doom / death metal / sludge

A putrid cesspool of filth, misery and misanthropy, pustulating, sickening and insurmountable, that is probably one of the best compliments I can give this album by American doom mongrels Drug Honkey. And believe me, that is an actual compliment. This album is a monstrosity, in the best possible way, obviously. If you're into slow, death metal infused doom, you should look no further as you have found the holy grail of deranged musical insanity. Hurray.

The songs on this album represent an hallucinogenic nightmare. They're slow, sluggish, like a thick layer of tar weighing on your very soul and oozing out of your speakers. Then there are the vocals, or better, the intense and harsh screams of a madman. They grab you by the throat, clawing through your skin and onto your larynx until you suffocate. The massive axes of the drums eventually finish the job with sheer precision.

I can easily say that this album is a stunning piece of doom metal but that would be an understatement. I mean, I love doom. I'm not always fond of its little brother, sludge metal, but what Drug Honkey delivered effortlessly thrashes most of the competition. Doom fans of all ages should make sure that this album is a part of their collection. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere in the near future, this one stands next to the absolute genre classics.

Serge

doom / sludge

Right, since we're at it, let's throw some more depressive slow music into the mix. This time, I picked something so thick, so sluggish and so intense that it almost resembles quicksand. Once the music has captured you, there is no way out. You can struggle but Dwaal keeps pulling you down into their doomed spiral. Post sludge doomers of all ages should start paying attention now, because this might be one of their favorites in 2017.

But first things first.  Dwaal is a quintet from Oslo, Norway. 'Darben' is their debut ep, a 12" containing two long and conscience pulverizing songs, lasting nineteen and twelve minutes respectively. In those thirty something minutes, Dwaal drags you along soothing post rock/metal passages as well as pounding sludge doom hammerings. Resistance is useless since the music is so immersive that you will happily surrender.

In all, this ep is a solid business card for these Norwegians and I truly hope that it will be picked up by bookers allover Europe. With a massive and intense sound like this, there is no doubt that Dwaal will deliver a bunch of eargasms and perhaps the occasional collapsed lung. My advice? Buy this thing, play it loud and the world being blown away by Dwaal. I need a cigarette now...


​Serge

stoner rock / sludge metal

Black Tundra is the debut album of the eponymous Polish stoner rock group, released in April 6. Thirty six minutes long, the record has six tracks: Before The Fall, Gates of Moss, Black Tundra, Blinded by the Northern Lights, Circling the Dead and No Dawn. A stoner rock work with some sludge metal elements, Black Tundra manages to be an interesting work. Mainly slow, as usual for the genre, their songs have an abundance of imperially effective elements, poignantly drained by the infallible and colossal framework of a sound consciously built at the apex of a genuine creative fury.

The third track, also titled Black Tundra, certainly can be considered the best song of the album. A furious, intense and profound tune, there is a fundamental vitality firmly encapsulated into the song’s essence, that ostensibly reveals a monumental strength, with qualities able to elevate to a higher path the harmonies tied to a sphere of perpetual omniscience, with the power to control all the ponderable serenities of the heart.  

With very good songs, Black Tundra achieves a reasonable level of artistry on their debut. Although there is a severe lack of new elements and creative audacity in the album, they’ve managed to stand above the average score, if compared to other acts of the genre. The songs are formidably well elaborated and executed, and reveal an intricate level of pristine sagacity. Unfortunately, some elements lost within their songs are too common ground, and in certain passages, small levels of monotony are an inevitable feature. Nonetheless, vibrating and wonderful guitar lines punctuates with brilliance and delicacy the most marvelous moments of the album.     

Although Black Tundra can’t be considered a fabulous masterpiece, the album manages to be good and satisfactory after all, despite a profusion of predictable elements intensely delineated within the songs. Nevertheless, here we testify the formidable potential of a band that has all the necessary elements to be major in the underground music scene, with a profusion of intelligent harmonies, an outstanding songwriting competence, and great capabilities concerning technical skills. Black Tundra rejuvenated some aspects of their genre of choice, and certainly inserts themselves into the underground music scene as a very gratifying promise, that has a perceptive amount of talent, with the power to create and release very interesting albums in the future.     

 
Wagner

drone / ambient / jazz / krautrock

drone / krautrock / experimental

singer-songwriter

bandcamp

doom / dark ambient

metal / metalcore

thrash metal / hardcore

doom / sludge

metal / metalcore 

doom / sludge / black metal

doom

sludge / doom

Serge

hard rock / sludge / blues

Well well, it's party time, the kind of party with plenty of booze and some scorching rock 'n roll. Undoubtedly a bar fight will break out sooner or later, demolishing the place and leaving everybody outside in the searing hot desert of... well, Austria. That was unexpected, but nonetheless, you should prepare yourself for the hard rocking psychedelic Southern stoner blues sludge metal by this gang from Vienna. It'll be worth it.

I mean, when a band reminds me of Motorhead, Ramones, Melvins, Guns 'n Roses, Korn, White Zombie, Truckfighters and Fu Manchu in only one three minutes lasting songs, I know that I'm in for something groovy and varied. That song is opener 'Boogie' and it will get any party started. However, Lowbau ain't done there, oh no. 'My Guitar' brings out the harmonica and the blues riffs. Obviously, that quickly turns into full-on stoner rock  that is too nice to be ignored.

​'Pretend' is probably one of my favorite tracks here, an up-tempo party smasher that reeks of vintage hard rock and blues. 'World' suddenly drags the whole thing into the world of death metal, at times reminding me of bands like Entombed. That too was unexpected but the song is a blast, that's for damn sure. And then I even forgot to mention that there are some highly hypnotic psychedelic passages to be found here too.

So yeah, this album is more varied than your underwear-drawer and (hopefully) a lot dirtier as well. Everyone who is into the stuff at festivals like Roadburn, Up In Smoke or Desertfest should start worshipping these Austrians now. I'm secretly hoping that these guys take this stuff on the road, maybe find a label and become on of the next big things in the desert-scene. Judging from this record, they deserve that.


​Serge

doom / sludge

We're not done dooming yet (as if we're ever!!!) so we'll just continue to blast some slow, torpid metal through our speakers like a flow of mud over our consciousness. Although, this one is somewhat different from the funeral doom album I reviewed earlier. This one nudges to sludge metal and carries a hint of psychedelic music as well, which obviously makes the whole thing a bit more varied and aggressive.

But what would you expect from a band composed of members of several black/doom, power grind and psychedelic bands? Of course this multitude of influences has leaked into their sound, much to my delight too. It provides plenty of variation, not only musically but also as far as vocals are concerned. With both sludge screams and deep, guttural growls over the thick riffs, Ketch certainly convinces.

The album opens with 'Fertile Rites by Sacrifice', vintage sludge metal song but also one that carefully flirts with dark jazz, another one of my favorites. Yet, as the distortion, the hammering drums and the vocals come in, we're riding on waves of doom for about an hour or so. Further down the record Ketch guides us along funeral doom, post-metal and even flashes of death metal, the latter beautifully represented in the riffing in 'En Nomine Eius'.

'Estranged' is the strange breather before Ketch kicks off the second part of the album with my absolute favorite, the massive 'Detached and Conquered'. This is another one of those hypnotizing beatdowns that only sludge metal bands can deliver and in doing that, these Americans absolutely convince. I can easily see hordes of fans in front of the stage, sluggishly banging their heads to these waves of sludge hammers.

So yes, this is an excellent, well-varied and highly immersive piece of sludge doom, one every fan of the genre should get his hands on. It's a long album too, with ten songs. In all lasting for a bit over an hour. The leel of musicianship is high, actually even higher than most other bands in this genre. So what are you waiting for, buy this thing and allow it to hammer you into a piece of pulp. You know you want it...


​Serge

stoner rock / sludge

The Valley of Dying Stars is an album released on December 16, by Brazilian Stoner rock/ Sludge Metal band Erasy. With seven tracks – being them The Valley of Dying Stars, Sea of Sadness, Dawn of Time, Telling Lies, Nothing On The Other Side, Hollow and Living Hell – this is one of the best albums in the genre to be released in the Brazilian underground scene. Fiercely solid and amazingly composed, with strong guitars, and a coherent changing pace of rhythms, The Valley of Dying Stars not only honors tradition, but reinvents the genre in a very creative path, with a lucid audacity that strikes the foundations of a style powerfully crafted in highly stoned vocals, dilacerating fast melodies, and hallucinating guitar solos.

Extremely crude, but incredibly precise and well developed, this album really strikes a major sense of confidence at the development of a singular style, in a linear basis, and a coherently correlated pace of proverbial salutary cadences, that overwhelms the true aspirations of the sound, as a growing – but purposefully raw – artistic endeavor. And they also easily overcome their own sense of ability, while developing their individual style, that will certainly open to the band their own aggrandizing place in the underground scene.

With mostly slow harmonies, set in a straightforward conjuncture of sound, veracity, wildness and rudeness, all these elements perfectly converge altogether to deliver to the audience the best sludge/ stoner rock has to offer, in terms of originality, precise evaluation and musical appreciation. With a dense and intense paralyzing power, this album highlights the most undertaking instances of the genre, in a mostly high, but exceedingly appreciative feeling.

The Valley of Dying Stars is an excellent album, able to satisfy the hunger for good sludge/ stoner rock everywhere. With an audacious sonorous overlook of their own, they somewhat reinvent these genres with precise and ornamental distinctions, while at the same time preserving intact the core and the shape that makes their music to be recognized as such, in a remarkable association that only very mature musicians could easily maintain. With incredibly lucid and poetic guitar solos, this feature is no less compelling, as the band progressively dilutes all their influences, to rebuild their references as something bigger, wiser and stronger. A very good album, no doubt about that, The Valley of Dying Stars is a solid work, that deserves attention and recognition. You can listen to this beautiful album with no fear. You will not be losing your time. I positively assure you that! 



Wagner 

stoner / doom /sludge

Ancient Rites is an album by German Stoner Metal/ Post Metal band Naked Star, released on December 16. With eight tracks – being them Purgamantic, Stoned Demon, Spawn of the Witch, Be my Sacrifice, Bound to Hell, Alter Ego, I am the Antichrist and Necrolust –, this is a furious, and lucid album, filled with beautiful and brilliant, yet brutal songs, that rescues the most fearless and restless stoner metal elements, ever to exist.

With slow, but solid rhythms, each and every musical aspect on this album converge to something beautiful and different, with all instruments perfectly aligned together, to deliver a fully great and unthinkable masterpiece. Like most works on the genre, what highlights mostly on the musical atmosphere is vocals and guitar, and, while they fully complement each other very well, the drums and the bass achieve a singular level of completeness, that profoundly aggregates a very solid coherence to the sound, as a whole.  

While the sound, in some parts, is somewhat uniform, and directed by a basic stylish underline identity, Ancient Rites manages to be a fully magnificent album. Perfectly scored, and astoundingly crafted at the basis of a true genuine musical sphere, the rude guitar lines, and the slow moving melodies tear apart every condescending molecule of replaced detachment that may exist in the genre. Nonetheless, they fully captivate a sonorous rapture, energized by a stream of perfectly created harmonies, that aligns the precise cohesion of abrasive rhythms with lucid and vigorous melodies, which makes this album a gracious and genuine masterpiece, from the beginning until the very end. And still, you will not believe how beautiful, amazing, striking and powerfully spirited this album really is. 

The general atmosphere of the album is a marvelous spectacle. While at the very beginning you can feel the shadows of a more sinister world driving your mind to consecrate a lucid rhetoric of unbound sincerity designed to reverse the sensibility of your soul, the album rapidly becomes a beautiful course of detonating rock’n’roll, led by a purely traditional reverberation of uncompromised heaviness, objectivism and liberation. 

A marvelous album, profound, brave and severe, with an integral metabolism of sound fully committed to a genuine heaviness – exhilarated by a formidable atmosphere of authentic sensitivity –, Ancient Rites is a unique masterpiece. Impossible not to like this album, here, a perfectly arranged and efficient musical technique is fully aligned with an astounding level of creativity. The result, evidently, couldn’t be other than a fully consecrated masterpiece, that has all the potential to conquer the underground with the unimaginable flame of amazingly talented musicians. Ancient Rites is a very peculiar album, a great and undeniable piece of higher art. You will not find any other album, like this one!         



Wagner

stoner rock / sludge

Withdrawal From Continuous Circulation is an album released by German Stoner/ Sludge Metal band The Wiring. With seven tracks – IZ, Python, The Blocking, Eyes, Unearthed, Warped Apparition and Belltower General – what we have here is a very good album, that, although seems formulaic and generic at first, is interesting. True to the principles of the genre, Withdrawal From Continuous Circulation is a loyal and remarkable exemplar of Sludge Metal, that certainly can please a lot of enthusiasts of the genre.

Since Sludge Metal is a very noisy genre, and the very stilted sound can be tiresome for people who dislike this type of music, obviously the record is destined to a specific audience. But it has everything in full and easy disposition to conform to standards, and be likable to ardent enthusiasts. Awesome guitars, blistered rhythms, hazardous hysterical grievances compelled to a dirty wall of blasted notes, and an intense savage sound scrutinizes a traditional epic of the genre. While I personally couldn’t point it out remarkable moments anywhere in the album, it has undeniable qualities, especially if you feel the sound, inserted in the righteous context. 

While there is a certain lack of innovation, or even the development of a personal style, Withdrawal From Continuous Circulation remains authentic to the principles of Sludge Metal. Slow harmonies collide with the sluggish wild beast animal sounds that easily revolves the entire time, and you feel consumed by it, in the presence of mindfully stricken guitar doses of anarchy, and the very well developed dedication to the process of creating and performing these songs.        
I cannot say that this is a great, or even remarkable album, but it certainly has a solid and coherent panel of qualities for the Sludge Metal scene to be proud of. Like most bands of the genre, they probably cause a lot more impact in live performances, since, in an album, the genre naturally sounds more ecstatic and uniform. Nonetheless, if you listen to this album, be sure you really like the genre. It is not for beginners, nor amateurs, even less easy listeners. Certainly the strong guitar lines are the most audacious and fearless qualities the album has, holding the entire musical vision of the work in a very cohesive panoramic artistry. But sadly, sometimes, it becomes a little fragile and monotonous. But if you like a wild, fully intoxicated, exasperating and filthy Sludge Metal record, you can listen to Withdrawal From Continuous Circulation with no fear. But you have been warned: this is not an album for weak, fragile listeners, or beginners. This is for the experienced sludge community, exclusively.   


Wagner

post metal / experimental

A few days ago, I was going through the pile of albums to be reviewed when this thing caught my eye. The accompanying biography mentioned post metal, which at that time seemed like a decent companion for my daily tasks. So I shoved the disc into my audio-machine, pressed play and started doing some household chores. The opening track 'Athens' started to play. I remember thinking, "that's a pretty nice intro, all classical and stuff". Even when the post metal vocals came in,k I thought, "nice approach, I like it". But then I didn't know that the whole album was going to be like this. After about thirty minutes, it was all over, and I found myself wondering what the hell I'd been listening to. Post metal and sludge, without distorted guitars. Is that still post metal?

Regardless of what genre this is, it's awesome. There are typical post-metal vocals by Matthieu Miegeville (My Own Private Alaska, Psykup, The Black Painters), both haunting screams and clean ones. There are drums (studio: Jérémy Cazorla (Shake Us) - live: Hélios Mikhail (Meredith Huner)), equally normal in this area of the musical universe. But then there are the classical guitars of Arnaud Barat and the cello of Audrey Paquet (Trio Milonga, Quatour Eveil). The result is strange but nonetheless quite impressive. It shows that classical music and metal aren't that different from each other and fit perfectly well together. It's like listening to atmospheric and acoustic sludge metal without losing the power of the initial style.

That approach also drags some jazz influences along with it, maybe not intentionally but certainly welcome. Finding references to other bands isn't really easy either. Maybe it's best to think of an acoustic set-up for bands like AmenRa, Eyehategod and Neurosis but also acts like Tool and Deftones. Regardless of all that, I think this is a pretty daring and a highly original album, one that breaks boundaries between genres and eras. I know I didn't mention any particular tracks in this review but that's because that whole thing is such a bizarre and somewhat chaotic experience. A damn intense one too. Recommended? Definitely!


Serge

black metal / crust punk

symphonic metal

facebook

funk / alternative

synthpop / electronic

post punk / alternative / indie

hard rock

black metal / shoegaze

grunge / alternative rock / punk

rock 

bandcamp

post punk / alternative rock

alternative rock / noise rock

hard rock / heavy metal

facebook

grindcore

bandcamp

With Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation on vocals, San Diego grindcore outfit Anal Trump comes up with a short and vicious assault. The longest song on this album is eighteen seconds long and I had to listen four times while writing this thing. So yes, this is sick, gore grindcore in perfect Anal Cunt / Napalm Death tradition. It comes with a lot of shit that someone named Donald Trump has been spewing out, like 'I'd Date My Daughter', 'Build That Wall' and 'Breastfeeding Is Gay'. So if you miss Seth Putnam, hate Donald Trump, think music should be torturous and have no problem with the fact that downloading this release will last longer than actually playing it, you need this.

black metal / thrash metal

black metal

punk / alternative rock

doom / sludge

​Serge

stoner rock / sludge metal

Endless Descent is the most recent album by Junior Bruce, a stoner/ sludge metal American band from Florida, released by A 389 Records. With ten tracks, being them Lapis Philosophorum, Lion's Teeth, Thirteen Zeros, Of The Deep, Of The Earth, The Worthless Ones, Interlude, Night Hag, Lesser Key and the eponymous Endless Descent, this album is the most pure, resolute, unforgiving, sacrificial and absolute demonstration of fury, wrath and brutality on the genre, done to please each and every single adorable sludge metal enthusiast of this world. With a corrosive, direct, strident and powerful energy, made to destroy everything on its way, Endless Descent is an aggressive and epic album, made to set fire on earth, and to effervesce the brains of every single sound maniac crazy about it. With an endless amount of ammunition, the blasts shot by the sick rhythmic dissonances of these tracks will engulf you immediately. And you don’t even will have the time to breath, to know or to understand what passed by you. 

With powerful and grotesquely insane vocals, and guitar lines that seems to be in flames all the way through, this is the album made to produce earthquakes in your brain, in your mind and in your soul. With a great amount of ecstasy, exhilaration and rapture, this is sludge metal ready to wake up the dead. An insane fury deconstruct each track, composing a savage soundscape upon which everything descends, which makes the title of this album not only suggestible, but perfect for the atmosphere created and evoked by it. Undoubtedly epic in all the arrangements of its restless fury, Endless Descent is objective and sincere: an album that immediately, in the very first seconds of it, communicates to the audience the reasons and motives upon which its sound stands for. Shaping every melody that sees on its way, the visceral corrosion on this album is not just genuine, but tantamount to epic, being an original ordeal of lucid creation in the annals of the genre. 

A great album, that seeks for a darkness hidden in the despair of consciousness, Endless Descent is a voracious scream of musical vitality, never appearing to conform to common or ordinary standards, since every track on this album alludes to principles eager of a genuine collision towards a greater creative meaning.  

With hostile and hallucinatory devices dispersed all along these marvelous, vicious, furious and aggressive tracks, Endless Descent is an amazing and formidable album, that announces a new era for sludge metal. As a genuine and fearless gem of originality, being inconspicuous in all the elements of its audacious explosions of wrath, Endless Descent, by Junior Bruce, really deserves to be placed among the greatest works ever produced on the history of the genre.                  


​Wagner

stoner rock / doom

Somewhere between the grungy sound of Alice In Chains and the vintage doom of Black Sabbath lies the epic stoner doom of Swedish quartet Atlas. From the first fuzz-induced riffs of 'Wermland' to the closing drones of title track 'Death & Fear', this is one infectious piece of music. I really dig the slow to mid tempo songs and the awesome clean vocals. Yet, I also like the weird, uptempo stoner rocker 'Covered In Gold', a song that easily can get a party started. 'A Waltz' shows some psychedelic blues influences as well. Yep, this thing is pretty damn varied for an album that lasts for a bit over thirty minutes. For stoner rockers, this definitely is a must-have.

black metal

hardcore / punk

death metal

sludge / noise rock

doom / sludge / noise

death metal / deathcore

extreme metal

metal

Inspired by the likes of Gojira, Lamb Of God, Manimal and other bands, French act H-One comes up with an interesting album, containing a few amazing songs. H-One has found a way to combine death metal with modern metal sounds, making them sound somewhat like an extreme nu-metal act. However, rest assured, this is no nu-metal but technically skilled music with great songwriting and a constant impending atmosphere. At times, I'm reminded of bands like Voivod or Malevolent Creation, which I think are quite decent bands to be compared with. I feel like we'll be hearing from these guys again in the near future.

stoner rock

alternative rock / metal

black metal

doom / sludge

A violent explosion, or eruption, followed by a massive ash cloud, blocking the light of the sun. Swamps start to freeze, soon followed by brooks, ponds, lakes and rivers. As temperatures drop, the clumps of ice in the rivers start to merge, forming glaciers. Tonnes upon tonnes of mud, rock and debris are being dragged along inside the massive ice river, which torpidly flows across the desolate landscape. While it scrapes the ground we humanity used to walk on, the glacier makes a sound, a deep, hypnotizing drone.

Here and there, on isolated places near the icy river, the few who survived the eruption form tribes, each with their own rituals of mourning, of rebirth and of despair. On the tempo of the repetitive drone, they dance. Some bang on drums while others perform these eerie rituals around a huge fire, harshly screaming as if it were an attempt to blast the ash out of their lungs.

Maybe my imagination is a bit too vivid, I know. Yet, some albums do have this effect on me and I'm sure I can't be the only one. These albums work inspiring, create worlds and scenery and adventures, or at least help me create them. In this particular case, the ending of the massive track 'Maelstrom' and the beginning and ending of follower 'Descending Ladders' made me imagine that gargantuan glacier, sluggishly rolling over what was once called "home" by some people. The  feelings of despair and mourning are also very much present in these tracks, mainly in the vocals. Finally, opener 'Strong Eye' could somehow indeed be seen as the eruption and the sky-blackening ash clouds that follow. 

The album comes from Dutch sludge horde Ortega, who have been working on their thick, dark and pulsating sludge metal since 2007. With this new album, they clearly aim for a spot among the heaviest bands on earth. Yet, they don't seem to be satisfied by just being intensely heavy. They also add a touch of vintage psychedelic doom to their sound. 'Crows' thrives on these monolithic riffs and effective drums. Of course, since this is a sludge metal act, you can expect some fierce vocals, often reaching a certain level of mental insanity. Perhaps it's true, some people have the choice to either start a band or end up in some kind of institute. I guess it's safe to say that Ortega made the right choice.

So, if you're a fan of intense doom and sludge metal, and not weary of a little slab of post-metal, you have to add this album to your collection. It will happily help bend your shelf when you place it among you collection of Yob, Conan, Eyehategod and all the other heavyweights in this scene. Perhaps, your imagination will go crazy too but if not, don't worry, you'll still be able to headbang yourself into a trance...


​Serge

post-metal / doom / sludge / black metal

About a year ago, I reviewed 'Cult' by German winterdoom horde Phantom Winter. I was quite impressed by the sheer sonic agony these guys produced. Now, they're back with a new effort, one where the seemingly perfected their bleak, haunting and downright depressive sound. This new album, called 'Sundown Pleasures' is somewhat inspired by Joy Division, hence the equivoke on 'Unknown Pleasures', but don't expect too much post-punk or new wave here. Instead, expect to be beaten down.

This album surely is not for the faint at heart. From the very beginning this band drags you down into a whirlpool of sorrow, despair, anguish and punishment. Their music is nothing short of an exorcism, dressed in long, mostly slow songs. With elements from doom, sludge, (post-) hardcore and black metal, songs like the title track or 'The Darkest Clan' will get you down on your knees in no time, perhaps even locked-up in an isolation booth in some dark gray madhouse. 

My personal favorite is 'Bombing The Witches', a grinding depressive black metal resembling piece of music. However, that sure is a tough decision to make because the songs are rather similar to each other. That sound is actually a decent representation of the state of our society, which is equally bleak and disturbed as the awesome track 'Black Hole Scum'. The horror seems endless, the punishment seems eternal and Phantom Winter perfectly illustrates that with a massive heap of distressed noise.

So yeah, you need this album. Even if you're not a fan of this stuff. Everyone needs at least one album which you can play loud while banging against the walls in complete and utter frustration and anger. Everyone needs that one album that helps him get rid of all the negative energy, where he can scream along with the sick and twisted vocals. Well, this is that album and I suggest you get your hands on it as soon as possible.


Serge

doom / sludge / psychedelic

Do you ever start listening to an album and think "yeah, this is great, now please don't ruin it" and they actually don't? With each new track, you think "please don't disappoint me" and the album just gets better and better? Well, that's exactly what I have been experiencing since I first allowed this gem to penetrate my brain through my eardrums. I remember it quite well. I was doing the dishes, again, when this thing started playing and was immediately awed. Yet, a little voice inside of me said "watch out, they might do something horrible and smash your enthusiasm". That little voice is dead now...

​Mammoth Weed Wizard Bastard is a band from Wales, and although the band name might sound a bit odd and weird, they're all business. Their debut was released only nine months ago but they already return with this masterpiece. The album is produced by Chris Fielding of Conan, which should not be a surprise. Led-heavy riffs and punishing drums clearly blasts this band into the world of doom and sludge metal. However, there is something unique in their approach, something they call 'Shamanendoom'. Their secret? Two surprising and brilliant elements.

The first one comes early in the album, in the form of the beautiful and dreamy vocals of Jessica Ball. Through her participation this act sounds like the lovechild of Conan and Cocteau Twins. Yes, doom meets dream pop, "dream doom" so to speak. She turns excellent and pretty catchy doom songs like 'Valmasque' & 'Testudo' into epic pieces of music. That's also what I meant when I said "now, don't ruin it". I would have hated this stunning beauty to be ruined by sludge screams of death growls.

The second surprising element is the fact that every single member in the band seems to play synths, next to their original instrument. Now, you might think, "yeah, synths, we heard that before" but they come in different forms. 'Testodu' feels like the doom version of Tangerine Dream while 'Osirian' is an immersive piece of industrialized drone doom. Something like that. These synths add a lot of psychedelic energy to the music, something I found rather irresistible.

In all, this album is a gem, one that every fan of slow, dreamy music should have in his possession.  I can't wait for these Welshmen and -woman to crossover to the ancient mainland and conquer our venues. It shouldn't surprise you that this album comes extremely recommended.


​Serge

black metal

Blackened death metal from Bangladesh, that's something you don't hear every day. Orobas was formed in 2015, heavily inspired by bands like Venom, Mayhem, Beherit and Behemoth. Their music follows a similar path, an eerie intro, followed by primitive and harsh black metal. Yet, it isn't all blast-beats and thrash metal inspired chaos. The songs are quite varied and show some seasoned musicians. There's enough brute power and energy to please every fan of old school metal, whether that is thrash, death or black. Old school, like in the days those tags didn't really exist yet. You just smashed the play button and started headbanging. This ep is a good way to relive that era and it contains some nice surprises!

doom / sludge

The sludge scene is evolving, that's for sure. Take this UK-based combo Kurokuma and their newest ep for example. At first listen, you're engulfed in sludged-out riffs and a tar-thick pool of fuzz, distortion and brutal vocals. However, gradually the whole thing gets a psychedelic edge with hypnotic drones and soundscapes. Noise rock seems to be another thing these guys have been listening to, and there's even a djembe-driven passage. My advice, listen, listen again, and again because the true value of this ep slowly appears, mainly in the Conan meets (old) Sepultura song 'Dark Triad'. If you like intense and heavy, you'll want to marry this ep...

symphonic metal / progressive metal / death metal

I'm not very fond of this album, but that's mainly because I'm not a fan of soprano fronted symphonic metal. However, I do want to recommend this debut to people who are fans of this genre because it's got some refreshing elements, excellent use of electronics and mesmerizing guitar passages. It's a debut, one which contains a few potential fan favorites, including the hypnotic 'Kaleidoscope' and the haunting 'Social War'. Besides, the album teems with variation, surprising hooks and complex song structures. There is talent here, talent that quite possibly will climb the big stages at a metal festival near you...

death metal

Blood Harvest

If you thought all Canadians are friendly, nice, well-behaved people, you should listen to this obscure tape. Brutal, aggressive and primitive death metal, accompagnied with deep, guttural growls and sharp guitar solos will blast you right out of any prejudice you can have against Canadians. If you're a fan of old school death metal, this definitely is your thing. I mean, it's a tape, it's brutal as fuck and it's guaranteed to drag you down into a cesspool of misanthropy, misery and terror, what else can you possibly want as a seasoned death metal adept, right? 

death metal

More fierce and gut ripping old school death metal which guarantees to slice your throat if you try to resist. Chugun is a female fronted death metal from Israel who make a shitload of noise with hyperspeed riffs, pounding drums and insanely sick vocals. The overall nature of this album is extremely violent, massively inspired by thrash metal acts like Slayer as well as death metal bands like Lamb Of God, Gojira or Morbid Angel. The whole thing is over after about half an hour but by then you'll be smashed to pieces anyway. Chugun is an intensely destructive force, one I hope will tour with this material soon. This has got to be a pulverizing live experience...

doom / black metal

Unnamed musicians from somewhere in the USA, creating vast and layered blackened doom which will gnaw and grind on your very conscience, if you  still have that. In three monolithic songs, VRTRA brings dissonance and chaos to a whole new level, a level where bands like Dragged Into Sunlight and Lord Mantis also seem to roam. One step further into the abyss and we'd be dealing with harsh, blackened noise, but there is still a decent slab of musicality to be found here. I have no idea who exactly is behind this project, but I'm quite sure that they are experienced musicians in the world of sludge, doom and black metal, ànd that wish to devour your soul...

death metal

It's death metal galore at this edition of "brieviews", continuing the path of utter destruction with French progressive death metal act Dysylumn. With elements from black, death and doom metal, this act comes up with some highly immersive pieces of music, progressive but not too complex and pretty much always perfectly suited to bang your head. The songs are well varied, melodic and paint an excellent musical scenery without harming the overall aggression and brutality that comes with this genre. This ep is the forerunner for something new, coming pretty soon. I for one am looking forward to that...

thrash / death metal

Hailing from Finland, and completely stuck into the nineties come My Funeral and their 'Harder Than This Life' album. With this album, this quartet will fill the moshpits with crowdsurfers and stagedivers, causing an orgy of limbs and hair. Think Exodus, think Sodom, think Exploited, think Tankard, think Suicidal Tendencies. Or better yet, don't think at all, just mosh and thrash to awesome tunes like 'Future Violence' and 'And More Violence'. Did I already say that this was a pretty violent piece of work? Well, it is and you should own this if you're a true thrash metal. There I said it, now go ahead and buy this thing. Thrash metal hasn't been this edgy in years...

industrial / death metal

Arachnophobia Records

What would happen if Suicide Commando (or Hocico or Combichrist for that matter) crawled into the studio with Nasum or Cannibal Corpse? Well, this album might provide you with an idea of how that would sound: bloody brilliant, that's how. This thing combines brutal death metal and grindcore with heaps of electronics, sequencers and a load of samples. The result is a mesmerizing journey of relentless brutality, a death metal version of Limbonic Art perhaps. Qip is a side project from Sirrah co-founder Maciej Pasinski, and I hope he'll get a band together and take this stuff on the road. This album is way too good to be ignored, so check it out, it's an extreme metal masterpiece...

sludge

We'll end this edition of "brieviews" with a good slab of sleazy, faul and grimy sludge metal from Melbourne, Australia based trio She Beast (and a firm pair of butt cheeks for your visual delight). There's nothing fancy, pretty or complicated on this album. Instead, it's simply a gigantic steamroller, driving in through your ears and bursting out through your anus about twenty five minutes later. All you can do is undergo the whole thing, try to enjoy it and press the play button again. If you're into primitive but effective sludge doom, this surely is your thing. If not, there's still the oddly fascinating cover photo to look at. Me? I really need a smoke now...

sludge

A free three-track ep from Canadian sludge deities Dopethrone, which, by the way, is completely free to download if you wish. So why write a review about it? After all, every Dopethrone fan should know about this ep already, and most of them should already have it in their digital collection, no? Well, like I said, "should". I know that there are some lazy stoners out there that haven't checked out the crushing 'Shot Down', the grinding 'Drifter' (my favorite) and the pulverizing closer 'Skag Reek' yet. Maybe because it's monday morning and they still need to get the weekend out of their systems. Good new, this ep can help you with that by knocking you out cold...

black metal

The Scandinavian countries have always been the place to be for decent black metal and Swedish trio Astrophobos are here to prove that. Since their inception in 2009, they've released an ep and a full-length, now followed by this triumphant four-track. These songs resemble some of the all time greats, including Satyricon, Dissection, Immortal and so on and comes with an excellent production, solid enough to blast the wax out of your ears. My favorite track is the epic 'The Cadaver Monarch', a massive piece of (mainly) slow, grinding black metal in the vein of some of the best Dimmu Borgir songs. This ep certainly is a must-have for ever self-respecting black metal adept, that's for sure... 

crust / post-metal / sludge

In a faraway future, when our civilization is left in unrecognizable ruins, a number of new people will form tribes and start all this madness all over again. London, UK based supergroup Morrow created the soundtrack for this post-apocalyptic world, and what a massive beast that album has become. Crust, post-metal and sludge with violins and cellos accompanying the more traditional instrumentation, intense, heavy and  often straight-in-your-face music that is quite hard to categorize. The band is huge, featuring a massive number of guest vocalists and narrators speaking or screaming in different languages. This certainly is a strange but highly immersive experience.

sludge / noise rock

Ready to be hypnotized by repetitive, almost ritual, sludge doom? Well, than the first part of this burdensome split is something for you. Black Tar Prophet for Nashville, TN, specializes in thick, harsh sludge with samples instead of vocals and the result is mesmerizing and immersive. It could very well be the soundtrack for a David Lynch movie about Dante's 'La Divina Commedia', or something. Iron Gavel basically follows a similar pattern with harsh guitar riffs and pummeling drums but seem to throw a thick sauce of noise rock over the whole thing. In any case, this split comes highly recommend to anyone who wants to scare the shit out of people...

death metal

Headbanging time! Drop whatever you're doing, play this one loud and bang the day away. This band from Montenegro, featuring members from Abhoth, comes up with bloody delicious thrash induced death metal. Slayer meets Obituary and Testaments meets Dismember, which obviously means fingerlicking riffs, a fierce tempo and deep guttural growls. However, it might be interesting to notice that these guys never let brutality get in the way of musicality, which is a massive plus in my book. The level of variation is high, the mid-tempo parts are immersive as hell and 'Demigods' is a world class death metal track. This album certainly is a highlight in 2016's death metal scene.

death metal

This strictly limited 7" (250 copies) is meant to be an appetizer for the upcoming debut of American trio Impure Consecration. I'm not sure when the full-length will be released but if you're a fan of old school death metal, you might start preparing to feast on the corpses of your enemies. The two songs on this single are primitive, harsh and unforgiving pieces of death metal, quite similar to some of the oldest works by Morbid Angel, Sepultura or Vital Remains.'Apparitions of a Malevolent Spirit' for example, completely reeks of the early eighties when extreme metal started to take form with its growling voice, it's chaotic riffing and it's nutsack piercing drums. Try it, it's good for you....

black metal / death metal

I have no idea where Blood Harvest keeps finding these ancient school bands. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a time portal to the early eighties in their office. Take this Supremative ep for example, an intro with gregorian chants, followed by chaotic and psychotic noise, moshing on the thin line between black and death metal. The tempo is murderous, but so seem to be the intentions of this whole thing. This Spanish act blasts and grinds its way through your eardrums, right into wherever your soul is situated. I'd recommend this thing to all the old schoolers out there. Maybe to the new death metal kids too, hoping this music will devour and destroy them completely...

punk / metal

One is a metal band, the other a collective of punks. Both play heavy music, preferably loud. Both have recorded one brand new song and a cover of the other band. But the whole thing kicks off with a song they wrote and recorded together. That song, called 'Imitators' is an intense piece of punk-metal, guaranteed to start a moshpit or at least a decent headbanging session. The whole thing feels a little Exploited-like, you know, thrash metal meets punk. Other bands that often come to mind include Overkill, Anthrax and The Unseen. This really is a fun crossover ep by two of Essex' loudest bands, exceptionally suited for those who long for the good old days of both genres...

noise rock

Dissonant music doesn't always have to be metal. Take this impressive six-track split for example. Opening with a brilliant piece of noise-rock in 'Something Better', American trio Buildings comes up with one of the best things in the genre I've heard this year. The other two tracks are just as much dissonant delight, bringing everything from Unsane over Godflesh to The Jesus Lizard to mind. Fellow countrymen Volunteer add a few hints of sludge to the whole noise-rock sound, perfectly completing this already stunning split. This is something for fans of Vandal X, Today Is The Day and Neurosis, maybe, probably. I don't know. This is noise-rock perfection...

metalcore / metal

Although metalcore usually isn't my thing, I do feel some sympathy for these youngsters from "De Kempen", a geographic region in Belgium, claimed to be "silent". Well, nothing is silent on this debut ep, on the very contrary. With their mix of fast hardcore, melodic metalcore and metallic extremes these guys are preparing for the bigger stages. This is pure aggression, dressed in something that seems to be influenced by everything between Alexisonfire, Parkway Drive, Trivium and Gojira. There are some brilliant passages, plenty of variation and sheer power, everything a good metalcore band needs. So yes, this is highly promising. We'll hear a lot more from these guys in the near future...

doom / sludge

Goddammit, the longer the year lasts, the better the albums seem to become. Then again, what would you expect from a band like Slomatics, anything less than a perfect sludge doom album? I don't think so. My expectations for this album have been as high as Snoop Dog on a Sunday afternoon. Since I experienced these guys live, I've been a fan of their work, even more so than bands like Conan or even Yob. And after listening to 'Future Echo Returns', my fanboyism for Slomatics only grows.

The album opens with the instrumental 'Estronomicon', immediately showing what Slomatics stand for: thick, fuzzed-out guitars. This track builds a massive wall-of-sound, but also gradually shows the psychedelic influences, as if Yob meets Ozric Tentacles, or something like that. From then on, it's smooth sailing on tar-thick waves of downtuned guitar licks and hypnotic drums, here and there accompanied by epic vocals. 'Electric Breath', the second track on this album is one of my absolute favorites. I'm sure this will give of lot of stoner doomers an orgasm, so will 'Rat Chariot', a song that will make your foreskin vibrate.

'In The Grip of Fausto' and 'Supernotrhing' are brilliant songs, harsh, relentless and completely pulverising but an entire album of these monsters might get stale and one-sided. Too often, bands in this genre tend to drown in their own drones and noise and completely forget to add a bit of variation to the whole thing. With Slomatics, it's different. They add tracks like 'Ritual Beginnings' which every single post-rock fan out there will appreciate. Hell, when the drums come in, the whole things gets a nice, jazzy feel before the whole thing bursts-out in a stunning post-whatever anthem.

Closer 'Into The Eternal' is an epic piece of work, initially reminding me of the gothic doom scene of the nineties and later on coming up with another delightful wall-of-noise to float on. On the other hand, it also feels like a doom metal track from the nineties, along with some nostalgic Type O Negative elements. You'll get it when you listen to the song. And you should listen, you should get this album, play it as loud as possible and watch the cracks in your walls grow bigger and bigger. Of course this album comes highly recommended...


​Serge

Intro: Not long ago, we published a massive amount of brieviews without giving a damn about genre restrictions. As you may already know, everything is welcome on Merchants Of Air and we do our very best to recommend some awesome stuff. That set of brieviews gained us a lot of positive reactions, more than enough to continue that tradition. So today I'd like to present another heap of brieview, ranging from all kinds of metal to classical music but also some dance floor fillers and straight in-your-face rock 'n roll. Enjoy...

rock / hard rock

Named after a street gang in the movie 'The Warriors (1979)', Spanish four-piece Lizzies come up with some good old fashioned rock 'n roll. These women have borrowed to in-your-face attitude of acts like The Ramones and combine it with vintage hard rock and heavy metal. The result is a heavy rocking album with strong songs, at times reminding me of early Iron Maiden or Judas Priest. The whole thing seems to go back to the early eighties, when metal was still in its childhood. My favorite track is the fierce 'Speed On The Road' but pretty much every song on this debut can easily get a party started. I hope we'll be hearing a lot from these ladies in the near future.

atmospheric black metal

Well, the album cover and the title pretty much say all you need to know about this two-track ep by German act Skognatt. This is a cold and harsh but highly atmospheric piece of depressive black metal, loaded with keyboard arrangements and folk elements. Both songs are slow and come with a decent amount of variation. Here and there I'm reminded of acts like Dimmu Borgir, Vinterriket, Summoning and Nortt, and even Samael comes to mind once in awhile. The lack of blast beats doesn't make these tracks any less intense. On the contrary, this is utter despair, bleakness and suicidal depression at its best. I know, that doesn't sound very positive, but then again, a black metal album is never supposed to sound positive.

hard rock / southern rock / stoner rock / grunge

Hailing from the deepest ranches of southern Finland, the rockers of Rattleplague come up with a pretty nasty ep. They blend southern rock with grunge and heavy party rock 'n roll, resulting in a drunken orgy of riffs, drums and harsh, mean vocals. The songs remind me of something between Alice In Chains, Motorhead and White Zombie, which obviously means "party time". Besides, for some reason I think Slayer has been on of Rattleplagues influences, but I could be wrong about that. Anyway, 'Drain' is a brilliant song,  'Parasite Brothel' drags Kuyss into the world of metal and 'Hollywood Diabolical' is what happens when Max Cavalera would join Motley Crue. You WILL party!!!

death metal

Whoever claims that Canadians are too nice, should listen to this murderous gem by technical specialists The Apex. With brutal yet technical death metal, incorporating elements from mathcore, this three track is a massive assault on your mental health. Bits of Meshuggah, flashes of Dillinger Escape Plan and hints of Fear Factory drag you down into a dark hole where they beat you senseless with unexpected hooks, skullgrinding riffs and whatnot. According to the biography, the vocalist suffers from a form of Neurogenic Stammering, which effects his speech so he's unable to carry on a normal conversation, but he can growl and scream like the best metal vocalist out there.

black metal

From one of the most dissonant and eerie quarters of the black metal scene, comes the new ep by Polish avant-garde act Misanthropic Rage. One massive, seventeen minutes lasting epos and two deranged and brutal piece of extreme metal, that's what you get on this little gem. The immense title track is a stunning and highly varied piece of music, one you easily lose yourself in if you're into the weird extremes. The other two aren't any less impressive by the way, and -obviously- they are excellent headbanging material. I hope this ep will be followed by a full-length and a tour in the near future because this act definitely is something today's black metal scene needs.

sludge / doom 

According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the heaviest thing to ever be weighed as of 2015 was the Revolving Service Structure of launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Well, it's 2016 now and New Haven, CT residents Sea Of Bones are up for the challenge to create something heavier. Their contribution to this split is intensely dark, atmospheric, monolithic, fuzz-out and pitch black. Their colleagues from Ramlord smash another piece of thick sonic filth in our faces, which is equally impressive. Both tracks last about ten minutes, plenty of time to roll over their listener with a repetitive steamroller. If you like heavy, you must pre-order this split now!

sludge / doom / black metal

UK residents Kalloused call their music "noise-metal" and quite frankly, I think that's right on the spot. The stuff on this ep somewhat sounds like the metal version of harsh, repetitive noise, driving on a torpid tempo and thick, skull bashing riffs. Above all of that, the vocalist screams his lungs out in perfect blackened noise tradition. There are hints of hardcore but the majority of this album is intense, heavy and immersive sludge doom which is perfectly capable of driving a select audience into a pitch black state of trance. Perhaps one day I can be one of those audience members, but for now, I'll just use this ep as the ultimate soundtrack for all my aggressive activities...

black metal

Altere Records

The more things change, the more they stay the same. That certainly counts for this haunting compilation from Belgian blackened horde Ordo Omegae Absolutae. Although quite varied and including some dark ambient elements, the music on this album is fierce and often depressive old school black metal, driven by the collected negativity of the band members. The overall atmosphere is darker than you can possibly imagine. At times the somewhat musical black metal is overruled by uncontrollable noise. On other occasions, folky passages have been interlaced with the sheer brutality of the rest of the music. This is impressive stuff which every black metal fan needs to check out.

death metal / grindcore

Greek duo Hostage Of Fate doesn't seem to care about genres. In fact, their main influences are the extreme bands from the eighties and nineties, regardless whether they're death metal, thrash metal, speed metal or hardcore. All they want to do, is make aggressive and pissed-off music and in that they certainly succeeded. This album is loaded with metallic chaos, brutal vocals, spine shattering blast beats and brainfucking riffs. Yet, the whole thing feels extremely experimental, which is quite impressive if you think about how minimalistic the music really is. It's definitely something different, different from pretty much every death metal album I've heard...

electronic / industrial

Speaking about different albums, this ep certainly is something else. No guitars, just synths, drum machines and at times the guiding voice of Sasha Andrès (from the band Heliogabale). However, that does not mean that this is a soft piece of music, on the contrary. The songs on this album come very close to eighties electronic new wave acts like Suicide, The Klinik, Neon Judgement, Scorn.... Yet, it also has a very modern edge. 'Monster5', for example, is a brilliant approach to dubstep, brilliant enough to not be actual dubstep. There's also a bit of trip-hop, some ambient and some otherworldly melodies with church organs. What else could you need? This is an awesome ep.

ambient / classical

Sometimes we all need a little break, and I have the perfect ep for that. Tambour is Simon P. Castonguay, a pianist and composer from Montreal. On this ep, he treats us to some gentle tunes of sweet and brisk modern classical music. Aided by a string quartet, his piano melodies sound melancholic yet playful, like a safe haven in a violent world. If you are into the music of people like Olafur Arnalds, Sebastian Plano or Bersarin Quartett, you should definitely check out this little gem. The somewhat jazzy 'Sleepers' is my favorite track on this ep, probably because of the beautiful sound of the clarinet. 'Valse N.1' also brings a nostalgic smile to my face. Beautiful stuff...

electro / industrial

Time to get your dancing shoes and join me on the dark dance floor where French act Haxis invites us to shake our butts to his highly enjoyable fusion of synthpop and industrial. The songs on this ep drive on solid beats, electronic soundscapes and grinding distorted guitars. At times the whole thing sounds like Pet Shop Boys meets Die Krupps meets Daft Punk meets VNV Nation meets Project Pitchfork. The amount of energy coming off tracks like 'City Lights' ,'Glide' or 'Just Mad' is astounding and it's almost impossible to sit still on this stuff. I think I'm going to keep an eye on this act because I feel like this unique blend has a lot of potential to grow into something massive...

techno

Techno isn't something we usually write about on Merchants Of Air, but this ep is a smasher. Ok, I admit, I was already interested when I read that it will be released on Speedy J's label, someone who's musical evolution saved the face of dance music for me. But I must say, opening track 'Reign Of Terror' is a brilliant blend of atmospheric techno , psytrance and eerie acid while other tracks remind me of acts like Self-transforming Machine Elves, Xingu Hill and Unit Moebius. Yeah, I might not know that much about techno, but I do know what I like and this, this I do like, even though things can get a bit too repetitive for me at times. The ep closes with the great break-beat track 'Breaking Visions', my favorite I think

post rock / ambient

This American one-man act has a name that describes the songs on this album quite well. Mostly driving on programmed, electronic drums, these cinematic (mostly) instrumental songs gently fill the room. I can hear influences from ambient, from post-rock and from classical music. If you use your imagination, you can indeed see the programmed angels dancing in slow motion while you're drifting through the clouds on a warm night. I know, that  might sound a bit too poetic but this simply is a beautiful album, blending Boards Of Canada with Explosions In The Sky and Plaid with Godspeed You Black Emperor. As often, I'd like to see this live one day, but for now, I'll just enjoy these delightful tunes a few times more...

electronic / alternative dance

Of course this is Belgian, the land of Vive La Fête, Nid & Sancy, Praga Khan, Lords Of Acid, Front 242...Rumours are a band from Ghent, armed with a bunch of electronics and a massive knowledge about electronic dance music. The majority of this album is dance floor filling techno with a gritty, raunchy edge, perfectly suited for fans of The Knife or Liars. However, this acts throws in some cinematic elements as well as some blasts of chaotic industrial. You know, Atari Teenage Riot meets Björk or Zola Jesus meets Ambassador21, something like that. Oh well, just close your eyes and let the beats pummel you into a coma. I know I will...