Their last album, Eat The Low Dogs, was hailed as a masterpiece, and Run Thick In The Night doesn’t depart drastically on the sound they’ve already established. It begins with the moody, brooding 13 minute track ‘In The Night’, with its heavily textured, wall of sound “outlaw country gone shoegaze” guitars and spacey keyboard sweeps, and morphs quickly into the Hawkwind inspired rager ‘Wolf On Anareta.’

‘Fire Is Sleeping’ is a tender ballad, really upping the ante on the Southern and Skynyrd influences without resorting to the usual cliches, and adds some weepy violin and mournful slide guitar to the mix. The next few songs continue in this style, country-tinged, acid drenched, and melancholy, until the bass and drum driven track ‘The Quena’ breaks the spell and gives a much needed change of pace.

Continue reading: StonerRock.com – U.S. Christmas – Run Thick In The Night.

Led by the charismatic vocalist / guitarist / lyricist Mike Scalzi, who has easily established himself as one of the best and most distinct vocalists and lyricists in all of metal, The Animal Spirits (which features an appearance from Brocas Helm vocalist Bob Wright) will align itself as another gem in the illustrious Slough Feg repertoire and be considered as one of the great metal releases to be released this year.

Due in North America on October 26 via Profound Lore Records,  The Animal Spirits will feature the following track listing:

01. Trick the Vicar
02. The 95 Thesis (courtesy of Stereogum)
03. Materia Prima
04. Free Market Barbarian (courtesy of Stereogum)
05. Lycanthropic Fantasies
06. Ask the Casket
07. Heavyworlder
08. The Tell-Tale Heart
09. Kon-Tiki
10. Second Coming
11. Tactical Air-War

Continue reading: BLABBERMOUTH.NET – SLOUGH FEG: Two New Songs Available For Streaming.

And for those who haven’t heard Place of Skulls since then, or for those who perhaps are stuck on 2003’s epic With Vision — on which Griffin united with Scott “Wino” Weinrich (The Obsessed, Saint Vitus, etc.) to release one of the finest traditional doom albums of its decade – you should know a lot has changed. Of course, Griffin is still a master riffer. He has been since the days of Death Row, but sound-wise, Place of Skulls is a much different band than they were nine, seven or even four years ago.

In 2010, their sound is still rooted in doom, but as the lead songwriter, Griffin doesn’t shy away from balladry either. The third track on As a Dog Returns, ‘Though He Slay Me’, is essentially a power ballad about Jesus, and the follow-up, the ‘Planet Caravan’-esque ‘Psalm’, isn’t far off that either, at least for the first two and a half minutes. It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that after a career touching five decades (Death Row formed in 1979) Griffin’s songwriting should have matured, but the doom on As a Dog Returns isn’t miserable, isn’t downtrodden. It seems to rise up to its challenges. It has hope.

Continue reading:  The Obelisk » Blog Archive » Place of Skulls Return to a Peaceful Place.
(Special thanks to JJ Koczan for the very kind permission)

Featuring band members Michael Gira (original SWANS), Norman Westberg (original SWANS), Christoph Hahn (mid-period SWANS and most Angels of Light ), Phil Puleo (final SWANS tour and most of Angels of Light), Chris Pravdica (Flux Information Sciences / Services/ Gunga Din) and Thor Harris (Angels of Light, currently Shearwater), SWANS will headline Roadburn on Saturday, 16 April 2011.

Emerging from the New York underground in the early 80s, SWANS made their mark with a series of highly influential dark, abrasive, brutal and growling noise albums that served as an outlet for their unsettling ruminations on alienation, depression and the depravity of man.

After 15 years of touring and constant productivity SWANS disbanded in 1997. The band’s recent revival finds Michael Gira seamlessly shifting from Angels Of Light mode to the more heavier and noisier origins of SWANS, as showcased on the band’s forthcoming album, My Father Will Guide Me Up A Rope To The Sky, which basically starts where Soundtracks For The Blind/Swans Are Dead left off.

According to Stereogum.com: “The purists may want to crucify me, but Swans’ first studio album since Soundtracks is also one of SWANS’ best, most relentlessly dark and beautiful albums to date. Gira remains angry/venomous, but he’s introduced a kind of time-won wisdom (and guest spot via his three-year-old daughter) you wouldn’t find in the nihilistic ’80s” -Brandon / Stereogum.

Roadburn Festival regards SWANS as the single biggest influence on the burgeoning doom / sludge / drone scene aside from the obvious likes of Black Sabbath. SWANS‘ canon of work can be heard and felt throughout the entire festival and in most of the bands invited to perform. It is a massive understatement to say that we are looking forward to the formidable and brutal sonic waves and the extreme volume levels that SWANS will bring to the festival. We are still pinching ourselves that the fever dream of this highly anticipated resurrection has become a reality.

(First, SWANS will head to Vera, Groningen to perform their gorgeous sonic poetry and crushing brutality on 23 November 2010. SWANS will also be playing Le Guess Who? Festival, Utrecht, Holland on November 24th).

But the real appeal was that they could craft these expansive dirgescapes and then explode into noise rock freakouts, or super complex mathy grooves. And if anything, on Wonder, it sounds like Knut have moved way further into mathy noise rock territory, which we’re actually pretty psyched about. Heck, the world has enough long songs that build slowly into epic metallic heaviness, and yeah, okay, maybe the world has enough gnarled grinding math metal juggernauts, but we think not.

And Knut are indeed masters, putting most other heavies to shame, really in the space of a single song. ‘Leet’ explodes in a frenzy of churning riffage and pounding chaotic drumming, bellowed vox, a deft chugging stuttering lurching start stop convoluted mathy workout, but infused with little bits of melody, some super cool, weirdly obtuse breakdowns, a relentless math metal freeforall that practically out-Don-Caballero-s Don Cab themselves.

There are a few tracks, where the bands reel in their insane time signatures and frenzied riffing, letting their sound ooze and sprawl, droning and buzzing, where they unfurl epic brooding heaviness, much like the above mentioned post metal. But even those moments are peppered with little mathy bursts, little gnarled and convoluted twists, there are a few interludes too, more sort of droned out guitar ambience, before they finish off with the 8+ minute ‘Wonder/Daily Grind’ –the first half of which is a gorgeously lysergic dronescape of layered slow motion chords and thick psychedelic guitar smolder, it does eventually lurch into some lumbering chug and pound, but just as quickly it slips back into some minimal ambient buzz and drone.

Some seriously awesome heaviness.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

While Cave have become masterful at their ability to create rhythmic and propulsive kraut like jams, with Bitchin Bajas, Cooper is taking his aim at the more spaced out side of kosmische bliss. Evoking the kraut-drone / kraut-age of Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream, Deutsche Wertarbeit, Cluster as well as Terry Riley’s A Rainbow In Curved Air, this is such a perfect early morning sunrise salute of a record.

Tones / Zones also reaches the level to which modern day cosmic travelers like Arp, White Rainbow, Emeralds and Oneohtrix Point Never have ascended. The sounds here get locked in the most celestial grooves and you find yourself floating into the sky losing any sense of gravity or the mundane reality of everyday life. This is perfect music for dreaming, drifting and softly coming down. Majestic and so satisfying.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

The Bastard (2001)

Starting out your canon with a concept album is inherently bold. Starting out your canon with a concept album that effortlessly blends elements of classic NWOBHM power metal, gentle-madrigal folk, black / death metal, traditional doom, and prog… that doesn’t only take some balls, it takes exceptional talent. But The Bastard does exactly that without a hint of a misstep.

The concept (let me see if I got this right) is a three-act tragedy about an illegitimate son confronting and defeating the tyrannical father / king who abandoned him at birth and taking up his reign. Along the way are oaths of vengeance sworn in Hell and a Blood Ax is thrown in for good measure – got that so far? All of which would be a moot point if the musicianship wasn’t completely stellar. But not only does the music manage to blow your mind with its sheer diversity and intricacy, it’s also cohesive and damn if it isn’t catchy in places.

Mike Scalzi voices the main character here, and my first impression is to automatically compare this to Slough Feg, but of course there’s going to be a common influence between ‘Feg and HoM – both Scalzi and John Cobbett pulled double-duty in both bands at the time, and as chief songwriters, how could the similar influence not rear up? The soaring operatic vocals of bassist Janis Tanaka are breathtaking, and Cobbett’s guttural turn at the mic voicing the tyrant king is also noteworthy.

The guitarwork is impeccable; light-handed with the solos but that’s not a complaint – a lesser progressive band would have simply soloed all over the map to impress you. But the idea is for this album to be taken in as a whole, and not just the sum of its parts, so singling out standout songs is pointless here. My recommendation is that you take the entire album in, in one sitting; you’re an active participant as the listener and this is not background music. Also, though I was listening to a digital advance, it is my understanding that the album’s artwork paints a clearer picture of the storyline, something to consider as you undertake a listening session here. Highly impressive, I can’t wait to see where they go next. (8)

Continue reading:  Hellbound » Welcome to the Hellbound.ca Archives » HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE: The Metal Blade Reissues.

In addition, the inside booklet includes actual X-rays and MRIs from various injuries sustained by all four Earthride members over the years. Something Wicked is available via the band’s own Earth Brain Records.

“Something Wicked is definitely an Earthride album; all the elements are there. You’ve got the Clutch inspired waves of orange amplified riffage, the deep, grooving counterpoints of the rhythm section, and of course Sherman’s over-the-top vocal deliveries, which mix equal parts Lee Dorrian and Lemmy. And naturally, it’s heavy as fuck.” — Stonerrock.com