It suddenly occurs to me that I never reviewed The Atlas Moth’s Candlelight debut, A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky. What a dick. While it’s a little late, I may or may not rectify the situation sometime soon (that vague enough?). While I’m weighing out the pros and cons, check out these tour dates from the PR wire:

Cerebrally pulverizing Chicagoan quintet The Atlas Moth will be blazing a good chunk of the East Coast and Midwest on the road this March with Coalesce and Harvey Milk. The low-end triple-guitar thunder the band are well-known for creating on stage is as massive as it is mesmerizing, as witnessed on their 2009 live with Dark Castle, Wetnurse, Black Cobra, Nachtmystium, Pentagram, Javelina and countless more.

The Atlas Moth w/ Coalesce, Harvey Milk:
3/05/2010 Rex Theatre – Pittsburgh, PA
3/06/2010 Kung-Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA
3/07/2010 The Ottobar – Baltimore, MD
3/08/2010 Le Poisson Rouge – New York, NY
3/09/2010 Middle East [Downstairs] – Boston, MA
3/10/2010 Il Motore – Montreal, QC
3/11/2010 Wreckroom – Toronto, ON
3/12/2010 Smalls Bar – Hamtramck, MI
3/13/2010 Subterranean – Chicago, IL

The Atlas Moth at SXSW 2010:
3/18/2010 East End Tattoo – Austin, TX @ Chronicyouth.com showcase
3/20/2010 The Metropolis – Austin, TX – early show
3/20/2010 21st CO OP – Austin, TX – late show
3/21/2010 Red 7 – Austin, TX – Goodbye Southby

Oh sure, I’ve serenaded the dusky welkin with the occasional anthem, I’ve been disciplined in fire and demise, I’ve enjoyed the periodic nightside eclipse and even [insert something clever about the self-titled Emperor album here], but there is a fandom cult league for highly influential Norwegian black metallers Emperor to which I simply don’t belong. Not that I can’t or don’t appreciate the records, I just don’t salivate like a Pavlovian dog at the mere mention of their titles.

Accordingly, I feel in some strange way qualified to review After, the third post-Emperor solo outing of frontman Ihsahn (né Vegard Sverre Tveitan). I’m familiar with his work, but not masturbatingly so; having heard both 2008’s angL and 2006’s The Adversary, it’s possible to have some sense of what he’s done since Emperor’s disbanding and what exactly he’s changing up with After. You know, other than throwing in some free jazz saxophone and that kind of thing.

Ihsahn, who also recorded After in his Symphonique Studio, still plays with the melodies and progressive death metalisms he showed on angL, it it’s not until the title track, third of the total eight, that that side really shows up. The first two tracks, “The Barren Lands” and “A Grave Inversed” — the latter featuring that aforementioned free jazz saxophone — are righteously heavy and nearly if not completely blackened metal. Even on “After,” Ihsahn’s vocals morph into his trademark throaty approach, although they do so over an angular Opethian riff with single notes layered before shifting back into a melodic chorus. Nothing’s ever the same.

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As if it wasn’t well established by then, the poetry reading that shows up in “Mired” — track three of the total eight that make up Forest Stream’s sophomore outing, The Crown of Winter (Candlelight) — more or less confirms that, yes, you’re listening to Euro doom. But wait, there’s a twist! Forest Stream aren’t British or Scandinavian, they’re Russian! And if there’s one group of people on this planet who know about feeling cold and sad, it’s the Russians. So off we go.

The usual Euro doom elements show up — the distraught melodic vocals peppered with deathly growls, the extensive synth work, the pervading sense of misery, etc. — but Forest Stream temper this, as on “Bless You to Die” with a discernable Emperor influence, adding black metal grandiosity to their already complex approach. After “Intro,” the nearly 12-minute-long title track and the aforementioned “Mired,” it’s a welcome and somewhat unexpected change of pace. Another twist! It’s hardly M. Night Shyamalan, but hey, in a subgenre where aping Paradise Lost records from 18 years ago is the encouraged norm, any evolution is cool by me.

Forest Stream could easily open for Swallow the Sun with Katatonia headlining and I’d go see the tour. People would be cutting their wrists in the aisles and it would be a marvelous exercise in audio depression. The Crown of Winter achieves what must have been its desired aim — to both rock and bum out — and on a snowy day here in the valley, I’ve a hard time thinking of a more appropriate accompaniment to the scene outside the window, whereby the sun, struggling to shine through the cloud cover, has at last failed and relinquished the day to the ensuing precipitation. So it goes.

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Yes, that title is sarcastic. Touring is hard, grueling work. Yes, you get to play music, but unless you’re rich, pretty much everything else about it blows. I still don’t know how I feel about Chicago wunderkinds The Atlas Moth, or their Candlelight debut, A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky, but if a band’s going to get out there and sell their wares one person at a time on the road, you have to at least respect that no matter what you think of the music. The PR wire sent these updated tour dates in and I thought I’d pass them along for your perusal.

With A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky out now on Candlelight Records, the band is currently on tour promoting the release, with a long list of killer shows alongside Dark Castle, Wetnurse and more along the way:

11/03/2009 The Kickstand – Gainesville, FL w/ Dark Castle
11/04/2009 Brass Mug – Tampa, FL w/ Dark Castle
11/05/2009 Will’s Pub – Orlando, FL
11/06/2009 The Warehouse – Jacksonville, FL w/ Dark Castle
11/07/2009 Lenny’s� – Atlanta, GA w/ Across Tundras, Dark Castle
11/08/2009 The Hangar – Greenville, SC w/ Dark Castle
11/09/2009 The Reservoir – Carrboro, NC
11/10/2009 The Triple – Richmond, VA
11/11/2009 Starlight Ballroom – Philadelphia, PA w/ Wetnurse
11/12/2009 Sidebar – Baltimore, MD w/ Wetnurse
11/13/2009 Court Tavern – New Jersey w/ Wetnurse
11/14/2009 The Sweatshop – Providence, RI w/ Wetnurse
11/15/2009 Unit 11 – Allston, MA w/ Wetnurse
11/17/2009 Union Pool – Brooklyn, NY w/ Dark Castle, Wetnurse
11/18/2009 The Spot – Akron, OH w/ Dark Castle, Sofa King Killer, Rue
11/20/2009 Elbow Room – Ypsilanti, MI w/ Dark Castle, Ganon
11/21/2009 Mac’s Bar – Lansing, MI w/ Dark Castle, Ganon
11/22/2009 Carabar – Columbus, OH w/ Dark Castle, Struck by Lightning
11/23/2009 Belvederes – Pittsburgh, PA w/ Dark Castle, U.S. Christmas
11/24/2009 The Vollrath – Indianapolis, IN w/ Dark Castle
11/25/2009 Cobra Lounge – Chicago, IL w/ Dark Castle, Black Tusk, Black Cobra, Plague Bringer

…And that’s only news because they’re from Chicago, which means the burger is at Kuma’s Corner, and it’s a unique and artery-clogging concoction named for the band. The Atlas Moth’s Candlelight/Battle Kommand debut, A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky, is out Oct. 20. In the meantime, dig this recipe (and other info) as told by the PR wire:

The Atlas Moth have announced a record listening party on October 4th at Chicago’s Kuma’s Corner (MySpace here), the restaurant known for naming its burgers after international and hometown favorite metal bands. Here they’ll unveil the mammoth “Atlas Moth Burger“… a 10 oz. slab of beef on waffles, topped with collared greens, fried chicken, chicken fried bacon and a bacon infused maple syrup. Amazing!

My chest hurts just thinking about it. Fortunately the band will get a good workout touring the US for about two months to support the album after a record release show at Reggie’s in Chicago with Kylesa, Saviours and Red Fang. Other dates follow after the jump.

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Seriously, this whole afternoon, and to be perfectly honest, I’m not even sure it’s done right.

What you’ll find enclosed in the following two YouTube clips is the interview I conducted this past weekend at the Planet Caravan Festival with UK doom lords Orange Goblin. It was with the whole band and we all sat in the backstage area at The Orange Peel while Taddy Porter’s set came through the walls. Sorry about the background noise. You can kick me in the jimmy when next we meet and hopefully that’ll make up for it.

My initial plan for today was to sit down with the recorded interview (actually it was the plan for Tuesday, but that’s a different story entirely) and transcribe it all out, but I’m sure once you listen to 30 seconds of the first half of the interview and then stop it out of impatience you’ll understand why that didn’t work out. Not the best quality ever. Mostly I blame Taddy Porter. Then myself. In that order.

But it was my goal to have a beer with Orange Goblin, and I accomplished that. Planet Caravan being their only US show this year and their new album not due until 2010 — which is the future! — basically we just shot the shit for a little while about what it’s like to be in Orange Goblin, what they’ve got in store going forward and how Planet Caravan compares to Roadburn and the dearly-missed Emissions from the Monolith.

Enjoy. Oh, and any Solace fans might want to start with pt. 2, wherein Ben Ward calls them fucking scumbags. Classic.

Sheavy is one of those bands who I never really listen to, but whose records I inevitably pick up when I find them used. It’s like we keep bumping into each other, Sheavy and I, and we have a little bit of awkward conversation — “Oh hey, didn’t see you there, guess I’ll buy you because you’re stoner rock and I’m the stoner rock guy…” — and then they sit on my shelf and gather dust. Blah.

Nothing against them, I’m just not that into it, and to be fair, I don’t have Blue Sky Mind, which as I understand it is their best work. But, already owning Synchronized and The Electric Sleep, I picked up 2005’s Republic? for five bucks a couple weeks back at Vintage Vinyl here in Jersey, thinking the worst that could happen would be the record sucked and I wouldn’t listen to it again.

Well, I’ve listened to it once — not even the whole way through — and that’s it. I don’t know why, since I get off on all kinds of generic stoner stuff, but Sheavy doesn’t do it for me. Vocalist Steve Hennessey’s Ozzy impression is spot on, the riffs are cool and there’s nothing wrong with the sound of the band, but I have a hard time convincing myself I care. Republic? is no different.

Am I way off on this one? Is there something I’m missing? Maybe when they drop their new album, The Golden Age of Daredevils, this fall, I’ll give it another shot. Or maybe I’ll just wait a year or two, find it used, and be underwhelmed. One never knows how these things will work out.

In case you were wondering whether opening for Pentagram in your hometown might ever have some positive benefits, witness Chicago’s recently reviewed The Atlas Moth, who are the latest act from Christopher Nolan’s Gotham City to find themselves hooking up with a killer label. This time it’s Candlelight, which will be releasing A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky in October.

As per the PR wire:

Candlelight Records confirms the worldwide signing of Chicago?s The Atlas Moth. Popular throughout the Midwest region, the quintet joins the UK-based label?s growing American roster having already shared the stage with Pentagram, Saviours, Intronaut, Nachtmystium, Wolves in the Throne Room, Coalesce and many others. Recently completing tracking at Chicago?s Phase Recordings, the doom warriors expect to hit the road in the next month performing tracks from their forthcoming label debut.

A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky, featuring artwork by Ryan Kasparian, is scheduled for American release on October 6. Produced by the band with post-production work handled by Michael Kandel (Tranquility Bass), the album showcases the band?s triple-guitar wall of sound that is sure to leave a lasting impression. Clocking in at just under an hour, the album?s eight metal epics are dynamic, expressive, and heavier than sin. Looking back on the album?s creation, guitarist/vocalist Stavros reveals, “A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky became something none of us could have expected. It is a completely collaborative record, from start to finish. It really is a true representation of our band.”

Track listing for A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky:
1. A Night In Venus’ Arms…
2. A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky
3. Grey Wolves
4. Our Sun, Our Saviour
5. Extraordinary Claims Require Extraordinary Evidence
6. One Amongst the Wheat Fields
7. Jump Room to Orion
8. …Leads to a Lifetime on Mercury

When it comes to doom riffs, speaking mathematically, the scale goes like this: Tony Iommi > Leif Edling > Everyone Else All The Time Ever. As bassist and main songwriter for Swedish lords Candlemass (not to mention being known as having one the world’s most extensive collections of Black Sabbath records and memorabilia), Edling has been responsible for some of the greatest underground doom anthems of all time. Songs like “Under the Oak,” “Solitude,” “Demon’s Gate,” “A Sorcerer’s Pledge” — and that’s just on 1986’s Epicus Doomicus Metallicus! The guy’s got a whole catalog like that (soon to include Death Magic Doom, highly anticipated in the valley and due later this year), not to mention the work he’s done with Krux alongside singer Mats Lev?n (ex-Therion), who nearly took Messiah Marcolin’s place in Candlemass following that singer’s alleged trip off the deep end.

Songs of Torment, Songs of Joy (Candlelight/GMR) is Leif Edling’s first true solo offering following the collection of Candlemass demos released under his name in 2002, The Black Heart of Candlemass. And that is precisely what Edling has always been; the life force pumping the blood below the surface of that band, while others reap the notoriety and bask in the limelight.

That is perhaps all the more confirmed by the fact that, though it wouldn’t necessarily be surprising if for his solo album Edling chose to go in a completely different musical direction (? la Abstrakt Algebra, the power metal band he took on following Candlemass‘ original breakup after 1999’s From the 13th Sun), he decided to make an effort of pure doom and release it in his name. This is Leif Edling. He is doom.

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