You wanna hear something dumb? I’m on my way to The Land of Make Believe — an amusement park and Northern New Jersey institute of future childhood injury memories — with The Patient Mrs. and The Pecan for the day, manically trying to cram as much summer in as we can. That’s not the dumb part. The dumb part is I’m all in a panic that I need to get this post up right now because The Otolith’s Folium Limina is so god damned good. Couldn’t wait till tomorrow? Later this afternoon? Evidently not.

“Sing No Coda” is the opening track and first single from the album. It’s brilliant. Listen to it. In my head canon it’s called “Sing No Fucking Coda” because it’s so awesome, but I don’t call it that to anyone because I don’t have friends and if I do they haven’t heard it yet. But you can hear it now, and we can be friends, and then I can say it. That’d be nice.

Preorders are up. And blah blah I did the liner notes for the PostWax release, but I don’t even care. Just listen to the song.

Okay we’re parking the car and I’m out of time. From the PR wire:

Salt Lake City avant-garde doom unit THE OTOLITH (w/ SubRosa members) announce debut album on Blues Funeral Recordings; first track streaming!

Rising from the ashes of Salt Lake City’s beloved avant-garde and symphonic doom juggernauts SubRosa comes THE OTOLITH, who will release their debut album “Folium Limina” on October 21st through Blues Funeral Recordings. First single “Sing No Coda” is available on all streaming platforms, with album preorders now online!

When SubRosa announced its breakup in 2019, the heavy music community felt the loss of their uniquely elegant and intensely heavy atmospheric doom devotionals. Rather than wonder what velvet darkness might still await, however, SubRosa’s Kim Cordray, Levi Hanna, Andy Patterson and Sarah Pendleton swiftly emerged as a new entity called the Otolith, with the addition of Matt Brotherton on bass. Following the same muse of cataclysmic melancholy, THE OTOLITH is ready to shepherd their highly anticipated debut double LP “Folium Limina” into the world, first as part of Blues Funeral Recordings’ revered PostWax Vol. II series*, then in a standalone edition available worldwide.

Drawing no line between beauty and doom, THE OTOLITH’s debut album reveals the musical mutations and mystical wanderings of a soul, scanning the edges of the known universe through cracked glass. Ghostly symphonic strings interlace with crushing bass, guitar and percussion; voices conducting signals across time and space to arrive through cosmic storms to a sea of liquid stars.

Of the epic album opener, violinist and vocalist Sarah Pendleton says: “The riffs for Sing No Coda were cooking in our cauldron for a while, but it wasn’t until after we had weathered 2020 that I started to write the lyrics. I developed a strange, intense hypochondria throughout that year, and I know a few others who did as well. It became maddening, trying to discern fear from reality. But far worse was the loneliness, feeling like the most important relationships and friendships were stretching thin and growing tattered, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Now that the world is (mostly) out of the woods and we are seeing faces and traveling and playing again, it is massively cathartic to sing those words: Sing no coda, by the stream. Instead, my friends, wait, wait for me!”.

The overpowering feeling that emanates from the album’s tar-thick hymns is a stirring combination of exhaustion and determination as if THE OTOLITH took Samuel Beckett’s words to heart: “I can’t go on, I’ll go on.” Every wrenching emotion across the hour-long journey is honest and hard-earned, and you can feel the band digging deep to find a catharsis of collective release. The world is a heavy place, and sometimes it’s good to sit with an old friend and pick up where you left off. With “Folium Limina”, The Otolith invite you to bring your burden and find it lightened – even a little – through the cleansing ritual of richly mournful atmospheric metal.

Stream debut single “Sing No Coda” and preorder The Otolith’s album:
https://fanlink.to/theotolith

THE OTOLITH Debut album “Folium Limina”
Out October 21st on Blues Funeral Recordings
Get more info & subscribe to PostWax Vol. II at this location: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bluesfuneral/postwax-vol-ii

TRACKLIST:
1. Sing No Coda
2. Andromeda’s Wing
3. Ekpyrotic
4. Hubris
5. Bone Dust
6. Dispirit

Given the band members’ shared history within Salt Lake City’s revered avant-garde doom unit SubRosa, it’s no surprise that THE OTOLITH’s “Folium Limina” is both a continuation of an existing musical conversation and a herald of something entirely new. The album’s six songs are devastatingly heavy, but the band gives equal attention to speaker-rupturing riffs and to dark, immersive atmospheres. Levi Hanna’s guitar and bass steer the ship in a thick, rumbling tandem, while Kim Cordray’s and Sarah Pendleton’s violins push from the center out, sometimes painting the canvas with sharp, melodic leads and others sawing deep into parallel riffing. Andy Patterson’s drums are thunderous and thoughtful, and when the band hits a huge, all- hands-on-deck downbeat, it feels like a mountain tumbling into the hungry sea.

Those who loved SubRosa will find a familiar face of heaviness in THE OTOLITH, but with a more pronounced emphasis on darkwave and neofolk, calling to mind Amber Asylum or Worm Ouroborus. Cordray’s and Pendleton’s vocals are often a lilting dance or somber incantation in close harmony, while Hanna’s bellowing roar is used sparingly but to towering effect. Although the interwoven strings and vocals rush along with graceful intricacy, The Otolith’s primary approach is full-stop heaviness, and they will rattle our bones with the earth-churning tumult of Neurosis as well as the meditative trance of Om.

Readying their live configuration with the addition of Matt Brotherton on bass and preparing to appear at this year’s Monolith on the Mesa festival in Taos, New Mexico, THE OTOLITH will release “Folium Limina” on October 21st, 2022 via the purveyors of immaculate heaviness at Blues Funeral Recordings.

THE OTOLITH is
Kim Cordray – Violin, Vocals
Levi Hanna – Guitar, Vocals
Andy Patterson – Drums, Percussion
Matt Brotherton – Bass Guitar, Vocals
Sarah Pendleton – Violin, Lead Vocals

The Otolith, “Sing No Coda”

They say there’s more to come and given the scope of past editions of Monolith on the Mesa, one expects that’s the truth. It’s a different universe since the last time the El Prado, New Mexico-based festival was held, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t note — as you can read below — that this is the first Monolith on the Mesa to be held without co-founder Dano Sanchez, who passed away last Fall. Fellow founder Roman Barham, along with Ashley Sanchez and the Taos Mesa Brewing director Jayson Wylie have continued forward in collaboration, and the first lineup announcement is a celebration of the underground deep and high. Mars Red Sky, WarHorse, The Obsessed, The Otolith, Duel, Love Gang, and Red Mesa are the initial cohort, and that’s an admirable grouping on the levels of style and geography alike, representing West Coast, East Coast, in between and Europe in the span of seven bands. Right on.

I’m glad this festival is moving forward with Monolith on the Mesa 2022, and I’ve no doubt it’ll be a party.

To wit:

MARS RED SKY, THE OBSESSED, WARHORSE, THE OTOLITH, DUEL, RED MESA, LOVE GANG, AND MORE SET TO PLAY MONOLITH ON THE MESA: MUSIC AND ART FESTIVAL IN TAOS, NEW MEXICO

SEPTEMBER 16-17-18, 2022

located at Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership the festival is open air

Monolith on the Mesa takes the cosmic opportunity of the vernal equinox to announce its return to Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership, after the forced two year hiatus due to the global pandemic. Dates are set for September 16th, 17th, 18th, 2022. The festival is proud to share part of the line-up today including Mars Red Sky, The Obsessed, Warhorse, The Otolith, Duel, Love Gang, Red Mesa and visual magicians: Mad Alchemy Liquid Light Show.

The line-up remains “true to concept” and will focus on heavy riff-rock acts from across multiple sub-genres including stoner rock, heavy psych, doom metal, sludge, drone, and retro rock. The festival will once again be billed as “a truly singular and mystical experience. A weekend of live music heaviness blasting onto the high desert mesa in full view of the Sangre de Christo mountains.”

This past September the festival lost visionary co-founder, Dano Sanchez. In a statement Monolith on the Mesa producers Ashley Sanchez and Roman Barham, together with brewery director Jayson Wylie, say: “the festival experience is dedicated to our dearly beloved, fallen brother, and co-founder Dano Sanchez. Dano’s contribution has influenced only great times, as summed up in his signature phrase: “Hey bud, let’s party!” We’ll honor Dano by putting on an amazing festival featuring specialty crafted beers from Taos Mesa Brewery (served in reusable cups to reduce single use plastic), interactive art installations in conjunction with Revolt Gallery, and some of the best bands from around the world.”

This year the festival will be open air and focused around the “earthship” amphitheatre which holds 1,500 people. Upcoming festival announcements will detail efforts to make the event more eco-friendly, with less single use plastic and other disposables.

DATES AND TIMES:
September 16th, 17th, 18th, 2022
Doors at 12:00 pm. Bands start at 1:00 pm.

VENUE:
Taos Mesa Brewing The Mothership
20 ABC Mesa Rd, El Prado, NM, 87529
https://www.taosmesabrewing.com/mothership

TICKET INFORMATION:
Monolith on the Mesa will honor tickets and other arrangements purchased in 2020 and 2021. Tickets will be rolled over to this year’s Will Call list.

Single Day Pass $60 ticket link:
https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/be9b80e802fe934571af2d383f254a67

Two Day Pass $100 ticket link:
https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/a2d1bf3d2a361e7df590738ee74e72c4

Three Day Pass $150 ticket link:
https://holdmyticket.com/event/preview/event/79c197fd39ff30a21f68fc545f003cb1

Rain or shine event!

monolithonthemesa.com
facebook.com/monolithonthemesa
instagram.com/monolithonthemesa
twitter.com/onmonolith

Mars Red Sky, “Crazy Hearth” official video

I knew I wanted to start the show with Fuzzy Lights and I knew I wanted to end with Iceburn. Putting together the in-between was where the adventure happened here. I included some stuff still rippling out from the Quarterly Review last month — that’s you, Expo Seventy, The Black Heart Death Cult, LáGoon (also Iceburn) — as well as some more that’s been kicking me around and covered here in the few weeks since one way or the other, like Healthyliving, Horte, The Angelus, Guhts, Hippie Death Cult, Ouzo Bazooka, Kadabra, Ealdor Bealu and Acid Magus. Top that off with The Otolith covering “Would?” and it’s a pretty cool progression of sound and style. There’s a lot to dig here. If you listen, I hope you dig it.

And if you don’t listen — and I don’t have numbers to back this up but in my head no one ever gives a crap about anything I do except me; there are pros and cons to this position — and you’ve made your way to this post anyhow, I hope you take the here’s-a-list-of-bands-you-might-want-to-check-out-cue and hear something you might not have otherwise heard. That’s pretty much what I’m here for.

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 – 08.06.21

The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Aug. 20 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.

Gimme Metal website

The Obelisk on Facebook

This brings us up to seven of the nine total inclusions for PostWax Vol. II, and if I tell you The Otolith‘s debut album is among the outings I’m most looking forward to in this series, I hope you’ll know I’m not exaggerating. Been waiting a couple years for that post-SubRosa outfit to release their first record, so yeah, I’ll take that as soon as humanly possible thank you very much. New Dopelord — their Reality Dagger EP (review here) — shows how far the reach of this project goes. They have a few albums out, of course, but like REZ and Vinnum Sabbathi, who’ll collaborate on a PostWax offering, they represent an up and coming generation of players. I like that they don’t seem to know what they’re going to do in the quote below. How about a film score? Really mess with people.

So, two more announcements to come, and then all will be revealed. I can’t wait to dig into these for the liner notes in the meantime:

DOPELORD and THE OTOLITH confirmed to release new albums as part of PostWax Vol. II vinyl series on Blues Funeral Recordings!

Blues Funeral Recordings announce the next bands to take part in the PostWax Vol. II vinyl subscription series. Polish stoner doom flag-bearers DOPELORD are set to crank their fuzz up to stratospheric levels, and Salt Lake City avant-garde doom unit THE OTOLITH (formed by SubRosa members) will issue their awaited debut album as part of the series.

Between Acid King, Lowrider, Mammoth Volume and Josiah, Blues Funeral Recordings has gathered a wealth of artists who have been hewing riffs from stone, sand and sky for decades, inviting them to bring their immense talents and peerless legacies to their ambitious PostWax series. But, as shown by the inclusions of REZN, Elephant Tree and Vinnum Sabbathi, they also put the spotlight on bands who represent stoner, doom and heavy scene’s present and future, ones with the benefit to peer across the generation of heavy rock greatness before them as they seek to forge enthusiastically forward.

Blues Funeral Recordings is happy to welcome Poland’s fuzz-doom emissaries DOPELORD on board today. These masters of monolithic normally follow a deeply DIY path, having self-released almost their entire catalog while still managing to secure worldwide adoration. Albums like ‘Children of the Haze’ and ‘Sign of the Devil’ are absolute monsters of granite-thick hallucinatory riff-tripping.

Dopelord’s Piotr Klusek declares: “We’ve been aware of the PostWax project for a few years now and thought it sounded interesting but wanted to see how it all came together, plus we were focusing on our new album. After releasing our latest record and seeing how the first PostWax series came out, we absolutely wanted to be involved if they did it again. Whatever we end up doing, look forward to something adventurous and fun but still massive and utterly Dopelord!”

As for THE OTOLITH, the new four-piece formed from the ashes of SubRosa, they will release their highly anticipated debut double LP as part of PostWax Vol. II. Those who’ve been following the aftermath of SubRosa’s dissolution know that Kim Cordray, Levi Hanna, Andy Patterson and Sarah Pendleton announced the formation of The Otolith in 2019, and tantalized acolytes of SubRosa’s avant-garde sonic palette with songs on Magnetic Eye Records’ one-off ‘Dirt [Redux]’ and ‘Women of Doom’ compilations.

THE OTOLITH hint: “Our debut album reveals the musical mutations and mystical wanderings of a soul, scanning the edges of the known universe through cracked glass. Ghostly symphonic strings interlace with crushing bass, guitar, and percussion; voices conducting signals across time and space to arrive through cosmic storms to a sea of liquid stars.”

The purpose of Postwax Vol. II is to create a curated series of releases that stand alone yet also connect, both through art elements and a musical throughline. Unearthing forgotten bands, unveiling new ones, and catching icons at the height of their powers, Blues Funeral Recordings are set to deliver yet another set of next level and highly collectible releases for all heavy rock, fuzz and doom fans out there.

=> Get more info & subscribe to PostWax Vol. II at this location: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bluesfuneral/postwax-vol-ii

https://www.facebook.com/bluesfuneral/
https://www.instagram.com/blues.funeral/
https://bluesfuneralrecordings.bandcamp.com/
bluesfuneral.com

The Otolith, “Bone Dust”

Dopelord, Reality Dagger (2021)

[Click play above to stream Howling Giant’s “Rooster” from Magnetic Eye Records’ Dirt [Redux] Alice in Chains tribute. LP/CD/DL out Sept. 18 with preorders here.]

Says Howling Giant’s Zach Wheeler:

“To be honest, getting ‘Rooster’ was a bit intimidating as it’s one of their most popular songs. We wanted to pay tribute to Alice in Chains as much as possible while giving the song that special Howling Giant sauce. We changed a few things around, but tried to reinforce the melodies that make the song so memorable in the first place.”

Says Howling Giant’s Tom Polzine:

“When I was growing up in Buffalo, Minnesota, there was a local band called Blood Root Mother made up of some dudes that were probably four or five years older than me. I remember sneaking out of my house to see them perform at this rundown venue called The Vault. The Vault was run by some 20 year olds that skipped college in order to renovate that old antique shop into a dirty DIY venue. If dirty and uncomfortable was the vibe they were going for, they nailed it. Anyway, Blood Root Mother were tight as hell and I’ll always remember their cover of ‘Rooster’ as one of the most moving performances I witnessed from a bunch of local, lovable scumbags. The energy was so raw, and the volume was overwhelming. I think that witnessing those guys performing that song in particular is the reason I started playing in rock bands in high school, and why I still play today.”

—

Released in September 1992, Alice in Chains‘ second full-length, Dirt, is a generational landmark. It remains one of a select few records of its era — along with Nirvana‘s Nevermind, Pearl Jam‘s Ten, Soundgarden‘s Badmotorfinger, and maybe one or two others — that helped define the “grunge” sound for which Seattle, Washington, would become almost inextricably known. With an underlying-and-at-times-right-up-front theme of drug addiction and ensuing personal fallout, Dirt was grimmer and could be more aggressive than most of its still-commercially-viable major label contemporaries, and as a result always had some more appeal to metal fans than, say, Pearl Jam, who were strictly a hard rock band at the time. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell‘s now-classic riffs and vocals, Sean Kinney‘s inventive drums, the fluid bass work of Mike Starr and Layne Staley‘s voice that would prove inimitable despite the attempts of three decades’ worth of singers — these essential elements came together around a group of particularly memorable songs, some radio hits, some B sides, and of course, “Iron Gland” for good measure, and served as the proverbial lightning in the bottle and the standard by which the band’s output ever since has been judged.

In continuing its tribute series of full album releases by embarking on a Dirt [Redux], Magnetic Eye Records takes on a no less crucial album than when the label put together compilation tributes to Pink Floyd or Jimi Hendrix. There are some recognizable acts from the Magnetic Eye stable as well as others clearly given to celebrating the work itself, and those who remain loyal to the original versions of the songs while other groups prefer to bring their appointed track into their own sonic context. Like the original Dirt, Dirt [Redux] of course boasts 13 tracks — it’s a whole-album tribute; it wouldn’t do to leave something out — though its runtime is longer than the original, at 63 minutes as opposed to 57. The tracklisting reads as follows:

1. Thou – Them Bones
2. Low Flying Hawks – Dam That River
3. High Priest – Rain When I Die
4. Khemmis – Down in a Hole
5. These Beasts – Sickman
6. Howling Giant – Rooster
7. Forming the Void – Junkhead
8. Somnuri – Dirt
9. Backwoods Payback – God Smack
10. Black Electric – Iron Gland
11. -(16)- – Hate to Feel
12. Vokonis – Angry Chair
13. The Otolith – Would?

Their take on “Would?” — tracked by Alice in Chains first for an appearance on the soundtrack of the film Singles then reused on the album — marks the debut recording from post-SubRosa outfit The Otolith, and arrives with no shortage of anticipation. Bookending with “Them Bones” as interpreted by New Orleans art-sludgers Thou, the atmospheric breadth brought to the finale is a standout on the release and, at that point, one more instance of a band making the track their own. Thou‘s blend of harsh and cleaner vocals notwithstanding, they largely keep to the original tempo and arrangement of the leadoff track, whereas Low Flying Hawks take the subsequent “Dam That River” — a hooky follow-up to the opener — and turn it into an ambient drone only vaguely related to the original.

And why not? There’s no rule that says a band has to do an impression rather than an interpretation, and as Dirt [Redux] plays out, the likes of Khemmis, These Beasts, Howling Giant, Forming the Void, -(16)- and Vokonis bring their own spin. Khemmis could hardly be a better fit for the emotive doom of “Down in a Hole,” and the crunch These Beasts deliver on “Sickman” is an intense precursor to what L.A.’s -(16)- do with “Hate to Feel” later on. Feeling very much like the vanguard of an up and coming generation of progressive heavy rock, Howling Giant, Forming the Void and Vokonis boldly tackle their respective cuts, with “Rooster” getting a bolstered melody (no easy feat), “Junkhead” receiving a newfound nodder groove, and “Angry Chair” highlighting a rhythmic complexity that is both a late surprise and oh, oh, oh so very Swedish.

To complement these forays, Somnuri find a glorious and elusive middle-ground on the album’s title-track, the Brooklynite trio not giving “Dirt” a total makeover so much as an organic-feeling performance that captures the subtle spaciousness that was so much a part of Dirt‘s lonely feel in the first place — all those sometimes empty reaches of its mix. Earlier, Chicago’s High Priest offer perhaps the most impressive vocal included on the redux with “Rain When I Die,” with the as-yet-underrated, very-much-need-to-put-an-album-out group play to their own Alice in Chains influence. Ditto that Backwoods Payback, who bleed their love of the original through their raw interpretation of “God Smack,” finding a space somewhere between punk, post-hardcore and heavy rock that is theirs alone on this release and in the wider underground sphere. These cuts serve the vital function of bringing Dirt [Redux] its sense of homage, making the tribute a tribute, and giving a listener who might not be familiar with all the bands on the Magnetic Eye roster a chance to reorient before, say, These Beasts unfurl their pummeling rendition of “Sickman” or Low Flying Hawks taffy-pull “Dam That River” to suit their own whims.

One would be remiss not to point out that the 43-second interlude “Iron Gland” is here covered by Black Electric, which features Magnetic Eye Records‘ own Mike Vitali (also ex-Ironweed and Greatdayforup) on guitar. Their version is almost eerily reminiscent of the original, on which Slayer‘s Tom Araya sat in for vocals, and gives way to -(16)-‘s roughed-up “Hate to Feel” with a similar flow to the progression between the two tracks on Dirt proper. If you come out of this Dirt [Redux] with a hankering to listen to Alice in Chains, don’t be surprised. I’ll admit to having an attachment to the album that borders on the familial, and whatever they do with it arrangement-wise, I have nothing but respect for anyone brave enough to cover songs that have so much specific heart and style behind them. Inevitably a listener’s experience with Dirt [Redux] will depend on their own context with the original record as well as with the bands involved, but when all is said and done, it is a more than worthy inclusion in Magnetic Eye‘s [Redux] series — Black Sabbath would seem to be next — and it points to just how broadly Alice in Chains‘ influence has spread over the last three decades. You can’t really go wrong.

Various Artists, Dirt [Redux] (2020)

Magnetic Eye Records on Thee Facebooks

Magnetic Eye Records on Instagram

Magnetic Eye Records on Bandcamp

Magnetic Eye Records website

As a genre, doom is a long way from gender parity. It’s perhaps an optimistic viewpoint to take to say that the current generation of bands is past the point of seeing women artists as a novelty or downplaying their contributions to male bandmates or counterparts, but frankly I’m not even sure that’s true on a universal level. The inherent sexualization of performance — often willfully and hilariously ignored by men watching other men on stage — subjects women artists to a masculine gaze that at times is problematic even as it also serves as an expression of feminine power. As to what it means to be a woman artist in “doom,” or as to what “doom” is — where it starts and ends — I’m no one to speak to either experience, so I look at the Women of Doom compilation, highlighting women artists in and out their respective bands, as kind of a sad celebration. It’s well worth underscoring the stylistic contributions these women are making — and in a society that saw women paid 79 cents per every dollar a man made in 2019, well worth giving women every nod they can get, if not things like universal health coverage and reproductive rights — but a bit of a bummer that we’re not in a place where the norm would make such a compilation superfluous.

Whatever else doom is, it’s not there, but if Blues Funeral Recordings and Desert Records — both labels run by men, speaking of areas where women are underrepresented — wanted to, they could easily turn Women of Doom into a series. While Women of Doom brings together luminaries such as Amy Tung Barrysmith of Year of the Cobra, Doomstress Alexis of Doomstress, Mlny Parsonz of Royal Thunder and introduces two projects of former SubRosa members in The Otolith and Rebecca Vernon‘s The Keening, along with bands like Heavy Temple, Frayle, Sweden’s Besvärjelsen and France/Ireland’s Deathbell, there are a few conspicuous absences. Perhaps most glaringly, Windhand frontwoman, Dorthia Cottrell, is nowhere to be found, likewise an all-women act like Blackwater Holylight. And the same goes for a generational pioneer like Lori S. of Acid King, but it is inevitably a positive to say that it would be nearly impossible for Women of Doom — in a single go — to be so comprehensive. And as it is, the comp does well in setting an atmosphere across its full tracklisting, which reads as follows:

1. Nighthawk and Heavy Temple – Astral Hand 05:12
2. Amy Tung Barrysmith – Broken 06:04
3. Besvärjelsen – A Curse to be Broken 06:47
4. Mlny Parsonz – A Skeleton is Born 04:57
5. Frayle – Marrow 04:53
6. The Otolith – Bone Dust 04:31
7. Doomstress Alexis – Facade 04:47
8. Deathbell – Coldclaw 04:24
9. The Keening – A Shadow Covers Your Face 05:05
10. Mlny Parsonz – Broke An Arrow (Bonus) 03:25

The accomplishment of Women of Doom finding cohesion despite the variety of songwriting and performance modes is not to be understated. Beginning with Heavy Temple — here billed as Nighthawk and Heavy Temple — taking on a purely classic epic doom sound with the willfully Candlemassian “Astral Hand” sets a high bar, as grandiosity suits the Philly unit almost oddly well. They are maybe the odd-band-out in terms of aesthetic on Women of Doom, which is doubly ironic given “Astral Hand” is the most traditionally doomed song on the nine-plus-one-tracker and it’s not a style Heavy Temple generally play, but the darkened atmosphere they build sees immediate flourish in the piano-led composition “Broken” by Amy Tung Barrysmith, who only confirms through her work here that Year of the Cobra have only just begun their greater creative exploration. As one of two non-US acts present, Besvärjelsen are, as ever, a showcase for the vocal presence of Lea Amling Alazam, but their moodier post-doom on “A Curse to Be Broken” picks up well from “Broken” in more than just the similarity of titles.

By the time it’s a third of the way through, Women of Doom has already run a marked gamut in sound and dynamic, and that’s pretty clearly the intent of the thing. As arguably the most known performer featured, Mlny Parsonz, bassist/vocalist of Atlanta’s Royal Thunder brings a boozy classic rock powerhouse delivery to “A Skeleton is Born.” She returns for the bonus track “Broke an Arrow” in more subdued fashion to close out, and if mainstream rock and roll needed a woman figurehead — which it does, badly — she’d be a good candidate for the position in terms of craft; her work is equal parts dangerous and accessible. Frayle‘s “Marrow” carries mystique as a defining element, and The Otolith and Doomstress Alexis make a fitting pair for their use of strings. For The Otolith, that’s a trait inherited fairly enough from SubRosa, but it’s something of a surprise from Doomstress Alexis, who meets it with a likewise unexpected thrashiness in her guitar. Though maybe not as well known as some of the others, Deathbell stand out in such a way as to leave little to wonder why Kozmik Artifactz picked up their 2018 debut, With the Beyond, for a vinyl release. Their “Coldclaw” does not come from that outing, so perhaps portends something new in the works, and if so, is all the more welcome.

As the first offering from The Keening, “A Shadow Covers Your Face” is of particular interest, as was The Otolith‘s “Bone Dust,” but both projects have in common a nascent feel. That’s particularly true of The Keening‘s inclusion, which is a relatively minimal work of solo piano, placed in a way that answers Amy Tung Barrysmith‘s “Broken” earlier but has the distinction of being instrumental. Both works are evocative, but Rebecca Vernon‘s piano in “A Shadow Covers Your Face” seems to use the otherwise unfilled space surrounding it as an instrument unto itself. That shift in presentation at the conclusion is a well placed reminder of the breadth of what greater gender equity in heavy music has to offer, though frankly, if the case needs to be made by then — or at all — you as the listener have probably missed the point. Still, at its most basic level, removed from a context that sees women continually objectified and typecast in artwork, bands, and listener expectations, Women of Doom is a collection of new and encouraging tracks from a diverse array of up and coming artists and acts. Even the most established artist here, which is Parsonz, is reaching beyond what she’s done before, and that too is an important message that shouldn’t be ignored.

Blues Funeral Recordings on Thee Facebooks

Blues Funeral Recordings on Bandcamp

Blues Funeral Recordings website

Desert Records on Thee Facebooks

Desert Records on Bandcamp

Desert Records BigCartel store

If you’re the kind of person who likes a key-takeaway from a news story, here’s one: The Otolith exist. The reason that’s news is because the new outfit features ex-members of SubRosa, who decided to break my heart back in May and call it quits after releasing in 2016 one of the best albums of the decade in their now-swansong opus, For This We Fought the Battle of Ages (review here). If I’m honest, I’m not over the loss yet, but if the advent of the new outfit with Kim Cordray, Levi Hanna, Andy Patterson and Sarah Pendleton demonstrates anything, it’s that I’m not necessarily alone in that.

So, The Otolith exist. They’ll play Monolith on the Mesa next year, release an Alice in Chains cover — “Would?,” but still — on Magnetic Eye‘s homage to Dirt, and they’re working toward the eventuality of a debut full-length, which is already on my eagerly-anticipated list.

There’s no social media presence I can find as yet, but here’s the announcement of their arrival and a clip of SubRosa in Brooklyn from 2017 just for the hell of it:

Atmospheric avant-garde doom outfit THE OTOLITH rises from the ashes of SUBROSA

Salt Lake City four-piece announce formation and plans for new music

Earlier this year, forward-looking doom juggernaut SubRosa announced its dissolution after a 13-year run, a surprise to many in light of the band’s acclaimed albums and high-profile tours and festival appearances. Few specifics were given as to the reasons for bringing SubRosa to a close, leaving fans to wonder what might follow.

That question is now being answered, as four-fifths of SubRosa – Kim Cordray, Levi Hanna, Andy Patterson and Sarah Pendleton – announce their re-constitution as The Otolith, a new four-piece they say is, “heavier than a truckload of lead bricks.”

With a name derived from crystalline inner ear structures involved in sensing gravity, direction and acceleration, the members discuss their decision to move forward:

“The end of SubRosa was extremely devastating for all of us. Through the grieving process, we realized the only way we were going to heal was to continue playing music together. After about a year, we started getting together regularly to jam, and beautiful things started to happen. Kim suggested the name, and the more we learned about its meaning, the more we loved it. We became The Otolith.”

Moving with speed and enthusiasm, the band has already signed on to two unique projects coming in early 2020.

First, they’ll contribute an original song to WOMEN OF DOOM, a collaborative album of exclusive songs highlighting and supporting female-driven artists from throughout the doom metal underground, also set to include tracks from Frayle, Besvarjelsen, and Mlny from Royal Thunder, among others.

The Otolith have also recorded a version of the Alice in Chains classic “Would?” for inclusion on the Dirt [Redux] release from Magnetic Eye Records, replacing Bell Witch after the latter dropped off the project.

Cordray, Hanna, Patterson and Pendleton will spend the winter writing The Otolith’s debut album, with plans to tour upon its release, including a confirmed slot at the second Monolith on the Mesa festival in Taos, New Mexico in May 2020.

As to the sound and musical direction fans of the members’ past work can expect, the band says:

“Some of the songs are vocally-driven, others are musically-driven with sparse vocals. Each of us will be manning the instruments we’re known to play, but we’ll all have surprise sidecars as well. This band is an anamorph that is busy growing its second row of teeth. It’s gonna be pissed. There will be swirling ambience and the heaviest of riffs. We are pouring our hearts into this.”

More news and updates will follow as the band pushes ahead and solidifies its 2020 plans.

SubRosa, Live at Saint Vitus Bar, Brooklyn, NY, 2017