It’s been a while, but the latest in the series of 2011 Roadburn audio streams comes from Toronto retro occultists Blood Ceremony, the flute-ifiied proto-metal of whom came to fruition earlier this year on their second album, Living with the Ancients. This stream was recorded live at Roadburn at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Here’s the link to listen:

Blood Ceremony live at Roadburn 2011:
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/45369911#ondemand.45369911

Thanks as always to Walter from Roadburn for letting me host the link. Blood Ceremony‘s Roadburn set was mixed by Danny Gras of Gomer Pyle and Space Jam Records.

Two full decades of doing anything is impressive, and what separates British doom mainstays Cathedral’s 20-year tenure from that of many others is that they never really stopped. Until now. The 2CD live album Anniversary – their first live record in all that time, released through frontman Lee Dorian’s own Rise Above Records (Metal Blade in North America) – captures a special show they did to mark 20 years on Dec. 3, 2010, at the 02 Academy Islington in London, and it’s part of the band tying up the loose ends of their existence, which they reportedly plan to end in 2012 with a final studio offering to be called The Last Spire and another London show Dec. 3, 2011. The Last Spire will be Cathedral’s 10th full-length, and though their catalog has had its ups and downs as far as fan reception, their stamp on the genre of doom is cast if only in the fact that when they started out, there was hardly a genre to speak of. As time passed and their catalog grew, landmark releases like 1993’s The Ethereal Mirror and 1995’s The Carnival Bizarre helped not only grow the band’s legacy, but that of doom at large, and through his work with Rise Above, Dorian in particular has been placed at the fore of tastemakers when it comes to what the term “doom” means and can be expanded to incorporate. That has little to do with the sound of Anniversary, but is relevant for context if nothing else.

The Anniversary show itself saw Cathedral basically play two concerts. The first, captured on the first disc here, brought back the original two-guitar lineup for a full front-to-back performance of their 1991 classic, Forest of Equilibrium. The second was Cathedral’s current incarnation – Dorian and guitarist Garry “Gaz” Jennings being the remaining founding members – doing a selection from the rest of the band’s discography. Disc one is an hour and disc two is just under 80 minutes, so the sheer amount of material on Anniversary is staggering, and for someone unfamiliar with the band, probably too intimidating to take on completely blind – but one doesn’t release something like Anniversary for the casual fan. Anniversary is for those who’ve stuck with the band through the highs and lows, or for the late comers whose appreciation for Cathedral is seen in the band’s influence on doom both British and worldwide. And as much as they’ve come to personify the band over the years, to hear Dorian and Jennings joined by guitarist Adam Lehan, bassist Mark Griffiths and drummer Mike Smail for a full run-through of Forest of Equilibrium is a fitting way to celebrate Cathedral’s time together, though the sound between the studio versions and their late-2010 live interpretations is more than a little different. Dorian’s vocals – though he’s obviously performed much of this material all along – have developed considerably since 1991, and though he’s always been more of a frontman than a technically-minded singer, his range and use of cleaner vocals can easily be heard progressing from album to album. Forest of Equilibrium was never going to be what it is on the record itself, but whether it’s “Commiserating the Celebration (of Life)” or the show highlights “Serpent Eve” and “Equilibrium,” Cathedral as They Were do the album justice and leave a high mark for Cathedral as They Are to live up to.

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1:54AM – I guess technically it’s Saturday morning, but when Firebird is covering Humble Pie, the technicalities don’t mean crap. For absolutely no reason whatsoever that I can discern, I’ve had this song stuck in my head all week, so it seemed a decent way to finish it off. Kind of a random, weird-ass week anyway, with the faux-press release from Black Pyramid, the reunion of Black Sabbath, etc.

I’ve been battling a cold all week — quite literally, the whole time — but am starting to come out of it and, if the timing following some social-type obligations tomorrow works out, I’ll be hitting up the Brighton Bar in Long Branch to see The Brought Low and Infernal Overdrive. I don’t know if I’ll review it, but it’s one of several shows I’ll be at in the next week (Fu Manchu, Premonition 13, and Judas frickin’ Priest come to mind most immediately), so it should be fun one way or the other.

Also: There will be a new podcast this weekend.

I don’t think I’m giving anything away when I say it’s going to be the first of the two-parter 2011 year in review. Or maybe I am giving something away. Anyhow, there it is.

Aside from that, this coming week I’ll also post my interview with Nick DiSalvo from Elder and hopefully find some time to do an album review or two in between all those shows. I’ll also update on the HeavyPink sales and have some new streaming audio from the side-project of Monster Magnet‘s rhythm section, Riotgod. Much good to come, as ever.

Until then, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more riff worship. Doom on.

Ultra-Satanic Swedish creepers Ghost have just announced a North American tour. It’s a quick run, just a couple weeks, but it’ll take them from coast to coast in the US and includes a couple dates in Canada as well. You’ll note in the release from the PR wire below that Ghost‘s vocalist has donned the moniker Papa Emeritus — doubtless a direct result of getting tired of being called Evil Pope Guy on this site all the time. Papa Emeritus it is.

If you’ll recall, Ghost was supposed to tour a couple months back with Enslaved and Alcest, and couldn’t get their visas. One can only hope the dark lords of Homeland Security grant them passage this time around. Here’s the news:

Mysterious Swedish buzz band Ghost has announced that it will embark on its first ever North American headlining tour in January, 2012. Ghost cult leader “Papa Emeritus” (who takes the stage in the form of “a satanic pope”) and his anonymous ghouls will team up with doom rockers Blood Ceremony and Ancient VVisdom for a two week trek dubbed the “13 Dates of Doom” tour that will launch on January 18 in New York City.

“It is with an evil haunting chuckle that we are announcing that we are finally coming to North America,” states Ghost‘s Papa Emeritus. ”In the name of Satan, we will conduct thirteen rituals in thirteen different cities throughout the United States and Canada and now we are summoning all of our devotees to partake in these blasphemous eves of black magic.”

The itinerary for the Ghost/Blood Ceremony/Ancient VVisdom winter North American tour is as follows:
 01/18 New York, NY Bowery Ballroom
 01/19 Washington, D.C. Rock N Roll Hotel
 01/20 Boston, MA Middle East (downstairs)
 01/21 Montreal, QC Corona Theatre
 01/22 Toronto, ON The Mod Club
 01/24 Chicago, IL Bottom Lounge
 01/25 Saint Paul, MN Station 4
 01/27 Denver, CO Marquis Theatre
 01/28 Salt Lake City, UT The Vertigo (The Complex)
 01/30 Seattle, WA El Corazon
 01/31 Portland, OR Hawthorne Theater
 02/01 San Francisco, CA Bottom of the Hill
 02/02 Los Angeles, CA The Roxy

The Gates of Slumber‘s first album with drummer J. “Cool Clyde” Paradis, The Wretch gathers eight despondent tracks of potent traditional doom that demonstrate quite clearly why the Indianapolis trio have garnered their reputation as one of the best American acts going in the genre. Their last two records, 2008′s Conqueror and 2009′s Hymns of Blood and Thunder, were the band’s breakthrough, but with The Wretch, they cut the tempos and were able to put across a minimal, miserable atmosphere, epitomized in the woeful guitar and vocals of Karl Simon.

Balance that with a depth of songwriting that made cuts like “To the Rack with Them” and “The Scourge ov Drvnkenness” as effective on a structural level as they were in terms of ambience, and flat-out, The Wretch just ruled. Simon, Paradis and bassist Jason McCash were able to keep the barbaric feel of their prior to albums while also inflicting their melancholy on listeners, and of all the doom I’ve heard so far into 2011, none of it has been quite as doomed as The Gates of Slumber. It’s not just about being loud, or just being heavy, but it’s the downtrodden spirit driving the songs.

That feeling can’t be faked, can’t be a put-on, can’t be bullshit. You’re either in it or you’re not, and The Gates of Slumber pulled it off with a sincerity and honesty that was matched by the fact that the material also rocked. The Wretch has plenty of time to prove its merits over extended listens in 2011, but more than that, I expect its timeless doom will satisfy for years to come. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s not too late.

Working late (which seems to be the crux of my existence lately) meant missing upstart act Natur, whose name I’m seeing/hearing increasingly in worlds both virtual and real as one might expect for a heavy band from Brooklyn these days. I almost bought their 7″ on the principle of it being $5 and coming with a download card, but folded last second, feeling cool enough neither to do that nor grab a beer from the Webster Hall bar. The show, which was Ghost‘s night, clearly — their first time in New York — was sold out and in the basement of the venue. They call it “The Studio.” I called it “hot as balls.” It was a packed, sweaty, smelly mess. Like a locker room with a P.A.

Nonetheless, although I’ve been woefully show-up-and-drink early to the last three or four shows I’ve been to, I missed Natur, so apologies to them (and no, Google, I did not mean “nature”). I entered the fray as the Jex Thoth (of Jex Thoth)-fronted Sabbath Assembly were getting ready to roll out their set of alternately Christian and Satanic hymns. Ms. Thoth herself did not take the stage until the set actually started, so her vocal level was a little off at the very beginning, but it was quickly righted, and the crowd was soon enamored.

I missed them at Roadburn, and having enjoyed the Restored to One album I bought there, wanted very much to catch the songs live. From the many harmonized vocal layers on the record, I almost expected there to be two singers, but Thoth, backed mostly by singularly-named guitarist Mike — though also occasionally by bassist Dan Shuman — held it down on her own with an impressive range and no shortage of sexualized occult lure. Whatever works. As their set of songs about gods and devils and usually both (you might say they’re “restoring them to one”) wore on, audience conversation gradually got louder until toward the end, in a particularly quiet section, even with drummer Dave “Xtian” Nuss backing, Thoth could barely be heard above the din.

It’s hard for me to imagine that’s just a New York thing. I mean, “asshole” is universal, right? My ethic has always been that if someone is on stage — especially if they’re quiet — you shut the fuck up. Nothing you have to say is so important that it can’t wait, and if it is, fucking whisper. You’ve got your fancy-ass phone out anyway, send a text! I wasn’t exactly blown away by Sabbath Assembly‘s stage show (there wasn’t one), but is 40 minutes of solid attention really too much to ask from an audience of adults? Shit, you came to the show. Watch the fucking show. It must be really hard to be so much of a somebody that you have to talk through someone else’s performance.

When Sabbath Assembly were done, Ghost made us all wait. And we waited. Impatiently. There were some amp troubles on stage (an Orange was switched out for a Marshall), and the dude next to me, who I did not know, kept announcing in my ear how hot it was — correct in everything but his volume — and the guy in front was Mr. I’m-Gonna-Toss-My-Hair-To-Get-It-Off-My-Neck-Because-It’s-Hot-And-It’s-Gonna-Be-All-Over-You-Because-That’s-How-Tight-The-Room-Is-And-I-Don’t-Give-A-Fuck-Because-I’m-An-Inconsiderate-Dick, which only made matters less pleasant. Everyone there had a camera. I didn’t even have to use my flash to take pictures of Evil Pope Guy when Ghost finally took the stage from the side door of the venue — all the others lit the room up just fine.

They played just about all of their Opus Eponymous album, and though the vocals were a little off-key, it was 150 degrees in there and the dude was decked out in plastic prosthetic face makeup and a full robe, so it’s understandable. The backing tracks covered most of it, anyway, and the crowd’s singing along held up a lot of the bargain. Ghost‘s songs are catchy and memorable — “Elizabeth” was a highlight, as were “Stand by Him” and “Death Knell” — and the audience was fervent in their appreciation. Hands raised in Satanic testimony, a crowd surfer, a general rush toward the stage from the start, and I backed out. Too old and too tired by then to deal with any of that shit, I stood off to the side (where I could actually see!) and knew I was in the right spot when Brian “I signed Mercyful Fate” Slagel of Metal Blade came and planted himself nearby. I did my best not to gush.

The Opus Eponymous material alone wasn’t enough to fill out an hour of Ghost‘s time, so they threw in a cover of The Beatles‘ George Harrison-penned Abbey Road classic “Here Comes the Sun,” changing the line “…And it’s alright” to “…And he’s alright” to fit with their devil-worshiping modus operandi. It was clever and they knew it, but that didn’t lessen the enjoyment any. Closing out the night with an anthemic rendition of “Ritual,” Evil Pope Guy (sorry, but when you wear the hat and don’t have a name, you take what you get) proceeded to hold communion at the front of the stage after the song, feeding the crowd what he called, “The cadaver of Christ.” Good fun.

I was beat when I walked in and only more so at the end, so I shuffled with the masses out of Webster Hall, walked over to the next block where I’d parked and made my way into and out of traffic en route to the Holland Tunnel and back home, the strains of “Elizabeth” and Sabbath Assembly‘s “We Give Our Lives” duking it out for which was most stuck in my head. Two days later, the battle rages on.

More pics after the jump.

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For anyone who’s ever heard Indianapolis doomers The Gates of Slumber, it’s not exactly a revelation that guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon is a fan of genre gods Saint Vitus, but when I heard their latest album, The Wretch (review here), it was easy to see it went well beyond that. Lots of people like bands. This was something more.

As such, I knew that in asking Simon to compile a list of his five favorite Vitus tunes, he’d come back with some interesting choices, and sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Here are his picks, complete with accompanying audio:

5. “The Troll”

“I’ve been down so long, I cannot see, anyway out of me…” What more needs to be said, really? The grizzled riffing and the tale of a depressive man locked in a feedback loop. The second verse explains why the loop exists; the third brings it home: “Bats and worms are my friends; they’ll stick with me till the end… down here I am my own man…” and a nihilistic Chandler tremolo solo. Wino‘s vocal performance on this song is one of his best. Basically a blues jam which Vitus did a lot, only it’s way fucked up. I identify with the lyrics so god damned much sometimes. It pains me.

4. “Shadow of a Skeleton”

Okay, so a lot of “fans” have a real problem with the C.O.D. record. Well, I have a problem with those fans. Attention posers: not one weak track on this record. In fact, in many ways this record is, in my eyes, a return to the feeling and production values of the early days, only with the addition of some guitar harmonies. And oh yeah, one of the best singers in the history of metal is wailing all over this record. This song has a bulldozer riff that just boggles the mind and makes me want to ruin my neck; Armando‘s drumming is fucking brutal; classic lyrics about a fucking reanimated skeleton coming after your ass…. what more do you want?!

3. “The End of the End”

I am totally obsessed with this riff. The best song Wino ever sang on in my opinion, and the best one that Vitus did with him! I love the pitch shifted vocals and the syncopated drumming. The environmentally aware/anti-nuclear power/war lyrics paint a potent and timeless picture that is just awesome. I love that it has no chorus as well, only the beak down that leads to the solo. Vitus had this weird habit of saving off their most potent songs for EPs… which was a dirty trick, I think! But I love it. Thirsty and Miserable is a must have just because of this song, and Walking Dead speaks for itself.

2. “Darkness”

There is something about this open wah guitar tone that makes me want to throw things at the wall. The circular riff and Reager‘s demon wail. So goddamn good. And then the bass and drum break with Mark Adams taking it for a walk. The Iron Maiden influence is so clear here! It’s just a potent and short burst of energy. I do have to say that The first three releases by Saint Vitus had some real unique magic to them that just can not be equaled by anyone.

1. “The Psychopath”

Essentially, what we have here is a fairly standard blues formula, but goddamn if it isn’t totally taken in the most obscure and odd direction. Chandler is abusing his wah pedal the whole fucking time. Reager’s, owning it… again. How people can not like his voice is so strange to me, but whatever. A song about the M.K. Ultra experiments gone awry. But the real treat here is the main solo break. There are a few leads that really stick out for me, and this is my favorite. Four minutes into the song it starts, nice and melodic… and Chandler is not given credit for that! If Kurt Cobain is a genius then Dave Chandler needs a thousand times that credit. At 5:40, the airplane flanged shred turns into these sick and emotive bends that always give me the chills. It’s a shame that “metal” people in 1984 were totally too weak to have possibly gotten this band. But then things worked out pretty fucking well…. You can spend your life thinking about thing things that could have been. Fact is there were a thousand limp thrash bands and horrid butt “metal” bands out there, but only one Saint Vitus. And 31 years later nobody but nobody cares about Seduce or Viking or whatever… not even the dudes who were in the fucking bands. Saint Vitus ruled them then and rules them now.

I’ve been fortunate enough to interview Orange Goblin three times. The first was a cross-continental phoner with frontman Ben Ward about the band’s 2007 album, Healing Through Fire, that never ran in the magazine it was supposed to. The second was a backstage in-person chat with all four members of the band, who had flown over from their native London to play the Planet Caravan festival in North Carolina in 2009, and the audio recording from that was so atrocious that I couldn’t even transcribe it (someone was playing on stage on the other side of the wall — I kind of saw it coming).

So, needless to say, when the chance popped up to once again speak to Ward about Orange Goblin‘s first American tour in half a decade and the recent release of a five-disc CD box set comprising all of their catalogue but the aforementioned 2007 offering, my only hope was that I came out of it with something usable. Third time, as they say, is the charm.

Orange Goblin in about a week’s time are set to begin that run of US dates, with Indianapolis trad doomers The Gates of Slumber and Brooklyn psychedelic outfit Naam in tow. It might seem like odd timing for a band to tour four years after their last album came out, but as Ward — who’s joined in Orange Goblin by guitarist Joe Hoare, bassist Martyn Millard and drummer Chris Turner — explains in the interview, there was a little while there where they weren’t sure they were going to do anything at all, let alone travel across an ocean for a tour. Given that and the semi-ironic collapse of Sanctuary Records, I’m not about to argue.

Ward, who stands a full 18 meters in height (perhaps I exaggerate), is one of the most imposing frontmen in doom while on stage, but over the phone, he was both cordial and accommodating in our discussion of Orange Goblin‘s new beginnings, their recording plans for their long-awaited next album, coming back to the States, when Rise Above Records might do a round of vinyl reissues, life’s simple pleasures and much more. We talked about the band’s love of Pabst Blue Ribbon and their upcoming performance at Maryland Deathfest, where they’ll be joining the likes of Cathedral, Neurosis, Coroner and Voivod on one of 2011′s most eclectic bills.

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

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If you thought you were glad Saint Vitus is back together and touring, your joy can’t possibly compare to the trad-doom revelry on Indianapolis trio The Gates of Slumber’s fifth album, The Wretch (Rise Above/Metal Blade). A self-acknowledged “return to form” for the band, The Wretch is dark and almost equally weighted emotionally as it is tonally, and the songs deal with a range of pains both existential and physical, but one can’t help but feel in listening that for guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon, bassist Jason McCash and newfound drummer J “Cool” Clyde Paradis, there isn’t a bit of the proverbial “pig in shit” happening as well. It’s hard to pull of doom this good without knowing how much you love Sabbath, Vitus, Pentagram, Trouble and the rest of the genre’s forebears.

Doubtless the addition of Paradis as replacement for “Iron” Bob Fouts (now of Apostle of Solitude) is part of what has allowed The Gates of Slumber to make a stylistic turn from the barbaric metal of their last two breakthrough offerings, Hymns of Blood and Thunder (2009) and Conqueror (2008), and Simon himself agrees in his liner notes. Paradis handles the slow material excellently, accenting the riffs and playing off McCash’s bass with both power and fluidity, and given his apparently propensity for touring, I’d be hard pressed to call him anything less than a perfect fit for what The Gates of Slumber are doing on The Wretch. As someone who had to see the band live before really understanding the appeal of their albums, it was always the doom side of their sound I enjoyed the most (big surprise), and so the eight songs here, even the shorter, faster cuts like “To the Rack with Them” and “Coven of Cain,” are a welcome shift toward the downtempo, beyond the melancholic and into the truly depressive.

For Simon and McCash, that’s the aforementioned return to form, but it’s worth noting that although The Wretch may tread ground The Gates of Slumber have covered before (as have many others), the album is hardly more redundant than is called for. Simon pulls out his best Wino impression on the “I Bleed Black”-esque opener “Bastards Born,” but rather than think of it is a ripoff or something being passed off as original, it’s so obvious an homage and so clearly heartfelt in its tribute that I’m completely along for the ride from the start. And for what it’s worth, The Wretch sounds fantastic. The album was produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studio in London, and there’s just the right balance of separation between the instruments and cohesion of the album as a whole. McCash’s bass tone is a constant high point – again, something that factors in right away on “Bastards Born” – and Simon’s vocals are balanced well in the mix, clearly displaying his growth as a singer, but not at the cost of pulling attention away from the Iommian riffage on “The Scourge ov Drunkenness.”

Whatever speed the song, The Wretch maintains its heft, and clocking in at a well-rounded 55:55 (who’s counting?), it can be a lot to take in a single sitting. Seriously. Even if you go in for traditional doom and gloom, there’s a lot about The Gates of Slumber’s material here that’s just hard to take. There isn’t so much a monstrous plod to the grooving progressions as there is a hopeless skulk. It comes in the second half of “The Scourge ov Drunkenness” (does it ever) after the opener and is contrasted by the more rocking “To the Rack with Them,” but it’s never completely gone from the atmosphere of the album. Paradis seems to keep that feel to his playing despite any tempo changes, and where some drummers might inject needless fills into transitional riffs and start-stops, he sits back and allows Simon and McCash’s contributions the necessary breathing room. “To the Rack with Them” is all the more effective owing to this. The song is neither showy nor silly, and it seems to be coming to a halt in each alternating riff cycle of its verse, so that even with the quicker tempo, it maintains its downer sensibility.

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Labyrinthine flute-worshipers Blood Ceremony released their sophomore full-length, Living with the Ancients, in early March via Rise Above/Metal Blade. The album is chock full of ’70s atmospherics and acid-forest-prog riff and flute interplay, and has justified the considerable buzz Blood Ceremony received after their 2008 self-titled debut. They made the switch from working with Billy Anderson on that album to Sanford Parker on this one, and unsurprisingly, came out of it with exactly what they were looking for. Light up your candles.

In case you haven’t yet heard the record, I was fortunate enough to receive permission to host the track “My Demon Brother” for your aural enjoyment. Check it out on the player below, and dig the quote underneath from guitarist Sean Kennedy about the song’s origins:

“‘My Demon Brother’ is a song of invocation; it’s an entreaty to a dark spirit that doesn’t seem to want to appear.  Imagine a Hammer Horror-style black mass and you’ll have an idea of the vibe we were going for.” — Sean Kennedy

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

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

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

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

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

I don’t know if guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer is a big blackjack player and that’s what he hand in mind in naming Firebird’s sixth album Double Diamond, but he dealt a hell of a hand in 2009’s Grand Union, and there was no way that was going to be an easy album to beat. Partnered once again with Rise Above (who, in turn, are partnered with Metal Blade, at least as far as the American distribution goes), London residents Steer, drummer Ludwig Witt (also of Spiritual Beggars) and new bassist Greyum May (ex-Ozric Tentacles) – the latter who may not have actually played on the album; no liner notes with review mp3s and online info is vague – present a new collection of tracks very much in league with Firebird’s stated classic rock mission. Double Diamond is somewhat moodier tonally than Grand Union, and feels less upbeat in general, but Steer’s songwriting and use of structure and AABB rhyming is, as ever, deservedly at the fore, and the rhythm section this time out is as tight as the tracks require without sounding mechanical in the slightest. It’s a solid rock record from a band who makes solid rock records. Maybe not much in the way of surprises, but that’s never been Firebird’s thing. If you’ve got a rock itch, they’ll scratch it.

He’s among the more underrated riff writers of his generation, and Steer (once a member of grind pioneers Carcass) shows again on Double Diamond his inner boogie. Beginning with “Soul Saviour,” the songs push through at a mostly middling pace, but Firebird’s strength has always been the verse/chorus interplay, and there are a few gems on their sixth outing as well, second track “Ruined” among them. Steer’s guitar line is well accompanied by the bass and Witt’s fills. The song feels less blatant in its ‘70s rock worship than did “Soul Saviour,” but there’s no question to which decade the guitar solo belongs. It could be that Firebird are trying to marry their influences with something more current, and it that’s so, I’m glad to see they didn’t have to sacrifice the catchiness in the process. Their formula doesn’t allow much stylistic movement – they’re not going to suddenly go hardcore on one of these songs, and rightfully not – but as the embodiment of a “what you see is what you get” mentality, Double Diamond does show some progress. If for no other reason than that a third of the band has changed, the dynamic has shifted in kind. “Bright Lights” and the shorter “For Crying Out Loud” find Steer up front in both guitar and vocal presence – it’s his band, at the end of the day – but “Farewell” steps down the energy to a kind of half-ballad level, and is another example of the outfit trying something different.

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It’s hard to discuss Electric Wizard, the spearheads of an occultic movement within modern doom, and not get lost in either hyperbolic praise, devil references or ’70s horror imagery. Indeed, if you look at the bulk of what’s been said about the Dorset group’s seventh studio album, Black Masses (by myself as well), you’ll find it can be classified in one or all of those categories. Perhaps the best thing I can say about that is that neither the imagery nor the hyperbole are unearned on the band’s part.

Because Electric Wizard are, in fact, one of the most important groups in doom today. Their earlier works like 1997′s Come My Fanatics and 2000′s landmark Dopethrone have an influence that pulsates throughout the genre, and even their most recent outings, Black Masses and its 2007 predecessor, Witchcult Today, have been responsible for setting much of the course thematically for a growing crop of bands. As founder, guitarist and vocalist, Jus Oborn has become the very sort of cult figurehead so many of Electric Wizard‘s songs describe.

Joined in the current incarnation of Electric Wizard by American expat guitarist Liz Buckingham (ex-13, ex-Sourvein), tattoo-covered bassist Tas Danazoglou and hi-hat shunning drummer Shaun Rutter, Oborn stripped down the ultra-fuzzed style of Witchcult Today for the latest album, putting a special focus on the interplay of his and Buckingham‘s guitars and the strength of the songwriting. Since both records were put to tape at Toe Rag Studios in London by Liam Watson, it’s that much clearer that the efforts of Oborn and the band have paid off.

The simplistic brilliance of the opening title-track, the revelatory psychedelic horror of “Turn Off Your Mind,” the misanthropic “Scorpio Curse” and the sexually-charged “Venus in Furs” all seethe with an attitude and atmosphere undeniably Electric Wizard‘s own. And of those who would pretend to their Satanic majesty (see first sentence above), it’s becoming increasingly clear that none of them can capture terrors quite as vivid. There’s only one Electric Wizard, and they didn’t happen overnight. Their demented anthems are unparalleled.

In the interview below, Jus Oborn — a week under the weather with the flu at the time of our conversation — discusses the songwriting process behind Black Masses and some of his more surprising points of influence, as well as the prospect of much-demanded touring in the US, the challenges in crafting memorable choruses, and much more.

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

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This morning I interviewed Jus Oborn from Electric Wizard about the band’s triumphant dark masterpiece, Black Masses. Keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks, but until then, here’s a video made by Raymond Salvatore Harmon using the film El Topo for the track “Scorpio Curse” from said album, which finally gets its official US release next Tuesday. Appropriate as anything could ever be for this song:

The hype for Swedish retro Satanists Ghost (not to be confused with the long-running Japanese avant rock troupe) has been overwhelming. I don’t think a day has gone by in the past month that I didn’t see someone recommending their Rise Above Records debut, Opus Eponymous – presumably because “self-titled” wouldn’t have been wordy enough – either in a review or random internet rambling. Usually that kind of thing is a major turnoff. I don’t want to hear the hyperbole about how melodically brilliant the sub-King Diamond singing is, or how an awesomely catchy track like “Elizabeth” gets stuck in your head after listening, or how the riffs sound like Blue Öyster Cult and the cover art is spooky and blue and whatever else. Just let me listen to the fucking thing and find out for myself if it’s any good. Back off, universe.

As ever, that has nothing to do with the band, which is comprised of six anonymous players who wear masks so people won’t know who they are and who may or may not be from other acts (being signed to Rise Above so quickly would seem to support that theory), but it does affect the listen. The truth of the matter, however, is that Ghost’s Opus Eponymous is a really solid album. In terms of aesthetic and execution, it’s clear the band knew what they wanted to sound like going into the project, and for their first record, they absolutely accomplish a deranged, early ‘80s atmosphere made all the more memorable by haunting choruses and capable songwriting. They’re hardly the first group to come out of Sweden with a “born too late” mentality, but between the overtly Satanic themes, the tight, crisp performances and the proto-black metal tonality, Ghost genuinely offer something unique to the listener bold enough to tackle Opus Eponymous.

The album revels in its pretense. From the title onward, everything the band does is grandiose, melodically conscious and awash in self-awareness. If you took away the devil worship, aside from losing half the fun of the album, you’d be left with a blend of ‘80s heavy rock and metal, guitars approaching a Megadeth, “Symphony of Destruction”-style cadence on “Ritual” but cutting quickly to one of Ghost’s many brain-glue choruses. “Ritual” is a pretty solid representation of the overall approach of Opus Eponymous, blending straightforward rhythms with eerie synth and guitar lines and the otherworldly vocals. By contrast, “Elizabeth,” which immediately follows, is more outright Mercyful Fate-ed, and “Satan Prayer,” with more prominent organ and busier drumming, sounds like Lucifer’s disco party. “Stand by Him” isn’t as dark as the earlier “Con Clavi Con Dio” – effectively the opener following intro “Deus Culpa” – but the two have plenty in common in terms of thematics and atmosphere.

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