The Italian stoner scene continues to flourish as Longiano natives Pater Nembrot release Sequoia Seeds, their second album through Go Down Records. The hour-long, nine-track collection (plus a hidden cut called “Dark Age Dawn”) embarks on a systematic exploration of the varied sides of the stonerly genres, elements of space rock, psychedelia, drone and crunchier doom coming out of their surprisingly varied material. It may not sound like much on first listen, but subsequent sessions find the trio demonstrating a melodic awareness and an underlying ‘90s-style grunge feel that sets Pater Nembrot apart from those who simply worship the fuzz (not that there’s anything wrong with that, provided it’s done well). Guitarist, vocalist synth-specialist and occasional flautist Philip Leonardi seems to shift his tone to match whatever a given song is trying to evoke, coming across on opener “The Weaner” with a semi-doomed groove that’s a hook before the chorus even arrives.

It’s not track-by-track genre defiance by any stretch, but Pater Nembrot does stave off redundancy across Sequoia Seeds, varied track lengths from about two to about 10 minutes adding to the apparent complexity of their songwriting formula as much as bassist Jack Pasghin’s thickness provides the foundation for the stoner bop of “H.a.a.r.p.,” on which producer Enrì (Mondo Cane) contributes guest organ work following a dead stop. Leonardi doesn’t shred, but neither is he shy in his leads, bridging verses and choruses fluidly and adding an element of continuity to whatever turn Pater Nembrot might be looking to take. Drummer Alfredo “Big J” Casoni is similarly adaptable, adjusting his fills to best suit Leonardi’s Soundgarden-esque vocalizing toward the end of the track. In this way, Pater Nembrot’s playing off each other makes Sequoia Seeds work. “Supercell,” which is probably as fuzz-caked as they get, includes a Pasghin-led space-inflected break. All hail the bass solo, short though it may be. Waves and swirls of psychedelic noise fill out the background and the song proves to be one of Sequoia Seeds’ several high points.

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The headline pretty much has all the details you need, but it was announced today that Long Island doom legends Winter — who are already playing Roadburn as part of SunnO)))‘s curated day — are on the bill for the April 3 BrooklynVegan-sponsored show at Union Pool. This is cool news on its own, but made all the better by the fact that Kings Destroy are set to open the night. Tickets are here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/159632

A flier makes it official:

Singapore grinders Wormrot and the reunited Deathcycle are also playing, and as of yesterday’s trip to the post office (graciously handled by The Patient Mrs.), I have 6 copies left of Kings Destroy‘s And the Rest Will Surely Perish. Get yours here: http://mapleforum.bigcartel.com/

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.

I don’t know if guitarist/vocalist Bill Steer is a big blackjack player and that’s what he hand in mind in naming Firebird’s sixth album Double Diamond, but he dealt a hell of a hand in 2009’s Grand Union, and there was no way that was going to be an easy album to beat. Partnered once again with Rise Above (who, in turn, are partnered with Metal Blade, at least as far as the American distribution goes), London residents Steer, drummer Ludwig Witt (also of Spiritual Beggars) and new bassist Greyum May (ex-Ozric Tentacles) – the latter who may not have actually played on the album; no liner notes with review mp3s and online info is vague – present a new collection of tracks very much in league with Firebird’s stated classic rock mission. Double Diamond is somewhat moodier tonally than Grand Union, and feels less upbeat in general, but Steer’s songwriting and use of structure and AABB rhyming is, as ever, deservedly at the fore, and the rhythm section this time out is as tight as the tracks require without sounding mechanical in the slightest. It’s a solid rock record from a band who makes solid rock records. Maybe not much in the way of surprises, but that’s never been Firebird’s thing. If you’ve got a rock itch, they’ll scratch it.

He’s among the more underrated riff writers of his generation, and Steer (once a member of grind pioneers Carcass) shows again on Double Diamond his inner boogie. Beginning with “Soul Saviour,” the songs push through at a mostly middling pace, but Firebird’s strength has always been the verse/chorus interplay, and there are a few gems on their sixth outing as well, second track “Ruined” among them. Steer’s guitar line is well accompanied by the bass and Witt’s fills. The song feels less blatant in its ‘70s rock worship than did “Soul Saviour,” but there’s no question to which decade the guitar solo belongs. It could be that Firebird are trying to marry their influences with something more current, and it that’s so, I’m glad to see they didn’t have to sacrifice the catchiness in the process. Their formula doesn’t allow much stylistic movement – they’re not going to suddenly go hardcore on one of these songs, and rightfully not – but as the embodiment of a “what you see is what you get” mentality, Double Diamond does show some progress. If for no other reason than that a third of the band has changed, the dynamic has shifted in kind. “Bright Lights” and the shorter “For Crying Out Loud” find Steer up front in both guitar and vocal presence – it’s his band, at the end of the day – but “Farewell” steps down the energy to a kind of half-ballad level, and is another example of the outfit trying something different.

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That the Melvins are touring is no big surprise. That’s kind of their thing. What’s different this time is that they’re taking the format of their recent Los Angeles residency shows on the road hitting a couple of the major markets, playing albums like Houdini and Stoner Witch in their entirety. That’s the new part, and good news all around, since at this point those records are classics.

No stopping that PR wire:

The Melvins, who recently completed a sold-out residency at Los Angeles‘ Spaceland, are taking the idea mobile with two-night stints in six US cities this May.

The upcoming performances will feature the same setlist in each city with the first night kicking off with the band performing songs from Lysol and Egg Nog followed by a second set of music from Houdini. The second night in each mini-residency will be Bullhead for the first set and Stoner Witch for the second. There will be no opening artists for this tour.

The Melvins‘ next release is Sugar Daddy Live, a 13-track live recording set for release on May 31 via Ipecac Recordings.

The dates are:
05/13 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
05/14 Seattle, WA The Crocodile
05/16 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
05/17 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall
05/27 Austin, TX Mohawk
05/28 Austin, TX Mohawk
05/31 Chicago, IL Double Door
06/01 Chicago, IL Double Door
06/03 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
06/04 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
06/06 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg
06/07 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg

There’s a new Saint Vitus song posted in the forum already, so I figured I’d bring my nerding out for the impending Metalliance show in NYC this Friday to this side of things with a quality clip of Crowbar. Filmed last Saturday (March 19) at One Eyed Jacks in the band’s hometown of New Orleans, here’s Crowbar as part of the Metalliance:

Badass.

Upon sampling their self-titled debut, I thought Boston‘s massively-toned Olde Growth were good enough to justify hanging out in a Jersey basement with a bunch of 20 year olds to see. That’s pretty damn good, as far as I’m concerned. The bass/drums duo have announced they’ll reissue said self-titled through MeteorCity on April 26, and good for them. They made a killer record and the more people who hear it, the better.

The PR wire has info and the scoop from bassist/vocalist Stephen LoVerme:

Heavy Boston, Massachusetts, duo Olde Growth will release its eponymously-titled debut Olde Growth on April 26 via MeteorCity. Recorded by AJ Peters at Black Box Studio (Batillus, Disappearer), the album features seven tracks of powerhouse doom metal “inspired by noise, nature, sound and space.” The group features Stephen LoVerme (bass / vocals) and Ryan Berry (drums), but the sound it delivers is thick enough to make you think they have an army behind them pummeling away.

“We wanted the album to have a raw, immediate quality to it, the kind you get from playing live in the same room together. So that’s exactly what we did,” commented LoVerme. “I think we struck a pretty good balance between raw and polished; the sound is thick, warm and organic, and a listen all the way through will take you on a winding journey through some unexpected places. For our debut record we couldn’t be happier!”

Olde Growth tracklisting:
1. The Grand Illusion (6:47)
2. Life in the Present (5:12)
3. Cry of the Nazgul / The Second Darkness / To the Black Gate (9:55)
4. Sequoia (6:41)
5. Red Dwarf (1:05)
6. Everything Dies (5:45)
7. Awake (10:38)

Olde Growth will celebrate the album’s impending arrival with a record release party and live performance on April 7 at the Church of Boston (69 Kilmarnock Street, Boston, MA). Also appearing at the special show will be the band’s new labelmates Black Pyramid.

Released by Spanish imprint Féretro Records in a limited edition CD run of 500, the full-length debut by psyched-out Portland, Oregon (where else?), doomly droners Megaton Leviathan doesn’t so much walk the fine line between hypnotic ambience and crushing aural plod as much as it demolishes it. Three songs spread over four tracks – the opening title cut is split into two parts – Water Wealth Hell on Earth takes an American shoegaze-style post-rock approach to heavy riffing and spaces it out with multiple running effects on vocals, guitar and drums, underlying psychedelic noise and drone excursions that seem to lead nowhere until you actually arrive. It’s a skillfully crafted aesthetic – surprisingly so for the trio’s first album following just a demo (they formed in 2007) – and what becomes abundantly clear in listening to Water Wealth Hell on Earth is that Megaton Leviathan know exactly what they’re doing. Even if some of the noises captured on “Water Wealth Hell on Earth” parts one and two, “Guns and LSD” and the sprawling 33-minute closer “A Slow Death in D Minor” just happened in the studio spontaneously, no doubt core duo Andrew James Costa (guitar, vocals, synth, noise) and Chris Beug (bass, violin, viola, cello; ex-Wolves in the Throne Room) had some idea of what they wanted to come out with when they went into the recording process.

For the first run of Water Wealth Hell on Earth (the band have threatened re-recordings), Costa and Beug are joined by drummer Kathryn Joy, and though they could probably just as easily have done without percussion altogether, they definitely made the right move in anchoring the material. Immediately on “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. I” – arguably the most straightforward of the songs – it’s Joy tasked with keeping the ultra-heavy, ultra-spaced guitar from simply floating away. Her snare sound is caked in reverb as well, only adding to the otherworldly feel, and while that might turn some off, I think it works for what Megaton Leviathan are doing – i.e. trippring musical balls. Joy, already out of the band and replaced by Jason of No You Yes Me for the purposes at least of touring, isn’t making or breaking Water Wealth Hell on Earth as regards her drumming, but she’s adaptable to the songs and able to keep a hold on Beug and Costa’s explorations no matter how far out they get. “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. II” is led into with feedback and noise and stretches out over a droning 12 minutes. I’m relatively certain that some of the drones are hyper-effected vocals from Costa, but I’d still call the track instrumental since that’s the purpose said vocals are being put to and the song has a more or less completely open structure, tempered only by periodic tom hits from Joy.

With “Water Wealth Hell on Earth Pt. II,” Megaton Leviathan – who take their name from a Judas Priest lyric – are more or less testing your endurance as a listener. The closing two minutes are inflicted with a high pitch frequency that’s literally painful at high volumes, and piercing to the point where, once I’m snapped out of the trance the prior 10 minutes put me into, I just skip ahead to “Guns and LSD,” the shortest track on Water Wealth Hell on Earth at 5:21 and a return to more direct riffing from Costa and Beug. There’s still no shortage of background noise (maybe some of those extra string elements from Beug as well, buried under the guitar), but it’s nonetheless a clear shift in modus operandi on the part of the band. Costa’s vocals still sound like Dead Meadow played at half-speed, but there are words buried in there somewhere. I’m almost sure of it. For all Megaton Leviathan’s shirking accessibility and/or willing adoption of abrasiveness, the tone of “Guns and LSD” is remarkably warm and enjoyable for its repetitive aspect and uncompromising spaciousness. In headphones, it is all the more engulfing.

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