ALBUM REVIEW: Foehammer, "Second Sight"

By: Mark Ambrose

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 06/04/2018

Label: Australopithecus Records

Like the mythos of Tolkien himself, “Second Sight” is a vast, apocalyptic, intimidating slab of genius and practically invites obsessives and neophytes alike to bask in the overwhelming worlds within.

“Second Sight” DD//LP track listing

1. Black Numenorean

2. Recurring Grave

3. Axis Mundi

4. The Seer

      

The Review:

Since the 1960s rebirth of “The Lord of the Rings” as the go-to fantasy epic of counterculture, the utopian, religious, horrific, and even whimsical elements of J.R.R. Tolkien’s opus have been peppered into practically every subgenre of pop and rock music.  Whether the weird folk pop single “The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” (Leonard Nimoy’s only musical hit), the numerous references in Led Zeppelin’s catalog, the derivative fantasy prog epics of power metal, countless band names, or the Uruk-hai obsessions of black metallers, there’s something about the Tolkien’s “Legendarium” that invites musical adaptation, inspiration, and exploration.  On the flipside, it’s also inspired a lot of eye-rolling crap – insipid name checks, tedious inside jokes, or, most insidiously, the racially coded misreading of particularly deficient black metal types.  Mostly, musicians who take on Tolkien shrink in comparison to the monolithic power; Foehammer is not one of these casualties of hubris.  The doom metal power trio is one of the only modern units formidable enough to wrestle with the Nazgul and emerge victorious.

“Black Numenorean” is the only explicit “Tolkien namecheck” song on Foehammer’s debut full length, “Second Sight”, but the entirety of the record is viscerally, elementally brutal, like a reverberating pyroclastic blast from Mount Doom.  Tolkien’s “Black Numenoreans” are the original corrupted men, turned against the powers of good to support their own sinister ambitions, and Foehammer’s auditory rendering is the perfect metaphor of corruption and martial obsession.  Stomping, rolling blasts of guitar fuzz, slowly aching bass riffs, and crashing percussion are the perfect soul-demolishing soundtrack for nihilistic evil.  I could imagine Sauron himself bellowing in sinister triumph through Jay Cardinell’s trademark death growls.

“Recurring Grave” may not be distinctly Tolkeinesque, but it continues the strain of trudging orc sludge, winding up to agonizing, palm muted buildups.  Joe Cox’s guitar tone is spot on – a gradual build of feedback and subtly bluesy riffs that you’ll find yourself humming for days afterward.  The ethereal fingerpicking intro of “Axis Mundi” may have you thinking you’ve stumbled into Rivendell, but Foehammer quickly descends back into total darkness.  The rhythmic one two punch of Cardinell’s bass and Vang’s titanic drum hits is pure filthy doom joy, while Cox gets to ramp up his playing for a full on shredding solo.

The closing sixteen-minute epic, “The Seer”, is a perfect apotheosis of “Second Sight”’s expansive tone, doom riffing, and occasional guitar freakouts; Cardinell’s growl is truly menacing, Vang’s drums pummel and then retreat, and the fuzz is unrelenting.  Jay’s bass, allowed a minute to churn alone, has the perfect mix of crackle and clarity.  The nearly instrumental second half is a transcendent final dirge that will break your neck from glacial but memorable hooks and riffs, before a final screeching fadeout that will beg you to fire up this LP all over again.  Like the mythos of Tolkien himself, “Second Sight” is a vast, apocalyptic, intimidating slab of genius and practically invites obsessives and neophytes alike to bask in the overwhelming worlds within.

“Second Sight” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook

INTERVIEW: Foehammer at Shadow Woods Metal Festival September 14-17, 2017

By: Mark Ambrose

From September 14-17, hundreds of metal fans descended on White Hall, Maryland for a weekend of camping, music, and generic mayhem at the third annual Shadow Woods Metal Fest.  THE SLUDGELORD was on the scene and managed to snag a few interviews with performers, artists, and the people behind this unique, amazing musical event.  In our first interview we sat down with Annandale, Virginia’s Foehammer, whose self-titled debut on Grimoire Records was one of the highlights of 2015.  With a new record on the way, Jay (bass/vocals), Ben (drums) and Joe (guitar) sat down to share their thoughts on the festival, the state of local music in Washington, D.C. and their plans for the immediate future.

This is your first Shadow Woods Metal Fest.  What’s your impression so far?

Jay: Super chill and really fun.

Ben: It’s fantastic and I wish I had come to the ones earlier.

Joe: Yeah it totally makes me wish I had caught the earlier ones.

What are the plans for the future?

Jay: So we did a record last year with Kevin Bernsten at Developing Nations Studio.  We got it mastered with James Plotkin of Khanate fame – semi-fame haha – and Australopithecus Records is putting it out.  We’re finishing up the vinyl details now.  It should be going off to the plant within the week.  So hopefully, by the end of the year we should be seeing that out.

Are you planning on any other physical formats or just vinyl?

Jay: Our plan for now is just vinyl and digital downloads.

What have been the current playlists for you guys?

Ben: The new Queens of the Stone Age is pretty awesome.  And the new Bloodclot, the hardcore band, the supergroup with Nick Oliveri and John Joseph, Joey Castillo and Todd Youth is REALLY good.  That’s like my favorite now.

Jay: I’m really hooked on this EP by this band Pregnancy out of Australia.  It’s really sick, nasty, vomitous, grinding shit.  I saw Secret Chiefs a couple weeks ago so they’ve been back in the playlist, and that’s just amazing, amazing stuff.  As well as that Dead Cross record.

Joe: Yesterday I listened to Ariel Pink’s “Before Today” – that’s not very metal at all but it’s amazing.  Lately I’ve been having a metal dry spell – I go through phases of that so I’ve been listening to a lot of different ethnic music.  A lot of Indian stuff, especially – oud players, guys like that.  And a lot of pop.  Stuff that makes me wanna chill.

Ben: The “electric years” of Miles Davis is on current play.

How was the Sunrot/God Root show at Atlas Brewing?

Ben: Oh my god – both so awesome.  Corpse Light too.  I said on my Facebook page that’s the heaviest show that I played or have been to this year.

Jay: We’re really good friends with Chris from Sunrot.  We did a tour with his other band, Thera Roya, last year.  We went down to Texas and back.  They also put out an amazing EP.

Ben: Love you guys!

A lot of bands have members multitasking – are you guys doing any other projects right now?

Jay: Ben and myself have another band, Black Dominia.  It’s bass, two drummers, saxophone and theremin.  It’s like heavy doom, psych, jazz.

Ben: One hundred percent improv.  Never the same song twice.

Joe:  I just started playing drums in a prog band very recently that’s Gong influenced.  It doesn’t really have a name right now.

Well we’ll keep our ears open for Joe from Foehammer’s latest prog project. 

You guys are located in the DC suburbs – what is the scene like there?

Jay: Most of the scene is in DC proper, but DC has always had a problem with keeping venues around.  It seems that venues that cater to underground bands don’t really stay around for more than a year or two.  You have your big clubs like Rock and Roll Hotel and Black Cat, but they don’t really put on too many doom or “our music” kind of shows.  Venues that do, don’t last too long.  Of course, Chris Moore does an amazing job.  I think a lot of credit is due to him building a scene in DC where there wasn’t really a cohesive scene for a long time, honestly.

Any upcoming shows or events that you want to hype?

Joe: We’re playing with The Sidebar in Baltimore on November 9 with Bell Witch, Primitive Man and Corpse Light.

Who are you looking forward to seeing here this weekend?

Ben: Woe and Vastum.

Jay: Black Table – I spent some time playing touring bass for them so I’m really excited to meet back up with them.  Vastum.  Panopticon.  Definitely Withered.

The End

This interview transcript has been slightly edited for clarity.  Thanks to the wonderful Shannon Void for setting up the interview and for being an all round badass.  Many thanks to Jay, Ben, and Joe. 

Band info: facebook |bandcamp

Mammoth Storm - "Fornjot" (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 6/11/2015

Label: Napalm Records

Weighty riffs with a little of the coldness of black metal about them, half sung/half shouted vocals are mixed distantly behind the rather bleak sounding guitars and pounding drums. The effect is kind of like if Conan listened to Dissection and Bathory and then discovered that they could not play that fast but took on some of the style anyway. “Vultures Prey” perfectly sums up this aesthetic.  Mammoth Storm have their own take on doom and have incorporated some elements of black metal and trad metal to create a really good record that should sit well with fans of Foehammer, Conan, Sleep and those doom fans who like a bit of black metal as well

“Fornjot” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Augurs Echo

2. Vultures Prey

3. Sumerian Cry

4. Fornjot

5. Horns of Jura

6. Hekla

Mammoth Storm is:

Daniel Arvidsson | Bass, Vocals

Christer Ström | Guitars

Emil Ahlman | Drums, Organ

The Review:

Epic and sludgy doom is on the menu courtesy of the mighty Mammoth Storm. They are as large and as crushing as their name suggests as opener “Augurs Echo” lumbers into earshot. The rest of the album continues in the same vein; weighty riffs with a little of the coldness of black metal about them, half sung/half shouted vocals are mixed distantly behind the rather bleak sounding guitars and pounding drums. The effect is kind of like if Conan listened to Dissection and Bathory and then discovered that they could not play that fast but took on some of the style anyway. “Vultures Prey” perfectly sums up this aesthetic.

There is “Sumerian Cry” to break up the record a little, being as it is a sub three minute piece of music that summons forth the atmosphere of a barbarian crossing some kind of wasteland or desert plain. The title track follows with nine and a half minutes of skull crushing heaviosity. Truly heavy and bound to get your head nodding, this is doom as it should be. “Horns of Jura” has a similar playing time but brings with it a more angular riffing style.

The closing thirteen and a half minutes of “Hekla” is as expansive as it is bleak. The opening is a slow build towards a downcast riff that finally ushers in the snare drum as the song builds. It would be true to say that Mammoth Storm are not doing anything new, per se, but they also have their own take on doom and have incorporated some elements of black metal and trad metal to create a really good record that should sit well with fans of Foehammer, Conan, Sleep and those doom fans who like a bit of black metal as well.

“Fornjot” is available here

FFO: Foehammer, Conan, Sleep, Tombstones

Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp

Throneless - "Throneless" (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 25/10/2015

Label: Heavy Psych Sounds

The overall sound is powerful, creating a real sense of dread and has some really dark passages to it. If you are waiting for the next Conan record and fancy some Swedish doom, then check this one out for sure. It is powerful and dark and a fine debut by anyone's standards.

“Throneless” CD//DD//LP track listing

1). Masters Of Nothing

2). Cavedrones

3). Thinning The Herd

4). Reaching For The Dead

Throneless is:

Johan Burman | drums

Johan Sundén | guitar

Patrik Sundberg | bass

The Review:

Swedish doom/stoner/drone in the vein of a less aggressive but equally rumbling Conan- that just about sums this one up. The sound is incredibly low, the playing very slow and the whole effect is one of depth.

“Masters of Nothing” kicks things off with a medium paced (for the genre, that is) dirge. The vocals are distant and mixed well back, drenched in reverb. It would be true to say that a little of this stuff goes a long way, and the record features four tracks with nothing under eight minutes in length. With the song lengths and number of tracks the band has it spot on. No need to aim for an 80 minute playing time, just set up a groove, let it become hypnotic and thrown in a change or stop section every now and then. There is an arcane art to this type of stuff and the atmosphere combined with the groove is what the genre lives and dies by.

“Cavedrones” sounds exactly like, well, a droning doom metal band playing in a cave. Very slow, very heavy. To be totally objective, I am not a huge fan of the thudding snare sound (which was apparently recorded in a bucket in a separate room to the rest of the kit), but this is nit picking. The overall sound is powerful and appropriate. “Thinning The Herd” creates a real sense of dread (the longer the note... the more dread!) and has some really dark passages to it.

To cap things off, “Reaching For The Dead” creates a rather melancholy mood with its (gasp!) clean guitar opening and this is a very welcome addition to the record, bringing as it does a sense of light and shade. The rest of the track is probably the standout cut on the album for me- it's dark and plodding with a wistful feel and a great vibe.

If you are waiting for the next Conan record and fancy some Swedish doom, then check this one out for sure. It is powerful and dark and a fine debut by anyone's standards.

“Throneless” is available here

FFO: Conan, Slomatics, Slabdragger, Foehammer

Band info: Facebook | Bandcamp

Recitation - 'Carrion' (Album Review)

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 09/10/2015

Label: Indisciplinarian 

‘Carrion’ is one twenty seven minute (!) track that is funereal in its approach, downbeat in its execution and extremely dark in content.  Massively heavy and plodding, incorporating vocals of the inhumanly low variety, the guitars are similarly tuned and the drums are massive and unforgiving.  Overall the record is an exercise in vibe and endurance.

‘Carrion’ DD//LP track listing

1). Carrion

The Review:

Recitation is a Danish “project” (so the internet says) that is very, very doom. ‘Carrion’ is one twenty seven minute (!) track that is funereal in its approach, downbeat in its execution and extremely dark in content. The vocals are of the inhumanly low variety, the guitars are similarly tuned and the drums are massive and unforgiving. The riffs are repeated ad infinitum, as you might expect, and there are not a huge number of them. The record is an exercise in vibe and endurance. Massively heavy and plodding until around 17 minutes in, when things pick up and the vocals are buried in the mix. Of course, it all slows down again later...

If you are a fan of the funeral end of doom or enjoyed the last Conan or Foehammer release, then you will most likely enjoy this. For me, these Danes are not the equal of either of those bands, but they certainly make a dark and heavy noise which is well worth checking out. Just don't expect dynamics or surprises.

‘Migation’ is available here

FFO: Conan, Foehammer, Ahab, Warhorse

Band info: bandcamp | tumblr

Foehammer - 'Foehammer' EP (Review)

Album Type: EP

Date Released: 7/4/2015

Label: Grimoire Records

/Australopithecus Records

‘Foehammer’ CD/CS/DD/Vinyl track listing

1). Final Grail

2). Stormcrow

3). Jotnar

Foehammer is

Joe Cox | guitar

Jay Cardinell | bass, vocals

Ben Blanton | drums

Review:

Have they taken their name from the beastly Conan track on Blood Eagle?! If they have... it's appropriate. If not, it is descriptive regardless. This is heavy. HEAVY. It is funeral doom, I guess, with lower than low death growl vocals. ‘Final Grail’ sets the scene and things do not let up or change from the off. Tuned very low, playing very slow, this Virginian mob know how to shake the foundations of any stereo system. Over the course of three tracks, you get 34 minutes of music- and some changes in dynamics and atmosphere here and there too. Ultimately the playing is great and the sound is one of depth and clarity.

‘Stormcrow’ (any titles which might even hint at referencing the mighty Gates of Slumber is fine with me) opens with the amps feeding back and then a familiarly weighty riff of slow and creepy insistence. At over 10 minutes long, the track is in no hurry to get anywhere fast, so the build up lasts as long as many grindcore EPs do.

‘Jotnar’ clocks in close to 15 minutes and delivers... crushingly slow doom which takes no prisoners (a theme is emerging!) over the course of its playing time. It's primitive, weighty and very effective. If you like Conan or even Hooded Menace, then this is a must. For all you cheapskates out there thinking that you would just download the demo of 2014 instead; this is far superior in sound and execution- and you get ‘Jotnar’ as well. The artwork is also cool, so what are you waiting for? This is good stuff and will no doubt set the band up for bigger things to come.

Words by: Richard Maw

‘Foehammer’ is available on CD/DD/CS here and here

For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/foehammerva | https://foehammer.bandcamp.com/releases