Cheshire based 1968
have only been together a short three years. Having released a self-titled EP
in 2015, they now return with a second EP before the release of their debut
album later in the year. Having been added to the impressive roster at Black Bow
Recordings, “Fortuna Havana” is a more than solid
addition to the bands discography.
Throughout
the four tracks on “Fortuna Havana”,
any questions about the name of the band are answered. Homage to Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple,
Mountain and Black Sabbath
is duly paid, but there are plenty of nods to the more stoner alumni such as Sleep,
as well as hard rocking blues legend Rory Gallagher.
“Vorpal” opens up the EP in
towering fashion. The band fly out of the traps with mountains of stoner groove
and swagger before building towards some superb solo work to finish off the
track. “War Dogs” immediately starts as the opener end and the band
veer down a doomier path before exploding in a fury of Thin Lizzy like dual guitars.
The
second half of the EP uses the already utilised formula, but “Duchess”
really sees the band step up their game. A rolling bass introduction leads to a
torrential storm of fuzzy riffs that are held together with terrific drumming.
The vocals sneer throughout the track before it shifts towards a highly
psychedelic cacophony. This is the
absolute high point of the release and one where the band take their influences
and really make the sound their own. The psychedelia continues in the opening
of title track to close out the EP. If “Duchess” is the undoubted highpoint
of the EP, then the title track is undoubtedly the heaviest piece here. Fuzz
riffs and pounding drums drive the track, to bring the EP home.
1968 wear their influences on
their sleeve. There are plenty of bands that stalk the planet playing
classic/hard rock; the trick is to make it your own and not become a cliché. 1968
walk the line well and come out with originality whilst using their influences
to great effect. There is cause to be excited about their forthcoming album
which will be produced by Conan’s Chris Fielding at Sky Hammer Studios. Fielding is
also at the controls for this release, and makes the band sound immense and you
can check it out yourself below with our exclusive stream of “Fortuna
Havana”
in full below
As
bonus to this exclusive stream we hooked with to discuss their top 5 doom
albums of all time and here is what they came up with. As we take our
weekly trip to the extreme, by cranking it to 11. Why do we go to 11, because “It’s one louder, isn’t it?”
Writing a
list that is titled the Top 5 Doom albums of all time is a bold statement to
make, after
all, music is completely contextual and more opinion-heavy than any
other
subject. Heavy music especially, is one of the more opinionated genres out
there
and the old
saying applies that one man’s treasure is in another man’s record box
heading to
Oxfam. So, with a bong-full of salt, I present to you, the top 5 Doom albums
of all
time...or at least in my opinion.
5.
Black Sabbath – “Master of Reality”
This record is the
beginning, I mean, out of the first 4 Sabbath records, this one is, to me, the
pioneering Doom record; the overall vibe of it is just slightly darker than the
other three. The first album; obviously is timeless and hinted at Doom but also
had more of a ‘rock’ feel which is understandable as Messrs Iommi, Butler, Ward
and Osbourne would have taken off where the late 60’s left off.
“Master of
Reality”’s heaviness can potentially
be attributed to its overall production. The guitars are tuned to C# standard,
which, back then was completely unchartered territory. As many fans know, the
slacker the string, the more vibration, the more vibration the longer sustain.
When coupled with a late 60’s Laney Supergroup 100w amp, you’re forging the
sound for generations to come.
The record itself also
flows better to stoned ears too, Iommi’s cough at the beginning of ”Sweet Leaf” is like an air raid siren
that there’s a plethora of riffs about to land, with brute force.
The cover needs a mention
too, the basic black front with grey and purple couldn’t be more doom if it
tried, black and purple being the colours of mourning and grey being a colour
that’s grim and often associated with death. Nice.
My favourite Sabbath
record is “Vol. 4”, yet it doesn’t
have anywhere near the same vibe throughout as “Master of Reality”, that in part could be down to FX being nonsense
and “Changes” being massacred in the
early 2000’s by Kelly Osbourne. “Master
of Reality” is the one record that no fan of Doom or any Doom band can
speak negatively about. “Master of Reality” is the beginning;
they started Doom, Stoner and many other sub genres of Heavy Metal. This record
is like a horrible old man that watches everything released under the bracket
of heavy, and laughs at it...then coughs up a lung.
4.
Electric Wizard – “Come My Fanatics”
Moving onto the horrible
bastard sons (and now daughter) of Sabbath, Electric Wizard from Dorset.
Chances are if you’re reading this, you own this. Electric Wizard have been a huge
part of doom for the past two and a bit decades, you could literally pick
anything from their back catalogue and still have a solid addition to this
list. (However it does seem like the Electric Wizard freight train is being
overtaken by bands such as YOB and Conan in terms of integrity and excellent
releases).
Anyway, “Come My Fanatics” is my choice for this
list, mainly based on the eternally crushing “Return Trip”, this nigh on 10 minute slab of excruciatingly brutal
wall of fuzz, bleak vocal, lyrics filled with pure hatred and lumbering rhythm
make this record for me. I’ve spent
hours of my life walking around places, driving, reading, people watching with
this slamming into my ears and feeling the hatred flow into me from the Wizard.
It has always been a beautiful noise.
The overall tone of this
record is just nothing but pure doom and also features the bands penchant for
adding sound clips from B-movies of the 70’s, cover art is also terrifying,
it’s a screen shot of Anton Levay in a satanic sermon doctored by Hugh Gilmour.
If you’ve not heard/got this, you need to re-assess your doom collection. There
are very few slower and heavier in the field that retain a disgusting groove.
3.
YOB – “The
Unreal Never Lived”
This wasn’t an easy
decision to make; it was a tossup between this and Acid King - “III”. I love them both, but this for
me, is great example of doom boundaries being pushed. From start to finish, this record just
batters you with relentless doom riffs, like, ones that make you think where
did this record even come from. There
aren’t many records out there with 21 minute tracks that don’t get boring like “Mental Tyrant”. Overall this record
just slays, its song writing is solid, the rhythms used and phrasing of the guitar
parts are second to none.
The whole record has a
great feel to it that can’t actually be bettered. My favourite track is “Quantum Mystic” mainly as it
incorporates a somewhat psychedelic trip that has gone completely wrong;
swirling guitars, vocals that sound like Dio drowning in a cauldron of bleach
and battery acid; just banging. I’m not
saying it’s the future of doom but if more bands followed suit with releases
like this, progression within doom would be very well received.
2.
Church of Misery
- “Houses
of the Unholy”
This record, man, I bought
this after hearing their split on Leaf Hound with Acrimony back in 2008, I was
floored by both bands on that record but Church of Misery had something that I couldn’t
quite get over. I guess the riffs on that release were what gripped me like one
of the Boston
Strangler’s victims. When “Houses of the Unholy” came out, I
bought it, without hearing, knowing that if that band produced gold on the
split, then this was going to be badass. Their back catalogue hadn’t been
released at that time so it wasn’t easy to get Church Of Misery records or
CD’s.
The record features all of
the usual traits, all songs about serial killers, huge riffs, swinging drums
and vocals that just slay. I watched them play Manchester
shortly after the release of this record with Cathedral and Gates of
Slumber and there was no dispute in the entire crowd that Church of Misery
had levelled the place and should have headlined.
Every track from this
record has its own charm, from Black Flag style breakouts to pure Sabbath
worship. I did wonder whether or not the inclusion of Tom Sutton on guitar had
an impact and by the nature of the rest of their releases since, it definitely
did. I have tried many times to score
this on vinyl and have failed every time as the price is always too much for
me, if that doesn’t tell you that this album is badass beyond words...I don’t
know what does.
1.
Slomatics/Agent of the Morai - Split
This one, released on Calculon Records
is my number one doom release, I bought this on CD after witnessing Agent of the
Morai deafen half of the Northwest region many moons ago. They
filled the entire stage with Matamp, Orange
and Marshall
gear...only to plug in, the least ‘doom’ guitar, A 52’ reissue Fender
Telecaster. There was a certain Chris Fielding playing guitar,
Andrew Swift on drums and a singer who has a name I always forget.
I stood and watched them
or rather felt my blood vibrate in front of them and afterwards bought as much
merch as I could, including this. They
shared the release with Slomatics from Belfast who are also number one
here for me, the pair of bands both provide throbbing walls of sound that are
just relentless, the riffs from both bands almost seamlessly blend into one.
I have heard some seriously
heavy bands in my time but none of them tick boxes for cult status, thickness
of tone, bludgeoning riffs, solid rhythms and above all else, ridiculous
volume. This release literally makes most other doom bands sound like amateurs
to me.
The CD of this is long out
of print and is only available on the Slomatics bandcamp page, it is well worth
checking out and downloading for a fresh fix of (now aging gracefully) doom. Agent of the
Morai called it quits a few years back now, Fielding went on to later
join Conan
and give the world ‘Caveman Battle
Doom’. Slomatics continue to push out
killer records whilst retaining their title of Belfast’s heaviest. You can’t go wrong with anything that Slomatics
put their name to. Doom. On.
“Fortuna Havana” by 1968 will be available here
and for more information on the band check the links below
