After spending most of the day oot and aboot, it’s good to be back in the valley having managed — for the time being — to escape Frydee traffic. And just when I was thinking about how lucky I was to have skirted that obstacle, picturing something that moves really, agonizingly slow and is a force over which I can exert no control, wouldn’t you know it, Blabbermouth posted some new footage of Crowbar! Sometimes these things just work out.

This show was Nov. 18 in the band’s native New Orleans, and Crowbar played with Hate Eternal, Unearth, Cannibal Corpse and Hatebreed, which is three-fifths of a pretty cool show. Take away the breakdown-junkies and that’s a good time. Fortunately, here at The Obelisk, we don’t have to deal with it. Here’s the two-part Crowbar video:

The necessity of getting Shrinebuilder bassist Al Cisneros on the phone made itself known before his band’s show Sunday night in Manhattan was even over. In particular, a discussion with him seemed warranted because, of all the players on the stage at Le Poisson Rouge with him, Scott Kelly of Neurosis, Scott “Wino” Weinrich and Melvins‘ Dale Crover, Cisneros was in the middle, and when he took the mic at the end of the set for his part in “Pyramid of the Moon,” the night was transformed into something epic and a wave of energy coursed through the crowd. It was kinetic.

Our conversation was short, but informative. Cisneros, fresh back in California from a few days spent in Austin, TX, following the last of the five shows on Shrinebuilder‘s run, confirmed that writing has already begun for a fifth Om record and a second Shrinebuilder, that Shrinebuilder will play the 2010 Scion Rock Fest and that the legendary trio Sleep, in which he was vocalist and bassist with Matt Pike (High on Fire) on guitar and Chris Hakius on drums, will indeed be playing in the US September of next year.

And even though I just told you all of that, it’s still worth reading, after the jump, as always. Enjoy.

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I had to throw “the Movie” in that title so as to not confuse it with Ichabod‘s recently reviewed album.

Now, I’m hardly a movie critic, and usually I like to keep this site as on-topic as possible, but I just finished watching the John Cusack-ified film 2012, and I feel compelled to comment on it. No, this isn’t going to be a rail against it in the sense of some long-winded diatribe about how such an ever-lowering common denominator orgy of destruction ultimately devalues our culture as a whole, satisfying only on the level of our basest masochism in a “safe,” “fantasy” context. No, having sat through the entirety of its two and a half hours, I’ll go as far as to praise 2012 for this and this alone: structurally, it is a perfectly written pop song.

If the verses are the love story between Cusack and female lead Amanda Peet (whose on-screen chemistry together was slim-to-nil) and the choruses are the CG end-of-the-world scenes, with flourishes of tertiary characters and government conspiracies to serve as bridges and increase an alleged universal appeal, then right up to the ending, which was so ridiculous as to be insulting — not to mention the imperialist overtones — it had the exact structural soundness of some of the biggest pop hits of all time. No wonder it made $225,000,000 (that’s about 3.75 Euros) its opening weekend.

Only trouble is a pop song says all it has to say in about three minutes and this was 150. C’est la vie. Most pop songs are garbage too. Can’t hold it against them, though. As long as people keep watching, they’ll keep making it, and I by no means exempt myself. Hell, I saw it. Commerce speaks loudest.

Ever the teases, Japanese bringers of the noise Boris have posted a new video to whip up the excitement of the masses as we near the release of their third and final in the Heavy Rock Hits trilogy of 7″s, aptly titled, Vol. 3. Being Boris, in addition to these three singles, they’ve also released a live album, a split with Torche, a split with 9dw and a remix EP this year. That’s just how they do. Here’s the video:

In case you missed the other two teaser videos, they’re after the jump.

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It was one of those records I’d downloaded in my college days of downloading more albums than I could ever possibly listen to, and though the name was always memorable, I didn’t know squat about what it sounded like when I picked it up. Toadliquor‘s 2003 compilation of unreleased material, The Hortator’s Lament, on Southern Lord, was $4.99 in the Vintage Vinyl used bin. Even if it sucked, I wouldn’t really lose out in that situation.

That didn’t turn out to be a problem anyway, since The Hortator’s Lament (and a hortator is the Roman military officer responsible for crew morale and coordinating rowing) is full of mid-’90s sludge and blown out doom. I suspect this isn’t so much “Buried Treasure” as it is “An Album a Bunch of People Already Have that I Didn’t Until Now,” but on a trip that also yielded Serpent Throne‘s The Battle of Old Crow, Kaptain Sun‘s Rainbowride and the super-fancypants edition of Master of Reality, among others, I thought somehow this was the most fitting. Maybe that’s because I haven’t listened yet to the Kaptain Sun record.

But hey, even if I am late to the party, maybe you haven’t broken out Toadliquor in a while and this can be a reminder that it’s over on the shelf, just waiting for you to blow the dust off and give it another go. Let that be the worst thing that ever happens.

If we look at the discography of Southern Lord, it’s arguable that the period beginning in 2001 (say, with Warhorse‘s As Heaven Turns to Ash…) and ending in 2004 (say, with The Hidden Hand‘s Mother Teacher Destroyer) could be considered a “Golden Age.” Certainly they released some great stuff before — The Obsessed, Burning Witch, etc. — and some of their best work has come after — Earth, Wolves in the Throne Room, SunnO)))/Boris, etc. — but in terms of what the label originally stood for, the three year period 2001-2004 really captured the essence of its (perceived) doomed mission.

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Originally released on cassette by Scotch Tapes and bearing a title which when translated from the German is revealed to be Full Moon Songs, Albany, NY, husband and wife duo Bone Parade?s Vollmondlieder (issued on CD through their own Wind and Fog Records) is the kind of ambient darkness that makes your flesh feel like chewed meat. Somehow it?s fitting; I hear a song like opener ?Mandragora,? am enveloped in the esoteric drone and operatic vocals, and finally the unbridled noise, and can?t get the words ?lake effect snow? out of my mind. It must be freezing up there by now.

There are four tracks on the CD version I received, though five listed on the back of the hand-made, hand-sewn sleeve (and you?d be amazed at the effect a few dangling threads can really have on making what?s otherwise a common form really stick out), and the obvious reference point is SunnO))), but with the already mentioned operatic tendencies of Erica Sparrow, an entirely different atmosphere is brought to the fore. On ?Death and the Maiden,? as Kevin Johnston provides washes of noise behind, Sparrow recites a spoken word that culminates with the repeated line, ?The moon is hungry,? and listening to Vollmondlieder, I?m afraid it just might come and eat me. Jarboe at her best can evoke a similar discomfort, and Diamanda Galas presents a likewise feeling of drama and musical consequence.

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Please note that the headlining band with whom High on Fire will be sharing the stage in Australia does not really have “Corporate Douchebags” as its moniker. It’s actually Lamb of God, but I figured my way worked just as well, and the thought of helping to promote that kind of bullshit mediocrity via this forum turned my stomach, so “Corporate Douchebags” it is. Behold the PR wire news release, obviously edited to suit my purposes:

World-renowned power trio High on Fire has announced December, 2009 Australian tour dates alongside ?Corporate Douchebags.? The metal heavyweights will join forces beginning December 11 in Brisbane as part of a touring bill that will also include DevilDriver and Shadows Fall. The just-announced expedition?s complete itinerary can be found below.

High on Fire?s long-awaited, fifth studio album and follow-up to 2007?s Death is This Communion [reportedly titled Snakes for the Divine ? ed.] is currently nearing completion. The award-winning band worked with producer Greg Fidelman (Metallica, Slayer, Johnny Cash) at Los Angeles? The Pass Studios with the goal of capturing ?the ultimate High on Fire experience.? The album is slated for a January 23, 2010 release via E1 Music.

High on Fire / ?Corporate Douchebags? December Australian tour:
(*All dates also include DevilDriver and Shadows Fall)
December 11 – Brisbane, The Riverstage
December 12 – Sydney, Luna Park
December 13 – Sydney, Luna Park
December 15 – Melbourne, Festival Hall

I happen to know for a fact The Obelisk is huge in London. Okay, I know no such thing — in fact, I can be fairly certain of the opposite of what I just said — but that doesn’t change the fact that I wrote it on the intertubes and that makes it true. Cross-cultural rockers Obiat (interview, review) are having their CD release party for their third album, Eye Tree Pi, in Foggy London Town with none other than Orange Goblin‘s Ben Ward DJing, and they sent a flier to go with the news. Seems the least I can do to pass it along: