Anyone remember WinAmp? I’d say I’m at the risk of dating myself, but the truth is I don’t care if you know how old my sorry ass is. Anyway, WinAmp was an audio program that was pretty popular before iTunes came in and swallowed the planet and subsequently gave way to the likes of Spotify and YouTube and Bandcamp and whatever else people use now. It was handy for playing those mp3s you just downloaded off Napster and were going to brag about on you MySpace page. You get the point.

WinAmp had a visualization feature, and golly gosh, the new video from Denver’s Green Druid reminds me an awful lot of what might happen if you set Winamp’s visualization to “cause a seizure” and let it loose. The clip is for “Ritual Sacrifice,” which comes from Green Druid‘s recently-issued Earache Records debut, Ashen Blood and sees release ahead of the band’s performances this May at Brant Bjork‘s Stoned and Dusted fest in Joshua Tree and Electric Funeral Fest in Denver this June. The be-robbed riff worshipers have a couple other dates as well that you can see below, courtesy of the PR wire.

The is, of course, if you make it that far without your head pounding from the flashing lights. Good luck with that.

And enjoy:

Green Druid, “Ritual Sacrifice” official video

GREEN DRUID worships at the feet of the monolithic amplifier and performs holy communion with the tremorous onslaught of murky tones that emanate from its maw. “While our first EP and foray into the world of doom could be viewed as us learning the ins-and-outs of the genre, Ashen Blood is where we really started to hone in on our own voice,” issues the band. “Taking influence from the dark fantasy landscapes of games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, we strove to create a truly doomed psychedelic experience.”

GREEN DRUID will play a handful of area performances including an appearance at Stoned And Dusted and Electric Funeral Fest III with additional shows to be announced soon. See all confirmed dates below.

GREEN DRUID:
4/20/2018 Lion’s Liar – Denver, CO w/ Necropanther, Ghosts of Glaciers
4/26/2018 Bar Bar – Denver, CO w/ Thorr Axe, Giardia
5/26/2018 Stoned And Dusted – Joshua Tree, CA w/ Brant Bjork, The Obsessed, Nebula, more
6/29/2018 Electric Funeral Fest – Denver, CO w/ Speedwolf (reunion show), Spirit Adrift, Aseethe, R.I.P., more

Green Druid on Thee Facebooks

Green Druid on Twitter

Green Druid on Instagram

Green Druid on Bandcamp

Earache Records website

Earache Records on Thee Facebooks

Green Druid are not quick to show off complexity in their debut release, Ashen Blood. If anything, just the opposite. Comprised of seven tracks and running a brazenly unmanageable 74 minutes, the full-length presents itself with a purposeful drive toward lunkheaded lumber, the plod of opener “Pale Blood Sky” pulling directly from the Sleep miieu of riff worship, thinking specifically of “The Druid” from Sleep’s Holy Mountain as a touchstone. It’s not until you dig in a bit that the complexity begins to show itself. The melodic callout to “Sweet Dreams are Made of This” early and airy solo late in “Pale Blood Sky” melting together doom and stoner impulses. The droning breadth that accompanies the tonal rumble of the subsequent “Agoraphobia.” The slow devolution into noise on the 18-minute album centerpiece “Cursed Blood” recalling Electric Wizard even as the drums of Ryan Sims stay clear in their thud as the final sustained element.

There is no shortage of low-end cinderblock-on-the-chest heft to the proceedings, as bassist Ryan Skates and guitarists Graham Zander and Chris McLaughlin (the latter also vocals) revel in the thickness of their own potent brew, but the periodically-enshrouded four-piece dig deep enough and voraciously enough into stonerism that it becomes kind of an atmosphere unto itself, not necessarily so separate at times from the murk conjured by Windhand, but definitely evolving its own direction, as the psychedelic flourish of guitar in “Rebirth” so readily puts on display. Oh, and just in case the point hasn’t yet gotten across: it’s really, really fucking heavy.

It does not seem at all like a coincidence that Green Druid have been plucked from an emergent underground in Denver, Colorado, to release Ashen Blood on Earache Records. One of heavy metal’s most historically celebrated imprints has a history of landmarks in terms of riffy fare — the aforementioned Sleep’s Holy Mountain chief among them but by no means the only one; albums from Cathedral, Iron Monkey, Fudge Tunnel, Deadbird and Hour of 13 come to mind — and even if it’s not the style for which Earache is chiefly known, Green Druid represent well the core values of modern stoner-doom idolatry, a nodder like “Dead Tree” rolling itself forward slowly but not without a fluid drive.

And surrounded as they are in their hometown by the likes of the pure onslaught of Primitive Man, the emotive doom of Khemmis, the unbridled boogie of Cloud Catcher, and so on, Green Druid succeed via the tortured string pulls and wails of “Cursed Blood” in finding a blown-out space of immersive rhythm and Iommic rollout, each righteous-for-righteousness’-sake riff helping to sculpt a niche for the band that, by the time they get around to the three-minute noise finale “Nightfall,” they’ve made their own and thoroughly dominated. Whatever it might seem to accomplish superficially, Ashen Blood proves deceptive in its ambition in displaying the band’s sheer will to overwhelm their listeners with viscous tonality, obscure shouts and jarring thud and crash. It should be considered nothing less than a joy to the already converted, and as they present their mystical lyrical themes with a bent more toward fantasy literature than cultish posturing, there’s a classic sensibility drawn from the metal of old that only makes Green Druid seem all the more human in their approach. They’re fans too. Clearly.

Four of Ashen Blood‘s seven tracks, including the knife-sharpening three-and-a-half-minute atmospheric finale “Nightfall” — not that one necessarily expected a Blind Guardian cover, but it might’ve been fun — appeared on Green Druid‘s 2015 EP, and they appear here presented in reverse order. That is, “Nightfall” opened that short release and “Cursed Blood” closed it, with “Ritual Sacrifice” and “Rebirth” in between. Forward or backward, up and down, side to side, Green Druid‘s Ashen Blood is like a long staircase down into some dark cavern that, as you go, even the torch you’re carrying — because of course you’re carrying a torch — seems to lose is light. Riffs are immersive to the point of hypnosis, the grooves varied and the ambience almost universally darkened in stretches of “Dead Tree” and the crash wash of “Ritual Sacrifice,” and none of it feels like happenstance.

If one regards “Pale Blood Sky,” “Agoraphobia” and “Dead Tree” perhaps as newer material than the four tracks that follow — and mind you, I don’t know what was written when; the album may or may not have been compiled from two EP-length releases — a narrative emerges already of creative development on the part of the band, more confident in cleaner vocal sections and showing just a tinge of The Wounded Kings-style theatricality in “Agoraphobia” while staying patient overall in their execution and turning the songs themselves into the rituals in question rather than just a means of describing same. One wouldn’t call it innovative in either its outcome or intention, but that’s not the point here so much as Green Druid establishing their place in the sphere of heavy within and without of the borders of their hometown. I’d gladly argue Ashen Blood accomplishes that, and puts out a showing of potential especially in its moments of flourish and detail that lets its listeners know the band has by no means finished growing or becoming what they will ultimately be. Yes, it’s true. Things could get even more massive from here.

Green Druid, “Dead Tree” official video

Green Druid on Thee Facebooks

Green Druid on Twitter

Green Druid on Instagram

Green Druid on Bandcamp

Earache Records website

Earache Records on Thee Facebooks

On March 16, Denver four-piece Green Druid will release Ashen Blood, their debut full-length, via Earache Records. The label is quick to break out the reminder that once upon a quarter-century ago it stood behind a relatively unknown riffy band called Sleep, and neither is the comparison moot in terms of the various influences under which Green Druid might be working, though the harsher screaming that emerges in the now-streaming-hey-there-it-is-at-the-bottom-of-this-post-amazing-how-these-things-work-sometimes-isn’t-it video for “Dead Trees” speaks to sludgier and more extreme vibes, and if you listen hard enough, there’s some Electric Wizard poking through as well.

As Denver’s heavy underground has bloomed in the last couple years around varied bands like Primitive Man, The Munsens, Cloud Catcher and events like The Decemburger and Electric Funeral Fest, the city is quickly developing a reputation for quality alongside its quantity, and nothing I hear so far from Green Druid — Earache has a couple tracks posted and the band released a self-titled EP in 2015 — should do anything to change that. Isn’t it funny how weed gets legalized and then all of a sudden there are a bunch of killer bands coming up? The damnedest thing.

Just kidding, obviously. I don’t want to go around making assumptions about anyone’s lifestyle or anything.

Info from the PR wire:

GREEN DRUID: Psychedelic Stoner Doom Collective To Release Ashen Blood Debut Full-Length Via Earache Records This March; Album Details Revealed Plus New Track Streaming

Psychedelic stoner doom collective GREEN DRUID will release their debut full-length Ashen Blood via Earache Records this March. Brooding, atmospheric, and isolationist with weighty riffs summoning the Lovecraftian horrors of the cosmos, GREEN DRUID’s music entrances listeners with tales of the Old Blood and of dismal worlds too soon forgotten.

From the label that brought you Sleep… welcome to the stage Green Druid. Brooding, atmospheric, isolationist… with weighty riffs summoning the Lovecraftian horrors of the cosmos, Green Druid’s psychedelic doom entrances listeners with tales of the Old Blood and of dismal worlds too soon forgotten.

Hailing from the land of Denver, Colorado – the first US city to legalize marijuana – GREEN DRUID worships at the feet of the monolithic amplifier, and performs holy communion with the tremorous onslaught of murky tones that emanate from its maw. Written during ‘the most chaotic and depressing of circumstances’ Ashen Blood is over an hour and fifteen minutes of crushing Psych-Doom.

“While our first EP and foray into the world of doom could be viewed as us learning the ins-and-outs of the genre, Ashen Blood is where we really started to hone in on our own voice,” issues the band. “Taking influence from the dark fantasy landscapes of games like Dark Souls and Bloodborne, we strove to create a truly doomed psychedelic experience.”

Ashen Blood will descend upon the ears of the worthy on March 16th on CD, LP, and digital formats. For preorder bundles, go to THIS LOCATION.

In related news, GREEN DRUID will rumble the stages of several venues in the coming weeks with additional performances to be announced soon. See all confirmed dates below.

GREEN DRUID:
2/02/2018 3 Kings Tavern – Denver, CO w/ Palehorse, Palerider, Weathered Statues
2/09/2018 Bar Bar – Denver, CO w/ The Hazytones, Green Mountain, Pennysick
2/22/2018 Bar Bar – Denver, CO w/ Ghosts of Glaciers, Kenaima, Vexing

Ashen Blood Track Listing:
1. Pale Blood Sky
2. Agoraphobia
3. Dead Tree
4. Cursed Blood
5. Rebirth
6. Ritual Sacrifice
7. Nightfall

GREEN DRUID:
Graham Zander – guitar
Chris McLaughlin – guitar/vocals
Ryan Sims – drums
Ryan Skates – bass

http://www.facebook.com/greendruidband
http://twitter.com/GreenDruidBand
http://www.instagram.com/greendruidband
https://greendruid.bandcamp.com/
http://www.earache.com
http://www.facebook.com/earacherecords

Green Druid, “Dead Tree” official video