ALBUM REVIEW: Cloakroom - "Time Well"

By: Ernesto Aguilar

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 18/08/2017

Label:  Relapse Records

The songwriting and arrangements are as distinctive and original as they come, especially for the subgenres Cloakroom claims. You will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that you are used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you will embrace where the band is heading with all this. But it is nevertheless magnificent.

"Time Well" CD//DD//LP track listing

1. Gone But Not Entirely

2. Big World

3. Concrete Gallery

4. Seedless Star

5. Sickle Moon Blues

6. Hymnal

7. The Sun Won't Let Us Go

8. Time Well

9. 52Hz Whale

10. The Passenger

The Review:

Some of the best music defies description and can be defiant in a manner that can be both sublime and utterly enraging. You think you can put a band in a convenient mental category, as we are wont to do, until its members aptly demonstrate you just cannot do so. This fluidity is loved by many music fans. It can also make others completely panic.

Enter Cloakroom. This outfit presents fleeting instances of doom and stoner rock. However, it offers the strongest pop sensibility of any group on which you would otherwise bestow those categories. On its sophomore release, "Time Well," the Northwest Indiana-based band creates an impressive though hard to describe recording.

"Further Out," Cloakroom's debut, received accolades for its quality as a heavier side of indie rock package. It was moody and sorrowful at moments, reflective and tense elsewhere. Truly a promising first outing by most standards, and loved by many critics and fans. You almost have to think so many eyes generates more than a little pressure on this young band to follow through on an equally rich offering.

Fortunately, "Time Well" is an admirable progression from what we heard in "Further Out." "Gone But Not Entirely," the new disc's first track, treats you to a sound you will grow to love across all ten cuts – that kickoff indie swag that summons the Replacements among others making way for thick guitars and a plodding bass. It is real ride at first, because you might expect this is all going one way – and who can blame you, considering metal label Relapse put this out – until your ears get a delightful sonic curveball. But it is nevertheless magnificent.

Other tracks abide by this indie/heavy model, which is nevertheless a great experience. Catch "Concrete Gallery" and "Sickle Moon Blues" among the best of such songs. The songwriting and arrangements are distinctive and original as they come, especially for the subgenres Cloakroom claims. You will get treated to plenty that fits a stoner/sludge aesthetic that you are used to hearing. Yet, by the time you reach "The Sun Won't Let Us Go" midway through, chances are you will embrace where the band is heading with all this. Those mental categories we all seek will disappear for a bit in favor of such a superlative story arc.

Cloakroom succeeds as a one-of-a-kind sort of group. You have to admire its members' courage at stepping out of bounds, and for breaking the sophomore slump with a release you will not soon forget.

"Time Well" is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

EP PREMIERE: "The brutal and the harmonious" Rootwork present "Some Of Us May Never Bloom"

Creating a sound that is as brutal as it is harmonic, Rootwork have embraced many of the elements of modern metal music perfectly taking the listener on a journey through metal, stoner rock, prog, post-hardcore and doom-pop over five faultlessly comprised songs.

Rootwork immediately set their stall out on opening track ‘Trust’; hefty guitar riffs are intensified by pointed vocals, flawless harmonies and a booming, incessant drum beat. While ‘Ozymandias’ is like being lost in a sonic maze, riffs twisting and turning throughout, as Rootwork pulverise their way through just over six minutes worth of mesmerising melodies, before closing with a gorgeous dream-like outro. Intelligent, challenging, explosive yet intricate, and technically gifted, Rootwork are a band whose resonance should be felt throughout the alternative rock community much like contemporaries such as Baroness and Torche.

Comprised of Max Woodhams (guitar, vocals), Jamie Benzine (bass, backing vocals) and Chris Booth(drums, vocals), the band formed in Farnborough towards the end of 2013 having come together through their mutual love of heavy, melodic and complex rock music. In December 2015 they released their first full length EP picking up support from the likes of Tom Robinson, BBC 6 Music and BBC Introducing. With the wind in their sails the band quickly followed the EP release up with single “Code Talker” with the video premiering on Team Rock.

Now, with a new EP Some Of Us May Never Bloom set for release on 18th November 2016 via Ubiquity Project Records the wait is over and you can stream the EP in full below

REVIEW: “The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” Split - The Great Sabatini & Godstopper

By: Hunter Young

 

Album Type: Split
Date Released: 19/08/2016
Label: No List Records

 

 

“The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” Split CS/DD track listing:

 

1.The Great Sabatini - I'm Not The Man Of The Hour (2:09)

2.The Great Sabatini - Shortwave Radio (1:03)

3.The Great Sabatini - The Ear Collector (2:31)

4.The Great Sabatini - Dog Years (Quiet) (2:51)

5.Godstopper - It's Alright (3:59)

6.Godstopper - A Prayer (4:47)

 

 

The Review:

 

A fresh split has been dropped by the Metal Gods, this time from the insanity that is The Great Sabatini and the monster that is Godstopper.

 

Split pretty evenly on time, TGS has 4 songs and opens the split, while Godstopper hits it out of the park with the last two tracks. While both bands come with quite the heavy game, they approach the record in very different ways. Sabatini comes with the most beautifully screwed up noise rock I have ever actually liked, allowing only 2 of their tracks “I'm Not The Man of the Hour” and “The Ear Collector” to be even remotely traditional songs, being bold, brash, heavy, and quite fun to listen to. They play to level walls and stir up the ether both inside the listener and off the stage. The two other tracks “Shortwave Radio” and “Dog Years (Quiet)” are mesmerizing in their non-traditional structures. Mainly composed of just sounds and some random notes on instruments chosen, more for “Dog Years (Quiet)”, The Great Sabatini manages to create an almost orchestral arrangement to their maelstrom of sound. It's absolutely lovely in its sonic carnage. 

 

Godstopper is pure heavy metal fury, using more traditional methods of song craft, as they simply crank their sound down and engage in pure pugilistic, phonic fury. Beginning with “It's Alright”, Godstopper delivers rapid riffing by means of staccato strumming betwixt withairy vocals that just destroy when using headphones. They deliver heavy, fast doom (really more just heavy metal, my own opinion), closing the album with the, at times extraordinarily minimalistic, “A Prayer”. With guitars that simple whine and croon, Godstopper has the throwback-esque sound of the likes of Graveyard and Witchcraft, but with a very modern interpretation and tone, giving them very high replay for whomever snags this mixed bag of a split.

 

Prepare yourself for an extended stay in your favourite chair, because you need to hear this glorious record a few times before you're satisfied!

 

“The Great Sabatini/Godstopper” is available here

Band info: The Great Sabatini: Thegreatsabatini.com | Facebook | Twitter @thegreatsabatini

Godstopper: Bandcamp | Facebook

RIYL: Torche, Unsane, Melvins, Helmet

"Riffs are our Future" - In conversation with Godstopper Mastermind Mike Simpson and New Song Exclusive



Like a disgruntled commuter waiting for the number 83 bus, invariably you wait that long for your mode of transport to come along and then 2 -3 come along at once.  Not that I am comparing today’s featured artist to a bus, but Hex Records will be releasing another batch of material from Toronto's Godstopper, a band we featured just last week with the premiere of a new track from their forthcoming split with compatriots The Great Sabatini set for release via No List Records.  

In addition to properly giving their download-only 2015 full length "Lie Down" (with "The Children Are the Future" EP as bonus tracks) a proper physical release on CD, Hex Records will also be releasing a new 12" EP entitled "Who Tries Anymore".  Godstopper is essentially the project of songwriter Mike Simpson who has members backing him up live and sometimes in the studio. Their heavy-handed approach brings to mind everything from The Melvins, to Cave-In, Mare and Torche.

So with the release of "The Children...","Lie Down", and now on "Who Tries Anymore" the progression from harsh, down-tuned sludge fests with hidden hooks and melodies has almost been reversed.” Who Tries Anymore" is Godstopper presenting their most blatantly catchy songs to date whilst retaining their core heavy elements, in turn this material showcases the exceptional song writing talent of Simpson coupled with his pitch-perfect vocals. 

Today, we are delighted to have been given another opportunity to showcase this unique band, with the debut of their track “Halfway” from their forthcoming EP.  Not only that, you can check out my short interview with Godstopper mastermind Mike Simpson, all of which can be viewed and consumed below. 

SL: Mike, thanks for do this, can you give us an insight into how you started playing music, leading up to the formation of Godstopper and the release of your current record?

Mike Simpson: That would take a long time! I’ve been playing music since I was about 12 years old. I started playing in metal bands of the “post-metal” and “progressive” variety about 10 years ago. I had a more funk-oriented band that I led for a period of time, sort of a la Mr. Bungle. I started Godstopper in late 2010 (after a false start consisting of one show in 2009), recorded a demo by myself, and then got others to join the band and play with me.  In addition to the demo, “Empty Crawlspace”, we’ve released a full length “What Matters”, a split 7-inch with Tendril (featuring our track “Everybody Writes Good Songs”), an EP “Children are our Future”, and a second full-length “Lie Down”.

SL:  What can you tell us about your upcoming record and where do you feel it sits within the context current doom scene

Mike Simpson: I think you could say we are doom-inspired, but from more or less the get-go I figured “doom” wasn’t the best classification for us. This was verified when I sent the demo tracks off to Edgy 59 from Burning Witch, who was kind enough to respond to me with his feelings on the music…I’m only paraphrasing his words slightly; he said “call it what you want, but this is not doom”.

More recently, through a random facebook conversaton, I got Sean “Pellet” Pelletier (Bobby Liebling’s manager, or at least was so in Last Days Here…I’m sure he’d be familiar to you and your readership!) to listen to the music, which I recall him describing as “melodic post rock”.  No mention of doom.

Point being, if those two guys, who I’d consider to be among the best authorities on what doom music is, don’t think it’s doom, I don’t think I’d call it that either. More realistically, I’d say we are one of many bands who include doom music into a broader stream of influences. I suppose this would make us “post-rock” or “post-metal”, although both of those classifications miss the mark for me, in terms of the impression they give.

SL: What was the mood in the camp going into the recording of the record?

Mike Simpson: One track, “Halfway”, was recorded with the full band back in fall 2015. The other four tracks were recorded with just me playing the instruments. For those tracks, I was happy to see things through from creation to execution. It also gave me a good excuse to improve my drum skills (in the beginning, I played drums for our live shows, but have since switched to guitar).

SL: What can fans look forward to from you over the next 12 months? How is your schedule shaping up?

Mike Simpson: We have three releases coming…”Who Tries Anymore” is already available via Hex Record’s bandcamp, and pre-orders for the vinyl can also be made there. Additionally, we have a split tape with The Great Sabatini coming out later this month, through No List Records. And we have a split with GRIZZLOR coming out through Corpse Flower Records in the fall. We’ll play shows as the opportunities come. Due to the level of time and money investment required, it is doubtful there will be a tour from us anytime soon.

  

You can stream the track “Halfway” below and pre-order Godstopper’s new material at the Hex Records with one simple click here

Band info: facebook

WALL - Wastelands/Warfields (EP Review)

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 24^th April 2015

Label: Self Released

Wastelands / Warfields - Track Listing

1.Wastelands 03:26

2.Warfields 03:16

Members:

M - drums

A - guitar

S - vocals/synth

S - bass/vocals

I - guitar

Bio:

WALL are creating paradoxes since 2008. Minimal pop songs at Maximum volume. Heavy low ends without the angry attitude and muscle flexing. Inspired by almost everything from the mamas and papas to early swans. Constantly changing equipment and attitude so it is safe to say that no one in the band knows what it is exactly they are doing. Hopefully even with Mark E Smith on bongos it will sound like WALL.

Review:

Doom/Sludge/Pop Rockers – WALL – are back with a blistering new EP – Wastelands/Warfields. And it's a stunning array of high octane Sugary Pop Coated Doom/Sludge Metal riffs. I'm a huge fan of these guys who made a big impression on me back in 2013 with their S/T release.

If you're a fan of FLOOR and Torche then WALL is the band for you. This EP sees WALL in loud volatile mood with the band playing fast-paced Sludge/Doom Pop music. Opening track – Wastelands – has bone-crunching and heavy down-tuned guitars with lead vocalist – Sascha – providing sublime vocals packed full of passion and demented fun especially towards the end when the mood takes a sinister turn.

Second track – Warfields is classic WALL through and through. Heavy melodies with a great singalong chorus though with a slight Punk-Rock swagger. WALL return to the normal sound of down-tuned sludgy guitars with Sascha once again on fine form singing his heart out. WALL have offered a brief glimpse of their new sound on the EP and if this is the way WALL are going on their next album, then WALL may have something special for us to experience.

Just do yourself a favour and download this brilliant EP now as it's available for free download. If you like what you hear check out their 2013 debut album as it's a favourite of ours at Sludgelord HQ.

Excellent and Highly Recommended.

Words by Steve Howe

For More Information

Official | Facebook | BandCamp