New Band To Burn One To: COLD DEZERT

Cold Dezert are another in a burgeoning line of established and emerging Grecian stoner/doom bands, and just like so many of them, they have developed a hefty, gargantuan sound. But they've done more than that. They've managed to take a set of recognizable sounds and riffs and forge something all their own, something colossal, impenetrable, made of the densest stone boulders unearthed from the darkest of doom quarries. The music is dense and intricate, imaginative and primal, raw, fierce, and massive. It's what we hope for when we spin something new.

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Quick Hit: Half Gramme of Soma - "Groove is Black"

Greece rockers Half Gramme of Soma are on the verge of dropping a new album, "Groove is Black", an eight song all-out assault on each and every pleasure sensor. It's all here. Endearing, searing stoner grooves, riffs and hooks galore, memory binding melodies, perfectly matched crunchy, edgy vocals, and simply an overall sound and experience of fierceness and joy.

I had reviewed HGoS's 2013 self-titled album , but somehow missed their 2014 follow on, "Marche au Noir", so, if like me, this newest release isn't the only one you've yet to experience, well, you're in for what the old folks used to call 'a rolickin' good time'! Greece has become one of the premier locales for quality stoner/doom bands, none better than Half Gramme of Soma.

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Quick Hit: Nightstalker - "As Above, So Below"

Talk about prolific. Greek veteran Vmetal rockers Nightstalker recently dropped their SEVENTH studio album. Only one of those seven are an EP, the other six being song-full LPs. Can you imagine if Homme, Garcia, Bjork, and Oliveri had been able to cohabitate and proliferate in such a manner?

"As Above, So Below" provides an array of stoner wallop, with deftly crafted melodies of riff and raunch, executed in expert expression. Their music is simple, clean, and consistent, never backing away from mega-riff deliveries of fuzz and fun, sometimes delving into psychedelic forests, but mostly blasting up-tempo melodies of primal delight. Nightstalker have been making music since 1994, sticking with a style that brands them as badasses, revealing a tenacious stoner genius, never boring, never backsliding, nearing a quarter century legacy of  legitamacy.

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QUICK HIT: Green Yeti - "Desert Show"

Today's Quick Hit is infused with a bit of doom and a heaping effusion of psychedelic fuzz. A lively bass accompanies ethereal vocals and a wicked guitar, floating in a stew of chunky drumbeats and clever amplification. This three piece band from Athens, Greece has managed to build an impressive presence on social media in just a few short years, but what they've managed to do most brilliantly is craft together an atmospheric cavalcade of intoxicating, mouth-melting metal.

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Sunday Cinema: Slow Southern Steel

Half the bands I love stomp south of the Mason-Dixon line. For all the dribbling of these exhaustive Sunday Sludge posts, I've spent the last few years never succinctly outlining exactly WHY these sounds are distinctly Southern, likely due to geography's shortcomings. The grit and groove of Southern metal is unique, powerful, and impossible to stuff into a box of labels or expectations. Sure, Portland has its place. The Southwest is buzzing with anger and fuzz. Greece, Hungary, and Denmark have all bred incredible sludge acts tattooing the genre's landscape. But let's be fuckin' serious: Sludge metal owes everything to the American Southeast (Texas, we'll let you in, too).

Rwake's Chris Terry has (sort of) finally unveiled Slow Southern Steel, a documentary wholly devoted to a dissection of Southern metal. What sets apart Southern sludge metal? What influenced acts like EYEHATEGOD and Jucifer? And what's with the fuckin' flag of the Confederate States? You'd be surprised. Loaded with booze, beards, and an alarmingly warm dose of unmatched brotherhood, this documentary highlights an under-appreciated musical niche via candid interviews, blunt assertions, and no shortage of flattening live stage footage. If you weren't raised in the South, you won't sound like the South. And they'll know it.

Strong family ties, nostalgia, religion, and unending uphill battles are just a few of Slow Southern Steel's triumphant reveals. This "dirt circuit" survives on familial bonds and realistic expectations. Word o' mouth is more important than social media, and there's no shame in sharing a disco-based rebellion. Beautifully-realized gravel road imagery complements the sounds, the stories, and the impact of a scene so ripe with mutual respect and appreciation that it's damn-near overwhelming. This film perfectly explains the things I can't. I'm just a dude who loves Acid Bath. But this is a film that helps me understand why.


For fans of: Rwake, EYEHATEGOD, Acid Bath, Buzzov-en, Dark Castle, Hank III, Dixie Witch, Down, HAARP, COC, Arson Anthem, Black Tusk, Kylesa, Deadbird, Seahag, Beaten Back to Pure, Alabama Thunderpussy, (the) Melvins, Music Hates You, Outlaw Order, Mastodon, Goatwhore, Soilent Green, Lamb of God, Sourvein, Assjack, Weedeater, ANTiSEEN, Hawg Jaw, Crowbar, Hail! Hornet, Zoroaster, A Hanging, and countless fucking other bands you already love.

Pair with: Pabst Blue Ribbon tallboys, one after another

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Sunday Sludge: The Powder Room - "Curtains"

Nostalgia has its place, I suppose. 2014's been loaded with reissues and throwback celebrations of many of the albums I spun twenty years ago, secluding myself in my room and pretending I wasn't skimming stroke books. Soundgarden and Meat Puppets were on heavy rotation, so catching these bands live at a ripened 33 years is a strange blend of the wistful and the sad. Contemporary bands glazed with early 90's influence, however, bring more suspiscion than sentiment. "We're influenced by My Bloody Valentine and Pavement." No, you're actually just bland and derivative.

Dodging scorn requires, obviously, innovation and progress. Crafting a sound that reminds me of something I can't quite pin-down is Athens, Georgia's The Powder Room. The trio's marriage of tradition and evolution marks just one of innumerable juxtapositions evident on Curtains, a nine-track exercise of (here it comes) whisper-to-a-scream jolts and assured stop-start sludge-noise that's somehow swollen with hooks and groove despite a devotion to rugged, violent filth. You can slam a warming Old Milwaukee, but you can also take a few breaths before you order another.

You're likely gonna hear more about these guys and who they sound like, but that's omitting what's much more important. The whole of this album trends dirty and downward, baiting you close with jarring tin guitar licks on the bass-led opener Disappointment. But moving through tracks like Earthworm and Frayed, you'll notice a sense of urgency under the dog-dollar trot. Pacing is tense, elements circle like hornets, and the screeches and shifting tempos are fucking dizzying. It doesn't take long until we're on our backs, knees to the sky.

Perhaps what sets apart these songs most is what's achieved between the gnashed lament. Blowout is sludgy and drenched in dischord, but Dead Pet truly resonates in its cavernous creepiness. There's a sparse atmosphere bookending the crushing brew of noise, all wrapped not-so-neatly in a cold, hollow wind. When the band isn't patching up last night's lumbered haze, they're peppering quick cruisers supplemented with frantic focus. There's a staggering level of movement on Curtains, though the unpredictability is strangely palpable.

This noise is slung with purpose and rolls with cool confidence. For all the low-end thickness and jagged licks, the tufts of melancholy worm their way into your senses with catchy nuance. The Powder Room are both trim and tubby, both fresh and seasoned. Forget what influence you think you're hearing. Focus more on what mood Curtains has drawn up for you. Thickening as it cools, the album is as all-encompassing as any I've heard in ages. There's a LOT here to digest. Luckily, I've got nothing but time.

For fans of: Melvins, Whores., Fudge Tunnel
Pair with: Breakfast Stout, Founders Brewing Co.

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Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: The Black Widow's Project - "Heavy Heart" / Half Gramme of Soma - "Half Gramme of Soma"

What's the cliché? Something about strapping yourself in because you are in for the ride of your life? Yeah, that's as good as any. Geneva, Switzerland is where the first set of fuzzbombs are carefully packaged before ignition and blastoff. Athens, Greece is the source for the second set of high octane combustibles. We've often gotten great fireworks from Greece and at least once from Switzerland, so this is no anomaly, but a trend of the most exciting kind, where distortion, talent, volume, passion, and melody are blended into tightly wrapped packages bursting with explosive potential. So, ladies and gentlemen, ye who venture into the realms and domains presented daily by Heavy Planet in order to visit the deviantly deft denizens and their concoctions . . . strap yourselves in and prepare for blast off!

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THE BLACK WIDOW'S PROJECT - "HEAVY HEART"

The Black Widow's Project is a three piece band from Geneva, Switzerland. "Heavy Heart" is their second offering, the first under the current lineup of:

Al Castro - Vocals, Guitar
Raph Legend - Bass
Mathieu Sink - Drums

Formed recently in 2010 the band quickly released their first EP, "Benefit of the Doubt", which garnered a ton of interest due to its huge, intelligent songs. After going through a bass player change with Raph recently joining the group, this small band with the big sound have now released their second collection of original fuzzbombs, but this time in the form of a full length record, crammed to overflowing with 14 stoner/retro rock originals.

The fuzz is huge on this album, as is the creativeness. The songs are well written and well executed, which makes for an incredibly enjoyable experience. Add to it the passion, the obvious and intense exertion in unfolding each creation in perfect time, and you get a special album.

The influences come from decades of great rock music, and influences beyond. You can hear sounds similar to hundreds of songs and rock bands down through the decades, but similarity doesn't mean replication. The song writing here for both music and lyrics is exceptional. The tapestries created are tight, bright, and satisfying. Each song is woven through with a myriad sounds from guitar, bass, drums, and vocals that make for the kind of album you can listen to a hundred times and pick out different and various pieces that go together to make a wholly satisfying whole on each of the fourteen offerings of "Heavy Heart". I don't hear one song sounding much like the next, while the sound for all remain uniquely that of The Black Widow's Project. Play any one song alone and you would know it was their creation. Listen through the whole album and you will be deeply engaged for each of the fourteen due to the uniqueness of each. That is rare and welcome ability, especially when it comes to rock music.

My favorite songs, something easier said than decided upon because I truly love them all, would include the following:

It's hard to beat the opener. It sets the tone most times for the rest of an album and on "Heavy Heart" that's exactly what happens. A lone guitar, distortion tuned to proper fuzz levels, kicks off the song on a brief intro that gives the listener the perfect indication of what's to follow, both for this song and for this album. Once "Ha Ha Ha Uh" kicks in you're in the stratosphere flying fast and high. The tempo is quick, the riffs are plentiful and varied, the bass is energetic and powerful, and the drums do the job of both driving the song's rhythm and adding to it's interest with stick fills and drum riffs that intrigue and satisfy. Alongside the amazing guitar work on this song is the equally amazing vocals. The raspy passion of Castro's belting of the lyrics falls just shy of amazing. He hits the proper tone with this rock and role vocal blast, never yelling as so many vocalists do, and certainly not quite singing in a prim, proper manner, which we would not want. He hits it just right, matching the tone and intensity of the instrumental portions of the song.

"Ain't Gonna Tell You Lies". To start with, who in Geneva, Switzerland says 'ain't'. We certainly do here in Oklahoma. But that's not why I like this song. I like the simple guitar strum opening with Castro singing in normal pitch, revealing that when he's not stretched to the max he still has a beautiful voice. A solo precursor within this song is a bass so low, so huge, it has to have been played by heavy rock moving machinery. The song is steady and simple, and somehow strikes a satisfying chord deep within.

"We Have to Be Free" is a beautiful song, plain and simple. It has a bluesy feel to it throughout as it goes back and forth between calm control, ignition, and fuzzbomb explosions. Moving through the various feels and tempos makes this one of the more intriguing songs on the album. The incredible execution by all three members playing their four instruments simply adds to the maximum pleasure. This is an addicting song that will have you longing for the next time through the album to hear it again.

"Spirits" is a spare, haunting song of incredible beauty that still manages to fuzz out around the edges.

The closer, "Innerwar", is one of the best of the bunch, along with the opener. These guys know how to open, and then how to close. "Innerwar" sounds like something from a concept album, obviously telling a story that's part of a larger whole, while remaining true to the single tale within. The ballad-like feel of the first few minutes of the song leads into a trippy, almost psychotic journey where the instruments lightly touch upon the sounds that play heavily upon your listening psyche, slowing building with textures of new riffs and subdued vocals.

EXCLUSIVE STREAM


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HALF GRAMME OF SOMA - "HALF GRAMME OF SOMA"

There is a HUGE contingent of stoner/retro rock from Greece, much of it from Athens. It's a large city, so why not, but it still seems as though an inordinate amount . . . which is a good thing . . . of underground rock n' roll calls Athens its home. Add to the list this tremendously gifted, rockin' band, Half Gramme of Soma, hereafter referred to as HGoS (almost hogs, almost ghost, defintely rock n' roll).

It's amazing to me when bands come from Europe how much the vocals can sound as if the singer is from down the road somewhere here in the U.S., and HGoS is no exception. I have no idea how much effort they have had to put into their studio performances to accomplish this sound, but it certainly gets my attention. Not nearly as much as their beautiful music screams for notice, though. The starting point for any band associated with the underground sound of stoner/doom/retro rock are the heavy, low tuned, fuzzed out guitars. It's what sets them apart from the no-riff uber-raff on the radio. HGoS is no exception here either. The guitars are pure meth and adrenaline mixed with . . . well, why not mix it with SOMA . . . creating an instantly satisfying warmth throughout your body, charging up your metal receptors, and creating a condition of pure party atmosphere pleasure, whether listening alone in your car, or cranking it up at a booze fueled end of the week celebration, or anything in between.

HGoS band members include:

John V. - Vocals
Alexandros K. - Guitars
Takis A. - Guitars
Nick G. - Bass
Uncle Jim - Drums

HGoS, having formed recently in 2011 and having honed their craft in the various live venues in and around Athens, manages to deliver high quality sound on all parts and pieces of their instrumentation. John V. has a great set of rock pipes, using them to great effect throughout the album. The twin guitar assault of Alex K. and Takis A. are effective, effusive, and effing awesome. Nick G. has somehow strung his bass to the heavy machines used in building tunnels through mountains, and Uncle Jim knows how to impeccably navigate the skins through the heavy maze of riffs from the 3 guitars by using just a pair of wooden sticks. Most of all, the fivesome know how to slap a song together in such a way as to make it memorable, exciting, enticing, and dripping with anticipation, all by mainly making clever and satisfying melodies, songs that not only rock, but bring a sort of fuzzy funk that fits perfectly with the low tuned, distorted bazooka blast emanations of the various string sources. While most stoner/retro bands draw heavily either from the great era of the 70s or the grunge and high desert eras of the 90s, HGoS seem also to have thrown in a sound that hearkens to the new wave sound of the 80s, which makes for a very intriguing metal sound, something that almost feels like they've solved the puzzle that existed on too much 80s so called rock. . . adding the big, fuzzy sound of stoner rock guitar.

This self titled album is their first foray into studio production and contains 9 melodic creations layered thickly with fuzzy metal shavings, crafted in such a way as to be most enjoyable when the amperage is set to ultra high levels and you have room enough to violently move about the room.

"Burn Your Shadows" opens with a funky guitar ditty that leads into the opening hooks and riffs that are slightly reminiscent of the B-52s or The Cure, except with a much heavier, beefier sound, especially when the instrumentation is isolated for several incredible minutes.

"Feed Your Hell" opens in a measured pace that leads into a more up-tempo refrain. John V.'s vocals lend a ballad like quality to the song as the twin guitars provide both a heavy undercurrent of deep, dark riffs plus a more penetrating and insistent interlude. The music here is telling a story, one that isn't all light and sunshine, but replete with dank, musty revelations.

"Secret of the Fox" is a partner piece to its predecessor above. It's steady, unyielding tempo is full of various textures of twisted metal licks and fills riding on an undercurrent of heavy bass, and narrated with melancholy, haunting vocals.

After several songs of deep, dark melancholia comes a song that is a masterpiece of tempo, melody, and listening enjoyment in "Dead End". I am not a master of culling out the lyrics to a song, so while the title would seem to convey failure in the journey of whomever is travelling through these songs, the atmosphere of the music seems to convey the opposite. A quicker pace, insistent and deadly drumwork, and metal rending guitar riffs accompany dual vocals on this song, providing the listener with an intriguing melody infused with heavy textures and bigger than life substance.

Immediately following is an incredibly haunting piece, "Wings Rusted Away", that allows for instrumental isolation to an extent, allowing the listener to go one on one with the huge guitars and whipcord drums. Vocals are magnified as well, as the melancholy of the tune intensely permeates throughout your body, taking over, inducing a trance-like state akin to a natural endorphin rush.

Melancholia and haunting melodies close out the album with "Under a Malign Star", where HGoS make sure to go out with a universe deafening explosion of metal distortion and amplification.

 


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Hot Potato Syndrome-New Band To Burn One To

Heavy Planet presents...today's "New Band To Burn One To" Hot Potato Syndrome!

Bio:

Hot Potato Syndrome are the members of different bands from the city of Athens (Gr) who came together and decided to explore the call of the wild and the mentality of those who succumb to it.A music place where one can quite possibly find one's self,but also discovering the dark possibility that we might find our own strange nature,working always as a team.

You can download their demo for free here (Mp3)

Band Members:

Xristodoulos– Drums
Akis–Vocals
Johnny–Guitars,voc
David– Bass





Thoughts:

"For some reason, Heavy Planet ranks higher in Greece than any other country in the world and we thank you for that. For that reason I receive a ton of bands from that region of the world. With that being said, Hot Potato Syndrome from Athens, Greece is one of the latest bands to submit to us. One thing is for certain, this band is all about the groove. The songs on their latest EP get funky and a bit psychedelic, but for the most part envelope the listener in equal parts bass-driven stoner rock and a nineties aggressive groove rock mentallity."

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New Band To Burn One To-Madleaf

The "New Band To Burn One To" today is Madleaf.

Bio:

MADLEAF is a four-piece band, Achilles (vocals), Nick (guitars), Dorian (bass) and Tsaga (drums).

The band first met with the previous singer Jim Lord and drummer George in an old tattoo studio and the name MADLEAF was inspired when the four of them noticed the spiral fall of the last leaf of an old tree.
They started out in 2004 in Athens - Greece and after spending few months writing and composing they hit the stage of the famous Greek live club "AN Club". "Underworld", "Mo Better", "Rodeo Club" followed. The suburbs followed as well.

The band was presented by the Greek press as an "All Star Band" because the members were part of other famous groups.The previous singer, Jim, came from the cult grunge - stoner rock group Lord 13 who always support bands like Hawkwind, Orange Goblin, Cathedral and Nebula. Drummer George came from the alternative and MTV featured band Make-Believe and Porphyria, guitarist Nick from the alternative Human Asteroid and bassist Dorian from the heavy metal outfits of Clairvoyant and Night Guest. All in one!

Even though the band was unknown at the time everybody knew the members from their other bands and was a matter of time for MADLEAF to be established as an uprising power to the greek rock scene.

With tracks like Sinners, Velvet and the groovy Into The Sun  MADLEAF pledges allegiance to everyone from Alice In Chains and Soundgarden to Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots.

Many gigs followed and MADLEAF shot at the top of the rock scene in the Summer Rock Festival 2005 in Antiparos GR along with successful bands such as The Earthbound, Potergeist, Nightstalker, Rockin Bones, Planet of Zeus ect.

The cool angriness of Jim's vocals left the audience to think of Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder while the wall of sound behind him sealed the coffin!

"MADLEAF is a band dressed for success" as the Greek Metal Hammer wrote after a live show supporting, the 13 year old cult band, Nightstalker.

In autumn 2007 MADLEAF started recording their debut album called "SINNERS" that was ready in January 2008 and include 11 songs. June 2008 finds MADLEAF signing with the legendary label Poison Tree Records based in California/USA.

Today, with the debut CD as proof, MADLEAF is in complete power with all elements contributing equally, and passionately, to a sound resonating from Greece, while winning fans throughout the world.

The recent release of "SINNERS" on the Poison Tree Records label along with a series of performances and a videoclip for the title song celebrating the debut confirms MADLEAF's place among bands poised to make a national statement.

In late 2009 the band changed two of it's members, singer Jim Lord and drummer George. New singer Achilles and drummer Tsaga stepped in to merge a new heavier sound for the band. 2010 brings with it a new direction for MADLEAF and...The best is yet to come…!

Until then they are hitting the stages and getting bigger and bigger day by day planning to move ahead to the next level of their career!

When I received the info for this band I was truly expecting a Stoner Rock band, Madleaf? What would you think? Well think again. Madleaf are a Heavy Rock band from Athens, Greece. The immediate comparison would be what a heavier Pearl Jam would sound like. Madleaf combines 90's grunge with modern heavy rock sensibilities. The songs are very radio-friendly and could hear them being played on any radio station in the states. Definitely not Stoner Rock, but there are some cool hard rock riffs on some tunes. I particularly like the tunes "Feed Me" and "Into the Sun" on their MySpace page.






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