Heavy blues bruisers Bushfire make their home in Darmstadt, Germany. It’s the same town that produced stonerly trio Wight, with whom Bushfire took to the road for the “Malakas of the Universe” tour at the end of 2011. To date, Bushfire’s self-issued Black Ash Sunday (2010; more recently put out on vinyl) is their only official release, following three demos with nearly an hour’s worth of thickened riff rock and burly tones. The five-piece have undergone some lineup changes since, but on Black Ash Sunday, the unit of guitarists Miguel Pereira and Marcus Bischoff, vocalist Bill Brown, bassist Thomas Glaser (since replaced by Nick K.) and drummer Tom Hoffmann works well together, clearly having learned something about their sound and what they wanted to accomplish musically through their extensive demoing process. Taken as a whole, the album is cohesive, if long at 13 tracks, and showcases a marked Clutch influence, both in Brown’s vocal patterning and in the riff work of Pereira and Bischoff, whose bouncing fuzz prevails on songs like “Black Ash Sunday,” which follows the swamp blues intro “Midsummer Porch View.” The overall sound of the band is full, and as a standalone singer, Brown earns his spot, even if he gives way every now and again to the lower-mouth “stoner rock voice,” which ups the dudely quotient in the band’s overall vibe and ultimately takes away from the musical variety.

Germany being a hotbed of heavy psychedelia, one might expect those elements to show up in Bushfire’s sound, but they don’t. Even though a cut like “The Fiend” has a slower, groovier, more open feel to its verse, it’s grounded stylistically, and that current runs strong throughout Black Ash Sunday. That has its ups and downs as regards the overall listening experience, in that even a song like “Hundredsixtysix,” which has a break in the middle from the forward-pushed riffing, is back to it soon enough, and though Bushfire prove to work quite well within the formula – in that song in particular adding a kind of Helmet-style crunch to the overall sound without sacrificing melody in the chorus – it’s too easy as the record plays out to lose sight of which tracks stand out for what reasons. Fans of Washington D.C. heavy rockers Borracho will recognize a lot of what Bushfire are doing here, tonally and in terms of approach – though it’s worth noting that Borracho’s Splitting Sky was a 2011 release and this is 2010 – and ultimately, Black Ash Sunday falls prey to a similar first-album misstep as that record did: too much of a good thing. The ripping biker metal solo on “Little Man” wastes not one move in kicking as much ass as possible, and the late-album boogie of “Forget Regret” is a high point of the whole listening experience – one of the best riffs here, hands down – but getting there feels like twice the trip by the time you arrive. It’s not necessarily a question of songwriting as one of abundance.

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It’s not every day I get to write about a band from what’s essentially my own back yard. Space-riffing foursome Eternal Fuzz make their home in New Brunswick, New Jersey, which is about half an hour south on the Parkway from where I currently sit. It’s a college town, hosting the main campus of Rutgers University, and from what I can tell from the (somehow appropriately) fuzzy video above, the double-guitar outfit is pretty young.

Far more revealing about Eternal Fuzz though is their summer 2011 demo, which is currently available for streaming on their Bandcamp page. With warm low end and ghostly echoing vocals, shades of Om meet with a kind of miniaturized riffy splendor and Torche-esque brevity on “Vexed by the Curse of the Sloth,” which sounds short at just three minutes.

I’d be surprised if the demo wasn’t recorded live, since it comes off so much that way, but rough production becomes part of the band’s character by the end of the five songs, and with the striking build of “Moody Hum” acting as a centerpiece, Eternal Fuzz show a surprising amount of clarity for an act who should still just be getting their bearings sound-wise.

For that, I’m happy to include them in the same school of formative NJ acts like sludge villains Dutchguts and bass/drum duo The Badeda Ladies, who both also have growing to do but are making a strong start. Here’s Eternal Fuzz‘s demo if you want to check it out:

With the release of their second LP today, Jan. 31, Virginia rockers King Giant enter into the lexicon of Southern heavy. The five-piece’s debut, Southern Darkness, was self-released in 2009 and was a ballsy excursion into mostly familiar territory of gruff riffs and heavy grooves, and though Dismal Hollow follows suit, it also finds King Giant a more cohesive, more individualized unit. Fortunately for all of us, they’re still heavy as hell.

And they’re not shy about it, either. Right from the start of “Appomattox,” the guitars of Todd “T.I.” Ingram and David Kowalski embark on a southbound journey of thickened metal. The groove is classic, the breath stank with beer, the stomp formidable in the bass of Floyd Walters III and Brooks‘ drumming, and amid layered acoustics, samples and swaggering leads, vocalist Dave Hammerly injects an early Danzig melodic cadence that only heightens the swampy vibe of the album.

In celebration of Dismal Hollow coming out on the band’s own Graveyard Hill Records in conjunction with The Path Less Traveled, I’m fortunate enough to be able to host not only a high-quality full stream of the record, and not only a few words from Kowalski about what went into making it, but also a giveaway for a vinyl/USB prize-pack that one lucky winner will be able to call their own! It’s like three posts in one. Here’s the stream:

And here’s the giveaway and Kowalski discussing the making of Dismal Hollow:

We made a conscious decision to just let the songwriting take its natural course. Anytime we tried to steer a song in a specific direction, it fell flat, and simply didn’t work.

With Southern Darkness, Todd Ingram came in towards the end to add his parts. So what he played was more reactionary to the music that was already there. With Dismal Hollow, we all wrote as a band, and consequently the lead parts blend more intricately with the rhythms and have more of a cohesive feel.

We spent a lot of time in pre-production, making sure that we all had our parts written before we went into the studio. We also recorded to 2” tape. There are places on the album where you can hear the tape hiss, but overall I feel that we achieved a really good organic sound. In the world of digital audio, it makes it really easy to not have to commit to takes, and to edit out every little sonic “imperfection.” But the imperfections are what gives an album character.

Southern Darkness was recorded over a long period of time with all of us recording our parts separately. Going into a studio this time around forced a time constraint on the band, and allowed all of us to be together while we were tracking, so there was definitely more of a camaraderie to the whole recording process.

PRIZE PACK:

A signed copy of Dismal Hollow in LP format, a King Giant patch for all you heshers out there, and so you can take your King Giant wherever you go, a copy of Southern Darkness AND Dismal Hollow on this badass USB drive from the fine folks at Power Tunes. That’s right you get a real deal Marshall KT66 power tube that has been modified into a USB drive. It even glows when you plug it in.

[NOTE: This giveaway is now over. Thanks to all who entered.]

To win, enter your name, email and address in the form above and click “Send.” One winner will be selected, and as always, your information stays private and is deleted after the contest is over. The winner will be chosen on Feb. 7 and entries will be accepted until then.

For more on King Giant, check out their Thee Facebooks page, the album on iTunes, or their Bandcamp site, where Dismal Hollow will be available shortly. Power Tunes USB drives are made by Will Sprague (The Crimson Electric) and available via Thee Facebooks here.

Always sucks to see a good band go. British post-metallurgists Wiht released their impressive debut, The Harrowing of the North (review here), last year, and here we are just months later and they’ve announced their final show for March. If you missed it, guitarist Chris Wayper and bassist Joe Hall were kind enough to answer Six Dumb Questions back in November, and I was looking forward to hearing what they did next. So it goes.

All the best to Wayper, Hall and drummer Rick Contini in their future endeavors, musical and otherwise. Here’s the post from the band’s Thee Facebooks page:

WIHT – March ’09 – March ’12

It is with sadness and a great sense of pride, that we have decided to call it a day. This is a completely amicable decision and has been made in the best interests of the band. It has come to a point where we are no longer able to progress and take the band further, we feel this band deserves more respect than just to fade away. This simply is an issue of lack of time and funds; two of the three of us now have families and time has become a lot more precious. To progress as a band we need to dedicate a certain amount of time to write and record, let alone gigging and touring. This is why we have decided to call it a day at a point where we feel this is something to be proud of.

To have played and made music in a band comprised of three oldest and best mates for three years has been an absolute pleasure. We feel incredibly proud of what we have achieved with the limited time and resources that we have had. We are not for one moment suggesting this is something exclusive to our band, many bands manage to write, record and tour with limited funds and with children, unfortunately it hasn’t worked for us. 

We would like to thank the following bands and people for your huge support and influence over the years, it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Ross at Ghosttown Studios, Neil Best Edward, Dan at Desertscene Rock, Dave at Future Noise, Chris at Witch Hunter Records, Matthew Lee, Charlie Barnes, Elles, all our friends and family Ceara, Lorna, Bekki, Sydney, Vincent & Oscar. 

Huge shout to the bands we have played with and that have helped us out, Khuda; Wizards Beard, Tree of Sores, A Forest of Stars, Haar, Undersmile, Desert Storm, Conan, Slabdragger, Dead Existence, Lords of Bastard & everyone else that we have had the pleasure of sharing the stage with. 

But don’t fret, we have a killer finale for you. Lineup including Khuda, band Tree of Sores on 30th March at Royal Park Cellars, it would be amazing if you could come and send us off Leeds style! 

But before that we will be helping Wizards Beard celebrate their album launch at the same venue on 18th February with some killer bands from around the UK. 

Hails and Ales.

Wiht.

UPDATE: The band has confirmed that their last show will take place as part of the Desertfest in London. The festival’s website had this:

It’s with a mixture of happiness and sadness confirming the mighty Wiht. Clearly we are very happy to have the instrumental three-piece playing at Desertfest, but sadness that this will be their last ever gig. The three-piece grew up together in Kirkstall, Leeds (UK), and out of many a jamming session Wiht was born. If you haven’t listened to these guys before, your in for a treat never sticking to one genre moving around from stoner to psych and even some gloomy doom. They have released a self-titled EP and more recently their debut album, The Harrowing of The North. So DO NOT MISS OUT! on what will be the last time to hear the riffing instrumental wonderment that is Wiht.

Something about Severin Allgood’s delivery of the chorus lines in “Wine Witch” – the cadence of, “She’s the wine witch/Purple teeth/Six-six-six” – reminds me of Suplecs at their most fun-loving, but I can’t quite figure what it is. Backed on vocals by his fellow guitarist Shawn Apple, Allgood fronts Memphis, Tennessee, four-piece Hosoi Bros for the course of their brief Wine Witch debut 7”, ripping quickly through the aforementioned title-track and “Yellow Fever,” which follows an even speedier course. The band formed in 2010 has shared the stage with the likes of The Sword, Skeletonwitch, Red Fang and Totimoshi, and though they come off young as a unit, Allgood, Apple, bassist Drewbie Crenshaw and drummer JimmyJames Blasingame seem to have all been kicking around Memphis as members of various projects and bands. Hosoi Bros – one must resist the temptation to put a “The” before the band’s name – are cohesive across their first two tracks, however, and have a clear idea of where the core of their sound lies, and that’s mostly in their riffy punk influence. Wine Witch is pressed to a limited-to-300 edition of glow-in-the-dark vinyl, and shows immediately that the band – whose logo is remarkably similar in shape to that of Danish thrashers HateSphere – threatens nothing when it comes to taking themselves too seriously. Their Red Fang-esque video for “Wine Witch,” included below, confirms this as well.

What Hosoi Bros most have going for them is the energy in the material. Both “Wine Witch” and “Yellow Fever” teem with an unforced quickness of pace that only further highlights the excitement conveyed. The stuff is fairly basic stylistically, but that’s the point of it. Even with the two guitars, Hosoi Bros aren’t looking to make Wine Witch a prog record; they keep the formula simple and get right to the point. Bolstered by the humor in the lyrics – lines like “Merlot: Steals your soul” from “Wine Witch” – the songs are all the more memorable as a debut showing from the band. I don’t know if they’d be able to keep it up for a full-length without presenting some shift in sound, but a first 7” is certainly no time to worry about such things, when what Hosoi Bros are clearly trying to do is punk out and have a good time. They do it. Both “Wine Witch” and “Yellow Fever” – which is, near as I can tell, a variant on that of the jungle – are a lot of fun in their immature way, and delivered with a strength of performance from the band that shows they’re not just jokes. Crenshaw’s bass has its work cut out for it in keeping up with Apple and Allgood on guitar, but he more than manages, and Blasingame adds consistent snare rolls to “Wine Witch” while laying back more to ride the groove on “Yellow Fever” to show a bit of diversity and give a sense of adaptability. “Yellow Fever” borders on offensive, but stays on the side of cheeky, which is where it belongs, and its chorus of “I’m young/I’m ready/Yellow fever’s got the best of me” is undeniably catchy, while the verse – seemingly shouted by both Allgood and Apple – is harder to discern.

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Burly-as-fuck British foursome Peacemaker announce their coming with the song “The Siberian Problem.” The track is taken from their already-recorded debut and in just over four minutes, manages to give a pretty solid idea of what they’re all about, which seems to be stomping your ass with a foot made out of sludge-riffed metal. Some might recognize vocalist Al Osta from his role as the post-Ben Ward frontman of Ravens Creed, and backed here by gang shouts of “blood, and, soil!” he’s in solid and throaty form, if a little high in the mix.

Nonetheless, being someone who considers himself as having roots more in extreme metal than not, I was stoked to see Peacemaker shares a similar experience, culling together Sam Taylor and Rich Maw of the death metal outfit Infliction with Osta and bassist Al Lawson, both of Satanic Fatwa. “The Siberian Problem” is doomed by definition and by design, but there’s an intensity behind its groove that one could probably trace back to deathly dealings if one had time before the punch of the song landed. Which one doesn’t. Why do I keep saying “one?”

Whatever. Thanks to Peacemaker for getting in touch and sharing their issues with the Russian wilderness. If you want to check them out, do so at their Bandcamp or their Thee Facebooks, and feel free to stream “The Siberian Problem” below, courtesy of the former:

Virginian trio Druglord left the rehearsal space to record their second demo, and listening to Motherfucker Rising, the difference is palpable. The Richmond three-piece, who made their debut in 2010 with a self-titled three-songer, are cleaner-sounding but still raw, and though these songs probably weren’t recorded live, they’re roughly produced enough to still be considered of demo quality. Stuff like this is made by the underground for the underground, and as Druglord – guitarist/vocalist Tommy, bassist Greta and drummer Bobby – riff out on hard-drug grooves and an overarching sense of defeat at their hands, they also showcase a little melodic growth. Just a little though, so don’t be worried. Tommy’s vocals are blown-out but low in the mix enough not to be painful, and it’s still the guitar and the bass tones very much at the fore, but Bobby’s drums come through clearer. Pressed to CD in a thick-stock sleeve edition of 100, Motherfucker Rising is, as the title might indicate, the sound of a group of players beginning to become a cohesive unit. It’s rudimentary – still a step up from the self-titled – but it also presents Druglord at one of the most exciting stages one can find a band: as they’re beginning to find themselves.

Familiar elements abound, and fans of Weedeater, Saint Vitus, Black Sabbath and Electric Wizard will be able to pick out and trace parts from Motherfucker Rising to their influences. Greta’s bass, for example, follows a progression similar to that of “Long Gone” by Weedeater at the end of the opening title-track, and based on its central riff alone, “Cleansed,” which follows, might seem a nastier take on traditional doom. Tommy’s vocals are compressed, throaty and sub-melodic but still cleaner than outright screams, and they do the bulk of the work distinguishing Druglord from its points of inspiration. “Cleansed” dares to add a bit of melody in the guitar and vocal line after halfway through, but again, it’s all very raw, and the distortion in the guitar and the bass seems to swallow it as the biting solo takes hold. Bobby is consistent on drums, but not flashy as he moves smoothly into and through tempo changes like the slowdown at the end of “Cleansed” or the pick-up and drop-off of “Motherfucker Rising,” which starts loud and rebuilds from a quiet section to be one of the demo’s stronger tracks. Overall, though, it’s “Lick the Wound” that proves to be the highlight of Motherfucker Rising. The only inclusion also found on the self-titled, it balance of melody, slow groove and abrasiveness is the most accomplished to be found on the CD, and shows that even in an aesthetic as unforgiving as that of Druglord, a memorable song can be crafted out of strong performances.

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I have the feeling that if my geographical situation was different and I lived on the other side of the country, I probably would’ve heard Rye Wolves by now. Maybe literally, given the loudness that seems to come across on their three-song Species Battle in the Branches full-length, which was released earlier this year. The Eugene, Oregon, trio meld neo-psychedelic bombast with post-metal’s inhuman tonality, finding room in the 23-minute “Malnutrition Bends the Beak” to go all USBM for a little while. What it all rounds out to is a heady and crushing sonic mix that loses nothing in atmosphere for its heft and occasional foray into the maniacal.

Some mid-period Neurosis sway arises in eight-minute opener “Tearing at the Shapes,” but I wouldn’t put Rye Wolves in the post-metal category outright before I’d put them in three or four others, among them doom and whatever it is we’re calling angular sub-technical Mastodonic noise riffing this week. Vocals are harsh but varied, shouts and screams permeate thick tones and complex structures, highlighting an energy pulsing through Species Battle in the Branches, which is Rye Wolves‘ second release behind the less-distilled 2008 debut, Oceans of Delicate Rain.

The primary difference between the two releases seems to be that on the newer, the ideas have better blended together to create a whole, so that the beginning of “Hey David” will be rife with ethereal post-rock guitar echoing, the end will stomp to an agonizing, Khanate-esque doom conclusion, and the middle will provide flow from one to the next. “Malnutrition Bends the Beak” has enough diversity to be an EP unto itself (and some more Khanate as well; this time with tortured vocals included), but also rests well in the context surrounding, its sustained and thickened low-end rumble all the more foreboding for the pace it has divided seemingly in half.

Anyone noticing the band is from Eugene and looking for a YOB connection will find it more in the fact that Species Battle in the Branches was recorded by former bassist Isamu Sato than in Rye Wolves‘ actual sound — though their locale and their playing extended post-doom songs is bound to lead to comparisons. Rye Wolves have put the whole of Species Battle in the Branches on their Bandcamp page for streaming (they’re also on The Facebooks here), and I grabbed the player and put it here in case anyone wants to check it out. I’d recommend doing so, anyway:

What’s most surprising about Aunt Hildegard‘s sound is that, with just guitar and drums, they manage to sound both raw and full at the same time. I’ve never caught the New York heavy punkers live, but if the pre-mastered song snippets posted below are anything to go by, that should probably change. Their album is due out next month and was recorded by Joey Z. from Life of Agony and mastered by Eli Brown of Blood Farmers. Check it out:

Aunt Hildegard, the two-piece power duo mixing stoner, punk, rock and doom are proud to announce they will releasing their new album, Sweet Secret Love. The 11-song full-length was recorded at Method of Groove Studio in Brooklyn, NY, with all tracks recorded, produced and mixed by the legendary Joey Z. from Life of Agony/Stereomud/Carnivore.

The album has just been mastered by Eli Brown at Sterling Sound in New York City and is due to drop this January, 2012.

Tracklisting:
1. Rats in My Room
2. Crack Girl
3. No Way Home
4. Doom
5. My Cocaine
6. Xanadu Salad
7. Check Please
8. Mission Song
9. Dirty White
10. Wait
11. Aunt Hildegard

If the Eastlake, Ohio, duo Bibilic Blood have proven anything about themselves over the last two-plus years since the self-release of their Z’Ha’Doom debut, it’s that they’re totally fucked. Drummer/guitarist/graphic artist Scott “Wizard” Stearns and bassist/vocalist Suzy Psycho have donned capital-d Deranged as their aesthetic, and on their third album, Blood Butterfly (also self-released), they give their most “refined” take on that process yet – with “refined” in quotes because Bibilic Blood’s primal riffing and wailing is so lo-fi that in parts it seems to barely be there. Though that’s proven to be on purpose throughout this and last year’s Pale Face Destroyer (review here), they carry the feel so convincingly as to be genuinely unsettling. The main difference between Blood Butterfly and its preceding installments is in a more distilled feel. Here the songs are shorter, Stearns and Psycho working in two more tracks into a runtime still a minute shorter than that of Pale Face Destroyer, and though I’d hardly thought it possible, Bibilic Blood seem to be becoming even more rudimentary as they develop creatively. As much of their energy here seems to be in deconstructing song structures, they’re simultaneously building creative patterns in which they work. Still, the primary element at work in Blood Butterfly is how completely fucked up it sounds.

More even than on their last outing, however, Bibilic Blood turn that fucked-upness into a wash of malevolent psychedelia, accomplishing through different means what Midwestern black metal has done for its genre. The production on Blood Butterfly is beyond demo raw, but over the course of their to-date trilogy, that’s become almost as much a part of the style as Stearns’ riffs and Psycho’s deep-mixed wails. Were she screaming, Bibilic Blood might veer into sludge territory, and given Stearns’ past or ongoing tenure in Sollubi, Fistula, Ultralord, Morbid Wizard and others, that influence is bound to be present, but Blood Butterfly is geared toward something more definitively horror-based, and the 13 tracks are beginning to expand the formula. Psycho’s vocals are layered on “Black Star,” and later cut “Spider Guts” (the longest on the album at 5:02) devolves into noise before a guitar-led solo jam that’s Blood Butterfly’s most outwardly psychedelic stretch, perhaps rivaled by the earlier 2:19 instrumental “Acid Eyes.” The growth is subtle, and you have to wade through the intended muck of the recording to get to it, but it’s there. “Black Star” displays some burgeoning complexity in its interweaving layers of guitar and bass (I don’t mention the solo section at the beginning of that song only because it sounds like it might be sampled; if not, it also certainly supports the argument in favor of development on the part of the band). As Bibilic Blood becoming increasingly aware of the sonic field they’re working in, they can only progress further within it.

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More often than not, the rule with sludge is if it’s slow and screamy, you compare it to EyeHateGod. If the band is from the UK, as is the Northern Irish four-piece War Iron, you might throw Iron Monkey into the mix, largely for the same reasons. War Iron’s nautically-themed, self-released two-song full-length, The Faceless Sea, has more in common with The Slomatics and Conan (at least tonally), however, than the influential sludge of yore, tapping into ultra-low end heaviness with two basses in place of guitar and cutting through the rumbling morass with vicious, frothing screams. Throughout “Inch Cape” (12:09) and “Face the Sea” (20:50), images come to mind of a more metal-minded Weedeater or even Bongzilla, but War Iron’s perspective seems more hellish than weedian, and the atmosphere they create is murky enough to earn its sea-based thematic. They’re certainly not the first band to write heavy songs about the ocean or dying therein or sailing thereupon, but for nearly every second of The Faceless Sea, War Iron make it apparent that nothing else would work quite as well in solidifying the execution of the record. Even in the  breaks one might call respite if there was actually any letup in the density of the atmosphere – even their air is heavy – War Iron remain consistent in the dreary lumbering of these two songs.

About three and a half minutes into its 12, “Inch Cape” does ignite the pace somewhat, but even then, the thickness of Ross and Dave’s two basses and Baggy’s layered screams and death growls make it seem like there’s no escape. Drummer Marty has his work cut out for him in basically anchoring these songs on his own, since it’s not like one bass is part of the rhythm section and the other is filling the role of a lead guitar. As “Inch Cape” reemerges at its relative crawl, the basses are wide open, holding chords and leaving it solely to the drums to fulfill the life-raft role. Light rumbling under sampled speech takes the place of a verse, but even though at about eight minutes in, the song is effectively over, the perpetual amp noise/droning and sea noises that take hold prove oppressive as well as they lead into the all-at-once slam of “Face the Sea”’s opening. The second of the two cuts on The Faceless Sea is more diverse sonically – at more than eight minutes longer than its predecessor, it has room to be – though Baggy’s screaming offers no let up amid the mega-heavy bass, which, by the time the song is two minutes in, sounds like it’s just trying to blow whatever speakers it’s coming from. Some call and response shouts/screams ensue, and the basses and Marty’s drums line up for an overarching groove, but I’m not sure even that’s as striking as how heavy the whole affect is. That is to say, even when War Iron lays into a killer doom plod, it’s less the groove itself that hits you than the heaviness of it, the thickened tones from Ross and Dave. God damn it, that’s heavy.

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Try as hard as this bastard of a planet has for the last 30-odd years, there has yet to arise a suitable substitute for thrash riffing. Everything metal has done since, from the lumbering plod of doom to the chugga-chugga dissonance of Meshuggah-derived djent, has never been able to quite tap into the same primal malevolence as a downward sloping thrash riff (though, arguably, they each have their own brand of devilry to them). Oakland, California, four-piece Hazzard’s Cure made their debut this fall with a self-titled CD and tape recorded by Greg Wilkinson of Brainoil, and as much as there are elements brought in from black metal and beer-worshiping guitar onslaughts, at its core, it almost can’t help but be a thrash album.

Before the big slowdown in the first half of closer “Great Dishonor,” Hazzard’s Cure recklessly make their way through seven tracks of blistering metal, and though I’m (predictably) more into the mid-paced groove of “Meet Me at the Mountain” than the broken-bottle blackness of “Psilocybin,” the band maintains a consistent appeal throughout, nodding at dirt metal and High on Fire and keeping a sense of fuckall behind even the mostly-clean vocal of “Clashing of Hordes.” Battle metal? A little bit, but more in that post-Matt Pike “heavy equals battle axes” lyrical mindset than any sort of grandeur in the production, despite that song’s acoustic part.

Several of the songs in Hazzard’s Cure‘s midsection bleed into each other, including “Meet Me at the Mountain” into “Tossed and Dethroned” and that song into “Clashing of Hordes,” which likewise flows easily into “Wolves’ Banquet,” and while I don’t know for sure if one is there, it’s easy enough to read a narrative into the structure of at least part of the album. I wouldn’t speculate as to how it translates onto cassette, but Hazzard’s Cure (whose lineup features members of Walken and Owl) mix genres fluidly and come out of it with something more their own than it might seem on first listen, so I thought it was worth putting the tracks from the record up in case anyone wanted to check them out.

These come courtesy of the Hazzard’s Cure page on Bandcamp. You can also check out the band’s website, if you’re so inclined. Thrash on:

Self-financed, self-produced and self-released (they also did the art), the semi-self-titled 2010 debut from Greek four-piece Dala Sun does nothing if it doesn’t stand on its own. Imbued with a spirit of hazy psychedelia, the fuzzy riffs of Harris and Byron (the latter who seems to have been replaced since by Hristos, or maybe that’s the other way around; the CD credits Byron with “prana,” the MySpace page lists Hristos on guitar, and the Facebook says they’re a three-piece), lead the way through the eight-plus tracks of engaging stoner fare on Sala Dun, shifting between songs from languid to upbeat pacing but always keeping in mind a simplistic feel, whatever noises and swirls and effects might crop up. The rhythm section of bassist Tolas and drummer Adreas feature prominently, particularly the former’s rich low end, which is rightly weighted in the mix and a big part of what gives Sala Dun their warmth. Song-wise, the material is straightforward enough to have an apparent structure, but loose-feeling and jammed out all the same. Harris handles the vocals and has a throaty but still clean approach that’s well suited to songs like “Fuck it Away” and the bluesier “I Have a Better Way.” He’s shouting, mostly, but with the overwhelming crest of the two guitars and bass behind him and the drums cutting through, his voice never really veers into the abrasive, and when he pulls back a bit into half-spoken proclamations, as on “In Evil,” the effect is a standout.

Sala Dun has several highlights, among them the helpful advice of “Fuck it Away” and the laid back opener, “Black Karmageddon” – which has that perfectly stoned ooze to its tonality – but the album doesn’t reveal its full charm until the sixth track, “Drunk.” With a sound that lives well up to its title, it finds Dala Sun (presumably drunkenly) singing the riff to introduce it before the song actually gets going, backed by Tolas’ bass. It’s a simple thing, and it doesn’t last long – just two measures, really – but the lack of pretense it shows, the willingness on the part of the band to not take what they do too seriously, does a lot of work in driving home the atmosphere and overall feel of Sala Dun, which is casual and fun, but still markedly heavy, like earliest Suplecs slowed down and dirtied up some. They also bring it back at the end of “Drunk” with some breaking-bottle noises for another four measures, to underscore the inevitable end of the good times. Coming off the more winding stonerisms of “Sala Dun Theme” and leading to the soft/heavy tradeoffs of “My Girl My Time,” “Drunk” is just right for its place on Sala Dun. The album has a few such moments, despite some songs being more memorable than others ultimately. The closer, “Electric Magician” hits six minutes in length thanks to a sample at the end and is the only song on Sala Dun to do so, so although they leave plenty of room in their material for an open feel, Dala Sun never completely fall prey to psychedelic indulgence. Listening back, to the leads that top the ending section of “I Have a Better Way,” I almost wish they would. Maybe just once.

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Aaron Edge has been in more bands than you and I can count — even if we use all our fingers together. One of those bands was Roareth, who just so happened to be the first band I ever released on The Maple Forum. Their Acts I-VI, which was excellent, is long gone, and so is the band, because that’s how it goes. Aaron‘s post-Roareth project, Swallowing Swords, is also already defunct.

But time marches on, and as Ozzy once taught us, the wicked find no rest. Relocated from Seattle to Los Angeles, Aaron Edge now resurfaces with Peril on the Sea, the latest in the long line. They’ve got a page on Thee Facebooks with a few songs of ass-kicking, undulating nautical doom. Well worth a look.

In the meantime, here’s the announcement Aaron sent over:

Aaron Edge (of 2 Men Dead, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth, Eshas, Genuine, Grievous, Harkonen, Hauler, Hellephant, Himsa, Iamthethorn, Les Gants, Requin, Roareth, Rote Hexe, Swallowing Swords, Swearengen, The Horde, Tsuga, West of Zero, etc.) has been writing and recording three EPs’-worth of heavy songs over the last two years, and the first has finally reached the light of day. All five tracks from the first EP, entitled Voyage, the First, have been uploaded to the Facebook page.

Check it all out, download all five songs for free…

If you like what you hear, please share the page/songs with others.

Some days it just feels like we’re all living in the echo of Dead Meadow’s ringing tones. The impression is reinforced by the full-yet-somehow-minimalist-sounding Detroit trio, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor, whose fashion-worthy, restrained distortion blends the shoegaze wanderings of the aforementioned East Coast expats with some of The Doors’ storm-riding slinkiness (Baltimore‘s The Flying Eyes come to mind as compatriots in that regard). The album is Spectra Spirit, and it’s Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor’s second self-release behind a 2009 self-titled, comprised of nine varied tracks of tilt-your-head-back cave pop, open-spaced Americana and the kind of neo-psychedelic spirit fostered in Tee Pee sub-hipster bands like Quest for Fire and Weird Owl. Periodic hooks like “You go downtown to the hole in your brain” from the centerpiece “The Hole in Your Brain” serve as landmarks for would-be travelers, and though at this point the line between poser indie and American heavy psych is about as blurry as a hipstamatic press shot, Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor’s warmth of tone and occasional shift into thickly-delivered bliss makes Spectra Spirit work on its own terms. Greatly aided by a natural-feeling production, the songs can’t help but flow smoothly in themselves and between each other, setting a vibe of grander exploration without ever really going full-on experimental or lapsing into more self-indulgence than is warranted by the style.

And “style” is a keyword when it comes to Spectra Spirit. As their European counterparts seem to be morphing into jam-based, lengthier compositions, American acts like Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor present a darker take. The later cut “Sweet Girl Insanity” is the longest on the album at 5:46 and has probably the most effective build of any of the songs here, with drummer/backing vocalist Rick Sawoscinski announcing the payoff with the loudest snare hits on the whole of Spectra Spirit and guitarist/vocalist Sean Morrow clicking whichever of what I can only assume is a vast collection of pedals puts his tone into full-rock mode. By contrast, bassist/backing vocalist Eric Oppitz (who also handles organ when there’s organ to handle) stands out more in the song’s subdued beginning, cutting through the subtle swirl with an anchoring tone that not only keeps the rhythm, but enhances the atmosphere. Earlier, in the upbeat opening duo of “Untitled” and “Black Mind” – the latter which features Oppitz’s long-held organ notes – the bass occurs as part of a larger barrage of noise, and it’s absent from the acoustic-based “Howlers on the Roam,” but where it’s brought to the fore, Spectra Spirit is fuller and more effective for it. Morrow’s guitar leads most of the material, unsurprisingly, and his vocals are responsible for much of Sisters of Your Sunshine Vapor’s chic feel. The Jim Morrison comparison has already been hinted at and is worth reiterating for Morrow’s delivery of “Howlers on the Roam” and the post-centerpiece “Did You Hear the Lion Roar, Mr. Wig,” the latter of which sets its late-night boozery and pill-popping against a backdrop of late ‘60s echoing and would fall utterly flat in its first half as the low point of the album were it not for Oppitz’s work on bass.

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