LP Review: Shepherd / Death By Fungi Split

At the beginning of 2015, we were introduced to a sludge/doom band from Bengaluru, India, with their debut full-length record Stereolithic Riffalocalypse, and it blew us away (review here), so it was sad that we recently heard that Shepherd have decided to call it a day. However, before they leave us for good, they've have released a split record with fellow Indian band Death By Fungi, who onslaught us with a hardcore edge, and it's a nice stamp in the face to remember the band by.

Perhaps it's because they're sharing a record with a hardcore band, or it was a direction that the band were heading down before they called it a day, but Shepherd have lost some of their doomier aspects (just some though) and gone for full on sludge meets hardcore, with elements of fuzzy djent in there too (you remember djent? That musical genre that lasted the summer of 2009?), and it's a sound that's exciting to behold. The record opens with five tracks from Shepherd, with 'Agents of Nihil' setting the tone with a bleak and frightening monologue from the climax of the film The Exorcist 3, before the chaotic sludge explosion assaults you, while their almost trademark chugging bass heavy riffs drive the spine of the song forward, a sound which all us doom/sludge heads will cling to. The vocals mix with light and darker growls, while they even find time to shred while the drums go off like a pneumatic drill. Shepherd, haven't lost their sound, so much as shoved a firecracker up its arse and honed the results. Our highlight of the entire record is 'Hope Comes Gnawing' with an almost funky sludge bassline continues throughout, both exciting and frightening in the same breath. 'Fungalord' and 'Weed Dealer' (Shepherd have always been a band who like to have fun with their song titles, just see 'Turdspeak' or 'Black Cock of Armageddon') are tracks which are both excellent break-neck speed sludge tracks with elements of stoner added in for, well, why the hell not? You can never really relax with these guys as they can change time signatures and pull out devilish riffs from out of nowhere. We're going to miss this band.

While the hardcore genre may not be something with which you guys out there are necessarily drawn to straight away (this being a site for the best stoner/doom/sludge/psych etc), Death By Fungi are not a band that you should ignore. While many of the trademark hardcore elements are there with constant snare beats, breakneck speed playing, high velocity shouting vocals, there are definite elements of something just that bit heavier with this band, just take the riffs with 'Edgelord Breakdown' melting your face with it's furious assault throughout and the anger of the vocals screaming "You've failed me so many times!", they take the elements of sludge which Shepherd bring to the table and put their own spin on it, and it becomes an invigorating and refreshing listen. 'Dead Soil' morphs into a sound which is like doom on acid, with a fluctuating heart rate that'll kill you with a smile on your face.

Even though Shepherd have sped up their sonic game, they're still the slower, sludgier of the two bands here, and the compliment each other well. If this indeed does prove to be Shepherd's final opus (bands do get back together after all) then it's a mighty fine closing on a short, but heavy-as-fuck career, one which you're a fool to have missed so far (but thanks for introducing us to Death By Fungi on your way out). Get this record now and give your ears a good kicking!

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New Band To Burn One To: Sachem

Ooooh, now this is a bit fucking tasty! Vermont trio Sachem have put out a teasing demo for an upcoming release, and it's all kinds of nasty sludge metal with huge riffs that we love to get our teeth into, all drenched under heavy blues tones that ache awesomeness.

With a little enhanced production (not too much though), any future releases from these guys (Matt S - drums and vocals, Brett S - bass, Andrew G - guitar and vocals) is going to have us very excited to listen, as we're expecting very big, noisey things from these guys. For now, check out their demo, and crank it up loud!

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Quick Trip: ORANGE SUNSHINE - "HOMO ERECTUS"

A stunning blend of great late 60s, early 70s style psych-rock with heavy stoner fuzz sensibilities has been captured on this nearly 2 decade old album by Orange Sunshine. Listening to it is sort of a double deja vu by going back to the band's early days of the new century where they brilliantly captured the sound of 4 decades prior, the decades of flower power, of tripping on mind altering pharmaceuticals and mind blowing heavy rock, the decades of musical captivation and discovery.

The music on this album has an almost magical immersive quality to it, whether you lock yourself into your mancave and test the limits of your speakers, lock yourself out from your surroundings with headphones, or utilize your car's bluetooth functionality on that long roadtrip, you will quickly find that even without the help of pharmaceuticals your mind is expanding in pleasurable and exciting ways. The spells cast on this album are rendered with mystical guitar work that colorfully penetrates to a pulsing primal core, led by vocals that use that great breakout quality of rock vocalists of the era and accompanied by a superior, groovy beat of drums, and rapturously cool bass bonanza.

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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.

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New Band to Burn One To: PUSSYCAT AND THE DIRTY JOHNSONS

Directly from the sandy beaches and hot sun of...London, England...comes a raunchy, bawdy, in your face trio of rockers who deliver a high energy brand of rockabilly retro skate surf punk fuzz. The wailing, confrontational, all out vocals of frontwoman Puss Johnson (She's going to have to marry a Hampton, I think) are reminiscent of Sleater-Kinney's incredible Corinne Tucker. The dual guitars of Johnson and lead riff-meister Dirty Jake are a colossal sonic concoction of blistering be-bop and monstrous, memorable melodies. Filfy Antz drives it all forward in breakneck crescendo and perilous climax. This trio isn't climbing into any typical box of the usual fuzz labels, but the retro punk vibe is loud, raucous, and diabolically fun.

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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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New Band To Burn One To: COBRAJAB - "COBRAJAB"

Doom is the tenor of the day, with psychedelic bracing, stoner overtones, and profligate subterranean darkness, emanating from the capital of wholesome goodness, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Cobrajab, a foursome of visionary metalheads who, despite a 'just getting off the ground' presence online, have managed to produce and release an EP and an LP in the past two years, both of which are collections of magnificent riffage amalgamations. An unstoppable, steady force of deeply toned reverberation trudges unerringly, inexorably forward, opening pathways of psychedelic excursions of brilliance, as well as energetic bouts of stepped up fuzzery along the way, but never wavering from the melodic miasma of mighty metal machinations this band has so brilliantly conjured in their spells of doomweave. Their music is engaging, at times hypnotic, at others primal and spiritual, providing instant gratification while forging memorable long-term memory positions in the minds of DOOM aficionados.

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EP Track Stack: KING BOLETE - CANIBALES - GOATSCHLAGER - MAD CHICKEN

There are lots of quality EPs out there, both from known and established bands as well as from artists just trying to get something out there that might garner interest in what they've newly created. This is a classic case of intentionally avoiding the use of labels or identifiers and instead judging something based on its own merits. If an album has only two tracks, but those 2 tracks are pretty damn tasty, then I'm glad they've released it so I can enjoy. So, in the spirit of enjoying what's been made available, here are 4 EPs that provide only 10 tracks between them, but they're ten tracks worth your time because chances are there will be pleasure gained, satisfaction achieved, and perhaps a newfound interest in something of which you weren't aware yet was out there.

King Bolete hail from the Warrior Isles of England...and beyond that not much is known about this newly formed band. Their music is a straight up psychedelic stoner blues rock fuzzorama. What they've given us here is too short and extremely sweet. Hopefully more is to follow soon.

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Canibales is a three man band from Guadalajara, Mexico. They are veterans of stoner blues rock having formed back in 2005 and having released several albums in the interim. The music is primal and addictive. Luckily they have a sizable library on which to feed that addiction starting with the two ass-romping tracks on this new EP.

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Goatschlager, a four piece from Northern Ireland, have featured on Heavy Planet before as a New Band To Burn One To in 2016 with an initial 4 track EP, "Space Apache - Vol. I". Earlier this year they released another 4 track EP, "Dirt Mammal - Vol. II", and now this 2 track beauty "Welcome to Hog Valley" which they say was borne of the creative process for their impending "Vol. III". The music is heavy, hard, deep, and destructive, grinding out stoner vibes and subterranean riffs in memorable melody.

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Mad Chicken, are last but not least. This is a 4 track blitzkrieg of heavy metal from a 5 man Brazilian power troupe, expertly delivering an amalgam of every type of hard rock you may have listened to over the past 4 decades. Incomparable vocals lead the way for twin guitars of explosive fury and a rhythm section of shock and awe.

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Quick Hit: SIMPLE JACK - "BRAND NEW EYE"

Stoner Punk? That's the label I'd give Simple Jack's music, perhaps. As with all labels, though, it never tells the complete, or even correct story. Simple Jack's music isn't punk necessarily. It is brash and bold and unpredictable in its familiarity. Or maybe it's familiar in its unpredictability. The music is massive, with colossal guitars that riff and burn in grand stoner metal style on songs that carry incredibly clever melodies that are never sweet but always clean. Vocals are athletic and perfectly strained, adding a rapturous element to the whole. Subterranean rumble, like quarry explosions, emanate from the muscular bass riffage while the drums are immense, nimble, and deeply engaging of their own accord while still providing complementary assistance to each track

The cinematic image that comes to my mind is grainy black and white with a single Samurai slashing and dancing his way through a horde of challengers. The instrument is sharp and shiny and supremely deadly in the hands of its brash yet masterful wielder who eschews the traditional killing methods for his own lethal style.

Simple Jack are something new, something unique, something out of the standard mold yet still delivering the appropriate weighty sound as well as the important rush of primal triggers. They're raw yet precise, ragged but clever, and a whole lot of fun.

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Quick Hit: CORTEZ - "THE DEPTHS BELOW"

Veteran Boston rockers Cortez have advanced their long, high caliber legacy with a new, full length LP, their third album since inception back in 2006. This latest album by the quintet is a testament to their longevity as it provides some of the best tracks they've yet produced, music of the highest stoner metal caliber offered up over the past 11 years.

"The Depths Below" run a distinctive gamut of loud party fun, melodramatic psychedelics, hard, heavy, slabs of towering stoner metal resolve, and even a frolicking, hip-hop inspired romp of a hard rock bent. The melodies are intelligent and magical, providing sharp, indelible hooks, while the vocals are of a quality rarely experienced from within the hordes of underground rock bands. Riffs of twin guitars are piled high and loud, bringing steel wool fibered fuzz of rarefied magnificence. The rhythm sector is never overshadowed, displaying clear, unyielding stickwork of immense cleverness and ferocity as well as bass guitar of thick, gargantuan reverberations of primal explosion.

I had the privilege of reviewing Cortez on their eponymous sophomore release back in 2012, cutting my teeth on music easy to both enjoy and attest to. Five years later I get to do so again, an opportunity as satisfying as is their music to which I immensely enjoy.

While going over their discography I came across a single track they had released early in 2016, a cover of one of the premier rock bands of the 70s, Deep Purple. Cortez' rendition is a brilliant emission of a brilliant, but unheralded classic. I include it here for the sake of fun.



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Quick Hit: HEY SATAN - "HEY SATAN"

Trios kick ass much of the time. There's just no getting around it. The Lausanne, Switzerland trio Hey Satan kick ass from a number of angles on their debut eponymous release. To begin with this album RAWKS, and rocks hard. It's meant to be played loudly, and to be enjoyed completely. The music will absolutely flow through you like some dark, demonic doomspell. There are ten tracks on this inaugural LP and not one of them misses a cloven-hoofed step. Each is spellbinding with magical melodic imagination, a feat of epic proportions, and none of them are carbon copies of neither themselves nor of any stoner metal legends, providing ten dark, dewy songs on which to guzzle and savor. The stoner/doom influences are obvious as the gargantuan guitars reign supreme with riffs of deepness and distortion as well as searing, soaring solo runs, but obvious homages are rare as this trio's grand abilities forge their own armored merchandise of dark and hefty metal. Vocals provide a searing focal point with a superb rawness and range brilliantly matched to the music. Overall this is one hell of a debut, a memorable and savage romp that should solidify a place in end of year retrospections.


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Quick Hit: EARTH WITCH - "OUT OF THE SHALLOW"

Earth Witch have been producing and playing high energy, heavy metal doom rock since they first formed on Halloween night in 2012 playing Black Sabbath covers. An early EP, released on Halloween in 2013, was a brilliant admixture of psychedelic Black Sabbath doom. For their next offering to the dark fandom gods of haunting melodies and mammoth black-bottom riffs Earth Witch have stepped up their game, submitting a full-length LP of masterful musical acumen. The melodies are exciting and memorable, the riffs are an amalgam of searing psychedelic solos, subterranean rumbles of earth and stone, with characteristics of stoner/desert sounds sewn perfectly into the patchwork of deep doomness and ephemeral wisps of phantom Sabbath spirits. All of this comes to you in afterthought as you listen because the immediate response is joy, joy in experiencing music that masters every trait that we love about low-tuned massive, heavy metal. It's a forty minute escape, much more capable than any current virtual reality gimmick. It's an ode to past brilliance yet still a discovery of fresh raw power entirely attuned to primal urges of amplified sound.

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New Band to Burn One To: SPACE DEER

So far it has been a banner year for album releases with several albums either released or soon to be released from many of our favorite bands such as Sasquatch, Mothership, Elder, Steak, Geezer, The Midnight Ghost Train, and at least a dozen more. So, it's always such a sweet surprise when someone new can find their way up through the dark, teeming undergrowth of HUNDREDS of stoner/psych/desert...FUZZ... bands and THOUSANDS of fuzz albums to the sweet light of discovery. Space Deer, a provocative trio from Madrid, haven't yet found explosive recognition, but they should be on their way toward at least expanding their base because the sound they have managed to create is both recognizable and fresh, which is quite the trick in any corner of the musical world. Space Deer's sound is recognizable at once as a standard bearer of stoner fuzz rock, heavily ensconced in catchy melodies and memorable riffs. What makes them much more than a run of the mill knock off of amplified fuzz are their beautifully written and executed melodies, songs that instantly engage your rock n' roll soul all the way down to its primal core, engendering an instant spiritual euphoria of pleasure and escape. Sure the sound is familiar. That's what we love about it. But it's new, it's brilliant, its riffs are instantly exhilarating, its vocals immediately engaging and alluring, and its rhythm duo of bass and drums supply the dark heaviness of great metal sound.

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Quick Hit: EGYPT - "CRACKS and LINES"

North Dakota's premier stoner/doom rockers Egypt return with a darkly sizzling 5 track scorcher of an album that once again showcases their penchant for wielding massively heavy, wickedly sharp metal music in their inimitable stoner/psych/doom style, led by the singular vocals of Aaron Esterby, whose natural rawness far surpasses all the guttural affectations of heavy metal mimickers and followers. This band is genuine in their motivations and abilities just as their music is the real thing, tasteful and memorable, primal and heavy.

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Doom Hit: GREEN DRUID - "Ashen Blood"

Steady, subterranean, and filthy clean, Green Druid duskily flows with the drone of a thousand rusty amps through the cracks and pores of forgotten, ancient crypts. This sophomore EP from the Denver quartet is a darkly addictive monster of shadow riffs and deep earthen tones of sacred blood. This is doom, and it is mighty.

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Quick Hit: RUFF MAJIK - "THE HARE AND THE HOLLOW"

Mega-Fuzz rockers Ruff Majik have quite quickly returned with a new release....of sorts. It's only been two months since they issued the brilliant "The Swan", but Ruff Majik have something quite new, yet quite familiar, up their fretboards with what is apparently the initial three tracks of an eventual full-length album that will span a wondrous tale of fantasy. Their plan is to release a fourth of the album in time with each of the changing seasons of the southern hemisphere from which they dwell. This is exciting news, both for its creativity and its anticipation. The three songs that have burst forth through the ragged fissures of this threesome's psyche are earth devouring melodies of titanic proportions, ragged in riff, raging in solo, and gargantuan in rhythmic explosions. More to come is only welcome news for fans of their obsidian assaults.

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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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Album Review: SASQUATCH - "MANEUVERS"

Alright! The fifth album from one of rock's unsung practitioners has been released. Any spin through any one of the, now five, albums put out by the Los Angeles retro/stoner rock trio Sasquatch will provide opioid level euphoria through a delivery system of dense metal and decibel distension, packaged in razor sharp hooks and monumental melodies. This is the case with the first song on the first album through to the last song on the latest album, the freshly available "MANEUVERS".

The musicians that recorded "MANEUVERS" include:

Keith Gibbs - guitar, vocals
Jason Casanova - bass
Craig Riggs - drums

Where's Rick Ferrante, the longtime drummer for the band, you ask? He's very much still a part of Sasquatch. How could he not be? He's been there from the inception, providing a quality of rhythm drumwork rarely matched this side of Ginger Baker. Craig Riggs, himself an accomplished drummer, as well as vocalist, for the stoner rock legends Roadsaw and supergroup Kind, has been tasked with the skin-thumping duties on #5 as Sasquatch launch their campaign through Europe in support of the new album. Many, if not most, of the gifted musicians that ply their wares in the underground world of stoner/fuzz rock, do so outside of their regular job work schedules, so making extended forays away from those jobs isn't always possible. Rick, though, has other venues lined up for his phenomenal skills, both as a full-time member of The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic and playing live venues with the up and coming underground superstars Aboleth (is that an oxymoron - underground superstar?)

"MANEUVERS" consist of 8 intensely amplified tracks of thick, syrupy mega-fuzz in which Keith Gibbs' wonderfully mellifluous vocals match perfectly his sledge hammer heavy riffs and ozone searing solos, where Jason Casanova's bass is forcefully wielded, relentless in muscular ferocity, and Craig Riggs' steady rhythms sting and pound in incessant brilliance. The overall tone is a soulful resonance, somber, edgy, and nostalgic, unyielding in its sheer power.

"Rational Woman" kicks off the show with gargantuan raggedness, beautifully laid down in primal tempo, showcasing Gibbs' rich, powerfully melancholy vocals. "More Than You'll Ever Be" is steady and relentless, advancing in magnetic forcefulness. "Destroyer" demonstrates the raw might of haunting tonality. "Bringing Me Down" is reminiscent of early Sasquatch songs in sentiment and style, a welcome memory for some, a fresh introduction into past glory for others. Funky and on fire, "Just Couldn't Stand the Weather" brandishes a unique melody and style, a departure that doesn't stray too far from the path marked 'Sasquatch', but is populated by some intriguing mutations, riff creatures at once familiar and uncanny. "Drown All the Evidence" is Americana, magnified, amplified, and wracked through with distortions of flagrant pleasure, punctuated by elegantly ragged, bruising solos. "Anyway" is a psychedelic charmer, a brightly colored panacea, recharging batteries in color and brilliance. The closer is the massive and melancholy "Window Pain". The blue pain and gray fog atmosphere of this song is punctuated by the rare use of keyboards, highlighting the feeling of loss and a damaged soul. Solos reminiscent of Ernie Isley rip through the gray morass in sharp, keen doses.

Overall this album delivers a massive load of essential feels. The music is nostalgic and new, familiar because it's crafted by masters of more than a decade of accomplishment, as well as fresh in a package of nascent material that expounds on a proven formula without a hint of staleness. It's a sound that hearkens back to the last decade when stoner rock was still new and Sasquatch were new kids on the block. The guitars come in every satisfying form, distorting the edges, and burning the center, tapping into those primal cords that run central to us all. Gibbs' vocals are solid, full of heft and strength, and forging soulful connections over and again. Fierceness and joy, the hallmarks of those who love the weapons they wield, are on perfect display through Casanova's masterful, subterranean riffs. And Riggs steps into what would normally be a massive void, shouldering expectations and delivering brilliance with his consummate rhythmic execution.

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Riff Hit: ATTALLA - "GLACIAL RULE"

In June of 2014 Attalla released their self-titled first album which quickly garnered acclaim from consumer and critic alike. It was the type of album that, by the time you'd taken in all it's ragged riff glory you began craving the next release. It's taken nearly three years for them to issue a sophomore production, time, one must presume, they took in creating and mastering the contents of the doomrunner-up. It was time well and perfectly spent as "Glacial Rule" fairly detonates in controlled eruption on each track, delivering dense fuzz in dark doom licks, a more controlled assault, more measured in pace, than on the first album, deeper, thicker, but still melodic and hookish. It's perhaps evidence of growth that this foursome didn't rest on the laurels garnered by their initial release, but instead put in the time and work to craft something more, something still of themselves but delving into the gloom, down uncharted tunnels of thick atmosphere and impenetrable doom.

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Album Review: CLAN - "CARNIVORES"

Clan are a stoner rock band from Norwich, UK that exemplify the sound of the genre as well as any band of this century or the last. The mix of sound and style they are able to seamlessly incorporate into their music makes for something exciting, something quite fresh and new within perfectly executed familiar sounds. The fuzz packed riffs on every song are thickly sweet and mesmerizing. The vocals from front-man and lead guitarist Matt Pearce are singular, powerful, compelling, exotic, and provocative. Yes, they are that good and that unique.

Clan consist of:

Matt Pearce - vocals/guitar
Matt Rabong - bass
Ben Giller - drums

There are 9 songs and an intro on this full length album, so the achievement is commendable in that each track is an intricate, hooky, and memorable display of the band's tapestry of skill and endeavor. The melodies are fun and addictive, whether letting the power of Giller's stickwork course through the inner pathways of your neural system, or allowing the immense horsepower of Rabong's deep bass rhythm overwhelm your sensory presence, or thrilling to the double onslaught of Pearce's vocals and masterful riff-bringer guitar.

Clan bring a lot of old school mentality to their brand of hard rock by focusing first on melody before overlaying their well-crafted ditties with powerful, familiar stoner fuzz, which makes for great excitement on the first spin through the nine tracks, and immense enjoyment on each subsequent spin.

"Carnivore" comes out of the gate with a scorching intensity on the first full song, "Burning Bodies", setting the stage beautifully for what's to follow. The title track is an immense mammoth of sound and splendor as is it's follow on, "Jackal". "Haunt Your Ghost" and "Wolves" pummel through with relentless power and heft. "True Believer" is perhaps the bellwether track, the one that ignites immediate interest and excitement, leaving an indelible bruise of sweet darkness. "Sleep in Salt" showcases the brilliance of the rhythm duo of Rabong and Giller throughout the slightly melancholy and memorable melody. "White Spider" rivals "True Believer" as a signature track, one that radiates with special sweet, ebon melody brimming with dark fire and subterranean power.  "Blood of the Father" closes out this darkly shining gem of an album with the most haunting, slow burn song of the bunch, a viscous and succulent morsel that leaves you yearning for more before you're even done listening.

It's been three years since Clan have released an album, but the wait has been well worth it with this wonderful, witty, and addictive collection of great melodies and powerful stoner metal music.


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