WRUV Reviews

Trophy Wives- Old Scratch
Release date: 2011Aug16
Label: Latest Flame Records
Rating: 4/5

In the press release,  I see mentions of The Jesus Lizard, Kyuss and Coliseum among other bands. I’m wondering why it took a while for this release to arrive? It sounds interesting nonetheless. Trophy Wives consists of Billy Bisig on vox/guitar (Elliot, Lords), Tony Ash on bass (Coliseum, Nixon) and Geoff Paton on drums (Young Widows, Breather Resist).

“Taste of Your Medicine” immediately brings Kyuss front and center in my mind with thirsty desert licks. What can I say? It’s that good. “Bless You All” adds some swag to their sound and the drums are a bit grungy as well (if you want to call it that). There’s also a fair amount of psychedelic tendencies. Choice cuts include “Reacher” (not exactly original but it crams a lot of licks into a short track), “Picture Perfect” (expands upon their psychedelic ability) and “Let Us Roll” (a touch of blues for good measure).

“Nick of Time” is another excellent track and “King Cab” is the crown jewel of Old Scratch. I finally get the Jesus Lizard reference and this track would not be out of place on a Kyuss album. Think of being stuck in a scorching hot desert, searching for even the tiniest drop of water.  “King Cab” also confirms my assessment of stoner rock as the music of long-haired dudes with auto fetishes. Check out this album! I can’t believe I missed it back in August!

FCC: None
Try: All, especially 1,5,7,12,13

Swamp Witch - Gnosis EP
Release date:  2011Aug12
Label: Gay Scientist Recordings
Rating: 4/5

Swamp Witch emerges from the murky depths of Oakland, CA with Gnosis. Also available on cassette tape (way cool!), the beast was unleashed via Gay Scientist Recordings, run by former members of hardcore-sludge group Negative Standards. Upon first listen, my imagination conjured colonial Massachusetts and myself as a member of  the infamous Salem witch hunt.

In my hunt for the suspected swamp witch, I end up at the door of a rickety cabin with the word “Novem” scrawled on its’ door.  Beyond the door,  I hear heavy, sludgy doom, reminiscent of bands as diverse as Electric Wizard and Down.  A crack of the door reviews a group of nine women, all huddled around a simple pot.  Before I could turn back,  an “Emerald Serpent” emerged, followed by a plodding, blues-tinged blast of doom perfection. I realized that there was no way that I was going to compete against nine witches and a serpent.

Defeated, I renounced my role as a Calvinist minister and dedicated myself to the worship of  “Gnosis“. My world expanded and a beautiful, haunting noise came out of nowhere, drenched in smokey riffs, plodding drums and powerful vocals. My mind drifted off for nearly nine peaceful minutes, before a commanding male voice interrupted with screams of agony.  Jarred back to reality, I will journey for Swamp Witch in the future, and expect a full exploration to be even more revealing.

FCC:
Try: 1, 3

01. Novem
02. Emerald Serpent
03. Gnosis

Faces of Bayon - Heart of the Fire
Release:  2011Jun28 (US)
Label: Ragnarok Records
Rating: 3.5/5

Some say that in order to stand out in an often crowded stoner rock genre, one must have a hook, a catch of sorts.  Faces of Bayon stands out because they probably take their inspiration from the stone faces of Bayon, a buddhist temple in Cambodia. Non-believers in their blend of stoner doom should prepare to be “Brimstoned” with organic, mellow riffs that glow through inky ambience.  Things slow down with further fuzziness that gives rise to a slow, epic leap into “Ethereality”. Pulsing, heavenly beats compliment the droning bass and guitar. Vocalist Matthew Smith is cemented as a “Godmaker” with vocals that are equal parts light and distorted, complimenting soft riffs.

“The Original Sin” is certainly full of sinful, Sabbath-ian hooks, but when compared against the previous tracks, feels like a step backward.  Unfortunately, there is some repetitive pain “Where The Golden Road Ends” due to yet another set of traditional doom riffs. And the instrumental closer “A Fire Burns at Dawn” left my ears scorched with apathy.

Faces of Bayon could have gone further with the sound that they displayed on the first half—reminiscent of a more sinister Om, and sometimes a softer Black Sabbath. Perhaps for the follow-up to Heart of the Fire, they could consult other divine monuments like the moia statues of Easter Island.

FCC:
Try: 1,2,3

01. Brimstoned
02. Ethereality
03. Godmaker
04. The Original Sin
05. Where the Golden Road Ends
06. The Fire Burns at Dawn

Cathedral - Anniversary
Release: 2011Nov22 (US)
Label: Metal Blade
Rating: 5/5

When one thinks of doom metal, they think of pioneers like Black Sabbath, Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Cathedral. I wasn’t familiar with the latter for a while, and I’m kicking myself now because what Cathedral lacks in name recognition, they make up for with sinister riffage that matches (or even exceeds) that of their forebears.

Several of the tracks come from my favorite Cathedral album Carnival Bizarre, like its title track, “Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)”, “Vampire Sun” and “Night of the Seagulls”. Moreover, the double-live album begins with their 1991 classic Forest of Equilibrium in its entirety.

Thus, “Picture of Beauty and Innocence” plays the harbinger role here, leading into the 11-minute masterpiece ”Comiserating the Celebration (of Life)”, which bombarded my pitiful ears with otherworldly riffs that shook me to my core. I was lucky to escape without a raging case of tinnitus. I feel that  “A Funeral Request” sounds a lot better than the version originally from Forest of Equilibrium, while the live version of “Soul Sacrifice” leaves something to be desired.

If “Comiserating the Celebration (of Life)” destroyed my eardrums, “Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain” laid waste to the rest of my mind—Lee Dorrian’s voice has never been louder nor clearer to my ears. “Funeral of Dreams” delights with catchy quasi-psychedelic hooks; “Cosmic Funeral” reminded of “Electric Funeral” with Dio singing; there’s a nice creeping effect on “Night of the Seagulls”; and unless you wish to play a deadly game of hangman, you’d better fucking run once “Hopkins (The Witchfinder General)” rears his ugly head!  “Carnival Bizarre” closes Anniversary with plenty of stamina and renewed vigor, even after this already-astounding display.

This is easily one of my top picks for 2011. I’ve been waiting for a great live album all year and this fucking delivers! The curtain may be coming to a close for Cathedral in 2012, but this is a fitting eulogy.

FCC:  9,15,13 (”a” not “er” though)
Try: ALL!

01. Picture of Beauty and Innocence
02. Comiserating the Celebration (Of Life)
03. Ebony Tears
04. Serpent Eve
05. Soul Sacrifice
06. A Funeral Request
07. Equilibrium
08. Reaching Happiness, Touching Pain
09. Funeral of Dreams
10. Enter The Worms
11. Upon Azrael’s Wings
12. Midnight Mountain
13. Cosmic Funeral
14. Night of the Seagulls
15. Corpsecycle
16. Ride
17. The Last Spire Pt.1 (Entrance)
18. Vampire Sun
19. Hopkins(The Witchfinder General)
20. Carnival Bizarre

Lonely Kamel - Dust Devil
Release: 2011Oct25
Label: Napalm Records
Rating: 4/5

To me, stoner rock conjures images of desert scenes (Kyuss, QOTSA) and/or longhaired dudes with auto fetishes (Fu Manchu). Norway’s Lonely Kamel aims to change your perception with plenty of  slow, smokey riffs from frigid northern fjords.

After a long, shitty night of work, I grabbed a pair of headphones, took a whirl through the Dust Devil and drifted off into a series of long daydreams. I was initially greeted by the “Grim Reefer” — a sorrowful excuse of a beast that quoted the blues between fits of cheesy laughter. He wasted little time reminding me just how much of an “Evil Man” he was by bombarding my ears with classic uptempo sludge and ’90s grunge rock.

Rather than stick around and listen to “Blues for the Dead”, I decided to high-tail it before the Grim Reefer could make hash from my bones. My mind leapt to 13th-century Norway where I met the  “Rotten Seed” of a “Seventh Son”. His incessant tone was relentless, laced with menacing background drums and delusions of grandeur.  I soon came to realize that neither luck nor skill were firmly on his side, despite a strong command of melody and psychedelic vigor, which he used to lure me into a telepathic web of revelation. Under darkened skies and rumbling earth, he claimed I was “The Prophet” with sinister glee. The calamitous chaos of ”Ragnarökr” released inky waters from untold origins, and  I panicked as the pounding of the waves enveloped my throbbing head.

An astral leap to a “Roadtrip with Lucifer” then led through a pale desert hell. The soundtrack to this ride was equal parts mellow and assertive with lazy licks that likely escaped from the guitar of Josh Homme.  For a so-called “bringer of light” Lucifer was awfully “Hard to Please”, and we eventually found ourselves stumbling through a seedy brothel haze—it certainly wasn’t the Bunny Ranch!  The air was thick, the girls were too, and as we were about to get our “Whorehouse Groove” on, I jerked awake. Too much green dragon can take you down strange paths, kiddies, especially with Lonely Kamel leading the way.

FCC:
Try:

01. Grim Reefer
02. Evil Man
03. Blues for the Dead
04. Rotten Seed
05. Seventh Son
06. The Prophet
07. Ragnarokr
08. Road Trip With Lucifer
09. Hard To Please
10. Whorehouse Groove

Gloominous Doom- Cosmic Super Ghoul
Release date: 2011Sept13
Label: DRP Records
Rating: 4/5

Gloominous Doom return with this six song EP. I enjoyed Feature and I was stoked to hear about this EP. For those not in the know, Gloominous Doom plays a blend of stoner metal, ska, thrash and surf. The inability to categorize them is part of their advantage. “Totally Awesome Definitely” shows off their thrash chops with a splash of sludge. The title track knocked me out of my chair with a mix of thundering drums and thrashing guitars. “Knuckle Sammich” is quite a departure from other tracks with poppy, danceable ska. “Trannyslvania” starts off with a short, campy intro before breaking out into a mix of old-school hardcore, reminiscent of Black Flag. “HIVampire” closes things off on a similar note with a good mix of campiness mated with old school thrash and hardcore. Don’t be fooled by this boring review. If you enjoy Gloominous Doom, just shut up and check it out for yourself!

FCC: Clean
Try: 1,3,5,6

Empros is the fourth album from the three-piece post-rock/post-metal group Russian Circles. The press release for this album states, “like a lone surviving wooly beast emerging from a brutal winter’s frost, Empros is the sound of a band shaking the ages from its shoulders with all the brutal force of a behemoth awakened.” This is an accurate description, considering how many of the tracks build up from a soft, spacey ambience to hard charging heavy rock. Most of the songs are instrumental, with the exception of the last track, “Praise Be Man”. The highlight of the album is “Mladek” which is a very melodic and upbeat track with some catchy guitar riffs, this song would be a good starting point if you’ve never heard this band before.
Recommended: 2, 4, 5, 6.

FCC Clean.

RIYL: Pelican, Jesu, Helms Alee

Mladek by RussianCircles

Black is the new black. The darkness seeps and seethes through modern metal, and I welcome it. Intrigued by bands adept at genre-bending, they must be sought. In my experience, bands named after birds are largely instrumental—like Pelican or Red Sparowes—but Cormorant is latest on my list, and barely sound like either of those. They originally struck me as similar to Seattle’s Lesbian, but truly live in their own atmosphere.

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Black Cobra – Invernal
Release: 2011Oct11 (US)
Label: Southern Lord
Rating: 4.5/5

A large portion of my yesterday was spent listening to ‘Black’ bands: Black Cobra started off, followed by Black Sabbath, Black September, The Black Dahlia Murder, BlackWolfGoat, Brainoil (perhaps black in color?), and Book of Black Earth. Everything except Sabbath felt awash in samey-ness, but I wanted to return to Black Cobra, since I really liked Chronomega. Once again, we have another album that’s helped by headphones. This isn’t to say the album has weak riffs or anything; quite the contrary, Invernal is muscular, relentless, and aggressively driving.

Like the car chase sequence in Bullitt.

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Kittie – I’ve Failed You
Release: 2011Aug30 (US)
Label: eOne Music
Rating: 2/5

We’ve always demanded so much from Kittie,
who sought to be more than just faces pretty.
I’ve Failed You is telling,
the writing on the wall’s spelling
how the songwriting ends up this weak.

Creatively, the feral Canucks
still have their claws, but can’t get unstuck
from the novelty, gone—
plus new generations spawned—
there is less reason to give a peek.

FCC: 10
Try that link above.

01. I’ve Failed You
02. We Are The Lamb
03. Whisper of Death
04. What Have I Done
05. Empires (Part 1)
06. Empires (Part 2)
07. Come Undone
08. Already Dead
09. Never Come Home
10. Ugly
11. Time Never Heals

~MetalMattLongo