The Seven Sisters of Sleep/Shaman's Owl 10" is fucking great

Last week CVLT NATION tipped me off to the new 10" split between Seven Sisters of Sleep and Shaman's Owl, and I can't stop listening to it. This thing is filled to the brim with crushing doom. Seven Sisters of Sleep have been around for a few years, and play a sort of doom hybrid; it's equal parts stoner, death, and funeral, and the vocals range from hardcore style yells to down and dirty death rattles. Shaman's Owl play oppressive desert tinged doom that's sounds like Ahab covering YOB. Feast of Tentacles is handling the physical release and are taking pre-orders here.This is easily one of the best doom releases of the year, so grab a copy because these things won't last long.

Station Dysthymia

Station Dysthymia have been around since '07 and have one self-released album under their belts, but their 2013 album Overhead, Without Any Fuss, the Stars Were Going Out was the first I had heard of them.  Released on Solitude Productions and mastered by Esoteric fame Greg Chandler, Overhead is a crushingly grandiose album, but not for the fainthearted, or those with short attention spans.  While the album is very diverse stylistically -- from ufomammut-esque psychadelic stoner riffs to funeral doom -- it takes some patience to get there.

The album itself gets its name from the last sentence of the short story The Nine Billion Names of God by Arthur C Clarke, whose premise revolves around the end of the universe.  The atmosphere that Station Dysthymia have created on this album seems particularly well in sync with the concept: crushing solitude, free from melodrama or pretense, as the stars go out around you.

Some shit you should probably be listening to...

In an effort to keep you up to date on the goings-on of the metal world I have graciously compiled a list of recent releases for you. You're welcome. Doom, and death, and all the rest.

Jex Thoth - Blood Moon Rise (I Hate) Jex has become something of an institution in the world of psychedelic doom/occult rock, and her latest album is on par with her previous output. It's not overly complicated, but it's pretty fucking great.

Lantern - Below (Dark Descent Records) Lantern hail from Finland and play atmospheric death metal. Their first official full-length is an oppressive slab of blackened death that will put a smile on your demented face.

Bone Sickness - Alone in the Grave (20 Buck Spin) Bone Sickness play super charged death/grind filled with with unabashed Repulsion worship. That's not a bad thing. Check out their new EP here.

Lycus - Tempest (20 Buck Spin) I fucking loved Lycus' 2011 demo. It was a refreshing take on funeral doom that rivaled the best in the genre. Earlier this year Lycus released their debut full-length via 20 Buck Spin and it fucking crushes! Seriously, get this record. It's one of the best releases this year. You can listen to the entire album here.

That's all for now folks. Stay tuned for more.

XOXO.

Rituals of the Oak - Come Taste the Poon

I haven't been into Rituals of the Oak for a long time. The first I had heard of them was their 2011 split LP with Apostle of Solitude and The Flight of Sleipnir. Rituals of the Oak only contributed one song, but it was a monstrous 17 minute doom masterpiece that blew the other two bands away.

The major selling point to Rituals of the Oak is that they are a no bullshit/no frills doom band. They write music that stands on its own, and they are smart enough to let their vocalist Sabine Hamad-Linfoot take center stage by writing riffs to compliment her singing rather than competing with her.

All of this continues to hold true for their new album "Come Taste the Doom". And despite having such a silly album name, and not to mention album art that looks like similar to something I made in photoshop when I was 14, it is largely a breath of fresh air. Contrast this album with something like the new Uzula, both with great female vocalists, but the latter buries their vocals behind mediocre riffs or distracting effects pedals. Everybody is trying to reinvent doom and give it their own unique sound, but that is damn near impossible at this point. Rituals of the Oak don't need to worry about lame gimmicks or getting "cvlt" (pronounced kah-vult) approved album art because they fucking rock too hard to worry about that bullshit.


Rituals of the Oak - "All Wells Are Poisoned"

Buy
Download

Royal Talons

Royal Talons of Denver Colorado have just released their debut ep on Handshake Inc, although the songs had technically already been released on the bands own bandcamp page back in 2011. Overall its a phenomenal sludge/stoner release that is massively big sounding. While at times I wish they wouldn't succumb to the temptation to rely on guitar effects and stick to their expansive riffing, the huge sound and trio of vocals makes for a pretty rad sounding album.


Royal Talons - "Shark Skull"

Download at Handshake Inc's bandcamp and name your price

Enth / Amarok split LP

While making the list of upcoming 2012 releases I'm excited about, the Enth/Amarok split album -- due out in March -- completely slipped my mind. But low-and-behold, I was pleasantly reminded today with the pre-release of the entire album on the Orca Wolf Records Bandcamp page.

Amarok released a killer debut album in late 2010 that featured a veritable vocal assault with three pretty intense vocalists, coupled with some slow, trudging, sludgy doom -- albeit a little rough around the edges at times. Their latest split maintains the raw intensity of their first album, but also shows a compositional maturity. The nearly 20 minute track is never rushed and allows for the large swelling guitar harmonies to slowly develop.

The flip side is a crushing 18 minute song by the Polish funeral doom band Enth called "Caverns of Advices". While their 2011 self-titled album was decent, it wasn't particularly spectacular. There was excessive guitar "chugging" that detracted from the droning and "dirgey" atmosphere that the genre is known for -- leaving it feeling kind of boring. This new track is a complete 180 to their previous material, sounding more like an Asunder song than anything they had previously done and making me excited for any future releases they may have.

Doctorshopper - Degenerate Utopia

I know I posted about Doctorshopper's 2011 demo a few weeks ago, but they just dropped a new album and are giving that shit away for free so you can either cry about repeat posts or you can shut up and grab some quality noise for the low low cost of $free.99.

If you don't know shit about Doctorshopper you should probably use those nimble fingers of yours to scroll back a few pages and read my impression of their 2011 demo Pax Pharma. Get it done? Good. Now all the shit I'm about to reference will make total sense. If you recall, I am a big fan of what Doctorshopper did on Pax Pharma; their brand of punishing blackened noise was a welcome change from all of the doom/trad black metal I listened to last year. This is why I was a little shocked by the band's recent full-length Degenerate Utopia. 

 Degenerate Utopia shows a huge progression in Doctorshopper's sound. While their demo showed a lot of potential, the new album delivers the goods. This thing is a blackened slab of crusty doom that I am quickly falling in love with. Seriously, Degenerate Utopia is fucking killer. I think Matt might even like it, and we all know that he hates just about everything. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this beast (for freesies), even if you hated Doctorshopper's demo, you might be surprised.

Mare Infinitum - Sea of Infinity

If it isn't clear by now, while Chris' metal tastes lean more towards black metal, mine are more geared towards funeral doom. And while I fully admit that Mare Infinitum plays some cheese ball funeral doom ripe with over-the-top synth, melodramatic harmonies, and border line power metal-esque clean vocals at times -- that's also kind of the reason I like them. It's melodramatic, but I always felt metal was meant to be melodramatic and theatrical. It's the genre's principle characteristic, and Mare Infinitum ain't scared to embrace that.

On top of that, Sea of Infinity (released today on Russian label Solitude Productions btw) has a lot of other stuff going for it. A variety of instruments are used throughout the album, the vocals are brutally gruff, and there is some great lead guitar work. Even the instrumental track, November Euphoria, is a great song (although it does seem to end a bit abruptly)

Definitely worth checking out if you are a fan of Colosseum, Arcana Colestia, or Auaesuve.


Mare Infinitum - In Abscence We Dwell

Buy
Download

A two-song album that only has one good song means it is still half good.

I first heard about Kodiak when they did their split with Black Shape of Nexus in 2010. First impression was that while they had a heavy sound at times, they dinked around so much in less than inspiring drone and ambient parts, the attention of the listener was lost. Now they are back and collaborating with ambient drone artist N, who honestly I know very little about.

The opening track RN starts with about 10 minutes of quiet drone that is honestly pretty dullsville before exploding into some heavy, but ultimately less than memorable riffing by Kodiak. The second track XE is the stronger song of the two tracks on this album, and not just because it starts off with a strong coherent rhythm--there is nothing wrong with drone as long as it is done well. XE, unlike RN, develops and changes rather than just jumping back and forth between droning and doomy riffing. The melodies are layered on top each other wonderfully, and slowly evolve into these epic soundscapes.

Beardo's Top 40 Metal Albums of 2011

Every December I hear people say the same things regarding the releases that came out over the preceding 11 months; "This was a shitty year for metal *cry cry cry*" Well fuck you. Every year is a good year for metal if you know where to look. To all the haters who are more content bitching about the fact that the new Wintersun album still hasn't dropped, shut your goddamn maws! 2011 was a great year for metal, and the following list proves it.

40. Mitochondrion – Parasignosis

39. Agoraphobic Nosebleed/Despise You – And on, and on… Split 12”

38. Primordial – Redemption at the Puritan’s Hand

37. Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All

36. Blut Aus Nord – 777 Sect(s)/The Desanctification

35. Drainland - …And So Our Troubles

34. Ravencult – Morbid Blood

33. Morne – Asylum

32. Trap Them – Darker Handcraft

31. Seidr – For Winter Fire

30. Wolvhammer – The Obsidian Plains

29. Today is the Day – Pain is a Warning

28. Fyrnask – Bluostar

27. Antediluvian – Through the Cervix of Hawwah

26. Thou – The Archer and the Owle

25. Batillus - Furnace

24. Heartless – Hell is Other People

23. All Pigs Must Die – God is War

22. Negative Plane – Stained Glass Revelations

21. Circle of Ouroborus  - Eleven Fingers

20. SubRosa – No Help For The Mighty Ones

19. Trash Talk – Awake

18. Hammers of Misfortune – 17^th Street

17. Atriarch – Forever the End

16. Corrupted - Garten der Ubewussthelt

15. Mournful Congregation – The Book of Kings

14. Lycus – Demo 2011

13. Bell Witch – Demo 2011

12. Wreck of the Hesperus – Light Rotting Out

11. Aosoth - III

10. Disma – Towards the Megalith - Disma dropped a modern death metal classic on our asses this year. Towards the Megalith is a cavernous slice of primal death that makes all of your Black Dahlia Murder albums sound like the soundtrack to Love Actually. 

9. YOB – Atma - The masters of doom delivered the goods in 2011. A strong follow-up to 2009's monolithic The Great Cessation, Atma sees YOB channeling Hawkwind a little more than usual and to great effect.

8. Blasphemophagher – The Ill Command of the Absolute Chaos - Pummeling black death from my favorite Nuclear War Now! band. Words don't do this level of chaos justice. 

7. False – False - 2 twelve minute tracks? Fuck yeah. False accomplished more in two tracks than most black metal bands (Liturgy) could accomplish writing a dissertation. 

6. Indian – Guiltless - Crusty, doomy, noisy, and oh so satisfying. Indian put all the pieces together to form the perfect representation of their sound. Guiltless is a crusher from start to finish. 

5. Ash Borer – Ash Borer - Cascadian black metal done right. Hollow, dark, and beautiful. Ash Borer deserved way more attention than they got in 2011.

4. Barghest – Barghest - Containing members of Thou, Barghest play second wave inspired black metal. The debut album from this NOLA collective is addictive as fuck.

3. Gridlink - Orphan - John Chang rules. Gridlink rules. Grindcore rules. Orphan rules. 

2. Bosse de Nage - II - Post black metal that doesn't play by the rules. Bosse de Nage destroyed the confines of their genre and created something completely new. II is a force to be reckoned with.

1. Wolves in the Throne Room – Celestial Lineage - WITTR finally delivered their masterpiece. Celestial Lineage is the culmination of everything WITTR have ever done right. This album is truly transcendental, and deserves your undivided attention.

 

So there you have it, a great year for metal as illustrated by my spot on list.