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.

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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Virginian heavy hitters King Giant made their debut with Southern Darkness in 2009, and are getting ready to unveil their sophomore outing, Dismal Hollow, come Jan. 31, 2012. Reportedly they’re getting a little more into the Appalachian thing this time around, and though I’m not quite sure what that means (dueling banjos and meth?), it should be interesting to find out either way.

The PR wire reveals itself unto you:

Taking the dark tales of their Appalachian folk forefathers to contemporary Southern doom territory, Northern Virgina-based quintet King Giant have wrapped up the final details on their sophomore full-length release, Dismal Hollow, and are preparing to self-release it just after the kickoff of the new year.

Brooding even darker and more sinister homage to their rock and metal forefathers than their heralded self-released 2009 debut album, Southern Darkness, this new album sets a new par for King Giant, further developing their hard but harmonized style, as always chock full of well-written hooks and deep grooving thunder. Recorded at Inner Ear Studio (Minor Threat, Fugazi, Avail, Jawbox, Dave Grohl), and inherently boasting full-on Americana both musically and conceptually, the eight tracks harnessed on Dismal Hollow are easily King Giant’s most well-written and monstrous anthems captured to date.

Dismal Hollow will be available worldwide on January 31, 2012 — a split release between King Giant’s band-operated imprint Graveyard Hill Records and The Path Less Traveled Records, part of the MRI Group, with distribution by RED, Code 7 and Plastichead — and will be available in CD, LP and digital download formats.

Dismal Hollow Track Listing:
1. Appomattox
2. Tale of Mathias
3. A Steward’s Prayer
4. Pistols and Penance
5. 6 O’Clock Swill
6. The Fog
7. Road to Eleusis
8. O’ Drifter

The low-rumbling bass that opens Trade’s debut EP, Hills, and the hypnotic riff repetition that ensues, might lead you to believe the Virginian trio are following Ufomammut’s patterned space doom, and that the three songs that comprise the release are soon to be bent into obscure psychedelics and crushing tones. That’s not really the case. While Aaron Keller’s tonal warmth does greatly thicken out “Dirl,” the extended “Breathe” and “In this Flesh,” Trade on the whole work within a much more unassuming style, using a rawness of production to bolster their natural feel and, arguably, bringing something of their home state’s Appalachian topography into their sound à la North Carolinians Caltrop. The EP is called Hills after all, and sure enough, if they’d gone so far as to call it Mountains, it wouldn’t have worked, as there’s something about these songs that evokes a more rolling than sharp-edged feel, as though the humility of the band’s style was carved out of an erosion-type process. It’s only 20 minutes long, and 10 of those are dedicated to “Breathe,” which is about twice as long as both the opener and closer, but in the true spirit of a successful EP, it serves well to convey some notion of what Trade was looking to do at the time.

Guitarist/vocalist Nick Crabill and drummer Nic McInturff played together in a unit called Stifling that wound up being exactly that, and Trade was born out of a kind of stylistic expansion that occurred after putting their prior project to rest. The addition of Keller on bass can only be seen as working in Trade’s favor on Hills (released on the band’s own Founding Father Records), as the tracks sound organic without being purposefully so and lack pretense even as the stonerly pulse of “Dirl” gives way to the huge Crabill-led jam on “Breathe.” The guitarist’s vocals on the opening cut have a kind of laid-back semi-clean feel, with a punk-ish simplicity in their delivery. He’s not shouting, but he’s close to it, and the screams that come later with “In this Flesh” are convincing enough to give the impression that Hills isn’t the first time he’s ever punished his throat in such a manner. Nonetheless, because it takes up so much time on the release, and because it’s the middle track, and because it has that pervasive spontaneous feel in its second hand, “Breathe” is bound to be the focal point for many listeners, and rightly so. The song starts off in a manner not dissimilar to “Dirl” – McInturff’s kick keeping steady hits without sounding frantic – but after three minutes in, it begins to unfold into a huge instrumental jam. If it wasn’t recorded live and at least partially made up on the spot, then it earns all the more kudos for pulling off the impression so well. Crabill is in the lead position, but Keller and McInturff prove a capable rhythm section behind, and the band as a whole does right by the song, bringing it back to the verse to end, where others might have just noodled their way into oblivion.

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A bit of personal trivia: Alabama Thunderpussy‘s Constellation was the first Man’s Ruin Records album I ever bought. It was released in 2000 and I made my purchase directly from the band on their website — it might also have been the first time I did that — sometime after the release of 2001′s also-excellent Staring at the Divine, which was their Relapse debut. I didn’t know much about the label or the band at that point, other than (as per the poster above) they stomped ass and it was worth $10 of my money.

I’ve chronicled my Man’s Ruin buying adventures here pretty extensively, but Constellation has always had a soft spot in my heart, for being the first and for its fearless blend of sentimentality and burly heavy Southern rock. It’s not just any band that would put “Six Shooter” and “15 Minute Drive” on the same record. Still, I probably hadn’t listened to it in a few years even before ATP broke up after releasing the more metallic Open Fire in 2007 with Kyle Thomas from Exhorder on vocals, and as has happened a couple times by now (see here, here, here and here, for starters), finding the promo for sale on the relative cheap provided a good chance to reintroduce myself to the album.

The first thing that sticks out about it — especially in the context of what’s come since from Virginia and the surrounding area — is how forward thinking it is. A lot of the distinct guitar crunch from Erik Larson and Asechaih Bogdan and the sans-reverb vocals of Johnny Throckmorton you can hear in the sludge coming out of that area now from the likes of Lord and a few like-minded acts also not shy about bringing melody into the mix.

As much as cuts like “Ambition,” “Burden” and the organ-infused “Foul Play” rock as straightforwardly as possible, the acoustics of “Obsari” and the more airy feel of “1271-3106″ do more than just change things up. There’s a direct effect on mood and the overall tone of the album that lasts right into the intro of “Keepsake” and the extended weird-out jam of “Country Song.” I guess it’s not necessarily that I didn’t realize these things were happening on the record before, although I’d believe that too, but with the additional time since its release — it’ll be 12 years come March — there’s been a real chance for the record to ferment. Constellation goes down like fine aged moonshine, and proves no less blinding.

If you’re interested, click the picture on the left above to enlarge it and read the bio. Believe it.

Richmond blackened sludgers Inter Arma‘s Sundown (reviewed here) isn’t something I put on every day, but I have been known on nights no one else is left in the office to blast the holy hell out of it. The louder you go the better it gets. Pretty simple math.

I’d imagine it’s even meaner in-person, despite the friendly looks in the picture above, and I think maybe I’ll go find out when they come through town. Here’s the info off the PR wire:

After releasing their stunning debut, Sundown (via Forcefield Records in 2010), the band hit the road running and have seldom stopped, touring heavily with brother band Bastard Sapling and sharing stages with the likes of The Body, Nocturnal, Castevet, Woods of Ypres, hometown homies Cough, Battlemaster, Cannabis Corpse and tons more. Inter Arma go hard, and once you catch a glimpse of frontman Mike‘s wildman antics or get nailed by one of their piledriver riffs, you’ll be glad you got hit.

Inter Arma fall 2011 tour dates:
10/20 Baltimore Golden West Cafe w/ Balaclava
10/21 Philly The Station w/ Balaclava, Fucked Forever, Bubonic Bear
10/22 Easthampton, MA Flywheel Arts Collective  w/ Katahdin, Hackles
10/23 Boston W.P.T.A.W.T.T.A.P w/ Furnace, Barnburner, Elitist, Blood of the Gods
10/24 Providence TBA/Help
10/25 Connecticut TBA
10/26 Brooklyn The Acheron
10/27 Washington D.C. Asefu’s
10/28 Pittsburgh TBA
10/29 Athens Ohio Morguefest w/ Locusta, Artillery Breath and more
10/30 Indianapolis TBA/Help
10/31 Milwaukee TBA
11/01 Appleton WI Maritime Tavern w/ The Parish, Mellow Harsher
11/02 Chicago TBA
11/03 Ft. Wayne Harrison St. House
11/04 Columbus Carabar
11/05 Lexington KY House Show
11/06 Nashville TN The Little Hamilton
11/07 Knoxville TN The Poison Lawn
11/08 Asheville NC The Get Down w/ Mose Giganticus, Shadow of the Destroyer
11/09 Blacksburg VA TBA
11/10 Richmond VA Strange Matter w/ ABSU, Infernal Stronghold, Battlemaster, Earthling

Emitting molten, viscous, riffs and nod-worthy doom crashes, the Richmond, Virginia, collective Windhand make their debut on Forcefield Records with a five-track, self-titled album. The dual guitar five-piece formed in 2008 and I was lucky enough to catch their set in August at SHoD. It was my first time seeing the band, but when vocalist Dorothia Cottrell said they’d have a record out this fall, I took note.

Well, as previously reported, Windhand‘s Windhand is due Oct. 25. The album is a distinctly American answer back to the all-consuming distortion and bleary-eyed psychedelia of Electric Wizard‘s latter-day missives that strips away some of the cult mentality and puts in its place a woodsy sensibility — not forest-dwelling silliness, but something organic and un-postured. Guided by the slower-than-fuck guitar work of Asechiah Bogdan and Garrett Morris and skillfully underscored by bassist Nathan Hilbish and drummer Ryan Wolfe (also of The Might Could), tracks like “Libusen” and sprawling, screaming, feedback-caked closer “Winter Sun” offer vindication for those who’d let riffs steal the ground from underneath their feet.

In short (ha!), it’s heavy as hell and packed with slow low-end doomed groove. Forcefield Records and Catharsis PR were kind enough to let me stream Windhand in its entirety, so if you’d like to let it ruin your life — and I think you would — you’ll find it on the player below, followed by some light blue PR-wire type info:

Richmond, VA, may be known primarily for its wicked thrash and crust punk scenes, but there’s something evil lurking within that doomed old capital. Psyched-out, Electric Wizard-loving, ultra-Sabbathian amplifier worshippers Windhand, who boast ex-members of heavy riffters Facedowninshit and Alabama Thunderpussy within their ranks, have risen. On the heels of a recent Northeast tour and numerous triumphant local appearances, Windhand will be releasing their self-titled debut LP via Richmond‘s own Forcefield Records.

Slated for an Oct. 25 release, the record will be available in a limited gatefold pressing of violet wax, and was recorded/mixed by Garrett Morris (Parasytic, Bastard Sapling) at the Dark Room with Slipped Disc Audio‘s Bill McElroy (Pentagram, Avail, Alabama Thunderpussy) handling mastering duties.

Still very much in recovery mode from this past weekend, I made my way following a school obligation into NYC to catch Virginian bass/drum outfit Akris play at The Cake Shop. I planned on it being a kind of subdued evening — not much fanfare around the show, but just an excuse to get out and see a cool band do a set — and mostly it worked out that way. It was Tuesday, so even the tiny Ludlow St. had parking, and though there’s people out every night in New York (every day is somebody’s emergency/celebration that requires expensive drinking), the numbers weren’t egregious or specifically annoying.

When I tried to take $60 out of the ATM, it rejected my card for insufficient funds. The show cost one-tenth of that to get in, and I had that at my disposal. Akris was set to play second, with Brooklynite four-piece Descender opening and Gang Signs — who I didn’t stay for, sorry — closing out, but nobody went on for a while, so I busied myself toward the rear of The Cake Shop‘s upstairs with email and whatever else it is people do with their phones. Games. Texting my wife. Whathaveyou.

Descender got going around 9:30PM, maybe a little after. They played the new post-hardcore, and by that I mean their breakdowns went to college and when they yelled, they did it like grown-ups. Both guitarist Angelo Pournaras and bassist Jay Morris handled vocals, the former in the lead role, and the songs were good, if reminiscent of a screamy Pelican, some of the Translation Loss roster and probably a dozen or so obscure bands I’m not cool enough to know by name. The room downstairs, where the show was, wasn’t crowded. A couple hip-cats here and here, friends of the band talking shit to the stage, Pournaras, Morris and the other two members — guitarist Eric Palmerlee and drummer George Manolis — talking back, joshing. I like that kind of thing.

They weren’t bad for what they were doing — “And So We Marched,” which is the title-track of their new, Andrew Schneider-recorded EP, was a high point — but ultimately I was probably too exhausted to really engage the music as I might and probably will some other evening. I snapped a couple pictures and downed a Newcastle, which is my go-to beer for The Cake Shop. Eminently drinkable, but not at the sacrifice of flavor (you might say the same thing about Descender). I’d done a pretty decent amount of beering Monday after work — whose bright idea was it to make Tuesday a weekday, anyhow? — and so wasn’t looking for anything too exciting, even apart from the issue of transportation and being at the show by myself.

Still, I did also have a Paulaner Oktoberfest as Akris was setting up — at a certain point, you just need something to do with your hands — forgetting that The Cake Shop, in the fine tradition of Manhattan‘s lost basement dives, has tap lines dirtier than the sidewalks outside. I roughed through it in time for Akris‘ start and figured that was a decent enough conclusion to the night’s imbibing. Akris were suitably attention-consuming anyway, so it’s not like I got that “you’re not a human being” feeling that I usually do at shows by myself, sitting there in the quiet.

I first heard Akris on the compilation Son of the Transcendental Maggot (review here), where their song “Kentucky Russian” was among several highlights. What I didn’t realize at the time was that I sort of already knew the band. Bassist/vocalist Helena Goldberg (also currently in Lord) is an NYC expat formerly of a duo called Aquila, whom I saw play several times during their tenure, before Goldberg moved to Virginia. All the better, then, to catch Akris — in which the formidable bassist is joined by drummer Sam Lohman (ex-Sheer Terror) and hidden-behind-his-rig noise specialist Jon Simler (Cash Slave Clique) — as they rolled through her former stomping grounds.

Having nothing to compare their live set to but the demo I got at Stoner Hands of Doom XI in Maryland last month — which, fortunately, was recorded live — Akris seemed much fuller-sounding on stage. Part of that could’ve just been the massive volume of the Sunn Concert Bass head Goldberg was running through the traditional Ampeg 8×10, but I think Simler had a lot to do with it, as the static and manipulated samples occupied a lot of the sonic space that other instrumentation (i.e. guitars) otherwise might. Lohman had a sampler as well that he punished at several intervals during pauses in his drumming and between songs, and the overall result was that Akris seemed much more of a complete band.

I recognized a couple songs from the demo, among them the playfully malevolent “Fighter Pilot.” There’s something off-kilter about the melody as sung by Goldberg on that song, but intriguingly so, and I was glad to have the chance to see it live. The same could be said for the whole set, I guess. Akris‘ appeal seems to be in the exposure of raw elements. Goldberg handles riffs like they’re trying to run away from her hands, and Lohman has an underlying technicality to his playing that only makes it seem more unhinged. Their songs are intense bursts of sunspot energy, frantically thrashing at times, but capable too of slipping into and out of heads-down Melvinsian riff pummel — a groove that can be nasty and a nastiness that can groove.

They’re still pretty clearly in a formative period, but Goldberg and Loham were notably tight, and Simler‘s contributions gave Akris an experimental edge that one hopes they continue to develop. They reportedly did some recording at Seizure’s Palace in Brooklyn while in town, so I’ll look forward to hearing the results of that, and in the meantime, last night’s show might not have been the biggest draw on Ludlow — the rocker-pants dude I saw coming out of Piano’s on my way back to my car after Akris‘ set seemed to be doing alright — but it was a quality gig by a band I’m glad to have seen. Not bad for a Tuesday.

Extra pics after the jump.

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It had been my hope to post these Freedom Hawk tour dates earlier in the day, so as to better highlight the fact that their run of shows in support of the righteous and recently-review’d Holding On full-length began tonight with a show with The Atomic Bitchwax and Karma to Burn (also reviewed recently, as it happens) at the Jewish Mother Backstage in Norfolk, Virginia. Well, as I type this, Freedom Hawk is probably done with their set, but if  you missed them tonight, there’s a slew of other killer shows they’re doing where you can make up for it.

Dig the informative nature of this poster — IF YOU DARE!

Reformed following a few years’ quiet around a 50 percent new lineup in which guitarist Willy “Will-Kill” Rivera and drummer Steven “Sven” Sullivan are the sole remaining original members, Virginian crushers Lord return for their first full-length outing since 2006/2007’s Built Lord Tough. The new album, called Chief, finds release through the band-affiliated Heavy Hound Records, and sees Lord inject a forward-thinking, vaguely-spiritual bend to their already-formidable sludge. Chief is comprised of eight cuts that play out in 38 minutes, and is bound to surprise both those who never heard Lord’s prior incarnations and those who did with its complexity of arrangements and melodic vocal interplay between newcomers Steven “Kerch” Kerchner (aka Frank Palkoski of Palkoski, also drums for Ancient Astronaught and ex-VOG and Ol’ Scratch vocals) and bassist Helena Goldberg (also of Akris, formerly of New York duo Aquila). The pair play a huge role in defining Lord’s sound as it exists on Chief, and with the bulk of the album recorded by Beaten Back to Pure guitarist Vince Burke at his own Sniper Studios in North Carolina, there’s enough dirt thrown on these tracks to build a mountain.

That actually holds the record back at points – some of the roughness in the production feels like it’s coming at the expense of Rivera’s guitar on the drum-heavy “Goliath” – but nonetheless sets Lord in line with a long tradition of Southern sludge. Chief gets underway with “Medic,” which proves a more than suitable introduction to what Kerchner and Goldberg have to offer vocally, the somewhat Anselmoan of the former meeting with Goldberg’s obviously higher register croon and relying equally if not more on abrasive screams noisily manipulated to endurance-testing effect on the later “Break of Day.” “Medic,” in contrast, doesn’t veer into the progressive or experimental, but listening to it, it sounds like a generational shift in sludge, Rivera adding vocals as well to Kerchner and Goldberg’s layered onslaught and the structure of the song proving more complex than the standard, punk-informed verses/choruses of first-gen outfits like EyeHateGod and, to some extent, Weedeater. The groove, fortunately, remains, and “Medic” puts it to good use, setting up the more ethereal “S&M” (it stands for “Sun and Moon”) as one of Chief’s biggest surprises.

Once introduced in “S&M,” the lines, “Tell me your master plan/So I can understand/What lives inside of me/Sun, moon, energy,” and  “How am I ‘sposed to breathe/When I’m not all of me/You ask someone to lead/When you are your own chief” become a thematic refrain to which Lord return later on Chief’s most melodic and brooding tracks, “The Connection” and “Lady of the Harvest Moon,” both of which were recorded separately from the rest of the tracks, and which sound it in Sullivan’s drums and elsewhere. In that way, “S&M” becomes a central part of Chief, and the 11-minute runtime – some five and a half minutes longer than the next closest cut – backs that up. The song rests in its movements, but never loses sight of its base, Kerchner’s noises cutting through the mix in a way that makes them sound as though they were added later, and Rivera managing to squeeze in overlapping solos after the halfway point of the song. The lyric, “Sun and the moon’s got a master plan,” is repeated multiple times toward the end of the chaos, and it’s about as close as Lord get anywhere on the album to being catchy of fodder for any kind of sing-along. The dynamics between sludgy and melodic that one can measure elsewhere on Chief between songs like “Goliath” and the piano-led “Lady of the Harvest Moon” play out in close proximity at the end of “S&M,” the madness of the apex giving way to a more wistful finale, that in turn devolves into static noise.

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After seeing their recent set at Krug’s Place as part of Stoner Hands of Doom XI in Frederick, Maryland, I’m psyched to hear what kinds of electric wizardry Windhand will bring to their Forcefield Records debut, set for release on Oct. 25. The PR wire sent along the following info, which you’ll find in the apparently Google Readerproof #ccffff blue below:

On the heels of a recent Northeast tour and numerous triumphant local appearances, psyched-out ultra-Sabbathian amplifier worshippers Windhand, who boast ex-members of heavy riffters Facedowninshit and Alabama Thunderpussy within their ranks, will be releasing their self-titled debut LP via Richmond‘s own Forcefield Records.

Slated for an Oct. 25 release, the record will be available in a limited gatefold pressing of violet wax, and was recorded/mixed by Garrett Morris (Parasytic, Bastard Sapling) at the Dark Room with Slipped Disc Audio‘s Bill McElroy (Pentagram, Avail, Alabama Thunderpussy) handling mastering duties.

Windhand was formed in 2008 in Richmond, and self-released their first demo in 2010. Original drummer, Jeff Loucks, parted ways with the band in early 2010, with current drummer Ryan Wolfe (ex-Facedowninshit) joining shortly thereafter. Their mammoth debut LP will be available for preorder on Sept. 27th — stay (down)tuned!

Windhand, Windhand track listing:
1. Black Candles
2. Libusen
3. Heap Wolves
4. Summon the Moon
5. Winter Sun

Virginian four-piece Freedom Hawk began to carve their name on the American riffy consciousness with 2009’s self-titled full-length, released by MeteorCity. That album earned generally favorable comparisons to Fu Manchu (from me as well), and on the follow-up, Holding On, the double-guitar unit maintain that smoothly-grooved sensibility, adding to it more memorable songwriting and a vocal approach from guitarist T.R. Morton that inherently reminds of Ozzy Osbourne’s early solo work in both cadence and tone. On first listen, that’s going to be what most stands out about Holding On. The production of Vince Burke (Beaten Back to Pure), who also helmed the self-titled, and the mix of Small Stone’s house engineer Benny Grotto of Mad Oak Studios push Morton’s vocals to the fore, and whether it’s “Faded” bringing to mind “Diary of a Madman” with its backing track later on the album or the earlier “Living for Days” copping a feel off “Bark at the Moon,” Freedom Hawk have a clarity of purpose in their use of the Ozzy influence that’s hard to ignore. It’s a twist on, “Well, if it was good enough for Sabbath,” and to Morton’s credit, he’s able to pull off the style better than anyone I’ve heard in the genre since Sheavy’s Steve Hennessey, and able to do it while also busting out a slew of quality riffs on which Holding On’s 13 tracks are based.

It’s a rock album in the tradition of rock albums. Nine of the 13 cuts are between four and five minutes long, and all of them – the exception being the 1:50 interlude “Zelda” – have a classic rock accessibility that will no doubt set many to bemoaning the state of rock radio. Morton and fellow guitarist Matt Cave work well off each other in terms of riffs and solos, and lead the way through straightforward heavy rock the diversity of which isn’t immediate, but which works nonetheless in a variety of moods, from the mid-paced stomp of opener “Thunder Foot” to the barn-burning “Living for Days” (the shortest non-interlude at 2:50), which follows immediately. The rhythm section of bassist Mark Cave (brother to Matt) and drummer Lenny Hines provides stability beneath the riffs, but the songs have an innate sense of structure as well, so it’s not like they’d fall off the rails otherwise. Not to say Hines and Mark don’t contribute – the tonal thickness of the latter is essential and Hines’ pulsating kick is like the floor on which the wah-infused boogie of “Bandito” plays out – just that the material on Holding On is built around solid verses and choruses, not meandering jams that require the bass and drums to ground them in order to establish some rapport with the listener.

With “Edge of Destiny,” the pace cuts somewhat from “Living for Days,” but Freedom Hawk’s ability to write the noted solid choruses comes to the fore. I’ve found in sitting with Holding On that the songs are not so much breaking new stylistic ground as they are digging into what’s already been done in order to create something memorable and distinct from it. The album is a grower in the sense that the more you listen to its tracks – and like a lot of Small Stone’s output over the last few years, it is very much a collection of tracks despite an accomplished flow between them – the more they leave an imprint on you, so that the grown-up punk of “Her Addiction” (a highlight for Hines in showing off his endurance) doesn’t stand itself out from the rest of Holding On until you’ve been through the album a few times, but ultimately proves worth the several listens it takes to get to that point. Morton, the Cave brothers and Hines have a lack of pretense that’s pervasive, and as “Zelda” – which is probably their most Sabbathian moment, with piano and guitar interplay that could’ve set up any number of Master of Reality’s heavy groovers – gives way to the album’s strongest movement in its midsection, Freedom Hawk have only just begun to show off what they can do within the parameters of their genre.

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

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

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

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

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

The Southern metal rogues’ gallery returns! Four years ago, the assemblage of doomed bastards known as Hail!Hornet made their debut in the form of a Dwell Records self-titled, and it was some of the dankest metal ever to rise from the muck. Now signed to Relapse, the four-piece of vocalist T-Roy Medlin (Sourvein; interview here), bassist “Dixie” Dave Collins (Weedeater; interview here), guitarist Vince Burke (Beaten Back to Pure) and drummer Erik Larson (The Might Could/ex-Alabama Thunderpussy; interview here) make an overdue return with their second album, Disperse the Curse, on July 19.

Recorded by Burke (who I guess I need to get on interviewing) in his own Sniper Studio, Disperse the Curse is a little more focused, more linear than was Hail!Hornet‘s first outing — all things relative — but it’s still dirty as hell tonally and topped off with Medlin‘s trademark throat-searing screams. It’s not all sludge, but those elements are definitely in there, and there’s no denying that when these guys kick into a groove, it’s absolutely brutal.

Relapse was kind enough to grant me permission to premiere the track “Unholy Foe” for streaming, so dig this:

Hail!Hornet‘s Disperse the Curse is out July 19, 2011, on Relapse Records, and is available for preorder through the label’s website. The cover art, which rules, is by Brian Mercer.

With their second self-released EP, Ghosts of Proxima Centauri, Virginian heavy rockers Corsair seem to tone down the spaced-out elements in favor of harder-driving classic rock crunch. The Charlottesville four-piece, who made their debut with 2010’s Alpha Centauri (review here), have solidified a sound more their own across these six tracks, the double guitars and vocals of Paul Sebring and Marie Landragin still very much leading the way, but in a more specific direction. The structure is progressive and although engineering for the rhythm guitar and Aaron Lipscombe’s drum tracks is credited to Lance Brenner, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some relation to Against Nature’s John Brenner as well, given the warmth Corsair affect in their tonality and in the mix by bassist/vocalist Jordan Brunk. Through the half-hour of material on Ghosts of Proxima Centauri, Corsair sound like a fast-maturing and technically proficient band of songwriters, working on a brew of riffy heaviness that’s never too self-indulgent for its own good and never loses sight of the “rock” end of prog rock.

Although opener “Wolfrider” starts out with sampled howls and molasses-thick rumble, the song has much more in common with the likes of Valkyrie and Bible of the Devil than it does with Earthride or any of the sludge to be found bubbling up from the fertile Virginia underground. The song is an instrumental showcase for the guitar work of Sebring and Landragin, and at five minutes, it might go on a little too long – not the piece itself, but opening even an EP with an instrumental signals listeners that “Hey, this is an introduction,” and at five minutes, even with the charming underlying runs from Brunk on bass, “Wolfrider” might be a bit much to start with off the bat. That’s a sequencing issue more than any misstep stylistically or in terms of approach. “Wolfrider” has an effective build and a couple genuinely scorching solos, but it might have better served the flow of Ghosts of Proxima Centauri as the third track behind the catchy “Warrior Woman” and the Thin Lizzy-esque “Burnish the Blades” – also the most Against Nature-style moment on the EP – than it does in being the launch point. No matter, as by the time the chorus of “Warrior Woman” comes around, all is forgotten in favor of hoist-worthy riffing, accomplished vocals from Sebring and Brunk, and a complexity of arrangement that Alpha Centauri didn’t dare show off. Corsair are becoming more confident in their approach, and both “Warrior Woman” and “Burnish the Blades” show that. The highlight of the EP is still to come, but they get off to a strong start nonetheless following “Wolfrider.”

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