Tag: doom
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Astral Witch – self-titled
I first saw this Hamilton outfit when they were a guitar/drums duo; Astral Witch have since added a bassist/occasional lead vocalist to the mix, giving their sound some added dynamics on their self-titled debut. Astral Witch begins with a doomy bass line on “Rune” before the rest of the band comes grooving up slowly, adding…
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Primitive Man/Unearthly Trance split
With both of these Relapse sludgy doomsters known for their droning, drawn-out numbers, I’m surprised this split between Primitive Man and Unearthly Trance is under 45 minutes. Each band gets three songs, with the opening track “Merging” serving as a mysterious one-minute collaboration between them both. Actually scratch that, Primitive Man’s A Side only has…
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Sleep – The Sciences
With the length of time that has elapsed since Sleep released Jerusalem, it would be logical to think that with the passage of time, Sleep’s ability to forge earth-crushing riffs might have diminished. But no, The Sciences can stand beside Holy Mountain and the aforementioned Jerusalem. It is, in the best possible way, exactly what you’d…
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Witch Mountain – Witch Mountain
The three previous albums from Witch Mountain – Cauldron of the Wild, South of Salem, Mobile of Angels – are truly superb. This is the first Witch Mountain album with Kayla Dixon on vocals. She has an incredible voice, powerful, heartfelt. The songs are excellent. This is timeless music, made for all the right reasons. Billy Anderson…
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Horehound – Holocene
Pittsburgh has been a pretty solid, low-key player on the doom scene ever since Dream Death first coined the term “sludge metal” by blending doom and thrash in the 80’s. Continuing the tradition of bands like Penance, Argus and Brimstone Coven, Horehound is currently shopping its second album, Holoscene, to like-minded labels. This six-track, 44-minute…
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Weed Demon – Astrological Passages
Now, I know you should never judge a book by its cover, but when the band’s name is Weed Demon, their logo looks like a pot leaf, and they’ve got some crazy spaceship action happening on the record sleeve…it’s gonna be pretty hard for me NOT to dig it. This Columbus crew’s debut has just…
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Spaceslug – Eye the Tide
Only the most seasoned stoner rockers might remember Palm Desert, a band that, despite its tropical moniker, actually hailed from Poland. (Their 2011 album Falls of the Wastelands was pretty decent.) While that outfit was all about the Kyuss worship, its rhythm section now makes up two-thirds of Spaceslug, which might be the Polish sausage…
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Loggerhead – Depths
Muscle Shoals, Alabama is a town with a rich musical history—FAME Studios, The Swampers, Lyrnyrd Skynyrd… but nautical post-sludge metal is probably the last thing that comes to mind. Until now. This local outfit is basically Alabama’s answer to Isis—and they’ve made Depths, their debut album, available for free download on Bandcamp. (Good luck finding…
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Alms – Act One
I caught this Baltimore-based band last year at Days of Darkness, where they opened the first day of the festival—a few of their female-fronted doom tunes reminded me of early Blood Ceremony. And yet, while keyboardist Jess Kamen’s vocals feature prominently on nearly all of the six songs on Act One, they are not strictly…
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Ancestors – Suspended in Reflections
It’s been six years since we’ve had new music from Ancestors, a proggy post-sludge outfit that’s apparently gone from a quintet to a three-piece in the process. Not only have they slimmed down their lineup, but they also seem to have trimmed the fat. While 2012’s In Dreams and Time featured six tracks spanning 66…