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

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

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

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

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

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Issued in 2011 in Europe via German imprint Ván Records, mysterious Dutch outfit The Devil’s Blood release their second full-length, The Thousandfold Epicentre, via Metal Blade in North America. Their 2010 debut, The Time of No Time Evermore (review here), was put out by Profound Lore, and if anything, the amount of people who’ve gotten behind The Devil’s Blood shows the kind of dedication their cult rock inspires. With a penchant traditional witchy melody – bands like Coven and Black Widow are appropriate points of reference – taken to the Satanic extremes of European black metal (the band has close ties with Swedish outfit Watain, among others), the core brother/sister duo behind The Devil’s Blood, guitarist/songwriter Selim and vocalist Farida Lemouchi, have been able to hammer out a sound that is at once foreboding and unashamedly accessible. In light of the aforementioned early ‘70s cult folkies, this isn’t such a contrast, but given the avenues of heaviness and extremity in which such themes are more prevalent today, The Devil’s Blood stands out. At the same time, they belong to a growing league of bands – Ghost, Sabbath Assembly and even, to a more distinctly doomed extent, the latest incarnation of The Wounded Kings – who’ve been able to successfully blend that school of classic melodic thought with modern Satanic or occult ritualizing. Farida’s vocals, however, along with Selim’s apparently growing fascination with darkened psychedelia, give The Thousandfold Epicentre a strong individual feel even within this burgeoning context. It is a powerful and creative work.

It’s also really, really long. At 74-plus minutes, The Thousandfold Epicentre is beyond what might usually qualify as expansive, but the atmosphere of ritual it creates – one can almost smell the dry-ice fog coming through the speakers – more than accounts for and justifies that expanse. Where The Time of No Time Evermore took the (in hindsight) formative elements of 2008’s Come, Reap EP in a more traditionally metal direction, The Thousandfold Epicentre seems bent in highlighting melodic grandeur. Following the intro “Unending Singularity” that builds to it, “On the Wings of Gloria” is resplendent. Farida’s vocals echo above a rocking riff from Selim and thudding drums. Among the varied approaches The Devil’s Blood take on the album’s 11 tracks, “On the Wings of Gloria” stands among the most effective combinations of the elements that make their sound their own, breaking after a ripping guitar solo into a vocal-led ritualistic invocation that in turn gives way to a wash of chanting and psychedelic noise, all anchored and given structure by drums and an overall forward movement. The duo of cuts that follows, “Die the Death” and “Within the Charnel House of Love,” are shorter and more geared toward highlighting Farida’s prowess as a frontwoman, while “Cruel Lover” takes rhythmic cues from ‘80s metal (as did a decent portion of the last record) and is less pop-based. Talk of possession and “tongues of fire” allures and adds sexualized danger without feeling outwardly exploitative, and the music behind chugs with a clear sense of structure without being as predictable as either “Die the Death” or “Within the Charnel House of Love.” Nonetheless, indulgence prevails.

As well it should for a band like The Devil’s Blood. They move from a long bridge back to the verse in “Cruel Lover” and end with the central riff, moving briskly onto centerpiece “She,” an immediate highlight. Layers of Farida’s vocals weave between each other to make The Thousandfold Epicentre’s most memorable chorus, while the verse singing has more clarity and make use of her range, which has impressed since the band’s beginnings. Sandwiched between “Cruel Lover” and the title-track, “She” is both a worthy single and a deep cut, adding to the atmosphere of the record without sacrificing the quality of songwriting or structural crispness. A final chorus stomps its way into the cerebral cortex and the song gives way to mellotron and keys that set the stage for “The Thousandfold Epicentre,” which tops nine minutes and is the longest song apart from 15-minute closer “Feverdance.” Like the album itself, the title-track does well with the time it’s so purposefully taking. Gone is the immediacy of hook that drove “She,” but instead, The Devil’s Blood begin to immerse the listener in the ambience that will typify the album’s back end and still have room for catchy delivery of the chorus line, “I call your name/Devil of a thousand faces,” though it doesn’t arrive until more than three minutes in. Like the opener and like the closer still to come, though, the build is what makes it work. Selim skillfully incorporates acoustics and gives a fullness to do more than just complement his sister’s vocals, and breaks into one of The Thousandfold Epicentre’s most impressive guitar solos just after 6:30. They named the album after the right song – pretty much every accomplishment of the whole is summed up in some way on the title-track.

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Go figure, here I am kicking around various options for who to close out the week with, and lo and behold on Thee Facebooks, along comes word that Dutch heavy psych trio The Machine have just — today — uploaded a new song from their fourthcoming opus (the extra ‘u’ because it’s their fourth album), which bears the awesomely Lebowski-referential title, Calmer than You Are. Given some of the subdued atmospheres they got down with on last year’s charmingly-fuzzed Drie (review here), they might just be calmer than everyone, but as you can hear on “Sphere (…or Kneiter)” above, there’s more to them than just Hendrix noodling and a killer pedal collection.

There’s heavy jamming, for crying out loud! And given how all over the place this past week was, starting with an Amebix review and capping last night by seeing Monster Magnet perform Dopes to Infinity front to back in Brooklyn, I can see no better way to chill out on a Saturday afternoon than basking in The Machine‘s heady approach. Dig these guys. Glad to have seen them twice now, and though I didn’t know they’d have a new record so soon, I’m glad it’ll be hitting this year. Something else to look forward to.

Speaking of, we’ll kick off Monday with that Monster Magnet review, and even before that, I will have a new podcast up this weekend. It probably won’t be until tomorrow night, but it’ll be up, anyway. If you missed the notice, I’ll be talking on this one, and I decided the theme will be the best of Buried Treasure so I can chat a little bit (with myself) about different record stores and buying albums. Incidentally, that’s pretty much my topic in the world. I don’t know how it’ll turn out, but even if it sucks, it’ll be fun, and you’re more than invited to mock me as you see fit. I can take it.

Or, more likely, not. But anyway, goes with the territory on that whole internet thing. There’s more coming too aside from the podcast. I’ll have new music posted from heavy-hitting Danish riffers Rising, whose album by no coincidence is out this week on Exile on Mainstream (we’ll give a couple of those away), as well as a track from Swedish doomers Anguish, whose debut is due out in February on Dark Descent. If that’s not enough — first of all, seriously? It’s not? — I’ll be revealing the three winners from among the many entries in the C.O.C. vinyl contest and I’ll have my interview with Clay Neely from Black Pyramid posted.

And somewhere in there, I’ll also find room to stop by Kings Destroy‘s practice on Tuesday to hear their new material — I’ll write something about it, not sure yet what exactly — and to review records from The Hedons, The Devil’s Blood and a couple others, so stay tuned, because as you can see, there’s a ton going on.

In the meantime, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I’m gonna go start putting together the podcast playlist, but I’ll be checking in on the forum, so feel free to say hey.

You know, it had been a little bit since a Roadburn announcement came through, and I thought maybe the four days of the fest (three for Roadburn proper and one for the Afterburner) were full, but nope. As it turns out, the addition of British cult doomers The Wounded Kings completes the lineup for Saturday, and there may yet still be more do come. God damn, this thing is huge.

Stoked to see The Wounded Kings as well, as their In the Chapel of the Black Hand (review here) was a highlight of the year in doom. Dig the news:

The Wounded Kings return to Roadburn Festival on Saturday, April 14, 2012 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland (With the addition of The Wounded Kings to Roadburn 2012, the lineup for Saturday, April 14 is complete).

A new era of apocalyptic doom approaches!  Featuring the dark and chilling vocals of Sharie Neyland along with Alex Kearney (guitar), Myke Heath (drums), Jim Willumsen (bass) and founder member Steve Mills (guitar).

Despite, or because of the hardships the Kings have endured over the last 12 months their determination and unique vision for heavy music remains as strong as ever. This new phase in the Kings‘ development undulates with vintage amplification, the riffs seething with menace and danger  – things fans have come to love and expect!

It is a journey to ghostly worlds – suffocating and claustrophobic – where ancient terrors slowly seep into the blood stream. Roadburn will be grateful to get out alive with its soul and sanity intact – just as it should be!

Dutch trio House of Exorcism are just getting going. The file they have posted on their Thee Facebooks profile is dubbed “First Test Recording,” and sure enough, it’s pretty raw. I mean, not raw in terms of production or in terms of lacking a coherent take on the doom they’re trying to convey, but, you know, still probably raw in comparison to what’s to come.

Guitarist Richard Schouten (who also works as an illustrator and plays guitar in the death metal outfit Acrostichon) started the project with himself on guitar, bass and programming, and soon signed Astrosoniq‘s Marcel Van De Vondervoort on to handle drums and other percussion. The only voices on “First Test Recording” — which you can see on the YouTube clip below has been renamed “Black Sunday” — are from samples, but with Bart Smits (formerly of The Gathering) handling vocals going forward, some singing is bound to show up.

So if nothing else, then, “Black Sunday” serves as first notice for some of the stylistic territory House of Exorcism might be working in, though the band seem quick to point out their doom isn’t limited to the traditional. It should be interesting to see what these players of varied backgrounds can come up with working together. Seven and a half minutes of woeful plodding isn’t a bad start.

Check out “Black Sunday” from YouTube:

Now I’m just getting nervous. These Roadburn announcements keep coming in, and I keep waiting for a piano to fall on my head. The ultra-low, ultra-dense riffing of Conan added to a bill that already includes Voivod (x2), YOB (x2), The Obsessed, Sleep, Om, Ulver, Ancestors and Church of Misery? When’s the other shoe going to drop?

If anyone needs me, I’ll be cowering in a fireproof lock-box until next April. Here’s the latest news:

UK‘s Conan will be part of Voivod‘s special Au-delà du Réel event (Friday, April 13th) at Roadburn 2012.

Conan approach from the North West of England on a devastating, droning, charging warbeast of heaviness, to lay waste to Roadburn 2012 in a barrage of galloping crust and aching tone. Their performance at Roadburn will be their first ever show outside of the UK and Ireland. Worshipping at the Altar Of The Riff, they summon the Gods of fuzz, distortion and blazing valves to join them in their sonic ritual. In response to the special invitation extended to them from Voivod, Conan will be destroying the innards of all those who enter Stage01 (formerly known as Bat Cave) on Friday, April 13th, 2012.

Priestess and Danava have also been confirmed for Voivod‘s Au-delà du Réel. However, Priestess will play the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland on Thursday, April 12th instead of Friday, April 13th to accommodate their spring 2012 tour schedule with Red Fang.

UK‘s power-trio Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell will play on Saturday, April 14th, while Atlantis has been added to the lineup for the traditional Afterburner event on Sunday, April 15th.

These updates are quickly becoming the highlights of my week. Although I can’t imagine the room won’t be so packed as to allow one to breathe and exist at the same time, seeing Michael Gira perform a solo acoustic set might just be worth the lack of oxygen. Toss in Killing Joke and Dutch doom innovators Celestial Season and the latest Roadburn news just made my afternoon. Dig it:

Voivod and Roadburn are equally thrilled to announce that seminal post-punk pioneers Killing Joke will perform at Roadburn 2012 on Thursday, April 12th as part of the newly expanded Au-delà du Réel event.

Killing Joke was at the top of Voivod‘s wish list as soon as they accepted the curator invitation.

Unfortunately, Jaz Coleman (vocals, keyboards and arrangements), Geordie Walker (guitar), Youth (bass) and Paul Ferguson (drums) could not make it to Tilburg on Friday, April 13th due to prior commitments. However, in the spirit of Roadburn and true to the Outer Limits theme, it was quickly decided to expand Au-delà du Réel and turn Voivod‘s dream of sharing a stage with Killing Joke into reality.

Please note that Voivod‘s second show originally scheduled for Saturday, April 14th has been moved to Thursday, April 12th as part of the specially extended Au-delà du Réel. The main stage lineup for Thursday, April 12^th (in alphabetical, not official running order): Agalloch, d.USK/diSEMBOWELMENT, Killing Joke, OM, Ulver and Voivod.

While Swans’ intensely heavy headliner performance at this year’s Roadburn is still resonating in our collective minds, we’re elated to announce the return of Michael Gira for an acoustic solo performance on Thursday, April 14th at the Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland.

In related news: Reunited Dutch doomsters Celestial Season will perform their influential, groundbreaking second album, Solar Lovers in its entirety for the first time ever at Roadburn Festival 2012 on Saturday, April 14th, Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland.

Barn Owl, Jucifer, Urfaust, The Mount Fuji Doomjazz Corporation, Purson, Hammers of Misfortune, Orchid, Sigiriya, Lord Vicar and End of Level Boss have also been confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2012.

Tickets for Roadburn 2012 will go on sale Saturday, November 26th, 10:00 Central European Time. There will be a 2 ticket limit (per order) for 3-day and 4-day passes and Afterburner tickets –the same goes for the Campsite Tickets. More info here.

At this point, I don’t even know what to say. Two YOB sets — one of The Unreal Never Lived, one of Catharsis — Voivod doing Dimension Hatröss, plus Black Cobra, Red Fang and of course Sleep, The Obsessed and everyone else already announced. I don’t know how they do it. Kudos to Walter and Roadburn for putting together what looks like it’ll be the biggest and best festival yet.

Here’s the announcement:

As curator for the 17th edition of the Roadburn festival, Voivod will transport you into Dimension Hatröss as part of their special headline show during the Au-delà du Réel event on Friday, April 13, 2012 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. As if the promise of the band’s classic fourth album in its entirety performed live for the first time ever wasn’t enough, the set will conclude with a not-to-be-missed surprise.

Psychedelic doom metal giants YOB will return to Roadburn Festival 2012 for two one-off performances, each time performing an album in its entirety. YOB has been personally invited by Voivod for Roadburn 2012. For their first show, they will be playing their seminal album, The Unreal Never Lived, on Friday, April 13th at Au-delà du Réel, and then in order to reach the greatest of heights (and doom depths), they will follow up by performing Catharsis in full at the additional Afterburner event on Sunday, April 15.

We’re also very pleased to announce that Black Breath and Celeste are the latest confirmed acts for Voivod‘s Au-delà du Réel at Roadburn 2012. They will join Anekdoten, Aun, Dopethrone and YOB on Friday, April 13.

Beer-driven, groove-heavy hard rock are what Portland’s finest, Red Fang, deliver on their latest opus, Murder the Mountains. Catchy, fun, cool, and downright awesome, Red Fang bring a welcome return to great rock that still has a sense of humor. Roadburn is really pleased to welcome Red Fang to Midi Theatre on Thursday, April 12.

Black Cobra will be playing a one-off show at Roadburn Festival Afterburner in support of their new album, Invernal.

Tickets for Roadburn 2012 will go on sale Saturday, November 26, 10:00 Central European Time. There will be a two ticket limit (per order) for 3-day and 4-day passes and Afterburner tickets – the same goes for the Campsite Tickets.

Please visit www.roadburn.com for more info.

Formed just in early 2009, Dutch trio Sungrazer have become fast veterans. Their self-released, self-titled debut got picked up for wider issue via Elektrohasch Schallplatten, the record label run by Stefan Koglek of Colour Haze, and the band hit the road backed by European mega-bookers Sound of Liberation, resulting in festival gigs like Stoned From the Underground, Roadburn and Duna Jam. Their second album, Mirador (review here), came out on Elektrohasch in the first half of 2011 and has been among the year’s best.

Their formula is pretty simple, melding jam-intensive European heavy psychedelia with desert riffing and landmark grooves. Of course that balance is much easier said that achieved, but on both Sungrazer and Mirador, guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, bassist/backing-vocalist Sander Haagmans and drummer Hans Mulders sculpt laid back vibes and heavy tones from warm low end and flowing rhythms. As a band, Sungrazer are able to shift smoothly between stonerly riffs and open-ended stretches that, like the Mirador highlight “Behind,” feel so natural it’s as though you’ve known them all your life.

Sungrazer hit the road in Europe earlier this year with RotoR and Colour Haze as part of Elektrohasch‘s “Up in Smoke” traveling mini-fest, and are currently on tour with similarly-minded German purveyors Grandloom. In the meantime, they’ve also begun the writing process that will take them through the follow-up to Mirador and doubtless to another level of well-deserved recognition. They are the heralds of a new generation of European heavy psych, and their organic approach can only get stronger with more time on the road.

Prior to leaving for the shows with Grandloom, Smeets took the time to field an email interview with some questions about the inner workings and processes of the band, and some of the differences and similarities in his mind between their work on Sungrazer and Mirador, as well as their time touring in support of both albums. It’s brief, but Smeets gives some insight as to Sungrazer‘s decision making process, and, fittingly somehow, the kebabs are key.

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

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We’ve had a pretty steady stream of Roadburn updates the past couple weeks, and today the fest has announced that Fleshpress and Bongripper have joined the lineup for next year’s edition of the festival at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Bongripper have joined twice over, as it turns out, since they’ll also be playing Satan Worshipping Doom in its entirety at the traditional Sunday Afterburner.

That’s badass enough, honestly, but Roadburn has also made available a couple more audio streams from this year’s fest, namely Candlemass‘ 25th anniversary show (featuring original vocalist Johan Längquist and Caspar Brotzmann Massaker. Here are those links, followed by the latest on Bongripper and Fleshpress being added:

Candlemass 25th Anniversary show featuring Johan Längquist:

http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/45167181#ondemand.45167181

Caspar Brotzmann Massaker at Roadburn 2011:

http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/45167199#ondemand.45167199

Today, we’re excited to announce that Bongripper and Fleshpress have joined the lineup for Roadburn Festival 2012.

Chicago’s Bongripper invade Europe for the first time through the Roadburn 2012 Festival. The instrumental doom entity coalesced in 2005 and built a cult following through word of mouth of their seven self-releases. The band is set to record for two upcoming splits before working on their next full-length.

Bongripper will be playing the first of two sets at the Midi Theatre in Tilburg, Holland on April 14, 2012. Additionally, the band will perform its 2010 album, Satan Worshipping Doom in its entirety for a special Afterburner set on Sunday, April 15, 2012 at the 013 Venue in Tilburg, Holland. Satan Worshipping Doom ranked among the best albums of 2010, as voted by the Roadburn staff and readers alike. Hail Satan. Worship Doom!

Indomitable sludge / doom behemoths Fleshpress will be playing a one-off show at Roadburn 2012′s Afterburner, set to be held on Sunday, April 15 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Combining massive riffs, searing vocals and tense atmospheric interludes, Finland‘s Fleshpress is a must-see for the misanthropically inclined.

Fitting for a band named after a song on a Grief record, Fleshpress make malevolent, crushing music punctuated by snarling screams of pure hatred. Interspersing noise-riddled, forbidding ambience between bouts of neck-snapping riff assaults, they provide no solace for the timid and spasms of delirium for fans of filthy sludge and doom. We look forward to seeing the smoking crater they leave behind…

The 2012 Roadburn is shaping up to be pretty stellar. Already announced performances by The Obsessed, Sleep, Om and others are righteous in and of themselves, but the latest down the PR wire is that Coroner will headline the Afterburner and that Voivod‘s curated event — named Au-delà du Réel — has just gotten its first addition to the lineup. More to come, obviously, but here’s the latest, straight from the festival:

Roadburn Festival has announced that Coroner will be bringing its amazingly tight brand of technical thrash metal to the 2012 Afterburner, set for Sunday, April 15 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Roadburn Festival 2012, including Voivod‘s curated event, Sleep, Om, d.USK, Virus, The Obsessed, Hexvessel, 40 Watt Sun and Sólstafir, among others, will run for four days from Thursday, April 12 to Sunday, April 15, 2012 (the traditional Afterburner) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Voivod named their curated event at Roadburn Festival 2012, Au-delà du Réel, after the band’s favorite sci-fi show, The Outer Limits, when it was broadcast in French during the ’70s. As curator, Voivod will personally select the bands that will play during Au-delà du Réel, set for Friday, April 13 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Voivod‘s excited to announce that Sweden’s Anekdoten has been confirmed for Au-delà du Réel. Anekdoten ranks amongst the very best prog-bands to emerge from Scandinavia since the early ’90s. Firmly rooted in King Crimson-inspired, Mellotron-drenched prog/art-rock (with hints of Pink Floyd and Jethro Tull as well), the band has released several acclaimed albums that garnered them a devoted cult-following over the years.

You can pretty much file Finnish outfit Dark Buddha Rising in the camp of bands who I never thought I’d be able to see in my lifetime who I’ll now be able to catch thanks to Roadburn. If you’ve never heard them, they’re heavy heavy (that’s twice as heavy). Also added to the bill are folkish fellow Finns Hexvessel and Virus, who I now consider a homework assignment that needs to be done before April. Good fun.

Here’s the latest, straight from Walter:

Avant-garde rock maestros Virus, led by former Ved Buens Ende mastermind Carl-Michael Eide (a.k.a Czral), are one of the finest, most exquisite musical exports Norway has to offer at this very moment. Its very hard to describe the musical universe of Virus… think a vast spectrum of genres, ranging from psychedelic to krautrock and from rock via jazz to avant-metal, but all weird and trippy in an inexplicably elegant way… and then at the same time it’s really catchy, too!

Virus either smothers your inner demons, or gives them new life, as they pull you in all different directions. Their latest album, The Agent That Shapes the Desert, ranks amongst the very best metal albums of the year. To hell with the term progressive, what Virus does is beyond even futuristic — they are otherworldly, sublime. Virus will appear on Thursday, 12 April at the 013 venue, Tilburg, Holland.

Finland’s psychedelic, haunting, folk rock band Hexvessel (Friday, 13 April) and Finnish drone occult metalnecromancers Dark Buddha Rising (Saturday, 14 April) have also been confirmed for Roadburn 2012.

Ticket pre-sales will start Saturday, 26 November, 2011.

For more info, please visit www.roadburn.com.

Admittedly, before I even fired up the website’s back end today, I called the Hotel Mercure in Tilburg, The Netherlands, to make sure they still had my reservation on file. Roadburn 2012 is shaping up to be something really special. First we get the announcement that Sleep is playing, and now this:

Roadburn is elated to announce that legendary doom pioneers The Obsessed will reunite to play the Roadburn Festival on Saturday, 14 April 2012. The band will be featuring the lineup from The Church Within; Scott “Wino” Weinrich on guitar/vocals, Greg Rogers (Goatsnake, Sonic Medusa) on drums and Guy Pinhas (Acid King, Goatsnake and Beaver) on bass.

There is no debating the impact that Wino has had (and continues to have) on the stoner scene, and The Obsessed is the band with which he developed his signature doom songwriting and guitar sound. Formed in Maryland in 1976 as Warhorse, they soon changed their name to The Obsessed. The original four-man lineup was pared down to a power trio and they spent several years playing shows and honing their sound, culminating in the release of the Sodden Jackal 7? in1983.

The band then went on hiatus as Wino joined Saint Vitus for a few years in the late ’80s. They reformed in 1990 with Wino joined by a rhythm section of Greg Rogers and Scott Reeder. The new lineup released Lunar Womb before Reeder left to join Kyuss. At that point Guy Pinhas joined as the bass player and the band was signed to Columbia Records and went on to release The Church Within.

The Church Within was Wino’s most critically-hailed album. Despite being co-released by Hellhound Records and the major label Columbia Records, the music-buying masses were not ready to embrace doom in 1994 and instead fixated on buying records by rehashed pop-punk bands. Several factors led to The Church Within becoming The Obsessed‘s last full-length album. Despite not becoming a top-seller, the album remains hugely influential.

Wino has appeared at Roadburn in a number of guises, including: Saint Vitus, Shrinebuilder, Spirit Caravan, The Hidden Hand, and his eponymous band, Wino. His distinctive style of guitar playing and his seemingly endless supply of great riffs has earned him a place on the Mount Rushmore of stoner rock, and now we at Roadburn are thrilled to give you the opportunity to experience the band that started the legend.

Other recent Roadburn announcements include 40 Watt Sun, Sólstafir and Agalloch. Here’s more on that:

Portland, Oregon‘s Agalloch will bring their sweeping sonic landscapes conjuring desolate forests, icy waters and fire emerging from fog to Roadburn‘s main stage on Thursday, 12 April. The band’s highly atmospheric touchstones, which are equal parts dark ambient, drone, Nordic folk-infused black metal and dark wave, are as much a cinematic experience as a musical one. Agalloch‘s releases — four full-length albums and several EPs over the last 15 years — are a feast for the ears in the same way that Werner Herzog‘s and Alejandro Jodorowsky‘s visual imagery is a feast for the eyes. Marrow of the Spirit (2010) is a healing, spiritual journey through the forests of the Pacific Northwest, and one of last year’s most stunning statements in metal.

Iceland‘s very own Sólstafir will appear on Friday, 13 April as part of the Roadburn Festival. Having emerged with a sound as dark as the volcanic ash spewed by their homeland’s volcanoes, the band has evolved to excel at blending atmospheric, angst-fueled post rock with their blackened heritage, underpinned by psychedelic phrasing and an eerily, hypnotic groove for a truly mind-expanding experience. Iceland‘s endless white landscapes, glowering peaks, empty valleys and shrieking winds can be heard and felt through the band’s moving, sonic elements, too. Sólstafir have come a long way much in the same way that Enslaved has progressed, albeit somewhat differently, as showcased on Köld (hailed as a true masterpiece) and the forthcoming Svartir Sandar, the emotional equivalent of the stormy North Atlantic.

After calling it quits in 2009, Warning‘s Patrick Walker returns with his new band 40 Watt Sun and we are really pleased to welcome the band for a one-off show on Saturday, 14 April. 40 Watt Sun‘s stunning debut album, The Inside Room, ranks among the very best Roadburn-related albums of 2011, and offers Walker‘s distinctive melancholic voice a more prominent role. His soaring and somber pipes bless the album’s burning tracks. 40 Watt Sun‘s emotionally charged, slowcore hybrid of Jesu meets a harder-edged Red House Painters put the band in a class of its own.

The 1993 full-length from Australian death/doomers diSEMBOWELMENT, Transcendence into the Peripheral, is considered one of the high points of the genre and then some. Fitting then, that the semi-reactivated lineup of d.USK have been invited to perform the album in its entirety at Roadburn 2012. One more thing to look forward to in a stellar lineup that already includes Sleep and Voivod twice over.

News came down via Roadburn‘s site:

Roadburn is honored and proud to welcome for their first ever European performance, d.USK, the final embodiment of diSEMBOWELMENT, whom will play an exclusive set of diSEMBOWELMENT’s legendary funeral doom opus, Transcendence into the Peripheral.

Commented guitarist Matthew Skarajew, “We feel that presenting Transcendence into the Peripheral in its entirety is a very unique opportunity and that Roadburn will be the perfect vehicle to realize it. I expect it will be the one and only time that it will ever happen!” 

Says drummer Paul Mazziotta, “Although we cannot give the fans 100 percent of the original lineup, Matt and I have put together a band we are very proud of, and is committed to delivering the classic material with pure integrity, energy, passion.”

Timeless, classic, and immeasurably influential, Transcendence into the Peripheral remains a groundbreaking work that typifies the Roadburn Festival’s love of the powerful and ambitious. d.USK is pleased to present this celebrated body of work to Roadburn’s mainstage on Thursday, 12 April, 2012 at the 013 venue, Tilburg, Holland.

Roadburn Festival 2012, including Sleep and Voivod‘s special event, will run for four days from Thursday, April 12 to Sunday, April 15 (the traditional Afterburner) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Pre-sales will start Saturday, November 26, 2011.

Though I’m still enamored of the Dutch trio’s self-titled debut, which Elektrohasch Schallplatten released late last year, Sungrazer’s full-length follow-up, Mirador, has nonetheless been one of my most anticipated releases for the second half of 2011. The full-bodied, semi-jammed heavy psych purveyed by guitarist/vocalist Rutger Smeets, bassist/backing-vocalist Sander Haagmans and drummer Hans Mulders balanced stoner riffing on the first outing with watery improvisation and a laid back smokiness that’s almost too real to be real. Mirador follows suit. The seven-track offering is consistent with its predecessor in terms of fuzzy heft and general approach, and while there are no radical departures in terms of sound – they returned to Maurice Huyts to record as well – a stylistic development on the part of the band is clearly underway. Their jams range further on Mirador, and while that necessarily comes at the cost of some of the structure that made songs from the first album like “Zero Zero” and “Common Believer” so memorable, Sungrazer maintain those elements in parts, perhaps even surpassing their past achievement on the excellent “Sea” and “Goldstrike,” which feel intricate as well as warm and immediately familiar.

One of the most striking aspects of Mirador – and this was true of the self-titled as well – is that Sungrazer as a unit are not afraid to sound sweet as so much heavy rock is. The three-minute instrumental “Octo,” which follows opener “Wild Goose” shows what could loosely be construed as riffy burl, but in the subdued context of the preceding cut, it’s answering back the energy that seemed to explode in that song’s chorus, Mulders remaining steady on his ride cymbal throughout. Smeets’ vocals match the rich low end from his guitar and Haagmans’ bass on “Wild Goose” and elsewhere across Mirador. The album receives a suitably soft introduction from Mulders’ ride and the guitar fading in, soon joined by Haagmans, and layered vocals show off immediate growth on the part of Smeets, whose time on the road (higher-profile appearances include the Pinkpop and Roadburn festivals and the Elektrohasch “Up in Smoke” tour with Colour Haze and Rotor) since the last release pays off in melodic range and confidence of delivery. For his part, Haagmans plays excellently off Smeets both vocally and instrumentally, using the guitar lines as a launch for fills that seem to spread and contract across the effects-laden soundscape that’s built by the end of “Wild Goose” and solidified on “Octo,” where the fuzz comes to the fore and sets up the return to jamming brought about with the appropriately flowing “Sea.”

At eight minutes and utilizing a structure that harnesses verses and choruses while also playing into an overall build and still finding room for open jamming in the middle, “Sea” is an easy candidate for Mirador’s high point. The atmosphere of the album already set by the opening duo, “Sea” is immersive and the band knows it. After “Mountain Dusk” on the self-titled so carefully tied Sungrazer’s tones to a specific landscape imagery, it’s surprising they’re equally suited to the oceanic expanse and whalesong guitar runs of “Sea”’s midsection, but they are – one wonders whether the next studio outing will carry them skyward to complete a “land, sea, air” trilogy. Haagmans’ naturalistic tone rises to prominence in the mix, and the call and response between he and Smeets in the chorus proves worthy of a first-listen sing-along, and no less so when it returns after the jam and Smeets dons a megaphone. Subtle piano (I think; that could be another layer of effected guitar) adds to the ending’s push, and when you think the song has crested, the last 20 seconds cycle through the riff one more time, and Sungrazer remind that no matter how far they may digress, they’re in complete control. It’s beautiful.

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