Quick Hit: THE ELECTRIC SHAKES - "ELECTROHYPNOSIS"

Europe gives us a TON of great underground rock bands that run the gamut of styles we lump into stoner/doom/psychedelic/desert/retro/blues rock (even the genre lump is sizeable), and the UK is no exception. The trio The Electric Shakes, out of Bournemouth, are another of an impressive group of UK fuzz monsters.

Most trios are set up as one member doing double duty as the vocalist in addition to playing an instrument, but one impressive aspect of The Electric Shakes, in addition to their awesome fucking moniker, is that each brandisher of a musical apparatus performs vocal duties as well. The more vocals the better, whether it's a sharing of song leads, furnishing backup service, or in harmony, and these guys sweep all obligations.

The music they make is infectious, rawking, and fun. It's heavy on the riff and quick on the tempo. The drums are virulent and catchy, engaging head and hips in a dance of infectious rhythm. Monstrous basswork bolsters the heaviness of tracks that otherwise rocket and zoom in gravity defying exhilaration. The guitar brings all the highlights expected of excellence and quality, with a colossal fuzz enclosure punctuated by searing, soaring solos. The songs themselves are melodic masterpieces of amalgamated rock standards with traits of punk, stoner, garage, blues, and 70s era rock. The Electric Shakes' approach to music is a brilliant combination of those great rock sounds of past and present without any direct reflection of one legend over another, which allows them to forge something exciting and new and wholly their own.

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Album Review: STEAK - "NO GOD TO SAVE"

STEAK have assiduously become a staple of underground fuzz, having previously released quintessential stoner/psychedelic hard rock albums in 2012, '13, and '15. Now, having signed with Ripple Music, they have released another full length album of ten thundering, riotous rock melodies that once again showcase the musical brilliance and deep-tuned craftsmanship of this Warrior Island battery of four preeminent metal artisans. "NO GOD TO SAVE" has allowed STEAK to bring to the fans of stoner rock, of fuzz-fueled, low-tuned loudness, a collection of songs that completely appease the most hooked addicts with hooks of amplified fervor.

STEAK are a brilliant group of metalheads, rendering songs that do much more than relay a particular sound quality. They certainly are adept at creating and playing extraordinary hard rock music that is rich in low tones and euphoric amplified distortion, music that combines clean, razor-sharp riffs with serrated edge keenness and a mammoth aural presence. But they are also adept at doing so over melodies of near genius, crafting songs that instantly excite while embedding snares of long term memory that will haunt its victims for years to come, songs such as "Overthrow", "Clones" "Living Like a Rat", and "Mountain".

"NO GOD TO SAVE" not only showcases their variety of fuzzy metal music, but does so in perfect harmony of their extraordinary vocalist, Kip, who is impeccably matched to their brand of heavy with his deep, mellifluous vocal tones that easily scale the highest peaks the music requires without ever resorting to any sort of rebel yell, guttural utterance, or falsetto flippancy, as well as complementing the band's six-string slinger Reece's samurai brilliance, or without ever overpowering the mighty drubbing of Cam's bass magnificence, or never overshadowing the wielder of wood, slayer of skin, drummer Sammy's stickwork.

When you look at the legacy STEAK have begun to build you can see this London clan possesses something as special as any metal band around, regardless of attempts at genre identification. They struggle like everyone else in the underground world of heavy rock, but have managed to advance their music, and hence, their careers, when doing so is never ordained. They now are part of Ripple Records, which in itself is a mark of accomplishment, and they have already given us an unerring library of amplified addiction. With "NO GOD TO SAVE" they have bestowed upon us one of 2017's preeminent heavy metal, hard rock, stoner rock albums, proving they are poised to become the legends their burgeoning legacy reveals them to be.

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Quick Hit: JUKEBOX MONKEYS - "GREY SKIES RED PLANET"

Jukebox Monkey have created a wonderful mix of contradictions with "Grey Skies Red Planet", delivering a clean sound via a wonderfully nasty disposition, a southern rock style of frankness without any direct homage...in fact, in foregoing anyone else's sound or style they are somehow reminiscent in doses of almost everyone, a mean feat from this mean foursome of warrior isle brawlers, who in doing so have developed their own unique style that is an upfront, in your face,  stoner rock bruiser of a record, inexorable and steadfast in its mammoth assault of sound, ornery in its temperament, and euphoric in its deeply fuzzy experience.

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QUICK HIT: OHHMS - "The Fool"

OHHMS are back pushing the envelope of normalcy with their incredibly unique brand of sludge covered punk doom that pays no direct homage to the progenitors of metal while delivering an unbridled deluge of amplified riffs and angst-riddled vocal dispatch, presenting a hard, dark milieu of bulging discovery.

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Album Review: 'Green' by Mage

Isn’t it sweet when as a music community we get together to show solidarity and an appreciation for the things we care about? Leicester (UK)-based Mage are certainly grateful. After a successful Pledge Music campaign, their fans helped fund their latest and fourth record Green. 

The record itself, laid down at Skyhammer Studios by Chris Fielding, is seven chunks of straight-forward in yer face riffage, much in the vein of DOWN, CoC or Alabama Thunderpussy. 

Green opens with foot-stomping riff on Nowhere To Nothing that Pepper Keenan would be proud of, and the southern sludgy comparisons don’t stop there. The pounding drums open up Primitive Drive before pulling back to a slow morose guitar chords, evoking images of going eye to eye with an alligator in a Louisiana swamp. And listen out for a guest appearance from Raging Speedhorn front-man John Loughlin, who guests on three tracks. On stand-out track Vultures Mass, Mage deliver an epic slow-burner that grows to the doomiest of conclusions and rounds the record off. 

Mage are becoming regulars on the UK stoner scene, and through their head-nodding up-tempo groove combined with slower sludgy riffing, you can hear why. If you dig your big heavy riffs, melodic vocals and shit tons of groove, then hit play. 

Get in the beers in, roll up a fat one and join Mage in the Green.  

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LP Review: Before The Shore by Bright Curse

London, UK, three-piece heavy psychedelic/stoner rockers Bright Curse signed with the excellent HeviSike Records to release their new album, and anticipation was high following the release of the band’s self-titled record and ‘Shaman’ single last year, and it’s with joyous relief that Before The Shore hits all of our expectations as it takes its, roughly, 100^th listen in our ears!

The main standout point for the record is the incredible vocals of Romain Daut throughout, his vocal range has such power it can completely transfix you. Opening track ‘Lady Freedom’ sees Daut basically singing his heart out with long, loud, drawn out vocals masking over some quite damn heavy guitar licks that normally would be the standout for any track. ‘Lady Freedom’ is a slight misleading start perhaps for the record, as it’s the most simple heavy stoner rocking track on here, whereas the rest of the record begins its downward spiral into the hazy world of psychedelic layers and heart-wrenching passion. ‘The Shore’ is more of a Jekyll and Hyde beast as the vocals are delicate as the guitars gently pick away on a 60s psych beat, before the band explode into their impassioned best as the riffs run free and loud. It’s a combination which works perfectly, lulling you into a sense of piece before destroying your headbanging motions, because when the band decide to let loose with the riffs, boy do they go for it!

All of the tracks on Before The Shore are different from one another, never making the record stale: In amongst the riffs and psychedelia of ‘Cheating Pain’ is a spoken monologue about death, ‘Walking In A Graveyard (Bloody Witch)’ is the most 60s space rock vibe on offer here, ‘Candles and Flowers’ throws in the band’s doom influences, and the vocals on ‘Earth’s Last Song’ will send shivers down your spine!

Before The Shore is stunning! (The artwork is pretty stunning too). Possibly one of the best things about this album is that it is a grower! Each listen draws you deeper into the soul of Bright Curse, each time unravelling new layers and depths to the sound the band create, drawing you in, seeing things from a different angle. A proper album that requires, and deserves, your time.

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Album Review - 'Bless The Earth With Fire' by Allfather

Swift has been the rise of Allfather in the South-East England heavy music scene. Having previously released a 4 track EP ’No Gods. No Masters.' in 2015, they now return with ‘Bless The Earth With Fire’ via Portland’s Static Tension Recordings. Formed on the banks of the Medway delta in Kent, England, Allfather are a dark & brooding 5-piece who’ve been fed intravenously the likes of Eyehategod, High on Fire and drops of East coast hardcore, all to create a lethal dose of their own sludge-metal.

Adopting the slogan "Beards. Metal. Fuck You.” this record is the sound of a band refusing to be pigeon-holed into one style. Instead, fusing grooves and riffs in a way they want... whilst giving you the finger. Yet the songwriting craft manages to not only straddle the world’s of sludge, hardcore, metal and doom, but bring them together in one pissed-off and hairy package.

For a start, these guys love their riffs. There’s plenty to get your teeth into if you like guitar tones that could melt iron. Vocally, Tom Ballard’s ability across the screaming spectrum sits well on-top and adds those moments of energy and raw emotion just when required. And the production captures the heaviness of the band delivering a claustrophobic sense you're in the same room as them... ears ringing and surrounded with a stench of blood and sweat.

For me, Allfather own more menace and originality when they’re exploring the sludgy side of their personality, captured perfectly on slow-groove of ‘The Bloody Noose’ which opens with a signature lead riff setting the tone before stepping up a gear in a foot-stomping mid-section. Again, the opus that is ‘Death, And Hell Followed With Him’ is probably the highlight of the band’s career to date - an 11 minute monster which stretches the band’s sound further into more sludgy-doom territory.

If you like your NOLA-inspired sludge, you couldn’t go wrong checking out ‘Bless The Earth With Fire’. It's apparent Allfather have evolved their sound and have begun to hit their stride with this record. And it's brutal. Fuck you.

Check out the album bonus track 'Blood Red Sunset' below...

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Band Submission: Cybernetic Witch Cult-Doom/Stoner/Psychedelic Metal From the UK

Band Name: Cybernetic Witch Cult
Genre: Doom/Stoner/Psychedelic Metal
Location: UK
Brief Bio/Description: Cybernetic Witch Cult are a 3 piece metal band who are heavily influenced by Doom metal, 70s rock, stoner rock, space rock and science fiction B movies.

On the 28th May 2016 they will be releasing their second album "Spaceous Cretaceous" a 9 track trip through space, time and fantasy.
Band Members:
Alex Wyld - Vocals & Guitars
Kale Deane - Bass
Rogan Collins - Drums
Links: Website | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

Band Submission: The Fighting Keegans-Heavy/Stoner Rock From Lancaster, UK

Band Name: The Fighting Keegans
Genre: Heavy/Stoner Rock
Location: Lancaster, UK
Brief Bio/Description: Formed a billion billion billion years ago in the heart of an exploding star, sent forth to Earth to gather the blood of the minotaur, the egg of a velociraptor and the nervous sweat of a closeted MP and combine them to create one seriously worrying omelette.
Band Members:
Keith Calvert - Drums/Vocals
David Mackness - Guitar/Vocals
Links: YouTube | Facebook | Bandcamp

Review: Battalions-Nothing To Lose

Battalions come out full force with some heavy down tuned sludge and serious riffage!

I can't help but feel a heavy N.O.L.A influence listening to this album in the vein of Jimmy Bower, and that is all good with me! (but hailing from the UK I can be totally wrong.)

These 5 lads are well seasoned and compliment each others playing by weaving in and out of riff after riff pummeling you with 8 songs of sonic enjoyment, might I add the song  Deadbeat Dad Beat Dead is one clever title!

Its also nice to see some shorter songs coming out for a change, not that I don't like 40 minute 3 song albums, but I can appreciate a well crafted song inside 4 minutes and Battalions does just this, good songs that keep you wanting more.

Nothing to Lose was recorded by Chris Fielding (Conan) at Skyhammer Studios and if you are a Conan fan then you'll know instantly that this is well mixed and mastered.

It looks like their first run of pre-orders are running out so go get some!

-Jon-

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Song of the Day-King Ghidora-"Dust"

"Dust" is taken off of the first release from this band consisting of members from Tricorn, Contra, Dragon Eye Morrison and Arcachnotaur. With doomy layering and nineties grunge influences, this song weaves in and out of your psyche with strong melody, intricate beauty and unbridled passion. I dig it! For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Famyne-"Tower"

"Tower" is taken off of the band's debut 3-song EP "Famyne". This song is a hair-raising homage to traditional doom with riffs so heavy that even the goosebumps on your skin are afraid to come out. The vocals are utterly chilling. Consider yourself warned. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Gnob-"Nomad"

"Nomad" is taken off of the recently released 3-song EP "Reverend Bill's One Way Trip". I'm not sure why more people haven't latched on to this band, but that is why we're here. This song is progressively layered with riff upon riff and eventually swirls into a dizzying trip filled with dreamy vocals, rabid drumming, hard-driving bass lines and searing guitar work. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Jukebox Monkey-"Dead Wait"

"Dead Wait" is taken off of the latest 5-song EP from the band called "Vs. Time" released at the beginning of the year. This song is a pulsating, chest-pounding and hair-knuckled track filled with stoner metal riffs, a progressive edge and stellar musicianship with an ending that will blow you away. BOOM! For more information regarding the band, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Sergeant Thunderhoof-"When Time Stood Still"

"When Time Stood Still" is taken off of the upcoming release "Ride of the Hoof" due out November 5, 2015. Boom! Shot out of a kaleidscope cannon, this colorful and vibrant display of epic groove metal  captivates with it's swirling psychedelia, soaring vocals and sonic crunch. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

Song of the Day-Lodestone-"Tokyo Haze"

"Tokyo Haze" is taken off of the band's upcoming EP release "Non Fuit in Desertum" due out on September 21, 2015. Finally! A really good hard-driving stoner rock tune. This is what we live for on Heavy Planet. Taking their cue from the likes of Kyuss, Orange Goblin and other classic stoner/metal bands, the band is sure to please with their fuzzy riffs and high-energy delivery. This is music that you want to listen to at a very high volume, that is until your lame neighbors come knocking. For more information, please check out the following links: Facebook | Bandcamp

EP Review: ‘Cold’ by OHHMS

Covered with bruises must be the arms of the quintet that make up OHHMS, from continuous pinching injuries sustained during their first 12 months of existence. All part of the plan, no doubt. Having been picked up by Holy Roar Records after hearing their demo, to releasing their debut EP ‘Bloom’ in 2014, festival appearances at Temples, Arc Tan Gent, Fear and Hevy, plus shows with Conan, Earthmass and Slabdragger, they’ve also found time to record their follow-up EP ‘Cold’.

Describing themselves as "Progressive. Doom. Slow. Noise. Animal. Rights.” ‘Cold’ delivers two meandering beast-like tracks of heavy progressive doom over 30-odd minutes. First up is ‘The Anchor’, which highlights the band’s boundless creativity, opening with a slow atmospheric intro with bold work from vocalist Paul Waller, to an expansive heavy middle section with guitars and drums in unison, through to a fuzzed-out closing in homage to 70’s psychedelia. ‘You can’t sink us’ is the roar, and on this evidence I’m not one to argue.  

Right... onto track 2. ‘Dawn of the Swarm’ picks up from where ‘The Anchor’ ends. From a dream-like Pink Floydian intro, the track builds to an instrumented assault of riffs and vocals, to suddenly disperse leaving you feeling like you’ve been pushed off a cliff... Only to feel saved, bashed about a bit and redeemed before the track ends. Once again OHHMS are bending conventions with their prog-like mentality packaged in a shiny doom wrapper. 

‘Cold' is like a sonic wormhole, you never know where you're going to arrive at next. And that's what’s captivating. OHHMS are on a mission to expand your mind and keep you guessing every step of the way. And their song-craft and creativity will ensure they continue to carve their own path, and separate themselves from their often one-dimensional peers.

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Check out ‘Cold’ below:

Sunday Sludge: Acid Goat

Imagine a world where Black Sabbath never existed. Iommi never riffed, Ward never jazzed, and Ozzy & Geezer never tripped and wrote shit like Fairies Wear Boots. You'd wonder where that would leave the heaviest bands of the last four decades. Would Birmingham still be credited as birthing heavy metal? Would we have fans demanding to knight Rob Halford instead of John Michael Osbourne?

While Birmingham's produced unlistenable pop acts like Dexys Midnight Runners and Fine Young Cannibals, thank Christ they've given us Napalm Death and Godflesh. Adding to the city's litany of great heavy acts is sludge-doom trio Acid Goat. Providing a nod to 1970 and stomping a bootprint into tomorrow's breakfast, these stone tossers drop four slabs of riffage that'll have you suffering from gravity's cruel joke. This self-titled EP is so swollen with thickness that you may be walking with a cane from now on.

Demonstash opens with echoes of the first and finest moments of Black Sabbath on Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. The descending doom lumbers and looms with massive, entrancing reverberations. Long, deceptive pauses provide minimal relief, giving way to lingering guitar screeches as drums usher doom's second wave. This instrumental clinic is wholly devoted to the riff. Nosferatu's low, malevolent bass plucks offer an even thicker, filthier breed of sludge. Vocals emerge, spitting and echoing to add a subhuman element to the murky nightmare. Things get weird, though, as wormy guitar licks bob and weave for a whisper of thrown-back psychedelia. Ever-expanding, there's seemingly no end to the destruction.

Acid Goat have their somber moments, however. Green Queen is rife with hollow isolation before we're greeted with a pendulumic sway of high-density doom. Guitars buzz from a distant electric woodshed as repeated rhythmic crashes dent the back of your skull. And that vocal is back, this time weaving rusty barbed wire through your limbs. This track succeeds in swinging a knobby club and flattening anything it crosses. And when Acid Goat take on Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2), they've unearthed trippy licks and a vile vocal that'll have your father scratching his head. This heaviness is Goddamn ridiculous.

It appears these four songs are just the beginning. Stoning and dooming in equal measure, these highs are low and these lows are real... fucking... low. Set aside a few bucks for some new speakers before you spin this shit. Layers reveal themselves beneath each unrolled note, offering an all-too-brief glimpse into a band that just may keep these flames burning hot. Have a seat, please.

For fans of: Sabbath,Conan, Electric Wizard 

Pair with: Burton Baton, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Inc.

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Sunday Sludge: Grey Widow - "I"

At age ten, I developed a strong mistrust of the outdoors. I spent five nights in a tent creepy-crawled with pests after Troop 52 paired me with a kid who seemed to love killing shit. So the thought of a silverfish exploring his collar never bothered him. Before long, as my friends climbed trees and dismembered insects, I found I couldn't lay in a patch of grass without feeling trespassed. I couldn't tolerate grime under my fingernails. I shook when a bike ride took us to a land development offering mounds of black dirt to ramp, opting to face the taunts of my peers rather than risk my fingers sticking together or my ear getting doubled over. Yeah, bro... I was a pussy.

There's a moment on Grey Widow's I that took me straight back to that tent. Beyond the midpoint of track IV exists a sparse, backmasked passage littered with wooded whispers and trippy campfire snickers that'll keep me out of a tent until I'm long dead. And perhaps that's the highest compliment I can pay to Grey Widow, a blackened UK quartet that offers nothing your dry, rattled heart won't love. The sludge sticks, the doom sways, and the violence numbs every sense until you need someone to wipe you down with a warm, wet rag.

You'll get your money's worth here. Eight tracks spanning fifty-seven minutes, hovering endlessly on drone and death-rattled buzz, craft a paranoia via moss-coated monoliths and calculated repetition. Absolutely vile, viscous, and violent, you may find the songs offer more filth and staggering thickness than you're willing to handle. Grey Widow utilize every moment to deliver a slow-motion chest-caving peppered with smoke breaks and ominous lunges.

This is no one hour grinded haze, though. The vocal tandem is simply shared pain, a bad cop-bad cop dynamic designed to drill home your worthlessness. Whether snailed or torrid, the pace reveals a focus, a frayed perspective honing doom chops like drunken giants with visions of murder and molten malevolence. Riffs hover and hang like tattered tapestries of dried flesh while the backdrop of splintered redwoods thumps sheepskin and offers a distant spite that progressively spills into your wheelhouse.

After four tracks, I found myself wondering where the album stood among 2014's best. The collection's back end cemented my view, offering two nine-minute cruisers dishing a paranoia that... wait, I'm NOT paranoid; there really is something out there. Over there. Under there. Fuck. The warring of psyches is never snuffed, just numbed-out. The blanket of spanning doom descending over everything leaves behind vast, gaping expanses on VIII. Difficult as it is to select a defining track, this depth charge chatter of reverb and collective collateral damage offers primitive reprieve, only to pull out the rug and stun listeners just once more.

I'll be writing about this again come December. Grey Widow's I shifts paces and left my face a tad swollen. These Sunday morning sludge welts sting like your shit-faced father's faux leather belt, lacing your back and leaving your living room carpet caked with blood. Buzzing like a fresh wound and hissing like a cracked engine, this album's gonna spend a little time with me. In a daze, I drooled when these sounds drove a knobby knee into my crooked smile. Doom, despair, and a clubbing without discrimination? I may not remember much, but my dentist clearly thinks I need help.

For fans of: Iron Monkey, Graves At Sea, Dark Castle
Pair with: Kentucky Breakfast Stout, Founder's Brewing

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LP Review - "Blood Eagle" by Conan

It has been nigh-on 2 years since Conan's first full length "Monnos" was released and in that time this 3 piece from Liverpool, UK, have caused major devastation across Europe and beyond, smashing down buildings and pummeling bodies to mush and leaving many battered but die hard fans in their bloody wake. "Monnos" is one heavy fucking album, as indeed is anything that Conan puts to record and their latest release "Blood Eagle" out on Napalm Records is no exception. In fact, Conan have managed to out heavy themselves with "Blood Eagle" to the point that I'm certain that if everyone in the world played this album at the same time, our planet would collapse in on herself and a black hole would form in her center and our galaxy and others nearby would fall into it. What lies on the other side of Conan's black hole? Probably just an infinite tone so very low that it makes even the oldest of the gods shit themselves.

So then "Blood Eagle" is such a pants shittingly heavy, universe breaking and god worrying album that it could be of great interest to the military forces of any warring country simply due to the destructive power of Conan's reality damaging riffs. In the wrong hands we would be absolutely truly fucked but thankfully, in Conan's very capable and very heavy hands, you not only manage to get away with a feeling of having had the holy living crap beaten out of you for 40+ minutes, you also come away filled with all the joys of existence and a satisfaction and relief in knowing that powerful psychopaths are unlikely to ever hear Conan and if they ever do we can only hope they would not understand their devastating potential.

Just like many of the most significant moments in our lives, we always remember where we were at the time, and hearing "Blood Eagle" for the first time has forever embedded into my memory a thickly fogged mountain that I stomped to bits in my imagination as those brute forced pounding Conan riffs entered my ears through headphones as I descended said mountain, shrouded in a thick blanket of shining white fog. The earth crumbled and cracked beneath my boots as I stomped my way down, driven on by Conan's wondrously low and slow riffs and booming, damaging drums whilst their called out, chanted vocals echoed through the dense fog like celtic warrior ghosts calling out for their lost battle axes.

I wisely grabbed the opportunity to hear Conan play live recently whilst they've been on tour in the UK. I stood up front for their entire set and was thoroughly pummeled into a doughy mass and I came away a dribbling mess with ears that rang for days after and a body that felt like it been beaten repeatedly for a prolonged period of time; but every planet imploding riff was savored and relished and I loved every single devastatingly crushing second of it.

Turn up loud and bear witness:

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