Good Morning Utah!...

Dwellers - Good Morning Harakiri (2012)

This isn't a sentence you hear everyday but damn, more and more good things just keep flooding out of Salt Lake City. Top Dead Celebrity, Thunder Fist, my good buddies Futzer and Moss Jeff. In fact its the latter there that actually turned me on to these guys. I must admit that I did check out their first release Peace, & Other Offers but it didn't really buzz me. I think it was still somewhat a work in progress, or a foundation kind of EP to build a bigger more detailed sound upon and after just once listen of this new release it's pretty evident it worked. Big time.
Bridging a sort of gap between classic psych and a modern twang of southern rock the album's predominantly a groove laden riff-fest with and underlying drone infused vocal style. I know that kinda comes across as a bit of a back handed compliment but it's not meant to. The vocals are great - a quietly tortured bluesy doom affair, but they do still manage to compliment the more upbeat back drop. That being said the record does slowly crank down the tempo as the seconds tick by. Until you hit the final track Oldhoney where you're met with 10 minutes of churning, haunting and almost doom like composition. It's all a progressive and well timed transition and doesn't knock you for six with any kind of sudden leap, so if you dig both sides of the stoner rock spectrum you'll be pretty pleasantly surprised.
Obviously the best way you could possibly enjoy Dwellers would be on wax, that really goes without saying.  So with that in mind, the good guys over at Small Stone Records have kindly pressed a big fat bunch of them and y'all can go a pick yourself one up here. With just 475 pressed in 3 different colours, they probably wont be around for too long so be quick people!

For Fans Of; Wo Fat, Artimus Pyledriver, Red River Revival, Thunder Fist, Motorcity Daredevils

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Good Morning Harakiri (320kbps)

Under The Influence...

Art As Catharsis Records - Drone From The Underside Of The Earth (2012)

Once again I'm out the country at the moment so I've cheated a little and sorted this little compilation for y'all. Bit of a cop out I know but you will love it, trust me.
All tracks from the best Aussie stoner, prog, psych, doom and hardcore bands around today. What more could you possibly want?

For Fans Of; No Anchor, Mother Mars, Shellfin, In Trenches, Moth

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Drone From The Underside Of The Earth (320kbps)

War and Wine...

Bacchus - Self Titled (2012)

It seems like Ireland in recent years has become some what of power house in the field of dirty hardcore and sludge. With acts like Five Will Die, Crows, Drainland and Trenches really cementing a distinct talent when it comes to the genre. In fact the latter there is a side project for one of the bands guitarists. But what exactly do Bacchus bring to the table thats new? Well a kind of prog element to be honest. I know that seems a little unorthodox when it comes to hardcore and sludge but hear me out. Yeah there's still an abundance of that typical scream and chug but in when the storms break and the hardcore slows down little rays of harmonic ambiance shine through. Nothing too heavy handed or overly used but just a perfect balance to offset the down right brutality of the rest of the album. Not that theres anything wrong with the brutal aspect, hell far from it! It's some of the best you'll ever here and easily up there with all the usual heavy hitters but it's great to hear something a little different or experimental, no matter how subtle and especially when it comes to this sort of genre which is often stuck in a rut. The long and short of it is that this debut is a bloody corker and will without a doubt appeal to both the die hard sludge fanatics and the slightly more mellow post rock lovers, albeit the ones with an open mind.
You can pick the album up on lovely white wax courtesy of one of our favourite labels - Cavity Records. Do so while you can because they are limited to just 300 copies so don't miss out!

For Fans Of; Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Nasum, Pig Destroyer, Napalm Death, Trenches

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Bacchus (320kbps)

Hungry For Hardcore...

Starve - Black Sludge, White Sludge EP (2012)

Starve made it on to our best of 2011 album - Riding With The Devil Vol. 1. But some how their album of the time Starve didn't make it onto the blog. I know, I dropped the ball there. Sorry.
None the less, the Dutch quintet are back with a pretty kick ass 7" full to the brim with grinding dirty riffs and gritty hardcore vocals. What more could you possibly want, eh?
Just to make a mens I've added the bands 2010 brutal full length Wasteland below. This lastest EP does differ somewhat to the previous release, swaying towards a more stoner outlook rather than the previous full force hardcore assault. Both are fantastic releases, but if the chaps keep heading down this path I really can't wait for the next full length album!

For Fans Of; Isis, House Of Low Culture, Tusk, Arson Anthem, Integrity

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Black Sludge (320kbps) • Wasteland (320kbps)

Pole-axed...

Dopelord - Magick Rites (2012)

Do you like you're good ol' stoner rock laced with a distinct eerie echo through a thick vale of bong smoke? Of course you do, why else would you be bloody here? Well I've got a treat for you today because this little Polish 4 piece couldn't really get much more weed orientated and haunting. In fact the only way they could possibly make it any more so would be if they were to only play gigs in an abandoned graveyard surrounded by marijuana plantations and dry ice machines. At night.
But enough with the metaphors, lets get down to brass tacks. This is the true epitome of 'stoner rock'. No exaggeration, with the perfect balance of b-movie samples, reverb, echoey vocals and churning storms of guitars it's a prime example of the genre. There is an underlying element of doom which works great and adds a sort of mellow break down at points throughout the entire 50+ minute runtime, slowing it down and adding a fat crushing almost drone kinda feel to sections. But with a relatively over all clean sound for an album capable of being partly labeled 'doom' the real joy comes from the relentless quality of the riffs, and let me tell you this gem is crammed to bursting point full of them! I can honestly say that if you like you're stoner rock then you will certainly love Dopelord. We do, and thats why they're going straight into our best  of 2012.
The guys have done us a real solid and let us whack this up for a free download (hit up the link below) but as always, if you really dig what you hear please drop the band a few bucks via their Bandcamp page. It's up for just €3 so c'mon. Show some love.

For Fans Of; Electric Wizard, Windhand, Naam, Judd Madden, Kamni

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Magick Rites (320kbps)

Scream If You Wanna Be Captured...

Captives - The Drop (2012)

I'm not the biggest hardcore fan, but when you get a band that manage to fuse together that stereotypical ferocity with some classic and (in comparison) simple churning riffs then you're on to a winner in my book, and this is exactly what I'm giving you today - Richmond, VA's answer to Soilent Green. In layman's terms at least. Think of the Green in their hayday, or Norma Jean minus the God bothering and you'll have a little more understanding of what to expect.
Cracking stuff!

For Fans Of; Soilent Green, Hang The Bastard, Cancer Bats, Unsane, Charger

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The Drop (320kbps)

Yo Ho Ho & A Bottle Of...

Skrogg - Raw Heat (2011)

Time for a good old down tempo classic stoner power trio. Yay!
If you couldn't tell from the cover art alone old school rock and 70's influence play a massive part in the feel of this album. It's fuzzy, it's heavy, it's awesome. Just shut up and go listen!

For Fans Of; Orange Goblin, Sleep, Mountain, Cactus, Clutch 

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Raw Heat (320kbps)

Creepy Clergy...

Pet The Preacher - The Banjo (2012)

Oh I've been sitting on this for a while, months in fact! Christian was good enough to hit me up with a really early master of the album and as it finally drops on vinyl on 22nd June it's about time it went up. Yup, the chaps are following up their awesome debut Meet The Creature with a vinyl exclusive (at least for the first month) of their new album The Banjo. Courtesy of Bilocation Records, you'll be able to get your grubby little mitts on it via Kozmik Artifactz, so as soon as you get paid at the end of the month head on over!
Right, lets get down to brass tacks, what ya gonna get for your bucks? Same sort of thing as the first release? Well... yes and no. There's that same ferocity for sure, but this time slightly reigned in and coupled with something I can only really describe as post-blues, much like a less aggressive Phil Anselmo side project. A fuzzy blues affair intermixed with elements of classic NOLA acts and a touch of 90 mainstream rock. It's a pretty distinctive sound at the best of times, but when you remember this is coming straight out of Denmark it almost blows your mind. Actually, even more so when you realise that as the album plays out it actually unravels a story with each of the 10 tracks
But not being ones to rest on their laurels and just settle for carving out their own niche, the chaps have actually excelled themselves when it comes to the production and mastering too. With a little help from Jacob Bredahl at Dead Rat Studio they've managed to hit a perfect medium - tight, polished and balanced with a spot on mix of blues and overdrive. Thats really not an easy feat to pull off even by a well established band thats been knocking around for decades. Fingers crossed they've left enough in the tank for a follow up!
If you're a lover of classic power rock, modern heavy blues or just anything with catchy chugging riffs then you really do have to head over and pick up this album, and I'd be quick about it too because I can really see it going the way of Graveyard's Hisingen Blues or The Heavy Eyes self titled album. As soon as word of mouth kicks in the vinyl is going to fly off the shelves and with just 400 copies being pressed (to start with at least) you're really not gonna want to miss out!

For Fans Of; Down, Alice In Chains, Graveyard, The Heavy Eyes, Arenna

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Hairy Goodness...

Powered Wig Machine - Bearded Goddess EP (2010)

I've always said that you can get a pretty good fix on a band form just their name. Then I found Powered Wig Machine. Yeah, I'm really not sure what to make of that to be quite honest. But lets not dwell on that, because these guys really can rock, and at the end of the day thats all we're asking for. So if you fancy a little bit of desert rock with a touch of classic stoner influence then look no further people.

For Fans Of; Clutch, Red Fand, Nebula, The Heavy Eyes, King Hobo

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Bearded Goddess EP (320kbps)

Full Of Body...

Torso - Inside (2012)

This is one of the most peculiar and unique things we've been sent in a long long time. Now I know that inherently whenever the words unique or peculiar are used it often translates to something sounding somewhat akin to a child with attention deficit disorder hitting a washing machine with a spanner while discordant jazz plays in the background. Luckily Austrian quintette Torso havent quite gone that far. In fact the guys have manage to create something pretty close to genius. Dark post rock harmonics clashing with groove oozing stoner riffs with the occasional smattering of lounge like licks and jams. It sounds borderline ridiculous on paper I grant you that but somehow (and don't ask me how) they've managed to not just make it work, but work really bloody well! The opening track One really manages to paint the scene for the following 32 minutes. Beginning with a distinct shoe gaze tone within a minute fuzzy riffs burst in and push it towards a latter day desert rock kinda feel. Soon joined with 90's Brit rock style vocals (very reminiscent of Damon Albarn) and a complementary wah or two of 70's psych inspired guitar licks, to say the first 4 minutes are varied would be a understatement of biblical proportions! This really is one of those rare examples where a band have just gone way off the deep end and mashed together about 6 different genres but have still managed to produce something totally fantastic. I can't be pretty certain that you won't find anything out there quite like this. But if you've even have a fleeting interest in prog rock, shoegaze, post rock, desert rock, classic rock, space rock, indie or stoner then there will be something here for you. It's dark, whaling and chock full of groove. If it doesn't win you over immediately just give it another few listens... You'll come around.

For Fans Of; Crippled Black Phoenix, Astra, The Desert Sessions, Blur, Russian Circles

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Inside (320kbps)