I’ve been waiting for this one ever since I interviewed Earth mastermind Dylan Carlson earlier this year. Though the band’s original intent had been to release two albums the same year, it’s looking currently like Feb. 14, 2012, will see the materialization of Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II. Nothing like a little drone on your Valentine’s Day.

In any case, here’s looking forward to it, and here’s (in a much more literal way) the news off the PR wire:

The second half of Seattle drone icons Earth‘s Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light is being prepared for release on Southern Lord in North America this February 14 on CD, LP and digital download formats.

Recorded in the same two week session as 2011’s lauded Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light I by Stuart Hallerman at Avast and mastered by Mell Detmer, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II carries on in the freely and folkloric vein of the last release and invokes even more improvisational and unrestrained energy than its predecessor.

Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II is striking in many ways, not least in the wildly improvised nature of this particular recording. The songs “Sigil of Brass” and “The Corascene Dog” perfectly emphasize how the interplay between the foursome has evolved even further since the first installment. Meanwhile, the track “His Teeth Did Brightly Shine” veers further into an entirely other direction, recalling sounds of the great British Acid Folk generation. This new material brings forth some highly original and deeply mesmerizing tones throughout, at times more hopeful and less dark and death oriented than previous work. Angels Of Darkness, Demons Of Light II is ultimately a completely unanticipated direction for Earth, and a very welcome one at that.

The lineup again consists of Adrienne Davies on drums and percussion (on this release there is more percussion of all sorts), Lori Goldston (Nirvana, David Byrne, Black Cat Orchestra, Laura Veirs) returns on cello, and Karl Blau (K Records, Laura Veirs, Microphones) plays bass. This also marks the first time the band on the record has toured outside of the US West Coast in preparation for the album. As with the first part, it again has truly amazing artwork by Stacey Rozich.

Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light II Track Listing:
1. Sigil of Brass
2. His Teeth Did Brightly Shine
3. Multiplicity of Doors
4. The Corascene Dog
5. The Rakehell

Like a lot of people, I feel safe saying one of the heaviest live shows I’ve ever seen was a Black Cobra show. Unlike a lot of people, I can say the gig took place in a shoe museum. Yup, that’s right: a shoe museum. As in a museum… for shoes. Wanna know something else? Torche played too.

I was in Los Angeles on a pseudo-business trip, and in between squandering my savings at Amoeba Records and eating the best Mexican food I’d ever had, I caught wind of Black Cobra being in town. Can’t say it was much of a surprise, since Black Cobra‘s reputation for touring so damn much is well earned and they can pretty much pop up anywhere at any time, but when I walked into the place and saw the shoes belonging to former and/or dead A-list celebrities, well yeah, it felt a little surreal.

That was 2006. Black Cobra had just released their first album, Bestial, and were really just starting to amass their cred as a live band. Since that time, they’ve put out three more records — the latest being the stellar Invernal (review here) on Southern Lord — and have come to be recognized as one of the most brutal acts in their generation of Heavy. They’re outclassed by none in terms of performance, and for being comprised solely of guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian and drummer Rafa Martinez, their presence is staggering.

Invernal was produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou in his Godcity Recording Studio in what Landrian reveals was a matter of days; even fewer than either the band or the respected engineer/mixer thought going into the project. The album is righteous in its intensity and focus, and working from Antarctic themes lyrically and musically, comprises some of the most pummeling Black Cobra material to date. To be blunt, they’ve outdone themselves, and as much as they’re known for being a live band more than a studio band, Invernal deals any such characterizations a decisive blow.

From his home in foggy San Francisco, Landrian took my call and discussed working with Ballou and what his and Martinez‘s time at Godcity was like, their upcoming tour with Kyuss Lives! and The Sword (I went right for the hard-hitting questions on that one, as you’ll see), the thematics at play with Invernal, how he and Martinez work together in the studio and on the road, and much more.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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They are among the upper echelon of today’s heavy live acts, but that has turned out to be the undoing of each successive full-length from near-nomadic Los Angeles duo Black Cobra: The inability to stand up to the high standard set by the live show. And since Black Cobra have also spent a goodly portion of the last six years on the road, there has been less need to focus on the records, because, hell, those songs are going to be better live anyway. With Invernal, their fourth LP — second for Southern Lord behind 2009’s Chronomega – Black Cobra reach new heights of recorded intensity. A song like “Erebus Dawn” sees guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian and drummer Rafael Martinez in complete mastery of their complex and tonally thickened thrash. Invernal is the kind of album for which hyperbolic exclamations of the word “insane” were made. It refines chaos into a laser-accurate attack and puts Black Cobra at the forefront of their class of risen riffers. It makes the last High on Fire album seem tired. I’m pretty sure if you asked it, it would bake you a pie. But even with all the über-effective bombast, tonal righteousness and clear growth from Chronomega and anything else that’s preceded in their discography, I’m not sure if Invernal stands up to what Black Cobra do live.

The difference between Invernal and everything else Black Cobra have done – and it’s a big difference – is I’m not sure it’s trying to. More than anything they’re released to date, Invernal finds Landrian and Martinez a mature studio act. They’re not just trying to compress their live show to disc, they’re making an album, and ultimately, that’s a huge part of what makes Invernal succeed as one of the best releases in 2011. The recording job of Converge’s Kurt Ballou does effectively balance their overwhelming crest with an appropriate amount of clarity (not too clean, but clean enough to appreciate), but even more than that, the principle change seems to have been in the overall goal and mindset of the recording. One can appreciate the album on its own terms and then look forward to the experience of witnessing the material live. There’s less pining involved, and I think that has to be thanks in part to the songs themselves. My chief complaint with Black Cobra from a songwriting standpoint has always been that the material doesn’t stand up to the experience of it – that is, you hear a Black Cobra song, feel like you’ve been punched in the face with awesome, and don’t remember a thing afterwards. Invernal changes that as well, with twists and turns and a genuine progression from track to track, beginning with opener “Avalanche,” on which Landrian approaches an Al Jourgensen-style verse vocal with both confidence and a sense of individuality.

His vocal shift – there are plenty of screams on “Avalanche” and elsewhere, so it’s not like he’s gone completely clean – is a natural progression from the last album and rightfully prominent where it needs to be in Ballou’s mix. The focus remains on the overall effect of the music, and Landrian’s chemistry with Martinez is palpable in how they interact on guitar and drums. As “Avalanche” transitions immediately into “Somnae Tenebrae” – the shortest song but for closer “Obliteration” – the band’s added focus on structure is made apparent: They wanted to start off pummeling, and their opening salvo does precisely that. “Somnae Tenebrae” isn’t Invernal’s most memorable track, but it does successfully convey Black Cobra’s “holy shit that’s heavy” live presence and offer some thrashing groove in its latter half. When it crashes, it gives a couple seconds for listeners to catch their breath, which is the perfect way to set up album highlight, “Corrosion Fields.” The interplay between the tracks feels more thought out than ever, if that hasn’t yet been made clear, but when “Corrosion Fields” kicks in following some sparse playing from Landrian and periodic crashes from Martinez, the focus is less on stepping back and examining the moves Black Cobra are making and more on “How do I make this as loud as possible as quickly as possible?”

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Jeebus loves me, this I know — because Kyuss Lives! is coming to Jersey in December and they’re bringing Black Cobra with them. I’ve only been to the Wellmont Theatre once, to see Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull (ruled), but I’ll be god damned if there’s anywhere else on the planet I’m headed when Dec. 10 rolls around.

And while I don’t want to say the cosmos added Black Cobra to these dates and brought Kyuss Lives! back to the East Coast specifically as a favor to me, I think we all know the score. Here’s the total rundown courtesy of the PR wire:

The previously-announced second leg of the Kyuss Lives! North American tour dates this November, featuring Black Cobra and The Sword in support, has just expanded to include five brand additional dates including Los Angeles at the beginning of the tour, and four new East Coast shows at the end of the tour (Baltimore, MD, New Haven, CT, Huntington, NY, Montclair, NJ).

Black Cobra w/ Kyuss Lives!, The Sword:
11/17 House of Blues San Diego, CA
11/18 Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles, CA **
11/19 The Regency Ballroom San Francisco, CA
11/21 Roseland Theatre Portland, OR w/ YOB
11/22 Showbox SODO Seattle, WA w/ YOB
11/23 Commodore Ballroom Vancouver, BC
11/26 Flames Central Calgary, AB
11/27 Edmonton Event Centre Edmonton, AB
11/29 Garrick Centre Winnipeg, MB
11/30 First Avenue Minneapolis, MN
12/01 Turner Ballroom Milwaukee, WI
12/02 Vic Theatre Chicago, IL
12/03 Crofoot Ballroom Pontiac, MI
12/05 The Palace Theater Greensburg, PA
12/06 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
12/07 Ram’s Head Live Baltimore, MD **
12/08 Toad’s Place New Haven, CT **
12/09 The Paramount Huntington, NY **
12/10 Wellmont Theatre Montclair, NJ **
[** = newly announced tour date]

Some things to note in the Weedeater clip above: First and foremost, that room looks to be about the size of my office. Second, they come out to the theme song from Sanford and Son. Third, there’s a bottle of Robitussin taped to the side of “Dixie” Dave Collins‘ amp with a straw sticking out of it that he drinks from at several intervals, including as they transition from “God Luck and Good Speed” to “Wizard Fight,” when he chases it with what I assume is whiskey.

Another reason I decided to go with Weedeater was because earlier today I did a phone interview with artist Joe Wardwell. Wardwell‘s paintings draw a lot from heavy rock and doom for inspiration and a gallery show he has going on in NYC through October is titled “Untied We Stand” — a line taken from “God Luck and Good Speed” — so the song’s been in my head. I’ll hopefully have that Q&A posted in the next week or two. In the meantime, you can check out Wardwell‘s work here. It rules and the interview was great as well. Dude loves his Boris, loves his Sabbath, loves his Melvins. Right on.

Given all that, I couldn’t possibly have chosen anything else to close out the week — not to mention Weedeater‘s earth-swallowing volume or tonal weight, which is suiting me perfectly on this tired-as-hell Friday afternoon. The reason I’m signing off early (usually I’d wait to cap another ultra-exciting couch-bound Friday night with a post, but it’s about 4PM now) is because I’m heading out in a bit to make my way down to Philadelphia, again, for the start of the Small Stone showcase, which kicks off tonight at The M-Room. I don’t want to miss Infernal Overdrive, and I think they’re opening, so I need to haul ass a bit.

Thanks to everyone for checking in this week. It was crazy on this end, between the Brooklyn show and Kyuss Lives! Wednesday night, and it isn’t over yet. I’ll be in Philly the next two nights, then back to Jersey Sunday to do school work. Next week it starts all over. I do hope to get some more album reviews posted next week, but I’ll be checking out Akris at the Cake Shop in Manhattan on Tuesday, and I hope to get my massive interview with Rwake frontman CT posted, so we’ll see what there’s time for. In the meantime, keep your ears posted for a Windhand stream that’s coming Thursday and hopefully another that I can’t quite reveal just yet in case it falls through.

Some news for The Maple Forum coming soon as well, it looks like.

So big stuff yet to come. Not sure yet how I’m going to handle posting from/about the showcase, but if you check in over the weekend, you might find some stuff on it up.

Either way, great and safe couple days. See you on the forum and back here for more shortly.

Well, this should be pretty killer. I wasn’t in love with Black Cobra‘s Chronomega, but the news that they worked with Kurt Ballou this time around is welcome indeed, as the Converge guitarist is a master at capturing inhuman tone (to wit, Trap Them, Kvelertak and Swarm of the Lotus). Maybe Invernal could be the album that finally puts Black Cobra‘s absolutely merciless live attack to plastic. More rampant speculation to come, I’m sure.

In the meantime, here’s some actual info from the PR wire:

The Bay Area’s devastating duo Black Cobra have completed the recording process of their upcoming fourth full-length album, set for release in the Autumn months ahead.

For the recording of this, the band’s second release for Southern Lord Recordings, Black Cobra recently ventured across the continent to pound out their anticipated new album, the follow-up to 2009’s massively well-received Chronomega. This time around the outfit enlisted the talents of Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou and his God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts, for the first time. After a brutal week-and-a-half in the notorious lair, Black Cobra hammered out what will soon be known to the world as their almighty fourth full-length album, the title now confirmed as Invernal. A full track listing, album art and other specific details will be announced in the shortly, but from an advance listen to the unmastered output of this savage outfit, we are confident in confirming that this is Black Cobra‘s most honed and diversified material to date, and will definitely tear your face off completely.

While Black Cobra‘s full-on tour cycle for Invernal has not yet began, as it undoubtedly will very shortly, the band have in the meantime been confirmed for several shows over the coming weeks, including an appearance at The Power of the Riff Festival in Los Angeles on Aug. 18 alongside Eyehategod, Pentagram, Winter, Pelican and more, a direct support spot for High on Fire in Oakland on Aug. 27, an appearance at MusicFest Northwest festival in Portland and more. A rigorous amount of touring will continually be announced through the rest of 2011.

Black Cobra Live:
07/30 El Rio San Francisco, CA w/ Hot Lunch, Lecherous Gaze, Hightower
08/13 Echo/Echoplex Los Angeles, CA @ The Power of the Riff
08/27 Uptown Oakland, CA w/ High on Fire
09/08 Dante’s Portland, OR @ MFNW
09/22 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts San Francisco, CA

Not really any big surprise here. Weedeater play shows. All the time. That’s what they do. The real news would be if Weedeater didn’t announce a North American headlining tour.

Nonetheless, they rule — and it’s an excuse for me to use the above picture again (this time in snazzy black and white!). Here are the dates off the PR wire:

After a few months off the road, North Carolina sludge demons Weedeater have just announced another headlining North American tour for September/October, still in support of their recently-released full-length, Jason… The Dragon.

While Weedeater‘s caustic style of aggressive sludge is devastating on its own live, the trio have enlisted some help on this rampage from Saviours, Bison B.C. and Fight Amp supplying opening support for the duration the venture. Saviours will not play the Philly or Brooklyn shows, but Oxbow will be supplying direct support for Weedeater at the Brooklyn gig.

Weedeater North American Headlining Tour:

09/06 Kings Barcade Raleigh, NC
09/07 Sonar Baltimore, MD
09/08 Strange Matter Richmond, VA
09/09 North Star Bar Philadelphia, PA (no Saviours)
09/10 Europa Brooklyn, NY w/ Oxbow (no Saviours)
09/11 Middle East Downstairs Cambridge, MA
09/13 Lee’s Place Toronto, ON
09/14 Montage Music Hall Rochester, NY
09/15 Outland Live Columbus, OH
09/16 The Pyramid Scheme Grand Rapids, MI
09/17 Reggie’s Rock Club Chicago, IL
09/18 Upfront & Company Marquette, MI
09/19 Triple Rock Social Club Minneapolis, MN
09/20 Rock Island Brewing Company Rock Island, IL
09/23 Larimer Lounge Denver, CO
09/24 Burt’s Tiki Lounge Salt Lake City, UT
09/26 The Highline Seattle, WA
09/27 Rickshaw Theatre Vancouver, BC
09/28 Branx Portland, OR
09/29 The Independent San Francisco, CA
10/01 Soda Bar San Diego, CA
10/02 Key Club West Hollywood, CA
10/04 Lanchpad Albuquerque, NM
10/06 Emo’s Austin, TX
10/07 Fitzgerald’s Houston, TX
10/08 Siberia New Orleans, LA
10/09 The Earl Atlanta, GA
10/10 New Earth Music Hall Athens, GA
10/11 Engine Room Tallahassee, FL
10/12 The Orpheum Tampa, FL
10/14 The Jinx Savannah, GA

Earlier this year, following our interview, Weedeater bassist/frontman “Dixie” Dave Collins told me that if he ever made a video, it would involve a zombie cheerleader pep rally where everyone got eaten while the band played in the background. The clip below for “Mancoon/Turkey Warlock” from Weedeater‘s excellent Jason… the Dragon doesn’t nearly follow that concept, but is pretty entertaining nonetheless, as the titular character(s) seem to torture the band by making them eat a giant sandwich and then chase them through the woods. Enjoy: