The clip below for “No Blame” is the third video I’ve chosen for this week’s Wino Wednesday. I suppose that’s a good problem to have, right? There’s just such an abundance of awesome shit in the man’s catalog that it’s hard to pick one and stick with it? Could be worse, I suppose.

Lunar Womb, the album from which the track is taken, was released in 1991. Alongside Scott “Wino” Weinrich, this reinvigorated version of The Obsessed got together post-Wino‘s tenure in Saint Vitus and featured bassist Scott Reeder (later also of Kyuss and Goatsnake) and drummer Greg Rogers (later also of Goatsnake and Debris Inc.). The Obsessed had released their self-titled album with a different rhythm section only a year before.

Formed in 1976 under the moniker Warhorse — just two years after Nick Semper‘s Deep Purple offshoot played their last show with the name and a full 20 before the Massachusetts band picked it back up — The Obsessed is basically where it all starts for Wino. Their mid-90s run saw them signed to Columbia Records, and afterwards, the guitarist and vocalist would go on to release some of the best stoner rock ever, but The Obsessed‘s sound is one that’s never successfully been duplicated in doom, no matter how many it may have influenced.

Enjoy:

Releases like The Satanik Magiik always serve to underscore the differences in my mind between the American and European heavy rock markets. Where in the current American scene, the thing is heavy hipster swagger or post-rock-influenced psychedelia, the Night Tripper Records debut full-length from Swedish rockers El Camino reminds just how metal Europe can get and still be commercially relevant. El Camino don’t have much going for them in terms of originality; the double-guitar/stand-alone vocal five-piece hinge back and forth between straightforward stoner metal and screamy sludge, but what’s important to remember is that’s enough. That’s all they need to be doing. Cuts like “We are the Dark” and “Hail the Horns” are familiar in both theme and methodology almost to the point of cliché, but you can do that in Sweden and still offer a viable product. It must be amazing to witness, but that doesn’t help my American ears adjust to the record, the crux of which feels lost in translation (not literally, the songs are in English). To me, The Satanik Magiik – aside from reveling in its metallic imagery of snakes, horns, the devil, etc. – sits somewhere between its overly clean production and stoner rock influences. The songs follow a classic pop structure and vary the pacing enough, and will be easy for anyone who’s had even limited experience in the genre to grasp, but apart perhaps from the innuendo-riffic “Rise of the Snake” and the near-Weedeatery of “Family Values” which follows, they come in a wash of elemental riffing and rhythms.

The important distinction to make, though, is that they’re metal, which most (no rule is absolute) American heavy rock is not. El Camino – who keep their personal info limited to initials only; JS and NH on guitar, T on bass, M on drums and D on vocals – are a metal band, and The Satanik Magiik follows a metallic course immediately from the instrumental opener “Prelude to the Horns.” Perhaps to the album’s credit, it doesn’t get locked musically in the doomly tropes of modern occult metal, instead presenting Satan more as the dark overlord you want to have a beer with than who you want to overtake humanity in some grainy ‘70s horror film. That stylistic choice also speaks to the central issue with the album though, because although El Camino don’t worship Electric Wizard or Pagan Altar (at least not outwardly in their music), the clear-cut musical path they follow is one well if not overly trodden by other bands before them. Even the band’s name, which evokes images of Californian sands, Fu Manchu and party rock, runs in conflict with what the band is actually doing. Along with the burl of songs like “Mountain Man,” it’s an example of how El Camino are trying almost to do too much at the same time they’re trying to keep everything simple, which makes The Satanik Magiik even more confusing. Even as I groove out to that song, I can’t help but wonder what the hell is going on. Couple that with the fact that even at their most rocking – on that song, on “Rise of the Snake,” and on “Family Values” – the songs aren’t really about anything discernible (the chorus to “Rise of the Snake” is “Hellbound/Rise up” repeated), and it seems almost like El Camino have all the rock and none of the aesthetic.

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Play the Assassin Records was kind enough a while back to give me five copies of the Lowering the Doom split between Long Island metallers Moth Eater and Boston‘s Black Thai. All you have to do to win one is enter with your name, email and address below. That’s it. You send that over, I email to let you know you’ve won and send you a killer, free, limited edition 10″ vinyl with demo tracks from two awesome bands, and everyone goes home happy. Pretty simple stuff. Enter here:

[NOTE: This contest is now closed. Thanks to all who entered.]

Contest runs until the end of this week. All are welcome to enter. Please note that I have neither interest in sharing your personal information with anyone, nor anyone to share it with if I did, nor the know-how to go about actually doing so. If you trust in nothing else, trust in my utter incompetence and suckdom-at-life. Either way, your privacy is your privacy. Special thanks to Play the Assassin (‘Like’ them on Thee Facebooks here) for the support. The original release info goes a little like this:

Finally, Boston and New York can agree on something.

Black Thai, from Massachusetts, released a split with New York’s doomly rockers Moth Eater on April 26, 2011, via Play the Assassin Records. Moth Eater, which features members of Dirty Rig (Escapi Music) and Scar Culture (Century Media), included two tracks from their devastatingly heavy Thunder God of Monster Island EP, and Black Thai, whose lineup boasts members of Roadsaw, Cortez and We’re all Gonna Die, answered back with two cuts from their Blood From on High EP, released late last year.

The split is limited to 250 copies and pressed onto a 10” picture disc vinyl with a free download card included. Six additional bonus tracks not on the record will appear in the download. Full songs are available for streaming and download now at playtheassassin.bandcamp.com. The vinyl can be ordered at playtheassassin.com.

Lowering the Doom vinyl track list:
1. Moth Eater, “Aftermath”
2. Moth Eater, “Our Time”
3. Black Thai, “Blood Dust”
4. Black Thai, “Satan’s Toolshed”
(digital only bonus tracks 5-10)
5. Moth Eater, “When Bruises Leave Scars”
6. Moth Eater, “Rocking is my Business”
7. Moth Eater, “Smashing Saturns”
8. Moth Eater, “Moths @ the Round Table”
9. Black Thai, “The Ladder”
10. Black Thai, “333”

They formed in 2000 and released their self-titled debut full-length earlier this year through Spinalonga Records, but if you told me that Athens four-piece The Dive spent the whole of those 11 years working on the cover art for their album, I’d believe it. The 11-plus-track CD comes in a gorgeous fold-out digi-sleeve, six panels on each side, to unveil the full picture of which the running wildebeest cover art turns out to be only one-twelfth. The artwork is a narrative in itself, and with it, the band immediately sets a high bar for creativity. It’s not every album that has to live up to its cover, but The Dive’s The Dive is clearly working to attain a standard, and for the most part it does. The band specializes in a kind of progressive desert rock, at times inflected with a grown-up punk feel, as on the perhaps misplaced Social Distortion-esque opener “Fresh Blue Coffee,” and rounded out through the fuzz tones and interplay between guitarists Titos and Monkey J. – the latter also vocals – and the sometimes Toolish rhythmic churn of bassist Livy and drummer Taz. If it’s taken The Dive 11 years to put a record together, they’ve got a complex creative range to show for it. I don’t know the disparity in how old some of these songs are versus others, but despite a few missteps here and there, they by and large remain consistent atmospherically and in terms of quality.

The reason I say “Fresh Blue Coffee” is potentially misplaced because it works outside the tone of much of the rest of the album, which is more rock-driven than punk-based. Certainly those elements show up again later on “Plan 9 From Outer Space,” but even there, the effect is more like Totimoshi taking on Fatso Jetson than trying to shirk off the desert aesthetic as much as the opener does. Right from “Lockjaw,” The Dive takes a different turn, Monkey J. adopting a different hue for his melodic vocals – he stays clean for the most, though a few choice screams in “Fabio, Fabio…” to well to play up the dynamics – to better match the darker and more cerebral overall vibe of the music. His and Titos’ guitars complement each other well, and rarely get locked into the same riff or break when they don’t want to be. Noodling abounds on “Lockjaw” and continues through “Billie Jean” (not a Michael Jackson cover) and most of the record, adding to the prog feel. At times, they come off like a sped up Kyuss, and “Lockjaw” definitely has a ‘90s atmosphere, but particularly after “Fresh Blue Coffee,” it’s hard to get a handle on where The Dive are headed next stylistically. Maybe that’s the point. Either way, “Lydia and the Pigheads” finds Livy stepping to the fore as the guitars drop out, and his Justin Chancellor-style runs prove a solid foundation for the song, Taz filling the space creatively on his toms. The earthy tones of The Dive’s artwork suit well the deep atmosphere and the dark but by no means bleak vibes of the music, and though “Desden” is one of the more forgettable tracks on the album, that might be due in part to its being situated next to the standout “Fabio, Fabio…”

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…Or, if you believe everything you read on rock posters, 1967. I’m not exactly sure what that’s about, but then, that’s always half the fun when it comes to Ulver. They’ve made a career off delighting in the confusion of others, morphing from black metal into avant electro-ambient folk yet somehow remaining grimmer than anything that might dwell in the Scandinavian night forests. I for one look forward to their set being excellent and depressing as hell.

Here’s the latest from Roadburn‘s site:

Ulver‘s music career is a sonic kaleidoscopic epic that saw them start as a lo-fi black metal band, and then begin a continuous morphing through acoustic outsider folk, electronic ambient music, post-symphonic chamber music and electronic post-rock to their current sound which might be called goth, prog, electronic, experimental, art rock.

They are without question one of the most varied, unique and talented bands active today and Roadburn‘s colossally chuffed to welcome them to the 1967 edition of Roadburn, headlining on Thursday, April 12 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

Ulver‘s latest record, War of the Roses, adds multi-instrumentalist Daniel O’Sullivan (Guapo, Æthenor, etc.) to the lineup and they are now a seamless amalgamation of the enormous spectrum of sounds that they have prospected during the last decade. It promises to be a wild musical ride at their 1967-performance, we can hardly wait!

EDIT: Justin K. Broadrick has also been announced as artist-in-residence for Roadburn 2012. He’ll do three sets over the course of three days. Leaf Hound will also perform the entirety of their 1971 classic, Growers of Mushroom. Dig the poster to prove it:

Tickets for Roadburn 2012 will go on sale Saturday, November 26, 10:00 Central European Time. There will be a 2 ticket limit (per order) for 3-day and 4-day passes and Afterburner tickets. The new 13% tax increase on concert tickets here in the Netherlands is included.

3-day passes will cost € 177,50 (1000 available), 4-day passes, including Afterburner will cost € 197,50 (1500 available) and single tickets for the traditional Afterburner event (headliner technical thrash metal legends Coroner) will cost € 32,50 (500 available). There will be additional service fees per ticket. More info on tickets for Roadburn Festival 2012 here.

In related news: Anekdoten, Bongripper, Dopethrone, Fleshpress, Gnod, Necros Christos, Necro Deathmort and Spiders have also been confirmed for Roadburn Festival 2012.

I’ll admit I’m posting this news in no small part because of the cleverness of the video below, but it’s still cool as well because Mars Red Sky‘s self-titled debut is one of the warmest and thickest heavy psych records I’ve heard this year. Takes all the riffy and all the heavy and caps it with dead-on melody that’s never over the top, but just a perfect mix. Of all the albums that have come and gone from my player since August when I reviewed the CD, it’s been a constant. Perfect for vinyl.

Plus, for anyone lucky enough to be in Europe this November, they’re starting a tour one month from tonight in Germany that’ll be worth adjusting your travel plans. I left the month second in the dates below for that continental flair. Check it out:

The French psychedelic/stoner power trio Mars Red Sky is about to release their excellent self-titled debut achievement as the 180g vinyl. The record is due to be released on Nov. 12 and is a limited edition of 500, comes with a bonus tracked called “The Ravens are Back” and includes a download code. To preorder this amazing album check the links below:

http://marsredsky.bigcartel.com/product/pre-order-lp-debut-album-vinyl-tote-bag-free-shipping

Besides, the band is about to kick off to the European tour this November, check the dates below and don’t miss a chance to experience stoned psychedelia at its best.

17.11 (D) FREIBERG Dipol
18.11 (PL) POZNAN Reset
19.11 (PL) WARSAW Chwila Da Klub
20.11 (PL) LUBLIN Tektura
21.11 (UA) KIEV Guitar Bar
23.11 (UA) KALUSH Velzha
24.11 (HU) BUDAPEST Roham
25.11 (CZ) PRAHA GreenDoors Café Na p?li cesty
26.11 AVAILABLE D, CH
27.11 (FR) PARIS La Maroquinerie
30.11 (ES) MADRID Wurlitzer Ballroom
01.12 (ES) ZARAGOZA Arrebato

A bit of personal trivia: Alabama Thunderpussy‘s Constellation was the first Man’s Ruin Records album I ever bought. It was released in 2000 and I made my purchase directly from the band on their website — it might also have been the first time I did that — sometime after the release of 2001’s also-excellent Staring at the Divine, which was their Relapse debut. I didn’t know much about the label or the band at that point, other than (as per the poster above) they stomped ass and it was worth $10 of my money.

I’ve chronicled my Man’s Ruin buying adventures here pretty extensively, but Constellation has always had a soft spot in my heart, for being the first and for its fearless blend of sentimentality and burly heavy Southern rock. It’s not just any band that would put “Six Shooter” and “15 Minute Drive” on the same record. Still, I probably hadn’t listened to it in a few years even before ATP broke up after releasing the more metallic Open Fire in 2007 with Kyle Thomas from Exhorder on vocals, and as has happened a couple times by now (see here, here, here and here, for starters), finding the promo for sale on the relative cheap provided a good chance to reintroduce myself to the album.

The first thing that sticks out about it — especially in the context of what’s come since from Virginia and the surrounding area — is how forward thinking it is. A lot of the distinct guitar crunch from Erik Larson and Asechaih Bogdan and the sans-reverb vocals of Johnny Throckmorton you can hear in the sludge coming out of that area now from the likes of Lord and a few like-minded acts also not shy about bringing melody into the mix.

As much as cuts like “Ambition,” “Burden” and the organ-infused “Foul Play” rock as straightforwardly as possible, the acoustics of “Obsari” and the more airy feel of “1271-3106” do more than just change things up. There’s a direct effect on mood and the overall tone of the album that lasts right into the intro of “Keepsake” and the extended weird-out jam of “Country Song.” I guess it’s not necessarily that I didn’t realize these things were happening on the record before, although I’d believe that too, but with the additional time since its release — it’ll be 12 years come March — there’s been a real chance for the record to ferment. Constellation goes down like fine aged moonshine, and proves no less blinding.

If you’re interested, click the picture on the left above to enlarge it and read the bio. Believe it.

Sometimes there’s no other way to say it: Stoner rock. Among some bands who play it, the genre is spurned, and with decent reason. It’s a commercial dead end, a hard pigeonhole to get out of, and an automatic implication of lifestyle. For German trio, Wight, however, it’s the only thing that fits. And somehow, as the Darmstadt band has named their self-released debut Wight Weedy Wight and guitarist, vocalist, co-engineer and seeming principle figure Rene Hofmann has adorned the front cover with trump l’oeil spirals and psychedelic impressions of the band themselves, amps and other fractals, I don’t think they’d mind the designation. Wight play stoner rock. They do it without shame, in a fog of sleepy-groove reverb, and with a focus on the riff that carries through nearly every move they make on Wight Weedy Wight. The album is four plus two bonus tracks of pure weedian aesthetic, with one eye toward heavy ‘70s spacey classicism and another right on the fuzz pedal. It’s relatively simple in terms of structure, but still loose-feeling and jammed, and Wight are aware as much of the footprints they’re standing in as the ones they’re leaving behind. Like I said: Stoner rock.

More than a lot of the bands in the genre, though, Wight can be viewed as a showcase for Hofmann’s guitar work. From the moment he takes his first echo-drenched solo on opener “Cosmic Rhythm #1,” he’s in the lead, and he doesn’t relinquish the position anywhere across Wight Weedy Wight’s 46 minutes. Sabbathian references abound to coincide with the album’s title; “All Beyond the Piend of Being” breaks after about a minute and a half of its total nine-plus into a guitar line built from Paranoid’s “Jack the Stripper” intro to “Fairies Wear Boots,” and later in that song, Hofmann pans two overlapping solos (with the reverb, the effect is a glorious wash of sustained high notes over the mid-paced bass line) in spirited Iommic homage. While he’s journeying into tonal subspace in these lengthy jams – and there are several of them over the course of the ensuing and even more extended “Let Me Know When You Found God” (10:51) and “Wight Weedy Wight” (11:39) to come – it’s up to the rhythm section of bassist Peter-Philipp Schierhorn and drummer Michael Kluck to keep the songs grounded. They’re strong enough as an entity to do it, and as “All Beyond the Piend of Being” flows into subdued start-stop hits to set up Hofmann’s next solo toward the end, where the vocals come back after who even knows how long, it’s so fluid you barely know the band is taking you somewhere until you’ve arrived.

They keep those hypno-cosmic vibes consistently across “Let Me Know When You’ve Found God” and “Wight Weedy Wight,” which, were it not for the two more straightforward bonus cuts, “Shaman Woman” and “Hammer Boogie,” would comprise more than half of Wight Weedy Wight’s runtime. “Let Me Know When You Found God” picks up the pace and activity level from “All Beyond the Piend of Being” somewhat, but the methodology is still largely the same: riff and solo until you find infinity. Hofmann’s vocals feel prominent over the heavy sections of the song (I take that back, it’s all heavy), but aren’t mixed improperly, and since the breadth of the music and the length of the breaks and jams means they come up infrequently, there’s nothing offensive about his somewhat throaty but still natural approach. Rather, he fits well into the groove when he’s there and then steps back to let the instruments – again, particularly his own – hold sway, which it does even as Schierhorn, who’d immediately prior had some of his warmest bass lines yet, and Kluck drop out to leave the guitars on their own in “Let Me Know When You Found God” in true ‘70s solo fashion. It sounds like something off Made in Japan or any number of Sabotage-era bootlegs, and fits right in with the rest of Wight’s organic feel.

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