Hello! My name is Sam. I am the newest and junior-most member of the Heavy Planet team. I am delighted to be a part of this fantastic site, and while anxious to dive into reviews and December madness, I feel that it is appropriate to first provide some background information about myself.
My hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, is far from a haven for any metal or hard rock - But with Richmond only an hour away, I can get my live doom fix most of the time. Charlottesville has, however, recently acquired a metal-friendly venue in the back of the downtown ice rink. While the “Main Street Annex” is basically just a strangely shaped concrete room, it makes for a fine bastion of Charlottesville's underground metal scene. Since it's opening, the Annex has hosted several collections of local Stoner/Doom bands, a few of which I'd like to quickly introduce!
Miami Nights are a three-piece doom outfit who show up at the odd local gig to demolish a few ear canals. Founding member and front-woman Maxx Katz busts out crunchy, blues-soaked riffs which she often interrupts with long, tense cadences that drip with feedback. The elusive trio boast only 3 brutal tracks on their soundcloud at the moment, but I certainly anticipate more recorded material from them soon.
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clip of the band, I stumbled across this unusual gem and felt obligated to share it:
Last but not least we have Harrisonburg's Earthling. These genre-blending rockers made waves in the Virginia metal community with the release of Dark Path earlier this year. The album combines an older demo and split with Valkyrie, along with two brand new jams. Best described as doom you can mosh to, Earthling also incorporate sludge, thrash, black metal and more into their unique brand of dark and heavy goodness.
These are just a few of the killer bands way deep down in ol' Virginia. Richmond of course, having just hosted Stoner Hands of Doom, gives me a lot of hope for the future of heavy music in Virginia!
