From the same fertile and aggressive Vancouver soil from which sprouted stoner metallers Bison B.C. and the crushingly Melvins-esque Mendozza come oppressive sludgekateers Haggatha. The band, who issued their self-titled debut EP in 2009, now follow with the appropriately-dubbed Haggatha II full-length on vinyl through Choking Hazard Records. It’s probably not going to catchy anyone off guard in terms of overall style or affect, but the thickened sound of its seven tracks offers a fuller presentation than most of the sludge-core end of the genre while also shunning much of the “we play really fast and just pretend it’s slow” ethic that seems to typify this generation’s take. Even on the short “These Grey Days,” just 2:37, Haggatha shows a restraint that many of the beardo-abrasion types either can’t or simply refuse to grasp, and Haggatha II is a stronger album for it. Their tactics are certainly familiar, but sometimes you just want sludge to sound like sludge, not black or death metal.

Haggatha II (also referred to as “Second Self-Titled”) opens with the seven-minute “Circle of Salt,” getting its push from quiet guitar lines later echoed in the beginning stages of “Eremozoic” and elsewhere. Braden DeCorby (guitar) and Phil (bass) share vocal duties – though it could just as easily be Terry Weight on bass and vocals; the lineup info is nebulous — lending metallic screams and growls to the sizable riffage of the former and fellow guitarist Trevor Logan. “Gulag” is especially tortured in the throat-area, but the guitars contain suitable drama to add to the affect, and the drums of first-name-only percussionist Matt, who starts off and features on late-album cut “Acquiesce,” have a consistency and professional feel that helps Haggatha II come off as a record to be taken seriously. Cymbals matter. Matt’s interplay with the bass and chugging guitars is huge in filling out the sound of these songs. On second track, “Hogtide,” they practically make the piece on their own – not as blown-out as, say, early Church of Misery, but definitely up front and cutting through the other instrumentation.

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Their version might not be as rockin’ as the one Puny Human did on Sucking the ’70s II, and they may not be doing anything sonically that Monster Magnet didn’t do 20 years ago (or Hawkwind 20 years before that) but San Franciscan space weirdos Lumerians made a cool video for their cover of The Osmonds‘ song “Crazy Horses,” which they redubbed in the French “Chevaux Fous,” and I figured what the hell. For its visual oddness alone, it’s worth the two and a half minutes it takes to watch.

It’s hard to discuss Electric Wizard, the spearheads of an occultic movement within modern doom, and not get lost in either hyperbolic praise, devil references or ’70s horror imagery. Indeed, if you look at the bulk of what’s been said about the Dorset group’s seventh studio album, Black Masses (by myself as well), you’ll find it can be classified in one or all of those categories. Perhaps the best thing I can say about that is that neither the imagery nor the hyperbole are unearned on the band’s part.

Because Electric Wizard are, in fact, one of the most important groups in doom today. Their earlier works like 1997’s Come My Fanatics and 2000’s landmark Dopethrone have an influence that pulsates throughout the genre, and even their most recent outings, Black Masses and its 2007 predecessor, Witchcult Today, have been responsible for setting much of the course thematically for a growing crop of bands. As founder, guitarist and vocalist, Jus Oborn has become the very sort of cult figurehead so many of Electric Wizard‘s songs describe.

Joined in the current incarnation of Electric Wizard by American expat guitarist Liz Buckingham (ex-13, ex-Sourvein), tattoo-covered bassist Tas Danazoglou and hi-hat shunning drummer Shaun Rutter, Oborn stripped down the ultra-fuzzed style of Witchcult Today for the latest album, putting a special focus on the interplay of his and Buckingham‘s guitars and the strength of the songwriting. Since both records were put to tape at Toe Rag Studios in London by Liam Watson, it’s that much clearer that the efforts of Oborn and the band have paid off.

The simplistic brilliance of the opening title-track, the revelatory psychedelic horror of “Turn Off Your Mind,” the misanthropic “Scorpio Curse” and the sexually-charged “Venus in Furs” all seethe with an attitude and atmosphere undeniably Electric Wizard‘s own. And of those who would pretend to their Satanic majesty (see first sentence above), it’s becoming increasingly clear that none of them can capture terrors quite as vivid. There’s only one Electric Wizard, and they didn’t happen overnight. Their demented anthems are unparalleled.

In the interview below, Jus Oborn — a week under the weather with the flu at the time of our conversation — discusses the songwriting process behind Black Masses and some of his more surprising points of influence, as well as the prospect of much-demanded touring in the US, the challenges in crafting memorable choruses, and much more.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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As they’re already in the mixing stage of their next full-length, it’s probably safe to call the five-track Sign Here for Nothing EP (SCOJ Music) from Swedish heavy rockers Thalamus a stop-gap release. Perhaps it was the need to get some material on tape with organist Håkan Danielsson, who didn’t appear on the band’s 2007 Beneath a Dying Sun debut LP, but whatever the case, Sign Here for Nothing stands on its own, full of retro riffing rock in the grand Swedish tradition of Spiritual Beggars, Danielsson playing a large role in filling out the sound while the double guitars of Kjell Bergendahl (also vocals) and Jan Cederlund (who has since left the band) lead the way for classic hooks and palpable grooves. At just 19 minutes, Sign Here for Nothing isn’t by any means a definitive statement from the band – except perhaps in terms of lineup – or enough to form a basis for an understanding of their career, but it’s a step in the process of the five-piece sorting out the balance of their sound, and a good listen along the way for those longing for something retro but not necessarily vintage.

The title Sign Here for Nothing comes from second track “Breathe Easy,” on which the riff takes the lead over Danielsson’s organ and Bergendahl’s vocals, as they were on opener “Hope You Understand,” are front and central in the mix. I’m never a fan of this approach in heavy rock – über-featuring the vocals – and I find I’m not when it comes to Thalamus either, since it comes at the expense of both guitars and the bass work of Peter Johansson, which is lost in some of the low end of the organ and could easily be brought forward more. Not that Bergendahl isn’t a capable vocalist – his voice has a loose classic rock inflection that works excellently with both the music behind him and Danielsson’s backing contributions – but on the later “New Age Blues,” a more equal footing is achieved in the choruses, and it seems a more successful track for it. “Black Day Sunday” takes away some of the garage feel of “Breathe Easy,” putting Thalamus in more straightforward riff-rock territory, but it’s a fine line anyway, and the difference isn’t enough to make the song standout in a negative way.

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Someone once told me that if you had three of something, that was enough to legitimately call it a collection. By that standard, I’ve always considered three dates in a row as the marker for a tour. Even if it’s a weekender, you need to throw in that Friday or Monday date to really make it count. Can’t just be Saturday and Sunday.

Enter Italian fuzz rockers Black Rainbows, whose quality second album, Carmina Diabolo, was released last year on Longfellow Deeds. They’ve got a tour scheduled, and on the poster, they list a series of Friday/Saturdays and then, toward the end of March, a five-date run.

My question is this: Does the entire group of shows count as a tour? They’re all certainly supporting the same album, and even though the shows until the March 22 TBA date are all in Italy, they still require the band to get in a van and drive somewhere. The last five dates certainly are, but are all the shows part of the same tour? Does this count?

Feel free to check out the poster below while you decide:

Whether or not you think it’s all part of the same tour, if you’re in any of these places, you should go see Black Rainbows.

To be fair, they probably could have milked this for more than one press release. Nonetheless, venerable NYC imprint Tee Pee Records has made public its plans for both this year’s SXSW music festival and a considerably sized European tour that will take its bands through Roadburn and beyond.

Before I give it all away, here’s the PR wire:

Tee Pee Records is proud to announce the details for its 2011 South by Southwest (SXSW) label showcase. The independent record company will spotlight its diverse family of artists on Friday, March 18 at Headhunter’s (720 Red River Street, Austin, TX). This year’s lineup will feature Iron Age (Austin, TX), Sweet Apple (feat. Dinosaur Jr.‘s J Mascis), Night Horse (Los Angeles, CA), Lecherous Gaze (ex-Annihilation Time; Oakland, CA), Weird Owl (Brooklyn, NY) and The Main Street Gospel (Columbus, OH) and marks the 10-year anniversary of Tee Pee‘s annual SXSW “rock party.”

This April, Tee Pee will highlight its roster with its first ever European label tour, which will kick off on April 5 in Wiesbaden, Germany and will be headlined by stoner rock legends The Atomic Bitchwax. Also performing will be fast rising New York heavy psych band Naam, Toronto-based psych rock band Quest for Fire and NYC rockers Mirror Queen, rounding out the bill.

The 2011 Tee Pee European label tour itinerary is shaping up as follows:
Tee Pee Records 2011 European Tour
04/05 Wiesbaden, Germany Schlachthof
04/06 Vienna, Austria Arena
04/07 Würzburg, Germany Cafe Cairo
04/08 Dresden, Germany Groovestation
04/09 Hohenstein, Germany Schützenhaus
04/10 Berlin, Germany Magnet
04/11 Hamburg, Germany Molotow
04/12 Marburg, Germany KFZ
04/13 Dortmund, Germany Piano
04/14 Tilburg, Netherlands * Roadburn Festival (feat. The Atomic Bitchwax, Naam, Quest for Fire)
04/15 Jena, Germany Rosenkeller
04/16 Salzburg, Austria Black
04/17 Millstatt, Austria Bergwerk
04/18 Maribor, Slovenia Dvorana Gustaf-Pekarna
04/19 Torino, Italy United Club
04/20 Brescia, Italy Latte & Live
04/21 Luzern, Switzerland Sedel
04/22 Winterthur, Switzerland Gaswerk
04/23 Weil der Stadt, Germany JH Kloster
04/24 Paris, France Nouveau Casino
04/25 Rotterdam, Netherlands Baroeg
04/26 Antwerpen, Belgium Trix
04/27 London, UK Underworld

Proliferating an extreme take on sludge and more traditional death metal, Little Rock, Arkansas, four-piece Napalm Christ (how was there not already a band named this?) come with built-in interest owing to a pedigree tied to Shitfire, Shredded Corpse, and most notably, Rwake. Judging by the one track Napalm Christ has put online — pick your social network — they’re not afraid to either squibbly, blast or riff out; “The Seasons of Dirt” makes use of all the above in its short three-minute runtime.

Pushing sludge into the angrier, extreme metal territory might not be everyone’s thing, and I’m pretty sure they’re not the first ones to do it, but the fact remains that this is how genres grow. Napalm Christ‘s “The Seasons of Dirt,” apparently instrumental until recently, is formative, to be sure, but there aren’t many bands out there transgressing these stylistic lines. Whatever hype follows them because of their alliances, I hear a lot of sludge, and not a lot of it sounds like this.

For the better part of 18 years (there was a lengthy break in there), Boston outfit Roadsaw have produced some of the most definitively American heavy rock the world has ever heard. Their songs are like cars with unrepentantly inefficient engines: loaded with swagger and volume and ready to run your ass over if you get in their way. The latest installment in their discography is Roadsaw, on Small Stone, and it’s an album that’s probably going to surprise some longtime listeners of the band with its maturity. Figuratively and literally, the days of scumbag rock that permeated albums like 1995’s 1,000,000 and 1997’s Nationwide are long gone. There are traces of that kind of thing on Roadsaw’s Roadsaw, but the band, who took a seven year break between their 2001 Rawk ‘n’ Roll and 2008 See You in Hell releases (they also put out the Takin’ out the Trash compilation in 2007), are different people in 2011 than they were then. Founding members Tim Catz (bass) and Craig Riggs (vocals), along with guitarist Ian Ross and drummer Jeremy Hemond (also of Cortez and Black Thai) now present a smooth and intricately-constructed 11-track collection of songs, viciously catchy and tighter than your emo cousin’s pants.

Opener “Dead and Buried” features just one of Roadsaw’s several landmark choruses. I liked See You in Hell well enough, but to be fair, the bulk of my excitement about it was just that there was a new Roadsaw album. With the self-titled, it’s all about the songwriting. Ross’ riffing is prime, and Catz and Hemond prove absolutely lethal when it comes to setting the pace and grounding the tracks, the latter with the kind of taut snare sound that has become one of the trademarks of a Benny Grotto/Mad Oak engineering job (Sean Slade was also brought in to produce), but if any single member of Roadsaw is giving a standout performance on these songs, it has to be Riggs. His vocals maintain the gruff, throaty Southern feel of some of the band’s earlier work, but across “Thinking of Me,” “Long in the Tooth” and late-arriving barn-burner “Too Much is Not Enough,” Riggs counterweighs the rougher approach with several seriously accomplished melodies. “Song X” (you’ll never guess where it appears on the tracklisting) is a heavy pop number that pulls off precisely what the last Fireball Ministry album couldn’t, blending radio-ready accessibility with an underlying heaviness and not sacrificing one in service to the other.

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