Posted in audiObelisk on May 25th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
The first time you listen to South of Salem, by Portland, Oregon, four-piece Witch Mountain, everything seems to start of straightforward enough. There’s some noise, some feedback, a few beeps of this or that. Then the riff starts and you maybe say to yourself, “Alright, I can get down with this.” The production’s organic and live-sounding, the groove is cool, and before you know it, you’re pretty much ready to roll with whatever “Wing of the Lord” brings.
The real “holy shit” moment comes when vocalist Uta Plotkin kicks into the song about a minute in, and from there, South of Salem‘s course is set. From the soulful wailing of “Plastic Cage” to the (surprising) growls in “End Game,” Plotkin is all over these riffs like the sky over the ground. Front to back across this record, she kills it — and it’s not that the trio behind her of guitarist Rob Wrong, bassist David Hoopaugh and drummer Nathan Carson is lackluster — just that her performance is that staggering.
Witch Mountain have the record posted and for sale over at their Bandcamp site, but I was fortunate enough to get permission to host South of Salem for streaming on this site, so you bet your ass I’m doing it. Hope you dig:
South of Salem by Witch Mountain was released April 9, was produced and engineered by Billy Anderson at Smegma Studio in January 2010, and mastered by Mell Dettmer. More info on Witch Mountain is at their Facebook page.
Though both their band moniker and album title smack of grindcore or some form of metal more typically thought of as “extreme,” Moscow outfit Without God’s debut, Lambs to the Slaughter, is doom and sludge the whole way through. The first offering from the four-piece (who may or may not have gotten their name from the Katatonia song), Lambs to the Slaughter finds its release through R.A.I.G., perhaps the most major of players in the still-developing Russian heavy/riff-led scene – that’s not to say “stoner,” because it’s not all stoner rock, though those elements are present in many of R.A.I.G.’s bands (The Re-Stoned and The Grand Astoria come to mind), Without God among them. But the 10 cuts on Lambs to the Slaughter are darker, more doomed atmospherically, and among the band’s influences — readily on display in various stretches throughout the album – the Californian desert is all but completely inconsequential. Without God are shooting for something altogether more tonally weighted, and about as close as they come is some similarity early on between vocalist/guitarist Anton Brovkin and former The Awesome Machine singer John Hermansen’s guttural croon on opener “They Rot.”
I’d chalk that up to coincidence more than influence, and rather, it seems the actual intent of Without God is to play off a Crowbar-style riffy sludge, throw in some melody – as both Brovkin and fellow guitarist OlgaGrieg do effectively in the instrumental breaks of “They Rot” – and write traditionally structured heavy songs. Noble enough intent, and they’re not bad at it. Small flourishes of individuality go a long way toward complementing the more genre-based ideas on Lambs to the Slaughter, and a string of slower, bluesy guitar leads across several of the tracks — “Believe,” “Crossroads/Eat the Shit,” “Forgiveness Sunday,” “Altar of Medicine,” and closer “Faithless” – shows personality in the playing that’s still only beginning to emerge. Crowbar is the chief influence on much of Lambs to the Slaughter, whether it’s a slower song like “Altar of Medicine” or a faster one like “Homeless,” but they’re by no means the only point of inspiration on display. Brovkin’s vocal cadence on the awesomely-named “Space Weed” is pure Lee Dorrian from Cathedral’s classic “Hopkins (The Witchfinder General),” and you can’t get away with putting the exclamation “Alright now!” over a grooving riff as he does on “Believe” without earning a comparison to Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf.” Especially not over that grooving riff.
Posted in Label Stuff on May 24th, 2011 by JJ Koczan
There are 100 hand-numbered copies of Dronolith — the second album from Massachusetts one-man outfit Blackwolfgoat. Half the pressing went to Darryl Shepard, the man behind the band, and half came to me. I kept one for myself. Four sold overnight since I put the disc in the Maple Forum store. That means I’ve got 45 copies of Dronolith left to go out for anyone who wants them.
Blackwolfgoat‘s Dronolith follows on the heels of last year’s Small Stone Records debut, Dragonwizardsleeve, and finds Shepard exploring even more progressive elements in hypnotic drone. Throughout the album’s six tracks and 46-minute runtime, you’ll find an eerie sense of rhythm and gracefully constructed sonic expanse. Shepard is a master of affecting a build within a track, and so his material is actually going somewhere even when it’s at its most ambient.
I dig Dronolith a lot. If you purchased either the Roareth or Kings Destroy CDs and you’re thinking about picking up Blackwolfgoat, expect something different sound-wise but still of a common mindset when it comes to creative liberty. Like the last two releases, atmosphere is paramount, but there’s an openness of structure and improvised feel that’s completely Shepard‘s own.
Like I said, 45 copies to go out to anyone who wants them. I’ve got thank you cards for the first several orders, and a couple other freebies I’ll be tossing in as well. The album art — fucking gorgeous — was designed by Alexander von Wieding (Karma to Burn, Monster Magnet, etc.), and Dronolith was recorded by Glenn Smith (Lamont, Ichabod, Raw Radar War).
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 23rd, 2011 by JJ Koczan
As far as people who dig The Giraffes go, I’m a pretty sucky fan. I was about two years late to the party on the Brooklyn rockers Dave Catching-produced meisterwerk, Prime Motivator, and I didn’t make it out earlier this year when singer Aaron Lazar played his last show with the band, before bowing out (gracefully, I assume) due to health reasons.
Nonetheless, it’s with nerdy aplomb that I post the following new album news off the PR wire:
Soldiering forth in the wake of the departure of singer Aaron Lazar, The Giraffes announce the release of their latest full-length album The Giraffes Ruled, their second release on Madison, WI-based record label Crustacean Records.
Simply put, The Giraffes Ruled is the band’s epic, their most audacious disc to date. Dating back to 2008, Ruled was conceived as a grand metaphor for something once mighty slowly dying – be it a country, a love or even a band – suffocating under the weight of lies (“The Bed”), avarice (“The Borders”), broken promises (“The Counter”) and unmet expectations (“The City”). Fans of the band’s shout-along choruses and brutal rhythms, Lazar’s gravelly croon and razor-sharp wit, and Damien Paris‘ six-string pyrotechnics will find this to be their greatest, most coherent work. Newcomers will have the perfect (and ample) introduction to the band in all their volatile glory.
The Giraffes Ruled was produced by Joel Hamilton, and recorded and mixed at his Brooklyn studios the Bunker and the famous Studio G.
For anyone who’s ever heard Indianapolis doomers The Gates of Slumber, it’s not exactly a revelation that guitarist/vocalist Karl Simon is a fan of genre gods Saint Vitus, but when I heard their latest album, The Wretch (review here), it was easy to see it went well beyond that. Lots of people like bands. This was something more.
As such, I knew that in asking Simon to compile a list of his five favorite Vitus tunes, he’d come back with some interesting choices, and sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Here are his picks, complete with accompanying audio:
5. “The Troll”
“I’ve been down so long, I cannot see, anyway out of me…” What more needs to be said, really? The grizzled riffing and the tale of a depressive man locked in a feedback loop. The second verse explains why the loop exists; the third brings it home: “Bats and worms are my friends; they’ll stick with me till the end… down here I am my own man…” and a nihilistic Chandler tremolo solo. Wino‘s vocal performance on this song is one of his best. Basically a blues jam which Vitus did a lot, only it’s way fucked up. I identify with the lyrics so god damned much sometimes. It pains me.
4. “Shadow of a Skeleton”
Okay, so a lot of “fans” have a real problem with the C.O.D. record. Well, I have a problem with those fans. Attention posers: not one weak track on this record. In fact, in many ways this record is, in my eyes, a return to the feeling and production values of the early days, only with the addition of some guitar harmonies. And oh yeah, one of the best singers in the history of metal is wailing all over this record. This song has a bulldozer riff that just boggles the mind and makes me want to ruin my neck; Armando‘s drumming is fucking brutal; classic lyrics about a fucking reanimated skeleton coming after your ass…. what more do you want?!
3. “The End of the End”
I am totally obsessed with this riff. The best song Wino ever sang on in my opinion, and the best one that Vitus did with him! I love the pitch shifted vocals and the syncopated drumming. The environmentally aware/anti-nuclear power/war lyrics paint a potent and timeless picture that is just awesome. I love that it has no chorus as well, only the beak down that leads to the solo. Vitus had this weird habit of saving off their most potent songs for EPs… which was a dirty trick, I think! But I love it. Thirsty and Miserable is a must have just because of this song, and Walking Dead speaks for itself.
2. “Darkness”
There is something about this open wah guitar tone that makes me want to throw things at the wall. The circular riff and Reager‘s demon wail. So goddamn good. And then the bass and drum break with Mark Adams taking it for a walk. The Iron Maiden influence is so clear here! It’s just a potent and short burst of energy. I do have to say that The first three releases by Saint Vitus had some real unique magic to them that just can not be equaled by anyone.
1. “The Psychopath”
Essentially, what we have here is a fairly standard blues formula, but goddamn if it isn’t totally taken in the most obscure and odd direction. Chandler is abusing his wah pedal the whole fucking time. Reager’s, owning it… again. How people can not like his voice is so strange to me, but whatever. A song about the M.K. Ultra experiments gone awry. But the real treat here is the main solo break. There are a few leads that really stick out for me, and this is my favorite. Four minutes into the song it starts, nice and melodic… and Chandler is not given credit for that! If Kurt Cobain is a genius then Dave Chandler needs a thousand times that credit. At 5:40, the airplane flanged shred turns into these sick and emotive bends that always give me the chills. It’s a shame that “metal” people in 1984 were totally too weak to have possibly gotten this band. But then things worked out pretty fucking well…. You can spend your life thinking about thing things that could have been. Fact is there were a thousand limp thrash bands and horrid butt “metal” bands out there, but only one Saint Vitus. And 31 years later nobody but nobody cares about Seduce or Viking or whatever… not even the dudes who were in the fucking bands. SaintVitus ruled them then and rules them now.
If long-running North Carolinian sludge outfit Sourvein are anything, they’re uncompromising. Those familiar with their work know what’s coming, but that doesn’t make the impact of their music any less devastating or abrasive. Led by frontman T-Roy Medlin, they began in 1993 and have seen numerous lineup changes from members who’ve gone on to play in bands from Electric Wizard to Bongzilla to Saint Vitus. But Sourvein – closely related to Buzzov*en both ethically and through Medlin – has persisted nonetheless, and following a slew of EPs and splits since 2002’s Will to Mangle, nine years later finds them releasing Black Fangs (Candlelight), their third full-length. Medlin is joined for the album by guitarist “King James” Haun (Ol’ Scratch), bassist Ahmasi O’Daniel (Earthride’s Dave Sherman filled in on tour) and drummer Jeffrie Moen, and though the personnel in the band seems to be on a regular rotation, the mindset is the same as it’s ever been: Dirty sludge from the dirty South. Where their sonic and geographic countrymen in Weedeater peppered their latest offering with excursions into addled swamp psych and (eek!) brighter melodicism, Sourvein is all misery, all the time.
Were it not for the fact that anyone who’s going to hear it is likely already to have an opinion on Sourvein one way or the other, Black Fangs would be the kind of record you couldn’t put on for company. It begins with “Fangs,” which is among the riffiest tracks, with Haun’s guitar dominant in the mix and Medlin’s raw-throated screams buried underneath. This is to be the course for just about all of the album, but the rhythm section of O’Daniel and Moen isn’t to be counted out. Moen’s cymbals fill out the high end while O’Daniel drops the low like his arms just can’t hold it anymore, and a song like “Society’s Blood” – or really any of the tracks present – is that much stronger for their work. It’s amazing that Sourvein at this point should sound so potent as a lineup, since it’s been proven over and again that all the members around Medlin are interchangeable. Nonetheless, Sourvein in 2011 distinguishes itself simply by releasing a full-length album – four splits and an EP trilogy have marked the years since 2002 – and the dedicated fanbase that’s followed the band over that time will be much pleased with the feedback-soaked nastiness served up on these 10 cuts. For dank, hateful Southern sludge, Black Fangs is second to nobody.
Got back a bit ago from seeing Danny and Vincent Cavanaugh from Anathema make the most of a situation in which the rest of their band didn’t make it over from the UK to play with Blackfield at Irving Plaza in NYC (or anywhere else on the tour, for that matter). I’ll probably review the set Monday if I can think of anything to say about it other than, “Duh, he sing pretty.” That may or may not happen. Either way, the show was cool, and “Fragile Dreams” is amazing.
It would probably have been appropriate, then, to close out the week with some Anathema, but late as it is (1AM and on by the time this is posted) the mind has a tendency to wander, and so we get May Blitz instead. Also British, but a totally different vibe and about 20 years earlier. This clip was linked to in a comment on the Where to Start: The Heavy ’70s post, which has become a virtual treasure trove of excellent listening suggestions thanks to a slew of helpful comments, and I dug it and figured you might too. The song is “8 Mad Grim Nits” — I have no idea what that means — and it’s from the band’s second album, 1971’s The 2nd of May, which is about two clicks away from being on my Amazon wishlist.
This was kind of a strange week, but I hope you got to check out the Orange Goblin interview anyway, and I hope you stick around next week. On Monday, I’ll have a special feature wherein Karl Sanders from The Gates of Slumber picks out his five favorite Saint Vitus tunes (you might be surprised at some of his choices), and Blackwolfgoat goes on sale on Tuesday, and I’ll have more audio from that. Plans are kicking around as well for an album stream of the new Witch Mountain record, and I’ll also have my Q&A with J.Bartz from Lo-Pan, who — if you didn’t see the review earlier today — kicked ass in Philly last night, plus album reviews of the new Sourvein and Premonition 13 releases. There’s a lot to come, is my point.
I hope you have a great and safe weekend, and just because I’ve yet to mention it on the blog, special congratulations to our good friend Mike H. (you might know him on the forum as… Mike H.) and to his wife on the birth of their son earlier this week. My best to the whole family. Enjoy your Saturday and Sunday, and we’ll see you back here Monday for more good times.
A couple weeks ago when I did Cathedral as the Frydee video, it wasn’t just because they’re awesome. Truth is, I had my evil little eye on a bootleg on eBay called Cosmic Funeral after the track from Statik Majik. I wound up winning it for about $20, and unlike most of the dumbass sight-unseen bootleg purchases I make, this one was completely worth every penny. The package showed up in the mail this week and had a full jewel case, silver-backed disc with professionally-printed artwork.
I can’t remember the last time I got a bootleg of this quality. It’s been a while, anyway. Even the ones you get these days with the really good inkjet jobs are usually CDRs, and I don’t really have a problem with that (obviously, or I wouldn’t buy them), but this whole thing just smacks of the ’90s. There’s no info on where the show was, but the art is killer and it says it was “recorded live on tour, 24-05-94,” and the internets tell me it was Milan, which since the disc says “Made in Italy” on it I’m inclined to believe.
In the classic CD bootleg fashion, there’s a mail order form in the liner notes. I was never brave enough to fill one of those out — I mean, what do you do if you spend $200 and never get sent anything? — but it’s a great reminder of what buying these kinds of discs used to be like, as opposed to now where you get charged twice as much for an inferior product. Blah blah blah, things aren’t like they used to be, harumph. I’m old.
The sound isn’t the best — it’s not bad; Lee Dorrian keeps asking for “more volume” — but just the thought at this point of owning a genuine Cathedral bootleg rules enough to make the expense worth it. There are reportedly a couple others out there, but I can’t imagine they’re easy to find, and with the band reportedly retiring after their next album, I wouldn’t think that’s about to change. The “death” of the compact disc has its ups and downs, but as a collector, I’m happy to get the chance to nerd out like this every now and again.
Here’s the “Cosmic Funeral’ video for anyone who didn’t get the “disco supernova” reference in the header above:
The first time you listen to South of Salem, by Portland, Oregon, four-piece Witch Mountain, everything seems to start of straightforward enough. There’s some noise, some feedback, a few beeps of this or that. Then the riff starts and you maybe say to yourself, “Alright, I can get down with this.” The production’s organic and live-sounding, the groove is cool, and before you know it, you’re pretty much ready to roll with whatever “Wing of the Lord” brings.
