Mississippi Bones' Vinyl Release of Songs for the Slackers, Rejects and Rabble-Rousers on Kozmik Artifactz

Snap. Crackle. Pop. That's what comes to mind when I listen to Mississippi Bones. While my purpose here is to discuss their latest vinyl offering, Songs for the Slackers, Rejects and Rabble-Rousers as well as the digital EP The Rejects Strike Back, the elite level of musicianship shines through on all their releases. Big guitars, heartbeat altering riffs, deep, rich vocals, gargantuan drums, and massive bass are wrapped and intertwined with the unrelenting and boisterous fun of each song's lyrics. It's a style that's heavily twinged with a southern flair, distantly influenced by the deep, low tones of Black Sabbath, and deeply infused with the fun and fury of Clutch. I don't even know if any of that is intentional because the sound is certainly unique to these Ohio rockers while simultaneously paying great homage to the very best of ageless metal regardless of country or time of origin.

Mississippi Bones have been quite prolific in the underground metal scene with their juiced and jaunty jams, having released no fewer than 4 albums in the six years since this decade began. They are now part of the those stoner straw dogs, Kozmik Artifactz, who have just distributed the vinyl of
Songs for the Slackers, Rejects and Rabble-Rousers this past June.

So, for a damn good time join
                      Jackhammer Jared Collins on vociferous vocals
                      Doldrum destroying Dusty Donley on riff gittin' guitar
                      Daredevil dynamo Derik "The Moustache" Dunson on pulse pounding guitar
                      Juggernaut  Jason Rector on bubbling bodacious bass
                      Jet Engine Jason Miller on death defying drums
                      Heartthrob Heather Collins on vexing vivacious vocals

You can start with their 2015 releases:

Songs for the Slackers, Rejects and Rabble-Rousers
and
The Rejects Strike Back

and then perhaps work your way back through:

Tracks and their self-titled initial release Mississippi Bones

You are bound to have a rollicking great time anywhere you land and spin with these raunchy rocking rippers of southern stoner goodness.

bandcamp ||  facebook || label ||

Band Submission: Burn Blue Sky-Heavy Rock From Akron, Ohio

Band Name: Burn Blue Sky
Genre: Heavy Rock
Location: Akron Ohio
Brief Bio/Description:
Burn Blue Sky is set to release their new EP on MAY 13TH 2016 through iTunes, Amazon, and CDBABY. “Godzimoth” is the third release from the northeast Ohio metal quintet, who have been performing and recording nationally since 2000.

Recorded at Tangerine Studios in Akron, Ohio, “Godzimoth” is the first BBS recording to feature vocalist/frontman Jeff Fahl as a full-time member of BBS. The EP comes off the heels of the band’s second album, “Celebrate the Decline,” which garnered praise from various publications, including Heavy Planet, DangerDog Music Reviews, Metal Bite, and others.

Burn Blue Sky cites the likes of Pantera, Crowbar, Dax Riggs, Black Sabbath as influences, but the band is firmly seeded by blues and southern rock roots as well. The massive wall of sound and sheer weight of the de-tuned guitar riffs puts BBS in lock-step with both current and past masters of metal.

Band Members:
Jeff Fahl (Vocals)
Jason Stone (Guitar)
Mike Carlton (Guitar)
Beau McGranahan (Drums)
Gabe McGranahan (Bass).
Links:  Website | Facebook | Twitter

Band Submission: Red Tape Revolution-Stoner Sludge Metal From Akron, Ohio

Band Name: Red Tape Revolution
Genre: Stoner Metal / Sludge Metal
Location: Akron, Ohio
Brief Bio/Description: The struggle of the proletariat is as real now as it ever has been. Long has the system successfully crushed the will of the people. Wealth is hoarded by the ruling class over people who have been overworked and coaxed into obedience by the world's major religions. Through the writings of great thinkers such as Karl Marx, Mikhail Bakunin, Emma Goldman, Noam Chomsky, Martin Luther King, Jr., George Orwell, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and Christopher Hitchens, one can begin to see through the red tape layered over the system built to oppress its people.

Aside from direct action, in no way has the proletariat expressed its anger and frustration and come together more effectively as it has through music. In 2015 our musical protest began when guitarist/vocalist Tommy Pillitiere and guitarist/vocalist Chris Hatfield began to write music for a project that was to be inspired by the many influences that had drawn them to music from early ages. From the revolutionary anti-establishment blues based rock of the 60s/70s to The Decline by NOFX to War Pigs by Black Sabbath to Propagandhi's Potemkin City Limits, the inspirations came fast and varied. Soon, the addition of long time friend and bassist Bobby Holmes, Pillitiere's former bandmate drummer Bill McClellan, and the voice of singer Bob Rivers the pieces were in place for what has become the project that was imagined from its inception.

With all members contributing to the music and lyrics, the band has become its own representation of true democracy. Music for the people and by the people. The DIY mentality of Punk. The straight forwardness of Hardcore. The mind expanding landscapes of 60s Psychedelia. The hammer strike of the heaviest Doom Metal. We are the movement. This is our creed.

It is with this in mind we bring forth this manifesto.

The Manifesto of the Red Tape Revolution.

Band Members:
Bill McClellan - Drums
Bobby Holmes - Bass
Bob Rivers - Vocals
Chris Hatfield - Guitar
Tommy Pillitiere - Guitar
Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Sunday Smoke:Doctor Smoke-"The Witching Hour"

I've grown into this, you could say. When I took this gig, it was all sandy descriptors, Sabbath nods, riff worship, and clouds of smoke that should've gotten me evicted. The journey's been littered with thorns, the expanded consciousness clouded by genre tags and limitations I've placed upon myself. Fuck. Tonight my wife tried dissecting my anxiety. She's no mental health professional, but she's also no stranger to my perks. These limitations, these rules... they're all self-imposed. They're all also quite fucking meaningless. You may have noticed these Sundays are lately more than just sludge. Today's feature is a perfect example of why I can't limit myself.

When Heavy Planet featured Ohio's Doctor Smoke last October, we met a quartet of stoner occultists going thick on soiled riffs and channeling an inner Bobby Liebling. Just a year later, the band offers not only an expanded tracklist, but an overall improved approach to the craft. The Witching Hour's nine tracks (six of them entirely new) illustrate Doctor Smoke's stomp into their own skin, shedding their reliance on doomy fuzz and trusting themselves more as songwriters and musicians.

We know three of these tracks. And rather than serving to fluff the run-time, they actually create a broader scope when sidled next to the newer tracks. Relentless and baleful, The Willow kicks off the immediately punchy, rollicking backwoods descent. Blood and Whiskey is still a smoker, sweat-soaked and groove-smacked. And those rhythms still flirt with evil and never get old. When The Seeker pops through before the album's final push, it's of course slow, dirt-caked, and the album's rawest offering.

Most notable on the new tracks are the self-realized, perfectly-structured lyrics. Evil Man is mossy doom, swaying and split with chafed licks, ultimately exploding into revved groove and guitar-pissing in all directions. But the plunge of the slow, murky vocal veil traps every-Goddamn-thing beneath it. The Toll emerges from soggy earth to find a torrid clip, pacing unpredictably and matching the erratic lyrical accusations. The whole of the album's thorax is a trip through a thorny, overgrown pass. Choppy, jostled, and pushing ever-deeper, these spilt-swill snags hardly heel the quick-twisted, punchy cruises. Doctor Smoke now have a hook in your lip.

Where the band's amped proficiency is most notable, however, is on the closing tandem of This Final Hour and Permanent Night. The former boasts as a heavy-hearted trench throttle, rattling you back to clarity with tempo shifts and sweaty rock-n-roll. The track progressively expands under a rueful mood, gently wheeling the track into pensive plucks. And by the time Permanent Night's bleak subject combines with the collection's deepest, grainiest groove, you won't know which elemental showcase takes the blue ribbon. The licks are more than just a sidecar, the throwback is more than just creepy, and the balance is more than you could ever want.

And The Witching Hour as a whole is so much more than a steel-toed stride. Eerie, distant malaise has never had such a pull. These songs creep among a thick timber until rhythmic deviations introduce a gleeful, punch-drunk vertigo. Guitars, vocals, lyrics, those low rhythms... ALL have their moment of showboated flexing. But where posturing would murder lesser bands, Doctor Smoke manage to make one another sound better. Collectively, the sounds never stumble. We're not sure exactly what corner of the woods we'll end up in. More importantly, we don't care. Hit me with another, drag me where you will... "My masters, pull my strings."

Bandcamp | Facebook

Sunday Sludge: Fistula - "Vermin Prolificus"

If you expected to pour some coffee and breathe in some crisp morning air on your front porch, you've come to the wrong fucking place. I've said it before: Cleveland's Fistula are never gonna make you feel good. Through various lineups and countless EP's, splits, and full-length albums, these snarling scumfucks have consistently drawn distinct lines between societal classes and never been burdened by things like tact or nuance. Whether its a low, pensive groove or a breakneck pull on your tie as your teeth are beaten in, Fistula's overt violence is ever-present.

On Vermin Prolificus, thirty-five ticks of abrupt tempo shifts and screeching, stabbing guitars canvas larger truths. These seven tracks are less symptomatic of Oppositional Defiant Disorder and more indicative of the human condition's natural response to authoritative bullshit. Nowhere is this more evident than on Pig Funeral, a slow-simmered revolt slung low and hot and brimming with cracked-tooth spite. Rhythms churn and wave a fist in the fat faces of power, evolving toward a blistering close that repeatedly bloodies its knuckles on sharp bone.

For all the vile sludge bubbled underfoot, however, the band is never a hair away from lashing your back with a barbed rod. Spitting back to 2012's Northern Aggression EP, Harmful Situation and Sobriety are slightly reworked, slightly shorter, and seemingly more destructive with this go. And the contempt displayed on Upside Down is a call not just to authority, but to mainstream society as a whole. And the shit-caked trudging tempo is like an added bonus.

But Vermin Prolificus makes its boldest assertions on lengthier exercises. Smoke Cat Hair and Toenails is fuzz-coated sludge marked by violent, screeching pulls. Again, the sounds are absolutely foul and filth-laden. Moments of torrid tension are broken by hard coughs, assisting to uncover grimy truths of contemporary youth. The slugs come slow and poisonous, evoking incredibly dark imagery consistent with the middle finger this album throws in the face of convention. The title track is similarly jarring and unsettling, utilizing drawn-out, splintered extraction via drug-fueled samples. Layers continue to emerge, wounds work deeper, and slow-burning ruminations reveal (somewhat) rational explanations of drug distribution and addiction. We were never promised a sunny day, but Fistula reveal that endless pain has an endless dark solution. These thirteen minutes are the sonic equivalent of picking scabs off your face and kicking your kids. Not unlike a junkie, this track simply can't escape the grips of its own demons.

There's too much going on here to bottom-line it with one summation. Each of the seven tracks on Vermin Prolificus is a bold fucking assertion (especially the album's final moment on Goat Brothel, whew). Short-tempered and fed up, this album is a slowly corroding, synthetic-smoked nightmare flogging us as we scratch for daylight. The screeches and abrasions are the effect here, not the cause. What you're really hearing is yourself, your community, and our society inches away from collapsing under the weight of a fake smile. How much longer you think you can stand it?

For fans of: Angst, piss, pills, scabs, Gummo, malcontent, broken teeth, glass, burnt hair, and whatever the fuck is rotting in your basement.

Pair with: Meth

Facebook | Patac Records | Bandcamp

Sunday Sludge: Mollusk

Ever the Johnny-come-lately, eh? It's cliched by now, but it's still embarrassing when something slips through the cracks and only earns your praises after months have passed. When it's the following year, all I can do is hang my head and offer a most pathetic apology. If I comb the desert, mouths go dry. When I scan the swamps, I tend to get stuck. Shit happens, so discovering old new music feels like collateral damage.

I thought I was augmenting my catalog when I ordered a few Crowbar and Cathedral albums last week. Turns out people are far more generous than I could expect, as I split open the mail to find a buyer's bonus in the form of every track Cincinnati's Mollusk ever produced. Three releases in various formats, all sandwiched between Electric Wizard and a pile of stickers. It'll be a while until I complain of being bored.

In under two years, Mollusk have sharpened their meld of ambient, post-metal sludge. Something inside these guys is slowly working its way out. Something unpretty, something massive, something painful. Their 2011 demo offered frantic, jarring retribution peppered with droning interludes. At times, the hum was nearly industrialized, spitting fire and throwing chaotic blades through ambient clouds. Despite being dragged behind a weathered carriage, the movements amid the structures were complex, structurally nebulous progressions. The atmospheres were ominous until the calm was broken in quite primitive ways.

2013's Colony of Machines EP is all these things, yes. The oceanic expanse is more isolated and more meticulously explored, smoothing out the grind and discovering a melody among the melancholy. Shifting Decay staggers with sludgy spite, chomping on uneven terrain to leave listeners nervous via rhythmic uncertainty. The vocal here is distant, not as overtly resistant as previous work. But the vast, lonesome passages shift into torrential hoofed scurries. It'd ring nostaliga, perhaps, but the elements somehow stay parallel with one another and the band's strides are immediately evident.

Hollowed introduces a triptych of celebrated despair, barely breathing at the somber center of nothingness. The cracks deepen, descending slabs find their crashes, and left behind are massive Earth cavities. The interlude-ish title track is pensive and echoed, cavernous but more free than preceding tracks. The trembling plucks craft a balanced reprieve, gently soothsaying without revealing too much. To close on Denisova isn't just massive, it's mature. Things get lower, more dense, and the swirling storm gradually collects adjacent sounds to grow exponentially. The song uses painful reflection to build on itself. The rhythmic shifts never tire, and nine minutes hardly seems like enough time to deliver so much.

Mollusk have steadily introduced more substance, thicker and stickier with more dramatic movements. Drawing things out creates more breathing room, but the numbing buzz is as deafening as ever. Each release is a more exhaustive effort than the last, and the beautiful, destructive amalgam of previous themes is gorgeously unsettling. There's a process here: pick up the pieces, glue them back in place, and cradle the mended whole as it's again thrown from a steep seaside balcony. As each successive track morphs into a larger version of its own being, we wonder if the band will do the same.

For fans of: Rwake, The Atlas Moth, Neurosis
Pair with: Rampant Imperial IPA, New Belgium Brewing

Facebook | Colony of Machines | Split w/Stormbrewer | 2011 Demo

Red Hot Rebellion Announces New Album & Comic Book

A full-length comic book AND concept album about a band of intergalactic heroes out to save Earth with the power of rock 'n' roll.

A comic book AND an album? Say what!?

You heard it right! Red Hot Rebellion II is a full-length comic book AND music album. Both go together like peas and carrots. Like peanut butter and jelly. Like Batman and Robin. Like Marshall amps and rock ‘n’ roll!

In their first self-titled album, Dayton, OH rockers, Red Hot Rebellion, released a comic book where each single page of the book went along with each single song on the album. RHR bassist/vocalist, Jim Tramontana notes, "It has been super popular with music fans, collectors, and the comic con crowds. So, we decided to expand on the concept and create a more expansive story-telling universe. The music, the lyrics, the story, and the art are all inextricably linked together in one super awesome visual and audio experience."

Highlights:

• The innovative concept! This is a full length, 28-page comic book AND 13-song album. The comic and album are two parts of the same story.

• The great art! Amazing pencils by Scrap/Seven Sisters artist, Chris Martin. Colors by IDW colorist, Julie Wright.

• The fun story! For fans of Rock & Rule, Heavy Metal, This Is Spinal Tap, and Metalocalypse, this is a fast-paced, high-stakes adventure with a side of humor.

• The amazing music! 13 high energy tracks of pure rock fury! Whether you call it arena rock, punked up metal or metalish punk, it's 13 explosive megatons of rock 'n' roll!

What's it all about?

In all the universe, only a handful of sentient worlds create music, let alone the most evolved form of music: rock ‘n’ roll. Earth was on track to be admitted into the Galactic Union, but somewhere along the line its rock ‘n’ roll turned weak. RED HOT REBELLION, the second best band in the galaxy, has been sent to Earth in order to steer humanity back on its proper path. But it looks like they've hit a few snags...





Visit Kickstarter campaign page: http://redhotrebellion.com/kickstarter

New Band To Burn One To: DOCTOR SMOKE

HEAVY PLANET PRESENTS...DOCTOR SMOKE!

BAND BIO:

Heavy smoked out rock and roll from Ohio!

Matt Tluchowski - Vocals/Guitar

Dave Trikones - Drums

Steve Lehocky - Lead Guitar

Cody Cooke - Bass

THOUGHTS:

"I know, I know, it's been a long time since I wrote up a "New Band To Burn One To" post but due to a conflicting work schedule and a much needed vacation, shit happens. Anyways, while I was on vacation I received this little gem in my inbox. I couldn't let these guys stay buried in my never ending pile of band submissions. Hell no! And the fact that they are from my neighboring state of O-high-O heightened my interest. 

With so many bands riding the Occult Doom Rock wave these days or shall I say in this case cloud of smoke, Ohio's Doctor Smoke is about to prove the naysayers wrong. Starting the EP off is the muddied riff-driven rocker "The Willow", the song chugs along with a soul-clutching rhythm and ear-splitting fretwork. Matt Tluchowski's nasally and sinister vocal are the guiding force which cast the spell among these four doom-laden nuggets. The riff fest continues with "Blood and Whiskey" and is once again highlighted by some sensational lead guitar work. The band slows things up a bit with the skull-rattling buzz of "The Seeker". The riff is absolutely blood-curdling on that track. The band finishes up the EP in grand style with their rendition of Pentagram's tune "Sign of the Wolf".

  Doctor Smoke is a great band through and through and you owe it to yourself to give them a listen. The band is currently offering up this little slab-o-doom for free, that's right FREE on their Bandcamp page. 

Enough said, the doctor is in!"

((facebook||bandcamp))

Zac's "Double Dose": BUMMER / The Ravenna Arsenal

 

BUMMER: Young Ben Franklin EP 

This weeks first 'Dose are new to the pages of Heavy Planet and new to the scene. Bummer, huh? No! The name of the band is BUMMER and please don't let the idea of inexperience fool you, because it could cost you. Why? Simply because these guys are angry. Plain angry. This Kansas City based trio create an aggressive model of "neanderthal" noise rock. Implementing measures of sludge and punk rock BUMMER clarify in ten minutes what it has taken "shrinks" years diagnose and solve regarding anger management problems. Let it out and the issues could be cleared up in a matter of minutes... and that is exactly what you'll get here on Young Ben Franklin EP. Three songs, each running approximately running two and a half minutes. Just enough to break a sweat and forget about whatever it was that pissed you off in the first place. Check out my favorite track Good News and drown in all that thick and juicey bass. Then head over to BUMMER's bandcamp page to download the EP... it's FREE and who the hell doesn't have the need to release some of that tension?

Members: 

Matt Perrin - Guitar // Vocals 

Mike Gustafson - Bass 

Sam Hunter - Drums

I bandcamp I facebook I youtube I 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Ravenna Arsenal: I. 

This weeks second 'Dose are not new to the pages of Heavy Planet. The Ravenna Arsenal were introduced as a NBTBOT a couple years ago and the quartet of progressively minded music melders have caused a whole lot of panic in Eastern Ohio. Having opened for the mighty Karma To Burn and playing gigs with other local Ohio and Pennsylvania bands The Ravenna Arsenal hit the studio to record their debut effort I. I. was released this past February heralding a concoction of experimental stoner rock, a constant evolution of sound. From the moment track two The Wild Dogs of Giza begins listeners will find what sounds like a familar and friendly stoner jam session. The song soon after transitions to some flamboyant classic rockin' and then onto what sounds like a take from Queens of the Stone Age type desert session. The Ravenna Arsenal then go full doom on the very next track The Desert Shows No Mercy. The doom doesn't last too long before they are manipulating The Desert... into a post-rock soundscape. Strange and dis-jointed at times, but I. leaves this listener in utter surprise at each twist and turn. Even the most seasoned music fan won't be ready for the metamorphosis of The Ravenna Arsenal throughout I. As we stretch deeper the musical progression continues to evolve, from the clashing cymbals and machine gun drumming found on Fire Moth to the distorted garage crunch and the rousing poppy hooks on The Pregnant Void. Hell, there are even moments during The Pregnant Void that I hear influences of The Darkness... The bloody Darkness! Strange indeed. Don't miss The Pregnant Void below and if you feel you need to keep on guessing spin the rest of I. at bandcamp.

Members: 

Aaron Shay 

Bill Govan 

Ken Royer 

Mike Shea

I bandcamp I facebook I

Zac's "Double Dose": Sleepers Awake / VolumeFeeder

 

Sleepers Awake: The Fulcrum Single 

Commencing in a sonorous roar and a clash of metallic instrumentation Columbus, Ohio's Sleepers Awake introduce us to their latest single The Fulcrum from the soon to be released full length album Transcension. Formed in 2005 this quartet have focused their talents on creating over-the-top epics through a progressive mentality, citing influences from Mastodon to Queen. I say epics because the band likes to stick to a concept and also fully appreciates albums as entire pieces of art, leading to what I believe is an epic disposition. So, The Fulcrum is a very small corner of a twelve track sonic painting due out the seventeenth of June (those interested in pre-ordering Trancension can do so at the bands web-store). Now, the question is, what can we dissect from this sample of the illustration in regards to the entire piece and more importantly how much metal can we find within Trancension? Well, first and one of the most prominent features of The Fulcrum is the triumphant vocal prowess of Chris Thompson. The potency in his proclamation throughout The Fulcrum could carry an album on its own and instills a promising outlook for the full length release. Next up, the brilliant percussion of "Ambrose", or Chris number two, Burnsides. His volatile drumming patterns, transforming from complex strikes to a tribal wallop, will encircle your cerebral cortex and leave your mouth agape. Finally, we come to the interlacing guitars and bass. Chris [Thompson] and Rob Bradley find themselves engaged in twin guitar slinging duels one moment and the next feeding off of one anothers booming RIFFS, while Kedar Hiremath's bass supports the battle-front. The track approaches its climax with a tolling bell mixed into Ambrose's Dany Carey-esque rolling patter. This soon evolves into a full spectral blast thanks to those swelling guitars and there you have it. The Fulcrum ends as abruptly as it began. So, lets return to our initial question. "How much metal can we find...?" Well, I'd say an oceanic proportion of metal on Trancension. Within the six minutes of The Fulcrum we find a depiction of RIFFING swells, heroic singing, and voracious tides of percussion adorning Trancension's canvas. Check it out below and get out there to support these guys. Word on the street is they have played shows with Heavy Planet favorites The MIdnight Ghost Train and Neon Warship! How could anyone in their right mind want to miss that show?

Members: 

Christopher “Ambrose” Burnsides - Drums 

Chris Thompson - Vocals // Guitar 

Kedar Hiremath - Bass 

Rob Bradley - Guitar

I bandcamp I facebook I soundcloud I twitter I web I 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

VolumeFeeder: Crowns and Chains 

VolumeFeeder, this weeks follow-up 'Dose, hail from Hódmezővásárhely, Hungary. No, I have no clue how to pronounce that city's name and that's okay. Why? Because what is important here are the tunes. With their latest EP, entitled Crowns and Chains, VolumeFeeder have found a delightfully groovy way to indulge aggression. This trio has been creating a Hungarian-take on that Southern Louisiana sound for some ten years now and after listening to the three tracks available on Crowns and Chains, I plainly hear why. These three know how to work off of each others creativity and the outcome is just straight groove-laden metal hooks and RIFFS, RIFFS, RIFFS. You will not be sitting still for long when you plug Crowns and Chains in. So, get yourself over to bandcamp where the entire EP is streaming and available at a "Name Your Price" download. But support these guys in anyway you can. Then we can hope for a full length release.

Members: 
"Imi" Imre Balázs - Vocals // Guitar 
"Geri" Gergő Drahota - Bass 
"Robi" Róbert Jaksa - Drums

I bandcamp I facebook I reverbnation I soundcloud I youtube I

Sunday Sludge: Fistula - "Northern Aggression"

Jesus jumped-up Christ, where do I start? Cleveland's sludge-thrash royals Fistula have strung together (strung out?) a catalog of violent, unapologetic releases oozing utter scorn for all things ridiculously mainstream and vanilla. Sunday is the day of rest? Well, Fistula are thrust into today's Sunday Sludge streetlight to issue a fat fucking middle finger with Northern Aggression, a seven-track skull-fuck that's certain to satiate their loyals and frighten everyone else into submission.

This nineteen-minute smoker is to-the-point and unrelenting, using every second to provide sharp contrast to a metal countryside fraught with caution. Fistula unflinchingly burn through convention on equal parts thrash, sludge, and narcissism with diatribes on drug use, hopelessness, and an embrace of sucking stones on the other side of the tracks. Fistula aren't trying to make you feel good. Hell, they're not even trying to make themselves feel good. But they won't let anyone ignore the ugliness unfolding in the backyard.

Short of a Cheech and Chong audio sample, there's nothing lighthearted presented on Northern Aggression. Screeching, jarring feedback introduces more than half these tracks, while the dense sludge filth can hardly remain safe from murky, uptempo brutality. The belly-up thrash of Sobriety is Overrated provides only a glory-hole glimpse of what lies ahead, leading into loosened-string creepiness on The Fang. Low-flung dirt clods marry Corey Bing's chiding vocals, leaving listeners unsure of whether the music or lyrics remain the band's more abrasive element.

Fistula find a groove on Black Sunday and The Spider, both drenched with thick rhythm and drowned in torrid bass threads. Brief and in full-embrace of waking up in puddles, the black-noise thrash provides an incredibly refreshing juxtapose to the matted stompers we've come to expect on these autumn Sundays. Harmful Situation's assertion of "This is our world, you fuckin' get what you get" sounds more honest than anything you've heard in these weeks leading up to election day. There's a swing-state campaign slogan, eh? Put Fistula in office and at least they won't lie and tell you things will get better.

You'll imagine the choppy, mid-tempo Light Bulb Smoker to be the disc's comfort zone, finding middle ground between push and relent. Well, the track builds to a slick drag of your sorry ass through a thicket of thorny spurs, perfectly balancing the ups and downs, the quick to the slow. Fuck, man... You're not even being dragged through the mud anymore. You've been dragged into a bloody fucking murder mess, mid-stroke. Molting and re-emerging a sludge-metal titan, the slow burning sample accompaniments craft the album's highlight, and Fistula again assert their dominance over Midwest metal malevolence.

Aggression, as the album's title suggests, oozes through every moment of this gritty gnasher. Hit the e-brake all you want, but Fistula's in full control. The plod balances the shred, and the fury lines every note with napalm. The tempo shifts may suggest a bi-polar, manic, borderline personality glitch, but anyone familiar with this band will hardly raise a red flag. That sleeping giant you poked with a stick never woke up. Instead, Fistula again showed up with no warning. Your skin is bubbling, your left eye is gone, and you're drooling as you sift through the soil looking for loose teeth. Oh, stop it. You're embarrassing yourself.

Facebook | BUY IT! | Patac Records | Myspace

New Band To Burn One To: BRUJAS del SOL

Heavy Planet presents...BRUJAS del SOL!

Today's "New Band To Burn One To" is from Columbus, Ohio.

Band Bio:

In the fall of 2011, 3 very different men came together to make some very different music. It worked and Brujas del Sol came into being. With Adrian Lee Zambrano on guitar, Derrick White on bass and keys, and Jason Green on percussion, Brujas del Sol manage to combine their wide range of influences of 70’s psychedelic, hard rock, surf and kraut with the more modern influences of stoner rock and neo psychedelia to come up with something unique and interesting for the listener. With immediate plans of a 12" on the horizon, the Brujas bros are poised to deliver something that will stand the test of time. To quote a recent review “it’s beautifully fresh music.”



Thoughts:

"Refreshing and hypnotic are two words that describe the light and airy grooves that Columbus, Ohio's Brujas del Sol set forth. As you step aboard the rocket to partake in a sun-kissed psychedelic trip, you are greeted with scorching solos, erratic drum beats and somniferous bass lines. Two volumes of this magnificent journey have been released thus far via Bandcamp...prepare to launch into Volume 3 coming soon."

((facebook|bandcamp))

New Band To Burn One To (Evening Buzz): THE RAVENNA ARSENAL

THE RAVENNA ARSENAL is today's "NEW BAND TO BURN ONE TO"  Evening Buzz...

Bio:

Not to be confused with The Ravenna Training & Logistics Facility, The Ravenna Arsenal is a seasoned, well-oiled war machine from the overcast lands of Northeast Ohio. Bold riffs 21,000 plus acres in size rumble and whirlwinds of magical frequencies sweep you into another dimension, far away from the objective world.

"The Ravenna Arsenal from Kent, Ohio is primarily an all-instrumental band with vocals for the most part yelled in unison. The vocals are actually my favorite aspect of the band by the way. Tantalizing guitar passages, a steady barrage of riffs, intriguing drum tempos and a somewhat mysterious aura will leave you mystified and subdued."

Facebook|MySpace