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Righteous Bloom Post New Demo “Dying on the Vine”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on June 11th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

righteous bloom logo green background

Like many pieces of essential information, the fact that Chesapeake progressive doomers Righteous Bloom had a new demo made public was put out at 11PM. What the four-piece lack in web-based marketing, however, they more than make up for in distinctiveness of sound. Together with the earlier “Within Trance” (posted here) and their initial single “Of Sanctum and Solace” (posted here), “Dying on the Vine” makes for three new cuts revealed ahead of Righteous Bloom‘s full-length debut, due tentatively later this year on The Church Within Records. I haven’t heard for sure one way or another, but unless it’s already in the can, I think it might be 2016 before that record gets out.

Either way, while it’s somewhat discomfiting to hear a new band talk about “Dying on the Vine,” the demo version finds Righteous Bloom further branching out from guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt and drummer Darin McCloskey‘s past recorded work in Beelzefuzz, while also making the most of lead guitarist Greg Diener (also Pale Divine) and bassist Bert Hall (also Revelation), the latter of whom joined earlier this year, pushing Righteous Bloom from “offshoot” to supergroup status within the sphere of Maryland (and the surrounding area) heavy. Ortt plays the role of mystical conjurer in these lyrics, tossing out “clandestine melody,” “sickening soliloquy,” and “tumultuous threnody” in quick succession over a bouncing and chugging verse that has an almost oompah feel to it with his guitar-as-organ tonality. Catchy in as bizarre a fashion as ever, it’s one more teaser to make one look forward to the album’s realization, whenever it might come.

Righteous Bloom will play the Vultures of Volume fest in Sept. (info here) alongside Solace, Elder and many others. Stay tuned for more as we get closer to their full-length’s release. If nothing else, I think I’ve made it pretty plain that if these guys see fit to post a new song, I’m going to see fit to blab about it.

Enjoy:

Righteous Bloom, “Dying on the Vine”

Righteous Bloom on Thee Facebooks

The Church Within Records

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Righteous Bloom Welcome Bassist Bert Hall

Posted in Whathaveyou on February 9th, 2015 by JJ Koczan

righteous bloom logo

Maryland’s Righteous Bloom have announced that bassist Bert Hall — best known for this contributions to Revelation and Against Nature — has joined their ranks as a full-time member. There hasn’t been much word from the offshoot project who unveiled their first single, “Of Sanctum and Solace” last fall after the demise of guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt, guitarist Greg Diener and drummer Darin McCloskey‘s former band, Beelzefuzz, but Hall played on that track as well, so bringing him into the band makes sense and, most importantly, lets Righteous Bloom start playing shows.

They’ve got a gig booked for March 21 in Freferick, Maryland, with Admiral BrowningNagato and Faith in Jane, and on May 2, they’ll take part in Sludgement Day in Hagerstown, MD, with FoehammerHeavy TempleLordAkris and a host of others. A debut LP is reportedly due later this year on The Church Within. 

Info on that fest and the announcement from Righteous Bloom follow, hoisted from their Thee Facebooks:

righteous bloom bert hall

There’s been a lot of great things happening in the world of Righteous Bloom recently! First of all, please help us welcome bass master extraordinaire Mr. Bert Hall to the band!! With Bert officially on board now we will conclude tracking on the forthcoming Righteous Bloom album which will be released by Church Within records. In addition to that full band rehearsals have begun for the ‘Doom in Bloom’ show 3/21 at Cafe 611 in Frederick, MD and the Sludgement Day Fest in Hagerstown, MD on 5/2.

…looking forward to seeing everyone!

SLUDGEMENT DAY
Saturday, May 2
Wilson Ruritan Club
16204 National Pike, Hagerstown, Maryland 21740

Lo….and behold, the heaviest day on Earth. Brutal, crushing, and devastating bands join forces for this ALL DAY, ALL AGES, ALL ENCOMPASSING event! Epic bands, killer vendors, ’twill be an experience for the ages and will go down in the annals of history. Bands include:

BASTARDS OF REALITY- Black Sabbath tribute powerhouse.
BLACK CHASM- pure space rock destruction from NC
FOG HOUND- bong ripping rock voltage
ATHAME- destroyers of faith black metal.
RHIN- pulverizing hell thrash.
HEAVY TEMPLE- war chariot power space.
SLAGSTORM- prehistoric warfare sludge
RIGHTEOUS BLOOM- orbital freight liner of rock purity
FOE HAMMER- earth crumbling heavy devastation
AKRIS- droning rock subterranean destructors
AT THE GRAVES- crypt crushing melodic mausoleum doom.
GOAT WIZARD- hash soaked stoner sorcery from PA.
LORD- melee invoking bedlam berserkers
ASTHMA CASTLE- fortified Baltimore stoner metal

Join the battle, join the chaos, havoc, and mayhem that will be SLUDGEMENT DAY! $10 at the door. BYOB.

Vendors to be on site:
https://www.facebook.com/RunkTheSkunk
https://www.facebook.com/CrucialBlast
https://www.facebook.com/GrimoireRecords

https://www.facebook.com/Sludgementday
https://www.facebook.com/events/660186940756578/

Righteous Bloom, “Of Sanctum and Solace”

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Wino Wednesday: The Obsessed, “Touch of Everything”

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 23rd, 2014 by JJ Koczan

As far as The Obsessed deep cuts go, “Touch of Everything” is probably about as deep as they get. The song appeared as track 11 of the total 13 on The Obsessed‘s final album, 1994’s The Church Within. By then, the band was comprised of guitarist/vocalist Scott “Wino” Weinrich, bassist Guy Pinhas and drummer Greg Rogers, and whatever else you can say about The Church Within, by the time it got down to its 11th track, it had pretty much played all its cards. I dig that record and all, but it’s a straightforward album across the board and there aren’t a lot of surprises as it moves into its second half. Accordingly, it’s easy for a song like “Touch of Everything” to get swallowed up by all the classic riffing and rolling grooves surrounding, which, duh, is all the more reason to single it out. Presumably the person who put together the fan video below for it had the same idea.

What “Touch of Everything” might have to do with the 1956 sci-fi film Forbidden Planet, I don’t know. That one’s a mystery. But that movie — which was the first appearance of Robby the Robot, which would later appear on tv’s Lost in Space and in numerous other films and shows and which also served as a major inspiration for the original Star Trek — is nonetheless the basis for the video, and it’s been edited so that the footage more or less lines up with the song. YouTube user “DaemonPazuzu” obviously put a lot of work into editing, so I’m not about to trash the effort just because I don’t see what one has to do with the other. Screw it, you get The Obsessed and old sci-fi. I’d hardly call that a loss.

Enjoy the song and the clip and have a great Wino Wednesday:

The Obsessed, “Touch of Everything”

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The Obsessed to Reissue The Church Within on Nov. 25

Posted in Whathaveyou on November 4th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I don’t want to give the impression that about 25 minutes ago I was sitting in my squeaky office chair thinking, “Golly, it sure would be nice to have an excuse to buy another copy of The Obsessed‘s The Church Within” or anything, but more or less I was. And here it turns out that Real Gone Music are handling a reissue on CD and 2LP both of the Wino-fronted trio’s to-date 1994 swansong, which will follow the Live Music Hall Koln December 29th 1992 live album, released last year, as another post-reunion offering that may or may not act as a precursor to a new studio full-length. Obviously I’m gunning for the “may” in that scenario.

The reissue comes with bonus tracks and some new liner notes, and it’s available to pre-order now, as the PR wire informs:

THE OBSESSED: Real Gone Music To Reissue The Church Within On CD & Double 180-Gram Vinyl November 25th

Biker metal, doom metal, stoner metal… whatever metal subgenre in which you wish to place him, Scott “Wino” Weinrich has been at the forefront of it for over thirty years. The unmistakable rasp of his vocals and thick, fuzzy Gibson guitar tone have spearheaded bands ranging from Saint Vitus to Spirit Caravan to Probot, but for many his crowning achievement (and most accessible) was The Church Within, the last album he created with his first band, THE OBSESSED. Released via Columbia in 1994 (Wino’s lone major label release), The Church Within features the dark vision and crushing, slow-motion riffs beloved by fans of Black Sabbath, but the driving intensity and atonal guitar solos recall Motörhead and Black Flag, respectively; in short, this album transcends genre classifications even as it defines them.

Now, for the first time, this lost classic of ’90s metal is being reissued by Real Gone Music on CD and double 180-gram gatefold vinyl with two bonus tracks — the single, “Mental Kingdom,” and the unreleased number, “Melancholy Grey” — added photos, the original album art with lyrics and a new note from Wino himself. Everyone from Henry Rollins to Dave Grohl to Ian MacKaye has sung Wino’s praises… it’s time to join the chorus.

Comments Weinrich of the reissue: “The Church Within describes my philosophy on being; it’s really not what’s around you — man made denominations, expectations of others — but what’s in your heart, exaltation of spirit and freedom of soul. This record was the culmination of a lot of inspiration, frustration, ecstasy, anger, hope and futility. Its resurrection is testimony to the relevance of this music in our lives past and present, thank you…for believing.”

The Church Within Track Listing:
1.To Protect And To Serve
2. Field Of Hours
3. Streamlined
4. Blind Lightning
5. Neatz Brigade
6. A World Apart
7. Skybone
8. Streetside
9. Climate Of Despair
10. Mourning
11.Touch Of Everything
12. Decimation
13. Living Rain
Bonus Tracks
14. Mental Kingdom (1994 Version)
15. Melancholy Grey (1994 Version — Unreleased)

THE OBSESSED’s The Church Within will be reissued via Real Gone Music November 25th. Preorder your copy via Amazon at THIS LOCATION or through a record store near you on LP HERE or CD HERE.

http://www.realgonemusic.com
http://www.theobsessed.com

The Obsessed, “Streetside” official video

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Beelzefuzz Tease Aug. 9 Debut Album Release in New Trailer

Posted in Bootleg Theater on July 8th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

I spend a lot of time looking forward to new albums. Probably more than an adult should. But it’s been a while since the last time there was a band’s debut I’ve anticipated as much as I’m anticipating the Aug. 9 release of Beelzefuzz‘s probably-self-titled first album on The Church Within Records. I’ve been revisiting their 2012 demo since the Maryland trio were so impressive at Days of the Doomed III in Wisconsin and continue to be eager to hear how they might translate their dynamically doomed tones to a studio long-player.

Beelzefuzz are guitarist/vocalist Dana Ortt, bassist Pug Kirby and drummer Darin McCloskey, and their debut is due out Aug. 9. Get a taste here:

Beelzefuzz, Debut Album Teaser

Beelzefuzz on Thee Facebooks

The Church Within Records

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Sigiriya Interview with Darren Ivey: Emmisaries of the Stone

Posted in Features on August 19th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Welsh four-piece Sigiriya garner immediate interest based solely on their pedigree — all four members of the band used to be in Acrimony — but on their debut album, Return to Earth (released Sept. 1 on The Church Within), it’s the songs themselves that hold the attention. Likewise, one listen through Return to Earth, and it’s plain to see why the members of Sigiriya, when they were getting this project together, decided against just making it a 4/5 Acrimony reunion: Tumuli Shroomaroom this ain’t.

Rather, Sigiriya takes the riffy center that was always under the resin-caked grooves of Acrimony and brings it to the forefront. Songs like “Robot Funeral” and “Tobacco Sunrise” offer more straightforward heavy rock, and though Return to Earth gets even heavier at times (“Dark Fires” borders on metal), the album is precisely as Sigiriya wanted it to be in that it modernizes the approach of the members’ prior band without sacrificing what made them want to get back together in the first place.

Guitarist Stuart O’Hara, drummer Darren Ivey, bassist Paul “Mead” Bidmead and vocalist Dorian Walters took the moniker Sigiriya from a sacred mountain in Sri Lanka, and though that alone might lead one to think their songs would be spiritual explorations rife with sitar and vague interpretations of ancient mysticism, Return to Earth isn’t that at all. True to its name, the album keeps its head down, it’s amps up, and wants much more to kick your ass than to trip you out. Either way, it’s a killer ride. Full review is here.

In the discussion that follows, Ivey talks about what made Sigiriya come together some eight years after Acrimony‘s last studio release (a split with Japenese masters of mayhem, Church of Misery), why they did so without the involvement of former Acrimony second guitarist Lee Davies, now of the more commercially-minded rock outfit Lifer, how they got hooked up with The Church Within, their plans following the release of Return to Earth, and much more. As theirs is one of the more impressive debuts I’ve heard in 2011, I’m thrilled to be able to bring you this interview.

Please find enclosed the complete email Q&A with Darren Ivey of Sigiriya, and please enjoy.

Read more »

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Sigiriya, Return to Earth: Ex-Acrimony Members Get Terrestrial on Debut Album

Posted in Reviews on May 27th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

The much-missed British stoner rock outfit Acrimony released their last studio full-length in 1996’s Tumuli Shroomaroom. Splits followed with Iron Rainbow and Church of Misery, and the Leaf Hound Records compilation Bong on – Live Long! followed in 2007, but the band effectively broke up in 2002, so the return of four out of the original five Acrimony members in the new band Sigiriya is welcome news for any worshiper of the riff, whether they were a fan of Acrimony or not. Only guitarist Lee Davies is missing from Sigiriya’s debut, Return to Earth, (released via The Church Within Records), but the remaining four-piece is no less cohesive for the lack of a second guitar. Because it’s essentially the same band, they’ll inevitably be compared to Acrimony, and on that level, Sigiriya boast a crunchier sound, less geared toward psychedelia or excursions in the stoner caravan of yore. Stuart O’Hara (who was also in Iron Monkey) leads the way with thickened riffs, and vocalist Dorian Walters rides the formidable grooves expertly on Return to Earth’s seven tracks, while bassist Paul “Mead” Bidmead and drummer Darren Ivey inject a surprisingly metallic feel to “Dark Fires” and “Robot Funeral,” marking a serious change in ethic from what one might have expected in an Acrimony offshoot.

But then, it has been nine years, and one expects that if the intent of O’Hara, Walters, Bidmead and Ivey had been to simply recapture Acrimony’s sound, they’d have just reunited under that name, rather than start a completely new band. Sigiriya is clearly meant to be its own entity, and it winds up being just that. Familiar elements show up, but tracks like “Whiskey Song” or the brazenly catchy opener “The Mountain Goat” have an appeal surprisingly distinct from anything Acrimony ever did. Walters’ voice has shifted in feel since back when, though he still has a gruff delivery, and O’Hara’s guitar is more self-assured, less uncertain in its tone. Where in listening to Acrimony’s debut, Hymns to the Stone (1994), one gets the sense that it’s a rock record with metal production, and is a little confused on that level (as one might expect since “stoner rock” was just getting underway as a genre) Return to Earth knows precisely where it wants to be at all times, and the band are comfortable in toying with expectation and adding flourishes to their material to make it distinct. The sound of the album is full and loud and between O’Hara’s guitar and Bidmead’s bass, the classic groove of “Robot Funeral” seems to build with each cycle through the start-stop verse riff, giving Walters plenty of room to complement with his vocals, and I hear very little in these songs that should disagree with stoner metallers at all. As heavy as it is, there’s no sacrifice of melody, as the raucous “Hurricaine” (sic) proves, and though Sigiriya are decidedly modern in their approach, their pedigree sets them up to be neither derivative nor redundant. To be blunt about it (pun totally Nintendo), Return to Earth kicks a fair amount of ass.

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Buried Treasure Rocks Slow

Posted in Buried Treasure on March 24th, 2011 by JJ Koczan

Before I could finish this month’s podcast, there were a couple goodies I want to pick up physical copies of for track-ripping, and as I was on my way to the Brighton Bar last Saturday anyhow for that Clamfight show, I figured I’d stop in at Vintage Vinyl and sample their earthly wares. It’s rarely a decision I regret.

I had made a list of what I wanted to pick up — and, of course, forgotten it — so I grabbed what I could remember and stumbled upon a record called Slowly We Rock by Spancer. It’s not often I find something out of the blue like that. Not that I hear everything that comes out (from what I’m told the latest Rose Kemp album is quite good and I know literally nothing about it), but more often than not when I’m record shopping, I at least have some idea of what I’m looking at. But from the meditative cover, the album name, the fact that it was released on The Church Within and the three listed tracks on the back of the jewel case all timestamped at over 10 minutes, I made an educated guess that this was something I needed to hear.

Turns out I wasn’t wrong. Slowly We Rock is the second full-length by Spancer, a double-bass/single-guitar five-piece who hail from Germany and got together in 1999. The band’s prior album was 2001’s self-released Countdown to Victory, which followed a 2000 demo, and they also put out a split with countrymen sludgers Versus the Stillborn-Minded in 2005. To date, Slowly We Rock is all I’ve heard from them, and it’s a righteous blend of stoner heaviness, doomed low end, throaty shouts and the occasional excursion into more metallic territory.

The latter comes up a bit on middle cut “Throne of Wisdom” — the only one of the three tracks under 15 minutes long — and it didn’t occur to me until I heard the deathly growls on closer “Soulcadger” that the title Slowly We Rock could be a reference to the first Obituary album, 1989’s Slowly We Rot. I don’t know if that’s actually the case, but it’s a connection I enjoyed making listening to the slothful Church of Misery feel to the track, and it occurred to me that I can’t name a band who ever really took death metal low growls and paired it with purely stonerfied riffs. If you know of someone who did it and did it well, let me know. I’d be interested to hear it, since it’s something Spancer touch on late into Slowly We Rock (they’re in the background and contributed by producer Meiserati), but by no means the crux of their arsenal.

It was a lucky buy, all told. The Church Within usually puts out good stuff, and though this is one of the label’s earlier releases (catalog number CW003), it could just as easily have gone the other way. Spancer reportedly recorded a new album last year called Greater Than the Sun that The Church Within is set to put out sooner or later, and now that I have some idea of what I’m getting with it — barring any vast changes the intervening four years may have made in their sound — I look forward to what Spancer will do next. Heavy and stoned, for the converted.

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