Good show. Starts heavy, stays heavy. Gets a little rocking by the end, but even the Acidemia jam that caps has a good sense of heft behind it. I noticed last episode had a pretty fair amount of drift — and this one isn’t entirely without, as you’ll notice — but I guess sometimes those aggro tendencies surface. Plus I’ve been very much enjoying the new LLNN album, and you can’t really start with that and not keep going with more extreme fare. Or I can’t, anyway. Or at least I didn’t. So there.
The Pecan joined in on the voice tracks, which was fun. I tried to get him to say his letters but he was like “up yours,” as ever. He knows them, and I guess that’ll have to do for now. But he got such a kick out of hearing himself on the playback that he started sprinting back and forth across the sectional in our living room, so I’m glad to know he at least enjoys taking part, even if having your toddler on is about as un-metal a thing I can think of. I’ve always maintained I have no business being on Gimme, even before they renamed it. It’s nice to be right every once in a while, even if it’s gonna feel bad when they eventually shitcan me.
Either way, thanks for listening and/or reading. I hope you enjoy.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 08.20.21
LLNN
Obsidian
Unmaker
Yanomamo
Dig 2 Graves
Yanomamo/Slomatics Split
Churchburn
Scarred
Genocidal Rite
VT
Sky Pig
The Strain
Hell is Inside You
Guhts
Eyes Open
Blood Feather
Year of No Light
Réalgar
Consolamentum
Blackwater Holylight
Around You
Silence/Motion
Deep Tomb
Endless Power Through Breathless Sleep
Deep Tomb
Starless
Pendulum
Hope is Leaving You
VT
Craneium
Shine Again
Unknown Heights
Kal-El
Mica
Dark Majesty
Crystal Spiders
Morieris
Morieris
Solemn Lament
Celeste
Solemn Lament
VT
Acidemia
Caximbo
Podridão
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Sept. 3 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on July 13th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
I had to ask what the third VHS is on the cover of the second Crystal Spiders album, Morieris — which, yes I apparently do plan on spelling wrong the first time I type it out every single time in spite of myself — is. Jurassic Park and Bram Stoker’s Dracula are plainly visible, and as a child of the ’90s, both were largely unescapable. Beneath them, however, is the original, not-remake Alfred Hitchcock classic, Psycho. I’m glad I asked. There was no way I was sleeping last night without knowing.
Morieris — there I go again — is out Oct. 1 on Ripple Music, and the makes a tantalizing first single of the patient roll in its newly-unveiled title-track. The vocals are a little farther back in the mix than on 2020’s Molt (review here), the results seemingly more atmospherically minded as the duo-plus flesh out their sound. I haven’t heard the full record yet, but I can only look forward to it based on what I’m hearing so far.
But let’s be honest, I was looking forward to it anyway.
From the PR wire:
CRYSTAL SPIDERS to release new album ‘Morieris’ this October 1st on Ripple Music; new video and preorder available
North Carolina’s acclaimed heavy duo CRYSTAL SPIDERS announce the release of their sophomore album ‘Morieris’ on October 1st through Ripple Music, as well as the contribution of Corrosion Of Conformity’s Mike Dean on lead guitar on the album. Get mesmerized by the video for new single “Morieris” now!
For their eagerly anticipated follow up ‘Morieris’, North Carolina duo CRYSTAL SPIDERS bassist Brenna Leath and drummer Tradd Yancey take a lead guitar assist from Mike Dean (Corrosion of Conformity bassist, and Leath’s bandmate in Lightning Born) for a rollercoaster ride of doomy atmospherics, razor-sharp riffs, and infectious rhythms.
With their second offering, CRYSTAL SPIDERS builds upon and refines the whiplash intensity of ‘Molt’ to experiment with intricate harmonies, thundering breakdowns, and orchestral instrumentals (including guest cello from High Priestess Nighthawk of Heavy Temple). 2020 saw their debut album ‘Molt’ seated on many Album of the Year charts, and with ‘Morieris’, there’s no doubt the 2021 lists will save a spot for them as well.
The video for the title track “Morieris” was animated by Max Rebel of Ripple Music labelmates Plainride, with a lyrical theme inspired by the myth of Echo and Narcissus from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and visuals inspired by Salvador Dali’s surrealist work ‘Metamorphosis of Narcissus’. New album ‘Morieris’ is due out on October 1st and available to preorder through Ripple Music on limited edition splatter vinyl, black vinyl, CD and digital.
Posted in Reviews on November 12th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
It seems doubtful that Molt will be the definitive document when it comes to Raleigh, North Carolina’s Crystal Spiders. Indeed, bassist/vocalist Brenna Leath, also of The Hell No and Lightning Born, recently confirmed work is underway on a follow-up to the band’s nine-song/43-minute Ripple Music debut, and as she and drummer/backing vocalist Tradd Yancey bid farewell to guitarist Mike Delaotch during the process of making the album, with producer Mike Dean — also in Lightning Born, also C.O.C. — stepping in to play some guitar on these songs as well as collaborating on the next batch, which will also have been put together using a methodology born of quarantine-separation and studio-based writing rather than hammering out material on stage, it seems fair to expect that whatever Yancey and Leath (and Dean) come up with next, Crystal Spiders will have shed this skin and formed a new one in its place.
Given that flux, it becomes all the more appropriate to take Molt on its own terms and to appreciate it for what it is. As a follow-up to the then-trio’s aptly-titled 2019 Demo (review here), it is an expansion of those ideas — one song is carried over between the two releases in “Tigerlily” — that keeps the focus put forth there on melody, groove and tone. Molt is not without a harder edge and faster shove, and one need look no further than the second-cut title-track to find it. Following opener “Trapped,” “Molt” is brash and engaging in kind.
Its first half speeds through a ’70s-style riff with Leath‘s verse lines surfing atop, and even after the tension built is released in a sudden fuzzy turn circa two minutes into the total 3:37, they subsequently turn to a dual-channel guitar solo, drum showoff and boogie/crash finish. And “Molt” is not an aberration in this regard. The later pair “C-U-N-Hell” and “Gutter” course along in no less energetic fashion, unimpeded by the thickness of the guitar and bass tones surrounding as the drums cut through and offer propulsive motion.
There’s a middle ground to be found as well in “The Call,” with a Motörheadular first half leading to a fluid jam-out later backed by a subtle weaving layer of lead-tone, and nothing throughout is quite so clear-cut, one or the other, but Molt‘s primary impression is in fact that thickness of tone and a less fervid tempo. Mood fuzz. The brooding launch Molt receives at the outset of “Trapped” is a tell for what’s to follow, and even as that song comes to life, its nodding pace remains indicative. That’s not to say Crystal Spiders want for energy — far from it, as the chug-meet-toms breaks in “Tigerlily” show, let alone any of the actually-faster material — but that their purposes are subtly multifaceted, and some of their strongest moments come in those restrained-seeming parts.
It’s not quite a question of patience in craft, because if anything, the band feel actively like they’re setting up the next burst, and that has a tendency to make their offerings more exciting since one never really knows when it’s coming (at least on a first couple listens), but one way or another, the rolling and crashing behind Leath‘s vocals in “Chronic Sick” makes a high point of an emotional low, touching on garage doom in the riff and wading deeper into murk than just about anything that surrounds — something the band seems to acknowledge as well in backing it with “C-U-N-Hell,” which also serves as the centerpiece because of course it does.
Between that, “Gutter” — which one assumes is the actual emotional low point being portrayed here — and the beginning stretch of “The Call,” Molt finds its biggest and most resonant kick in this post-“Chronic Sick” section. Is that where the molting happens, and where one skin is shed in favor of growing a newer, more resilient one? It would be easy to say yes, perhaps, were it not for the finishing pair of “Headhunters” and “Fog,” which feel distinct unto themselves in their approach.
The former is a pointed departure, and short at just 2:25, but more than an interlude. With handclaps and far-back drums from Yancey behind a watery vocal from Leath, “Headhunters” moves fluidly through a couple verses like a momentary dream — there and gone and you’re not quite sure if you were conscious for it happening. And as the finale, “Fog” lives gloriously up to its name, creating a murk of mellower fuzz riffing that finds Leath likewise more drawn back on vocals as opposed to some of the belting-out done earlier in the record, and it ends up underscoring and furthering the sense of mood that Molt has sought to create all along. As a last impression, “Fog” is the most melodically encompassing, with self-harmonizing and the patience in delivery that other songs hinted toward.
Entirely possible it’s a statement of things to come for the band as they grow into a more complex outfit on the whole, able to foster the dynamic that occurs here between songs within them as well, but again, what matters more is taking Molt on its own merits. On the most basic level of put-it-on-and-hear-it, it’s an assembly of wholly unpretentious kickass tunes. That’s as plain as it can be said. The collaboration between Leath and Yancey that will serve as the foundation of the band going forward is obviously newer in terms of stylistic development, but as the groundwork for future growth, there’s little more one could ask than what’s being delivered here.
And if these are indeed hints of things to come as the band continues to flourish, all the better, but that possibility does nothing to sap the record of its force of execution, its tonal impression, or the mood it evokes, and while there are dangers as “Tigerlily” gives way to “Chronic Sick” that the band might get caught up in their own mire, they never do, and even as they wade through “Fog” at the end, their sense of purpose remains clear. Whatever path their next release might find them walking, they’ve gotten off on the right foot.
Molt, the debut album from North Carolina’s Crystal Spiders is out now on Ripple Music, but I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you that. The record’s a beast. Heavy, heavy, heavy, and rich with a kind of trio-in-rehearsal-space-hammering-it-out vibe even though it sounds pro-shop and full enough to be called engrossing. It doesn’t so much beg for volume as demand it. Vocalist/bassist Brenna Leath (also of Lightning Born and The Hell No), drummer Tradd Yancey and since-departed guitarist Mike Deloatch alternately roll and shove out fuzz and scorch like they’ve got an appointment to get to, and with Leath‘s voice forward in the mix by producer Mike Dean — yes, also of C.O.C.; he’s a bandmate of Leath‘s in Lightning Born and adds some guitar to Molt as well — command is never a question.
I’ve done plenty of video interviews before, but never with the intent of actually posting the video, so I beg of you, bear with the learning curve here. I spoke to Leath about Crystal Spiders, Lightning Born — both of whom already have new records in progress — as she was at a friends’ place in Asheville, NC, and if it’s any indicator of my technical prowess with Zoom, I used my wife’s work account and had to interrupt her lunch to call her upstairs to help me make the thing actually record. Professionalism, right? It’s how I do. I also brewed myself an extra cup of coffee for the occasion, so that’s how I do too.
And yes, before they put out the follow-up to Molt, I will be giving the album a proper review. Better late than never, as goes a maxim I just made up right now.
Video follows, and thanks for watching and reading:
Crystal Spiders Interview with Brenna Leath, 10.19.20
And I know you’ve already got it because it’s been out for a bit and you’re on top of your game like that, but just for good measure, here’s the stream of Molt from Crystal Spiders‘ Bandcamp. Enjoy:
A few classics, a lot of new music, and a final half-hour that I’d have a hard time imagining could possibly be better spent. I haven’t been able to spend as much time in the Gimme Metal chat during the shows as I’d like — my duties as dad/house-husband in terms of feeding, bedtime ritual, diapers, dinner and all that clash pretty hard with the 5-7PM timeslot, and it’s important to me to do those things as well as to be visible doing them, especially to my son to teach him that a man can be a caregiver (as much as I’m able) — but I always at least check in and keep half an eye on what’s going on in there.
It’s been cool to see the Gimme community develop over time. There are familiar names in there week after week and others come and go. That’s a special kind of connection Gimme has been able to forge that I feel fortunate to be a part of in some small way. I’ve never been cool enough to be a part of a scene. I’m still not. But it’s fun to watch.
The Pecan does indeed feature in this one. He broke out “Listenin’ to Obeliks Show on Give-Me-Metal!” from the back seat of the car and surprised the hell out of me. I think you can probably hear my smile.
Thanks for listening if you do. I hope you enjoy the show.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at http://gimmemetal.com
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 10.02.20
Crystal Spiders
Tigerlily
Molt
Acid King
Silent Pictures
Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere
Year of the Cobra
Demons
Ash and Dust
VT
Oginalii
Pillars
Pendulum
Dreadnought
Tempered
Emergence
Molassess
The Devil Lives
Through the Hollow
Kariti
Kybele’s Kiss
Covered Mirrors
CB3
Warrior Queen
Aeons
Heavy Temple
Hit it and Quit It
Split From the Black Hole
Holy Grove
Solaris
II
The Wounded Kings
Consolamentum
Consolamentum
Besvärjelsen
Past in Haze
Frost
VT
Grayceon
We Can
All We Destroy
SubRosa
The Wound of the Warden
For This I Fought the Battle of Ages
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Oct. 16 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Features on August 13th, 2020 by JJ Koczan
See that thing up there? You can win that! Ripple Music is set to release Crystal Spiders’ debut album, Molt, on Sept. 25. The Raleigh, North Carolina, two-piece already premiered their video for “Trapped” here, and that ruled (you can see the clip below), but the record’s a burner to be sure. Heavy soul vibes from singer/bassist Brenna Leath (also of Lightning Born with C.O.C.‘s Mike Dean, who produced here), a full-band sound between her low-end riffing and drummer/vocalist Tradd Yancey, with a little garage doom flair but still some punker edge when that’s what it wants. The title-track is right in there, crunch crunch crunch and stomp stomp. If I called it “fun” would you hate it?
You can use Spotify or Twitter or whatever to enter or I guess whatever you’ve got, and sign up to get on Ripple’s email list, which is actually kind of useful when it comes to finding out what they’re up to with preorders and whatnot. If you’ve seen giveaways here before you know I usually just do the “leave a comment here” thing and keep it simple, and I’m not into email harvesting, but the label went to the trouble to make it pretty so it seems the least I can do to post the thing as intended. Take it as a sign the record rules, if nothing else.
One more time, Molt is out Sept. 25 and the prize here is one — count ’em, one — copy of the album on vinyl. I’ll have a review of it up at some point, so I’ll spare you all that, but the short version is there’s a decent chance it’s a thing you want if you’re seeing these words. Giveaway runs for eight days, so have at it.
North Carolina’s Crystal Spiders will issue their debut album, Molt, through Ripple Music on Sept. 25, and to mark the announcement of the signing and the album below, they’re premiering a video for “Trapped” made by Chariot of Black Moth as the first single to come from the record. And quite a first impression it makes. Crystal Spiders have pared down from the trio they were on their striking 2019 demo (review here) to just the two-piece of vocalist/bassist Brenna Leath and drummer/vocalist Tradd Yancey, and with “Trapped” they — bolstered the production from C.O.C.‘s Mike Dean, who doubles in Lightning Born, also on Ripple — recall some of the low-end largesse of the first Year of the Cobra album even as Leath‘s voice keeps them steeped in a classic rock mindset. That’s the rock. The groove of the song itself is the roll.
I haven’t heard the rest of the record yet — September is so far in the future my feeble brain can’t even conceive it — but preorders are up now if you’d like to save yourself the trouble later. Needless to say I’m thrilled to host the premiere of the track and the video and I’m sure there will be more to come before the release date gets here.
Until then, I won’t keep you. Find the video below, followed by the announcement itself.
And please enjoy:
Crystal Spiders, “Trapped” official video
CRYSTAL SPIDERS – Debut album ‘Molt’ out on September 25th through Ripple Music.
It didn’t take long for North Carolina’s Crystal Spiders to draw attention. The early poise of their self-recorded 2019 demo caught the attention of Ripple Music head honcho Todd Severin, who decided to put out their LP before he even heard the mixes.
Their devotion to riff-worship drives the invigorating sound of Molt. Crystal Spiders fits within the lineage of Sabbath-bred influences ranging from Fu Manchu to Kyuss, from Weedeater to Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats. But their broad scope — which pulls eagerly from classic rock dynamics and hardcore punk intensity, psychedelic texture and bluesy swing — pulls the band closer to contemporaries like Heavy Temple and The Well, who build upon well-trod templates to forge new territories of their own.
This rebuff of genre conventions has been a steady current in past and concurrent projects. Leath’s affection for classic metal and hard-rock is as apparent in her charged rock ‘n’ roll outfit The Hell No as it is in her doomy proto-metal band, Lightning Born, and Yancey lends a heavy swing to the psych-seared doom crew Doomsday Profit.
For Molt, the band pulls elements from across genres to create an album that traces the band’s full spectrum. Early songs like “Tigerlily” and “Trapped” find new complements in brand-new cuts like “Chronic Sick” and the title track. With a production assist from Mike Dean — Corrosion of Conformity bassist and Leath’s bandmate in fellow Ripplers Lightning Born — Molt finds Crystal Spiders at their most powerful.
Following a year of consistent gigging and short runs alongside The Well and Omen Stones, Crystal Spiders are looking to up the ante in 2020, with confirmed appearances at Raleigh Deathfest and the Maryland Doom Fest, as well as ranging further along the East Coast and into the western US.
Riding the momentum of their first year of shows and the strength of a potent debut, it’s a safe bet that Crystal Spiders will soon take space in the minds of fuzz-addicted legions far and wide.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 31st, 2019 by JJ Koczan
In the immortal words of one Peter Steele: Happy Halloween, baby. Those playing along at home know that today means one thing to the realms of doom, and it’s that it’s time for Maryland Doom Fest to unveil next year’s lineup. Maryland Doom Fest 2020 has some significant shoes to fill in following up this year’s, which of course was held in June in Frederick, Maryland, and they’ve lined up a full four-dayer onslaught to make a go of it.
Headlining sets from Cirith Ungol, Blood Ceremony, Speedealer and Mondo Generator, with direct killage from The Skull, Victor Griffin‘s Death Row Assembly (this will be incredible, especially there), Witch Mountain and Sorcerer, the fest is pretty much blowing its own prior reach out of the water. I’ll especially look forward to Arduini/Balich and hope that this performance accompanies a new album, but return appearances from The Age of Truth, Bailjack, Earthride (yes!), Shadow Witch, Spiral Grave, Knoxxville and Helgamite will be awesome as well, and I’ve no doubt the likes of Vessel of Light, Galactic Cross (with Dave Sherman of Earthride), Yatra, Black Lung, Plainride, Cavern, Molasses Barge, Admiral Browning, Black Road, Poobah, Omen Stones and Crystal Spiders will be made to feel welcome into the MDDF family vibe, at least those who aren’t already a part of it. I guess particularly in the case of Admiral Browning, it’s more like family reunion.
Keeping with the festival’s no-dragged-out-staggered-announcements spirit, I’ll be up front about this: it’s gonna be a good ‘un. You should do whatever you need to do to make it happen.
The Maryland Doom Fest celebrates its 6th anniversary next June and today brings you its confirmed roster of over 50 of today’s heaviest bands to hit its stages in 2020.
Maryland Doom Fest brings both U.S. and international artists from all over the map into Frederick, MD for a full four days of mayhem, featuring the legendary Cirith Ungol and Blood Ceremony, to Speedealer and Mondo Generator set to headline the four nights of top shelf doom metal and heavy underground sounds! This year includes more than fifty bands to cover every dark and dank corner of metal subgenres across every inch of the stage from start to finish each night.
A few words from JB Matson, founder and organizer of The Maryland Doom Fest:
“I simply could not be more excited about the fifty-plus band roster for the Maryland Doom Fest’s 6th annual show in 2020!! This will be a splendid #4daysofdoom!!!”
We invite all to become part of the family at the Maryland Doom Fest 2020 weekend events! Please support the Doom and Heavy Music scene and come share in this epic event with us. We will see you at #4daysofdoom!!
THE MARYLAND DOOM FEST 2020
CIRITH UNGOL + BLOOD CEREMONY + SPEEDEALER + MONDO GENERATOR
THE SKULL + SORCERER + DEATH ROW ASSEMBLY + WITCH MOUNTAIN
Ol’ Time Moonshine + Arduini/Balich + Dirt Eater + Switchblade Jesus Doperider + Condenados + Cultic + Yatra + Bailjack + Poobah Earthride + Black Lung + Jake The Hawk + Black Road + Warmask Admiral Browning + Sourpuss + Molasses Barge + Thunderbird Divine Dust Prophet + Wolftooth + Vessel Of Light + Wrath Of Typhon + Spiral Grave Plainride + Mangog + Cavern + Galactic Cross + Shadow Witch + Burgan Akris + Plague Wielder + The Age Of Truth + Knoxxville + The Astral Void Serpents Of Secrecy + Omen Stones + Crystal Spiders + Helgamite VRSA + Conclave + Et Mors + Strange Highways + Alms + Dyerwulf
