Tag: album review
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Valkyrie – Shadows
Been a while since we’ve heard from these Virginia doomsters—split 7” with Earthling aside, they haven’t released a record since 2008. And yet, their profile has grown somewhat in their absence, what with guitarist Pete Adams joining Baroness. Suffice to say, the Baroness connection secured their record deal with Relapse, providing the resources—recorded by Sanford…
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Caïna – Setter of Unseen Snares
I’m not afraid to admit that Setter of Unseen Snares serves as my introduction to UK black metal entity Caïna (as far as I can recall). And it’s quite the experience. Founding member Andrew Curtis-Brignell wasted no time impressing on these six tracks. Starting the album with a sound clip taken from True Detective was…
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Fire Next Time – Cold Hands
After Weezer’s last album tanked so hard that it actually left a crater in its wake, even some of the most dogged emo fans had to concede that the genre might not be on stable ground anymore. How would they be able to deny it? When one of the biggest names in the genre’s stable…
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Hawkeyes – Poison Slows You Down
Originally released digitally and on (sold out) cassette back in 2013, Poison Slows You Down by Kitchener sextet Hawkeyes is now seeing a vinyl release, the ideal format for these four tracks of dangerously psychedelic sludge/doom. With six people contributing to the noise you know the sonic landscapes they create are vast and multihued. Mind-bending…
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Palace in Thunderland – In the Afterglow of Unity
This on-again, off-again Boston band featuring former members of Black Pyramid and Blue Aside is back on with their second album in the past two years. Though not quite as extended as its predecessor, the nearly-90-minute Apostles of Silence, we still get a solid hour’s worth of spacey prog doom here from Palace in Thunderland.…
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San Fermin – Jackrabbit
It might be considered an inconvenient truth, but some albums just aren’t the sort which immediately grab and hold imaginations – it can take a longer period of time for the seeds to germinate. San Fermin‘s second album is just like that; for me, it took a couple of listens to think it was anything…
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Demon Eye – Tempora Infernalia
Not to be confused with Demon Lung from Las Vegas, this Carolina quartet takes its name from a track offa Deep Purple’s Fireball record. Suffice to say, they’ve got a throwback, ’70s sound, albeit with a healthy dose of proto-doom mixed in. On their second album, the outfit serves up the tunage with shades of Priestess,…
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Anti-Flag – American Spring
Remember what punk rock looked like in 2001? The landscape was very different from how it is now, that’s for sure; back then, melody, speed and punk sensibilities all went hand-in-hand, and the one thing that most everyone could agree on was that metalheads didn’t fit in. Now – as Epitaph seems to be making…
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Monolord – Vaenir
If like me you didn’t think things could get any heavier than Monolord‘s debut, Empress Rising, you’d be wrong. Following up on last year’s titanic slab of earth-shattering doom, sophomore effort Vænir takes it to another level. The sound is even fuller with a dirty, reverbed distortion gnarling through overstressed amps. Yet contrary to how…
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Atavismo – Desintegración
This Hawkwind-influenced Spanish trio features former members of Viaje A 800 and released one of The Obelisk’s Top 10 debuts of 2014… which gives me reason enough to give this one a listen. The songs on here don’t drag on throughout the night—the four tracks range from just under seven to 11-and-a-half minutes long. The…