This week, even as they made ready to head to Desertfest, sludge mavens Weedeater unleashed a new Scion-sponsored single called “Hot Doughnuts Now,” and needless to say, but it features both their signature lurching tones and unmitigated charm. To wit, it’s about doughnuts. And “doughnuts” is spelled right. Not that there was ever any doubt, but Weedeater remain on the ball.

In addition to the new song, which is the first Weedeater studio track to surface since their signing to Season of Mist for the release of their next album, the band have announced a tour in Australia and New Zealand alongside Corrosion of Conformity, the two bands serving as ambassadors together of some of the best in heavy that the American South has to offer.

The PR wire digs it:

WEEDEATER announce new tour dates in Australia, New Zealand

Infamous sludge outfit WEEDEATER (“Dixie” Dave Collins – Bass, Vocals; Dave Sheperd – Guitar, Vocals) has announced a new tour in New Zealand and Australia. The tour, which begins on July 18 in Sydney, will travel through Melbourne, Perth, and more before ending on July 28, and will see WEEDEATER play alongside CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. A full list of confirmed dates can be found below.

WEEDEATER released a new track as part of the “SCION AV Presents…” series. The track, titled “Hot Doughnuts Now” can be streamed and downloaded here. The North Carolina-based band is currently writing new material for their first Season of Mist recording, slated for release in 2014.

WEEDEATER was formed by front-man/bassist “Dixie” Dave Collins. Following the release of their 2001 debut ‘…And Justice For Y’All’, WEEDEATER immediately established themselves as a force in the U.S. tour circuit and quickly gained notoriety in the American metal scene. In the time since, the band have released three critically-acclaimed albums: ‘Sixteen Tons’ (2002), ‘God Luck And Good Speed’ (2007), and ‘Jason… The Dragon’ (2011), and toured around the world with the likes of DOWN, SAINT VITUS, HIGH ON FIRE, and THE MELVINS, HANK III, EARTH, SUNN O))) and more. The band has played prestigious festivals such as Maryland Deathfest, Hopscotch Festival, Stoned From The Underground, Asymmetry Festival, Roadburn Festival, Hellfest, and many more.

For more WEEDEATER news and tour information, please visit the Season of Mist website, and the WEEDEATER website and Facebook page.

WEEDEATER TOUR DATES:
All dates with CORROSION OF CONFORMITY
7/18 Sydney NSW @ The Factory Theatre
7/19 Canberra ACT @ ANU Bar
7/20 Melbourne VIC @ 170 Russell
7/22 Auckland NZ @ The Kings Arms
7/23 Wellington NZ @ Bodega Bar
7/25 Adelaide SA @ Fowlers Live
7/26 Perth WA @ The Rosemount
7/28 Brisbane QLD @ The Hi Fi

http://www.season-of-mist.com/
http://www.weedmetal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/weedmetal

Weedeater, “Hot Doughnuts Now” (2014)

Anytime I get to post up some art from L.A.-based artist and all-around good guy Sean “Skillit” McEleny, I consider it a good day. The designer of artworks for Fatso Jetson, Dali’s Llama, this very website (note the header) and so many others continues his association with Wisconsin’s Days of the Doomed fest, following up on artwork contributed last year with a badass horizontal design — such is the way of things; an interesting byproduct of what shows up best on Thee Facebooks feeds and profile pictures — for Days of the Doomed IV, which rolls out starting on June 20 with Trouble, Egypt, The Mighty Nimbus and an impressive cast of others.

The poster itself calls to mind Madballs (dating myself) and any number of video game monsters, but notice the mountain druids in the background and things get even weirder and more complex. If you don’t at first see it, look on the bottom right side for where it’s noted that Days of the Doomed IV is honoring the late Jason McCash, who headlined the fest last year with The Gates of Slumber.

Click the image to enlarge for a better look:

Days of the Doomed IV is set for June 20 and 21 at The Metal Grill (formerly The Blue Pig) on Packard Ave. in Cudahy, Wisconsin, and is dedicated this year to the memory of The Gates of Slumber‘s Jason McCash. The lineup and runtimes are as follows:

Friday, June 20th, 2014 – Doors Open At 3:00 PM
3:00 – 4:00 Metal DJ
4:00 – 4:40 Ancient Dreams
5:00 – 5:40 Stasis
6:00 – 6:45 Wasted Theory
7:05 – 7:50 Witchden
8:10 – 9:00 The Mighty Nimbus
9:20 – 10:20 Orodruin
10:40 – 11:40 Blackfinger (featuring former Trouble vocalist Eric Wagner)
12:00 – 1:00 Las Cruces

Saturday, June 21st, 2014 – Doors Open At 11:30 AM
12:00 – 12:40 Flying Medusa
1:00 – 1:40 Moon Curse
2:00 – 2:45 Sanctus Bellum
3:05 – 3:50 Brimstone Coven
4:10 – 4:55 Spillage (featuring Earthen Grave guitarist Tony Spillman)
5:15 – 6:00 Stone Magnum
6:20 – 7:05 Egypt
7:25 – 8:10 Devil To Pay
8:30 – 9:15 Beelzefuzz
9:35 – 10:35 Jex Thoth
10:55 – 11:55 Age Of Taurus
12:15 – 1:30 Trouble

Skillit Art on Thee Facebooks

Skillit Art website

Days of the Doomed IV on Thee Facebooks

With their fifth album, Trails and Passes, Swedish heavy rockers Greenleaf hit reset — and not for the first time. After the grandiose feel of 2012’s Nest of Vipers (review here), the one-time side-project of Borlänge-based Dozer guitarist Tommi Holappa parted ways with the bulk of its lineup, including vocalist Oskar Cedermalm (also Truckfighters), guitarist Johan Rockner (also Dozer) and drummer Olle Mårthans (also Dozer). That would be enough change for any band to go through in two years’ time, but Trails and Passes (released by Small Stone) also marks a considerable turn in methodology, and where Greenleaf formerly played host to numerous guest appearances from countrymen luminaries like Lowrider vocalist Peder Bergstrand (who also sang on the initial Greenleaf EP back in 2000; someday it will be mine), Dozer guitarist/vocalist Fredrik Nordin (who also sang on the first two Greenleaf full-lengths, 2001’s Revolution Rock and 2003’s Secret Alphabets), organist Per Wiberg (formerly of Opeth and now in Spiritual Beggars) and others, this time around, it’s a four-piece band and that’s it. You get guitar, bass, vocals and drums. Simple, and more to the point, tour-able. For Greenleaf to hit the road before would’ve required a family band, but with the inclusion of new vocalist Arvid Jonsson and drummer Sebastian Olsson, the band sounds ready to bring this material to a live setting and capture its rawer appeal in full force. Whether or not the album was produced with the intent of Greenleaf shifting into being a harder-touring act, I don’t know — Dozer‘s hiatus seems to be ongoing, so it’s easy to imagine Holappa getting the itch — but it works out that way anyhow. There are some more complex vocal arrangements on songs like “Depth of the Sun” and the title-track, but on the whole, Trails and Passes feels more stage-primed than anything Greenleaf has produced in over a decade.

Of course, while there are no shortage of changes at hand with the nine-track/42-minute run of Trails and Passes, there’s plenty of continuity as well. As with Nest of Vipers, instrumental recording for Trails and Passes was helmed by former Greenleaf, former Demon Cleaner and current The Old Wind drummer Karl Daniel Lidén, and the partnership between Holappa and bassist/co-founder Bengt Bäcke remains central to the course of this material. One need hear only the interplay of guitar and bass on the later cut “The Drum” to get a sense of the pervasive chemistry between them. Some of Jonsson‘s vocals come in a style not so dissimilar from Cedermalm‘s, particularly on tracks like “Ocean Deep” and “Equators,” and Holappa‘s songwriting also makes for a consistent factor tying Trails and Passes to Greenleaf‘s prior work. The guitarist is one of heavy rock’s finest craftsmen — period — and cuts like those already mentioned as well as the hook-minded opener “Our Mother Ash,” the funk-via-Clutch‘s-“Profits-of-Doom” of “Humans” and the eight-minute exploratory build of “With Eyes Wide Open” serve all the more as a showcase for songwriting with the relative lack of frills surrounding. Trails and Passes emerges as an album that’s exceedingly easy to listen to on repeat. “Our Mother Ash” and “Ocean Deep” set up a series of tradeoffs between straight-ahead rockers and more contemplative material that continues until “Trails and Passes” caps with a blend of the airier elements at work on “Depth of the Sun,” “With Eyes Wide Open” and “Bound to be Machines” and the irresistible push of the cowbell-infused “Equators” (on which both Lidén‘s production and Olsson‘s creative fills are distinguished) and the have-chorus-will-travel “The Drum,” Bäcke serving as the foundation for a finale worthy both of Greenleaf‘s past efforts and the considerable achievements of their current incarnation.

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What I like about the video for Pendejo‘s “Dos” at the bottom of this post is that when the main character makes a robot, first of all, he gives it long hair, and second, they totally hang out. There’s no immediate animosity, it’s just some weirdo mad scientist who wants to bro down so he builds a brobot with which to do so. They go get drinks. It’s not until they can’t decide who gets the last beer that machine and man collide in a battle that many would say was inevitable anyway. It’s a cool clip, and the psyched-out trumpet-as-guitar adds an individual touch to the Amsterdam-based four-piece’s otherwise definitively stoner sound.

I suppose I got sidetracked from the original news, which is that Pendejo‘s new album, Atacames — on which “Dos” appears — is released as of today, but it’s all feeding into my recent theory that nobody reads the stuff on top of the PR wire whathaveyou so I can basically say anything I want to up here. To a point, anyhow.

Here’s the news for your blues:

Pendejo Atacames Out Today

¡PENDEJO! is a four-piece heavy rock band from the Netherlands, founded by two cousins with a history in Latin America. Digging into their latino roots, El Pastuso and Jaap ‘Monchito’ Melman started blending heavy riffage, pounding drums, right-in-your-face lyrics in urban Spanish about the weirdest stories in life, and to top it all off, a screaming trumpet. Sounds pendejo, right?

‘Cantos a la Vida’ (2010), the band’s first full length album, was firstly released in Spain and got stunningly positive reviews there. Their music has been described as heavy, addictive, rough and grooving, or as a Spanish critic so eloquently put it: “Heavy rock in Spanish with balls the size of Danny de Vito”. Having played mostly in the underground scene throughout Europe and Latin America – and sharing stages with influential heavyweights like Fu Manchu and Karma to Burn – the band puts on a show for anyone who is not afraid to be grabbed by the cojones and to be thrown into a spicy puddle of chile con carne.

¡PENDEJO! recorded its second full-length album ‘ATACAMES’ with producer Pieter Kloos in The Void Studio in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Kloos, who previously worked with bands like Motorpsycho, Barkmarket and Ween, and with Dutch heavy acts like Peter Pan Speedrock and 35007, convinced the band to record their album the old fashioned way, recording most of the material live. This resulted in a daring album containing 10 songs ranging from heavy to lighthearted, and from melodramatic to outright aggressive.

¡PENDEJO! are:
El Pastuso – Vocals, Trumpet
Jaap ‘Monchito’ Melman (Bitcho, ex-Dreadlock Pussy, ex-Revamp) – Guitar
Stef ‘El Rojo’ Gubbels – Bass, Backing Vocals
Jos ‘Pepellín’ Roosen – (ex-Dreadlock Pussy, ex-Viberider) – Drums

www.pendejoband.com
www.facebook.com/pendejoband

Pendejo, “Dos” official video

I have no confirmation of this — pure speculation on my part — but it seems likely to me that The Body are getting ready to do some recording while they’re on the East Coast. My understanding is they’ve still done stuff in their former hometown of Providence, Rhode Island, since relocating to the other side of the country in Portland, Oregon, and though they’re coming fresh off an appearance at Roadburn and they’ve got a brand new collaborative effort with New Orleans sludge devastators Thou, history has shown the duo are never far off from the next project, album, EP, whatever it might be.

And not that they haven’t spent plenty of time on the road over the course of the last few years anyway, and not that Christs, Redeemers isn’t worth the extra support, but they’re at the St. Vitus Bar on May 8, then they break for nine days, then pick back up in Ithaca on May 17 before heading west and south. Again, I’ve got no solid word on anything, but if they wanted to put something to tape in or around Providence at that time, they’d be able to do so. I guess we’ll see.

Dates and info follow, fresh off the PR wire:

The Body Announces US Dates in May

Christs, Redeemers is out now

The Body have announced a string of US dates following their first-ever tour of Europe and a performance at the famed Roadburn festival, which kick off at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn on May 8th. The avant-doom duo released their third LP, Christs, Redeemers, last October on Thrill Jockey, and have followed it with collaborative one-offs with electronic producer The Haxan Cloak and doom band Thou.

The Body US tour dates
Thu. May 8th – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus
Sat May 17th – Ithaca, NY – Just Be Cause
Sun May 18th – Pittsburgh, PA – Abandoned Store
Mon May 19th – Cincinnati, OH – 3 Kings Bar
Tue May 20th – Bloomington, IN – The Bishop
Wed May 21st – St. Louis, MO – Apop Records

http://thrilljockey.com/thrill/The-Body/Christs-Redeemers
https://www.facebook.com/pages/the-body/334047229514

The Body, “An Altar or a Grave” official video

A little over four years ago, when Miami’s Floor reunited for a couple shows to coincide with the release of the 8CD box set, Below and Beyond, on Robotic Empire, I was fortunate enough to interview guitarist Anthony Vialon about the band’s getting back together for what seemed then to be a very limited run. Now, as they prepare to release their new album, Oblation (review here), next week on Season of Mist and embark a day later on a cross-country tour that will place them squarely on the other side of the line between a “reunion band” and a working one, it seemed only fitting to follow-up with Vialon about Floor‘s progress these last several years and how they got to where they are.

Because when they first booked three gigs back in 2010 in Florida and Georgia, the going impression — I think on the part of the band as much as fans — was that was it. Then the response they got was huge enough that it turned into a few more shows, and a tour, and then some more shows, and it kept rolling on until next thing you knew, they had been picked up by Season of Mist and streaming new material. It’s been a few years getting to this point, but for Floor — the trio of Vialon, guitarist/vocalist Steve Brooks (also of Torche) and drummer Henry Wilson (also of House of Lightning) — the progression seems to have been natural, one step taken at a time, building momentum as they might otherwise with a series of crushing bomb-string riffs.

Certainly that seems to be the method on Oblation. Set in the shadow of Floor‘s by-now-legend 2002 self-titled, what could’ve easily been a project doomed from the start — and not in the good way — has turned out to mark not only a successful return on the part of the band, but a creative evolution that gives a sense of where they left off and where they are now. Songs penned and constructed by Vialon, Wilson and Brooks like “Rocinante” and “War Party” call to mind the unabashed pop hooks of Floor‘s first run, while the eight-minute “Sign of Aeth” takes these elements to places they haven’t yet gone, so that Oblation isn’t nostalgic, but looking forward.

Doubtless a good part of Floor‘s legacy will remain linked to the self-titled, but in talking to Vialon yesterday, that only seemed like something for the trio to be proud of. Oblation releases in the EU and elsewhere tomorrow, April 25, and is out in North America next Tuesday, April 29. Floor begin their tour April 30 in Miami and will finish in Atlanta on June 1 (dates here). In the interview, Vialon discusses writing for the band again, the response the reunion has gotten these last few years, his affinity for Rush, and much more.

Enjoy the Q&A after the jump, and thanks for reading.

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When lead guitarist Eric Clausen left West Coast heavy rockers Snail last summer, he did so with the announcement of his new project, Division Process and its debut album, The Jesus Horses. Recorded by his former bandmate Matt Lynch at his Mysterious Mammal Studios, Clausen is now ready to release The Jesus Horses on May 20 through Dragonwolf Records.

The long-player takes a decidedly darker, more metallic direction than did Snail‘s last outing, Terminus, and as Clausen explains in recapping some of the themes of the record below, that’s no coincidence when it comes to his influences and the point of view from which he was working.

The PR wire has it thus:

DIVISION PROCESS to Release “The Jesus Horses” May 20th

The debut album by DIVISION PROCESS, “The Jesus Horses”, is a narrative of one man’s decent into, and eventual rise out of, his own darkness.

Division Process is the creation of one man: Eric Clausen. Formerly lead guitarist of Snail, Clausen has been a studio heavyweight for years, and now he’s unleashing his fever dream of crank and nicotine on us all. “It’s about drugs. Or, rather, it’s about my journey through heavy drug use.”

It’s a black portrait of personal loss and disassociation including the inevitable spiral into self destruction. Clausen elaborates: “It’s a very personal record for me as it deals with my former drug use and my excuses for using — disillusionment with my surroundings, the loss of my mother to disease and just how everything suddenly seemed to fall apart. While there is no ‘happy ending,’ there is hope by the end when our hero decides to follow a better path rather than seek his own demise.”

The result is an album that is at once heavy, melodic and dark with big guitars and expansive, layered vocals. Says Clausen: “I’m a huge fan of bands with big vocals, be it Queen, ELO, Alice in Chains or whomever. I also love the guitars of TOOL, High on Fire and Cheap Trick and the writing of Trent Reznor.” This eclectic mix comes together in a potent stew of crushing rock.

Enlisting the help of drummer Darby Todd (Gary Moore, The Darkness) and bassist Collyn McCoy (OTEP, The Ultra-Electric Mega Galactic) ensured that the album’s impressive musical prowess would be evident while retaining musicality. “It was important to me that the music groove and swing and be listenable but still have some moments that just drop your jaw. I wanted it to be aggressive on all fronts, including the players’ abilities, without it being a shredder thing. Those boys definitely pulled that off.”

The first release from Dragonwolf Entertainment’s new label, Dragonwolf Records, “The Jesus Horses” is officially released on May 20 on CD and digital and is available on Amazon.com, iTunes, CDBaby and all the usual digital outlets.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Division-Process/176224029137769

Division Process, “Annex Mecitrocity” from The Jesus Horses

Among the highlights of 2014 so far, Mars Red Sky‘s Stranded in Arcadia (review here) is out next week in Europe on Listenable Records (June 10 in North America). The album is the second from the Bordeaux trio of guitarist/vocalist Julien Pras, bassist/vocalist Jimmy Kinast and drummer Matgaz (his first), and it was put to tape in Brazil late last year after plans to tour the West Coast of the US and record in the California desert were undone by American visa troubles. Presumably the TSA saw Kinast‘s beard and assumed he was a terrorist, but I don’t know that for sure.

Either way, listening to Stranded in Arcadia — as I can’t seem to stop doing — the three-piece leaves little doubt that they made the most of their situation. Like their 2011 self-titled debut (review here) and subsequent 2013 EP, Be My Guide (review here), there’s a humility in the sweet melodies that complement the huge fuzz riffs of songs like “Hovering Satellites” and “Seen a Ghost,” but as opener and longest cut at just over eight minutes “The Light Beyond” shows, Mars Red Sky have greatly expanded their sound to include more psychedelic atmospheres. Production-wise, Stranded in Arcadia unfolds gracefully into a sprawl the largesse of which not only serves to make the tones come across thick and/or echoing, but also to provide the landscape in which the next stage of the band’s songwriting can develop, coming into focus like an old Polaroid photo as “The Light Beyond” bursts to wah-soaked life from its soft, ambient intro.

Like “Join the Race,” “Seen a Ghost,” and the more swaggering “Circles,” “The Light Beyond” is a highlight of Stranded in Arcadia, but for anyone who heard the first record or its follow-up EP, the song also offers firm evidence of how Mars Red Sky have grown in the last couple years. More than that, it’s the kind of track that feels like it’s swallowing you whole as it eases between its verses and jammed-out vibing. Taking both into consideration, there was no way I wasn’t going to stream it when the opportunity arose.

Find and enjoy “The Light Beyond” on the player below, followed by info about Mars Red Sky‘s special May 15 release show in Bordeaux and other tour dates:

Into The Mars Red Sound » may 15th in Bordeaux!

On the occasion of the release of their new album ”Stranded In Arcadia” in Europe on April 28th, MARS RED SKY announced a release party in their hometown Bordeaux on May 15th. The band will perform a classic live set alongside Russian rockers The Grand Astoria, as well as an experimental video and sound creation featuring Julia Al Abed.

Mars Red Sky on tour:

04.26.14 – SAINTES (Fr) Coconut Party
05.06.14 – ESCH SUR ALZETTE (Lux) Rockhal ***
05.07.14 – LAUSANNE (Swz) Les Docks *** w/ Detroit
05.08.14 – AMIENS (Fr) Le Cirque Jules Verne ***
05.15.14 – BORDEAUX (Fr) Barbey, Release Party “Into The Mars Red Sound”
05.17.14 – ANGOULÊME (Fr) La Nef
06.01.14 – PARIS (Fr) La Cigale ***
06.20.14 – CLISSON (Fr) HELLFEST OPEN AIR
06.26.14 – SALLES-ABRUISSANNAS (Fr) Willstock Festival
06.27.14 – VIC LE COMTE (Fr) Festival Alambic
06.28.14 – ÉVREUX (Fr) Le Rock Dans Tous Ses États Festival
07.11.14 – ERFURT (Ger) STONED FROM THE UNDERGROUND FESTIVAL
10.02.14 – PARIS (Fr) La Maroquinerie

Preorder Stranded in Arcadia at Listenable Records

Mars Red Sky on Thee Facebooks

Listenable Records