Author: Gruesome Greg
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Olde – Temple
They say that wisdom comes with age, and this quintet of Toronto scene vets are moving further along the path of enlightenment with Temple, their second album. The record kicks off with “Subterfuge,” a mid-paced sludgy stomp with a couple shades of Crowbar, particularly in the vocal department. “Now I See You” injects some southern-style…
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Doom Side of the Moon – self-titled
Chris Barnes has been dead to me ever since Six Feet Under unleashed the abomination known as Graveyard Classics 2, aka Barnes in Black. Although their first album of death-metal covers was actually kinda fun, the world did NOT need a half-assed re-creation of AC/DC’s most iconic album with Cookie Monster vomiting all over it.…
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Shroud Eater – Strike the Sun
Strike the Sun is the second full-length from Miami trio Shroud Eater, although, like many sludge outfits, they’ve put out a handful of singles, splits and EPs in the interim. I had the chance, in theory, to catch them at Psycho Las Vegas last year… but it was a missed opportunity, since I didn’t see…
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Slow Death Lights – self-titled
Anything with Brant Bjork’s name on it has gotta be good, right? When I heard that this local Toronto outfit travelled all the way down to the California desert to record two tracks at Bjork’s own studio, I was certainly impressed. Can’t say I’ve heard of Slow Death Lights before, but with Brant’s endorsement they’ve…
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Poseidon – Prologue
It takes a few minutes for the riffs to kick in on Prologue, the debut album from British post-sludge outfit Poseidon, but once they do, they hit the mark. This four-track, 45-minute effort starts off fittingly enough with “The Beginning, The End, The Colony,” which may or may not be a three-parter, clocking in at…
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AMATEUR CONCERT PHOTOGRAPHY HOUR: WEEDEATER/Black Wizard/Serial Hawk @ Velvet Underground, June 22, 2017
At this point, I’ve probably seen Weedeater more times than Dixie’s got toes, but they keep me coming back for more.
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Venomous Maximus – No Warning
I had the chance to catch this Texas quartet at Milwaukee’s Days of the Doomed fest in 2013, where Venomous Maximus distinguished themselves as the most up-tempo outfit on the bill. Unfortunately, they got left behind at the border on the High on Fire/Pallbearer tour a couple years back, which was super-lame, cuz they probably…
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Ether – There is Nothing Left for Me Here
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Florida man gets divorced, writes sludge-metal record. OK, so maybe that headline didn’t make the news. While divorce and separation have inspired countless classic country cuts, I think this second effort from Florida outfit Ether might be a first—the only sludge album dealing with marital breakdown. And…
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Five Horse Johnson – Jake Leg Boogie
Five Horse Johnson, one of the best Clutch-adjacent (as in, this ain’t Clutch, but it’s Clutch-adjacent!) bands going, is back and burning beards with its eighth studio album, out on Small Stone Records. It’s hard to think of another band that’s been playing this heavy, hazy blend of blues-rock for 20+ years—aside from, y’know, Captain…
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Thoughts of Ionesco – Skar Cymbals
Though this is the first I’ve heard of Thoughts of Ionesco, the band has quite the back story. Formed in the mid-90’s when they were still in high school, they developed a sound like My War and a reputation for beating the crap out of each other on stage while opening for the likes of…