THE DOOMED & STONED SHOW (S9E8)

We tread on to mighty episode 8 for a look at the June 2023 rankings from DoomCharts.com – a packed episode that features commentary from Billy Goate (Doomed & Stoned), John Gist (Vegas Rock Revolution), and Bucky Brown (The Ripple Effect) – plus tons of new music, including Queens of the Stone Age, Witchskull, and Church of Misery.

This month, Doomed & Stoned celebrates 10 years! If you dig the blog or the show, consider becoming a regular monthly supporter: patreon.com/doomedandstoned. Don’t forget to show the bands some love by clicking the hot-linked names and grabbing their albums!

The Doomed & Stoned Show is now streaming on Spotify, Soundcloud, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spreaker, and more!

PLAYLIST:

INTRO (00:00)
1. Wytch Hazel (no. 19) - “The Fire’s Control” (00:31)

HOST SEGMENT I (04:21) - June Doom Charts
2. Rival Sons (no. 22) - “Nobody Wants To Die” (31:05)
3. The Gray Goo (no. 29) - “Pipe Hitter” (34:49)
4. Rainbows Are Free (no. 16) - “Sonic Demon” (39:20)

HOST SEGMENT II (44:34)
5. Lore (no. 39) - “The City of Suicide” (59:06)
6. Outer Head (no. 28) - “Astral Traveler” (1:03:09)
7. Slow Wake (no. 15) - “In Waves” (1:07:33)

HOST SEGMENT III (1:18:52)
8. Queens of the Stone Age (no. 10) - “Paper Machete” (1:44:49)
9. Lamassu (no. 9) - “Washed Away” (1:48:12)
10. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard (no. 8) - “Converge” (1:54:42)

HOST SEGMENT IV (2:00:59)
11. Snakemother (no. 7) - “Gold Shields” (2:19:00)
12. Dead Quiet (no. 6) - “Murder City” (2:22:22)
13. Witchskull (no. 5) - “The Serving Ritual” (2:29:47)

HOST SEGMENT V (2:33:49)
14. High Priest (no. 4) - “Down In The Dark” (3:08:06)
15. Black Rainbows (no. 3) - “Til the Outerspace” (3:12:52)
16. Church of Misery (no. 2) - “Beltway Sniper” (3:16:23)
17. Saint Karloff (no. 1) - “Bone Cave Escape” (3:25:07)

OUTRO (3:31:32)
18. King Howl (no. 33) - “From The Cradle” (3:32:41) [BONUS]
19. Bongzilla (no. 21) - “Dab City” (3:35:08) [BONUS]
20. From The Ages (no. 25) - “Tenebrous” (3:46:59) [BONUS]

CREDITS:
Theme Song: Dylan Tucker
Thumbnail: Lamassu’s ‘Made of Dust’ (2023)
Incidental Music: Copper Age & Crypt Witch

It’s amazing just how dramatically a band’s vocal approach can change the character of a song. In Cleveland’s SLOW WAKE we have a doom, grunge, post-metal vehicle made all the more remarkable by hearty vocal harmonies and an undeniable heartbeat.

A little backstory:

Slow Wake was conceived in Cleveland, Ohio amidst the chaos and turmoil of the Covid pandemic by guitarists Dan Simone (Black Spirit Crown) and Matt Merchant. As the world seemed to collapse around them, the two long-time friends convened to process what they were experiencing by finally starting that band they’d been talking about for years.

What emerged from those first few jam sessions was an intriguing blend of styles, Matt’s post-rock/americana and Dan’s stoner doom offering compelling counterpoint to each other in passages that were simultaneously ethereal and psychedelic, yet powerful and cathartic.

The duo were soon joined by bassist Joe Fortunato (Sparrowmilk, Venomin James) and drummer Jeff Larch (Black Spirit Crown, Reginleif) and the riffs did flow. What emerged was a blend of post-rock, doom, heavy psych and outer space that’s been described as: “Like staring out into the abyss of Lake Erie at sunset on a few hits of acid as the sun burns the water.”

Certainly, the album art for Slow Wake’s debut LP, ‘Falling Fathoms’ (2023) brings this vision to light, and there is also a dreamy quality to the music, experienced in the opening minutes of “In Waves.” “Have you seen the sign,” the last track asks, as we languish in a mesmerizing, bittersweet state between dreaming and wakefulness on “Black Stars.” In between these bookends is a blissful, exultant sound that distinguishes Slow Wake as one of the most exciting acts of the post-pandemic years.

Dan Simone’s penchant for catchy songwriting was witnessed as far back as 2017, when with his other band Black Spirit Crown he penned a heart-melting chorus for “Megalith” (off their Red Sky EP). If I’d been frustrated by how the music world seemed to miss (or overlook) these hallmarks of the genre, Slow Wake has impressed me all the more with its stubborn tenacity and penchant for compelling songwriting. Witness the immediacy of the verses on “In Waves” or that astounding chorus at the climax of “Relief.” Naturally, it takes more than a singer to make a band, and this group comes through with convincing chemistry on this record.

Look for the digital release of Slow Wake’s new album this weekend and a future physical issue of Falling Fathoms on Argonauta Records. Stick it on a playlist with Chevelle, Mastodon, Torche, Elder, and ASG.

Give ear…

Slow Wake: Behind The Scenes

By Dan Simone

The writing process for Falling Fathoms was inescapably colored by the events of 2021. Writing music is always an emotional process, your emotional state directly comes through in the energy of what you’re writing. In the early half of 2021, when we were first getting together and working out what Slow Wake was going to be, I was very angry and anxious after everything that happened in 2020: Covid lockdowns, protests across America, etc. I got together with Matt and he started playing these beautiful, intricate musical passages and it was like an immediate breath of fresh air in my head. I hadn’t been able to do anything creative for so long because of all of the emotional crap burning in my head, and dude’s riffs just washed it all out.

We soon recruited Joe and Jeff and started writing what became the Falling Fathoms album. In Waves, Falling Fathoms and Controlled Burn were the first songs we finished, musically. I was going to be doing the singing, and no one else wanted to really write lyrics so it fell to me. In my other band, Black Spirit Crown, I pretty much stick to classic stoner doom tropes; bad things from space, chilling on mountains and deserts, vikings, etc. For Slow Wake I knew I wanted to diversify a bit, but wasn’t sure what I wanted to talk about. Matt had named our first two proto-songs In Waves and Controlled Burn as working titles so one day I sat down to write.

Things were still pretty locked down, I was still angry and exhausted from a year of madness, and it all kind of came out there. Sitting in your house alone, every day the same, angry and unable to do anything about everything that’s happening around you. Suddenly I had a lyrical path, kind of uncomfortably introspective, but it felt good to get it out so I leaned in. ‘Falling Fathoms’ is about being exhausted from lack of sleep and feeling like just dying would be a welcome respite, falling through fathoms of consciousness until reaching frozen oblivion.

“Relief” is about walling yourself off emotionally, both to protect yourself from more harm, and also to protect the ones you love from the negativity that has overwhelmed you (and by that I mean me). Being wrapped in a mental stone fortress, stone-faced and emotionless just to get through the day.

“In Waves” got a bit more conceptual. At that point I was seeing an elemental theme happening as well. I’d written a song about fire, water, and earth and wanted this one to be about air to complete the set. It’s still about dying, but also about dreaming. I pulled some imagery from H.P. Lovecraft’s story The Silver Key, about a man who leaves behind the material world to live in dreams. As someone who doesn’t sleep well and doesn’t dream much when he does, I think that sounds nice.

“Black Stars” is a bit of an outlier, thematically. We actually finished that song several months after we had finalized and recorded the first four (with Chris Martin of Studio 138 who also has recorded and produced all of my Black Spirit Crown material). I was reading ‘The King in Yellow’ by Robert Chambers and decided to write a song about that story. Fans of that story will find a lot of references in my lyrics.

Our writing process is probably similar to most bands. Someone brings riffs to practice and everyone works on making a song out of them. In our case, we don’t really play the same riffs though. Specifically for me, that was born out of necessity. Matt is levels beyond me as a guitarist, and there was no way I was going to catch up to his skill quick enough to make this thing work, so I started working out counter melodies and harmonies that I could play to his riffs.

Joe and Jeff are both excellent musicians as well, so they were able to write parts that weave into what Matt and I are doing, so we get these really intricate musical passages. It’s really exhilarating, having all of this music swirling around you while you’re playing your part, and just finding your pocket and riding it out.