Category: Reviews – Audio
Glorious metal in all its earthly forms, compressed onto shiny plastic discs or into digital files. Which ones will become the soundtrack to your life?
-
Hopeless Youth – Devil, Walk with Me
Vancouver has seemingly got the Canadian market cornered when it comes to sludgy hardcore, so I was somewhat surprised to see that this band hails from Montreal. And while the name Hopeless Youth recalls so many of the “youth-oriented” 80s hardcore outfits (Youth of Today, Youth Brigade, etc), their sound is much more aligned with…
-
Cough – Still They Pray
Virginia doomsters Cough return with their long-awaited third album, following 2010’s Relapse debut Ritual Abuse. This is not a band that moves particularly fast, as the 8 tracks on this 68-minute effort would attest. And while they do tend to drag out and drone on at times, the longest song on this one still falls…
-
Honky – Corduroy
This Texas trio channels ZZ Top right down to the tip of their beards, playing old-school, southern boogie rock in the vein of the sharp-dressed men. Starting off as a Butthole Surfers side project in the mid-90’s, Honky now have a handful of records under their novelty belt buckles, with this being their first one since…
-
Warped Cross – Abbot of Unreason
Right away, I’ll say that this sounds like High on Fire. The good news is I don’t find myself believing that the guys in Warped Cross heard Matt Pike’s most prolific band and decided just to copy his approach. The members of Warped Cross are veterans of the German doom scene, and their experience pays…
-
Conclave – Sins of the Elders
Though they’re a relatively new name on the Boston sludge scene, Conclave includes members of notable 90’s acts Warhorse and Grief. No word as to whether their debut album’s title is self-referential. What we get here is over an hour of punishing sludge, with most songs ranging between 7 and 10 minutes. After an eerie…
-
Astrakhan – Reward in Purpose
I’ve been a big fan of B.C. sludge band Astrakhan ever since the release of their 2013 EP, The Pillarist. Their next EP was pretty good, too, combining the rugged grooves of locals like Bison and Mendozza with a bit of Baptists thrown in for good measure. Man, there is such an embarrassment of riches…
-
Gozu – Revival
Stoner rock is no stranger to silly song titles (“Supa Scoopa and Mighty Scoop,” anyone?), and Gozu has embraced this concept wholeheartedly. Revival, their third record, contains such fine tracks as “Nature Boy,” “Bubble Time,” “Lorenzo Llamas” and “By Mennen.” But alas, this album isn’t about soap operas and deodorant—the lyrics aren’t tied into the…
-
The Claypool Lennon Delirium – Monolith of Phobos
Even right on the face of it, a project which features contributions from Les Claypool and Sean Lennon screams intrigue and instant sub-cultural credibility. Lennon has spent the duration of his career riding the fact that he is his father’s son as well as illustrating that his dad’s fine pop songwriting chops really are a…
-
Wo Fat – Midnight Cometh
We’re already onto album number six from this heavy Texas trio, their most recent being 2014’s The Conjuring. These guys have stuck to a simple formula, chucking out a six-pack of lengthy, heavy jams almost every time out, often saving the longest, trippiest track for last. From first glance, this record is no exception—and I…
-
Mars Red Sky – Apex III (Praise For The Burning Soul)
The splendidly named Mars Red Sky have produced a really good album. I would sum it up as a cross between Syd Barrett-era Pink Floyd ( I was reminded of the spacey dynamics of “Astronomy Domine,” for instance), Hawkwind (particularly Lemmy-era Hawkwind such as Warrior on the Edge of Time), Voivod (there is the same…