Young UK trio The Deep Blue have already released a 10″ since putting out their Doom Dealer/The Church Within debut EP, Antartic (sic) Abyss and toured with labelmate and doom powerhouse Lord Vicar, formerly of Reverend Bizarre, so it’s pretty clear that somebody likes them. And I can definitely see the appeal. The two tracks that make up Antartic Abyss are solid guitar-led Sleep worship with an Om-type pseudo-spirituality that seems to focus more on overall vibe than particular nuance musically. It’s been done a thousand times before, but it’s still The Riff, and it’s still put to pretty good use.

Both of the 12+ minute tracks on Antartic Abyss are dually titled and the album allegedly portrays a journey from deep underwater to high in the sky — an allegory for feeling down and getting loaded? Maybe, but The Deep Blue steer away from out and out drug references in favor of sparse Cisneros chanting and hypnotic riffing. “Under the Ice/The Resurrection” keeps basically the same course throughout, but if there’s a change from sea to air, it’s in “Haunted Tide/The Freezing Storm,” which about halfway through offers a telling wind sample and more dramatic musical shift. From riff to riff.

Read more »

Shreveport, Louisiana is a good ways north and west of the fabled New Orleans, and likewise, Ketea offer a sound north and west of fabled Nola acts like EyeHateGod, Suplecs, Mystick Krewe of Clearlight and Crowbar. Their emphasis, both musically and vocally, is on dynamics – each of the six songs on their Doom Dealer/The Church Within debut, Alpha, features finely honed changes that come in so hard they’ll crack your sheetrock and go out so smooth they’ll caulk it back up. Good for outdoor listening, I suppose.

Tonally similar to Zoroaster‘s Dog Magic and mixed so the thick, hairy (which would have to be the next step up from fuzzy, right?) guitars and bass are primary considerations when listening, the sample-laden Alpha demonstrates its creators’ thoughtfulness in a variety of ways apart from the ease of transitions. All six tracks begin with the same letter as the album title, for example, and the songs are arranged so that “A Bomb a Nation,” the longest of the bunch, comes at the end of the vinyl’s side A. These may be small touches, but they show Ketea are putting real thought into their work, they’re passionate about it, where many bands just record songs, throw them together and call it a record.

What Alpha does exceedingly well is pull the listener into it and shove them out again. The trio – guitarist/vocalist Emily, bassist/vocalist Lonnie and drummer Trey – immediately set about modal deconstruction with opener “Alchemystery,” which begins with Acid King-style (if less confident) clean vocals from Emily before smashing Lonnie‘s screams into the eardrum at 6:12. The interlude following the solo at 4:29 that leads into that segment helps set the range and overall mood of the album.

Read more »