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Various Artists - Falling Down IIV

forward thinking musicians
Jun 06, 2012
Two disks, 20 previously unreleased tracks by 20+ artists covering huge portions of the musical landscape. Pink Floyd worship here, slowly building post rock there. Tripped out stoner doom? Check. Abrasive blackened tunes? Yep, it's in here. And one awesome collaborative effort from Year Of No Light and Mars Red Sky.
Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: X-Ray Rod

Evadne - The Shortest Way

death doom
May 21, 2012
What do you get when you combine a Spanish death doom outfit's long awaited sophomore release with Dan Swano? Some really good and crushing doom, that's what. Not groundbreaking, but well done and mighty enjoyable.
Apr 26, 2012
To steal a line from my forthcoming review:

"When is epic fail epic win?"

When it's Faal's epic "The Clouds Are Burning".

Four tracks of unforgiving doom punishment that shifts up tempos from glacial to epic swagger to full on headbanging, all while the members of the band assault you, your family and the girl you took to prom with tons of sonic cold fuzzies.
Apr 04, 2012
Nothing fancy here. The band that put the POWAH! in power trio, High On Fire, are back with another pummeling album featuring dalekian vocals, pounding drums, pummeling guitar and bass riffs, and Matt Pike's frenetic solos. Tracks like "Spiritual Rites" and "Serums Of Liao" are the sonic equivalent of a bar room brawl. Enjoy.

Tort - Tort

rustingdoom
Mar 07, 2012
Tort is a kissing-cousin to Doc's prior staff pick, Lurk. Well, not sure if they kiss, or are even cousins... but both bands put out awesome ugly, raw, doom-ish based music, and are on the same label.

Tort is an affront to all things decent, and, thus, is a swell addition to the musical library of anyone who stumbles across this site. If you dig the cover art, odds are you'll dig the album. Highly recommended.
Feb 09, 2012
Happy Happy Joy Joy... err, wait, Misery Misery Woe Woe. Profetus, the embodiment of all things toasterbath are back with another four song affair so bleak it will make those Sarah McLachlan SPCA ads seem like a trip to Disneyland after gobbling half a bottle of your mom's happy pills by comparison. Bon appetit!
Dec 06, 2011
Grindcore isn't really my thing, but for whatever reason the 27 tracks in 27 minutes catchy blast plastered a smile on face. This album won't be on "repeat repeatedly", but paired with a mug of coffee it is a nice adrenaline spike to get me going in the morning. Haters be hatin' Hater, but not me.
Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: White Winter Sun

Landmine Marathon - Gallows

grinding death
Nov 18, 2011
rawrrawrRAWR! riffriffriff pound pound pound screech ROAR! thud thud thud RAWR!

Gallows is just under 30 minutes of good old asskicking deathgrind fury, raw(R!) enough to make old-timers like me tear up. And tear up the house.
Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: wormdrink414, Doc G., X-Ray Rod

Glorior Belli - The Great Southern Darkness

the great southern black metal
Oct 06, 2011
GB are a French BM outfit that have allowed exterior influences in to their music... No, not from the Scandinavian north, but from the American south of all places. Raging, dissonant black metal is paired with murky sludge elements to create an awesome earful. This is what I had hoped Meet Us At The Southern Sign would be.

Viva la France, y'all!
Sep 29, 2011
Earlier this year Rising won the inaugural "Clandestine Cut" MSA... since then they done got signed and now have their first full-length slated for an October release*. The band were kind enough to shoot me a promo and it is more of the same. And by that I do mean MORE. Instead of a two or four song tease, now you get ten tracks worth of the visceral pounding and crushing riffs that earned them your choice as the 2010 CC Messy.

*sadly this will not be out in the US until January 2012. let me again repeat how thankful I am that Rising sent me an advance.
Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: !J.O.O.E.!, Troy Killjoy, White Winter Sun, X-Ray Rod
Sep 22, 2011
Wolves In The Throne Room are back and, somehow, despite adjusting their standard song structure from epic to more conventional length, they have managed to recapture some of the magick of their earlier albums that was absent on Black Cascade. A swell album that manages to capture and combine the ugliness of black metal with the majestic beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

Yob - Atma

sludge
Sep 11, 2011
Yob is back and crushing skulls with undeniably groove-laden thunderous riffs and Dalekian vocal shrieks. Atma would make a swell soundtrack next time you and your sweetie want to enjoy the changing foliage with a nice picnic lunch... and ensure no one else gets within earshot of your blanket. Oh, and Yob spelled backwards is Boy. As in "Boy is this good!"

Sleestak - The Fall Of Altrusia

stoner doom meets space rock
Jul 12, 2011
In their follow-up to Skylon Express the lizardmen of Sleestak have let loose an engulfing and bewildering blend that mixes stoner doom with all sorts of various space-prog rock elements. Crushing doom riffs are followed by prolonged mellow sections that have you experiencing flashbacks... even if you never dropped acid.

These creepy hissing folks are a hell of a lot better writing songs than shooting their tiny little crossbows...
Jun 13, 2011
Atmospheric French Space Doom! An album so enjoyable that it's one of the review requests I've received that I continue to listen to the album repeatedly after publishing the review. But rather than blathering on here, I'll just suggest interested parties click the link to my review below... and meanwhile I keep spinning this album and floating off into the void.

Enslaved - The Sleeping Gods

black floyd
May 25, 2011
Starting with where their most recent left off, the Sheep-stealers from Enslaved make a 90 degree turn and cut through prog country before ending up in Viking land. Not Amon Amarth viking land, but as close an approximation to Ye Olde Viking Music as one might expect.

Best of all, it's apparently free thanks to, uh, a car company which spits out cars which look like bricks. Pretty cool stuff... the music. And maybe the car company... when they come out with the V-Box, complete with horns, shield hubcaps, and axe-rack on the back, i'll be interested.