History lesson: in the 16th century Hochelaga (meaning "beaver dam" or "beaver lake") was an Iroquoian fortified village at the heart of, or in the immediate vicinity of Mount Royal in present-day Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Jacques Cartier, a French explorer, arrived by boat on October 2, 1535. He visited the village on the following day. He was greeted well by the Iroquians. Hochelaga is also the latest studio album by Canadian 'Sludgekickers' Dopethrone. The album will be unleashed upon the world on april 13. The world will never be the same afterwards...
Dopethrone was founded in 2008, in the exact same village by the way. Shortly after their invocation, this trio became one of the most popular bands in the sludge genre. Their D.I.Y.-attitude and crushing sound have been an inspiration for many bands, but it was only a matter of time before they would reemerge and take over the throne at the forefront of the stoner-culture. What Dopethrone does has indeed been done before, but the way they do it is quite stunning. Dopethrone has succeeded in making one of the most varied and 'vintage'-sounding stoner albums ever.
All the necessary ingedrients are present; filthy, fuzzy riffs, pounding drums and almost psychotic vocals. Lyrics loaded with occultism, demons, psychedelic narcotics and a thick curtain of smoke. Furthermore Dopethrone uses samples and noises to emphasise their evil and devastating sound. Of the seven songs on Hochelaga, none is inferior to the others. All of them are pretty intense pieces of sonic brutality, be it they're all downtempo tracks. So nope, I'm not going to pick a favourite one.
So yes, Hochelaga is a massive steamroller, ready to demolish the competition. Dopethrone proves why their fuzzy and highly distorted sound is about to become today's marker. It raises the bar for whoever is influenced by this and wants to start their own band. The riffs are excellent, the bass groovy and the drums skull-crushing. What else do you want as a stoner rock, doom or sludge fan? Nothing, right? So get your asses over to their facebook page and pre-order the hell out of this dark, gritty and destructive jewel...
Serge
Dopethrone was founded in 2008, in the exact same village by the way. Shortly after their invocation, this trio became one of the most popular bands in the sludge genre. Their D.I.Y.-attitude and crushing sound have been an inspiration for many bands, but it was only a matter of time before they would reemerge and take over the throne at the forefront of the stoner-culture. What Dopethrone does has indeed been done before, but the way they do it is quite stunning. Dopethrone has succeeded in making one of the most varied and 'vintage'-sounding stoner albums ever.
All the necessary ingedrients are present; filthy, fuzzy riffs, pounding drums and almost psychotic vocals. Lyrics loaded with occultism, demons, psychedelic narcotics and a thick curtain of smoke. Furthermore Dopethrone uses samples and noises to emphasise their evil and devastating sound. Of the seven songs on Hochelaga, none is inferior to the others. All of them are pretty intense pieces of sonic brutality, be it they're all downtempo tracks. So nope, I'm not going to pick a favourite one.
So yes, Hochelaga is a massive steamroller, ready to demolish the competition. Dopethrone proves why their fuzzy and highly distorted sound is about to become today's marker. It raises the bar for whoever is influenced by this and wants to start their own band. The riffs are excellent, the bass groovy and the drums skull-crushing. What else do you want as a stoner rock, doom or sludge fan? Nothing, right? So get your asses over to their facebook page and pre-order the hell out of this dark, gritty and destructive jewel...
Serge
