6 posts tagged “doom”
Soup wrote this:
Asva is a band helmed by Stuart Dahlquist, formerly of Burning Witch, Sunn o))), and Goatsnake, and recorded with members of bands like Burning Witch, Mr. Bungle, and Earth. You probably don't need to know much beyond that to have some idea of what this sounds like already, but leaving this at a paragraph wouldn't do it justice. Their new album for Southern Records (not to be confused with Southern Lord, who I initially thought was putting this out), What You Don't Know is Frontier, is a sparser, more composed, more varied take on the metallic drone pioneered by Sunn o))), and ultimately, manages to be a pretty damn good album.
The first track, “What You Don't Know in Frontier” (sic), is a Sunn o)))-style drone, sped up, with a very prominent organ in front of it. Noisy, fuzzed-out, feedbacking guitars drift in and out, and give way to atmospheric, Earth-y leads, subtle changes in the rhythm guitar, and so-slow-they're-barely-there drums.
“Christopher Columbus” is built on a subharmonic bass drone that sounds like the movement of the ocean, with cymbal crashes adding a sense of impending doom. Inevitably, the feedbacking guitars come in and drone mechanically over it, sounding something like a doomed vessel lost at sea. Drones are piled on and phased in and out over time. Drums and metallic chugging create a surprisingly rhythmic build-up to slow, actually musical sounding guitar leads.
“A Game in Hell, Hard Work in Heaven” starts out with a clean, contemplative guitar on top of a subtle organ drone. Organs overtake the guitars, evoking more of a sense of hope than anything else on the album so far. Chanting vocals in a language I honestly can't identify come in over sometimes discordant keyboards and an Earth-y lead guitar, which all eventually builds into a meandering climax of sound.
The last track, “A Trap For Judges” is a sprawling, almost 25-minute epic that builds from a keyboard drone up to a strangely hopeful sounding cloud of feedback, keyboards, and the ever-present downtuned rhythm guitar and drums trying to crush it all underfoot. This song turns into probably the closest thing to Sunn o))) these guys do on this album, with the trademark Sunn o))) guitar dynamic, with the “rhythm” guitar stomping around like an angry dinosaur, and the “lead” droning on top of it. The biggest difference is, these guys actually speed it up quite a bit, although still keeping it incredibly slow. It breaks down into an organ drone that builds into a hopeful climax and an awesome ending for the album.
I
can't find any tour dates or anything for these guys, but everything
I've read about their live set suggests that you should probably
actually wear earplugs for once if you catch them. The album is out
today on Southern Records. While I doubt this album will change your
mind if you're not into this sort of thing, generally, fans of Sunn
o))), Burning Witch, or Southern Lord style metal will definitely dig
it. More info can, of course, be found at the band's MySpace page.
I'm all about sludge and bands with a good ear for repetition. Anyone who's paid attention to any article I've written is probably well aware of that. And it's been a while since I wrote about a band that sent us something that's all about that, too. So with that having been said, Italy's Ufomammut combine a sludge assault reminiscent of early Isis with subtle psychedelic flourishes that tie it all together into something unique. Their new album, Idolum, is out now, and I have to say, I'm really digging it.
“Stigma” opens the disc with an oddly timed guitar riff that builds and layers, eventually adding reverb-drenched organs and some of the most “musical” shouted vocals ever recorded. “Stardog” is where they assert that they were just getting started. A heavy downtuned guitar riff provides a backbone, while strange, barely audible samples and the shouts of the singer take stabs at it, only to all come to a complete stop, after which everything comes back together into a jam session vaguely reminiscent of White Light/White Heat era Velvet Underground, with insane drumming and noisy, squealing guitar that sound quite graceful together. “Hellectric” reminds me a lot of Isis on Celestial. With that really mathy backbone making what could otherwise sound like a slow song at the beginning sound evil as it builds into pile after pile of oceanic waves of sound. The bass drum-heavy breakdown and the subsequent build-up, however, are the defining moment of this song. On the other hand, “Ammonia,” despite sounding really evil, with lots of what sounds like flanger and reverb all over the place, with whispered vocals subtly audible underneath parts of it, actually is that slow song. It's got that sort of pseudo-”Egyptian” vibe going on, with guest-vocalist Rose Kemp lending her rather impressive voice to the track, and it works pretty damn well. And, of course, just because it's slow doesn't mean it doesn't build up into into a heavy psychedelic stoner jam! Granted, it doesn't pick up a lot of speed, but it'll still melt your eardrums if you play it too loud. What more could you ask for? The next track, “Nero,” just kinda seems like a logical progression from that. An 8-minute dirge that instantly cranks the heaviness, but then dwells on that alone without worrying about the speed too much. Once again, what I like about this is how the vocals seem to exist solely for the purpose of cutting through all the sludge being laid down by the instruments. The psyched-out breakdown at the end is about as majestic as that sort of thing gets. With all that slow noodling, the full-on aggression of “Destroyer” is pretty welcome when it shows up. The psychedelia of the past couple tracks is still there, too, channeled into spacey breakdowns throughout. The last track, “Void/Elephantom,” actually two tracks tied together by a meandering, overly long middle bit is probably what I like least on here. The tracks themselves are good. And honestly, if I was listening to this on vinyl, I'd probably be a lot more forgiving, just because it is really hard to take a track this long when you have a music library sitting in front of you and you could change the song at the push of a button. But, unfortunately, that's how the vast majority of listeners are going to hear this, and I'd be willing to bet a lot of them are probably going to skip about half the track every listen after the first, if they don't skip it altogether. “Void” opens with a slow space rock thing with sung vocals buried under it. Eventually it gets heavy, and then it breaks down. Then it's a meandering ambient keyboard thing for about 15 minutes. The length of it is kind of overboard, and it could've used some trimming. Toward the end of it, samples start coming in and “Elephantom” starts up. It's a heavy thing, with lots of really cool samples and a sort of “jammy” vibe and a looser feel than most of the rest of the album.
This
album is out now, it's damn solid and worth a listen, and these guys
have a European tour coming up in November. Keep watching their
website for details on that. They sound like they'd be pretty sweet
live. The album is on CD and there's a limited edition double-LP for all you vinyl geeks. The transparent sold out, and as of this writing, there's about 200 copies of the black left; it goes for 40 Euros, so if you've got a lot of cash lying around to spend on records, and you like what you hear, you might be interested in that. The packaging is definitely pretty top-notch.
-Soup
Seattle's Jex Thoth (formerly Totem), play a solid girl-fronted psychedelic doom. This is one of those CD's that just kind of came out of nowhere and surprised me with how good it is.
The album opens with a short intro followed by a kind of weird downtuned guitar sound, with Jex Thoth (the name of both the singer and the band) channeling Sabbath-era Ozzy Osbourne in her own unique, and really cool way. Topped off by an atonal solo, I'd say this track (entitled “Nothing Left to Die”) kicks off the album in a pretty awesome way.
The second track, “The Banishment” is based around an organ played in a way that makes me wonder how many flaming pentagrams they had going in the studio. Kind of kitschy, but tasteful. Reminds me of some old horror movie. It ends with a sped-up section with a guitar solo in it.
The next track is “Obsidian Night,” which opens with a downtuned, sludgy intro and a guitar lead with some gnarly feedback on it. Jex's vocals are particularly good on this track. I don't know if the echo effect that comes in about halfway through is really necessary, but it doesn't detract so much as just distract, and actually, on second listen, sounds pretty cool.
“Seperated at Birth” is a more uptempo track. I really dig the guitar lead on this one. The vocals stand out here, once again. This one leads into another more uptempo track called “Son of Yule,” which starts out all about the sludge and surprises with a sudden turn into organ-based psych territory and then breaks down to prepare for re-entry into the same heavy-ass sludge it started with.
“Warrior Woman” is a little more downtempo, and unfortunately, is the victim of rather poor placement on the album. I kinda wish it wasn't positioned right before the album's centerpiece, “Equinox Suite,” which is made up of four parts. “The Poison Pit” has some awesome guitar tone, with a sort of “medieval” vibe, and some restrained vocals that serve as a fitting intro to the rest of it. Part two, the instrumental “Thawing Magus,” is more on the psych end of things, with a syncopated hand drum beat under a noodling guitar line. It builds into a sort of reverb-drenched “jammy” thing, that leads straight in to part three, another instrumental confusingly titled “Invocation Pt. 1,” which is even more on the psych end of things, with the organ's tone sort of reminiscent of Geogaddi-era Boards of Canada. This track's purpose is to build into part four, “The Damned and Divine,” which is not an instrumental! The vocals kick back in. It's a slower track with an emphasis on the loud/quiet dynamic and the strength of the vocals, trading sections with sparsely arranged hand drums and vocals with a classic Sabbath-based sludge.
They follow that up with “When the Raven Calls,” which isn't one of the album's strongest tracks, and is also kind of a victim of being placed right after one of the album's strongest tracks. Thankfully, it closes on a good'un. “Stone Evil” opens with a sparsely arranged guitar/hand drum/feedback intro that's drowned out by what sounds almost like a low-flying plane and classic doom vocals to top it all off.
This is a great album, and I'm really glad to have gotten it for review. This band doesn't appear to be touring or anything right now. But other than this album, they have a split out with Pagan Altar, and a self-titled 3-song mini-CD from when they were called Totem. I haven't heard either of their other releases, but if this one is anything to go by, I'd be willing to bet they're good.
More info can be found at the band's official MySpace page
-Soup
Ascend is, at its core, a collaborative effort between Sunn 0))), Engine Kid, and Goatsnake's Greg Anderson and Iceburn and Eagle Twin's Gentry Densley, and also featuring contributions on trombone, organ, and Wurlitzer from Sunn 0))) and Earth collaborator, Steve Moore (a.k.a. Stebmo), on lead guitar from Bubba Dupree of Void (one of the finest hardcore bands of the 80's) and Kim Thayil of Soundgarden.
And, of course, a lineup this great doesn't disappoint. The debut album, Ample Fire Within, is all about slow funeral dirges with rough-throated vocals, a strangely jazzy feel, and some of the finest, sludgiest doom you'll find outside of a Sunn 0))) album.
“The Obelisk of Kolob” starts out the album with a heavily distorted drone. Before long, feedback starts cutting through it, and the band kicks the heaviness up to 11, with Andy Patterson's drumming giving it a sort of Burning Witch feel to it, but with far more melodic guitars that sound like they'll blow your speakers if they get any heavier. As they build, Stebmo's trombone comes in and adds a whole new dimension to the sound, and then it's over almost as fast as it began.
The title track, “Ample Fire Within” (also mentioned on the back of the promo as “Amplifier Within”) starts with a riff that sounds a lot like a jazzier Earth, which eventually turns into a building, discordant riff with Gentry's vocals buried underneath it. This gives way to an atmospheric drone courtesy of Stebmo's Wurlitzer. This gives way to more full-on doom, which is eventually invaded by speaker-shattering leads. The song ends with a strange Wurlitzer/guitar drone that sounds like someone trying to imitate the Sputnik satellite with their instruments.
“Divine” feature's Gentry channeling Tom Waits, surprisingly effectively, over a slow, heavy, and yet sparse guitar/Wurlitzer backing with plenty of time to sit back and reflect on itself without ever relieving any of the tension it's built. The guitar/Wurlitzer/trombone breakdown (not like metalcore) near the end is really cool.
“V O G” opens with what sounds like a bagpipe far off in the distance, with marching drums, all of which turns into another sped-up, Sunn 0))) style sludge riff.. This track features Bubba Dupree and Kim Thayil on lead guitar. The classic doom vocals don't come in until almost five minutes in. What I really love about this track is that you can pretty easily pick out who's playing which guitar on lead.
“Dark Matter” opens with Stebmo's organ and low, doomy vocals and detuned, Earth style guitar drones. The organ really makes this track, providing a backbone of creepy drones that holds everything else together, and there is a lot going on here. About halfway through, the trombone supplements the organ's drones as the riffing gets heavier and the drums come in. Then the riffing gets about as straight-up metal as the context of this album allows, with a triumphantly stoned doom crescendo somewhat reminiscent of Candlemass.
Basically, this is one of the best metal albums I've heard so far (so far, because I have a stack of seven more that Vu sent me that I have yet to listen to), this year. If you consider yourself a self-respecting metalhead, and you're into doom, this one is pretty much a no-brainer. Pick it up!
More info can be found at Southern Lord's official site
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In an effort to help out Soup, who is getting a ton of stuff from me, I've picked out a few metal bands to review - mostly because of their international appeal.
As you know, metal is huge everywhere, so here are a few from different countries:
Headbangers, rejoice, Germany's Headhunter is back after 13 years with the release of Parasite Of Society, out in Germany a few days ago on May 23rd. US fans will have to wait until the official release date of June 10th, from Candlight Records.
Listening to the album, it sounds as if this power/thrash metal band never really left the 90's, which is just fine for fans of this band. Believe me, just doing brief research on this band, I came across so many blog entries from fans who were absolutely were looking forward to this album for so many years. From my understanding, this new album is more "power" than previous efforts.
Also, this
really suprises me, but their songs are sung in English, not German. I
did enjoy their storytelling songs, particularly "18 and Life", which
tells the story of poor Ricky who joined the army (as it turns out, this is a Skid Row cover song, see comments below).
They also show off their headbanging badge too, of course, doing such songs as "Parasite Of Society" and "Doomsday for the Prayer" (singer Schmier seems to be channeling Axl Rose here).
The newly reformed trio will make a special appearance at Wacken Open Air Festival on August 1st. Parasite of Society is available now in Germany, early June for US.
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Puerto Rico's most famous metal band is undoutably Dantesco. As their name suggests, "Dantesque", I believe they're named after the poet, Dante from Florence, Italy, who wrote The Divine Comedy. They've just released Pagano on April 24th on Cruz Del Sur Music (I would link to their website, except google seems to think that this website "may harm your computer").
I like the weird horn at the beginning of "Aguila de Sangre" (Eagle of Blood), and the song has a nice epic feel, being about seven minutes long. Plus check out the guitar shredding in the middle of the song.
Since all the songs are in Spanish, I couldn't really tell you too much about the meaning of the song, but I reckon if you like doom metal, this might be right up your alley.
By the way, interestingly enough, there is a song called "De La Mano De La Muerte" (Of the Hand of Death), which should've appeared on their debut album of the same name... but somehow is on this second album. Listening to it, the song really doesn't belong on their release - mostly because this is a (quieter) acoustic song, whose only purpose seems to be a nice break between the other heavier songs.
Currently, the band is planning on playing a few dates, mostly in the Florida area, although the venues are still to be determined:
- 07/10/08 Jacksonville, Florida
07/11/08 Orlando, Florida
07/12/08 Miami, Florida
07/13/08 Tampa, Florida
If you're going to pick up Pagano, check out that there is a Limited Edition Slipcase version that includes an embroidered patch that was released April 11th prior to their appearance at the Up the Hammers Greek Festival.
Finland's Teräsbetoni have been in the news lately. Their third album Myrskyntuoja
reached the top 40, mostly based on their amazing music video for
"Missä Miehet Ratsastaa" (Where All The Men Ride Forth) for Eurovision
2008. The video is about these norsemen/vikings who found themselves
in the modern age, where they find themselves becoming a metal band... it looks more like a wonderful movie rather than a
music video (well, that is at the beginning of the video...)
Maybe Christopher or someone in the UK can let me know if Teräsbetoni's been eliminated yet.
I got a press release that also mention that lead singer, J Ahola, is preparing Northern Kings' album Reborn for a June 16th release. From the description, they're a rock operatic supergroup comprising of four heavy metal singers.
Looking at the track listing, it seems they're all cover songs, the most interesting covers includes "Creep" (Radiohead), "We Don't Need Another Hero" (Tina Turner) and "In The Air Tonight" (Phil Collins).
Links:
official-headhunter.com
myspace.com
metalhordes.com
myspace.com/dantescoepico
terasbetoni.com
| Soup wrote: Sun, May 25, 2008 at 2:25 AM |
Actually, you'd be surprised. It's not uncommon for metal bands from non-English speaking countries to sing in English because it makes it easier for them to get their music out to English speaking countries, who tend to be really enthusiastic about metal. Bands that don't do that tend to have trouble "making it" in the UK and the US. But a few examples off the top of my head: Emperor (Norway), Mayhem (Norway), Running Wild (Germany), Sepultura (Brazil), and literally countless others.
I totally want to hear a metal band covering Tina Turner. That sounds awesome.
| crankypants wrote: Sun, May 25, 2008 at 11:16 AM |
Didn't Skid Row or one of those late 80s/early 90s bands have a song called 18 & Life?
Ricky didn't join the army in that one though....
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I was once watching Henry Rollins talk about meeting William Shatner for the recording of “I Can't Get Behind That” from his album, Has Been. In the story, he recalls the Shat asking him, “Henry, do you hear a guitar?”
His reply: “No, but I hear a high pitched whine in my right ear since 1982.”
This quote kept replaying itself in my head as I watched The Sword and Slough Feg destroy the Neurolux in a way that would make Slayer proud, and now I'm hearing it loud and clear despite the high-pitched whine in my own right ear. While Children dropping off the bill was rather disappointing, it gave the other bands much longer sets to work with, making the $10 cover more than worth it. Both bands played for roughly an hour, and didn't let up for a second.
San Franciso's Slough Feg (formerly The Lord Weird Slough Feg) is a band that started life in 1990 in Pennsylvania. Their sound is a more traditional, hard rock style of metal with a doomy edge. Vocalist/guitarist Mike Scalzi spent as much time standing on the floor monitors as he did standing on the stage and the band ripped through their set with more energy than most bands half their age. Between songs, Mike asked trivia questions and threw records to the people who answered them correctly. He also seemed to be all about posing for pictures whenever he saw a camera. The band sounded tight, and were a lot of fun. Definitely worth catching on their own.
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But the crowd didn't really start going nuts until The Sword went on. The Sword is a much younger band, formed in Austin, Texas in 2003. Their sound is more on the “thrash” end of doom metal, with riffing reminiscent of early Metallica, guitar solos worthy of the same, and enough sludgy breakdowns to keep any doom junkie nice and happy. They didn't have quite the stage presence of Slough Feg, but they made up for it with sheer intensity and speed. The band was in excellent form, with top notch guitar heroics taking the center stage. The drunken crowd ate it up. I ate it up sober. My neck is still sore from headbanging. These guys are one of the most important touring metal bands right now, and it's easy to see why. They can work a crowd effortlessly, and there are few bands at the same level of technical skill playing this kind of music right now. This band is going to be huge by the end of the year.
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Both
of these bands are still on tour. Unfortunately, Slough Feg will only
be playing with The Sword for two more shows, in Salt Lake and
Denver. The Sword is touring through July, including an east coast
tour with Torche and Stinking Lizaveta, and then a European tour with
Metallica! I can't emphasize enough that this band is about to be inconceivably huge,
so catch them in a tiny club while you still can!
Apr 26 : Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater w/ Slough Feg & Children
Apr 28 : Wichita, KS - BarleyCorns w/ Children & Black Gasoline
Apr 29 : Oklahoma City, OK - The Conservatory w/ Children & Those Peabody's
May 09 : Fort Worth, TX - Lola's w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 10 : Memphis, TN - Hi-tone w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 11 : Nashville, TN - Exit/In w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 12 : Covington, KY - The Mad Hatter w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 13 : Detroit, MI - The Magic Stick w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 14 : Columbus, OH - Ravari Room w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 15 : Washington, DC - Rock and Roll Hotel w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 16 : Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 17 : Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 18 : Boston, MA - Middle East Downstairs w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 20 : Raleigh, NC - Lincoln Theatre w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 21 : Savannah, GA - The Jinx w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 22 : Tallahassee, FL - The Beta Bar w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 23 : St. Petersburg, FL - State Theatre w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 24 : Orlando, FL - The Social w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 25 : Gainsville, FL - Common Grounds w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 26 : Atlanta, GA - Lenny's w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 27 : Birmingham, AL - The Bottle Tree w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 28 : Baton Rouge, LA - Spanish Moon w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
May 29 : Houston, TX - Rudyard's w/ Torche, Stinking Lizaveta
Jun 12 : Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Music Festival w/ Metallica & many more...
Jul 16 : Bergen, Norway - City of Bergen Festival w/ Metallica
Jul 18 : St. Petersburg, Russia - SKK Hall w/ Metallica
Jul 20 : Riga, Latvia - Skonto Stadium w/ Metallica
Jul 22 : Bologna, Italy - Parco Nord w/ Metallica
Jul 23 : Bucharest, Romania - Cotroceni Football Stadium w/ Metallica
Jul 25 : Sofia, Bulgaria - Levski Stadium w/ Metallica
Jul 27 : Istanbul, Turkey - Inonu Stadium w/ Metallica
More info:
-Soup
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