Archive for November, 2012

Album of the day: Kowloon Walled City – Container Ships

Posted on Friday, November 30th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from The Obelisk: The only thing really subtle about Kowloon Walled City‘s Container Ships is how subtle it is. The tiny bits of melody that makes their way into the guitars of Scott Evans and Jon Howell, or the surprising effect the record — their second behind 2009′s Gambling on the Richter Scale and label debut on Brutal Panda Records – can have on the listener’s mood despite being so outwardly intense and seeming so cerebral in their approach, that pesky tendency to kick a face with a song.

It’s not the kind of thing you generally think of as ambient, but Container Ships has more to it than its surface heaviness. Its seven component tracks run a vinyl-ready 35 minutes and opening argument ‘The Pressure Keeps Me Alive’ winds up somewhere right in the middle of Kowloon Walled City‘s scope of pace. Evans handles vocal duties with a kind of post-hardcore semi-speech, melodic enough when it needs to be and likewise able to turn within a line’s span into an all-out shout.

Tonally, they’re more indebted to Godflesh than the Neurosis / Isis sphere of post-metal, but some of those elements are there, particularly on the centerpiece title-track or side B closer ‘You Don’t Have Cancer’, the two longest cuts at 7:11 and 8:44, respectively. Most of the album moves quicker, pushed ahead by Jeff Fagundes‘ about-t0-fly-apart drumming (spoiler alert: it never flies apart) and Ian Miller‘s thankfully prominent low end righteousness.

Continue reading: The Obelisk: AT A GLANCE: Kowloon Walled City, Container Ships
(Courtesy of JJ Koczan / The Obelisk)

Tags: Album of the day, Brutal Panda Records, Container Ships, JJ Koczan, Kowloon Walled City, The Obelisk
Posted in 2012, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended | 1 Comment »

Former KYUSS Members John Garcia, Brant Bjork and Nick Oliveri Announce New Band: VISTA CHINO

Posted on Friday, November 30th, 2012

Brant Bjork, John Garcia and Nick Oliveri — formerly of Kyuss — are pleased to introduce their new project: Vista Chino. The group, comprised of the three founding members of the legendary rock band and guitarist Bruno Fevery, are currently recording new material in anticipation of a 2013 worldwide release ...read more

Album of the day: El Topo – Original Soundtrack (Vinyl)

Posted on Thursday, November 29th, 2012

Praise for El Topo‘s Original Soundtrack from San Francisco’s aQuarius Records: The great Chilean experimental filmmaker Alejandro Jodorowsky directed, starred in and composed the music for one of THEE flat out strangest cinematic experiences ever made. El Topo from 1970 was Jodorowsky‘s bloody surreal take on the Western genre and ...read more

Album of the day: Year of the Goat – Angels’ Necropolis

Posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from MetalMouth: Having released two heavily successful E.P’s, Year Of The Goat are here to raise hell, literally. This is a band who take the best of 70′s / 80′s rock…(Sabbath / Blue Oyster Cult), and shape it into something that is modern, something that is dark, something ...read more

Album of the day: Opium Warlords – We Meditate Under The Pussy In The Sky

Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

Lovingly pinched from Sea of Tranquility: The second album from the one-man drone / noise project of Finland’s Sami Hynnien, Opium Warlords, is now upon us. More Earth than Sunn O))), Hynnien has an approach all his own. There is no sound that he doesn’t see some inherent value in. ...read more

Golden Void Covers Jimi Hendrix’s 1983 (Rolling Stone)

Posted on Tuesday, November 27th, 2012

Rolling Stone has Golden Void‘s cover of Hendrix’s 1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be) as their download of the day in honor of Jimi‘s 70th birthday, check it out HERE or listen via the Soundcloud player below. “’1983 (A Merman I Shall Turn To Be)’ is one of ...read more

Album of the day: Spiders – Flash Point

Posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012

Lovinly pinched from Fast ‘n’ Bulbous: I’ve been raving about Spiders all year since I heard their self-titled EP and wrote about them in Metal Sirens. Despite originally having members from both Graveyard and Witchcraft, Spiders mostly leaves the proto-doom sounds behind, favoring high energy garage rock (the b-side of ...read more

Vanderbuyst: New Album Available For Streaming!

Posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012

Listen to Vanderbuyst‘s The Flying Dutchmen in its entirety below, courtesy of Vpro 3voor12, Holland’s major media network.

The Day After The Sabbath Vol.80: Goodbye Jane (Aussie Rock Special) Posted Online

Posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012

The Day After The Sabbath is a blog specialising in regular compilations of obscure heavy 60s and 70s rock. It’s Rich’ aim to reveal the secret world of bands that were inspired by the early psychedelic, doom and hard rock greats but were too short-lived, un-commercial or just plain unlucky ...read more

Monday Song: Loop – The Is Where You End

Posted on Monday, November 26th, 2012

Every Monday morning we’ll post a kick-ass song to get your week going.