When I reviewed Groan‘s split with Finnish trad doomers Vinum Sabbatum, a large part of the discussion centered around the departure of vocalist Andreas “Mazzereth” Maslen and drummer Steve “Thor’s Hammer” Burnett. Well, as the band’s new video for the song “Magic Man” from their forthcoming The Divine Right of Kings album shows, Mazzereth is back in the band and they’ve also joined forces with the increasingly-ubiquitous Christopher West to fill the drummer slot. You might recognize West from the recently-reviewed Stubb or Trippy Wicked, who are also expected to have a new record out this year. Busy busy.

Dig the righteous rawness below, and don’t be surprised when the room starts spinning. That’s kind of Groan‘s thing:

Who could argue with the Captain Couch Records crew when they make the assertion that Portland, Oregon, is one of the hottest spots in the country and possibly the world right now when it comes to heavy music? I think it’s maybe been two whole weeks since I posted about the many doings in Oregon, and it feels like an eternity. Lo and behold, the Ceremony of Sludge is here to remedy the situation.

Good fun, y’all:

Portland is quickly becoming one of the biggest metal hubs in North America, if not the world, and our first annual Ceremony of Sludge is aimed at capturing this heavy moment in time. March 2-3 we are bringing you two nights of some of Portland’s up-and-coming heavy acts at The Alleyway!

The first night features Heavy Voodoo, Axxicorn, Avi Dei and Zmoke.

The second night features Lamprey, Towers, Doomsower, and Witch Throne.

Everyone who attends will receive a voucher for a free download of Ceremony of Sludge Vol. 1 a live compilation from both nights of music. If you cannot make it to the show, Ceremony of Sludge Vol. 1 will be available for purchase on Captain Couch Records’ website.

It’s $4 per night, and music starts at 8PM sharp.

Thanks,
Blaine, Justin and Andy
Captain Couch Records

Oddly enough, when I found out my New Jerseyan hometown heroes The Atomic Bitchwax were doing a show at the School of Rock in Easton, Pennsylvania, right across the border, I knew exactly where the spot was. I’d never been to the School of Rock before, and so far as I know, it doesn’t put on gigs like the one in Hackettstown — which seems bent on perpetuating NJ’s shitty punker ethics to the oh-so-impressionable next generation — but it was just a couple weeks before I’d been to the Crayola factory with my niece, right next door. The School of Rock‘s practice room had been reserved for the Bitchwax, for a tv taping, and since I was lucky enough to be invited, I was happy to make the trip.

The pilot show was hosted by “Undercover” Steve Truglio, the master of ceremonies behind the My Show podcast and also known as Fake111, whose photos have graced Clutch releases like Jam Room and Robot Hive/Exodus, as well as some of the many live records the band has done. Truglio‘s also a regular around The Aquarian, which is how I’ve known him going on a decade now. Looking to expand his My Show into videographic realms, he devised a format based somewhat on the model of VH-1‘s That Metal Show, but geared more toward heavy rock and underground prog. Hence The Atomic Bitchwax.

So The Patient Mrs. and I drove down to Easton on a Sunday afternoon for it, and following a late and 60 percent liquid lunch at Porter’s Pub — whose name I mention specifically only to note the quality of their product, beer menu and presentation — we headed over to the School of Rock in time to catch the start of the taping. The band was outside the building when we got there, bassist/vocalist Chris Kosnik, guitarist/vocalist Finn Ryan and drummer Bob Pantella, and inside and in a high-ceilinged practice space, a rotating lineup of School of Rock students was running through a mini-set of classic rock covers to serve as a sound and video check.

Bless their hearts, the kids nailed “Whole Lotta Love” and “Break on Through (to the Other Side),” down to the prominent keys of the latter and the ultra-swaggering guitar solo of the former. It was hard not to smile at some of the stage moves, but thinking back to the awkward lump of humanity I was at that age and remain today, I don’t think I ever would’ve had the fortitude to do what they were doing in front of a group — a small group, but still — of strangers, let alone tv cameras. I haven’t done it in a while at this point, but last time I got on a stage, I still had to have a few cocktails in me first. So kudos to the childrens. Stay in school.

Most of them split when their songs were done, but a couple hung around to catch the Bitchwax, who went about the business of setting up their gear before a brief introductory interview segment was filmed. Kosnik, who’s the only original member, talked about some of the band’s beginnings, and his own roots in Godspeed, who were signed to Atlantic in the mid-’90s along with Core, from whence Ryan comes. That too was brought up, as was Pantella‘s tenure in Raging Slab, which I’ve always been curious to get the drummer’s perspective on in-depth, since there was so little going on in New York by way of heavy and Southern rock in the new/no wave ’80s and early ’90s.

The nature of the format was prohibitive of an hour-long chat on any given subject, but served as a decent lead-in for the couple songs The Atomic Bitchwax played. I’d preemptively had the first-album instrumental “Stork” stuck in my head for the entire previous day — no point in trying to avoid it — and sure enough, they lead off with it as they did opening for Kyuss in December and Karma to Burn in September. “Stork” gave way to “Shitkicker,” also from the self-titled, and “The Destroyer” from III, both of which the band tore through with their characteristic penchant for speed and winding riffs.

It was more of a relaxed atmosphere than a proper gig. Counting the two camera operators, there were 11 people in the room, but they still gave a more than decent showing of what they’re all about at this point in their career, and as relaxed as they look playing, and as much as Kosnik and Ryan toss smiles back and forth the whole time, like they’re in on a gag the rest of the world doesn’t get, their chops have never been a joke. With Ryan and Pantella, Kosnik has assembled the most consistent Bitchwax lineup to date, and the fact that they unleashed single-track, 42-minute The Local Fuzz last year, distilling their sound to the essential jams and riff-barrage that it’s born from, only proves it.

The Local Fuzz was the subject of a second, shorter interview. Rather than bring the chairs back, the band remained standing (Ryan, I believe, was tuning his guitar) and Kosnik discussed how the album was put together from a series of compiled riffs that gradually became the lone instrumental piece that appears on the record. Shortly, they played side A from the album, Kosnik having promised it would be “25 riffs in about 20 minutes.” It was, and I don’t think anything has ever so clearly demonstrated the precision behind what The Atomic Bitchwax does as “The Local Fuzz.” It’s not a record you want to listen to every day — unless you’re looking to O.D. on “riff” — but continually fascinating in both its own sound and the left turn it was from the poppier TAB4, which marked the band’s return to Tee Pee Records in 2009. Anyway, they ruled, and spliced in some of the end of “The Local Fuzz” — essentially skipping another 20 minutes of the song — to act as a finale. It was good fun.

Some drum-chat ensued with Pantella, who talked about the kit he was playing on, as well as his own preferences for drums and Riotgod‘s next trip to Europe, and then Kosnik talked a bit about the School of Rock facility, and when it got awkward, the band hit into their cover of Pink Floyd‘s “Pigs (Three Different Ones)” and wrapped the set with another short instrumental to bookend “Stork” and, one can only imagine, serve as a lead-out while the credits roll. There wasn‘t much fanfare when it was over, but those of us who’d sat in the foldout seats for roughly the prior two hours applauded and made various sounds of approval, and before long, The Patient Mrs. and I were making our way on the sidewalk past the gift-shop window boasting of the world’s largest Crayola crayon, back to the car and subsequently out of Easton. As Kosnik had joked when they were finished playing, we all made it home in time to catch Family Guy.

Which is about all you can ask of a Sunday evening. Extra pics after the jump.

Read more »

Well, it’s quarter to eight on Friday night, and I’m drunk at the office (The Patient Mrs. is here to handle eventual vehicular transit back to the valley), and god damn it, nothing less abrasive than Acid Bath will do. The above VHS port is of “Bleed Me an Ocean.” The record was Paegan Terrorism Tactics, and this is a prime example of a band that should be killing it at this point doing reunion tours. One can only assume they’ll get there. In the meantime, this is what they sounded like in Arkansas, 1996. Pretty right on, if you ask me. Clinton-era sludge. Fuckin’ a.

I don’t know if you check it out on the regular, but the forum has a bunch of new news up, from the fact that Karma to Burn has dropped off the upcoming tour with Truckfighters due to personal issues, to the Ides of Gemini release info, to new Clutch tour dates, new audio from Black Pyramid and the cover for the new Arc of Ascent record, it’s been quite a week on the news board, so hit it up if you get the chance. I can’t nearly keep up with all that stuff on the blog side of things, so hopefully that’ll serve as a decent supplement and you’ll be able to find it of some use.

Next week, a long-awaited Six Dumb Questions with Sleestak, as well as reviews of Temples, Les Discrets, Pale Divine and others. I’m waiting on Mario Lalli‘s column, but if it’s not that, I’ve got Woody High‘s first ’80s installment ready to go as a backup, so either way, it’ll be one or the other, and Sunday, I’ll be headed to Easton, PA, to see a music-show pilot taping that involves The Atomic Bitchwax, and I’ll hopefully have pics and words on that come Monday. Thursday, I’ll be hitting a screening for the Bobby Liebling documentary, Last Days Here, so I should have something on that come Friday. Looking forward to seeing it, either way. That one’s been a long time coming.

But anyway, enough of the drag that has been this week, existentially and work-wise. If you’ve got a beer, a goblet of fortified wine, or, say, a red party cup of gin on the rocks (just pulling possibilities out of the air), hoist it in the air in celebration of Acid Bath‘s underappreciated sludings, and have a great and safe weekend. I’ll see you on the forum and back here Monday for more zany fun.

The Italian heavy scene continues to earn respect with this news that the digital compilation Desert Sound Vol. IV – In the Mouth of Fuzz has been released. Perkele.it is behind the two-disc outing, and the same week that Vincebus Eruptum had their 12th issue written up and I did a podcast of all comp and tribute tracks, it’s a pleasure to be able to bring you the following info on Desert Sounds, which earns double-kudos for being Vol. IV and not having a silhouette of Ozzy with his arms raised on the cover. Not that I’d hold it against them if it did, but still.

Knowledge is heavy:

The Italian stoner psych doom portal Perkele.it is proud to present:

Desert Sound Vol. IV – In the Mouth of Fuzz
The fourth chapter of the trip, a journey through the cosmos, the heavy psych compilation made in Italy!

Aptly distributed by Perkele.it magazine, Desert Sound Vol. IV – In the Mouth of Fuzz packs 25 combustive cuts from the smoke filled scene defined by hot rock’n’roll, chuggin’ guitars, dirty fuzz, psychedelic visions, feedback and cowbell fills. A volcanic trip deep into the Italian heavy stoner psycho doom panorama, with tracks that range straight out of power hittin’ stonerville, to the psychedelic side, as well as the doom mantras and spacey pipe dreams action.

Desert Sound Vol. IV – In the Mouth of Fuzz opens with the mighty Pater Nembrot. The intro cut sets the stage for the entire adventurous set, which includes tracks from – among others – Zippo (feat. Ben Ward from Orange “fuckin’!” Goblin), Space Paranoids, Black Capricorn, Cannibal Movie, Da Captain Trips, and Black Rainbows.

The album is available as a free digital download (MP3 320 kbps and .iso file for your personal CD) with a deluxe trippy artwork and packaging by ExLab, based on the original paintings of late Renaissance Italian visionary painter and illustrator Jacopo Ligozzi.

Full track-listing for Desert Sound Vol. IV – In the Mouth of Fuzz as follows:

Disc One:
Pater Nembrot – The Weaner
Kayleth – The Survivor
The Whirlings – Calcutta’s Sewers
Anuseye – Orb Weavers
Manthra Dei – Xolotl
Kill the Easter Rabbit – Silent Hour
Herba Mate – Imargem
Three Eyes Left – La Fee Verthe (The Green Fairy)
Muffx – Voices
Space Paranoids – Three Lonely Pines
Black Capricorn – Call of the Goat
Choriachi – Birkat Habayit

Disc Two:
The Wisdoom – The Wisdoom
Zippo – Man of Theory (Feat. Ben Ward)
Caronte – Ghost Owl
Cannibal Movie – Fame
Turbomatt – Kong Ché
Da Captain Trips – The Merkfolk Ride
The Dallaz – Losers
T.H.U.M.B. – Superlover
Bones & Comfort – Orange Blossoms & Four Swans
Elephante – Toporagno
Godwatt Redemption – Circles
Mr. Bizarro & The Highway Experience – Mastodont
Black Rainbows – Mastermind

Download it for free!
ZIP file w/ MP3 320 kbps and artwork:
perkele.it/desertsound_four.html

ISO pack w/ WAV files and artwork for your own CD:
perkele.bandcamp.com/album/desert-sound-vol-iv-cd1
perkele.bandcamp.com/album/desert-sound-vol-iv-cd2

Side-stepping his role as bassist for Church of Misery, Tatsu Mikami put together Sonic Flower as a heavy blues rock side-project. Their lone EP, Sonic Flower, was released in 2003 on Japan’s Leaf Hound Records, and now that the label has been defunct under what were at the time somewhat mysterious circumstances, Sonic Flower has become a kind of fascinating asterisk in the Church of Misery canon. Enter Michigan imprint Emetic Records, who’s already backed reissues of Church of Misery’s Early Works Compilation (also originally a Leaf Hound release) and previously-unreleased Vol. 1 outing (review here), and Sonic Flower now finds release as a limited-to-500 hand-numbered CD and an already-sold-out limited-to-300 marble vinyl. The artwork matches the original, and there isn’t any bonus material included (I don’t think there was anything to include), so Emetic’s Sonic Flower is basically a chance for anyone who didn’t manage to pick up the original while Leaf Hound was operational to do so now. The six tracks of the EP total 25 minutes and are entirely instrumental, steeped in hard-jammed ‘70s blues, Cactus being a particular reference point for a song like “Astroqueen” or the off-the-rails opener “Cosmic Highway.”

Production-wise, Sonic Flower’s Sonic Flower has plenty in common with what Church of Misery were doing at that time, which is expected. Joining Tatsu in the band were guitarists Takenori Hoshi (ex-Church of Misery) and Arisa, and drummer Keisuke Fukawa (now ex-G.A.T.E.S.), who’d later be replaced by Church of Misery’s Junji “J.J.” Narita. In 2003, Church of Misery released their split with British stoner heavyweights Acrimony, and the following year saw their ultra-blown-out The Second Coming released, so Sonic Flower’s overall sound is right at home between the two. Keisuke’s cymbals are nowhere near as prominent in the mix as were Junji’s on The Second Coming, and the lack of vocals gives the guitars space to breathe and fill the void with harmonic interplay and soloing. The songs are built around and follow the riffs exclusively, with Tatsu adding funky flourishes in fills between cycles of “Black Sunshine” before the song moves into and out of spacey freakouts and revives its bluesy stomp. It’s a solid 25-plus minutes of grooving, and Sonic Flower didn’t seem to have anything more in mind than that; the unabashed stoner rockness of it being half the appeal. Church of Misery’s singularity of focus on serial killers is absent here, but many of the same musical influences persist – Tatsu being principle songwriter, it stands to reason – and even the closing Don Nix cover “Going Down” is inflected with heady distortion and well-fitting rhythmic heft.

Read more »

You might recall back at the end of September, I hosted a stream of Windhand‘s self-titled debut LP. If you don’t recall that, you should click that link and go listen, because the record is badass. The news came in yesterday that the band will finally be putting it out on vinyl through Forcefield Records on March 21 and touring with Pilgrim and Natur to advance the release. Congrats to the band on working through what was apparently a series of delays. Doom conquers all.

Relatively hot off the PR wire:

Finally the time has come! After myriad setbacks and issues beyond their control, the mighty Windhand have set the release date for their debut LP in stone. On March 21, 2012, their critically acclaimed eponymous album will be available for purchase from Richmond, VA’s Forcefield Records (with UK/European distribution handled by Mordgrimm).

The band have also announced a short run of dates up and down the East Coast alongside Pilgrim (Metal Blade) and Natur (Earache), as well as a string of additional gigs come March. Dates are below:

Windhand on tour:
02/29 Baltimore, MD The Sidebar w/ The Pilgrim (MD) & Heaviness of the Load
03/01 Brooklyn, NY Public Assembly w/ Natur, Pilgrim, & Magic Circle
03/02 Philadelphia, PA JR’s w/ Natur, Pilgrim, & Pagan Wolf Ritual
03/03 Washington, DC St. Stephen’s Church w/ Ilsa, Natur, & Pilgrim
03/04 Richmond, VA Strange Matter w/ Natur, Pilgrim, & Humungous
03/05 Savannah, GA Orphan Cage
03/06 Gainesville FL The Wayward Council
03/07 Tallahassee, FL AF House w/ In Defence & Dickkicker
03/08 St. Petersburg, FL The Fubar w/ Set and Setting
03/09 Atlanta, GA Archive Gallery w/ Halmos
03/10 Raleigh, NC Slim’s w/ Balaclava

There are few punches pulled, no real instances of trickery, and more than anything else, the crux of Heavy Kingdom seems to be the joy of the collaboration between Scott “Wino” Weinrich and Conny Ochs. Perhaps the most elaborate thing about Heavy Kingdom is the gorgeous foldout artwork in which Exile on Mainstream has encased the CD. That’s not a criticism of the album itself. Rather, the first joint offering from Wino & Conny Ochs seems to be purposefully geared toward as natural a presentation as possible, which if anything only feeds into the narrative of how the project came about – that it was born of Weinrich touring Europe with the German native Ochs supporting his first acoustic album, Adrift, that the two played together on the road and decided a joint release was in order. Ochs, whose aptly-titled album, Raw Love Songs, was released by Exile on Mainstream early in 2011, is clearly comfortable in the role of singer-songwriter, and the several instances where he takes the fore on Heavy Kingdom prove it. Songs like “Dust,” “Traces of Blood” and “Here Comes the Siren” probably won’t be what draw Wino devotees to Heavy Kingdom, but offer some of the record’s strongest material nonetheless, and as the balance between the two players shifts throughout the 11 tracks, it only feeds into the natural feel. Layering is minimal – some electric guitar makes its way into “Here Comes the Siren” and the earlier “Vultures by the Vines,” as well as elsewhere – and really, it’s just about two songwriters who wanted to work together working together. It’s as unpretentious as that.

It’s a relatively short outing too at 38 minutes, and between that and the vocal tradeoffs and duets between Weinrich and Ochs, Heavy Kingdom asks little indulgence of its audience and gives much melody in return. Opening with one of its strongest choruses in “Somewhere Nowhere” – a hard strum makes the song stand out aside for more than its being the longest inclusion on the album – the collaboration feels immediately rooted in folk, and comes across as less staid than was Adrift, as though Weinrich internalized the lessons of touring acoustic for the first time alongside both Ochs and Scott Kelly. Arrangements are relegated mostly to two acoustic guitars, but there are flourishes here and there, and more active moments such as the title-track (also reportedly the first song the two wrote together) show a kind of rocking energy underlying the pace. Likewise, there are parts – the chorus of closer “Labour of Love” or “Vultures by the Vines” – that feel informed by an intensity (certainly the latter with its distorted solo) purely Weinrich’s, but the patience in “Dust” or the gorgeously melodic “Traces of Blood” offsets that side of the album with serenity and emotionally complex melody. Some of the most effective parts of Heavy Kingdom come about when Weinrich and Ochs work to complement each other in the songwriting, be it Ochs backing Weinrich in the chorus of “Dark Ravine” or Weinrich doing the same on “Dust” or “Here Comes the Siren,” which with its added sense of foreboding is an exceptional outing in and of itself.

Read more »