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OCEAN CHIEF - "THE ODEN SESSIONS"
SONS OF OTIS - "X"
TODAY IS THE DAY - "KISS THE PIG"
V/A - "CONTAMINATION FESTIVAL 2003"
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OCEAN CHIEF
"THE ODEN SESSIONS" [ CD - Church of Doom Recordings ]
According to the sticker on the CD we are told: 'Ocean Chief, 4 Songs, 63 Minutes Pure Swedish
Doom.' Now generally one must discount any claims festooned on a CD by the record label as it's
generally nowt more than hyperbole, [otherwise we'd all feel compelled to rush out and buy
'The Darkness' albums –and what a frightful calamity that would be] but fortunately for the dedicated
follower of Doom, said précis is not a bum steer –oh contraire ladies and germs, in fact I shall
embellish said sticker myself, to whit... "4 superlatively structured songs, 63 molten, skull raping minutes
of yardarm heavy, pure, 100% proof Swedish Doom."
To recap, I dig this album like I dig ice cold Holsten Pils, and I REALLY dig ice cold Holsten Pils. In fact to
such a ludicrous degree I could well be considered an unrepentant doomaholic, and as such I found myself
draining Ocean Chief's soupy, goblet in one feveris h gulp and thirst immediately for another refill.
Track one 'Sword of Justice' has the kind of spacious, bass guitar intro that I crave, as it's a
killer form of delicate, aural foreplay as the maximum amount of tension is generated by
the sweaty anticipation of the iron-hard guitar fucking to come, and when Bjorn's planetoidal
guitars arrive they do so with the unstoppable force of a intergalactic whale re-entering the
earth’s atmosphere at light speed!
To create an uber heavy, convincing doom package is a troublesome, and oft bungled affair, some bands
have imaginative riffs aplenty, with great songs, adequate production etc, yet they fail miserably
with screeching, generic, or woefully inappropriate vocals, [Dragonauta are sadly a prime example of the latter] so
it is with profound joy that I can relay that these Scandinavian Doom Vikings deliver
gangbusters on all fronts.
Tobbe handles both the percussive and vocal elements with subt ly and great skill, and while most tracks
are predominantly instrumental, [onus on mental], his vocalizing adds great depth and
character to the tracks. The fact that "The Oden Sessions" owes much to the dynamic guitar
tones, invigorating, and marathon-length riff science of Sleeps' "Dopesmoker" is a resounding bonus, as it's
truly refreshing to listen to a band with the courage, dedication and conviction to
construct songs of such girth and power while still allowing themselves the freedom for deep, penetrating
and glacial atmospherics.
"The Oden Sessions" is a demanding album, not in the joyously confounding manner of say, Fantomas, but in
the sense that you cannot glean maximum enjoyment from Ocean Chief if you don’t completely immerse
yourself with the lead bellied, doom thunderstorm on display here.
"The Oden Sessions" is not an album for dilettantes and doom part timers, there are so
many bands that clearly ape the structures, and ultimate heaviness of doom, but go
under the dubious and disingenuous moniker of noise-core. Thankfully there's no such contrivance here,
as 'Ocean Chief' are unalloyed Doom, each of their elephantine and THC singed power
chords preach one gospel and one gospel only, DOOM MOTHERFUCKERS!!! D-O-O-M!!!
Production duties are handled tautly by Tobbe & Jocke and they produce their music with the same aplomb
as they play it.
So put down your Pelican and Isis albums for a wee spell and see how the other half lives, and it's bigger, scarier
and more fun than you could ever imagine. Secure your portcullis, extinguish the candles and
remove your battle-scarred armour and then, after filling your drinking horn to the brim with a
powerfully hallucinogenic libation, and drink deep and hearty oh doom warrior and allow the
impermeable sonic tapestry of Ocean Chief to coagulate around your head and induce
a state of ecstatic Doom hypnosis.
Fans of "Supercoven"-era Electric Wizard, YOB, Sleep, Reverend Bizarre will find enormous pleasure
while listening to Ocean Chief's magnum opus, "The Oden Sessions." The new wave of Viking doom metal is
upon us, and I for one wish to drown in it!
VIKING DOOM FOREVER!
jason
PS. Should you require any more convincing that "The Oden Sessions" is an essential Doom purchase you
have two added incentives; 1) If the opening guitar salvo of 'Gates of Fire' doesn't have your head
pounding like a massive intravenous jolt of methamphetamines then you, sir/madam, have loose shit
for brains.
And 2) The gloriously psychedelic space-doom rifferama of 'The Ocean Chief Rules My World' is up there with
the finest hallucinatory OTT space rock operettas of both Ufomammut and Electric Wizard.
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SONS OF OTIS
"X" [ CD-R - Advance Release ]
The advent of a new Sons of Otis record is always a combination of
expectation and dread. Expectation in that the band consistently produce
great records, dread in that, like Spinal Tap, the band seem plagued by
minor and major problems during recording!
This time around, the problem isn't keeping hold of their drummer, but
that the recording was done without the support of a record label. Fortunately,
this has since been rectified and "X" will be released in early 2005 by
Small Stone Records.
So, with the line-up of Ken, Frank and Ryan intact from "The Pusher", what
does the new record sound like? Similar to all previous Otis outings: thick
sludgy riffs underpinned by a pounding rhythm section and heavily
delay-processed vocals swirling in and out of the mix.
The difference between this record and the previous full-length "Songs for
Worship" is apparent after the first few spins of the record. "X" is far
more compact. The songs don't sprawl as much, the drums aren't too forward
in the mix [a problem that made "Songs for Worship" pretty unlistenable to
these ears] and the songwriting is a welcome return to the more bluesy
style found on "Templeball."
Drone fans won't be disappointed in any way
with the Earth-like ambient drone of "Eclipse". Overall, however, the tracks
are just more 'interesting' than on the previous record.
Highlight tracks for me include the juggernaut opener 'Way I Feel', the
grooving 'Help Me' and the Hendrix-inspired 'Liquid Jam.'
As a bonus for those that missed out on "The Pusher" 10", a new version
of the track appears here featuring some searing lead work from Ken and
massive drumming from Ryan.
The only track I find weak is '1303' which, apart from being a bit simplistic,
features some hideous squeaking noise out the guitar at the end of each bar
which overstays its welcome almost immediately.
Production-wise, the CD-R is a bit rough in places especially given that the
tracks were essentially recorded live off the floor. However, the echoic
nature of the church they recorded in does give 'Eclipse' a massively
Satan's cathedral feel!
Billy Anderson's production is suitably bottom-heavy,
but feels more subtle than his usual work. He successfully brings out the
heavy in Otis' sound without compromising Ken's signature warm, overdriven
guitar tone.
This album is a great improvement over "Songs for Worship" and yet another
top-notch release from Sons of Otis. Hopefully it will enable them to get
the exposure and success they deserve.
a.descartes
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TODAY IS THE DAY
"KISS THE PIG" [ CD - Relapse ]
After more than a decade of extreme metal terror Today Is The Day open fire with the ultimate shock
and awe of 11 coruscating and downright lunatic riff grenades. If I'm being honest I am more familiar
with Steve Austin's sterling work as producer of fine music [including Ichabod, Lamb of God, Goatsblood – I've
just noticed that all three bands end with the letters OD, an omen of our decadent times?] but until now I
have never felt drawn to their music. So it was with genuine curiosity that I listened to "Kiss the Pig.
"Firstly I was attracted to the title, now of course imbuing a moniker is too much import is facile, but in
this case the bluntness of the title is a powerful and succinct indicator of the uncompromising brutal
metal Today Is The Day have wrought deep in bowels of the much lauded Austin Enterprises recording studio.
The tone of opening track, 'Why They Hate Us' is a deeply misanthropic, bleak and savage one, this track
doesn’t so much as coax a response from the listener but poleaxe them with an unprovoked, lightning
fast, steel capped boot to the genitals and then once the aural foreplay is over
Steve Austin rips open your torso with a staggering barrage of guitar noise, which has the
clinical efficacy of a mortician’s bone saw.
'Why They Hate Us' literally hollows you out, renders your once neatly -packed viscera to a torn
and bloody mess oozing wetly on the carpet...
Many of the tracks are designed to inflict as much pain and disorientation upon the listener
as swiftly and dispassionately as possible, and unlike many extreme metal bands who are
little more than whey faced dilettantes, on "Kiss The Pig" there is a very tangible sense of
cruelty, asceticism and blood red homicidal rage.
Steve Austin is clearly a troubled soul, his blatant love of ballistic hardware seems to have
poisoned his guitar playing which is some of the most arrhythmic, and psychotic I have ever
heard, each tense, violent chord is wildly unpredictable and torn from his instrument with the
unbridled force that could uproot a hundred year old oak tree. But is his bedlamite
vocalising, which really unnerves here, Mr. Austin comes across as some kind of deranged
laryngeal masochist, who doesn’t so much sing as strip each meaty outburst from his
pustular, red raw larynx.
I hold up my hands and admit freely that I dislike the majority of contemporary
death metal with all their generic blast beats, infuriatingly tinny, buzz sawing guitars
and all these be-nailed milk faced twats grunting unintelligible gibberish about fornicating necromancers and
cartoonish nihilism, all very dull and ultimately ineffectual.
On "Kiss The Pig", Today is the Day
seemed to have appropriated some of death metal's arsenal, neatly adopting the bruising
guitar velocity, hyper sonic drumming, and their frenetic blast beats are realised
quite magnificently by their astonishing drummer, Mike Rosswog. Thus generating a
demoniacal album which is clearly a new brutal demographic all of its own, and fuelled
by a seemingly limitless reservoir of bile and murderous indignation.
One thing that is slightly troubling is the faux fight club monologue which strikes me as being
too ambiguous to be a satire and too jingoistic and gung ho to be given that much
credence, but that said the sublimely atmospheric acoustic track that follows is a
bizarrely paradoxical way to end such an apoplectic and damaging album.
Some of my friends have a very low threshold for alcohol and a mere sixer brings out this
chaotic, destructive, and profoundly insecure fragment of their persona and I feel that for some
more sensitive folk the undiluted intensity of "Kiss The Pig" might prove to be a frightening
ordeal but for both T.I.T.D fans and lovers of dissonance this CD may well be
their Citizen Kane, but a Cane fashioned from white hot razor wire and
sickeningly clotted with the torn meat of yet another cowed disbeliever.
I fucking love this Relapse release; "Kiss The Pig" is a caustic firebrand of an album, it's overt
cruelty and seismic rage is rabidly infectious and after the third spin I
wanted to rush down to my local Job Centre and butcher my way through a hundred dogmatic
Civil Servants in an ecstasy of vengeful homicide, all the while cathartically screaming the
lyrics to 'this machine kills fascists' [much kudos for the Woodie Guthrie props –which also
goes double for the brief audio snippet from the mighty Chopper]. This astringent collection of
songs is guaranteed to bedevil even the hardiest and most pragmatic of minds.
"Kiss the Pig" dystopian view might alienate people who prefer their music to be
less confrontational, and more mainstream orientated -I on the other hand feel that it
is Today Is The Day’s unfettered grim realism which is the albums noblest asset, and this
coupled with some truly outstanding musicianship is the making of a decidedly must-have album.
There is great continuity here but my two favourite tracks are 'Bee’s Wax and Scar Wars', which opens
with a strong bass run from Chris Dubari and is followed by an infectious and bone fracturing
riff from Steve Austin – FUCKING INTENSE! And "Kiss The Pig", the unrestrained rage on this
track is palpable.
"Kiss the Pig" is meaner than a necrotic offal pit swarming with deranged blood simple Rotweilers.
jason
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V/A
"RELAPSE CONTAMINATION FESTIVAL 2003" [ DVD - Relapse ]
If I begin by stating that this is one of the greatest music DVD’s I have ever fucking seen, you might
surmise that I am an over excitable geek, who should get out more. Well... I AM an over excitable geek and
my hermitry knows no peer, but this remains one of the finest examples of heavy metal visual
entertainment that this fine digital format has produced thus far.
Firstly lets get the technical shite out of the way –this is a full screen 2 DVD set recorded in 5.1 and the
video transfer is top notch, and the sound is... FUCKING ASTOUNDING –but the SOUND!!! HOLY MOTHER
SATAN THE SOUND!!!
The mix is extraordinarily potent and just what's needed when you consider that this
compilation contains some of, if not THE heaviest bands that currently terrorize the
earth’s music venues.
It literally is 10/10 all round as one pitfall this DVD package
happily avoids is arty fartsy menus, nothing gets on my hairy ti ts more swiftly than overtly
complex, and 'CLEVER' menus, utter dullardry, all a person really needs is
THE ROCK, LOUD AND CLEAR!!!, and what remains ace about VHS is that you
just get the fucker on and IT'S FUCKING ON, no trawling through endless computer
generated eye garbage –but the Relapse creatives are obviously aware of the
spurious nature of such techno-spunk and have a gloriously simple menu... BLISS.
TITLE UP PRESS PLAY SIMPLE AND EFFECTIVE.
Disc one:
You cannot tell me they didn't know what they were doing by opening the DVD with Bongzilla, while
they aren’t a band that I play out that often, I still have a certain
affection for their simplistic yet amplified euphoric sludge, but live they literally
surge with riff potency, they truly are an invigorating beast, the four Bongzilla tunes just
explode out of your TV screen like a ravening THC crazed creature thirsting for his next fleshy bud.
On the evidence of this gonzoid performance Bongzilla give ample credence top their moniker and
stomp Philadelphia into roach powder with their monolithic riffing and cavernous bass [one thing I found
slightly incredulous were the almost static audience –obviously way to cool to sweat into their
Carhart puffers!].
After the 'Zilla things are get a little more adrenalized and decidedly less sluggish
with four fire breathing, gasoline soaked tracks from one of the finest Rock 'N Roll bands of the modern
age, that's right y'all, Alabama Thunder Pussy –I was very exited about this as they
are a band I would very much like to see, and while taped gigs can sometimes be an
anaemic experience ATP pull out all the stops and deliver a high octane, uber raucous
Rock N Roll that is guaranteed to have you spazzing around the front room with geniune epileptic
abandon.
This is some righteous tuneage, and consolidates my opinion that ATP are fucking bad ass deep
into their stinking bone marrow [yet again the audience appear to be in a state of permenant
inertia –which is why there is scant shots of the audience –come on already, it’s ATP].
ATP are so Rock N Roll that I feel deeply inadequate.
My knowledge of Cephalic Carnage goes little further than a furtive download a while back, but man
the spasmatazz lightship! These cats play some bonkers, hyper kinetic death-grind which
is utterly compulsive, and these speed-core grind freaks are so wildly animated one
wonders whether the stage was doctored with electrified pads, as one of the guitarist’s spends
the majority of his performance writhing, gurning and flinging his guitar
around as if possessed by the Faustian prince himself.
Much of the riffage is highly technical and not a million miles away from mid eighties thrash
metal, and I for one am sold. A wondrous surprise is Ben Falgoust joining them for 'Observer To
The Obliteration of Planet Earth' [not sure what the politics of it is but an inclusion of a
Soilent Green performance would have been quite sublime]. But when all is said and done
Cephalic Carnage kicked a deep new divot in my ass.
Well if you've seen Mastodon live you are joyously aware of their unrivalled
dynamism and how they are blessed with a monstrous sound and equally imposing stage presence -I shall
just say they don't let themselves down here... Mastodon are Heavier than Stalin.
For me the absolute highlight of disc one are the four tracks from the supreme honchos of
spatial intensity, Neurosis... Two tracks from "A Sun That Never Sets" and two from "State
of Grace." While all the other bands are filmed without any post production gimmickry
Neurosis utilize an effective use of over saturated B/W and the footage has
been adjusted in post to generate a faux slo-mo look.
The songs are also intercut with the projected lightshow image, which actually does
enhance the viewing experience. I have to admit to being utterly transfixed by
their performance, and moments after it was over all my Neurosis albums were
out and ready to be played. To me Neurosis remain one of the most valuable bands in heavy music and these four
sublime examples are ample proof of this.
There are times when staring at rock videos is a deeply alienating and pointless activity, but I
really found myself getting de eply involved in Neurosis's hypnotic performance. Neurosis
remain omnipotent, and the pretenders to the throne remain just that, pretenders, and
I was genuinely moved by their performance.
Disc 2:
It's is more of a mixed bag, in that there is less focus on the rock and slightly more
noodling on display.
It starts off splendidly with the mighty Pig Destroyer and their coruscating blend of
overdriven gore grind comes off admirably well, so much so that I could have done with a
lot more music from these grind merchants. These boys were a genuine surprise and more
to the point they were heavier than...
Next we have the slightly anodyne sounding 'Burnt by The Sun.' It’s much of a muchness with these
bods –nothing really stands out with this time of middle of the road shouty-shouty emo-core, not
enough girth of sound to keep me interested. Decidedly limp and a real dearth of the rock here.
Today Is The Day. While the work of Producer Steve Austin is top notch [Goatsblood are incredible] I didn’t connect
with their music or performance at all. It is clear they are a passionate bunch but their
music left me colder than frogspawn. Not today chief.
The crowning jewel of this disc [if not the whole DVD] is High on Fire. I still find it utterly
confounding how one mere mortal can coax so much cacophony from one guitar, as every
other band on the bill was replete with a similarly amplified
instrument but none of them comes close to the sonic whirlwind created by Matt Pike's heathen
axe of doom, and can any contemporary power trio come close to the pure adrenalized intensity of
High on Fire? [while this was a rhetorical question the answer is a swift and resounding no!!!].
These four H.O.F tracks got me wailing like a moonshine soaked banshee, and by the time they finished
ripping Venom's 'Witching Hour' apart my blood pressure was so high I looked like Michael
Ironside moments before his sanguineous demise in Scanners. How can there be any doubt to
the absolute magisterial nature of High on Fire after their performance here beggars belief.
Now Dillinger Escape Plan are an interesting bunch of seismic calculus freaks, as they seem to
drive lots of folk into states of near apoplexy but, unfortunately, while I greatly admire
their musicianship I find their actual song writing to be lacking. Good on 'em for wanting to
be as confounding and arrhythmic as possible... a tune would be nice tho.'
But, should you be a fan then you will enjoy their energized performance, if you are not a
fan you will remain resolutely oblivious to their illusive charms.
For my ten pence worth I would've extended the Pig Destroyer set, deleted 'Burnt by the Sun' and
replaced them with the second finest Relapse band of them all, Soilent Green, but ignore
my mealy mouthed protestations as this DVD is a motherfucker.
It must also be said that the extras on this DVD are well worth the effort as some of the band
interviews are fun and quite revealing, and Matt Pike’s position of rock/stoner degenerate
par excellence is sealed forevermore.
Two of the bands featured in this section, Dysrhythmia and 27 are quite exceptional, and warrant
more serious investigation.
This eclectic smorgasbord of hyper kinetic Relapse fare is genuinely stunning and if you are fan
of the label or of provocative, intense guitar music then this live collection is a bona
fide classic, and all the talented and passionate Relapse crew who
obviously worked so hard to put this together are to be lauded... [some Soilent Green next time chaps?].
jason
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