Much as I love the city of Philadelphia — and I do; it’s the Wesley Snipes to NYC‘s Stephen Dorff — it’s a long way away. Nonetheless, for a lineup like Las Cruces and Iron Man, the trip is well worth it. And hey, I didn’t drive as far as Las Cruces, who are from San Antonio, and thus know what salsa should taste like. So it could be worse.

I was in no hurry to get to the Millcreek Tavern, since it was just the two bands on the bill and I knew the show would be running late. Las Cruces went on first, playing tracks off of their latest, Dusk, as well as older material and a new song called “Egypt” that I shouted from the crowd was a keeper. And it was. There wasn’t much of an audience — apparently some fest was happening down the street — but the loyal few enjoyed what the four-piece had to offer, myself included, and when they played “Wizard” and “Cocaine Wizard Woman” back-to-back, I felt like life was doing me a personal favor. Two songs with “wizard” in the title — in a row! Doesn’t get more doomed than that, folks.

In general I consider myself a fan of a singing drummer, and Paul DeLeon of Las Cruces didn’t disappoint. While guitarists George Trevino and Mando Tovar (Pillcrusher) poured out killer riffs and solos and bassist Jimmy Bell windmilled a breeze enough to feel it from in front of the stage, DeLeon held down the rhythm and the melody of material both old and new. Dusk is the band’s first full-length in 12 years, but the band and the songs sounded fresh and they put on a righteous show despite the fact that there weren’t too many people in the crowd to see it.

A chicken cheese steak was enjoyed in between sets — no onions — and I had plenty of time to eat, as Iron Man took their time getting going. Vocalist Joe Donnelly must have been running late, or else waiting outside to make his grand entrance, since he came in just before the set started. Bassist Louis Strachan and new drummer Mike Rix (who has about four more toms in his rack-mounted kit than he needs for doom) make for a killer rhythm section, and Donnelly‘s Ozzy-style antics are well documented and always good for a laugh, but the essential component in Iron Man is Al Morris III, whose sheer presence while he plays guitar makes the whole set. I managed to get video of the opener, “I Have Returned,” which you can see below. Watch his solo and you’ll see what I’m talking about. Amazing.

Iron Man played a new song as well. I didn’t catch the name of it, but it’s good to know they’re working on material for a follow-up to I Have Returned. They were selling the recent Shadow Kingdom reissues of Generation Void, Black Night and The Passage as well, though I don’t know how many people were there who didn’t already have them. They played an 11-song set, which seemed like a bit much, but although it’s three days later and my sleep pattern is still thrown off, I’m not going to say it wasn’t worth the time or effort to get to the show. It was all the more special because of the sparse attendance, and with Las Cruces having come so far, and Iron Man having made the trip from Maryland, it seemed the least I could do to show up. I guarantee whatever else was going on in town that night wasn’t as doomed out as this show was.

Adding to the argument in favor of attendance was not knowing when Las Cruces would be back this way. Iron Man is killer, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve already seen them this year and worse comes to worst, Maryland is only three hours away. San Antonio is a little farther out from Jersey, and since I enjoyed Dusk so much (even the tracks not about wizards of any shape or form), I wanted to be there to support the band. I don’t know if it did them any good in terms of getting gas money to get to the next show, but there you go. Should have been a couple local acts on the bill to round it out and fill up the place, should have been more people there, but it was a killer gig and easily justified the ride down. No complaints out of me.

Guitarist/vocalist John Brenner of Maryland outfits Against Nature and Revelation has probably the “healthiest” work ethic I’ve ever encountered when it comes to recording, and by “healthy,” I mean obsessive. Since 2005, Against Nature has put out no fewer than 14 records, and it always feels like the next one isn’t far off — because it isn’t. A little while ago, I reviewed Chasing Eagles, only to find out that Cross Street would be arriving shortly, with Stone over Stone due up thereafter.

They’re a lot to keep up with for sure. Releasing albums through their own Bland Hand Records imprint with art by Brenner himself, Against Nature is the vehicle by which Brenner, bassist Bert Hall, Jr. and drummer Steve Branagan explore their more rocking influences, from the early prog of Rush to the swaggering boogie of Humble Pie. When it comes time to doom out, the same lineup performs as Revelation, which has been active in one incarnation or another since 1986, and in the last two years put out albums through labels such as Japan‘s Leaf Hound, Germany‘s The Church Within, and Pittsburgh‘s Shadow Kingdom.

If two constantly expanding discographies wasn’t enough, Brenner is also partially responsible for the Born to be Doomed festival, which this year featured Revelation alongside acts like Apostle of Solitude, Black Pyramid and Blood Farmers on July 2 and 3, with Against Nature headlining a warm-up show the night before. It was on the first day of the festival that I called for the following interview, and found Brenner, unsurprisingly, to be moving quickly from one thing to the next.

In the conversation after the jump, John Brenner discusses the differences between Revelation and Against Nature, how one band grew out of the other, his writing methods and how he is able to maintain such a prolific level of output. I found him to be friendly, engaging and completely unpretentious. I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did. Read more »

With Finnish doomers Garden of Worm, the trick in listening is not to succumb to riff hypnosis and miss out on the interludes and progressive movements that make their sound unique. Right from the opening track of their self-titled debut Shadow Kingdom full-length, the trio offer deceptive intricacy on songs like “Spirits of the Dead” and “The Ceremony,” sounding on the one hand like little more than post-Reverend Bizarre players in a crowded scene, but actually exploring roots both deeper and more satisfying to hear. You’re not three songs in before they break out the mellotron sounds.

In fact, you’re not through the aforementioned “Spirits of the Dead” before a left turn leads to a proggy-type jam that concludes the cut. The guitars of EJ. Taipale take a temporary backseat to SJ. Harju’s foundational bass (both also handle vocals), and gradually the track comes to an apex with the driven cymbal work of drummer JM. Suvanto, and if you weren’t paying attention you could have easily missed it. To be perfectly clear, this is doom we’re dealing with. Garden of Worm play doom and Garden of Worm is a doom album. “The Black Clouds” is lumbering, slow and riff-led, with crashes and mournful vocals in the grand tradition. There’s just also more to it structurally. Like the opener, it soon twists toward the progressive for its back end.

The second half of Garden of Worm is little different from the first, although anyone with a track name fetish should be able to easily get off on “Psychic Wolves.” As for the song itself, it’s a great hulking beast, all the more powerful coming off “The Black Clouds” – both songs are well past seven minutes in length – but Taipale’s guitar leads into a jazzy, near Opethian thoughtful musical space where the song seems to want to rest a while. Guest keyboards from Markus Pajakala (who also provided the “mellotron” to “Rays from Heaven”) make the piece standout, but the real surprise is when a heavy Scott Kelly-style riff takes hold and Garden of Worm transpose the vocal style they’ve been using the whole time over top of it. You wouldn’t think it would fit, but they make it work.

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Thinking about Church of Misery‘s Early Works Compilation the other day got me in a reissue state of mind, so I thought I’d take a look at some other recent re-releases. Rest assured, there’s never a shortage. Dig it:

Goatsnake: This came up in my interview with Greg Anderson, but it’s worth mentioning here as well that Goatsnake‘s 2000 sophomore outing, Flower of Disease (originally on Man’s Ruin), has been reissued on Southern Lord. Unlike when they did I/Dog Days a couple years back, there’s no new artwork or bonus material, but Flower of Disease has been out of print for probably about eight years now, and if you never managed to get a copy of it, it should go without saying that doing so is a worthwhile endeavor. It’s not the classic the first album is, but it stands the test of time nonetheless, with “Easy Greasy” and “A Truckload of Momma’s Muffins” set to kick your ass with doomed out goodness.

16: In 2009, Relapse put out 16‘s underrated Bridges to Burn reunion album and sent them off on the road like they’d never left it in the first place. Now the label has repressed the Los Angeles noise metal band’s blazing first two albums, Curves that Kick (1993) and Drop Out (1996), which for my money are right up there with Buzzov*en‘s terminally fucked up sludge and anything Unsane were doing at the time.

16 has always been one of those acts that never quite got the mass attention they deserved, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change, but for the few who will check them out (new artwork and all), Curves that Kick and Drop Out both prove to be ahead of their time. No word on reissues of 16‘s other two albums, 1997′s Blaze of Incompetence and 2003′s Zoloft Smile.

Jameson Raid: The obscure pre-NWOBHM act formed in 1976 and barely made it past 1982, but the ever-vigilant Shadow Kingdom Records has seen to it their work will garner new appreciation (such as mine) with the discography collection, Just as the Dust Had Settled. Vocalist Terry Dark has a little Phil Lynott inflection to his voice, but it fits well over the music, which is culled from 1979′s debut Seven Days of Splendour single, 1980′s End of Part One EP and the Electric Sun demo from 1982. The songs vary in quality (and lineup), but the essential elements of the band come across even with dated production, the early Priest-isms of shining through without hindrance. Like a lot of Shadow Kingdom‘s reissues, Just as the Dust Had Settled is going to find itself a small but passionate market appeal, but NWOBHM fanatics and other curious parties should be thrilled to get their hands on it.

If the elder’s fables are true, and there really is a cult of true doom, then I can’t help but feel that somewhere in the initiation process is Black Night, the 1992 debut offering from Maryland legends Iron Man. Among the most sought-after of the Hellhound Records catalog, it’s an album whose legacy has only grown with time. I don’t know if it’s a rite of passage or some kind of challenge to would-be cult inductees or what. Maybe you have to air guitar all of Al Morris III’s riffs while on fire or something. That would be cool in a very Beavis and Butt-Head kind of way.

Shadow Kingdom Records, whose reissue kung fu is like Bruce Lee in fast forward, capped off 2009 by re-releasing this rare doom gem, capturing the Iron Man lineup of Morris, Larry Brown (bass), Ron Kalimon (drums) and Rob Levey (vocals; also the man behind the Stoner Hands of Doom series of festivals) in their first incarnation after leaving behind their Black Sabbath cover band roots and trotting out their premiere batch of original material. With cuts like “Life After Death,” “Black Night,” “A Child’s Future” and classic album opener “Choices,” we can only be glad 18 years later that they did.

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It might have been cool had Toronto trio Demontage decided to call their Shadow Kingdom debut, “The Principle Extinction” as in, an extinction of the beliefs of a person or group, but The Principal Extinction, as in, either the initial or that of a school administrator, works too. This being their third album overall since forming nine years ago, I’m sure they thought it all out beforehand and picked that which best represented the music.

About that music: Demontage traffic in a heavy blackened thrash. Right in opener “Entourage of Demons Dances,” one can hear shades of Bathory, Mercyful Fate, Hellhammer and Darkthrone, the latter evident not only in the relatively lo-fi production value of the drumming, but also the clear punk roots. But let it be understood: Demontage do not make for easy listening. The record is six tracks, two of which approach 10 minutes in length, of pure metallic fuck-all; the band’s reckless attitude injecting “Accursed Saboteur” and “Satan of Self (The Warrior)… and Seer of Truths (The Conjurer)” with an aggressively free-spirited feel.

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It was that special kind of cold that renders pants pointless because the wind goes right through them anyway. Nonetheless, I and the pants I decided to wear despite the futility made our way to The Clash Bar in Clifton, NJ, in plenty of time to catch Nimdok, ClamFight and headliners Iron Man in the surprisingly swanky venue. The floors were clean, the bar freshly wiped down, the lighting expensive. I’d never been to The Clash Bar before, and it hardly looked like the kind of place that would have a doom show, but hey, where Iron Man guitarist Al Morris goes, so go I.

Nimdok was up first; a kind of noisy throwaway trash rock that took elements from the ’90s AmRep scene probably without realizing it. The vocals were bad on purpose in a kind of punk rock way, but not really pulled off, and the impression I got was the young trio didn’t give a fuck about what they were doing. Sometimes that’s cool. Sometimes it just doesn’t sit well. I guess I was anxious to see the next bands, because I wasn’t buying it.

Needless to say, I survived, and they actually weren’t bad dudes and stuck around for most of the show despite being musically disparate to the other acts. You can’t ask for more than that really, when it comes to local bands. Everyone’s going to do what they do and sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and some like it and some don’t. You stand there anyway. That’s just the way it is.

With Diane Kamikaze of the famed WFMU DJing the evening, there were plenty of between-band moments of righteousness. She hit tracks from Darkthrone, Kreator, old Mastodon (you always forget how good that shit was until you hear it again after a while), and plenty of doom/stoner stuff, including “Avon” from the first Queens of the Stone Age, which sent me on a binge with that record from which I’ve yet to recover. Could be worse.

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To avoid running otherwise the risk of shameless self-promotion, I’ll just say that when a kickass band like Iron Man comes to your neck of the woods, you don’t miss it. That’s pretty much the deal. For my fellow Jerseyans, behold the following righteousness:

Released separately on the same day by Pittsburgh’s Shadow Kingdom Records, Revelation’s …Yet So Far and For the Sake of No One provide a look at one of Maryland doom’s longest running legacies as it was 14 years ago and as it is today. Respectively. Hellhound had the original release of …Yet So Far back in 1995, while For the Sake of No One is the brand new follow-up to last year’s Release and finds the band at perhaps their most mournful yet.

And I do mean mournful. For the Sake of No One — which maintains the Revelation lineup of Steve Branagan (drums), John Brenner (guitar/vocals) and Bert Hall (bass) — starts off with the woeful one-two punch of “A Matter of Days” and “Offset,” both of which creep at a true doom slow pace that just makes you want to hang your head. “Canyons,” the longest song at 9:11, hits hard in both musical weight and emotional content. The groove is solid, and there’s an under-produced feeling that pervades (Brenner handled recording and mixing, as with Release) that only winds up adding to the cult vibe throughout. This is doom for doomers, folks. Novices or anyone craving timing changes or math-metal parts needs to find themselves another boat.

Things do pick up somewhat with the shorter “On a Promotory” in the middle of the album, and there are some surprises hidden on Side B that contrast the straightforward dirge of For the Sake of No One’s forward face. “The Whisper Stream” boasts the record’s best (and maybe most extended) solo from Brenner, a moment of upbeat classic rock in a swirling sea of doom. The last few minutes of the extended “Vigil” have a bumping bass line from Hall and a lead line that speaks to ‘80s style of rock, and the closing title track starts off eerily quiet, only to blindside with yet another cut of the massive doom that typified the album’s first half.

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Put to tape in 1987, the six tracks that make up the studio-recorded portion of Reactor’s The Real World are a classic metal obscurity that comprises the best of the day’s heavy elements with just a touch of doom groove underlying. The band was born of the Maryland scene with lineup connections to Pentagram (most notably Joe Hasselvander who was in and out of the band on guitar), and their until-now-forgotten songs make their way out thanks to the fine work of Pittsburgh’s Shadow Kingdom Records.

I’ve made no bones about the fact that I find Shadow Kingdom’s ethic of unearthing bands like Reactor to be incredibly noble in the past, nor will I now. The Real World isn’t about to make anyone rich. It’s not a “Special 10 Year Anniversary Reissue” of something still in print. This is an original compilation of a lost metallic gem, put out because the label feels passionate about it. Because it sounds cool. Because how awesome would it be if 20 years from now someone came to you and wanted to put out your band’s original demo? This is love of metal in its purest form.

The songs themselves are pretty barebones metal, and it’s pretty clear from listening to the simple, punk-like structures of “Meltdown,” “Terrorist” and “Greenhouse” that Reactor was just getting started. “(When Your) Number’s Up” and “Real World” are a little more complicated, but the unquestionable high point of The Real World is the memorable “War Machine,” which most effectively blends the catchy, upbeat tone of the earlier material with Cold War-era social worry and a touch more complex melodicism. The chorus of, “The war machine is hungry/Feed the war machine,” says more than it even means to about the time in which it was written.

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I was going to give Dawn of Winter‘s The Peaceful Dead (Shadow Kingdom) the regular ol’ review treatment, but after checking out the lyrics for opener “The Music of Despair,” they’re worthy of an inspection all on their own. Here goes:

With lyrics by vocalist Gerrit Philipp Mutz and music by guitarist/vocalist J?rg Michael Knittel, “The Music of Despair” is a celebration of all things doom, shouting out artists like Penance, Mercyful Fate, Withcfinder General, Reverend Bizarre, Candlemass and others while proclaiming doom metal’s highest order. Like Saint Vitus‘ “Children of Doom” or even “Born too Late,” Sabbath‘s “Children of the Grave” or “Under the Sun/Everything Comes and Goes,” Dawn of Winter‘s track stumbles into the epic without realizing the solidness of its footing. At over seven minutes, it begins The Peaceful Dead — an otherwise solid but not necessarily landmark traditional doom record — on a note of aural celebration. Mutz is saying doom saved his life when he says in the chorus,

Doom is the soul of metal
Primordial and pure
Doom is the true essence of living
Immortal
My cure

It’s a story you hear time and again from doomers across the planet. No matter what country you’re from or culture you belong to, if you’re doom, that’s it. We’re friends. It’s an intercontinental band of social misfits and deviants — which can and has led to plenty of awkward conversations — but the community developed around the genre is like none other. Even hardcore, which has been treated to books and documentary films not yet afforded to the doom scene, sees rivalries between its various regional factions. If a Maryland doomer and a Chicago doomer were to get into a brawl (not saying it can’t happen), chances are it’s not because one disagrees with the way the other is “representin’.”

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On their probable swan-song, the now-defunct Maine traditional doom trio Ogre mounted what was likely their greatest achievement yet. After being together for a decade, the band released Plague of the Planet in 2008 on the suddenly-MIA Leaf Hound Records out of Japan. As ever, the band demonstrated the sound reasoning behind their becoming a New England institution, why so many thought them to be the best the region had to offer as regards trad doom. With all the ?70s vibes and nods toward Pentagram, Dio-era Sabbath and Mot?rhead, it?s a hard argument to counter. I won?t even try. Instead, I?ll just be happy that Pittsburgh imprint Shadow Kingdom Records saw fit to reissue the album and get it out to the masses (myself included) earlier this year.

Plague of the Planet tells the story of humanity?s demise and ultimate redemption at the hands of the machines we?ve made. It?s a familiar sci-fi theme, but Ogre handle it with grace and a flair for epic storytelling that puts oil wars in an entirely new context. Like Road Warrior meets Metropolis meets The Terminator with some role-playing nerdiness thrown in for good measure. The album?s art, like a comic book cover, goes a long way toward giving an idea of the band?s intent.

Like a lot of concept albums, the narrative lyrical approach means the individual songs are often without a chorus or traditional structures. Ogre skirt that by making the 11 individual parts of Plague of the Planet — seven of which feature vocals from bassist Ed Cunningham — one 37-minute track, so while parts like that dubbed ?Drive,? the third of the 11, has a catchy chorus, it?s basically absorbed by the largess of the material surrounding. This of course has its ups and downs, but what it forces the listener to do is take on the album as a whole, expose him or herself to the entire story and decide how they feel about Plague of the Planet on that level. There are no singles here.

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The strangest thing just happened. I was in my car on the way back from an RLE (?Real Life Engagement?) and listening to a record I?ve played a thousand times before. When that ended and I decided to load up Sinister Realm?s self-titled Shadow Kingdom Records debut one more time before setting fingers to keys to review it. All of a sudden, what was a normal blue Jersey sky clouded over in almost an instant, the wind picked up and suddenly things looked very bleak.

I?m not necessarily saying Sinister Realm?s first album has the power to block out the sun, but I wouldn?t count it out either. The Allentown, PA, double-guitar five-piece show a proclivity toward the ancient metallic secrets of old and couple it with more than capable melodicism across the nine tracks of the record. By that I mean the solos kick ass, the songs are memorable, the riffs rule and the vocals will have you hoisting your ale horn in triumphant celebration.

Metal. Very, very metal.

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Franklin, Pennsylvania, merchants Argus make a positive first impression on their self-titled debut full-length, released via Shadow Kingdom Records. ?Devils, Devils,? the album?s catchy opener, rocks an old school doom that borders on Solitude Aeturnus? style of rougher epics without directly taking from it. The track turns out to be the record?s highlight alongside the later and longer ?The Damnation of John Faustus,? but Argus have plenty to offer between the two when it comes to twin-guitar riffs, able soloing and chunky doom grooves, played American style.

Penance fans will recall Argus frontman Brian ?Butch? Balich?s vocal contributions to that band?s later material, and as much as his voice is perfectly suited to the music here, it?s the guitars of Jason Mucio and Erik Johnson that lead the way for most of the tracks. ?Bending Time? and the chugging ?None Shall Know the Hour? show off their impressive chops and provide a forum for Balich to display his masterful mid-range. Argus tends to drag in parts, largely since there?s so much in this kind of old school doom that can?t possibly be original — it?s been done so well, for so long, by so many — but the five-piece unit makes the best of it, the rhythm section of bassist Andy Ramage and former Abdullah drummer Kevin Latchaw adding a welcome metallic crunch to the sound.

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In the church of true doom, there is a stained glass window in honor of Iron Man. Born out of a scene comparable to none other in the United States, namely Maryland and greater metro D.C. area, Iron Man stand out among the truest of the traditional doomers. Led by guitarist and senior riffmaster Alfred Morris III — who after more lineup changes than any band should have to endure is now accompanied by vocalist Joe Donnelly, bassist Louis Strachan and drummer Dex Dexter — the band this April released their first studio full-length in a decade, the appropriately titled (and recently reviewed) I Have Returned.

I Have Returned swims a magic ocean of classically melancholic doomisms, pushing a timeless sound into a receptive modern age and earning the respect of heads young and old. Released via Pittsburgh‘s Shadow Kingdom Records, the album issues 10 tracks (all available for sampling on the band’s MySpace page) of cult-worthy riffs and enough woe to last until 2019. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait that long for the next record.

After the jump, “Iron” Al Morris III graciously answers some questions about his band’s past, present and future, including the story of how they reformed in 2004 and what it was like being back in the studio to make I Have Returned. Enjoy.

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