DOOM AROUND THE WORLD
A mix of new doom, including forays into death-doom, stoner-doom, and other doom metal hybrids, curated by Billy Goate (Editor in Chief, Doomed & Stoned).
PROGRAM
INTRO (00:00)
1. Thundergoat - “Celestial Death Cult/Black Hole Coven” (01:26)
2. Weedzard - “Black Mountain” (08:46)
3. Dirge - “Condemned” (15:43)
4. Runemagick - “Endless Night And Eternal End” (24:48)
5. Mammon’s Throne - “Beyond” (32:37)
6. Sunrot - “Trepanation” (36:09)
7. Hellish Form - “Pink Tears” (44:48)
8. Messa - “Suspended” (53:16)
OUTRO (1:01:17)
CREDITS:
- thumbnail: Runemagick
- sound clips: The Female Bunch (1969)
THE DOOMED & STONED SHOW
This is the first episode of 2023 and also marks the ninth season of The Doomed & Stoned Show. For almost a decade we’ve been bringing you some of the best music from the heavy underground, with a focus on contemporary doom metal and stoner rock. Get access to previous seasons of the show here.
In this show, Billy Goate (Editor, Doomed & Stoned), John Gist (CEO, Vegas Rock Revolution), and Bucky Brown (Contributor, Doom Charts) get into their Top 5 favorite albums of 2022, exploring 15 unique albums between them. We hope you dig it.
PLAYLIST
INTRO (00:00)
1. Black Lung - “Dark Waves” (00:31)
HOST SEGMENT I - no. 5 albums (05:38)
> incidental music: Heavy Relic
2. Steak - “Dead Meat” (22:47)
3. Rumours - “Broken Sighs and Burning Tears” (25:49)
4. Hazemaze - “In The Night Of The Light For The Dark” (32:16)
HOST SEGMENT II - no. 4 albums (38:00)
> incidental music: Heavy Relic
5. Messa - “Dark Horse” (51:56)
6. Spiral Drive - “Lines For Lives” (59:03)
7. Sasquatch - “Lilac” (1:04:02)
HOST SEGMENT III - no. 3 albums (1:08:17)
> incidental music: Mephedrone
8. Sergeant Thunderhoof - “You’ve Stolen The Words” (1:22:34)
9. King Buffalo - “Mercury” (1:31:12)
10. Domkraft - “The Brush Descends the Length” (1:35:43)
HOST SEGMENT IV - no. 2 albums (1:39:23)
> incidental music: Mission Pilots and the Dropkick Apollos
11. Sons of Arrakis - “Lonesome Preacher” (1:47:51)
12. Abrams - “Better Living” (1:53:05)
13. Kurokuma - “Jaguar” (1:57:22)
HOST SEGMENT V - no. 1 albums (2:05:16)
> incidental music: Frozen Planet…1969
14. MWWB - “Altamira” (2:37:08)
15. Grave Bathers - “Blood Money” (2:44:53)
16. Freedom Hawk - “From The Inside Out” (2:50:11)
OUTRO (2:54:33)
17. Early Moods - “Last Rites” (bonus track)
Thumbnail: detail of Grave Bathers cover art by Benjamin Marra.
THE DOOMED & STONED SHOW
It’s time once again for our monthly visit to the Doom Charts, with longtime Doom Charts contributors Billy Goate (Editor, Doomed & Stoned), John Gist (Vegas Rock Revolution), and Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect). As always, there is a massive haul this week, friends, so dig it and dig in!
If you dig what Doomed & Stoned is doing, consider supporting our work:
- Patrons get the show in HQ audio a day sooner! Check out the perks of patronage at patreon.com/doomedandstoned.
PLAYLIST
INTRO (00:00)
1. Dirty Sound Magnet (no. 15) - “Body in Mind” (00:31)
HOST SEGMENT I (06:43)
2. Aye Mammoth (no. 25) - “Eternal” (19:53)
3. Elk Witch (no. 11) - “Llao’s Island” (23:59)
4. Crowbar (no. 17) - “Confess to Nothing” (30:58)
HOST SEGMENT II (35:18)
5. Cosmic Debris (no. 24) - “Interstellar Solar Race” (41:53)
6. Dual Fighter (no. 12) - “Mean Machines” (46:56)
7. Greyborn (no. 18) - “Bits & Pieces” (53:46)
HOST SEGMENT III (58:53)
8. Stone Axe (no. 10) - “Lady Switchblade” (1:15:05)
9. MWWB (no. 9) - “Altamira” (1:19:35)
10. Eric Wagner (no. 8) - “Isolation” (1:27:19)
HOST SEGMENT IV (1:31:52)
11. Mount Saturn (no. 7) - “Sword First” (1:44:47)
12. Troll Teeth (no. 6) - “Your Hands Are Red” (1:51:35)
13. Humanotone (no. 5) - “Light Antilogies” (1:58:34)
HOST SEGMENT V (2:06:51)
14. JIRM (no. 4) - “Repent in Blood” (2:28:19)
15. ZOM (no. 3) - “Running Man” (2:36:56)
16. Samavayo (no. 2) - “Transcend! Exceed! (2:40:52)
17. Messa (no. 1) - "Rubedo” (2:44:51)
OUTRO (2:51:33)
18. Di'Aul (no. 26) [BONUS] - “Abracamacabra” (2:52:39)
GET YER DOOM ON!
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Rendezvous with Italian Doom Trailblazers Messa
As much as I enjoy retro-rock and old school doom (or whatever else you want to call it), I think you’d lie to yourself if you claimed that innovation was one of the biggest virtues of the genre. Usually it’s enough to do what is tried and tested well, but to do something new is rare. I remember a few years back when a band called MESSA and their music video for “Babalon” was making the rounds. Suddenly, there was this young Italian band that combined occult rock with drone metal, and heads were turning left and right.
Clearly, Messa was onto something with their debut Belfry, and it went beyond the fantastic songwriting and Sara’s sublime vocals. Something Messa would reiterate with their excellent sophomore record Feast for Water last year, which boldly flirted with elements of doom-jazz and even black metal. So prior to their special set at Roadburn 2019, for which they had brought along their saxophonist Lorenzo, I sat down with Sara (vocals), Marco (guitar & bass), Alberto (guitar & keys), Rocco (drums & additional vocals) and Lorenzo to talk roots, plans, and what it takes to come up with a new sound in a traditional genre. The transcript of our conversation follows.
How are you?
We’re fine.
Where are you actually based? I know it’s somewhere in Northern Italy but I’ve got no details.
Sara: We live about an hour away from Venice, near the mountains. One of the closest mountains around us is Monte Tomba and one of the songs on our first record is named after it. A little bit of Messa trivia.
And how did you all get together? Is there an established music scene in that region?
Sara: We were all in different bands before Messa but knew each other through the local music scene.
Alberto: And we’re the same age.
Sara: Yeah, three of us were born in ‘92 and we went to school together. Knew each other since we were 14, but we never played in a band together before. And there’s a lot of bands in our area, everything from black metal, to progressive and stoner rock. We all have different musical backgrounds and different genres that inspire us.
So, could you talk about the different bands you were in?
Rocco: Well, I play black metal, and it’s also what I usually listen to. When I started playing for Messa I first had to get used to playing so slowly. But I wanted to try something new, experience something different, and I really enjoy what we’ve been doing.
Lorenzo: Well, I think I’m the alien of the group because my background is so different as a saxophone player. That being Jazz of course. The funny thing is that when I was young, I used to sing for a rock band. Had long hair and all.
Sara: I’d love to see some pictures of that.
And what about you, Sara?
Sara: Well, I’ve always played hardcore punk and fast music in general. I still play bass in Restos Humanos, which is a deathgrind band with Spanish lyrics, as our singer is originally from Colombia. And I’ve got a studio project called Sixcircles that’s psych-folksy kind of stuff. But my main background is playing bass in hardcore punk bands.
Alberto: I’ve been in several surf rock bands and I have a '70s prog band. I went to a conservatory to study jazz guitar. That’s also where I met Lorenzo. And I met the rest of Messa through a stoner rock band I was involved in.
Marco: I’ve always been in rock bands. I had a band called The Sade that was a mix of Danzig and The Hellacopters, you know that Scandinavian rock sound. Been doing that for 10 years and then Messa came about.
And when you first started Messa did you go into it with a concept in mind, or did the sound clarify itself through jamming together?
Sara: We had a certain idea in mind. We knew we wanted to play doom because it’s something none of us had ever done before. And the more we developed the music the vision developed with it. It went hand in hand.
Still, I’ve heard my fair share of old school doom bands and practically none have ever been as adventurous as you. I had always assumed there was some degree of deliberation behind that, but did it really just come about like that?
Marco: I think we’re very different minds with different musical interests.
Rocco: And we fully put ourselves into it.
Sara: And we work together very closely. We’re bound to each other when we work on songs. But at the same time, we don’t want to be held back by boundaries and get stuck into something. Like using the Rhodes Piano. We just went for it. Said “Why not, let’s do that.” There’s a lot of great '70s doom bands out there that we love, but we as musicians wanted to create something different.
Would you not wanting to get stuck in something also explain the slight shift in sound between 'Belfry’ and 'Feast for Water’?
Marco: Well, for Belfry it was first just me and Sara wanting to do something different with doom. After a few months we shared our work with Rocco and Alberto and started jamming. And for Feast we had a similar approach, wanting to do something new, not be satisfied with the first shot, the first riff.
Sara: And I’d say it was natural that there was change. Belfry was composed rather quickly in a few months. Feast took more time to be developed. We got to know each other better as musicians in between the two records. And like I said, we’re very close and still are growing together, on an individual level, on a musical level and a spiritual level.
And how long was Messa a band before you went into the studio to record 'Belfry’?
Sara: As a serious band? Less than a year. We first got together in November, recorded in August 2015, and Belfry was released in 2016.
Marco: It was very straight forward. We went into the studio with the entire material written and recorded Belfry instead of playing the material live and see how people react to it and then try to make an EP and wait. No big demos. Just straight into the studio.
Put it in the can and you’re out again.
Rocco: One shot, one kill.
Marco: But yeah, straight into the studio, really low budget. But we were sure of what we had done, we believed in our work.
And were you already signed to Aural Music at that point?
Marco: We sent out some stuff and we made a Bandcamp that had a rehearsal recording with some black and white pictures as cover, really simple. And then Emiliano from Aural music wrote us. Said “Please, I want to hear more. It sounds really interesting.” He was also interested because despite being Italian himself, he’s only got like three Italian bands on his label.
And what is the local music scene in general like in your region? You said that you were all based in pretty much the same area, right?
Sara: Well, three of us live a maximum of 10 kilometers away from each other. And we live in tiny places, there’s no huge city. It’s a five minute drive to rehearsals. For some of us it’s a bit longer, like an hour.
Rocco: And there’s a lot of musicians in our area, from all kinds of different genres.
Marco: As far as doom and stoner rock goes though, maybe not as much in our own region, but in the whole of Italy there’s some bands that we want to mention. There’s Grime from Trieste, who play sludge metal. There’s Naga from Naples, a great blackened doom band who are friends of ours.
Sara: Super nice guys, but devastating, especially live. One of the best Italian bands at the moment, in my opinion.
Marco: Thing is, you gotta drive at least one hour to get to most concerts in Italy. What’s happening music-wise is usually restricted to the big cities.
A bit of a thematic jump, but what are some defining records or bands for you?
Sara: I think for each one of us there’s gotta be some Led Zeppelin record in our lists.
Marco: Yeah, I think we gravitate more towards Zeppelin than Sabbath.
Sara: Well I like them both, but I’d say Messa is way more influenced by Led Zeppelin than Black Sabbath. As for other records, the first –- no, all records from The Devil’s Blood. I think that goes for Marco, as well.
Did you catch the Molasses (the new band of The Devil’s Blood vocalist Farida Lemouchi) set yesterday?
Sara: I loved it.
Marco: I think it was missing some of that darkness.
Sara: But I think that was intentional, it was going for something different. It’s a rib of The Devil’s Blood. They can’t be the same. The concert was great. Farida’s voice is amazing.
Marco: As a project beside The Devil’s Blood it was super good concert. If you just treat it as its own thing and don’t think about it coming from The Devil’s Blood. The drummer was great.
I really enjoyed the guitars and unusual structures.
Sara: And the Rhodes Piano and guitars. I love twin guitars. How can you not love them?
Alberto: Disraeli Gears by Cream.
Sara: So, we’ve got Zeppelin, The Devil’s Blood, Cream. Ah, Transilvanian Hunger by Darkthrone.
Rocco: Oh, yeah. I used to listen to that one a lot when I was younger. It’s still good.
Lorenzo: I’d say the biggest influence for me was Lush Life by Joe Henderson. Best record I ever listened to in my life. But I love all the jazz greats and can listen to another one each day.
Marco: One band we haven’t mentioned so far that really changed how we wrote music was Bohren & Der Club of Gore. I cried the two times I’ve seen them live. We exchanged bands when we started writing and Bohren was one of them, and they really got us excited to experiment with music. So, that’s one of the central bands that gave us the push in the direction Messa was going.
Sara: It was game-changing.
See, I was almost waiting for you to name drop Bohren. If I have to explain Messa to somebody Bohren is sure to be mentioned, too.
Marco: Thinking of, there’s this band that also takes cues from Bohren who have released a new record recently. But they’re originally from the whole screamo/post-hardcore scene, and they mix a bit of that into it. They’re called Radare. They’re great, check them out.
I’ll be sure to do that. What was the preparation for Roadburn like? They must’ve approached you first to come and play, right?
Sara: Yeah, they asked us to play. We’re super happy to be here and being able to play at these great venues, work with professionals and play with a lot of awesome bands. It’s such a cool opportunity to be here.
Rocoo: Yeah, it’s quite surreal. I won’t really believe it happened until after the show tonight.
Marco: As for preparations, we rehearsed a lot with Lorenzo to get ready for the show.
So, will you perform more often Lorenzo in the future then?
Marco: We’ll see how it goes. It depends on his price. He’s an expensive dude (laughs).
Sara (to Lorenzo): Are you ready to sleep on a floor for five days and have no showers?
Lorenzo: Yeah, we’ll see how it goes.
Sara: We had a lot of rehearsals for this and we worked hard to arrange the songs and tracklist in way that it flows nicely. We’ll play material from both records as well as a song we never performed live before. We’re anxious and happy to get on stage.
Marco: And shortly after Roadburn, we’ve got a 10-day tour with Sabbath Assembly.
Sara: And we’re playing Hellfest this summer and after that we’ll see what happens.
And is this the first time you’re playing with the full line up?
Sara: Actually the second time. The first time was the release show for Feast for Water.
Marco: We did that show in our rehearsal space, which is in an old church. it was a friends only thing, no facebook event, just invitation by email.
Rocco: And we played together with Gorrch, which is a great black metal band and good friends of ours.
So, what sets have you already seen at Roadburn and which ones are you trying to catch tonight?
Marco: Well, Gold is playing soon, so definitely them.
Sara: Triptykon. We saw Twin Temple.
Rocco: I’ll see Midnight.
Alberto: Heilung.
Rocco: Petbrick was fucking freaky.
Marco: AA Williams.
Sara: Craft is playing tonight but we’ll unfortunately miss them.
Yeah, I was thinking about watching them too, but alas there are clashes. What are your plans for the future? Can we expect some new music soon?
Sara: We haven’t really worked on any new music so far. We’ve been concentrating on preparing for Roadburn and the tour in general mostly. Of course, sooner or later the call for new music will come. I have some ideas I’d like to develop and I think the same goes for the rest of the band.
Last question. Which five objects would one have to lay in a pentagram to summon you?
Rocco: A beer. A piece of wood.
Sara: A burning fire.
Rocco: A burning fire for sure. Something from nature. So I guess water and sand.
Italy Strikes Back!
Doomed & Stoned Compilation Series
The latest installment in our quarterly compilation series is here! ‘Italy Strikes Back!’ (2016) was inspired by the flurry of activity in the doom-stoner heavy underground we’ve been witnessing over the past two years (see our story here). Thanks to our Italian contributor Mari Knox Knox for heading this one up. Here’s what she has to say about the new project:
Doomed & Stoned focuses its quarterly compilation series on the Italian scene for the first time. Here are 26 tracks by 26 artists, selected among the best budding Italian bands that agreed to join the mix. Through this perfectly arranged playlist, ranging from heavy psych and stoner rock to doom and sludge metal, you will experience a journey into the most dark, lysergic, and sour sides of the Italian underground.
Special thanks go to all bands who contributed their tracks to this project and to the gifted artist Franca Vecchio, who designed a magnificent artwork just for the occasion, taking inspiration from the erotic horror Italian comics of the past.
Download “Italy Strikes Back” and DOOM ON!
-Mari Knox Knox-
Bands featured:
ARCANA 13
Atomic Mold
Black Capricorn
Bretus
Elevators to the Grateful Sky
FAVEQUAID
Gargoyle
Haunted
Indivia
KAYLETH
Kröwnn
L'IRA DEL BACCANO
Megatherium
MESSA
MR.BISON
Nudist
Organ
RAIKINAS
RAMA
Rosàrio
SATOR
SaturninE
Sonic Wolves
Temple of Dust
The Ossuary
WOWS
Art by Francesca Vecchio
*This is a free compilation. Any donations received go towards purchasing more free downloads from Bandcamp for the entire compilation series (yes, Bandcamp charges us for free downloads). Our aim is to catch the world on fire with the power of mighty riffs and downtuned devastation!
DOOM AROUND THE WORLD!
Episode 1.2
By Billy Goate (Editor in Chief)
Illustration by Jack Kirby
There was a day and time when I never paid attention to the news. I couldn’t have told you if it was going to rain or shine tomorrow, much less who was the governor of my state, because I just didn’t give a damn. Now, I’m a news addict. I wake up in the morning looking for my daily fix of dread and am sorely disappointed when there are no mass suicides, political scandals, or idle threats of war. Thankfully, there is plenty in the dailies to keep us in full-force, teeth-clenched fear. So while you’re digging your bomb shelter, stocking up on your arsenal of 2nd Amendment Rights, and ordering your bonus buckets from Rev. Jim Baker, here are some tunes to remind you that you are, you know, done for.
Come experience the mirth and the madness with me, as we trudge on towards oblivion, slowly headbang ourselves bloody with two fistfuls of riffs. It’s another edition of…
(((DOOOOOOM))))))) Around The World~!
Poland
We begin our plodding walk of woe in Wroclaw, where we encounter four dudes with a wake-up call: they just want to burn this motherfucker down. Meet Damian (vocals), Krzysztof (guitar), Piotr (bass guitar), and Gniewko (drums) of BLACK SMOKE. These rowdies released ‘Fuck Society’ (2015) in autumn and, like so many records that came out last year, I almost missed it entirely. Were it not for Krzysztof taking the effort to send me a CD, I might have missed this entirely. And that would have been a shame, because I’d have missed out on a cathartic concoction of punk adrenaline, tempered by simmering, sludgy rage. The end result is heavy enough to merit the “doom” moniker, particularly a track like “Doomed Goat” (how’d you know that’d be my fav?) or “Crossed Hands”. The record warrants favorable comparisons to Meth Drinker, Sea Bastard, and (yes) Eyehategod, not to mention their compatriots 71TONMAN, Legalize Crime, and, of course, O.D.R.A. 'Fuck Society’ is a brief listen at just six tracks, perfect for the get-up-and-go Monday morning when you just need more than a nudge, you need a kick right square in the nuts, to motivate your sorry ass to get up and earn your daily bread. I think you’ll be singing the titular anthem (track 5) on the way out the door.
Canada
The next spot on our globe trek: Canada (aka future Annexed United States of America - Trudeau, I told you should have followed Donald’s lead and built that god damned wall). Alberta is our destination, where recent raging wildfires are currently giving us a new visual index to the word apocalyptic. Here we encounter WITCHSTONE, whose recent split with The Death Wheelers on Sunmask Records is well worth a gander. The Witchstone side has two meaty tracks that contrast well with the sleazy biker rock of their companions. Witchstone have truly mastered the art of psychedelic doom, in case there were any doubts that these two genres could be happily married. Fans of Sleep will find a few nods to Holy Mountain in “Altar Riot, “along with some desertic twangs that conjure visions of an acid soaked Spaghetti Western though the vocals are pure satanic venom (a la Bongzilla). The song is performed with complete confidence (the drumming in the last minutes is possessed). Here is a band clearly at the top of its game. I’d not listened to much Witchstone prior to this, so I’m anxious to delve into the band’s back catalog now (and curious to see them perform live).
Peru
I had no inkling that such ungodly treasure awaited me in Lima, where I first encountered the album, 'La noche de los tiempos’ (2016) by NOCTURNO. After a diabolical invocation, we are introduced to one of the finest instrumental songs I’ve heard this year: "El espíritu de la serpiente.” Really, you need to hear this - it’s a beautiful thing what Heinz “Azazel” Wuttig (guitar) Félix Dextre (bass) Cesar Araujo (drums) have done, taking a familiar form and infusing it with dark power and rhythmic vitality. Oh, and it keeps getting better. Azazel’s solos in “El sueño del incubo” are jaw-dropping. The guy’s a bona fide virtuoso. Even the well-trodden blues metal strains of a song like “La danza de las hijas del viento” benefits from his superior musicianship. All three show great collaborative prowess in my favorite track of the album, the ominous “La noche de los tiempos.” If you love Sabbath-inspired doom, and you don’t want your doom to be fucked-up by vocals you don’t particular care for, then you’re quite likely to find this album as endlessly satisfying as I. The cover art, it bears mention, is fantastically penned by José Gabriel Alegría Sabogal.
Italy
One of the constant anxieties I live with is that there is somewhere out there great doom that I’m missing out on. 'Belfry’ (2016) by Italian quartet MESSA is getting raving mad reviews from the Bandcampers. Our own Zachary Painter remarks, “If you are debating paying for this, just know that I’ve listened to it for not even 20 minutes yet and it’s already one of my favorite albums of the year if not THE album of the year. They write with absolute authority. This is music to get lost in, eyes peeled, glazed red and staring into the stars.” Doubtless, the 10-song album deserves a track-by-track review, if not definitely a vinyl release. It’s a feast for audiophiles and fuzz-maniacs, from the get-go, with thoughtful texturing of sound and endearing female vocals. The song-writing is intense, drawing from a patchwork of stylistic influences - black and ambient, punk and prog - all of which have been melted into “a sonic cauldron that the band defines as Scarlett Doom.” Here’s the music video for “Babalon” - I think you’ll fall in love.
Czech Republic
Another old soul has returned with new music: QUERCUS. The Czech funeral doomers (playing since 2001) have outdone themselves this time around with this, their third full-length. 'Heart With Bread’ (2016) is impressive right out of the gate, where we’re introduced to the band’s sound on a grand scale with a mother-fucking church pipe organ. Excuse my language, but this impressed me. What could be more doom than a Bach-style pipe organ? Holy Christ! We’re in for a godly time. All joviality aside, Quercus approach this music making as high art. In fact, the band does what I think is a first - a metal cover of “My Heart’s in the Highlands” by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, and perhaps add something of their own to the classical repertoire with the 22-minute wonder, “A Canticle For The Pipe Organ.” Fans of funeral doom pioneers like Esoteric, Skepticism, and Thergothon will revel in this dirge of epic death-doom.
Greece
I admit it. The album art suckered me into this one, so I was predisposed to a favorable review - though the skeptical side of me said, “Brace yourself, just in case it’s a disappointment.” When I learned that the Athens-based GREEN YETI featured members of Brotherhood of Sleep and the late, great Stonenrow (who was, effectively, Greece’s answer to Electric Wizard). Now you’d better now disappointment, you wily hulk of an ape man. The first track didn’t exactly wow me, though it starts competently enough. It’s not until the development section that we see what these three can do with a riff - a they do improvise the hell out of it. Danis Avramidis has a great voice and is no slouch with the guitar. “The Yeti Has Landed” goes the distance at 16 minutes and I was curious, if nothing else, to hear what followed. Indeed it gets better from here. In fact, I was starting to feel a sense of connection between the pieces (whether by coincidence or design). “Acari” bears evidence of the Stonenrow of old, though its clear by now that Green Yeti are taking a distinctively psychedelic approach to their doom. Is it psychedelic doom or doomed psychedelia? You decide. “Old Man” is by far my favorite of the record, with it’s assertive beat, working bass and drums against guitar. Yeah, they’re onto something here. This is the groove! By this time in the record, I’m a believer in Yeti, green or otherwise. Clocking in at over an hour, these four tracks will keep your blood levels of doom high for a good while.
United Kingdom
By now we’ve had a taste of all kinds of doom from the four corners of earth - instrumental, funeral, sludge, traditional, and avante garde. Something is happening in London we must bear witness to. The doom is strong here. The album cover for GHOLD’s 'PYR’ (2016 - Ritual Productions) looks like a nuclear blast in progress, or perhaps the visual representation of the stomping mad wall of sound we bear witness to in these four songs. It’s rough and tumble stuff - almost industrial at times - with throaty, raging vocals almost drowned out by the crushing bass, noise, and cymbals. Somehow it works. This is music that will grow hair on your chest. Hell, I went out and bought an axe and some wood to chop and did it like a pro, thanks to that second track, “Blud.” I think I might model for the cover of Green Yeti’s next album after this experience. Ghold may well be the new face of English doom (an heir to the beat-driven style of Godflesh before them). 'Pyre’ is brash, abrasive, and grand on a Wagnerian scale (the last track “Despert Thrang” is a monument!). The Goate is well-pleased with this offering of sound.
United States
We land this strange and twisted journey by land, air, and sea in my home sweet home on the West Coast, where we take in some astonishing developments in the heavy underground, chief among them Shasta Lake’s WORSHIP OF KERES. The Cali crew of Elise Tarens (vox), Matthew Woods Wilhoit (guitar), Robert Lander (bass), and Trevor William Church (drums) have collaborated on one outstanding EP. Believe me when I say, each of these songs (here called “Books”) will etch into your memory, like a strange and sublime dream, thanks in no small part to Elise’s enchanted vocals. It’s quite an accomplished debut, meriting favorable comparisons with Sabbath Assembly, Windhand, Blood Ceremony, and this next one…
If you’re one of those whiners who claims that all doom has become derivative knock-offs of Electric Wizard and Sleep and you long (however skeptically) for an original voice, you need an encounter with EYE OF NIX. I’ve captured them live twice now and continue to be impressed by the masterful vocalizations of Joy Von Spain, who has the gusto of a Metropolitan Opera singer, with a crisscross of blackened doom, psychedelic haze, and post-metal cerebralismo. The Seattle quintet have stolen my heart and endeared my respect, with songs like “Elysium Elusive,” “Turned to Ash,” and (especially) that stunner of a closer, “Optime Vero.” Here’s some footage I shot of the band during their 'Moros’ (2015) tour, playing Portland’s High Water Mark Lounge. That last number will leave you breathless.
You knew it would end here. My sinister siren song leads the hazed and dazed minions to the City of Roses, where we encounter the 'Last Vestige of Humanity’ (2015) - the debut full-length by MAMMOTH SALMON. There’s heavy, and then there’s HEAVY, and Paul Dudziak (guitar/vocals), Matt Howl (bass), and Chad Walter (drums) are straight up ferocious here, particularly in songs like “Ad Nauseam,” “Memoriam,” and “Shattered Existence,” which (as I recently wrote in October Doom Magazine) are “well-crafted stompers.”
I dare say that Mammoth Salmon are even more ravenous live (my favorite time filming them: at the stroke of midnight, playing next to the railroad to the backdrop of concertina wired fence outside of The Wandering Goat). Amusingly, Mammoth Salmon were once given expert advice from the judge of a battle of the bands competition to change their name from Mammoth Salmon to something more…relatable. I knew then and there that judge was most certainly from California, for there is nothing more Oregonian than a honking huge-ass chinook or steelhead salmon caught in the month of May!
As an aside, that album cover is the work of Eugene artist Sean Schock, who also designed our bitchin’ Doomed & Stoned t-shirt (available here). With that, we rest our weary feat until the Pied Piper of Doom comes calling again next week!
Bon appétit