QUICK HIT: Bionic Cavemen - "Reactor"

Late in 2013 I had stumbled across an up and coming band and their initial release, "Predator", naming it my Number 9 favorite album of 2013. The 4 gentlemen from Chicago are back with their latest release, an eleven track LP that blisters and burns with savage blues rock fury. The hallmark of stoner/retro/blues rock music is, of course, the massive, gargantuan guitars, amplified to sun blocking heights, and Bionic Cavemen have emphatically perfected this aspect of their music, although thankfully not at the expense of their wonderful lead vocalist whose ragged, raging vocals are an aural injection of sheer pleasure. Add to the mammoth sound and spine-chilling vocals are an opus of songs that are immediately engaging with an additional genius of structure and design. This is no mean feat when combined with a sound that is typically simple and powerfully primal, which "Reactor" is upon first listen. But, even at first listen you hear 'more', the kind of 'more' that will keep you spinning it as much for the mind-numbing riffs as for the admiration and enjoyment of high craft embedded throughout, just waiting for discovery.

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LP Review: Let It Burn by REZN

Now this is just what we needed! It's been a pretty slow start to the beginning of 2017 for us guys at HP, we needed a bit of a wake up call to get our arses into gear, and it turns out that an almighty heavy slab of cosmic doom will do just the trick! Enter Chicago's REZN.

Coming across like a psychedelic Electric Wizard, REZN are making a huge noise on their debut full-length record; the guitars are tuned to their fuzzy maximum while the drums echo from the gut and the vocals drone into a tripped out phenomena. Opening track 'Relax' doesn't fuck about, and begins to pummel your senses from the start with its chugging stoner/doom riffs creating a wall of sound that will crush weaker individuals. Everything about REZN's sound is massive, the drum kit must need replacing after each set the way Patrick Dunn pounds away, but then at the flick of a switch they create delicate tripped out moments of hazy clarity, before you fall out of the sky and hit the ground with the massive riffs.

'Wake' creeps along like a Black Sabbath song that was dropped for being a bit too heavy, with lots of trippy vocals and bass lines that'll make you not even need those drugs to reach your astral plain of consciousness. But even in their quieter moments they can't stop themselves from being heavy as hell as the riffs and cymbals come crashing down once again. 'Dread' is the calm amongst the ongoing storm, a short instrumental moment of reflection on the havoc that has been caused so far. 'Rezurrection' comes across with elements of a Far Eastern space trip, standing the hairs on your neck on high as the band take you under their spell.

Let It Burn is an hour's worth of extraordinarily heavy cosmic doom that dips its toes into a lot of stoner and psychedelic elements with spectacular results. It crushes your soul, and that's all we can really ask for.

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New Band To Burn One To - Phase Order

“Three dudes who like fuzzed out riffs” . That’s the extent of the bio that we’ve got on these guys (except that they’re from Chicago), but what else do you really need to know about a band when their music is all that counts, and luckily for these guys, their sound is awesome drawn out fuzz riffs over a charging stoner stomp background, that’s as rough and ready as you’d want from a demo, and it’s everything you’d crave from the dark, damp corners of a seedy bar with the lights turned down low, and the gritty riffs downtuned even lower.

The trio (Mike- Bass, Tony – Drums & Vocals, Lev – Guitar) mix drawn out instrumentals (‘Offering’ & ‘Red Flux’) with punk rock stoner excellence (‘Goathouse’) to an impressive ability. Watch out for these guys in the future, and burn a fat one while you can!

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Video Premiere: Pale Horseman-"Conquistador"

Today we premiere the new video "Conquistador" from Chicago's sludge stalwart Pale Horseman. The song is from their highly-acclaimed second album "Mourn The Black Lotus".

The band continues to pummel audiences with their downtrodden heaviness and brutal industrial aura and has currently entered the studio to record their yet to be titled third installment to be released sometime in the fall of 2015. 

The album will consist of 5 songs running 45 minutes and will be the band's first release on vinyl.

Now in all it's ear-deafening apocalyptic glory, we give to you "Conquistador".

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Sunday Sludge: Indian - "From All Purity"

The most wonderful time of year just took a shit on our carpet. I'm not gonna waste anyone's time with an anecdote or a lead-in or some hazy bullshit diatribe. Your uncle's gonna be here in about three days, drunk, newly divorced, and ready to jizz off some stupid jokes. I won't smile as I share my thoughts on Indian's fifth full-length. But let's be honest; it's not out of courtesy. I'm simply too fucking battered after sitting with this release for forty minutes. My face hurts.

Indian have spent a decade slowly snuffing out listeners utilizing an incendiary, spiteful cocktail of misanthropic sludge, primitive doom, and an agonizing blackness that'll sink your hope-filled chest. From All Purity descends into depravity immediately and completely, six torturous tracks clouded with hatred and hardly caring to wonder if you're gonna be okay. 2011's Guiltless etched Indian into the ranks of the doom elite. January's From All Purity demonstrates their commitment to the cause.

The aptly-titled Rape is slow-motion sonic assault, splicing dull ache with sharp pain. But from the onset, the abrasions are what stand out. Screeching licks and organ-shredding vocals arrive with blatant malice, the rhythmic patience of slow dirge acting as a structural bonus. Timing and execution is a clinic here, precise and testifying to a band knowing exactly where to funnel their punishment. Under tapestries of shrill noise and weathered doom, Indian make no haste violating your frame at every level.

As you realize you won't be clubbed out of your misery, the shrouded chops of The Impetus Bleeds are just another extension of the distant, cavernous anguish. With the pulse of a murder factory, there's no catharsis accompanying this repetition. Indian slug at consciousness without allowing for numbness, just drawn-and-quartered brutality. Eternally evident is the stomp of sludge, punctuated by the piercing noise. As the album hits its stagger, Directional steadily sprays violent dust, buzzing with the descent of doom and drawn-out churns. A grindhouse aura of permeated spite greets slow-burning rhythms, guiding us as marked sheep.

Rhetoric of No is relatively amped, splitting sludge with a deceptive vocal vulnerability among sludge-doom riff mangling. Guitar embers brighten, revealing a heaving presence, squealing ans scratching at hope. The track is as untameable as it is undeniable, and we're being slowly buried. As tailing technology drains all sense on Clarify, an unsettling intermission breathes only shrill disturbances, scoffing at all things synthetic.

As this crusher sways to a close, gazing through dead, lifeless eyes, the metered and calculated devastation stays set on its target. A strange solemnity finally punches through after poking holes throughout the album. Plates shift and Indian's swarming sound envelopes all. Guitars buzz like hornets and double-kicks wrangle our ankles toward a death-drubbing. Atop your dying breath rests a cloud of despair, mocking your uncertainty.

If you've made it this far and struggled through all these descriptors, maybe you've found the digressions far more painful than you'll find Indian's breed of doom-drenched noise. The jagged glass that's been stomped into your cavities is just a whisper of what Indian offer with From All Purity. This is a band wringing their dirty hands and tossing bricks, but they're hardly aimless. These six tracks hit the spite-nail straight on the head, driven directly into your senses. I didn't think anyone could improve upon Guiltless. Somehow, these dudes have even less remorse than they did years three years ago.

For fans of: Minsk, Electric Wizard, Wolves In The Throne Room
Pair with: Accumulation White IPA, New Belgium Brewing

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Review of Blackfinger's Self Titled Debut

"Hey there, it's me" sings Eric Wagner on the opening track to Blackfinger's debut, and this proclamation is most welcome to fans of Doom. Since his days leading Windy City doomsters, Trouble, Eric's voice has long been one of the most unique and interesting- not just within the subgenre, but in heavy music in general. And as fans sadly know, that voice has been awfully quiet on wax these days. Since Eric's last appeareance on a proper album in 2007, he's only toured a bit with The Skull, we've had to make do with our old copies of Run to the Light, or whatever your favorite album was.

But with the upcoming release of this self titled debut, you can give those classics a rest. And you won't be doing those early Trouble albums a disservice, because this album stands toe to toe with those beloved classics.

And while the term Doom keeps being tossed around, because of Trouble, and because of the album's mood, this isn't a straight-a-head Doom record. There are heavy moments, for sure, but if you ONLY want layers and layers of brain numbing dirges look elsewhere. There are light moments of texture on this album that accent the mood and allow the power chords to rest. Just listen to the Autumnal vibes on "For One More Day" to see what I mean. This tune is influenced as much by Wish You Were Here era Pink Floyd as the mighty Sabbath.

Lyrically, Eric Wagner hasn't lost a beat, singing and pondering the highs and lows of the human condition. Each new listen lends a new interpretation to the words. I'm sure after a few more listens I can make a case for this being a concept album, and I pray that the album comes with a copy of the lyrics.

The powers that be are understandably playing this release pretty close to the vest, so you'll have to whet your appetite with this promo for "All the Leaves Are Brown". It's a grungey rocker that should do more than enough to pique your interest. Enjoy. And remember this one this time next year, when those best of year lists roll around again. Blackfinger will be near my top. A bold proclamation, sure, but once you listen to the album you'll agree.

The album comes out mid January 2014 on The Church Within Records.

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Album Review- The Distortion Field by Trouble

The last couple months have been pretty good for fans of Doom metal. The mighty Sabbath released an excellent comeback album, Cathedral offered up their brilliant swansong, and now Trouble have put out their first album in four years.

A lot has changed since the band's last studio release, 2007's Simple Mind Condition. Original vocalist Eric Wagner is out, again, and new vocalist, Kyle Thomas of Exhorder, is in. For purists this is sacrilege, but for some folks (I know a few), it is a blessing. Wagner's vocal stylings take some time to get used to, and in Thomas Trouble has found a powerful vocalist minus the quirks of Wagner. Both vocalists are great, but the Thomas approach is more accessible.

And the riffs? They speak for themselves. The album is full of heavy grooves and chiseled leads, just what you'd expect from these legends. Solos abound as well, with each tracking boasting an impressive highlight of the guitar skills of Rick Wartell and Bruce Franklin. There are some surprises on this album, Have I Told You is a grungy ballad that might alienate Doom fans who refuse to acknowledge Changes as a Sabbath tune, but including a song like this on the album shows the band is willing to take chances, not content to keep the wheel they invented spinning in the same direction. But, lest you fear that Trouble have branched out too far beyond the genre they nurtured, just listen to the video included below. They can still rock heavy.

The band sounds reinvigorated on this album, and fans of traditional Doom will rejoice, but not for too long, 'cause they're Doom fans.

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EP Review: The End by Mount Salem

     Mount Salem is a doom/occult outfit from The Windy City. They recently released their debut album. I've listened to said album and it is good. Here's a break down of the album, with my usual track by track descritpions.

     Good Times starts with a spoken word sample of Charles Manson rambling on about the push pull of modern life before he's trampled by a Golem of heavy doom. The song walks tall, an organ lurking in its shadow, and the attack is heralded by the vocal power of Emily Kopplin. Lucid  is Heart's Magic Man if Ann Wilson was singing her love song to the devil. Full Moon starts with mellow guitaring and conjures a coven gently swaying before a wicker man aflame. But three minutes in  the whole thing topples down and the intensity picks up, Cody Davidson's drums call forth the heavy riffs and the banshee vocals take it from there. Mescaline is an instrumental with shimmering guitars, yearning organ, and perfectly placed explosions of the heavy we all hold so dear.The album ends with The End a tune that starts with the organ up front before the keys are joined by gee-tar strings and the two dance madly while the drums and bass do what they can to keep 'em in line.

     By the end of this album you can tell the band really means it. Their album does not lack heart and blackened soul. There will be Blood Ceremony comparisons. But Mount Salem swapped the fluting of their Canadian peers for a a heavy doom sound befitting the city of big shoulders, hog butcher for the world. They're touring now. Show 'em some love live or online.

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New Band To Burn One To (Morning Buzz): THE MEDIUMS

THE MEDIUMS are today's NEW BAND TO BURN ONE TO"  Morning Buzz...

Bio:

We are The Mediums . . a heavy-psych-rock band from Chicago, IL.

We formed in 2008 out of the ashes of The Dirty Green, The Peelers, and The Hodads . . .
Upon our first session we decided to follow our ears to the first music that informed our
sensibilities . . late 60's to mid to late 70's hard rock/punk/proto-metal/and heavy blues damage . . .

"Every now and then a band comes along that you just can't get out of your head. That band right now is The Mediums. This band from Chicago, IL will have your ass moving in no time. The music is fuzzy, gritty and overtly psychedelic. The bluesy vocals groan amongst a wallowing bass line and a firey groove while infusing a refreshing raw and energetic passion."

Pickup your very own copy of "Shiny Void Blues" only available on LP (comes with an MP3 download card) at these fine locations.

USA:

Saki Records
3716 W. Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL. 60647
773.486.3997
sun-mon 12-7 / tue-sat 12-8
info@sakistore.net

In Europe:

http://www.juno.co.uk/products/shiny-void-blues/426131-01/
http://www.clearspot.nl/item/356972/mediums_shiny_void_blues.html
http://www.shinybeast.nl/item/356972/mediums_shiny_void_blues.html

In Japan:

http://www.flakerecords.com/rcminfo.php?CODE=15247

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New Band To Burn One To-Flatbed Orange

The "New Band To Burn One To" is Flatbed Orange.



Flatbed Orange formed in Chicago in early 2008 without concern for specified genres or assigned modes of song writing. With organic guitar driven hooks, head nodding rhythms and soulful no frills vocals, the band hopes to break down the barriers of current conventional rock music and add to the buzz already created by the energetic shows it has played in some of Chicago's most well known bars and clubs.

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Halloween Gets Heavy at the Hideout

Celebrate Halloween with Grief, Indian, Rabid Rabbit, Bloodiest, and DJ Kevin Dumm at Chicago`s Hideout. The show will also serve as Rabit Rabbit`s CD release show.

Local doom warriors Rabid Rabbit formed as a two piece instrument of terror between husband and wife Mike T and Andrea J after the break up of their previous bands (Frontier, The Dishes/Drapes, Camaro Rouge). The two soon found the music growing and gaining momentum and enlisted Dallas transplant Gregg Prickett and his buzz saw guitar antics. Soon after, Arman Mabry (Hamiks, Galactic Inmate) joined on second bass. Rabid Rabbit was spawned.


Giving nods to such influences as Jucifer, Sea of Tombs, Harvey Milk, Drunks with Guns, Sunn O))), Rabid Rabbit defies genres with woven arrangements of doom, rock, jazz, punk but always with the heavy low end of the double basses. True music fans will be pleased with subtle references, novices can just bang their heads.


For more information, visit www.hideoutchicago.com.

TROUBLE, SLOUGH FEG, BIBLE OF THE DEVIL Set For ALEHORN OF POWER III Festival

TROUBLE, SLOUGH FEG and BIBLE OF THE DEVIL are among the bands that are scheduled to perform at the Alehorn of Power III festival, set to take place August 9 at the Double Door in Chicago.

The festival billing is shaping up as follows:

TROUBLE
SLOUGH FEG
BIBLE OF THE DEVIL
ICARUS WITCH
PHAROAH

As previously reported, Kory Clarke of WARRIOR SOUL has joined legendary Illinois doomsters TROUBLE as the group's new frontman.

To catch an early glimpse of the new TROUBLE lineup, sign up for the TROUBLE live webcast, to be held on July 11, 2008 at www.deeprockdrive.com and see for yourself from the privacy of your own computer.