One might look at II, the appropriately-named second MeteorCity full-length from Black Pyramid, as the closing of a chapter. The Northampton, Massachusetts, doom rock trio, who’d released a handful of singles and splits since their 2009 debut, parted ways in an undeniably ugly split with guitarist/vocalist Andy Beresky, in between recording and the release, which left both the album and the future of the band uncertain. For a minute there, Black Pyramid was done.

Drummer Clay Neely and bassist Gein have since regrouped under the Black Pyramid moniker and found venerable riffer Darryl Shepard (he of Milligram, Hackman and Blackwolfgoat, among others) to fill the vacated guitarist/vocalist role, and already they’ve begun to demo and record new material — it helps in that regard that Neely is also an engineer. But the songs on II still show the promise and the progress of the original trio, whose sound had become more melodically aware and sonically expansive. Their epic battle metal aesthetic will be familiar to anyone who heard the first album, but when they made II, Black Pyramid had grown within it and through it into something even more formidable than they were when they started out.

It’s exciting to wonder what the new trio might come up with — and knowing how prolific the band has been in the past, it probably won’t be long until we find out — but in the meantime, II documents a lineup hitting what might have been their peak, and whatever may have happened to bring about an end to this era of the band, it’s great to know a new one has begun. Today I’m fortunate enough to be able to stream the track “Night Queen,” which I think sums up both the maturity and the heaviness of Beresky-fronted Black Pyramid.

You’ll find it on the player below, followed immediately by some PR wire details about the album’s release. Please enjoy:

[mp3player width=460 height=120 config=fmp_jw_widget_config.xml playlist=black-pyramid.xml]

New England doom rock trio Black Pyramid will release its long awaited sophomore album Black Pyramid II on January 31, 2012 via MeteorCity. Recorded “in the foothills of the Berkshires” at Black Coffee Sound (Elks, Elder) and mixed by Justin Pizzoferrato (Sonic Youth, Witch, Dinosaur Jr.), the record features nine tracks of the band’s self-titled “galloping war metal.” Black Pyramid II was mastered by Matt Washburn (Mastodon) and is “at times a bit more death metal and black metal influenced” than the band’s previous material.

“We’re incredibly proud of the sonic landscapes we were able to achieve with the new album,” said Black Pyramid drummer Clay Neely. “It’s a clear successor to the debut album and we allowed ourselves to further expand into some uncharted territories. The recording of the record was an incredibly rewarding experience and we can’t wait to bring the show back on the road.”

Black Pyramid will also be playing the London Desertfest in April 2012. For more info on that, click here.

…And it’s not bullshit. Bassist Gein and drummer Clay Neely have decided to continue the band without guitarist Andy “Dinger” Beresky, and have joined forces with none other than Maple Forum alum Darryl Shepard (Blackwolfgoat, Hackman, Milligram, et al) to fill the vacant role. There’s reportedly an official announcement coming in the next day or so, so I’ll have more on it then, but in the meantime, this new incarnation of Black Pyramid has been added to next year’s London Desertfest, and here’s the flyer to prove it:

Black Pyramid‘s II full-length was also released by MeteorCity this Black Friday weekend. More info on that here.

I have to say, the situation revolving around the breakup of Northampton, Massachusetts, stoner doomers Black Pyramid has been one of the most confusing I’ve ever witnessed. First, there is the well-documented fallout across several threads of the forum, the regular appearances and disappearances of vocalist/guitarist Andy “Dinger” Beresky, and all the while, the supposed MeteorCity release of the band’s second full-length, II.

The latest had it that the album was going to come out next year as a posthumous release, and then the band was done. Now today, I get this email:

[NOTE: The email I (and many others) got was bullshit and has been removed at the respectful request of the label. I’m leaving this post here so that the comments don’t also get deleted.]

Guitarist/vocalist Andy “Dinger” Beresky of Northampton, Massachusetts, trio Black Pyramid has been posting regular updates on the news forum about the progress on his band’s aptly-titled second album, II. The record will be released via MeteorCity on Jan. 31, 2012, on CD with a double-vinyl issue to follow on Clear Spot.

Black Pyramid have hardly been sedentary since their 2009 self-titled debut. A host of vinyl EPs, 7”s and splits has produced enough to result in the recently-compiled Stormbringer collection, so it’ll be interesting to see where they go from II, as well as to hear the growth in the band their time on the road (they toured Europe earlier this year with Blood Farmers, including a stop at Roadburn) has incited.

For now, here’s the track listing of Black Pyramid’s II, with the caveat of more info to come:

1. Endless Agony
2. Mercy’s Bane
3. Night Queen
4. Dreams of the Dead
5. Tanelorn
6. Sons of Chaos
7. Empty Handed Insurrection
8. The Hidden Kingdom
9. Into the Dawn

Founded in the sun-bleached desert lands of Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1998 by Jadd Shickler (also of the band Spiritu) and Aaron Emmel, the imprint MeteorCity had its humble beginnings supporting a genre of underground rock that, to date, finds kinship among relatively few listeners. The two were new to underground rock. I recall interviewing Shickler years back and he told me that people would ask him if his online store, All That’s Heavy, would be stocking the new Orange Goblin album, and he said, “Yeah, of course!” and promptly set about to discover who the band was. 1998 was, if nothing else, a long time ago.

Along the way, though, MeteorCity became inextricably linked with All That’s Heavy and eventually with the much-missed StonerRock.com, becoming one of the most important heavy rock imprints of the post-Man’s Ruin era. Starting with the first Welcome to MeteorCity compilation in 1998, Shickler and Emmel helped establish what stoner rock became in the wake of Kyuss‘ demise, and albums released from Nebula, Solace, The Atomic Bitchwax, Blind Dog and Eternal Elysium provided a model for bands and other labels alike.

In 2007, Shickler and Emmel said goodbye to the label they started and the scene they helped found, selling the site to Dan and Melanie Beland, who had previously taken over All That is Heavy (now with the full “is”) in addition to hosting StonerRock.com. Their farewell came in the form of another comp, this time the three-disc …And Back to Earth Again — for which I was fortunate enough to have contributed to the liner notes, and which was less an inflation of an ego and a “look what we did, how important we are” than a “I can’t believe how lucky we were to put out so much good music.”

Shickler and Emmel, who were admittedly burned out on the genre, went on to other work, and Dan and Melanie embarked on a string of incredibly strong releases, effectively revitalizing MeteorCity and declaring in no uncertain terms that a new generation of the heavy underground was rising to the fore. Full-lengths by Black Pyramid, Elder, Snail and Freedom Hawk (among others) demonstrated that not only was there life in the style, but that the label had its ear to the ground when it came to finding bands and choosing which acts to highlight.

Adopting the ethic of taking on acts with strong self-releases and bringing them under the MeteorCity fold, the imprint released CDs from SardoniS, Egypt, Valkyrie and Dead Man (again, among others), and though StonerRock.com met its demise at the end of last year, the enterprises of MeteorCity and All That is Heavy have continued on into 2011, with the label re-releasing the self-titled debut from Boston duo Olde Growth, the second album from New Keepers of the Water Towers, and most recently, a compilation of vinyl-only and previously-unreleased tracks from Black Pyramid called Stormbringer, with more expected before 2011 is through.

The inevitable question, then, is where to start. If you’re new to the label or maybe have a couple of the discs you picked up along the line, which in their catalog are the most essential releases? Well, here are my picks…

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As ever, I thank Walter and the Roadburn crew for their generosity in allowing me to host the links to the official streams from Roadburn 2011. As we Americans get ready to celebrate Memorial Day, I can think of few better complements for a barbecue than The Machine‘s Hendrixian take on heavy jamming, or, as the evening wears on, drinks are imbibed and fists are raised in triumph, Black Pyramid‘s doomy gallop. And, of course, just in case the universe comes to a crashing end (as my work email account just did), there’s Ufomammut playing Eve in its entirety for sonic complement. You can’t ask for more than that. From life. But there’s more anyway, so enjoy the aural hubris:

Black Pyramid
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772202#ondemand.44772202

Dragontears
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772206#ondemand.44772206

The Gates of Slumber
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772216#ondemand.44772216

Place of Skulls
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772220#ondemand.44772220

Sourvein
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772226#ondemand.44772226

Spindrift
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772231#ondemand.44772231

The Machine
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772239#ondemand.44772239

Ufomammut
http://3voor12.vpro.nl/speler/ondemand/44772244#ondemand.44772244

These and all Roadburn audio streams were recorded by the vigilant Spacejam team headed by Marcel van de Vondervoort (also of ass-kicking rockers Astrosoniq), so if you see him, please say thanks for all the hard work. Roadburn 2011 took place April 14-17 at the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg, The Netherlands. If you’d like to read more than you could ever possibly want to read about it, click here.

1:46AM — Sunday Night/Monday Morning — Hotel Mercure, Tilburg

It’s over. I couldn’t even leave the building. I walked out of Sourvein more than three-quarters into their set, and still, it was another 15 minutes before I could actually bring myself to walk out of the 013 and head back to the hotel. I stopped along the way in Weirdo Canyon for fries, which, true to form, came buried under a heap of mayonnaise. Kind of a tradition at this point, though most of it I scooped off and sent down the sink in the bathroom here at the Mercure. Hot water on. Gross nonetheless.

Hard to know where to begin, really. When I got back to the venue, I hit up the Green Room to catch the start of The Machine, and of course it was packed. Amazing to see what a year’s done for them — although, granted, they weren’t on in the Bat Cave opposite Eyehategod like they were in 2010 — but I guess that’s part of it too. They sounded tighter, more mature, more together than they did when last I encountered them, but the material was no less vibrant and spontaneous for it. I was back and forth between them and Dead Meadow, who were on the main stage, and while they were a decent sonic complement for Sungrazer (a sort of new school European fuzz Green Room trilogy would be completed later in the evening as Samsara Blues Experiment closed out the night), they also did right in showing some of their own sonic personality, which they began to display on their recently-issued Elektrohasch debut, Drie.

Dead Meadow, on the other hand, brought out Sasquatch. Literally. There was a dude in a Sasquatch costume, and he came out during their set and stomped around the stage while they played. Clad in my Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy t-shirt, I couldn’t have felt more appropriate. I’ve never seen Dead Meadow before, so I couldn’t say whether or not this is a regular thing, but either way, brilliant. Their music, sedate, meandering, cosmic, seemed to make a good impression on the furry beast, and everyone else there to see it (myself included), and with visual accompaniment from festival organizer Walter Hoeijmakers, who handled a video mixer of various psychedelic imagery, it was “a show” despite the lack of anyone losing their minds on stage.

Other than Sasquatch, of course. He seemed to be really enjoying Dead Meadow‘s set.

I stood and waited for Black Mountain to go on, thinking I’d catch their opening couple of songs and then head in for Black Pyramid, but before they even got on stage, I realized how dumb that was, that I’d never get a spot to watch Black Pyramid, and that Black Mountain‘s set was allotted enough time that I could see them after Black Pyramid were done anyway. So, without reason to stay in the main stage area, off I went to the Green Room, which was already mostly full — although nowhere near as full as it would be by the time they started playing — and set up shop there for the duration.

With their riffs of stone and language of doom, Black Pyramid inspire devotion. They played a couple new songs — “Stormbringer” from the 8″ vinyl of the same name — and when they were finished, the crowd wouldn’t let them go. True enough, they hadn’t yet seen their time-slot to its conclusion, but I don’t think they’d have been allowed to leave even if they’d wanted to, so they fired up the amps again and treated Roadburn to a new song from their upcoming second full-length. It was rough, but guitarist Andy Beresky was trying out some new things vocally, so it should be interesting to hear what they come up with on the next album. Everyone seems to go all-out for the fest anyway, but Black Pyramid really have become an excellent live act. I stayed for their whole set and regretted not a second of it.

And sure enough, when they were done, Black Mountain was still on the main stage. They’re one of those bands I keep hearing about, people recommending them and so forth, and good people, too, but although I have a copy of their latest CD, Wilderness Heart, I can’t say I’ve ever listened to it. I remember hearing them when they put out their first record and being unimpressed. Maybe I need to give them another shot. They were elaborate melodically, and probably not my thing on the whole, but decent enough for what they were doing. They sounded clean, which, with Sourvein following, was like wiping off the mirror before crushing up six vicodin and making an evening of it.

T-Roy Medlin from Sourvein‘s “Dirty South” was in full force when they hit the main stage. Before they even started, he urged the crowd to “get ghetto.” I’d already by then been in and back from the Green Room to see Samsara Blues Experiment, who were killer, and had Black Mountain not just played opposite Black Pyramid, I’d have a hard time coming up with a time when two more sonically incongruous bands were on simultaneously. Samsara Blues Experiment: warm, sweetly toned, jammy, laid back. Sourvein: like being punched in the face with the broken glass of the mirror from the paragraph above. They do abrasive and it’s about all they do.

If the two bands had anything in common — and it just might be the only thing — it was energy. Samsara Blues Experiment did well in not getting too lost in their material, in keeping the audience engaged, and Sourvein, complete with Dave Sherman from Earthride on bass, were personality on parade. For not the first time in the evening, I was reminded of Eyehategod doing an Afterburner set last year, but Sourvein might be even more demented. They were ridiculous in their heaviness and completely over-the-top in their stage antics, Medlin managing at one point to call European beer weak while asking for a whiskey from the stage, which aside from not being true was not exactly going to win him friends among the Dommelsch-downing audience.

But then, if he was even slightly concerned with being accessible or friendly, he probably wouldn’t be in Sourvein. They’re good at being mean, only thicker with Sherman (now bearded) on bass, and considering the last time I saw them was playing to an empty Europa club in Brooklyn, the response they got from the main stage was enjoyable to watch. After a festival with acts as diverse as Wovenhand and Wardruna, Sourvein and Samsara Blues Experiment were as fitting a finale (who likes alliteration?) as Roadburn 2011 was going to get.

I’m not exactly ready to wrap up the festival reporting yet, and I’ll allow that maybe that’s me just not wanting it to end and/or being too exhausted tonight to finish it off once and for all, but I’ll have a post to round out this series tomorrow, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, thanks to everyone who’s been reading and commenting. That kind of feedback means a lot and is greatly appreciated.

More tomorrow, and more pics after the jump.

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The Roadburn website is reporting that Massachusetts doom bashers Black Pyramid will be playing the Afterburner event this year, and I thought I’d just take a second to congratulate the band. They’re hard-working, heavy as hell and a nice bunch of dudes to boot. Blood Farmers has also been confirmed for the Afterburner, which will be expanded to all three rooms of the 013 venue in Tilburg. Here’s what Roadburn organizer Walter had to say on the site:

You might have noticed that we haven’t announced any bands for the additional Afterburner event yet. What’s going on? We have invited Black Mountain to headline this year’s Afterburner, and based upon our gut feeling, we think it might happen. This means that we’ll be using Roadburn‘s main stage for the Afterburner as well, as well as the Green Room and Bat Cave. We’re currently looking into all the logistics, and completing the extended lineup. We just need an extra week or two to get it all done properly.

There have been rumors about Blood Farmers and Black Pyramid, and we are delighted to say that both of them are indeed playing the Afterburner. Consider this a preview, and there will be an official announcement soon. It’s also true that we’re talking to Coffins, but it’s not finalized yet. We’re are also looking into ticketing for the Afterburner, and there’s a good chance that we’ll be offering a four-day pass for those who want to experience to entire festival, as well as offering an additional Afterburner ticket as always.

Please keep checking the website for updates.