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".
We know you've been waiting for this one. At least judging by the rabid (tee hee) reaction to the recent 7" by the band Hatebeak, a death metal outfit fronted by a parrot. Well now, along comes Caninus to up the stakes. Sure, the parrot in Hatebeak is able to squawk up a storm, and his maniacal screechings fit perfectly amidst the churning riffs but a parrot on its own is hardly a scary proposition. But with Caninus, you've got the same crushing, downtuned metal juggernaut, only this time the vocals come from the drooling fanged mouths of Budgie and Basil, two snarling pitbulls! That's right, pitbulls. Thankfully, barking is kept to a minimum, and instead Basil and Budgie spend most of the time growling furiously, their guttural grunts and grrr's WAY more evil than even the scariest of death metal vocals. Unlike some big fat long haired metal guy doing his best cookie monster grunt, who at the most could drink you under the table, these two canine vocalists could literally rip your guts out, and maybe even would given the chance. When Budgie and Basil, spittle flying, and teeth bared, growl ominously over huge downtuned riffs, it is genuinely pants-shittingly scary. The way metal should be. The booklet has the lyrics and liner notes on each track from the dogs themeselves! "Are we owned by you, or are YOU owned by us? Let's see, you pick up our shit, take us for walks, buy us food, feed us everyday, drive us around, wash us, take us on trips...looks like YOU are OUR SLAVES. Sleep tight tonight, maybe I'll wake you up if I smell smoke. maybe I won't. Remember WE own YOU!" Not all of the liner notes are so downright hostile. Some of them are pretty cute, as the dogs detail their rescue from the shelter, and discourage breeding and teaching dogs to be violent. Plus the slogan "Go Vegan" is displayed prominently on the sleeve as well. The cd has two tracks not on the 7" (both demos of songs NOT on the record) but 7" buyers get spiffy colored vinyl. Guess you gotta get both! PITBULL GRINDCORE!
Oh crap. It's here. It was indeed only a matter of time. A canine / avian metal meeting. Or something. On the one hand/paw/claw/side, there's Hatebeak, the grinding death metal juggernaut, fronted by lead vocalist Waldo, who just so happens to be a parrot! On the other, there's Caninus, a thuggy, metalic hardcore mosh pit bull of a band, fangs bared, leashes swinging, ummm, tails wagging. Yep, Caninus is fronted by tag team vocalists Budgie and Basil, both of whom happen to be pitbulls. If there was EVER a record made for AQ customers it's this one!!! Caninus is in full grind mode on this split, with spastic hyperspeed drum machines, buzzing lightning bolt guitars and Waldo's unmistakabe squawk. Caninus counters with some serious moshworthy metallic hardcore, bordering on death metal, with HUGE downtuned riffs, blasting drums, and a wicked array of snarls and growls and barks. And if there was ever any doubt, both bands ostensibly being joke bands, these guys are definitely true metalheads as the whole release is steeped in metal injokes. The Caninus cover art is Napalm Death's Scum album cover, except all of the people in the original are now dogs! The Hatebeak side is titled Bird Seeds Of Vengeance, named after the Nile album Black Seeds Of Vengeance, the cover depicting Hatebeak vocalist Waldo facing off against a bust of King Tut, the whole cover surrounded in Egyptian filligree. And then on the inside there is a photo of Waldo perched on what they purport to be the Spear Of Longinus, the actual spear that a Roman soldier used to stab Jesus in the side when he was on the cross! And then there's the Caninus lyrics, dense with metal / hardcore parody and written from the point of view of a dog (obviously)! Hatebeak declare "Avian Victory!" while Caninus proclaim "Go Vegan" as well as "Fuck You New York Post and New York Times" and in their thanks list give props to PETA, an animal shelter and even a pet supply store!! THE ANIMALS ARE NOW THE (METAL) MASTERS!!
Canis Dirus is a black metal duo from the appropriately frosty land of... Minnesota? Well, it certainly makes sense if anyone has spent winter in the Midwest, they will no doubt be aware of how oppressive and life denying that shit can be. And when you consider that Canis Dirus is comprised of the heads of the God Is Myth and Ars Magna labels, you can safely bet that this is some grim, brutal, and seriously cult stuff. The album begins with "Choking And Drowning", a surprisingly gentle piece of slightly ominous acoustic beauty that goes against what you might expect from such a song title. Next up is the title track, and at this point we're in full winter mode, as the band rides forward on hypnotic midtempo Burzum-styled rhythm. The vocals are a hysterical shriek, the guitars are like a fuzzy blanket of concentrated evil, and the drums (machines?) keep things going deeper and deeper into the woods. "Joyless And The Self Fulfilling Prophecy" is an awesome piece of murky black metal that moves slowly but surely, stopping for a cool ambient middle part, before heading back into the dirgey midtempo beat. The cool, slightly phased guitars almost sound like Alice In Chains for a second, but before long, sour, pukey sounding leads come in, giving the song a very disconcerting feeling. The vocals pretty much sound like a witch being tortured and serve as the perfect foil to the spacious instrumentation. The album closes with "In Deep Waters", a piece that utilizes negative space and some field recordings, that bookends the album perfectly. Really cool stuff, not that you would expect anything less considering the band's pedigree.
Second album (we never reviewed the first, but it was great!) from this all-instrumental, uber-technical, quasi-death metal act. We say quasi 'cause Canvas Solaris are NOT all about being brutal. Yeah, a lot of this is pretty aggro. But then a lot of it is quite calm and delicate too. What they ARE all about is demonstrating some jaw-dropping chops and songwriting complexity. Dizzying, stop on a dime stuff. Fretboard frenzies matched only by the inhuman drumming. So, if you're into shred for shred's sake, they've got what you want! Conversely, if words like "progressive" and "technical" and "fusion" turn you off, forget about this... And it's definitely not all metal-sounding. Amidst all the brain melting million-notes-per-minute heaviness there are tracks based entirely on ethnic, acoustic instrumentation, or on synthesizer generated atmospherics. That makes Penumbra Diffuse more, well, diffuse than their previous release. But no less intricate, creative, or dissonant! More ambient, however. That is, if you can actually say that something that mostly sorta sounds like The Fucking Champs meet Meshuggah is at all 'ambient'!
Whoah! Amazing instrumental aggro tech metal from Georgia.
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.
Meshuggah, Theory in Practice, Cryptopsy, if you know those names you're probably a geek for technical death metal, a sub-genre that's just as brutal as the usual DM but takes the already-impressive instrumental abilities and compositional complexities of regular death metal musicians / music up a notch or twelve if you can believe it. Now you can add Florida's excellent Capharnaum to the list of tech-death bands name-checked above. For reasons not known to us, they're monikered after a town in Israel where Jesus once lived -- chances are He moved away because of the racket. Severe neck sprain guaranteed if you attempt to headbang along to any of this. Very deathly, very metal (you've gotta be ok with cookie-monster vocals and shred-guitar leads) and also very amazing if you can even try to imagine playing this stuff.
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 English instrumental act (NOT the lo-fi Casiotone-pop duo of the same name, from the Bay Area a while back) return at last with another heavy, atmospheric onslaught of their undefinable metallic post-rock/math-rock riffage. Their previous album, 2005's Ruder Forms Survive was quite interesting (and rockin'), full of cryptic historical allusions (in the song titles), stretches of soundtrack-y ambience a la Zombi, and a one-song-only vocal performance from Oxbow's inimitable Eugene Robinson. Coming from ex-members of various stoner/sludge/doom/punk combos, it was suitably heavy but also surprisingly strange. River, Bear Your Bones continues that tradition, once more a dark and moody affair, though without any vocal cameo this time. The instruments do all the talking, speaking a language that's both proggy and stonery... much of the time Capricorns' riffs come quick and jagged, these tracks sometimes soaring melodically, or viciously spiralling with sharp-edged aggressive energy. Elsewhere, an eerie not-so-calm pervades. The album's closing track, and longest at 10:55, "Drinking Water From The Skull Of A Hanged Man", starts off as an unusually relaxed, lo-fi psychedelic jam, with spacey guitars, looser and more laidback than most of the rest of the disc... but heavies up quite a bit before it's through! And once more there's more going on here concept-wise than you might immediately discern, as apparently all the tracks are "about" the River Thames (Capricorns being from London).
One of a couple releases reviewed this week proving the vitality of the instrumental, guitar-oriented heavy rock genre (the other being Serpent Throne). Again, for fans of the likes of 5ive, Zebulon Pike, Pelican, Hey Colossus... and good ol' AmRep noise rock, which a lot of this also reminds us of.
We were immediately intrigued by this disc's wonderfully grotesque shotgun suicide cover art, that's about as morbidly psychedelic as a black-and-white pen and ink drawing can be. So what's the album all about? Well, the UK's Capricorns, featuring ex-members of such heavyweights as Iron Monkey and Orange Goblin, are a bit of an enigma, not easy to peg genre-wise (stoner rock? sludge? post-rock? metal? avant-garde?). As if to keep their secrets to themselves, they're an instrumental band -- except for track three here, which is graced by the unmistakable vocal stylings/wailings of guest singer Eugene Robinson from Oxbow -- another point in their favor, since we're big Oxbow fans!
The song titles offer little beyond what seem to be cryptic historical references (ok, "1066: Born On The Bayeux", we get it, but what about "1440: Exit Wargasmatron"?). Capricorns are sometimes eerily atmospheric, slow and moody, at others lead-riff heavy and rockin'. Lead-off cut "1977: Blood For Papa" sets the headbanging pace... Eugene's "The First Broken Promise" (the only song without a date attached) takes a detour into Oxbow's unique world of woe. "1946: The Last Renaissance Man" is a post-rock dirge that segues nicely into the epic Viking vibe of closer "793AD: The Harrying Of The Heathen" (as you can see, the track list isn't exactly in chronological order, historically speaking). Overall, you get the sense that they're halfway about the heavy riffage, halfway into soundtracky darkness. Fine by us, we like the mystery, we like the darkness, we like the rock! Again, hard to peg, but we'd venture to say that this could appeal to those into, say, Isis, Zombi, Zebulon Pike, old Kyuss, Oxbow (natch), Sonic Flower, 5ive, Darediablo -- not that this sounds a whole lot like any of those. Also, Kerry our resident astrologer says as long as you're not a Aries or a Libra you'll probably be compatible with this Capricorns record (Allan says that just goes to show that astrology is BS 'cause he's a Libra and digs this anyway...).
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
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
Gotta love an old school Aussie thrash outfit called Captain Trips.
Ask Andee or Allan who their favorite death metal band is, ever, and while you might find them momentarily heming and hawing over Morbid Angel, what they're ultimately gonna tell you is: Carcass. The British inventors, pretty much, of both the genre of gore-core and, as their career progressed, the whole melodic death metal thing that so many Swedish bands have taken to the bank. So this new "best of" compilation comes highly recommended. It spans their career from the early days of absurd vocal extremity and misused medical terminology to their more technical and tuneful later productions. Unlike so many other cookie-cutter, cookie-monster death metal bands, these guys had personality, and most importantly, great songs. Instantly memorable stuff. This comp, selected with the input of Carcass drummer Ken Owen (who, happily, has recently recovered from a long, quite serious illness, which he discusses among other Carcass related things in an interview in the cd booket) hits on the highlights of their career of carnage. Indeed, we probably would have picked most of the same songs. So, a fine introduction to their ouvre. And for those of you already well-versed in Carcass, this comp is still a good purchase because it also includes eight tracks from two early Peel sessions! Amazing to think of it, but Carcass (along with Napalm Death) was championed early on by veteran BBC DJ John Peel. So don't be the last on your block to experience the crepitating cadaveric necroticism of Carcass!
Allan's favorite 'Death Metal' album (well, along with Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick)! It combines the horrific rawness and insane medical lyrics of Carcass' first two albums (this was their third) with a newfound technicality and NWOBHM-derived catchiness. And they manage to make use of 'samples' in a way that doesn't suck. Definitely their masterpiece (though Andee might argue for Heartwork). Rules.
Cassette peeps, cool, check it out - we found some classic Earache titles on tape! We're listing two of 'em this week, this one, and also Godflesh's Streetcleaner.
At some point along the way, we got in a cd reissue of this 1991 album by UK grindcore masters Carcass, and posted the following brief but utterly enthusiastic one-paragraph review:
Allan's favorite Death Metal album ever (well, along with Morbid Angel's Blessed Are The Sick)! It combines the horrific rawness and insane medical lyrics of Carcass' first two albums (this was their third) with a newfound technicality and NWOBHM-derived catchiness. And they manage to make use of sound samples in a way that doesn't suck. Definitely their masterpiece (though Andee might argue for Heartwork). Rules.
Well, this album deserves a lot more raving from us that just that - for one thing, not only do they use the song-intro samples in a non-sucky way, it's the best use of samples EVER! In part 'cause to this day we don't know what they're from (not your usual cult movies) and they still give us the creeps and/or make us laugh. But of course even without those eerie atmospheric samples this would be amazing - the riffs are to die for, the leads are songs unto themselves, it's brilliant all around.
Even it you aren't into death metal, give it a chance. That's how good it is.
This cassette reissue look to date from 2011, and includes 3 songs from the Tools Of The Trade ep as bonus tracks!
Now we're all revved up for the reactivated Carcass's upcoming new album, Surgical Steel, their first in 17 years, due out any day now!! Dunno if it will come out on cassette though.
(Okay, we just did a Google search about those samples, here's a link to the interestin' answer, from the 'Ask Earache' blog: http://askearache.blogspot.com/2011/02/where-did-intro-samples-on-carcass.html)
If you have to ask who Carcass is, stop reading right here. For those of you who know and love the sick grinding medical school death metal of Earache's finest, this collectors reissue is for you. The classic 'Reek Of Putrefaction' has been reissued on vinyl, with the original BANNED artwork, printed inner sleeve/lyrics and on BLUE wax!! No longer any need to buy this for $100 on Ebay thanks to the nice folks at Earache.
Well the cat's out of the bodybag! Arguably the best EVER death metal band are back, and after the grizzly success of their multiple reunion tours it wasn't hard to see that a new record might be waiting for us around the corner, ready to pounce out with a scalpel and a chloroform rag at any moment, to drag us away to destinations unknown and terrifying. What was harder to foresee was how that record might turn out. After the less than ideal epitaph that was left by 1995's Swansong, some may have argued this cadaver was best left undisturbed. But we here at aQ HQ are thrilled to report that Surgical Steel is everything you wanted in this record: It's disgusting. It's meticulous. IT'S CARCASS. And we couldn't have asked for more. It would be tempting to call Surgical Steel a culmination of Carcass' whole career, but that's not quite right. There isn't much evidence of the warped guttural expulsions of Symphonies of Sickness, and the tambourines and cowbells of Swansong are entirely absent (some might say mercifully so). Instead this album feels like the missing link between the masterful sporadic death metal of 1991's landmark Necroticism and the more concise hooky approach of 1993's Heartwork. In fact, Surgical Steel almost sounds like the album Carcass might have made instead of Heartwork had they decided to follow their thrashier impulses. And neck snapping thrash this record has in spades! After the brief instrumental introduction of "1985" (with its soaring melodic leads in reverence to Judas Priest's "The Hellion"), "Thrashers Abattoir" bursts through the gates with a frantic blasting thrashing abandon, reintroducing those wretched vomitous vocals we've all missed so much. And then in less than two minutes it's over, and while the rest of the songs aren't quite that short that still kind of sets the tone for the rest of the album. 2013 finds Carcass much more streamlined, and also much cleaner sounding. The production is tight and modern and the songs are played with a surgical precision, which certainly isn't inappropriate for a band so preoccupied with the horrors of medicine. But the playing is so classic and the songwriting so frantic, that it never runs the risk of sounding overly sterile or lifeless. It's not all thrashing madness though (although most of it is!) "A Congealed Clot of Blood" is a roiling whirlwind of windmill double bass, dirgey breakdowns, snakey guitar leads and blasting palm-muted mania. And while Surgical Steel always sounds like classic Carcass it's hard not to feel like the shadows of classic metal orchestrators like golden age Judas Priest and Metallica loom large over the proceedings. In a time when so much death metal is mired either in passionless technical mathematics or riffless plodding inanity, it takes a master of the craft to remind us just how great and more importantly how much fun death metal can be. No anesthesia required!
It's been a while since I'd heard this one, or looked at its decidedly gross, human meat collage cover, and boy did it bring back memories. Coming home from college in the summer of 1991, I found that a bunch of people I knew -- who weren't even metalheads -- had gone Earache-crazy. Godflesh, Napalm Death, Morbid Angel, OLD, Nocturnus, etc., and of course Carcass were all chum for their summertime sonic feeding frenzy. Longsleeve shirts via mail-order, Godflesh graffiti, road-trips to New Jersey to see Napalm Death. Good times in other words. I'm not sure what caused this strange grindcore, death metal mania to spread among my friends, but I'm sure it had something to do with the cutting edge quality of UK label Earache's releases back 'round then. 1989's "Symphonies of Sickness" would be one such example. With crazy/silly lyrics chock full of wordy, disgusting medical terminology (which you need the lyric sheet to understand, of course), blazing blast beats and the somehow catchy, but brutal guitar work of Bill Steer, this album (and its predecessor, "Reek of Putrefaction") were the ultimate in funny/gross grind at the time. The best then, the best now! (CDs still available, too.)
Killer gore soaked collection of rare demos from one of Allan's and Andee's favorite bands of all time!!
Unreleased and rare tracks from this seminal grindcore band's ten year gore-splattered history.
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...
Blazing fast, super melodic swedish death metal, ala In flames/At the Gates.
If you always buy the weirdest, most fucked stuff that we recommend on our lists, then doubtless you already have Carnival In Coal's previous disc in your collection, the absurd/astounding "French Cancan". That's the mostly-all-covers disc on which this
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SORRY.
To say this record is the most amazing thing I have ever heard wouldn't be all that far from the mark. But at the same time it would be fairly accurate to say that this record is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard.
This French duo is definitely metal, definitely on the black side of metal; raspy evil vocals, crazy leads, pounding programmed drums, but with healthy doses of electronics, crazy sound effects, some bizarre lounge style vocals, and some truly questionable cover songs. The record starts off with a fairly straight cover of Ozzy's 'Bark at the Moon', albeit with weird electronic warbles and silly over the top vocals. But then it gets really weird. They tackle the eighties classic 'Maniac' (the theme from Flashdance) and it's nothing short of baffling. So baffling in fact, that I can't even explain it. Then comes a cover of the fm radio classic 'Baker Street' by Gerry Rafferty, the infamous sax melody played by blazing electric guitars. So stupid , but so so great. Seriously. And to finish it all up, they do a truly inspired version of Pantera's 'Fucking Hostile', Phil Anselmo's shouted '1,2,3,4,' segues into a calypso cabaret that has to be heard to be believed, with a lisping chorus '....definitlely hostile...'. Andee recommends this. Above all other things on this weeks list. Everytime we play this in the store, someone laughs hysterically, someone looks perplexed, and someone buys it. You could be one of those people. Or probably all of those people.
Buy it.
Tee Pee brings us the rousing debut full-length from this Pittsburgh based band, who put out a 7" last year in Mind Cure's single of the month series. The Carousel quintet are another in the current crop of '70s worshipping heavy rockers (a crop of which we heartily approve), taking their cues from such classic bands as Thin Lizzy, Thin Lizzy, and (you guessed it) Thin Lizzy. Catchy rockin' songs with lots of tasty guitar harmonies and real singing. And they remind us in particular of a couple other bands we like a lot who've been drinking deeply from the same well of inspiration: Gypsyhawk and, even more so, Bible Of The Devil. In fact, some of us were fooled into thinking this was a new Bible Of The Devil album the first time we put it on in the store; especially as the cigarette-damaged, whisky-soaked vocals are a dead ringer for those in that band, melodic but gritty.
Carousel are well worth checking out for any fan of the retro stoner metal sound, who wants to hear it done right (i.e. with the correct amount of cowbell!). These boys mix in some other influences besides the aforementioned Thin Lizzy too, ferinstance giving a tip of the hat to the NWOBHM on such songs as speedster "I'm On My Way" which rips along like a vintage Diamond Head or Savage number, or trying their hand at a full-on power ballad on the relatively mellow "Nightfall".
So, "RIYL" bands like Bible Of The Devil, Gypsyhawk, Kadavar, Horisont, Scorpion Child, et. al.
Oh, and another thing we dig about Carousel: the font choice for their logo. Yeah, it's the same one used on the James Gang's Rides Again album, which means it's the same one WE use for the aQuarius logo!
Their first record in three years, Norwegians Carpathian Forest return with their dark and primitve 'Misanthropic Black Metal' but with some new twists. Their overall sound hasn't changed too much, a noisy thrash metal assault tempered with the primitve buzz of
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While some reissue labels specialize in digging up the obscure '60s garage or '70s psych of collector's dreams, Shadow Kingdom's idea of a long lost gem is something like this, a pretty much unknown quasi-metal American rock act from the early '80s that went precisely nowhere with their strange brand of theatrical, "magickal", poppy, proggy hard rock / metal, despite a lot of spunk and even some talent too. This disc contains Cassle's 1983 ep plus a bunch of unreleased songs from the era filling it out to full-length cd status.
We say quasi-metal 'cause while they've got the medieval name of Cassle (i.e. Castle - it seems they liked to spell things differently, they were originally called Miraaj), and do indeed sport some fairly heavy, gritty guitars and fantasy/horror themes, they're really much more Rush than Maiden. And they've got keyboards. Yup, so '70s prog/pomp rock outfits like Rush, Styx, and Kansas were probably as big or bigger influences on 'em than the then-contemporary riffage of the NWOBHM. It's also a set of influences they share with another Shadow Kingdom band, Manilla Road.
But that's what gives this a lot of its charm, some kids from LA trying to do the pomp thing on a budget and without worrying much about being "cool". Well actually, they probably did think this was cool. And if you're like us, you might think it's cool too. How can you not love it when they actually sing "A dungeon, a dragon..." in one of their songs here, "Revenge (Cassle Walls)"?!
They're no Manilla Road but this is still pretty fun, it kinda reminds us of Sorcery's Stunt Rock soundtrack, and Legend US (From The Fjords), a bit. Cd booklet includes new liner notes, full lyrics, and color photos of the band back in the day.
NOW ON VINYL!!
We got our first taste of this NY black metal horde on their Stones/Salt 7" from last year, a two song blowout of angular frenzied riffage, gnarled metallic crush, blasting beats, a distinctly weird take on black metal, one that owed as much to noise rock as it did to classic BM. And on this, their debut full length, that noise rock influence becomes even more evident, and makes Mounds Of Ash so much more than a run of the mill black metal record.
In fact, this sounds like the sort of record that could have existed outside of black metal entirely, sure there's insectoid riffing, and some blasting beats, and some soaring epic melodies, but hell, that stuff all existed in some form before black metal.
To these ears, this sounds like some noise rock metal core band from the nineties, super charged and a bit blackened, the more obviously black metal parts are separated by long stretches of loping moody post rock grooves, are churning, chugging almost metalcore heaviness. We've seen folks throwing out comparisons to legendary metal outfit Deadguy, and this does indeed sound a but like a black metal Deadguy, or maybe Kiss It Goodbye, which is for sure a good thing. There's also plenty of Neurosis going on, thick swells of roiling moody metallic bombast, a sort of metallic post rock slow burn that often builds into a flurry of frantic thrashing, but just as often sprawls into something more tripped out and psychedelic.
In fact, the more we listen to Mounds Of Ash, the LESS black metal it sounds, the production seems like the most black metal part, the music though, is just so dense and weirdly melodic, and crushingly epic, with swaths of woozy minor key weirdness, and killer harmonics laced brooding breakdowns that sound like a WAY heavier Slint or Bastro, which is about the raddest thing we can think of, and which is pretty much exactly what this is. Heavy, washed out, fucked up, a little bit black, way melodic, post-noise rock avant dirge metal, whatever you want to call it, this just might be our new favorite slab of grim and gorgeous avant heaviness...
The two members of NY black metal duo Castevet may have a pedigree heavy in grind and death metal, but their gnarled angular take on black metal owes way more to post rock and noise rock, these two songs sounding like two parts of the same song, that song an alternately pounding, loping chunk of Voivodian chug and primitive old school blast.
Angular and off kilter, tangled blackened riffs over relentless muscled pound, all wrapped around tortured anguished howls, the rhythm lurches and stutters, ferocious and heavy, but also weirdly moody and atmospheric, almost more like noise rock with a hint of blackness, flurries of double kick, some classic BM guitar buzz, eventually breaking down into some pounding old school black metal. The second side sounds like a part two, but the second part is much more melodic, with some woozy, spidery minor key guitar melodies and short stretches of muted post rockiness, even some Black Flaggy guitars here and there, but this side too gets more black as it goes, slipping into serious Darkthrone territory, before a dense mathy breakdown/outro that revisits that opening minor key melody.
Really awesome stuff. Can't wait for a full length. Cool packaging too, milky clear vinyl, no label, in a sleeve with a very spare insert, visible through the record, and one weird thing, the center hole is slightly too big, so be careful placing the record on the turntable, it's easy to get it off center, which makes the whole record sound even woozier than normal, which is actually kind of cool.
We were pretty crazy about In Witch Order, the debut from this local female fronted metal combo, which was released on the venerable German label Van. This new one also came out on Van a while back, but finally it seems metalheads in the US are catching on, as it was just reissued on Prosthetic in the states, which we can only hope means this kick ass classic metal / witchy psychedelic doom trio will finally get some of the love afforded their contemporaries in the current crop of female fronted metal combos, like Jex Thoth, the Devil's Blood, Loon, Blood Ceremony, Christian Mistress, Witch Mountain, cuz really, some of us at aQ thick Castle rank at the top of that bunch, their sound not so much doom (although it is definitely doomy) as psychedelic heavy rock mixed with some classic metal, from the riffs to the killer leads, the proggy arrangements, the sound epic and majestic, groovy and druggy, melodic and plenty heavy, and while the songs kill, and there are hooks galore, brimming with unusual parts and super memorable guitar melodies, it's bassist Elizabeth Blackwell's vocals that define the sound, and she's gone one of those voices that's both melodic and sultry, but also a bit raw and raspy, on the throaty side too which gives her vox a power and heft that some of the above mentioned outfits lack, and suits Castle's sound big time.
"Ever Hunter" starts the record off with what is essentially a pop song in metal clothing, but it works, the vibe is still ominous, the guitars buzzy and a bit blackened, but it's got a crazy catchy chorus, although somehow the verses are almost catchier than the chorus, and there's a cool, mathy breakdown midsong, where it does get sort of metal, until the leads come in and instead of shredding, it adds a droned out almost sitar melody to the track, which only makes it sound even more psychedelic. "Corpse Candles" lets Blackwell shine, her vocals dreamy and divine, over more crazy catchy riffing, while "Storm Below The Mountain" lets guitarist Mat Davis take over on vocals, his voice a raspy growl, which is perfect for the teutonic chugging crush beneath, there's some killer guitar leads and a super dynamic stop/start breakdown, not to mention some sweet male/female harmonies. The title track is slithery and swaggery, and again delivers a wicked chorus, the whole thing mathy and proggy and again not so much metal as just heavy, which is how the rest of the record plays out, the band deftly weaving together all sorts of disparate elements into a kick ass collection of psychedelic heaviness that we're digging like crazy.
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.
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