Quick Hit: ATRAGON - "I, NECROMANCER."

Yesterday's post was from the far south reaches of the UK in Bournemouth. Today we fly with the raven due north for over 400 miles, shedding the robe of grunge garage fuzz along the way in order to don a cloak of dingy, heavy, black molasses soaked doom, alighting in Edinburgh, Scotland where the smoldering heat of Atragon envelope us in thick elixirs of darkness and portent.

The sophomore album from this Scottish quartet is quite simply massive. It's ambitious and fearless, delving deeply into murky and primal psychic veins of ebon metal ore. It's an all enveloping assault on the psyche of devotees of doom, borne of the dark sonic distortions of amplified axes and black batteries of bass drum, the jagged, frenetic chanting of shadow art practitioners, and the evil genius of psychic melody makers deeply entrenched into oily, obsidian enchantments.

bandcamp <{}> facebook  <{}> label

Album Review: Pesta - Bring Out Your Dead

Black Sabbath is an absolute standard bearer for much of what we love in heavy metal, whether it be stoner, doom, sludge, or other darker dives into low tuned musical underworlds. Fans of Black Sabbath, therefore, might find the latest release by Belo Horizante, Brazil's Pesta an absolute rush of addictive melody, riff, and distortion. Pesta do not rip off Sabbath, but instead channel much of those dark metal arts laid down long ago through their own abilities and tendencies, which are superb in delivering well developed, expertly executed tracks of a near genius blend of doom and stoner rock.

The members of Pesta are:

Anderson Vaca - bass
Thiago Cruz - vocals
Daniel Roca - guitar
Marcos Resende - guitar
Flavio Freitas - drums

The album opens with a kick to the head on "Black Death", announcing early that darkness and heft are the linchpins of their sound. Guitars and bass boom ponderously, unflinchingly through clutching muck and dark mire, leading up to more energetic riffs of pure bliss that are overwoven soon enough by Cruz' penetrating, robust vocals. "Words of a Madman" combine slogging doom hammer blows with a sing-song melody that is as ferocious as it is joyous. Next up, an ode to their totem inspirations via a beautifully rendered bass solo from Vaca with "The Butler Did It", which leads quickly into what is now the established deep richness of Pesta's renderings on this 8 track release with "Intimate". Tempo and spice are kicked up a notch on the freewheeling "March of Death", perhaps the album's best track. "The End is Near" is a beautifully rendered instrumental segue, while a return to form in "The 4th Horseman" and the longer, seven-minute trek of "Possession" round out this sophomore effort from these South America virtuosi with the surprising gifts of offering up a fresh take on the time-honored, and often sought sound of one of Metal's alltime greats.

bandcamp || facebook || bandcamp (initial EP)

Album Review: "The Bushgate" - Samba Cemetery

Are you looking for something fresh, something with a bit of the new, something that tickles that desert/stoner rockbone without directly rehashing a thousand albums already consumed? Samba Cemetery's "The Bushgate" might just be the thing to trigger that rewind button interface on your music app and perk up your stoner rock antennae.

There are some sharp metal edges and thickly welded melodies throughout this 5 song EP that opens with the title track, an instrumental that will make you think you're in for a psychedelic excursion before it smoothly segues into a huge riff barrage. "Samba" gives way to "Blast of the Rex" where fast and fierce rhythms fuel the launch of this EP juggernaut for the album's duration.

"Rolling" catches it's breath....just for a bit... before itself expending jet fuel to hurl us into the deep, dark recesses of this vibrant, viscous concoction of sand, sound, and steel.

"Help Me Breathe" is mighty. It's muscular. It's a mammoth rendering of the razor edges Samba Cemetery wield with an assassin's relish.

The EP closes out with a perfect coup de grace, "Last Samba", a long agonizing burn off of sugar and sweetness to reveal pointy crags of sharp rock, the cracking timber of splintering oak trees, and precisely honed riffs of gleaming metal edges.

Hailing from Berlin this powerful threesome include:
Ruben Leon - Vocals, Guitar
Lukas Weber - Drums
David Gi - Bass

Leon's vocals are pure barbed razor and rusty iron rebar, slicing and cleaving in and through his equally dangerous sharp riffs and bruising runs on guitar.

Gi has brought the big hammer to the job with his bombardier bass perfectly rendering the primal underpinnings of the music.

Weber's drumwork is unrelenting, unstoppable, and invanquishable, pummeling and pounding in a pugilistic onslaught, never retreating behind or below his amplified brethren.

Together this threesome are able to deliver that rare bond between superbly crafted melodies and expertly delivered renditions of such.

When all is told this short foray of lustful metal is blissful and refreshing, well worth a kickback and listen, a bandcamp and chill, or a Heavy Planet and Jam.

bandcamp ||  facebook || soundcloud || spotify

Nuclear Dog's Atomic Split: Hollow Leg - "Abysmal" / Brimstone Coven - "II"

We are in the midst of an exceptional year in which an abundant and bountiful release of great music spanning the stoner/doom/psychedelic and retro/blues rock genres is suddenly available for our spiritual pleasures. Nothing in the universe deeply stirs the soul like great rock music, and this is a time of great spiritual satisfaction. Over the course of the next several days I hope to introduce to you those albums that have managed to potentiate the spiritual metal receptors of my soul in order they may do the same for you. I begin with two albums of disparate sound, made by members of not dissimilar experience, in which both have managed to create exceptional and timeless metal music.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 HOLLOW LEG - ABYSMAL 

 For their earlier release in 2010 of "Instinct" the North Florida band Hollow Leg were the twosome of Brent Lynch on strings and vocals and Tim Creter on drums, but for their new release, "Abysmal", they have expanded their ranks to a foursome adding Tom Crowther on bass and Scott Angelecos on vocals. The result is a massive tapestry of unique and intense metal, weaving together intricate, intelligent threads that form a thoroughly mature sound that likely derives from rock sources old and new, but resounds with a fresh and gifted cacophony of their own creation, establishing a signature sound that becomes instantly recognizable while remaining fresh and exciting, delivering immense metal gratification. The guitars of Crowther, Angelecos, and Lynch are low and massive, pile driving incessantly in a major infusion of metal analgesic. Creter's drumwork is spectacular in anabolic rhythm. Perhaps the crown jewel is Angelecos' vocals, manipiulating a rough and ragged voice that thankfully falls way short of cookie cutter growling and instead is crystal clear in its ragged butcher block intensity. Add to all this the brilliant melodies that underlie the dark and gritty riff-letting and you have a contender for Top Ten of 2013, as well as a lifetime 'go to' album. The title track starts the album off by setting a deep dark metal atmosphere. There is not a step backward on any track down the line from there. All are notable. My favorites are "Ride to Ruin" and "Lord Annihilation".

 Facebook .. Bandcamp
 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BRIMSTONE COVEN -II

This album is a metal groovefest of the highest caliber, with songs that follow no strict structural formulas for either retro or stoner sensibilities yet manage to incorporate just enough low tuned doominess and psychedelic blues vapor that the music fits nicely on the playlists of the Followers of the Fuzz. Hailing from Wheeling, West Virginia the foursome of "Big John" Williams on vocals, Corey Roth on guitar, Andrew D'Cagna on bass, and Dan Hercules on drums make up the epic and soon to be timeless rock band Brimstone Coven. They have managed to release two superb albums in the span of  eighteen months or so, adeptly carving out a special niche for their clever, soulful, and powerful music. There is no skimping on meaty, beefy bass and guitar work anywhere on the plethora of ten solid tracks as D'Cagna and Roth fire off low tuned and mesmerizing riff volleys in steady portion throughout the album, often overlaid by searing, scorching solo conjurings from Roth that permeate straight to the essence of the listener's fuzzy soul. When taking Williams' spellbinding vocal tapestries into account the bewitching nature of Brimstone Coven's music is in full effect.

The trick with modern metal of any genre is typically going to be how to manage the use of derivations from six decades of essential heaviness and still be able to form your own unique sound. Only the clever and gifted stand a chance of creating anything of significance over and above masterful execution of instrumentation. Brimstone Coven are proving to be artists of keenness, insight, and imagination. What they have put on offer with "II" is a haunting, rollicking display of deep, profound, and acutely riveting metal amalgamations.

My favorite track is "The Black Door", an entirely unique sound that casts a woolly and inescapable spell. "The Grave" brings forth dark spirits of bloody sabbaths past in a witches brew of heavy broth and searing solo chunks. The closer is mighty and fierce in musical breadth, once again conjuring spellbinding incantations of stygian riffs, deep, dark, relentless drumwork, and mesmerizing harmonies of ethereal vocals.

 Facebook . . Bandcamp . . Website