Burning Witch - Crippled Lucifer

Ahh, Burning Witch - what a terrifying band. Crippled Lucifer was one of those albums I got when I was younger simply because I thought the cover art was fucking mint. It therefore coincidentally opened up the drab underbelly of doom metal for me; not only was it slow, the absence of groove and most melody made it a painful first listen. I had no idea that doom could be so twisted, evil and harrowing. Granted, there are slower bands, and yes, there are heavier bands, but Burning Witch turned me onto a world that I probably wouldn't ever have touched otherwise, due to being generally consumed by endless grindcore.

Crippled Lucifer is actually a compilation record of sorts, coupling both of the band's records - Rift.Canyon.Dreams and Towers - into one package. It is responsible for bringing Burning Witch to an entire new worldwide audience, where they once wallowed in a fair amount of obscurity. Sunn O)))'s Stephen O'Malley played the guitar here, and released this on Southern Lord.

The one thing that really puts this above a lot of other stuff in the (now very over-saturated) doom metal genre is the insane vocal performances. Straight from the off they are a combination of throat-scraping, tormented wails and puzzling sung passages.

Words can only say so much. Have a goosey.

Sunn O))) & Scott Walker - Soused

Sunn O))) are a bunch of folks who love their arsty fartsy, hipster-baiting collaborations. The split with Ulver, the featuring of Julian Cope on earlier drones, the covering of "Che" on a 10" shared with Alan Vega, that art installation thingy that Oracle was based around, and I'm sure there's more but those are the ones that spring to mind. So I'm not surprised then, to see this collab with Scott Walker come along at some point, after being rumoured for quite some time, and only be available on some ridiculously overpriced limited label release. Oh well, at least it's on Spotify so I don't have to burn in hell for downloading music on the sly.

A friend told me before I started listening that this collab record suffers a similar symptom as Metallica and Lou Reed's mash up - that basically, it's one band doin' their thang as usual, and then another guy just rambling incoherently over the top of it all. As Soused opens up with "Brando" (which is hope is not about Marlon Brando or Brando Calrissian, because that would be shit, because I say so haha) I can totally appreciate where the comparisons to LuLu are coming from, but this record is much more well put together than that fucking Loutallica farce.

Despite Scott Walker having an extremely unique voice he does remind me of Lou Reed a bit, actually. I've never actually heard Scott Walker before but he's now on my enormous fucking list of shit to check out. I wanna hear him sans-O))). Anyways, this collab is actually pretty good, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, which is not something I particularly expected to do. I just sat there and read pretty much the entirety of Garth Ennis' Preacher Book 4 whilst listening to it. With the good ol' Americana feel of both of these things pairing quite well, I had a hell of a time, to be honest.

What I'm really looking forward to though is a brand new Sunn O))) full length, so get on it ye cunty fuckin' radge robe wearing spastics!

 

Sunn O))) & Pan Sonic / Alan Vega / Stephen Burroughs - Split 10"

This is a nifty little split 10" that I keep forgetting I own. It's in a plain white sleeve with a stamp like a club 12" and recently until I separated my 10" and 12"s onto different shelves I would keep losing it in the pile of vinyl that I have. The choice of artists appearing alongside each other here is pretty varied, but there isn't a shit song on the entire thing. It spins at 45rpm so it doesn't last very long but it's a nice little cross section into the work of the featured artists.

Side A is taken up entirely by Sunn O))) collaborating with Pan Sonic, making a slightly more higher pitched drone than usual, complete with brooding vocals and creepy as shit synths. The fat tones just build and build and then about half way through this full-blown organ-sounding synth kicks in and the entire thing becomes so epic that it's just bloody brilliant.

Side B begins with a fellow named Alan Vega, rambling on about "13 Crosses" over and over, accompanied by some spazz-happy electronics and a rabid audience. The first time I heard this I didn't like it, but it eventually grew on me. Last but not least, Stephen Burroughs sings us a mournful tune with just an acoustic guitar. "Goodbye Darling" is a slow, sorrowful track that starts off great but kinda loses it's way towards the end. It's a great song, but I just think it goes on for too long. Also, I just can't shake the thought that it was sound a thousand times better being sung by Michael Gira.

Stebmo - Stebmo

I had the shock of my life when I saw a tweed jacket wearing Steve Moore perform as Stebmo in 2009, supporting Earth in The Croft, Bristol. What the hell was I watching? To be fair, who knew? And whilst that jazzy-jam of distorted electric piano and drums doesn't sound anything like the Stebmo record, it was entirely responsible for my purchase of it. It took me a while to get around the idea of whether I liked Stebmo or not, but in the end I threw caution to the wind and bought the album. Way to push the boat out!

Like the live show, the Stebmo record is primarily piano and organ driven, although there is a veritable smorgasbord of other instruments and performers chipping in over the whole record. One minute it's elevator music, the next an up-beat jaunt that would be the perfect soundtrack for walking through a big city, and then onto slower, more rousing and thought provoking pieces. This record has it all! I don't really know how to class this album, and I guess if it doesn't class easily then I shouldn't try to, although Discogs has it listed as Avant-garde jazz. Hmm. Out on Invada Records (the Bristol-based one) and as far as I can tell, all the copies are clear vinyl. Also, since this cunt stole my fucking Cattle Decapitation 7" in a bogus trade, the Stebmo record is now by far the clearest clear record I own. That shit is like fucking glass. Check it out below the video link!

 

This (incorrectly titled) video mashes up two tracks off the record; the upbeat and cheesy "Blind Ross" comes first, followed by the much more somber and brooding "Dark Circles". I picked this vid because it shows two different sides to this fantastic record in one link. 

Sunn O))) - White Box 2

It is with an epic feeling of chuft-ness I unveil to you the 100th Lines in Wax blog post! What sorcery is this? I have actually stuck something out passed it's initial conception stage! I'm rather proud of what Lines in Wax is slowly becoming, if I'm honest, so I'll take this moment to quickly thank all you readers from around the globe for tuning in and having a gander at my website; if you're a long time reader or just stumbling here by chance through a search engine, it matters not, for you have helped keep this site going well passed the 4000 hits mark - a humble amount but something I never considered possible. Knowing that someone, somewhere out there is actually reading this shit makes it all worth while. Thanks, and prepare yourself for more shit talking, as today's post is more metal that a hundred million ball bearings rolling down the world's tallest fire escape. 

(2020 update: I'm in the process of bringing all the previous archived reviews up to scratch and I was mortified to find that my massive collection of pictures of this release have been fuckered in the internet-ether by Photobucket. Thanks pricks!)

This here expensive lump of pretentiousness is one of my all time favourite record packages, and is my most expensive purchase to date. I won't tell you how much it costs, as I'm sure if you've stumbled across this page you are more than likely aware of it's collectability, but shit, it wasn't fucking cheap! So before we begin, let me tell you a little more about the White Box.

White Box was original released as White, a 4 x 12" set compiling both the White1 and White2 albums. It was packaged in a White box with a hand developed photo stuck to the front, and was limited to either 450 or 500 copies; there is only contrasting information existing regarding this. Then, White was re-released in a limited run of 100 copies with alternate artwork for Sunn O)))'s European tour of 2006. This version is far superior, featuring the original White1 and White2 spread across 4 x 12" (including a picture disc), whilst also including the Candlewolf Of The Golden Chalice EP (a Peel session) as well a live CD album entitled Live White. Phew! I have number 21/100 (sold as of 2014 - Ed, 2019).

White1 in my opinion, is superior to White2. Julian Cope's contribution to the 25 minute long epic "My Wall" pretty much envelopes the entire release, and when I think of White in any way shape or form, the phrase "meddlesome, meddlesome bells" always comes to mind. I am not sure if his "poetry" is improvised or not, because it strains to remain in structure during certain points. It adds a fresh dimension to Sunn O)))'s sound that has yet to be surpassed, even by Attila's grandiosely epic throatsinging antics.

Candlewolf of the Golden Chalice is a much more necro affair, being a live recording by John Peel (R.I.P.) in the BBC Studios. Unfortunately this recording is missing what the online "Peel Session" bootlegs opens with; John Peel himself hilariously trying to describe Sunn O)))'s sound to his listeners. Imagine tuning into Radio 1 half way through Sunn O))) droning? The uninitiated would more than likely think that was nothing more than some funky sounding radio static. Also, Candlewolf plays exactly the same on both sides of the wax, which is a shame. With the insane artsy fartsyness of this package, a nice etching could easily have replaced side B.

All that is left in the bottom of the box is the pathetic-in-comparison CD version of LiveWhite, and a little card which is basically a White Box Owner's Club card. If you want, you can take it to gigs and flaunt it to other silly beret wearing hipsters. That is, if you can bring yourself to open your mint version of this record in the first place ;)