Number 14

 

 

Number 14

Sixteen points. We jump sixteen points from KG&LW’s thrash metal odyssey to arrive at Number 14, where we find two albums by two bands. One of which has already been featured on the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2023. Which is not the first time it has happened; King Buffalo managed to do the same for instance. But it still feels very special and seems like a testament to the fact that whatever the band is doing, it is definitely doing it right! It will move you with its cinematic ability and will give you respite in a world full of turmoil. Their version of cosmic doom, their high ambience of heaviness and the knowledge to go grandiose whenever the song calls for it, has turned their fourth full-sized album, this six-track adventure into a space you will want to inhabit and the sounds will inevitably inhabit you. The other album, sits on the opposite side of the scale. When you’ve been a household name for all the heavies and return with a new album after seven years, you know its gonna cause a bang. In this case it rang out like gunfire across deserted foggy streets. A story driven expose on (their favorite) murderers, serial killers and cult leaders and with the original founding vocalist back to tell those stories. They churn their doom into something sludgy and yet incorporating enough Sabbath touches to make these songs go boom. Explosive upon release back around June, your ears might still be ringing… 

On Number 14 we find…   

REZN – Solace

&

Church Of Misery – Born Under A Mad Sign

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REZN & Vinnum Sabbathi on Number 19

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Rise Above Records

The Order of Israfel – Wisdom

The Order of Israfel – Wisdom

Napalm – 2014

Rock, Doom, Stoner

Rated: ****

Founded by Tom Sutton of Church of Misery fame the band is made up out of Swedish grunts that earned their spurs in band such as Doomdogs, Lotus and Wildebeest. And now they come together under the flag baptized as The Order Of Israfel. A band name that promises occult and obscure doom and which aims to sound like a mixture of mostly Black Sabbath and Candlemass. And on their debut album Wisdom they succeed with ease and have just enough other influences to make it something completely their own. With some natural, eastern, punky and folky moments the album is more than just a new doom rock masterpiece. It is a piece of art that hides its true soul until the third track The Noctuus has passed. For until that moment you think you are treated to some doom rock infused with stoner. But The Earth Will Deliver What Heaven Desires suddenly moves off into much more experimentation and into something natural and folky offset by the punky fast-paced The Order that follows. And after this you know that everything is possible; all you need to do is listen to the Wisdom shared by The Order Of Israfel…

(Written by JK)

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Church of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum

Church of Misery – Thy Kingdom Scum

Metal Blade/Rise Above Records – 2013

Doom, Stoner, Doom Rock, Doom Boogie

Rated: *****

If you haven’t by now taken the time to explore that depraved world of doom-boogie cum murderer obsessed entity that is Church of Misery, you really can’t call yourself a fan of doom. Such is the explosive, strange and ultimately infectious power that these Japanese sickos impart to the listener that one cannot help but head bang as if we were all collectively transported back to 1970 Detroit during a Black Sabbath encore of “Sweet Leaf”.  Thy Kingdom Scum, their newest entry into the canon of murder-rock is possibly their finest entry into the field. Hideki Fukusawa’s vocal are stronger than ever with a new sort of crooning twist to them that sound no less evil. The riffs are the highlight and the only proof you need of this is the crushing instrumental opener “B.T.K. (Dennis Rader)”. The only knock on the album is the lack of a killer (no pun intended) single in the same mold as past accomplishments of yore like ‘Born to Raise Hell” and “Megalomania”. If you’re a CoM fan you already have this. If not, its time to go to Church.

(Written by Matthew McGarity)

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