Electric Wizard are... well you should all know who Electric Wizard are. In a just world every person alive should know who Electric Wizard are. If not, go and listen to the song at the bottom of the post, I'll wait...
Come My Fanatics is Electric Wizard's (Electric Wizard Electric Wizard Electric Wizard Electric Wizard) second album but it's the one where they really find their sound. More heaviness, more fuzz, more drugs, more horror movie samples and buckets of misanthropic psychedelia; the whole thing is just wonderful. There are so many good points about this album that it's hard to name them all. From the main riff on "Return Trip" (which I think is in with a shout of being the heaviest thing ever) to the amazing bassy psych of "Solarian 13", and everything in between. Words don't do it justice, so just go and listen to it instead.
Windhand are a doom band from the USA that play the kind of heavy fuzzy as fuck doom with washed out vocals that everyone loves. Whilst some people will read that as Windhand being some sort of second rate Electric Wizard, the reality couldn't be further from the truth.
Opener "Orchard" sums up the overall feel of the album with massive fuzzy riff following massive fuzzy riff while vocalist Dorthia Cottrell's haunting voice helps lull you into an almost trance-like state (which also makes the album being named after the perfect drug from Brave New World far more apt). There is a nice acoustic break about halfway through (which you would think is jarring but it actually fits really well and I'd like to hear more of it in the future) before it's back to the fuzz which ends with my personal favourite song, "Cassock".
The massive (in both sound and length) "Boleskine" follows, and even at 30 minutes it seems to end too soon. Sometimes you really do just want to listen to the same riff over and over again for about 10 minutes because it's so good. Eventually, it fades and all that is left is the sound of wind and you're left wondering where the last 75 minutes went.
Weedeater's Sixteen Tons is a beer and whiskey soaked southern-tinged romp in sludgey doom metal. The guitar tone is literally the audible equivalent of a Louisiana swamp; a thick bog of rumbling riffs and plodding rhythms. I first got into Weedeater when I saw them at Hellfest nearly five years ago (bloody heck) and they were so heavy that I fell asleep. Granted, it was probably the monumental amount of people within the tent who were blazing up on that sunny afternoon that helped push me into festival lethargy, but Weedeater were one hell of a band to be lulling me into sleep.
And I've been a fan ever since. I've always preferred the later stuff (God Luck & Good Speed, Jason...The Dragon) but you can't fault this earlier album either. The one before it isn't so heavy but the thick sludgey tunes really come into their own on Sixteen Tons. I suspect that if Electric Wizard came from New Orleans it wouldn't sound much different to this. Another lovely little thing about Weedeater is when they throw in the odd instrumental that isn't as heavy or sludgey as the other songs (album closer "Kira May" as an example), which really helps break up the endless mud.
I believe that all Weedeater recordings are now classics of the doom and sludge genres. It doesn't get much better than this.
What part of this release constitutes as ‘rock’ I’m not entirely sure, but Bong have got the ‘stoner’ part of the title 100% correct. Well, with a name like Bong would more would you expect? Such a simple yet fathomless name can only lend itself to a simple (in theory) yet fathomless (in practice) sound. Bong is music for those who aren’t afraid to sit tight and experience the long haul; the great build up, the magic of the meandering drone into a stoned culmination of noise and bliss. Yes. It certainly made the inane task of steaming spilt coffee / beer / questionable substances off my beige sofa a much more enjoyable task. For when you want your mundane housework to become a mystical journey into the arcane, I recommend Bong. Don’t be fooled by the 2 track running time, these are enormous stoned monuments of fuzz.
The Killing Jar is quite possible one of the crappiest names for an album I've ever come across, but let's not let that tarnish things here. Black Moth are a dirty rock and/or roll band with stoner and doom metal influences. They've been around for a few years now but I hadn't heard of them until they were announced for Temples Festival this year. I was too smashed to watch them (story of my life) on the day but they did make my "check out everyone playing Temples" list on Spotify, from where I then migrated to checking out their entire album.
The Killing Jar is a brilliant record, combining raunchy swagger with heavy guitar riffs and a rocking pace. The vocals provided by Harriet Bevan are equal parts teasing, powerful and even cheeky. It's like somebody put the sounds of Kyuss and Blues Pills into a blender, along with some essence of garage rock. Opening track "The Articulate Dead" is a corker, and was even a single release for the band (on 7" too), but my favourite tracks are the hat-trick of "Chicken Shit", "Blind Faith" and "Plastic Blaze", which are towards the end of the album.
This record was put out on both CD and vinyl by the New Heavy Sounds label, whose small roster includes fellow stoner/doom influenced rockers, Throne. But yeah, check out Black Moth, they rule.
Sometimes I have to stop and remind myself of
the growing pool of talent in my local area. Zonderhoof were another local band
that I’d somehow spent my entire life avoiding; that was until Terrorizer
magazine gave their album away for free with an issue of their magazine, and at
their stall in Damnation Festival 2011 (which is where I kindly received my
copy). Even then, I only gave it a quick listen, and I wasn’t turned on to the
band again until they supported Conan in a Cardiff show last year.
My first - and somewhat harsh - thought about
this album is that Zonderhoof sound like a poor man’s Bongripper. Y’know one of
those silly half-opinions you form after listening to something for the first
time, like no matter how much you convince yourself otherwise, you really still
haven’t got your head around it? Well, it was one of those. See, that’s why I can never understand “professional”
reviews where a writer is given an album to write about*; I’ve found that you
always need to let a record unfold for you over time. First impressions are
just that; first impressions.
And with time I have come to appreciate
Zonderhoof as an instrumental wonder of the metal world, playing a nice, almost
progressive brand of lyric-free metal goodness. This CD is a long ‘un, which is
really great considering it was given away for free (just think of the
recording and production costs; sheesh!). My favourite tracks are probably opener “Smoking Ears Screaming Teeth”
and the groovy “Hogslayer”, although the last couple of tracks are awesome as well. Well
worth a listen, in my somewhat skewed opinion.
*a brilliant, recurring example of this is
the writers that Kerrang! employ(ed). When a big band dropped a new album
they’d always give it either an arse-kissing five Ks or a controversial licking, and
within months go back on their own fucking word almost every single time, like
clockwork. Mind you, Kerrang! is a heap of shit and probably a bad example, but
there you go.
