Usually, I’d wait to wrap up the week until tonight, when, probably at least mildly intoxicated, I’d pull my laptop up off the floor onto the bed while The Patient Mrs. sleeps and post the above fullscreen-worthy Been Obscene clip from the On the Rocks festival in the band’s native Austria. The track is one of two that drummer Robert Schoosleitner was kind enough to bring to my attention this week — the other, “Endless Scheme,” is here — and the laid back grooves from their latest offering, Night o’Mine (review here), are just the thing to wrap up a hectic few days. Well, that and a couple office beers, anyway.

But like I said, under general circumstances, this would all — including the beer — be happening much later tonight. Fact of today, however, is that there’s too much going on next week that I want to plug and I don’t want to forget anything, so here we are, wrapping the week with the work day. Granted, in going for maximum consciousness, I’d probably have been better off three hours ago, but I’ll do the best with what I’ve got. I think you’ll agree it’s a pretty considerable list.

Barring any emergency gotta-review-it-now-type of intrusions (Stubb walks by and waves, charmingly), the plan is to write up records from Bushfire, Fire Faithful, Venomous Maximus and Pallbearer, along with that Hail!Hornet/Zoroaster/Slow Southern Steel show in Brooklyn. I’ll hopefully be interviewing Joey Toscano of Dwellers early in the week, and if that comes together, I’ll have it posted by the end of Friday, and on Tuesday, I’ll have a track premiere from Snail‘s excellent new album, Terminus. The band let me take my pick of the songs and, of course, I chose the longest one of the bunch. I think you’ll agree when you hear it that my decision was justified.

There’s more. Tommy Southard‘s beer column, which is to be called “Drinking with the Devil (Dick),” will go live on Wednesday and boldly blaze a trail into territory The Obelisk has never covered before, and I’ll both announce the winner of the King Giant giveaway and have a new giveaway for copies of the Rising album, To Solemn Ash, which was streamed a couple weeks ago. Couple that with the prospect of news, videos, audio and whatever else I forgot to write on my little post-it note here, and you’ve got a pretty busy few days. You see, I hope, why I didn’t want to forget anything.

And before I go, let me add too that if you haven’t checked it out, there’s a whole slew of news that’s gone up on the forum in the last couple days. Everything from Antigama re-signing with Selfmadegod to Tenacious D putting out a new album to the new Saint Vitus single and more. Worth investigating if you’ve got a couple minutes, anyway.

Whether you do or not, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more space truckin’. We do it every day.

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.

Can you talk a little bit about what you think is behind the reaction The Devil’s Blood has gotten since you got together?

The reaction? I think, as with most artists or bands or creative output, we seem to have a slightly polarizing effect on people. I haven’t really heard a lot of people tell me they think we’re okay. They either like us or they don’t, which I think is a good thing. Things are either cold or hot, and the lukewarm needs to be moved out of the way, I think. We’ve been given some really fantastic opportunities in the last couple years, working with very good people in Europe and now Metal Blade has come into play in America, giving us, again, more chances and more possibilities to take it to the proverbial next level. So there’s not a lot to complain about as far as reactions go.

What’s behind the meaning of the title “The Thousandfold Epicentre?”

The ideas The Devil’s Blood works with have always been the same. Everything we do, every song we create or every lyric that manifests itself through us is always some kind of connection to death, to chaos and to Satan. These three basic principles are really what ties The Devil’s Blood together as a unit. The worship of these three is also what the title-track stands for and what it is supposed to arouse within the listener. Of course, there are various levels of interpretation and content possible, and I think it’s always a good thing to allow people as much room for personal interpretation as you can, so I’m always a bit cautious when it comes to the actual lyrics themselves, or titles and stuff like that, but in a very broad way, those three principalities, if you will, are the main inspiration behind The Devil’s Blood, and that has not changed and that will not change.

Do you see setting up the contrast between occult ideas and the upbeat, melodic songs as the central musical idea of the band?

Well, as far as contrasts go, being somebody who’s listened to music like Coven, Black Widow, Roky Erickson, Alice Cooper, KISS, even, to a lesser degree, I don’t really see the contrast myself. I think it’s become commonplace – especially in the metal scene – for people to immediately tie Satanic imagery and Satanic lyrics to extreme music, to death metal and to black metal and stuff like that. Fair enough, I guess, because that’s where a lot of people come from, but let’s not forget there has been a lot of art and music created in the past which could be described as colorful or upbeat, as you just did, which in and of itself was extremely demonic and insidious. I think we more or less ascribe to a longstanding tradition in culture and music that these things are not necessarily kept apart from each other. The other thing is that of course we are very happy to be doing this (laughs). We are very glorious about the music we make, and I think the music itself reflects that, in a way. Even though people might consider it to be upbeat, the music itself is still fraught with dissonance and with darkness. So for me, it’s not so much a contrast, but a unity.

As you say, though, the expectation is that demonic ideas and things like that come with death and black metal. I think there’s something subversive in working against that expectation.

It could be considered as such, but it was never a conscious move. If that’s what draws people in, then that’s fine. But for me, we could have very well been a death metal or a black metal band, because those both are musical extremes that, for me, have been very important as a musician and as a fan. It’s stuff that I’ve listened to since I was very young. But also, I listened to The Doors and Black Sabbath and Thin Lizzy, The Byrds, The Beatles, whatever. I think when you boil it down to its core, The Devil’s Blood makes an amalgam of all these things, and not just one or the other.

With so much going on musically and in terms of influence, do you feel connected to any one genre more than another?

Not really, to be honest. For me, music goes in phases. I could be listening to old Bathory and Slayer and Venom for weeks on end and then make a shift and listen to nothing but The Beach Boys for a month. For me, music is just that. It’s music, and apart from the reasons people made it or whether or not it’s — spiritually inclined or stuff like that, which can be very important in the choices we make when it comes to listening to certain stuff and not listening to certain other stuff – I think I just pick out whatever fits my  taste for the moment. To tie myself to one genre, I think I would have to say just rock and roll in all its forms. For me, death metal and black metal are still rock and roll. It’s still the rebellious music of the youth, of a certain sense of counter-culture, a certain sense of rebellion through art, which they share.

At the same time, The Devil’s Blood has a pretty established aesthetic across the two albums and the EPs. Do you ever feel limited by that aesthetic?

Not at all. Not at all. No. Because the aesthetic is a result of our creative output and not the other way around. It could very well be that we will change in the future, that the style will diverge or evolve into different territories, and these might be [predictable] or not. We don’t know. We are not in charge.

Tell me about the writing process and when Farida comes into it?

The most relevant part, I guess, is it’s a frightfully boring thing (laughs). Just imagine: Usually it starts concentration. With studying, with reading, with meditation, with certain magical rites involving certain occult principles I feel close to or connected to in a certain part of the year or in a certain part of my life, or, you know, just a certain part of the day. From this comes a certain inspirational flow, which I have to follow to its logical extent, and this is just usually me with an acoustic guitar and a piece of paper, humming away, and music and lyrics usually come in almost the same flow. When this has traveled a bit, I start to make sense of what I made – because usually it’s just maybe one lyric line or a few chords tied together with maybe a chorus or a bridge or whatever or a certain melody – and from that point onward, the song starts to manifest itself. It becomes sculpted, in a way. When all the granite is chipped away at the edges and all the excess baggage is cut off and the lyrics are done and the music is done, I contact my sister and we meet up, we discuss very intimately the details of the music, the details of the lyrics, what they mean to us – especially what they mean to her, because for me it’s very important to know that she knows what she is singing. Parts of it, parts of the understanding, she keeps for herself on her own responsibility. She puts them inside of her and locks them away and never talks about them again, to give something completely unique to it. We record the demos in this way, and then the demos are presented to the rest of the band, and we work from there.

Is working with Farida, your sister, ever affected by a family dynamic, or does it affect your relationship as siblings?

It strengthens our relationship, if anything. Family is one thing. It can be a good thing or a bad thing. I think we all have certain elements in our family that we’d rather not think about or talk to or be around and some others that we feel more comfortable with, just basically like our friends or whatever. Our social structures. But in our case, being forced to work together in this way has actually given us a much clearer understanding of each other as persons and individuals and creative entities. We can be completely brutally honest with each other, to the point of extreme insults (laughs) and violence and everything that comes. It’s very much a dynamic form of love/hate, that never sticks in one place for too long. For outsiders, it can be a little bit strange to behold (laughs), because it tends to be unforgiving and at the surface, it seems to have absolutely no consideration for each other’s feelings or emotions, but because we are so close to each other and know each other so well, we don’t need to express the consideration, because we already know it’s there. For us, it works. I don’t think I would be able to do it with anyone else, basically, in this way.

“Everlasting Saturnalia” seemed to really stand out on the record. It’s so atmospheric, and so much focus seems to be on mood, moving away from that – to use the word again – upbeat sound, that rock and roll influence. Can you talk a bit about where that came from?

(Laughs) I think the lyrics explain it the best, and I think should someone be really interested in that, that is the best place to start looking for any kind of explanation. The problem with The Devil’s Blood – well, for me, it’s not a problem, but from a journalistic standpoint it’s a problem – is that the answer about the creation of any lyric or music that we’ve ever made is always the same: That’s the way it came out. That’s the way it happened. That’s the way the thing wanted to be. You could very much say that at the moment of fertilization and gestation, you have some influence about how it will come out, but the moment it’s born, you are yourself surprised with its appearance and its structure. You have to learn to love it. The one thing that I can say is that was the song that I was most convinced of its power immediately, even though it’s a very simple and straightforward, to the point exercise. It really, for me, it captured the entire atmosphere and, you know, progress and process of the band.

Was it any coincidence putting that next to “Fire Burning” with the relation to Saturnalia Temple?

Oh! You know, that’s a good question (laughs). I really don’t know. The thing is that when you start compiling a record and when you start figuring out the structure of a record and not just the structure of a song, but very much the relationship of each song connected to every other song – where does it need to be, how long does it need to be, how will the cut of the record look like on vinyl, all stuff like that – it usually ends up that there is only one possible running order. There are no other options, and in the case of this record, especially as opposed to the previous one, where I did move around a lot of the songs for a long time before I really set on one certain running order, this time around I had the first song, I had the last song, I had the song in the middle, and everything else just really wanted this one certain place on the record and there was no discussion possible. In the case of “The Fire Burning” and “Everlasting Saturnalia,” they just seemed to be connected in a way. This was even before the lyrics to “The Fire Burning” were actually there, because they came a little bit later.

I know you’ve done a good deal of European touring in support of the album already. Will there be more leading up to the summer festivals?

Well, festivals, we’re going to be doing Hellfest, Bang Your Head and a few other things. Some high profile festival in Norway as well. Some other smaller stuff as well. Metal Magic in Denmark I think is confirmed. We’re coming to the United States for the Maryland Deathfest and we’ll also be doing an American tour in April, just before the Deathfest, so yeah, we’re looking at big plans. We’ll probably go home for like one week and then fly back in to do Deathfest. That’s just the way it goes (laughs). The thing is that I’m just excited that there’s no overlap. We don’t have to cancel anything. We can just keep going, which is a good thing.

Are you writing?

Not at the moment. I really deliberately – more or less the same thing as after the previous record – after being so engrossed in a work of this magnitude, in my case, I fall into almost a lethargic state where creativity seems to dissipate and seems to bleed away from you. The previous time, this really upset me, and it really frustrated me to an extreme point of self-loathing and everything that comes with that, but this time around, I kind of expected it would happen and I simply allowed myself to become null and void for a while. Just empty. Doing the promotional thing is a good way to keep my mind off it and doing a lot of concerts allows me to have my rituals and my connection to what it is we’re doing, and when the whole thing calms down a little bit, I’m pretty sure the voice will find me again and there will be more to say.

So there’s a difference for you between the sense of ritual in writing and in performing.

Yeah, definitely. I feel much more at home in my own little temple, at my own little altar, working in my own little way, and then taking that into the studio and perfecting and molding and shaping than I ever have on the stage. I truly appreciate being on the stage, and I think it’s a very important thing to do, but in a perfect world, I would just keep making records (laughs).

Is there an according difference between doing shows in smaller venues and these high-profile festivals?

There is, obviously, yeah. In a way, I think I still feel most comfortable in a 300-400 [capacity] venue with no support acts – just us, our music playing the entire night and then us coming to do the ritual and then leaving again and having this very close-knit, harmonious sense of togetherness with everyone who’s there and trying to capture as much of the energy as we can, as opposed to going on a very big festival and being one of many different bands and people wandering in and out. Then again, there are very strong benefits to that as well, because it’s a very good way to reach people that you otherwise wouldn’t reach. Doing that in 2010 in Europe garnered us a lot of support from what you might call unexpected people. Overall, it’s all a good thing.

The Devil’s Blood’s website

Metal Blade Records

The effect Neal has on Sun Gods in Exile’s sound is to add melodic range and complement the riffs with long-sustained notes, as on a song like “Smoke and Fire” on the second half of the album, on which he fills out the verses behind Hitchcock’s lead vocals (everyone but D’Agostino provides backups), or “Since I’ve Been Home,” a classic road song in the same tradition with which labelmates Dixie Witch often align themselves. Despite its liberal soloing and guitar prominence, “Since I’ve Been Home” – as close as the 10-track Thanks for the Silver gets to a centerpiece – is a highlight more for Hitchcock’s vocals and those that back him for what’s probably the album’s most memorable chorus. Earlier cuts like the opening duo “Hammer Down” and “Moonshine” find D’Agostino and Hitchcock, as well as bassist JL (since replaced by his brother, Mark Lennon) and drummer John Kennedy, purposefully making room to account for Neal in the songwriting. The Hammond sounds add flourish to the riffs but are almost always in service to the guitar, as are the bulk of the rhythms, as are the structures, the vocals, and so on. If you’re someone who tunes out solos or thinks they’re needless wankery or if you’re even slightly unimpressed by scorching leads, Sun Gods in Exile simply is not the band for you. Their ballsy classicism – excellently balanced by Benny Grotto’s recording job and mix – won’t so much touch a nerve as get on one, and, frankly, you’ll miss the point of Thanks for the Silver, which if I haven’t yet made it clear, is all in the guitar.

Hell, I like riffs, and I like solos, and there were still parts of the album where I felt like I was being tested. Seven out of the 10 of these songs start with guitar, and only one begins with another instrument solo (that’d be “Moonshine,” and the drums), and most follow the same kind of structure and pacing so that, by the time the 55-minute album is over, it’s easy to feel like parts of it are a mash of boozy leads. Songs like “Climb Down” and the more grooving “Smoke and Fire” rock and rock hard, but Thanks for the Silver starts to feel samey after a while, and although the title-track is a Black Crowes-style ballad and a marked change of mood and tempo, it’s also the second to last song on the album in front of closer “I Buried My Bitch’s Car” and comes well after it should in the overall progression of the record. These songs flow – and the titular one easily has Neal’s best performance on keys; leaving behind the organ for genuine piano sounds – but are bloated at around 4:30-5:45 apiece (the first seven, anyway – “Nobody Knows” is a barn-burner at 3:17 and the last two are longer) and wind up detracting from Sun Gods in Exile’s obviously capable songwriting through methodological similarities and consistency in pace.

Add to that the feeling that the band is still adjusting to the inclusion of Neal to the lineup in terms of their craft, and Thanks for the Silver can seem off-balance as compared to the first album, which was nothing if not assured in its whiskey-breath swagger. That said, I think it’s also stronger from a songwriting standpoint, and an interesting beginning of a new era for the band, with added potential from the keys for sonic variety and more breadth of mood. They’re not there yet, though. Sun Gods in Exile still have some growing to do in terms of honing their Southern rock craft, but after two albums, I’m still pulling for them, and I still think there’s a lot of potential here. As it is, they’re good at what they do – if they weren’t, these solos would fall completely flat, and they don’t at all – but Thanks for the Silver comes off more as a collection of decent tracks than the cohesive whole one might want it to be. Still, one can’t argue with a killer riff, and there’s nothing to Sun Gods in Exile if there isn’t a steady supply of those.

Sun Gods in Exile on Thee Facebooks

Small Stone Records

The following PR wire info doesn’t exactly give the answer to that question, but it does add further intrigue in a quote from guitarist Justin Maranga. Check it out:

Los Angeles psychedelic prog-rock band Ancestors will release its new album In Dreams and Time on April 10 via Tee Pee Records. Recorded in east L.A.’s Infrasonic Sound (Queens of the Stone Age, Best Coast, Xasthur), the record showcases the band’s most accomplished music to date and a creative sound that morphs from thunderous cacophony to soul-searching peaks and valleys as towering riffs collide with bleak beauty and deep wells of light and dark.

“In Dreams and Time feels like the culmination of everything we’ve done so far,” says Ancestors guitarist Justin Maranga. “The record incorporates elements of everything that we’ve come to feel that Ancestors is, as well as new things that we’ve never tried. We’re hoping that it will tie together fans of our previous albums Neptune with Fire, Of Sound Mind and Invisible White who may or may not have connected one release or the other, while hopefully helping us reach a new audience. We’re excited about it.”

The track listing for Ancestors’ In Dreams and Time is as follows:
1. Whispers
2. The Last Return
3. Corryvreckan
4. On the Wind
5. Running in Circles
6. First Light

Ancestors have also announced the addition of new drummer Daniel Pouliot (Horse the Band, ex-Bleeding Kansas) to its ranks and have been confirmed for both the 2012 Desertfest and the 2012 Roadburn Festival, where the band will share the stage with Killing Joke, Michael Gira, Chelsea Wolfe and more.

The album is due this spring. Until then, dig “Frogs” and what I presume is its awesome cover:

The album is released through Superhot Records, boasts a mix and master job by Tony Reed of Stone Axe, and finds Stubb aligning themselves to a rising tide of British heavy rock – that’s not to say “a new wave” – that includes such riff-happy clean-vocal acts as Grifter, Alunah, and indeed, Trippy Wicked, among many others. Fuzz abounds, but Dickinson, Holland and West do more than just follow the guitar through verses and choruses, touching on acoustic freak-folk and heavy rock classicism in a manner that does nothing to upset the overall flow of the album, which gradually reveals a strength of songwriting to complement the initial catchiness of the first couple tracks. Although it’s been six years since Dickinson started the project, one might think of Stubb as a new band, as his chemistry with Holland and West presents itself here for the first time. On either level, though, Stubb’s Stubb gleefully preaches to the choir of Heavy while showing the band has more to them than just riffs and grooves.

Even if that weren’t the case, with the engaging fuzz and ripping leads that open kickoff track “Road,” riffs and grooves would almost be enough. The nod-inducing stomp and Dickinson’s tone remind of when The Atomic Bitchwax took on Core’s “Kiss the Sun” for their own self-titled debut, but Stubb push a strong chorus all their own, Holland offering backing support for Dickinson’s lead vocal while West’s snare pops clearly and crisply, keeping the song upbeat but not too fast. Stubb wind up at their strongest in this middle pace, maximizing the impact of the riffs and still allowing for a laid back, stonerly feel. “Scale the Mountain,” which follows the opener, continues the momentum, making the first nine of Stubb’s total 35 minutes a powerful opening duo, and reeling back in its first second as if to steel itself for the five minutes of riffing to come.

Dickinson again works a solo into the intro as a precursor to the verse, but shifts the method some, stepping back to let Holland take the lead in singing the chorus. The two have enough variance in their diction that the shift is pretty clear, and as they move back and forth throughout Stubb, “Scale the Mountain” is a solid foreshadow of what’s to come. Holland’s vocal work in Trippy Wicked has left him more than prepared to tradeoff with Dickinson, who here adds backing “woo”s to the memorable title/chorus line. A brief break seems to be waiting for a guitar solo to come in, but one never does, and the chorus returns to lead the song to its flange-y finish and Holland’s bass intro to the somewhat more subdued “Flame.”

It’s here that Stubb begin to unveil the classic rock linearity of the album’s structure. They’ve opened strong with “Road” and “Scale the Mountain,” and with “Flame,” they shift the mood a bit – granted, not as much as if they’d put the folksy “Crosses You Bear” in that third spot, but still. A bluesy, winding riff gives Holland the chance to add some choice fills, and West times well his jumps from the hi-hat to the crash, giving way to the driving second half of the track and the combined Dickinson/Holland vocals that mindfully veer from the verse/chorus patterning so far established. Holland’s bass again burns tubes alongside Dickinson on “Soul Mover,” which ingrains the line, “Oh baby, I don’t know what you like/But I’ll keep you satisfied” on the brain like it was branding cattle or internet memes. The pace is faster, perhaps expectedly, but “Soul Mover”’s shuffle is a departure even from “Flame” and further confirmation of Stubb’s classic heavy affiliations.

Some showy leads, a deceptively metallic outro, and “Crosses You Bear” soon commences side B of Stubb with humble acoustics and a cascading chorus that, though the melody descends, doesn’t depress. Its two simple verses, two simple choruses and two-minute runtime do more work than is initially apparent, once again gradually moving expectations away from the charming, rocking familiarity of the record’s beginnings to something more emotionally complex and – dare I say it – contemplative. Like a lot of what Stubb does here, it’s not a new move, and Holland and West have certainly done their time with acoustics in Trippy Wicked (if you haven’t heard it, their ukulele-inclusive cover of Sleep’s “Dragonaut” is a must), but Dickinson’s voice turns out to be excellently suited to the form.

And as much as “Crosses You Bear” sets up Stubb to range as far as they please on the second half of their debut, it also lulls you into a false sense of security which leaves you (spoiler alert) unprepared for the turn back to heavy rock that “Hard Hearted Woman” brings about. The song is an immediate callback to the beginning of the album, tonally and in its tempo, and has a strong chorus to match those of “Road” and “Scale the Mountain,” while also breaking in its middle for some groovy Hendrixian jamming, West offering solid ground for the guitars and bass to wander where they will. There’s a subtly flubbed note at 3:52, which I point out only to commend Stubb for leaving it in, since it adds to the live feel of the track and the record overall, and gives personality to the improv-sounding lead guitar. Holland’s bass rumbles the song out, and “Crying River” revives the folkish vibe of “Crosses You Bear,” albeit plugged in, with a guest spot from Malin Dahlgren of Swedish boy/girl duo Polly Tones.

A correspondingly stripped-down feel pervades, though the song is coming from a more rock-based center than was “Crosses You Bear,” and Dahlgren’s vocal, while not as prevalent in the mix as Dickinson’s, is well met in a call and response with lead guitar that soon brings the song to its blues-drenched conclusion. This leaves the seven-plus-minute “Galloping Horses” with the considerable task of summarizing Stubb’s breadth, which it does with plenty of wah-heavy solos, thickened riffing and a hooky chorus. They get into a bit of cacophony at the midpoint as a precursor to the break and jammy build that climax with a slower riff and some lumbering, hard-hit crashes from West and last-second solo wails from Dickinson that soon cut Stubb off with all the sudden cruelty of the bartender who’s been pretending to be your friend all night. Given the raucousness preceding, though, perhaps it’s for the best. Any more of this stuff and someone’s bound to break a window.

Stubb’s Stubb does the work a demo or EP otherwise might in letting listeners know what the band is about at this stage in their development – heavy riffing, straightforward songs and touches of other classic-minded influences – but also has an album’s scope and progression between its tracks. Dickinson, Holland and West make an excellent trio, as each player’s work seems to add to the others, and the resulting whole is that much stronger for it. No doubt this is rock for rockers, but the rockers should be pleased, and if Stubb is to be the base from which the three-piece will look to expand their approach going forward, they’ve given themselves an excellent position to start from and shown they can be among the top fuzz contenders in the increasingly crowded British underground. Highly recommended.

[NOTE: Stubb were kind enough to let me premiere their test-pressing video for "Road," which you can enjoy on the YouTube embed below. Thanks to the band and to Superhot Records.]

Stubb on Thee Facebooks

Superhot Records

Dig the news and the art:

Anathema will return in April with Weather Systems, their brand new studio album. Weather Systems is the follow-up to 2010’s We’re Here Because We’re Here, which has been featured prominently in numerous end-of-year polls and the producer, Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree), has described it as ”definitely among the best albums I’ve ever had the pleasure to work on.”

The bar for Weather Systems has been set pretty high, but Daniel Cavanagh from the band is certain that the album will exceed these lofty expectations, stating, “it feels like we are at a creative peak right now, and this album reflects that. Everything from the production to the writing to the performances are a step up from our last album.”

He continues, “This is not background music for parties. The music is written to deeply move the listener, to uplift or take the listener to the coldest depths of the soul.”

The album was recorded in Liverpool, North Wales and Oslo, each place significant to Anathema past, present and future. The record was produced and mastered by five-time Norwegian Grammy nominated Christer-André Cederberg (Animal Alpha, In the Woods…, Drawn), who Daniel has described as “a revelation. His calmness and brilliance has helped to bring about the greatest inter-band chemistry that Anathema have experienced together in their career.”

Weather Systems will be available on The End Records on April 24, 2012.

Weather Systems track listing:
1. Untouchable, Part 1
2. Untouchable, Part 2
3. The Gathering of the Clouds
4. Lightning Song
5. Sunlight
6. The Storm Before the Calm
7. The Beginning and the End
8. The Lost Child
9. Internal Landscapes

Because of Grohl‘s success in Nirvana and Foo Fighters, as well as his drum contributions on 2002′s Songs for the Deaf album by Queens of the Stone Age (and of course, he’d pair again with Josh Homme in Them Crooked Vultures), anything he touched would’ve been given a certain amount of attention and acclaim, and to his credit, he used that to grant exposure to an underground scene that helped shape him into the songwriter he became. Probot‘s Probot couldn’t really establish an overall flow with so many players, but among the 11 tracks, there were several standouts, and “The Emerald Law” was definitely one of them.

And while Grohl was young when he joined D.C. punk outfit Scream, he would’ve been kicking around some of the same territory as Wino was in The Obsessed at that point, playing shows together and knowing the same people. “The Emerald Law” isn’t definitively in the style of The Obsessed or Vitus, but in a kind of compressed in-between space. Wherever it rests sonically, though, Grohl‘s heart was clearly in the right place, and Wino‘s performance on the song is spot on perfect.

Hope you enjoy “The Emerald Law,” and have a happy Wino Wednesday:

Visits were actually up for the month of January 2012 over December 2011, but the average number of pages-per-visit was lower, so it wound up being a little down at 184,861. Whatever. People still checked in from 126 countries and we passed the 900 mark in registered forum users, so I was pretty stoked on both of those things. As of right now, there are 904 users, with 59,766 posts in 4,045 topics. Hard not to like that.

Germany passed Canada for the number three spot among countries sending visitors; the top five were the US, the UK, Germany, Canada and Australia. Among American states, California and New York led the charge, followed by Texas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. It was a pretty good month, and over time, the ups and downs bother me less, as I seem to be able to accomplish what I want to regardless. Much as I ever can, anyway.

On that note, there are some changes I’m going to be making in how the site works starting this month with a series of new columns, the first of which will go up next week. They’re all pretty open in terms of what people will be covering, but here’s a quick rundown of what each is about and who’s doing what:

Tommy Southard, former and once-again guitarist for Solace, will be writing about beer. His first column covers a visit to the Dogfish Head brewery and that will hopefully start us off next week, and he’ll take it from there in talking about brews from around the globe and whatever else hoppy and barley-y he wants.

Tim Catz, guitarist of Roadsaw, is going to contribute a column called “70 RPMs” that will cover the ’70s and other classic heavy. He’s already turned in his first column and it rules, so stay tuned for it. Tony Reed of Stone Axe/Mos Generator/HeavyPink may also have a video series on the subject, depending on his schedule.

Mario Lalli has signed on to write about life in the desert and/or whatever the hell he wants. I just figured that someone who helped shape desert rock into what it is today in Fatso Jetson and Yawning Man has to have stories to tell. Plus, as a restauranteur, maybe he’ll share a recipe every now and again if we’re lucky. Maybe not.

Chris “Woody” MacDermott of Brooklyn’s Mighty High will be putting his unique and formidable expertise on ’80s metal to use in a column called “Spine of Overkill” and reminding us all that there was a time when we called albums “tapes” and that heavy rock never actually disappeared. The man is a walking encyclopedia.

And though for the moment he’s busy doing promotion and press for his band’s soon-to-be-released album, Ben Ward of Orange Goblin has signed on to contribute regular columns about classic and cult horror films. He’ll be starting later, owing to the prior-mentioned obligations, but I look forward to getting a whole new education in terror and hope you do as well.

The plan right now is to establish a kind of weekly rotation of contributions around the usual batch of reviews, interviews, On the Radars, Buried Treasures, Wino Wednesdays, etc., and like everything I’ve done on this site since day one — three years ago now — I’m going to play it by ear and see how it goes. While I have the platform to do so, let me please express my gratitude to all the parties above for their willingness to sign on and donate their expertise on the above topics, or even just to take time out of their lives to add something to this site.

I’m humbled to have each and every one of them involved, as I’m humbled every time I look at the numbers. Thank you.

Some other business to attend to: A podcast next weekend to try and get back on track a little bit time-wise, and interviews this month with Selim Lemouchi of The Devil’s Blood, Joey Toscano of Dwellers and a couple others. Light on shows, at least so far, but Hail!Hornet‘s coming around and I’m not about to miss them, so be on the lookout for words and pics from that as well as reviews of Sun Gods in Exile (Friday), Bushfire (Monday), Naughty Mouse, Pallbearer, Temples, Venomous Maximus, The Dirty Streets, Pale Divine and others.

Plus, tomorrow I’ll have a writeup of the new Stubb album and a video premiere to go along with it, so stick around for that because the record is a riffer’s delight. Next week I’ll also be giving away a few copies of the recently-streamed Rising record, so good stuff abounds.

Thanks for three killer years.

Sincerely,
JJ Koczan
Habromaniac Portreeve Taskmaster