At its heart, the approach of Dutch occult rockers The Devil’s Blood comes down to two words: “Hail Satan.” It’s a rallying cry of contradiction, the basis for their musical and lyrical perspective, and what lies at the very heart of their influence. In everything they do, it remains the calm center around which they swirl their storm.

Founded by guitarist/songwriter Selim Lemouchi and his sister, the powerful vocalist Farida Lemouchi, the Eindhoven-based band were subject to fervent reactions almost immediately. Following a 2007 demo and the 2008 single, The Graveyard Shuffle, their Come, Reap EP was a blatantly devilish call to arms that stood in stark musical contrast with the thematic conventions of extreme metal with which it was toying. On their first full-length, 2009′s The Time of No Time Evermore (review here), The Devil’s Blood set about offsetting classic rock with ethereal psychedelic washes, and on their latest album, The Thousandfold Epicentre (review here), they’ve mastered their form.

With a massive, 74-minute sprawl, The Thousandfold Epicentre makes no attempt to hide its grandiosity or self-indulgence, instead celebrating its blatant atmospherics while also maintaining a strong core of songcraft that can be heard on the flagrant hooks in “Die the Death” or the centerpiece “She.” Through it all, Farida keeps supreme hold of her charisma, and Selim‘s instrumental melodicism behind her makes for one of the underground’s most intriguing pairings. The Devil’s Blood owe more to Coven‘s “Black Sabbath” than Black Sabbath‘s “Black Sabbath,” but as Selim hints in the interview that follows, the band revels in doing what’s unexpected.

And since in order to hold onto an element of Satanic mysticism one must be vague in discussing processes, the word “hints” is all the more appropriate. Nonetheless, Selim, who often goes by the initials SL, was open in acknowledging his band’s theatricality and his own classic pop and heavy rock influences, from The Beatles and Thin Lizzy to Roky Erickson and Black Widow. If you make it that far, a particularly fascinating moment came near the end, in talking about touring and playing high-profile festivals (The Devil’s Blood will be on the Decibel magazine North American tour with Watain, In Solitude and Behemoth this spring; dates included below) as opposed to club shows. Just something to watch out for, if you’re interested.

Please find the enclosed Q&A with Selim Lemouchi after the jump, and enjoy.

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It felt so fucking good to watch Black Pyramid play last year’s Roadburn festival. Standing there in the mid-size Green Room of the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg, it was like seeing an ambassador of the future of American doom on display for the European audience for the first time. Like I was at a World’s Fair or something. I’m not a person who often gives in to patriotism, but I was happy my countrymen were able to give such an excellent showing of themselves to a crowd that had never seen them before.

Flash forward a couple months later and guitarist Andy “Dinger” Beresky announces on the forum that he’s quitting the band and proceeds to go on a months-long bridge-burning expedition, trolling his own threads with pseudo-mysticism and purposeful confusion, sending misleading emails to Black Pyramid industry contacts, behaving in a manner so paranoid and disruptive it results in being the first-ever ban on the board. As great as it felt to see the trio at Roadburn, the unraveling that ensued following their return from a European run alongside Blood Farmers was equal parts painful and sad, on both a personal and critical level.

For all intents and purposes, the band was done. And yet, they stood on the eve of the release of their second full-length, II, through MeteorCity. Bassist Gein and drummer Clay Neely were left in the awkward position of having to decide whether to press on and and try to replace Beresky or cut the band’s life short just as it seemed to be hitting its stride creatively. In the end, Neely and Gein opted to continue Black Pyramid, bringing in respected Massachusetts guitarist Darryl Shepard (Milligram, Hackman, Blackwolfgoat) to fill the vacant slot, and pressing forward almost immediately with writing new material, which will see release this year as part of a split.

And as the summation of what the original incarnation of the band was able to accomplish, II is an utter triumph. Produced by Neely himself and mixed by the band in conjunction with Justin Pizzoferrato, it revels in the glory of battle as did the preceding 2009 self-titled, but adds melodic depth and a range of composition less limited by the confines of genre or expectation. With II (review here), Black Pyramid were becoming their own band. Now moving past it, they have to become a new one. And quick. The announcement that the band would continue came packaged with word of an impending performance at this year’s London Desertfest at the start of April.

In what I later found out was his first phoner interview, Neely discussed these issues of Black Pyramid‘s demise and rebirth, as well as the processes of writing and recording II and bringing Shepard in to be a part of the Mk. II lineup. There was some more said off the record about Beresky leaving, but for the purposes here, I wanted to keep the focus on the fact that Black Pyramid, true to the warrior nature fused into their lyrics, are fighting their way forward despite what others might have expected to hold them back. I hope that comes though.

Complete Q&A with Clay Neely is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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You have to understand, even if the forthcoming self-titled Corrosion of Conformity full-length wasn’t their first as a trio — as this trio — since 1985′s Animosity, the record would still be a landmark, just for the fact that it’s C.O.C. The stalwart North Carolinian heavy Southern rockers haven’t had a record since 2005′s In the Arms of God, mostly due to guitarist/vocalist Pepper Keenan‘s ongoing tenure with the supergroup Down, leaving bassist/vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman and returned drummer Reed Mullin the task of picking the band back up and moving forward as a three-piece.

But the announcement yesterday that this lineup of C.O.C. will headline Sunday night, April 8, at the London Desertfest is just the latest endorsement it has earned. Dean, Weatherman and Mullin toured twice in 2011 with Clutch, including their New Year’s tour last month, and played the 2011 Maryland DeathFest and Roadburn festivals (among others), supporting the single Your Tomorrow on Southern Lord. The track “Your Tomorrow” would wind up as one of the strongest on the album Corrosion of Conformity as well, but the record does an excellent job meeting and surpassing any aesthetic expectations that could be put on it.

Because, hey, let’s face it, if you’ve got a trio lineup of C.O.C., they’ve got a lot to live up to. Animosity is a crossover classic, and coupled with everything the band was able to accomplish after Keenan joined, then Corrosion of Conformity needs to cover a lot of ground to be a success. The album’s greatest attribute, however, is that it seems to ignore all of that in favor of just rocking out on some killer songs. As a result, cuts like “Rat City” and “Leeches” and “What We Become” hone in on the band’s hardcore past without seeming like a put-on while “Psychic Vampire,” “The Moneychangers” and “Come Not Here” bring in elements of the riffy Sabbathian groove that was always present in their sound, however prevalent it may or may not have been.

If you’re interested, the full album review is here. Just prior to their heading out with Clutch to put 2011 to bed, Dean and I spoke about what brought C.O.C. back together in this form and how it was composing the new album without Keenan, recording it with longtime producer John Custer, his own process for composing lyrics, and much more. Like the music on the self-titled, he was honest and straightforward in his responses, as you can see in the interview that follows here.

–Special thanks to Candlelight Records for letting me give away THREE copies of the new C.O.C. album on vinyl! Enter to win by sending your name and address below. Contest runs until Jan. 20!

[Please note: This contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered.]

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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Lo-fi duo Blut make their home in fucked-up drone and doomed riffing, working hard to sound as inaccessible as possible at any given moment. This is completely on purpose. The band’s warped vision of psychedelic extremity feeds into an overall perspective that is disaffected and hinting at a core of cerebral violence. Such as it is, their motto, “Drop out and fucking kill,” fits them well.

Over the course of several cassette releases and two full-length CDs — those being the interrelated Ritual and Ceremony (2010, review here) and Grief and Incurable Pain (2011, review here) — the initials-only two-piece of bassist N.B. and drummer/guitarist/vocalist S.M. have inflicted upon unsuspecting (or possibly suspecting) ears a sound that is pure in its misanthropy and songs that range between excruciating and unlistenable. The two albums develop ideas one off the other, but there’s an undercurrent of cruelty that remains no matter what might be happening in any given five-minute stretch.

Wanting to find out just what it is that could be behind such utterly demented musicality, I figured it was time to hit up Blut for Six Dumb Questions. Below, S.M. (joined by N.B. for the last question) provides answers to some of Blut‘s drives and motives. Please enjoy.

1. How did the two of you get together and start the band? Did you know what you wanted the sound to be going into it? There’s so much mystery around the band, with just the initials being given for the two of you. What’s the reasoning behind keeping that info so sparse?

We met whilst playing in a black metal band and decided to start Blut as a side-project, the sound of the band comes from our obsession with records like Earth 2 and Nightstick’s Blotter, also bands like Brighter Death Now and Deadwood. The basic idea was a style of music with heavy passages of psychedelic noise and drone with some doom riffs and slow minimal drums. In this band we basically are free to experiment with noise tapes, walls of guitar and bass distortion with no real boundaries or rules, if we want to write a 40-minute song, we will. The band is kind of a direct reaction against most modern types of extreme metal music, which have become stagnant, old, repetitive and boring.

As far as the initials-only thing, well, that was a necessity at the outset of the band due to a few problems with certain individuals. FUCK. After that the initials-only thing just stayed, and also this band isn’t really about posing or anything like that, we don’t even tell people we play music. It’s just not necessary.

2. Take me through your writing process for the first album and for Grief and Incurable Pain. When you’re writing these huge walls of noise, how do you know a song is over? Was there something new you wanted to try the second time out?

The first album we had no real idea, we had a bunch of riffs and some ideas for drones so we sort of just pieced it all together over time. We rehearsed that record a lot more and it wasn’t as spontaneous-sounding as the newer material. On Grief and Incurable Pain, it was decided to have a less accessible sound. We wanted to delve deeper into the dark black metal-style psych drones. Also, the bass guitar was a lot higher in the mix than the rhythm guitar, actually nearly all the riffs on the structured drum led parts of the new record are played on bass, allowing the guitar to then be used as an outlet for noise solos and heavily-delayed feedback improvisations. We basically wanted Grief and Incurable Pain to sound less like a metal record and more chaotic and even less organised than anything we’ve ever done before.

3. Do you record live? The albums sound so harsh. What were you trying to accomplish in the studio, and how much of the material is improvised?

The drums are recorded first then we play over them together, so I guess it’s half-live. We wanted to make these records sound real murky and dark. Absolutely nothing is polished or clean-sounding, everything is pretty much first take. If an instrument drops out or we make a mistake, it’s kept, and I’d say almost all the drones and noise sections are improvised or played loosely around like one or two riffs.

For us, doom and black metal have become far too acceptable now. The danger is gone, the badly-recorded noisy element has died and instead people are polishing their sound way too much. We recorded our first two albums in an attic onto old Dictaphones a Korg cassette 4-track and a beaten up old computer for digital transfer and some looping tasks. Some of the vocals were recorded in a crawlspace under old blankets by candlelight. We have old valve P.A. systems as our guitar amps, shitty old cabs and a collection of fucked microphones, this adds to the overall rotten ambience and is something that more mainstream musicians will never understand. We have also recorded samples and improvised instruments in actual forests and woods.

Another thing is the lack of creativity with bands now, a lot of bands seem to think a digital amp and a Line Six multi-effects pedal is the holy grail. Well, the way I see it is Hendrix had a valve amp that was simple as fuck, a fuzz pedal and a wah and he did more with that than these new bands can achieve with an arsenal of unlimited digital shitty affects.

4. To date, everything you’ve put out has been available on cassette. What is it about the format that keeps you loyal to it? So much focus seems to be on vinyl these days. Is there something in particular about the way Blut sounds on tape that you enjoy?

People buy vinyl but they don’t seem to listen to it. It ends up in a box and they just download the album as mp3. Why? Vinyl and tape sound way better — CD still sounds good to me also — but cassette is a real passion for us. It’s just that cool heavy sound, the background hiss, the fact that tapes play at slightly different speeds on different cassette decks as well, awesome!

5. How do the titles Ritual and Ceremony and Grief and Incurable Pain relate? Both have the “and” in there, but are they meant to be a summary of what the albums convey, or is there something else behind picking them? Put side by side, the two album covers seem to be staring at each other.

Well both these albums are part of a trilogy. The next record is called Drop Out and Kill. It’s our farewell punk rock-kind of record. After this one we intend on changing our sound again, make it darker sounding, more noise and less drums, maybe. As far as the album titles go, Ritual and Ceremony came from an occult encyclopaedia and Grief and Incurable Pain came from a biblical text. The art is supposed to look the same, actually when you spread the sleeves out next to each other it looks like some fucked up comic book. Unintentional but cool.

6. Any other plans or other closing words you want to mention? When is the split tape with Decaying Citadel due out?

S.M.: Split tape with Decaying Citadel should be out next year. We have recorded covers of The Melvins, “Leeech”/”Boris” and Doom’s “Lifelock” for that split. It was good to record some covers. It’s actually probably some of our more listenable material, we were going to record a Bauhaus cover but never got round to it. Maybe next time. “Hollow Hills,” maybe. A live show would be good next year or some sort of performance. Drop out and fucking kill.

N.B.: Well this is the first time I could be bothered to say anything for this interview. I just have this to say… Buy a valve amp and ditch your shitty Marshall combo, throw away your Mac with its fancy fucking GarageBand program. Steve Jobs is dead. His life has become a toilet book to be stacked in with your cheap porn collection. Move on. You will be ok. Delete your Facebook and try to have at least one ounce of integrity. The underground is not meant to be pretty… Fuck life…

Blut’s Blogspot page

Bubonic Productions

As every new year starts, there’s always a glut of rumors that kick around. So-and-so is going to have a new record, this or that band is going to reunite, someone just got signed, etc. However, when I look to my left at the post-it note on my wall of threatened 2012 releases, the prospect is actually daunting. Could we as a species actually live to see a year that boasts releases from Clutch, Kyuss, Neurosis and Saint Vitus?

It’s the kind of thing that, centuries from now, some puffy-haired weirdo (not the good kind) will get on tv and say must have been the work of ancient aliens. These things have a habit of not working out as planned, but even the thought is staggering.

These releases have all been announced one way or another, so like I said last year, I’m not breaking any news, and unlike yesterday, I haven’t actually heard any of them yet. Basically I just wanted to nerd out for a bit on cool stuff that’s supposed to be coming out in 2012.

So here goes:

Ufomammut, Oro: Their 2010 effort, Eve, was a defining moment, both for them as a trio and pivotal act within their genre, and for the genre itself. With Eve (review here), Italian three-piece Ufomammut took cosmic doom to new reaches of psychedelic complexity, and though I know I’ve said it a few times, it’s worth repeating that it was a true work of mastery. It’s only grown richer with time, and Ufomammut‘s two-part follow-up, Oro — which will be divided into Opus Primum and Opus Alter, both of which are set for issue on Neurot in 2012 — is set to expand on the form, if such a thing is possible. We’ll find out.

 

Saint Vitus, Lillie: F-65: I wouldn’t be surprised if it showed up under a different name, and likewise if it didn’t show up in time for its currently-slated March 27 Season of Mist issue, but whenever and however it arrives, the first Saint Vitus album since 1995 and the first with Scott “Wino” Weinrich on vocals since 1990 is easily the most anticipated doom release of the year. Put to tape by Tony Reed — with whom I was fortunate enough to recently speak about making the album — most of the record was recorded live, and since that’s where Vitus has shined since coming back in 2009, I’m definitely looking forward to hearing how they translate their momentum into a new studio outing.

 

Colour Haze, She Said: I can’t imagine how frustrated the German heavy psych progenitors must be by now. Seriously — She Said was on my list last year. The trio, led by guitarist/vocalist Stefan Koglek, who also helms the Elektrohasch label, spent all of 2011 hindered by technical problems, and though we did a track premiere back in October for the song “Transformation,” the album has yet to materialize around it. It’s a heartbreaker every time Koglek sends an update, and we can only hope at this point that they continue to stick with it, because if there’s ever been a worthy cause, it’s a new Colour Haze record.

 

Greenleaf: According to reports, the Swedish trad-rock supergroup with members of Dozer, Truckfighters and Demon Cleaner started recording the follow-up to 2007′s fucking incredible Agents of Ahriman in November, and the latest is that Oskar Cedarmalm was set to start vocals on Dec. 26. I’ll tell you flat out that when this record arrives, I’m gonna be such a dork for it that you’re going to be tired of hearing about it. You’re going to load up this page and be like, “Ah Jeebus, not another post about how much ass Greenleaf kicks.” They’re the reason I’m going to London Desertfest in April and the prospect of a new album kept me from jumping in front of a train on several occasions throughout the recent holiday season. No shit.

 

High on Fire: The prospect of a new High on Fire album in 2012, on the other hand, wasn’t all that exciting to me initially, but when it was announced that Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou was manning the production at his GodCity studio, that was more than enough to change my mind. My whole complaint with High on Fire‘s last album, 2010′s Snakes for the Divine, was that it sounded too watered-down and there wasn’t enough grit in the production. If anyone’s going to fix that, it could be Ballou, who recently brought Black Cobra‘s massive thrash intensity to bear on the excellent Invernal. Either way, will be interesting.

 

Neurosis: I don’t even remember where I saw it at this point, whether it was Thee Facebooks or the forum or what, but the news that Neurosis had started preliminary recordings with Steve Albini for their next album filled me with enough dorkish glee that I chose to include them as the sixth in a five-band feature, despite having zero confirmation either that such has actually happened or that the album will be out by the close of this year. And really, it doesn’t matter. If Neurosis are possibly making a new record, then I’m definitely looking forward to it, and that’s just the way the universe works. Hard to believe it will have been half a decade since Given to the Rising was released, since I feel like I still haven’t digested that record, but if it takes the rest of my life to catch up (and it probably will), then I know my time won’t have been misspent.

Ditto the Pt. 1 post: there’s more. Full-lengths to (possibly) come from Kyuss, Ancestors, Conan, Trippy Wicked and the Cosmic Children of the Night, Samothrace, Crippled Black Phoenix, Earth, Wight, Curse the Son, Cathedral, Wino/Conny Ochs, Shrinebuilder, Om and I don’t even know how many others set up 2012 as an incredible year yet to unfold, and tired as I am even just thinking about all the adjectival phrases it’s going to take me to get through it, I can’t fucking wait.

Because, really, it’s the music. If we don’t have anything else, we’ve got that, and it’s comforting to know that on the hardest days this year will bring — and I don’t doubt that for many of us it will bring no shortage of hard days — we’ll still have music. I look forward more than I can say to hearing these creative works, and hopefully sharing them with you as much as this weird internet portal makes me able to do so.

If I’ve missed anything, I hope you’ll leave a comment to remind. The only thing better than a bunch of records to look forward to is even more records to look forward to, so have at it.

I’m a sucker for consistency, so I’m going to keep this to the same kind of format as last year’s 2011 preview — real low key, real stuff I’m actually looking forward to being released. It’s not about what band is the biggest, or who has the most hype, but about who’s kicking what ass and how much it’s happening. Pretty simple parameters we’re working with here.

If you don’t recall last year and didn’t already click that link in the paragraph above out of curiosity, here’s how it works: I take five records I”ve heard and five I haven’t, and over the course of two days, we get a list of 10 albums reportedly to come in 2012 (these things don’t always work out, as we’ll get into more tomorrow with Colour Haze) that hopefully most people can agree with or at least be only mildly outraged at.

Today, it’s the sure bets. These are records that’ll see release early this year that I’ve already heard and can vouch for. I haven’t reviewed all of them yet, but I will, so consider this a precursor to that if you want. They’re not in any order but that in which they occurred to me to write down. In any case, here goes:

Snail, Terminus: Their 2009 reunion album, Blood, has stood the test of the going-on-three years since its release on MeteorCity, and the four-piece are set to follow it up this year with Terminus, an album that hopefully doesn’t live up to its name in being their last. The songwriting, which made for ultra-memorable tracks on Blood, is just as epic here, and each cut seems to have a personality of its own while still flowing together as a whole. What you really need to know about it — it’s heavy as hell. I wouldn’t be surprised to see myself typing about it again come list time this December.

Orange Goblin, A Eulogy for the Damned: Another foreboding album title, this seventh full-length from the London doomers (review here) finds them embracing the anthemic on “The Filthy and the Few” and going full-on spooky for “The Fog.” It’s a mature album, and maybe a little too clean in terms of production, but these guys never fail to deliver, and A Eulogy for the Damned can only add to the increase in profile the last couple years has seen for Orange Goblin. When it comes down to it, they’re one of the best live acts in doom, so they can’t lose in bringing this material to the stage.

Dwellers, Good Morning Harakiri: Iota, the prior outfit of Dwellers guitarist/vocalist Joey Toscano, found a small but loyal cult when they released Tales on Small Stone in 2008. I’d expect no different for Dwellers, which teams Toscano with the rhythm section of SubRosa‘s last album, bassist Dave Jones and drummer Zach Hatsis. The album balances bluesy riffs and spacey ambience with terrifying ease, saving expansive jamming for its two side-closers while bolstering a classic songwriting feel elsewhere. A great mix and a welcome return from Toscano. Full review here.

Corrosion of Conformity, Corrosion of Conformity: I’ve got this slated to be reviewed tomorrow, and next week I’ll have my Q&A with bassist/vocalist Mike Dean posted, so between that, the live review Monday, and the announcement of their headlining tour, it’s an awful lot of C.O.C. around here lately. Can’t say they didn’t earn it. Their upcoming self-titled seems to distill about 30 years of growth into 11 high-quality tracks that not only recall the trio’s Animosity-era glory days, but push them further into places they’ve never gone before. It’s a fascinating and surprising album on a lot of levels, and I think once people have a chance to hear it, they’re going to really embrace what the band is doing.

Black Pyramid, II: A song from this went up just yesterday, so I admit, it’s on my mind lately, but the second LP from Massachusetts trio Black Pyramid is one of early 2012′s highlights for sure. If you don’t believe me, you can get it yourself ahead of its release date from MeteorCity at All That is Heavy, and when you do, I think you’ll find that it’s the melodies making the songs as epic as the riffs and the tales of battles and conquests. As the final statement from this incarnation of the band, it’s also the strongest work they’ve done yet.

There’s more, obviously. No matter how much you do, there’s always more. Records from The Devil’s Blood (which had its Euro release last year but will be out in North America this month), Infernal Overdrive (review here) and Sun Gods in Exile come to mind as being particularly killer, and in the “heard some already” category, the field expands to include the likes of Blood of the Sun, Pagan Altar, Stubb, Crippled Black Phoenix and others as well, so it already looks like it’s going to be a busy year.

The real challenge though is going to be narrowing tomorrow’s speculation picks down to just five. Not sure I’m going to be able to do it, but I’ll try my best.

Stick around — more tomorrow!

Remember when I said the last list was the last list? I lied.

Probably the first thing you’re going to notice about this top 20 is that there are 36 bands on it. Go figure. There were a bunch of bands that tied, and I didn’t think it was fair to leave anyone out, so there’s a couple number nines, a few 18s. You know how it is.

For those, I just put them with the same number in alphabetical order, and left it at that. I was glad to have a definitive number one and two though, and I was super surprised what the number one pick was, but I checked and rechecked the numbers, so it’s right. You should’ve seen me doing the math yesterday — a very sad picture of me counting on my fingers. But the numbers don’t lie: It’s Graveyard all the way.

I was sure it’d be YOB. The whole time, YOB was in the lead, but in the end, they just didn’t win out. Here’s the full list with the numbers of votes:

1. Graveyard, Hisingen Blues – 69
2. YOB, Atma – 64
3. Red Fang, Murder the Mountains – 42
4. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Blood Lust – 36
5. Elder, Dead Roots Stirring – 34
5. Lo-Pan, Salvador – 34
6. Mastodon, The Hunter – 33
7. Weedeater, Jason… the Dragon – 30
8. Orchid, Capricorn – 25
9. The Gates of Slumber, The Wretch – 23
9. Rwake, Rest – 23
10. Premonition 13, 13 – 22
11. Blood Ceremony, Living with the Ancients – 21
12. The Atlas Moth, An Ache for the Distance – 18
12. Wo Fat, Noche del Chupacabra – 18
13. Sungrazer, Mirador – 17
14. Opeth, Heritage – 16
14. Radio Moscow, The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz – 16
14. The Wounded Kings, In the Chapel of the Black Hand – 16
15. Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky – 14
15. Roadsaw, Roadsaw – 14
16. Black Cobra, Invernal – 13
16. Dark Castle, Surrender to all Life Beyond Form – 13
16. 40 Watt Sun, The Inside Room – 13
16. Tombs, Path of Totality – 13
17. Lord Vicar, Signs of Osiris – 11
17. Wolves in the Throne Room, Celestial Lineage – 11
18. The Atomic Bitchwax, The Local Fuzz – 10
18. Indian, Guiltless – 10
18. Sigiriya, Return to Earth – 10
18. Pentagram, Last Rites – 10
19. Grails, Deep Politics – 9
19. Monkey3, Beyond the Black Sky – 9
19. Russian Circles, Empros – 9
19. Sourvein, Black Fangs – 9
20. Freedom Hawk, Holding On – 8
20. Serpent Venom, Carnal Altar – 8

A big thanks to the 190 people who participated by submitting a list. I’d actually forgotten that there was a readers poll in 2010, but looking back at the results now and seeing Ufomammut won with 11 votes, it’s good to know there was some growth between then and now. Happy New Year to you and yours, and please know that your contribution here is appreciated.

I should say up front that there were way more than just five albums I didn’t hear in 2011. Five is just a convenient number. It’s half of 10, prime, odd, easily multiplied, etc. I could probably do a top 20 if I felt like it, but frankly, I don’t. Much as I (apparently) enjoy making a show of my ignorance, even that thrill has its limits.

Reactions varied to this year’s top 20 list when it went up, which was to be expected, and I appreciated it that people felt strongly enough to point out things I missed or things they felt deserved inclusion. That’s awesome. It gives me more records to hunt down, and well, what the hell is the point of all of this if not that?

Reserving the right to either purchase or not purchase these albums in the future depending on my cash flow, momentary impulse and fluctuations in taste, here’s the list. You should probably note that, since I didn’t hear any of them, the numbers are basically meaningless.

1. Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Blood Lust

When this didn’t make the top 20, the response was so immediate and horrified that I actually went and bought the damn thing off eBay. Import price, no less. Seriously, people were pissed. Windows were broken by flying bricks of disgust. Cars were flipped over and set on fire. “Oh my god it’s retro British occult doom how could you not have it on your list?” The hype being as massive as it is, I only hope my contrary nature (read: prickishness) doesn’t get the best of me and actually prevent me from enjoying it when it comes. Either way,  I’ll write on it. Not a full review, but something.

2. Orchid, Capricorn
One of several releases on The Church Within Records that I would’ve preferred to have been able to review (looking at you too, Serpent Venom and Lord Vicar), but I’m only one man, I only have so much money, and I feel bad chasing stuff down when there’s a list of records waiting to be written up. Plus, after a nasty one-liner about their performance at Planet Caravan in 2009 and a meh writeup on their Through the Devil’s Doorway EP, I don’t think I’m even on their radar for people whose opinions they care to hear about a full-length. Fair enough. I’ll probably pick up Capricorn eventually regardless.

3. Tombs, Path of Totality
Years ago, I interviewed Mike Hill for the Aquarian when the former Anodyne guitarist/vocalist was releasing that band’s The First Four Years compilation on his own Black Box Recordings. He was a nice guy, and he talked about starting a new band in Brooklyn that was in a heavier direction. That turned out to be Tombs. And then they signed to Relapse, and then they were really popular. I wasn’t too huge on their first record, and this one just kind of fell through the cracks, but by all accounts it’s fairly amazing. I don’t doubt it.

4. Hammers of Misfortune, 17th Street
While I’m reliving irrelevant memories (see #3 above), at SXSW in 2007, I was at a merch table for a show Weedeater were playing. Maybe it was Om. Or both. Slough Feg were also on the bill, though I’d missed them, and I wound up drunkenly buying everything Hammers of Misfortune had for sale from Sanford Parker, who assured me they kicked ass. I don’t recall ever finding out one way or the other, and neither did I manage to keep up with the band’s 2008 double release, Fields/Church of Broken Glass, but each time they put out a record, I feel like I should get aboard, and this one’s no different.

5. Argus, Boldly Stride the Doomed
I was given a free download of the album, I got the .zip file, and then it sat there. And in the end, I didn’t not review it because I didn’t want to listen — I didn’t review it because I didn’t want to listen, dig the hell out of it and then have to go buy it. That’s the truth. It’s nothing against Pittsburgh trad doomers Argus, whom I’ve seen live and whose sound I dig a lot — I just didn’t want to have to shell out the cash for another record. Would be a different scenario if they were playing a show, and hopefully I’ll run into them over the course of the next year and be able to make fiscal amends for my neglect.

Honorable mention goes to Seven that Spells, The Heavy Eyes and probably six or seven others I can’t think of. You know, I was kind of hoping that doing this feature would make me feel better about missing out on some of this stuff, but nope. I just feel lame and out of touch. Maybe in 2012 I’ll be cool enough to keep up, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

He’s been in and around the Cleveland, Ohio, sludge scene for about as long as it’s been there for him to be in and around it, and as guitarist in bands like Fistula, Ultralord, King Travolta, Necrodamus, Sollubi (in which he played bass), Bibilic Blood and Morbid Wizard, Scott Stearns has helped shape the misanthropic, vitriolic sound of the Midwest. Seated on the left in the picture above of his latest band, Morbid Wizard, Stearns has also contributed album art to both his comrades’ bands and to those outside Ohio‘s borders, and his graphic style is as manic and terrifying as the music.

Credited occasionally as Wizard or Wizardfool or some derivation thereof, Stearns is also intensely prolific. This year, Morbid Wizard made their debut in the form of Lord of the Rats (review here) and his duo Bibilic Blood released their third album in three years, Blood Butterfly (review here). Though the projects are vastly different — the one a who’s who of Ohio sludge players and the other a nightmarish horror-psych two-piece — Stearns brings something unique to both in his playing and his art. There’s no bullshit in either. No compromise of form. No play to accessibility. Any one of his visual works on your notebook would get you immediately expelled from high school, and his music is all viciousness and disaffection — the stuff of landmark sludge.

His mastery of underground forms notwithstanding, I wanted to hit up Stearns with Six Dumb Questions to talk mostly about how Morbid Wizard came together around musicians from Fistula, Rue, Sollubi, Accept Death and others — those being drummer Corey Bing, guitarist Bahb Branca, bassist Mike Duncan and vocalist Jesse Kling — but there was room as well to discuss the terrifying nature of Bibilic Blood and his work with bassist/vocalist Suzy Psycho in that band, as well as his development as a designer and artist. Even so, this is really just the beginning of Stearns‘ portfolio, and for more, you should check out his website at stearnsdog.com.

Please note too that the art accompanying the Q&A is all by Stearns and that any images can be enlarged by clicking on them. Hope you enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Morbid Wizard brings in members from many different projects. How do you all find the time to get together and how did the band form in the first place. Is Morbid Wizard the priority for everyone involved?

Morbid Wizard was formed by me and Corey Bing. We had gotten together and jammed a couple times but hadn’t really done anything for a while. The last band we were both in was called Blackwell that was a hardcore band with Larry Gargus from Don Austin on vokills. Blackwell recorded an album and then fell apart but me and Corey were always trying to get something going over the winter and finally we just said fuck it and booked two days at SUMA Studios with Paul Hamman. SUMA is an awesome studio where Grand Funk recorded their first albums, Bloodrock, Shok Paris, Destructor, Integrity and a lot of other classic bands. Paul let us use some of his vintage Marshall cabinets and a HiWatt head, I also used my SICK head and the plan was to just get completely retarded with high volume. Corey got Bahb from Fistula to play second guitar, Mike Duncan from Black Mayonnaise on bass and noise, and Jesse from Sollubi on vokills and noise. Morbid Wizard is not really a priority for anyone, it’s just something we are going to keep trying to do when we get the chance. Everyone has their main bands that they are dedicated to. We are working on new material, so hopefully we will get it done and have an EP or another record out next year.

2. Talk about the sludge scene in Ohio. It seems like there’s a really dedicated group of people (many of whom are in Morbid Wizard) who’ve been in bands with each other for a while now. Did it really all start with Sloth and Nunslaughter? What’s the area like, and where do the best shows happen? How did it begin for you, and what do you think allowed the community of bands that’s there now to develop?

I got into it in the ‘80s when I was in high school. I was into punk at first, like Black Flag, G.B.H., The Bad Brains, X, Suicidal Tendencies, Dead Kennedys, and I would go to punk shows but then I started getting into metal and thrash bands like Metallica, Mercyful Fate, Slayer, Exodus, Venom, Voivod, Hellhammer, Celtic Frost. My favorite local bands were Destructor and False Hope. Destructor is still playing today and some of the guys in False Hope went on to play in Keelhaul and some other good bands. Nunslaughter has been around playing death metal since the ‘80s. I think the people that have been around forever have a true love for making heavy metal, punk, noise, sludge, whatever.

My first band that I played guitar for was Die Hard, with Aaron Melnick, Dwid, Chubby Fresh and Stork, that was the band before they became Integrity. We recorded an album in 1989 called Looking Out for Number One.

I think my first Introduction to sludge metal was doing artwork for Sneak from Shifty Records. He gave me a whole bunch of awesome CDs: Fistula[‘s] Hymns of Slumber, Church of Misery, Weedeater, Abdullah, Cruevo, RUE, Sofa King Killer, Mugwart, Rwake, Beaten Back to Pure. Then I met Corey Bing around 2002 when Fistula played a festival with Weedeater, Soul Preacher, Bongzilla, Red Giant, Boulder, and Mastodon before they were really big. I was playing guitar in Madman Mundt, which I loved but I also wanted to do something much slower so we recorded the first Necrodamus EP at Rock Solid Studio in Cleveland and I called up Corey and asked if he would be interested in singing on it. Then after that, we recorded the first Ultralord record, Act 1.

I live about 30 miles east of Cleveland. Lake Erie is two blocks down the street from where I live. Most of the people are just regular working stiffs, there are a good amount of mutated Chernobyl fallout hillbillies around here but they keep it interesting and give it a creepy 1950s small town feeling. The best place to see bands is at Now That’s Class over on the west side of Cleveland. Peabody’s also has some good big-name metal bands that come through Cleveland and the Beachland and Grogshop have some good bands closer to where I live.

3. Your art graces many of the covers for these releases and of course others as well. How did you get your start as an artist and what can you say about the development of your style? Is there something behind your decision to use color for one piece and not another?

Growing up I was very heavily into comic books, Dungeons and Dragons, Heavy Metal and Epic magazines, Frank Frazetta, H.R. Geiger, and H.P. Lovecraft. Then I went to high school with some of the guys in False Hope and did flyers for them. It wasn’t until a couple years after that Dr. Maxar Berezium from 100,000 Leagues Under My Nutsack asked me to do the cover of his first album Welcome to the Fold. He was a big influence because he was always asking me to do artwork for t-shirts and stickers and posters. He would go all over the country and Europe putting up stickers with my art. Then other people would ask him about the artwork and if they could get me to do something for them.

I have just recently started to experiment with color using Photoshop. Trying to figure out how to do it has taken a while but I think I’m getting better now. For the Bibilic Blood records I used color because Suzy Psycho specifically wanted the alien on the first cover to be green and we liked it a lot so we decided to make them all color.

4. How did you get involved in Bibilic Blood, and how does that compare to the other bands you’ve been in? There’s something so horrifying about Bibilic Blood’s music. Not that I think there are animal sacrifices or anything, but what’s the atmosphere like when Bibilic Blood is writing songs? Where does this stuff come from?

Bibilic Blood is mine and Suzy Psycho’s band, we started out by just making noise on a 4-track, then started recording on a digital 8-track. Bibilic Blood is different because our studio is set up in our living room so we can practice and record whenever we feel like it. We don’t do any animal sacrifices because we love all the furry little creatures that live in the woods, but it is very easy to imagine some of the weirdos that live around us are doing some animal or human sacrifices right now in their living rooms. Part of the atmosphere is that we are always aware that the outside world is full of horrific nightmare people and places, so we are just grateful that we can hang out and have a good time and play music together. We have a black light we turn on, then Suzy comes up with some riffs and we jam them out and record it when we get something we like. Then Suzy does her vokill tracks and then I will do the guitar parts a little at a time over the next couple days.

5. Do you see yourself as bringing something consistent across the board to the many different bands you’ve played with, or do your contributions depend on the other players involved? How does your visual art play into that? Is it harder making covers for a band you’re in or someone who’s hired you from the outside?

Yeah I think all the bands I’ve played in are mostly about coming up with a couple good heavy riffs and tying them together. I always look to my favorite bands for inspiration Slayer, Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Mercyful Fate, DIO, Ozzy, Venom, Celtic Frost, Cirith Ungol, Suicidal Tendencies, Black Flag, Saint Vitus. I am always happy to do art for the bands I play in because for me the artwork is a really important part of the band. There is some more pressure doing art for other bands because I always want it to be as sick as possible especially when it’s a band I am a really big fan of.

6. Any other plans, new releases or closing words you want to mention?

We are working on new Morbid Wizard songs for hopefully a 2012 EP or album, Bibilic Blood is going to have two new songs on the SLUDGESAPIENS tape compilation put out by Quagmire located in the barbarian Russian wastelands, and we are working on new Ancient Sickness.

Scott Stearns’ website

Morbid Wizard on Thee Facebooks

 

The release of Blackfinger‘s self-titled debut in the coming weeks will mark the first record in 14-plus years that frontman Eric Wagner will have made without the band Trouble behind him. And where Lid‘s 1997 outing, In the Mushroom, teamed him with Danny Cavanaugh of Anathema for a one-off recording that never resulted in any shows, Blackfinger emerged earlier this year as a full-fledged band — a double-guitar five-piece with stand-up bass — making their presence felt at the Days of the Doomed fest in Wisconsin.

For that set, they were joined by former Trouble drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson and bassist Ron Holzner (currently of Retro Grave and Earthen Grave, respectively), who did guest spots performing Trouble material, so as much as Wagner has moved forward creatively after ending his tenure in one of American doom’s landmark and most influential acts, he hasn’t stubbornly refused to acknowledge his past. Rather, as Blackfinger shows in their first single, “All the Leaves are Brown,” he seems to have embraced it, while also progressing creatively on his own terms with new guitarists Rico Bianchi and Doug Hakes, bassist Ben Smith and drummer Larry Piatz.

We spoke just a few days after Thanksgiving and a few more after Blackfinger played a hometown show in Chicago (at which they were joined by Trouble guitarist Bruce Franklin), and in his trademark low-register deadpan speaking voice — a marked contrast to how he sings — Wagner discussed the evolution of Blackfinger from its nascence as a solo acoustic project into the band it is today, the recording of the album, which at the time was being mixed by Vincent Wojno, the prospects for a vinyl release, and his plans going forward.

Wagner‘s voice is one of the most storied in metal, let alone doom, but I wanted to keep the conversation as current as possible — that is, I didn’t want to veer into, “Hey dude, remember when you sang ‘The Wolf?’” — and I found that his perspective on his past and present is as unique as his melodies have been across these many years. What his future is in Blackfinger or otherwise is uncertain, but even about that uncertainty, the singer remains completely honest and open. It’s fitting that “All the Leaves are Brown” would be the first Blackfinger music from the album to make it to public ears, since the allusion Wagner makes at the end of the track to The Mamas and the Papas song “California Dreaming” is the perfect example of how up front he is when examining where he comes from and where he’s going.

Please find the complete Q&A with Wagner after the jump, and please enjoy.

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Included at the bottom of this post is a live clip of German stonerly trio Wight performing in their native Darmsdadt. Taken from the band’s upcoming DVD Wight Home Weedio (get it?) and the same audio source as their split 10″ with Stone Axe, the song is the title-track from their 2011 Wight Weedy Wight debut (review here), which was self-released through Fat and Holy Records and among the most sincere executions of unabashed stoner groove I heard all year. If you watch the video, you’ll notice the band has trails.

Now, that could be an effect put on in editing, but I prefer to think that wherever Wight go, they have those trails with them. They’re just that stoner rock. So, if Wight goes to the cash machine? Trails. Wight orders a sandwich for lunch? Trails. Wight lets loose some awesome languid riffing and heady jams? Trails. In fact, even if that’s not the case, don’t tell me. I’d rather live with my fantasy, however contradicted by the fire and sundry psychedelic visuals that come up later on as the song progresses.

Wight Weedy Wight followed a simple and familiar enough formula for crafting cool and natural sounding heavy psych, and though it was still obviously a first album and pretty rudimentary in terms of style, it rocked and showed potential for righteous jams to come. Having already previewed the follow-up sophomore outing — to be titled Through the Woods into Deep Water — with a free download of a new demo called “You!” (streaming here), Wight look to already be developing the classically spaced-out side of their sound and balancing it with their organically jammed mentality. Right on.

Before Through the Woods into Deep Water hits this coming spring, I wanted to bug the three-piece with Six Dumb Questions just to get some basic idea of what they’re all about and what went into making Wight Weedy Wight, and caught them just as they were hitting the road with Bushfire on their “Malakas of the Universe” tour.

Wight is guitarist/vocalist Rene Hofmann, bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn (also of black metal outfit Fallen Tyrant) and drummer Michael Kluck. Please enjoy the following Six Dumb Questions:

1. Tell me about how the band got together. What was it that first sparked the idea for Wight, and how did the three of you join up?

Rene: When I came to Darmstadt, I wanted to found a new band because I had a lot of ideas. In all of my previous bands, I was only the vocalist, and this time I wanted to play guitar too in order to combine my ideas for vocal and guitar melodies.

Peter and I met in late 2007, and after some months of searching we found a drummer in April 2008. We started with some of my ideas, and with the input of the other two band members we developed a heavy, doomy style. On our first demo and a lot of unreleased material you can hear that. We played a couple of gigs in 2009 before we parted ways with our old drummer. Michael and I knew each other from working in a record store. Michael joined the band in February 2010, and we really started all over from there. We developed a really awesome workflow and wrote, arranged and recorded Wight Weedy Wight within a couple of months.

2. How much of Wight’s songwriting comes from jamming out on the riffs? How are the riffs pieced together, and if that’s the way it goes, how are the songs kind of carved out of those jams?

Peter: Rene usually comes up with the riffs, we start jamming on them in the practice room and Michael and I develop our parts. Usually, Rene also has some rough ideas for the structure, and we refine them together. On one or two occasions, we also started from a drumbeat or a bass line, but usually Rene‘s guitar riffs are the base for our compositions.

3. Tell me about recording Wight Weedy Wight. How much of the album was recorded live, and as your debut, how much does it show what you want the sound of Wight to be?

Rene: We recorded the album live, together in a 200sqm studio. It was a cool experience recording that way. Our engineer Jorge [Medina] also helped a lot with that. I recorded some guitar overdubs afterwards, as well as all of the vocals.

It is important to know that we recorded Wight Weedy Wight after only about half a year together as a band. So the songs have a kind of impulsive vibe to them, which really forms the sound. It’s always that way when we write new songs, and you will hear that on future recordings.

4. How did the split with Stone Axe come about? When were those jams recorded, and will any of that material make it onto Through the Woods into Deep Water? Do you know yet when the next record will be out?

Michael: Yeah, man, ask Tony.

Rene: Michael and I saw Stone Axe at Roadburn 2011 and were blown away by the performance. I took out my camera, filmed two songs and sent the videos to Tony [Reed] later. I told him about Fat & Holy Records. Together, we had the idea to release a split because I told him we had recorded a jam session during the Wight Weedy Wight sessions – the “Cosmic Rhythm #2.” He said he was about to record three jams in the studio with his band for the B-side. The other Wight track on the split LP is a live version of “Wight Weedy Wight” which was recorded in Darmstadt early this year.

Peter: The tracks are exclusively released on the split, they will not be included on the new album. We will release Through the Woods Into Deep Water in March or April, but we do not have a fixed date yet.

Rene: It all depends on how soon the mixing and the layout are done.

5. You guys have signed on to play the Berlin Desertfest. Will you tour around that, or do other strings of dates in Europe for the new album? Any chance you’d hook up with Wiht from the UK and do a “Wight on Wiht” tour?

Rene: We don’t have any tour dates confirmed for the new album. We will play a couple of gigs in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands in February and March together with our friends from Bushfire, though. We hope to play some more gigs around or after Desertfest. The Wiht guys seem to be nice, I hope to see them live or even play with them some day. Like they said, a “Missing G Tour” … ;-)

6. Any other plans or closing words you want to mention?

If you ask something like that, we go Darkthrone on you and just drop a bunch of names of bands and friends you should check out: Bushfire, Fallen Tyrant, Black Lizard, Godless Funk of Bonanza, The Wolves, Manges, Burden, The Gasoline Disaster, Okta Logue, 1000mods, Sun of Nothing, Cherry Choke, Coogans Bluff, Hyne, Toner Low, Broken Spirits, Negativvm, Robotnik.

Wight’s website

Wight on Thee Facebooks

In 2012, it will have been 17 years since Saint Vitus released their last studio album, Die Healing. Following the dissolution, 2003 reformation, dissolution and ongoing 2009 reunion of the band, the new full-length, reportedly titled Lillie: F-65, will be issued on March 27 by Season of Mist. It’s the first album to feature drummer Henry Vasquez, who came aboard in 2009 to fill the role of the late and then-ailing Armando Acosta, and the first album since 1990′s V to feature Scott “Wino” Weinrich on vocals alongside Dave Chandler‘s trademark guitar sound and Mark Adams‘ bass.

Even if Saint Vitus wasn’t arguably the best American doom band ever to walk the earth, Lillie: F-65 would be an event just for how long it’s been since the last record. But Vitus, who played Roadburn in 2009 and subsequently embarked on both American and European tours, are among the most influential doom acts of all time. In both their sound and their attitude, they set the template for what would become the miseries still prevalent in the genre today, and having seen them live on multiple occasions since this latest reunion got going, including seeing them perform the new song “Blessed Night” on the Metalliance tour earlier this year with Crowbar, Helmet, Red Fang and Kylesa, I can say with certainty their appeal is more than nostalgic.

The end of June 2010 found Saint Vitus on the road for a week-long West Coast US run alongside Washington classic rockers Stone Axe. The connection there is that T. Dallas Reed (sometimes referred to around here as Tony) plays guitar with Vasquez in his own ’70s-obsessed band, the formidable rock powerhouse Blood of the Sun, but after recording a live Vitus demo in his HeavyHead studio, it was decided that he should be the one to helm the album.

Reed, whose side-project HeavyPink is the latest release on The Maple Forum (I mention it because I’d be remiss not to; it doesn’t come up in the interview once), emailed me late one night a while back and asked if we could talk on the phone the next day. It was about 1AM on the East Coast and I said I was still up if he wanted to call. The sheer excitement in his voice as he recounted being in the studio with Saint Vitus as they tracked their new album was palpable. As much as he was a professional involved in making Lillie: F-65, he’s clearly also a fan.

I didn’t record that conversation — would be weird to just tap my own phone — but we spoke again not too long ago about the process of getting one of 2012′s most anticipated albums to tape (yes, literally tape), and Reed was no less enthusiastic to discuss the project of working with and recording Saint Vitus and watching as Lillie: F-65 began to take its final shape. You’ll find that complete Q&A, along with some info about Reed‘s work with Blood of the Sun, Stone Axe and the regrouped Mos Generator, after the jump.

Also included are some pictures and video of Vitus in the studio, which come courtesy of Reed himself. Please enjoy.

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Please note: This list is made up of my personal picks, not the results of the Readers Poll, which is ongoing — if you haven’t added your top 11 to that yet, please do.

It was an impossible task to keep up with everything that came out this year. I’ll say flat out that I didn’t. There are records that I just didn’t get to hear, and I should note at the outset that this list is mine. It’s based on my personal opinions, what I listened to the most this year and what I think 2011′s most crucial releases have been.

I’ve spent the better part of this week (and last, if brain-time counts) constructing this list, and I finally got it to a point where I feel comfortable sharing. Since last December, I’ve kept a Post-It of names, and all year, I’ve logged bands I’d want to consider for the final top 20. In the end, there were 78 bands and more that I didn’t get to write down for whatever reason. 2011 was nothing if it wasn’t overwhelming.

But here we are, anyway, and it’s done. Let’s get to it:

20. Suplecs, Mad Oak Redux

Released by Small Stone. Reviewed Nov. 5, 2010.

This is nothing if not a sentimental pick. Last year, I put Electric Wizard in the #20 spot because the record wasn’t out yet, and this year, I’m putting Suplecs (interview with bassist Danny Nick here) in just because I couldn’t imagine this list without them. Until literally a few minutes before I clicked “Publish” on this post, there was someone else in this spot, but ultimately, it had to be them. The New Orleans trio’s first record in half a decade wasn’t what I listened to most in 2011, it wasn’t the best album, or the most important, or career-defining, but when it came right down to it, god damn, I was just happy to have Suplecs back. It had been too long.

19. Elvis Deluxe, Favourite State of Mind

Released by Harmony Records. Reviewed June 14.

After a while, I was kind of shocked to find myself continuing to listen to Favourite State of Mind, the second album by Polish rockers Elvis Deluxe. The record’s dynamics didn’t immediately open up to me, but once I dug into the songs, I was wowed by their balance of catchy hooks and substantial-sounding riffs. The album was genre-relevant without being genre-minded, with vocal changes, organ, atmospheric shifts and a whole host of moods and turns. After hearing their 2007 debut, Lazy, I wasn’t expecting much out of the norm from Favourite State of Mind, and I’m still thrilled by just how wrong I was, and “Take it Slow” is among my favorite single songs of the year.

18. 40 Watt Sun, The Inside Room

Released by Metal Blade. Reviewed Aug. 11.

The gloomy opening statement from former Warning guitarist/vocalist Patrick Walker turned heads around the world with its unabashed emotional conviction, which was so much the central focus of the record as to be made a novelty by those who don’t usually consider doom an emotionally relevant genre (the widespread arguments against that notion I’ll leave for another time). What most stood out to me about The Inside Room was how the sentimentality translated into a gorgeous melodic sensibility and resulted in a lonely mood that was engrossing. On that level, it was easily among 2011′s most effective releases. It made you feel what it seemed to be feeling.

17. Sigiriya, Return to Earth

Released by The Church Within. Reviewed May 27.

It was an album that lived up to its name. Return to Earth marked the remaking of one of heavy rocks most stoned outfits: Acrimony. But, as Sigiriya (interview with drummer Darren Ivey here), the four-piece (down from five) would show that the years since the demise of their former band had found them progressing as musicians, resulting in a sound less directly stoner, more modern, more earthy. The songs, however, were what made it. It’s still a rare day that goes by that I don’t hum at least part of the chorus of “Mountain Goat” to myself, and if Return to Earth was a new beginning for these players, I can’t wait to see where they go next.

16. Totimoshi, Avenger

Released by At a Loss. Reviewed Aug. 16.

In addition to being Totimoshi‘s first album for At a Loss following the end of their deal with Volcom, Avenger was the first Totimoshi record since 2003′s ¿Mysterioso? not to be produced by Page Hamilton, and where 2006′s Ladrón and 2008′s Milagrosa moved away from some of the noisy crunch in the guitar of Tony Aguilar (interview here), Avenger managed to be both a return to form and a progression of the band’s melodicism. It seems, as ever, to have flown under most radars, but Totimoshi continue to refine their songwriting and have become one of the heavy underground’s most formidable and least classifiable bands.

15. Grifter, Grifter

Released by Ripple Music. Reviewed Aug. 30.

With their 2010 EP release, upstart British trio Grifter informed us that The Simplicity of the Riff is Key, and on their self-titled Ripple Music debut, they put that ethic to excellent use, resulting in straightforward, catchy songs that were as high-octane as they were low-bullshit. The ultra-catchy “Good Day for Bad News” showed Grifter at the top of their form, and with a dose of humor thrown in, Grifter was the drunken stoner rock party you always wanted to be invited to and, of course, finally were. Now if only I could get Skype to work and get that interview with Ollie Stygall moving, I’d be happy to tell him personally he put out one of 2011′s most kickass rock records.

14. The Book of Knots, Garden of Fainting Stars

Released by Ipecac. Reviewed June 16.

I don’t know what’s most impressive about The Book of Knots‘ Garden of Fainting Stars — the songs themselves or that they were able to make any songs at all. With upwards of 20 guest spots around the core four-piece, the third in a purported trilogy of records from the avant rock originalists was an epic in every listen. Songs like “Microgravity” and the Mike Watt spoken word “Yeager’s Approach” pushed the limits of both genre and expectation, and miraculously, Garden of Fainting Stars was cohesive and enthralling in its narrative aspect. If it really was their last album, it was triumphant in a manner befitting its expanding-universe thematics.

13. Ancestors, Invisible White

Released by Tee Pee. Reviewed July 5.

Had it been a full-length, Invisible White would be higher on this list. Many out there who were enamored of Ancestors‘ 2008 Neptune with Fire debut have gone on to bemoan the Californian collective’s shift away from extended sections of heavy riffing and tales of sea monsters and other things that go “doom” in the night. I’m not one of them. The Invisible White EP was a brave step along a fascinating progression, and as Crippled Black Phoenix didn’t release a new album in 2011, I was glad to have Ancestors there to fill that morose, contemplative void, and I look forward to seeing how they expand on the ideas presented on Invisible White (if they decide to stick to this direction) for their next full-length.

12. Elder, Dead Roots Stirring

Released by MeteorCity. Reviewed Oct. 5.

Speaking of shifting approaches, still-young Massachusetts trio Elder also moved away from the Sleep-centric methods of their 2008 self-titled debut on the follow-up, Dead Roots Stirring. Still based very much around the guitar work of Nick DiSalvo (interview here), Elder songs like “Gemini” and the über-soloed “The End” pushed an influence of European heavy psych into the band’s aesthetic, and the result was both grippingly heavy and blown of mind. As an album long delayed by mixing and business concerns, when Dead Roots Stirring finally arrived, it was a relief to hear that Elder, though they’d varied the path, were still headed in the right direction.

11. The Gates of Slumber, The Wretch

Released by Rise Above. Reviewed May 5.

Hands down the year’s best traditional doom release. The Wretch so gleefully and so earnestly employed the conventions of ’80s-style doom — most especially those of Saint Vitus and Trouble — that even though the lyrical and musical content was miserable, I couldn’t help but smile as I listened. Songs like “Bastards Born” and “The Scovrge ov Drvnkenness” pushed The Gates of Slumber away from the barbarism the Indianapolis outfit had been touting on their last couple albums, including 2008′s Conqueror breakthrough, in favor of a more purely Chandlerian plod. “To the Rack with Them” remains a standout favorite and a line often referenced in my workplace dealings.

10. Weedeater, Jason… the Dragon

Released by Southern Lord. Reviewed Jan. 6.

I don’t know what you say to someone at this point who doesn’t like Weedeater. It just seems like a terrible way to go through life, without the madman ranting of “Dixie” Dave Collins (interview here) echoing perpetually in your ears, or never having witnessed their ultra-viscous fuzz in person. Jason… the Dragon was one of the earliest landmark releases of 2011, and practically the whole year later, it retains its hold, whether it’s the stomping fury of “Mancoon,” the lumbering groove of “Long Gone” or the surprisingly melodic “Homecoming.” The hard-touring, hard-hitting band did right in recording with Steve Albini to capture their live sound, and Jason… the Dragon was their strongest outing yet in terms of both songwriting and that unmistakable quality that makes Weedeater records Weedeater records.

9. Rwake, Rest

Released by Relapse. Reviewed Sept. 6.

I was surprised to see Rwake crack the top 10. Not because their first album in four years, the Sanford Parker-produced Rest, wasn’t superb, but because of how much the songs on the album stayed with me after listening. The Arkansas band’s last outing, Voices of Omens, was heavy and dark and had a lot going for it, but Rest upped the songwriting on every level and together with frontman CT (interview here) adopting a more decipherable shout over most of the record’s four main extended tracks, Rwake felt like a band reborn, and theirs was a highlight among several 2011 albums that showed there’s still room for individual growth and stylistic nuance within the sphere of post-metal.

8. Hull, Beyond the Lightless Sky

Released by The End. Reviewed Oct. 14.

It was back and forth, nine and eight, between Rwake and Hull for a while, but when all was said and done, the fantastic scope of Beyond the Lightless Sky gave the Brooklyn triple-guitar masters the edge. With a narrative structure behind it and a breadth of ambience and crushing, post-doomly riffing, Beyond the Lightless Sky was the defining moment that those who’ve followed Hull since their Viking Funeral demo have been waiting for. In concept, in performance, in sound and structure and heft, it absolutely floored me, and of all the heavy records I’ve heard with the tag applied to them in 2011, Hull‘s second full-length seems most to earn the tag “progressive.” A stunning and groundbreaking achievement.

7. Mars Red Sky, Mars Red Sky

Released by Emergence. Reviewed Aug. 29.

One of 2011′s most fascinating developments has been the boom in European heavy psychedelia, and the self-titled debut from French band Mars Red Sky was among the best releases to blend a jam-based sensibility with thick, warm fuzz and memorable riffs. Together with the sweet-hued vocals of Julien Pras (interview here), those riffs made for some of the most infectious hooks I heard all year on songs like “Strong Reflection” and “Way to Rome,” and where other bands jammed their way into psychedelic oblivion, Mars Red Sky were able to balance their focus on crafting quality songs, so that although they sounded spontaneous, the material was never self-indulgent or lacking accessibility. One just hopes they don’t lose sight of that musical humility their next time out.

6. Grayceon, All We Destroy

Released by Profound Lore. Reviewed on March 8.

There was a point earlier this year at which I had forgotten about All We Destroy. After reviewing it in March, I simply moved on to the next thing on my list, and the thing after, and the thing after. But before I knew it, in my head was the voice of Jackie Perez Gratz, singing the line “As I live and breathe” over her own cello, the guitar of Max Doyle and Max Doyle‘s drums. It got so persistent that, eventually, I went out and bought the record, because the mp3s I’d been given to review simply weren’t enough. That was probably July, and I don’t think I’ve gone a week since without listening to Grayceon. So although I classify it in the same league as Rwake and Hull in terms of what it accomplishes in and for its genre, All We Destroy gets the extra nod for the fact that I simply haven’t been able to let it go. And though I’ve come to further appreciate “Shellmounds,” “Once a Shadow” and “A Road Less Traveled,” the 17-minute “We Can” — from which the above-noted lyric is taken — remains the best single song I heard in 2011.

5. Red Fang, Murder the Mountains

Released by Relapse. Reviewed Feb. 16.

On paper, this one should’ve flopped: Band with minor buzz and a cool video hooks up with indie rock dude to record an album of dopey riffs and beardo bombast. Instead, Red Fang‘s second album and Relapse debut became the 2011 vanguard release for the Portland heavy underground, which is arguably the most fertile scene in the US right now. They toured the record widely, and made another killer video for the mega-single “Wires,” but the reason Murder the Mountains is top five material is because it’s lasted. It was February that I reviewed this record, and March that I interviewed guitarist/vocalist Bryan Giles, and I still can’t get “Into the Eye” and “Hank is Dead” and “Number Thirteen” (especially the latter) out of my head. When it came down to it, the songs on Murder the Mountains lived up to any hype the album received, and I’m a sucker for quality songwriting. I mean, seriously. That key change late into “Number Thirteen?” It’s the stuff of the gods.

4. Graveyard, Hisingen Blues

Released by Nuclear Blast. Reviewed Feb. 25.

I wasn’t particularly a fan of Swedish rockers Graveyard‘s 2008 self-titled debut. Even watching them at Roadburn in 2010, I was underwhelmed. But when I heard Hisingen Blues and was able to get a feel for what the retro-minded foursome were getting at stylistically — and most of all, that they were acknowledging that they were doing it without being glib or ironic about it — I found the material irresistible. We’re getting into seriously indispensable records now; ones that I’ve been unwilling to leave home without since they came, in, and Graveyard‘s Hisingen Blues has been a constant feature in heavy rotation. Everything from the devilish testimony of the title-track to the wiry guitars of the chorus to “Ungrateful are the Dead,” to the Skynyrd-ified solo capping “Uncomfortably Numb”: It’s been a year of revelry in all of it, and since they overcame my prejudice to impress on such a level, Graveyard (interview with drummer Axel Sjöberg here) are all the more deserving of their spot on this list.

3. Sungrazer, Mirador

Released by Elektrohasch. Reviewed Sept. 9.

What I hear in the second album from Dutch trio Sungrazer is the heralding of a new generation of fuzz rock. Taking influence from their forebears in Colour Haze and Kyuss, the three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets (interview here), bassist/vocalist Sander Haagmans and drummer Hans Mulders followed and surpassed their stellar 2010 debut on every level, playing heavy riffs on expansive psychedelic jams and still finding room for some of 2011′s most memorable choruses in songs like “Sea” and “Goldstrike.” In so doing, Sungrazer affirmed the character of next-gen European fuzz and placed themselves at the fore of their scene, with touring and festival  appearances to support. For their warmth of tone and for the fact that I spent the better part of the summer streaming the record through the Dutch website 3voor12, there was no way they were going to be left out of the top 20. It wasn’t until I sat down and actually put the numbers together, though, that I realized how vital Mirador actually was.

2. Lo-Pan, Salvador

Released by Small Stone. Reviewed Feb. 16.

I was lucky enough to be sent some rough listening mixes of Ohio outfit Lo-Pan‘s Small Stone Records debut (following a reworked reissue of their Sasquanaut sophomore full-length), and in my email back to label head Scott Hamilton, I told him I thought he had a genuine classic on his hands. A year, I don’t even know how many Lo-Pan gigs and listens through Salvador later, I still feel that way 100 percent. If you were from another planet, and we got to talking at a bar, and you asked me what rock and roll should sound like in the place where I’m from, I’d hand you Salvador. I still think they should’ve started the album with “Generations,” but if that’s my biggest gripe, they’re clearly doing alright. “Bird of Prey” was the best live song I saw all year, and I saw it plenty, and cuts like “Bleeding Out” and “Struck Match” set the standard by which I’ll judge American heavy rock for a long time to come. Like the best of any class, Salvador is bigger than just the year in which it was released, and at this point, I don’t know what else to say about it.

1. YOB, Atma

Released by Profound Lore. Reviewed July 6.

This is as good as it gets, and by “it,” I mean life. YOB‘s last album, 2009′s The Great Cessation, was my album of the year that year as well, and I knew from the second I heard the self-produced Atma that nothing to come this year would top it. Like Ufomammut‘s Eve in 2010, Atma brings the entire genre of doom along with it on the new ground it breaks, refining what’s fast becoming YOB‘s signature approach even as it pushes ever forward. I still have to stop whatever I’m doing (not exactly good for productivity) whenever “Prepare the Ground” comes on, and songs like “Adrift in the Ocean” and “Before We Dreamed of Two” were humbling. Seriously. Humbling. Listening to them was like looking at those photographs from the Hubble that cover trillions of miles that we’ll never know and reveal gorgeous colors where our naked eyes only see black. If that sounds hyperbolic, thanks for getting it. YOB guitarist/vocalist Mike Scheidt (interview here) is, almost in spite of himself, one of American doom’s most crucial contributors, and with Atma, he and the rhythm section of bassist Aaron Reiseberg and drummer Travis Foster released what is without a doubt the best album of 2011.

A few quick housekeeping items and we’ll call it quits. First, honorable mentions. If this list went to 25, also included would be The Wounded Kings, Earth, Larman Clamor, Olde Growth and The Atlas Moth. Roadsaw were also in heavy consideration, so they’re worth noting, as are many others.

Obviously, I couldn’t include them, but two of my favorite releases in 2011 also came from Blackwolfgoat and HeavyPink, and I’m thrilled and honored to have helped put them out in the small way I did.

And as I said above, there are records I didn’t hear. I haven’t heard the new Black Pyramid yet. Or Orchid. Or a bunch more that I could go on listing. I’m only one man and this is only my list, for better or worse. Again, I really do hope you’ll contribute yours to the group poll, the results of which will be out Jan. 1.

I’ll probably have some more to wrap up 2011 as the month winds down, but until then, thank you so much for reading this and the rest of the wordy nonsense I’ve put up the whole year long. Your support and encouragement means more than I’m able to tell. Here’s to 2012 to come.

Down in the valley where I live, we have a saying. Okay, it’s only me that has the saying, but still. It goes like this: “You’ve got seven billion people in this world, but there’s only one Ken-E Bones.” And it’s true. More than almost anyone I’ve ever met, the man is unique unto himself. His persona, his unremitting will and his oddball sense of humor are neither for this world nor of it — and as a friend and someone who (at least I think) has some grip on what he thinks of “this world,” I mean that in the best way possible.

He’ll argue the point (and he does in the interview that follows), but Bones is Negative Reaction. You simply can’t have one without the other. The guitarist/vocalist founded the band at the tender age of 18, and more than 20 years later, he’s a legend of East Coast sludge. As much as names like Grief and Buzzov*en have become synonymous with the growth of the genre, so too has Negative Reaction been pivotal in its spread, and unlike those and many others, they’ve never seen a lick of cred for it either.

Negative Reaction‘s latest full-length is Frequencies From Montauk, and the album does a lot of work in bringing Bones‘ personality to the recordings. Most notable to anyone familiar perhaps with their 1996 Endofyourerror debut or 2003′s Everything You Need for Galactic Battle Adventures, the new record plays up the more stoner rock side of Bones‘ influence. He sings clean for the most part, and the focus on the riff is plain to hear in “Angels and Demons” and “Shattered Reflection.”

That shift in approach isn’t entirely unexpected. Over the band’s last two outings, Under the Ancient Penalty (2006) and Tales From the Insomniac (2008), a tide of less screaming has slowly crept into the vocal methodology, and though Bones is quick to make it known that nothing is scripted as regards Negative Reaction compositions, a clear, natural progression is evident amidst the base of New York hardcore that shows up in the centerpiece “Thicker than Blood.”

Taken in combination with the reintroduction of sci-fi and particularly Star Wars-based elements in the lyrics, that was more than enough for me to want to ring up Bones for a phoner. In the interview below, he talks about the changes the band has undergone in the last few years, both stylistically and in terms of personnel — longtime drummer John “Ol’ Mac” MacDonald left, only to be replaced by Joe Wood of Long Island mainstays Borgo Pass and Bones‘ own Mynok side-project, and former bassist Damon Limpy returned to the fold for  Frequencies From Montauk — the development of the band as a whole, his variety of influence, and much more.

Among the many things Bones is — and like all of us, he is many things — he is uncompromisingly honest, and I hope that comes through more than anything else in the Q&A, which you’ll find after the jump below. Please enjoy.

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In conjunction with my full-time gig at The Aquarian, I’ve been granted permission to host a giveaway for tickets to see Kyuss Lives!, The Sword, Black Cobra and The Atomic Bitchwax this weekend at the Wellmont Theatre in Montclair, New Jersey.

The show is Saturday night, Dec. 10, and the only snag for the giveaway is that it ends tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, Dec. 6. If you want to go, just fill out the info below and hit send:

[Please note: This contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered. Winners will be notified by email.]