The dudes from Orthodox Fuzz checked in to let me (and, more likely, everyone else who sees this) know about the inaugural We’re all Doomed Festival on March 20 in Houston. It’s set to take place at the White Swan Live and feature, along with Orthodox Fuzz, the likes of Project Armageddon, Black Hole Caravan, Soul Crusher, Sanctus Bellum, Heavy Stoned, The Morning Becomes and All Dead Here. If that seems like a lot of info to take in one shot, here it is in poster form:

Rumor has it the whole night will be broadcast on local access. I, for one, look forward to reaping the benefits of someone else’s hard work via YouTube later.

If you’ve got a couple minutes to kill at work this afternoon and feel like listening to someone’s rehearsal tapes (hey, it happens), pop over to Grim Reefer‘s MySpace. The British Columbia band — who, yes, have taken their name from a Bongzilla song — consists only of two members: guitarist/vocalist Dragos Baciu and drummer Tanner Hartmann. They’ve upload two tracks so far, “Kief” and “Third Lung.” Both were recorded live.

And they sound like it. I don’t know if I’ve ever put forth my theory on crappy practice recordings in this space, but I’m a huge fan of the idea of them. Think back to the heavy metal days of demo trading and how it changed the world. What’s different, other than the lack of postage needing to be paid? Grim Reefer, whose sound quality is better than plenty I’ve heard, are participating in a grand tradition (actually several). So, you know, good for them.

I won’t go so far as to say it’s mandatory listening, but again, if you have a minute to check it out, you might find Grim Reefer worth keeping on your radar. You don’t get so much of a sense of it from these recordings, because Baciu‘s guitar comes across so thickly, but they could use a bassist. Hopefully they’ll get to work on that and drop an update with whatever they do next. Meantime: free music, goofy name, derivatively weedian ideology. Life could be worse.

What New York City rockers The Brought Low have always managed to do best is get right to the point, and on their latest offering, the appropriately titled Third Album (Small Stone), the trio make it known right away that they’re open for business. “Old Century Man” is an upbeat rocker that plays directly into the trio’s old fashioned classic rock aesthetic. That song could be said to be the mission statement for the eight tracks following it, but The Brought Low do more sonically than hit overdrive for three minutes at a time and call it a day.

Which is fortunate, if you think about it, because if they did, we would have waited four years for a 27-minute record. And that seems silly somehow.

But no, The Brought Low offer substance in more than just temporal fashion right off the bat. There has always been an underlying emotionality to their songs, a blues-driven sense of loss made palpable to the listener through the vocals of guitarist Ben Smith. “Everybody Loves a Whore” keeps the vibe of the opener going, albeit more aggressively (or many that’s just me reacting to the name), but with “The Kelly Rose,” the band begins to show a personality in their work that 2006’s Right on Time had, at its strongest moments, started to fulfill. “The Kelly Rose” is catchy and memorable — a solid transition into “A Thousand Miles Away,” which takes a wistful, acoustic turn, highlighting a road-weary loneliness in the lyrics that’s perfectly suited to the pop melancholy of the music.

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Why, it feels like less than a month ago, I was putting up a review of Swedish post-doomers Kongh‘s second album, Shadows of the Shapeless. Oh wait, that was less than a month ago. Well, in the time since, Kongh have hit the big time and premiered a track via our friends over at BrooklynVegan.com. The song is called “Voice of the Below,” and because BV‘s a little less tightassed with their hosting than some of their more corporatized fellow outlets, here it is, followed by some PR wire info:

Kongh – Voice of the Below

Appearing on the Swedes’ second album, Shadows of the Shapeless, “Voice of the Below” shows off the band’s intense brand of progressive doom metal. Kongh’s sound covers vast musical ground — from forward-charging sludge metal to icy doom to ambient rock — yet it is delivered seamlessly and with unstoppable momentum.

Shadows of the Shapeless sees its first official US release on March 30 via Seventh Rule Recordings. Shadows of the Shapeless was originally released in Europe by Trust No One Recordings (Isis, Khanate, Cult of Luna) in 2009.

With the early fuzz tone of the guitar and the insistent rhythm, it’s uncanny how much “In the End” from Highway Child’s second album through Elektrohasch Schallplatten, Sanctuary Come, sounds like “Hey Bulldog” from The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine. With the McCartneyist piano bounce (transposed onto an organ, interestingly) of the memorable “When the Sun Burned the Ground” following immediately, the record very quickly becomes a mystery tour of the most magical variety, offering moments of Lennon, McCartney and Lennon/McCartney as filtered through retro tones and psychedelic tropes that, while sounding vintage, are actually modern innovations to the genre.

“When the Sun Burned the Ground” might be the highlight of Sanctuary Come, but even if it is, it’s only because of the function it serves in the side one medley of songs. Opener “Red, White and Blue” (gone before you know it, so smoothly does it lead into the next song), “In the End,” “When the Sun Burned the Ground” and the title track take the Abbey Road approach and bleed into one another while at the same time introducing vastly different musical ideas. The title track takes the hopping piano notes already used and puts them atop a droning fuzz riff with swirling noises to accompany. Only the silence that follows “Sanctuary Come” lets you know you’re into another phase of the record.

All well and good, but it’s worth noting how much of a departure it is for the Danish four-piece. Last year’s On the Old Kings Road debut felt more garage rock and less lush than many of these tracks, and was playful in a less mature or sophisticated way. The songwriting on that album was good, but Sanctuary Come feels put together on a different level entirely. Not only is the band worrying about guitar, bass and drums, but organs, guest spots from the likes of Lorenzo Woodrose (he shows up on “Turn Me On”) and other dashes here and there of Sgt. Pepper to throw into the mix. “Once is Once too Much,” the first song after the medley ends, takes a Lennon-solo feel and works it into their already established frame of psych. Vocalist Patrick Heinsøe, for what it’s worth, does a more than respectable job adapting to the demands of the song.

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Floridian doom duo (or doomuo, if you’d prefer) Dark Castle have announced a slew of new dates, including several showcases at this year’s SXSW music festival in Austin, Texas, for the likes of Chronic Youth, 20 Buck Spin/Profound Lore and the fine folks at Brooklyn Vegan. The PR wire has more:

Dark Castle have also secured a supporting slot on Kylesa‘s Spring European tour, which plows through France, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Greece, Finland and Norway, with appearances at several festivals including Metalorgie (France), Impetus (Switzerland) and AsymetryFestival (Poland). The tour will share the stage with Shrinebuilder, Eyehategod, Nachtmystium, Electric Wizard and more along the way.

Dark Castle SXSW 2010 shows:
3/17/2010 Emo’s – Austin, TX
Brooklyn Vegan showcase w/ Torche, The Atlas Moth, Skeletonwitch

3/18/2010 East End Tattoo – Austin, TX
Chronic Youth showcase w/ The Atlas Moth

3/19/2010 Headhunter’s – Austin, TX
Profound Lore/20 Buck Spin showcase w/ White Mice, Liturgy, Salome, Coffinworm, Yakuza, The Atlas Moth, The Endless Blockade and more

3/20/2010 Plush – Austin, TX
Giant Steps Productions showcase w/ Irepress, Battlefields, Caspian and more

Dark Castle European tour w/ Kylesa:
4/07/2010 Trix – Antwerp, Belgium
4/08/2010 Nantes, France – Metalorgie Festival w/ Baroness
4/09/2010 Santana 27 – Bilbao, Spain
4/10/2010 Porto Rio – Porto, Portugal
4/11/2010 Ritmo & Compas – Madrid, Spain
4/12/2010 Be Cool – Barcelona, Spain
4/13/2010 Le Confort Moderne – Poitiers, France
4/14/2010 Le Grand Mix – Lille, France
4/16/2010 L’autre Canal – Nancy, France
4/17/2010 Impetus Festival – Lausanne, Switzerland w/ Eyehategod
4/18/2010 Grnd Zero Vaise – Lyon, France
4/20/2010 La Maroquenerie – Paris, France w/ Shrinebuilder
4/21/2010 Substage – Karlsruhe, Germany w/ Shrinebuilder, Eyehategod
4/22/2010 Covo – Bologna, Italy
4/23/2010 Bloom – Mezzago – Italy w/ Shrinebuilder
4/24/2010 Kapu – Linz, Austria
4/25/2010 Sfentona Club – Athens, Greece
4/27/2010 Tavastia – Helsinki, Finland
4/28/2010 The Garage – Oslo, Norway
4/30/2010 Asymetry Festival – Wroclaw, Poland w/ Electric Wizard, Shrinebuilder, Zu, Nachtmystium
5/01/2010 Ucho – Gdynia, Poland
5/02/2010 Archiv – Potsdam,Germany

You know and I know that I’m a wordy bastard. I don’t make any attempt to hide it. Hey, this is my site. If I can’t be verbose here, what’s the point? You don’t have to read it all, and if you do anyway, thanks. If not, I understand. If this was just some schmuck’s corner of the internet I went to for tour dates and the like, I might not want to make my way through a 900-word Citay review either. I understand.

The basic question is, “Can I give at least a semi-comprehensive review of a CD in 50 words or under?” Let’s find out:

Luna Negra, Soundproof Demo
Looks like Natas, sounds like Kyuss, comes from Poland. Unsigned and instrumental. Desert riffy, definitely missing a vocalist here and there. Two guitarists, neither could sing? Points for calling their label Mustache Ministry, but nothing sonically mind-blowing. Middle of the road stoner. Maybe forgettable, but not terrible.

Grand total: 47 words.

Of course, this was a lot easier to do with Band X‘s demo than it would be with a release of greater consequence, but give me a break. I’ve dropped 350 words on 7″s with two songs on them, so it works both ways. In any case, experiment successful. It can be done. But you know, don’t expect it to be on any kind of regular basis.

Of course, those of us around The Obelisk already knew from the interview with Jake Adams from back in December that Virginian rockers Valkyrie were working with MeteorCity on reissues of their first two albums, but hey, sometimes even the PR wire can’t keep up with all the breaking news that comes out of this place. The following update came in about release dates for said reissues. Check it out:

Virginia-based heavy rock band Valkyrie recently signed a deal with MeteorCity. MeteorCity will reissue both Valkyrie‘s self-titled debut album and their second album, Man of Two Visions. Release dates are set for July 5 (Europe) and July 6 (North America).

Valkyrie has also announced appearances at the first annual Fever to Sing festival in Blacksburg, Virginia, on the weekend of March 26-28, 2010 and long-running college radio conference Macrock in Harrisonburg, Virginia on the weekend of April 2-3, 2010.

Founded in 2002 in Lexington, Virginia by brothers Jake and Pete Adams (also of Baroness), Valkyrie’s twin harmonized guitar leads and clean dual vocals display a “musical telepathy” that only brothers can achieve. With a strong nod to classic doom and traditional heavy metal, Valkyrie’s genre transcending sound also pays homage to classic heavy rock bands like Deep Purple and Thin Lizzy while bringing to mind the pastoral and organic sounds of Wishbone Ash and Jethro Tull. With no regard to image, or retro-rock posturing, Valkyrie’s true, classic heavy metal assault continues to turn many heads with its impressive live shows and soul-stirring conviction.