Revenge of the Quick Ripple Bursts - The Stoned Out Edition: Featuring Monobrow, Snail, and Firelord

Grab your bong, turn on the black light.  Gather the boys.  We got some riffmania for you.

 Monobrow - Bennington Triangle Blues

My bias:  I'm not a real fan of instrumental rock.  I tend to cling to melodies and hooks, and those are usually conveyed in lyrics, not musical passages.  I'm even less a fan of instrumental doom/stoner because the plodding nature of doom riffs gets real repetitive without the singing.  Monobrow are making me re-think that strategy.

Bennington Triangle Blues is the second album from this instrumental stoner/doom three-piece and it is one monolithic achievement of swirling, fuzz-laden heaviosity.  Forget lyrics, these guys mix in enough dynamic time changes, blistering guitar, and chest-crushing riffs to make the album obliterate all my reservations.  Side one alone, through it's three songs "Starship Holodecks & Chicken Soup," "This is Herman Nelson" and Stone High in Transit" create an aural journey of stellar seeking exploration.  Paul Slater may just be stoner rock's first true guitar hero, whipping through riffs and effect laden melodic passages with ease before tearing into some true doomed out shredding.  With any three-piece, especially an instrumental band, the bass and drums have to be amazingly tight to carry the extra weight of awareness, and Brian Ahopelto and Sam Beydoun are as tight and locked in as a sealed rocket door.

A killer album of mood and atmosphere and sonic exploration of acrid haze and distant galaxies.  Definitely worth checking out. 

Snail - Terminus

I dig what Snail are doing.  Take the foundation of stoner groove, but play with it.  Toss in some 80's metal drive, some 90's grunge, some retro-2000 psychedelia, smother the whole concocton with a layer of doom, let ferment, then unleash upon an unsuspecting public.  Nice formula.

Apparently Snail have quite a history that spans back almost 2 decades.  I know not of this, nor their last release, Blood.  All I know is that Terminus is bludgeoning my skull right now, particularly the retro-riffy pure rock of "Galaxy's Lament" with it's staggering riffing and just too-sweet melody.  "Recurision" is an onslaught of post-Ozzy bliss, while songs like "Matchbook" come on heavy and slow as tar before mixing it up (1:36 in) with a perfect breakdown to 6 impeccable piano notes.  "Hippy Crack" tears it up with a grunge ferocity while never losing it's heavy fuzz or groove, while "Burn the Flesh" is a certified, 5 star heavy psych freak out.

A vast multi-textured journey through the stratus of metal from eons past til now.  

Firelord - The Burning E.P.

This isn't a new one, but definitely worth talking about.  Firelord are another power trio, this time hailing from Italy.  And let me tell you the emphasis here is on the word power.  These guys use bulldozers and all sorts of heavy equipment to move earth and mountain under the mass of their riffs.  5 songs here, the last being a slaying cover of Earthride's "Fighting-Devil's Inside You."

Like the best of stoner rock, this one is laced with the PCP of doom bludgeoning, and amped up with the crystal meth of fierce riffing and a heady groove.  Way fuzzed out riffs come from all angles and merge into one TCA haze of burning intensity.

I'd easily put these guys up on the same shelf of the other leaders of stoner riffery from the undergound, like Borracho.  Not as much dynamic shifting as SuperGiant, not nearly as much modern metal influence as Snail, and not not as bluesy as Hong Faux, Firelord like their stoner rock straight up, Sabbath-inspired and growled out with honesty and ferocity.  I could listen to a track like "Riding with the Death" forever.  Definitely check it out.

--Racer

Doommantia Vol 1 Compilation Available to Help Keep Doommantia Alive

Doommantia Vol. 1 compilation was put together to raise money to benefit Ed Barnard of Doommantia.com. He suffered two heart attacks and due to huge medical bills, he is now homeless. Doommantia.com has helped thousands of fans to discover new bands and countless number of bands to promote their music.

Now, 39 bands from all around the world have contributed over four hours of music and a $7 donation gets you these tracks but you can donate more if you have the means to do so. Killer artwork was donated by Coby Ellison. 

All the proceeds will go to help get Ed back on his feet and keep Doommantia alive!

www.doommantiavol1.bandcamp.com

Alunah - White Hoarhound

psycheDOOMelic has a gem on their hands here and they are doing the world a huge favour by releasing Alunah's second full-length album White Hoarhound. This quartet from the Midlands, England has a lot of weight on their shoulders playing doom and hailing from the same area that spawned the forefathers of doom, Black Sabbath.To my ears though they have no worries about this at all, instead they conjur some deft and highly original and magic-inducing heaviness. Already at the first note I am hooked and completely captivated.

Every time I listen to White Hoarhound a line from Masters Of Reality's song High Noon Amsterdam keeps popping up..Stuck my nose in a rose in a hole and it felt like a dream. For me that sentence is the essence of Alunah. Their music is lead-heavy, trippy, slow and riff-ladden and also very evocative, so all these ingredients are why the words of Masters Of Reality epitomizes what Alunah are and play. So light it up, toke, stick your nose in the hole and let Alunah take you on a headfuck of a space trip of unsurpassed magnitudes!

The music is of course a key factor in creating Alunah's spaced-out heaviness but let's not forget Soph Day. The vocalist/ guitarist's voice is so beautiful and entrancing that it elevates the band to dimensions beyond the sun. While she on the one hand sounds very delicate and almost frail, on the other hand she has immense power and this combination is absolutely fantastic. Her singing backed by the excellent band makes Alunah and White Hoarhound just about other-worldy.

Gaz Imber and Jake Mason are laying down the law on bass guitar and drums respectively. Whether the music is heavy or a bit softer, they keep it together perfectly allowing Dave Day and Soph to space-out, jam and riff without any restraints. And that's an awesome trait which unshackles their music. In all it's heaviness there is a beautiful flow thanks to Alunah's unrestrained musicality.

Another important ingredient for the band is their pagan leanings and their love for Mother Nature. The first song, Demeter's Grief, is a good example of this. However Mother Nature is a constant presence in whatever Alunah do. And the combination of the heavy music, Soph's awesome etheral yet powerful voice and the pagan/nature themes in their songs are what makes Alunah so great!

Surprises are nice when they bring something good. I consider myself a doomhead but I still hadn't really heard of Alunah until I was asked to check them out for a possible review. And what a surprise White Hoarhound is. Each listen gives a new nuance adding more to the band's greatness each time.
If you like excellent epic music White Hoarhound is a must. If you simply like great music period you're a fool if you don't add this album to your collection. Get a copy, listen and get mesmerized and then spread the gospel of Alunah to everyone you know!

--Swedebeast

Wo Fat - The Black Code

Up until about a month ago, I had never heard Wo Fat. I was familiar with their name, and quite honestly, I was intimidated. I’ve already explained this to Kent Stump (guitars/vocals) of the band, so we’re all good there. I had some weird, preconceived notion that if I listened to Wo Fat, well . . . something violent would happen within my head, something unforeseen would damage my already damaged psyche and my personal End of Days would be right around the corner.

Actually, after having spent some time with the Wo Fatcatalog, I can’t dispute any of the above mentioned possibilities are out of the question.

Enough babble . . . on with The Black Code!

The latest Wo Fat release, as found on Small Stone Records, is a devastatingly heavy album. Where the previous album, Noche Del Chupacabra, was a heavy beast of a record, The Black Code up’s the game and redefines the word “heavy”. The production is a little crisper, and that adds a greater definition of the variety of tones that the band uses to convey their menace. The greater definition makes the cleaner portions of the music cleaner, therefore, when the heavy portions drop, it feels even more overwhelming than before. But none of the knob twiddling and sound engineering knowledge would mean shit if the music wasn’t up to par . . . and folks, The Black Code beyond par . . . it’s a hole-in-one, if you really want to follow a golf analogy!

The songs, while at times are marathon in length, they’re so well conceived and executed that they don’t feel like they’re as long as they are. The individual performances from the trio of musicians is top notch and, while the focus may be on the guitar heroics of Stump, the rhythm section of Tim Wilson (bass) and Mike Walter (drums) keeps this sludge-y, doom-y, Lords of All That Is Heavy sound moving in the right direction. Grok . . . to listen to the rhythm section alone is a lesson that every bassist and drummer should enroll in. This tandem kills it . . . every minute of every song . . . which allows Stump’s guitar work to soar to the heavens when he’s not following along the trail that’s being blazed ahead of him.

Opening the album with “The Lost Highway”, I was originally surprised that with the subtle injections of blues mixed in with groove. By no means was it a “bad” surprise, it just wasn’t what I was expecting and it was a welcome change from those preconceived notions that I had going into this record. The riffs follow aplenty and savagery of the rhythms make the body roll with the groove. Brutally heavy music, but done with class. It’s not heavy just for the sake of posturing and knuckle dragging Neanderthalic music fans . . . it’s heavy with a purpose and as a way of life. What could get lost if one’s not paying attention on this particular gem, is the bridge leading to the wah-ed out guitar solo. There’s a dynamic there, a building tension, and when that sucker breaks, it’s like dam busting open and getting caught up in the oncoming rush of water. Try to cling to the guitar solo for some buoyancy, but beware . . . the thundering crash of the rhythm section will try to break your grasp. Fucking great song!

The title track follows next, and for over ten minutes, you will be bombarded with a tune so finely crafted in the ways of the Heavy that it may go down as the blueprint for those who follow. The tone that Stump gets out of his rig is awesome, and I don’t mean the overused meaning of the word . . . you will truly find yourself sitting in front of your speakers with mouth agape and staring in wild wonder at how such a heft can come from an instrument . . . you will be in awe, ergo . . . his tone is awesome. Once the band kicks in and the trio is riffing in unison, damn, it’s an example of the fierceness that these guys can seemingly whip out without a thought. It feels natural and organic, nothing is forced, almost as if these guys are connected by the strain of DNA and they have become a living, breathing, riffing single entity. Again, the Wilson/Walter tandem hold a great groove in the mid-portion of the song while Stump goes absolutely nuts! Jesus . . . the sounds this guy gets from his guitar are insane! And, when the trio drop back into the main riff, the tempo goes up and it’s a stunning sensation . . .

Only five songs in length, but clocking in at over forty-five minutes, The Black Code is rife with sonic exploration and extended jams. Sit back and take the journey, man . . . and when you get to the album closer, “Sleep of the Black Lotus”, I’ll be here waiting to wax poetic about its brilliance. I’m thinking that this is my personal fave off the album, but I have a sneaking hunch that “The Shard of Leng” may be lurking in the shadows to usurp the closer from this temporary throne. “Black Lotus” is a gem of heavy rock . . . in fact, if you close your eyes and image hard enough, you can actually see someone chipping away at the edges of a piece of ore yanked unmercifully from the earth, and the gleaming radiance of the precious rock shining from the crud surrounding it. That’s how I hear this song . . . beauty and elegance wrapped in a shell of darkened, crusted matter.

Wo Fat may still be creeping around the underground, but don’t think that this creature of the depths won’t be pulling itself out of the muck to spend time in the sun. These guys are on the rise and The Black Code is the elevator that will lift them to a greater audience, a more receptive ear. It’s an album that just stuns with every listen, not just in song structure, but instrumental performances and sonic execution. With the year coming to a close, I suspect this album will be on my Year End Best Of List. I can’t see it not being there. The album was done so well that the music just can’t be ignored.

--Pope

http://wofat.net/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wo-Fat/127735577283067

DEVIL TO PAY Sign With RIPPLE MUSIC; Enter Studio to Record New Album For Vinyl and CD

RIPPLE MUSIC is proud to announce the signing of acclaimed, hard-hitting American Doom rockers, DEVIL TO PAY to their ever-expanding roster!

The band’s fourth, as of yet untitled, album is set for worldwide release on RIPPLE MUSIC in the coming months and the band will subsequently tour to knock the crowds out of their skulls, including appearances in all the major heavy rock/doom festivals.

DEVIL TO PAY commented yesterday upon the new alliance; “We are stoked to be a part of the Ripple family and to work with one of the most genuine heavy rock labels in the world! Having released our first three albums independently, it’s clear that these guys don't compromise in terms of putting out creative music and are the true believers of heavy rock. The variety of bands and the sheer quality of music they’ve released speaks for itself. We are very much honored that our music earned its place among their ranks!"

DEVIL TO PAY was formed in the beginning of the millennia as a doom rock band with metal/stoner and rock tangents, effortlessly crushing skulls while simultaneously coaxing them to sing along. The band hails the almighty riff, but unlike many of their contemporaries, the song is still king.  That is what separates the great bands from the shoulda & coulda bands.   Now celebrating their 10th year anniversary, DEVIL TO PAY has aged like Kentucky bourbon, distilling a culmination of years of sweat, highway miles, cigarette smoke and hangovers into crushing compositions and bone-jarring, heavy musical moments.

With a catalog of underground releases, DEVIL TO PAY gained accolades, awards and a hard earned cult-like status. They have established themselves as the go-to band for those searching out more than just a few killer riffs; a foundation of heavy that will flourish under the Ripple banner.

For more information on the band, please visit:

www.deviltopay.net

Black Bombaim - Titans

In the beginning, there was darkness. 

The first rumblings of creation starts off with a bass, so thick and heavy it has the power to condense gas and energy into matter.

A cosmic fire of guitar feedback screeches through the primordial blackness, searing the newly formed planet.  Light erupting across the freshly surging mass.

The beat of this new entity is jazz, complex, life-giving.

Titans isn't so much a new album.  It's a new world. 

Doom, sludge, stoner, psychedelic, progressive.  These are but continents on this new planet, ever-changing, interlocking components of the shifting Terran plate.   With Teutonic force, these plates move and collide across the Continental Divide, cross-pollinating the emerging lifeforms with their varied essences.  Heavy riffs bring about new heart beats.  Psychedelic explorations expand the developing minds.  Stoner grooves add movement and balance.  Doom lends gravity.  Life emerges with passion, power, and intent.

And in this new world, the world of Black Bombaim, Ricardo Miranda, Paulo Gonçalves and Tojo Rodrigues, truly are the titans, wielding the power of ancient Gods to create and destroy. They can effect with terrific beauty or decimate with the ugliness of the dark. 

Over the 4 sides of this double LP, Black Bombain have created a truly epic masterpiece of experimental heaviness.  Each side is composed of one 10-20 minute song named in a way that is incomprehensible to me.  I have no idea what that album is supposed to mean, just how it makes me feel.  Mostly instrumental, I was destined to ignore this album.   Instrumental stoner bores me.  Instrumental doom bores me even more.

Not here. 

Every freaked out guitar solo captivates me.  Every change of riff is crushing.  Every bass line is heavier than the one that preceded.  Every beat transmutes between styles.  Vocals (when they appear) are ugly accompaniments.  An organ is a light of beauty.   Synthesizers radiate depth. 

The acoustic breakdown 2/3 way through side one steals my breath.  The free form jazz bass that follows is stunning.  When the Heavy crushes back down on me I'm devastated.  The dynamic packed into this one album side tops entire catalogs of lesser artists.

The jazz beat and thickness of bass that starts Side 2 are the pulse of space as the celestial organ brings the grandeur of the cosmos.  As the organ fades, like a dawning sun, the resumption of the bass is frightening.  The crash of the heavy terrifying.  The psychedelic mix intoxicating.

The groove of Side 3 is stoned-out infectious but it's the screech of the saxophone that is inspired, playing out like the heaviest Pink Floyd song never created. 

Side 4 cruises through the already created soundscapes like an effective period.  Or an exclamation point.

Each moment of each song needs to be listened to.  Not heard.  Listened to.  Each instrument is intent.  Each second focused.  And each moment liable to shift and change as dramatically as the surface of our newly created world. 

Black Bombaim have created a remarkable album. The first true epic, progressive masterpiece of psychedelic doom that I've heard.  One against which all following epics will be judged.

Let the titans be praised.

--Racer

Venomous Maximus - The Mission

I'm an idiot.

Before you start agreeing with me (as I'm sure you will) let me explain why.

Some time ago, this pummeling, rampage of an EP came into the office, politely asking for a listen and a review.  One quick tasting, and I knew it deserved a Ripple write up.  Then came my mistake.  Included in the EP was a CD copy of the vinyl that I needed to share with one of our dedicated scribes who I knew would dig this as much as I.  So I pulled the CD out and mailed it off. 

Unfortunately, that's where the story ends.  I assumed the writer would write it up.  He probably assumed I would.  Neither of us did. 

I'm an idiot.

But today, I'm gonna  make amends.  If you like it seriously hard and frighteningly heavy, you gotta check this Houston collective out.  Doom, mixed with a down and heavy stoner vibe, but amped up with the dynamics of straight, kick-ass thrash, The Mission is one freaking lethal assault of heaviness.  There's even an underpinning of punk spit and snot wrapped up in the thrashing. And it's all done seamlessly and as unrepentant as a charging panzer division. 

Title track, "The Mission" kicks it off like a howitzer cannon blast to the face.   Huge, despondent doom smashes me sideways before the throttling riff kicks in, full of that underlying punky attitude and thrash anger.  The drums and bass roll along like the treads of that panzer, vocals are barked out like killing orders, and the guitars rage across the land leaving the earth scorched and barren in their wake.  Heavy doom, but with a killer, rolling stoner groove and a mouth full of angry snot.   Toss in the fact that from the photo on the back cover it looks like any one of the four dudes in this band could kick my ass and steal my lunch money, I'm frightened.  Very frightened.

"The Rider" does noting to lessen my anxiety.  A roar of NWOBHM styled guitar (think Angelwitch or Venom) and a more sinister vocal and this is simply a terrifying cut.   Flipside, "The Gift" declares war on my auditory system with it's venomous (sorry) doom riff.  Thick and heavy, imposing.  The groove hides as the riff pummels, but sneaks back in after the introductory threats.   Sometimes, doom metal can be too slow to really get the fist pumping and the heart thundering.  Not here.  This is doom for the mosh pit, elbows and fists flying in fits of rage.  All the while, never losing it's poisonous tone.  "Wicked Ways" wraps up side two with another rolling blitz.  Again, touches of NWOBHM thrashing reign here like an overlord as the army of doom marches endlessly across the battlefield.

Yeah, I've been mixing my metaphors like crazy here, but that's OK, because Venomous Maximus mix their influences just as much.  And that's why it all works and rises to the top of the heavy world.  In the end, it's one killer blitz of pumped up, middle-finger raised, doom.  Ugly and barren and devoid of any light, but full of life.  It's seriously heavy and seriously good.

And did I mention that the guys could all kick my ass? 

--Racer

venomousmaximus.bandcamp.com/

Steak - Disastronaught

Vegetarians and vegans won't like what's on today's musical menu: Steak.

Now, with a name like that I expect some thick, meaty riffs and Steak sure fill me up. The four rock chefs from the U.K. have cooked up some tasty slabs of stoner beef on their new ep, Disastronaught. It has flavors from some of my favorite groups like Fu Manchu, Monster Magnet and Clutch.

"The Butcher" is probably my Porterhouse when it comes to Steak. It's one of my favorite cuts here and there's a lot of damn meat.

"Machine" is the Ribeye. Just about the most flavorful of all the Steak to me. Marbled with psychedelic lines and SO tender.

"Gore Whore" is the lean and mean New York Strip. Not as much to it as a T-bone or Porterhouse, but still tastes as good.

"Fall of Lazarus" is the Filet Mignon on Disastronaught. It takes some time to eat this one because the riffs are so thick, and it's wrapped in fat-ass bass lines.

"Peyote" is the saucepan of psychedelic mushrooms, sauteed in acoustic butter, that adds even more flavor to Steak.

One thing I can't believe is that Steak are offering their music for a 'name your price' kinda deal on Bandcamp, which is extremely generous, kinda like serving all-you-can-eat prime rib to the homeless.

Steak. Best served with your favorite beverage and a side of greenery. Mmm.

Eat this stuff up but chew slowly. Savor it. And don't forget the gratuity if you can afford it.

--Heddbuzz

http://steakmusic.bandcamp.com/

Earthen Grave - Earthen Grave

I’ll be the first to tell you that I have no idea who the band Trouble is. I’ve seen their name and logo floating around in conversation and press for something like twenty years, but for some reason, I never followed up to find out anything on these guys. And, as of this writing, I still haven’t. I have other things to follow up on at the moment, and one of those things is a new band called Earthen Grave, which was founded by ex-Trouble bassist, Ron Holzner. Ta-da! See what I did there? Tried to link to the past with the present.

Earthen Grave just released their first full length, self-titled album, and folks . . . this is some heavy stuff. Perhaps, not the heaviest music I’ve ever heard, but it’s done with a unique flair that I appreciate wholeheartedly. Doom, as a genre, can be boring and derivative, at least to me . . . and if you know me, you know I like my music to push boundaries, get experimental, and explore new ideas to further expand said genre. Earthen Grave do just that. They work in textural passages, classical instruments, quieter instruments, and additional voices to create a style of Doom that constantly perks the ears towards the new nuances.

Case in point, check out the second track on the album called “Life Carries On”. The songs crushes with a great guitar riff, first in the left speaker, then picked up in the right, then back to the left . . . heavy, right? Then, barely fifteen seconds in, the ears are treated to the piercing wail of a violin. Not something obnoxious, but keyed in with the other instruments and complimenting their sounds. This pleasant little surprise is provided by the virtuosic talents of Rachel Barton Pine. Perfect notes played at the perfect times, adding textures where needed, and providing mesmerizing solos that steal the spotlight. I love the way the violins mesh so well with the ever powerful guitar work of Jason Muxlow and Tony Spillman, almost as if they’re holding their own private conversation within the master work, but never completely overshadowing the song. Of special note, check out the violin/guitar/guitar solo(s) around the 3:45 mark . . . the brilliance in the rhythm section holding down that Middle Eastern tinged groove and then having the soloists coming in to add the layers of sexy spice and sultry flavor, all flying around the senses in chaotic fashion, but never out of control.

Then there’s “Dismal Times”. Doom-y and dirge-y, with its slow and somber opening passage, then building to a guitar fueled riff in classic palm muted fury . . . this song is a horned fist thrown in the air and an homage to all that is classic heavy metal. Again, the violins add great textures and a fresh voice to the menacing and oppressing musical tones. The solo that Barton Pine lays down midway through the song is chilling and morose, caked in a veil of cobwebs from a haunted castle passageway. Then, the eruption of the band coming back in and the upbeat, mosh inducing riffology! Killer stuff! Serve me music with dynamics like this all day, all night . . . I’ll eat it up!

“Beneath A Shovel Load” is another classic metal ditty that opens with soaring and diving guitar antics, a devastating droning rhythm, and some well timed distorted guitar chugs. String bending and mind altering, Earthen Grave deliver a scorcher of muscle flexing metal. This one is a full on headbanging groover that makes me want to dust of the old leather jacket or denim vest and sequester myself in a steaming room of like minded music freaks. I’m digging the guitars on this track, especially when one of the guitarists decides to sustain the notes while the other continues the multi-noted rhythmic groove. Subtle, but effective. Bitchin’ guitar solo on this track, as well. The violin solo towards the end of the tune is outstanding . . . full of energy, anger, excitement!

This album took some time to grow on me, but I’m finding myself going back to it more and more as time goes on. If Earthen Grave is the future of Doom, then the genre is in good hands. As I mentioned, I’m not the biggest of Doom fans, but when it’s performed and executed like this self-titled album, I could very easily be on the road to embracing the genre with greater tolerance. Every song has something fresh and unique thrown into the mix, whether it’s a female vocal harmony or a violin or an acoustic guitar,Earthen Grave are seemingly working towards separating their music from that of the masses. Heavy, yet with flashes of elegance. Menacing, but with touches of beauty. Yeah . . . I’m sold. Earthen Grave is a kick ass record!

Pope

http://www.earthengrave.com

Sleep - Dopesmoker - Reissue

As of the date of my submission, there's no downloadable content available from Sleep. Which means I have to stream it to hear it at all.

It's not like the album's called Dopesmoker, or anything... that implies one would do well to listen to this one NOT chained via headphones to their computer....

Fine! I'll stream it! Anything to just hear it!

Because I am a whore for Sleep! And Southern Lord in general! I even bought a freaking Sleep shirt for my wife, who doesn't even like metal! And she wears it! And gets compliments on it! And then says, "It's his."

Even though I have the first two iterations of Dopesmoker (Jerusalem and Dopesmoker), I am (quite figuratively) dying to hear this one-- it's remastered, there's Arik Roper's new stoner-via-Dune esque cover, there's crazy anecdotes about the recording of the album, e.g.:
Pike stated that the "song was getting slower and slower and then it got weird. We started tripping out and second guessing ourselves." Recording the album was difficult. Pike   recalled that "there was so much to memorize for that album, and we had to do it in like three different sections because a reel-to-reel only holds 22 minutes. It was really cool, but it was one of the hardest things I've ever done in in my life." SLEEP were in the studio for one month then went home to rehearse and returned for another month. Pike noted that they ended up with two or three different versions of the song.
It also features an unreleased live recording of a live performance of “Holy Mountain” from San Francisco’s I-Beam in 1994.

When Racer sent this to me I was literally listening to the older version of Dopesmoker on the stereo. It's fate/ kismet/ karma/ destiny....

Ironically, there is no weed with probably a quarter mile of me. Interpolate as is your wont, my minions. You may find this fact journalistically-dishonest (Pike and co. have said repeatedly that Dopesmoker was written to be heard while stoned), but I feel I must fully disclose.

So:

I've heard this new version a dozen times now: the first thing you notice is that the riff entering at around 0:15 is much clearer and louder. I don't really know that much about remastering, mastering, et cetera, and maybe they've only made it louder, but I can actually hear the pick hitting the strings, whereas on the version of Dopesmoker I'm familiar with, it's a bit harder to pick that out. At this point, I want both versions of Dopemoker on vinyl, at jet-engine volume, to truly try and parse the differences between the two editions.

Of course, my lineage is mostly German and Scandinavian, a notoriously-detail-oriented/obsessive people, and I personally am anal-retentive as fuck, so maybe I'm overdoing things.

Again: interpret as is your wont.

At about 21:30, once everything but the main riff drops out, you can again hear the strings over-vibrating against the pickup... which is pretty cool. I feel like I'm standing right next to the band in a small room without carpeted floors.
The lyrics, too, are a bit more clear: the first line "Drop out of life with bong in hand" is easier to understand, as is the classic, "Lungsmen unearth the creed of Hasheeshian."

Man. That's some obscure poetic shit that Rimbaud, William Burroughs, Baudelaire, Rumi and Kerouac would find obtuse.

How can you not love that?

If nothing else, the reissue reiterates why it's such a great record (if you truly let it in, stoned or not)-- it just comes in and sweeps itself through your brain, it says to you we have all the time in the world, let's use it thinking of far-away lands that before this record you found impossible to believe existed....

If you already have the old version of Dopesmoker? If you're really into it, you'll wanna check this out. Otherwise, stick with the old version. Tune in, turn on, burn out, daddy-o....

--Horn




[Southern Lord's Press Release about Dopesmoker: http://www.southernlord.com/band_SLE.php ]

[Southern Lord records' Deluxe Reissue of Sleep's Dopesmoker is released internationally on May 8, 2012.]

Electric Wizard - Black Masses

 


In the almighty Pantheon of Doom Metal, next to such immoveable pillars as Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus, there stands ELECTRIC WIZARD from Dorset, England.

Recognized as one of the greats of the genre, ELECTRIC WIZARD has a reputation to live up to. Recently, Jus Oborn and friends have returned with a killer new album titled Black Masses, further guaranteeing their tenure in the Pantheon. Black Masses, released in North America on January 18 via Rise Above Records, was produced by Grammy-winning engineer Liam Watson (THE WHITE STRIPES) in London’s Toe Rag Studios. Upon dropping the needle on this dangerous piece of wax, I expected quality production – something only found on newer releases from the band. Luckily, that’s precisely what I got - but I’m only “scratching the surface.”

At first listen, Black Masses serves as a good ELECTRIC WIZARD album, exhibiting an ever slumberous aura - something I have come to expect – along with all the Fuzzed-out, Blues-infused riffing I could ask for. Yet, after my third or fourth listen, it became clear that what makes Black Masses awesome is that the album neither solely relies on the titanic, weighty riffs of Dopethrone, nor the psychedelic atmosphere of Come My Fanatics. Rather, it kicks-off with a straight-forward, up-tempo title track and maintains a driving vibe for the first half of the record. The tracks on side-A follow a more accessible format as each includes a verse, chorus and solos. It picks up right where Witchcult Today left off, continuing to showcase a more consistently ordered, 70s sound. Jus Oborn really sings his ass off on this one, hitting higher pitches with a hint of vibrato in his voice. A couple of my favorite moments from side A are the guitar solo in ‘Night Child,’ and the aptly-titled song, ‘Turn Off Your Mind.’ Then, things change.

As I start to feel contented with the predictability of the first side of this already loud LP, the B sides are slower and HEAVIER. When ‘Satyr IX’ starts playing, plumes of volcanic ash might as well have come pouring from my speakers – it’s SO heavy! ‘Satyr IX’ displays ELECTRIC WIZARD in its true form, alluding back to some of the band’s earlier, more experimental stuff. The album closes with a 10 minute study on Drone* titled ‘Crypt of Drugula,’ a soggy and murky dwelling that some of us might have cerebrally visited once or twice.


“This ritual incantation of heavy metal sorcery will break down your psyche as wave upon crushing wave of lead weight acid-laced Doom leaves you numb and broken before our unholy altar," boasted bandleader Oborn. "Violent, bleak and ritualistic, we bow to the black altar of the RIFF. We do not rock, we kill!”


ELECTRIC WIZARD must have been feeling a little ambitious upon entering the studio to record Black Masses, as the more conventional arrangements and well-formed techniques proved to create a more accessible, yet ever enjoyable album. It’s obvious that ELECTRIC WIZARD can do anything it sets out to do – and do it well.

*a popular evolution of Doom Metal which aims to focus on, through tonal manipulation, the mechanical timbre of the instruments and amps used. Discernible melodies are sparse in Drone, hence the name, so an entire piece of music could rest on the tonic, thus allowing various competing frequencies to feedback off of each other.

-- Bones

Mares of Thrace - The Pilgrimage

Mares of Thrace is guitarist/vocalist Thérèse Lanz and drummer Stefani MacKichan. They play largely-improvised alterna-doom metal. The Pilgrimage tends to sound like a combination of Kylesa and Black Cobra.

If you read the Hornmeister (patent pending) with any regularity, this you already know.

What you may be asking yourself, is: why is he reviewing this record again?

It occurred to me that I'd never reviewed the same album twice in rapid succession. Ghost's Opus Eponymous I actually did review twice, but there was a year and half between reviews.

Since I love jazz, I thought I would do the review again, but this time, live.

Whereas the first review was the considered, pre-planned studio version, here is the "live" one: i.e., exactly what I think at the time I hear some part of this (spell-corrected, but otherwise unaltered-- I swear my journalistic integrity on this claim*).

(For my psychology nerd homies --holla!--): the album review as projective test [Google it]!)

And thus:

"Act I: David Glimpses Bathsheba," a jagged 7/8 time riff before the Kylesa-ish shrieking comes in, some pick-sliding to add a strange dissonance to the background sounds during the main riff's transposition a half step up... tribal drums like High on Fire...

Track two, "The Pragmatist," uses what I think is a flatted fifth-based riff with a scrawly, rock-type riff thereafter, and tends to use the root chord to great effect, occasionally transposing up a half-step for maximum dissonance... "The Gallwasp," sounds like a Satanic blues, with its repetition and riff-based insistence, its sludgy languor... overall, the best track so far... actually, yanno what? They're starting to sound more like High on Fire now, but with a songwriting succinctness that HOF don't have....

"The Perpetrator," a flatted-fifth riff with a very vaguely-bluesy-rockish riff behind it... very Kylesa again, and not because of the female vocals, which are barely recognizably female... at 1:29 sounds truly daunting and powerful (is it weird that at this precise point I wonder what Thérèse Lanz must be like in bed?)....

At this point ("Act II: Bathsheba's Reply to David") that the pattern of songwriting emerges as obvious: opening riff in the root note/chord, occasionally hit the flatted fifth, and during the next song point (whether it's sidewalk, bridge, chorus, or whatever) use a spidery-vaguely bluesy-rock riff which also introduces the shrieked vocals....

And for the most part it totally works.

"The Goat Thief," is nearly drone in its minute-and-a-half intro, before it becomes nearly black metal in its sludgy, tremolo-picked riffs and erratic drums....

Overall: the more I listen, the more I like.

Maybe you will, too. Just sayin.
[The Pilgrimage is released 4/24/12.]
*Shut the fuck up!-- I do so have some.

--Horn

link to Brooklyn Vegan and "The Gallwasp"-- http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/03/mares_of_thrace.html

Black Breath - Sentenced to Life

Sentenced to Life is pretty much an album of Entombed covering hardcore acts like Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Sick of It All, Discharge, and even Bad Religion. It's on Southern Lord.

For most of you reading this, that's pretty much all you need to know. I don't even need to make a judgment call here; you've already decided if this if this is for you.

For the rest of you, it's really. Goddamn. cool.

It's the detuned death metal Sunlight Sound from Sweden, interpreting the rage of NYHC.

Like Sons of Satan Praise the Lord (an Entombed covers album) or Slayer's Undisputed Attitude, in other words.

Opener "Feast of the Damned," is stupidly riff-tastic, and at 1:44 drops into a great sludge riff breakdown before taking off again....

This formula is maintained during the first four tunes, and is only broken on "Endless Corpse," with its slow-burning building up over "The Small Hours"-esque chords.

That is, until 1:38-- when shit just got real.

At this point, I actually feel bad for the drummer-- this shit has been flying, all-out, at redicu-fast tempos-- this guy's hands have got to be shredded by now.

Ah, and there it is-- about two minutes later we get the slow-down, into something like Overkill would've put on Horrorscope, particularly, well... "Horrorscope."

Of course, the next tune, "Mother Abyss" flies even harder and faster than anything before it, like they're suicidal geriatrics on a treadmill, determined to induce their own heart attack from sheer velocity... "Of Flesh" starts with a Left Hand Path-type trill riff that's fucking sweet....

ANyhoo, prolly top 10 of 2012. Take that as you will....

--Horn


[Sentenced to Life is released March 27, 2012.]

Ufomammut - Oro: Opus Primum

 
My favorite Italians are back with a new album! About 2 years ago I was introduced to the joys of Ufomammut through their excellent album Eve. I've been looking forward to hearing new material from them ever since and now the wait is over. Oro is their 6th album and is the first installment in a 2 part series. I really have no idea what the lyrical concept is behind Oro but the music is some of the heaviest shit out there. Lots of bands try to combine Black Sabbath heaviness with Pink Floyd trippyness but only Ufomammut and Yob do it the way I want to hear it. And as much as I like Yob, I like Ufomammut just a hair more. Probably has something to do with my Italian heritage. Even though these guys are from Northern Italy and I have Southern Italian roots, I can't help but love this band and consider them paisanos. I also had the pleasure of interviewing them for Ripple. They had a great sense of humor and even referred to themselves as Ufomammone (mama's boys).

Eve was basically a metalized version of Pink Floyd at Pompeii. Oro continues in that direction but is even heavier but with a strong cinematic feel. Album opener "Empireum" starts off like some electronic sounds that might possibly be influenced by the intro to Steve Miller's "Jet Airliner." This music would be great in a James Bond movie when they're introducing a sinister villain. The band kicks in about halfway through this 13 minute head trip with a slow crushing riff and tribal drumming. They follow it up with "Aureum," another long, slow, heavy one that picks up speed as it goes along. "Infearnatural" and "Magickon" are both about 7 minutes long and have some evocative vocals and samples buried in the mix. Some electronic melodies from earlier in the album are reintroduced with dramatic effect. The album wraps up with an exhausting 9 minute nightmare called "Mindomine." Even though the songs are long, the album never wears out its welcome. And just when you think it can get heavier or weirder it does. Over and over again.

Way back when I was a little boy, every summer I would accompany my grandmother to a farmers market in the Bronx near Yankee Stadium. She would buy bushels and bushels of tomatoes to make enough sauce for all her family and friends to last a year. As the youngest it was my job to lug all this stuff from the car into her basement. That shit was really heavy and it was always hotter than hell. This new Ufomammut album is ALMOST that heavy. If I could deal with that back then, you can deal with this now. Marone a mi!

--Woody

http://www.ufomammut.com

King Giant - Dismal Hollow

 

It's good to be the king.

Dismal Hollow, the second album by northern Virginia's King Giant, was met with much fanfare from loyal followers when it was released last month on the band's own Graveyard Hill Records. And rightfully so. The eight tracks of southern-infused mountain metal are bound to be on plenty of top-10 lists this year, including mine.

I'm a native from the hills and hollows of rural Appalachia - and a huge southern-metal fan - so this record has a special place in my heart. Down on Dismal Hollow (yes, there are such places), King Giant take "the dark tales of their Appalachian folk forefathers to contemporary southern doom territory".

What we have here is NOT a failure to communicate. It's an extremely awesome collection.

Each song really does tell a story and there's plenty to be heard. The tales are about about war, whiskey and women; they're about love and loss. And they're about life, which can get as dark as a coal mine sometimes.

If you remember anything from American History class, then I shouldn't have to tell you about the subject of the first story, "Appomattox". Remember that thing called the Civil War? The impressive, dual hammering guitars of Todd Ingram (lead) and David Kowalski (rhythm) are potent and powerful alongside the thunderstruck grooves of Flloyd Walters III (bass) and Brooks & drums. Dave Hammerly (vocals) is a forceful presence as he weaves his tale of young soldiers on the battlefield.

I think the tracks, "A Steward's Prayer" and "6 O'Clock Swill", are a couple of the highlights on Dismal Hollow. The songs brings me back to a time when I first started listening to - and worshiping - Corrosion of Conformity. When I first started loving southern stoner metal. As usual with King Giant, the guitars and all-around sound on these two are especially amazing.

As I'm also a big instrumental fan, one of my favorites is "Road To Eleusis", the second from the last song. The juicy guitars start sorrowful and lonely, literally crying out and moaning, while faint chimes lend to the initial somber feeling. It's emotional - though void of any lyrics - and it definitely touches me. It also features what I believe is one of the most furious guitar solos on the whole album.

Man, this is great. Appalachia is rich with American history and I think King Giant have made more of it with Dismal Hollow. If you don't have it yet, then you're missing out on a titan of a metal record.

Pay some respect to your king. King Giant.

--Heddbuzz

http://www.kinggiant.com/
http://www.facebook.com/kinggiantband
http://www.kinggiant.bandcamp.com/

The Single Life - Pilgrim - "Quest"

 


Some of the most behemoth doom music on the planet is coming from our tiniest state. Rhode Island's Pilgrim are premiering a track off their full-length debut, Misery Wizard, which is set for a Feb. 14 release on Metal Blade Records. "Quest" (9:52) is the third track off the album and starts SO lethargic and cumbersome. The Sabbath-style riffs are coated with impressive, soaring vocals at 30 seconds and the tempo picks up considerably near the halfway mark. You get a great 70s-inspired solo before the pace gradually slows back to where it started - a knee-scraping crawl. Ends with serious feedback. Yes. CLASSIC doom. Think St. Vitus and Pentagram. Nah. Think Pilgrim. Listen to "Quest" and you'll be as excited as I am for Misery Wizard and its classic doom sound. "Quest was one of our first songs," the band said in a collective statement. "It has a special place in our hearts. It tells the tale of a man's grueling journey though a desert to obtain an ancient relic locked away in a palace for thousands of years."

Read an interview with the band and listen to "Quest" here:  http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2012/01/an_interview_wi_57.html

--Heddbuzz

http://www.metalblade.com/pilgrim
http://www.facebook.com/hailthepilgrim
http://www.youtube.com/pilgrimofficial

Ripple Field Trip - Live Review: Goatwhore, 2-6-12

The Vernon Club, just off the interstate in Louisville, Kentucky, is about the space of a really spacious apartment. It's under a bowling alley.  A double Jack Daniel's cost $12 (£ 7.5). Not much compared to Boston or New York, but still....

(Maybe) interestingly, this whole endeavor became, at least while wading through the opening bands, a sort of amateur sociological study:

At a casual glance, band members and audience members tended to look like metal fans tend to look-- i.e.,  homeless and probably suffering from at least several personality disorders: old black clothes, dreads, very long hair and beards, et cetera.

What might not be as obvious is how much money they spent to look this way-- by my estimation, there were thousands of dollars' worth of tats (full color sleeves, back tats, everything) and musical equipment ($2000 Hamer, Paul Reed Smith, Fender and Gibson guitars --and two or so of these per musician), not to mention the amps and electronics through which they played them.

It's the John Cougar Mellancamp haircut issue: an hour on your hair, spent to look like you just got out of bed.

The dress code, too, was even more narrow than the first time I went to a metal concert-- I was wearing, comically literally, the only white t-shirt and white shoes in the whole venue (and after noticing this after about an hour, I consciously scanned the place to see if I was being paranoid-- nope).

And I am NOT giving up my Hanes v-necks. Fuck YOU.

Of all people, I would argue Billy Joel summarizes this phenomenon the most succinctly:
      Where have you been hidin' out lately, honey?
      You can't dress trashy till you spend a lot of money.
Ah, metal-- 25 years after my first concert, still a fashion show. (Not that other genres aren't.)

I drove two hours to see Goatwhore and have been standing this whole time because chairs are apparently not metal. Don't get me wrong-- I'm in good shape and I work out five days a week-- but I'm essentially middle-aged and after five hours of just standing, watching bands, my goddamned feet hurt.

They still do, as I write this.

And so after five (fucking five!) local opening bands, one of whom I'll write about later, New Orleans' Satanic-blackened-death-thrash-metal outfit Goatwhore go on at 11:15 pm.

At this point there was so much smoke from the smoke/fog/haze machine my sinuses are still nearly completely blocked-- but Goddamn...

it looked COOL.

Black (ened) metal needs theatrics... it needs features that highlight and exaggerate the ceremonial aspects of the performance... just ask Watain and their blood-fests. They set the stage.

I would argue, anthropologically-speaking, that they play up an essential human need to connect to the Divine, and are accoutrements we find psychologically necessary to facilitate that process.

But that's just me.

You know... it's whatevs, as the kids say today. (So I hear.)

So with no curtain, Goatwhore walked onto the stage and started talking, via the PA, with the sound engineer: they were particularly (in my experience, anyway) specific and demanding about their "wedges" (i.e., stage sound monitors)-- noticeably the specific combination of what they wanted to hear as they played: guitarist Sammy Duet, in a rather intimidating tone, I venture to say, needed snare and bass in his; singer Ben Falgoust wanted the vocals way down in the mix, but wanted the guitars way up; and bassist James Harvey, all six foot four of him, never said a word-- just kept gesturing up and down until he nodded approval with whatever he was hearing.

Once this was settled, Ben Falgoust looked at the other members of Goatwhore, a few seconds passed...

...and with a subtle gesture from the singer-- shit EXPLODED.

I mean, surprisingly so, considering the band members were discussing trivialities for about a full five minutes in front of the audience.

But once they started playing... they became-- Something Else.

In all seriousness... irony aside:  fucking... WOW.

THIS is why you see bands in person.

Maybe the openers were there only to reinforce the star power, for lack of a better word, of Goatwhore.

The other bands were fine, very technically and musically competent-- but there was always that seeming hesitation, that subverbal lack of confidence: and after five bands' worth of this, you start to think maybe it's just you.

And then Ben Falgoust starts singing, and his sheer stage presence is comically obvious compared to the previous five other bands.

Metal doesn't use the term "star power" or "stage presence" that much (thank God), but here, it's genuinely deserved-- once Goatwhore started playing, it was obvious they had that certain something (particularly Falgoust):  you wanted to watch him; you wanted to hear whatever he had to say, you wanted to do what he told you to do (generally involving screaming HEY and fist pumping)--

it

was

fucking

COOL.

What'd they play, you might've asked, droolingly...?

Let's see: "Collapse in Eternal Worth" and "When Steel and Bone Meet," from the upcoming Blood For the Master; what I think was "Into a Darker Sun," from The Eclipse of Ages into Black; "Alchemy of the Black Sun Cult" from A Haunting Curse; "Blood Guilt Eucharist," from Funeral Dirge for the Rotting Sun; "The All-Destroying," "Carving out the Eyes of God," [see below] and "Provoking the Ritual of Death," from Carving Out the Eyes of God.

Falgoust's stage banter between numbers was funny and/ or hilarious: a bit about Blood For the Master being released on Valentine's Day --"Maybe it's a reference to your significant other's time of the month," got a lot of laughs; and when he asked if anyone had pre-ordered the upcoming album, one guy screamed something-- after this Falgoust said, "Hey listen, I don't care if you buy it, I don't care if you steal it, I'm not here to accuse you, I just want you to rock the album... I got an idea: everyone [here], just borrow that guy's copy, and in a couple of months, when we come back, everyone'll be on the same page."

AND they played the intro to Sab's "Into the Void," causing an embarrassing amount of THRILL on my part.

Finally, they closed with "Apocalyptic Havoc." When they hit the line in the second chorus--

"Who needs a god, when you've got Satan?!"

Which EVERYONE, from the bouncers, to the kids up front, to the bartenders, knew--

it was practically liturgically ecstatic-- (perhaps ironically)... but the thrill was still there in screaming the line, with both hands making the HORNS.

All in all, there were about 100 people there at the end (about 25 of whom, no exaggeration, were in opening bands)-- not bad for a cold Monday night with no other major bands playing.

I recorded about 30 seconds of "Carving Out the Eyes of God," which you can see below (I would've recorded more, but I'm not a fucking documentarian-- I came to rock out, baby).

--Horn

Rock's Come Back of the Year - Interview With Jimmy Ronnie From Iron Claw

 Here's an interview conducted by fearless Ripple Scribe, Boogeyman, that originally ran on his own blog, Long Live Rock N Roll.  Pop over there for more insights from the Boogs.



Being called Rock's "Come Back Bands of the Year" by Metal Odyssey, and having a string of great reviews from the likes of The Metal Minute, Rocktopia, and The Soda Shop just to name a few, I've been given the great pleasure to interview Iron Claw's guitarist and one of the band's original founding members, Jim Ronnie. As you'll find out, it's one hell of come back for these Proto Metal Pioneers indeed.

Boogs: As a musician myself that use to play in a band and have been out of the music scene for quite some time, what was the spark that ignited your desire to get the band back together after such a long time and start rockin' again?

Jimmy Ronnie:  The last thing on my mind late 2009 was an Iron Claw reunion. I became aware of  Rockadrome's release of the band's self titled CD and must admit to giving that little attention either. However, it became clear that there was indeed a lot of interest out there for our 1970's recorded back catalog. That was the spark that ignited the possibility of a reunion in my mind. I arranged a meeting of the surviving former band members and that was it! Iron Claw was reborn!

There wasn't much of a plan at that stage other than "let's record some new material and see how it goes". All that changed when Ripple Music got involved and suddenly we were now faced with the task of producing an album for world wide release on this new dynamic label.......wow!

Boogs: That's amazing! How are some things better now with Iron Claw than they were back in the day when you guys first started out?

Jimmy Ronnie:  The internet is probably the biggest single change that has happened to music since 1979. Musicians now have a vehicle for getting their recorded music out to the world.

That didn’t exist during our first time around and record companies were practically the only way to get recordings heard. There were no CDs of course and pressing your own vinyl records was not a practical option. Even if that could be overcome, how do you distribute them?

On the negative side though, there are now a lot fewer live venues much less opportunity for bands to play. That’s a great shame. We need more live venues. That is how new young bands learn their craft and if they don’t get a chance to play live the standard of music will drop. Never mind TV talent shows. That’s not what it’s all about.

Boogs:  Once again congrats on A Different Game being praised as the "Come Back Album of the Year" in the world of rock and classic rock. How does that feel? It's gotta be an extremely gratifying feeling. Especially being labeled "Proto-metal Pioneers." That's gotta be honor being a part of that.

Jimmy Ronnie: The reviews for “A Different Game” have been astounding. Almost universal acclaim which is about is good as it gets. A couple of Doom sites don’t seem to like us but we’re not a Doom band so that’s fine.

It is extremely gratifying as you say. It’s always nice to get applause for a performance and the music press has thrown themselves behind us 100%.

As for “Proto-metal Pioneers”, I guess that’s what we were but that’s not something that was ever considered at the time. I never thought about breaking new ground. We just did what we did and had a great time doing it.

It was obvious then though that the music was not mainstream and we didn’t always go down well. “Play something we know!” being a common cry from the unsuspecting audience. The response was usually “Fuck off, you’re getting hard rock whether you like it or not!” Ah… the arrogance of youth!

Boogs: Your new album A Different Game is quite different than your first album. What was the experience recording A Different Game as opposed to your first album? What was your guys' focus on this album, or was it just this music beast within just itching to get out and rock shit again?

Jimmy Ronnie: The main difference is that this is an album produced as a single project, in one studio, with a single line-up of musicians. It was all done in a relatively short period of time as well.

The Rockadrome album is a compilation of recorded work done during our first lifetime (1969 to 1974). As such it is a good mixture of styles and production techniques and shows the bands evolution through the first 5 years of our existence.

The focus on “A Different Game” was clear from the start. We wanted to produce a record that was pure Iron Claw and that was about capturing the live spirit of the band on record. This was about returning to our roots as a band rather than writing and recording about where we may find ourselves as changed individuals today.

Iron Claw is what was called for and Iron Claw is what was given. The end result is that we have produced an album for today. The spirit of the record is 40 years old but the sound is now. I’m very pleased with it as you can probably tell!


Boogs: Absolutely, and you have every reason to be! I definitely have my favorite tunes on A Different Game, one of them being the album's title track. What would you say is your definite song favorites writing as well as recording?

Jimmy Ronnie: I, too, like the title track which, together with “It’s Easy”, comes from a mid-90’s solo recording project of mine. A couple of the songs had been part of our 1970’s live set but never recorded in the studio. Some were recorded first time round in 1970 but never released.

This was actually our very first album recorded in Luton near London with Mike Waller on vocals. Some of the songs are brand new and written in the studio for this album. So some of the songs are old, some are new but all of them have been stripped bare and reworked for the album.

I don’t know if I’ve got any real favourites. It depends what kind of mood I’m in. “What Love Left” is definitely the right choice for the opener and single….straight to the point rock n roll! I like the Youtube promo video too (not everyone shares my opinion on that though!)

Boogs: I know you all played The Barlinnie Prison last October for charity. What else is in the works for Iron Claw?

Jimmy Ronnie: Yes. The official album launce was at Scotland’s largest prison in Glasgow. That was a very special night for us. A few hundred very sober prisoners gave us a frosty welcome to the stage. By the end of our set they were rockin' full on! That was immensely satisfying for us and hopefully we managed to plant a few seeds that night.

As we speak we are rehearsing with our new vocalist and hopefully it shouldn’t be long before we’re back on the road. Looking forward to that.

Ripple Music have offered us the chance to make another album. Their only stipulation being that it’s as “kick ass” as this one! That is some time away but we’re really looking forward to that as well.

It has been two years since we decided to reform. Two very intense, busy, yet satisfying years. Personally, up until Ripple Music came along I had given up all hope of fulfilling my dream and securing a recording and publishing deal. Just goes to show that you never know what's around the corner! As long as there is an audience for Iron Claw and we can still do it then it continues…..Here’s to the future!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yes, indeed, you never know what's around the corner, and as this year almost closes in, I can only suspect great things for the Iron Claw boys. There's is a great story, a very cool story that's not often told in rock. I personally love it. It takes courage and a big brass set of kahones to make a come back like Iron Claw has.

Once again, I'd like to thank Jimmy Ronnie for being gracious enough to take the time out to answer a few questions for this hard rock fan.

For more information on the Iron Claw band, visit the link to read their biography and get a healthy taste of some of their tunes featured on the their new cd release A Different Game!

Looking for the cd? Click the link to go to Ripple Music's store and grab your copy of Iron Claw: A Different Game released on Ripple Music now!

Goatwhore - Carving out the eyes of God

What with their (as of this writing) upcoming album Blood For the Master, I revisited Goatwhore's previous LP, Carving Out the Eyes of God, playing it on tank-like, if outdated, speakers at jet-engine volume.

At its best, in other words.

"Apocalyptic Havoc" the lead single (see below) opens with all out Venom/Celtic Frost 32nd notes updated for this year (which actually is a pretty good synopsis of the entire album), and contains the immortal line "Who needs a God, when you've got Satan?!"

"The All-Destroying," next, is blastbeats then D-beats then flat-out downbeats, and contines the Goatwhore tradition thusfar, of grimly-satisfied-nodding-to-riffs, rather than out-and-out funky jams... and I love every time singer Ben Falgoust says "Ooooh!" à la Tom G. Warrior.

"Carving out the eyes of God," has a cool, melodic blastbeaten chorus (and is pretty hummable), and on the right sterio/headphones, the triplet bass drum patterns are Alex Van Halen on "Hot For Teacher" cool.

"Shadow of a Living Knife," in its middle section fires up a great triplet-bass-drum blast beat and segues into a sweet semi-sweep-picked solo... "Provoking the Ritual of Death" opens with tribal drums and sludge riffs before its blastbeaten percussion returns... "In Legions, I am Wars of Wrath," with its refrain of LIES! is fucking Epic... "Reckoning of the Soul Made Godless" slows down and rocks out in 4/4, "Razor Flesh Devoured" is pure fury, blastbeat to D-beat to-blastbeat, ad infinitum, wherein it fades out (officfially ending the album), although...

"To Mourn and Wander Forever Through Forgotten Doorways," a bonus track, comes up next, ominous minor-chorded arpeggios leading to a spoken-word invocation-- easily the moodiest track here, not unlike "Lucifer" from Behemoth's Evangelion. I can see why it wasn't on the official LP, but it probably should've been, maybe right in the middle as a tempo-velocity respite....

The entire album is perfect "blackened death metal," i.e., the guitars are detuned (i.e., bass-y as hell) and there are as many hyper-kinetic D-beats as there are blast beats, but the lyrics and imagery is occult/Satanic.

Overall, generic but completely invested in what they do.

--Horn

Goatwhore, Carving out the eyes of God

Doom on! - Featuring Leather Nun (America), and Orchid

Raining.  Wind whipping the scattered leaves into a violent frenzy of attacking dead foliage.  Lightning cracks the sky.

Time to get some doom on.

Leather Nun (America) - All Your Kin

Of all the doom bands that have plodded into the Ripple office over the last four years, Leather Nun (America) have always been one of my favorites.   Plowing the requisite post-Sabbath highway of death, destruction, and hating of the world, Leather Nun just seem to do what they do with an unbridled love and demented passion.  Their riffs are as heavy as a wrecking ball descending upon my cranium, the songwriting is generally as tight as a virgin's chastity belt, and the mood is as dark as the space inside Charles Manson's soul.  In other words, everything you need for a solid doom record.

I'd reviewed their last psycheDoomelic release a year or so ago, but thanks to John Sarnie, All Your Kin, the band's 2007 release found it's way to corrupt our mail carriers hands.  And from the very first explosive seconds of "Overdope" I knew I was in good hands.

Not to be confused with the legendary cult Swedish garage, goth and industrial group, this Leather Nun hails from California, and now uses the America tag in their name; Leather Nun America.  However, All Your Kin was released before they added that tag, so it's attributed to Leather Nun.  Just to clear up any confusion.

One of the main things that makes Leather Nun stand out for me is the intent they put into their music.  Often times Doom becomes a battle to see who can play it the heaviest and slowest, but this trio knows how to flex their muscles and add some stoner groove and some plain ol' rock to the assault.  The result is a doom record in every sense of the word, but with riffs that charge and a backbeat that drives, and a groove that could almost get my ass up to do the doom boogie. You'll hear some Pentagram here, some Saint Vitus, The Obsessed, even some Deliverance-era COC. Wino is worshiped along side Ozzy.

And there is nothing wrong with that, All Your Kin is potent as a Doom-laden nitro stick, and the whole album chugs and stomps and builds and terrorizes like a mastodon set loose in a china shop.  This is doom done right, or a least right in my darkened book.  Having heard two of this trio's albums so far I can say with confidence that Leather Nun is way too good to not be mentioned in the same breath as the "big" boys mentioned above.  Wake up world, it's not too late to get raped by the nun.

Orchid - Capricorn

I know nothing about this album other than it's on The Church Within Records and came to me courtesy of Doom-dealer.de.  That was enough to get me interest.  Church Within Records?  Hadn't heard of them, but damn if that isn't a cool name for a doom label.  Doom-dealer.de I know.  I trust.  I'm interested.

Disc enters player and damn if the most solid Sabbath doom I'd heard in ages comes terrorizing out of the speakers.  Let's set the table right away.  This isn't Sabbath-inspired doom, this IS Sabbath doom.  From the Iommi flourishes at the end of the riffs, to the Butler-flying bass, the Ward-all-over-the-set drumming, and most importantly, the very-Ozzy vocals.  The arrangements are Sabbath.  The guitar tone is Sabbath.  Everything.  There may be another influence somewhere, but  I can't hear it.   In the hands of a lesser band, this would be tossed aside as a Sabbath cover act, but damn if Orchid don't do it well.  And do it without the slightest hint of an apology.

San Franisco's Orchid love Sabbath and they want to play Sabbath, and the results are killer.  Does it matter that this album sounds it could've been snuck somewhere admidst the Sabbath catalog of the first 6 albums?   Nope, not one bit.  That's it's strength.  This isn't building upon Sabbath, it's a reinterpretation of Sabbath, staying dedicated to the original template and having a ball with it.

Songs like the manly strut of the opener "Eyes Behind the Wall" and the drill-into-your-brain earworm title-cut  simply rock.  When they get slower and moodier, they're no less Sabbath, as on the plodding "Black Funeral" with all of it's Iommi-isms.   But none of that matters.  What matters is that from start to finish, Orchid do it right.  Yes, it's Sabbath, but it's fun and the dedication is infectious.  Dig it.

--Racer