It’s 1:52 in the morning as I start this. I thought after listening to it this afternoon the best time to review Gnaw‘s This Face (Conspiracy) would be late at night, when everyone else had long since gone to bed and the light coming out of? the three windows in this room was the only light in the whole valley as far as I could see. The headphones were on, but I took them off because this album is too horrifying to listen to with your back to the door.

They’ve done a good job of letting their potential audience know about their pedigree, and with vocalist Alan Dubin a veteran of minimalist doom oracles Khanate and Jamie Sykes boasting time drumming for Burning Witch (the two bands having in common guitarist Stephen O’Malley, also of SunnO)))) they have something decent to brag about. Dubin‘s rasp takes center stage here — I like to imagine him hiding around a corner on Washington St. in Hoboken, biting fingers off yuppies as they walk by — and the ugliness behind is busy enough to catch fans of his former (maybe? Who the hell knows what’s up with Khanate.) band off guard. For the first 10 seconds, I had to make sure I didn’t slip in the new Napalm Death record by mistake.

Gnaw should have called themselves Gnash, because where I think of gnawing as a gradually painful process, as in a wolf gnawing its leg off to get out of a trap, a gnash happens quickly, and Gnaw waste no time in inflicting themselves upon the ear. They slice and rip and dig out a hole in the psyche, offering malevolent electronica sweeps and bleeps and soundscapes of dim growing dimmer light. I’m starting to fall asleep and all my dreams are red.

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Looks like it’s time to get the robes out. The following came in on the wire just a bit ago and is some killer news for drone heads out there:

SunnO))) is proud to present their seventh studio album, after 10 years of existence, Monoliths and Dimensions. The album showcases the core guitar duo — Stephen O?Malley and Greg Anderson –? incorporating influences from a plethora of guest musicians, bringing the SunnO))) sound to epic new levels. The band also collaborated with composer Eyvind Kang (notable for his work with John Zorn, Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell, etc.) on various acoustic ensembles, in addition to the Helios-fueled electric guitars and basses. Key players on the album include Australian guitar genius Oren Ambarchi, enigmatic Hungarian vocalist Attila Csihar (Mayhem, Tormentor, etc.) and slow music godfather Dylan Carlson (Earth), as well as Julian Priester (worked with Sun Ra in the 50s, John? Coltrane?s African Brass, and Herbie Hancock?s Sextet) and new-music horn player Stuart Dempster. There?s also an upright bass trio, French & English horns, harp & flute duo, piano, brass,? reed & strings ensembles, and a Viennese woman?s choir led by Persian vocal savant Jessika Kenney.

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Toronto‘s most righteously stoned doomers Sons of Otis are back with six more droned-out, smoke-filled anthems of echoplexed dissatisfaction. Exiled is the band’s fifth album — second for Small Stone after both Man’s Ruin and The Music Cartel collapsed following Otis releases (they’re just that heavy) — and after reading Arzgarth‘s review on Stonerrock.com the other day, I figured I’d chime in with one of my own. You know, just to make the world complete.

By way of preface, I have a great respect for Arz and his status in the stoner scene is unquestionable. He does very, very good work with unwavering dedication. Exiled he categorized as starting off strong but ultimately losing his interest as the band drifted “off into their own realm (or even further into it).” All well and good — and nine-minute dronefest “Tales of Otis” certainly is a mountain to climb — but I think there’s more at hand here than just the album getting boring as it plods onward. Read more »

One assumes Portland?s Tecumseh were thinking of their sound when they titled the record Avalanche and Inundation. Taken on that level, it?s about as fair an assessment as you?re going to get of what happens when you put the damn thing on; riff after churning riff gurgling up from the slowly boiling minimalist morass, igniting torturous drones and ringed out notes held so long the feedback literally screams.

SunnO))) is a lazy man?s comparison point, so we?ll go with that. Read more »