VIDEO PREMIERE: Coilguns announce Ireland Tour & debut "Millenials" live performance

Fresh from decimating the UK and Europe with a string of stunning live shows following the release of their critically lauded new LP, “Millenials” Coilguns are set to hit Ireland for a batch of live  dates kicking off on the 15^th May.  The band commented:

"We’ve toured Ireland twice a few years back and we are stoked to be returning to the place where we’ve made so many friends. We’re even happier that the tour is promoted by Ruiair and Josh from FEAST. We toured together with Josh’s band Ilenkus back then and when FEAST just started doing local shows. It’s great to see them now taking over national tours. As this wasn’t not enough, support for these shows will come from Bailer which features David Cleere on bass. I can’t even recall since when David and us are friends but sharing the tour with him and the lads will surely be a blast. Ireland, get your helmets on."

“Millennials “is available at the following links.  For physical: here and digital at the usual outlets.  To demonstrate just how devastating their live performances are,  check out the ferocious performance of their track “Millennials” below.  A full list of dates can also be found below.  

Coilguns Irish Live Rituals:

May 15th - Belfast @ Voodoo Belfast w/ Disconnect, Bosco Ramos*
Coilguns / Bailer / Disconnect / Bosco Ramos

May 16th - Dublin @ Grandsocial*

May 17th - Cork @ Fred Zeppelins w/ God Alone.*
Coilguns / Bailer / God Alone (Cork)

May 18th - Limerick @ Dolans Pub w/ Shardborne*
Coilguns / Bailer / Shardborne - Kasbah, Dolans, Limerick

May 19th - Galway @ Roisin Dubh*
Coilguns + Bailer

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

ALBUM PREMIERE & REVIEW: Weed Priest - "Consummate Darkness"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 31/10/2017

Label: Cursed Monk Records

If you are a fan of Weed Priest's ultra-heavy music, you will walk away pleased. However, those new to the now-quartet will also be impressed by such additions turning out its best work so far.

"Consummate Darkness" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Witch's Curse

2. Vampyr

3. Sky Daddy

4. The Mass

The Review:

It is quite a feat for a metal band to have a really distinctive opener, one that seizes your attention with its sound and fury. So when Irish blackened doom band Weed Priest launches its new album, "Consummate Darkness," with the song "Witch's Curse," a blistering opus if ever there was one, you can't help but stand at attention. Dishing out classic metal into the denser style of today, Weed Priest's uniquely heavy return is most welcome.

The group dropped a demo in 2011, then a full-length in 2013 and an EP in 2014. After changes to its squad – Weed Priest switched drummers and added a guitarist during this period – the four-piece issued splits in 2015 (with Astralnaut) and 2016 (with Black Capricorn). Adding players is always iffy business. "Consummate Darkness" marks the first chance for Weed Priest to spread its batlike wings on a full length using its fresh lineup.

Vocalist Adamus de Sabbator gets one hell of a backdrop to build on with that opening cut. And on "Vampyr," a track that surfaced as a preview to the album, he flips the vocal to be especially haunting. Paralleled with guitarist Sean Sullivan, de Sabbator's riffs as well as Sullivan's prove intimidating too. The vivid lyricism gets a fun touch with clips from German filmmaker Werner Herzog's 1979 adaption of "Nosferatu the Vampyre," featuring longtime collaborator Klaus Kinski and, for the sake of the song, Ronald Topor's wonderfully unhinged performance as Renfield. "Vampyr" comes in at just over 10 minutes, but feels quite complete, without bloat or overlong elements.

"Sky Daddy" brings Weed Priest back to familiar ground as some of its past work. The song is undoubtedly more on the classic metal and stoner vibe you may have heard before when the group was just a trio. Bassist K.H. Rhaagulus does a particularly good job of knitting the cut together by balancing his playing with the drums and adding some ballast to the twin guitars. Overall, it a pleasing entry, and certainly red meat for the stoner rock heads out there.

"Consummate Darkness" closes out with "The Mass," a 14-minute-plus slab of aural concrete hurled at you. Here, all of Weed Priest's parts come together seamlessly. Bass and drums build slowly, until the guitars swoop in. This is doom at its best, and the black metal-inspired growls mixed in to make those ominous guitars feel all the more threatening. "The Mass" demonstrates a new maturity for Weed Priest. The song is deliberate in a different way than some of its better past work, and the added guitar offers far more depth than previous outings. A critical ear might suggest the solos 11 minutes in might be a bit much, but they are forgivable, given all the energy the group puts into such a sterling cut.

If you are a fan of Weed Priest's ultra-heavy music, you will walk away pleased. However, those new to the now-quartet will also be impressed by such additions turning out its best work so far.

"Consummate Darkness" is available to preorder/buy here and you can stream the album in full below ahead of release on Halloween. 

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

REVIEW: Ten Ton Slug - “Blood and Slime” [EP]

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 31/10/2017

Label: Independent

Ten Ton Slug is like Crowbar jamming with Sabbath, by way of Eyehategod. The riffs are massive- and surprisingly catchy- whilst the production is raw and pushes everything into the front and into the red.  There is some great metal coming out of Ireland and Ten Ton Slug are making it.

“Blood and Slime” CD//DD track listing:

1). Slug Grinder

2). Matriarch of Slime

3). Siege

The Review:

Ireland's Ten Ton Slug are producing some massive, guttural and feral sludge/doom. This three track EP should further establish these Galway men of metal at the forefront of the Emerald Isle's metal scene. To give you an idea of what to expect for those new to the band, this is like Crowbar jamming with Sabbath, by way of Eyehategod. The riffs are massive- and surprisingly catchy- whilst the production is raw and pushes everything into the front and into the red. Vocals are guttural, drums are punchy, guitars and bass are low and slow.

You get three tracks with only one coming in just under seven minutes. Of the three on offer, it is hard to pick a winner; as it should be with EPs. “Slug Grinder” is heavy and not without catchy elements, while “Matriarch of Slime” is a chugging beast of huge proportions- with a cool lead break down the middle. Perhaps the ten minute epic “Siege” is more your bag? Huge in sound and scope, this is as weighty as it gets, with a surprisingly clear lyrical narrative.

If you have an interest in any of the three bands mentioned above, you should check out this excellent EP. The band sound fully committed to the cause and, having seen them live, I can reliably inform you that they take no prisoners on stage either. There is some great metal coming out of Ireland and Ten Ton Slug are making it.

“Blood and Slime” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Wild Rocket - "Dissociation Mechanics"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 07/07/2017

Label: Art for Blind

Their debut "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. With their follow up they give you that again, and more. Make no mistake this group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

“Dissociation Mechanics” CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Caught In Triangle Again

2. Infinite Reconnaissance Imager

3. Into The Black Hole

4. The Future Echoes

5. The Edges Of Reality

The Review:

Defunct noise rock visionary band Sonic Youth experienced much popularity over its near 30-year career, including the commercially successful albums "Goo", "Dirty" and "Daydream Nation." Hardcore fans point to a recording like 1985's "Bad Moon Rising" to be the birth of what would be the definitive Sonic Youth sound: sheets of avant garde influences, rambunctious guitars and off-the-wall effects that were a fertile bed for Thurston Moore and Kim Gordon's irascible songsmithing.

In listening to psychedelic punk crew Wild Rocket. One cannot escape an ambience that feels very much like the most animated version of Sonic Youth circa "Bad Moon Rising" and possibly "Daydream Nation." In the case of the Dublin, Ireland outfit's sophomore recording, the emphasis on noise punk, like Sonic Youth, belies a uniquely crafty selection of music.

On the opener "Caught In Triangle Again" the tenor of the past is evident. You can almost lean back and picture what Moore would do with this, it is such a faithful interpretation. Make no mistake though, because the group is a high-quality original that stands on its own. The stupendous "Into The Black Hole" is a true testament to that.

When Wild Rocket released their debut, "Geomagnetic Hallucinations," in 2014, it earned a reputation for its immersive music and brainy, intriguing lyrical themes. In their return, the quartet of punk, doom, noise and rock tested performers give you that again, and more. With "Dissociation Mechanics" – an SY-style christening if ever there was one, by the way – that blend is all out on beautiful, chaotic display.

Wild Rocket's return is centered musically around several concepts, including the sea and deep space, as metaphors for cultural and global destruction. Effects laden vocals convey the depressive mood and the churning rhythm section, not to mention Jon Kelly's synthesizer work, make those stories feel like they're closing in on you. The listener has such a tempo on tracks like "The Future Holds" – steady, thick and swirling it is, among others.

"Dissociation Mechanics" is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook