I’ve got good news and good news. The good news is that Indianapolis melancholic doomers Apostle of Solitude have a new album in the works. So what’s the other good news? The other good news is that in the meantime, to herald this progress, the four-piece has put together a performance clip of the song “Blackest of Times” from their previously-streamed Demo 2012, and they’ve been gracious enough to let me host a premiere of it.

Demo 2012 has never strayed too far from my player or consciousness since I picked it up last year at Days of the Doomed II in Wisconsin, and I don’t think there’s been a cloudy morning since that I haven’t at least had the chorus of “Blackest of Times” run through my head since. The song has one of those quintessentially doomed melodies that Apostle of Solitude seem to toss off at will, carried across by the vocals of guitarists Chuck Brown and Steve Janiak (the latter also of Devil to Pay) while bassist “Iron” Bob Fouts and drummer Corey Webb lock in an ultra-heavy groove as a base for said melody to soar, following the song’s righteously heavy progression through a verse and chorus equally memorable and into a galloping, chugging payoff that proves more than worthy of the “oh fuck yes” response it demands.

With audio initially recorded by Fouts at Basement Rage Studios and the video filmed and edited by Janiak, the video for “Blackest of Times” is definitely an in-house affair, but it’s nonetheless a quality clip that shows Apostle of Solitude in their native habitat — the rehearsal space — and gives some sense of the dynamic from which their emotionally resonant and engagingly personal doom emerges. Between that and having an excuse to revisit the track itself — definitely deserving of another look, whatever the context — there was no way I was going to pass this one up.

Please enjoy:

Apostle of Solitude, “Blackest of Times” official video

Apostle of Solitude on Thee Facebooks

This past weekend, I watched the news roll out as Ripple Music put the limited edition vinyl copies of the new Devil to Pay album, Fate is Your Muse, on sale. The official release date for the record — the Indianapolis four-piece’s fourth overall and first for the label — is tomorrow, April 9, so the 100 copies with clear splatter LP, signed poster and artwork-appropriate tarot card insert were something special for fans who’d been waiting for the full-length to drop. And they went quick.

First it was an update that they were on sale, then one that they were moving, then 75 copies left, then 50, then less, then less. My understanding is that Ripple still has a few left as of this post, but not many, and it only serves to underscore the excitement and anticipation around Fate is Your Muse (review here). That anticipation has has been palpable in both the advance press and the fan response to the few teasers that have leaked along the way, including the video for the rampaging boogie of “This Train Won’t Stop,” just one of several highlights to the CD version, which along with cuts like  “Black Black Heart,” “Wearin’ You Down,” “Mass Psychosis” and the charm-drenched “Ten Lizardmen and One Pocketknife” shows just how much Devil to Pay has grown in terms of their songwriting since the release of 2009′s Heavily Ever After.

The band — guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, guitarist Rob Hough, bassist Matt Stokes, and drummer Chad Prifogle — will be playing an official release show for Fate is Your Muse this coming Friday night at Radio Radio in their native Indianapolis, and it’s my pleasure to host the record in full for streaming as part of the celebration of its arrival. Please take a listen on the player below, and please enjoy:

Devil to Pay‘s Fate is Your Muse is available starting April 9 from Ripple Music. More info at the Devil to Pay Thee Facebooks page, Ripple‘s BigCartel store or the Ripple Music website. For more on the release show this Friday, check out the Thee Facebooks event page. Special thanks to Ripple and Clawhammer PR for allowing me to host the stream.

The fourth album from Indianapolis-based rockers Devil to Pay and their first for Ripple Music, Fate is Your Muse is a solid collection of heavy rock songs that, if you want to take it on that level and move on, you probably can. That is, given a superficial listen, its 12 tracks and 49 minutes will probably strike one or two lasting chords with the memorable hooks of “Ten Lizardmen and One Pocketknife” or “Black Black Heart,” but where Fate is Your Muse – the four-piece’s first album since 2009’s Heavily Ever After – really makes its impression felt is in the repeat listens. Production is consistent throughout, and some fluctuations in mood are immediately detectible – the slower, darker “Yes Master” running headfirst into “Already Dead” on the CD version, for example – but the depth of Devil to Pay’s songwriting reveals itself more each time through. I’d call Fate is Your Muse a grower but for the fact that the first impression it makes is also a good one – so it’s not as though one goes from not liking it to enjoyment, just that even for one converted to the band’s brand of straightforward, heavy, riff-based rock, multiple visits pay dividends. Broken into two sides even on the CD, which adds the tracks “This Train Won’t Stop” (curious that wouldn’t also be on the vinyl since they used it on a precursor 7” release and made a video for it, but I guess there’s only so much room) and “Tie One On” (also on that 7”) the album begins with a rush in “Prepare to Die,” the first lyrics from guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, “Born to work and bred to lose/The legions of the melancholy fools,” summing up a good portion of the album’s perspective. There’s a workmanlike aspect to their riffing throughout, perhaps best exemplified on mid-paced material like “Wearin’ You Down,” “The Naked Truth” and “Already Dead,” but really palpable everywhere, and the recording itself  offers little by way of flash or circumstance, and yet Janiak, fellow guitarist Rob Hough, bassist Matt Stokes and drummer Chad Profigle have a well of traditional doom they draw on for slower, longer cuts like the aforementioned “Yes Master” or side B’s sparse finale, “Beyond the Ether,” even veering into progressive heavy riffing à la Tool on “Black Black Heart” – also arguably the record’s most soulful vocal performance, seeming to nod in the direction of Devil to Pay’s Midwestern compatriots in Lo-Pan.

Stylistically, most of what comprises Fate is Your Muse could be found on Heavily Ever After or to some extent its two predecessors in Devil to Pay’s catalog – 2006’s Cash is King or 2004’s Thirty Pieces of Silver debut – but the four years since the last album hit have found Devil to Pay a more mature act. Janiak’s vocals are at their most confident yet. He carries the choruses on Fate is Your Muse’s strong opening trio of tracks in “Prepare to Die,” “Wearin’ You Down” and the D&D opus “Ten Lizardmen and One Pocketknife” with seeming ease and smooth layering, veering into self-harmony on the second cut while leaving space for the more lighthearted sci-fi narrative on the third, a full-sounding album highlight with a thick shuffle riff and driving drum fills from Profigle. The rest of the band has stepped up performance-wise as well, and though the record is very much a collection of songs rather than one whole piece broken into parts, the persistent quality of their craft within the structures they utilize gives a more than solid flow from one track to the next, as “Ten Lizardmen and One Pocketknife” leads to the guitars introducing “Yes Master”’s near-seven-minute sprawl, underscored by Stokes’ bass as the plod gets underway punctuated by Profigle’s tom work. There are a few standout lyrics, but the last is perhaps the most resonant reminder: “The world descends depending on the frequency you send.” Maybe a bit of a takeoff on “And in the end the love you make is equal to the love you take” – it wouldn’t be the only Beatles lyrical reference; see also “This bird has flown” on “Wearin’ You Down” – but it works in the context of the song, and Janiak’s vocals recall Jerry Cantrell’s early ‘90s heyday without swiping Layne Staley’s “heyyy” mouth positioning. The subsequent “Already Dead” acts somewhat ironically as a return to the straightforward, heavy rocking side of the band’s sound, not coming near to the faster pacing of “This Train Won’t Stop,” but finding perfect positioning for its start-stop central riff between the morose “Yes Master” and side A’s closer and also delivering the title line atop cowbell and throwing a fitting bit of goth drama into the foreboding “Dead…” that ends the chorus.

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Rife with unfuckwithable plod and thickened miseries, The Gates of Slumber this week unleashed five new tracks as a Scion A/V Metal-sponsored EP called Stormcrow. The collection, produced by Sanford Parker, feels even more weighted in the low end than did their last album, 2011′s excellent The Wretch (review here), and the Indianapolis-based trio have kept the ultra-despondent vibe of that record alive while expanding the scope a bit musically, crushing as much with tone as with emotionality.

“Death March” and “Dragon Caravan” retain the memorability of The Wretch, not so much relying on hooks to grab the listener’s attention as leaving an indent behind when they’re done. The louder the material on Stormcrow gets, the deeper that indent goes, but nothing The Gates of Slumber does feels excessive or wanting for authenticity. They have become the forerunners of classic American doom over the last several years, and while it’s easy to read Stormcrow as a victory lap, it’s also a next step in their ongoing development.

Even if the ultra-Vitusisms of The Wretch left you wanting (which, if you heard them, they likely didn’t), guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon, bassist Jason McCash and drummer “Iron” Bob Fouts do the hard work here of making them more their own, closer “Of that Which Can Never Be” reminding of some of Paul Chain‘s desolation as filtered through Orodruin‘s last demo. Scion A/V Metal has made the EP available as a free download, which you can find at the link below, and the five tracks have also been added to The Obelisk Radio as of today. Doom on.

Download The Gates of Slumber’s Stormcrow EP

Indianapolis-based Devil to Pay have a new 7″ out on GloryHole Records. The songs “This Train Won’t Stop” and “Tie One On” give a preview of what we can expect on the doom rocking foursome’s Ripple Music debut, due early in 2013, and in following Devil to Pay‘s third album, Heavily Ever After (2009), they show the considerable growth that guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, guitarist Rob Hough, bassist Matt Stokes and drummer Chad Prifogle have undertaken in the last three-plus years. As a first single, “This Train Won’t Stop” shows Devil to Pay at their most vocally and musically melodically capable, writing strong hooks and still leaving room to weird out a bit within the song.

And when it comes to weirding out, the video for “This Train Won’t Stop” makes an excellent companion piece to the track, rife as it is with footage of trains, vintage booty-shaking (is there any other kind?) and live footage of Devil to Pay rocking out on their East Coast tour this fall that took them along the East Coast and up to SHoD XII in New London, CT, where they put on the best show I’ve yet seen from them. Glad to see Janiak‘s vocal development, which was so evident from the stage, has also carried over into Devil to Pay‘s studio work.

Next week (maybe the week after) when I run down my list of records to watch for in 2013, their full-length will for sure be on it, but in the meantime, I’ve got the pleasure of premiering the video for “This Train Won’t Stop” today for all your Mayan apocalypse celebrations/disappointments. Check it out, followed by some PR wire-type background below:

Just in time to see the end of the world… or baktun, as it were, Devil To Pay has released a 7” single through indie GloryHole Records, and now, an accompanying video of side A, “This Train Won’t Stop.” Filmed live in New York City, Pittsburgh, Columbus, OH, New London, CT., and their hometown of Indianapolis, the moderately NSFW video captures the band rockin’ out while the world collapses in chaos, footage of old trains and burlesque dancers. Filmed by photographer Kris Arnold and the mysterious “Stativ,” the video was edited by guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak, who had this to say about the song:

“’This Train Won’t Stop’ was my answer to these Mayan ‘end of the world’ prophecy pushers. Not only did the Maya never actually say anything of the sort, but the only monument that mentioned the date in question (in Tortuguero) was broken and couldn’t even be deciphered all the way. It’s ridiculous.”

“The lyrics basically poke fun at the very idea.” Janiak continues, “I guess if you think the world will end, you could probably make that happen, for yourself. But personally, I still have things to do!”

“The ‘train’ in the song basically is a metaphor for consciousness, energy, experience, and reality.”

The video is being released on the last day of the Mayan calendar baktun on December 21^st, 2012 and is available only at The Obelisk.  Both songs were recorded at Azmyth Studios in Indianapolis with Ryan Adkins and mastered by T. Dallas Reed at HeavyHead Studios.

“This Train Won’t Stop” w/ b-side “Tie One On” is available now through GloryHole Records (www.gloryholerecords.com) , and the two songs will be featured on the band’s new full-length CD, which will be available through Ripple Music in early 2013.

http://www.ripple-music.com/

http://www.deviltopay.net/

Details have begun to surface as to the progress Indianapolis doom and rollers Devil to Pay are making on their Ripple Music debut. The PR wire informs that they’re almost finished with the album and that a new 7″ single will be made available next month via GloryHole Records — somewhere in there resides a joke about seven inches and gloryholes, but I’ll leave it up to you to find it — as a precursor to the 2013 full-length.

Dig it:

DEVIL TO PAY Putting the Finishing Touches on Brand New Album

Indianapolis-based DEVIL TO PAY are in the process of putting the final touches on their fourth album and looking at a March, 2013 release. The new album, tentatively titled “Fate is your Muse”, is a collection of hard hitting metaphysical introspection after vocalist-guitarist Steve Janiak’s self-described ‘epiphany’ in 2011. With topics ranging from reincarnation, quantum physics, alternate universes, the illusion of time, and the mystery of consciousness itself, each song is like a window with a different view on reality.

Fusing monstrous Sabbath-like riffs with memorable melodies and intricate instrumental textures, the album takes DEVIL TO PAY to untold levels of musical and lyrical growth. Tracking began late this summer at Azmyth Studios with Ryan Adkins at the helm, getting the levels just right. The final mixes were turned in to rock n’ roll preservationist Tony Reed, at HeavyHead Studios, for final mastering.

In the meantime, DEVIL TO PAY and GloryHole Records will soon be releasing an advance 7” single on red and black colored vinyl, featuring the supercharged “This Train Won’t Stop” and the boogie-laden “Tie One On”. The record will be available on the GloryHole Records web site and at the band’s release party on December 8^th at Radio Radio in Indianapolis.

A group that started off as a side project, DEVIL TO PAY has become the primary vehicle of expression for each band members’ love of music. What began as a stoner rock outfit with a doom edge has morphed into a genre-bending and multi-faceted heavy rock unit. The band hails the almighty riff, but never forgets that the song is still king. This attention to detail is what will keep a melody stuck in your head for days on end, and what elevates DEVIL TO PAY above the monotony. Now celebrating their 10^th year, DEVIL TO PAY has aged like Kentucky bourbon, distilling a culmination of years of sweat, highway miles, cigarette smoke and hangovers into crushing compositions and bone-jarring, heavy musical moments.

With a catalog of underground releases, DEVIL TO PAY gained accolades, awards and a hard earned cult-like status. They have established themselves as the go-to band for those searching out more than just a few killer riffs; a foundation of heavy that will flourish under the Ripple banner.

For a sneak peek and more information on the band, please visit: www.deviltopay.net

Congratulations and respect to Indianapolis doom rockers Devil to Pay. Ripple Music announced this morning that it had signed on to release the fourth album from the four-piece, which will follow 2009′s Heavily Ever After. The band will be coming east to take part in this year’s Stoner Hands of Doom fest in Connecticut over Labor Day weekend (more info here), and I look forward to hearing some new material.

Until then, here’s the news:

Ripple Music is proud to announce the signing of acclaimed, hard-hitting American doom rockers, Devil to Pay to their ever-expanding roster!

The band’s fourth, as of yet untitled, album is set for worldwide release on Ripple Music in the coming months and the band will subsequently tour to knock the crowds out of their skulls, including appearances in all the major heavy rock/doom festivals.

Devil to Pay commented yesterday upon the new alliance; “We are stoked to be a part of the Ripple family and to work with one of the most genuine heavy rock labels in the world! Having released our first three albums independently, it’s clear that these guys don’t compromise in terms of putting out creative music and are the true believers of heavy rock. The variety of bands and the sheer quality of music they’ve released speaks for itself. We are very much honored that our music earned its place among their ranks!”

Devil to Pay was formed in the beginning of the millennia as a doom rock band with metal/stoner and rock tangents, effortlessly crushing skulls while simultaneously coaxing them to sing along. The band hails the almighty riff, but unlike many of their contemporaries, the song is still king. That is what separates the great bands from the shoulda/coulda bands. Now celebrating their 10 year anniversary, Devil to Pay has aged like Kentucky bourbon, distilling a culmination of years of sweat, highway miles, cigarette smoke and hangovers into crushing compositions and bone-jarring, heavy musical moments.

With a catalog of underground releases, Devil to Pay gained accolades, awards and a hard earned cult-like status. They have established themselves as the go-to band for those searching out more than just a few killer riffs; a foundation of heavy that will flourish under the Ripple banner.

Of all the discs I picked up on my recent excursion to the Middled West, in stores or at merch tables, none so far (and I had about 15 hours in the car to listen) has made the same kind of impression as the three-song Demo 2012 by Indianapolis doomers Apostle of Solitude. Perhaps it was seeing two out of three of the tracks live first and their having made such an impression that way and then following that up with the CD, but whatever it is, that was some of the best cash I spent on the whole trip, and don’t tell The Patient Mrs., but I spent a bit.

Somewhere in the depths of rural Michigan, as I put on “Blackest of Times,” I recognized the song immediately. If you ever wanted to know what kind of impact low end at its best can have on trad doom, listen to when “Iron” Bob Fouts kicks in on the leadoff cut on Demo 2012. Together with drummer Corey Webb, Fouts promulgates an insistence of groove that’s both classic and definitively modern in its style, and at the same time, the integration of guitarist/vocalist Steve Janiak alongside Chuck Brown has both pushed Brown more to the fore as a singer and presented an avenue by which the melodic complexity of the band can develop.

To wit, “Die Vicar Die,” a song that’s as catchy as anything in Apostle of Solitude‘s still-budding catalog — yes, even “The Messenger” or “Hunter Sick Rapture” — also finds room in its near eight minutes for a ranging instrumental break that lets Brown and Janiak explore guitar interplay no less lyrical than ultra-fitting and ultra-doomed early verse lines like, “How could a righteous god/Forgive a monster like me,” simultaneously expanding on the galloping riff-led finish of “Blackest of Times.” Demo closer “Good Riddance” is the shortest of the three tracks at 5:59, and also built around a strong chorus, a chugging riff straight out of classic metal driving home the growth of the band without sounding like a put-on or over the top.

“Good Riddance” cuts off right at the end — that’s how it is on my disc, from which these tracks were directly ripped — and it’s important to keep in mind that Demo 2012 is just that; a demo. The performances are live-sounding and I don’t think it’s mastered, but from where I sit it gives an excellent impression of where the band is headed for their next full-length.

Check it out right here:

For more on Apostle of Solitude, you can see the interview I did with Brown following the release of their second full-length and Profound Lore debut, 2010′s Last Sunrise, also reviewed here. Or you can just hit them up on Thee Facebooks. Either way. Special thanks to the band for the permission to feature the songs.

After garnering a welcome reception with a digital Bandcamp release during the summer of 2011, Indianapolis heavy punkers The Hedons repressed their excellently-titled debut EP, Earth on My Nerves, on CD via ResinHit Records as a precursor to their forthcoming first full-length. The trio stand in league with the current crop of up-and-coming Midwestern straightforward heavy rockers – bands like The Heavy Co. and Devil to Pay – but set themselves apart on Earth on My Nerves with a song like “Intergalactic Prism” or “Helluva Ride,” which takes head-down trad punk drive and thickens it tonally. It’s a fairly well-known adage that stoner rockers are often just grown-up punkers, and if that’s the case with The Hedons haven’t totally grown up yet. The six track/21-minute release showcases clear ideas and a genre-minded approach, but still retains a garage-style edge that comes through a rougher digital production, the limitations of which are mostly heard in Jace Epple’s drums. Epple’s playing is markedly suited to The Hedons’ sound, which veers into space rock and more weighted grooves on “Swimming the Witch,” but the cymbals sound thin and compressed as compared to Jeff Kaleth’s guitar, which is more open on that track than anywhere else on the EP.

But they’re a new band putting out their own material – ResinHit Records is a project of Kaleth’s to help promote fellow Hoosier artists – so it’s hard to hold sonic issues against them even if they do affect the listen. Earth on My Nerves still gives a solid impression and idea of what The Hedons are about, offering a glimpse of their appreciation for punk’s formative elements as filtered through grunge and desert rock’s budding tonal burl. Bassist Robert Ryan Strawsma, who also joins Kaleth on vocals, provides much of the ground for the band’s genre blend, taking the warmth of stonerly bass and the pacing of punk and making it organic and clear. The band’s overarching lack of pretense in what they do makes Earth on My Nerves a quick listen, but from “Big Bang”’s motoring groove and dual vocals, it’s clear right away that The Hedons have potential working in their favor, and among the influences they draw from punk seems to be the notion of not taking themselves too seriously, from which “Intergalactic Prism” – if there’s such a thing as space punk, this is it – greatly benefits. “Atomic Blue” continues the momentum “Big Bang” established as the opener, keeping an awareness of genre but making the meld seem natural anyway, which actually gives the EP something of a European feel, and though “Intergalactic Prism” seems to have a riff in common with Tool’s “Part of Me,” The Hedons are working in a completely different vein, as the second half of the track shows with a swirling guitar break that seems to meander to the point of oblivion before drawing back in for a final chorus.

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Released earlier this year, the debut EP from Indiana’s The Heavy Co., is unpretentious almost to the point of humility. The Heavy (Please Tune In…) is its own instructions, and across the varied 23 minutes of the six tracks, the trio seem earnest in their asking. They do say “please,” after all. The Heavy Co. (also written out in full as The Heavy Company) formed in 2008 and have a subtle and atmospheric take on heavy blues, at times veering into desert rock on the EP, and can alternately convey a sense of darkness or calm. At their “heaviest,” they seem to be coming more from a place of ambience than sonics, and the vocals of guitarist Ian Gerber back up that idea with a mostly laid back approach that’s at times overly afflicted with the blues but mostly right in line with what the song as a whole warrants. Gerber is joined in The Heavy Co. by the deft bass work of Ryan Strawsma and the traditionally-aligned rock drumming of Jeff Kaleth, and all three manage to impress in their own way, and though guest organ and blues harp from Chad Cutsinger and percussion from Jace Epple do add flourish to the tracks (Epple’s harmonica solo on “Black Tuesday” is charming enough to make that song a highlight), the band are never nearly as jammingly psychedelic as their mushroom-laden front cover might have you believe.

That’s not to say they’ll never get there if they want to, just that they’re not there now. However, The Heavy (Please Tune In…) does open in such a way that puts the focus immediately on atmosphere – the two-minute “Please Tune In…” ambient piece introduces the subtlety that will typify most of The Heavy Co.’s musical personality. Spacious, soft guitar notes ring out while Kaleth offers low-mixed (rightly for what they’re doing) fills behind. Gerber intros “The Heavy” himself with Strawsma’s warm accenting notes behind, and Cutsinger’s organ gives flavor to the song, which has a slightly Southern bent, mostly in the vocals. There’s a Doors-feel to Cutsinger’s playing, but it’s more “Riders on the Storm” than the theatrical “Light My Fire.” Again, “The Heavy” lives up to its name for the atmosphere it conveys, and it’s really more about the chill than the thunderous bombast. The vaguely Skynyrd-esque “Black Tuesday” taps into Hoosier rural tones without sounding foolish, coming off like a more countrified Against Nature, particularly as regards Gerber’s guitar tone and vocals. It’s the second catchiest chorus on The Heavy (Please Tune In…) to the closing “Caged Bird,” and Cutsinger once again underscores on organ later on. There’s a deceptive amount happening between Cutsinger, Strawsma’s excellent runs and the layers of Gerber’s guitar, but the six-and-a-half-minute “Wormwood” clears the air with a simple, no-nonsense instrumental groove.

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The above clip of trad doomers Apostle of Solitude playing the ultra-melancholy “December Drives Me to Tears” from their 2010 album Last Sunrise was filmed by Steve Janiak of fellow Indianapolis rockers Devil to Pay and mixed with audio captured by Michael Lindenauer, a noted taper who also happens to manage Iron Man. Pretty good draw for Apostle of Solitude there, and like they were at SHoD (where both Lindenauer and Janiak also put in an appearance; the latter on guitar), they’re spot on in their performance of the song.

It’s not exactly doom season yet around here — I tend to focus more on this kind of stuff when it’s cold out, and I’ve got the air conditioning on full blast as I type this — but it’s been awfully riff-rocky around here lately, and I thought some good doom might mix things up. Wouldn’t you know my head went right to Apostle of Solitude when I thought of the words “good doom.” Go figure.

Next week I’ll be posting my interview with John Garcia of Kyuss (Lives!), so look out for that. We’ll have another installment of the Orange Goblin studio update series, and the dudes in Wizard’s Beard also turned in their Six Dumb Questions emailer, so hopefully that will be up as well. Also, if all goes according to plan, reviews of Lord, Dixie Witch and others. Weedeater is playing in Brooklyn tomorrow night if you’re around. I’ve got my niece tomorrow, so I won’t be at the show, but if you go, hope it’s a blast. I think Oxbow is playing too. Heavy.

Speaking of heavy shows in Brooklyn, don’t forget that Sept. 20, The Obelisk and BrooklynVegan are teaming up to bring you a night Sept. 20 at Union Pool with three of Small Stone Records‘ finest acts: Suplecs, The Brought Low and Lo-Pan. More info on that here and here. I’ve been thinking of it as an unofficial advance party for New Yorkers ahead of the Small Stone showcase in Philly that weekend.

Wherever you end up tomorrow or beyond, I hope you have a great and safe weekend. I have some news I need to catch up on putting on the forum, so I’ll see you there and back here Monday.

Looking at the pro-shot video for “Riot in Cairo,” an Arab-Spring-themed cut from youngin’ Indianapolis heavy rockers Goliathon, it’s pretty clear the five dudes in the band can throw down. Sure, there are some white pants — and anyone who knows me knows I have a rule about that kind of thing — but the song rocks and I’m not about to take that away from the band on account of wardrobe.

They class it up with some saxophone, but those guitars are all classic rock dirt, and the show looks like a party I’d want to be at, so I figured sharing the clip was the way to go. As of now, Goliathon is in the “warrants further investigation” pile, since this has pretty much been my only exposure to them, but guitarist Derek Kendall, who sent me the link to check out the clip, has threatened that a new EP is on the horizon. I’d expect their name will show up in bold in all the usual haunts once that hits, surrounded by much hyperbole.

Here’s why:

The Gates of Slumber‘s first album with drummer J. “Cool Clyde” Paradis, The Wretch gathers eight despondent tracks of potent traditional doom that demonstrate quite clearly why the Indianapolis trio have garnered their reputation as one of the best American acts going in the genre. Their last two records, 2008′s Conqueror and 2009′s Hymns of Blood and Thunder, were the band’s breakthrough, but with The Wretch, they cut the tempos and were able to put across a minimal, miserable atmosphere, epitomized in the woeful guitar and vocals of Karl Simon.

Balance that with a depth of songwriting that made cuts like “To the Rack with Them” and “The Scourge ov Drvnkenness” as effective on a structural level as they were in terms of ambience, and flat-out, The Wretch just ruled. Simon, Paradis and bassist Jason McCash were able to keep the barbaric feel of their prior to albums while also inflicting their melancholy on listeners, and of all the doom I’ve heard so far into 2011, none of it has been quite as doomed as The Gates of Slumber. It’s not just about being loud, or just being heavy, but it’s the downtrodden spirit driving the songs.

That feeling can’t be faked, can’t be a put-on, can’t be bullshit. You’re either in it or you’re not, and The Gates of Slumber pulled it off with a sincerity and honesty that was matched by the fact that the material also rocked. The Wretch has plenty of time to prove its merits over extended listens in 2011, but more than that, I expect its timeless doom will satisfy for years to come. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s not too late.

For anyone who’s ever heard Indianapolis doomers The Gates of Slumber, it’s not exactly a revelation that guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon is a fan of genre gods Saint Vitus, but when I heard their latest album, The Wretch (review here), it was easy to see it went well beyond that. Lots of people like bands. This was something more.

As such, I knew that in asking Simon to compile a list of his five favorite Vitus tunes, he’d come back with some interesting choices, and sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Here are his picks, complete with accompanying audio:

5. “The Troll”

“I’ve been down so long, I cannot see, anyway out of me…” What more needs to be said, really? The grizzled riffing and the tale of a depressive man locked in a feedback loop. The second verse explains why the loop exists; the third brings it home: “Bats and worms are my friends; they’ll stick with me till the end… down here I am my own man…” and a nihilistic Chandler tremolo solo. Wino‘s vocal performance on this song is one of his best. Basically a blues jam which Vitus did a lot, only it’s way fucked up. I identify with the lyrics so god damned much sometimes. It pains me.

4. “Shadow of a Skeleton”

Okay, so a lot of “fans” have a real problem with the C.O.D. record. Well, I have a problem with those fans. Attention posers: not one weak track on this record. In fact, in many ways this record is, in my eyes, a return to the feeling and production values of the early days, only with the addition of some guitar harmonies. And oh yeah, one of the best singers in the history of metal is wailing all over this record. This song has a bulldozer riff that just boggles the mind and makes me want to ruin my neck; Armando‘s drumming is fucking brutal; classic lyrics about a fucking reanimated skeleton coming after your ass…. what more do you want?!

3. “The End of the End”

I am totally obsessed with this riff. The best song Wino ever sang on in my opinion, and the best one that Vitus did with him! I love the pitch shifted vocals and the syncopated drumming. The environmentally aware/anti-nuclear power/war lyrics paint a potent and timeless picture that is just awesome. I love that it has no chorus as well, only the beak down that leads to the solo. Vitus had this weird habit of saving off their most potent songs for EPs… which was a dirty trick, I think! But I love it. Thirsty and Miserable is a must have just because of this song, and Walking Dead speaks for itself.

2. “Darkness”

There is something about this open wah guitar tone that makes me want to throw things at the wall. The circular riff and Reager‘s demon wail. So goddamn good. And then the bass and drum break with Mark Adams taking it for a walk. The Iron Maiden influence is so clear here! It’s just a potent and short burst of energy. I do have to say that The first three releases by Saint Vitus had some real unique magic to them that just can not be equaled by anyone.

1. “The Psychopath”

Essentially, what we have here is a fairly standard blues formula, but goddamn if it isn’t totally taken in the most obscure and odd direction. Chandler is abusing his wah pedal the whole fucking time. Reager’s, owning it… again. How people can not like his voice is so strange to me, but whatever. A song about the M.K. Ultra experiments gone awry. But the real treat here is the main solo break. There are a few leads that really stick out for me, and this is my favorite. Four minutes into the song it starts, nice and melodic… and Chandler is not given credit for that! If Kurt Cobain is a genius then Dave Chandler needs a thousand times that credit. At 5:40, the airplane flanged shred turns into these sick and emotive bends that always give me the chills. It’s a shame that “metal” people in 1984 were totally too weak to have possibly gotten this band. But then things worked out pretty fucking well…. You can spend your life thinking about thing things that could have been. Fact is there were a thousand limp thrash bands and horrid butt “metal” bands out there, but only one Saint Vitus. And 31 years later nobody but nobody cares about Seduce or Viking or whatever… not even the dudes who were in the fucking bands. Saint Vitus ruled them then and rules them now.

If you thought you were glad Saint Vitus is back together and touring, your joy can’t possibly compare to the trad-doom revelry on Indianapolis trio The Gates of Slumber’s fifth album, The Wretch (Rise Above/Metal Blade). A self-acknowledged “return to form” for the band, The Wretch is dark and almost equally weighted emotionally as it is tonally, and the songs deal with a range of pains both existential and physical, but one can’t help but feel in listening that for guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon, bassist Jason McCash and newfound drummer J “Cool” Clyde Paradis, there isn’t a bit of the proverbial “pig in shit” happening as well. It’s hard to pull of doom this good without knowing how much you love Sabbath, Vitus, Pentagram, Trouble and the rest of the genre’s forebears.

Doubtless the addition of Paradis as replacement for “Iron” Bob Fouts (now of Apostle of Solitude) is part of what has allowed The Gates of Slumber to make a stylistic turn from the barbaric metal of their last two breakthrough offerings, Hymns of Blood and Thunder (2009) and Conqueror (2008), and Simon himself agrees in his liner notes. Paradis handles the slow material excellently, accenting the riffs and playing off McCash’s bass with both power and fluidity, and given his apparently propensity for touring, I’d be hard pressed to call him anything less than a perfect fit for what The Gates of Slumber are doing on The Wretch. As someone who had to see the band live before really understanding the appeal of their albums, it was always the doom side of their sound I enjoyed the most (big surprise), and so the eight songs here, even the shorter, faster cuts like “To the Rack with Them” and “Coven of Cain,” are a welcome shift toward the downtempo, beyond the melancholic and into the truly depressive.

For Simon and McCash, that’s the aforementioned return to form, but it’s worth noting that although The Wretch may tread ground The Gates of Slumber have covered before (as have many others), the album is hardly more redundant than is called for. Simon pulls out his best Wino impression on the “I Bleed Black”-esque opener “Bastards Born,” but rather than think of it is a ripoff or something being passed off as original, it’s so obvious an homage and so clearly heartfelt in its tribute that I’m completely along for the ride from the start. And for what it’s worth, The Wretch sounds fantastic. The album was produced by Jaime Gomez Arellano at Orgone Studio in London, and there’s just the right balance of separation between the instruments and cohesion of the album as a whole. McCash’s bass tone is a constant high point – again, something that factors in right away on “Bastards Born” – and Simon’s vocals are balanced well in the mix, clearly displaying his growth as a singer, but not at the cost of pulling attention away from the Iommian riffage on “The Scourge ov Drunkenness.”

Whatever speed the song, The Wretch maintains its heft, and clocking in at a well-rounded 55:55 (who’s counting?), it can be a lot to take in a single sitting. Seriously. Even if you go in for traditional doom and gloom, there’s a lot about The Gates of Slumber’s material here that’s just hard to take. There isn’t so much a monstrous plod to the grooving progressions as there is a hopeless skulk. It comes in the second half of “The Scourge ov Drunkenness” (does it ever) after the opener and is contrasted by the more rocking “To the Rack with Them,” but it’s never completely gone from the atmosphere of the album. Paradis seems to keep that feel to his playing despite any tempo changes, and where some drummers might inject needless fills into transitional riffs and start-stops, he sits back and allows Simon and McCash’s contributions the necessary breathing room. “To the Rack with Them” is all the more effective owing to this. The song is neither showy nor silly, and it seems to be coming to a halt in each alternating riff cycle of its verse, so that even with the quicker tempo, it maintains its downer sensibility.

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