II, the aptly-titled second album from the UK‘s The Kings of Frog Island is the very essence of stoner rock, packed so tightly with fuzz-laden grooves that all you can do is sit and space to it. The hypnotic vibe of “Welcome to the Void” could be prescribed as medication for anxiety disorders, and the darkness of cuts like “The Watcher” and “Witching Hour” take a cosmopolitan approach to classic heavy metal paranoia, bringing influences not only from the deserts of California, but also the echoing gospel tones of Southern Appalachia.

To hear multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mat Bethancourt (also of classic fuzz rockers Josiah and newborn amped up garage trio Cherry Choke) tell it, they’re just a bunch of stoners writing songs about planetary warfare. In any case, right on.

The album comes some three point five years after its predecessor (delivered by none other than heavy psych’s foremost purveyors, Elektrohasch), and was largely recorded live at guitarist Mark Buteux‘s Amphibia Sound Studios on June 6, 2006. Roger “Dodge” Watson provides a classic ping ride behind “Joanne Marie” and drives the rest of II deep into the reaches of a catchy, classic pop-flavored stratosphere, setting expectations high for what will reportedly be the last album of a trilogy. You’ll never guess the title.

After the jump, Bethancourt fills The Obelisk in on all things future, past and present, including what happened to bring Josiah to an untimely end and when we can expect that third installment from The Kings of Frog Island.

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Congratulations to Los Angeles psychedelic rockers Black Math Horseman (singular), who signed to Tee Pee Records and announced their first full-length, Wyllt, would be out April 21.

Going by the two tracks up on their MySpace page, the music is a kind of post-stoner rock, lots of guitar but with some spacey and ambient passages as well. Vocalist Sera Timms brings something new to the table and has a voice in the droned-out tradition of Lori S. from Acid King. Never a bad thing.

Adding weight and desert cred to Wyllt is the fact that it was produced by former The Obsessed/Kyuss bassist Scott Reeder. Looks like Spring is shaping up quite nicely.

To hear some tell it, former and once-again Warrior Soul frontman Kory Clarke has a cult around him that swears by his every word. If it exists, I?ve never been part of it. When I heard singer Eric Wagner was splitting from original Chicago doomers Trouble to pursue less-Troubly musical ventures and that Clarke was taking over, I reacted the same way as I think a lot of fans did: “Huh? Really?”

A respectfully self-released venture available exclusively through the band?s webstore, Live in L.A. captures a set from June of last year, and Clarke, who until recently could be found mic-swinging for Long Island beer rockers Dirty Rig, presents a raspy, whiskey-drowned delivery that no matter the conditions he?s performing under comes off as though he?s been on a bender for the 72 hours prior. It?s not that he can?t hit Wagner?s notes (that he can even attempt and not immediately sound ridiculous says something about his talent), but personality-wise and in terms of the sheer sound of his voice, it?s an odd fit to say the least. After seeing them on tour last fall, checking out the live record was a necessity, if only because it?s the first recorded outing with Clarke up front and as of press time he?ll be singing on the next studio album. Good to know what you?re getting into.

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Young Massachusetts stoner rockers Elder follow a relatively simple but time-tested approach that operates around one central question: What would Sleep do?

It’s a fair bit of speculation, since the inevitable answer, no matter what the circumstance is, Sleep would kick ass. Need to write a song? Sleep kicks ass. Need to find a good mechanic? Sleep kicks ass. It doesn’t matter if you’re droning out a riff or shopping for groceries, Sleep just kicks ass.

So be it. Nick DiSalvo, guitarist/vocalist in the trio (joined by drummer Matt Couto and bassist Jack Donovan) and responsible for the bulk of the songwriting, does not deny his band’s affection for the legendary sculpters of the Holy Mountain; rather embracing it, he tunes his vocals to a monolithic pitch and crafts riffs in the mold of “Dragonaut” and “Aquarian.” A new school trio just beginning to find themselves as players, Elder are off to a great start with their recently-issued — and soon to be on vinyl — self-titled full-length on MeteorCity.

The collection of five extended tracks arrives following a split with New York psychedelic mavens Queen Elephantine and heralds a new stoner traditionalism, a style at once familiar and pushing ever further into the reaches of space. It is a universe at the center of which resides the almighty riff; always spinning, always stoned.

After the jump, DiSalvo drops some enlightenment as to how Elder came to be, how the album was made and where in the hell those riffs come from.

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Over the hill to the south and down 287 and then Rt. 23 some is the town of Wayne, and just around the corner from that town’s porn shack is the Wayne Firehouse, which has been playing host to the Second Saturday Record Show for longer than I can remember. I used to go as a young kid and buy Beatles singles, my mother haggling with this or that balding peddler for a better deal under the drop-ceiling flourescent lights, and I stopped for a long time, but picked up the habit again a couple years ago, only to give it up again owing to lack of funds. With vendors from all over the state and beyond, you can be down $80 before you even realize it, staring at a Boris import and wondering where you can find the nearest ATM (the deli before you get the traffic light if you’re coming from the Montville side).

Owing no doubt to this past weekend’s romantic spirit of the Valentimes, my wife offered a trip to the record show as we drove around with relative aimlessness looking for a way to spend the afternoon. I was unshowered and in my blue plaid pajamas, a smelly Iota t-shirt recently arrived from Small Stone and a black hoodie so large it’s practically a cloak — so I was dressed for the occasion. She even said she’d come in with me, which was a shock that sealed the deal. She brought a book with her, as she often does when indulging me with a record store stop, but I’m amenable to that compromise.

It is a special breed that inhabits the record show, and going is like staring into a horrible but inevitable vision of the future; sad sacks of overweight men hustling and bustling to beat each other to that one perfect find in the room — be it LP, CD, 45, DVD, VHS, or cassette. The sellers’ contempt is palpable as you look through each cardboard box on their table, their eyes burn sulfuric holes through you as they ask if you need a bag for your measly three purchases. No, you don’t. Ever. Need a bag.

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Tilled from the most fertile soil in the US for growing traditional doom — namely the Maryland/D.C. scene that birthed Pentagram, Wretched, The Obsessed, Iron Man, Unorthodox, Wino‘s bands, Earthride and countless others — Baltimore‘s Revelation began issuing demos in 1987 and put out three full-lengths before disbanding following …Yet So Far in 1995. A 2003 reissue of 1996’s Frozen Masque demo showed there was still interest and 2007’s Paleontology collection of early works provided a tape-hissy bugle announcing Revelation‘s return to active status.

After having the shovel strength to unearth Stone Garden and put out Pale Divine‘s much-storied first release, Crimson Tears, the up and coming Shadow Kingdom Records digs its heels into the underground to license Release, Revelation‘s first new full-length in 14 years.

And they came up with a meisterwerk of true American doom.

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Pittsburgh troublemaking five-piece Vulture let loose their self-titled, self-released debut EP toward the end of last year, profering an avalanche of burly, angry doom building riff after riff of aggressive, balls-out metal. The five tracks run a gamut through modern doom, soaking up ’90s influences and spitting them out like a rain of Pipe Organ Pale Ale falling on the head of anyone who hears them. A given listen uncovers shades of Goatsnake, Melvins, Danzig, and even some Paradise Lost lurking in the growled vocals of Buddy Smith.

Guitarists Garrett Twardesky and Gene Fikhman practically beat you over the head as they lead the way through the songs with a tone both covered in fuzz and molasses thick. A well-presented crash cymbal from drummer Kelly Gabany keeps pace for eight-minute closer “Ill-Fitting Crown” as bassist Justin Bach demolishes the low end and Smith gurgles that he has become the night. Smith switches his approach readily with the music, perhaps manically at times, but whatever he’s doing, it’s never out of place in the song. The beauty of this kind of chaotic drunkard metal is that as a vocalist, he can either be the slurring, repentive crooner or the bottle-throwing, vomitous madman — it all works.

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El Rojo is the second album from Clutch offshoot The Bakerton Group. Released through the band’s own Weathermaker Music label, it finds guitarist Tim Sult, bassist Dan Maines and drummer J.P. Gaster joined by Clutch vocalist Neil Fallon, completing the foursome and making it so that any time these dudes walk into a room, you could yell out, “Hey, it’s Tim, Dan, J.P. and Neil from –” and be right with either band name.

Comparing a Bakertons record to anything but the band’s alter ego would be pointless, but there are different influences at work in the two bands. El Rojo, like the self-titled which preceded it, boasts a jazzier tinge, hooked up fusion-style with Sult‘s guitar and the inimitable groove held down by Maines and Gaster. Mostly instrumental, even Fallon, whose guitar abilities audiences have watched grow at Clutch shows over the years, adds a unique personality to songs like “Peruvian Airspace” and “Last Orbit.” “Work ‘Em” even has some words, but not much. Don’t go into it thinking you’re getting a Clutch record.

Maines rang up the valley for the phoner below to discuss his bands’ ever-evolving sustainability — they tour constantly, are more popular than ever, have their own label and can now basically open for themselves — how their touring and writing processes work and even a bit about the new Clutch record. You can click the Maryland flag below to listen and read along after the jump if you so choose.

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