Another smash and grab entry today, but dont worry normality will resume soon as I'm home!
Now I know what you thought when you saw the artwork above... I did too. But look past it for a minute and check out the thumping post metal instrumental sludge. Formed a couple of years back by the guitarist from Torche this is as weird and different as it comes.
But yeah, yeah really need a new cover.
For Fans Of; Neurosis, Mountain Witch, Kamni, Burst, Judd Maddon
You may remember back to last year where I posted up 3 Stages of Pain, one of my favourite UK bands of... well, ever to be honest. Sadly they only got a chance to crank out two albums. Two great albums, but inevitably its always left me wanting more. None the less, the past is the past and I'm happy to report that former guitarist Damo has ventured out and created the new instrumental outfit Tryals.
A cold fusion of gorgeous ambient soundscapes and all out metal enthused waves of crashing riffs. But its not the usual sort of mix you expect from your average post metal genre band. All those key elements are there but once the storm begins to break subtle touches of dirty (and partly disjointed) southern rock begin seep through. Kinda like Black Label Society trying to fill in between songs at a Red Sparowes gig. It sounds great and it works wonders to change that cold almost clinical and often too familar tone so associated with the likes of Russian Circles, Isis or similar acts.
Comprising of just 3 tracks, all of which top the 10 minute mark its not the longest of albums. But what it lacks in play length it more than makes up for in sheer quality. Whether you're a seasoned post metal enthusiast or utterly nonplused by the genre you have to give this album as listen! There's bound to be something there for all of you.
For Fans Of; Pelican, Tigre, Mountain Witch, House Of Low Culture, Gifts From Enola
Being as I spoiled you rotton on the last entry and as I'm still away today is just really a flying visit im afraid.
We stumbled on an absolute gold mine last year when I came across the mighty Monster Coyote, so I'm happy to say I can today bring you yet another great Brazilian act! Behold Fuzzly!... Trippy, dark and fuzzier than the Jackson 5 following a blow dry.
It's only a little 4 track EP but is a corker. Be sure to check out their 2007 2 track EP Radio Cão too!
For Fans Of; Nebula, Kyuss, The Atomic Bitch Wax, Wo Fat, Kamni
Ooooooh we've got a big fat update for y'all today! Four for the price of one to be exact. You lucky devils!
So occasionally it's nice to know what you should be expecting when you're given or download an album without prior knowledge of the artist. Sometimes it can be wildly disappointing or just flat out confusing, but when it comes to Judd Madden, well he really didn't bury the lead when it came to the title of his brand new album Doomgroove. You really couldn't find more truth in advertising if you tired. In all honesty I really should have posted about this guy a long, long time ago. As his first three releases Waterfall, Float and Drown have been sitting in my iTunes for nigh on 8 months at the least. But better late than never, and besides I'll drop links below for all his other work because you really, really need to check this guy out!
Solo artist from Melbourne, Australia Madden has spent the last 10 years plus making music in some dark or electronic form. Starting life with an electronic feel he dabbled with techno, experimental dance and noise producing tracks akin to that of Dust Brothers, Crystal Method and Aphex Twin. He then moved on and with a band called Fighting Locusts branched out and enthused a certain Tool/Perfect Circle kind of sound into his work. Not entirely my thing, but brilliantly executed none the less. Now that brings us to his latest efforts in the form of his dark doomy and down tuned guitar laden solo work, and oh boy does this chap have talent! I mean not just a little, I'm talking by the bucket load! It actually makes you sick that one guy can produce not one but four epic albums that are not only amazingly diverse in the make up of their composition but fantastically produced. It's like Pelican and Sabbath being jammed in a studio then mixing duties being passed over to Trent Reznor. Some bands with three or more pretty well skilled members can only dream of churning out one, maybe two albums of a similar ilk which even remotely come close to this. The riffs are huge, fuzzy and (arguably) most importantly catchy as hell, every track just leaves you wanting more and more. The man's truly discovered a winning formular. He's the sub equator's answer to Aaron Turner. It's that simple.
I implore you, pitch this guy at least a buck or two for his albums. Yeah they're up for free but he's clearly doing this for the shear love of the music. If that shouldn't be rewarded, nothing should!
For Fans Of; Pelican, Black Sabbath, Jodis, Tusk, Mountain Witch
Oh yes! Continuing our foray into the art of the classic rock riff again today, and in this update I happily present you with Legal Fingers! An Iowan trio of retro rockers with a heavily classic 70's inspired new album. Anyone who's a fan of the mid-late 70's west coast sound is really love this little offering. Actually to be fair you can hear a massive wave of influences flowing through this album form start to finish. From Thin Lizzy to Grand Master Flash, Ramones to Captain Beyond. One minute it's deep southern rock and next it's closer to good old Californian psych. That takes some doing. Well no thats not entirely true. Doing it is easy, pulling it off effectively... Now that's a different story. Fortunately for Legal Fingers they've seem to have the knack of it. The recording's a little rough around the edges in places but you can certainly tell that they're onto a winning formula, and for a first release it's brilliantly innovative.
If you like music chock full of boogie, a touch of psych and sprinkling of retro glam keep a close eye on these guys, I have a feeling they're only gonna go from strength to strength.
For Fans Of; Leaf Hound, The Datsuns, Foghat, The Subways, Pet The Preacher
I've said it before I'll say it again; There really hasn't been many great things to come out of Salt Lake City. Mormons, High School Musical and The Used... Yup, their track record isn't so great really. But, and this is a big but, they are redeeming themselves somewhat, firstly by giving us the mighty Top Dead Celebrity and now Thunderfist.
In fact the guys are practically brothers, having known each other for well over a decade and even loaning Jeremy to TDC for live shows and working on last years epic album Midwestern Rube. Most of the band hail from Utah’s west desert. Growing up on a healthy concoction of motorcycles, fixing cars and being harassed by rednecks, rock and roll was always gonna course through their viens. They were actually later embraced by the rednecks (and some would argue became rednecks) as they were the only connection for LSD in town (seriously!). Hicks on drugs became the center point for a lot of Thunderfist parties throughout the years. The band started simply because of their love of all things Rock and / or Roll and to keep themselves interesting to the ladies. Worthy reasons if ever I've heard any! So now, 14 years down the line and they're still nailing it. Thie song Cut and Run pretty much sums it all up. I don’t think (and I quote) bass player ‘Metal’ Mick Mayo has seen the same vagina twice in his life... So thats Thunderfist in a nutshell. They love it loud, dirty and more often than not, illegal.
Thunderfist have worked with Jack Endino on the past two albums (Loud, Fast, Rock and Roll, and Too Fat for Love) but scheduling conflicts got in the way of a third rock and roll collaboration. So on this outing the reins were handed over to the bands guitarist Michael ‘J’ Sasich. Considered a rock mentor, Jack fortunately taught Sasich many tricks of the trade and although he'll be missed Sasich really brought home the bacon on this one. Big time. Recorded in the winter of 2011 in Salt Lake which as you all know is the home of backwards religious fruitcakes and bad reality shows. None of Thunderfist are married to a sister wife or wears white pajamas under their clothes. In fact I'm obligated to point out that all of their undergarments are torn and dirty from too many nights of Rock and Roll in pretty much every shitty dive bar in North America (and one in Mexico, thank you Sammy Hagar, haha) Anyway, they're all proud worshippers of vintage Marshall amps and Les Pauls... and Krom... and beer. Which lets face it, is nothing short of a winning combination. But striving for perfection and in order to get the sound entirely spot on they actually had to record the album twice! But they're proud of it and so they should be! It's a hell of a collection of songs, touching on how they don’t like Eskimo pussies being cold - Eskimo Pussy is Mighty Cold. Relationship songs - None of Your Business, and probably the most epic of their catalog; the mighty Wizard’s Lament. On the which there is a Horn of Gondor and a Monty Python reference all in the space of 5 minutes! Now tell me thats not Genius! But the excellence doesn't stop there. Oh hell no! With subtle nods to classic rock, punk, the early days of metal and southern rock the whole album is a tour de force of heavy rock excess, balls to the wall whaling guitars and altogether catchier than a bout of the clap from a Mexican brothel. Deep down dirty and sleazy... you'll love it!
Hit up their Reverbnation page for some free downloads or man up and buy the whole album here.
For Fans Of; Viking Skull, Top Dead Celebrity, Black Spiders, Thunder Horse, Motorcity Daredevils
Right ladies and gentlemen, I have to head back over to New York tomorrow so being on the opposite side of the pond updates here and on the facebook page may be a little delayed. They should be going up at their usual regular intervals but you never can tell with these things. Alos apologies in advance if they're a bit on the short side!...
We love a bit of home grown sludge here and we do get a fair amount of it sent in. Everything we've received has always been top notch but (and it does pain me somewhat to admit this) it's never quite been on the same par as the yanks offerings. But I think thats more down to the fact we've always put our own little nuances and local influences into our own versions. But thats only to be expected really, baring in mind the bulk of the genre came/comes directly from New Orleans. It was always going to be a pretty unique product of its environment, much like the early days of Blues or the early 90's 'Madchester' scene. But what we have today is a close to a true NOLA band as you'll find outside of the states. Yes yes, I know some of you will maybe groan at that thought, but don't before you hear these guys. Trust me
Diesel King got together back in 2009, formed by Mark (vocals) and Will (bass) from the ashes of their original local London bands Head On and Sedulus. Kicking things straight into gear the chaps wasted no time in recruiting 3 more guys and churning out the first demo in 2010. Something obviously clicked as before too long they found themselves opening for Corrosion Of Conformity. Not bad eh? So that now brings us to the release of their first full blown studio album.
We know they can hold their own live but how do they fair in the studio? Damn well as it goes! Dirty crushing vocals and massive chugging riffs come in bucket loads and whats better is that although they've clearly spent a ton of time and effort on the mixing they've resisted the urge to over do it and loose a lot of the edge. They've also managed to tread that fine like between balls-to-the-wall heaviness and well executed groove, much in the style of Superjoint Ritual but with the half the tempo. If you give half a rats ass about NOLA act or just any one of Phil Anselmo's plethora of past and present projects I can pretty much guarantee that you're really going to dig Diesel King. The album drops on friday so keep an eye out on the fellas bandcamp page for when it becomes available for download!
For Fans Of; Crowbar, Buzz*Oven, Sourvein, Carcass, Pantera
Name a kick ass band from Venezuela!... Go on...
Yeah, to be fair an hour ago I couldn't either but thanks to the wonders of the interwebs I bring you Cultura Tres! An cracking little emotive doom/post metal four piece. This being their second album, was actually release around this time last year but due to the nature of being a DIY band the guys have only just sorted getting it pressed to vinyl.
So what has Venezuela got to offer us then? Well as it goes one hell of an album! Insanely eclectic the whole recording is a bleak fusion of dark rock and doom with an underlying tone of post metal. Sort of like Old Man Gloom meets Black Sabbath. It's ghostly and peculiar, but most importantly of all I works like a dream! It takes a whole lot of talent to produce something so interesting, varied and unique yet retain that certain essence that constantly captivates you form start to finish. If Cultura Tres carry on at this pace they're gonna end up challenging the likes of Isis to their prog metal crown. If you've ever enjoyed any kind of post metal, even in the slightest you must check this band out! Plus if you happen to be in London at the beginning of April you can also catch them performing at Desertfest.
Like I mentioned, they guys manages to get 1000 copies of this little masterpiece pressed on wax. Thats the good news. The better news is that they're selling the thing for just 5 bucks! Yeah!... I was that shocked too! You really, really cant miss out on this people, it's an absolute steal!
For Fans Of; Old Man Gloom, Zozobra, Neurosis, Swans, Jodis
A little different from our usual stoner outings today, but not a million miles away so fret not!
My bro dropped a track from these guys onto my Facebook page earlier in the week and I figured they deserved a mention at least.
With a heavy 80's rock influence and frontman resembling a young Frank Zappa, Turbowolf don't really fit into any one genre that I can think of. Although they contain elements of they fall a little shy of being labeled; screamo, hair metal, grunge, thrash, doom or even prog. They can however churn out the occasional catchy riff, some cracking lyrics and if it floats your boat a little synth. The mixed bag of styles and tones won't be to all your likings but I can pretty much guarantee that you will all, like me, find at least one or two tracks that you'll really, really dig.
Check out their promo for A Rose For The Crows below. It may seem like a episode of The Old Grey Whistle Test directed by Sunn O))), but to be fair if that doesn't sell you on it nothing will!
For Fans Of; Cancer Bats, Black Spiders, Pulled Apart By Horses, Kvelertak, August Burns Red
Bassist Stavros dropped me a line last week to let me know about his new band and I'm glad he did. With just a two track demo under their belts so far the band is still somewhat in its early stages. But going solely on the strength of these two tracks its appears these chaps have buckets of potential. Consisting of what you can tell is a variety of influences from over the last 3 decades in their sound, its hard to fit them into any one genre. With a few 80's sounding guitar solos, the occasional 90's sounding riffage, and a heavy vocal tone akin to many of those heard over the last 30 years or so, the whole mix ends up pretty eclectic. In fact, for some reason that I can't entirely put my finger on the vocals bring to mind an early Rob Halford kind of style. Which I've gotta say, I'm quite digging. Over all though, for a first outing everything is surprisingly tight and really well produced. If they're able to keep it up when it comes to recording their announced 8 track demo I can see them getting a whole load of attention.
Sadly I don't have too much more info on the guys as all the bio I was sent was in Greek, and I struggle with my native tongue at the best of times. None the less, give the two tracks a listen and keep a close eye on this band, as I have a feeling the demo they're working on is going to be a pretty awesome.
For Fans Of; Planet Of Zeus, Pearl Jam, Monster Magnet, Black Spiders, Beyond Perception
I love it when we actually get sent a physical copy of an album by bands, it somewhat reaffirms me that not all the music we deal with is harshly compressed and digitalised in some way. I like that. But what makes it all that much better is when you listen to the band and utterly love them within the first 30 seconds. This is the sort of effect that fuzz fanatics Stubb have on me, and if you're a fellow stoner psych enthusiast then they're bound to have the same result with you. If not then I'd hazard a guess there's something seriously defective with you.
So whats so great? Well... Thicker and heavier than a skip full of tar, its pretty easy to tell that this record was laid down in that time old and traditional analogue fashion. Good on them too! It's about time more bands started back pedalling against technology, to an extent at least. It just undoubtably sounds a whole lot better and this album is a perfect case in point. The majority of tracks are saturated in an awesome aura of fuzz, but where some stoner bands tend to rely on this as a subtle distraction to not a lot else going on, Stubb don't. Far from it in fact, because layered over the top is a constant and dominant wave after wave of classic rock influenced riffage. Sounding like a down tuned modern day Cream, each and every riff and lick is not only technically great but ridiculously catchy right from the opening track Road. The album looses pace a little at track 5 Crosses You Bear - an acoustic folky ballad number, but 2 minutes later the pace picks up where it left of and thunders into (for me) the best track of the eight; Hard Hearted Woman which seems to possess every classic rock element you can imagine. Fast stormy riffs merging into whaling echoey solos, tight bass and drum lines and vocals about debaucherous evil women.
So how much do you have to pay for this awesomeness? Well, if you're tighter than a ducks butt; nothing. But if you actually have a brain in you're skull you can and should pick this record up on the format it was truly born for. Yup, the good ol' chaps at Superhot Records have gone ahead and pressed an unspecified number on vinyl. I don't imagine they got a massive amount made up so I'd get one ordered sharpish!...
I have.
For Fans Of; Jimi Hendrix, Graveyard, Wo Fat, Asteroid, Stone Axe
