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This is 'Liberation through Amplification.'
In German folklore, a drude is a kind of
malevolent nocturnal spirit associated with nightmares.Today’s featured artist atThe Sludgelord,
Indianapolis
progressive sludgerstake the nameDrudeand play the kind of sludgy metal, that builds and destroys and then rebuilds 7
minutes at a time.The band's sound is a
dense and measured hybrid of doom, hesher and prog that sedates and bludgeons
with equal abandon. In a musical environment where attention spans are null,Drudemake music that commands attention and is the stuff of nightmare, creating
their own brand of malevolent noise that will undoubtedly cause a stir within
in the underground scene.
Formerly known asBURN THE ARMY,
Drudereleased their highly anticipated self titled EP today and you can check it out
in full below.You can pick up a copy here
Overall this is a very impressive debut
by very talented musicians.Superb
songwriting and extremely catchy rock and roll filled with dueling fuzzed out
guitars, loud drums and a dynamic singer.
“Hey
Satan!” DD//LP track listing:
1). FallonCity
Messiah
2). Legal Aspect of Love
3). Sunshine Blues
4). In Cold Blood
5). 1991
6). Song for A Lost Mariner
7). Red Light Women
8). Bastardizer
9). Black Flags Down
10). This Meat Stinks, Honey
The
Review:
A very impressive debut album from Swiss trio, Hey Satan!From start to finish the band hurls addictively
catchy riff after riff in 36 minutes of pure, no nonsense rock and roll.
Hey
Satan!
Is a rock trio formed by three long-time friends and hailing from Lausanne, Switzerland.Their self-titled debut was released on
January 28 by Cold
Smoke Records. The trio consists of two guitarists and a drummer, no
bass.While I am a big believer in what
a bass can add to a band’s sound, having no bassist in the line-up seems to be
becoming more common these days, and several bands have proven that it can
work.Hey Satan! Is definitely one of
those bands.Even if you actually notice
the lack of bass, you won’t miss it.The
production of album is top-notch and the band is heavy and tight throughout
Despite being a debut album, the song writing quality and
tight performance of the band would lead one to believe these guys are seasoned
veterans.Throughout the ten tracks of “Hey
Satan!” The band delivers up-beat, groovy, stoner rock that I’m certain
makes for a good time at their live shows.Whilst they don’t exactly break any new ground with this album, it will
undoubtedly incite comparisons to QOTSA and Clutch among others.But in listening to the album, the band’s
intention seems to be just playing kick ass heavy rock music, and they nailed
it.
The lead track “Fallen City Messiah” opens with
just drums, the twin guitars then come in with a build up riff before the band
pauses and we hear Francois (vocalist) shout “Brothers and Sisters” and
the band unleashes into a hard rock anthem filled with tasty riffs, guitar
solos, hard hitting drums and powerful vocals. Francois uses his vocals
effectively throughout each part of a song, varying between raspy singing to
shouts, whispers, and even the occasional “woo.” It’s a great opening track
that sets you up for what to come.The
album is consistent and cohesive throughout.It was hard for me to pick a favorite track.The only criticism is that at times the album
sounds a bit monotonous, yet at the same time never boring. They keep up their pace and keep you
listening.
Overall this is a very impressive debut by very talented
musicians.Superb songwriting and
extremely catchy rock and roll filled with dueling fuzzed out guitars, loud
drums and a dynamic singer.Many of the
hooks are so good I could see Hey Satan! breaking into the hard rock
mainstream, well maybe with a name change (I love the name).I highly recommend this album and am excited
to hear more from Hey Satan!
A monsoon of riffs, from slow, knuckle-dragging doom moments to the
calculated chaos of Mastodon, spinning on a huge axis with their long, winding
loops, this album it hits you like a drug, freewheeling into your body.
“Tempest” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). First Light
2). Smoke from Distant
Fires
3. Celebration of
Decay
4). Echo of Souls
5). Apparition
6). Hiraeth
7). Water Divides the
Tide
8). Metanoia
The Review:
Telepathy’s sound has always been monstrous.
With each release their raw, voracious and vicious sound has gained more and
more clarity, their ideas more expansive and forward thinking. Now, with Jaime
Gomez Arellano at the helm, they are a different beast entirely. The producer,
who can boast Ghost,
Opeth
and Paradise
Lost as notches on his bedpost, is exactly what the band need at
this point in time, and it will surely propel them to greater, more luxurious
stratospheres.
‘Smoke From Distant Fires’ instantly bombards
you with craggy, precipitous guitar work, cascading through the crystal clear
mix with a menacing intent. But if those opening explosions come across like ‘Times
of Grace’ era Neurosis, then they flaunt their lighter, airier
and more celestial side in later passages. This band has always prided itself
on their intelligently thought out and diligently executed musical contrasts.
So often do their dark, miserable skylines develop overhead only for blinding
rays of light to pierce through like faint hope and brighten the landscapes.
Throughout the track the contrasts are in constant conflict, a tug of war for
aural dominance throwing the song this way then that, and it makes the result
nothing short of evocative and spellbinding.
‘Celebration of Decay’ marries dislocated,
barbaric rhythms – something akin to post-metal having a seizure, but with
perfect timing – huge, mountainous chords that lumber like giants and hypnotic
diminuendos that drag you by the feet and pull you deeper into reverie. It is
in these quiet, reflective moments that voice recordings of astronauts looking
back down on Mother Earth can be heard. It’s apt for a band which has never
quite sounded like they were of this planet. The song’s title too, in today’s
climate, has an added poignancy to it.
‘Apparition’ flirts with black metal, with
warmongering blast beats and the rapidly picked guitars reverberating like they
were recorded in a vast, echoic cathedral. The sound is so huge it towers over
you, belittles you. ‘Water Divides The Tide’ meanwhile, is more forthright. A
monsoon of riffs, from slow, knuckle-dragging doom moments to the calculated
chaos of Mastodon,
spinning on a huge axis with their long, winding loops, it hits you like a
drug, freewheeling into your body.
It is an album, for all intents and purposes,
better experienced than anything. Be that in the flesh or sat in the dark with
their immersive compositions blaring through your headphones, painting vibrant
images in your imagination as they do, for the best effect I advise you stop
reading this review. Just listen.
“Children
of the Haze” is defined by loose grooves, ghoulish riffing and a very vintage
sense of wickedness. Dopelord prove that, unlike many other stoner metal bands,
they are not content to just create the same song several times over and call
it an album.
“Children
of the Haze” CD//DD//LP track listing:
1). Navigator
2). Scum Priest
3). Children of the Haze
4). Skulls and Candles
5). Dead Inside (I & II)
6). Reptile Sun
The
Review:
If
music could manifest itself in nature, Polish stoner doom quartet Dopelord
would be a murky, black fog. “Children Of The Haze”, the band’s aptly named third album,
envelopes you like a cloud of smog that swarms your senses and leaves you lost
and helpless at the side of the road. Dense slabs of syrupy guitar and bass
fuzz purr underneath clean (with some exceptions), retro vocals. “Children
of the Haze”is defined by
loose grooves, ghoulish riffing and a very vintage sense of wickedness. Dopelord
prove that, unlike many other stoner metal bands, they are not content to just
create the same song several times over and call it an album (although it is
worth noting that sometimes that trick can be executed wonderfully).
Each
of the six tracks on “Children of the Haze”has its own identity, while still
managing to retain all the key elements of Dopelord’s sound. The album’s opening
track, “Navigator”, creeps like a limping tortoise. Although the
opening track oozes with tranquillity rare to metal, “Children of the Haze”quickly changes moods on the next
track, “Scum Priest”. The album’s most aggressive track, “Scum
Priest” is loaded with bombastic riffing, a vicious demeanour and has
the harshest vocals to be found anywhere on thealbum. “Scum Priest” is followed by the album’s title track, whose
chant like vocals and archaic atmosphere makes it the ideal soundtrack to any
and all coven based activities.
With
clean guitar tones, cavern-like reverb and absolutely no attempt made at heaviness,
“Skulls and Candles” is the most fiercely individualistic track on the
album.“Skulls and Candles” is a
spooky yet oddly assuaging little number, whose location as the album’s fourth
track makes it a very effective and pleasant palate cleanser after the
twenty-one minutes of thick fuzz and heavy riffs that precede it. This
divergence is followed by the albums longest and possible standout track,
“Dead Inside (I&II)”. Over the course of nine minutes and nineteen
seconds, “Dead Inside (I&II)” unfolds from a sluggish grind into the
album’s fastest, most propulsive and hardest-hitting track. The payoff is
gradual, but is all the more effective for the time that it took to get there. “Children
of the Haze’s closing track, “Reptile Sun”, sees the album at it filthiest.
Squalid tones, gruffer vocals and overall nastiness give “Reptile Sun” just the
right amount of punch to perfectly end the album.
“Children
of the Haze” is available digitally here and you can preorder/buy the
CD//LP edition here
FFO: Belzebong, Electric Wizard, Black Sabbath, Major Kong
When this album is on
fire, which is often, it’s absolutely some of the best atmospheric black metal
you’ll hear this year. While the build to those big moments can be
over-stretched, the payoff is absolutely worth the wait.But even when accounting for its biggest
flaw, I believe that ‘Winter’ will end up as one of the year's best albums.
There’s simply too much fantastic material here to be denied.
‘Winter’ CD//DD//LP
track listing:
1.
I (Pathway)
2.
II (Penance)
3.
III (Fear)
4.
IV (Interment)
5.
V (Death)
6.
VI (Sight)
The Review:
I
hate to start on a dour note for an album I really enjoy, but let’s get this
out of the way: 75 minutes is too long for an album by any artist. That goes for my favorite bands of all time too. You
can say that opinion owes to a lack of an attention span, or that I don’t
respect the album format or whatever you’d like. But even a band like Enslaved, who
work in a similar soundscape in balancing progressive and black metal
components, generally keep their albums between 50 and 60 minutes. I would go
so far as to say that there hasn’t ever been an album this long that wouldn’t
be well-served by being made shorter.
With
all of that said, while there is definitely some filler here, the majority of ‘Winter’
is made up of stunning, vital, and beautiful music. That the album is hurt
slightly by its runtime shouldn’t dissuade you from giving it a fair shot as it
does more than earn it. When this album is on fire, which is often, it’s
absolutely some of the best atmospheric black metal you’ll hear this year.
While the build to those big moments can be over-stretched, the payoff is
absolutely worth the wait.
In
what is something of a funny coincidence, the most well-paced song on the album
may be the 17 minute opening track; the longest on the album. The longer build
works here at the introduction, with reverb-drenched guitars building to
beautiful clean guitar work and dreary but well-suited singing. Finally the
song gets its first proper big moment as the guitars explode and the toms are
pounded thunderously setting the tone for the next several minutes. Over time,
the song ebbs and flows between heavy atmosphere, reserved and tasteful technical
displays and bleaker delicate moments. ‘Winter’ is an album of emotional
peaks and valleys, and Fen excels on both of those levels.
This
brings us to another point worth exploring: Fen’s use of prog elements throughout the album. This
is a difficult mix to pull off in an extreme metal context, or at least it’s
difficult to do in an interesting way. All too frequently, bands will throw
those elements into a song without considering the emotional tone of the rest
of the music, which means there can be a major disconnect during those
prog-centric moments. Fen does this better than anyone outside of maybeEnslaved on “Mardraum”, and even then it’s close.
The band have such a firm sense of self and musical identity that their need to
explore new sounds never comes at the cost of consistency.
While
I do believe Fen have indulged themselves a bit too much here,
and I believe the album would benefit from a harsher editing process, there’s
no denying that Fen are at their absolute best on ‘Winter’.
There is no such thing as a flawless album, and this one is no exception. But
even when accounting for its biggest flaw, I believe that ‘Winter’ will end up as
one of the year's best albums. There’s simply too much fantastic material here
to be denied.
“Winter” is
available on CD/LP copy here and
digitally here
Hailing
from southern Canada, Cancelled is the experimental recording
project of Marc Bourgon perhaps more widely known as one half of Cambridge, Ontario's two-man sludge/doom wrecking ball Greber and
grindcore legends Fuck The Facts.Spawned as a way to pass
time during long tour drives Cancelled has been cultivated into a
meaningful creative outlet, as Bourgon explains
“For the past 10 years of
my life I have been constantly writing music, “Whether it be jotting down ideas
on a notepad, droning out in our practice space or fleshing out ideas on a
laptop it’s something that I have a hard time not doing on a daily
basis.”
Originally
part of a larger group of music, “Tenebrific”Cancelled sophomore release set to hit the
streets on Friday 3/3/2017 was thinned down to three songs to
deliver the greatest impact possible. “I
had intended to have this release be a lot longer but these three songs just
seemed to gel better that the rest of the material.”
Having
release “Threshold Adjustment”,
on Christmas day 2013, This time around Bourgon askedKurt Ballou of Godcity Studios
to handle the mix andRyan
Butlerof Arcane Digital to master it. The combination
gave the songs the aggressive stain Bourgon wanted them to have.
“Working with those two was great. I’ve
always wanted to work with Kurt (Ballou) and Butler (Ryan) can do no wrong as far as I’m concerned.”
Today
we have been fortunate enough to have been asked to stream the EP “Tenebirific”
is full, but not only that we asked Marc to choose his Top 5experimental albums as
we take our weekly trip into the extreme, by cranking it to 11.Why do we go to 11,because “It’s one louder, isn’t it?”
I had been a huge Propagandhi fan for years prior to the release
of this record and on it’s first listen I felt a little alienated. Fast forward
years later and I find it to be some next level shit. Each song seems to have its
own sonic agenda. Laced with odd time signatures and overall weird arrangements
(for punk) this record opened by eyes to using unconventional means to get my
point across. Can’t think of a better example of a band breaking away from
their sound and it paying off huge.
2. Pile
– “You’re
Better Than This”
As far as experimental goes Pile is a pretty tame dish but there is some lower
level of insanity that flourishes within their music. The song structures are
all over the map and the singer always sounds like he’s one lane change away
from smashing into the guardrail. Ranging from frenetically bursting anthems to
“calm before the storm” ballads, their depth and overall mastery of song is
like nothing else. I feel this record caught them at the perfect moment and I
religiously listen to it to it at least once a week.
3. Keelhaul
– “Subject
to Change Without Notice”
If you take any suggested listening away from this, please take this. Basting
some head-spinning riffery over some spin-heading drums, Keelhaul is by far one of my
favourite bands of all time.I feel as
though they are titans when it comes to taking something ridiculously
complicated and making it groovy and listenable. As mostly an instrumental band
they seem to have a “meh, whenever” approach to vocals and it works out
beautifully it their favour. This album got me into them but you really can’t
find a bad record with their name on it.
4. Tortoise
– “Standards”
This one is a classic. I find I hear something new each time I listen to this
one. With an unlimited arsenal of instruments and players at its disposal Tortoise
throw in everything but the kitchen sink to make a song work. While more on the
softer end of the spectrum I always feel that they make shit crash more than a
lot of aggressive bands out there today.
5. Steely
Dan – “Can’t Buy a Thrill”
Steely Dan
eh? You’re probably regretting reading this article by now aren’t you? Yes. Steely Fucking
Dan. It’s Yacht Rock, I know. Sorry. This, and any of their other
records are solid gold bricks squeezed onto wax. With studio production that to
this day can’t be touched and some of the weirdest progressions in all of
classic rock I feel that Steely Dan were, and still are, the most punk
motherfuckers ever. “Can’t Buy a Thril”l just has all the
jams on it and it’s one of my favourite records of all time. If you’re looking
for a SD
jump off point, this is it.
“Ain-Soph
Aur” is a heavy experience on all levels. The band have dialled back the volume
and slowed the tempo from previous releases which has unexpectedly resulted in
increased impact. This album is towering
achievement from In The Company Of Serpents. It is a fine addition to an
already distinguished discography and an inspiring work that sets the standard
for heavy music in 2017.
“Ain-Soph Aur” DD//LP track listing:
1). Middle
Pillar
2).
Nothingness
3). Crucible
4). Merkabah
5).
Limitless Nothingness
6).
Limitless Light
The Review:
Denver doom duo In The Company
Of Serpents’ new LP “Ain-Soph Aur” is a heavy experience
on all levels. The band have dialled back the volume and slowed the tempo from
previous releases which has unexpectedly resulted in increased impact. Coupled
with some weighty thematic and lyrical content that draws on Qabalah philosophy
(“Ain-Soph
Aur” means limitless or eternal light) and Jewish mysticism, this album
hits hard.
“Middle
Pillar”
opens the album in punishing fashion, a relentless steamroller that destroys all
in its path. This track acts a meeting point between the bands aggressive
sludge roots and the grandiose widescreen destruction embraced over the course
of this record.
There are
many bands that employ quiet/loud dynamics, maximum reverb usage and crushing
doom riffage. In
The Company of Serpents employ all of these elements here but their
attention to detail and method of delivery have resulted in a completely
absorbing and unique sounding record. The fact that this dense, multi-faceted
music is the work of only two people is even more mind-boggling and impressive.
The key to
this record’s distinct atmosphere is the dark country influence that runs
through its veins. On paper, the combination of doom and country doesn’t sound
like a winner. However, In The Company Of Serpents recognise the
common ground between these two disparate genres and bring them together to
create a glorious noise. “Ain-Soph Aur” brings to mind Panopticon’s
similarly unlikely black metal/bluegrass classic “Kentucky”, particularly during the
cold acoustic ballad “Merkabah”.
“Crucible”
and “Limitless
Light” demonstrate the band fully embracing their new sound to create
epic, awe-inspiring journeys into uncharted heavy territory. The former is
particularly striking when the brooding dustbowl menace of the song’s first
half is shattered by an onslaught of devastating sludge. Imagine Earth
and Neurosis
joining forces to provide the soundtrack for True Detective and you have an
idea of the eerie heaviness to be found here.
In The Company Of Serpents’ massive riff explorations
are obviously their main strength but the shorter acoustic tracks are just as
effective and integral to the flow of the album. The sparse minimalism of “Nothingness”
and “Limitless
Nothingness” provide periods of bleak calm that are as hypnotic as the
explosions of volume that surround.
“Ain-Soph Aur” is a towering achievement from In The Company
Of Serpents. It is a fine addition to an already distinguished
discography and an inspiring work that sets the standard for heavy music in
2017.
