The Sludgelord News: The Eolian Empire Streams A Little Dream With Entire (We've Got) FIENDS IN LOW PLACES: Heavy Vibes Internationale Compilation

Eolian Empire's latest deck-wrecking mess, and (sort of) first title to bust beyond their Portland barriers, is ready for heckling and streaming in its bruising entirety as their (We've Got) FIENDS IN LOW PLACES: Heavy Vibes Internationale cassette will officially be paroled tomorrow.

Featuring more than fifty minutes of abuse culled from the gnarliest the underground gutters of rock and roll's back-alleys around the globe have to offer with fifteen exclusive tracks from fifteen acts,FIENDS IN LOW PLACES is the sequel and companion compilation to the (We've Gotta) KEEP OUR HEADS: Heavy Vibes from Portland, Oregon. Yet instead of focusing on Portland-based acts as with the label's twenty-nine previous releases, FIENDS IN LOW PLACES' contributions were culled from friends playing off-the-wall heavy music in overlapping scenes internationally. This gnarled calling card compiles contributions from THROAT (Finland), ARABROT (Norway), HEALTH PROBLEMS (USA),MoE (Norway), THE GREAT SABATINI (Canada), DEAD (Australia), BASTARD OF THE SKIES(England), HOMBRE MALO (Norway), SAME-SEX DICTATOR(USA), TEEPH (USA), CYBERNE(Japan), TIMEKILLER (Brazil), ELEPHANT RIFLE (USA), BATPISS (Australia), and MEADOWS(England), the comp is a wild trip through twisted noise rock, bludgeoning sludge, psychotic metal, blackened hardcore, and damaged punk, with each act's warped worldview in full effect.

Let all fifteen movements from (We've Got) FIENDS IN LOW PLACES out of the pipes early by streaming the beast alongside orders for the digital download and the cassette -- limited to 333 cool-kit copies -- RIGHT HERE.

http://eolianempire.com 

http://goods.eolianempire.com

http://facebook.com/eolianempire

http://twitter.com/eolianempire

Source: Earsplit PR

The Sludgelord News: The EOLIAN EMPIRE's January 2015 Antagonistic Impulses For Their Own Amusement

It's that time of the month, when the EOLIAN mob unleashes its antagonistic impulses on the public for their own amusement.

It ain't just 503 and 971 any more folks... start punching in those country codes because shit's going international. The fifteen-track (We've Got) FIENDS IN LOW PLACES: Heavy Vibes Internationalecompilation goes live one week from today, featuring your new favorite heavy underground bands from across the globe: ÅRABROT (Norway), BASTARD OF THE SKIES (UK), BATPISS (Australia),CYBERNE (Japan), DEAD (Australia), ELEPHANT RIFLE (USA), THE GREAT SABATINI (Canada),HEALTH PROBLEMS (USA), HOMBRE MALO (Norway), MEADOWS (UK), MOE (Norway), SAME-SEX DICTATOR (USA), TEEPH (USA), THROAT (Finland) and TIMEKILLER (Brazil). It's a wild fifty-five-minute trip through twisted noise rock, bludgeoning sludge, psychotic metal, blackened hardcore, and damaged punk, each act's warped worldview in full effect. You get the impression these characters all have a sense of humor (er, humour) too. You can order the limited cassette version (edition of 333)HERE or, if you're into the whole brevity thing, pre-order the digital version HERE. The digital preorder gets you five tracks immediately: the three already premiered tracks plus two more; the full comp will be released Tuesday morning. Look for a full stream on Monday.

This Spring and Summer expect exciting releases from both Portland and international friends and family.  First up is the debut release from HUMOURS, The Onanist. The four-song EP will be released on limited cassette and digital, giving you a taste before their first full-length LP due this Fall. The four-piece strips Crimsonesque prog to its stark elements and fuses it with the energy and abandon of Jawbox and Drive Like Jehu, flitting through complex movements with a mastery of dynamics and accented by strong, melodic vocals.  Get a taste with "In the Court of the Corn-Eyed King" from EOLIAN's KEEP OUR HEADS compilation HERE.

Next up is TINY KNIVES with their latest record and first 12-inch, Black Haze. Fixtures of the Portland underground scene for the last five years, TINY KNIVES combine the art punk of Crass and Rudimentary Peni with the frenzied rock 'n' roll of Lunachicks and The Dictators. The trio of stylistic shapeshifters marries disparate influences ranging from tumultuous full-speed-ahead riffers to heavy emotional bulldozers. Check out the powerful "Ocean of Static Sky" from their previous release, Static, on local compatriot label Stankhouse Records HERE.

True Norwegian noise rockers ÅRABROT are mixing the four tracks for the third EP in their three-EP series, following Murder As Art and the recent I Modi, to be released this Summer for their first ever full US tour. ÅRABROT wowed European audiences all last year with their powerful live show (read all about it via The Quietus HERE) and it's about time US audiences get hip to one of the best heavy bands out there. Expect more twisted, raucous rock 'n' roll with unstoppable off-the-hook hooks and off-the-chart dynamics. Meantime get weird with their exceptionally bawdy track "The Libertine" on theFIENDS IN LOW PLACES compilation.

The burly NORSKA is finishing up tracks in Portland at Toadhouse Studios with Adam Pike (Red Fang, Diesto, Black Elk) for the long overdue follow-up to their acclaimed 2011 EP on Brutal Panda. Expanded now to a five-piece, early reports suggest the band is taking it up to the next level in a big way. NORSKA draws from throughout the heavy musical realms to forge their own extraordinarily compelling amalgam of rock, metal, and prog, and the new album builds upon songs and riffs from throughout the history of the band. Watch out for them this year. Bide your time with "Esotre" from the KEEP OUR HEADS comp HERE.

They're back. Australia's DEAD is another one of those international bands too many heavy music fans have been sleeping on. EOLIAN is thrilled to be issuing the stateside release of their third LP,Captains Of Industry, to coincide with a full US Summer tour. The downunder bass-and-drums duo once again beats you about the head with stripped-down but mighty mind-melters, the occasional respite via ambient experimental pieces. The recording by Toshi Kasai (Melvins, Big Business) captures their unholy marriage of sharp bass riffage and hardcore drum acrobatics punctuated by shout-along vocal bursts.  EOLIAN has a few hand-screened copies of the We Empty Rooms (Australia) version of the LP HERE, and international customers can get it HERE. DEAD also has a track "Rabbits" on the new FIENDS comp, dedicated to those lowly Portland lagomorphs. Touching.

And finally, second wave ATL noise rockers WHORES, comrades in shit-starting, hit the road with Retox in March. Praised for their festival performances last year and their bludgeoning track on volume 13 of AmRep's Dope, Guns, and Fucking in the Streets (HERE), their first trip ever to the West Coast will no doubt reignite that dormant East vs. West rivalry. Maybe it'll get RABBITS off their ass to tromp around the East Coast. Check out their sludge-fucked version of The Cure's "Jumping Someone Else's Train" from their split with RABBITS right HERE. Full WHORES tour dates below. WHORES. Has a nice ring to it.

Are you aware that every LP (and an EP) EOLIAN released in 2014 ended up on a year-end list? Not bad for a bunch of misanthropes. And EOLIAN is now carrying distro for like-minded labels like Learning Curve, We Empty Rooms, Made In Kansas, Kaos Kontrol, and more. Get the goods athttp://goods.eolianempire.com.

WHORES w/ Retox:

2/10/2015 Casbah - San Diego, CA

2/11/2015 51 West - Tempe, AZ

2/12/2015 Trainyard - Las Cruces, NM

2/13/2015 Three Links - Dallas, TX

2/14/2015 Red 7 - Austin, TX

2/15/2015 Fitzgerald's - Houston, TX

2/17/2015 The Earl - Atlanta, GA

2/18/2015 Cat's Cradle - Chapel Hill, NC

2/19/2015 The Ottobar - Baltimore, MD

2/20/2015 Kung Fu Necktie - Philadelphia, PA

2/21/2015 Saint Vitus Bar - Brooklyn, NY

2/22/2015 Cambridge, MA - The Middle East

2/24/2015 Turbo Haus - Montreal, QC

2/25/2015 The Cave at Lee's Palace - Toronto, ON

2/26/2015 Grog Shop - Cleveland, OH

2/27/2015 Magic Stick Lounge - Detroit, MI

2/28/2015 Cobra Lounge - Chicago, IL

3/01/2015 Triple Rock Social Club - Minneapolis, MN

3/02/2015 Slowdown - Omaha, NE

3/04/2015 Hi Dive - Denver, CO

3/05/2015 Bar Deluxe - Salt Lake City, UT

3/06/2015 The Shredder - Boise, ID

3/07/2015 Black Lodge - Seattle, WA

3/08/2015 Ash Street Saloon - Portland, OR

3/09/2015 Oakland Metro Operahouse - Oakland, CA

3/10/2015 Los Globos - Los Angeles, CA

http://www.eolianempire.com

http://goods.eolianempire.com

http://www.facebook.com/eolianempire

http://www.youtube.com/user/EolianEmpire

Source: EarSplit PR

The Sludgelord News: Daily Digest

Your rundown of the top sludge news stories of the day …

EYEHATEGOD - There’s a real possibility that without EYEHATEGOD there wouldn’t be a Sludgelord website. The Sludge pioneers, along with friends Crowbar helped to create and define the distinctive style of metal that Beavis & Butthead once described as “slow and fat”. In the early 1990s, it was as far away from the norm as you could get in metal music. Today they are legends, having been through the toughest battles imaginable and persevered, now Eyehategod is soon to embark on a tour that will take them from California to Maryland.

The tour will find the band playing five California cities in late January, then double back across the continent to Boston in early February, then moving south through New York and ending back in the south with a show in Baltimore alongside doom legends Saint Vitus. That will be a show that fans will want to hang on to their ticket stubs for years to come.

Here are the tour dates:

1/22/2015 Jerry's Pizza & Pub - Bakersfield, CA
1/23/2015 Moose Lodge - Lancaster, CA
1/24/2015 Alex's Bar - Long Beach, CA
1/25/2015 Sweet Springs Saloon - San Luis Obispo, CA
1/26/2015 Strummers - Fresno, CA
2/04/2015 Brighton Music Hall - Boston MA
2/05/2015 The Clash Bar - Clifton, NJ
2/06/2015 Saint Vitus - Brooklyn, NY
2/07/2015 Saint Vitus - Brooklyn, NY
2/08/2015 Ottobar - Baltimore, MD w/ Cro Mags, Saint Vitus, Misery Index

http://www.eyehategod.ee
http://www.facebook.com/OfficialEyeHateGod
http://www.thehousecorerecords.com

Source:

Earsplit PR

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INQUISITION - American black metal band INQUISITION will also be on the road this January and February, albeit in Europe. The tour, which starts today in Berlin (see list of dates below), will concentrate on the country of Germany and finish up in Russia, February 14. They’ll be joined on stage by Archgoat, Ondskapt and Blackdeath, except for the final four stops.

The band is touring in support of their latest, ‘Obscure Verses for the Multiverse’, out on Season of Mist Records. You can stream and download the album in its entirety at this location and buy a physical copy of the record at this location.

Here’s the full list of tour dates:

20/01/2015 DE Berlin K17 21/01/2015 PL Kraków Fabryka Club
22/01/2015 CZ Prague Nová Chmelnice
23/01/2015 DE Erfurt From Hell
24/01/2015 DE München Backstage
25/01/2015 CH Lausanne Le Romandie
26/01/2015 IT Brescia Circolo Colony
27/01/2015 LU Luxemburg KulturFabrik
28/01/2015 FR Paris Divan du Monde
29/01/2015 UK London Underworld
30/01/2015 NL Nijmegen Doornroosje
31/01/2015 DE Essen Turock
01/02/2015 DK Odense Posten
02/02/2015 DE Flensburg Roxy
03/02/2015 DE Kassel Rostlaube
04/02/2015 AU Wien Escape Club
05/02/2015 CH Zürich Alte Kaserne
06/02/2015 BE Huy Atelier Rock
07/02/2015 DE Weinheim Cafe Zentral

11/02/2015 LV Riga Nabaklab
12/02/2015 EE Tallinn Tapper
13/02/2015 RU Saint Petersburg Phoenix
14/02/2015 RU Moscow Seven

Source:

Season of Mist Records

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MONOMYTH - Staying with the tour circuit for a moment … Dutch heavy psych / stoner/ drone band MONOMYTH’s most recent album ‘Further’ is about traveling and movement. The band moves through great distances of sound on the 4-song, 45-minute opus, reaching from the ordinary to the surreal with kaleidoscopic vision. So, what better way to take their sound ‘further’ than to pack it up and tour it around the UK?

Well, that’s the plan as it was revealed today. The band will hit British shores this February, taking a peculiar route, ping-ponging across the land along the way.  The band plays their first show of the tour in Cardiff on Thursday the 19^th, then will zip up to Glasgow for a Friday show, then back down to Bournemouth for a Saturday engagement, after which point the band will work their way back up to Edinburgh.

In a way, the tour itinerary artfully recreates the kind of sonic journey concertgoers should expect to witness at the shows. This is the first chance fans in the UK will have had to catch the band live.

Here’s the full schedule:

Thu 19th Cardiff The Moon Club
Fri 20th Glasgow Audio
Sat 21st Bournemouth The Anvil
Sun 22nd Milton Keynes The Crauford Arms
Mon 23rd London The Macbeth
Tue 24th Chester The Compass
Wed 25th Birmingham Alfie Birds
Thu 26th Edinburgh Bannermans

Tickets are available through all usual outlets. 

https://www.facebook.com/monomyththeband

http://www.monomyththeband.com/

Source:

Duff Press

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POMBAGIRA - And speaking of winding musical journeys, London duo POMBAGIRA released details of their upcoming sixth album ‘FLESH THRONE PRESS’. The album will be released on March 23 through Svart Records, and it will feature over 80 minutes of new music on double-CD and double vinyl.

Throughout the course of their 8 year existence, Pombagira has undertaken many musical explorations with this latest album being their most psychedelic yet. The subject matter involves necromancy and communication with the dead. The title track is streaming right now on Soundcloud and is arguably their heaviest song to date. More audio previews have been promised in the coming weeks, so stay tuned for more.

For now, listen to “Flesh Throne Press” at this location.

http://www.pombagira.org.uk
http://www.pombagira.bigcartel.com/
http://www.svartrecords.com/

Source:

Rarely Unable PR

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TIMEKILLER - Portland, Oregon has become a mecca for emerging musicians and artists in the early years of the 21^st century. One of the leaders in exporting the local underground scene’s endeavors is EOLIAN EMPIRE RECORDS, who you may recall released a compilation of local musicians in 2013 called ‘(We’ve Gotta) Keep Our Heads: Heavy Vibes from Portland, Oregon’. Well, the label is releasing a new compilation soon, but this time they’re focusing their gaze outward at bands from around the globe who share that heavy aesthetic that Portland is becoming known for. One of those bands is Brazilian trio TIMEKILLER.

Their song “Sick of Myself” has been added to the tracklist of Eolian Empire Records upcoming ‘(We’ve Got) Fiends in Low Places’ compilation. It’s the third such song to be streamed and you’ll find it on the Cvlt Nation website. The compilation will be released on February 3 as 333 cassettes with a download ticket included. You can pre-order a copy at this location.

You can take a listen to Timekiller’s effort “Sick of Myself” at this location.

http://timekillerpunx.bandcamp.com
http://eolianempire.com http://facebook.com/eolianempire
http://twitter.com/eolianempire

Source:

Earsplit PR

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GRIZZLOR / BARREN WOMB - In other release news, an intercontinental treaty was announced today as American noise rock band GRIZZLOR will team up with Dutch Noise Punks BARREN WOMB for a split 7 inch record. The vinyl will feature two songs from each band and will be out March 17 on Righteous Outburst Records. The single can be pre-ordered at this location right now. For a sneak preview, check out this video.

And for more info, visit these links:

http://www.facebook.com/grizzlordestroys
http://www.grizzlordestroys.com
http://www.twitter.com/grizzlorrrrrrrr
http://www.facebook.com/barrenwomb
http://www.barrenwomb.org/
http://twitter.com/barren_womb
http://www.facebook.com/riotousoutburst
http://riotousoutburst.bandcamp.com

Source:

The Perfect Hoax

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BLACK STAR RIDERS - Another band with a new album looming on the horizon is BLACK STAR RIDERS. It’s the follow up to 2013’s ‘All Hell Breaks Loose’ and it will be coming to you through Nuclear Blast Records. The album will be released in a number of editions, including CD and vinyl and limited edition double-CD with a bonus disc and clear vinyl records. The album, titled ‘The Killer Instinct’ will be released on February 23.

Recently, Damon Johnson and Scott Gorham of the band sat down to talk about working with new producer Nick Raskulinecz, whose credits include albums by Rush, Foo Fighters, Alice in Chains and Mastodon. The band members described him as the “sixth member of the band”. You can watch that video at this location.

If you’re in and around the UK or will be in March and you’d like a more up-close-and-personal experience of the band, you can catch them at the following dates:

March 2: Olympia Theatre, Dublin
March 3: Ulster Hall, Belfast
March 5: o2 ABC, Glasgow
March 6: o2 ABC, Glasgow
March 7: o2 Academy, Newcastle
March 8: o2 Academy, Leeds
March 10: Rock City, Nottingham
March 11: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
March 13: Academy, Manchester
March 14: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
March 15: University, Exeter
March 16: o2 Academy, Bristol
March 18: o2 Academy, Bournemouth
March 19: UEA, Norwich
March 20: o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London
March 21: o2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London

Buy tickets: http://bit.ly/BSRTour

THE AMORETTES are support on all dates except Glasgow March 5th and London March 20th – support on these shows is TBA.

NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS UK
Web: nuclearblast.de
Facebook: facebook.com/nuclearblasteurope 
Twitter: @nuclearblasteu
Instagram: @nuclearblasteurope
YouTube: youtube.com/user/NuclearBlastEurope

Source:

Nuclear Blast Records

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FALLUJAH - In other NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS news, progressive death metal band FALLUJAH has signed with the label, it was announced. Last year’s ‘The Flesh Prevails’ album won the band praise across the death metal and progressive metal communities, including topping several year-end lists. Well, the German based label didn’t fail to notice.

"We're extremely excited to be part of a roster alongside not just great bands, but great people who are dedicated to the craft and enthusiastic about our vision of where we see FALLUJAH going,” comments the band. “FALLUJAH is all about pushing the envelope, taking risks, and keeping an open mind; with that mentality we felt Nuclear Blast was the most obvious and logical step for a band such as ours. With our team behind us, we can’t wait to see FALLUJAH grow."

There were no immediate plans for the band to record a follow-up, when the album does surface, it will do so under the Nuclear Blast banner.

facebook.com/fallujahofficial 

twitter.com/fallujahbayarea

Source:

Nuclear Blast Records

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RIFFLORD -  And finally, it was announced yesterday that up-and-coming stoner doom label STB Records has signed a new band to its growing roster. Austin, Texas quartet RIFFLORD has joined the ranks alongside bands like Goya, Doctor Doom and Red Wizard. The news comes just days after the label revealed that it had signed Minnesota trio Let It Breathe to a record deal. Further details were not released.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/STB-Records/471228012921184

https://www.facebook.com/pages/RIFFLORD/234755513342

Source:

STB Records

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And now you’re all caught up in the world of sludge.

Drunk Dad - Ripper Killer (Album Review)

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 1/7/2014

Label: Eolian Empire

‘Ripper Killer Vinyl/DD track listing:

1). Five Pack

2). Life's Work

3). Fuck in Garbage

4). Light a Fire

5). S.O.U.

6). Ripper Killer

7). Worthless

8). Whiskey Liver

Bio:

Portland's one and only fuck-you-all-wave group, is on a seemingly unstoppable trajectory. In the last two years they have hard-won the turned heads and knowing nods of enthusiastic youngsters and old cynics alike with their all-out assaults on rock and convention. Their art-fucked sludgy hardcore free-jazz noise rock is as unclassifiable as it is enthralling, the splendid result of a rare new band that not only knows what it wants but how to get it.

Hatched at long disintegrating Portland punk house/venue Failhaus in 2010 -- at first an almost homage, albeit a convincing one, to their Northwest heavy heroes -- DRUNK DAD quickly shoved their own way forward, dragging their dirty NW rock roots through sludge and noise and then mashing them together with metallic hardcore and avant diversions to form their own crusty scuzzcore. Their leavings, including a cassette-only Failhaus EP on Stankhouse Records and subsequent Morbid Reality 7" on Eolian Empire,  have raked in accolades from all levels of media, as a “strategy of fomented eclecticism -- push each influence hard enough, and they’ll eventually crumble into one another” by Pitchfork, “brilliantly energetic” by Echoes and Dust, “a pretzel-like intersection of genre super-highways that go in all directions at once” by the Portland Mercury, and “an off-kilter, barely-tethered mass of sludge/crust/whateverthefuck that is as delightful as it is shoeless n' shambling” by Last Rites.

Not known for going easy, in the past year DRUNK DAD went at it even harder, culminating in their first full-length and gnarliest, most inventive, expansive, and—dare we say?—sophisticated record yet. With their first LP Ripper Killer, DRUNK DAD breaks down the stifling genre walls of yore and rewires the wreckage into a megaheavy alloy of scuzz, filth, and noise in a knock-down, drag-out war of ill will wrapped in a nasty bow. The album includes heavy collaborations with local Eolian harsh noise artist, REDNECK, who contributes to the entire album and even bears his own track, "Worthless."

The Band:

Dane Herrin | guitar, vocals

Jose De Lara | Guitar

Anthony Ritchey | Bass

Joseph Naylor | Drums

Review:

About a year ago, I got to review an EP that was pure audio filth.  Seriously, I felt as though I had to check my speakers to see if some kind of weird ooze hadn’t slithered out from them as a result of my playing that crazed sound.  That EP was ‘Morbid Reality’ by Portland filth mongers Drunk Dad, and now they’re back with their belts unlooped from their pants and wrapped around their hands, ready to tan the hides of the listening public with ‘Ripper Killer’, their brand-new full-length album. 

And what an album it is.  Taking off from where ‘Morbid Reality’ stopped, ‘Ripper Killer’ is every bit as nihilistic, antagonistic, and downright filthy as the debut, but with an added crust of depraved anger.  These guys have dredged the murkiest, most haunted musical swamplands and returned with a twisted grin and a tale to tell.  If you like your hardcore punk mixed with a Mike IX 90s drug cocktail and a spoonful of fuck you, Drunk Dad are the band for you. 

By the looks of things, Drunk Dad have set about making themselves into the most radio unfriendly unit you have ever heard, and for that I salute them.  They are an avatar of counter-culture credo, a big middle finger in the air and pointed directly at the mass-marketed, pasteurised and fully-skimmed horseshit that is popular music these days.  Have you ever felt angry about the musical trends of today?  Drunk Dad have- check out ‘Fuck In Garbage’ and see how angry real people can get.  To my ears, it sounds like Nirvana’s ‘Scentless Apprentice’ spliced with Conan’s ‘Total Conquest’, a vile and terrifying mix indeed. 

Could there be a harder, rawer album this year than ‘Ripper Killer’?  I doubt it.  The titular track on the album is a hate-filled, near-eight minutes of rolling drums, volcanic vocals and guitars that saw like a rusty knife against your spine.  It is loud, and when it slinks into subdued sections, they seem to speak more loudly than any late night back alley scream in the unknown dark.  Dare you step into the dark and find out from where that noise emanated?  If you do, filth and fury await, I guarantee it. 

‘Ripper Killer’ is Drunk Dad showing the world at large how dark things can get.  This album is a testament to raw feelings, brute reactions and extreme honesty.  Drunk Dad got ripped- I suggest you grow a pair and do the same, too. 

Words by: Chris Markwell

You can pick up a copy here

For more information:

http://www.facebook.com/drunkdadsagainstmothers
http://www.drunkdad.bandcamp.com
http://www.eolianempire.com
http://goods.eolianempire.com
https://www.facebook.com/eolianempire

Graves At Sea - This Place Is Poison EP (Review)

Album Type : EP

Date Released : 22/4/2014

Label : Eolian Empire

This Place I Poison, tracklisting :

01. This Place is Poison – 6:36
02. Orchid + Lord of This world – 13:13

Bio :

Following a lengthy dormancy, notorious doom derelicts, GRAVES AT SEA, rise again! Now based in Portland and buoyed by a killer new rhythm section, the band will drop the This Place Is Poison twelve-inch EP upon the living this Spring via the volume dealers at Eolian Empire.
 

Tracked by drummer Bryan Sours (ex-Subarachnoid Space) and Steve Lobdell at Audible Alchemy and mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering on their home turf, Side A’s “This Place Is Poison” finds the all-consuming, slow-motion sludge for which the band is so synonymous flooding in with a torrent of crusted-over guitars anchored away by swampy bass rumbles and earth-rupturing drums all bathed in the howls and shrieks of the damned. But in shaking off their cobwebs, GRAVES AT SEA have emerged reanimated with a heretofore unheard speed, at least when compared to their syrupy crawl of the past.
 

On Side B, Black Sabbath’s “Orchid” and “Lord Of This World” get bold re-imaginings: “Orchid” is eroded beyond its essence into a morose march towards death while “Lord of This World” gets a grim reconfiguration with grisly riffs, bilious hisses and a blackened atmosphere that takes the original to a dark, desolate realm of desperation and despair

The Band :

Nathan Misterek | Vocals
Nick Phit | Guitar
Bryan Sours | Drums
Jeff Mcgarrity |  Bass

Review :

Courtesy of Arizona, by way of Portland and all in the name of DOOM, the world has been given another gander at the band known as Graves At Sea. The latest release from the band is a 3 song 12” EP entitled “This Place Is Poison”. This 12” was recently released in a limited run of 1000 pieces by Eolian Empire. I can't comment on the bands earlier work as I've never heard any of it, but I can assure that if you're into Sludge, Doom, a splash of Black Metal and a hint of hopelessness then you'll definitely shit the bed over this EP.

Side A, “This Place Is Poison” is six minutes of fuzzed out swirling guitar riffs, backed with screeching vocals accompanied by growling vocals. Musically, it's quite typical of the Doom genre – tremendous breakdowns, slow grinding points of rhythm and enough filthiness to fuel a tank! Lyrically, I understand very little aside from the line “You can check out any time, but you can never leave”; sounds awful familiar, then again the title is “This Place Is Poison”.

Side B, “Orchid/Lord Of This World”. Of course we know this is a Sabbath cover and what better of a place to put it than a limited 12”. As far as “Orchid” goes, it has very little to do with the original piece; it's just meandering acoustic passages filled with samples from what sounds like old school Hammer Horror movies. If not for the samples, I'd probably write this part off, but those samples add some much needed eeriness and depth for the grittiness of “Lord Of This World”. Here is where the band promptly kick the Stoner/Doom vibe into overdrive, the fuzz is strong, the breakdowns are sexy and having two vocalist with extremely different voices work out nicely adding a new dimension to the tune.

Overall “This Place Is Poison” is nice work for an EP with one original track. Of course most of us have heard Sabbath covered by the best and unfortunately the worst. Graves At Sea does Sabbath justice and gives themselves some street cred for the masses of the underground. Being a lover and a student of rare vinyl releases, I highly recommend checking this out before it's gone.

Words by : Andy Burke

You can get it here

For more information :

http://goods.eolianempire.com/product/graves-at-sea-this-place-is-poison

https://www.facebook.com/GravesAtSea