Floridian doom duo (or doomuo, if you’d prefer) Dark Castle have announced a slew of new dates, including several showcases at this year’s SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, for the likes of Chronic Youth, 20 Buck Spin/Profound Lore and the fine folks at Brooklyn Vegan. The PR wire has more:

Dark Castle have also secured a supporting slot on Kylesa’s Spring European tour, which plows through France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Finland and Norway, with appearances at several festivals including Metalorgie (France), Impetus (Switzerland) and AsymetryFestival (Poland). The tour will share the stage with Shrinebuilder, Eyehategod, Nachtmystium, Electric Wizard and more along the way.

Dark Castle SXSW 2010 shows:
3/17/2010 Emo’s – Austin, TX
Brooklyn Vegan showcase w/ Torche, The Atlas Moth, Skeletonwitch

3/18/2010 East End Tattoo – Austin, TX
Chronic Youth showcase w/ The Atlas Moth

3/19/2010 Headhunter’s – Austin, TX
Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin showcase w/ White Mice, Liturgy, Salome, Coffinworm, Yakuza, The Atlas Moth, The Endless Blockade and more

3/20/2010 Plush – Austin, TX
Giant Steps Productions showcase w/ Irepress, Battlefields, Caspian and more

Dark Castle European tour w/ Kylesa:
4/07/2010 Trix – Antwerp, Belgium
4/08/2010 Nantes, France – Metalorgie Festival w/ Baroness
4/09/2010 Santana 27 – Bilbao, Spain
4/10/2010 Porto Rio – Porto, Portugal
4/11/2010 Ritmo & Compas – Madrid, Spain
4/12/2010 Be Cool – Barcelona, Spain
4/13/2010 Le Confort Moderne – Poitiers, France
4/14/2010 Le Grand Mix – Lille, France
4/16/2010 L’autre Canal – Nancy, France
4/17/2010 Impetus Festival – Lausanne, Switzerland w/ Eyehategod
4/18/2010 Grnd Zero Vaise – Lyon, France
4/20/2010 La Maroquenerie – Paris, France w/ Shrinebuilder
4/21/2010 Substage – Karlsruhe, Germany w/ Shrinebuilder, Eyehategod
4/22/2010 Covo – Bologna, Italy
4/23/2010 Bloom – Mezzago – Italy w/ Shrinebuilder
4/24/2010 Kapu – Linz, Austria
4/25/2010 Sfentona Club – Athens, Greece
4/27/2010 Tavastia – Helsinki, Finland
4/28/2010 The Garage – Oslo, Norway
4/30/2010 Asymetry Festival – Wroclaw, Poland w/ Electric Wizard, Shrinebuilder, Zu, Nachtmystium
5/01/2010 Ucho – Gdynia, Poland
5/02/2010 Archiv – Potsdam,Germany

The PR wire has the goods on a new Deadbird split 7″ with Burned Up Bled Dry, and since Deadbird rule, the info is dutifully presented here. The vinyl is due out Feb. 24 on At a Loss:

Sludge heathens Deadbird — whose last full-length Twilight Ritual was also released in 2008 by At a Loss — contribute one brutal track filled with the patented tempo changes and somber, regret-filled lyrics one would expect. Rabid screams and tempos mesh with oppressive doom and hardcore-esque sing along anthems together in a way few bands make work.

Burned Up Bled Dry’s side of the split offers up four tracks of fast, crusty powerviolence and punk/hardcore rage. This is the first material to be released from the brutal late-‘90s act who brought BUBD back to life in 2005 after a six year hiatus. Bulging with views of hate and hopelessness for today’s society, these tracks shall serve as your anthem for anger.

A full-color cover wraps all the way around the seven inch to unfold for an extended apocalyptic landscape, with a layout by Amjad Faur (Storm the Castle). All copies of the 7” will be pressed on various shades and colors of high-quality, opaque vinyl.

Tracklisting:

Deadbird
1. “Sickness and Conviction”

Burned Up Bled Dry
1. “Punches Thrown”
2. “My Way to Hate”
3. “The New Reality of Distance”
4. “Something’s Missing”

I’ll be perfectly honest, I haven’t gone back to Raise the Red Lantern’s self-titled At a Loss debut once since reviewing it. I don’t know if that’s more of a statement about the busyness of my schedule or the mediocrity of that record, but it’s the truth one way or another. Nonetheless, if the Chicago act are willing to brutalize their egos and collective well-being with even a short Midwestern tour in January, they at least have my respect. Here’s what the PR wire has to say about it:

At A Loss Recordings metallians Raise the Red Lantern hit the road this week on their way to join the later half of the ongoing Translation Loss Records Tour with Battlefields and City of Ships. The band also meet up with killer acts including Racebannon, Struck by Lightning, Chord and Mouth of the Architect along the way.

1/25/2010 Now That’s Class – Cleveland, OH w/ Battlefields, City of Ships
1/26/2010 Carabar – Columbus, OH w/ Battlefields, City of Ships, Struck by Lightning
1/27/2010 Beat Kitchen – Chicago, IL w/ Chord, Battlefields
1/28/2010 The Afterdark – Steven’s Point, WI w/ Battlefields, City of Ships
1/29/2010 Eagles Nest – Milwaukee, WI w/ Mouth of the Architect, Northless, Savior for a Fallen Hero
1/30/2010 The Picador – Iowa City, IA w/ Snow Demon, Identity Crisis
2/13/2010 Elva’s – South Bend, IN w/ Mouth of the Architect

Raise the Red Lantern’s self-titled full-length was released in October via At a Loss Recordings. Recorded in their hometown by Sanford Parker (Minsk, Nachtmystium), the unit have unleashed their most blistering release yet. A bombardment of metallic rock and roll riff shredding and distorted, low-end thunder, all topped with utterly savage throat-shredding bellows.

I usually don�t put much stock in label promospeak when it comes to an impartial evaluation of an album they�re releasing. A good press release is generally well-written, informative for biographical information, etc., but sometimes they�re full of hyperbole about how the new album from Band X is the best shit ever and makes Reign in Blood look like Indigo Girls blah blah blah. Not faulting the labels here; that�s their job. They�re passionate about their product and they want to sell it. That�s the way the world works.

In the case of the press release that came with the digipak of Raise the Red Lantern�s self-titled At a Loss Recordings debut, it�s worth quoting here, if only for the math involved. I submit the delightfully passive aggressive final line:

�Our label constantly puts out releases by bands you dig! You just wait until they go to another label — Black Cobra, (-16-), Baroness, Minsk, Rwake, Kylesa, etc�. Maybe get on board early!�

If you think about it, it�s true. At a Loss has helped break bands that have gone on to become some of this generation�s best and most heralded. Whether or not that means the same thing is destined for Raise the Red Lantern, I don�t know — they certainly wouldn�t be out of place on the Relapse roster — but there�s no denying the label�s impact on the underground heavy throughout this decade. Something worth thinking about, however it might skew your feelings on Raise the Red Lantern now.

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Straight out of the “Why the hell haven’t I interviewed this band yet?” file, Floridian duoomo (that’s a doom duo; � The Obelisk, 2009) Dark Castle are hitting the road with Black Cobra-esque regularity. Well, maybe not quite that much, but they’ve still done a good bit of touring this year and as the PR wire informs, it ain’t over yet. Looks like they’re playing with some pretty good bands too, so right on. Here are the dates:

9/05/2009 *TBA – Charlotte, NC
9/06/2009 The Triple – Richmond, VA w/ Windhand, Akris
9/07/2009 Lit Lounge – New York, NY w/ The Body, Orphan, Malkuth
9/08/2009 Machines with Magnets – Pawtucket, RI w/ The Body
9/09/2009 Daniel Street – Milford, CT w/ The Body, Sea of Bones
9/10/2009 Evacuate Warhouse – Roxbury, MA w/ The Body, Gigan, Lecherous Nocturne, Closed Casket
9/11/2009 Geno�s – Portland, ME w/ The Body
9/12/2009 *TBA – Amherst, MA w/ The Body
9/13/2009 Lost and Lulu Gator Bar – Brooklyn, NY w/ The Body, Tournament, Ramps
9/14/2009 Basement Show – Philadelphia, PA w/ The Body, Bubonic Bear
9/16/2009 *TBA – Louisville, KY
9/17/2009 Wise Guys – Somerset, KY w/ Old One, Alegionnaire, Eyelid Conspiracy
9/18/2009 Little Hamilton – Nashville, TN w/ Salome, Hull, Sacaea
9/19/2009 *TBA – Fayetteville, AR w/ The Unbeheld, Sons of Tonatiuh
9/20/2009 Buccaneer - Memphis, TN w/ The Unbeheld, Sons of Tonatiuh, Supercollider

As time rolls on and the extreme by necessity has to become more extreme and, in doom, the frequencies get lower and slower and the use of synth noise to flesh out songs is increasingly commonplace, it’s possible for a duo like Saint Augustine, Florida’s Dark Castle to be a full band. The songs are thick and rich, viscous, heavy and — as much as I know several bassists who won’t want to hear it — don’t sound like they’re missing anything, despite the character and diversity that another instrument can bring to a given track or movement. Of course, with studio technology one person can make an entire record alone (Sweden’s Forest of Shadows comes to mind as an example of it in the doom world, though of course there are a ton of one-man black metal acts), but those albums rarely feel complete and are often on the other side of the line between brilliance and self-indulgence.

Whereas, as in the case of Dark Castle’s full-length debut, Spirited Migration (At a Loss), guitarist/vocalist Stevie and drummer/vocalist Rob, who also handles synth, the band achieves an entirely developed atmosphere that borders on prog ambience with instrumental centerpiece “Weather the Storm,” while maintaining a stripped-down aesthetic that confidently snarls in the direction of Oceanic-era Isis and younger, rawer Crowbar. Their demo, Flight of Pegasus (still available for purchase on their MySpace page) feels underdeveloped in comparison to the album, which given the amount of touring the duo has done since its release is exactly the way it should be. Stevie and Rob are a solid unit writing solid songs, even if the title of their album reminds me of “Spirit Journey Formation Anniversary” from Aqua Teen Hunger Force.

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It’s a “Where does the time go?” kind of situation to think that Pennsylvania’s Stinking Lizaveta have been around for 15 years. I don’t even remember the first time I saw the trio (which is probably no accident), but the last time was at the Brighton Bar in Long Branch, probably New Jersey’s most fabled venue for this kind of music. The avant instrumentalists were promoting their last record, Scream of the Iron Iconoclast (At a Loss Recordings), and as ever, their live presentation brought extra excitement that their recorded output was lacking. There’s something about just watching them play.

Guitarist Yanni Papadopoulos, bassist Alexi Papadopoulos (think maybe they’re related?) and energetic drummer Cheshire Agusta don’t ever have an expensive light show or videos playing behind them — there isn’t really any spectacle to what they do on stage — but seeing them go back and forth with their quirky jazzified doom adds an appreciable element that is lost on the average disc listen. Even with eyes closed, trying to soak in each and every note of new album, Sacrifice and Bliss (once again At a Loss).

That’s not to say nothing has changed in Stinking Lizaveta. Bolstered by Sanford Parker’s production, the sweet tones of “When I Love You” that transition into the first of several excellent guitar solos from Papadopoulos sound full and engaging, and where the band’s music has always had a kind of limited appeal — to musicians or a certain brand of the stoner faithful — Sacrifice and Bliss feels more welcoming than past output. As someone who wasn’t that into Scream of the Iron Iconoclast, the difference is palpable.

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The following good news just came in over the PR wire, so I thought I’d pass it along. If you haven’t yet bought Dark Castle’s Flight of Pegasus EP, I highly suggest you do so over at the band’s MySpace page. Each one comes in creative hand-made packaging and contains some killer Crowbar-on-acid riffs, plus the duo has been road-dogging since long before At a Loss came along. Review and interview forthcoming, but in the meantime:

Saint Augustine, Florida’s Dark Castle will release its full-length debut, Spirited Migration, on May 26 via At a Loss Recordings. Recorded by Phillip Cope and mastered by Scott Hull (Kylesa, Baroness etc.), the CD continues the metallic doom psych journey the band’s Flight of Pegasus EP began. Guttural howls and towering volume are broken up with post-rock interludes. Exotic scales and haunting rhythms pull the listener further into Dark Castle’s unique atmospheres.

Spirited Migration track listing:

01. Awake In Sleep (6:51)
02. Into The Past (5:35)
03. Spirited Migration (1:46)
04. Growing Slow (4:31)
05. Weather The Storm (3:26)
06. Flight Beyond (4:14)
07. Grasping The Awe (4:12)
08. A Depth Returns (6:33)