World traveler that I am (ha.), I’m in Maryland for the weekend, and while I hope to do some record shopping before I leave — it’s a maybe at this point — far more pressing in my head at the moment is the fact that I left the leather carry-case with all my clean clothes and toiletries back in Jersey, meaning I have nothing but the brown khakis and the Saint Vitus shirt on my back to last me through till at least Sunday afternoon. Not a crisis, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t note how incredibly stupid I felt as The Patient Mrs. left the hotel room a bit ago to go replenish our stock of toothpaste, deodorant, etc.

Tomorrow, it’s off to the fat-guy-clothes store. One can only hope they sell Black Sabbath t-shirts. This is me, not holding my breath.

A cool note for the curious: You might recall last year when I interviewed Greg Anderson about the Goatsnake reunion amongst other things. Well, Japanese blogger Keisuke Iwaya of waya-waya.cocolog-nifty.com just yesterday posted a Japanese translation of that interview, and though I’m completely ignorant of the beautiful Japanese language as I am of so many other things in this world, I think it’s fucking awesome anyway, so please check it out if you get the chance.

We end this week with Drunken Monkey‘s footage of Ghost from Roadburn. They’re playing NYC in early June, and I’m looking forward to that, but it was cool to catch them in Tilburg as well, as you’ll see in the clip above. Several of the songs from their Opus Eponymous debut have been in heavy rotation both in the mental jukebox and the actual CD player of late, so I figured it was a good way to go. I wonder if anyone has told them yet that the backing band behind Evil Pope Guy has the same stage costumes as Goblin Cock. Sometimes life is fun.

Next week I’ll have a fucking awesome interview I did yesterday with Justin Broadrick about Jesu‘s new album and the apparently ongoing Godflesh reunion, as well as the numbers for April (not as dismal as I thought) and reviews of new albums by Virginian progressive space rockers Corsair and Indianapolis trad-doom frontrunners The Gates of Slumber, among others. I don’t know how, but there always seems to be something killer on the horizon, so although I say it more than Yankees radio announcer John “Pure Radio Gold” Sterling says that you can’t predict baseball, stay tuned, because there’s good stuff to come.

I got the email yesterday from the manufacturer that the shipment of Blackwolfgoat‘s Dronolith, the third release on The Obelisk‘s in-house label, The Maple Forum, will be arriving shortly. I’ve got the UPS tracking number to prove it. According to those goons, the discs have departed from Aliso Viejo, California, and should be getting to Jersey by the end of the day next Wednesday.

Dronolith is unlike anything yet released on The Maple Forum, and that’s one of the things I like best about it. Guitarist and sole member Darryl Shepard has outdone himself in terms of mastering a droning and yet satisfyingly progressive feel. He plays with a bizarre and nuanced technicality that — yes, it’s hypnotic because there’s loops and intertwining layers and repetition — holds the attention of the listener almost in spite of itself. As always, I’m really excited to be sharing the album with you.

In the coming weeks before the May 24 release, I’ll have more info and maybe even a new song or two, so stay tuned for that. If I find I’m able to do so, I might even set up a pre-order at the Maple Forum store, or, failing that, just put it on sale early. Either way, lots of good stuff to come on it, and remember, the disc is limited to 100 copies, so if you want one, you’re going to have to get in on it early. So far everything The Maple Forum has released, I’ve sold out of, and expect Dronolith to go quickly as well, once it arrives and goes on sale.

Even before I opened the liner notes, I knew two things about Guiltless, the fourth full-length from Chicago misanthropic doomers Indian, just from listening, and those two things were: Sanford Parker recorded and that the guitars were running through Emperor cabinets. Tonally, the Chicago doom/dirge style (typified in several cases by those two elements) has become so distinct, so singularly its own, that one knows right away what one is dealing with. Of course, it helps that Indian already have a foundation of three strong outings behind them, but this, their much-anticipated Relapse Records debut, would seem to be a coming of age for the five-piece. Their frightful crashes, haunting atmospherics – in this I’ll liken them to Pig Destroyer, despite the obvious tempo disparity – and generally unsettling approach feels more solidified across Guiltless than it did on either Slights and Abuse or The Sycophant (or the CD compilation of the two) or their 2005 Seventh Rule debut, The Unquiet Sky. As a serial killer matures in a modus operandi and ritualizes his violence, so too does Indian seem to have developed into the beastly form that presents itself on Guiltless’ seven tracks.

And if you think the serial killer analogy might be a little strong, I humbly ask that you take another listen to Guiltless’ frantic and disturbing nature. Tonally and atmospherically consistent, the album nonetheless seethes with an underlying energy and tension that comes out on nearly every song – the only notable exception being the late acoustic interlude “Supplicants,” which is creepy, but not necessarily the same kind of unhinged feel. For the rest of its vinyl-ready 41-minute duration finds Indian – guitarist/vocalists Dylan O’Toole and Will Lindsay (the latter ex-Middian and Wolves in the Throne Room, bassist Ron DeFries, drummer Bill Bumgardner (also of Lord Mantis) and noisemaker Sean Patton – reveling in their dense tonality, cutting through it only with hard-hit snares and vicious, throat-wrenching screams. As Guiltless opener “No Grace” breaks into just the guitar to introduce the movement that will encompass its last two minutes or so, one feels in listening that the album has already been on for much longer than it has. The songs are pillow-over-the-face oppressive, and the performances blisteringly tight.

“The Fate Before Fate” finds Indian underscoring black metal riffs with doomed groove, Bumgardner landing heavy on his cymbals in a noisy wash complemented by Patton’s underlying layers. The vocals are far back beneath O’Toole’s and Lindsay’s guitars, and some of Guiltless’ most scathing, working in the song’s faster pace to set up the lumbering feel of the ensuing title-track, which closes side A in madman fashion. It’s on “Guiltless” that Indian perhaps most uses the single-note thudding crashes that seem to pop up on several cuts, and to the greatest effect. The song is unflinchingly heavy and downright terrifying, DeFries’ bass working well with the drums to keep some movement happening under the raucous noise of the surface. O’Toole and Lindsay are in synch ringing out notes over the hits, and it’s almost as though the song grows more insistent over the course of its eight minutes, until finally it leads directly into “Guilty” on the CD (the LP requires a flip, so I imagine some of the effect is lost), which renews the pacing of “The Fate Before Fate” but keeps some of the same laborious feel as “Guiltless.” You won’t be surprised to find out it’s really fucking heavy, really fucking abrasive, and really fucking dark.

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Because my natural inclination is toward idiocy, there are lessons in life that I’ve had to teach myself time and again, and one of those lessons — an important one, on occasion — is “never schedule early interviews.” The morning I was scheduled to interview Graveyard drummer Axel Sjöberg found me sloshing my way through a late-March snowstorm, only to arrive at the office roughly five-minutes before the call was supposed to come in. Hey, at least I made it.

Graveyard trace their lineage back to guitarist/vocalist Joakim Nilsson and bassist Rikard Edlund‘s time in Norrsken, the formative vintage doom act from whence Witchcraft‘s Magnus Pelander also hails. In June, when I compile my annual top five of the first half of the year, don’t be surprised when Graveyard‘s Nuclear Blast debut, Hisingen Blues, is near the top of the list. The Gothenburg four-piece’s second full-length following a 2008 self-titled that saw North American domestic release via Tee Pee, Hisingen Blues is unflinching in the quality of its songwriting, and the more I listen to it — and I do keep going back for more — the more I find it’s different songs stuck in my head later. One listen has the mental jukebox with a 24-hour repeat cycle of opener “Ain’t Fit to Live Here,” and after another, it’s the boogie-swagger of “RSS.”

In either case, I’m not about to complain. Aside from the heartfelt classic rock sound and the fluidity of interplay between Nilsson and fellow guitarist/vocalist Jonatan Ramm, who came on after the self-titled was released, the reason Hisingen Blues is one of thus-far-2011′s brightest releases is because it manages to keep hold of groove, aesthetic and songcraft all at once. I know I went on and on in my review, but if you didn’t take that recommendation to heart, here’s another.

Though I was prepared for the conversation only in the sense of having listened to Hisingen Blues a ton of times, including as I sat in snowy traffic on my way to work that day, Sjöberg — who seemed to have no shortage of goings-on happening on his end of the line as well — was forthcoming about the making of Hisingen Blues, working with producer Don Ahlsterberg for the second time, touring and much more. As he explained throughout the conversation, the natural feeling in Graveyard‘s music comes from actually being spontaneous. Needless to say, I was floored.

After the jump, please find enclosed the complete Q&A of my interview with Sjöberg.

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Go here to get it.

I haven’t a clue when the exact release date was, but at some point in the not too distant past, the Italian stoner rock devotees over at Vincebus Eruptum magazine put out their 10th issue boasting interviews with the likes of Al Cisneros (Om, Sleep), Alfredo Hernandez (Yawning Man, ex-Kyuss), Ufomammut and Spiritual Beggars, among others, and reviews of OJM, Vic Du Monte’s Persona Non Grata, Humo del Cairo and many more. Front cover to back cover, it’s obvious these dudes more or less bleed for the genre, so if you’ve got a couple extra Euros lying around, they’re well worth supporting. Plus, as someone semi-gainfully employed by one in my day-to-day, I’m always an advocate for those in the print media. Go analog — and yes, I recognize the irony there.

The ‘zine is in English, and it’s true there are some language-barrier issues that crop up throughout, but as I know I wouldn’t be able to do half of what they do were I ballsy enough to take on reviewing an album in Italian, I’ll reserve criticism. What shines through in spite of any linguistic or grammar discrepancies is that Davide “Davidew” Pansolin, Max Ugolini and the rest of the crew over there have a genuine love for what they’re doing. The reviews are honest, the interviews are packed with information (I personally used Luciano Gaglio‘s Death Row interview with Victor Griffin from issue #9 as a resource for my own), and you’re bound to come out of reading having discovered at least one new band. You’d be hard pressed to find anyone out there with as deep a knowledge of the European heavy rock underground.

In case you haven’t gotten it yet, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Vincebus Eruptum and what they do. If you can help their cause, I’d definitely advocate doing so. If not, at least spread the word to someone who might.

One more time, go here to check out Vincebus Eruptum #10.

With its slew of 20-plus splits, EPs, live albums and compilations, Bong’s discography over the last four years is almost as murky as the UK four-piece’s music itself. On their Ritual Productions (who released Ramesses’ album last year and will have more from them shortly) debut, Beyond Ancient Space, Bong don’t so much affect an atmosphere as inflict it. From within a haze so thick you can’t see out of it, Bong straddle a line between sludge and drone that’s unquestionably heavy despite its jammed-out, live feel. The repetition on Beyond Ancient Space’s three tracks – which cover an overwhelming 79:51 runtime – is encompassing. In succession, “Onward to Perdóndaris” (25:33), “Across the Timestream” (25:03) and “In the Shadow of the Towers” (29:16) mesmerize with riffs, or rather, with riff, because despite an evolution within each track, Bong’s tendency is to spend an awfully long time jamming out the same part.

If you’ve ever seen a solo drone performance or someone constructing soundscapes with guitar, you’ve probably watched as they set a bed of loops that gradually, as the piece progresses, is built upon. As a full band, Bong nonetheless feel like they’re doing the same thing on Beyond Ancient Space’s component material. Each song begins gradually. “Onward to Perdóndaris” opens with silence before someone – presumably bassist Dave Terry, who handles vocals when they pop up – says “Perdóndaris” and the bass kicks in, soon followed by the drums of Mike Smith and Mike Vest’s guitar. Ben Freeth contributes sitar and Shahi Baaja, which rests repetitive figures on top of the aforementioned bed of drones. Smith does the honor of keeping Bong’s Beyond Ancient Space moving forward, which is no easy task, and one gets the sense that without his (again) gradual slowdown on “Across the Timestream,” the song might just go on forever into perpetuity.

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The recently-reviewed Hotel Wrecking City Traders and Gary Arce collaborative 12″ is available for pre-order now. If you missed it, the two-song, 20-minute release will ship at the end of June from Bro Fidelity Records, the label imprint of Hotel Wrecking City Traders, whose crunchy Aussie noise rock is surprisingly well-complemented by Arce‘s wide-ranging guitar sound, known best as heard in Yawning Man, Ten East and a host of other projects.

Topped off with beautiful artwork from Exotic Corpse and text from Ben Matthews (aka Ben Wrecker of HWCT), the pre-order comes with an exclusive t-shirt and of course the record itself, which is heavyweight blue vinyl and limited to 300 copies.

Hotel Wrecking City Traders and Gary Arce (I’ve been referring to the project as HWCTARCE and you’re more than welcome to as well, I suppose) have posted the track “Coventina’s Crusade” for streaming and were kind enough to offer to let me host. Please enjoy it on the player below.

Also of note, Hotel Wrecking City Traders have set up an Indie Go-Go page and are taking donations to help raise the recording costs to put together their next 12″ release. You can see how it’s going and donate here. Arce‘s next release is a split 12″ between his collaboration with British proggers Sons of Alpha Centauri — dubbed Yawning Sons — and a project he has started with Mario Lalli and Tony Tornay of Fatso Jetson (the former also of Yawning Man) called Waterways. More to come on both.

The hardest part about listening to Peruvian experimental doomers El Hijo de la Aurora is trying to imagine whether their mysterious musical concoctions were crafted in a darkened science laboratory amid bubbling vials of green and blue liquid, or in a pagan forest amidst animal skulls and unspoken heathen rites. If the cover and general atmosphere of the Lima trio’s second full-length (first for R.A.I.G.), Wicca: Spells, Magic and Witchcraft Through the Ages, is anything to go buy, it’s probably the latter, but given some of the bizarre turns and villainous twists contained within these eight tracks (there are nine listed on the back of the disc, but eight show up when I put it in my player), I’m still not sure. Something about this kind of stuff just seethes with malefic and haunting forethought.

El Hijo de la Aurora — which boasts drummer and effects-master Joaquin Cuadra (who also produced here) and bassist Manolo Garfias (also guitar), formerly of Don Juan Matus alongside vocalist Rafael Cantoni – made their full-length debut with last year’s avant drone outing, Lemuria (review here). What the two records have in common, aside from dense atmospherics and a foreboding throughout, is a slew of guest appearances. Wicca engineer Saul Cornejo shows up on Hammond for the later shuffling rocker “Akasha,” Marcos Coifman wrote the lyrics to that song, and takes vocals on it and “Vril,” which follows, Tania Duarte sings on the shorter acoustic closer “Cuentos de Bosque Encantado Part II,” as she sang on the finale of Lemuria, and there are numerous other appearances as well on theremin, Hammond, Moog and vocals. A big difference between Lemuria and Wicca is the inclusion of Cantoni as a uniting vocal factor throughout at least several if not most of the tracks, and as Wicca is less barren and instrumentally drone-based, I’d say there’s been a shift in songwriting approach as well.

That shouldn’t be surprising, given the avant and openly creative feel El Hijo de la Aurora showed on the debut, but the raw Sabbathian doom definitely comes to the fore from the start of Wicca with opener “Der Golem,” which I think is combined with the sampled intro “El Ojo Hipnotico” (“The Hypnotic Eye”) to get the track listing/disc disparity. The song starts with Cuadra on drums setting a mid-tempo plod for Garfias to follow on the riff before Cantoni rides the groove vocally. All told, Wicca is a more active-feeling album than what Lemuria, but nothing feels sacrificed in terms of ambience, and the blend of classic riffage and doom that El Hijo de la Aurora proffered there remains one of the strongest assets here. In the hands of a band less capable of affecting a mood, “Psicodrama” might just come off as stoner rock, but El Hijo de la Aurora make the song more than the sum of its riffs, setting up the massive 14-minute “Libro de las Sombras (Including Dios Astado & el Escrito)” like the person who bends down behind you while someone in front pushes you over. Just when you think you know what to expect from El Hijo de la Aurora, they change it on you.

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I guess you could call Del Rey‘s Immemorial a “sleeper” since it wasn’t the biggest release in the world, but I still really dug it (review here), and it looks like the Chicago outfit are continuing their streak of doing cool stuff by providing an instrumental score to the 1973 animated masterpiece, Fantastic Planet. Not too much of a stylistic stretch for them, but a nifty idea anyhow, and I’m sure it’ll be a good time for anyone lucky enough to be there next week to catch it.

Info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

Psychedelic post-rockers Del Rey perform a live score to the animated sci-fi classic Fantastic Planet at Lincoln Hall on Thursday, May 5. They’ll be joined on the bill by drone merchants White/Light, who will provide accompaniment to a film by Chicago experimental filmmaker Alexander Stewart.

Since their inception in 1997 in the attic of a three-flat in Ukrainian Village, Del Rey has been keeping Chicago’s instrumental rock torch aflame, purveying their brand of sonic lyricism and rhythmic textuality from countless stages and speakers. In 2010, they released their fourth full-length, Immemorial, in North America via At A Loss Recordings (in Europe via Golden Antenna), which fused the punishing grace of the band’s riff- and percussion-driven sound to a more evocative, melodic sensibility.

The beautiful and surreal imagery of Fantastic Planet (1973) may be the perfect cinematic complement for Del Rey‘s cosmic soundscapes and epic odysseys. In the film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, humans are kept as pets by blue humanoid alien giants called Traags. Said to be based on the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic, the story centers on a human named Terr, who escapes the Traags and incites other humans to revolt. Del Rey will also be performing the score in Spain later in May as part of a tour based around their upcoming show at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

Lincoln Hall will provide an ideal setting for the screenings – the club is a converted movie theater.

Think of this as half of an On the Radar post. Italian noise rock duo Le Scimmie (which translates according to the internets to “The Ape” or “The Monkey” — i.e. “simian”) released their album Dromomania toward the end of last year and made a video for the title track. I’m not quite sure what’s happening in the clip, but it seems to involve guitarist Angelo Xunah Mirolli and drummer Mario Serrecchia being chased by a knife-wielding man in a horse mask, who then undergoes some kind of spiritual slow-motion freakout dance and apparently decides to pursue another line of work. Interesting stuff.

Check out Le Scimmie on il Facebook here. Enjoy the video.

Originally a 2010 self-release, the self-titled debut from Boston bass/drum duo Olde Growth is given a second look thanks to MeteorCity. The 46-minute offering plays to a wide host of riffy influences, and the duo do well in carving out an identity for themselves among the melee of energetic songs. Of the seven tracks on Olde Growth, only the feedback interlude “Red Dwarf” is under five minutes long, but the cuts nonetheless move quickly one to the next, and no matter what tempo they’re working in – thrashingly fast, drearily slow or somewhere in between – Olde Growth pull off an immediacy in the music that might be their greatest asset. Parts abound in the songs, and there are both chorus-based and more linearly-structured passages (the third track is a three-parter), but as complex as bassist/vocalist Stephen Loverme and drummer Ryan Berry get, they don’t lose sight of either the thickness of tone or the subtle melodicism that finds its way into sections of Olde Growth, and that works much to the album’s benefit.

Being a duo with bass and drums and playing this genre, one would be remiss to not cite Om as an influence – conceptually if not musically. If that reference shows up anywhere, it’s in the late-album instrumental, “Everything Dies,” or the contemplative, subdued beginning of 10-minute closer “Awake.” The bulk of Olde Growth owes more to the likes of Sleep and High on Fire (if you want to stay in the same family tree of bands), with some more bombastic tertiary-feeling desert influence and a dose of Acid King’s expansive doom in the clean-sung sections of “Sequoia.” Loverme, in addition to writing inventive riffs on which the songs are based, has a good sense for varying his vocal approach. Screams, shouts and melody are all well placed over the music, starting immediately with a rhythmic/melodic interplay on opener “The Grand Illusion” that provides Olde Growth’s most memorable chorus. Lyrically centered around the occasional bit of epic stoner nature worship (see “Sequoia”), with “Cry of the Nazgul/The Second Darkness/To the Black Gate” being – appropriately enough – a trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Olde Growth prove consistent mostly in terms of the quality of their material and the heaviness of atmosphere they affect. Everything else on these tracks feels like it could change at a moment’s notice.

In such cases, it’s often easy for a band to come across as overly angular, but Loverme and Berry avoid this with the injection of stoner groove like that which shows up in the break of “The Grand Illusion” or for the bulk of the sludge-laden “Life in the Present.” They’re not technically focused by any stretch, but the duo does work well together and that’s essential to the album’s success. Early into “Cry of the Nazgul,” Berry’s drums seem to cut through the mix more than is warranted, which, honestly, I don’t know how you avoid when Loverme is on the low end of the low-end and there’s nothing else to fill out the sound, but the abrasion doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s anything more than Olde Growth wanted it to be, and “The Second Darkness” is faster and more melodically aware, setting up one of the full-length’s arguable apexes in “To the Black Gate,” where Loverme layers his vocals over a frantic riff/crash combination. If not for what was still to come on “Sequoia” and “Awake,” it would probably be the most satisfying moment on the album.

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Occasionally, life is awesome:

Kyuss Lives! — featuring original Kyuss members John Garcia, Nick Oliveri and Brant Bjork along with guitarist Bruno Fevery — will unleash their desert rock fury on the US for the first time in over 15 years this fall. The eagerly anticipated near total return of the California rock pioneers follows the blanket success of the group’s sold out spring European tour which has proven to be a feast of recognition for the band. Due to unprecedented demand, the legendary musicians have announced two very special US shows to take place this fall in New York and California. Openers The Sword will get each evening started before Kyuss Lives! delivers its titanic grooves.

Kyuss Lives! US live dates:
09/23 New York, NY Terminal 5 (tickets HERE)
10/08 Pomona , CA The Fox Theater (tickets HERE)

There’s a host of quality Texan acts on the bill alongside out-of-staters like Kylesa, Lo-pan and Naam, and all in all the Liquid Sludge Fest seems to be like a decent way to spend a weekend in Austin with probably only a fraction of the bullshit you’d encounter at, say, SXSW. Plus, Orange Goblin will be there, and that’s always a plus.

Lineup and festival info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

No Strings Attached Media has announced their first annual Liquid Sludge Fest to take place as a part of Chaos in Tejas in 2011. This festival will be celebrating the independent subgenre of metal referred to as stoner rock and sludge metal.

Headlining this festival will be Honky from Small Stone Records on June 2 and a double-feature of Kylesa and Orange Goblin on June 3. The first day will feature a highlight of Small Stone Records with Tia Carrera, Suplecs, Dixie Witch, Lo-Pan, and Honky.

Liquid Sludge at The Scoot Inn (1308 E. 4th – Navasota and East 4th Street)

June 2
Amplified Heat (inside stage)
Squidbucket (inside stage)
Honky (outside stage)
Lo-Pan (outside)
Dixie Witch (outside)
Suplecs (outside)
Tia Carrera (Outside)
Asylum on the Hill (outside)
Big Tattoo (Outside)
Doors @ 3pm

June 3
The Roller (inside stage)
Rise Thy Ruin (inside stage)
Kylesa (outside stage)
Orange Goblin (outside)
The Gates of Slumber (outside)
Naam (outside)
Sanctus Bellum (outside)
Rust (outside)
Switchblade Jesus (outside)
Doors @ 3pm

Times are tentative and may be changed. Tickets are already available at www.ticketscene.com. The first 50 tickets sold to the Kylesa/OrangeGoblin double feature are $10 and with only 19 left they’re going fast. Standard admission is $10 (advance June 2), $15 (at the door June 2nd and in advance June 3rd), $20 (at the door June 3rd), and $21 (advance 2-day).

Liquid Sludge Fest can be found on Facebook here.

Noisy Quebecois four-piece The Great Sabatini got together in 2007 and already have a couple tours under their belt, but their new and cleverly-titled Napoleon Sodomite EP is the first I’m hearing of them. The three-song release (vinyl and download, I have the latter) is full of harsh tones, weighted low-end and the occasional in-your-ear yell from guitarist Sean Sabatini.

And in case you’re thinking otherwise, no the band name isn’t an ego trip on the guitarist/vocalist’s part. Each of the four members — Steve on drums, Joey on bass, Rob on guitar and Sean — have taken the last name Sabatini, so I’m thinking it’s like a Voltron thing. When they all come together, it’s great. If that’s the theory they’re working on, Napoleon Sodomite seems to bear it out. The three-minute opening title track hits with Converge-style bombast and modernly doomed groove, and “Helter Skeletor,” which follows, is a banjo and rhythmic chain instrumental piece that sets up the end of the last cut as well as giving the whole affair an even more demented feel.

“Trap Sequence,” the last of the bunch, is also instrumental and longer than the other two songs put together at 5:59. The pace gradually builds to a noise-laden finish before the banjo returns to ride the song into oblivion. All told, the EP is barely enough to get a sense for what The Great Sabatini are doing, but their darkened atmospheric noise should be familiar-sounding to those who take it on. There’s still an individual edge, there, however, and if the musical adventurousness that rears its head on “Trap Sequence” is anything to go by, the Montreal outfit will be well worth keeping on the radar in the days to come.

Get a sampling of The Great Sabatini‘s wares on their Facebook page, or the ReverbNation player below:

Because there’s roughly no money to be made on the road or anywhere else for that matter, longer tours are a rarity, so to see a band like North Carolinian outfit Black Skies hitting the road as hard as they are — before their album is even out — is encouraging. And they’re playing with some killer acts as well, so make sure you check out the slew of dates below and if they’re going to be where you are, show up and buy something. Hell, you know the drill by now.

If it’s news, it’s gotta be the PR wire:

Heavy North Carolina trio, Black Skies, are pleased to announce a near-month long US tour set to commence on May 12 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The trek will steamroll it’s way through 22 cities – including several East Coast locales they’ve yet to play — before drawing to a ceremonious close in Savannah, Georgia.

Said guitarist/vocalist Kevin Clark of the upcoming bout of live dates: “We are extremely pleased to be spending some time playing across the Eastern part of the country. The last several tours required us to make our way West as quickly as possible due to time constraints, so we haven’t been to some of the places we will be hitting on this tour in far too long. We are also thrilled to spend a good portion of the trek with some of our favorite bands and people: Backwoods Payback, Caltrop, Royal Thunder, and US Christmas. We hope to have a few more songs ready to go for this trip as well. Tim had just joined the band before the last tour — we literally had four rehearsals together before leaving on tour for a month — so we were limited to the same set pretty much every night. Since then, we’ve had time to rework some of those songs and write a few new ones. This will allow us to keep things fresh and interesting, while also being able to play songs we feel would be more appropriate to the audience’s energy at any given show.”

The band — Clark, Tim Herzog (drums) and Michelle Temple (bass, vocals, booking) — will be touring in support of their soon-to-be-issued new full-length, On the Wings of Time. The follow-up to 2008′s Hexagon EP, On the Wings of Time was recorded, produced and mastered by Harvey Milk‘s Kyle Spence at his own RJS studios in Athens, Georgia.

Black Skies Live – May/June 2011:
05/12 The Milestone Charlotte, NC w/ Trade, Towering Pyre
05/13 The Crayola House Harrisonburg, VA w/ Backwoods Payback, Earthling, Trade
05/14 Strange Matter Richmond, VA w/ Backwoods Payback
05/15 Mojo Main Newark, DE w/ Backwoods Payback, Holy Dirt, Bubonic Bear
05/16 AS220 Providence, RI w/ Woozy, She Rides, Villainer
05/17 O’Brien’s Boston, MA w/ Phantom Glue, The Proselyte, Jack Burton vs David Lopan
05/18 Flask Lounge Portland, ME
05/19 Elm Bar New Haven, CT w/ Atrina
05/20 Acheron Brooklyn, NY
05/21 31st Street Pub Pittsburgh, PA w/ Rogue Vessel, Oktober
05/22 Carabar Columbus, OH w/ Prosanctus Inferi, Witchaven, Nocturnal, Locusta
05/23 The Green Lantern Lexington, KY w/ Stampede, Below
05/24 Southgate House Indianapolis, IN w/ Mala In Se, New Third Worlds
05/25 The Pilot Light Knoxville, KY w/ US Christmas, Generation of Vipers
05/26 The Get Down Asheville, NC w/ US Christmas, Generation of Vipers, Caltrop
05/27 King’s Raleigh, NC w/ US Christmas, Caltrop, Royal Thunder
05/28 Will’s Pub Orlando, FL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Druid Lord, Junior Bruce
05/29 C-Level Panama City Beach, FL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Death Before Dying
05/30 Siberia NOLA w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
05/31 Hi-Tone Memphis, TN w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
06/01 The Nick Birmingham, AL w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder
06/02 529 Atlanta, GA w/ Caltrop, Royal Thunder, Sons of Tonatiuh
06/03 Caledonia Lounge Athens, GA w/ Caltrop
06/04 The Jinx Savannah, GA w/ Caltrop