Thanks to all who commented for your podcast suggestions. I kind of like the one about the new Southern stuff, but I’d have to find out if I actually have enough material for it. We’ll see. In the meantime, we close out this week with Dark Castle, in honor of that idea.

This weekend is Halloween, and I’m going as “The Guy Who Spent His Whole Weekend Doing Homework.” Seriously, it feels like every week I do all this homework and then another week comes and there’s just more. What the hell is that about? Enough already.

I’m going to try to make it out to Brooklyn tomorrow night to catch Moth Eater, The Resurrection Sorrow, King Giant and Solace. More info on that show here. It’s getting awfully exhausting driving into Brooklyn for shows every weekend for what feels like and might actually be the past month, but I guess until anyone in Jersey starts giving a shit about good music, I’m stuck. Stupid lack of convenience.

Whatever your plans are, I wish you well. Have a happy and safe whathaveyou and we’ll see you back here next week to wrap up October’s numbers, get that new podcast up and — if I’m feeling fancy and have time to transcribe an hour-long phone conversation — maybe even my interview with Chris Goss from Masters of Reality. Either way, stay tuned. More fun to come.

The Roadburn website is reporting that Massachusetts doom bashers Black Pyramid will be playing the Afterburner event this year, and I thought I’d just take a second to congratulate the band. They’re hard-working, heavy as hell and a nice bunch of dudes to boot. Blood Farmers has also been confirmed for the Afterburner, which will be expanded to all three rooms of the 013 venue in Tilburg. Here’s what Roadburn organizer Walter had to say on the site:

You might have noticed that we haven’t announced any bands for the additional Afterburner event yet. What’s going on? We have invited Black Mountain to headline this year’s Afterburner, and based upon our gut feeling, we think it might happen. This means that we’ll be using Roadburn‘s main stage for the Afterburner as well, as well as the Green Room and Bat Cave. We’re currently looking into all the logistics, and completing the extended lineup. We just need an extra week or two to get it all done properly.

There have been rumors about Blood Farmers and Black Pyramid, and we are delighted to say that both of them are indeed playing the Afterburner. Consider this a preview, and there will be an official announcement soon. It’s also true that we’re talking to Coffins, but it’s not finalized yet. We’re are also looking into ticketing for the Afterburner, and there’s a good chance that we’ll be offering a four-day pass for those who want to experience to entire festival, as well as offering an additional Afterburner ticket as always.

Please keep checking the website for updates.

Veterans of Seventh Rule Recordings, Chicago heavy hitters Sweet Cobra make their Black Market Activities debut with the surprisingly melodic Mercy, an album that also serves as epitaph for guitarist Mat Arluck, who succumbed to cancer in 2009. Mercy, recorded by the ubiquitous Sanford Parker at Volume Studios in Chicago, features Arluck’s last studio performances with the band, giving the record an emotional context completely outside of the music – put to tape in the early part of last year even as Sweet Cobra released the stopgap Bottom Feeder EP, comprised of leftover cuts from 2007’s Forever full-length – but nonetheless inseparable from it.

Likening them to Seattle merchants Akimbo, what I’ve always enjoyed most in Sweet Cobra’s work has been the reckless bombast of it, like the hardcore kids grew up a little and wanted something thicker but no less angry. On Forever (reissued by Black Market in 2008) and the preceding Praise from 2004, Sweet Cobra touched on stoner riffage, but used it more as ploy to lure audiences into a false sense of security before pummeling them over the head with unhinged intensity and the feeling that at any moment the sound is going to manifest itself from out the speakers and actually kick your ass. On Mercy, they seem to show a little bit of just that, marrying neo-prog metal angularity with the branded Torche melodic vocal approach to hone their most accessible sound yet. And it’s not a fluke, they do it straight through the record, bassist Tim Remus employing a sub-melodic noise rock shout as the harshest vocal technique on the album on a song like the early-arriving title cut.

Read more »

I’m planning on putting together the next audiObelisk Transmission this next week, and I have a few ideas, but screw it, I take requests. Anything you want to hear in a podcast? Any themes you think are begging to be covered?

Leave a note in the comments and let me know what you think the next podcast should be all about.

I was the last in line for phoners during Enslaved guitarist Ivar Bjørnson‘s recent weekend press day to discuss his band’s latest album, Axioma Ethica Odini (review here), and as such, I expected that by the time he got around to me, he’d probably want little more than to go get a sandwich, go to the bathroom, or at very least, talk about anything other than Enslaved, the record, touring or any of it. It was a thrill to find out how mistaken I was.

Axioma Ethica Odini, rich in its sound, complex in its execution and boasting moments of unparalleled progressive extremity, is quickly becoming one of my favorite albums of this very diverse year. It is Enslaved‘s 11th and follows 2008′s Vertebrae, which I felt was held back by its production, and in particular by the mixing job of Joe Barresi (Tool‘s 10,000 Days, Queens of the Stone Age, Clutch, etc.). Though he was quick to correct my impression, Bjørnson noted as well the less than ideal sound of that album, and as Axioma Ethica Odini was recorded by the band themselves in the home and professional studios owned by the five members of Enslaved — Bjørnson, fellow founder bassist/vocalist Grutle Kjellson, lead guitarist Arve “Ice Dale” Isdal, keyboardist/vocalist Herbrand Larsen and drummer Cato Bekkevold — and mixed by Jens Bogren at Fascination Street in Sweden, one can imagine some change in approach was intended.

Whatever they did, it worked. On the cusp of their 20th year, Enslaved triumph with Axioma Ethica Odini in a way I don’t know if they ever have before. Sure, their oldest material is heralded as being centrally influential among the Viking and black metal sets, but from where I’m sitting (not there, basically), their even more important work began with the incorporation of prog elements on 2001′s Monumension and was built on for subsequent offerings, Below the Lights (2003), Isa (2004), Ruun (2006) and even the aforementioned Vertebrae, which given different production might have even surpassed its landmark predecessors.

Not that I’d do any better — or get past “hello” — in his native language, but there were some parts of the interview I couldn’t quite make out in the transcribing process, and a crappy phone line didn’t help, but I did the best I could to put together the most complete Enslaved interview possible. In the Q&A that follows the jump, Bjørnson discusses the Axioma Ethica Odini recording process, writing during the summer, Enslaved‘s four-show stint at Roadburn this year, and much more.

Hail Norway.

Read more »

With their last record, Nothing to Say, Peruvian psych heads Serpentina Satélite blended deep space with heady riff-led jams, coming out of it sounding neither formulaic nor offensively derivative. On the follow-up, Mecanica Celeste (Rocket Recordings) — their third record overall — the four-piece push even further into the reaches of Hawkwindian psychedelia, staying off the ground almost entirely for 43 minutes of freewheeling exploration, relying on structure about as much as the average amoeba. If they said some of this stuff was made up on the spot after pressing record, I’d believe it, though the clarity in the production leads me to assume otherwise.

Mecanica Celeste finds Serpentina Satélite expanding their repertoire some. The two guitars of Renato Gómez and Dolmo lead the way with moaning solos and almost ceaseless effects. On nine-minute opener “Fobos,” the album gets a subtle start that pans into brighter territory with the one-two hit of “Sangre de Grado” and the title track, which bleed right into each other. Vocals, provided by bassist Félix Dextre, are sparse, but come on heavy with delay on “Sangre de Grado,” drummer Aldo Castillejos providing suitable freakout behind and sounding like he’s having a lot of fun doing it. Centerpiece track “Imaginez Quel Bonheur ce Sera de Voir Nos Chers Disparus Ressuscités!” is something of a ritualistic interlude, its title translating from the French to say, “Imagine What Joy This Will Be to See Our Departed Loved Ones Resurrected.” The atmosphere created is expectedly spooky.

Read more »

…Because when you’re still at the office at 8PM, it’s time for some apocalyptic shit.

Screw it, I’m leaving.

I first noted The Machine‘s sonic similarities to Colour Haze after their set at Roadburn this year, and lo, here we are a scant six months later and the praiseworthy Dutch psychedelonauts have signed to Elektrohasch for the immanent release of their appropriately-titled third album, Drie. In the picture to the right, you can see the band hard at work on the recording.

Now, I’m not saying I’m solely responsible for getting The Machine signed to Elektrohasch — which is owned by Colour Haze guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek — or anything like that. Actually, screw it. That’s totally what I’m saying. Sorry folks. This one was all me. Full credit. All mine.

Congratulations to all parties involved, myself included. Here’s what Koglek, who’s apparently also knee-deep in recording the next Colour Haze album, had to offer as far as info on the release in his latest newsletter:

The Elektrohasch debut of Dutch guitar-psychedelicians The Machine is in print on CD and will be available for 13 Euro plus postage directly at www.elektrohasch.de, or at your favorite dealers. The DLP will follow up soon.

I’m about 30 reviews in the hole as of today, and by that I mean I’ve got 27 band names on my “Reviews To-Do” list. Not complaining. I’m glad that bands get in touch, want their stuff written up, etc. It just takes time. And, as I know I’ve said before, if there are that many albums people sent in backlogged, it’s not really fair for me to review stuff I’ve bought just because I like it. I’m sure I could get away with it and no one would know or care, but I’d feel like a dick.

So here we are. When last we met under these terms, I was raving about the genius of the latest Wovenhand and Master Musicians of Bukkake. Still killer records, both of which are on my ongoing best-of-2010 consideration list (I like making lists). Newly joining said list are two recently-purchased works by British dark/alt folk troupe Crippled Black Phoenix and French one-man post-black metal outfit Alcest. Let’s take a look:

I didn’t even know Crippled Black Phoenix had a new full-length coming out until I saw I, Vigilante had been released. Their prior 200 Tons of Bad Luck was one of my favorites of last year, so there was no way I was going to miss the follow-up. I placed my order even as I was still making my way through the album stream on Bandcamp, and was excited to find even more than the listed five tracks when the physical CD showed up in the mail.

Those familiar with Crippled Black Phoenix‘s sound won’t be surprised by the turns they take here (the ending cover aside), but they do what they do so well, and it’s all so miserably English, that I swear every time I put I, Vigilante on the sky gets cloudy. Their songwriting has developed and they tone down some of the oddball elements that showed up on the double-CD set The Resurrectionists/Night Raider from which 200 Tons of Bad Luck was culled, focusing instead on songcraft and tight but still natural-sounding performances. The only trouble with Crippled Black Phoenix is I’m not finished absorbing an album before they put out the next one. As much as I’ve already enjoyed it, I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface of I, Vigilante.

Alcest played New York this year and I missed them through my own negligence, laziness and scheduling deficiencies, so I wanted to make sure I picked up Écailles de Lune when I could. I finally found the album in Kim’s Video and Music on 1st Ave. in NYC, full price, new, for $17 and bought it. It’s more than I’d prefer to pay, but screw it, the other Kim’s went out of business and I was feeling saucy. I popped in the disc the next morning and was surprised to find that sole Alcest member Neige had been joined by a drummer, named Winterhalter, and was exploring a little more of a traditional black metal side as well as the excellent sense of melodic ambience he showed on 2007′s beautiful Souvenirs d’un Autre Monde.

By that I mean there’s some screamed vocals thrown into the mix. “Percées De Lumière” is probably the most abrasive thing I’ve yet heard from Alcest, but as excited as I was by that, even more thrilling was hearing that rather than use heaviness as a crutch, Neige‘s range of melody had grown as well. “Solar Song” is so encompassing when played at the (in)appropriate volume that I want to nap with it. It’s amazing to me how something so musically and emotionally weighted can also be so pretty.

Neither of these bands is going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but each has a lot to offer sonically to those with adventurous ears, and although I’m basically swamped, I thought I’d take a second to pass the recommendations on to anyone who might be interested.

I don’t know in particular what Naples outfit Kill the Easter Rabbit (abbreviated KTER on their album artwork and elsewhere) have against the mythical holiday hare. Being a remnant of the Pagan origins of the Christian Easter holiday, I’d think the Easter Rabbit is way more metal than, say, Jesus, but certainly there are those who’d argue that point. Christians, mostly, one would expect. No matter, whatever anger the Easter Rabbit has aroused in the three dudes comprising Kill the Easter Rabbit, surely their aggressions are worked out on their first full-length, Apokatastasis, available now via Trips und Träume.

Kill the Easter Rabbit (I’ll grant it’s a lot of fun to say) specialize in a modern type of sub-doom, with marked influence from High on Fire, Entombed and any number of noise rock acts. Apokatastasis — the title defined by the Stoics as the restoration of the primordial — is eight tracks/47 minutes of surprisingly diverse material working within that context. Beginning with its opening title track, the album moves through swatches of genre tints, held together by tonal consistency and the steady drumming of Ciro O., who seems ready to insert a double-kick at a moment’s notice, mostly to the benefit of the given song. “Apokatastasis” is a groover, among the album’s slower-paced and more doomed material, the riffs of guitarist/vocalist Lorenzo de Stefano held out in multiple, cleanly-produced layers and deftly switching to a thrashier approach later in the song.

Read more »

Well, it happened. Roareth are done. All the physical copies of their album, Acts I-VI, sold out and they played their last show at The Comet in Seattle this past Sunday night, Oct. 24. The Maple Forum‘s first band is no more. The second Maple Forum release isn’t even out yet! This whole “starting a record label” thing is going great.

If you missed that news, it’s here. Submitted for your approval are the following shots of Roareth at their final gig, courtesy of Invisible Hour Photography. Dig it:

Read more »

Boasting a nasty sound and even nastier attitude, New York slingers Komondor crotch-thrust out of the gate with a collection of sonically cruel headfuckery they’re calling A Giant is Coming and the Giant is Going to Kill You. Their tunes, available for biting into on any number of internet platforms, are short bursts of sludgy ultra-aggression, bent angular by their riffs and made ugly and mean by drum thuds and throaty growled vocals. The longest track hits five minutes, but most are around three, which tells me Komondor have a formula down they’re working from. As I’m new to the band, I dig the novelty.

I’m reminded in listening of the sludge-laden righteousness of Dopefight, who are my current obsession when it comes to this brand of bombast, but Komondor‘s guitar-work is more spindly, not as thick. That said, the plod of “The Invisible Enemy Should Not Exist” is utterly satisfying in both the weird and the doomed departments in a way Dopefight doesn’t even attempt to be, and as A Giant is Coming and the Giant is Going to Kill You plays out, there seem to be more quirks at play than one might initially think. Still, very angry, very mean and very heavy. Good for isolation, bad for a party, probably killer when I’m drunk at the show. No complaints. Welcome to the radar, dudes.

Stream the album via the Bandcamp player below and get angry. Go here to make a purchase.

Short on bullshit and long on charm, Portland’s Devil Riding Shotgun are the most straightforward band I’ve heard come out of Oregon in years. As a hotbed for the ambient and post-whathaveyou, the Pacific Northwest has thrived creatively, and this trio — guitars, bass/vocals and drums — are neither hyper-intellectualized nor aspiring to influence via avant garde pretense. Not that the cover of their self-released five-song self-titled EP would lead me to think otherwise, with its devil-horned-girl-on-car motif, I just didn’t think there was much traditional stoner rock being made out that way. I was a fool, apparently.

Devil Riding Shotgun is loaded with bass-heavy grooves, standout solos, blues-tinged vocals and quality flow. Neb Fixico, who originally formed the band in New Mexico before moving to Portland with himself on bass and vocals, is the driving force behind most of the material, his molasses-thick tone providing the heft that propels EP-closer “Fetish” from the “it’s alright” to the “fuck yeah” echelon of cool. There’s a crisp metallicism in the guitar work of Brian Hunter, and though he’s outmatched tonally by Fixico, the soul and fleetness of finger he shows soloing on second track “My Breath” — the longest cut on Devil Riding Shotgun at 5:54 — argues heavily in his favor. While we’re arguing, I’d push for more of Brad Lewellyn’s bass drum on that song and elsewhere. Though his cymbals are present enough and cut through, the kick is a barely-audible pulse throughout “Who Am I.” It’s an interesting choice on the part of the band, and it definitely adds to the laid back feel of Devil Riding Shotgun, but a little more oomph in there wouldn’t hurt either.

Read more »

The title track and the doomier “Scorpio Rising” are streaming now on Electric Wizard‘s very purple MySpace page. If possible, the songs sound even dirtier than Witchcult Today, though I don’t know what’s up with all that thrash on the title track. That song has at least 50 beats per minute! And you call yourselves doom! Pfft.

Just kidding. It pretty much rules. The songs will make your day better and clear any undesirables from your vicinity. Doom on.

When last I checked in with Wallingford, Connecticut‘s Redscroll Records, I walked out of there with a cassette copy of Torche‘s Meanderthal Demos. It’s a purchase I still consider the right move to have made, and as my most recent trip there was most likely going to be my last until Springtime, I figured I’d make the best of it. A thorough search of Redscroll‘s used section has done me right on numerous occasions, and this latest was no different. Dig this haul:

Bottom, Made in Voyage
Chrome Locust, Chrome Locust
Clutch, Jam Room
Fu Manchu, Daredevil
Jethro Tull, Aqualung
Lost Breed, Save Yourself
Lost Goat, Equator
My Dying Bride, Turn Loose the Swans
Natas, Delmar
The Obsessed, The Obsessed
Spiritual Beggars, Ad Astra

A few of those CDs I already own, but there are difference. The Fu Manchu is the original Bong Load Records version, where before I only had the reissue, and though it’s my third copy of Jam Room — probably my least favorite Clutch album — it’s the River Road Records pressing, and I think they only made six of them or something, so I was stoked to find it. Ad Astra is the Music for Nations digipak edition, and Chrome Locust is in a jewel case, where I’d only ever seen the digipak, so I grabbed that as well. The Jethro Tull had a sticker on it that it was the first CD issue, which made it too good to pass up. If you’re wondering, by the way, whether or not I believe everything I read on stickers stuck to jewel cases: Yes. Yes I do.

Lost Goat is on Man’s Ruin and I didn’t already own it, so that was a given. The Natas record I thought might have been a different catalog number than mine, but no, it’s a genuine double. I was bummed out on that until the other night when I thought to myself, “Gee, I sure would like to listen to the first Natas album,” and I actually had a copy on me because I was holding onto it to write about today. Maybe one just wasn’t enough.

Of the two Hellhound Records purchases, the highlight is unquestionably The Obsessed‘s The Obsessed. I had the Tolotta reissue previously, but you can’t beat the original. I had seen it for sale on Redscroll‘s eBay store, and asked if I could buy it right there in the shop. They were more than accommodating. The other Hellhound album, Lost Breed‘s Save Yourself, was the US version, where I’d only had the European before. Or maybe that’s reversed. I don’t know. The catalog numbers and back cover art are different. Apparently that’s enough for me these days.

I legitimately hadn’t owned the Bottom or My Dying Bride CDs (or the Lost Goat, which was meh), and I was stoked especially to hear the former, which didn’t disappoint. Crazy to think it’s been five years since Bottom put out their last album, but I suppose it has. Hearing their debut for the first time, it was easy to tell what Rise Above, Man’s Ruin and Small Stone all saw in the band, and by that I mean killer riffs and lethal groove. An excellent capper for an even more excellent haul.