I’ve been waiting for High on Fire to finally get a budget for a video. Not that “Rumors of War” from Death is this Communion was bad, but it was pretty much the shortest song on the album and the video was basically the band playing in a warehouse. If it doesn’t have a battle axe, it hardly seems appropriate.

The ensuing clip for “Frost Hammer,” from the band’s much-lauded Snakes for the Divine LP, seems to have the cure for anyone wanting of the epic. To wit:

And sayeth the PR wire:

Filmed on location in both Los Angeles, CA and NYC with director Kevin Custer for Toaster in the Tub, High on Fire’s “Frost Hammer” video showcases intense performance footage of the award-winning band juxtaposed alongside “the epic tale of a warrior’s sojourn to the cold and barren Plateau of Leng where he secures the fabled Frost Hammer that will be used to enact the final rites and complete the dark rebirth and reign of the Frost Child.” [Duh. – ed.]

Yeah, I’m a little behind on this one (little behind on the review as well), but here’s the new video for Broken Teeth’s song “Blackheart.” Behold the Lemmy-ism at the beginning of the song and marvel that even in 2010 — “the future” by any measure — a black and white band-in-a-room video can still adequately get the job done as long as there are three or more cameras filming and the band in question doesn’t totally blow. PR wire says:

Austin rockers Broken Teeth have posted a new video online to the song “Blackheart” off of their latest release Viva La Rock, Fantastico that was released in January. “Blackheart” epitomizes the attitude of Broken Teeth and showcases influences that British heavy metal acts such as Iron Maiden and Judas Priest have had on the band both in the lyrics and in the riffs in the song. The video comes on the heels of the release of the band’s fifth album Viva La Rock, Fantastico on Perris Records and just in advance of several SXSW appearances with Canadian rocker Danko Jones who appeared on the album. Stay tuned for new footage with Danko Jones that the band plans to film while he is in Austin for the annual music conference!

If you’re wondering why I would repeat Pentagram as my Frydee pick — aside from the obviousness of their kicking ass — it’s because I just got off the phone after more than an hour of interview with legendary frontman Bobby Liebling, which I’m pretty sure makes me the coolest motherfucker on the planet. Wait, no. Yeah. Yeah, that’s me.

Look out for that interview to be posted next week, and dig the clip of “South of the Swamp,” which is a new song.

Thanks to everyone for checking in this week and leaving comments once they were fixed. A note to anyone who’s been trying to contact me using the nifty form on the contact page: I know it’s broken and I’m sorry. I’ll get to work on it as soon as I can, but if you need to drop me a line, my email address is jj (atsign) theobelisk (dot) net. Easy enough to remember anyway.

If you’re in North Jersey, Moth Eater are playing Dingbatz in Clifton, and that’s where I’ll be tonight. If not, I hope there are good times wherever you are. Enjoy the weekend.

Usually I like to keep my posts nice and neat, all separated and put into their unique classifications, then along comes the recently On the Radar-ed Roareth, screwing it all up. This is the first post in the year-plus The Obelisk has been active to be in not one, not two, but three separate categories. They’ve just put up a video for the song “Act I,” on their MySpace. Okay, so it’s an On the Radar update, it’s Whathaveyou because it’s news, and it’s Bootleg Theater because it’s a video. I don’t know about you, friends, but my mind is blown.

And that’s before I even watched the damn thing:

I’ve been getting emails with blank comments in them, and only just now thought that, hmm, since there’s been a bunch of nothing comments and no real ones, maybe something’s wrong. Genius. Anyway, it’s fixed now and the comments are working again. Sorry about that. Have at it, and thanks. Here’s a killer Solitude Aeturnus video to show my appreciation (they’re currently working on new material):

Neither Bongzilla, nor the foot of snow that fell on the valley last night (with more allegedly on the way) is subtle. Both are sloppy, and if you’re subject to prolonged exposure to either, it can have a serious effect on your mental state. Hence, “Keefmaster” from the 2003 Relapse Contamination Festival. Dig.

February, in everything but the weather, is winding down, but this was still a pretty busy week, with the Apostle of Solitude interview that went up today and the Cathedral and Ufomammut reviews yesterday, The Brought Low on Tuesday, etc. Lots of great stuff, and thanks for reading and commenting. I know there’s the banner on the side of the page, but it’s worth repeating that if you haven’t checked out the March podcast yet, you should do so immediately because it rules.

Enjoy your weekend and stay tuned. More good times to follow.

Breaking news: As the video below for the song “Bad Vision” from 2005’s III album confirms, San Francisco stoner icons Acid King are indeed in a perpetual state of kicking ass. Reports are coming in from all around the world of Acid King-shaped bootprints in the buttockal regions of listeners everywhere. And though it’s been half a decade since they put out an album, any visitation of old material will find Lori S., Joey Osbourne and whoever happens to be playing bass that week assuredly delivering rump-tenderizing roundhouses as though it’s all they know how to do.

Point: Acid King still kicks ass. Of course, The Obelisk will follow this story as it develops further.

I don’t know if all the crap in the title of the above video is true or not. It sounds like a load to me, but on the other hand, the audio within of Deep Purple doing “Maybe I’m a Leo” from Machine Head live at the BBC rules, so I’ll put up with whatever the title wants to say about it. I’m partial to this song not only because I’ve been feeling the old man rock lately, or The Atomic Bitchwax covered it, and they’re Jersey like me, but also because I think it’s one of the earliest and best examples of the stoner rock bop that bands today still try and emulate. Killer riff, and I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you about it.

Was a hell of a week around these parts. Thanks again to everyone who checked in to read the Solace in-studio stuff. There was a lot of it, but the report from Justin is that they got through the two songs the next day and, pending the approval of vocalist Jason and one final go-over, the long-awaited A.D. is mixed. Pretty badass if you ask me.

One thing I think got overshadowed and maybe shoved off to the side by all the Solace posts was the news Karl Daniel Lidén revealed in our brief Q&A about his new project with Dozer’s Tommi Holoppa and Johan Rockner, called Dahli. If you missed that, it’s here.

Enjoy your weekend and get some rest if you can. I know I’ll be trying. If all goes according to my evil plan, next week starts off with a new podcast, so keep it tuned in. Hopefully it’ll be up at some point over the next day or two.

This just happened where I am. I hope where you are it also kicks ass.

Tommy and Justin are working out an acoustic part to a song not yet written. So far as I know, it doesn’t have a name.

Today just so happens to be the birthday of The Patient Mrs., so although it would be completely character-appropriate to press my luck in terms of time spent in my pajamas in front of the computer, given the occasion, I think I’ll just try and play it like a normal human being for the afternoon. I don’t even know if she reads this site anymore (the novelty having long since worn off and her regard for it changing from vague interest to “that thing my husband does every day that he calls work but doesn’t make any money”), but if so: happy birthday, dear.

For the rest of you, enjoy some Frydee Black Pyramid. Anyone in the NYC area planning to head to their show tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 13) at Ace of Clubs, I will most certainly be there from early on, picking my liver and dooming out. Hope to see you.

Also, stick around for next week, when I’ll be doing an exclusive in-studio report from Massachusetts with Solace as they finalize the mix for their long awaited album, A.D. Expect slurred typing and extremely biased prose. Killer.

No, seriously. Do it. Do it now.

If you’d prefer to think of them as 13eaver, that’s fine too, it’s all the same band. They formed in the late ’80s in Amsterdam, put out a couple records on various labels — among them Man’s Ruin — and following the collapse of that imprint, weren’t heard from again. Their website is still up for anyone who wants more info or to buy merch.

It was a hell of a week around The Obelisk, what with celebrating the first year, the Dave Chandler interview and whatnot. I don’t know what your plans are, but I just got a package in from the All That is Heavy webstore on StonerRock.com and lent my car to The Patient Mrs. for the evening, so I’m about to spend a relaxing Friday night waiting for the snow that’s supposedly coming to start, drinking a couple beers, listening to good music and, who knows, maybe even reading a book. If that sounds boring to you, I humbly beg you to reevaluate your ideas about excitement.

Enjoy your weekend. Next week is going to rule, so stay tuned.

As I said yesterday, Diane Kamikaze’s DJ set at the Iron Man show has me on a big kick for the first, self-titled Queens of the Stone Age album. I was initially just going to post the studio version of “Mexicola,” maybe with some homemade picture slideshow or whatever I could find, but then I came across this excellent live version filmed for the From the Basement tv show in the UK last year. Killer stuff. In case you’re wondering who’s in the band, other than Josh Homme, it’s Joey Castillo, Troy Van Leeuwen, Michael Shuman and Dean Fertita. Enjoy.

I’ll say it: I’m feeling damn good going into this weekend. Got that Iron Man show tonight, and next week marks one year of The Obelisk. The numbers look good and a little bit ago I got off the phone from interviewing Dave Fucking Chandler of Saint Fucking Vitus, so I’m pretty stoked on life right now. It’s way better than flushing your car keys down someone’s toilet. That interview and a bunch more about the anniversary (and hopefully some other stuff) kick off next week, so until then, please enjoy this awesome Melvins video, filmed live at Amoeba Records in California. They do “Honey Bucket” from the classic Houdini album. Rock.

New Orleans trio Suplecs are back playing shows in their hometown, but the status of their fourth album, which they said they were recording in 2008, remains unknown. The band was among the population devastated by Hurricane Katrina, and for a time, they lived in Arizona, so what the status is of that is anyone’s best guess. Here’s hoping the record materializes soon. Their MySpace had this nifty Katrina-related video on it, which I thought you might enjoy. Have a great weekend.