Song of the Day-Ecstatic Vision-"Astral Plane"

"Astral Plane" is taken off the latest release "Sonic Praise" out now on Relapse Records. The song combines elements of 70's heavy space rock with a rhythmic energy. Total cosmic intensity! For more information on this amazing band, please check out the following links. Facebook | Relapse

LP Review: "Crooked Doors" by Royal Thunder

Sometimes “heavy” is more than the notes coming out of the stereo. Sometimes “heavy” is more than the drums, bass, guitar and vocals. Sometimes “heavy” is even more than the visuals associated with the band or the audience they play for. I’m thinking of old Sabbath, Vitus or even modern interpreters like Witchcraft. Heavy is something deeper in those cases. The latest album from Georgia rockers Royal Thunder fits solidly into that vein. In this case, the heaviness is in both the soul of the music and the intense subject matter of the record. This is a breakup record in the many senses of the term.  

Of course, there’s the romantic split between lead singer/bassist Mlny Parsons and lead guitarist Josh Weaver, but there’s also a narrative on the dissolution of several different bonds wrapped in the many layers of the songs.   When Mlny sings “I’m looking for a time machine; but i cannot go back; and change one single thing; its staying all intact” in album opener “Time Machine”  she’s  speaking to ALL of the bonds in need of breaking. 

All of these words and subject matter are one thing and would tell their own story if only as a story. What makes the album truly compelling is the music hooked onto those sentiments. It’s at once harrowing and emotive. Royal Thunder’s first album “CVI” was solid and muscular; a gothic/blues elbow strike powered by Mlny’s Ann Wilson-meets-Janis Joplin voice and Weaver’s groovy 70’s guitar work. On “Crooked Doors” some of that over powering confidence is replaced by a seething anger and disappointment; the ties that bind are breaking and this is their soundtrack. It’s got all of the impact of the first record only even more compelling.

There are several highlights (including the aforementioned opener) and “The Line”, which sounds like an outtake from a Josh Homme side project with its skittering dirty guitars and stop/start rhythm. Perhaps the most cutting track on the record is “Glow”.  The plodding tom-driven beat powers Weaver's narco-slide guitar. It’s a deceptively complex song. It seems fairly straight forward at first listen, but the layers reveal themselves. By the time the solo hits in the 3^rd quarter it’s arena sized as Mlny sneers “you’ve got a lot of nerve spending it like it’s free; you got a lot of nerve to lie and lie again; you got a lot of nerve but you ain’t foolin’ me”.   Ain’t love grand?

You can grab this powerhouse on all the usual channels, iTunes, Google Play and sample the wares on their bandcamp and Facebook pages.

Soma by Windhand

Richmond's Windhand have just released their Relapse debut and fans of doom and gloom will rejoice, but this album might speak to fans outside the genre as well. I catch whiffs of shoegaze, and there are a few drone sections that might appeal to fans of that genre, the masochists. 

Soma kicks off with the track "Orchard", and sets the heavy/haunting tone of the album. "Woodbine" contains a chorus that will move even the most stoic of metal heads. If you see Windhand live I bet you'll catch a few in the audience moving their lips when this one plays. "Feral Bones" is as thick a a Sequoia trunk. "Evergreen" is a haunted tune that is carried by acoustic guitar and Dorthia's vocals. If you're with me this far, the other tunes will please you just as much. There's only two of them, but they clock in just under 45 minutes.

The album is brilliant, there are layers to be uncovered, deep visceral feelings to be felt through the sonic stimulation of the tunes. You'll get lost in these riffs, find yourself transcending this plane, but then a solo will pop up and bring you back down to Earth. The album is haunting, heavy, and excellent. 

The cover, as you can see above, is a pic of a desolate shack in the middle of some foreboding woods, and after listening to the album, I'm convinced that this shack is their recording studio. Not because the music sounds lo-fi or isn't well produced, it's not that at all, it's that the emotion and vibe couldn't have been captured in some studio next to a 7 Eleven.

And the compulsory who meets who record review comparison? Pallbearer meets Acid King? Why not.

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I bet Windhand is on Bigfoot's Ipod.