LP Review: Luminous Bodies by Luminous Bodies

It’s likely that a lot of attention for this band will immediately focus around the fact that they use two drummers in their noise racketeering assault on the senses, but there is so much more to Luminous Bodies, and indeed this record, than what some will see as being “different”. For a start, there’s their superb song structures and sound, which is basically a bit like The Melvins, if they didn’t dick around so much and wrote quality song after song. Luminous Bodies echo The Melvin’s chaotic instrumentation and unnerving ability to keep you on the edge of your seat, but when you’re engrossed in a song such as ‘Man’s Milk’ or ‘Stay Dead’ you’re powerless to the riffs, noise, and aggression, unable and unwilling to let go.

The vocals of Gordon Watson range from slow 80’s style doom to psychotic shouting, and they really entrap each song within his control, driving each distorted riff, deathly cymbal crash, and slow menacing head bang. This is expressed no better in their cover of Tom Jones’ classic ‘She’s a Lady’ on their track ‘Lady Graveyard’, and it works quite spectacularly.

The one thing that strikes you hardest about the London five piece is that these guys are the real deal; each psychedelic tangent they lead you down (‘Stay Dead’), each experimental noise feedback they piss all over(‘You Cheap-Arse Motherfucker’), every fuzz-heavy riff (‘Inhaler’), and for every doom-laden spiritual journey (‘Om Naman Shivaya’) that they ooze out of the speakers with energy and excitement is a sheer joy to behold.

Luminous Bodies is released through Box Records, and is a must for fans of music.

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LP Review: 'Stereolithic Riffalocalypse' by Shepherd

Heavy thick slabs of doom-laden riffs, primal suffocated vocals, and the most metal of metal song titles are what Bangalore, India, band Shepherd are offering in droves on their debut record Stereolithic Riffalocalypse, with one catch; once you’re drawn in, you’re stuck there forever.

The three masked men of the doom-grunge-stoner apocalypse (Namit, Abhishek, Deepak) have crafted a record which effortlessly flickers through elements of heavy fuzzed over doom, slowly dragging your corpse through the thick swampy waters of a desolate night, meteoric-sized stoner riffs that make you want to invert your face, and grunge elements akin to The Melvins being raised on Soundgarden’s teats. Opening with the darkly heavy  ‘Snake Pit’, the trio rive in a sea of ethereal despair singing “Slow unease sinks into the body of frozen blood and grinding bones”, “I’m hidden in the pit, I’m hidden in the pit of spite.” Holy hell are the riffs heavy as the song builds to its demonic climax.

The band like to have fun with their song titles, aside from the mightier-than-thou record title, songs such as ‘Turdspeak’ and ‘Black Cock of Armageddon’ can on the surface make the guys look like a comedy band, but in the case of Shepherd, it’s a band not just blessed with a sense of humour, but their tongue-in-cheek titles propel the band onto a layer of music that many other doom orientated bands are not able to reach with at times alienating attitudes to music, thinking themselves as demonic spawn; Shepherd want you to know that they are all about the music, letting everyone in to simply rock/doom/grunge out with them. In particular, ‘Black Cock of Armageddon’ has guitar shredding to match the earliest of Thrash metal, heavy doom yells for lovers of the riff, and spiteful, devastating lyrics which could be used as the last words spoken to your nemesis before the boot of Shepherd stomps on their face, forever.

Stereolithic Riffalocalypse is dark without being alienating, it explores different styles without disrespecting any, it’s heavy without forgetting its structure and flow, but above all, it is a truly awesome record, for lovers of everything that is HEAVY!

(on a side note, you have to admire that artwork, designed by Dangercat the band wanted it to "look like an ancient massive guitar amp kinda like the monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey", and you have to say it is spot on, and perfectly captures the sound of Shepherd!)

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New Band To Burn One To: Rhin

When new bands come along, they’re always compared to acts that came before, whether you want to call it lazy journalism or a helpful way of quickly assigning a sound to a band using an audience’s knowledge of music, therefore letting people make snap judgements to whether or not they want to listen to the band, i’m going to do it here really quickly: Rhin sound like The Melvins if they played a sludgy version of hardcore punk! It’s THAT damn good!!

Hailing from Shepherdstown, West Virginia (USA), Rhin was formed in June ’13, and they’re already about to release their second record, the face pummelling Bastard on Grimoire Records. Made up of members from the bands The Demon Beat, Black Blizzard, Bishops, and Nonhealer, this collective hardcore sludge troupe carry such ferocity that it’s hard to fathom how they don’t just implode after every song. They manage to perfectly contain their anger to wrap around their structured songs like a python chokehold, squeezing out every inch of passion and energy that the shattered bones of your brittle frame is all that remains. Each screeched vocal from Dominic Gianninoto, every fuzz-laden twang of Tucker Riggleman’s (good name) guitar, and every deathly crash of Ben Proudman’s drums leaves such a dirty taste in your mouth that you need to wash after every listen, but it’s glorious, being stripped down to our naturalistic bare essentials of rocking and fucking and rocking some more.

What Rhin manage to do that many other sludge/hardcore (Hardsludge or Sludgcore?) acts lose in amongst there raw playing, is that they keep the song structures at the forefront of the song, not losing themselves in self-indulgent tangents of noise, but remembering that they’re making music, brutal, aggressive, dirty, awesome music. Listen to a song such as the 1,000mph ‘Gravy’, the fuzzed out ‘Ted’s Shed’, or the head-pounding ‘Bull Doze’ and tell me that your life isn’t better, if not a bit dirtier, I know mine is. Embrace the filth! Get Rhin! SLUDGCORRREEE!!! 

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Sunday Sludge-The Melvins

Welcome to the first installment of "Sunday Sludge". This feature will showcase influential as well as up-and-coming and unsigned bands in this sub-genre of metal.

For those of you that may not be familiar with the Sludge Metal genre, here is a description via Wikipedia:

"Sludge metal is a sub-genre of heavy metal that melds elements of doom metal and hardcore punk, and sometimes incorporates influences from southern rock, stoner rock, and grunge. Sludge metal is typically abrasive; often featuring shouted vocals, heavily distorted instruments and sharply contrasting tempos. While the style was anticipated by the Melvins from Washington, many of its earliest pioneers were from the state of Louisiana."

Well since this is the inaugural article why don't we start with the aforementioned Melvins. The first time I ever heard the Melvins was on their album from 1993 called "Houdini". At that time I was totally into the grunge scene listening to heavier groove based bands such as Soundgarden, Gruntruck, Tad, and Skin Yard to name a few. After hearing the band, I naturally had to hear more of their previous recordings. Back then you couldn't just go online and find what you were looking for, so fortunately for me I worked as a store manager at a very "uncool" record store. I asked the buyers if they could get me a copy of the 1991 album called "Bullgod". Unfortunately, they said that they couldn't so I hopped in my car and went to our local independant store and sure enough they had one copy. For some reason, I never opened up cds right away and had to wait for the right environment to listen to it. Ok, now don't laugh, that environment was while I was washing my car. Now I occasionally listened to heavy music while I was washing my car but as soon as the first song started, I knew this was going to disturb the neighbourhood. The songs were painfully slow and the vocals were really not what I was used to, but as the music "sludged" on I really began to enjoy it more and more. While the sound of "Houdini" was a lot more polished, I loved the rawness of "Bullgod" as I recently included it in my Top 50 Best Stoner Rock Albums of All-Time coming in at #12.

The band is considered the "Godfathers of Grunge" but, many consider them as being the "Godfathers of Sludge" as well. The band naturally had an influence on the Grunge scene but also paved the way for such bands as Sludge gods Eyehategod and Crowbar. Even the Japanese experimental/drone rock act Boris took their name from the first track from the album "Bullgod".

The band has a pretty loyal following and continues to put out critically acclaimed albums, their most recent being 2010's "The Bride Screamed Murder" on Mike Patton's Ipecac recordings label. The album was the 20th of their career and the first to reach the Billboard Top 200 hundred selling 2809 copies in its first few weeks. Speaking of Mike Patton, King Buzzo along with bassist Trevor Dunn and drummer Dave Lombardo formed the avant-garde metal band Fantomas.

The members have gone on to form or perform in many other successful bands and have been a huge influence on the scene. I hope that you get a chance to listen to this awesome band and if you haven't so already you will be hooked, I promise you.

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Album Of The Week-The Melvins-"Stoner Witch" (1994)

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of The Melvins, I have decided to make one of my favorite Melvins albums "Stoner Witch" the Album Of The Week. If you have never heard this album, do yourself a favor and listen now and then after you listen go and listen to as much Melvins as you possibly can. Freakin' Awesome!



Reviews:

"Stoner Witch is one of several ESSENTIAL Melvins albums everyone should own. This is probably their most hesher-friendly record. From the quasi-Metallica-esque verses of "Revolve", to the stoner dirge of "At the Stake", Stoner Witch consistently captures the attention. Many songs are bizarre, experimental, and downright noisy. It's one of those albums that really doesn't have any "bad" songs. Challenging, yes. Fascinating, uh-huh... but none of them are what I would consider "throwaways". Many listeners will be turned off by the Melvins' non-linear take on rock, but I would advise everyone to give this album a try, and if it doesn't grab you by the cerebellum, try again." (Tony Dawes)

The early to mid-'90s proved the Melvins' golden age, and the three principal albums from that period — Stoner Witch provides the centerpiece — are virtually unassailable in their range, depth, power, and experimental courage. Picking up on the basic framework of Houdini, Stoner Witch resolves into an ear-catching workup of classic rock themes, tempered, of course, with a fairly judicious sampling of acid-trip detours. Where Houdini resided more in an expansive — though lugubriously heavy — metal vein, refining the techniques built up through the band's early struggles, Stoner Witch truly showcases the band at the apex of their wide-ranging creative abilities. The melodies — yes, melodies — work seamlessly with the ubiquitous chugging riffs; Buzzo's vocals, often reminiscent of a David Thomas (Pere Ubu) after a few weeks of no-nonsense boot camp, are sometimes quiet and reflective, and more often than not, positively Stentorian. And naturally, drummer Dale Crover's percussion and pounding behind the kit is astonishing, powerful, and daring. The album opens with the distorted thud of "Skweetis," the amps and cymbals washing well into red-line territory before yielding to a three-count of heavy-duty classic rock with "Queen," "Sweet Willy Rollbar," and "Revolve." From that point on, there is a deliberate sea-change, beginning with the faux-lounge tweaking of "Goose Freight Train," the nearly unlistenable Merzbow-noise of "Magic Pig Detective," and ultimately the hammer-down hardcore of "June Bug" sandwiched between two ambient tracks: "Shevil" and the album closer, "Lividity." (Patrick Kennedy, All Music Guide)

Track Listing:

01. "Skweetis" (words: Osborne; music: Crover/Deutrom/Osborne) – 1:12
02. "Queen" (words: Crover/Osborne; music: Osborne) – 3:06
03. "Sweet Willy Rollbar" (words/music: Osborne) – 1:28
04. "Revolve" (words: Osborne; music: Deutrom/Osborne) – 4:44
05. "Goose Freight Train" (words: Osborne; music: Crover/Deutrom/Osborne) – 4:38
06. "Roadbull" (words: Osborne; music: Crover/Deutrom/Osborne) – 3:25
07. "At the Stake" (words: Osborne; music: Crover/Deutrom/Osborne) – 7:56
08. "Magic Pig Detective" (words/music: Osborne) – 5:33
09. "Shevil" (words/music: Osborne) – 6:29
10. "June Bug" (music: Deutrom/Osborne) – 2:01
11. "Lividity" (words: Osborne; music: Crover/Deutrom/Osborne) – 9:15

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Melvins Celebrate Silver (25th) Anniversary; Plan Special "Evening With" Performances in May

The Melvins are turning twenty five and marking the occasion with a group of celebratory shows set for mid-May in New York, Boston, Chicago and Austin.

The four shows will be an “evening with” the band and feature a first set with the original line-up of Buzz Osborne, Dale Crover (on bass) and original drummer Mike Dillard. For the second set Buzz, Dale and Trevor Dunn (bass player for Fantomas, MadLove, Mr. Bungle) will perform Houdini in its entirety.

“We’re living on borrowed time." explained Buzz. "When the Melvins started I never expected to actually be ALIVE for 25 more years."

The Melvins formed in 1984 in Montesano, Wash., a small town on the west coast of the state. Crover and Osborne have been the two constant members of the band over their twenty-five year history. In that time, the group has been labeled and re-labeled with each passing musical fad but have outlasted each categorization and shone through as a creative entity that is unclassifiable. While the band came to mainstream prominence in the mid-90’s, the Melvins’ most recent releases (Nude With Boots, (A) Senile Animal) have been their most critically and commercially well-received albums to date. Couple that with their seemingly endless influence on other musicians and it’s easy to see why the Melvins have become one of the most well-respected bands of a generation.

The shows are:

May 15 New York, NY Webster Hall
May 16 Boston, MA Paradise
May 18 Chicago, IL Double Door
May 20 Austin, TX Emo’s

Album Of The Day-The Melvins-"Bullhead" (1991)

The Album Of The Day is "Bullhead" by The Melvins.



Review:

After three albums filled for the most part with quick song bursts and the occasional longer track, the eight-song long Bullhead found the Melvins stretching out a bit more at points, this time allowing the heavily stoned tempos plenty of time to really sprawl all over the place. There are fewer sudden shifts between fast and slow moments as well, and a lot more pure lava-flow beat-over-head feedback sludge and noise. It's not all ten mph deliberation, though - "Zodiac" shows the trio at full speed and blasting aside anything that might be so foolish as to get in its way, not to mention one unhinged Osbourne vocal lead. If grunge was achieving breakthrough status in Seattle, it was being perfected in its rawest sense on this album. Opening cut "Boris" does all this in excelsis -- the band's longest recorded song at this point, nearly ten minutes long, it practically drips from the bongwater of eight million potheads, with Osbourne invoking his own brand of demons over the deep crawl of the music. Osbourne here really has got the dramatic, theatrical Ozzy Osbourne attitude down, with the occasional double-tracked vocals adding to the off-kilter intensity of the performances. Crover again shows his worth on the drums -- he plays things slow most of the time but, crucially, never once sloppily -- while Black keeps the bass going, however relatively unheard under Osbourne's guitar attack. "It's Shoved" is the not-so-secret highlight of Bullhead, Crover's brisker drum work and Black's sharp bass playing heralding a wild lead-guitar melody and a great ensemble performance. However, efforts like "Anaconda," with its slowly uncoiling power, and the intense "If I Had an Exorcism," which gets all the more wired and wound up as it goes (Black's bass here is some of her best), are no slouches. (Ned Raggett, AMG)

Track Listing:

01. "Boris"– 8:34
02. "Anaconda"– 2:23
03. "Ligature"– 3:49
04. "It's Shoved"– 2:35
05. "Zodiac"– 4:14
06. "If I Had An Exorcism"– 3:07
07. "Your Blessened"– 5:39
08. "Cow"– 4:31

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