Not to be confused with Norwegian outfit Tombstones, Finnish trio Tombstoned are gearing up to release their aptly-titled second album, II, on April 22 via Svart Records. The swing-heavy doom rockers made their debut in 2013 and played Roadburn that year to mark the occasion, and they’ve posted up the new song “And I Told You” to herald the LP’s coming, as well as unveiling the art and tracklisting. From the look of the cover, I’m thinking it’ll be a holographic cover, metallic ink or whatnot, but either way it’s cool looking and freaked out, and listening to “And I Told You,” I’m getting pretty much the same vibe.

Bottom line? Svart inch ever closer to being completely unfuckwithable. Gonna look forward to checking this out. If you want to get into it, here’s PR wire info:

TOMBSTONED set release date for new SVART album, premiere first track

What’s in a name? With Tombstoned, EVERYTHING. These Finnish funereal directors of rocking doom made a big splash with their self-titled debut album, released in 2013 by Svart Records, which garnered them a spot at Roadburn that year – curated by huge fan / Electric Wizard mainman Jus Oborn, no less – and reaped critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. And now, on April 22nd, Tombstoned return to better that debut with II, set to be released again by Svart on CD, LP, and digital formats.

If Tombstoned was the brash opening statement, then II is the more focused consolidation of strengths. By the band’s own admission, Tombstoned’s opening salvo crammed nearly every influence they possessed into every song, making for a wild, jam-oriented spin. Here on II, with the band members now living in different countries, the process was more composed, resulting in tight, earth-shaking songs of molten, magnanimous molten might. Still within the boundaries of stoner doom, Tombstoned sought with II to take a more personal approach and express the harsh times they’ve been living recently, resulting in a lumbering celebration of slow-motion darkness. Additionally, the vocals have strayed from the usual Sabbath-inspired drawl to one of a gloomier post-punk aspect, furthering the band’s agenda to expand upon the stoner doom subgenre.

With a pallete like this, capturing the mood is of the utmost importance. And yet, when it came time to mix II, the studio engineer asked Tombstoned for reference records and nobody could think of any. Nevertheless, the band went with a simple, totally analog approach to production, capturing everything on vintage outboard gear and recording on reel tape. The result is a record equally warm as Tombstoned, but inducing bigger and deeper goosebumps. Dark times call for dark music, and Tombstoned have survived the grave to deliver II.

Tracklisting for Tombstoned’s II
1. Pretending to Live
2. Brainwashed Since Birth
3. Time Travels
4. And I Told You
5. Haven’t We Seen All This Before
6. You Can Always Close Your Eyes
7. Remedies

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Tombstoned, “And I Told You” from II

Richmond-based cult sludgers Cough will play Jus Oborn of Electric Wizard‘s curated event at Roadburn 2013. The Virginian outfit have been at the fore of the post-Electric Wizard pack, reveling in horrific atmospheres and massive, droning riffs, so they’re a good fit on what’s quickly becoming an eclectic bill. Their last release was an ultra-badass 2010 split vinyl on Forcefield Records with like-minded British purveyors The Wounded Kings (review here), and I don’t know if maybe they’ll have new material on hand by April, but it’s worth hoping for.

In addition to Cough, Witch Mountain will play Roadburn and Sabbath Assembly, Hexvessel, Crown and Tombstoned have joined the lineup as well.

This came courtesy of the fest’s website:

“Firstly, raise your withered stumps and welcome ye brothers of the bong, Richmond, Virginia bruisers and losers…(cue intro to Sweet Leaf)… Cough… rising through the fog like resin-zombies the appropriately named band are the epitome of evil stoned doom”, says Electric Wizard‘s Jus Oborn. “Violent, bleak and wasted… Ritual Abuse was genius… burnout and clogged with resin. We loved it!! Since then we have had many late night smokeouts with these kindred spirits and hopefully many, many more. The Acid Orgy will be heavily laced with Smoke…Hail Cough!!!”

“Once there was a legend of black cloaked cultists that haunted 1960s London, ominous and dark wearing strange occult symbols”, Jus continues, “They handed out bizarre literature linking Satan, Lucifer and Christ …Hells Angels were our saviours working for God and Lucifer to cleanse our world. They became linked to the Manson Killings and eventually disappeared in infamy to only be remembered by a chosen few …now Dave Nuss and Sabbath Assembly recreate the rituals and liturgies of this infamous group. We can now see and hear the true vision of this paradoxical acid consciousness cult. Hail Satan, Amen?!”

“Also we have young blood for the growing acid cult… a new power trio of Finnish maniacs that deal in real heavy doom: Tombstoned“, says Jus, “We witnessed them live only a few weeks ago and were blown away (yes…they defiantly had feel of our favourite Finnish band). Heavy and cool as the grave, absolutely no pretense or hipster styling, just solid and real doom music played by people who don’t care what you think. You will fuckin love em!!!! Hail Tombstoned!”

Even More Incredible bands to be announced SOON !!!

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

Portland, OR’s Witch Mountain will bring their crushing doom to Roadburn Festival 2013 on Friday, April 19th at Het Patronaat in Tilburg, Holland.

Founded by guitarist Rob Wrong and drummer Nate Carson in 1997, this was not yet the Witch Mountain that would come to fruition. In 2009, the addition of vocalist Uta Plotkin transformed the band into something extraordinary with her bluesy, sensual and commanding voice as captured on both South of Salem (2011) and Cauldron of the Wild (2012).

Plotkin’s powerful and soulful pipes sound almost out of place, but this is exactly what makes Witch Mountain so special. She belts out the band’s massive, doomy, bluesy tunes like a metallized Janis Joplin or the lost sister of Heart‘s Ann and Nancy Wilson who chose the left-hand path.

Distilled from thick churning down-tuned guitars and dense drumming infused with Plotkin’s sad and sweet vocals, Witch Mountain lumbers without plodding and soars without drifting off. The epic sound and unique take on doom metal has earned them both a highly acclaimed reputation and a rightful place among the current crop of wickedly talented female-fronted bands. We are super stoked to welcome Witch Mountain to the Roadburn Festival during their first-ever European tour.

“2012 has been the biggest and best of Witch Mountain’s 15 year history”, says Nate Carson, “Two successful headlining American tours, two albums on Profound Lore, a new single, Scion Rock Fest (with Sleep and Saint Vitus), and now this.”

“It is truly an honor to end this year with the official announcement that we will finally tour Europe. Many thanks go out from us to Roadburn for this fantastic invitation. My only concern is that Cauldron of the Wild LP pre-orders are coming in so quickly that we may run out of vinyl before we get over there! Cheers!”

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!