BelzebonG Drop Wicked
Stomper For Halloween!
Oh my, this sounds amazing. What a way to celebrate Halloween! Infamous green smoke-filled, fuzzed-out Polish doom clan BELZEBONG have a new treat in store for all you Doomers & Stoners out there!
This is their new four-tracker, ‘Light The Dankness’ (2018) – the first release from the band in two years and perhaps my favorite yet. Well, I’m a little high from toking in these fat riffs right now, so I have to qualify that by saying 'Sonic Scapes & Weedy Grooves’ (2011) will forever have a fond place in my heart.
With all that said, Light The Dankness is objectively one of the band’s finest achievements since. It’s gorgeously recorded, monstrously heavy – just a huge release, fantastic in every way. From the looks of it, vinyl is coming, though in limited quantities. Pre-order here.
Give ear…
Potslammer Riffs Praises to Mother Green in EP Debut
Review by Melissa Marie (Executive Editor)
Reefer redeemers like the self-described “green metal” and “resin sludge” two-piece POTSLAMMER have been slowly emerging through the underground scene, thanks in no small part to social networks, underground bloggers, and old fashioned word of mouth. The single track before us, ‘Nug Nascentum’ (2016), is thirty minutes of righteous riffing, resonating the reeky, dank environment you’d expect from the inside of a recently used bong. Patches of stale smoke linger much like the heavy droning and punishing guitar beatings, matched by melodic, yet wearied vocals. The water vibrates as someone takes a hit, causing small pieces of resin and tar to smear across the glass.
Earth-shattering riffs and crashing cymbals give Nug Nascentum its abrupt beginning. Wave after wave of monumental distorted mass takes its own impressive form. However, it’s rather difficult to miss the distinct vocals. Throughout the half-hour journey, you’ll hear dissonance and melodies, cave man grunts and cries to the spirits above. The lyrics are just as brilliant, as quite a story unfolds.
Bow down to the throne in the ground
We grow in your earth to sully the white-eyed
We’ve come for your world
You’ll see monster and woes of every kind
You can never reckon the power of the Herb
Potslammer have created such a massive sound with only two people, that in itself is something that should be admired. Truthfully, many two-piece bands would be hard-pressed to produce similar results. The two-man machine before us seems to do it effortlessly, demonstrating enjoyment at every turn. There are so many excellent points to be made about the recording, though the length may be challenging for some listeners. Fans of Neurosis and Yob will especially appreciate Nug Nascentum, as there are many common elements, such as sudden tempo and volume adjustments, dissonance, and other touches that leave a lasting impact.
Yes, we realize the elephant in the room is that this is a single half-hour track. Don’t let that stop you from giving it a try. Even if you’re new to doom metal and just trying to get your bearings, you should hardly let such a lengthy track intimidate you. If you can sit down and listen to an EP in one sitting, then Nug Nascentum should not be too much of a challenge. Most dedicated heavy metal fans will likely be hooked from the first riff.
Keep your eyes and ears on Postlammer as this won’t be last we hear from them. Catch them June 23rd at State Street Pub in Indianapolis with Devil To Pay and Mos Generator. You can download Nug Nascentum for the oh-so-appropriate price of $4.20 here.
Doomed & Stoned Gets High With Bongzilla!
By Melissa Marie (Executive Editor, D&S Midwest)
Photographs by Alex Watt (D&S Midwest)
Another epic tour bus interview, as Melissa spends time smoking it up with the guys from Bongzilla during their December stop at The 5th Quarter Lounge in Indianapolis, Indiana.
So, it looks like tonight is the last show for this little Midwest tour. How has it been so far?
Muleboy: Yeah, it’s been good. Minneapolis especially, Milwaukee last night was really good.
Magma: Minneapolis was really fun, it had been awhile since we played there.
Muleboy: It’s been awhile before we’ve played anywhere!
Magma: That is true! But Seventh Street is such an intimate place. It’s so small and it’s packed in there. Half of the people are your friends. It’s just nice.
Muleboy: All the shows since we’ve came back have been great. Better than expected.
What events took place that pushed Bongzilla to get back together?
Magma: Our bass player Cooter Brown moving back.
Muleboy: The marijuana climate in general. Back in the day, it was always so difficult to tour because we couldn’t get enough weed or find good enough weed.
Magma: Now people are realizing that marijuana really isn’t that bad as they thought, so there’s a little more interest in it as well as the culture and the music that goes with it.
Muleboy: Cooter moved back to Madison and we started just setting up gear together and screwing around and that kinda propelled me to personally wanna do it more. Once we started doing it, it was great. Bongzilla always feels good when you’re playing it. That’s the super beautiful part about it. That part makes it easy.
What bands do you think helped keep stoner sludge relevant in heavy metal while Bongzilla was on hiatus?
Magnum: Sleep, High on Fire…
Muleboy: But they weren’t really active. Well, High on Fire. You’re talking bands that were playing. Lo Pan comes to mind. Wo Fat. Elder, way digging on them.
They were here earlier in the year with Mos Generator.
Muleboy: Cool. Black Cobra is another. We’re about to do a tour with them. Torche is another good one.
Magnum: Karma to Burn.
Muleboy: Oh, Zoroaster! Black Tusk. Weedeater, our brothers. Speaking of your last question, that’s probably why [we got back together] too. The music itself is bigger than it ever was.
Oh yeah, there’s definitely an increasing popularity. Which is good…
Magnum: It’s like the second time around and people are way more into it.
Muleboy: You go to some cities and it’s cool to have a beard and listen to Electric Wizard…
Magnum: And have a pocket full of bud! I think as far as the hipster goes - if you’re not smoking weed everyone’s gonna know you’re a hipster.
Muleboy: Well I guess what I meant is, I’ve met kids in Madison that are into Electric Wizard but don’t know who Wino is, which is a very sad thing. They love Pallbearer, but don’t know anything else.
I think a lot of people foolishly worship at the altar of Electric Wizard but don’t know who Reverend Bizarre is.
Magnum: Yeah, like original doom.
Yeah like Cathedral, or…
Muleboy: Winter! You know, Trouble. More of what we grew up on.
So you’ve done quite a bit of touring here lately, any talk for a new Bongzilla record?
Muleboy: I think there’s gonna be an album.
Magnum: We got some riffs that we’ve played around with.
Muleboy: I would almost guarantee it. You never know. Us putting out a record is sometimes it’s like scoring a bag of weed. You don’t know you got it ‘till you get it. But definitely, we’re growing ideas.
Any chance you guys would be interested in working with Dixie Dave again sometime in the future?
Magnum: We already did. He played bass on the last record, ‘Amerijuanican’ (2005).
Muleboy: One thing we’ve also talked about doing was a Weedeater-Bongzilla band…..like Weedbong or ZillaEater.
Mangum: BongEater!
Muleboy: But to some capacity, I would say. He was on samples on “Gateway” (2002), that “Stone A Pig” sample is him. But I think as a bass player, if that’s what you’re asking, no. Cooter Brown is our guy.
Magnum: He [Cooter Brown] wasn’t around for a while but when he moved back home, that was like 70% of it right there. And the fact that people were still interested in it. I personally had no idea that kids were still rocking to whatever you wanna call it, stoner rock or sludgecore or whatever. People still like to play riffy stuff though and kids still listen to it.
Let’s talk about pot. How much do you burn in a day?
Muleboy: On tour, or like personal life?
Just in your normal everyday life.
Magnum: The two can be really different.
Muleboy: I think I smoke a lot more than the other guys in this band. I point out that I never stopped smoking and I never smoked more or less when Bongzilla didn’t play, because this is life to me. To really answer your question, I guess if I’m at home I would probably smoke in two days an eighth and a gram of shatter. You know. Dabs, concentrate.
Magnum: But as a band, we’ll smoke a half ounce a day.
Muleboy: On a Ryder these days, we try to get a quarter every show. It works out a good amount of the time and you kinda build it up a little and people bring us weed. A dude brought us a half ounce in Minneapolis of killer weed and it was super cool.
Magnum: He rolled it all into joints!
Muleboy: He did what I would have done. Like if I was going to see Bongzilla, I would bring the biggest sack ever! But then I would proceed to smoke it all. And that’s what he did! Oh my god, he would just roll fatties! It was great, but I would say he’s right, about a half ounce of weed. When we started [the tour], we played Chicago and just in the three hour drive we probably smoked a gram and a half of shatter.
Magnum: But it slows down the weed smoking because you’re super high, but it’s so…
Muleboy: Yeah it’s so different.
Magnum: But if you don’t have that, we’re just smoking straight. Like, we can burn a half in eight hours.
Muleboy: And God forbid we don’t have a pipe.
Magnum: Ugh! And you know you’re gonna be wasteful, but you still gotta smoke a lot anyway.
Muleboy: And we have dumb rules. Like this is the most stupid idea a band could have but, if you cross a state line.
Oh, you gotta smoke.
Muleboy: You smoke. If you stop and somebody eats - I’m talking even a cookie! Like, “Oh Mike got a cookie, we gotta smoke! “ Because eating lowers your buzz. Oh let’s see. Highway change, smoke. Somebody just woke up, smoke.
Magnum: Someone was asleep and missed the last two sessions now we smoke. On their behalf!
So, are you into edibles?
Magnum: Oh god, yeah!
Muleboy: When we were flying, I would just get tons of edibles, because I don’t like flying. I hate it…about two hours in; it’s super uncomfortable, to me. So, I’ll get these guys tons of edibles. I’ll carry liquid out in Seattle, they got candies. So, just put them in a regular candy tin.
But where you guys are from, it’s legal right?
Muleboy: No, no, no. Not in Madison. It’s weird. You can carry a quarter pound of pot on you and you’ll get a fine and it’ll be confiscated.
Magnum: But you won’t get arrested for it.
Muleboy: I think it’s a $140 fine.
Well, that’s a step in the right direction. You know, that’s progress.
Magnum: Locking up people who smoke pot is like…
Muleboy: It’s all about money. The jails are privatized so they make a lot of money.
Magnum: That’s like putting someone in jail for not wearing a helmet when riding a bike. Well, it’s unsafe.
But it’s on them. It’s not hurting anybody else.
Muleboy: I think it’s cool that pot was legalized in Canada and Holland and the level of THC stayed at between thirteen and twenty for strong weeds. Then suddenly it was legalized in parts of the US and it’s up to twenty five, twenty eight.
Magnum: They’re getting stronger and stronger strains.
Muleboy: There’s a strain, a powerful cactus that’s thirty six percentage of THC! There was none of this back in the day. I mean there was honey oil, but there was no such thing as dabs which are sixty to eighty percent pure THC. Americans just wanna go nuts and make it so pure. If they could make THC snortable, you know we would be snorting it. Make it into the white man’s white powder. THC powder!
Magnum: Yeah, like shatter. It gets you way too high in another direction. You’ll be in the middle of a task and you’ll just not even know where you are. But smoking a really good sativa really snaps you back pretty quick.
Muleboy: You’re layering a buzz to get a super double supremo buzz.
Magnum: The giggling drooling idiot!
Muleboy: Well we call it “cheesing”. Maybe because we’re from Wisconsin. When ya can’t stop giggling.
Oh yeah, we say that here too. Does pot affect you guys in a live setting? Do you find yourselves wanting to improvising more live?
Muleboy: We add some of our own nuances, the volume swell ending in “Stone A Pig” or the one note hang in “Grim Reefer.”. When we’re quiet, we’re really quiet. When we’re loud we’re really loud.
Wgar are your thoughts on the current vinyl resurgence
Muleboy: I guess that’s the thing to do. Collect records.
Magnum: Back then with us it was like, yeah a lot of your records may be scratched up but that shows that you’ve listened to them over and over again.
Muleboy: What does Eyehategod sound like on 78, or Grief on 78 anyway? What’s going on musically is cool, minus not being able to sell records. People are going to shows a lot more, shows are bigger in general.
Magnum: People are getting into rock and roll again.
So, after tonight what is next for Bongzilla?
Muleboy: We’re gonna take about a month off then we go off on a really big tour at the end of February…..from what I know right now it’s us. Black Cobra, Kings Destroy, Lo Pan.
Cooter: Then the other half is with Against the Grain.
Muleboy: Yeah then Against the Grain drops off and Kings Destroy is on. And within that month we’re gonna try to write some songs.
I wanna thank you guys for talking with Doomed & Stoned!
Our Guru Brings us to the Black Master Sabbath
By Ben Edwards (Granite Waves, D&S Washington)
Coming off like a transcendental super group between Al Cisneros (Sleep, Om) and Kawabata Makoto (Acid Mothers Temple), this hippie metal power trio from Bainbridge Island, Washington have created a sonic alter of doom riffs, psychedelic space jams, and primordial vocalizations in the form of chants and monkey screams that channel the scene from ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’(1968), where prehistoric man sees the black monolith and begins down the path of worship.
With a band called WEEED, it’s not surprising to find their devotion to Black Sabbath in the album name and Sleep in the hypnotic riffing. These guys are a different animal altogether, however, and their willingness to experiment with sounds and arrangements alters the listener’s overall expectations. Our Guru Brings us to the Black Master Sabbath (2015) will probably fly under many radars simply because it’s too eclectic for your average doom lover, too heavy for psychedelics, and maybe just too weird for stoner rockers.
It takes about five minutes into the first track before the patience of the listener is satisfied with a pummeling stoner metal doom riff taking over the mix. The mixing by Taylor Carroll gives all of the instruments room to breathe while Evan Schiller (Sadhappy) brought the whole album to life with his excellent mastering skills, spreading out the dynamics for maximum impact as the album ebbs and flows through sonic turns and tempo shifts. Weaving in and out of noise jams drenched in surf guitar reverb through an Orange half stack, guitarist Mitch Fosnaugh delivers epic performances of psychedelic rock madness that should please fans of 60’s acid rock.
Drummer John Goodhue dances between stoner doom headbang grooves and tribal jazz explorations as if there was no difference between the two. Herein lies the primal core of their sound, tapping into the place in humanity where there is no difference between psychedelic noise, doom riffing, and jazz-influenced flights of inspired group improvisation.
Being on Bainbridge Island seems to have been a blessing for these guys, the isolation has given them time to create and master a sound without any overbearing production and songwriting influences from the local scene. Gabriel Seaver slays the bass throughout and locks in magnificently with the drums alternating between loose swing and tight hypnotic syncopation.
“Caravan Spliff” features some excellent pedal steel guitar, saxophone and throat singing, maybe something of a nod to Black Sabbath’s Planet Caravan and Sleep’s “stoner caravan” imagery. This album is becoming one of my top favorite releases so far this year and after seeing them live during an ambitious summer tour, I can attest that they are every bit as strange, tight and powerful in a live setting.
You can get a hold of the new album via Illuminasty Records.
So you guys really need to check out this nifty traditional doom metal band called THRONE from London. Recently, they released this music video for the first track from their second album, ‘Where Tharsis Sleeps’ (2014). Turns out this was a massive animation project and there are many hardworking souls to credit (see Vimeo description). Be sure to check out the album, streaming here: http://throne.bandcamp.com
-BillyGoat-