[ aquarius records

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Showing results 4151 through 4200 of 5570.

Nope, not a grind band, though you'd think so 'cause they're on Relapse and called Rumpelstiltskin Grinder after all. But close. These guys are really more of an '80s influenced speed/thrash metal band, in the vein of Exodus.

Demo tapes, now on cd. Occult '80s doom metal from Italy, super underground. Includes a track later covered on the first Paul Chain Violet Theatre album!!!

Early stuff from this doom-death occult outfit reissued on a double cd. HEAVY!

This ultra-heavy, occultic doom/death outfit from Sweden have fashioned themselves into a cult of their own, steadily releasing limited album after limited album to a ensorcelled fanbase of Runemagick worshippers. With Dawn Of The End, the trio of Nicklas, Emma and Daniel have returned to their studio (cavern? lair? tower?) to perform and record another eight rites and rituals of sludge-riffed, dirge-tempoed Runemagick... hear and heed the call of their necromantical spells! Combining both grim atmosphere and raging brutality, portions of Dawn Of The End even sound to us like a death-metal version of Om. Includes the track "Chthonic Temple Smoke" from their recent split with fellow Swedish doomsters Ocean Chief (which we never listed, as we unable to get enough... though we might still have a spare copy or two in stock if you ask). Non-shrinkwrapped, digipack release, limited to 1000 copies.

MPEG stream: Voyage To Desolation
MPEG stream: Magus Of Fire

Swedish doom/death vets Runemagick follow up last year's AQ-hailed album On Funeral Wings with Envenom, another excellent example of the occult dirge metal that they do so well, in a ritualistic style all their own. I mean, they're not just a doomy death metal band anymore, this is something else, eldritch and eerie. Definitely heavier than thou, and almost progressive its arcanity (and track-length: there's six cuts here, the shortest over eight minutes, the longest closer to fifteen). Their death metal heritage is most evident in the grunts of the vocalist, though lines like "vultures of doom in magick circles, the dark alchemic" aren't standard DM fare... But blasting brutality this music ain't, Envenom moving at a torpid, trudging pace, a necromantic ceremonial procession of DOOM.

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If previous exposures haven't already summoned sufficient demons for your nefarious purposes, here's another disc of epic occultic dirge doom death from these Swedish masters of the arcane arts, sure to conjure some Hellish servitors. Heavy and haunting, the atmospheric sludge of tracks like "Invocation Of The Doom Runes" and "Black Magick Sorceress" should send all posers hiding under their beds. Limited to 999 numbered copies in digipack (which includes two bonus tracks).

MPEG stream: Invocation Of Doom Runes
MPEG stream: Fisher Of Souls

This Swedish band has been rumbling along for untold eons now (well, it's actually been probably just six years or so, but their music seems more ancient than that). Their doomy tarpit dirge and sludgy trudge conjure prehistoric visions, and their lyrical bent towards the occult also sets them in a cosmic, not human, time frame. But their true ancestors aren't dinosaurs and demons, they are bands such as Hellhammer/Celtic Frost from the '80s and the death metallers of the '90s. Sounding as if it was recorded by torchlight, Runemagick's latest is a 73 minute death knell tolling of Hell's bells, with unrelenting riffage, drums beating like black leather wings, and some sort of eternal, underlying bass drone that's always just under the surface. These unlucky thirteen tracks often seep and segue into one another, making invocations unbroken and epic. It's super heavy stuff with death metal vox, weird atmospheres and arcane inspirations, tough to catagorize exactly (experimental doom death? how about "Monolithic Death", the title of the first track here?) but something we think the doomiest subset of AQ customers should like. Imagine some sort of cross between Corrupted and Candlemass, ordinary death metal slowed down and ritualized...

MPEG stream: Rise Of The 2nd Moon
MPEG stream: On Funeral Wings

Latest blast of epic sprawling instrumental heaviness from this Chicago power trio, and with every record these guys just continue to get better and better, heavier and heavier, and their songwriting too, so much more intricate and nuanced with every record, which is pretty important, especially when your band is instrumental, considering the biggest problem with most instrumental bands is that you find yourself wondering when the vocals are finally gonna come in. But with Russian Circles, it doesn't sound like anything's missing, in fact, vocals would just get in the way at this point, these guys deftly weave dense metallic soundscapes that weave brooding slow building post rock to churning mathy metal, and they don't shy away from serious experimentation, whether that means stretching out sounds into spacey psychedelic drones, are mashing everything together into dense proggy blowouts, or even dipping their toes into some almost grooviness, but even those groovier moments typically splinter into something much heavier and mathier, slipping from chugging churn, to glistening soundtracky moodiness (like a more metal Majeure at moments), to full bore metallic crush, to almost krauty hypnorock, to crushing lumbering doom, to gorgeous almost shoegazey buzz, these guys don't miss a beat, effortlessly cramming all those disparate sounds into a single record, hell, into a single song. While we happen to be particularly partial to instrumental music, especially of the heavier variety, and even though there's no shortage of bands doing this sort of stuff, there are definitely few who do it this well, and who manage to craft a sound that is pretty uniquely their own. Fans of all things instrumental and/or heavy and/or hypnotic a la Mogwai, Godspeed, Explosions In The Sky, Pelican, Circle, Magyar Posse, Salvatore, etc, these guys should already be in your pantheon. And metalheads who are up for some serious heaviness that's maybe slightly more hypnotic than heavy, would do well to check these guys out...

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Another filthy, fucked up slab of crusty chaotic blown out whatthefuck noise rock, from the same black bottomless pit that produced the Rusted Shut full length we went nuts for a while back. These Texan freaks kick up a wicked din, equal parts Butthole Surfers, Brainbombs and buzzy black metal. BUT, they take those pieces, chop em all up, dip 'em in liquid LSD, roll 'em in hash, light them on fire, then have the guys in Faxed Head record them onto a wax cylinder. They then relearn the songs, record them in a big metal shed, with broken mics and a busted up 4-track with all the levels stuck at 10. At least that's what it sounds like. These guys should have been as big as their Texan noise rock brethren, Buttholes, Scratch Acid, Stickmen With Rayguns, but even in such drug addled freaked out company, these guys still managed to sound fucked up. These 4 tracks were recorded in 1997, supposedly during the same sessions that produced the full length, but somehow these track sound even more far out and freaky than the record. Sheets of atonal organ and SUPER distorted vox over stuttery skipping rhythms and tons of hiss and distortion, that eventually slips into an organ drenched Brainbombs-y groove, throbbing bass, buried drums, and organ and vocals so loud, that every time they come in, the rest of the tracks almost disappear completely. Slowed down voices, rumbling downtuned guitars, a definite and distinct Buttholes vibe. The flipside is a bit more atmospheric, the first track sounding like Goblin gone fucked up fuzz rock, all haunting and creepy and sort of ambient, but still roiling and noisy and harsh. That gives way to a pounding closer, big distorted drums, throbbing bass, all muted and muddy so it sounds like it's coming from the car behind you stopped at the light. How they make this racket is beyond us, it's inhuman, so heavy and noisy and drugged out. The instrumentation might be a clue, featuring "godstrike", "earthscreamer" and of course "dums" not drums. At first we didn't know quite what to make of this, but repeated listens, have almost convinced us that if this were not just an ep, not vinyl only, over a decade old, and not WAY too fucked up for most ears, it just might be our record of the year. Still might be, but be warned, this is some seriously UNeasy listening. Eye popping full color cover, nice cardstock insert, and pressed on nice thick vinyl.

Only in Texas. Any state that can produce the Butthole Surfers, Stickmen With Rayguns, Scratch Acid, and of course George W. Bush, must have something weird going on. The heat? The drugs? Whatever it is, we wouldn't trade it for the world (well except maybe for the Bush part). How Rusted Shut managed to remain so obscure is a mystery for the ages. The horrible grinding noise these guys can muster up out of a plain old rock band is mind boggling. It's downright harrowing listening to this disc. They've been around since 1986 (and part of this disc was released as a cd-r in 2003), but this is their first official release. A massive, pulverizing crush of simple, plodding, gritty, grimy, filthy, scuzzy, dirge-y sludge that is just obscenely heavy and the grinding buzz that permeates and suffocates every second of this disc has to be THE most distorted guitar sound ever. Sounds like the riffs are crumbling to jagged little pieces the second they emerge from the speakers, a Marshall stack and a suitcase full of distortion pedals run through a meat grinder and then flung at you like white hot shards of jagged metal. Like the sickest most doped up, deliriously deviant noise punk free-rock outfit, but all wrapped up in a fuzzy, sick black cloak of grim black metal buzz. Sometimes this sounds like the Buttholes meets the Brainbombs, sometimes like Celtic Frost meets Today Is The Day fronted by Cronos from Venom, sometimes like the Lightning Bolt dipped in hot tar with a heavy metal Captain Beefheart on vocals. So whether Rusted Shut sound to you like black metal, or dirge punk, or sludgecore, or all out noise, pretty sure after getting an earful of this you won't be able to hear much of anything else. At least until the ringing stops and the bleeding lets up a little.

MPEG stream: Jesus Christ Inca
MPEG stream: End Is Near (Veranda)

For some strange reason, we've never reviewed or listed any records by Arkansas sludge/doom outfit Rwake, which is crazy, cuz the heavy music obsessives around aQ have loved these guys for ages, this is after all their FIFTH full length! And like many of their metallic brethren, their sound has changed quite a bit in the last decade plus, but unlike many of those same bands, these guys didn't just decide to add some 'post' to their metal cuz everyone else was doing it, even way back when, Rwake were augmenting their metallic crush with weird samples and lots of sonic experimentation, and musically, they made no secret of their love of prog and bluegrass and classic metal, elements of those genres finding their way into most of the group's records, including this new one, which sonically is a logical continuation of their Relapse debut, 2007's Voices Of Omens, and in those 4 years, if anything, the band have crafted what has to be one of the most ambitious and progressive post metal records we've heard. The record opens with what sounds like some sort of homage to Comus, all witchy acid folk, dreamy female vocals and fluttery flutes over sinister steel string guitar, swooping backwards effects and swirling low end drones, which leads right into the record's first epic, the nearly 12 minute long "It Was Beautiful But Now It's Sour", which opens all Neur-Isis-y, doomy and dirgey, but topped with some classic metal leads, and some bizarre vocals, which took us a while to realize they were actually backwards, flipping forward suddenly, the band locking into some classic metal riffage, before exploding into a pounding epic post metal blow out, the vocals anguished and howled but still melodic, seemingly having ditched the dueling high / low vocals from past records for the most part, which makes a big difference in the musicality of the sound. Suddenly the heavy churning guitars are joined by some cool sitar like buzz, giving the song an Eastern vibe, before lurching into a wild mathy bit of progged out heaviness, only to slip right back into it, eventually working their way to a meandering bit of acid fried psychedelia fused with a more melodic classic doom, which slips back and forth between that churning crush, and woozy minor key, tribal drum heavy psych metal. And that's just the first song, there are 3 more long ones, the shortest 8:45, the longest 16:07, the sound so heavy and psychedelic and completely catchy, the sort of metal that is rarely this hooky and anthemic, classic metal bits all tangled up with modern post metal weirdness, some serious poppiness tempering some unbelievable heaviness. Metal record of the year contender for sure. And we're guessing anyone into epic post metal heaviness (a la Minsk, Conifer, Isis, Tides, Pelican, Mouth Of the Architect, Rosetta, Indian, Angel Eyes, etc.) will agree.

MPEG stream: It Was Beautiful But Now It's Sour
MPEG stream: An Invisible Thread
MPEG stream: The Culling

MPEG stream: Crooked Rivers
MPEG stream: Fire And Flight
MPEG stream: The Finality

We'd had a couple cd-r releases from Australian math doom trio Fire Witch, so we were super psyched to discover they had an actual cd that came out on a label in Japan, when we finally got the cd, we discovered it was a split with a band we had never heard called Ryokuchi. All it took was one listen to convince us that we loved 'em and needed to hear more!!! So while this is not a full length proper, it is a brand new record from this Japanese bass and drums duo, one thirty minute track, dense with all manner of low end riffing, blown out distortion and convoluted arrangements, mathy breakdowns, melodic drift and dark ambient shimmer. Ryokuchi call what they do�"Experimental doom tribal hard core" and that's pretty much what it sounds like. The track begins as an atmospheric post rock jam, with blooping reverbed bass, and mathy percussion, sounding not unlike a more drum heavy Three Mile Pilot,� but a few minutes in, the distortion pedals kick in and the band lurches into a crazed doomic plod, heavy and chugging, loping and swaying, gradually slowing down to an almost full stop, before bursting back into action, with a bit of complex mathy Ruins-y prog. For the next 10+ minutes these guys wildly careen from dense proggy rhythmic tangles, to huge slabs of slow shifting doom, to blissy stretches of moody slowcore, occasionally peppered with super distorted vocals buried in the mix, everything recorded super hot and in the red, before finally, with about ten minutes to go, the band pulls back, revealing an ominous dronescape behind the curtain, cymbals sizzle and shimmer, low end rumbles sway back and forth, muted melodies drift intermittently amidst the strange bass heavy landscape, when suddenly and dramatically, the band crash back in, and we're off, a pummeling slow motion downtuned doom drenched sludge, plowing along endlessly, interrupted by brief spurts of splattery spastic prog, before terminating in a huge squall of wild drumming and explosive bass feedback.� Phew. So intense and so amazing. Think the Ruins covering Corrupted, or a doom metal Three Mile Pilot. Or just drums and bass and distortion and doom raining from the sky like some lesser known plague... Packaged in a cool cd-sized DVD-style plastic case, with a full color, two sided cover, and a little mini full color booklet inside that folds out into a mini-poster and hides a sticker inside.

MPEG stream: Shinsho (excerpt 1)
MPEG stream: Shinsho (excerpt 2)

Aussie noise rockers the Grey Daturas had been telling us forever about some killer band called Fire Witch, who they played with all the time. It took forever, but we finally managed to get a bunch of copies of their Critter / Kritta 3" cd-r, which of course sold like crazy and was gone before we knew it. We stayed in touch with the band, but had been unable to get anything else until now. The strange thing is we had to go all the way to Japan to get this, a split with Japanese duo Ryokuchi... It was well worth the wait though. Fire Witch are another band who traffic in the slooooooooow and heavy, but they definitely give it their own twist. Not sludgy like SUNNO))) or their legions of followers, and not really noisy like many of their countrymen. Instead they're some sort of strange downtuned slowcore mathrock. Massive guitars churn and throb, the drums a crushing pound, over the top, drawn out wailing leads, all the makings of a proper rock band, but instead they fuck it all up, gloriously, lurching forward only to pause briefly, allowing the silence and bits of room sound to seep in, before launching back into downtuned action. And they go on like that for ages, never attaining any momentum, instead engaging is some crowd baiting bit of stop start torture, and we love it. A slow motion wall of psych guitars and slow shuffling drums. Here and there, the band reels it in, allowing the drummer to just wander, while the guitars squiggle and oscillate, a dizzying warbly soundscape of tangled melodies and sea sick shimmer. They finish off with the brilliantly titled "I Spilled A Lot Of Blood To Get This Meal", a lengthy chunk of abstract soundscaping, reverberating metal, soft swells of feedback, lazy basslines, drifting harmonics, shuffling rhythms, eventually bursting into a dense doomy plod, but laced with all sorts of killer melodies, making it sound like a doomed version of June Of 44 or Engine Kid. Fire Witch are teamed up here with Ryokuchi, a Japanese duo (what is it with Japan and duos?), just bass and percussion, who offer up an ultra dense, and relentless onslaught of mathy grinding doom-drenched metallized noise rock. Beginning with strange percussion and fuzzy minimal drones, the band suddenly launches into a massive wall of sludgy pummel, like a more hyper kinetic Eyehategod, or a doom metal Ruins. Relentless and hypnotic, the drums pounding away, the bass a swirling wash of blackened buzz, amidst the chaos duel vocalists howl and shriek. Fuck! And that's just the first track, their second number is way more spread out and sprawling, offering up some stretches of relative tranquility with affected bass and tribal percussion, sounding a bit like a more metal Three Mile Pilot, but the majority of the nearly seventeen minutes is spent furious and chaotic, grinding and crushing, a Tasmanian Devil of sound, going from wild thrashing to slow motion plod and back again in a matter of second. Dense and complex and convoluted and so fucking great!

MPEG stream: Henjokongo
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MPEG stream: Delusions Of Terror
MPEG stream: Trapped In Cancer

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MPEG stream: Crisis Prophecy
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Holy shit. The title kinda says it all. This is a reissue of an older Alchemy classic, originally released on cd in 1992 (recorded live a few years before that, circa 1988-89), that pits Japan's Kings Of Noise, Hijokaidan, featuring guitarist Jojo Hiroshige, against seminal Japanese grindcore act SxOxB, who started back in 1983 and whose discography includes several full albums released internationally in the '90s, as well as a split 7" with Napalm Death amongst others... Or rather, it pits 'em both together vs. YOUR eardrums and sanity. Makes sense these two Osaka-based bands would collaborate, being leading proponents in Japan of two strains of quote unquote extreme quote unquote music as it existed at the time! With "song" titles like "Fuck Or Die", "Rising Hell", "Look Like Devil", this is about as punk as you can get, really. There's short blasts, and extended workouts. Gruff shouting (throat abuse from original S.O.B. vocalist Tottusan, who tragically ended his life in 1995 by jumping in front of a train) rains hell over psychedelic sheets of guitar skree from the 3 guitarists on hand, each pretty much doing their own thing all at the same time -- grinding riff frenzy, spaced out soloing -- as loud as possible to compete with the constant drum pummel. It's an abstract cacophony of noise, violence & destroy, yes it is. And guess what? 10 of the 12 tracks feature special guest (on, what else,"noise") Eye Yamatsuka of Boredoms. Good grief, did they think they really needed the help?

MPEG stream: Noise, Violence & Destroy
MPEG stream: Not Me

You gotta love this band. First off, best band name EVER. Really. Except for the fact that it could get 'em confused with the British rapper The Streets, this band's acronymic moniker S.T.R.E.E.T.S., which stands for Skateboarding Totally Rules, Everything Else Totally Sucks, can't really be beat as a band name. The album title is pretty good too, as is the skeletal skater carvin' in the prog parody cover art complete with faux Roger Dean logo. Or at least that's what we think, and we don't even skate! Too bad they broke up (members went on to Bison B.C. and Children, the latter of whom were possibly named after one of the songs here). But at least this, their third and final album, originally released in 2005, is again available, now reissued in a digipack with 5 bonus tracks! Keep the dream alive!! The disc starts off with a skit, yes about aliens invading from the Planet Gnars... there's pretty piano, sci-fi warfare sound FX, and a portentous voice-over... before the face-melting retro-trash skatecore riffage of track two "Keep The Dream Alive" kicks in and the band goes off. Spiralling guitar frenzies, chugga chugga riffs, throat ripped vocals, gang shouts, pick squeals, adrenalized hook in mouth songwriting stylez. We're hearing many parts Megadeth, Iron Maiden too (the wooahh-ooaha-ooohs!" of "Peace On Earth" ferinstance, and some galloping action elsewhere), some D.R.I. crossover of course, a touch of Motorhead, and maybe even we're catching a hint of Heart's "Barracuda" in here someplace. Sweet. But whoops, then when you've got 'em pegged as whirlwind skankin' skate party thrash metal, they'll do somethin' like suddenly slow it down and get all moody and post rock there for a minute, like right in that very first song in fact. So S.T.R.E.E.T.S. has some twists, obviously a sense of humor ("Armageddon Wasted" is a song title here... geddit?), and most importantly, they totally rip. Simply bad ass and infectiously grin-inducing, surprisingly melodic mosh fodder. The ironic thing is that the S.T.R.E.E.T.S. motto that forms their name is proven to be untrue, by the band themselves. Cause they couldn't possibly be skating and playing this music at the same time, and this disc definitely falls into the Rules, as opposed to Sucks category. Basically there's NOTHING that's not ruling about this. They're even Canadian (from Vancouver). It'd be stupid not to have this in your collection, since you're gonna wanna be spinning it all the time, and looking at that cool skeleton on the cover. Equally recommended to fans of 3 Inches Of Blood, and Annihilation Time...

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We recently discovered the mysterious S.V.E.S.T., a bafflingly enigmatic black metal horde from France, who have been lurking in the shadows of giants, Mutiilation, Deathspell Omega, Antaeus, etc. not so quietly biding their time, concocting impossibly buzzy and blurry black epics. Each track a mind bending psychedelic swirl of furious tumultuous buzz and howl, every riff a blur repeated ad infinitum until it's an indistinct metal drone, vocals are thick swaths of agitated growl and shriek, another layer in an impossibly dense blacksoundscape. This is ultra grim, classic black metal buzz, but agitated into such a state that it's some impossibly chaotic monstrosity. There are melodies, and some sort of guitar leads, but they are just little smeared tangles in a giant prickly swirl of sound. Don't let the brief but jaunty folky intro fool you, after that it's all a head spinning, mind blowing, lo-fi blackened blur. The first two lengthy tracks are from the ultra rare Scarification Of Soul demo, while the last three tracks are from the equally rare Death to Macrocosm demo. And we though the first few tracks were blurry and confusingly black and blown out, the last few tracks take that same recipe, and add to the mix, an impossibly lo-fi, overblown speakers, degrading cassette tape production, that adds a whole 'nother layer of sonic crumble and speaker shredding distortion, everything even more obscured by fuzz and hiss and whir, turning Coagula into some strange drone metal soundscape. Amazing.

MPEG stream: The Black Art
MPEG stream: Alpha Wolf Anger

Talk about cult, S.V.E.S.T. seem to be a total mystery. Almost no information to be found anywhere about these guys. other than they are another one of those French black metal bands (Mutiilation, Deathspell Omega, Malicious Secrets, etc.) who are routinely spoken of in hushed worshipful whispers. And much like their countrymen, they are a total revelation. It's hard to do something totally new and original within the rigid framework of black metal and still remain TRUE, but S.V.E.S.T. pull it off in a big way. We talk about black metal being drone-y and buzzy, so much so that in extreme cases, the result is more drone than metal, and that's never been more true than with S.V.E.S.T. Three lengthy epics, each a swirling lo-fi entropic buzzy black free for all. Riffs drift and spin, a dizzying concoction of fuzzed out white noise, blinding streaks of incendiary blackness, drums so fast and fuzzed out they just sound like blasts of static, melodies so murky and indistinct they sound more like Hecker or Jeck than anything traditionally black metal. So fast and chaotic and blurry and blackly psychedelic that they sound like some sort of black metal EVP, lost metal transmissions being broadcast through the ether and barely breaking through some staticky short wave broadcast. Fucking awesome!

MPEG stream: Putrefiance Redemptrice
MPEG stream: Nuit De Walpurgis

Released In conjunction with the new Deathspell Omega ep (reviewed elsewhere on this list, and both are available together on a single lp, also on this list), Veritas Diaboli Manet In Aeternum heralds the return of an old favorite, French duo S.V.E.S.T., who strangely enough haven't released a proper record since 2003 (2005's Coagula compiled older demos), but within 30 seconds, we were totally reminded exactly why we loved these guys so much. And they're a perfect foil for Deathspell, their sound equally fractured and convoluted and fucked up, but where DSO go for something darker and moodier and more melodic, S.V.E.S.T. go in the other direction completely, spitting out frenzied swaths of blurred buzz and wild squalls of intense tangled blackness. These three tracks, are so awesome, we almost, and we're well aware of the sacrilege involved here, but we just might like them as much as, if not even more than the Deathspell half of the split. Their sound is hard to describe. The first track opens with a dizzying swirl of squiggly guitars, woozy riffs, wild splattery drumming, that seems already like it's bordering on total meltdown, yet that's just the intro, and the band launch into a frenzied assault even more fucked up and dense, but pepper it with cool little melodies and parts that almost sound Viking, albeit buried beneath a roiling black blowout. The guitar does these cool little descending trills, the song lurches and stutters, the drums are relentless, mind blowingly fast and heavy and intricate, until part way through, the sound shifts, and there's a bit of doomy crawl, before leaping right back into the fray. Throughout, there are bursts of total drumming chaos, extra guitars howling and adding yet more layers of buzz. It's so thick and heavy and dense, it takes close listening to pick out all the amazing stuff going on beneath the buzzy black surface. The second track continues on in much the same vein, with the guitars even more twisted and gnarled, the drums still relentlessly mathy and intricate, slipping from total chaotic black noise, to stumbling groove, to cool pounding dirge, the drums leaping out from the mix, the guitars thick and raw, but soaring majestically at the same time. The sound manages to be epic and classic and technical while also murky and lo-fi, the sounds all blurring together, a heaving mass of constantly shifting blown out blackness, still rife with all manner of tangled little melodies, and sweeping epic ambience. The closer is short and sweet, the weirdest and creepiest of the bunch, beginning with a staccato machine gun burst of drums and riffage, before slipping into a swirling high end guitardrone, all woozy and overlapping, disembodied riffs and smeared melodies, dizzying and mesmerizing, growing more and more intense, the drums barely there, just those high end guitars glowing hotter and hotter, until finally, the drums kick in, and the track resolves in a totally twisted soaring post rock black metal what the fuck epic outro, that fades out WAY too soon. Holy shit. These guys need to deliver a full length ASAP. and we definitely don't want to wait another 6 years. As mentioned above, S.V.E.S.T.'s three tracks are actually half of a split, released in conjunction with a new record from Deathspell Omega, reviewed elsewhere on this list, and equally as essential. And again, vinyl folks, you are in luck, both the DSO material and the S.V.E.S.T. songs, while released as separate cds, are available together on a single lp!

MPEG stream: Et La Lumiere Fut, Comme Un Coup De Scalpel

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

SORRY. Okay, this one is pretty much just for you obsessive metalheads. But even if you're not a metalhead, those of you into weird stuff and cool packaging still might want to check out this amazing release. The packaging/concept is insane!! A 7" sleeve, letterpressed with metallic gold foil, that unfolds into a massive upsidedown cross, with a Japanese samurai painting on the inside by local tattoo artists/AQ pals Jef Whitehead and Tim Lehi. And this is no 7", oh no, this is a triple 6" (geddit, 666!). So cool. Seminal Japanese thrash, chaotic and speedy, noisy and brutal. Some of you may also remember Sabbat as the band with the guy who wears nothing but black speedos and a bullet belt. Again, so cool! Two tracks from 1986, one from 1999, one from 2001 and two from 2002, although they all sound straight up 1983! Classic thrash! Comes with a lyric sheet and a silkscreened poster. Needless to say VERY VERY LIMITED!!!

Huh, we haven't really ever reviewed any Sabbat before... except for one crazy out of print triple 6" vinyl release, a long time ago. That's despite the fact that all the troo cvlt metalheads here at AQ have lots of Sabbat in their collections. We're talking about the Japanese Sabbat here, by the way, not the thrash '80s British one - though these guys are thrashy and '80s sounding too, and also totally black metal. Heck they did that triple six inch, after all! Can't get much more Satanic than that. So, about time we reviewed something else by them. They've got a massive discography spanning the years, from way back in 1985 'til now, many full-length albums but also a bewildering array of eps and splits, with an unlikely preponderance of their releases being super limited edition LIVE recordings. Sometimes as many as nine in one year. Weird. Who do they think they are, Pearl Jam? Anyway, at long last, this is a new studio recording, and while it's not presented in as quite a "cult" format as that aforementioned 3x6", it's still a fetish object of sorts, the packaging fiendishly glimmering and glittering, with the art and logo in metallic red ink on a white background. And even though it's a domestic US release, they've included a Japanese-style obi strip, nice. A band that gets this lavish attention, either definitely deserves it, or made a pact with the Devil, in this case, probably both! So, for those who have yet to come to the Sabbat, let's explain what you're in for: total raw black metal mayhem, a la Venom and early Slayer, played with infectious enthusiasm by Japanese maniacs so old school and true that they make Darkthrone look like posers. With some NWOBHM elements (this band's Cronos, bassist/vocalist Gezol, is also a member of Metalucifer, after all) they display real heavy metal musical chops even amidst the thrashing, noisy chaos that these songs deliver with such high speed and seeming insanity. That insanity partially manifests this time via a focus on witches, there's no less than four songs here that factor "witch" into the title: "Witchflight", "Witch Hammers", "Witch's Torches", and the instrumental "Witch's Weed"! Don't ask why, or witch. Stereotypically Japanese with such obsessiveness, Sabbat are as over the top as ever on this new album. While our other favorite Japanese black metal band, Sigh, took off in weird avant-garde directions from their Venom-worshipping beginnings, Sabbat stay true to the source, earning a special place in the pantheon of all-time underground black metal greats. Sabbatrinity is further testament to that.

MPEG stream: Black Metal Scythe
MPEG stream: Witch's Torches
MPEG stream: Karmagmassacre

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

SORRY. [/cat/japan29.html]

Got something here for fans of Jex Thoth, the No Neck Blues Band, AND weird religious cults... there's probably some overlap there, we imagine! The Ajna Offensive, best known for black metal releases by the likes of Deathspell Omega and Funeral Mist, and also that fancy Bobby Beausoleil box set not long ago, now bring us the Sabbath Assembly, singing "glorious songs of praise to Lucifer, Satan, Christ, and Jehovah". Huh? These are indeed REAL hymns, and all from one church. Some would say, cult. The explanation: ever heard of the Process Church Of The Final Judgment? This is their music, "reProcessed" by a contemporary psychedelic (super)group of underground musicians, including Jex Thoth of, um, Jex Thoth on vocals, David "Xtian" Nuss (NNCK, Angelblood, Under Satan's Sun), and Randall Dunn (Master Musicians Of Bukkake)!�So you can expect this will be ominous and esoteric. The subject of a recent Feral House book, the Process Church was a '70s phenomenon, of course, a kind of apocalyptic Jesus-freak cult with radical political dimensions. We're told they wore black cloaks (always cool) and had German shepherds (really?). We first heard of 'em years ago thanks to George Clinton's band Funkadelic, who for a while in the early '70s were, if not followers, at least supporters of the Process Church, who presumably had a chapter in Detroit. Several Funkadelic lps feature Process Church teachings (propaganda?) on the sleeves. The music of the Sabbath Assembly doesn't sound much like Funkadelic, though. Not quite that funky! Nor are they metal as you might assume from the label... it's actually often pretty, mellow stuff, presumably sounding close to what the Process Church folks themselves sounded like when singing the Lord's (or Lucifer's?) praises back in the day, these hymns very hippie sounding, churchy and folky, but also garagey, with twangy guitar and groovy organ, building into throbbing rhythmic psych workouts. It even gets a bit jazzy in spots ("The Power That Is Love"). Still, while this isn't heavy in the guitar dep't the way Jex Thoth's regular band is, it is definitely "heavy" in terms of subject matter. Jex is the perfect vocalist for this, her dramatic, devotional delivery at once both innocent and intense, sincere and sinister. Her exaltations and exhortations rise from a delicate whisper to commanding, demanding heights, sometimes unaccompanied, at others, with backing vocals reinforcing the message. Be warned, this ain't Sunday school. When Jex asks "will you serve the will of God?", it seems like you had darn well better answer (yes!). Dunno if the Process Church is still around (haven't read the book yet) but if they are, there's a good chance this record might recruit some converts... And at least, it's certainly making us curious to read that book. Creepy, yes, and quite catchy too, we can understand why these folks were drawn to reinterpreting these songs. Though of course curious about what the original source material was (lyrics? vintage recordings?). Perhaps it says somewhere inside the lp packaging, we haven't checked for liner notes as yet. This was produced in association with Feral House, so it would seem the Sabbath Assembly had access to whatever inside archival info there was on the Process Church's musical activities. As "religious" recordings go, this is what we dig! For fans of Jex of course, and Yahowah 13, Family Jams, Sounds Of Ascension, and other "cult" audio... recommended! For now, vinyl-only, 180 gram, gold-colored. There will also be a compact disc version, out later this month sometime.

MPEG stream: Glory To The Gods In The Highest
MPEG stream: Hymn Of Consecration
MPEG stream: Judge Of Mankind

Once more, it's time for Church. The Sabbath Assembly has reconvened to sing the songs of the idiosyncratic '70s hippie religious organization (some might say, "cult") known as the Process Church Of The Final Judgment. Not your everyday hymns here, folks! These are songs of praise to both Christ AND Satan. If you've heard Sabbath Assembly's 2010 debut Restored To One, which we highly recommended, you sort of know what to expect. Arcane Jesus/Satan Freak music reinterpreted by a psychedelic rock outfit helmed by David Nuss of the No Neck Blues Band. The results: lovely, atmospheric, sing-song catchy, sometimes soulful; slightly sinister, yet strangely uplifting (as it was meant to be). Ye Are Gods is mostly gentle and folky, sometimes jazzy and trippy, and kinda Comus-y, with sudden dramatic eruptions and majestic excursions. We wouldn't call it at all metal, yet at certain times, this reminds us a bit of SF's own operatic prog-power metallers Hammers Of Misfortune - perhaps not surprising since one of Nuss's other bands is the very much Hammers-influenced Under Satan's Sun. And, aha, in fact, none other than former Hammers (and Wolves In The Throne Room) vocalist Jamie Myers turns out to be Sabbath Assembly's lead singer on this recording, having taken over the mic from their previous frontwoman/high priestess, Jex Thoth. While some might miss Jex, Myers' delicate, dulcet tones admirably fill the void. The full on gospel pop sound of "Exit" was a surprise, but she pulls it off! Also new on board this time, Genesis P-Orridge. Her presence brings a Current 93 element to the proceedings, Genesis doing the David Tibet thing, providing portentous spoken sermonizing, credited in the role of "Sacrifist". Ye Are Gods also features performances by Imaad Wassif, Eyvind Kang, Kevin Rutmanis (ex-Cows/Melvins), and quite a few others eager to embrace the Process message (or at least, who find it intriguing?). The deluxe digi-book cd packaging is quite handsome, and contains lyrics, original sheet music, Biblical quotations, and various other related texts. The similarly-fancy vinyl version also includes this material, in a lp-sized booklet. Nice. While most of us here aren't regular church-goers, you can believe we'll be spinning this a lot, and twice on Sundays...

Sabers? What's this? The picture on back is one of those band equipment in the studio photos that resemble a sculptural art gallery installation, all wires and mic stands and pedals and mixers and drums and amps. Interestin'... well, as you may know, the Neurot label has done us darn right of late, with several recent releases being AQ-list highlights (House Of Low Culture, Grails). Here's another one that also impressed the heck out of us, the debut from NYC's Sabers. They're a two-man band, one guy on guitar and effects and the other on percussion and effects. Not a little effects, a lot of effects. And a lot of amps -- it's a baritone guitar they use that goes through a multitude of bass and guitar amps. These two guys and their gear make glorious, miasmic music -- sparse, rhythmic and wholly instrumental abstractions that ought to appeal to both Starfuckers and Skullflower fans to use two relatively obscure references (sorry). Sabers' heavily droning yet quietly restrained soundscapes are also a bit like Neurosis stripped of most instruments, vocals, song structure, and aggression (but not menace). Artful, original, and extremely moody. Massive and mysterious. We like.

MPEG stream: Loess Kindchen
MPEG stream: Golden Green

Now this was a surprise. Two former members of Bay Area stoner sludge metal heroes Sleep (not the guy who's now in High On Fire) venture back into the rock n' roll arena with a new band called The Sabians that we have to admit we really hadn't heard many good things about (we'd been told they were terrible live). And, upon hearing this, their debut album, I can kinda understand the naysayers... Number 1, this sure *doesn't* sound like Sleep (it IS heavy, but very different -- High On Fire sounds MUCH more like Sleep for sure) and number 2, it's, well, weird. Just read the sticker on the album cover: "the Sabians' sound is a combination of punk, folk, metal, and chant." What? So we were a bit apprehensive ourselves. But, the truth is, this is kinda cool, and, yeah, weird! Stoner/Sleep fans will have to admit that even track one has its moments of Sabbathian rifferama but it also reminds us of The Pogues! (That's the folk bit.) As the album progesses, it remains dark and dynamic and different, with the sounds of acoustic strum, metal guitar, and even falling rain welded together into earnest, anthemic songs with polished production courtesy Alex Newport. Definitely the one thing you have to get used to is the vocals (a clearly-enunciating Michael Stipe? no, that's not it. A wimpier James Hetfield with a fake European accent?) but if you do, you might really like this. Really, one of the weirdest things about this band is how melodic they are! They actually kinda sound like a hypothetical catchy, radio-friendly Neurosis -- or an art-rock Metallica. But if Tool could get big (another band these guys remind us of) then maybe The Sabians will someday be heard on Live105 too. Anyway, kudos to these guys for trying to do something different and original, and more-or-less succeeding.

RealAudio clip: Via Dolorosa
RealAudio clip: Downcast

This hard-to-categorize, paradoxical Bay Area bunch are back with their second album of doubtlessly avant-garde and original yet at the same time almost totally mainstream rock/metal. The Sabians feature former members of seminal SF doomsters Sleep, the guys who *didn't* go the expected stoner rock route a la the ex-Sleeper who formed the popular High On Fire. Nope, though The Sabians are still a heavy proposition, they've pretty much nixed the overt Sabbath worship in favor of a much more modern, melodic mixture of Tool (lots o' Tool) and Metallica, with maybe some hints of an Irish/Pogues thing. Dark, rockin', heavy, hummable, and a bit weird. If you liked their debut from last year, this too will def float yr boat. Still haven't heard 'em on the radio, but if they keep at it, who knows?

MPEG stream: One By One
MPEG stream: Bullet

These self-styled German "Wargods of Metal" return with their third album of pure, unrepentant, and ever-so-slightly ridiculous heavy metal. Definitely an acquired taste, but one that Allan has definitely acquired! Like their European brethren Hammerfall, these guys are all '80s and epic, but are a lot heavier and rawer. No keyboards, no ballads. Previously, most of their songs were not just metal, but ABOUT metal (as with this album's "Metal Is War" for instance). But with this release Sacred Steel have forged a concept album of sorts, the songs linking together to tell a story of an ancient empire and alien gods or something. Anyway, you'll either love them or hate them, and the main deciding factor is what you think of the singer's voice. He's no boring blond-tressed clone, but styles himself after the bizarre banshee wail of original Saint Vitus vocalist Scott Reagers. The result, however, sounds closer to what you might imagine (if you can) Jello Biafra would sound like singing power metal at a high pitch. In other words, warbly and weird. But I love it. He's got personality, a factor totally lacking in most metal "singers". He sounds a bit silly, and I think he knows it. But it's how he wants to sing, he's expressing the unbridled spirit of metal within himself and somehow it really works (for me anyway). Better than the smooth, generic croon of that Hammerfall dork!

RealAudio clip: Master Of Thy Fate
RealAudio clip: Throne Of Metal

More metal than thou, by far!!

Gotta mention the latest from these German wargods of metal. Speedy, yelpy metal in the '80s Metal Blade tradition that is. Some of us here are big fans of this metal for metal's sake band, in part 'cause of the love 'em or hate 'em vocals of lead warbler (it says here "communicative siren channel", actually) Gerrit Mutz, who (as we've said before) sounds like what we'd think Jello Biafra would if he decided to front a power metal band. Gerrit puts his all into his dramatic vox, which range from high-pitched shrieks to melodic crooning to deathly growls. Meanwhile, the other members of Sacred Steel crank out the fist-pumping tuneage, their ragin' retro riffage totally catchy and exciting and utterly without any pretense or sense of irony. Sacred Steel are all about madness, metal, Satan, speed, slaughter -- sophisticated stuff like that. So we'd suggest that more "mature" folks, cool kids, and of course poseurs should stay far away! If you're a true metalhead though (particularly one who already digs Mutz' vox) this album is a headbanging delight, taking at least one doomy detour with the slowly chugging, grandiosity of the track "The Black Church". Oh, and there's a computer-playable videoclip included for the track "Maniacs Of Speed".

MPEG stream: Where Demons Dare To Tread
MPEG stream: Impaled By Metal

TROO metal!

Not to be confused with that whole genre of spiritual lap-steel playing! No, this is metal... Faster and more brutal than before, these German speed metallers return with their fourth album, first for new label Massacre (I guess they won't be playing "Crusaders of the Metal Blade" anymore). If you don't know 'em, let's just say Sacred Steel are a band that makes metal music by, for, and about metalheads. They're massive fiends for '80s metal obscurities, and with "Slaughter Prophecy" they seem to be especially inspired by the heavier, speedier section of their record collections: Nasty Savage, Slayer, Agent Steel, but also the epic and doomy likes of Candlemass and Cirith Ungol. As a result, this album is a double bass driven metal fist in your face. They even do a song called "Raise The Metal Fist"! Lead singer Gerrit Mutz is the reason you'll hate this (if you're a poser): his singing can only be described as ridiculous, yet he's got the balls and the charisma to pull it off. If you're insecure about liking something with silly but sincere vocals, you won't like Mutz or Sacred Steel. Me (Allan), I love Mutz's vox! Imagine Jello Biafra trying to sing like a metalgod. Mainly inspired by the weirdisms of old Saint Vitus vocalist Scott Reagers, Gerritt wails and warbles in a completely insane, over the top fashion. But he also indulges in a death metal growl upon occasion (sounding not unlike King Fowley of Deceased), moreso than on previous Sacred Steel releases. I would suggest their last album, "Bloodlust" (a R.E. Howard / H.P. Lovecraft weird tales inspired epic) as being the best Sacred Steel to start with, but "Slaughter Prophecy" is maybe slightly more accessible to fans of "extreme metal" (black, death, etc.). Eccentric traditional METAL you'll either love or hate. In digipak w/ bonus track "while supplies last".

RealAudio clip: Sacred Bloody Steel

Debut full length from this Aussie Duo, who traffic in a primitive strain of old school thrashing blackness. Raw and ragged and loose, midpaced riffs and lurching drumming send these tracks galloping through eerie atmospheres, evoking the classic era of old school death metal, but definitely blackened, with a unique take on old school metal. Much of the record is spent thrashing and furiously bashing away, but then on tracks like "Victory Of Withdrawal", the band slow things way down, almost balladic, with shredding, super emotional leads, woozy, gloomy basslines, the sound moody and melancholy, underpinning gruff vokills, a weird combo but it makes for a weirdly powerful one, and when the song does finally kick into gear, it's not blasting or thrashing, it's a strange chugging, super melodic churn, that's downright groovy, accompanied by chiming distorted guitar melodies, pretty cool, and definitely weird, and not much like other metal you hear these days. Even at it's most furious, these guys add lots of melody, and a hauntingly mournful mood to the proceedings, not to mention lots of classic metalisms, crazy catchy riffs and melodies pop up throughout, the middle portion of "A.J. Shout VC" is about as catchy as music like this gets! The sound too is odd, murky and sorta lo-fi, with clean crooned choruses popping up now and again, spidery guitars wrapped around woozy riffage, everything hazy and gauzey, reverby and echoey, which gives everything a strange feel, a little bit timeless, but also sorta psychedelic. The whole record seems to be a sonic struggle between fierce furious heaviness, and plodding melancholia, the sound seeming to constantly return to super melodic dirges, and achingly miserable melodies. Apparently, the whole record is a rumination on war, which then makes the melancholic musical thread that runs throughout make more sense. Definitely cool stuff. Maybe not brutal enough for some metalheads, but it's pretty atmospheric, with lots of killer riffs, and sprawling, progged out arrangements, woven into moody doomic dirges, and old school classic metal shreddery, all sort of washed out into a hazy psychedelic death metal that we're digging a lot.

MPEG stream: Lone Pine
MPEG stream: Victory Of Withdrawal
MPEG stream: A.J. Shout VC

We first came across the mysterious black metal entity Sadness Saturn a while back with their awesome split cassette with Utarm. Picking up where they (or maybe he?) left off, Sadness Saturn returns with She, a three song tape that manages to be both raging and strangely meditative. Soundwise, it's a bit like a slightly less bizarre Velvet Cacoon, and it will also make sense to reference experimental black metallers Servile Sect, with whom the Sadness Saturn mainman is also involved. On side 1, "Childhood And The Journey To Satan" plods with a steady drum pound framing some queasy sounding melodies as tortured vocals scream out under a thick blanket of fuzz. The melancholy sounds of guitars and keyboards creep out like a mist of beautiful negativity, accompanied by plain spoken female vocals that actually make this sound a bit like a black metal Cold Cave! The song "Like Ghosts In The Freezing Night" is particularly effective as the calm female voice speaks out above the super intense (yet drumless) black metal atmosphere lurking below the surface. The appropriately named "Dreamer" brings She to its beautiful conclusion, a loping and majestic piece of black metal ambience that is almost uplifting, sort of like if Klaus Schultz had been digging some Ulver. Sound good? You bet. This handsomely packaged cassette is professionally presented to us by the awesome Japanese label Frozen Veins, and with only 100 copies out there, you are gonna want to act fast!

It's tough enough keeping up with just John Zorn's output (which, we haven't been, even) let alone keeping up with every last thing he puts out on his label Tzadik. We'd like to, but we can't. Fortunately, though, we did (eventually) take notice of this release, which actually came out at the beginning of last year (see what we mean?. We gave it a listen maybe 'cause of the high concept: JEWISH METAL. Well why not? There's been Satanic metal, and Christian metal, and Saft's project surely isn't the first instance of Jewish metal, there's bands from Israel of course, and heck KISS was probably the first Jewish metal band, though of course they didn't make it the whole concept like it is here! Eclectic and intense, Black Shabbis is a dark, devastating disc of shreddtastic songs, or sometimes sheer doomy drone-dirgery, with overt Judeocentric themes. Furthermore, this is metal done by downtown NYC avant garde types, which makes it all the more interesting and improv-y in parts. Longtime Zorn associate Saft, whose past recordings for Tzadik include a piano trio tribute to Bob Dylan, is not only a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist (here playing guitar, bass, organ, Mellotron, Optigan, and synth), but was also apparently something of a metalhead growing up, or so we must assume (as this is billed as a "back to his roots" recording). He, and the lineup he's pulled together to play this stuff (which includes Trevor Dunn from Mr. Bungle/Fantomas/Secret Chiefs 3), certainly display hella metallic chops, this is HEAVY. The 13+ minute "Kielce" sounds like Khanate, plus machine guns! Other tracks are thrashier, or more melodic, or stoner/bluesy, or neo-classical... this disc part Krallice, part Hammers Of Misfortune, part SUNNO))) or Aun, with Slayer and of course Sabbath lurking in the shadows. Quite a mix, but it works, and is nothing if not unique amongst today's avant-metal acts. Being on Tzadik probably limited its metal cred/exposure, but this isn't just for Tzadik/Zorn fans, or those interested in "Jewish" music. While it makes sense Zorn would put this out, it's almost too bad it wasn't on Profound Lore or Southern Lord, instead! And then we could have had multiple limited edition colored vinyl die hard editions by now...

MPEG stream: Blood
MPEG stream: Der Judenstein (The Jewry Stone)

Who would have though that guys from Gorgoroth were capable of coming up with something like this? Sure it's dark and heavy. But it's not really that evil. It's more sort of spacey and groovy. Two words you never thought you'd hear in the same sentence as Gorgoroth. But here you go. This is the stoner doom side project of Gorgoroth's King Ov Hell, and it's pretty awesome actually. You just have to sort of pretend this has nothing to do with Gorgoroth, otherwise it just doesn't compute. Think Sabbath (the vocals get really Ozzy at some points) for sure, but the sound is more modern groovy stoner doom, huge riffs, lurching loping rhythms, killer leads and wailing vocals, definitely brought to mind late era, post-Messiah Candlemass (think From The 13th Sun) but the interesting thing is how much a lot of this sounds like dark grungy moperock a la Alice In Chains, or like a more metalized Agents Of Oblivion (but not so metal as to be Acid Bath). It's actually what makes this record so cool. It's definitely metal, but it's so dark and haunting and moody. Like some mad scientist took the genes of Deadboy And The Elephantmen, Black Sabbath, Alice In Chains and old Monster Magnet and created these four guys in some underground laboratory. Sounds good huh? Well, that's cuz it is. Heavy and groovy, dark and moody, sludgey and stonery. We like this more and more every time we listen to it.

MPEG stream: Repent
MPEG stream: The Executioner Undead

Finally the 'forgotten' Saint Vitus album, C.O.D. (which stands for Children Of Doom, not Cash On Delivery, nor Care Of The Devil) gets its due with this first ever reissue, complete with bonus tracks. When this album originally came out, back in 1992, it was almost the end of the line for the veteran LA doom squad. Their '80s SST era, touring with Black Flag, long past, Saint Vitus, forever born too late, soldiered on. This was their sixth full-length album, and the only one to feature vocalist Christian Linderson, who was drafted in to replace previous frontman Scott "Wino" Weinrich after he jumped ship for greener pastures - his other band, The Obsessed, was signed to a major label! (For about five seconds�). Linderson, also known as "Lord Chritus", was best known at the time for fronting cult Swedish doomsters Count Raven, and went on post-Vitus to sing in such bands as Terra Firma, Lord Vicar, and Goatess. His melancholy Ozzy-esque wail was of course a good choice for Vitus, though he sure had big boots to fill, and despite his abilities can't help but rank third amongst Vitus's trio of terrific vocalists (Scott Reagers #1!!!!). Not his fault though that Reagers and Wino were both so godly, and Linderson does a fine job here. Likewise, the music is prime Vitus, being ultra heavy and psychedelic garage punk Sabbath dirge rockers with lots of fuzz and muzz, guitarist Dave Chandler's wild and noisy leads cutting crazily through the cobwebs of these horror-stricken songs. The production, courtesy of (fun fact!) none other than Don Dokken, who was a childhood friend of Vitus drummer Armando Acosta, is somewhat more modern and clean sounding than had previously been the Vitus norm, but music this slow and low just can't be glammed up. And Don sure didn't stint on the bass frequencies. While C.O.D. is probably nobody's absolute top Vitus fave, its ghoulish Jack-O-Lantern grins and grimaces are not to be neglected either, so true doonheads should consider the remastered reissue of this underrated record quite welcome - as are the two rare bonus tracks now included, "To Breed A Solider" and "The Chameleon".

MPEG stream: Children Of Doom
MPEG stream: Imagination Man
MPEG stream: Get Away

Doom. Vinyl. Die Healing. Need we go on?? Doom metal fans, probably all you need to know is that this album by LA godfathers of doom Saint Vitus, never before on vinyl, and long out of print on cd, is now here. However, we will go on... Nobody could have guessed it back in 1995, when this album was first released, but 2010 is shaping up to be a pretty good year for ol' Saint Vitus. Not just one reunion show, but an extensive, well-attended tour! Vinyl reissues of their SST era records (we've got some in stock, getting more soon)! And this, a lovingly crafted vinyl version (first time on wax!!) for what was their 7th and final full-length studio album before calling it quits! We also hear rumors of a NEW album being made. However, as much as we'll be excited to hear it, there's no way they can top THIS. While it might have been their final record, a last hurrah, hardly noticed by an uncaring world, it was also one of their best ever. For one thing, it marked the brief return of their original and best vocalist, the amazing Scott Reagers. Apologies to Wino, who's fronting the band for their current reunion... Some will differ, Wino certainly has his fans, we like him a lot too, Born Too Late and Mournful Cries are great albums, but let's just say there's no other singer quite like Scotty Reagers. Vitus was lucky to have had him in the first place, and lucky to have had him back for this. His dramatic and dynamic delivery, gloomy and ghoulish, yet classic castle-metal through and through, keeps us spellbound. Guitarist Dave Chandler steps up with some great sludgy slo-mo Sabbathy riffs (of course) and wah wah'd out, psychedelic punk soloing (of course). The atmosphere is sooooo despairing. Opener "Dark World", later covered by Reverend Bizarre, is a classic, what a riff! But that's just the beginning... "One Mind", "Let The End Begin", "The Sloth", "Return Of The Zombie", heck all the tracks are awesome, any Vitus fan should agree. The entire album harks back to the feeling of their first few records in the mid '80s, really as if Reagers had never left the band. And again his singing is crucial here, over the top wailing with a wretched, grotesque edge to it. Emotive and eccentric. Perfect for the plodding, fuzz-filled creepy-crawls that fill this pestilent platter. He might be singing about sloths and zombies (he IS singing about sloths and zombies) but damn does it sound sincere and MEANINGFUL - ignore him at your peril. Drop the needle on this and learn what it is to be doomed!! While we should also list the abovementioned SST reissues, many of them must-haves too, this seemed even more exciting 'cause so few folks ever got the chance to get it, the cds were imports and it was one of the last releases on the label (Hellhound) before it folded. And like we said, there never ever was vinyl. Now there is, and fairly deluxe vinyl at that, complete with embossing on the cover for the Vitus logo. And yeah, of course it's limited... even if it wasn't, though, you gotta get it, we'd just be telling you to buy two of 'em!!

MPEG stream: Dark World
MPEG stream: Return Of The Zombie

[ aquarius records — Metal ]