Clover - "Exile" (Album Review)

By: Chris Bull

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 05/04/2016

Label: Manic Progression Records

“Exile” CD//DD track listing:

1). Monolith

2). Next of Kin

3). The Woven Stone

4). Into Exile

5). Scorn

6). Wormwood

7). Mantle

8). Elegy

The Review:

'Exile' from New York's hardcore/sludge/post metal trio Clover is a bit of an interesting find. All 3 elements mentioned above are blended so well that neither takes centre stage.

Imagine if you will a heavier, growlier Kowloon Walled City or maybe Black Shape of Nexus with far fewer fuzz pedals and you'd be almost there! All 8 tracks offer a distinctive punch, weight and flow that blurs genre lines. Vocalist/bassist Andrew Guthaus' half scream, half growl is distinctive enough to permeate the no frills production. There are plenty of enjoyable moments on offer here, such as the chugging, His Hero Is Gone esque riff of 'Monolith' that bleeds back into the opening riff and the very KWC sounding 'Into Exile' as well as the biting aggression of 'Scorn'.

It's a good effort from this Kingston New York trio, unlikely to be at the top of anyone's "End of Year" list but a very solid effort.

“Exile” is available here

Band info: official | facebook | bandcamp

The band will be on tour all spring and summer to promote the record with the east coast leg kicking off on April 8th at The Anchor in Kingston, NY.

4.08 - Friday // Kingston, NY @ The Anchor
4.09  - Saturday // Frederick, MD @ Guidos Speakeasy
4.10 - Sunday // Wilmington, NC @ Scrap Iron Bike Shop
4.11 - Monday // Jacksonville, FL @TBA
4.12 - Tuesday // Orlando, FL @ TBA
4.13 - Wednesday // Gainesville, FL @ TBA
4.14 - Thursday // Charlotte, NC @ The Milestone
4.15 - Friday // Louisville, KY @ Modern Cult
4.16 - Saturday // Akron, OH @ Crozberry House
4.17 - Sunday // Ithaca, NY  @ TBA

“Alive and Spaced”: A Live Review of Monster Magnet (March 25, 2016, Tivoli, Utrecht)

By: Victor Van Ommen

When Dave Wyndorf took to the stage last Friday night in Utrecht’s Tivoli, he was smiling. On either side of him stood a guitarist, making for a three pronged attack of the six strings. Behind him was The Atomic Bitchwax’s rhythm section, which was so tight you could bounce a quarter off their grooves. At the feet of these Lords of Space Rock stood a rowdy crowd ready to get their Friday night going. No wonder Dave was smiling.

“Crop Circle” opened up the set as people were settling in with the evening’s first beer. Wyndorf stood at the very front of the stage with his foot on the monitor, and sang his heart out. Those in the back or all the way on the balcony were being included in the spectacle. The Space Rock Monster forgot no one. With a twinkle in his eye, Wyndorf assured us that this was going to be a great show.

“Powertrip” and “Melt” were played with a sense of authority, coming across as though the band had already been on stage for hours. Monster Magnet didn’t need one or two songs to get their engine warmed up, they were firing on all cylinders from the word go. It was clear this energy was being picked up by the crowd in how we were all in agreement that we were never going to work another goddamned day in our lives and we were going to watch that plastic soul melt!

“Superjudge” and “Twin Earth” made for one of the friendliest pits I’ve ever experienced. Those bouncing around were doing so softly, leaving the aggression of a punk rock show at the door. Dave and his cronies weren’t here to fight; they were here to share stories of love, lust and space, which was a frequency we are all tuned in to.

About an hour into the show, the opening riff of “Dopes to Infinity” rang through the hall and made for the highlight of my night. To a video of naked ladies and old school comics on the backdrop and one wild light show, Wyndorf took his favorite spot in front of the stage once again, guitar slung around his neck, crotch out, and belted the beloved lines “we are all here my friends, alive and spaced but oh so beautiful” to a near capacity crowd that hung on Dave’s every word.

There was electricity in the air. The band was burning the brightest it had been all night and the crowd was lit. For a moment like this, there was really no other song fitting to close out the set than “Spacelord.” And that’s exactly what Monster Magnet did. Dave implored us to sing along with his two favorite words in the English language – “mother fucker” – and the crowd obeyed. In fact, the crowd sang along so loud with every word of this classic Magnet tune that the band was barely audible. Monster Magnet then left the stage but the crowd refused to call it a night.

Cooing and cawing ensued, begging – nay, imploring - Dave and his buddies to come back. The band obeyed and returned for a three song encore of “I Want More,” “Face Down,” and “Negasonic Teenage Warhead,” before saying good night one final time. The guys left with arms around each other’s shoulders, smiling from ear to ear, and left a satisfied crowd in their wake.

Well done, Monster Magnet. You’ll always be welcome in Utrecht.

Beastmaker - "Lusus Naturae" (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/03/2016

Label: Rise Above Records

“Lusus Naturae” is a fine entry into the Book of Doom; and one that points towards great things to come. With the backing of Rise Above Records, the band are sure to become cult favourites. The upcoming April UK tour seems like one to catch while the band is still playing smaller venues. Definitely check this record out and find out for yourself.

“Lusus Naturae” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Clouds In The Sky

2. Eyes Are Watching

3. Arachne

4. Skin Crawler

5. Find The Stranger

6. You Must Sin

7. Burnt Offering

8. Mask Of Satan

9. It

10. Astral Corpse

11. Lusus Naturae

12. The Strain

The Review:

With a tolling bell and a warm analogue sound, it is clear where the latest signings to Rise Above are coming from (but oddly it is not Birmingham, England). Sure Enough, “Clouds In the Sky” and “Eyes Are Watching” are chock full of lumbering tar thick riffs and the vocals are reassuringly clean and high pitched. No doubt about it, this is trad doom (with a retro angle, naturally)

The sound is raw, with a good mix so you can hear all the instruments nicely. The bass sound is nicely clanky with lots of gain, with the drums boxy and live sounding. “Skin Crawler” exhibits lovely riffing from the off; double tracked vocals are go as the verse kicks in. An excellent slowed down clean sections gives way to a fantastic solo too. All boxes ticked, this is a stand out track.

“Find The Stranger” has creepy atmospherics aplenty- as the title suggests- and a real atmosphere of impending doom. Dynamics are used to good effect and the track builds to a lovely solo. “You Must Sin” marks the half way point of the record and delivers a solid and hard riffing track with some good time changes. Similarly, “Burnt Offering” rings the changes with riffs but brings in the lead work earlier. A catchy hook does not hurt, either. “Mask of Satan” is doom in the purest sense;  pounding tribal sounding drums before the main riff snakes out of the speakers prior to a drop out to allow the vocal to come in. Echoing Pentagram's early work is no bad thing, and the band do it to great effect here. It is a crawling track of slow tempos and horror themes; the drinking of human blood and so forth...

“Astral Corpse” (great title) is also a plodding beast, with a similar feel to “Electric Funeral” to the delivery. The title track delivers a summation of the band's sound effectively. There is a clean section to go with the doom laden riffage, vocals are delivered with conviction and the band lays out its manifesto with aplomb. The album closes with “The Strain” which is slow doom; Ozzy inflected vocal hooks abound as the riffs are given space to breathe for maximum impact.

“Lusus Naturae” is a fine entry into the Book of Doom; and one that points towards great things to come. With the backing of Rise Above Records, the band are sure to become cult favourites. The upcoming April UK tour seems like one to catch while the band is still playing smaller venues. Definitely check this record out and find out for yourself.

“Lusus Naturae” is available here

Band info: facebook | bandcamp

Grey Heaven Fall - ‘Black Wisdom’ (Album Review)

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 30/10/2015

Label: Aesthetics of Devastation

 ‘Black Wisdom’ is an album that by all rights should be revered as one of the great black metal albums of this decade. That it might go unrecognized due to a lack of exposure would be an absolute shame. The music is simply too good to deserve that sort of treatment. If it seems as if I’m almost begging for you to listen to the album, I apologize. It’s not something I’d do unless I truly felt strongly about an album’s quality. Speaking purely as a black metal fan now: do not let this thing pass you by.

‘Black Wisdom’ CD//DD track listing:

1. The Lord is Blissful in Grief

2. Spirit of Oppression

3. To The Doomed Sons of Earth

4. Sanctuary of Cut Tongues

5. Tranquility of the Possessed

6. That Nail in a Heart

Grey Heaven Fall is:

Arsagor | Guitar, Vocals

Sunsay | Bass

Pavel | Drums

The Review:

Sometimes, for whatever reason, there’s an album that metal critics simply missed the boat on. In this case, I’m not talking about an album wrongly getting negative reviews, but instead that there was simply not enough coverage of an album. Such is the case with Grey Heaven Fall’s phenomenal ‘Black Wisdom’, which was released to criminally little fanfare back in October of last year. While a handful of blogs ran reviews of the album, the ratio of coverage to album quality is severely out of whack here. There is no doubt in my mind that if I’d known about this album prior to this month, it would have ended up on my best of 2015 list.

Of the few reviews that have been written, Grey Heaven Fall have drawn comparisons to Deathspell Omega, which is musically fair, though I believe there are enough musical differences to stave off any accusations calling this band a clone band. A fair analogy might be to call Grey Heaven Fall the Artificial Brain to Deathspell Omega’s Gorguts, though in certain ways, Grey Heaven Fall is actually the superior band. They might certainly occupy a similar musical space, but each band puts a very different spin on those surface similarities. With that said, Grey Heaven Fall doesn’t really help avoid comparisons by using similar lyrical content, steeped in a familiar brand of theatrical theistic Satanism. In fact, that kindred lyrical approach is probably their only real mistake with the album.

From a purely sonic standpoint, Grey Heaven Fall are less chaotic and more, well, musical. They’re certainly prone to fits of ugly dissonance, but they also use sorrowful melody and a stronger sense of dynamic to give those truly ugly moments greater weight and impact. Using “Spirit of Oppression” as an example, at about three minutes in, the band indulges in a bit of winding prog before dropping speed into a melodic doom section. Then they begin to add guitar layers and the drumming more complex as the song progresses. As they transition back into the black metal, the song retains those melancholy characteristics, even as the pace quickens. There’s an emotional depth here that Deathspell Omega has never really even experimented with.

‘Black Wisdom’ is an album that by all rights should be revered as one of the great black metal albums of this decade. That it might go unrecognized due to a lack of exposure would be an absolute shame. The music is simply too good to deserve that sort of treatment. If it seems as if I’m almost begging for you to listen to the album, I apologize. It’s not something I’d do unless I truly felt strongly about an album’s quality. Speaking purely as a black metal fan now: do not let this thing pass you by. Go to the bandcamp link below and give this album a shot. My hope is that you’ll understand why I’m so passionate about the album.

‘Black Wisdom’ is available here. 

Band info: Facebook

GRÜZER - "Let It Burn" EP (Review)

By: Eric Crowe

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 01/04/ 2016

Label: Independent

The tone and song writing is top notch, even the solos are so on point, keeping the energy strong. For me, it has a Corrosion of Conformity “Blind” era feel and these guys are serious and bring a no nonsense attitude to the table, and they aren’t backing down.

“Let It Burn” CD//DD tracklisting:

1. The Accessory

2. Burning of Columbia

3. Birminghammer

4. Bruised Not Broken

5. The Calm Before…

The Review:

Heavy, dirty, southern swagger straight out the gate! And it’s dead on from there with these Columbia, SC natives. “The Accessory” begins with a good ‘ol sample of an engine revving and from then the song kicks you right in the jaw with hard hitting drive and gritty / throaty vocals to keep it grimy. This grease covered track has power, drive and a great hook. The tone and song writing is top notch, even the solos are so on point, keeping the energy strong. For me, it has a Corrosion of Conformity “Blind” era feel to the chorus, and there ain’t NOTHING wrong with that! There’s a moment where the track holds back just a bit, but then kicks into this thick heavy chug with repetitive almost chant like vocals, very well done.

“Burning of Columbia” begins with huge drum / tom work over battle type samples and the thick swell of guitars. This track takes a bit of a rest from the opener, and just lays down some serious groove and stays on point yet keeping the urgency. Vocally, at points, there has been a channeling of Neil Fallon, with the delivery and great story-telling approach. Not a rip off what so ever, so no worries. Huge walls of riffs building and throaty sung vocals run rampant throughout, takes me back to when Rich of Stuck Mojo’s sound used to fill the room!

“Birminghammer” is another track just keeping it on the slow side, dragging through the muck of the South. Midway through it picks up steam and kicks it into overdrive again. Fast paced chugging and palm-muting, it just gets so dirty.  “Bruised Not Broken” hits a really heavy doom ridden stride (think Crowbar) with thick layered guitars and perfectly powerful vocals. This is the perfect track for finishing out this release, multi layers of depth and really brings the whole album together.

These guys are serious and bring a no nonsense attitude to the table, and they aren’t backing down. They will be blazing a fiery trail through the South and beyond, so be on the lookout for them when they come through.

“Let It Burn” is available here

Band info: facebook

The Sludgelord Song Premiere - "Ion Cloud" by Phantom Glue

By: Aaron Pickford

Today at The Sludgelord I am beyond stoked to reveal that Negative Fun Records and Phantom Glue are pleased to announce the band's long awaited third album will be soon be unleashed unto the world . Entitled “776” the record is scheduled for release on Friday, May 13th 2016 and will act as Phantom Glue's first full length release since 2013's critically acclaimed "A War Of Light Cones" (Black Market Activities), which I rated as my No.1 of that same year.  Despite a 3 year gap, members have remained active in Wormwood, Lunglust and The Proselyte, however this beast has finally arisen from hibernation to create their angriest and most outrageously heavy record to date. 

Negative Fun Records couldn’t be more accurate in terms of reference points to categorise Phantom Glue’s sound “integrating influences as seemingly disparate as noise rock, death metal and sludge/doom into a cohesive sound”.  Over the course of their nearly 15 year existence, Phantom Glue are as likely to reference Unwound as they are Morbid Angel and Neurosis. Their unique blend of sludge and noise rock puts them in a category of one, indeed it is not just their music that appeals, the band’s signature artwork by Matt Oakes is also totally unique and fits brilliantly with their music. 

Vocalist and rhythmm guitarist Matt Oates' vision of a mythological occult history (and apocalyptic future) of the Americas formed the basis for his lyrics and artwork for “776”, creating the aesthetic which has run through each of Phantom Glue's releases.  Negative Fun remarks that the third album's title—“776”, “explores an unwritten history of the United States a millennium before the signing of the Declaration of Independence”.

Recorded at New Alliance in Boston with Alec Rodriguez, who is known for his work with Forn, “776” will be released on May 13th and is available to pre order here.You can listen to the opening track of the album “Ion Cloud” below. So, if you like your riffs weighty and you're a fan of High On Fire, The Melvins, Neurosis and Coliseum, what the fuck are you waiting for? Don't be the fool left in the corner regretting you never checked them out.  Press play and prepare to be crushed.

“776” track listing:

1. Ion Cloud
2. Hundred Hand
3. Somatic
4. A Worker-less Mill
5. Suttungr
6. Hocheims War
7. Gog Is Dead

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

Church of Misery - "And Then There Were None" (Album Review)

By: Charlie Butler

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 04/03/2016

Label: Rise Above Records

Apart from the short, blissed-out instrumental “Suicide Journey” all of the songs here stick to the same classic formula, but the songwriting is tighter than ever, with every track hitting the spot particularly “Doctor Death” with its chillingly familiar snippets of UK news coverage of Harold Shipman.  Against the odds, Church of Misery have delivered their strongest album to date. Whatever fate throws at the band next, it’s clearly only going to make them stronger.  

“And Then There Were None” CD//LP track listing:

1. The Hell Benders
2. Make Them Die Slowly
3. Doctor Death
4. River Demon
5. Confessions of an Embittered Soul
6. Suicide Journey
7. Murderfreak Blues

The Review:

The years spent obsessing over serial killers have clearly taught Church of Misery something about cheating death.  The Tokyo riff cult seemed doomed following the departure of the entire band save bassist and musical mastermind Tatsu Mikami at the end of their 2014 European tour. Apparently this was nothing but a minor setback as Mikami soon found willing recruits to his murderous cause resulting in new album “And Then There Were None”.

The fact that little has changed musically this time around is testament to the power and clarity of Mikami’s artistic vision. He hasn’t surrounded himself with stagnant session musicians though as the band’s trademark doomed-out, Sabbath-worshipping boogie sounds fresher than ever. Dave Szulkin brings a fuzzier, bluesier quality to the guitar while Earthride’s Eric Little provides the necessary, powerhouse drumming. The biggest change from previous Church of Misery releases are the vocals provided by Scott Carlson of death-metallers Repulsion. Past albums have been graced with feral, aggressive snarls, channelling the savage nature of the songs’ depraved subjects. Carlson delivers these tales of terror with an almost punk sneer, the loss of aggression adequately compensated by increased lyrical clarity. This is particularly chilling when detailing the sickening acid bath details of John George Haigh’s exploits in “Make Them Die Slowly”.

Previous Church of Misery albums have suffered from an inability to capture the raw power of their live shows and a tendency to err on the repetitive side. The fact that “And Then There Were None” was rehearsed and recorded in two weeks has given it an urgency and energy missing in the past. Apart from the short, blissed-out instrumental “Suicide Journey” all of the songs here stick to the same classic formula, but the songwriting is tighter than ever. Every track hits the spot particularly “Doctor Death” with its chillingly familiar snippets of UK news coverage of Harold Shipman and the lumbering, Sleep-tinged groove of “Murderfreak Blues”.

Against the odds, Church of Misery have delivered their strongest album to date. Whatever fate throws at the band next, it’s clearly only going to make them stronger.

“And Then There Were None” is available here

Band info: facebook