D&S Pick of the Week:
‘Sacrificial’ by Ancient Wisdom
In the hundreds of records I’ve immersed myself in this year, trying to find the best of the best for Doomed & Stoned readers, I nearly overlooked this obvious gem. Maybe I was pissed off that yet another entity is spelling their w’s and u’s with v’s. Whatever. I got over that little quibble and have been completely taken in by the occult-rock melancholy of the songs in ANCIENT VVISDOM’s 'Sacrificial’ (2014 - Magic Bullet Records).
I mean, more than a few of these ten songs (or should I call them hymns?) reach, for me, a real level of greatness. The sad, doom-laden strains of “Chaos Will Reign,” “The Devil’s Work,” “City of Stone” and “Blind Leading The Blind” have been ringing through my head constantly for weeks. I CANNOT RID MYSELF OF THEM.
“I’m passing the days, burning black flame. Having little faith, in this human race. The lies they invade, the lives they take. There’s no escape….I’m tired of games humans play, the rules we make hold no weight. The few remain, I invoke your name. We’re one and the same.”
Damn, that is some serious medicine for my damaged soul.
It’s as though the Austin, Texas five-member band have tapped a spigot into the same emotional river that gave Blue Oyster Cult such success in wooing us with the beauty of the sad, sad song. The poignant melody, soft vs. heavy instrumentation, and plaintive lyrical elements flow effortlessly for Ancient VVisdom.
This isn’t the group’s first depressive manifesto; it’s actually their third album, by my count (you can stream them all on Spotify). And it’s a good thing there is more Ancient VVisdom to listen to, because the relatively short running time of 'Sacrificial’ (2014) will likely leave you wanting even more (though, truthfully, I’ve been spinning 'Sacrificial’ over an over again, in some kind of cathartic obsession, all day).
Verdict: The Goate is well-pleased with this one. Four hooves up!
Get Sacrificial here and Ancient VVisdom’s other albums here.
-BillyGoat-
BillyGoat’s
Twenty Must-Have Doom Albums of 2014
- Yob: Clearing The Path To Ascend
- Slomatics: Estron
- Aleph Null: Nocturnal
- Season of Arrows: The Loved One
- Eyehategod: Eyehategod
- Dopelord: Black Arts, Riff Worship, Weed Cult
- Electric Wizard: Time to Die
- Sunnata: Climbing The Colossus
- Alunah: Awakening The Forest
- Serpentine Path: Emanations
- Conan: Blood Eagle
- Mothersloth: Moribund Star
- Anguish: Mountain Jewel
- Lord Mantis: Death Mask
- Crowbar: Symmetry in Black
- Swamp Machine: Mondo Magic
- Snailking: Storm
- Return From The Grave: Gates of Nowhere
- Pilgrim: II Void Worship
- The Wounded Kings: Consolamentum
D&S Guest List
Love Among Ruins: Best 14 of ‘14
Over the next several days, Doomed & Stoned will feature the Best of 2014 lists by our contributors and even some of your favorite artists. Today, I’m happy to present the always tasteful and contemplative Soshanna, from Love Among Ruins. Earlier this year, she reviewed 'Electric Talons of the Thunderhawk’ (2014) by Valley of the Sun. (BillyGoat)
1. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
I thought something might knock this out of the top position since its release in August, but nothing comes close to the depth of this album. Its haunting, full of emotion, its painful and desperate, but engaging & hypnotic….it’s damn near perfection for me.
2. Apostle of Solitude - Of Woe and Wounds
Chuck Brown is one of the best vocalists I’ve heard…period…and adding Janiak to the line-up just made these guys even more appealing and I love where they are going. Brilliant album!
3. Mos Generator - Electric Mountain Majesty
A Northwest band that has always been one of my favorites and never disappoints.
4. Jupiter Zeus - On Earth
Australian group with something a little different with almost a progressive psych thing going on. The sound on this album is clean, it sounds well produced and really well done….released through Magnetic Eye Records. I have played this a lot when I am out running or driving and I can get lost in it. There are a lot of really good things happening on this album, I highly recommend giving it a listen.
5. Serpent Venom - Of Things Seen and Unseen
I found this album through one of my music friends at a forum I like to visit. Although this is their 2nd full length release, they are new to me. Traditional doom with a slight edginess to them. Great album!
6. Siena Root - Pioneers
Like the name says, they are Pioneers! Always great!
7. Prosperina - Harness-Minus
A big surprise to me…never heard of them before this. More of a alternative, progressive hard rock kind of thing, but man…Prosperina has me wanting to listen to their album all the time!
8. Kamchatka - The Search Goes On
I love my blues rock and Swedish band Kamchatka can always deliver the goods!
9. Biblical - Monsoon Season
Another new group that smashed through the music radar and made a huge crash into the psychedelic world of rock music. I love it when that happens! :p
10. Whalerider - Thanatos
Actually, I would have put this higher, but I get the idea I am alone on this one. I’m not really sure why I love this album so much, but I cant get enough of it…kind of like Prosperina, it’s just a whole lotta something good.
11. Mark Lanegan - Phantom Radio
12. Witch Mountain - Mobile of Angels
13. Dwellers - Pagan Fruit
14. Pet The Preacher - The Cave & The Sunlight
Best Of The Rest
15. The Blood Farmers - Headless Eyes
16. Truckfighters - Universe
17. Bloody Hammers - Under Satan’s Sun
18. Lo-Pan - Colossus
19. Fall of an Empire - Songs of Steel and Sorrow
20. Slow Season - Mountains
21. Magnetic Mountain - Lodestone Sanctuary
22. Iron Void - Iron Void
23. La Betre - Melas
24. The Socks - The Socks
25. Somali Yacht Club - The Sun
D&S Recommends
‘District of Dystopia’ by JUCIFER
You knew the almighty JUCIFER had a new album out, right? Told you not to make your Top 10, 20, 30, 100 lists yet! It’s been streaming on Spotify and recently came available on Bandcamp, so I thought I’d share. The brutal folk, blackend D.C. doom due continues to win listening ears as they tirelessly gig with their bonkers sound system from city to city (heading next to Texas and Cali). Now in its 21st year, Gazelle and Edgar show no signs of slowing down or taking a break from songwriting, still exploring themes of nihilism and despair, beauty and love. 'District of Dystopia’ may lean more heavily on the former, but shows moments of lyrical hope that life is a stubborn thing, blooming in even the most desolate of landscapes.
D&S Recommends
Reclaiming of the Forest by AlgomA
“From the dark Canadian woods comes lumbering forth the heaviest Sludge Doom band from Northern Ontario! Drenched in despair and depression, AlgomA is a three-piece band in the vein of Eyehategod, Grief, Weedeater and Fistula. The noisy trio takes their influence from Canadian cult bands like Kittens and Shallow North Dakota. AlgomA is ready to crush you in a wall of down-tuned guitar, bass and skull-battering drums.” (band bio)
Once I started this one, I couldn’t stop. It’s well-crafted doom that unfolds like the telling of a strange, dark tale. It had me in rapt attention from the first track, which is very well constructed. Track after track, this is a crushing listen. Give AlgomA’s ‘Reclaimed by the Forest’ (2014) a spin if you’re looking to get totally lost in music tonight.
D&S Reviews
Bears, Beards and Pills:
GRIZZLY’s ‘Rapturous Decay’
Reviewed by DoomBeard (our new D&S teammate from Germany)
Hey, friends of the low-tuned guitars and slow beats. Who doesn’t know it’s cold and dark outside, dull and wet? Everyone dresses warm and thick. There is a corpulent animal at large, however, who has been way better equipped for harsh weather by nature: the bear. More specifically, the Grizzly.
And who could be a better representative of this fearsome beast than the guys of the band known as Grizzly from Budapest, Hungary. Encountering Grizzly for the first time on their Bandcamp page and reading the band’s tags, my imagination conjured images of grizzlies covered in robes, dancing around the fire, and revelling in the deep and rough woods of Alaska. The only thing missing from this vision was a fitting soundtrack, but within moments it was is promptly delivered by Grizzly. Sludge´n´roll combined with stoner rock and grumpy vocals a bear couldn’t wrangle better.
The moment you start playing ´Rapturous Decay´ (Grizzly’s second record) loudly through your hi-fi system, the addicted stoner-sludge freak can expect both well-known and freshly innovative sounds that will twirl your beard like a storm. From the first song, “Monolith,” you know that these guys are serious about their craft and don´t want to scorch anything. Highly visible like a huge rock you would encounter at Stonehenge, this track mounts up like a wall of sound in front of you, delivering well-dosed riffs in your face, combined with Mihály´s crisp drums and Knapp´s belling vocals, which lay a good cornerstone to quicken the appetite for this record to keep listening.
If you think that all gun powder’s gone after this monster of a track, you’re wrong. The second song, “Pass Those Pills,” starts like “Monolith” ended. Nicely arranged beat changes and the play with different speeds sweeten the listener’s psychic cinema. Also on this song, you can imagine grizzly druids, passing pills and other (mostly illegal) substances at their Black Mass. The atmosphere changes back and forth like a dialogue and calms down just before the end of the track, while a harmonica begins to let the blues in.
“Ride Along” is the third track. This one celebrates solid drumming and recalls southern rock, establishing a tone somewhere between Orange Goblin and High On Fire. A chopper-driving bear crosses my mind and as my thoughts wander further, I wonder if there should be a Grizzly version of Sons of Anarchy. Even a neutral listener can’t listen to this song without giving in at some point and banging their head to the beat. There´s a slight guitar solo with gently rising vocals that fit very well with the overall vibe, until shortly before the end when there´s a small escalation. The song then ends abruptly.
The second half of the record is heralded by a creepy sample. “I know what I am and nobody pours my strengths” is the last sentence before brawly singing ignites, which is accompanied by creamy, honey-like guitars and dotted drums. “The Silver Key” is a way more groovy song, which fits best on a road trip. Absolute instruction: listen to this one!!!
After that, the final spout is opened. The last two songs on this sophomore record by Grizzly take their name from the record, “Rapturous Decay Part 1 & 2.” I cannot say it any other way: this record is a killer, an undisputable entrance-exit to victory. These two songs combine all of the strengths the other songs delivered. In spite of the record’s quite short running time of just over 27 minutes, 'Rapturous Decay’ lives up to its promise, reminding us that that even the less populated musical zones in Europe have hidden gems like Grizzly who really have their act together. The sound does not leave a lot to be desired. If you think about the very low price, 666 Hungarian Forint, which is USD 2.68, you cannot do better than to buy this record.
To cut a long story short: If you want to feel like a bearded lumberjack from the mid-west, you have to listen to this record! So, wear a plaid shirt, arrange your beard appropriately, and grab your ax in hand. It´s time to cut some wood for the Grizzly bear ritual.
Read more of DoomBeard’s reviews at www.facebook.com/DoomBeardZine
D&S Reviews
‘So Below’ by Sea Witch
It’s rare that an album cover could capture so perfectly the dense, gloomy atmosphere of a music work, but so it is with 'So Below’ (2014). SEA WITCH’s second demo is exactly what you would expect of a dark, foggy, surreal voyage at sea–stuck in the slog of fathomless waters and filled with a sense of foreboding that something bad IS happening, and may actually get worse. This is funeral doom and atmospheric blackened doom metal at its finest (perhaps inspired by the bleakness of a colder-than-cold Canadian winter?).
The first track sets a remarkable tone, with a forlorn accordion lamenting the all encompassing darkness. We’re then splashed into the deep with an almost 18-minute-long (!!!) track, “Dragged Across the Ocean Floor.” It turns out this is but Part I and the madness continues for another 10:23 in Part I, ending with epics black waves as the storm surges from the bottom up in “So Below.” For a two-piece, Sea Witch muster an awful lot of sound. The album concludes with a ghostly sailor’s chorus as the doomed inhabitants of the aged ship go the way of all flesh. This is an easy recommendation, for…the Goate is well-pleased with this one.
D&S Recommends: Count Absurdo
Every so often I run across a band that lives up to its name. Case in point: Count Absurdo from Finland, home to some very dark and very original heavy music. What the band does is quite effectively marry occultic doom with the spontaneity of psychedelia. The net impact is a feeling of daring (and yes, at times, absurd) music making, but music you can’t pull away from–not for a second. This appears to be the Helsinki trio’s debut, released last weekend. Three meaty tracks that are a fine and welcome addition to this year’s crowded playing field. I’ll definitely be keeping this one on rotation and will follow Count Absurdo’s development with keen interest.
It’s here! You might remember me giving you a peak of this a few months back and being excited as hell about the new album ‘Ananta’ (2014) by YAMA of Tilburg, Netherlands. Named after the Vedic god of Death, this heavy stoner rock band (with a distinctly doomy edge) has already played Roadburn, toured with Uncle Acid, and opened for Saint Vitus. This will be one of those unique entries that does a bit of genre bending, at the same time as it gets stoner rock SO RIGHT. The Goate is well-pleased with this one!
This is huge, guys! HUGE, I tell you. A split between two bands—one legendary and the other well on its way to becoming so. I’m speaking of St. Louis doomers FISTER, who last released a split with my hommies in Portland, Norska, and now have another split, this time a 12-incher with the monstrous doom-death-drone demons PRIMITIVE MAN! What more can I say? All lovers of heavy filth NEED this in their lives, like today, as in now. First things first, you’ve got to check out this new vid by Fister, which just came out days ago.
Doomed & Stoned’s “New Noise November” podcast on Mixcloud is packed with delicious, heavy goodness! Originally broadcast 11/11/14 on Grip of Delusion Radio(I’m LIVE Sunday nights from 5-7 pm Pacific, 8-10 pm Eastern at www.GripofDelusion.com). Artists featured include:
Death Penalty - “Immortal By Your Hand”
Riding Rhino - “Riding Rhino”
Stubb - “Devil’s Brew”
Wucan - “Franis Vikarma”
Coffin On Tyres - “Your Affection”
Wizard Rifle - “Beastwhores”
Anguish - “Makarian Furnace”
COUGH - “Fuck Up”
Thorr-Axe - “Gates of Winter”
Snailking - “Premonitions”
The Skull - “Sick of it All”
Villagers of Ioannina City - “Zvara”
Holy Serpent - “Shroom Doom”
CHIEFS - “Stone Bull”
Wiser Fool - “Ode To The Morning Star”
He Whose Ox is Gored - “Burned Twice”
SlowJoint - “PocketWool”
TRADISH - “Banished”
Voodoo Queen - “Nasty Little Bitch”
The Flight Of Sleipnir - “The Casting”
Year Of The Goat - “Mystic Mountains”
I normally don’t post much of anything “mainstream,” but you gotta make an exception for the bands you love! Been a long-time follower of Seattle’s SOUNDGARDEN and feel like some of you Millennials will be discovering them for the first time. This is a good place to start. “Kristi” is a brand new track by Soundgarden (ok, technically it’s not “new” new–it’s been in their arsenal since at least the mid-90’s for live shows) and it is a win in every way!
Good to hear new stuff from Oakland’s SWAMP WITCH, who have come out of ‘The Slithering Bog’ to deliver this filthy new masterwork (disasterwork?) of sludge. In February, the band will be introducing the LP (their first, following two shorter releases in 2009 and 2011, respectively) in a variety of formats. So far, my favorite track is “Marsh of Delusion,” but I have a feeling it will be a close call by the time I get through my second spin. Definitely sharing a cut on The Doomed & Stoned Show this Sunday (5 pm PST // 8 pm EST on Grip of Delusion Radio).
Ok, I really like this song! The band is HEAVYDEATH from Ljungskile, Sweden and this threesome know their doom. This song has a solemn beat and a plaintive melody that’s as dark as a cloud about to pour down rain (the music video matches the mood perfectly). “They Had No Names” is undeniably doom, but it doesn’t drag—and as the song moves along, the music gets more intense, with an almost post-metal vibe that is very effective. The lyrics are simple and the vocals both dirty and clean, with death metal overtones. I’ll be definitely going after the tape on Caligari Records and checking out the wide-release on Svart Records.
Pick of the Week: Mothership
Mothership released their self-titled debut album in 2012. I remember hearing the album and being blown away right away. The songs were well crafted, hard rocking, true badass rock n’ roll anthems! I instantly wanted more and to know more about this band. I found out they are made up of brothers Kyle (Bass/Lead Vocals) and Kelley Juett (Guitar/Vocals), with Judge Smith pounding the drums. They are three dudes on an intergalactic journey through the universe to save Rock n’ Roll! They crashed to Earth in Dallas, Texas and continue to use that location as home base for their time here.
Mothership has been on a steady upward trajectory to bigger cooler shows, tours and news since the release of that first album. Every new live clip I see; is them owning the audience a little more each time! They even surpassed their IndieGoGo fundraiser campaign goal of $10,000, for money raised to help pay for their new album. Their look, attitude, pure talent on each instrument and they’re amazing chemistry together, all point towards the likelihood that they were sent here as Rock Stars to save Rock n’ Roll!
Now Mothership has unleashed their sophomore album, aptly named Mothership II (released November 10th, 2014) via Ripple Music. If all was right in the world this album would be one of those big break out albums that has a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy, catapulting Mothership to the top of the rock n’ roll heap! Unfortunately, we live in today’s time of fake pop culture ruling the attention and money of most. Either way, this album is another incredible step forward toward their ultimate goal.
While giving their own flavor to the music, yet not reinventing the wheel. They seem to tap into most people’s favorite elements of many of the great classic hard rock bands old and new. At one moment sounding spacey and epic as Pink Floyd on opener “Celestial Prophet” to a slightly more bad-ass and heavier Witchcraft, like on “Priestess of The Moon” & “Holy Massacre” or to the very funny lyrics and groovy good time party vibe of the ZZ-Topish “Shanghai Surprise”! Killer desert songs like “Astromancer,“ “Serpents Throne,” and “Eye of Sphinx” help throw this album heavily into that southern desert stoner rock sound, which may have been helped with the awesome Kent Stump from Wo Fat behind the recording and controls! The production and sound has definitely been taken to the next level, but I have a feeling some will complain that it’s not as dirty and reckless as they were hoping and it’s more in the vein of the big time mainstream rock bands of the 70’s. Which makes total sense to me, as I would relate them much closer to Led Zeppelin and QOTSA, then to the Sex Pistols and Nirvana!
Mothership keep it interesting with enough change ups, like lightening things up with good-time rock n’ roll and the 80’s heavy rock feel of “Good Morning Little School Girl” with a little added stoner fuzz to keep me interested. They also show they can come right back and crush a heavy doom laden stoner metal path through a dark forest with ease on “Centauromachy”! The album is filled with beautiful trippy psychedelic wizardry, heavenly solos and blazing riffs! Which leads me to my two favorite tracks “Hot Smoke And Heavy Blues” and “Tamu Massif”! The first, I don’t only love because I thought the lyrics were, “Pot smoking heavy blues, creepin’, creepin’ after you!”, but it kicks-ass in so many ways! Speedy metal riff, mixed with thick dirty bluesy grooves, smoked-out gravely vocals, party anthem inducing lyrical delivery, a superb solo and the party is ready to rock all night long! That leaves the instrumental epicness of “Tamu Massif” which puts you on a totally different, yet just as spectacular, more laid back, eating mushrooms in the desert and drifting into the cosmos kind of trippy vibe, like Earthless covering QOTSA.
I know when I put my “Best of 2014” list together that this album will be at the top with the best! Like most of the best bands you can’t put Mothership in a genre box, they show they can mix many styles of heavy rock with ease! If they keep it together at this pace, I believe they have the tools that can allow them to break open the doors to go on many different voyages on future releases and eventually have it all labelled purely under ‘rock legends MOTHERSHIP’! Jump on board “Mothership II” now and help propel these great musicians to the deserving Rock Star heights their outstanding talents so deserve!
-Randy Beach-
Get the new Mothership album via Ripple Music here.