Author: Gruesome Greg
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Lesser Glow – Ruined
This Boston post-sludge outfit allegedly tackles the perils of clickbait and social media on their debut, 25-minute EP. If Unsane and Neurosis came of age in the internet era, and subsequently joined forces, it might sound a little something like Lesser Glow. The title track kicks things off, six minutes of swirling feedback, slow, crunchy…
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Orange Goblin – The Wolf Bites Back
It’s been about three and a half years since we last heard from Orange Goblin, but it’s good to have them back. Album number nine from the British stoner/doom vets contains some of the speedier, Motorhead influences heard on its outstanding predecessor, Back from the Abyss, but that’s not to say there’s any shortage of…
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AMATEUR CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUR: ANGEL WITCH/Blood Ceremony/Cauldron @ Lee’s Palace, May 16, 2018
Angel Witch has been an active outfit, more or less, since 1978…but they had never played Toronto until 2018.
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Age of Taurus – The Colony Slain
Age of Taurus, as I last remember them, were a doom band in the British tradition of the genre. Their debut album, 2013’s Desperate Souls of Tortured Times, was very much in the vein of Candlemass, Count Raven and Orodruin, and they sounded right at home on the bill of Days of the Doomed IV.…
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High Priestess – self-titled
Although there are some outstanding female-fronted doom outfits that don’t dabble in witchcraft and wizardry (Witch Mountain and Windhand being two excellent examples), most of the ones that do aren’t taking things any further than what Jex Thoth and Blood Ceremony were playing 10 years ago. But once in a while, a band such as…
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Fister – No Spirit Within
Anywhere there’s high levels of violence and poverty, sludge metal often isn’t far behind. Listed as the Number 4 Murder Capital of America, ahead of Baltimore, Detroit and Compton, St. Louis definitely fits the bill (the suburb of East St. Louis is actually Number 1), and its native sons Fister display plenty of downtrodden aggression…
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Mos Generator – Shadowlands
Shadowlands, the sixth album by Washington fuzz rockers Mos Generator is officially released on May 18, the same day that they play Toronto for the first time. So hey, CD release party at Baby G’s? This Listenable Records recording follows by a couple years its predecessor, 2016’s Abyssinia, a pretty solid heavy-rocking release in its…
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Heron – A Low Winter’s Sun
This Sludgelord Records signing outta Vancouver namedrops Isis, Sleep and Corrupted in their Bandcamp bio, so you know it’s gonna be heavy. Heron’s debut full-length album features six tracks clocking in at just under 40 minutes, with shades of all the aforementioned. The awesomely titled “Of Gods and Goats” kicks things off with a slow,…
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The Second Coming of Heavy Chapter VIII (Ride the Sun/The Trikes split)
While I don’t think there’s been a bad installment in Ripple Music’s Second Coming of Heavy series, I’ve enjoyed certain editions more than others. These splits are usually best when both bands are of a similar vein—and from the pre-release singles, I would hafta say that Californians Ride the Sun and Germans The Trikes are…
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Sleep – The Sciences
Those sneaky bastards! After being my most-anticipated album for the past two or three years in a row, Sleep finally released their first full-length of new material in 20 years secretly, with no advanced fanfare, on 4/20. Because of course. The Sciences spans 53 minutes, and finally sees a proper studio recording of long-time live-set…