ALBUM REVIEW: 11Paranoias, “Asterismal”

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/03/2019

Label: Ritual Productions

“Asterismal” is a powerful distillation of 11Paranoias strengths that results in their heaviest and most hallucinogenic release to date. It is another fine addition to a mighty discography that makes most other doom bands feel tame and grounded in comparison.

“Asterismal” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Loss Portal

2). Bloodless Crush

3). Vitrified Galaxy

4). Prelude

5). Slow Moon

6). Quantitative Immortalities  

7). Chambers of Stars

8). Acoustic Mirror II

The Review:

11Paranoias continue their voyage to the outer limits of heaviness with new LP “Asterismal”. The UK trio have developed their distinct brand of mind-expanding doom over a number of killer releases and this latest collection finds them reaching new heights of crushing hypnotic wonder. 

“Loss Portal” opens proceedings in punishing style with the band lurching straight into a mesmerising slow-motion riff. Once 11Paranoias raise the tempo around the mid-point and Mike Vest's smouldering guitar sets a course into the stratosphere there is no resisting the sensory overload of their full sonic onslaught. 

While there is no doubting the bands mastery of dark, spacey doom it is their unexpected left turns into uncharted waters that really elevate them above their peers. “Bloodless Crush” is a relentless heavy garage rock attack cloaked in a cloud of fuzzed-out solos and swirling vocals. Imagine the Stooges playing through Electric Wizard's backline and you have a good idea of the joys on offer here. 

Adam Richardson's trademark roar is still present but this time around it is projected further into psychedelic territory, cloaked in layers of smoky reverb and delay. There are also instances of him employing a more melodic approach to great effect, adding a haunting, mournful edge to album highlight “Slow Moon”. The hulking, funereal first half of the track gives way to a propulsive second section that launches into oblivion like Earthless having a bad trip with Joy Division. “Quantitative Immortalities” takes a similar slow / fast split approach but this time the high octane finale powers into the heart of the sun like an armour-plated Hawkwind on one final flight into the beyond. “Chamber Of Stars” offers an initially subdued finale with waves of hazy wah guitar conjuring up the bleary, blissed out haze of Bardo Pond before one last glorious wave of noise engulfs all.

“Asterismal” is a powerful distillation of 11Paranoias strengths that results in their heaviest and most hallucinogenic release to date. It is another fine addition to a mighty discography that makes most other doom bands feel tame and grounded in comparison.

“Asterismal” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Drug Cult, "Drug Cult"

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 29/06/2018

Label: Ritual Productions

Drug Cult’s debut album is a confident display of expert riffcraft cloaked in a shroud of mystery. It is highly recommended listening for doom connoisseurs and hints at an intriguing future ahead, particularly if they indulge in their expansive, psychedelic tendencies.

“Drug Cult” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Serpent Therapy

2). Release

3). Reptile Hypnosis

4). The Wall

5). Mind Crypt

6). Slaylude

7). Bloodstone

8). Acid Eye

9). Spell

The Review:

Bands that seem like they were named by selecting two words from a doom bingo card don’t inspire expectations of greatness. Fortunately, the racket Australian quartet Drug Cult create is leagues above the generic tedium of their moniker. Their debut LP may be low on originality but the bands distinct strain of hypnotic sludge is an intoxicating brew.

The spirit of prime Electric Wizard courses through this records veins. Imagine a combination of the concise songwriting of the “Witchcult Today” era with the spite and filth of “Come My Fanatics” and you get a good idea of Drug Cult’s brand of evil. The band have a seemingly bottomless supply of nasty, killer riffs that fuel the likes of “Reptile Hypnosis” and the slowly unfurling bad trip of “Serpent Therapy”. Aasha Tozer’s powerful vocals enhance the bleary, sinister ambience, hitting a darkly sweet spot between melody and grit. The entire production is caked in reverb that gives these tracks an otherworldly hazy heaviness that sets Drug Cult apart from their peers. This is particularly noticeable during the brief guitar solos in “Slaylude” and “Acid Eye”, glorious explosions of untamed cosmic noise that could easily spiral into endless jams into the beyond. 

Drug Cult’s debut album is a confident display of expert riffcraft cloaked in a shroud of mystery. It is highly recommended listening for doom connoisseurs and hints at an intriguing future ahead, particularly if they indulge in their expansive, psychedelic tendencies.

“Drug Cult” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Bong, "Thought and Existence"

By: John Reppion

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 02/05/2018

Label: Ritual Productions

This is IMAX for the ears - rolling sound-waves as far as the third-eye can see - never boring, never repetitive, an ever evolving  journey through a riffed rift in time and space

“"Thought and Existence" CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). The Golden Fields

2). "Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius"

The Review:

"Thought and Existence" is something like the forty-fourth release from Newcastle's Bong and is officially their eighth full length studio record, which isn't bad going for a band that's been around for thirteen years. Trippy, heavy, hypnotic, psychedelic, euphoric, spacey, massive, awe inspiring, mythic... all good words which could be, and have been, used to describe Bong’s previous output (most recently 2015's epic "We Are, We Were, and We Will Have Been"), and all of which work equally well for this latest offering. I will probably use most of them again below.

"Thought and Existence" is thirty-six and a half minutes long and consists of two tracks: 

"The Golden Fields" opens with spacey gong-bath ambience and one of vocalist/bassist Dave Terry's spoken, sermon-like, poetic intros. Mike Vest's guitar drones swell, and swell, and swell and then Mike Smith's massive drums kick in. This is IMAX for the ears - rolling sound-waves as far as the third-eye can see - never boring, never repetitive, an ever evolving  journey through a riffed rift in time and space.  Smith's drums on "Tlön Uqbar Orbis Tertius" let us know that this is more of an overtly psych chapter; a second, more mesmerised, movement. Changes are subtle and unhurried, yet deeply effecting. Looping layers of drone which gradually grow in size and potency until your brain and body are vibrating at exactly the same fizzy-boned frequency. 

Bong are a band who can make a cover of Pink Floyd's "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" last half an hour and still be something that is an absolute pleasure to hear. 

"Thought and Existence" is a journey through sound, a genuine trip into and through the other-world the band conjures so expertly and effortlessly. Caution: Do Not Operate Heavy Machinery While Listening to Bong. Listening to "Thought and Existence" May Cause Out of Body Experience. Keep Out of Reach of Children.

“Thought and Existence” is available HERE

Band info: bandcamp || facebook