Album Review: Buzzzard - "Cold Blood"

Dateline Carbondale, Illinois. Four young rock n roll entrepreneurs have decided to band together and create an album in the stoner blues style. Of course, this is nothing unusual. This happens all the time all over the world with slight variations in style of music and number of band members. But what doesn't happen all the time is a perfect confluence of talent, desire, and ability. It has happened here.

This album is pure stoner blues. There's nothing else there and there doesn't need to be. It's beautiful, magical, and haunting. 7 tracks where guitar, bass, drums, and vocals weave a primal, almost spiritual musical journey. It is keen in scope and massive in conveyance.

Band members are:

Mike Lighty - Guitar/Vocals
Cody Beckman - Drums/Backup Vocals
Ben Bleyer - Bass
Kasey Rogers - Guitar/Backup Vocals



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LP Review "Aeonian" by Ethereal Riffian

"Aeonian" is the result of the collective mind trip of Ethereal Riffian; 4 vibration shamans from Kiev who take psychonautical audio expeditions to unexplored heavy realms where they craft transcendent columns of brightly colored psychedelic fuzz supported by the unshakeable foundations of lowend riff-mantra doom. Ethereal Riffian, however, do not stop at simply repetitive doom and psychedelic fuzz metal, as an eclectic smorgasbord of vibrations are intricately woven into their heavy tapestry of illuminated sound. By exploring and then blending together the myriad of vibrations they discover, ER create an album that goes far beyond just 'run 'o the mill' psychedelic stoner rock and riff worshiping doom metal. "Aeonian" serves up a spiritual lesson.

There are riffs aplenty throughout "Aeonian" and they are delivered directly to your synapses from the off on the album opener "Thugdam (Sensation)". There is no time for introspective meandering or teasing with a preparatory minimal ambiance that inevitably leads to a stoner or doom riff climax as ER instead choose to launch head first into a blazing torrent of stoner metal explosions that immediately grabs and holds your attention whilst leading the way to spirit raising chants and heavy slabs of doom granite that slowly turn to shades of blissful psychedelia. A path is then laid by Ethereal Riffian that leads from the 5 sense prison to beyond the veil of illusion and reveals the hidden realms from where comes the source of all that we experience. We are then taken on a journey where spheres of blinding white light metal explode into endless meshes of vibrating riff heavy fuzz that are evoked by a boundless chanted mantra. The invoked astralscapes that burn into your third eye through the concentrated flame of white hot stoner metal provides a full blown psychedelic meditative experience without having to spend 10 years sat cross legged on a Tibetan mountain top or without having to imbibe and then purge a foul tasting root brew in the suffocatingly humid and insect ridden jungles of Peru.

What Ethereal Riffian deliver with "Aeonian" are infinite phases in sound that unfold like the petals of an eternal flower with each revealing a new dimension of hypnotically riff heavy and psychedelic stoner doom metal that is at least as transcendent as any of Om's spiritual workings and is, at times, as acid fried as any of Pink Floyd's weird sonic experiments. "Aeonian" is more than a fuzz and riff heavy stoner doom album, it is a valuable spiritual working; and with the aid of the book penned by 2 members of the band and which comes with the stunningly packaged CD, Ethereal Riffian offer themselves as learned guides towards higher states of awareness.

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Zac's "Double Dose": Brain Pyramid / Colossus

Brain Pyramid: Magic Carpet Ride 

Hailing from Rennes, France this weeks first 'Dose, Brain Pyramid, aren't afraid to compound a pliable blues structure and jazz time signatures in effort to create their own versatile and authentic chronicle in the vast halls of psychedelic and acid rock. Brain Pyramid envisioned a narcotic induced composition and liberated it, choosing the title Magic Carpet Ride. A fitting title indeed. Wasting little time getting your mind's eye operating the trio flick their favorite Zippo and the EP opener Bad Luck is strutting through a discordant jazz based instrumental track with that signature seventies sit-com distorted guitar whurl. Bad Luck is engulfed in a cacophony of rhythmic tidal waves, leaving the guitar submerged in the mix before triumphantly resurfacing. A spoken style of vocals materializes in the midst of the heavy and gnarled chord progression of track two, Stone Woman Blues. This vocal approach is carried throughout Magic Carpet Ride, always buried in the mix and an accoutrement to the bounteous slabs of blues RIFF'ing. The prize of the pack for this listener is Mary Jane Blues, a song driven by a slide acoustic guitar, a whole lot of pluckin' and some old time hand clappin'. The track shines with a south-western sweaty-sheen and character that I admire. The fellas then bounce back to the blues focused grooves with the heavy-weight EP closers Cosmic 1000 Years and Electric Spell. Check them all out at bandcamp where Brain Pyramid are offering the download at a "name your price" cost and a limited edition CD for about $5.00.

Members: 

Baptiste Gautier-Lorenzo - Drums 

Gaston Lainé - Guitar // Vocals 

Maxime Ploteau - Bass

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Colossus: Wake 

Colossus have chosen well. They've not only chosen a name that portrays the immense structure of their sound waves, they have managed to illustrate themselves, absolutely, in a single word. Which is mind-boggling once your ears experience all the sonic-nutrition encapsulated inside this sixty minute opus. Having released a highly praised EP, in Spiritual Myiasis, and citing a broad spectrum of progressively minded metal heads as influences, this trio are now ready to climb to the next step on the heavy metal ladder with their first full length release and take some of the recognition they so deserve. The album is entitled Wake and fans of Meshuggah, The Mars Volta, and Tool will find themselves cozy while this warm and organic form of progressive sludge metal coats their cerebral cortex. Wake finds itself in the midst of a music battle where burly, testosterone fueled sludge metal face off in combat with a tempo-driven, jazz-paced choreography. Utilizing some middle eastern themed chanting Colossus connect the earthy concepts that flow so bounteously throughout Wake to its bionic essence. Even with all of this strange, progressive fusion, Colossus unify their concept producing a stand-out and loaded album. In the end Wake is simply COLOSSUS. Be sure to check out the first single Pillars of Perennity below or order a copy at amazon or iTunes

Members: 

Niklas Eriksson - Guitar // Vocals 

Peter Berg - Bass 

Thomas Norstedt - Drums

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LP Review "Alunah - White Hoarhound"

The sprawling and pollution stained concrete of Birmingham city, which lies in the appropriately named area of the UK known as the Black Country, can be considered the great womb of heavy metal and its splintering genres, having spawned such ground breaking and brain quaking bands as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Witchfinder General, Napalm Death and, a personal favorite of mine, Godflesh. But those are just some of the more well known bands from Brum (as it's affectionately known here), and with this latest release from Alunah, Brum has yet again spawned a band who have a direct link to the heavy current that flows through the dark land of the Black Country.

This past few years has seen a flurry of female fronted doom and stoner bands, none of which I'll mention here as you will probably know at least a couple of the more well known and successful ones. The lead singer of Alunah however, gives those particular bands a real run for their money. Her voice is simply exquisite and is a nigh on perfect accompaniment for the sound that Alunah make.

White Hoarhound is Alunah's second full length release, with 6 tunes of crunchy fuzzed out, down tuned and shroomy pagan inspired Doom Metal (and one acoustic dark folk jam) released on vinyl by Napalm Records.

From the opener, Demeter's Grief, Alunah come with spaced out psychedelia preceding mighty doom riffs of low-end fuzz conjured from the earth as if tapping a vein of ancient bardic energy that has lain dormant for time immeasurable. I can almost taste the soil and the stone when the thick fuzz hits me. When I close my eyes I see hoards of robed up wizards carrying oaken staffs, a sacrament of psilocybin brews consumed and chanting huge bass tones at a towering monolith, drawing mother Gaia's nurturing flow of life giving energy to ensure a bountiful crop and a strong and healthy tribe. This is doom but it is natural earthy doom and it's very laid back in its delivery.

Track 2 is White Hoarhound and Alunah do not mess about here. They slam you immediately with chunky stoner grooves, the solid fuzz tickling the core of your brain and guitar licks of stupendous mind expanding proportions. The singers lyrics are delivered with sumptuous earthy vibes that put the listener in a trance; telling a story that could well have been penned by some vastly ancient scribe. It is spiritual stuff indeed; an ode to the old ways of pre-Roman Britain, ways that never really went away because they are recorded in the ground and in the rocks and in the forests.

Belial's Fjord, the third track, reinforces the pagan vibe that Alunah create with this album. We are treated to yet more low-end fuzziness and stomping drums and riffs of doom with vocals that drift through unexplored mountains and valleys filled with long stretches of deep dark water. What lies beneath nobody knows, but this must be the sound the  ancients used to move their huge stones vast numbers of miles.

Next is The Offering where Alunah offer up a slow dirge of fuzz and other worldly chanting followed by spine wrenching stoner rock riffage and a hymn to the pagan gods. It traverses huge expanses of sacred land and echoes around the temple of Gaia. It is indeed an offering and one that Alunah make in earnest showing where their heavy hearts truly lie.

The Chester Summer is track 5 which opens with sounds of an ominous wind blowing until a bass tuned to doom and stepping drums herald a plunging of thick warm fuzz and Sabbathian riffs cover you from head to toe entombing you in a cocoon of doom metal and words of praise to the solstice day of summer. The pagan tribes gather around a circle of stones to honor and pay tribute to the rising sun where they celebrate the longest day of light and the shortest dark of night.

Oak Ritual I breaks the flow of shroomy doomy fuzz with a psychedelic acoustic jam sounding like a pagan lullaby to an ancient forest of oaks. The robed up wizards gather again, walking in line towards the father of all oak trees that lies within the center, the vocalist singing a soft ethereal chant to awaken the forest spirits. Hypnotic acoustic guitar riffs sound a homage to the oak trees with an organ adding to the invocating vibrations. The ritual has begun.

Oak Ritual II follows where the riffs fall thick and heavy with stoner doom grooves that penetrate the earth, waking the ancient ones; the echoed airy voice of the mother goddess drifts around the darkness of the oak forest and over the empty fields forging an electric connection to the essence of soil, stone and wood. The track evolves into psychedelic drifts of sound until it builds to celebratory uplifting guitar licks and thudding totemic drums. The energy from the earth is now invoked and passes through those that are gathered for the supreme ritual of the oak.
But there is something hidden that comes after the ritual is complete so listen out for it.

Alunah are fast shaping up to be one the UK's best paganistic Doom-Metal bands and if laid back earthy fuzzed out grooves are what lifts your spirit to unexplored dimensions then this is an essential addition to your collection.

White Hoarhound is now available in green or white vinyl from Napalm Records or as a digital download from their bandcamp.

  

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