Every now and again I get asked to write a band bio. I’m happy to do it when I’m able, but  it always takes me an absurdly long time to get it completed. Still, when Conan comes calling, it’s either step up or face some kind of doomly ceremonial beheading, so I figured I’d better get on it. If nothing else, I was happy to have an excuse to put on their new album, Blood Eagle (review here), which will be out late this month/early next month on Napalm Records.

After a few rounds back and forth correcting my many uses of the literary device known as the “typo,” here’s how it came out:

CONAN, Blood Eagle bio

With monolithic tones and barbarian tales, Conan were born to destroy. The Northwestern UK trio of guitarist/vocalist Jon Paul Davis, bassist/vocalist Phil Coumbe and drummer Paul O’Neil began in 2006 with the Battle in the Swamp EP as their first outing in 2007, but it was 2010’s Horseback Battle Hammer EP that first caught the attention of the international underground, and the impression of Conan’s “caveman battle doom” was immediate. Songs like “Satsumo” and “Krull” showed that just because the band sounded big didn’t mean they couldn’t also write a song, and when their debut long-player, Monnos, followed in 2012 preceded by a 2011 split with Slomatics, the response was duly huge.

A slot at the Netherlands’ prestigious Roadburn festival in 2012 resulted in 2013’s Mount Wrath live album, and Conan continued to shake venue floors and cave in chest cavities wherever they played. Touring Europe, they shared the stage with Sleep in Norway and in 2013, Conan featured at Desertfest in London, laying waste to Camden’s famed Underworld club alongside Chicago’s Bongripper, with whom they also released a split EP, Conan’s contribution coming in the form of the sprawling, droned-out “Beheaded,” their longest song to date at over 17 minutes.

After tracking them using forensic experts and analysis of the footprints the band left stomping across the UK and Europe to support Monnos, including at the 2013 Damnation Festival, Napalm Records signed Conan for the release of their second album. Davis, in turn, set about building a temple. Working with the band’s longtime producer Chris Fielding, he constructed Skyhammer Studio, where,  as the house engineer, Fielding would helm 2014’s Blood Eagle for Napalm as both Conan’s and the studio’s reputation continued to grow.

To celebrate their return with their most accomplished blend yet of riff-largesse and memorable hooks, topped off as always by Tony Roberts artwork featuring their mascot “The Sentinel,” Conan set forth a full European tour for Spring 2014, including a return to Roadburn and appearances at Doom Over Leipzig, Droneburg Festival, Temples Festival, the St. Helena Doom Fest and France’s famed Hellfest. Their shows already the stuff of legend and the Blood Eagle songs being their most bludgeoning material, Conan’s conquering days have just begun.

Conan, “Foehammer” official video

Conan’s website

Conan on Thee Facebooks

Napalm Records

The sound that Swedish heavy rockers The Graviators showcase on their impending third album, Motherload, is a melting pot of doomed influences. Their second outing under the banner of Napalm Records behind 2012’s Evil Deeds sophomore outing, Motherload arrives as advertised: It’s a bit of everything. Listen hard across its formidable span and you’re just as likely to hear shades of Electric Wizard as Kadavar, of Graveyard as Cathedral as Pentagram, but always at the core there remains a firm current of Black Sabbath, and from that the band does not waver. They’ve worked quickly since getting their start half a decade ago, but prior to, guitarist Martin Fairbanks did a stint in Kaptain Sun predecessors Clandestine, and he and vocalist Niklas Sjöberg are also currently members of NYMF, whose split 7″ with Dozer marked that band’s recorded return in 2013.

Even so, you can drop as many names as you want and it does little to convey the fluidity of The Graviators‘ doom ‘n’ roll. The four-piece of Fairbanks, Sjöberg , bassist Johan Holm and drummer Henrik Bergman are no less at home in a boogie rock shuffle as a nod-ready doom riff, and as the force tying it together and laying down the hook in a song like “Narrow Minded Bastards,” the charismatic Sjöberg excels in classic frontman form, ready with a “yeah” at the end of each verse to carry the listener along with the groove. Their video for “Narrow Minded Bastards” is relatively simple in concept — band, rocking, in a room — but interestingly shot and actively cut so there’s no drag and it does well to convey the swagger inherent in the track. Of course, Motherload has much more to offer than just that, or presumably they’d have called it something else, but as a first impression, “Narrow Minded Bastards” hits all its marks easily and should have no problem digging into the consciousness of the willing.

Today I have the pleasure of hosting the premiere for the “Narrow Minded Bastards” video. Please find it below, and enjoy:

The Graviators, “Narrow Minded Bastards” official video

The Graviators are set to release Motherload on April 8 in North America. Other dates and more info:

Sweden´s Doom / Stoner Metal Band THE GRAVIATORS will release their highly anticipated third album Motherload in on April 8th in North America (international release dates are below). Motherload will be made available as a limited Digipak Edition and 2 LP Gatefold Vinyl Edition!

This coming May, Future Noise will bring together a pairing of abrasive UK sludgers for a split 12″ of considerable nastiosity. The Sleeping Shaman streamed two tracks from it today, and the combination of Bastard of the Skies and Grimpen Mire works out to be basically like asking the audience whether they’d prefer to the punched in the left side of the face or the right. I don’t know if there’s any letup over the course of the 12″, but there certainly doesn’t seem to be much in “Yarn” or “The Hollow Wreck,” as you can hear via the link below.

Dig it:

BASTARD OF THE SKIES & GRIMPEN MIRE To Release 12” Via Future Noise; Track Stream From Both Bands Now Available!

Future Noise is ecstatic to announce the coming together of 2 of the UK’s rising heavyweights in the form of Blackburn’s Noise Rock deviants BASTARD OF THE SKIES and Birmingham’s filth mongers GRIMPEN MIRE for a limited Split 12” which will see the light of day in early May 2014.

Both sides for this behemoth of a release were recorded by BASTARD OF THE SKIES guitarist/vocalist Matt Richardson at his own Full Stack Studio, mastering was handled by the ever faithful James Plotkin while artwork was realised by illustrator Michael Cowell.

And today, The Sleeping Shaman is honoured to be streaming a track from both bands, ‘Yarn’ by BASTARD OF THE SKIES & ‘The Hollow Wreck’ by GRIMPEN MIRE, now press play below to be devastated by the aural assault you are about to hear…

Tracklisting for the split is as follows:

BASTARD OF THE SKIES side:
A1. Yarn
A2. Bao Fu
A3. Wounder
A4. Old Vessels

GRIMPEN MIRE side:
B1. The Hollow Wreck
B2. Vermin Hive
B3. Fragments of Forgotten Craft

More news on Pre-Orders and release date will be announced soon!

http://www.facebook.com/bastardoftheskies
http://bastardoftheskies.bandcamp.com
http://www.facebook.com/grimpenmire
http://grimpenmire.bandcamp.com
http://www.future-noise.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Future-Noise-Recordings/141470275887035
http://futurenoise.bandcamp.com

II: Void Worship will be Pilgrim‘s first outing for Metal Blade proper after signing to the label following the success of their Misery Wizard debut, which Metal Blade distributed via Alan Averill of Primordial‘s imprint, Poison Tongue. The band will also hit the road as openers for the reunited Spirit Caravan on their first North American run since getting back together, so it would seem their ascent continues. A new song, dubbed “The Paladin,” is streaming now, and album preorders are available through Metal Blade for what’s almost certainly one of 2014’s most anticipated doom releases.

This comes fresh off the PR wire:

PILGRIM: Rhode Island Doom Bringers To Release Sophomore Full-Length

New Track Streaming and Live Takeovers Confirmed

Wizards and warriors, rejoice, for the chosen one has returned! Since the early 2012 unveiling of their debut sonic behemoth, Misery Wizard, fans and critics alike have patiently yet anxiously awaited the second chapter from Rhode Island doom bringers, PILGRIM. Welcome II: Void Worship.

Wielding eight new epic tracks laden with tales of swords and sorcery, death, doom and destruction, II: Void Worship wasrecorded at Moonlight Mile Recording by audio architect Mike Moebius and supplies an extraordinary quality of tone and heaviness. With II: Void Worship, PILGRIM takes a new approach to their songwriting, replacing meditated, repetitive hypnosis-inducing dirges with more calculated and demented power-house riffs. They build, shape, and climb into frenzied climaxes and fade into sweet sonic releases, molding perfectly crafted rock songs into twisting spires of evil doom metal masterpieces. It is obvious that PILGRIM has matured, both musically and as individuals, in their past two years of global conquest.

Feel the gargantuan crush of third hymn, “The Paladin,” now streaming at metalblade.com/pilgrim.

II: Void Worship track listing:
1. Intro
2. Master’s Chamber
3. The Paladin
4. Arcane Sanctum
5. In The Process of Evil
6. Void of Worship
7. Dwarven March
8. Away From Here

In related PILGRIM news, the band will bring their epic earth-rumblings to the stage next month supporting reunited stoner rock icons, Spirit Caravan. Set to commence on March 7th in Baltimore, Maryland, the trek will rupture nearly two dozen cities and include a performance at this year’s edition of SXSW. See confirmed dates below.

PILGRIM w/ Spirit Caravan:
03/07/2014 Metro Gallery – Baltimore, MD
03/08/2014 Straneg Matter – Richmond, VA
03/09/2014 Chop Shop – Charlotte, NC
03/10/2014 Drunken Unicorn – Atlanta, GA
03/15/2014 SXSW – Austin, TX
03/17/2014 Launchpad – Albuquerque, NM
03/18/2014 Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
03/19/2014 Thee Parkside – San Francisco, CA
03/21/2014 Rotture – Portland, OR
03/22/2014 El Corazon – Seattle, WA
03/24/2014 The Shredder – Boise, ID
03/25/2014 Burt’s Tiki Lounge – Salt Lake City, UT
03/27/2014 Marquis Theater – Denver, CO
03/29/2014 Reggies – Chicago, IL
03/30/2014 Cactus Club – Milwaukee, WI
03/31/2014 The Fifth Quarter – Indianapolis, IN
04/01/2014 Outland Ballroom – Springfield, MO
04/02/2014 Rock Island Brewing – Rock Island, IL
04/03/2014 Fubar – St. Louis, MO
04/04/2014 Hi Tone – Memphis, TN
04/05/2014 V Club – Huntington, WV
04/06/2014 Hideaway – Johnson City, TN
04/08/2014 Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI
04/09/2014 Skully’s – Columbus ,OH
04/12/2014 31st St Pub – Pittsburgh, PA
04/13/2014 Empire – Springfield, VA
04/14/2014 AS220 – Providence, RI
04/15/2014 Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn NY

II: Void Worship is scheduled for release on April 1, 2014 in North America, and on March 28/31 in Europe/UK via Metal Blade Records. Special preorder packages, including vinyl, are currently available at metalblade.com/pilgrim.

http://www.facebook.com/hailthepilgrim
http://www.metalblade.com

Pilgrim, “The Paladin”

Written and initially recorded in 2007, Hull‘s “Legend of the Swamp Goat” coincides timing-wise with their debut EP, Viking Funeral as some of the earliest material from the band. The Brooklyn now-foursome never released the song to my knowledge, but it now emerges on a 7″ of the same name released in a variety of colors DIY through their own Iron Works Orchestra imprint to mark the occasion of a European tour with Boston’s Elder that will begin at Roadburn and end at Desertfest in London. It is, however, more than just a dug-up lost recording trotted out because they needed something for the shows. Guitarist/vocalist Nicholas Palmirotto went back in and tracked vocals and reworked the guitar, and the song is newly mixed and mastered, so while it also predates Hull‘s first full-length, 2009’s Sole Lord, it’s also their first studio output since their brilliant 2011 album, Beyond the Lightless Sky (review here). Sure enough, the single — which clocks in at just over five minutes long and features a laser etching on the B-side — is a blend of new ideas and old.

I wouldn’t speculate on which layers are new and which ones older, but the sweeping lead that takes hold at 1:52 certainly reminds tonally of any number of Beyond the Lightless Sky‘s triumphant solos. Likewise, the multiple tracks of vocals show a complexity of arrangement that the band simply hadn’t yet developed on Viking Funeral — destructive as the debut was — and Palmirotto‘s voice holds the confidence of an approach that’s way more coming off its second record than making an initial demo. Fellow guitarist/vocalist Carmine Laietta, bassist/vocalist Seanbryant Dunn, then-guitarist/vocalist Drew Mack (currently in Cleanteeth) and drummer Jeff Stieber blend acoustics and electrics throughout and lock in a solid groove, showing some stoner roots in the verse rhythm, resulting in a Sleep-style march that Hull have since largely left behind. That, taken into account with the title “Legend of the Swamp Goat” itself and the swaggering riff-led midsection, give a somewhat lighthearted feel. It’s not exactly congruous with Sole Lord or Beyond the Lightless Sky, which were conceptual works both in theme and structure, but it’s fun, and the intensity of the final rush that caps “Legend of the Swamp Goat” gives a metallized apex that shows how willing Hull were even seven years ago to play various genre elements off each other, and how effectively they could do it.

Something of a curio, maybe, in terms of their overall catalog, but if the tour was an excuse for the single to surface, then three years beyond Beyond the Lightless Sky, I’m inclined to take what I can get. When or if a third Hull full-length will arrive remains to be seen, but the Legend of the Swamp Goat 7″ offers more substance than a stopgap and provides a listen unlike anything else in the band’s to-date discography. Paired alongside their recent vinyl reissue of Viking Funeral, it provides an insight into Hull‘s beginnings that may also offer some hint of where they may be headed.

Hear “Legend of the Swamp Goat” now as part of the 24/7 stream of The Obelisk Radio, and take a listen via the player below, snagged from Hull‘s Bandcamp page, where the 7″ can also be ordered:

Hull, “Legend of the Swamp Goat”

Hull on Thee Facebooks

Hull on Bandcamp

Next month, Floridian compatriots Holly Hunt and Hollow Leg will embark on an East Coast run together. For Hollow Leg, they’ll be out supporting the Argonauta Records reissue of 2010’s Instinct (info here) as well as their Summer 2013 full-length, Abysmal (review here), while Holly Hunt will arrive fresh off appearances at the International Noise Conference (video below), and gigs alongside Jucifer and Darsombra while toting copies of their 2010 2LP, Year One.

Both bands were kind enough to offer some comments on the tour, and you’ll find those with the tour dates below:

Says Hollow Leg:

Hollow Leg have been fortunate to be comrades with the Unholy Miami Trinity of Volume — Shroud Eater, Orbweaver, Holly Hunt — and the upcoming dates of live sonic excess will further solidify our bond with one of the Masters. Holly Hunt exercise the power of guitar and drums that was the same foundation at the inception of Hollow Leg and both bands love nothing more than to crush all into a blissful nothing. This tour is a further testament to all that is heavy from Florida as we creep up the East Coast: good friends, good tunes, and good fun.

Says Holly Hunt:

We’ve loved Hollow Leg since the very first time we saw them at Churchill’s playing with our friends Shroud Eater. Their brutal heaviness combined with excellent song writing make them a absolute must see band. We’ve been able to get to know them and hang out with them often in the last few years. We are thrilled to be able to go raging with them up the East Coast and back… we cannot wait!

March 21-29 Hollow Leg/Holly Hunt tour:
03/21 Mars Pub, Gainesville, FL w/ Gaul, Thunderclap
03/22 Hippo Records, Greensboro NC w/ Irata
03/23 The Dougout, Washington D.C. w/ Public Suicide, Paranoid Minds
03/24 Kung Fu Necktie, Philadelphia, PA w/ Clamfight, Sunburster
03/25 O’Brien’s Pub, Allston, MA w/ Ichabod, Balam
03/26 St. Vitus Bar, Brooklyn, NY w/ Clamfight, Kings Destroy, The Scimitar
03/27 Rogers, Va Beach VA w/ The Pestilence Choir, Kombat Wombat
03/28 Reggie’s, Wilmington, NC w/ Hadea, Kohmats, Toke
03/29 529, Atlanta, GA w/ Dasher, Motherfucker, Roman Gabriel Todd

Hollow Leg, “Abysmal” Live at House of Blues, Jan. 27, 2014

Holly Hunt, Live in Miami, 2014

Hollow Leg on Thee Facebooks

Holly Hunt on Thee Facebooks

Hollow Leg/Holly Hunt tour event page

There’s a fair amount of The Obsessed demo material floating around the limitless disorganization of the internet, but this version of “Fear’s Machine,” said to be taken from a 1992 rehearsal, is something I hadn’t yet encountered. “Fear’s Machine” was never on a The Obsessed studio album, though it was included on the 2004 reissue of 1999’s Southern Lord CD/2LP compilation, Incarnate, along with “Field of Hours,” “Climate of Despair” and “Decimation,” but it wouldn’t make a proper appearance on a studio album until Spirit Caravan recorded it for 1999’s Jug Fulla Sun debut. Seven years isn’t the longest a song has ever waited to come out, but it’s a considerable stretch anyway, and the demo proves to be much different than the finished product.

Part of that has to be due to the lineup. It’s certainly Scott “Wino” Weinrich on guitar and vocals and Greg Rogers on drums, who was with The Obsessed from the reunion in 1991 until they again disbanded in ’95, but I’m not sure who’s on bass. If this track is indeed from 1992, then it could either be Guy Pinhas or Scott Reeder. Granted, Reeder went on to join Kyuss that year shortly after the seminal desert rockers released Blues for the Red Sun, but he played in 1991’s Lunar Womb and I guess what’s not clear is if “Fear’s Machine” was recorded before or after he left and Pinhas joined [the Incarnate liner notes might be able to clear this up, but my CD is in a box from last year’s move]. The info for the video cites it as the “new lineup at the time.” Well, The Obsessed had only been kicking around again for a year or so. Wasn’t it a new lineup either way?

Whichever player it is — I have my suspicions — the bass sounds right on, and Wino‘s solo late into the track kicks into this psychedelic multi-layer swirl that’s not to be missed. Of course, Spirit Caravan‘s version was killer as well, but the demo is naturally rawer and thus also a little bit darker sounding.

Enjoy and have a happy Wino Wednesday:

The Obsessed, “Fear’s Machine” (1992 Demo)

It should say something about the conceptual nature of Godhunter‘s approach that their lyric sheet comes with footnotes. Today, the Tuscon-based six-piece release their debut long-player, City of Dust, on CD via Battleground Records/The Compound. It’s an album that wears its aggression and political mentality likewise on its sleeve, and from the opening sample that, backed by feedback and effects, leads the way into the undulating, punishingly slow riff of “Despite All,” Godhunter show that they’re more than willing to manually drive these ideas into your brain if that’s what it’s going to take to get them there. Tackling issues within their native Arizona (“Rats in the Walls,” “Snake Oil Dealer”) and the Southwest in general (the closing “Plague Widow”), the eight component tracks of the 49-minute album come across with staggering intensity despite what’s usually a fairly grueling pace. It is as much a multi-chapter sludgecore manifesto as it is a collection of memorably-riffed songs.

Godhunter‘s hardcore roots shine through in their arrangements, and even with cellist/keyboardist/effects specialist Matthew Davis at work throughout, the riffs of “Despite All,” “Palace of Thorn” and the guitar-siren-infused “City of Dust” lumber in classic-if-thickened fashion. Elsewhere, guitarists David Rodgers (also vocals) and Jake Brazelton bring an almost Southern metal sensibility to the largesse of “Brushfires,” while bassist Ryan “Dick” Williamson and drummer Andy Kratzenberg lend further heft and punctuation to the steady roll, but the raw-throat of vocalist Charlie Touseull keeps City of Dust aligned to a tradition of socially conscious underground rage, lines like “No rescue for those already dead/Reason cast aside for myth instead,” from “Brushfires” showcasing the rhythmic push that accompanies such vitriol. If there’s an aberration from Godhunter‘s onslaught, it comes in “Shooting down the Sun” at the start of the second half of the tracklist, on which guest vocalist Carlos Arzate sings clean over mournful acoustic guitars and Davis‘ cello. It’s the shortest track on City of Dust at 4:44, but the gravitas it lends the surrounding material is put to solid and pummeling use.

The corresponding affirmation of Godhunter‘s brutality, then, would have to be the closer. “Plague Widow,” with gang-style backing vocals from Matt Martinez, Nate Garrett and Chthon Leemont, is a 10-minute sensory assault that compounds references to the Bible and The Tempest with keyboard atmospherics and an insistent repetitions over a marching riff that aren’t so much hypnotic as like being punched with music, cello and amp noise finally serving as City of Dust‘s leadout over the fading guitar, bass and drums. The line that Touseull and company leave on is “This is hell and all the devils are here,” and like the rest of City of Dust, it seems unlikely that’s happenstance. So thought-through is the album that it’s easy to forget it’s Godhunter‘s first — their prior release was late 2011’s Wolves EP (review here) — but if they’re to move forward from this as their starting point, they’ve presented a multifaceted and passionate foundation from which to progress. On any angle from which you might want to approach it, City of Dust is more than just a sludge record.

They’ve got it at their Bandcamp, but I’ve been given permission to stream the album here and I’m not about to say no. After the player, you’ll find the lyric sheet with track-by-track info on all the songs. Please enjoy.

[mp3player width=480 height=360 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=godhunter-city-of-dust.xml]

Godhunter‘s City of Dust is available now digitally through their Bandcamp page and on CD via Earsplit Distro‘s website. Here are the lyric sheets:

Godhunter on Thee Facebooks

Godhunter on Bandcamp

Godhunter at Earsplit Distro