Concrete Sun - Sky is High

This gig is the greatest and one thing I'm learning fast is that my kinda music knows no boundaries or borders whatsoever. I'm listening to awesome tunes spanning the globe. It's like I'm on a rock/metal world tour.

Next stop: Serbia. Yep...I know. The only sounds I've heard from there are the grunts bellowed by hot women tennis players. I never thought my next top southern metal album would rise from a former war-torn country in southeastern Europe, but Concrete Sun (now that's heavy) sure blew me away with their debut, Sky is High. It teems with jackhammer riffage straight outta NOLA, and overflows with super-weighty vocals. I love Sky is High more than a fat kid loves cake and I quickly included it among my favorite releases of 2011.

A huge 'thank-you' to guitarist Bojan for hooking up The Ripple Effect with a digital copy of Sky is High. This is what he told us via email:

"Concrete Sun is a five-piece band from Novi Sad, Serbia. 'Southern sludge-n-grunge' is probably the closest you can get in an attempt to put us into a genre, but there's a lot more to the story than just that." Bojan said, "Our music is a blend of southern rock, blues, stoner, groove, sludge and grunge, characterized by bluesy melodies, sharp vocals and heavy riffage."

I couldn't have put it any better Bojan, but I'd like to add that it's also phenomenal music. Sky is High is 9 tracks of fresh southern heaviness that I've been craving for what seems like ages. Sure, veterans Crowbar finally have a new album, but Down and Eyehategod haven't put out any new songs in while and the real C.O.C. ended years ago. So did Acid Bath and Floodgate. Concrete Sun are the new European rookie starters on my southern metal roster. Hell to the yeah 'cause my Jonesin' days are over for now.

On the outstanding Sky is High, I hear hints of Black Label Society guitar licks along with the NOLA-inspired riffs. The vocals excite me, too, and bring back fond memories of another southern rock/metal darling of mine - Sixty-Watt Shaman. This album is hard as granite and I enjoy every song.

"Just a Beginning" (3:43) is the first on my copy, but shows up last on the Bandcamp track listing. No wonder it's one of my faves. It pulverizes me like a cinder block to the head the riffs are so dense. I think it's the beginning of a first-class album. "Euphoria" (4:24) is next, with dual guitars mixing it up before a rolling groove takes you along for a ride.

"Last Man Under the Sun" (4:52) is maybe the only song which I think has a mellow feel, but it still showcases a hefty chorus and amazing guitar/bass solos. "D.A.N.U.B.E." (4:43) and "Junkyard Dog" (5:03) both grab and throttle my neck.

I think one of the best on Sky is High - musically and vocally - is the longest, "God Forsaken Prostitute" (5:49). It's pure southern metal greatness...but the poor girl. You can almost feel her pain. Kidding. "Ruff Song" (3:10) is the bluesiest to me and just might be the most appealing to the general public. The title track "Sky is High" (4:00) begins with an intimidating southern riff and "Hide Behind" (4:22), another top choice, is peppered with Zakk Wylde guitar squeals.

Concrete Sun are looking for a record label, Bojan wrote. Hello...? Ripple Music...? The band was formed 2007 and went through a lot of lineup changes which halted its initial progress, including a year-long hiatus in 2009. Current members since 2010 include: Cerovina Strahinja (vocals), Mijatovic Bojan (guitar), Zivkovic Budimir (guitar), Petrovic Strahinja (bass) and Topic Milos (drums). Each "continues to evolve musically," according to Bojan, "with every member bringing their own set of influences into the story."

Sky is High by Concrete Sun (Aug. '11) can be downloaded in digital format (name your price) from Bandcamp. It's a must-have for any fan of 2-ton southern metal so click the link below and get crushed. Now.

Hard-hat and steel-toed boots recommended.

--Heddbuzz

http://concretesun.bandcamp.com/

http://www.reverbnation.com/concretesun

http://www.facebook.com/concrete.sun

More Revenge of the Quick Ripple Bursts - Featuring Acid Bath, Autistic Youth, Black Spiders, and Brutus

Acid Bath – Paegan Terrorism Tactics

Nola Stoner Rock is the genre that pops up on my iTunes when Acid Bath comes up and I ain’t gonna argue.  Mean, nasty, throaty, fuzzy, and heavy.  “Paegan Love Song” runs through its riff with the intensity of a felon dashing from the law.  Drums blitz me like bullets from the outlaw’s guns.  Bass thunders like the getaway car’s motor.  It’s impossible not to wrapped up in this song, slash the sleeves from my tee-shirt, go out and get tattooed and join the gang in nefarious pursuits.  “Bleed Me an Ocean” is even heavier with a riff so covered in fuzz it sounds like it was gargled from the bowels of Hell.   Vocalist Riggs screams with the torment of a thousand souls wailing in the shady abyss.  Pain, torment, suffering, and massively distorted, sludgeified Sabbath riffs.  Not new, but recently re-mastered and re-released. Well worth tracking down.

buy here: Paegan Terrorism Tactics
buy here mp3: Paegan Terrorism Tactics



Autistic Youth – Idle Minds

Coming from Dirtnap records, one of  the best purveyors of punk out there today, we got this raging platter of pure hardcore aggression mixed with enough smoothness to make Leatherface proud.   Think Adolescents here, then keep thinking of them as the bass blasts out in galloping runs, the guitars slice like cutting buzzsaws, and the singer manages to find melodies where no melodies should rightfully be.  Pure, unadulterated punk and viciously cool because of it.  The lead-off 2:26 of “Soldiers” just may be my favorite punk anthem of the year.  Powering three-chord blitzkrieg with scattershot drums and hyperkinetic bass should keep the pit moshing with years to come.  Flying elbows and fists, dislocating limbs and loosening teeth.  Beautiful.

Buy here mp3: Idle Minds
Buy here vinyl: Autistic Youth - Idle Minds - LP


Black Spiders – Sons of the North

Tearing up the stage and magazines currently.  Hailed by the high and mighty like Ozzy and Duff McKagan.  Featured on a recently cover-mounted CD with Classic Rock.  It’s all enough for The Ripple not to write about these guys.  After all, we are the best music that you “haven’t “ heard.  But truth be told, Black Spiders are too good not to appear in these pages.  A while back, my brethren the Pope predicted that real rock and roll was destined to make a comeback blowing the over-produced schmaltz off the charts and heralding the return of gut-check rock and roll.  Black Spiders are proof.  With raw, BTO- Blue Oyster Cult riff mongering like “Stay Down” and “Just Like a Woman,” this is pure-retro 70’s mashed with hair metal ‘80’s rock madness.  Special mention has to go to “Kiss Tried to Kill Me,” an unadulterated riff-fest about being chased cross the country and hunted down and murdered by Gene Simmons.  With the chorus “Kiss tried to kill me/It was Gene not Paul/Kiss tried to kill me/It wasn’t Ace’s fault” this song is a can’t miss stab at the most memorable rock song of the year.  Jump on the bandwagon now.

 Buy here: Sons Of The North

Brutus – Demo 2008

Inseminated by Blue Cheer.  Raised in the womb of Sabbath.  Suckling at the teet of Grand Funk.  That’s a pedigree that we can get behind here at the Ripple, and it’s a pedigree that sums up Scandinavian’s Brutus to a tee.   To me, these retro-stoned rocks sound like a perfect incarnation of the bluesy 70’s approach of Stone Axe and the dreamier, fully-stoned psychedelia of Dead Man. Somehow, their original 2008 5-track demo found it’s way onto my hard drive and I could be happier than a pyromaniac in a candle factory.  Huge retro riffs spun with fuzzed out perfection and bottom heavy grooviness.   Apparently, the cats had gone on from here to release their first full-length CD and vinyl with Finnish Svart records and have a split 10” coming on Transbutans with Graviators.  If this demo assortment is any indication, both are a must by for the retro-stoner minded.

Get demo for free here

--Racer