana, creepy and fucked up for sure, the music shifts to match, a lurching start stop that sounds a bit like the recent Funeral Mist.
The final track begins with some almost-cheesy Goblin-y soundtracky synth, laid over some simple shuffling drumming, spidery minor key guitar, post rocky and drifty and dreamy. About halfway through, some warped metallic chug gradually builds into a pounding math metal workout, again all very major key and epic sounding, gradually becoming less and less epic, as the sound shifts slowly toward a more raw and blasting blackness.
Cool stuff, definitely twisted and confusional, but we're beginning to think that's precisely why we dig Caina so much...
It's been a while since we were knocked on our asses by a random cd-r that just showed up in the mail. But this debut disc from a band called Cambodia did just that. We got a copy of this disc almost six months ago and it's take the band until now to get us enough copies to list, but holy fuck was it worth it!
Huge mournful riffs, that manage to be heavy and sludgy, but super emotional and minor key. Almost like someone took some sadcore moperock riff and dipped it in some SUNNO))) then rolled it in some Boris. The riff just hovers, all by it's lonesome, for almost three minutes before the drums kick in, and then the vocals. Woah, the vocals, an insane menagerie of growls and hysterical shrieks, sort of reminiscent of Bathtub Shitter. Dueling howls and screeches. But it's all about the loping metallic mope. Massive, lumbering, and intense. You can almost imagine some sort of Katatonia style clean vocals happening, but this is a whole different beast, a much harsher and brutal beast. But it's that main melodic refrain that makes this such a keeper. No matter who's howling, or what the drums are doing, or if there's ten tracks of chugging guitars, when that melody surfaces in a sea of sludge, it immediately grabs you and gives you that weird hairs standing on end feeling. If only most heavy bands could come up with these kinds of melodies.
Just to be clear, this is definitely some sort of slow motion sludgy doom, but it's got that special something that keeps it from being just another boring doom metal band. Instead it's almost more like the heaviest harshest indie slowcore band ever. Only more metal. VERY recommended.
Latest solo outing from one half of SF dronedoom duo Barn Owl, coming right on the heels of another solo record, that one from the OTHER half of Barn Owl, Jon Porras, a former aQ-er, whose Black Mesa we dug quite a bit. It would be tempting to try some rock nerd math, and imagine that Black Mesa plus Night Dust might simply BE Barn Owl, but strangely enough, the sounds Porras and Caminiti conjure up on their own, while not really deviating sonically too much from the soundworld they've created with their group, do end up being markedly different. And in many case more experimental and abstract than the twang flecked smolder and drift the two conjure up together. Caminiti's new one might be the strangest (and perhaps coolest) of the bunch, although that strangeness definitely creeps up on you, as the opener, "Near Dark" does sound like it could have been plucked right off a Barn owl record, all billowy clouds of warm softly roiling guitar thrum, shot through with streaks of high end melody, and a warm washed out haze, but even hear, Caminiti pushes the sounds, and the sound itself, pegging the needles, and moving WAY into the red, with sound buzzing and distorting in a way that gives the song a strange outsider psych vibe. But it's on the next track "Returning Spirits" where things get really good. A haunting sprawl of ethereal shimmer, peppered with deep pulsations, and dubbed out percussion, the guitars unfurling little tangles of melody, which get super distorted, a gorgeously muted blown out space-psych (those sounds could be synths, hard to tell, but both Porras and Caminiti, have been experimenting with synths, in Barn Owl, and on their own), but those little soft squalls are gorgeous, and haunting, the vibe super cinematic, dark and otherwordly. Then Caminiti lets loose with a glimmering starfield of super high glistening harmonics, that sound almost like chimes, all over a slow building swell of lush chordal thrum, just might be our favorite Caminiti track yet. But don't want to speak too soon. The rest of the record definitely continues to explore less familiar territory, the pulsing glitchy synths that underpin the warm guitar whorls on "A Memory Or A Mirage", the dense, crumbling, super distorted organ like wall of sound, that churns its way through "Star Circle", the brief blast of wild Neil Young like guitars draped over a woozy tranquil low end drift on "Moon Is The Hunter", the almost Nadja like doomgaze of "Last Blue Moments", the haunting blackened kosmische of "Slow Fade Of Stars", that sounds like Loren Mazzacane Connors playing in some massive cave, wreathed in thick, warm reverb, delicate and skeletal, drowsy and dreamlike, and finally, the two part closer "First Light", which stretches out incendiary guitars into keening dronescapes, again laced with glimmering harmonics, and deep mesmerizing tones, before drifting off into the ether with a final few minutes of spare, soft focus drone-psych blues, wreathed in clouds of whir and hiss, a haunting lo-fi soft noise coda.
Gorgeous full color gatefold sleeves with super striking original art by Caminiti. Includes a download coupon.
They certainly aren't, y'know, lowering expectations with a title like that (unless you were looking for twee indie pop or something else non-metallic). And if anyone could call a record Death Magic Doom it's Candlemass bassist/mastermind Leif Edling and his not-so-merry band of spooky Swedes (and one Texan). Last list we highlighted The Devil You Know, the magnificent reunion album of Ronnie James Dio and Black Sabbath under the Heaven & Hell name, and mentioned in our review that we didn't think any other attempts at epic doom this year could compete. However, a decent runner up has to be this latest slab of heaviosity from Swedish doom veterans Candlemass! They offer up their tenth studio album, also their second full-length with vocalist Robert Lowe (of Texas doomsters Solitude Aeturnus), who has already proved himself to be the best (and maybe only) choice to replace Candlemass's iconic '80s singer Messiah Marcolin at the mic. If you liked Lowe's 2007 Candlemass debut King Of The Grey Islands, you'll like this one too!
More classic soaring vocals, chugging guitars, Sabbathy riffs, depressive atmosphere, frantic soloing... this is heavy, heavy (but melodic) metal! The album starts off fairly uptempo with the storming "If I Ever Die"... but if that's too fast for you, you'll be relieved to be crushed by the lumbering next track, "Hammer Of Doom" in all its bell-tolling glory. It's as if the first track saw the second one coming and just wanted to hurry up and get the heck out of the way. Other faves here include "The Bleeding Baroness" (with a catchy refrain that's a bit bizarre to have stuck in your head), and "House Of 1000 Voices" (the album's longest track at 7:50, and thus most epic epic). We should also mention "Demon Of The Deep" which is a song about a sea monster. Somehow Lowe's dramatic, fist-clenched vocals combine with the subject matter to transcend from the ridiculous to, if not the sublime, at least the quite doomfully entertaining!
In some ways, this review is superfluous. I mean, what doomfan isn't gonna want a record called Death Magic Doom by freakin' Candlemass in their collection??
NB. this version includes "Lucifer Rising" as a bonus track.
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"This album is dedicated to the greatest band of all time -- Black Sabbath." So it says, quite rightly, in the liner notes of this release. This is the second effort by the reformed (not reunited) Candlemass, the Swedish metal legends who in the '80s almost single-handedly established the genre of "Epic Doom Metal."
The *new* Candlemass, tho, harkens back earlier in time, wallowing fully in the early '70s heaviness of the gods Sabbath. Gone are the high pitched operatic vocals of their old singer, gone are the shred guitar leads of their old axe-slinger (not that there was anything wrong with those things...) Instead, the band's massive riffs are supported by dirgy, Ozzy-like vox and spacy, psychedelic electronic effects. There's even sounds of rain and bells to complete the Sabbath homage. The abstract song titles ("Arx/Ng 891", "Cyclo-F") and sometimes mysterious atmospheres make this its own record though, kind of a timeless art-doom for the nineties.
The black-as-sabbath, epic metal majesty of Sweden's doom veterans Candlemass returns, with the follow-up to their well-received self-titled reunion album from 2005. That reunion was short-lived, as their signature '80s vocalist Messiah Marcolin has (again) left the band. In his place, though, is perfectly acceptable, equally talented substitute, with impeccable doom credentials: Robert Lowe of cult Texan epic doomsters Solitude Aeturnus, a band that's essentially the US answer to Candlemass anyway. (Lowe still sings for SA, who also have a new album out this year, which we have in stock as well.) True, Lowe doesn't boast a hefty 'fro or wear monk's robes like Messiah, but his classy, regal pipes are perfect for soaring gloomily over the lead-weight riffage meted out in classic fashion by Candlemass' distorted 'n downtuned guitars. And speaking of guitars, the unfettered soloing on here is choice, reminding us that metal (with long hair, loud guitars, fantasy imagery) is, in some ways, essentially the extreme evolution of '60s psychedelia, in the case of doom bands like Candlemass, tending towards the bad trip side of things!
While they last, we've got the nice import digipack version with two bonus tracks, both of 'em redoings of Candlemass classics ("At The Gallows End" and "Solitude") with Robert Lowe at the mic, just to further prove he'd be worthy to wear those robes if he wished.
Of all the sub-genres of metal there are, one of our favorites, one of our specialties you might say, is doom metal. And even doom metal breaks down even further into many, many sub-sub-genres. While we sell a lot of the sludgier stuff, the more cleanly-sung, epic brand of doom is something we absolutely love as well. Bombastic, almost operatic, this variety is based in large part on the Dio-years Sabbath template, and was perfected in the late '80s/early '90s by the likes of Sweden's Candlemass and Texas's Solitude Aeturnus. So, who better than a rejuvenated Candlemass, with the vocalist from Solitude Aeturnus at the mic, to bring us exquisite new examples of this timeless style of doom metal today?
Following on from their excellent King Of The Grey Islands album last year, the current Robert Lowe-fronted version of Candlemass has released a full-length "ep" consisting of 2 new songs ("Lucifer Rising" and "White God"), one old Candlemass classic re-recorded ("Demon's Gate"), and a nine-song live recording from Athens, Greece in 2007, on which you'll quite often hear a horde of excited Greek doom freaks singing along.
So, fans get their money's worth here. Lowe is really one of the few people who could have taken over from iconic Candlemass vocalist Messiah Marcolin, and handles their old songs superbly. The new stuff is great too, fully in the glorious, gloomy Candlemass tradition of grandiose, depressive dirges and heavy metal headbanging. And like we said in our review of King Of The Grey Islands, there's definitely a dark, psychedelic aspect to the guitar soloing...
The return of doom legends Candlemass, with their first full length since 2009's Death Magic Doom, still featuring vocalist Robert Lowe of fellow doomlords Solitude Aeturnus, and doom fans (like us), probably don't need to know more than that. We loved Death Magic Doom, and King Of The Grey Islands before that, and really very little has changed, and hell, we didn't really want anything to change. Our only complaint, which might be unavoidable, is that the sound is super modern, polished and impeccably produced. Which gives the music (which has it been recorded on old tape machines, and dialed in to sound super seventies would have been a stone cold classic), a distinctly modern metal vibe, that might rub some folks the wrong way. While personally we wouldn't have minded to hear this stuff with a murkier Electric Wizard style production, there's really no arguing with the doom these guys wield - crushing downtuned Sabbathy riffage, big pounding drums, soaring true doom vox, plenty of chants, and spidery clean guitar melodies, the tracks slipping from death march creep to more rocking almost stoner grooves, with killer leads, and lots of organ, which definitely helps to give this stuff an old school (and sorta proggy actually!) feel. But c'mon, it's Candlemass, the riffs kill, the doom is devastating, all bow down, and be sure to stick around for closer "Black As Time", which is definitely the doomiest of the bunch, and the goofiest, with a seriously weird opening spoken word part, but a killer main riff, rad flanged drums, and the crushing churning ultra doom coda, the rhythm of which is locked in step with the ominous ticking of a clock. Black as time!
It's nightfall again, time to dream ancient dreams of the epicus doomicus. Yes, it's a NEW album from '80s Swedish doom metal legends Candlemass. It's been a few years...
The classic line-up has re-united at last, so heavy metal monk Messiah Marcolin is back at the mic, and guitar solos flow again from the fingers n' fretboard of lead axe wielder Lasse Johansson. No true metaller can be unmoved. Though bassist/riffmaster Leif Edling kept busy in recent years with some other projects and even did a couple records with variant line-ups of Candlemass (1999's From The 13th Sun, the last album to bear the Candlemass name, is actually one of our favorites in their discography), fans have been wanting to hear more from the same band that gave 'em old faves like Nightfall and Ancient Dreams, back when they could claim to be "the heaviest band on the planet" (amazing but true). So they did it. And Messiah's powerful pipes are as good as ever, while Leif & Co. churn out the Sabbath-riffed epicks like it's 1987. I don't think too many old Candlemass fans will be disappointed. Not already a fan? Well, if you don't have any of their records, it might be strange to start with this one and not already have one of their '80s classics in your collection, but then again this sure will give you a fine idea of what their sound is all about. For the most part though, we imagine this release is meant for those whom the name "Candlemass" already means a lot. Indeed, that's probably why the cover of this simply self-titled return is blank white except for their gothic logo and a small cross! Worshippers note, this is the import digipack version with bonus track "Mars and Volcanos".
Got a handful of these three way split lps featuring some heavy rock outfits we hadn't heard before now, but are digging all three, pretty, umm� heavily. Four tracks from each, up first is Canyons who hail from Missouri, and who we had never heard before but who absolutely push all out mathmetalpunk buttons, reminding us a bit of local noise rockers Kowloon Walled City, but a bit more punky, their furious pound splintering into wild proggy mathiness as often as AmRep style head caving sonic swagger.
Tigon, who are from right here in the Bay Area, counter with their own brand of heaviness, much more murky and bass heavy, and way more wildly mathy, sounding almost like a super charged Nomeansno merged with a more lo-fi Unsane, furiously howled vox over the constantly shifting sonic churn below, occasionally slipping into something much more broody and stripped down, but those moments are balance by some seriously epic post rock infused metal majesty. The AmRep vibe is strong with these guys too. They also remind us a bit of Young Widows, which is most definitely not a bad thing.
And finally Foreign Theaters, who also hail from Missouri, round out the three way with their Melvins-y dirge rock, heavy hints of Black Flag, all woven into roiling brooding metallic punk, their songs much shorter, short sharp bursts of urgent heaviness, a noise drenched punk that occasionally slips into woozy slithery dirgery, but spends most of its time pounding and churning, the throat shredding vox wreathed in tangled droned out guitars that definitely make FT's punk more post punk and noise rock than punk proper, and we dig it!
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, pressed on recycled black vinyl, and housed in a full color sleeve with a printed insert and a download coupon.
On the same label that released the recent Monster Magnet tour only 10" (a label run by the band themselves), comes this, the debut release from Capricorn, which is the brainchild of current Monster Magnet axeman Phil Caivano, and pretty much sounds just how you might expect, some mix of MM, Kiss, Motorhead and Raging Slab, fat distorted bass, big heavy riffage, a little bit glammy, a little bit arena rock, but a bit more heavy and crusty and low slung, with gruff growled vox, big choruses, killer super melodic eighties metal style leads, all wound into two classic sounding jams, that should most definitely appeal to fans of ANY of the above mentioned outfits.
Be quick though, LIMITED TO JUST 100 COPIES, we got a tiny handful, not sure if we can get more...
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
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Third album circa '77 from these psychedelic prog stoner heavies... Different singer, pretty much for completists though.
This isn't really a new cd, just an old favorite that we thought we'd list for the first time 'cause the name sometimes comes up in our reviews of present day heavy psych/stoner rock bands: LA's legendary Captain Beyond. This cd reissues their classic 1972
As fans of this Finnish (FINNISH!) doom (DOOM!) band's 2011 full-length, Such Power Is Dangerous, we are happy to hear more by 'em, now that the cult Shadow Kingdom label have delved into the band's past to bring us this collection of early material culled from out of print ep's, cd-rs, and rare demos circa 2007-2009, ten weighty tracks in all, including a previously unreleased cover version of "The Model" by Kraftwerk! Cardinals Folly turn it into a pretty decent, crushing doom metal song, although we think taking a more histrionic vocal approach would have been maybe even more amusing, rather than sticking with the robotic style of the original. But in any case, the way they do it totally fits in with their own compositions, "rumbling heavier-than-thou true doom wretchedness" as we said in our review of their debut full-length, this disc replete with tons of heavy trudging riffage (sometimes breaking into a spirited gallop) and portentous, primarily deep-voiced vocal eccentricity, enacting occult doom rock rituals in the vein of fellow Finns Reverend Bizarre (RIP).
The cd booklet includes lyrics, among them for the song "Cardinals Folly" itself - lots of great lines, like: "So what if we don't please the masses blind / the world might not be made for our kind / flower power rules while the ungodly try / to seduce people into false metal cry!" They also tell us to "Doom in! / drop out!" Ok, all very cool, but we still haven't learned what it was exactly that Cardinal did that was so terribly ill-advised. Listening to false metal, perhaps.
Yep, this is one of those that barely needs a review, besides our thumbs up (we like it!) and a few other crucial facts of the matter: it's from Finland, it's doom metal, it's on the cult Shadow Kingdom label. And perhaps unsurprisingly, sounds a heck of a lot like the late great Finnish doomsters Reverend Bizarre. Which is not to say it's unoriginal, any more so than Rev Biz, 'cause both bands worship at the altar of old school traditional Black Sabbath derived doom. This is what they're SUPPOSED to sound like: epic and emotive, dire and depressive. The debut full-length from Cardinals Folly (cool name, we think, but shouldn't there be an apostrophe in there somewhere?) is appropriately sloooow and heavy, adorned with dramatic deep voiced vox, that for sure recall those of Albert Witchfinder. If you miss the ol' Reverend, Cardinals Folly will be right up your dark, cobblestoned alley. But not only do they have that "sound" (which they do very well), they also work in enough interesting, creative moves of their own to make this a worthy doom endeavor in its own right, too.
The album begins with an atmospheric intro track, "The Hammer Speaks", featuring a militaristic drum beat amidst distorted ambience, eventually joined by deeeep vocal intonations. A bit Current 93ish, really. That's a fine way for this to slide into the full-on amped-up doom metal of track two, the title track, oven ten minutes of slow majestic riffery, dissonant downer psych leads, loosely-strung low end bass, and more of those droning deep but melodic vocal stylings... Things speed up a bit for the chugging "Valkyries I Avenge", energy matched by maniacal laughter from the vocalist (who has his insane side, heard later in the album as well), but it's the very end of track four "The Spear Of Destiny" that got everyone in the store staring at the stereo, when they start in with some studio trickery, messing with the tape speed, for a moment making this druggily "drag", like a 45 played at 33, but even more warped and warbly. Nice!
And so it goes, seven tracks, well over an hour of rumbling heavier-than-thou true doom wretchedness from up near the Arctic, like we said, definitely for anyone into fellow Finns, Reverend Bizarre (RIP). Also Lord Vicar, Procession, Gates Of Slumber, Condenados, Garden Of Worm, The Wounded Kings, that sort of thing. You know if this is meant for you, or you for it...
It's always weird to discover a local band via a label in another city, or even another country, but it happens all the time. Not sure if it speaks to a lack of venues in SF, or less importance placed on bands playing tons of shows before putting out a record, or just us not going to enough shows, but we keep discovering records by bands we didn't even know existed, even though they're from right here. Which was the case with Castle, whose new record was just released on aQ beloved German label Van Records, who in the past have brought us incredible music from Ruins Of Beverast, Sol, Nagelfar, The Devil's Blood, Griftegard, Verdunkeln, Funeral Procession, Kermania and more.
Castle might have the most in common with their labelmates The Devil's Blood, being a female fronted heavy rock band, and with the seeming popularity of 'witchy' metal bands, it seems only a matter of time before fans of Loon, Blood Ceremony, Jex Thoth, Cauchemar, The Devil's Blood, Christian Mistress, Purple Rhinestone Eagle and all the others finally discover these guys (and gal) and freak the fuck out, cuz Castle might just be one of our favorites, they have an incredible sound, heavy and psychedelic, drawing on classic heavy metal, a little modern black metal, classic psych, and vocalist Elizabeth Blackwell has a killer voice, raw and rough around the edges, but powerful and emotional, a little bit gritty, a hint of a rasp, the same sort of vibe we used to get from Doro (vocalist for Warlock), intense and powerful, without resorting to shrieking or howling, somehow the perfect match for the music, riffy and psychedelic, and in fact, they have a little Sunset Strip swagger, some of what we love about eighties metal finds its way in, as does some cool mathy post rockiness, opener "Descent Of Man" might be the heavy psych jam of the year, with a killer main riff, a wicked hook, groovy and heavy and tranced out, took a while before we could even get to the rest of the record, but once we did, pretty much all the tracks hit just as hard. So great!!
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Dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. No, we mean it. This is dismal, despairing, ultra doom. Not doom like Sabbath or Candlemass. No, this is mega doom. Or death doom. Or funeral doom. Or whatever you call it. But whatever you do call it, this is most certainly, dark and dreary and completely and gorgeously miserable. So slooooooooow and plodding, it threatens to grind to a complete halt. Guitars tuned unbeleivably low, riffs thick with graveyard dirt and the flesh flecked bones of the dead, haunting siren-like melodies, wrapped in tattered shards of ultra-reverb, and vocals that sound like tectonic plates slowly shifting and grinding against each other, thousands of feet below the surface of the earth. This is essential doom for those of you who bow before the dark art of Skepticism, Thergothon and Disembowelment.
There are two kinds of doom. Well, okay, there are probably more, but for the purposes of this review we'll stick to two. The first is the new breed of sludgey dirgey slow motion doom practiced by folks like SUNNO))), Moss, Marzuraan, Bunkur, Buried At Sea, Dot [.], Boris, Khanate, Whitehorse and the like. The interesting thing about this type of doom, is it's not necessarily doom METAL, in fact more often than not it's more experimental than metal, and is often played by folks who are far from being metalheads. One might call it indie-doom. Or something. Although for god's sake let's not call it indie-doom. That's almost as bad as calling romantic comedies rom-coms. Anyway, there's that distinctly indie, avant breed of doom, and then there is DOOM METAL. And within doom metal, there is a breed of super slow, super dirgey, beautifully depressive funereal doom, that at least sonically, most resembles that avant drone dirge doom we love so much. Maybe that's why all those non-metal folks into SUNNO))) and Earth and Corrupted and Boris can get into stuff like Skepticism and Esoteric and diSEMBOWLEMENT as well. It pushes the same sort of buttons, it's slow, lurching, rife with tarpit rhythms and glacial cadences, everything is tuned ultra ultra low, it's just very dark and droney and depressive. But the thing about doom -metal- is it retains some of the elements of it's parent genre, metal. Instead of being like a distorted electric guitar version of Angus Maclise or Henry Flynt or any of the other modern minimalists, It's like Sabbath or St. Vitus or Wichfinder General or Candlemass or Pentagram, but slowed waaaaaaay down. Actual metal songs caught in some sort of time rift, that renders each riff a lengthy smear of depressive ambience, a drum fill can plod along for minutes instead of seconds. The difference is subtle but it is definitely a big difference. That's maybe why, as much as we love all that NWODDDD (new wave of drone death dirge doom, you read it here first!) we tend to be way more engaged by the metallic end of the doom metal spectrum. Esoteric and Skepticism obviously, but also less distinctly funereal outfits like diSEMBOWELMENT, Paramecium, Evoken, My Dying Bride and loads more. One more modern group who better captures that depressive funereal doom sound better than almost anyone is Catacombs, a one man band whose gloomy doomscapes definitely fall sonically right between Skepticism and Esoteric. Haunting minor key melodies drift wraith-like over a bleak and barren soundscape of plodding, mournful musical sorrow. Guitars dripping with cave-like reverb, everything sounding like it was recorded in an antechamber of hell, vocals so low they sound like someone dragging a huge piece of sheet metal along a rough patch of pavement or like a field recording of a thunderstorm, slowed down. Surprisingly dynamic for a doom record as well, with riffs that hover and drift over vast expanses of nothingness, before lurching back into motion. But also quite melodic, with some tracks sounding almost like a more metal Low, lilting and melancholic, all grey and washed out and wrapped in a distant haze of Burzumic guitar fuzz.
So slow and beautiful and creepy and ominous and amazing.
