ALBUM REVIEW: Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, "Stygian Bough Volume 1"

 By: Peter Morsellino

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 26/06/2020

Label: Profound Lore Records

“Stygian Bough Volume 1” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Bastard Wind
2. Heaven Torn Low I (the passage)
3. Heaven Torn Low II (the toll)
4. Prelude
5. The Unbodied Air

The Review:

Hauntingly beautiful and dripping with emotion, Bell Witch joins force with Aerial Ruin to deliver a piece of art that is worth many times the sum of its parts.  With “Stygian Bough Volume 1”, we are greeted with an incredibly mature and strikingly artistic take on the doom genre. 

The album casts its spell upon listeners with a weight of immense intimacy, creating a deeply personal connection throughout its hour plus run time.  The emotional toll of this album cannot be understated. It moves slowly and sorrowfully and it inserts the solemn voices directly into the listener's soul.

Melancholic melodies reign supreme here, with powerful funerary passages dotting the release from time to time. Acoustic guitars and soulful vocal passages form the backbone of the album. It has very much of a Jose Gonzalez vibe at times, which is something I never thought I'd say on this blog, but it fits in perfectly. Moments of lightness should not be mistaken for levity here, as the emotional toll of these songs proves to be, at very least, as heavy as anything out on shelves right now.

With passages reaching well into the ten plus minutes marks (and several reaching just about twenty,) this one is a long haul for sure. And yet, the album feels woefully incomplete when consumed in bits and pieces.  You might be there a while, but I would highly recommend taking this one in in one sitting. This is an album that needs to be absorbed whole. It's an experience. A journey. Bell Witch and Aerial Ruin share something deeply personal and profound with listeners here, and it is something that needs to be respected.

The mixing of gentle elements into doom works is nothing new, but here on “Stygian Bough Volume 1”, we are presented with a master class on the matter. This is a game changer for the genre, just wait and see. A stand out album for me this year, and will most certainly be making my list.  Give it a go, you won't regret it.

“Stygian Bough Volume 1” is available HERE

Band info: Bell Witch || Aerial Ruin

INTERVIEW: Bell Witch @ Meat Locker, Montclair, NJ (8/11/2017)

By: Mark Ambrose

Seattle’s funeral doom duo Bell Witch endured tragedy that would end practically any other band.  After the departure and tragic death of founding drummer Adrian Guerra, bassist Dylan Desmond teamed with drummer Jesse Shreibman (also a close friend of Guerra’s) to create an 83 minute, single song elegy that has topped critical lists throughout 2017: “Mirror Reaper”. Featuring some of the last recordings of Guerra’s vocals, and key contributions from honorary member Erik Moggridge (Aerial Ruin), “Mirror Reaper” is a monumental, historic record.  Dylan took some time to talk in detail about creating the album, from the cover art to recreating half the song for a live setting, right before a moving, sepulchral show at Montclair’s Meatlocker.  We also got to discuss touring and the live plans for Bell Witch in 2018.  Bell Witch will be touring Europe starting in March, with Monarch and Aerial Ruin.

How are you translating Mirror Reaper for live performance?  Are you integrating any of the older material?

Dylan: For this tour we’re not doing any of the older stuff.  Basically we’re doing the beginning of “Mirror Reaper”, up to about the 47 minute mark – right before the section before it basically drops and Erik Moggridge would come in.  So we’re doing about the first half of it.  Which is kind of easy because it is quite familiar to us now.

How did you bring Erik into the process of creating the record?

Similar to how we did “Four Phantoms”, we had a chart out of where we wanted the song to go.  Once we had a section we determined was where we wanted him to be, we made a really rough demo of what we had, sent it to him and said, “Hey, here’s what we got.  Here’s what we think you should sing.  He’s what the lyrical content is about.  Kind of go wild.”  Erik is really good at really fast, almost improving, like poetry.  He’s incredible and has a beautiful voice.  He whips stuff up really quick.  He’s always blown me away.  Aerial Ruin keeps getting better and he keeps adding to it.

It’s a particularly intense and poignant passage in the record.  I know there are also recordings of Adrian on Mirror Reaper.  Where did you pull those sections from?

Those tracks come from the fourth track on “Four Phantoms”.  We were in the studio and Adrian was doing a vocal take.  We’d go back and listen and bicker about it – one of us would want to redo it a different way.  But when we went back for “Mirror Reaper” there was a lot of old tracks to pull from.  We told Billy (Anderson, recording and mixing on “Four Phantoms” and “Mirror Reaper”) what we were looking for and he pulled out the files and we went through and listened to them.  The last track had a lot of them.  Basically what we were looking for was a combination of highs and lows – high screams and low growls.  A good salt and pepper mix of everything.  We got some of that and Billy worked his magic to piece them together and it was dead on.  Billy was so great to work with.

Adrian’s passing shocked and really affected a lot of people – I’m sure you guys most of all.  And the record isn’t maudlin but must be very personal.  How is the process of reliving some of that on tour?

It’s interesting… It’s easier because Jesse (Shriebman – drums, organ and vocals) and I have known each other for song long.  And Jesse and Adrian knew each other for a really long time too.  We were all really close.  That makes it easier.  When Adrian died, it would have been one thing if the new drummer playing with me was someone who didn’t know him.  That would have been odd and had that been the case, the band could have fizzled out.  It could have dissolved and whatever.  But for Jesse… it was really hard for him too.  When he and I started coming back to him and said, “We need to finish the song we started before this happened,” I felt a lot of motivation for this to be a very special thing.  Jesse felt the exact same way and we pushed each other at it.

You and Jesse have established your rapport as a band at this point.  What do you do in your downtime?

We listen to a lot of music in the van.  I work from my computer so if I have free time I jump into that.  We kinda shoot the shit a lot.  Jesse especially makes a lot of bad puns and that turns into a little game.

How has tour been with the guys in Primitive Man?

Great.  I mean those guys are so easygoing.  We’ve learned that with more people showing up it can be stressful but those guys are so mellow and laid back.  No bullshit that we have to deal with.  And they’re a great band.  It’s a great pairing where they’re exploring the death metal side of things and we’re exploring the atmospheric, funeral side.  There are so many parallels and so many offshoots.

Can you explain the process of deciding on the cover artwork by Mariusz Lewandowski?  It’s so phenomenal but practically everything about him right now online is in Polish.

We were saying, “Who should we talk to?”  Paolo Girardi did “Four Phantoms” and I love the work that he did and working with him.  He’s such a cool guy.  We were ready to talk to him again but then decided to do a little research and look around to see if there was anything that was going to just smack us in the face.  And we came across Mariusz and it definitely smacked us in the face.  We were saying, “This is outrageous.  This is so good.”  So we contacted him and he’s not a native English speaker so we started e-mailing back and forth.  We sent him the last record and he said, “I’ve always wanted to do a record cover and I’ve never done one.  I like this!”  We told him what the record was about.  We still had the working title “As Above, So Below.”  But we had a bunch of lyrics about mirrors, so we thought maybe that’s a cool image.  If we have the mirror as a centerpiece, a gray area between life and death, a reflection.  We sent him that and he sent us the artwork and just blew us away.  It was very easy and he was great.  I hope to meet him someday!

What’s ahead for next year?

We’re going to play Roadburn in April and we’ll play “Mirror Reaper” from start to finish.  Erik is going to join us and play an Aerial Ruin set also.  We’ll do some touring in Europe surrounding that.  As soon as we get some downtime we’ll start working on some new stuff.  We have 20-30 minutes that didn’t work into Mirror Reaper.  We figured we could save it for later.  We have a lot of those we can start digging into.

Do you think you’ll go back to a couple different themes, broken into multiple songs, on the next record?

I don’t think we’ll do the single song thing again.  The process proved to be very difficult.  The writing process was tough, the recording process was tough.  That being said I don’t think we’ll ever write short songs.  I’d be surprised if we got below the ten minute mark.

The End

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

TRACK PREMIERE: Germany's UR deliver cascading layers of doom on "Grey Wanderer"

UR or the aurochs is the extinct primeval wild form of the cow. It's also a German prefix used to indicate that things are primitive, unspoilt, ancient, original or essential. It's the name of a mandaean demon, the king of darkness and antagonist of Mana Rabba, the king of light. And it's the name of the four piece German band from Leipzig playing psychedelic Doom and post Metal. Their music is as massive as the aurochs and as dark and arcane as the demon. “Grey Wanderer” is UR's sophomore album and will be available as CD, LP and digitally via Droneburg Records and follows up their critically acclaimed self titled debut album (2013).

Their new album “Grey Wanderer” has a resolute blast of grand, loud and heavy riffs that pick up layers of different sounds on its way to the end.  Throughout the album it switches more and more from a traditional doom approach, to something that is rich with ambience. The album is very nicely structured and keeps you interested and curious until the last note clings out, indeed the album feels ambitious and expressive.

If you like heavily deformed guitars, with a low roar and you’re a fan of Bell Witch or Samothrace prepare yourself got something truly essential. “Grey Wanderer” will be available via Droneburg Records on 24/11/2017 and you can check out the title track from the album below.  Your ears will undoubtedly be satisfied. 

The stone has no uncertainties, no urge to communicate, and is eternally the same for thousands of years," I would think, "while I am only a passing phenomenon which bursts into all kinds of emotions, like a flame that flares up quickly and then goes out." I was but the sum of my emotions, and the other in me was the timeless, imperishable stone. Carl Gustav Jung in "Dreams, Memories, Reflections"

Band info: facebook ||bandcamp

REVIEW: Fister & CHRCH - Fister/CHRCH (Split LP)

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Split

Date Released: 17/11/2017

Label: Battleground Records |

Crown & Throne Ltd

Over the course of nearly forty minutes, CHRCH and Fister, employing different sonic palettes and lineups, craft a perfect split for the moment: unholy, polluted, funereal and dismal – a requiem for humanity’s end times that is as beautiful as it is ugly.

“Fister/CHRCH” DD//LP track listing

1. CHRCH – “Temples”

2. Fister – “The Ditch”

The Review

Let’s talk metal review terminology.  Like so many fellow travelers in the trenches of modern heavy music, I find myself having to crack open a thesaurus to praise a new release and not fall upon my tried and true descriptors: punishing, brutal, transcendent, dissonant, complex, or simply “heavy as fuck”.  It’s a problem as old as criticism itself, intensified in a modern context because the aporia between “not listened” and “listened” is practically non-existent; if you have a few minutes and a smart phone you can listen to practically any piece of music ever created.  The role of the blogger or critic or (cringe) “rock journalist”, then is perhaps to magnify the relevant, the underrepresented, or the overlooked – maybe to shout down the pretenders and opportunists – and to still offer some enthusiastic “fuck yeahs” when nothing else will suffice.

So is the latest split from CHRCH and Fister a brutal, transcendent, dissonant, punishing slab of metal?  Fuck yeah it is.  Perhaps more exceptionally, it exemplifies the core sublime element of metal: sustained tension.  Over the course of nearly forty minutes, CHRCH and Fister, employing different sonic palettes and lineups, craft a perfect split for the moment: unholy, polluted, funereal and dismal – a requiem for humanity’s end times that is as beautiful as it is ugly.

Sacramento’s CHRCH are akin to a dual guitar wielding cousin to Bell Witch, painting in the same inverted sacral tones as the rightfully lauded duo.  The reverb heavy guitar and bass intro of their track, “Temples” has similar sonic qualities as the ‘Witch, but when the drums, vocals, and distortion kick in, CHRCH establishes itself as a five-headed beast.  For all the layers of dissonance seething under the surface of “Temples”, there is remarkable harmony between the dual guitars of Chris and Karl, buoyed by the rhythmic interplay of Ben and Adam.  If there was any hope or positivity in the harmonies at work in “Temples”, lead vocalist Eva lays waste with every rasped line and tortured shriek.  A haunting spoken word middle cemented the image of an unholy evangelist in my head, spewing atrocities before sliding into more subdued, but perhaps even more sinister homilies.  The nasty, sludgy closing section amps up the tension – mutating and evolving before collapsing into the same ethereal opening riff.  This return to origins creates a kind of time dilation effect, where 17 minutes seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.  It makes it that much easier to revisit “Temples” and discover new dark alcoves within.

With “The Ditch” Fister offers a mirror image to CHRCH’s harmonies and emotive reverb, screeching into life like a genetic hybrid birthed into a gutter.  Bassist Snarzyk’s vocals are fascinating in the same way watching a hook suspension performance is fascinating: it’s an uncanny glimpse at the human instrument’s capacity for punishment.  Snarzyk traverses every register, from low end growl to high end shriek, absolutely shredding his throat and the listeners’ ears with ever syllable.  The relentless six-minute assault of static and feedback makes Newstead’s tremolo guitar solo a nearly welcome respite, until he too pulls the rug out and pushes the sound back into harsh dissonance.  A long, nearly ambient bridge is a mercy, and amplifies the already unbearable tension.  When Fister launches back in, with Kirk Gatterer’s leviathan drum bashing and the screamed vocals now layered in a demonic choir of anguish, the feeling is nearly existential: there is no escape from the imminent rupture ahead.

Once again, it’s nearly impossible to praise these aural monuments to entropy without offering the same descriptors I give a lot of my favorite listens.  But perhaps it’s because these exceptional groups are pulling out the core anxieties of our present.  From spiritual collapse to relentless violence, CHRCH and Fister are excavating the temples and ditches of the metal underground.  Experienced together, they serve as a perfect soundtrack to our culture of perpetual apocalypse.

“Fister/CHRCH” split 12" is available here & here soon

Band info: Fister || Chrch

TOP 16 ALBUMS: The Sour 16 (October 2017)

Allow yourself to indulge in a hefty dose of riffs, because it is time to present 16 of the best albums from September, it is time for your SOUR 16. 

You know the drill by now, each month you the reader are unwittingly compiling a list of the top 16 records of the month, covering all genres of metal.  Is it not a chart, in which reviewers or contributors extol their opinion about their favourite music.  To put it simply, THE SOUR 16 are the records that have been trending the most at SLUDGELORD HQ.

The results are compiled based on the amount of page views the reviews have received and are then calibrated into the list below.  All reviews can be viewed by clicking the artwork and we have included album streams wherever possible. (Total views since their publication are highlighted in the red)

16). Belus - "Apophenia" (710)

“Apophenia” is a breathtaking experience, a challenging listen, and an auspicious first entry from one of the few bands with the audacity to experiment and the chops to pull it off.

15). Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats – “Vol. 1” (Reissue) (744)

Imperfect though it may be, "Vol. 1" is a fascinating introduction to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats' bold vision

14). Unsane - "Sterilize" (756)

 This is a flawless collection of bile-soaked missives that set the standard for riff-heavy, ugly noise rock in 2017

13). Gruntruck - "Gruntruck" (812)

Gruntruck straddles that line between heavy, melodic, and noisey, not afraid to venture into Pearl Jam territory when it feels like it, then take a hard left and land somewhere near the sound of Alice In Chains.  Listening to “Gruntruck”, I think I finally understand what grunge was about.  Sure it was a trend, but bands like this just wanted to rock.  And that’s what this record does. 

12). Wormwood - "Mooncurse" (892)

Wormwood's performance on "Mooncurse" is doom in the purest sense. Purposeful pacing and incredibly weighty riffs aplenty.  As you make your way to "Passage of Fire," Wormwood's greatest traits are on full display: an impeccable grasp of timing, dark musical sequences and undefeatable heaviness

11). Blackfinger - "When Colors Fade Away" (934)

I cannot find anything to fault here. Blackfinger have delivered nine tracks of trad doom with style and finesse. Eric Wagner has put his name to another excellent doom album and this is recommended to any fans of Trouble, The Skull, Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and so on out there

10). Sarke - "Viige Urh" (952)

“Viige Urh” ignites stronger than the incineration of flames; forcefully ascends high up to Valhalla— it is a projection of eternality, packed up in a form of eight tracks as ferocious as incendiaries. 

09). Merchant - "Beneath" (987)

If you’re a fan of heavy sludge, doom, and death/doom, I don’t see how you could possibly not dig this album. The production is amazing and the tone is ultra-heavy. The drums pound mercilessly, the bass hits like a 50 pound maul, and the vocals pull it all together perfectly. Give this a listen now.

08). Iron Monkey - "9-13" (1383)

"9-13" offers a shredding sludge attack and is a violent rejoinder of why Iron Monkey got its reputation as a doom/sludge vanguard. All these years later, Iron Monkey remains gritty and uncompromising. Predictions for a return were invariably high. "9-13" does not blow those expectations out of the water. Nor does Iron Monkey disappoint. For that, there's much to smile about.

07). Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper" (1440)

With "Mirror Reaper," the music conveys the reflection back of life and of death; literally that the Grim Reaper is a facsimile of the cycle of life. As with anything Bell Witch, though, such a realization is not engaged with in a fashion that rips at the pain of loss or terror, but rather builds into a deeper, though no less excoriating, meditation on the passage of time

06). Stonebirds - "Time" (1510)

The group merges many influences into a package that still sounds true to the subgenre. Stonebirds is adept at exploring concepts in their music that make it even more intriguing. To put it simply, the trio is one of the Europe's more intriguing stoner/doom performers today. "Time," far exceeds expectations and situates Stonebirds as a band to keep an eye on.

05). Pänzer - "Fatal Command" (1738)

This is a similar beast to their debut- powerful but with melody, hard driving but never out and out thrash. If you are a fan of Priest, Hammerfall, Accept and of course Destruction, there will be plenty for you to enjoy here. Classic heavy metal with a modern stainless steel sheen.

04). Enslaved - ‘E’ (2045)

‘E’ could very well be the foundation for yet another great era in a discography that is already ludicrously loaded with top-tier albums.  It is a  shift made with finesse and the second half of “Storm Son” could be the basis for a whole new era of Enslaved on its own.

03). All Pigs Must Die - "Hostage Animal" (2179)

The riffs are ceaseless as Wentworth and Izzi vary from much faster chords into a war chorus of tonality. And the results are gripping at every second. It, like previous selections, is potent with APMD's militancy. Best of all, APMD made the wait well worth it.

02). Blut Aus Nord - "Deus Salutis Meae" (2381)

What is truly most evident is an extreme music group that will not be bound to definitions, or at least is willing to experiment to ascend beyond what we think we know of a genre.

01). Primitive Man - "Caustic" (2989)

"Caustic" is an ambitious project, among the band's longest and most complex to date. Like their past work, the group explores nihilism in sound that rivals some of the most hopeless metal you've heard. That unrelenting quicksand of guitars and bass is here, as are those vocals of your nightmares.  Primitive Man offer up some of its most excellent music to date, making this sprawling and charging full length worth the wait.

A big thank you as always to our amazing writers, your dedication knows no boundaries and for that I am truly grateful.  October 2017’s “SOUR 16” features reviews by:  Richard Maw, Andre Almaraz, Mark Ambrose, Ernesto Aguilar, Daniel Jackson, Theron Moore, Charlie Bulter & Ralka Skjerseth

ALBUM REVIEW: Bell Witch - "Mirror Reaper"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 20/10/2017

Label: Profound Lore Records

With "Mirror Reaper," the music conveys the reflection back of life and of death; literally that the Grim Reaper is a facsimile of the cycle of life. As with anything Bell Witch, though, such a realization is not engaged with in a fashion that rips at the pain of loss or terror, but rather builds into a deeper, though no less excoriating, meditation on the passage of time

"Mirror Reaper" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Mirror Reaper

The Review:

The spastic beauty of doom is its blithe but authentic rejection of protocol, even in metal, which itself defies popular music at every turn. Doom is storied for its winding, intricate songs. Doom feels brainier (or nerdier) than what you anticipate, with the number of concept albums about esoterica, space or obscure literature, mythology or history very likely disproportionate to the rest of the genre. And, in the immortal words of Beyonce, when others say speed it up, doom just goes slower.

There is something so beautifully faithful and just-don't-give-a-fuck about that investment in one's own imagination. We all say we'll be artists, but how many of us truly stay that way and how many unconsciously try to fit into the molds we're presented? You may adore thrash metal's technique, grindcore's brief injections of aggression and death metal's roar, but you love doom for being what it is. It simply lurches on, siring even denser progeny such as funeral doom, mainstream acceptance and fake love be damned.

2017 needs Bell Witch. In a year where conflict, culture and politics seem bigger and bigger, the Seattle band's new "Mirror Reaper" feels fitting. It is exactly one track, 83 minutes, 16 seconds in length.

An entire album being a single track is unusual, but not unheard of. Olympia black metal outfit Fauna released the 63-minute "The Rain" in 2006 and then "The Hunt" in 2007, with its only song showing out at nearly 80 minutes. Chicago doom metal act Bongripper debuted in 2006 with its "The Great Barrier Reefer" concluding at just a bit over 79 minutes on the clock. A few other bands, such as Japanese metal collective Boris and Finnish folk metal group Moonsorrow, have done multiple epic songs well into the 50-minute range. Bell Witch itself is no stranger to such a mystique. Its 2015 release, "Four Phantoms," came in at four cuts and around one hour, with two songs wrapping at 22 minutes apiece. However, as they say in the lad mags, size does not matter. You're listening for whether "Mirror Reaper" can bring you this uncurbed promise, and deliver.

Bell Witch has few peers in funeral doom. Chances are Bell Witch is why you listen to this music in the first place. 2011's "Longing" is still praised as one of the great albums in the field. "Four Phantoms" has been called one of the subgenre's best recordings ever. In 2016, 36-year-old Adrian Guerra, the group's founding member as well as drummer/vocalist, died suddenly. His shadow over "Four Phantoms" and formulation of the Bell Witch aesthetic is long. One has to ponder how much Guerra's contributions may leave a hole in the band's return since his passing.

Mixed by Billy Anderson, who's done production for Neurosis and Sleep (coincidentally, Anderson worked on the California performer's 63-minute "Dopesmoker" in 2003), "Mirror Reaper" is planted in etymology related to the words of Hermes Trismegistus, the Greek representation of Hermes and Thoth, and the Hermeticism on which said writings are based. Trismegistus' Emerald Tablet, believed to have been composed between the sixth and eighth centuries, forwards core Hermetic philosophy. The Emerald Tablet would influence Renaissance alchemy as well as the thinking of C. S. Jung and Isaac Newton. For "Mirror Reaper" an Emerald Tablet concept, brought forward in Newton's translation and that in "Aureliae Occultae Philosophorum," is woven throughout. The idea of 'as above, so below' is one of duality – sun/moon, life/death and so forth. Driven by such grandiose ideas – which have literally occupied thousands of books, faith practices and hearts – it should not be all that shocking that "Mirror Reaper" is what it is.

Bell Witch has explored the visage of ghosts, life and death throughout its career. Consistently the band has taken a more cerebral approach in these themes. With "Mirror Reaper," the music conveys the reflection back of life and of death; literally that the Grim Reaper is a facsimile of the cycle of life. As with anything Bell Witch, though, such a realization is not engaged with in a fashion that rips at the pain of loss or terror, but rather builds into a deeper, though no less excoriating, meditation on the passage of time. Under Anderson's hand, as well as the support of vocalist Erik Moggridge, what could become a bloated, verbose exercise in something this ambitious becomes an achievement.

The arrangement of the piece takes subtle and yet exquisite turns. The transition from the 24th minute to the 32nd minute or so; minute 55 into the hour; and the song's final 10 minutes are among funeral doom's best examples of plangency. In a touching tribute, the late Guerra lives on in the form of previously unused vocals from the "Four Phantoms" sessions included in a movement within "Mirror Reaper." Such is perhaps one of the most wrenching parts of the song because it takes the metaphysical storytelling out in favor of real life and real death. The new core duo of founding member Dylan Desmond and drummer Jesse Shreibman include Guerra honorably. They also make it clear in "Mirror Reaper" that Bell Witch is prepared to start a new, compelling chapter.

"Mirror Reaper” is available here:

Band info: bandcamp || facebook