Beginning with a welcoming rush of psychedelic cymbal wash and airy notes, the new split LP from harvest rock forerunners Across Tundras and similarly-minded Midwestern outfit Lark’s Tongue sets its sights immediately on the signature blend between the earthy and the ethereal that runs a current through both acts’ contributions. Due April 20 on Cavity Records, it features two tracks from each artist — a longer one, followed by a shorter one — and runs a total of just over 32 minutes of sometimes lush, sometimes sparse Americana-infused heavy psychedelic songwriting.

For Across Tundras, who made their Neurot Recordings debut in 2011 with Sage (review here) after a slew of other LPs and solo offerings from guitarist/vocalist Tanner Olson, this split marks their first studio material since and a precursor to 2013′s forthcoming Electric Nostalgia full-length. The Peoria, Illinois, five-piece Lark’s Tongue boast members of Minsk in their lineup — Chris Bennett and Jeff Hyde — and have released a 7″ and split 12″ with Men of Fortune on their Bird Dialect imprint. Both acts show an allegiance to Earth‘s prairie drone, but each with a somewhat different take that complements the other while maintaining a consistent spaciousness in the music.

That aspect shows up in much of Across Tundras‘ work, which casts off much of the oppressiveness of modern post-heavy in favor of traditional-sounding stomp that somehow sounds modern and like it might also be best presented at 78RPMs. Their two tracks here, “Low Haunts” and “Crux to Bear” are a fitting answer to the stomp and drawl of Sage, with Olson‘s invocations met by a rolling Appalachia of groove fostered by Mikey Allred and Casey Perry as the first unfolds following its initial wash and offsets a thicker intro on “Crux to Bear” with more uptempo swagger and a sense of the song consuming itself in its second half that nonetheless retains the structure a final verse provides.

This is my first exposure to Lark’s Tongue, whose lineup is completed by Nate Lucas, Jon Wright and Andrew Sledd, but especially put in the context of the two Across Tundras tracks, their own contributions make an immediately favorable impression, fleshing out some of the same sonic ideas with memorable choruses in both “Follow Your Nightmares” and “Aluminum” and a strong sense of purpose and aesthetic. “Follow Your Nightmares” takes off on an irresistible thrust but proves not so simple as a follow-the-riff excursion might initially seem, pop meeting with weighted low end and post-rock echoes, even as “Aluminum” seems geared toward an emotional warmth the humanity of which stands in contradiction to its title, its melody both infectious and striking when put to the deceptively heavy guitars and winding effects.

Both bands were kind enough to allow their material to be hosted for streaming ahead of the release and to add some commentary about their tracks, which you can find under the player below. Please enjoy:

The Across Tundras/Lark’s Tongue split LP will be released April 20 on Cavity Records. More info available at the label’s website.

From Lark’s Tongue:

This is our third release, following our 7” and split 12” with Men of Fortune released in 2012 on Bird Dialect. “Aluminum” is a relatively newer song, while “Follow Your Nightmares” has been kicking around since the beginning of the band in 2010.

“Nightmares” is a meditation of sorts on how we face our fears. It’s a journey for sure. “Aluminum” is aimed at a faraway place, at the resolution of that conundrum.

Unleashing this fearsome Janus upon the faithful, singing hymns to the eye of the storm, we herald the triumph of passion and amplification. The finest dream is a siren song to suffer, illuminating the pathways where fear and bliss become one. What starts with pleasure endures in alarm, and only your eyes can look straight at the sun.

From Across Tundras:

These are our first proper studio recordings since “Sage” was released on Neurot in 2011. In the time since we toured the USA up and down a few times and rehearsed non-stop at our Ramble Hill Farm stronghold in the hills Northwest of Nashville, TN. The hard work paid off and yielded these two massive tracks and a new full length record we are currently finishing up as we speak.

“Low Haunts” is a trial by hellfire, and coming out on the green mountainside. “Crux to Bear” is owning and disowning the bonds of blood and history.

Echoes of the past and distant rumblings of the future. Truth be told.

Across Tundras on Thee Facebooks

Lark’s Tongue on Thee Facebooks

Northern Ireland-based trio Slomatics get down with some vicious tone worship, but I have the feeling that if you took this stuff and played it on an acoustic guitar, it would still sound heavy. Their latest single, The Future Past, follows last year’s A Hocht full-length and sees the Belfast three-piece returning to the very beginnings of the band circa 2004 and refining some of their earliest material.

With two songs — “Running Battle” and “Son of Ampbreaker” — The Future Past doesn’t bring about quite the same kind of lurch that “Beyond Acid Canyon” from the most recent LP had, but even for being just slightly faster than that or Slomatics‘ contributions to their 2011 split with Conan (review here), neither cut lacks for weight or crater-honing force of impact. “Running Battle” launches an onslaught of low end and then cuts through it with blown-out vocals and buzzsaw leads, the drums holding steady on a still-plenty-slow stomp that “Son of Ampbreaker” varies from without fully departing.

The second track has a more open feel in the guitar and bass — as much as something so pummeling could be called “open” — but even here, the trio attack on all fronts, drummer Marty providing the shouts that seem to puncture the thick, thick, thick wall of tone, echoing with a destructive psychedelia made visceral through added noise and the let-me-just-point-it-out-again-because-it’s-so-fucking-heavy plod.

No word on a physical release, and the vibe I got was that going back and taking on these previously unrecorded songs from their early days was just something Slomatics did for fun or perhaps to exorcise at last the nagging demons of these riffs, but either way, if they’re just blowing off steam, that’s some viciously heavy steam to blow off. If you haven’t yet caught on to Slomatics‘ bludgeonry, The Future Past might be a great way to get introduced, and it’s for that reason that I made it The Obelisk Radio‘s Add of the Week, and swiped the stream from the Slomatics Bandcamp that you can check out below:

I was fortunate enough to catch Serpent Throne playing the title-track of their new album, Brother Lucifer, back in December in their native Philadelphia (live review here), and immediately upon hearing the dueling leads that seem to permeate the entire song, the memory of its impact from the stage came flooding back. The four-piece’s last album, White Summer – Black Winter (review here), had no shortage of acrobatic soloing either, but the sway of “Brother Lucifer” seems patient somehow in its sway, and is all the more lethal for it, the mourning intro lines from guitarists Demian Fenton and Don Argott set to the military-style snare roll of drummer Sean-Paul Fenton while bassist Colin Smith holds down the emergent groove below likewise dramatic mellotron sounds.

Prophase Music will release the album on April 29 and currently has the CD up for pre-order. To tease/herald the coming of their fourth full-length, Serpent Throne have posted “Brother Lucifer” for streaming-type enjoyment on their Soundcloud page, and as I’ve listened to it about four times in a row now, it seemed only fair to give you the same opportunity to get the song stuck in your head that I’ve had to get it stuck in mine. These guys are killer, and stay tuned for album review, interview and other whathaveyou to come on Brother Lucifer, because by everything I’ve seen and heard of it so far, it’s going to hit pretty hard.

Enjoy:

I guess on a basic stylistic level, Dutch post-metallers Ortega aren’t really hitting on anything groundbreaking, but aside from its title being the best euphemism I’ve heard yet this week for getting a boner, I chose to feature their 18-minute single-song EP, The Serpent Stirs, for the basic reason that it was just what I needed today, just when I needed it. This afternoon, in a swirl of office chaos and lacking indoor voices, I plugged in my headphones and it was like I had just boarded a plane. Off I went.

The Groningen outfit delve pretty deeply into Panopticon-era Isisisms, but are tonally thicker and their requisite ambient break in “The Serpent Stirs” — the sole track for which the EP is named — features a surprisingly effective bluesy solo and some righteously grooving bass work. Again, it ain’t saving the world, but the build in The Serpent Stirs was enough to remind me of what was so appealing about this kind of stuff when it first started appearing, and enough to make me want to check out Ortega‘s other releases, the 2012 A Flame Never Rises on its Own EP and 2010′s 1634 debut full-length.

And when it comes to The Obelisk Radio, a big part of the reason I got it going in the first place was for just those moments, when you feel like your brain is going to fucking collapse and you need to punch out immediately and head somewhere else, mentally if not physically, so as The Serpent Stirs filled that role for me today, it seems only appropriate to make it the Add of the Week.

The band is Richard Postma (vocals, guitar), Alex Loots (guitar), Frank de Boer (bass) and Sven Jurgens (drums), and they’ve got vinyl and CDs and such for sale on the Ortega Bandcamp, from whence the following player also comes:

There are few ideals that strike me as being as American as blending metal genres. Here Europe works so hard in defining and distinguishing characteristics, creating and reinforcing traditions, and then those ideas make it across the Atlantic and Americans go, “What if we put these things together?” and Europe, like the mustachioed police chief in a buddy cop comedy, gets all flustered and is like, “You can’t do that!” but the scrappy Americans — let’s say, played by a young, mulletted, less-creepy Mel Gibson — are already out the door and on tour with their blackened crust doom grind or some such improbable brew.

Put Richmond, Virginia-based five-piece Inter Arma in the Mel Gibson role and you might have a beginning point for understanding the kind of gleeful line-crossing that takes place on their Relapse Records label debut (second album overall), Sky Burial, a dynamic 67-minute melting pot that seems to want nothing so much as to turn preconceived stylistic notions on their head. This ethic isn’t dissimilar to that which typified Inter Arma‘s 2010 Forcefield Records full-length debut, Sundown (review here), just more cohesively the band’s own and more realized in terms of the overarching ambience. The 67 minutes, played out over eight tracks — four of which top 10 minutes long — are a resonant journey to undertake, and the echoes they leave ring even more massive than the guitar tones of Steven Russell and Trey Dalton.

The band — completed by drummer T.J. Childers (also The Might Could), bassist Joe Kerkes and vocalist Mike Paparo — would be hard-pressed to summarize the full breadth of Sky Burial in just one track, but the gradually unfolding intro to later cut “Westward” and the thudding, reverb laden post-metal oppression that ensues over the song’s 9:48 are as good a place to start as any. Elsewhere one might find black metal squibblies and blasts or doomed marching, but “Westward” accounts for a point on the record where Inter Arma seem most in their own element, Paparo‘s screams buried under a rising tide of vicious, insistently-rhythmic, somehow-psychedelic heft.

When the payoff hits, the effect is surprisingly cosmic, so check out “Westward” on the player here, and enjoy the commentary from Dalton and Paparo that follows. Inter Arma hit the road this weekend with Mutilation Rites, and those tour dates can also be found on the poster below:

Guitarist Trey Dalton on “Westward”

This is actually the last song we wrote before heading down to Nashville. If I remember correctly we finished the framework maybe a week before we left, if that. It all sort of came together while we were recording, though. With that being said, I’m the kind of dude who likes to write out a guitar solo well ahead of time. You know, craft it according to the needs of the song, but I wasn’t able to for this one. We had to rear back and shoot from the hip which put me out of my comfort zone. I’m pretty happy with how that part turned out, though. Surprised even. And because we wrote it so shortly before leaving Mike had no chance to do anything lyrically until we were there. TJ had this idea during the noisy bridge part that Mike should almost preach in a stream of consciousness kind of way. I love how that part came together. Given the songs relative infancy I think it turned out better than I initially thought it would.

Vocalist Mike Paparo on “Westward”

On our first U.S. tour in July of 2010 (with our brothers in blood Bastard Sapling) we were flying through the Mojave desert, 7 deep, in our dank van. The sun had gone down and it was still a solid 110+ degrees outside. All of the windows were down and it felt like a giant hair dryer was blowing in. The heat was getting to all of us. We passed through some particularly odd, desolate area blasting UFOmammut’s “Snailking” and the clouds started to come alive. Strange flashes of light started illuminating the night sky. Being that the Mojave is littered with military installations my mind started to wander. Was it heat lightning? Was it some sort of weapons testing? It was probably the former, but hey one can imagine. Too me, it was an almost psychedelic experience. When I first heard the opening of the song, it made me think back to this experience. I concocted a story around it. The imagery projected in the lyrics is a direct reference to this memory. As for the rest of the lyrical inspiration (i.e. most of the female narration)…well, that’s just going to have to remain a secret!

Inter Arma & Mutilation Rites on Tour

3/9 Cincy By The Slice – Cincinnati, OH
3/10 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL
3/11 Fubar – St Louis, MO
3/13-3/16 SXSW – Austin, TX
3/18 War Room – El Paso, TX
3/19 Chasers – Phoenix, AZ
3/20 Moustache Bar – Tijuana, Mexico
3/21 Slidebar – Fullerton, CA
3/22 Mayas – Corona, CA
3/23 Rock City – Camarillo, CA
3/24 DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
3/25 Colony – Sacramento, CA
3/26 Highline – Seattle, WA
3/27 The Shakedown – Bellingham, WA
3/28 Rotture – Portland, OR
3/29 The Shredder – Boise, ID
3/30 Burt’s Tiki Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
3/31 Aqualungs – Denver, CO
4/01 Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
4/02 Medusa – Minneapolis, MN
4/03 High Noon – Madison, WI
4/04 Franks Power Plant – Milwaukee, WI

Inter Arma on Thee Facebooks

Relapse Records

With shades of industrial, black and post-metal, Brooklyn’s Sannhet cast a deep shadow with Known Flood, their debut LP. And then they hide in that shadow, and they lurk around for a while, all creepy-like. The trio released Known Flood on vinyl last week through Sacrament Music, the new imprint cast by the crew at the St. Vitus bar, and with its forward-thinking approach to churning tonal oppression, transitional drones and ambient heft, I can’t help but think it’s a good fit. Very easy to imagine this noise filling that room.

The record (produced by Colin Marston of Behold… the Arctopus!, et al) is consuming when played at high volume, with a kind of surrounding effect coming from tracks like the centerpiece “Moral” or the subsequent “Slow Ruin,” which effectively touches on Neurosis crunch without simply aping it. Sannhet sound bigger than three people and add chaos by means of an assortment of loops and samples handled by drummer Christopher Todd and guitarist John Refano – the lineup is completed by AJ Annunziata on bass — but at the root of Known Flood is a fierce grip on aesthetic and directionality and an obvious push toward the sonically extreme. Whether it’s an earlier bruiser like “Safe Passage” or the final ambient swell of closer “Flatlands,” screaming or instrumental, Sannhet make each turn consistent, dark and intricate.

Textures unveil themselves more with each listen as vague samples become clarified standouts, and repetitions become all the more engrossing and hypnotic. “Still Breathing,” the penultimate and longest track (7:46), also proves the most patient in its unfolding, but when it reaches its apex, there is a shattering effect that’s not to be missed, Refano and Annunziata mounting a linear build that Todd makes turbulent with the addition of blastbeats and corresponding open crashes. Eventually, they break through it with a sweeping payoff that, but for the malevolent noise underscoring “Flatlands,” would be a fitting end to the album.

Glad to have Known Flood added to The Obelisk Radio, and if you’d like to experience it en masse, please refer to the stream below, courtesy of the Sannhet Bandcamp:

Sannhet on Thee Facebooks

Sacrament Music

This Spring, Los Angeles rockers Heavy Glow will head out on their second West Coast tour, and they’re marking the occasion with the release of a new two-song 7″. Boasting the tracks “Mine all Mine” and “Headhunter” — as well as art from Mad Alchemy — the single was all set to arrive last week but for a problem with the shipping that caused a delay. Undeterred by misfortunes of fate or record-warping cold, Heavy Glow still have Mine all Mine/Headhunter up for pre-order through their Bandcamp page.

Marching the line between the desert crunch of Queens of the Stone Age and Foo Fighters‘ fluid pop delivery, Heavy Glow‘s “Headhunter” is coolly atmospheric and engagingly grooving at once. Movement is a key element, and even as guitarist Jared Mullins indulges in a bluesy solo, bassist Joe Brooks and drummer Michael Amster (also Blaak Heat Shujaa) hold down a solid, relaxed vibe that comes to prominence in the start-stop end of the song. “Mine all Mine,” as the A side, is more chorus centered, with Mullins tossing in a bit of falsetto vocally and matching the guitar line in the post-chorus, but both tracks offer a switched-on take on classically structured desert-isms without losing themselves completely in the psychedelic aspects of their genre.

Both tracks bode well for Heavy Glow as they move forward this year in following up their 2011 full-length, Midnight Moan, and I’m glad to have the chance to highlight Mine all Mine/Headhunter as The Obelisk Radio‘s Add of the Week. You’ll find it in regular rotation on the playlist, and the band have “Headhunter” up for streaming on their aforementioned Bandcamp. Heavy Glow are on Thee Facebooks here.

Any band can put out a split with another band. Far rarer are those who can release a split with themselves. Due out for release shortly on a limited-to-500 pressing of purple vinyl, the full-length Wood and Wire split on Shaman Recordings unites British nautical doomers Undersmile with their unplugged alter ego, Coma Wall. As much as two bands featuring an identical lineup can be “united,” that is. Since they’re already the same people? Ah, never mind. You get the point.

The point is that by bringing together Coma Wall with Undersmile, the four-piece proves once again to be able to affect as much heaviness atmospherically as they do tonally. The ambience and emotional heft of Coma Wall‘s material flows naturally and engagingly into that of Undersmile – each band is given three tracks of a vinyl side — and the acoustic setting only provides more room for guitarists Taz Corona-Brown and Hel Sterne to branch out melodically and harmonically with their vocals. Cuts like “You are My Death” and opener “Summer” offer Cantrell/Staley-esque vocal interplay, and while the same could be said of Undersmile‘s previous album, Narwhal (review here), the context is different enough on Wood and Wire to highlight their performances.

And where Undersmile stretched suitably oceanic on Narwhal, the Wood and Wire split finds them somewhat more compressed, time-wise. Nonetheless, they make the three tracks feel as massive and tidal as one might expect. Recorded by Justin Greaves (Crippled Black Phoenix, Iron Monkey, etc.), “Soil,” “Killer Bob” and “Hives” are no less melodically-centered than did Coma Wall‘s contributions, but come on unremittingly heavy, pushed forward at a distinct drag by bassist Olly Corona-Brown and drummer Tom McKibbin. The Witney unit(s) recently premiered Coma Wall‘s “Summer” and today I have the pleasure of hosting the debut of “Killer Bob” from Undersmile‘s side of Wood and Wire. Please find it on the player below, and enjoy:

Undersmile and Coma Wall‘s Wood and Wire split is available now for pre-order through Shaman Recordings. For more info, hit up Coma Wall on Thee Facebooks or Undersmile on Thee Facebooks. Thanks to Lee Edwards and Shaman Recordings for allowing me to premiere “Killer Bob.”

I’ll be reviewing this one as well in the next month or so, but as California’s The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic made their self-titled debut available for streaming today through Bandcamp, it seemed only fair to cap the week with it. I hope you’ll forgive the preemptive doubling up. I’ve been stoked for this album since interviewing guitarist Ed Mundell and premiering a track from the band last year, so to finally hear the record in full is a boon.

It’s been a while since I’ve seen a band moniker as ripe for acronymic representation as is The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic — a trio completed by the formidable rhythm section of bassist Collyn McCoy (Trash Titan) and drummer Rick Ferrante (Sasquatch) — and the band even occasionally refers to themselves as “The UEMG.” As such, though I don’t usually like to abbreviate band names, I’m on board this time around, and I’ve decided that should they come up in conversation, I’ll be pronouncing UEMG as “oo-meg,” which, you know, is fun.

As always, I hope you dig the selection.

What I week this was, and I hope you can hear me exhale as I type that knowing it’s “over” as much as it ever is. I feel like between The Eye of the Stoned Goat 2 last Saturday and the YOB show on Sunday, I was finished before I even crossed the starting line, but a couple late nights at work and my ass is pretty well kicked. We’re supposed to get some snow between now and then — nothing like last week — but my plan for tomorrow is to head into Brooklyn and catch Elder at The Acheron with It’s Not Night: It’s Space, Eidetic Seeing and Ancient Sky. Should be an evening of heavy reverb. If you’re going, I’ll see you there.

That review should be posted Monday if all goes to plan, and also look for writeups on new records by Magic Circle and Endless Boogie next week. The latter outfit are NYC native and playing Brooklyn tonight with Arbouretum. That’s actually a show I’d have loved to have seen, but Williamsburg on a Friday night’s a pretty daunting prospect these days, driving, parking and existence-wise. Still, the record’s killer so far and I’m looking forward to digging in deeper for the review this week.

Going to try and maybe work in some shorter-type reviews as well, with the thought that not every record benefits from the 1200-word treatise and that time is limited whereas my backlog is dauntingly infinite, but maybe that’ll be this week or maybe it’ll be never. In the more immediate is fixing The Obelisk Radio, which has been down for several days now and is bumming me out. Glad to say Slevin seems to be on the case. I registered this afternoon with a different company to host the stream and last I heard he’s got it in process in terms of switching over with minimal upset to anyone who may have put the playlist in iTunes or anything like that. I’ll keep you posted when I have some better sense of when it’ll be up and running. My hope is sometime over the weekend, but these things are rarely as simple as they seem or would preferably be.

Whatever you spend your weekend listening to, I hope it’s a great and safe one and that you enjoy the holy hell out of it. I’m down to 32 copies of the Clamfight CD, and if you haven’t bought one yet, I’d sure appreciate the support if you could. Either way, thanks as always. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more keyboard-driven shenanigans.

A bit of continuity never hurt anyone. You might remember last week’s Radio Add of the Week was by a newcomer Spanish band called Llord. You might not. Well, as it turns out, guitarist/vocalist David and drummer Michael Kelly from that outfit have another new band, this one called named Lord Summerisle after Christopher Lee‘s character in The Wicker Man. That’s a pretty good start. Their debut demo is, like Llord‘s, only three tracks, but it still gives an idea of where the band is coming from, blending progressive technicality and noodling with stretches of heavier grooves. Together with bassist Diego Caicedo, the trio moves away from Llord‘s primitive riff-led extremity and into move complex and effects-driven sounds, remaining instrumental while setting the course with opener “Pare Huarg,” while revealing an echoing clean-singing style from David on the spacier second cut, “1864.”

With all three songs running over six minutes long, Lord Summerisle give parts plenty of room to breathe and develop, but I wouldn’t call their demo jammy in the sense of a lot of modern Euro heavy. Rather, “1864″ filters classic prog complexity through modern tones, and the vocals give an airy, open feel. Where Llord‘s demo was recorded live, this one feels more layered and constructed. That continues through the last cut, “Ocellót,” though the riff and motoring tempo put it more in line with mid-’70s bruisers, there’s nonetheless a process at work in the presentation that runs deeper than “plug in and hit record.” That’s not to say Lord Summerisle sound unnatural, because they don’t, just that what the trio shows on their first outing is a personality distinct from that of the band with whom they share two-thirds of a lineup. They’ve made the demo available as a free download through Bandcamp, from whence the player below also comes:

There’s not much known about Spanish sludge rockers Llord. The Barcelona-based trio recorded their debut demo last October and put it up for free download on Jan. 31, its three-tracks given a sense of extremity through guitarist David‘s vocals even as the band shows a commitment to a classic heavy approach, recording live and completely without the use of effects pedals. The former is nothing new — recording live is cheap and makes sense for a first demo by which to give listeners a general idea of what you’re going for sonically — but the lack of effects, Llord‘s attaining such tonality without a fuzz box or wah, that intrigues, whether it’s on the lead lines of “Iron Pescatore” or the larger stretch of riffing contained in 10-minute closer “Verro.”

Also noteworthy is the richness of the tones Llord are able to dial in. Bassist Aris complements David‘s guitar with clean, full-sounding runs, and even though the vocals have a more extreme metal bent — they remind especially on the slower Slayerisms of “Ordell” of Lair of the Minotaur — with drummer Mike serving as the anchor for their riffy wanderings, the material wouldn’t sound out of place with classic heavy rock wails put over them. This balance immediately gives Llord an individual sensibility in their take, and though I’m sure the demo’s primitive assault will be used as the first step in a progression that it is, it still provides a fascinating listen here and now.

Take a listen via the Llord Bandcamp stream below and see if you don’t agree. Glad to have these guys included in The Obelisk Radio:

As catchy as it is propulsive, the new single “Tempest” from Miami trio Shroud Eater announces their arrival at a new level of metallic professionalism. The potential that their ThunderNoise full-length (review here) showed in following their already vicious self-titled demo (review here) has paid off in fullness of sound and clarity of approach. Shroud Eater recently announced that they’d signed with The Path Less Traveled Records for the release of a new EP, and as a taste of what’s to come, “Tempest” casts a formidable shadow.

The upcoming release, titled Dead Ends, is set for issue in May, and Shroud Eater – the lineup of Jean Saiz on guitar/vocals, Janette Valentine on bass and Felipe Torres on drums — are slated tour their way up the East Coast to support. They’ve also got shows booked this month in the south, for which you can find the info below, and have released a new teaser trailer for the EP, which is at the bottom of this post. All this should amount to a considerable level anticipation for Dead Ends, which aligns Shroud Eater to the progressive breadth of modern Southeastern heavy — bands like Mastodon, Kylesa, etc. — even as it sees them carving out their own identity within that sphere.

I’m stoked to hear how that process pans out, and “Tempest” only makes that truer. Thanks to the band for allowing me to host the track for stream and download. You’ll find it on the player and through the link below, followed by this month’s gigs and the teaser for Dead Ends. Enjoy:

Click Here to Download “Tempest”

As I mentioned, Shroud Eater will tour preceding the May release of Dead Ends, but before that, they have an extended weekender lined up for this month. Dates and compatriot info follow here:

Wednesday February 20 – Atlanta, GA at 529
With: Order of the Owl, Demonaut, Volume IV

Thursday February 21 – Asheville, NC at The Odditirium
With: Kreamy Lectric Santa, Blood Summer, Tape and Wire

Friday February 22 – Nashville, TN at The Owl Farm
With: Brother Ares, Act of Impalement, Forest of Tygers

Saturday February 23 – Jacksonville, FL at The Phoenix Taproom
With: Hollow Leg, Dead Southern Bishop, Yama

Clocking in at over 19 minutes of multi-movement progressive doom exploration, Pombagira‘s “Maleficia Lamiah” is essentially an album unto itself, with a complete linear flow and fully realized psychedelic mysticism. The band’s fifth album, Maleficia Lamiah, is now available for pre-order from Black Axis Records ahead of its March 18 release date.

Maleficia Lamiah is the follow-up to 2011′s single-track full-length, Iconoclast Dream, so they’re no strangers to long-form work, and their wanderings seem to find direction even as they get willfully lost along the way. The title cut opens with a few minutes of layered feedback, and then the husband/wife duo of Pete (vocals and guitar) and Carolyn (drums) smoothly introduce and work their way through varied presentations of thickened, darkened ritual psychedelia. Their drone-ready sprawl is given just as likely to open space rocking as it is to doomly crush, and in its peaceful moments, “Maleficia Lamiah” enacts some of its greatest threats.

The album can be pre-ordered in three different versions from Black Axis. A limited black and yellow marble swirl 2LP also includes a t-shirt and three bonus tracks, and there’s also a regular vinyl edition and the CD. Rest assured, all three contain Pombagira’s gloriously heavy wash and richly progressive take. It’s my extreme pleasure to host “Maleficia Lamiah” for streaming in advance of the record’s release. Some who’ve encountered Pombagira‘s rawer past works may be surprised at some of what they’re doing here, but rest assured, their sound remains their own.

Please find the track below and enjoy the trip:

Pombagira‘s Maleficia Lamiah was recorded at Foel Studios and Earthworks in the second half of last year and can be pre-ordered now through Black Axis Records at this location. For more on the doomly doings of Pete and Carolyn, check out Pombagira on Thee Facebooks.

Even as Radio Moscow‘s current European tour gets underway, the news emerges that the single for “Rancho Tehama Airport’ b/w “Sweet Little Thing” will be released to the public as part of Volcom Entertainment‘s limited Vinyl Club subscription package. Past installments have included the likes of Wino, the Melvins and High on Fire, so Radio Moscow are in good company with the tracks, which represent their first new material since 2011′s The Great Escape of Leslie Magnafuzz.

The band previously posted both songs for advance checking out via YouTube (link above), but here’s “Rancho Tehama Airport” as a refresher, courtesy of Volcom, and info about the 2013 subscription package for the Vinyl Club. Enjoy:

Volcom Announces Volcom Entertainment Vinyl Club’s 2013 Subscription

We are excited to announce the launch of the VEVC 2013 subscription, our 6th year running a limited edition 7″ singles club. For those unfamiliar with the Volcom Ent Vinyl Club (VEVC for short), a 1-year subscription to the Volcom Ent Vinyl Club, includes:

• Shipment of six 7″s throughout the year: VEVC0031, VEVC0032, VEVC0033, VEVC0034, VEVC0035, VEVC0036.
• Subscriber-only colored vinyl on some releases.
• Subscriptions are limited to 300.
• Subscribers get a 20% discount on the purchase of any other vinyl releases made in our subscriber store.

The first release, VEVC 0031, is a face melting two-sided slab of new material from psychedelic blues rockers Radio Moscow. This record is already in production and we hope to ship these by early March. VEVC 0032 is also in the pipeline and you can trust us when we say that it will be a rowdy split shared by two of Los Angeles’ grittiest bands, The Shrine and Zig Zags, each contributing new tunes. You will want to turn this one up!

We’re really excited about the rest of the 2013 roster that is coming together and for those of you who’ve subscribed before, hope that you can trust us when we say we have some cool releases up our sleeves!!

Also as a special gift to 2013 subscribers who act fast, we’ll be including a free copy of the Volcom x Yo Gabba Gabba 7” to the first 150 subscribers with the shipment of VEVC 0031. This record is super limited to 500 red vinyl and 500 green vinyl and the 150 copies that we can offer are the last remaining ones. In case you didn’t see this one fly by last year, the record features a collaboration between hip-hop legend Biz Markie and Wayne Coyne of Flaming Lips on one side and on the other side “He’s a Chef”, the first new Rocket From the Crypt recording in, like, 5 years… no big deal.

Every year at Roadburn since 2010, I’ve allowed myself to watch one set from the side of the stage in the main room at the 013. I attended in 2009 too, but too chickenshit to actually get up there and make it happen. In 2010, it was Garcia Plays Kyuss. In 2011, Acid King. Last year, it was YOB playing Catharsis in its entirety at the Afterburner — one of the last sets of the whole weekend. I held out for it, and when they started up with “Aeons,” took to the photo pit with the bevvy of far-more-professional Euro photographers, but knew that by the time they hit into the title-track (the third of three songs on the album), I wanted to be up there watching.

So I went. Catharsis is a landmark for me, an album that expanded my definition of what heavy could be, and from the opening guitar lines to the massive, earth-cracking apex and Mike Scheidt‘s deathly roar and desperate space ethereality, the song “Catharsis” is a doomed masterpiece. I got to the side of the stage by the time the band was through “Ether” and didn’t move from that spot for the rest of the hour. They’d already done 2005′s The Unreal Never Lived – the swan song of their original run — earlier in the fest (streaming here), but this one was something special. It was one of those things I couldn’t miss, had to see, was so glad to be there to see. Everything else revolved around this set. I can’t imagine anyone in the room felt differently about it.

Today Roadburn made YOB‘s Catharsis set available for streaming and you’ll find it embedded on the player below, with my gratitude as always to Walter, Marcel and the whole Roadburn crew. If I’m not mistaken, YOB are doing the album elsewhere this year, and if you can see it, consider yourself urged to do so. Until then, this: