Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery
                                –Charles Caleb Colton

Covers are probably one of the coolest traditions we have in the heavy music scene. It’s all too easy to lose touch with the spirit of previous generations (the aesthetic and sentiment of 1970s folks music, for example), but covers help to keep the essence of a song alive.

I’m addicted to covers (always have been) and appreciate the fuzzed up series put out over the years by the likes of Heavy Psych Sounds, Redux Records, and Ripple Music, so I love when a band or series of bands give their take on brilliance.

Usually that includes the original melody, harmony, and rhythm, though all that can be in flux. Sometimes covers can be entirely unpredictable (think Low Flying Hawk’s rendition of “Dam that River” by Alice in Chains). At other times, a cover will up the ante over the original, such as Howling Giant’s majestic take on “Rooster.”

A well-written song can stand up to this kind of scrutiny, even feeling reinvented. Such is the case with GORDON HEAVYFOOT. The message remains the same, but with a notably growling new animal giving it voice.

This week, Canadian musicians Nichol S. Robertson and Friendly Rich Marsella are poised to release a standout collection of heavy interpretations (really a better term than “covers”) of six Gordon Lightfoot songs. Joining Robertson and Marsella are Gavin Maguire on drums and Vivienne Wilder on bass. The recording was mixed by producer Greg Dawson of Olde (producer of Olde, Grale, Thantifaxath, Panzerfaust records).

While paying tribute to the famed Canadian singer-songwriter of yesteryear, the spin before us stands surprisingly well on its own merits.

Nichol and Friendly tell Doomed & Stoned:

We wanted to honour Lightfoot using our unique voices as artists. We chose these tunes, as they lend themselves well to the heavier interpretation. The band was sort of born from a play on his name, and then when we began working on it, we realized it really worked well. Sometimes, all you need is a creative spark like that, and it almost seems to write itself. That being said, Nichol wrote these sludgy tunes with some help from our bassist Vivienne. Simply put, these are all Gordon Lightfoot songs re-imagined in a heavy dark world.

“Black Day In July”

Motor City madness has touched the countryside,
and through the smoke and cinders you can hear it far and wide

The album begins emphatically, with the spirit and conviction of a downtuned stomping rhythm. When the first verse begins, there is a chill of the night, smoke-filled atmosphere afoot, and I can imagine myself among hushed throngs as the story unfolds.

“Everyone is listening and everyone’s awake.” The lyrics resound today, though contemporary listeners may update their sentiment to the moral, social, and political realities that have evolved since the ‘60s and '70s.

Don’t think it’s going to be a gentle ending. No, we are ushered into pure madness. The payoff, as with so many of the songs here, is well worth the build-up.

“If You Could Read My Mind”

If you could read my mind, love
What a tale my thoughts could tell

Even if, God forbid, you haven’t heard the original song (and it won’t take much more than a hop, skip, and a jump to listen for the first time), Gordon Heavyfoot’s rendition holds its own. Many people feel isolated and alone in their thoughts, misunderstood, which makes the words so relatable.

Here, however, the singer takes a break (after the opening “1-2-3-4”), and the instrumentalists do their thing, an extended solo guiding us through the song. The wordless approach is a brilliant call that seems in line with the sentiment of the song, which explores how two people can be so close and yet have such a hard time expressing the true nature of their thoughts and feelings. So, appropriately, it’s a guitar takeover. The ever winding, twisting, screeching, angsty electrified stream of melodic consciousness says it all. Pure music is capable of tapping into a kind of spiritual language that somehow seems to get its point across by how it touches mind, body, and intuition.

All philosophizing aside, this will be an instant yes for many of the regulars here, its tone warm, fuzzy, and inviting. There’s an honest to goodness desert-stoner vibe going on, often noodling its way into psychedelic frenzy, bass and drums providing hearty support for the journey. I was really attracted to the guitar tone, of which Nichol tells me: “The guitar tone is simply a stratocaster through a Traynor Bassmate. With a custom ALLCAPS fuzz and occasional wah.”

“Oh Linda”

I’m gonna sing you a goodbye song
Sing a song that’s most unkind
I ain’t even gonna try to change your mind

This song works so effectively in this style, and would make a fitting companion to the raspy, corrosive cover of Bill Withers’ “Aint No Sunshine” by Montreal’s Dopethrone. The repeated rhythm is a brooding, dark, and bluesy and dons a hypnotically agreeable riff that’s easy to get lost in. The longest song of the album at nearly 6 minutes (just a second shy), I found myself really leaning into the lazy, hazy flow.

“Pony Man

When it’s midnight on the meadow, and the cats are in the shed
And the river tells a story at the window by my bed
If you listen very closely, be as quiet as you can
In the yard you’ll hear him, it is the pony man

This may be a new Halloween classic, worthy of a playlist with Acid Witch and Uncle Acid. Most of us boxed into cities don’t get to experience a quiet midnight on the meadow, but in our mind’s eye the singer can take us there. This demented ghost story goes from eerie to gnarly, Weedeater-style, eyebrow-raising, Dixie Dave territory. So much thoughtful intention was put into the unfolding story that you can’t help but get chills. The sweet spot begins at that 2 minute mark when the rest of the band joins the fold, and a repeated riff just keeps doubling down on the sugar.

"Ribbon of Darkness”

Ribbon of darkness over me
Since my true love walked out the door
Tears I never had before
Ribbon of darkness over me

This is pure doom (probably the doomiest folk song, lyrically, among Gordon Lightfoot’s output), and serves as a release from the nervous tension balled up inside us after the previous song. The grizzling vocals give a sardonic twist of the knife, while lumbering chords stomp beneath Soundgardensque cloud cover. Things kick up quite a notch in the final moments, with a stark raving mad hoe down and some hearty chuckles.

“The Way I Feel”

Now the way I feel is like a robin
Whose babes have flown to come no more

The Gordon Heavyfoot album ends with a song that would have fit just about anywhere on a normal album, but here its ominous feel seems best for last. I have to say, these songs have held up surprisingly well in the stoner-sludge medium. The vocals are ominous, gritty, realistic, defiant, savage, and ultimately unhinged, with the crashout inevitable in each song. The finale here does not disappoint, with an insane Mr. Bungle-like turn.

This is one of my favorite listens of the year so far. If the mood strikes you, it just might be yours too. The attention to detail raises its artistic merit into something I can see being influential in the scene, even if the record is temporarily lodged in the underground of the underground. This may become more and more the norm as AI slop muddies the waters. I can envision a future underground network that passes authentic, badass music like this through trusted hands (much as in the good old days of mix tapes). However, I do hope this project surfaces for wider circulation, perhaps through a record label release. For now it remains among the whispers of the Doomed & Stoned. Spread the word.

Look for the debut of Gordon Heavyfoot on Tuesday, September 30th and catch the act live in October. The album will be issued digitally and on CD at the band’s management site (get it here).

Give ear…

It has been estimated that some four million new songs are being released into the world of sound every year. Certainly, it’s been hard – neigh, impossible – to keep up with all the new albums churned out just in the doom scene. As a consequence, it is all too easy to loose touch with the great songs of the past. I’m not talking about songs from the ‘70s, '80s or '90s, but those written generations and generations ago, stretching back into Medieval and Renaissance times.

That’s why it’s so refreshing to encounter a band taking on an old Scottish ballad like the one before us. Taking a cue from Battlefield Band, the traditional folk group who brought “Cruel Brother” to a wider audience decades ago, Austin, Texas band AIWASS gives this tragic tale a unique twist.

Dark, moody synthesizer surrounds the senses as the track begins, as if to transport us hundreds of years into the past to a scene unthinkable: a dying bride, a spiteful brother, a grieving knight, and an atmosphere teeming with sadness and revenge. Gently plucked mandolin strings cross with acoustic guitar. Misty, forlorn vocals tell the tale of love found and lost, eventually engaging the full powers of the doom metal quartet, complete with foreboding drums and bluesy, bittersweet guitar riffs.

Frontman Blake Carrera comments:

The themes of the song, despite being an old Scottish ballad, are quite familiar to listeners of doom and metal in general: love, lust, violence, and loss. By reinterpreting this song, we hope to bring the past into the future. The screams at the end of the song are not just an identification that this is “blackened doom”; they are also the screams of loss and sadness that are perpetuated throughout time by all of us.

Aiwass caught my ear during the pandemic, when we premiered and gave a detailed review of their first LP Wayward Gods. Since then, the band has expanded with founding member Blake Carrera (vox, guitar, mandolin, synth) joined by Eddy Keyes (vox, acoustic guitar, bass), Pablo Anton (guitar), and Grant Husselman (drums). As a result, the Aiwass sound has evolved into something wonderfully nuanced and altogether powerful.

“Cruel Brother” will be issued as a standalone single on Friday, March 28th (get it here). Fans of Green Lung, take notice

Give ear…

LYRICS

[Verse 1]
There were three ladies played at baw
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
But a knight cam by, played ower them aw
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 2]
This knight bowed low tae aw the three
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
But tae the youngest, he bent his knee
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 3]
O lady fair, gie me your haun’
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
And I’ll mak ye lady ower aw my land
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 4]
Sir knight, ere you my favour win
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
Ye maun gain consent ower all my kin
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 5]
He gained consent fae her parents dear
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
And likewise fae her sisters fair
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 6]
He’s gained consent ower all her kin
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
He forgot tae speak tae her brother John
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 7]
When the wedding day was come
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
This knight would take his bonnie bride home
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 8]
Her mother led her through the closs
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
And her brother John stood her on her horse
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 9]
He took a knife baith long and sharp
And he stabbed the bonnie bride tae her heart

[Verse 10]
Lead me tae yon high, high hill
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
And I’ll lie doun and I’ll mak my will
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 11]
And what will ye gie tae your brother John
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
The gallows tree for tae hang him on
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

[Verse 12]
And what will ye gie to your brother John’s wife
Hey wi the rose and the linsey o
The wilderness tae end her life
Doun by the greenwood sidie o

Over the course of several generations, the traditions of the past have been largely forgotten. This includes traditional stories, songs, and dances. That’s tragic, because these traditions often have valuable insights into what makes us human, where humanity has gone wrong, and the road to felicity.

That’s why I’m excited to hear a heavy band from London reviving a traditional song for their premiere single, “John Barleycorn.” I remember eating at John Barleycorns in Portland, Oregon and thinking, “Oh that’s a quaint name,” and sort of left it at that. It wasn’t until CRUEL MOTHER reached out to me that I learned of the dark allegory behind the name (see below).

The five-piece band from East London draws inspiration from “the rich tradition of English Murder ballads” and have been at it since 2022, with a fiddle thrown into the stoner-doom mix for good measure. All it took was one listen and I found myself singing the song to myself whilst working. I think they’re definitely onto something here.

The single comes out tomorrow and is recommended for fans of Green Lung (get it here). Look for more from Cruel Mother in 2024!

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

“John Barleycorn” [Roud 164] tells of the brutal murder of its namesake; the personification of barley used to make ale and whisky. Each stage of Barleycorn’s life and death – being sown and reaped, roasted, crushed and mashed – corresponds to the brewing process.

The story has traveled through many creative hands, from poet Robert Burns to novelist Jack London to comedy anthology show Inside No. 9, and remains popular among folk revival artists and pub landlords alike. Different versions portray Barleycorn as variously vengeful, intoxicating (much to his killers’ misfortune) or heroic, whose potency brings joy to his drinkers.

The personification invokes the sinister, ritualistic aspect of legendary British folk rituals (the popularly-recognisable ‘wicker man’), but can be interpreted as a joyful drinking song to be sung in the ale house, celebrating the death-and-rebirth cycle of the harvest. Cruel Mother’s version infuses the folk tale with their signature doom riffs and driving drums to evoke the bouncing rhythm of classic drinking anthems.

Although a metaphor rather than strictly a murder ballad, John Barleycorn is one of composer Becky’s favourite folk ballads as it can be adapted and interpreted in many different ways. With its harvest cycle imagery suggestive of ancient rituals, it’s simultaneously fun, joyful, satirical, mysterious, sinister and disturbing.

The artwork for the track was created by Robert Maltby. His design retains the traditional woodcut style that typically accompanies broadside ballads, infused with his own interpretation of the tale. The piece is inspired by idol paintings of Saint Sebastian, who was tied to a tree and shot with arrows only to be healed and later clubbed to death. This draws a parallel between the martyrdom of the saint’s death and the sacrificial reading of John Barleycorn as a necessary death.

As regulars know, we feature a lot of heavy music in these pages. Sometimes heaviness shows up in the least expected places. Would you believe in a banjo? EMMALEEN will make a believer out of you.

Her new album ‘The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die’ (2023) is beautifully bluesy music with notes of melancholy and sorrow, but also hope and peace. Music for a cloudy day, if you will, and we’re getting right into them now. Emmaleen’s haunting, oaken voice is warm, hearty, and strangely soothing, even while singing sad songs about sad situations. It is, after all, witchy blues and Gothic folk. I call it downright enchanting.

There’s a macabre air to songs like the swampy “Timesickness.” I envision long, lonely days and nights spent on 19th century prairies waiting for loved ones, waiting for the weather to change, and plenty of time to stew on the grim reality of things.

The eleventh hour is here
The world is over run and underpaid

The smart instrumentation makes each song captivating, whether brisk and up-tempo or slow and unhurried (those bass drum drops on the opening “Wailing Trees”). The recording captures the experience with great clarity and presence. I felt as if she could have been playing my piano across the room during the dark, dreamy “Ballad in Blues.”

I really appreciated the “Interlude,” with its spontaneous singing and spontaneous noises from the band. When “Forever and Ever” started immediately following, I was all ears. Story time! Emmaleen convinces you of every verse, painting a word picture that is vivid and easy to sympathize with. In the most amazing and unexpected way, the mood changes to a bluesy country folk that transports us to a time before all the sound and fury of this present age.

“Sun and Moon” follows and it’s a bouncy, pleasant number, with the bass drum rejoining us for moments. You can feel your cares starting to lift. By the final song, “Lullaby For Lonely Nights,” you can really float away. True to its name, it is gentle and reassuring, starting with banjo and voice and then appropriately timed appearances by the harmonica, bass, bass drum, piano, and guitar.

The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die is recommended for fans of Tom Waits, Jim White, Odetta, Karen Dalton, Son House, Diamanda Galas, 16 Horsepower, and Billie Holiday. And if some of those names are new to you (as they were to me), it presents an opportunity to explore a genre that still finds power and relevance in our busy, sick, and haggard world. Emmaleen has tapped into one of the powers innate in all of us, and that is the outlet of song, giving release to our burdens and expression to our joys. Out in digital format on October 20th (pre-order here).

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

Born in 1991 in Namibia, Emmaleen Tomalin is a force to be reckoned with in the world of independent music. As a solo artist, she has crafted a unique and enchanting niche in the realm of witchy blues and gothic folk. Following the success of her debut album 'Songs from the Unseen, the Unsaid and the Unborn’ in 2022, Tomalin has continued to captivate audiences with her evocative storytelling and haunting melodies.

In February 2023, Tomalin unveiled 'The Other Side,’ a mesmerizing recording from 2015 that showcases the artist’s early mastery of her craft. This release served as a tantalizing prelude to her upcoming full-length album, 'The Sun will Still Shine When You Die,’ scheduled to be released on October 20, 2023.

The journey into the shadows continues with the release of the first three singles from the upcoming album. 'Wailing Trees,’ 'Sister Sister,’ and 'Timesickness’ were unveiled in August and September 2023, giving fans a taste of the ethereal landscapes and mystical narratives that await them. These singles set the stage for an immersive experience that transcends conventional musical boundaries.

'The Sun will Still Shine When You Die’ promises to be an inner journey into the realms of magic realism and spiritual introspection. Emmaleen’s time-traveling witchy blues and gothic folk songs transport listeners into another dimension, where bone-chilling moments coexist with raw vulnerability. The album’s slow pace, haunting vocals, resonator guitar, banjo, and sparse percussion create a sonic tapestry that is as unique as it is bewitching.

Recorded and engineered by Ruan Vos (Sonic Nursery) the recording process took four days - nine hours a day of live recording and overdubbing. All songs were recorded live with guitar, banjo or piano and vocals in two to four takes. Emmaleen wrote the bass lines during the recording process on acoustic bass. The percussion was improvised with handmade instruments and a kick drum.

Being the only guest musician, Lliezel Ellick performed cello on 'Wailing Trees’. It was Emmaleen’s intention to keep the music as clean and natural sounding as possible with an analogue 'hands on’ approach. The process still allowed room for spontaneous creativity in the moment.

Emmaleen chose to record very quickly to capture a small window in time of focused energy. “If I became too self-aware my performance would suffer - having a tight deadline gave me no time to think and forced me to feel my way through. We purposely left in certain sounds we liked such as; clearing my throat or the sound of my shoes shuffling. This being part of the music and the nature of live recording.” She comments.

The album serves as the next chapter in Tomalin’s artistic evolution, an amalgamation of old styles giving birth to something both timeless and fresh. In a deliberate departure from instant consumer culture, 'The Sun Will Still Shine When You Die’ invites audiences to embrace the deliberate and savor the nuances of a musical journey that defies the ordinary.

Brace yourselves for a musical experience that transcends the ordinary and takes you on a spellbinding adventure.

Progressive doom meets dark rock and folk on the new album ‘Gratitude’ (2023) by Gothenburg’s OCKRA. It would, of course, be tedious (if not impossible) to trace back the various strands of influence on the songs before us. As I stated in my review of their EP, 'Infinite Patterns’ (2020):

It’s a bit tricky to draw a direct comparison between OCKRA and other acts. After all, it’s not often we hear a band attempt blending progressive rock with doom metal!

The name Ockra is not, as I briefly assumed, a reference to “okra” (that dreaded nemesis of my childhood, along with brussel sprouts), but rather “ocher” in the Swedish tongue. Ocher, that is, the color and substance of earth. Thus it is no surprise to find that Ockra’s songs deal with earthly matters of the here-and-now, leading off with the track “Introspection,” which preludes such songs as “Acceptance,” “Tage Wie Dieser” (“Days Like This”), and “Tree I Planted.” This is music that’s meant to be intensely relatable.

“Weightless Again” starts as a straight-up garage rocker that features robust drumming from Jonas Nyström, bouncing about joyfully amidst stirring vocal harmonies and traditional doom riffage. The piece slows up and gets misty, with an aura of sadness at about three-minutes. I praised Cruthu for capturing a similar spirit on 'The Angle of Eternity’ (2017), which takes a folk-like approach to writing doom. As the song crescendos, confidence rises, and we return to the peppiness of the beginning, but the atmosphere is still bittersweet, and the chorus remains psychologically piercing. The vibe is “things will get better, just keep hanging on” – or, to quote the song, you’ll be weightless again.

“Tree I Planted” is singer-songwriter fare that hints at the old country and western tradition. If you like the songs that Alice in Chains singer Jerry Cantrell writes, this one is a cinch. Alex Spielhaupter’s vocals are earnest, with a serious metallic edge, and get bluesy at times, backed by guest vocalist Stefanie Spielhaupter.

Fourth track “Acceptance” is bound to find its way onto a “Metal Classics” playlist one of these days. From the opening riff on, guitarist Erik Björnlinger had me hooked. The vocals are dark like Pentagram, moody like Goodeye, producing a bonafide earworm of a chorus. The song is thoughtfully structured, took, with a bridge of overlapping voices that brings The Byrds to mind.

The folk influence really shines through on the next track, “We, Who Didn’t Know.” What might have found life as a two-minute interlude, gets fleshed out into a full-fledged seven-minute song. After a soft vocal introduction (which references “Weightless Again”), the balance shifts to a largely instrumental portion. The whole feel for me was one of daisy-lit hills, until the band goes full metallic at the four-minute mark. Again, Ockra goes for grand, with a crescendo and a full-on rush of soundwaves launching an impassioned chorus, finishing with the solitary note of the guitar.

“Imorgon Här” (“Tomorrow Here”) follows, and while the title is in Swedish, the lyrics are still in English. The song is has got an upbeat, bluesy tempo (not unlike Graveyard), but the strength of Ockra’s harmonic singing distinguishes them here in a way that is simply magical.

“Tage Wie Dieser” (“Days Like This”) is sung entirely in Swedish. Personally, I love when bands include a song or two in their native tongue. If you approach vocals as just another instrument in the band (rather than someone telling you how to think or feel about the song), you may find you appreciate the experience all the more. Here the vocal harmonies are consoling and heavenly.

Suffice it to say, there were things that grabbed me upon first listen (namely “Acceptance”), but the second spin turned out to be even more meaningful, probably because the material was more familiar and I could lean into the songs more comfortably.

Look for Ockra’s Gratitude on Friday, May 26th, releasing digitally and on compact disc on Argonauta Records (pre-order here). Stick it on a playlist with Young Hunter, Dunbarrow, and Asteroid.

Give ear…

SOME BUZZ

The band OCKRA arose in early 2018 in Gothenburg from what was left of the stoner doom band Sulphur Dreams. With a strong desire to stretch musical barriers away from what is known as classic stoner or doom metal, the trio around Jonas Nyström, Erik Björnlinger and Alex Spielhaupter set out to develop their songwriting skills and find their own style under the new name OCKRA. The band has a wide range of influences from metal to folk, americana and jazz.

The first EP with four songs was self-recorded in a 'DIY’ spirit at the home studio in Onsala during spring/summer 2019 (with guest singer Ammy from EPA/Lastkaj14) and was released in March 2020 via Argonauta Records a week before the first lockdown put everything on hold.

The songs were well received by the media and the reviews in online and print magazines turned out very positive. As an example, the EP got 12 out 15 points in Germany’s largest print magazine for extreme metal “Legacy.”

During the summer of 2021, the trio went out to the little village Hesedorf near Hamburg to record their debut album 'Gratitude’ together with Peter Voigtmann (The Ocean Collective, Heads.) at his studio “Die Mühle” (the mill).

The calm environment and the nature around made it possible to go into a state of creative isolation. That may have had an impact on the music, which now has more elements of singer-songwriter and folk music.

The lyrics have been written in the shade of the pandemic and severe illnesses amongst close friends and family members in this period. Writing these very personal lyrics has been some kind of therapeutic and despite the severeness of the topics they are meant to provide a glimpse of hope.

Nakedyan is a brand new project by Stefano Ferrian, an Italian musician, composer, producer, and former member of .psychofagist. and SYK (on Philip H Anselmo’s Housecore Records). It’s an acoustic kaleidoscope where traditional folk, neofolk, world music, and ambient collide with influences such as Opeth, Katatonia, and Lisa Gerrard to form one new creature. The music delivered by this project is “a direct emanation of the Spirit.”

“My Spectre Around Me Night and Day,” Stefano tells us, “took shape on a late night session with my fellow Claudio Fabbrini. We were quite stoned and exhausted. He started to knock out that opening riff, tapping some natural harmonics on acoustic guitar. I loved that sound in a second and asked him to fix it in his mind. Then I rapidly grabbed my Blake book that was laying on the window and it opened up on what finally became the song’s lyric. I don’t really think we composed the song. I believe that the song reached us because we were so exhausted at that point that all of our barriers were simply ineffective.”

Nakedyan will release a brand new EP in early 2021. In the meanwhile, you’re bound to get lost in the meditative sounds of its third track, “My Spectre Around Me Night And Day.”

Give ear…

Before this week, I didn’t know that Ripple Music (long a staple of the heavy underground community) has a chapter called Rebel Waves Records that hones in on garage and psychedelic rock. It makes sense, actually. The scene has ballooned over the past 10 years and shows no signs of slowing, COVID or no. We’re going to be better served, I think, by record labels that come to specialize in the emerging strains of music to surface from the doom-stoner scene in its 50+ year history.

Today, Doomed & Stoned is pleased to bring you the sublabel’s newest releases, the second album by neo-psych rockers Arcadian ¥ Child. As I listen, I’m impressed by how the four-piece from Cyprus weaves ancient-sounding melodies (essentially folk music) into their sound – something that Grecian band Villagers of Ioannina City has pulled off quite successfully. Some have also compared Arcadian Child’s songwriting prowess to Dead Meadow, All Them Witches, even System of a Down.

Auditing their latest record, ‘Protopsycho’ (2020), I cannot help but liken it to one of those tripped out parties where every room in the house holds another surprise (I’ve actually never been to one of those fabled bashes, so I’m not for sure that they even exist – you’re welcome to prove me wrong, just don’t forget the invite).

There’s a warmth that pervades the entire album, the Sol-kissed Mediterranean betraying its presence especially in songs like “Snakecharm,” “The Well,” and the title track. The record not only held up for me under repeated spins, it got progressively more interesting as I picked up on rhythmic nuances, instrumental choices, and dense textures I hadn’t really noticed before. “Bitter Tea” emerged from the latest sesh as my favorite of the lot, though the next track “Bodies of Men” has a whole '70s Deep Purple/Hendrix vibe that really draws me.

An enchanting listen from edge to center, Arcadian Child’s Protopsycho is due for release on Rebel Waves Records this Friday, October 9th (pre-order here). Until that time, you can immerse yourself in the Arcadian Child experience as Doomed & Stoned brings you this global premiere.

Give ear…

Arcadian Child are a mercurial psychedelic rock quartet based out of Limassol, Cyprus. Psyched, potent and intoxicating, they deliver their diverse rock melded with tripped-out ambience, hallucinogenic patterns, and cathartic outbursts. With sounds rivaling the squealing sirens of the Mediterranean up to the dark bellows of the West, Arcadian Child convey their psychedelic ritual in their jam-filled live shows where they spread their hypnotic vibrations. Boasting a heady swagger, sophisticated riffs, and purposeful lyrics their music echoes far and wide.

Their 2017 debut album 'Afterglow’ was widely acclaimed and received compelling support from the growing international neo-psych scene and the Limassol psychedelic rockers signed with California-based Ripple Music in January 2018 to reissue it worldwide on vinyl. Their highly anticipated sophomore studio record was released in November 2018 through Ripple Music and Rebel Waves Records (formerly known as Rogue Wave Records) and received multiple raving reviews, hitting many year-end lists including the likes of The Obelisk and It’s Psychedelic Baby Mag. ARCADIAN CHILD once again teamed up with Rebel Waves Records to release their third album 'Protopsycho’ on October 9th, 2020.

Rebel Waves Records is an imprint of Californian label Ripple Music, bringing the finest alt-rock, psychedelic pop, post-punk and garage/lounge music to music lovers’ ears worldwide. 'Protopsycho’ will be released on limited edition CD and digital on October 9th, 2020 and available to preorder now through Rebel Waves Records and Ripple Music. (press release)

WYKAN is the passion project of one Jeremy Perkins, hailing from Montreal, Quebec. He’s no stranger to the heavy underground, having fronted the black ‘n’ doom band Éohum for damn near a decade. Manning the guitar and sharing in the vocal duties, Jeremy is joined by chief vocalist Barrie Butler, bassist Corey Thomas, and Drummer Dug Kawliss.

Last year, Wykan flew just underneath my radar during one of the most crowded release calendars in memory, dropping their debut, 'Solace’ (2018). I downloaded it, of course, but like many of my fellow bloggers it was late in the year before I had a chance to really soak it in. Perhaps that’s for the better, as Wykan’s sound – blending blackened doom with stoner-blues and a flair for the dramatic – is still fresh in my mind.

There’s something magnetic-electric that draws me into records like Wykan’s latest, 'Brigid - Of The Night’ (2019). Brigid was a deity in Ireland before Roman Catholicism stamped out her rite. She’s known as the Celtic goddess of fertility, so this would be her time of year. She’s also “patron saint,” so to speak, of poetry, healing, and all you folks with the last name Smith (or at least the blacksmiths, swordsmiths, and songsmiths among us).

I love it when a creator attacks their craft with incisive vision. Of course, it doesn’t always come together neatly, but to see the pieces fit in the end has to be quite satisfying. I’d love to know more about Jeremy’s background, referencing “theatrical movement” and “ceremonial heaviness” in the liner notes, as he seems to be thinking on an almost operatic scale with these compositions.

If there were ever a reason to resurrect the once too-often used word epic, Wykan is it. You come away from both of these EPs feeling like you’ve experienced something monumental. I confess, I’ve yet to warm up to black metal on the whole, as it all sounds a little too wispy and paper thin for my tastes, but Wykan presents it with real substance. I think the doom helps to ground it, striking just the right balance between frenetic winter wind and the frozen ground of earth, with those blues sparking an unexpected fire.

Today, Doomed & Stoned is giving you a first listen to the opening number from Brigid - Of The Night: “Imbolc (The Cleansing).”

“This song is the introduction of the ceremonial aspects of the whole album. Wykan’s concept is to make it a ceremonial get-together of some sort for the listener to be taken to a musical space where the music is in constant evolution expanding.”

I was curious about the instrumentation for this song and Jeremy further enlightens us: “The beginning of this song is written on an Ovation acoustic guitar. I actually came up with most of the intro in the studio. It just sounded so awesome. I use a lot of pedals with this Wykan concept and this song clearly brings you to the '70s and transitions into black metal quite quickly, and then evolves slowly into a doom-death metal like approach.”

Featuring artwork once again by David Paul Seymour, Brigid - Of The Night manifests on Friday, July 7th (pre-order here).

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Founded in 2017 by guitarist Jeremy Perkins, Montreal’s Wykan plays a blend of psychedelic doom, heavy blues, stoner rock and black metal in the classic format of bass, drums, and guitar. Their experimental and massive sounding music is best described as Pink Floyd meeting Black Sabbath meeting Mayhem for those who have never heard the band.

In just under 8 months of the band being founded, Wykan unleashed their debut EP “Solace” to the masses in April 2018. The EP delivered a heavy brew, blending a soup of atmospheric groove, spirits of heavy riffs and hot tubes overridden and pushed to the limits in a ceremonial manner. As they continue on their path of ceremonial heaviness, Wykan returns in 2019 with their sophomore EP, 'Brigid: Of The Night’ (2019) to follow the band’s plan of releasing an EP every six-to-ten months and keep fans on a ceremonial run of emotion and space.

Set to release their sophomore EP 'Brigid: Of The Night’ (2019) on June 7th, 2019, to follow their 2018 debut EP “Solace”, WYKAN is premiering their first second single, “Imbolc (The Cleansing)” via Doomed & Stoned.

“We want to give fans a trip for the mind, without barriers and hooks, just plain vibes and atmosphere. This next EP is overall hits more classic riffing to go with each genre we touch in each of the songs. As a story, 'Brigid: Of The Night’ is about the Celtic Goddess known as Brigid. The whole thematic and three songs are a historical take on ceremonies and festivities based on her deity representation and relationship with the Celtic peoples of Ireland pre-Christianity.” says Perkins.

The band’s line up for the EP features guest drummer Simon McKay of The Agonist rattling his talents on track #3, “Reul-Iuil Bride (Star of Brigid)” along Wykan and Éohum founder Jeremy Perkins on guitar, vocalist Barrie Butler (Éohum, ex-Tard), bassist Corey Thomas, best known for his own jazz ensemble Backwater Township and drummer Dug Kawliss (ex-Tempete) who is on tracks #1, “Imbolc (The Cleansing),” and #2, “Breo-Saighead (Triple Goddess).”

“Brigid: Of The Night” also follows the band’s plan of releasing an EP every six to ten months and keep fans on a ceremonial run of emotion and space. Wykan’s new EP will be available on Bandcamp as a $1 EP or more Pay-What-You-Want download.

Lassoing the grey area between folk, psychedelia, and gloom rock, the duo of King Dude’s Tosten Larson and Shawn Flemming seem comfortable swimming in delicious ambiguity.

In my first listen to Becomes Awake by THE DARK RED SEED, I found it hard to describe what I was hearing without giving a long trail of hyphenated references to this genre and that. It’s the music critics’s trap, really. Some sounds are designed to be felt, to be experienced, even lived, not so much written about – but I’ll not go to far down that tangent.

Perhaps dark folk has resonated with me strongest as a descriptor of The Dark Red Seed vibe, especially after spinning last fall’s EP, Stands With Death (from which we were gifted an arresting song, “The Antagonist”). Suffice it to say, I was anxious to see the outcome of this “study in death.”

Today, we get another hint of what The Dark Red Seed are up to in their full-length debut, the band having previously shared the album’s finale, “Diana and Ouroboros Dance,” with us. Before us now is “Awakening,” an effective blending of Eastern and Western musical influences couched in the hypnotic medium of shoegaze. The track represents “a movement from darkness into light,” which is the overall vision of the new record.

On May 18th, Prophecy Productions will release Becomes Awake by The Dark Red Seed. You can pre-order it here.

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Some Buzz:

The Dark Red Seed is the musical outlet of Tosten Larson, guitarist for Seattle dark folk musician King Dude. A self-coined ‘metaphor for the heart’, The Dark Red Seed represents a direct reference to life – and death – itself. The duo, which also includes King Dude engineer Shawn Flemming, will now release its debut album, 'Becomes Awake’ (2018).

The full-length follow-up to the group’s 2017 debut EP, 'Stands with Death’ (2017), a dark, dusty discourse on the departure and ultimate dissolution of life, 'Becomes Awake’ symbolizes a movement from darkness into light; finding balance through acceptance of one’s own qualities of both the light and the dark; the good and the bad. The struggle of finding balance is never ending.

While King Dude channels dark folk in a manner that fits along with former tour mate Chelsea Wolfe, The Dark Red Seed veer down a much heavier path. Standing equally in the tradition of dark folk and modern heavy psych, Larson notes that the three albums that most inspired 'Becomes Awake’ are Spiritualized 'Ladies and Gentlemen We are Floating in Space,’ The Beatles’ 'Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,’ and 'No Quarter: Jimmy Page & Robert Plant Unledded.’ The resultant powerfully dark, rich sound of The Dark Red Seed carries an emotionally gripping weight that draws you in and refuses to let go. Striking cover art by Paul Romano (Mastodon, Dälek) furthers the album’s potent allure.

The instrumentation and scales on 'Becomes Awake’ are heavily inspired by Indian and Persian music as well as Roma music. Densely arranged with string, horn and percussion sections the album features contributions from musicians Kelly Pratt (LCD Soundsystem, War on Drugs, St Vincent) and Steve Nistor (Sparks, Marissa Nadler, Daniel Lanois). The harmonic, rhythmic and formal structures release a potent richness and depth of sound created by the collision of Eastern and Western music and the merging of tones specific to each.

Are you ready to Become Awake?

We first introduced you to THE GREAT SADNESS two years ago, when I gushed about their self-titled debut: “This has all the makings an American rock classic.” Now, Cathy Cooper (vocals, guitar) and Stephen McNeely (drums) have brought us a second long-play, ‘WEEP’ (2017). Even nominal fans of the blues, I’m convinced, are going to find this a go-to favorite in their playlist and certainly want to add it to their collection.

WEEP is a frank confessional, a journey into the stark realities of life, love, death, hope, alienation from the world, and hellish emotional storms. It shares a spiritual kinship not only with the blues greats of the past, but with contemporary songwriters like Scott “Wino” Weinrich (particularly his collaborations with Conny Ochs) and Screaming’ Mad Dee Calhoun. We can count Cathy and Stephen among the great contemporary underground songwriters of our generation, though it may be a generation beyond us before their work receives the recognition it deserves.

It’s quite evident you two are in love with the blues. Where did this obsession begin for each of you?

Cathy Cooper: I’m a huge, huge blues lover – mostly delta blues, like really, really dirty, grassroots, folk-based, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Sleepy John Estes, Bertha Lee – that kind of stuff, you know. I like it because it comes from the gut. It’s kind of been a lifelong inspiration for me. That’s just where it’s at for me. You can’t get more raw then that.

Stephen McNeely: I think my love for the blues came to be an obsession after I met Cathy. It wasn’t something I was necessarily in love with or listening to everyday, but after I was introduced to more of it, it was definitely something I found highly interesting. For about four years now, I’ve been digging into an endless hole of great blues music.

How did The Great Sadness become a thing?

Stephen: We met five years ago. I played a single tom drum for Cathy for an acoustic set for a festival in Echo Park. After that, she asked me if I’d ever be interested in playing along with an electric guitar. Mind you, I had just met Cathy and been gifted a drum kit, so I said yes. I had no expectations whether it is a fun jam session. We had to see whether or not this was going to work out. Cathy invited me for a jam session at her studio with the entire kit. I brought the drum kit and she broke out the electric and an amp. It kind of melded into itself and we found a connection that worked, bringing together two perfectly good strangers. That she brought out the electric, The Great Sadness was born, and now here we are.

Cathy: It was on! (laughs)

All of your songs have one word titles. It gives it this certain aesthetic and philosophical outlet driving your songwriting.

Cathy: All you have to know in one word is, “I’m lazy.” (both laugh) I’m lazy about naming songs. I like writing the songs; I’m just not good at naming stuff. I don’t know if that’s just a slacker way of doing it. (laughs)

Stephen: I can sum this up as less is more, leaving more imagination to the brain to interpret in your own way.

'Weep’ is your most ambitious collection of songs. They really sizzle. How long have you been working on them?

Cathy: A couple years, dude.

Stephen: These are songs we’ve been playing live in America and in Europe for about two, three years. “Desperate” is one of our older songs, but is on the new record, is one of the first songs we composed for our set.

Cathy: One of the songs we actually wrote in the studio. We wrote “Deserter.”

Stephen: And “Deserter” was born out of sound engineer Joe Cardamone requesting that we write one on the spot. It ended being one of our keeper songs that we still play live. That’s on the new record.

Did you experience any cloudbursts of inspiration growing out of events in your life? I’m always interested in insights into the creative process, an area of enduring fascination for me.

Stephen: We think that this project was kind of inspired by events in our lives.

Cathy: I think it’s more personal, dude. It’s really personal.

Stephen: But it’s personal to both of us. There may have been things that happened to Cathy that made her feel a certain way. You know, it might have happened to me in a different way, but we still ended up in the same emotional state. I think a lot of the songs when we first got together were fueled by emotions we were both going through that were personal and separate to our own personal lives, but definitely fueled the fire of writing. We were not necessarily in a great place emotionally – you never are when you’re inspired. You can be in a dark place, or you can be in a great place. Inspiration comes whenever it wants to.

Cathy: Everything comes from being on the planet and experiencing pain and guilt and fear and love and everything else. I’ve had my share of “whatever” relationships, anger at political situations, the death of my parents, the loss of friends, the joy of creation. Everything influences me. The more visceral the emotion, the better the connection with the song writing and the actual playing, you know? That’s stuff’s really impactful. It’s important to be really present. That’s what music is all about, man. It’s just getting into it and just really putting it out there in a super aggressive, emotional way way.

Are the two of you pretty much in sync as far as musicians so you can jam on a song together, refine a song together, or do you and Cathy need away space to write new songs?

Stephen: Like I said, the day we chose to go into the studio and she chose to pick up an electric and we attempted a two-piece, we found that we were already synced up. Time-wise, I think we have the same time signatures in mind and deep in the heart was the love to count a 4/4 and sort of look at each other and see when the 1 is coming (laughs) and be able to stay synced at that.

Cathy has been writing songs for a really long time, way longer than me, so she had a lot of material. We talked about this earlier, but the song “Desperate” Cathy had already written guitar parts for so when it was brought into The Great Sadness it became a beast of its own. Cathy is responsible for all of the lyrics on this record. The way we did it from the beginning is that me and Cathy would get in the studio and just jam it and find a riff that we liked, and we would start breaking it down. We’d take a voice memo of it and Cathy would listen to that and she would write. More recently now, some of our newer songs that we’re writing together and I’m singing on the new stuff that’s coming out in the future.

Cathy: The way that we write has evolved, the more that we play. Stephen and I have a very intuitive way of feeding off of another when we play. It’s actually really enhanced the way that we write, because we can build songs a lot faster now, because we are more in sync. I feel the songs have actually gotten a lot better because we’ve built a style together. It’s kind of beefed up how we write, just because we’re aggressive in the way that we do stuff. It’s made the sound a lot bigger and more in your face.

I’m sure our readers and listeners would love to know what inspires and moves you deeply, including, but not limited to, music and other influences.

Stephen: Cathy love Rupaul’s Drag Race. (laughs). Me and Cathy are both artists on top of musicians. We both do a lot of artwork. We create whether it’s music or art every day.

Cathy: Stephen, what kind of artwork?

Stephen: I’ve always been drawn to dark artwork, anything and everything that has to do with seeking out the lies and dark truths of Catholicism. I highly enjoy the sabotage of that specific religion, so I like any kind of artwork having to do anything with that. The problem that I have with Jesus isn’t with him; it’s his fan club I have a problem with. (laughs)

I’m super inspired by music, mostly. I’m into a lot of stuff right now, we could go on forever. Me and Cathy recently fell in love on the road, when we were on our tour in Portland, with Bernelius. I believe he’s a one-man band. We don’t know where he’s from, either, but his music is fucking awesome. We also fell in love with The Devil And The Almighty Blues. Those are some guys out of Norway, I believe. They are fucking awesome. We also fell in love with Seasick Steve. He’s awesome. We were also listening a lot of Guru Guru, like a lot of old German prog rock stuff. We also worship and pray and hope for the return of 400 Blows. I should get that tattooed on my ass. Skot, if you’re listening, come back! We need you. (laughs) We want you back.

Thanks so much for visiting with me and the readers. Been wanting to do this forever. It’s been a long time coming!

Stephen: Thank you so much for having us. I hope this gives you a little more insight into how Cathy and getting shit done and delivered to you guys.

Cathy: Most of all, seriously, we like donuts.

Stephen: Who doesn’t like donuts? Except gluten-free people and vegans. Thank you again, Doomed and Stoned!

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