Posted in Whathaveyou on January 24th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
Look at the blue text below and you know what you’re gonna see? Yes, a whole lot of skull emojis. Like a lot. But it happens that each individual one corresponds to a demonstration of the labor of love and community that is the Maryland Doom Festival. From Abel Blood through Zekiah, Maryland Doom Fest 2024 celebrates its 10th anniversary edition with its standard sans-bullshit glut of heavy. Once more the Frederick-based event looks your square in the eye, drops for absolutely immersive days on you and asks if you’re up for it. Well, are ya?
I’m not sure what my summer travel plans are yet — this and Freak Valley have overlapped the last couple years for me — but it’s been since 2019 that I was last down there and oh I’d be so eager to show up and have the three or four people who recognize me (and thus make it feel like an absolute family experience; love love love everywhere you go down there) quietly think to themselves I’ve gotten older and fatter en route to obliterating myself with volume for about 96 hours straight. Fuck. King. A.
Oh, and I hear Thunderbird Divine have new stuff in the works and it’s amazing. So that’s a thing too.
Social media had it like this:
We are super stoked to share with you the Maryland Doom Fest 2024 rosters, schedules, and lineups!!!
#4daysofdoom
THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024
✝️Thursday June 20
Cafe 611-
💀 Thunderhorse 1115-1230 💀 The Magpie 1010-1055 💀 Born of Plagues 905-950 💀 Stone Nomads 800-845 💀 Pyre Fyre 700-740 💀 Dirt Eater 600-640
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Spellbook 920-1000 💀 Strange Highways 820-900 💀 Bailjack 720-800 💀 Stone Brew 620-700 💀 Abel Blood 520-600
💀 Ten Ton Slug 915-1000 💀 Thousand Vision Mist 815-855 💀 Crowhunter 715-755 💀 Asthma Castle 615-655 💀 Bonded by Darkness 515-555
✝️Saturday June 22
Cafe 611-
💀 WHORES. 1150-115 💀 AGE/S 1040-1130 💀 Bloodshot 935-1020 💀 O ZORN! 830-915 💀 Double Planet 730-810 💀 Sun Years 630-710 💀 When the Deadbolt Breaks 530-610
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Black Water Rising 915-1000 💀 Switchblade Jesus 815-855 💀 Wyndrider 715-755 💀 Indus Valley Kings 615-655 💀 Vermillion Whiskey 515-555 💀 Doctor Smoke 415-455
✝️Sunday June 23
Cafe 611-
💀 Cirith Ungol 1200-110 💀 Mythosphere 1055-1140 💀 Conclave 955-1035 💀 Compression 855-935 💀 Sons of Arrakis 755-835 💀 Curse the Son 655-735 💀 Kulvera 555-635 💀 Old Blood 500-535 💀 Cloud Machine 405-440
Olde Mother Brewery-
💀 Thunderbird Divine 920-1000 💀 Black Manta 820-900 💀 High Noon Kahuna 720-800 💀 Unity Reggae 620-700 💀 King Bastard 520-600 💀 Zekiah 420-500
52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!! #4daysofdoom
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 1st, 2023 by JJ Koczan
With headlining performances slated from a soon-to-retire Cirith Ungol, noise crushers Whores., mostly-local melodic heavy proggers Mythosphere, Switchblade Jesus, Conclave, Ten Ton Slug (from Ireland; I got to see them one time; way burly; they’ll do well in Frederick), and plenty of other returning acts and newcomers alike, the lineup for Maryland Doom Fest 2024 could hardly be more appropriate a celebration of the annual Chesapeake gathering’s 10th anniversary. Based in Frederick, the four-day ultra-consuming sensory assault of volume will once again take place at Cafe 611 and Olde Mother Brewing, and if you’ve never been, I’ll tell you outright there’s nothing quite like it.
I mean that. Maryland Doom Fest goes harder than the average festival. A day might start at 1PM and not end until 2AM. And now more than ever, as the fest has grown with the two venues running alongside each other, the bill is packed. I think this year was 50 bands? Well, they’ve got 52 for 2024, and while next June is a while out, there’s a tradition to uphold of Halloween announcements, and festival honcho JB Matson (Bloodshot, War Injun, Outside Truth, etc.) pays tribute to his regulars — Shadow Witch, Bailjack, Thunderbird Divine, Thousand Vision Mist (congratulations to Danny Kenyon of Thousand Vision Mist on recently kicking cancer’s ass), among others here — while also giving showcase to outfits like Pyre Fyre, O Zorn! (whose very moniker heralds weirdness), WyndRider and more.
Congrats to Matson and all at Maryland Doom Fest on their 10th anniversary. To do something of this scope once is a lot. To do it across 10 years, well, aside from being fucking crazy, it’s also deeply admirable.
The aforementioned announcement — brief as ever; the poster lands heavy enough to cover any lack of verbiage — follows, courtesy of socials. Ticket link is there too:
WE ARE EXTREMELY PLEASED TO PRESENT TO YOU, THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2024 LINEUP!!!!! THIS WILL BE OUR 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION!! (#128128#)(#129304#)(#128128#)
52 bands over a 4 day weekend at 2 venues across the street from one another!! #4daysofdoom
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 20th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Rituals is the former Windup Space in Baltimore, or so I’m told, and will play host to Grim Reefer Fest 2020 next April 18. The all-dayer will be headlined by Destroyer of Light from Austin, TX, and in addition to them and fest-organizers Haze Mage — credit where it’s due — the lineup boasts an impressive range of mostly regional denizens like Philly’s High Reeper and Green Meteor and Maryland-based acts like Asthma Castle, Cavern and Alms. Hyborian will be in from Kansas City which leaves me wondering if perhaps they’ll be on tour at the time, but either way, they’re keeping good company to be sure. If you’re the type to celebrate the Stoner New Year or just the type to celebrate riffs, seems to me there are far worse ways to spend your Saturday. They’ve got a food truck and everything.
Tickets are on sale now. Here’s the info:
Are you ready to get grim? Because we sure are! Join us for the 4th annual Grim Reefer Fest on 4.18.20 at Rituals (The new and improved former Windup Space location) in Baltimore, MD!
A full day of incredible live music, a food truck, and heavy riffs to keep you in the right head space!
Here’s the full 2020 lineup!
Destroyer of Light (ATX) – Heavy crushing doom with the heart of rock from Austin, Texas here to obliterate your minds
Hyborian (KC) – Hard-Hitting heavy and stunning riffs from Kansas City to melt your faces
Asthma Castle – Heavy stoner sludge from the depths of Baltimore
Haze Mage – A blend of stoner, doom, and classic heavy metal with epic vocals
HIGH REEPER (PHI) – Heavy pounding rhythms, thick guitars, and soaring screeching vocals
Cavern – Heavy prog rock from Western MD
Green Meteor (PHI) – Psychedelic sonic warriors from outer space
Alms – Classic 70’s style hard-rocking heavy metal with entrancing harmonized vocals
Tombtoker – Dirty and heavy doom forged with the soul of punk
Compression – Recently reforged, a unique blend of thrash, metal, hardcore, and everything inbetween.
Tickets are $25 in Advance and $30 the day of the event! Get yours at www.grimreeferfest.com!
Posted in Reviews on September 30th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Call two friends and tell them to tell two friends to tell two friends, because the Quarterly Review has returned. This time around, it’s 50 records front to back for Fall 2019 and there are some big names and some smaller names and a whole lot of in between which is just how I like it. Between today and Friday, each day 10 album reviews will be posted in a single batch like this one, and although by Wednesday this always means I’m totally out of my mind, it’s always, always, always worth it to be able to write about so much cool stuff. So sit tight, because there’s a lot to get through and, as ever, time’s at a premium.
Thanks in advance for keeping up, and I hope you find something you dig.
Quarterly Review #1-10:
Monkey3, Sphere
It’s a full-on Keanu Reeves “whoa” when opening track “Spirals” kicks in on Monkey3‘s sixth album, Sphere (released by Napalm), and that’s by no means the last one on the cinematic six-tracker. The long-running Swiss mostly-instrumentalists have been consistently, persistently underappreciated throughout their career, but whether it’s the aural scope of guitar and keys in “Axis” or the swaps between intensity and sprawl in 14-minute closer “Ellipsis,” their latest work is consuming in its sense of triumph. Even the four-minute “Ida,” which seems at first like it’s barely going to be more than an interlude, finds a thread of majestic cosmic groove and rides it for the duration, while the proggy immersion of “Prism” and the harder drive of “Mass” — not to mention that shredding solo — make the middle of the record anything but a post-hypnosis dip. I won’t pretend to know if Sphere is the record that finally gets the Lausanne four-piece the respect they’ve already well deserved, but if it was, one could only say it was for good reason. Blends of heft, progressive craft, and breadth are rarely so resonant.
When you call your record Mount Crushmore, you need to bring it, and much to their credit, Baltimorean sludge-rocking five-piece Asthma Castle do precisely that on their debut full-length. Issued through Hellmistress Records, the 37-minute/six-track outing is a wordplay-laced pummeler that shows as much persona in its riffing and massive groove as it does in titles like “The Incline of Western Civilization” and “The Book of Duderonomy.” Trades between early-Mastodonic twists and lumbering sludge crash add a frenetic and unpredictable feel to pieces like the title-track, while “Methlehem” trades its plod for dual-guitar antics punctuated by metallic double-kick, all the while the vocals trade back and forth between growls, shouts, cleaner shouts, the odd scream, etc., because basically if you can keep up with it, Asthma Castle wouldn’t be doing their job. One shudders to think of the amount of Natty Bo consumed during its making, but Mount Crushmore is a wild and cacophonous enough time to live up to the outright righteousness of its title. If I graded reviews, it would get a “Fuckin’ A+,” with emphasis on “fuckin’ a.”
Some day the world will wake up and realize the rock and roll powerhouse it had in Brooklyn’s The Giraffes, but by then it’ll be too late. The apocalypse will have happened long ago, and it’ll be Burgess Meredith putting on a vinyl of Flower of the Cosmos in the New York Library as “FAKS” echoes out through the stacks of now-meaningless tomes and the dust of nuclear winter falls like snow outside the windows. The band’s tumultuous history is mirrored in the energy of their output, and yet to hear the melody and gentle fuzz at the outset of “Golden Door,” there’s something soothing about their work as well that, admittedly, “Raising Kids in the End Times” is gleeful in undercutting. Cute as well they pair that one with “Dorito Dreams” on this, their seventh record in a 20-plus-year run, which has now seen them find their footing, lose it, find it again, and in this record and songs like the masterfully frenetic “Fill up Glass” and the air-tight-tense “Like Hate” and “Romance,” weave a document every bit worthy of Mr. Meredith’s attention as he mourns for the potential of this godforsaken wasteland. Oh, what we’ll leave behind. Such pretty ruins.
In the fine tradition of heavy rock as grown-up punk, North Carolina’s Bask bring progressive edge and rolling-Appalachian atmospherics to the underlying energy of III, their aptly-titled and Season of Mist-issued third album. Their foot is in any number of styles, from Baroness-style noodling to a hard twang that shows up throughout and features prominently on the penultimate “Noble Daughters II – The Bow,” but the great triumph of III, and really the reason it works at all, is because the band find cohesion in this swath of influences. They’re a band who obviously put thought into what they do, making it all the more appropriate to think of them as prog, but as “Three White Feet” and “New Dominion” show at the outset, they don’t serve any aesthetic master so much as the song itself. Closing with banjo and harmonies and a build of crash cymbal on “Maiden Mother Crone” nails the point home in a not-understated way, but at no point does III come across as hyper-theatrical so as to undercut the value of what Bask are doing. It’s a more patient album than it at first seems, but given time to breathe, III indeed comes to life.
Listening to the weighty rollout of opening cut “Bite the Ash” on Faerie Ring‘s debut album, The Clearing (on King Volume Records), one is reminded of the energy that once-upon-a-time came out of Houston’s Venomous Maximus. There’s a similar feeling of dark energy surging through the riffs and echoing vocals, but the Evansville, Indiana, four-piece wind up on a different trip. Their take is more distinctly Sabbathian on “Lost Wind” and even the swinging “Heavy Trip” lives up to its stated purpose ahead of the chugging largesse of finisher “Heaven’s End.” They find brash ground on “The Ring” and the slower march of “Somnium,” but there’s metal beneath the lumbering and it comes out on “Miracle” in a way that the drums late in “Lost Wind” seem to hint toward on subsequent listens. It’s a mix of riff-led elements that should be readily familiar to many listeners, but the sheer size and clarity of presentation Faerie Ring make throughout The Clearing makes me think they’ll look to distinguish themselves going forward, and so their first record holds all the more potential for that.
Begun as the solo-project of London-based multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Mark Walker and presently a trio including Louis Kinder and Jonathan Walker as well, Desert Sands make their recorded debut through A Records with the three-song/half-hour The Ascent EP, a work of psychedelic existentialism that conveys its cosmic questioning even before the lyrics start, with an opening riff and rhythmic lurch to “Are You There” that seems to throw its central query into a void that either will or won’t answer. Does it? The hell should I know, but The Ascent proves duly transcendent in its pulsations as “Head Towards the Light” and 11:45 closer “Yahweh” — yeah, I guess we get there — bring drifting, languid enlightenment to these spiritual musings. The finale is, of course, a jam in excelsis and if drop-acid-find-god is the narrative we’re working with, then Desert Sands are off to a hell of a start as a project. Regardless of how one might ultimately come down (and it is, by my estimation at least, a comedown) on the question of human spirituality, there’s no denying the power and ethereal force of the kind of creativity on display in The Ascent. One will wait impatiently to see what comes next.
Say what you want about New Orleans or North Carolina or wherever the hell else, Midwestern sludge is another level of filth. To wit, the Carcass-style vocals that slice through the raw, dense riffing on “Aspirate on Aspirations” feel like the very embodiment of modern disillusion, and there’s some flourish of melodic guitar pluck there, but that only seems to give the ensuing crunch more impact, and likewise the far-back char of “Freezing in Fire” as it relates to the subsequent “Dead Idles,” as Cavalcade refute the trappings of genre in tempo while still seeming to burrow a hole for themselves in the skull of the converted. “Noose Tie” and “We Dig Our Own Graves” tell the story, but while the recording itself is barebones, Cavalcade aren’t now and never really have been so simple as to be a one-trick band. For more than a decade, they’ve provided a multifaceted and trickily complex downer extremity, and Sonic Euthanasia does this as well, bringing their sound to new places and new levels of abrasion along its punishing way. Easy listening? Shit. You see that eye on the cover? That’s the lizard people staring back at you. Have fun with that.
Long Island chug-rockers Restless Spirit would seem to have been developing the material for their self-released debut album, Lord of the New Depression, over the last couple years on a series of short releases, but the songs still sound fresh and electrified in their vitality. If this was 1992 or ’93, they’d be signed already to RoadRacer Records and put on tour with Life of Agony, whose River Runs Red would seem to be a key influence in the vocals of the nine-track/39-minute offering, but even on their own, the metal-tinged five-piece seem to do just fine. Their tracks are atmospheric and aggressive and kind, and sincere in their roll, capturing the spirit of a band like Down with somewhat drawn-back chestbeating, “Dominion” aside. They seem to be challenging themselves to push outside those confines though in “Deep Fathom Hours,” the longest track at 7:35 with more complexity in the melody of the vocals and guitar, and that suits them remarkably well as they dig into this doomly take on LOA and Type O Negative and others from the early ’90s NYC underground — they seem to pass on Biohazard, which is fine — made legendary with the passage of time. As a gentleman of a certain age, I find it exceptionally easy to get on board.
An eight-piece outfit based in Arvika, Sweden, which is far enough west to be closer to Oslo than Stockholm, Children of the Sün blend the classic heavy rock stylizations of MaidaVale, first-LP Blues Pills and others with a decidedly folkish bent. Including an intro, their The Sign Records debut album, Flowers, is eight track and 34 minutes interweaving organ and guitar, upbeat vibes and bluesier melodies, taking cues from choral-style vocals on “Emmy” in such a way as to remind of Church of the Cosmic Skull, though the aesthetic here is more hippie than cult. The singing on “Sunschild” soars in that fashion as well, epitomizing the lush melody found across Flowers as the keys, guitar, bass and drums work to match in energy and presence. For a highlight, I’d pick the more subdued title-track, which still has its sense of movement thanks to percussion deep in the mix but comes arguably closest to the flower-child folk Children of the Sün seem to be claiming for their own, though the subsequent closing duo of “Like a Sound” and “Beyond the Sun” aren’t far off either. They’re onto something. One hopes they continue to explore in such sünshiny fashion.
Having made their debut with 2016’s There is Nothing (discussed here), Indianapolis downtrodden heavy rock four-piece Void King come back for a second go with Barren Dominion (on Off the Record Label), a title of similar theme that finds them doom riffing through massive tonality on “Burnt at Both Ends,” asking what if Soundgarden played atmospheric doom rock on “Crippled Chameleon” — uh, it would be awesome? yup — and opening each side with its longest track (double immediate points) in a clearly intended vinyl structure hell bent on immersing the listener as much as possible in the lumber and weight the band emit. Frontman Jason Kindred adds extra burl to his already-plenty-dudely approach on “Crippled Chameleon” and closer “The Longest Winter,” the latter with some harmonies to mirror those of opener “A Lucid Omega,” and the band around him — bassist Chris Carroll, drummer Derek Felix and guitarist Tommy Miller — seem to have no trouble whatsoever in keeping up, there or anywhere else on the eight-song/46-minute outing. Topped with striking cover art from Diogo Soares, Barren Dominion is deceptively nuanced and full-sounding. Not at all empty.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 26th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Asthma Castle‘s black ship will launch next month supporting the earlier-2019 release of Mount Crushmore on Hellmistress Records, bringing chaos and headspinning heavy noise rock to the unsuspecting citizenry up and down the Eastern Seaboard and a little bit further inland as well. The burl-bringing five-piece to me recall more of a West Coast noise rock sound, specifically some of Akimbo‘s unhinged metallic-hardcore-sludge attack, but with growls and low-end pummel of “Methlehem” from the record, they’ve got more going for them than just smash-your-head-into-the-wall brashness. Though there’s a bit of that as well. Not telling you to bring your helmet, but not telling you not to either.
Oh, and bonus points to them (again) for calling it the ‘Mount Crushtour.’
If you didn’t hear the record — I know you did, but hypothetically — it’s streaming below from their Bandcamp. Here are the tour dates via the PR wire:
ASTHMA CASTLE: Stoner Metal/Sludge Merchants Featuring Members Of Pig Destroyer, Misery Index, And More Announce August Tour Dates; Mount Crushmore Full-Length Out Now Via Hellmistress Records
Stoner metal/sludge merchants ASTHMA CASTLE have confirmed a rare stack of live dates next month which will find the band pillaging nine stages from August 8th through August 31st. See all confirmed dates below.
The band — featuring within its ranks drummer Adam Jarvis (Pig Destroyer, Misery Index, Scour), the twin guitar attack of Justin Ethem and Cameron Smith (Passage Between, Crawler), vocalist Zach Westphal (ex-J. Roddy Walston And The Business), and bassist Jeff Davis (Damnation Audio effects pedals) — will be touring in support of their Mount Crushmore debut released earlier this year via Hellmistress Records. Recorded and mixed at Wrightway Studios (Dying Fetus, Misery Index), mastered by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer at his own Visceral Sound Studios with cover art by Gary Ronaldson of Bite Radius Designs (Napalm Death, Kreator etc.), ASTHMA CASTLE manifests a unique and seamless, riff-heavy blend of stoner metal/rock, heavy metal, prog, and sludge that takes its cues from the likes of Weedeater, Church Of Misery, Mastodon, Lowrider, Dozer, and Clutch without ever seeming derivative.
Mount Crushmore is available on CD, digital, and limited-edition vinyl formats via Hellmistress Records. For CD orders go to THIS LOCATION, for vinyl go to THIS LOCATION, and for digital, go to THIS LOCATION.
ASTHMA CASTLE: 8/08/2019 Westside Bowl – Youngstown, OH 8/09/2019 TBD – Morgantown, WV 8/10/2019 El Cortez – Brooklyn, NY 8/11/2019 Kung Fu Necktie – Philadelphia, PA 8/22/2019 Cary St. Café – Richmond, VA 8.23.2019 Slim’s – Raleigh, NC 8/24/2019 The Mothlight – Ashville, NC 8/25/2019 The Golden Pony – Harrisonburg, VA 8/31/2019 Pie Shop – Washington, DC
Asthma Castle are: Zach Westphal – vocals Justin Ethem – guitar Cameron Smith – guitar Jeff Davis – bass Adam Jarvis – drums
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 12th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Shadowfrost, the wintry incarnation of the Shadow Woods fest, has announced its initial lineup, cutting a cross-section through various sorts of heavy and varying degrees of extremity within that. Sounds neat, you say? It is. Alongside technical death metal and ambient this and that, one finds a good amount of doom and sludge, with Spiral Grave taking part to represent Frederick’s native doom scene and the likes of Asthma Castle and Yatra checking in on behalf of Baltimore. Primitive Man will bring their ultra-violent noise, and Magic Circle head south from Boston to herald a traditionalist approach to heavy metal that, as you can hear on their latest album streaming below, still sounds fresh and deadly in kind.
It’s a good lineup thus far, and they take pains to note that this isn’t everything. With such a swatch and a sense of reach, I’ll be curious to see who else gets added, geographically as well as stylistically, and I shudder to think of the poor cleaning staff at that hotel once this weekend is over.
Feb. 21 and 22 at the Clarion Inn in Frederick, Maryland, is the place to be.
Here’s info from the PR wire:
SHADOW FROST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL Issues Initial Lineup; Frederick, Maryland Two-Day Winter Gala To Feature The Chasm, Vastum, Primitive Man, Thantifaxath, Magic Circle, And Many More
SHADOW FROST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL, Frederick, Maryland’s exclusive indoor winter gathering coming February 21st and 22nd, 2020, is excited to announce a nearly complete lineup for its inaugural event.
Produced by Shadow Woods Productions, LLC (creators of Shadow Woods Metal Fest), this hotel-based gala features two days of metal, rock, industrial, and punk. Headliners include Chicago-based old-school death metallers The Chasm, who will share the stage with Oakland’s crushing Vastum, Denver’s oppressive Primitive Man, Toronto’s enigmatic Thantifaxath, and Boston traditional metallers Magic Circle. Also performing are California’s dark ambient industrialist Leila Abdul-Rauf, heavy psych throwbacks Alms and their stoner brothers from Asthma Castle (both from Baltimore), Detroit black metalists Fell Ruin, and up-and-coming doom maestros from Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Yatra.
With two more acts still to be announced, the fest will feature twenty bands in total. The entire curated lineup thus far, in alphabetical order is listed below:
Arsantiqva — New York black metal Asthma Castle — Baltimore stoner rock Capitalist — New Jersey crust grind The Chasm — Mexico City/Chicago death metal Fell Ruin — Detroit blackened sludge Frost Giant — Philadelphia Viking metal Infinite Pizza — Baltimore pizza-themed punk/grind Leila Abdul-Rauf — Oakland dark ambient multi-instrumentalist Magic Circle — Boston traditional heavy metal Mo’ynoq — Raleigh depressive black metal Primitive Man — Denver blackened doom Radamanthys — Maryland tech death Spiral Grave — Maryland/Virginia heavy metal Thantifaxath –Toronto technical dissonant black metal Vastum — Oakland death metal Völur — Toronto ambient doom Yatra — Maryland Eastern Shore death doom
Additionally, SHADOW FROST MUSIC & ARTS FESTIVAL will offer gaming, workshops, vendors, and of course a pool party at the Clarion Inn Frederick Event Center, located near the interchange of I-270 and I-70 in Frederick, Maryland.
Tickets: SHADOW FROST is an all ages event, however, tickets for those under 18 may only be purchased at the door with an adult or guardian present who is willing to sign a waiver of liability. Kids under 5 get in free with paid parent or guardian. All other weekend passes, single-day tickets, and tickets for extremely limited VIP packages may be purchased online at: https://shadowfrost2020.bpt.me.
Lodging: Special rates apply for festival attendees at the hotel. We encourage you to book a room to enjoy the full festival experience. To reserve a room, go to http://ow.ly/kVFL50uMWQp.
Posted in Whathaveyou on February 11th, 2019 by JJ Koczan
Credit where it’s due: In the history of heavy sounds, there has never been a band who’ve titled their album Mount Crushmore, and anyone who does so from March 15 on will do so in the shadow of Baltimore five-piece Asthma Castle. Slow clap. Well done, gentlemen. I imagine them in the studio racing to finish the record like they were trying to beat Germany to the bomb in the hope that no one else would announce an album called Mount Crushmore. The t-shirts sell themselves. Or they should, anyhow.
There’s a beer with the name, and various Major League Baseball franchises have tried to co-opt it, but to my knowledge, nobody who riffs has ever put it to use. Asthma Castle are currently streaming the title-track — because how could you not? — from Mount Crushmore, which will see release March 15 through Hellmistress Records.
The PR wire tells it like it is:
ASTHMA CASTLE: Stoner Metal/Sludge Collective Featuring Members Of Pig Destroyer, Misery Index, Integrity And More To Release Mount Crushmore Debut Via Hellmistress Records; New Track Streaming + Preorders Available
Debilitating stoner metal/sludge collective ASTHMA CASTLE — featuring drummer Adam Jarvis (Pig Destroyer, Misery Index, Scour), the twin guitar attack of Justin Ethem (Integrity touring guitarist) and Cameron Smith (Passage Between, Crawler), vocalist Zach Westphal (ex-J. Roddy Walston And The Business), and bassist Jeff Davis (Damnation Audio effects pedals) — will release their Mount Crushmore debut full-length via Hellmistress Records this March.
Self-described as “hefty metal”, ASTHMA CASTLE manifests a unique and seamless, riff-heavy blend of stoner metal/rock, heavy metal, prog, and sludge that takes its cues from the likes of Weedeater, Church Of Misery, Mastodon, Lowrider, Dozer, and Clutch without ever seeming derivative. Their fittingly-titled Mount Crushmore full-length is a six-track, thirty-seven-minute bruiser recorded and mixed at Wrightway Studios (Dying Fetus, Misery Index) and mastered by Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer at his own Visceral Sound Studios with cover art by Gary Ronaldson at Bite Radius Designs (Napalm Death, Kreator etc.).
Whether it’s their bottom-heavy grooves, infuriated wails, bludgeoning riff assaults, or tongue-in-cheek song titles (see “The Incline Of Western Civilization,” “The Book Of Duderonomy”) one thing’s for certain, you’ll always have a good time stealing souls and packing bowls with ASTHMA CASTLE.
Mount Crushmore will be released on March 15th on CD, digital and limited vinyl formats via Hellmistress Records. The vinyl edition will be limited to five-hundred in three color variants: 175 x heavy black splatter on gold, 175 x white splatter on black, and 150 copies x gold, white, and black tri-color bleed.
Recently off a brief but successful East Coast US tour, ASTHMA CASTLE has played with numerous national acts as well as Maryland Deathfest, and Days Of Darkness. The band will play two special hometown shows with more to be announced the in the weeks to come.
Mount Crushmore Track Listing: 1. The Incline Of Western Civilization 2. Mount Crushmore 3. Here Come The Black Ship 4. Methlehem 5. Brazilian Catbox Incident 6. The Book Of Duderonomy
ASTHMA CASTLE: 2/23/2019 Metro Gallery: High Underground presents Mixed Metal Arts – Baltimore, MD w/ Bound By The Grave, Snakefeast, Thought Eater
Posted in Whathaveyou on March 9th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
The first lineup announcement for the inaugural Days of Darkness festival came through last month and brought with it confirmation that the autumnal two-dayer presented by the crew behind the Maryland Deathfest wasn’t screwing around either on scale — Neurosis headlining — or in scope, bring on board multi-genre acts from across a swath of underground styles. Well, the lineup is now complete. Om join Neurosis as headliners, and Cirith Ungol act as classic metal counterpart to the previously-announced Manilla Road near the top of the bill. Sizable additions like Captain Beyond, and Boris join the likes of Warning, Dälek and Elder — whose new album will be out by then — and Bongripper and Unearthly Trance find further tonal-onslaught companionship with word that Cavity will take part. All in all it looks like a pretty fucking good show.
Tickets are on sale now, and though they might not go before Maryland Deathfest proper, held in May as ever, I would be surprised if there were any left by the time Oct. 28 and 29 gets here. I’d think Neurosis or Om could probably sell out Rams Head on their own, never mind with the stellar support cast they’re both given across the Saturday and Sunday event. Bringing in Om has me wondering if maybe they’ll have a new record release coming up — that’s a long trip to the East Coast — but that might just be wishful thinking on my part. Either way, they’ll of course find welcome once they hit the stage, because they’re Om, and only jerks don’t like Om. That’s science. It’s proven.
Here’s the poster and the lineup as posted by the fest, as well as the link to get tickets:
Maryland Deathfest presents: Days of Darkness Festival
October 28 & 29, 2017
@ Rams Head Live, Baltimore, MD
Saturday, October 28th: Neurosis Manilla Road Captain Beyond Perturbator Elder Cavity Dance with the Dead Dälek Computer Magic Crypt Sermon Alms
Sunday, October 29th: Om Cirith Ungol Warning Boris GosT Unearthly Trance Le Matos Bongripper Magic Sword Night Demon Asthma Castle
