Writers' Top Ten records 2015: Pete

We’ve pretty much made it to the end of 2015, a year which has pushed me to the farthest realms of what it means to be a human, from heart-break and loss, to unquestionable happiness and excitement, back to misery again, bit of mundanity, confusion, questioning, joy, acceptance, and change: basically everything that makes each of us human, and in the end, that is what living is, otherwise, without those things, what’s the point? Anyway, what I’m really getting to here, is for me, which will be just like you, there’s a lot of shit going on in your life, but you keep going, and one of the things that helps us all through it, is what we choose to soundtrack our lives. Music will always get you through!

So what has got me through this year? Here is a list of my Top Ten records of 2015, you might not agree, you might not have heard of one or two, but they’re the records I’ve returned to over the year, and so mean just that little bit more to me. Here we go…

10. Rosy Finch – ‘Witchboro’

A record split into two parts, one hard rocking, the other hauntingly doom. It's beauty lies in it's ghost-like movements, always keeping you on the edge as it glides between stoner, grunge, and doom with a menacing ease.

9. Mutoid Man – ‘Bleeder’

Stephen Brodsky's best musical project to date! The record shreds with layers upon layers of face shredding riffs and scorched vocals that make you scream "FUCK YEAH!". The record's over before you know it, but it's a hell of a ride.

8. Stoned Jesus – ‘The Harvest’

Stoned Jesus are a band who are constantly improving as artists, and The Harvest is the pinnacle of their career so far: tighter musicianship, heavier guitars, and more precise well written songs. It's short, but it's heavy in all the right places. Here come the robots!

7. 1886 – ‘Before The Fog Covers The Mount’

To quote specifically from the review, this record is all about dreamy riffs, acid-dropping stoner tempos, and laid-back vocals, its a record to obsess over! It was released 11 months ago, but it still burns brightly amongst the masses of records that have followed.

6. Clutch – ‘Psychic Warfare’

It's a new Clutch record! I don't need to say anything else. You probably own it anyway!

5. Elder – ‘Lore’

The opening track from Lore, 'Compendium' is the most played song on my MP3 this year. Elder have created a stunning heavy psyche record which has left anyone else in their genre in awe. Talk about a game changer!

4. MAKE – ‘The Golden Veil’

The Golden Veil stands out in this list as it's heavily focused on post-metal/rock vibes, but it is a record which draws so much emotion out of you, leaving your body a traumatised mess on completion, that it cannot be ignored. It is a record of utter beauty.

3. Void Cruiser – ‘Overstaying My Welcome’

The record came from nowhere, I didn't have high expectations, but when it played it simply blew me away. 8 songs of sheer stoner rock heaven. You will love this record.

2. The Heavy Eyes – ‘He Dreams Of Lions’

The Heavy Eyes keep on improving with each release with their heavy blues sound, and on their third record, they've turned things up once again, creating, faster, heavier, stoner/blues songs that are exhilarating from start to finish. What these guys will create next is teaming with anticipation.

1.Boar – ‘Veneficae’

From the first full spin of this record, I knew this was going to be the best record I had heard this year. Combining elements of doom and metal, alongside the overwhelming dominance of stoner and psychedelic tendencies, Veneficae is a heavy heavy record that at times leaves you stunned with it's power, crushing, and breathing life back into you once more. This record gives you everything, you just have to be ready to take it.

A special mention has to go to ‘Purple’ by Baroness, only got to hear it after I had compiled this list, but it’s sounding immense, and ‘The Gospel According To Shawn James & The Shapeshifters’ by Shawn James &The Shapeshifters. It’s not stoner, sludge, or doom, but bloody hell is it fantastic!

Music will always be with you, whatever life throws your way, so look at 2016 head on, grab it by the balls, turn the record up to 11, and show them just what you’re made of.

Happy Holidays Everyone.

Pete.

Triple Thursday: Rosy Finch, Pohjoinen, Warchief

Rosy Finch - Witchboro

Let’s get this straight off the bat: Spanish trio Rosy Finch have created a simply stunning record with their debut Witchboro. Blending equal parts stoner, noise, and grunge, it’s a record channelling influences from Melvins to Screaming Females crossing over punk and doom influences along the way...tasty right?

     

Formed in 2013, featuring members of Pyramidal and Hela, the Alicante girl/boy/girl group’s debut record packs a hell of a punch from the off with ‘Ursula’ leading the band down a doom trodden path as the vocals of Mirela Porto and Elena Garcia enrapture as much as they guide you down a dark and scary path of layered riffs and pounding drums that is an enthralling listen. All of the band’s influences come raging out throughout the record with the punk screaming, psychedelic drifting of vocals and guitar picking, frenetic noise assaults, and no nonsense stoner songs that make you ache for the desert sun.

    

The band describe the record as ‘a journey through the soundscape of "Witchboro", a dark and soulless village where the occult and magic meet’ and is split into two parts; Black Hills and Sea Of Trees. The first half of the record is the heavy swathes of stoner that they excel at, while the second half is more of experimental meanderings into psychedelic waters, focusing on hazy vocals and doom-esque instrumentation that captures you in many moments of contemplative hypnosis.

    

Witchboro is an outstanding record, one that will be challenging the top of many a end of year list by the time 2015 is done with us.

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 Pohjoinen - Pohjoinen

The gut-busting sludge/stoner sounds coming from Scandinavia in todays' scene is an impressive feat, making it one of the hottet places for new talent in the market we love, and added to the ever expanding list is Pohjoinen with their self-titled debut, with enough menacing threat to make you run for the North European hills.

   
Three years on from their demo, the Finnish trio have mixed together elements of stoner, sludge, metal, prog, and a bit of doomy death for good measure, and the results are brutal at times. Take a track such as ‘Kuolema’ which takes you on a complete journey covering every venomous grunt or rage filled riff and despairing vocal the band have to offer, and drive you through every emotion with them, whether they bury you in doom or throw you head first into the razor sharp metal riffs and guttural screams; they’re not a band to do things half-heartedly.

    
The native tongue certainly gives the band a sense of an alienating other worldly beast, but the riffs and songwriting allow everyone to cling on for dear life to this assault that Pohjoinen are taking us on, whether it’s a floating doom of ‘Joki’, the gritty stoner riffs of ‘Luovuttaja’ or the death prog of ‘Helvetin Aurinko’. Pohjoinen is not a record for the faint hearted, but if that’s not you, allow yourself to be subjected to their relentless time and style changes and impressive musicianship, it’ll be worth your pulse rating for a good hour or so.

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 Warchief - Warchief

Another band from Finland in our Triple Thursday review, but a slightly different beast this time round as the Jyväskylä band Warchief have crafted a record full of rock and roll stoner songs with experimental wanderings into fields of sludge and grunge thrown in for good measure, and it creates an enthralling listen.

Opening track ‘Give’ fluctuates between gentle soft rock bases before launching into screaming stoner deluges of sheer glory as the seven-minute track closes into a gargantuan wall of riffing noise. The vocals are in English and clean cut, and they work perfectly with the edgy vibes of the music and the youthful spirit evident in a track like ‘Hounds of the Dune’ which is as groove-laden as it is brutal.

    

The closing of the record is split into two 10 minute parts with ‘For Heavy Damage I’ and II, showcasing all of this exciting band’s talents, trawling the listener through every avenue of stoner glory, experimenting with modern day rock jagged edge playing, and doing what they set out to do in “exploring the many dimensions of the rock and roll universe”. Warchief is one of those records where once it’s finished, you take a moment to gather your thoughts, and hit that replay button straight away.

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