Tree-tagging or other forest-based graffiti is a lost medium in these days of city-based arts. Fortunately, Belgian duo SardoniS are bringing back the bygone days of taking a permanent marker, jogging through the woods with a hood up and writing shit on fallen trees for hikers to see and probably be confused by later. Their video for the song “Entering the Woods,” from an upcoming album that may or may not share that title, keeps the band’s thrashy and aggressive edge while also being tonally pummeling.

SardoniS‘ prior offering and self-titled debut for MeteorCity, released in 2010 (review here), was a treat, and I look forward to hearing more of the follow-up, but for now, here’s “Entering the Woods”:

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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After releasing their self-titled MeteorCity debut in 2009 to a more than warm reception from the heavy underground (review here), Northampton, Massachusetts, battle doomers Black Pyramid proceeded to hit the road on several tours and unleashed a tide of singles and splits. 2010 saw a split with Old One issued (review here), and 2011 followed with a slew of vinyl: the Mercy’s Bane single, the Stormbringer single – a CD compilation of wax-only material would soon follow on Hydro-Phonic under the same name – and a split with Tenspeed Warlock. The three-piece of guitarist/vocalist Andy Beresky, bassist Gein and drummer Clay Neely headed out on a European tour for the first time alongside reborn East Coast doom magnates Blood Farmers, and including a stop at last year’s Roadburn, seemed to be on the verge of their greatest triumph yet with the MeteorCity release of their second album, II. Long story short, the band imploded. Beresky split, and after some soul-searching, Neely and Gein decided to continue Black Pyramid, bringing on board guitarist/vocalist Darryl Shepard (Hackman, Blackwolfgoat, Milligram) late in 2011 and setting almost immediately about writing new material. This puts II in something of an awkward position, release-wise. The album is at once obsolete already and the creative high point of the band to date. Its nine component tracks explode with confrontational energy, and it seems Black Pyramid were really just coming into their own as they made what would be their final statement in this incarnation.

That’s especially true of Beresky, whose performance throughout II is easily the best of his career either in this band or in his prior outfit, Palace in Thunderland. Whether it’s the more scripted-sounding leads of “Dreams of the Dead” or the layered acoustic work of the interlude “Tanelorn,” or the High on Fire-esque bombast of the later movements in “Sons of Chaos,” he handles it all deftly and with poise, and his vocals – a subject of some debate among followers of the band – show development both melodically and in terms of the confidence in delivery. His descending semi-melodicism in opener “Endless Agony” begins to display itself as a genuine style by the end of II, and similar to the way Slough Feg incorporates progressions out of Celtic folk, Beresky brings a drinking-song cadence to his lines that only enhances the battle-minded lyrics. Neely, who also engineered II, has him layer the guitar effectively, so that leads are backed by rhythm tracks in addition to the bass and drums, and the resulting sound is full and engaging – “Mercy’s Bane” beginning with Neely’s own thundering toms and moving quickly to stand itself out as a highlight of the album following the immersive and catchy “Endless Agony,” a well-placed opener for its memorable lyric and musical hook. “Mercy’s Bane” is longer by more than two full minutes, but expands on the ideas in the album’s beginning without losing sight of the structure that makes it so effective. Black Pyramid are heavy – certainly tonally and thematically weighted – but still unflinchingly accessible, and they remain so even in the varying moments of indulgence that the hour-long II presents.

A slowdown caps “Mercy’s Bane” and acts as lead-in for the chugging “Night Queen,” which rounds out a strong opening trio of memorable choruses and riffs. Gein’s bass follows Beresky’s guitar for the most part, handling the winding transitions between cycles in “Night Queen” well while the vocals come on in effective near-gang-chant layers. A longer instrumental break starts quiet and finds Neely rolling on his snare while Beresky tops with a relatively-restrained wah solo, one of II’s bluesiest and best. At 6:48, “Night Queen” is the longest of the record’s “regular” tracks – and by that I mean the ones under 10 minutes and that feel purposefully extended – of which there are two. The first is “Dreams of the Dead,” which follows “Night Queen,” effectively rounding out the first half of II (though “Tanelorn” could just as easily be an outro to the first half as an intro to the second on the CD; the time divide is actually more even that way) and making for one of the album’s most accomplished moments melodically. It seems to be Black Pyramid stepping out of their doom-stomping comfort zone, though that element is still there, and it’s worth noting that after the second chorus ends at about three minutes in, the remainder of “Dreams of the Dead”’s 12:12 runtime is devoted to expansive instrumental parts, breaking following a driving riff and solo at almost precisely five minutes to effect a grandiose build from the ground up. It’s effective, and the part works, but can also feel a little tacked on when looked at from the structural perspective. I’m not sure the longer part wouldn’t also have worked following “Mercy’s Bane” or “Night Queen,” in other words, and why, despite its increased melodic focus, it needed to be “Dreams of the Dead” given the ultra-epic treatment on an album full of epics.

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One might look at II, the appropriately-named second MeteorCity full-length from Black Pyramid, as the closing of a chapter. The Northampton, Massachusetts, doom rock trio, who’d released a handful of singles and splits since their 2009 debut, parted ways in an undeniably ugly split with guitarist/vocalist Andy Beresky, in between recording and the release, which left both the album and the future of the band uncertain. For a minute there, Black Pyramid was done.

Drummer Clay Neely and bassist Gein have since regrouped under the Black Pyramid moniker and found venerable riffer Darryl Shepard (he of Milligram, Hackman and Blackwolfgoat, among others) to fill the vacated guitarist/vocalist role, and already they’ve begun to demo and record new material — it helps in that regard that Neely is also an engineer. But the songs on II still show the promise and the progress of the original trio, whose sound had become more melodically aware and sonically expansive. Their epic battle metal aesthetic will be familiar to anyone who heard the first album, but when they made II, Black Pyramid had grown within it and through it into something even more formidable than they were when they started out.

It’s exciting to wonder what the new trio might come up with — and knowing how prolific the band has been in the past, it probably won’t be long until we find out — but in the meantime, II documents a lineup hitting what might have been their peak, and whatever may have happened to bring about an end to this era of the band, it’s great to know a new one has begun. Today I’m fortunate enough to be able to stream the track “Night Queen,” which I think sums up both the maturity and the heaviness of Beresky-fronted Black Pyramid.

You’ll find it on the player below, followed immediately by some PR wire details about the album’s release. Please enjoy:

New England doom rock trio Black Pyramid will release its long awaited sophomore album Black Pyramid II on January 31, 2012 via MeteorCity. Recorded “in the foothills of the Berkshires” at Black Coffee Sound (Elks, Elder) and mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato (Sonic Youth, Witch, Dinosaur Jr.), the record features nine tracks of the band’s self-titled “galloping war metal.” Black Pyramid II was mastered by Matt Washburn (Mastodon) and is “at times a bit more death metal and black metal influenced” than the band’s previous material.

“We’re incredibly proud of the sonic landscapes we were able to achieve with the new album,” said Black Pyramid drummer Clay Neely. ”It’s a clear successor to the debut album and we allowed ourselves to further expand into some uncharted territories. The recording of the record was an incredibly rewarding experience and we can’t wait to bring the show back on the road.”

Black Pyramid will also be playing the London Desertfest in April 2012. For more info on that, click here.

Awash in solos and complex lead riffs, Dead Roots Stirring — the second full-length from Massachusetts trio Elder — marks an unexpected shift in approach from the heavy rocking three-piece. Where their 2008 self-titled debut, which, like the new album, was released by MeteorCity, found them following in the plodding footsteps of Sleep‘s grooving chug, their sophomore outing is richer, more intricate, and surprisingly tinged with psychedelia.

The guitar of Nick DiSalvo (also vocals) is still very much at the fore, but the methodology is different. Songs like “Gemini” and the stunning, 11-plus-minute title-track range farther than one might have expected Elder to go after the first record. Groove remains formidably present, but Elder have begun to show their personality musically through these songs, and with elements and influences from the current European heavy psych scene, they’re honing in on an increasingly individual take. It’s not really a shock that Dead Roots Stirring, which was engineered by Black Pyramid‘s Clay Neely, would wind up as one of the year’s highlight records, but the avenue it took to get there is another story altogether.

Elder is DiSalvo alongside bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto, and Dead Roots Stirring has been a long time coming. As early as last year, I recall hearing Massachusetts locals bragging on having heard the album and touting its change in direction. The band shopped the record around, but eventually wound up sticking with MeteorCity for the release, which was further delayed in the mixing and by DiSalvo‘s studies abroad. When it came out in October, topped with gorgeously painted Adrian Dexter artwork, I imagine there was some sense of relief in the band that it had finally materialized. I know there certainly was on my end, hearing it.

The interview that follows was conducted a few days before the release, and in our conversation, DiSalvo talked about the research that led him to Germany and away from the band, the recording process for Dead Roots Stirring, what was behind some of the stylistic growth shown on the album, and much more. I know it’s been a couple weeks that I’ve been trying to get this posted, and I thank you for your patience in waiting.

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

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…And it’s not bullshit. Bassist Gein and drummer Clay Neely have decided to continue the band without guitarist Andy “Dinger” Beresky, and have joined forces with none other than Maple Forum alum Darryl Shepard (Blackwolfgoat, Hackman, Milligram, et al) to fill the vacant role. There’s reportedly an official announcement coming in the next day or so, so I’ll have more on it then, but in the meantime, this new incarnation of Black Pyramid has been added to next year’s London Desertfest, and here’s the flyer to prove it:

Black Pyramid‘s II full-length was also released by MeteorCity this Black Friday weekend. More info on that here.

When Boston trio Elder dropped their self-titled debut on MeteorCity in 2008, it was clear the band had potential. What’s most interesting about the follow-up, Dead Roots Stirring (also MeteorCity), is how that potential has played out. Where the first album was heavily indebted to Sleep’s stoner caravanning and dropping out of life, the new five-song collection has expanded Elder’s reach sonically, branching into a more complex realm of psychedelic melody. The short version is that Elder have grown up a lot in three years, and Dead Roots Stirring sounds like they picked up a few really killer records along the way to cull influence from. Guitarist/vocalist Nick DiSalvo is still in the forward position in the band, with bassist Jack Donovan and drummer Matt Couto locking into a string of excellent grooves beneath memorable hooks and far-out extended instrumental breaks. Elder takes full advantage of the trio format in that regard, more so than on the Elder album; the tracks on Dead Roots Stirring are longer on average, with the shortest being centerpiece “III” at 8:43 (three of five on the debut were shorter), and the time isn’t misspent. The band proves almost immediately on 9:40 opener “Gemini” that they’re able just as well to hypnotize as engage, and the album as a whole benefits from the flow they craft from song to song. At 51 minutes, it seems like a lot, and there are moments where parts can feel incongruous relative to elsewhere, but for the most part, Elder’s stated potential has paid off in an unexpected and exciting way.

One can hear a variety of influences at play on “Gemini,” including the modern heavy psych style you might expect to come more from Tee Pee Records, but what really makes the track notable is that it sets the tone for much of what DiSalvo has to offer lead-wise for Dead Roots Stirring. He adds flourishes layered in with the riffs that shine through the well-weighted Justin Pizzoferrero mix (Black Pyramid’s Clay Neely engineered the recording) during the verses and launches near the song’s halfway point into a huge and ripping but still clearly constructed Hendrixian solo. His guitar winds up providing the apex of Dead Roots Stirring later on closer “Knot,” so to have it also elicit the first mini-culmination of “Gemini” – the chorus of the song is also one of the album’s most memorable, relying on a simplistic delivery of “I’m coming home/It’s been so long” – is fitting on a structural level and a move that I don’t know if Elder had in them the first time around. Not to harp on the point, but DiSalvo also adds repeated high notes during the instrumental stretch nearer to the end of the song, and it’s a case of knowing how to do more with less, not just showing off one’s ability to scale like a madman at all times. Couto, whose drums sound full as he rattles the toms with two minutes to go, scores a build with Donovan adding a righteously Euro-derived warmth to the overarching groove when the riff comes back in to end the song.

Donovan and Couto begin the title-track as well, which is the longest cut on Dead Roots Stirring at a full 12 minutes. As much as DiSalvo is out front in the band’s sound, as ever for heavy rock, it’s the rhythm section that carries the song over. “Dead Roots Stirring” has more of an instrumental sprawl than the opener, seems to be on not so short a leash, and the parts allowed to range further and jam out more. That being the case, though, Elder still work an enticing chorus into the fray, or at least a standout recitation of the song and album’s titular line. Compared to the vocal-less “III” which follows, “Dead Roots Stirring” is among the album’s more straightforwardly stoner songs, at least as far as the riffs go, but it’s worth noting that even if that’s the case, it’s still more complex than almost anything they concocted on the first album. “III” marks a tonal change to a rich and bright sound – especially from Donovan, who provides his best performance on bass for the track – that stands in contrast to Dead Roots Stirring’s otherwise gorgeously painted Adrian Dexter artwork, which although deep and moving, does little to complement the blinding oranges and yellows the song puts before the eyes. DiSalvo makes his lead at the end of “Gemini” seem maximal in comparison.

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Guitarist/vocalist Andy “Dinger” Beresky of Northampton, Massachusetts, trio Black Pyramid has been posting regular updates on the news forum about the progress on his band’s aptly-titled second album, II. The record will be released via MeteorCity on Jan. 31, 2012, on CD with a double-vinyl issue to follow on Clear Spot.

Black Pyramid have hardly been sedentary since their 2009 self-titled debut. A host of vinyl EPs, 7”s and splits has produced enough to result in the recently-compiled Stormbringer collection, so it’ll be interesting to see where they go from II, as well as to hear the growth in the band their time on the road (they toured Europe earlier this year with Blood Farmers, including a stop at Roadburn) has incited.

For now, here’s the track listing of Black Pyramid’s II, with the caveat of more info to come:

1. Endless Agony
2. Mercy’s Bane
3. Night Queen
4. Dreams of the Dead
5. Tanelorn
6. Sons of Chaos
7. Empty Handed Insurrection
8. The Hidden Kingdom
9. Into the Dawn

Well, not exactly from them, but definitely featuring them. The video below was made with clips from the 1978 Lord of the Rings cartoon edited in with Olde Growth‘s 10-minute, three-part epic, “Cry of the Nazgul/The Second Darkness/To the Black Gate.” I’m posting it because it rules, both the video and the song, which is taken from the band’s self-titled MeteorCity debut.

And about that song: Given all the riotousness that takes place before the third and final movement of the track, you’d think the bass/drums-only duo would have a hard time coming up with sufficient payoff, but they totally nail it, cutting back on the heavy vocals at just the right time to add subdued melody — just the opposite of what you expect in listening — in a breathy delivery that practically paints the walls in groove and brain matter. It doesn’t so much hold the attention as it crushes it.

Thanks to MeteorCity for sending this along in their latest label update:

The plan is to head out here in a little bit, grab a bagel, stop by the camera store to pick up a lens filter, extra battery and something else I can’t remember but have written down — lens cap! — and then get my oil changed and hit the road down to Maryland for what’s undoubtedly the best festival for underground heavy on the Eastern Seaboard: Stoner Hands of Doom XI. If you’re thinking about coming down, do it. Tonight starts with Borracho at 8PM, also features Apostle of Solitude, and Negative Reaction headlines. As ever, I’m the fat guy with a black t-shirt, long hair, a beard and sandals. Pretty much the uniform.

More info on the fest is here. There are so many bands I haven’t seen before — Ancient Astronaught, Windhand, Against Nature, Acid Queen, Iron Front — and I know it’s going to be a good time. Krug’s Place in Frederick is basically the hub of the Maryland scene these days. Gotta go, gotta go.

I thought we’d cap this week withValkyrie, since Rob Levey, who puts together the SHoD fest, decided to do so once again this year after seeing them play in their native Virginia. He tells the story on SHoD‘s site, but the crux of it is that he and his wife, Cheryl, had sworn off doing fests until they saw the excitement of the crowd at this one Valkyrie show with Bible of the Devil, and couldn’t resist starting back up. So, on the 12th anniversary of the original show, we get the 11th installment. Doom on.

So stick around this weekend, because I’ll be posting words and pictures from the fest, and next week (I might take Monday off, we’ll see), I’ll have an interview posted with post-Acrimony riffers Sigiriya, a track premiere from Ape Machine, reviews of Loss, Totimoshi and others, and all the whathaveyou that’s fit to turn blue.

Alright, I’m out. See you in Frederick, and if not there, I hope you have a great and safe weekend wherever you are. More to come.

I admit it: I went in, filled a shopping cart full of sale items, and completed my purchase before posting this news. It was selfish of me, and all the more wrong because it was $200 directly from my savings account in a time when The Patient Mrs. and I are supposed to be living on austerity measures, but damn, 25 and 50 percent off at All That is Heavy is just too good to resist. Buried Treasure post to follow when the package arrives.

If you’ve already signed up for their mailing list, you saw this, but if not, here’s the news from All That is Heavy:

Howdy!

This is a quick update to let you know that we just launched our “Super Summer Fun Mega-Sale” this morning. This is by far OUR BIGGEST SALE EVER with well over 1500 items on sale for a massive 25% to 50% OFF!!! You’ve never seen so much good music (and t-shirts) at such low prices in your life!

Here are a few short notes about the sale:

** There are well over 1,500 CDs, DVDs, T-shirts, Posters and VINYL on sale for 25% to 50% OFF!

** We haven’t run a mega-sale like this in years and who knows when the next one will be?! NOW is your chance to get the most spectacular deals that we ever offer!

** Most of the 50% OFF items are full-on clearance items. Meaning they won’t be restocked once they’re sold out. We only have one or two or three copies of most of them as well, so act fast or miss out!

** If you wear a Small or XXL T-shirt then this sale will be a gold mine for you! All sizes S, M, L, XL, and XXL are represented in this sale but we have an especially large number of Smalls and XXLs on sale!

** Please spread the word. If you own a blog, website, Twitter account, etc., please announce this sale to your readers/followers! Thank you!

Check it out right here: http://www.allthatisheavy.com/sale.asp

Happy Shopping!
Fill your boots while you’ve got the chance!
Love, Dan & Melanie

Founded in the sun-bleached desert lands of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1998 by Jadd Shickler (also of the band Spiritu) and Aaron Emmel, the imprint MeteorCity had its humble beginnings supporting a genre of underground rock that, to date, finds kinship among relatively few listeners. The two were new to underground rock. I recall interviewing Shickler years back and he told me that people would ask him if his online store, All That’s Heavy, would be stocking the new Orange Goblin album, and he said, “Yeah, of course!” and promptly set about to discover who the band was. 1998 was, if nothing else, a long time ago.

Along the way, though, MeteorCity became inextricably linked with All That’s Heavy and eventually with the much-missed StonerRock.com, becoming one of the most important heavy rock imprints of the post-Man’s Ruin era. Starting with the first Welcome to MeteorCity compilation in 1998, Shickler and Emmel helped establish what stoner rock became in the wake of Kyuss‘ demise, and albums released from Nebula, Solace, The Atomic Bitchwax, Blind Dog and Eternal Elysium provided a model for bands and other labels alike.

In 2007, Shickler and Emmel said goodbye to the label they started and the scene they helped found, selling the site to Dan and Melanie Beland, who had previously taken over All That is Heavy (now with the full “is”) in addition to hosting StonerRock.com. Their farewell came in the form of another comp, this time the three-disc …And Back to Earth Again — for which I was fortunate enough to have contributed to the liner notes, and which was less an inflation of an ego and a “look what we did, how important we are” than a “I can’t believe how lucky we were to put out so much good music.”

Shickler and Emmel, who were admittedly burned out on the genre, went on to other work, and Dan and Melanie embarked on a string of incredibly strong releases, effectively revitalizing MeteorCity and declaring in no uncertain terms that a new generation of the heavy underground was rising to the fore. Full-lengths by Black Pyramid, Elder, Snail and Freedom Hawk (among others) demonstrated that not only was there life in the style, but that the label had its ear to the ground when it came to finding bands and choosing which acts to highlight.

Adopting the ethic of taking on acts with strong self-releases and bringing them under the MeteorCity fold, the imprint released CDs from SardoniS, Egypt, Valkyrie and Dead Man (again, among others), and though StonerRock.com met its demise at the end of last year, the enterprises of MeteorCity and All That is Heavy have continued on into 2011, with the label re-releasing the self-titled debut from Boston duo Olde Growth, the second album from New Keepers of the Water Towers, and most recently, a compilation of vinyl-only and previously-unreleased tracks from Black Pyramid called Stormbringer, with more expected before 2011 is through.

The inevitable question, then, is where to start. If you’re new to the label or maybe have a couple of the discs you picked up along the line, which in their catalog are the most essential releases? Well, here are my picks…

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If there was one lesson learned from New Keepers of the Water Towers’ MeteorCity debut, Chronicles (review here), it was that the Stockholm four-piece were just getting started in terms of their development, and that despite their abundance of sonic pummel, the really interesting work lay ahead of them. Chronicles was a compilation of two EPs, and two years later, they follow it with The Calydonian Hunt (also MeteorCity), a half-hour full-length that plays off some of the same ideas and influences as Chronicles, but shows an unmistakable sonic growth. The four-piece – who previously were lacking a bassist where now the position is filled by Robin Holmberg, though Edward Hansson also plays on a few tracks – self-recorded The Calydonian Hunt over the course of 2009-2010, but rather than sound sloppily pieced together, the record has such a flow to it that it sounds more like a single-track with different movements, rather than a collection of songs written and recorded during a year’s span. The tracks don’t bleed into each other apart from “Mankind’s Fall” and “Arise, the Serpent,” but there’s a continuity of approach and flow that nonetheless pushes the album smoothly along its plotted course of beastly, bearded riff metal.

Perhaps the biggest point of change between Chronicles and The Calydonian Hunt is New Keepers of the Water Towers’ melodic capability. Vocalist/guitarist Rasmus Booberg (who also handled the album artwork), guitarist/vocalist Victor Berg and drummer/vocalist Tor Sjödén share singing duties well, giving the tracks a varied feel and occasionally – as on “Arise, the Serpent” or the title cut – give the material a dramatic boost that wasn’t there before. Flaming Thyrr of Dead Nugent (about whom I can find absolutely no information) guests on the semi-ballad “Crystal Lake,” kicking off the second half of the album with surprising accessibility that would be all the more so were it not for the production, which seems at all times to play up the heaviest aspects of the band. That song, which follows the interlude “The Call From the Cosmos,” is clearly meant to be a focal point. It took me a couple listens to get what Booberg and company were going for – at first the song sounded overly commercial to my American ears – but then I remembered that in the European market, it’s possible to be both accessible and rocking without necessarily sacrificing one for the other, and in the context of the heaviness surrounding, “Crystal Lake” made a lot more sense. They were trying something new, taking the oh-so-hot-right-now American ethic of blending metal and pop and applying it to a more European sound. It takes some getting used to, but given the melodies of the title track and the burlier closer “The Sword in the Stone,” it’s not so out of place.

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

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

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

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Snail‘s 2009 reunion album, Blood, was among the best of that year’s surprises, and out of all the killer albums released that year, it’s one of the few that still keeps me coming back for more listens. In fact, today being sunny, warm and generally gorgeous, I think I’ll put it on now.

Good news came on the band update forum that the four-piece are set to hit the studio this week and record the follow-up to Blood, tentatively-titled Terminus. More to come on this one, but since the announcement made my Friday night (as you can see in the link), I thought it was worth sharing here in case anyone hadn’t seen it yet. Dig:

Snail will begin recording drum tracks at Mysterious Mammal Recording, Los Angeles for our third full-length beginning April 13. We will be recording all month and expect a release sometime mid-summer. The working title for the record is Terminus. The tone of this one is a bit more old-school metal, but the fuzz will be in full effect as well.

Here is the current track list:

Recursion
Galaxies Lament
Matchbook
Fast Woman
Hippy Crack
Try To Make It
Perilous Dandelion
Love Theme from Snail
Terminus
Ritual
Heavy Trait
Burn the Flesh

We’ll keep everyone posted via Facebook and this site. We’re very excited to get these new tunes out there. Thanks for all the support you’ve given us!

Mark, Matt, Eric, Marty