My only issue with the limited edition tape of their new Dead Ends EP that Shroud Eater put out through Primitive Violence Records is that so far I haven’t been able to bring myself to open the damn thing. Oh, I’ve heard the EP itself (review here), so I know it kicks plenty of ass, but looking at the limited packaging — which just seems like it should have a little cutout space near the top so it can hang on a peg in some record and or head shop 20 years ago — I just can’t pull those staples out and open it up.

Primitive Violence is the band’s own imprint — there’s a CD of Dead Ends coming later this month on The Path Less Traveled Records as well — and so I take this tape as kind of the definitive version of the album, what a certain British label seems consistently to refer to as the “diehard edition.” Only 22 were made, they sold out just this past Tuesday (there are more regular tapes left), and here’s what’s included:

No, Pinhead from Hellraiser doesn’t come with it, but everything else in the bottom part of that collage does. It’s one-stop shopping for anyone who’d want to show off their Shroud Eater affiliation, with a sticker, patch and pin, and that rules in and of itself, but there’s also the full-color lyric sheet, transparent red tape and — as you can see in the top right corner of the pic above — also a limited edition figurine made in Peru that actually seems to have been the impetus behind there only being 22 of these made, since the people who made the “Death charms” in turn died and these are the last ones ever. Dead Ends indeed.

All this adds up not only to something really special for collector nerds like me and those converted to the cassette nostalgia cultism, but a complete, every-level experience for what in a lot of band’s minds would probably be a toss-off EP release. Cheers to Shroud Eater for going all out in putting the tape of Dead Ends together (even the regular one looks pretty sweet) and continuing to highlight the appeal of physical media in an age regarded by squares as digital. Awesome.

Shroud Eater, “Tempest” from Dead Ends

Shroud Eater’s merch page

Shroud Eater on Thee Facebooks

The first thing to know about Endless Void? There’s not much to know. The one-man project of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist James Owen has opted out of the internet sphere, so that even the most vigorous of Googling only results in a few hits from others writing about the band and nothing at all from Owen himself. Plenty of bands claim to eschew the social media sphere, far fewer actually do, and it means that when it comes to the background on Endless Void, it’s just about nil. There wasn’t a band, then there was. The late-2012 Apparitions demo was preceded by an earlier outing, 2010′s Final Doom, released through a mysterious AIF Records, the only website for which I found seemed to promise an all-in-one solution to becoming a rock star. Not sure if it’s the same label or not. Hope not.

I suppose there’s something to be said for trying to keep a band obscure. I’m not sure what, but something. Certainly kvlt-ish posturing has done favors in street cred for any number of acts over the last couple years, but I don’t know if that’s Endless Void‘s trip or not. More relevant, Apparitions is comprised of four grim, lo-fi cuts — “R.I.P./March of the Dead,” “Spiritualistic Medium,” “Bereaved” and “Apparitions and the Undertaker” — that bask in darker NWOBHM riffing and vague doomed allusions. Owen seems to be working from a base of Witchfinder General crunch, but the production on the tracks is rougher, giving the 20-minute outing a grim, cassette-ready vibe. The sort of pretentious vibing in “Spiritualistic Medium” — the title’s extra “-istic” where “spiritual” would’ve sufficed, for example — I’d trace back to a latent black metal affinity, but there’s next to none of that in the actual sound of Apparitions, which gives little indication of Endless Void being a one-man outfit as “R.I.P./March of the Dead” gets underway with fittingly metallic circumstance, the drums ’80s echoing behind the lyric tale of zombies coming back to life and, well, marching.

“Spiritualistic Medium” keeps picks up the pace and reminds of some of Iron Man‘s classic moments, more metal than doom, but the swagger of “Bereaved” is probably the highlight of the demo, stomping and grooving with more NWOBHM guitar compression and stops in the drums that only add to the swing. Vocally, Owen mostly follows the guitars (his), but the thicker distortion of “Apparitions and the Undertaker” to close out Apparitions is worth following. Structurally, the demo as a whole is straightforward, but a faithful representation of metal’s 80′s roots for all that, and Owen quickly ends the title-track to fade up a line of organ (presumably that’s “The Undertaker,” though I’ve not yet confirmed whether or not it’s the wrestler’s entrance theme) and give a last-minute injection of weirdness to the proceedings. Weirdness wasn’t exactly lacking, however, but even in context with the rest of Endless Void‘s oddities, the organ is a bit unexpected and its entrance awkward.

Still, if it’s rough, well, it’s a demo and that’s what it’s there for. Word on the street has it that Owen is looking to put a full lineup together, so although he’s made it difficult to get in touch with the band or track down more info, total misanthropy isn’t the aim. I guess we’ll have to see how it finally pans out, but for now, if you can manage it, Apparitions is a curio at least worth a few minutes of listening time, particularly if you’ve ever found yourself mourning the tape-trade treasures of yesteryear.

Endless Void, “Spiritualistic Medium”

One never likes to predict the future when it comes to bands and what the given response to a release will be, but I have little doubt that when the story of Shroud Eater — however that story might turn out to read — is over, their Dead Ends EP will serve as the moment of their arrival. Over the course of these five tracks, four plus an intro, the Miami-based trio showcase not only the professionalism in their songwriting, but a maturity of approach and presentation that their prior full-length debut, 2011′s ThunderNoise (review here), began to hint at. During the time since that album’s release, Shroud Eater – Jean Saiz on guitar/vocals/artwork, Janette Valentine on bass/backing vocals and Felipe Torres on drums — have played shows and toured around and beyond the Southeast, and while that’s bound to have an effect on their approach even if only subconsciously, what really separates Dead Ends from ThunderNoise and their self-titled 2009 demo (review here) is the production. That is to say, Shroud Eater‘s songs were already there, and in the emergent gallop here of “Tempest,” the roots found in “We are Beasts” from ThunderNoise seem to have broken through to the surface, but a huge part of what makes that so apparent in listening to Dead Ends (CD on The Path Less Traveled, tape on Primitive Violence) is the still-natural-sounding crispness with which the EP is presented. Whether it’s the doomly tectonics of “Lord of the Sword” or the out-of-nowhere onslaught of “Sudden Plague,” there’s nothing on Dead Ends that isn’t the most professional, mature and satisfying material yet to come from Shroud Eater. And so, like I say: Arrival.

It’s worthwhile to note that the four main tracks of Dead Ends are longer than anything Shroud Eater have done to this point. But for the intro, “Cannibals,” at 2:07, nothing on the EP is under five minutes long, which is a line the band had only previously crossed on ThunderNoise opener “High John the Conqueror.” More importantly, the songs are expansive in their reach and bring together the varied sides of Shroud Eater‘s sound that showed up before on separate tracks, so that once the initial threat of “Cannibals” is laid out — Torres‘ drums driving the point home amid not inconsiderable amp rumble and far-back whispers, blown-out shouts — “Sudden Plague” has room for both a beginning that’s utterly miserable in its doomed lumber and a contrasting second half made propulsive by Saiz‘s riffing. Of immediate distinction is the tone Valentine brings out of her bass; an asset to Shroud Eater‘s sound I’d previously overlooked. Joined by guitar feedback and creeping drums, the bass leads the way into “Sudden Plague”‘s first movement, patiently building a groove for more than a minute before crashing to full breadth. After the lead-in that “Cannibals” provided and the first two minutes of “Sudden Plague,” Dead Ends is nothing if not properly introduced to its audience, but when the second cut takes off, it nonetheless earns the first word of title. As faster riff comes to a head shortly before the two-minute mark, and Saiz‘s vocals emerge, semi-melodic in the mid-period Kylesa tradition, but functioning to serve a consuming swirl that only gets more fervent as the song moves forward.

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Some news you expect. On the other hand, some news is that Floor have signed to Season of Mist and are putting out a new record. It’s a pretty big difference. I already knew I was looking forward to seeing them on Friday in Brooklyn, but hearing there’s a new record in the works. I mean, shit man. Floor. Kind of hard to fuck with that.

Dig it:

Season of Mist is proud to announce the signing of the widely-respected underground rock band FLOOR.

FLOOR (Steve Brooks – Guitar, Vocals, Anthony Vialon – Guitar, Henry Wilson – drums) recently reunited on the heels of their career retrospective ‘Below and Beyond’ boxset, and are preparing to enter the studio for an imminent release.

FLOOR was originally formed by Brooks and Vialon in 1992, and issued singles on respected underground punks labels like No Idea, Bovine, Rhetoric and more. The band released their wildly influential self-titled full-length album in 2002, before splitting. Brooks went on to form another critically-acclaimed band: TORCHE, while Wilson formed DOVE.

Additionally, the reactivated band will hit the road for short run of dates before they enter the studio. The run will begin on May 27th in Charlotte, NC and conclude on April 10th in Birmingham, AL. Support on all dates comes from Joe Preston’s THRONES. A full list of dates can be found below:

FLOOR tour dates
Mar 27 Charlotte, NC – Tremont Music Hall
Mar 28 Washington DC – Rock and Roll Hotel
Mar 29 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
Mar 30 Providence, RI – AS220
Mar 31 Allston, MA – Great Scott
Apr 1 Philadelphia, PA – The Barbary
Apr 3 Cincinnati, OH – Taft Theatre
Apr 4 Columbus, OH – Ace of Cups
Apr 5 Cleveland Heights, OH – Grog Shop
Apr 6 Grand Rapids, MI – The Pyramid Scheme
Apr 7 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
Apr 8 Chicago, IL – Subterranean
Apr 10 Birmingham, AL – Bottletree Cafe

Floor, Floor in full

As catchy as it is propulsive, the new single “Tempest” from Miami trio Shroud Eater announces their arrival at a new level of metallic professionalism. The potential that their ThunderNoise full-length (review here) showed in following their already vicious self-titled demo (review here) has paid off in fullness of sound and clarity of approach. Shroud Eater recently announced that they’d signed with The Path Less Traveled Records for the release of a new EP, and as a taste of what’s to come, “Tempest” casts a formidable shadow.

The upcoming release, titled Dead Ends, is set for issue in May, and Shroud Eater – the lineup of Jean Saiz on guitar/vocals, Janette Valentine on bass and Felipe Torres on drums — are slated tour their way up the East Coast to support. They’ve also got shows booked this month in the south, for which you can find the info below, and have released a new teaser trailer for the EP, which is at the bottom of this post. All this should amount to a considerable level anticipation for Dead Ends, which aligns Shroud Eater to the progressive breadth of modern Southeastern heavy — bands like Mastodon, Kylesa, etc. — even as it sees them carving out their own identity within that sphere.

I’m stoked to hear how that process pans out, and “Tempest” only makes that truer. Thanks to the band for allowing me to host the track for stream and download. You’ll find it on the player and through the link below, followed by this month’s gigs and the teaser for Dead Ends. Enjoy:

Click Here to Download “Tempest”

As I mentioned, Shroud Eater will tour preceding the May release of Dead Ends, but before that, they have an extended weekender lined up for this month. Dates and compatriot info follow here:

Wednesday February 20 – Atlanta, GA at 529
With: Order of the Owl, Demonaut, Volume IV

Thursday February 21 – Asheville, NC at The Odditirium
With: Kreamy Lectric Santa, Blood Summer, Tape and Wire

Friday February 22 – Nashville, TN at The Owl Farm
With: Brother Ares, Act of Impalement, Forest of Tygers

Saturday February 23 – Jacksonville, FL at The Phoenix Taproom
With: Hollow Leg, Dead Southern Bishop, Yama

Congratulations to Miami trio Shroud Eater, who have inked a deal with emergent imprint The Path Less Traveled Records for the release of a new EP. Shroud Eater were last heard from with the 2011 ThunderNoise full-length (review here) and have been busy kicking ass on stage with an impressive list of bands you can see below, including having their set supporting Corrections House streamed live this week. 2013 keeps getting bigger and better for new releases, and if you’re keeping a list of ones to watch for, here’s another to add.

Dig it:

Formed in Miami, Florida in 2009, Shroud Eater is a brooding three-piece juggernaut blending sludge, doom and stoner metal riffs with gruff howls and intense tribal drumming. Drawing comparisons to High on Fire and Helmet with a Kyuss groove, Shroud Eater have established themselves as a ferocious live act with a uniquely refreshing take on the stoner/sludge/doom metal genre. The trio have self-released a demo in 2009, a full length album in 2011, embarked on several east-coast and Florida-state tours, opened and run an underground music venue in South Florida, and are set to release a new EP in 2013 via The Path Less Traveled Records.

Shroud Eater has had the pleasure of opening for:
Corrosion of Conformity, Corrections House, Kylesa, Floor, Tombs, -16-, KEN Mode, The Atlas Moth, Weedeater, ASG, Cough and MonstrO.

Shroud Eater is: Jean Saiz (guitars/vocals), Janette Valentine (bass/back up vocals), and Felipe Torres (drums/percussion)

Miami-based rockers Torche don’t do anything so well as they seem to delight in contradiction. Even on their third full-length album, Harmonicraft, there’s a palpable joy that comes through in the band’s defiance of the expectations placed on them. On the most superficial level, Harmonicraft is released by Volcom, where the bulk of the band’s various splits, singles and EPs have arrived via Hydra Head, and in terms of function, though the 13 songs here seem to go punch for punch with the 13 songs on 2008’s Meanderthal and wind up just a minute longer in total – 37 as opposed to 36 on the prior outing – they do so with the pivotal inclusion of a new guitarist/vocalist. Torche, who recorded 2010’s Songs for Singles EP as the three-piece of bassist Jon Nuñez, drummer Rick Smith and vocalist/guitarist Steve Brooks, are joined here for the first time by guitarist/vocalist Andrew Elstner, who came aboard to fill the spot formerly occupied by Juan Montoya, currently of MonstrO. As Montoya had previously played with Brooks in seminal Floridian doomers Floor, who reunited for several shows in 2010 to celebrate a 10LP box set, his absence from Torche was significant despite the common perception that it’s Brooks doing the bulk of the writing, but Elstner fits smoothly into that role (especially vocally), and Harmonicraft shows no backward movement on the part of the band either in performance or creative scope. As ever for Torche, songwriting is paramount, and they continue to refine their blend of weighted underground metal tonality with classic pop structures, upbeat, catchy choruses and melodies. They’re a band known for offering a lot of substance in a short amount of time – indeed, several of Harmonicraft’s tracks hover below or around the two-minute mark, and that novelty has always been part of Torche’s contrarian nature as regards the tropes of doom – and these songs keep that pattern going, with a memorability factor that at points mirrors the strength of the hooks.

Sandwiched by near-manically upbeat opener “Letting Go” and the five-and-a-half-minute relative downer closer “Looking On,” the bulk of Harmonicraft settles into Torche’s creative sphere comfortably, with the band sounding confident in their presentation. The album was recorded by Nuñez and mixed by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou (High on Fire, Black Cobra, etc.), and sounds crisp and clean, and cuts like “Kicking,” which follows the opener, and the playful later arrival “Kiss Me Dudely” offer landmarks of a quality no less forceful than prior Torche high points like “Grenades” from Meanderthal, “Tarpit Carnivore” from 2007’s In Return EP (though for my money, they’ve never been that heavy before or since) or “Mentor” from 2005’s self-titled debut. These tracks are Torche at their best, and on an album like Harmonicraft, which doesn’t follow a plotted narrative – at least to my knowledge – are essential in the overall effect on the listener. Other songs seem to serve to bolster their position, like the skater-punkish 86-second blast “Walk it Off” that ups the energy following “Kicking,” leading to the more mid-paced groove of “Reverse Inverted,” or likewise, the slower, more openly-riffed “Solitary Traveler,” on which Brooks’ vocals arrive from deeper in the mix and coated in sub-psychedelic echo. One hears shades of U2 sentimentality in the lead notes of mid-album cuts like “Snakes are Charmed,” but Torche’s tonal heft is maintained through Nuñez’ bass and underscored by Smith’s tom work. Particularly without Montoya’s involvement, it’s easy to read Torche at this point as being Brooks’ band – and maybe it is, I don’t know the realities of their songwriting process – but even if that’s the case, everyone here contributes. Following the more foreboding Melvins-style chug of “In Pieces,” “Snakes are Charmed” is one more shift Torche skillfully pull off on Harmonicraft, Smith’s frantic snare on the 1:18 “Sky Trials” acting as a palate cleanser before “Roaming”’s nod-worthy groove exemplifies the mixture of influence that has come to typify the band.

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Floridian thunderriffers Hollow Leg have been on my mind since they piled on their amps earlier this week and laid waste to Saint Vitus bar in Brooklyn at a show that also featured Clamfight and Kings Destroy playing new material. I had missed part of Clamfight‘s set because I was stuck waiting at the Pulaski Bridge for a boat to pass under, but I caught the last two songs, both of which are on their new record, which The Maple Forum will have out hopefully this summer or fall at the latest.

That’s probably the reason I didn’t review the show, though I’ll add to that excuse the fact that I was unbelievably fucking tired, as I was most of this week. Work’s breaking my ass, and if you’re reading this, I have no doubt you know what I’m talking about. Hollow Leg were excellent though, and it was the first time I’d seen them, so right on. I bought the CD and have been grooving on its Southern abrasion ever since. I don’t think they played “The Source,” or if they did, it was exclusively screamed, but they had a powerful sound, and it’s been cool to find out that’s matched on the album Instinct, which came out in 2010. Next time our paths cross, I’ll do the review thing.

Speaking of, I apparently wasn’t so tired this week that it kept me from driving to Philly last night to witness Truckfighters and The Midnight Ghost Train destroy The Station in Philadelphia. I’ll have a review of that show Monday, but suffice it to say that it was worth the trip. I have family coming in from out of town today, so I don’t think I’m going to make it to Brooklyn tonight, but we’ll see what happens. Either way, I was glad I got to see them again and I’ll have more Monday.

And if all goes to plan, I’ll also have an audio/video premiere this week that you definitely want to hear. I don’t even want to say what it is yet for fear of jinxing it, but seriously, I’ve got my fingers crossed that it works out for Tuesday or thereabouts. Later in the week, I’ll also have a stream of a 20-minute megajam by Tasha-Yar (which is locked in, so I don’t mind saying it), and the second “70 RPMs” column by Roadsaw bassist Tim Catz.

I’m hoping as well to review the new Ancestors record this week, as well as several others, and I need to send out several email interviews this weekend, so if I get any of them back, they’ll go right up. I always have a tough time putting emailers together, but there’s a growing list of them that need to be done, so it’s time I got on it.

While I’m doing that, hopefully you enjoy the Hollow Leg above and check out their record, and hopefully you have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more fuzz-fawning fun.

Four years later, I remember getting Dark Castle‘s Flight of the Pegasus demo in the mail after hitting them up via MySpace to review it. The disc was a labeled CDR that came packaged between two taped-together pieces of cardboard. Its front cover was a sticker by guitarist/lead vocalist Stevie Floyd with the band’s logo on top and the name of the EP below. And the music was a live-recorded half-hour that boasted a Led Zeppelin cover and raw sounds that only gave the faintest hint of what was to come.

And when Dark Castle released Spirited Migration on At a Loss in 2009, the Floridian duo outdid themselves in terms of growth over the course of their time together. Floyd and drummer, sampler and vocalist Rob Shaffer arrived with a coherent vision of what they wanted their band to be, incorporating influences from world music and managing to balance the varying elements in their approach in such a way as to maximize both the aural brutality and atmospheric weight.

They toured hard for Spirited Migration, and that work is evident in their 2011 Profound Lore label debut, Surrender to all Life Beyond Form. It’s a record densely-packed with turns and musical twists — this second doomed to the point of cruelty and the next embroiled in ritualistic chanting or industrial beats — but what’s most staggering about it is Dark Castle has managed to take all of these things and turn them into one coherent statement of purpose. Teamed with Sanford Parker and seamlessly incorporating guest appearances from next-gen-heavy luminaries such as Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas), Mike Scheidt (YOB) and Blake Judd (Nachtmystium), Floyd and Shaffer proved able to maintain consistency in the face of a devastating creative scope.

Away in the mountains from her new home in the Pacific Northwest, when I talked to Floyd for the interview that follows, she was working on several art projects, including a Dark Castle shirt and finalizing the cover art for the new YOB record. Nonetheless, she took time out to discuss the breadth of Surrender to all Life Beyond Form, working closely with Parker in the studio, some of the musical concepts behind the writing for the album and a lot more. Her passion and existential connection to her work shone through in her honesty and openness regarding these processes, and I hope you get a sense of that reading.

Full 3,750-word Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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It’s short at just a bit under 34 minutes, but in that time, Floridian duo Dark Castle’s second full-length, Surrender to all Life Beyond Form, demonstrates dense atmospherics and a leap in creative expanse from their last offering, 2009’s Spirited Migration. That’s not to discount the progressive mindset of the debut (even their 2007 demo EP, Flight of the Pegasus showed their potential for covering a wide breadth), but even if you compare the titles of the two LPs, it’s clear Dark Castle were going for something farther reaching with their latest, which also serves as their Profound Lore debut. To aid them in the cause, guitarist/vocalist Stevie Floyd (also bass and piano on the record) and drummer/vocalist Rob Shaffer (also guitar and bass on the record) enlisted the help of producer Sanford Parker, who contributes Moog, synth and samples throughout Surrender to all Life Beyond Form and a formidable trio of guest vocalists in Nate Hall (U.S. Christmas), Blake Judd (Nachtmystium) and Mike Scheidt (YOB).

With such a slew of appearances across its tracks, one might expect Surrender to all Life Beyond Form to come off choppy or like a haphazard song-collection rather than a complete album idea, but nothing could be farther from reality. Surrender to all Life Beyond Form is so much an album that it’s easy to lose track of which cut you’re in at any given moment, and the appearances, be it from Parker, Hall, Judd or Scheidt, are so seamlessly interwoven with Floyd and Shaffer’s sound that one might miss them altogether if disinclined to explore the liner booklet to see Floyd’s visual artwork (Relapse Records artist-in-residence Orion Landau also contributed to the layout) or the lyrics to the songs and find the names listed there. Dark Castle’s sound on Surrender to all Life Beyond Form is as inclusive as it is expansive, touching on industrial elements, misanthropic drone metal and Eastern scales, Floyd’s guitar still finding room to work in memorable riffs amid her also-developing vocal style on the album’s opening title-track. Where Spirited Migration felt comprised mostly of growls vocally, even in the song “Surrender to all Life Beyond Form,” Floyd displays the fruits of Dark Castle’s hard road labor in cleaner, still vaguely tortured moans and wails, enhancing the bleak atmospherics of the track while also floating above them. The affect isn’t wholly unlike what Laura Pleasants sometimes brings to Kylesa (the crunch of the opener’s riff aids that comparison), but Dark Castle is altogether more doomed and lumbering sonically.

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I wasn’t there to see it, but this past weekend, Miami outfit Shroud Eater reportedly devastated their hometown with Kings Destroy, Junior Bruce and Hollow Leg. As the trio is also to embark on a week-long tour with Hollow Leg starting March 22, now seemed as appropriate a time as any to post the recent conversation I had with guitarist/vocalist Jeannie Saiz about the band and their self-released debut full-length, ThunderNoise.

Now, about that album. I said in my review (and, I think, rightly) the recording of drummer Felipe Torres was unfortunate. I hope, more than that, what carried across is that Shroud Eater, while still in the earlier stages of discovering who they want to be as songwriters, are nonetheless concocting a righteous brew of sludge aggression and bastardly groove. In fact, part of my reason for scheduling the phoner with Ms. Saiz at all was to give myself another chance to underscore that very point. So consider it underscored.

What’s most striking about ThunderNoise post-review is the immediacy of it. It’s such a cliché to talk about unsigned acts as “hungry,” and I don’t think what’s driving Shroud Eater at this point is aspirations for big-time commercial success, but the impatience (perhaps brought on by the reportedly extreme heat in which the album was recorded) of the material on ThunderNoise is palpable. I included a Bandcamp player at the end of the interview, which is short by the standards of some done around here, and I hope you’ll take the time to listen to at least some of the tracks on the album.

The purpose here is basically to introduce Shroud Eater to anyone who might be interested in what they’re doing, because I am. In the conversation that follows, Saiz discusses her writing process with bassist Janette Valentine, how Shroud Eater got together, what inspired her cover art for ThunderNoise, recording the album, and perhaps most importantly, where that badass title came from.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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Creative neo-sludge trio Shroud Eater emerge from the swamp of their Miami homeland with their first full-length, the self-released ThunderNoise. The album, available digitally or in a limited run of 100 self-stamped digipaks put together with lyric sheets by the band themselves, is 11 tracks/44 minutes of modern sub-melodic upbeat sludge, not too dissimilar from Kylesa or, in parts, High on Fire, but distinguished from those groups by a rawer feel and less thrash or classic metal influence, Shroud Eater seem to draw more from the tonal well of Helmet and the ‘90s school of thickened noise rock. Vocals are kept mostly to shouts, with a few exceptions, and ThunderNoise has a couple turns on it that stave off redundancy, Their 2009 Shroud Eater EP was grittier sounding, but the trio haven’t lost any of their immediacy on the long player, and ThunderNoise is every bit as vital.

The three tracks from Shroud Eater’s Shroud Eater – “We are Beasts,” “Vesuvius” and “Cyclone” – show up on ThunderNoise in re-recorded versions, palpable changes audible in the vocals of guitarist Jeannie Saiz and in the drum work of Felipe Torres. Torres has an unfortunate snare sound that cuts through more on some stereos than others — really came out in my car, but isn’t so bad on the office computer, despite still kicking through “Shark Valley” – but on the songs with vocals, they take away from it. The drum sound in general is my major production gripe; Torres’ tom-work on opener “High John the Conqueror” sounds thin and doesn’t come across naturally as it should. Saiz’s guitar and the bass of Janette Valentine make up for a lot of ground, but there’s no doubt ThunderNoise would be even heavier with better drum recording. Not the end of the world, by any stretch. You can still get a sense of what Shroud Eater is going for sound-wise in the songs, and it’s not like basement black metal recorded into a Fisher Price tape recorder, where it’s raw past the point of being listenable, it’s just something worth noting.

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You might recall I first saw the name Hollow Leg on a t-shirt of a fellow show-goer when Earthride played NYC earlier this year. If you don’t, the original post is here. If you’re too lazy to click, they’re a duo from Jacksonville, Florida, with a penchant for guitar thickness and ass kickness. I’ve been following them on the Book of Face and it turns out they’ve just released their debut album.

It’s called Instinct, and in the true modern fashion, Hollow Leg has put the entire thing on Bandcamp for free listening. Since it’s Monday afternoon and I’ve got some listening time, I thought maybe you might too. Here’s the record and here’s the link where to buy it:

aOT010

I set myself a couple rules for this one: No farther west than Texas, nothing north of Virginia and if a band features members of Down, they’re out. That means no Crowbar, no C.O.C., no Eyehategod or any of their other offshoots. Those are great bands, don’t get me wrong, but you get into that territory and next thing you know the whole podcast is full — ditto had I included Maryland — and I think once you take a look at the tracklist, you’ll see I was aiming for something else entirely.

When the idea was originally suggested, it was an exploration of the new Southern metal, bands like Baroness and their post-Mastodon Southern prog ilk. Later it was expanded to include a wide breadth of Southern rock and metal old and new. Well, the first was a little too narrowly focused (there just aren’t 30 bands — yet — playing Masto-prog), and the second was a little too wide ranging, so I took a middle course between them. You still get the bands like Baroness, Torche, Mastodon, and Zoroaster, and you also get some more straightforward rock-type stuff from the likes of Texas acts SuperHeavyGoatAss, Amplified Heat and Orthodox Fuzz.

I’m pretty sure you’ll agree it’s a killer mix of bands, and that it covers a wide ground, from the humid sludge of Sourvein and Ol’ Scratch, to the wide-eyed psych bliss of Tasha-Yar. All but one of the included tracks are from the latter half of the last decade (I’d argue the song from 2004 and the album from which it came were a big inspiration for many of the other bands present), and that was definitely on purpose, since this is a vibrant scene happening right now. I tried to be as timely with it as I could.

In that spirit, you’ll find new music included from Torche, Kylesa (finally found Spiral Shadow at an FYE; let the record show I tried two legitimate indie stores first), Elliott’s Keep, US Christmas, Kin of Ettins, Orthodox Fuzz and The Crimson Electric. To honor readers Josh and Jason who first presented and then expanded the idea, we start off with Weedeater, who are possibly the most Southern band on the planet.

Click here or the image above to get the file, or stream it on the player above. Full tracklist with timestamps and years of release is after the jump. I hope you enjoy it.

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Thanks to all who commented for your podcast suggestions. I kind of like the one about the new Southern stuff, but I’d have to find out if I actually have enough material for it. We’ll see. In the meantime, we close out this week with Dark Castle, in honor of that idea.

This weekend is Halloween, and I’m going as “The Guy Who Spent His Whole Weekend Doing Homework.” Seriously, it feels like every week I do all this homework and then another week comes and there’s just more. What the hell is that about? Enough already.

I’m going to try to make it out to Brooklyn tomorrow night to catch Moth Eater, The Resurrection Sorrow, King Giant and Solace. More info on that show here. It’s getting awfully exhausting driving into Brooklyn for shows every weekend for what feels like and might actually be the past month, but I guess until anyone in Jersey starts giving a shit about good music, I’m stuck. Stupid lack of convenience.

Whatever your plans are, I wish you well. Have a happy and safe whathaveyou and we’ll see you back here next week to wrap up October’s numbers, get that new podcast up and — if I’m feeling fancy and have time to transcribe an hour-long phone conversation — maybe even my interview with Chris Goss from Masters of Reality. Either way, stay tuned. More fun to come.