Some of the material on Victor Griffin‘s solo collection Late for an Early Grave — originally released in 2005 but newly reissued through Stone Groove Records — also showed up on the 2013 self-titled debut from In~Graved (review here), an ultimately short-lived project that coincided with his touring with Pentagram. They’re Griffin‘s songs, either way, as either of those records made plain enough, so to have him playing the material live with his new outfit, Pistonhead, isn’t such a surprise, especially as the band seems too new to have its own full set of material yet.

The new Griffin-fronted trio will make their live debut next month in Atlanta, playing alongside Royal Thunder, and finds Griffin joined by bassist Lee Abney — with whom he also worked in Death Row and Place of Skulls — and drummer Andrew Bryant (also of Wampus Cat). I have no idea what the plan is for the band, whether they’ll eventually get around to recording or when that might happen, or if new songs are in progress as well as playing the Late for an Early Grave stuff live — one imagines Griffin has a trove of riffs to draw from at all times, but that’s different than a finished song that all three members know and to which they’ve contributed their own parts — but a new Griffin band is only good news as far as anyone who appreciates tone should be concerned, and with the dude’s track record, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt in terms of knowing what he’s doing with the riffs and the doom and all that.

Griffin posted the show info thusly:

In support of the recently reissued ‘Late For An Early Grave’ CD and new vinyl version coming soon, Pistonhead will bring it live along with a few choice Griffin penned classics to motorize the doom vibe!

Once again teaming up with bassist Lee Abney along with Andrew Bryant on drums, our first show will be at the 529 in Atlanta, GA on August 23, 2019.

So get your motor runnin’ to Hotlanta for the lightning of Royal Thunder, Pistonhead, & Hot Ram!

(A. Rippin’ Production)

Godspeed,
Victor

Order ‘Late For An Early Grave’ @ Stone Groove Records

https://www.facebook.com/VictorGriffin.official/
https://stonegrooverecords.storenvy.com/

Victor Griffin, “Late for an Early Grave”

“You can never win/Pay for all your sins.” I’d be lying if I said there wasn’t an interval this slow, unproductive afternoon where I felt like that was exactly my situation. Enough, actually, that the lines occurred to me before I even listened to the song, and it was in looking it up that I found the above clip of Death Row, who would shortly become the revived Pentagram, performing it in Virginia in 1983. If you’ve never seen photos or footage of the band from this era, that’s Victor Griffin (Place of Skulls, now returned to Pentagram) on guitar, his sub-Gene Simmons hair and makeup rife with early ’80s metallic evil.

Frontman Bobby Liebling also delivers a killer performance, and there’s a hiccup later into the video in the chorus, but it’s still well worth checking out. I was stoked to happen upon it earlier this evening, and it proved to be just what the day needed when I did. It’s been a really frustrating couple of weeks at work, and it’s probably best if I leave it at that, so I’ll take the small victories where and when I can get them. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how it is. If you’re reading this, if you’re watching and digging “All Your Sins,” you already know. Fucking Joe Hasselvander rules, and you don’t see much of him in the video, but Martin Swaney‘s bass sounds killer as well.

Today I interviewed former Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell about The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic, his current power trio with Collyn McCoy of Trash Titan and Rick Ferrante of Sasquatch. They’re in the final stages of recording their debut album with Snail bassist Matt Lynch at his Mysterious Mammal Studios. Next week, I’ll have that interview posted (hopefully sometime before Friday at 7PM, unlike the Dave Chandler interview that went up earlier tonight) and a track premiere to go along with it, so definitely stay tuned for that, because it’s good stuff.

Also to come is some audio from the new Falling Down compilation and reviews of Pyramidal, which I wanted to get up today but didn’t end up with the time to give it its due, and Candlemass, among others, as well as the April numbers. Hopefully too the next installment of Tim Catz‘s “70 RPMs” column, which I’m very much looking forward to reading. Thanks to everyone who downloaded the podcast this week. I don’t really know to compare, but I think 120 downloads in five days is a new record as regards that, and especially after last month’s tanked, to have nearly as many downloads in a fraction of the time was pretty cool. Much appreciated.

I’m headed out for most of the day tomorrow, but I’ll still be around for much of the weekend and I hope to catch up on some emails over that time. I’m sorry if you’ve reached out for review or something like that using the contact form and I haven’t gotten back to you yet. There are some old-ass emails in my inbox by now and I wish I had more time to do a better job of keeping up with it, but it gets pretty overwhelming pretty quick.

Last time I started going through, I ended up finding more unanswered solicitations than I even knew I had, so I actually answered a handful and still wound up with more still to go than when I started. Good problem to have though, I guess. Better than people telling me to go fuck myself, or not emailing at all. As things have been pretty quiet around here lately in the comments — that post about me feeling old aside — once again, I’ll take what I can get.

Wherever you are or however backlogged with work you may or may not be, I wish you a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday.

Legendary American doom guitarist Victor Griffin — of Death Row, Place of Skulls and Pentagram — and I spoke over the course of two consecutive nights. When I called the first night for the interview, he was in the car, listening to an early mix of Last Rites, the new album by Pentagram — whom he rejoined earlier this year — and though that wasn’t the intended topic of the discussion, it was bound to take up some of the time.

What instigated the conversation was the newest record by Place of Skulls — Griffin‘s priority band. Dubbed As a Dog Returns, the album is unquestionably a reboot for the trio of Griffin, bassist Lee Abney (also of Death Row, who reunited for this year’s Roadburn festival in The Netherlands) and drummer Tim Tomaselli. In addition to getting back to their doomed roots, As a Dog Returns also revitalizes Griffin‘s lyrical explorations of his Christian faith, songs like “Breath of Life” and “He’s God” as open and honest in their subject matter as I found Griffin to be in our talk.

The second night of the interview, Griffin was in his studio working on some solo overdubs for Last Rites, and as we moved from Place of Skulls and his beliefs to his return to Pentagram and working once again with vocalist Bobby Liebling, whose sobriety has been discussed here in the past, Griffin took a step back to take a look at both bands’ overall place in doom, and his as well, opining on why in its 30-plus years as a genre, doom has never really hit the mainstream in the way of some other styles, and whether or not he’d even want it to.

Fact of the matter is this: I could go on and on about what Victor Griffin said or whatever, but what it rounds out to is this is one of the best interviews I’ve ever done. For The Obelisk or any other outlet. Victor Griffin was more sincere in his answering my questions than I could have possibly asked, and at the end of the second phone call, I felt like I genuinely knew more about his perspectives on life, music, and God. I hope that as you read through the 7,400-word exchange (with a centered photo to differentiate between the two days), that comes across more than anything else.

Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

Read more »

Today The Obelisk is proud and thrilled to have been given permission to host the next batch of audio streams from the 2010 Roadburn Festival, which took place April 15-18 in Tilburg, Netherlands at the 013 Popcentrum. Please click the links below to listen, and enjoy.

Bong live at Roadburn 2010

Death Row live at Roadburn 2010

Karma to Burn live at Roadburn 2010

Moss live at Roadburn 2010

The Lamp of Thoth live at Roadburn 2010

The Machine live at Roadburn 2010

Valborg live at Roadburn 2010

More streams and info on the Roadburn audio crew available here. Special thanks to Walter and the Roadburn festival.

Personally, I might have stopped booking for Roadburn 2010 after the Goatsnake reunion. That would be enough for me. Then the following dialog could take place between the two sides of my brain:

“Hey, I’ve got a four day festival going on.”
“Oh yeah, who’s playing?”
“Goatsnake.”
“Killer! Anyone else?”
“Nope, just Goatsnake.”
“Well, what are you gonna do for the rest of the four days?”
“Umm, it’s Goatsnake. Who the hell cares?”
“Awesome, see you there.”

And… scene. Fortunately for heads the world over, though, Roadburn organizer Walter is much better at putting together festivals than I would be. And though it’s looking less and less likely that I’m going to be able to make it to 013 two years in a row (The Patient Mrs. has more or less issued a kybosh directive), I’m still pretty psyched for all the goings on in Tilburg next April. A batch of new bands have been announced. Here’s the story from Blabbermouth:

Seminal New Orleans, Louisiana, sludge-legends Eyehategod, along with Outlaw Order and Jarboe, have been added to the Roadburn festival lineup on Thursday, April 15, 2010. In addition, Soilent Green and Sourvein have been confirmed for Roadburn‘s special Afterburner event on Sunday, April 18, at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

In other news, seminal doom legends Death Row will be part of the Roadburn festival lineup on Friday, April 16. Victor Griffin, Joe Hasselvander and Marty Swaney are bringing Death Row back heavier than ever. But this time they’re leaving the elements of deception behind? the darker images, which to some degree blinded them, and tore them apart time and again from the inside out.

Unfortunately, this reformation of Death Row will be without Bobby Liebling. “Parts of the past have certainly left scars on some of us that have yet to heal. Until then, we move forward with best wishes and prayers for Bobby‘s success in Pentagram, and in his personal life,” says Victor Griffin. “What you get from this Death Row will be the same true-to-heart heaviness you expect. Songs written during the formative years by Griffin will comprise most of the set list, along with songs penned by Joe, Victor and co-written with Bobby, such as “The Ghoul” and “All Your Sins,” which feature lyrics by Liebling.