Continuing The North American leg of their 2018 worldwide by Blood we Tour, The Ross The Boss Band will roll Into New Bedford Mass to tear apart the Vault on Wednesday, June 27th. For Ross it is a continuation of his assault on the metal masses. For vocalist Marc Lopes it is a victorious home coming, as he hails from New Bedford. The ultimate tale of a local musician who worked his ass off and achieved the ultimate gig.
We talked with Ross recently about his latest offering, By Blood Sworn. “Metal is starting to change” Ross States as our conversation begins. We are doing our part he expresses. By Blood Born is an incredible collection of classic heavy metal raise your fist anthems. Marc Lopes is clearly a perfect fit for Ross’ incendiary guitar work. Hands down this is one of the best sounding metal albums we have heard so far this year. Ross expressed his desire to play at least 4 or 5 of the new songs in addition to the classic Manowar catalog. ” We have to play some of the new ones of course but we also have to get to the Manowar songs. Everything is in a good spot now for us. The record is selling and it is unlike any of the others. It has “legs”, which is what we call it in the business but this record stands on its own.”
Listening to the album, “Devil’s Day”, “Play Among the Godz” stand out as future classic iconic songs. Each song is a whirlwind unto itself of total metal. If your in the New Bedford Mass area on June 27th you will hear the sound and the fury of Ross The Boss!
Hail And Kill Indeed
Blood Born
10/10 Wolf Howls
Cry Of the Wolf Magazine
www.Rosstheboss.com
California sludge/doom outfit AMAROK debut their first full length in partnership with Translation Loss Records entitled “Devoured”. With four epic and expansive tracks spanning almost 70 minutes, AMAROK take their listeners on a sorrowful journey of epic proportions. Vast and powerful, AMAROK prey on your darkest phobias imparting the perception of nearly drowning, the claustrophobic sensation of being held under water until the last second when released and gasping for air. Each track delivers focused and fearless journeys through harrowing, metallic riffs and rips through bleak, unsettling atmosphere while cataclysmic waves of bass and drums pummel from the inside out.
“On ‘Devoured’, AMAROK combine melodiously haunting funeral doom metal with painfully distorted, gnawing drone sounds. Feels like disturbing Khanate interpret Pallbearer-style hymns of grief and despair!” – Doom Metal Front
AMAROK formed in Chico, California in 2009. They released their first self-titled EP in October of 2010 followed by three well-received splits with Hell, Enth and Pyramido. AMAROK have played multiple tours up and down the west coast with notable bands such as Cough, Bell Witch, Floor, Samothrace, Noothgrush, Weedeater, Atriarch and more.
“Devoured” was produced by Sanford Parker and mastered by James Plotkin.
“With the band moving towards long form doom with complex, evolving riffs and dynamic changes, collectively we felt that our material warranted a call to Sanford Parker”, recalls bassist/vocalist Brandon Squyres. “We booked a short west coast tour to meet with Sanford in LA at Big Bad Studios and spent a week collaborating with him on material and playing with his extreme noise style to compliment the intensity of the new songs. We then sent the recordings to James Plotkin to master, and spent a month dialing everything in to perfect the albums enormous live sound”.
There are few bands around in the slow paving music genre with a programmatic name. So with DOOMED, who are originated in Germany’s far eastern province Saxony. They have released six full- length albums within six years on the respected Russian doom metal label Solitude Productions. Their newest effort is called “6 Anti-Odes To Life” serving six plus one lengthy tracks about representative topics that could lead to reject human existence and life at all.
“On ‘6 Anti-Odes To Life’, DOOMED take you on a multi-faceted trip through the horrors of life combining old school doom and death metal with vast, progressively evolving soundscapes full of tons heavy guitar riffs and beautifully chanting leads. It’s both a melancholic symphony and a sonic statement to defend life against the real existing adversities.” – Doom Metal Front
“There are so many situations in life I despise”, says DOOMED mastermind and multi-instrumentalist Pierre Laube, “like death, parting, ignorance, competition and greed, the ruination of Mother Earth, religion, uncertainty, sickness, threat, war – a never ending story. This is what I tell about in ‘6 Anti-Odes …’ but in the final seventh track – ‘Layers – Ode to Life’ –, which is proving in melancholic manner that I actually love living. I’m virtually absorbing life, embracing it – I want to stay! Finally, this instrumental song dissolves the album’s overall mood. Feel invited to read my thoughts about it in the booklet!”
“6 Anti-Odes To Life” is way more melancholic and leaving the progressive death metallic paths entered on “Anna”, DOOMED’s acclaimed predecessor. Pierre returns to the essence of doom taking much time to evolve a massive wall of sound.
“Of course, there are nasty parts as well”, Pierre adds. “It still matters to be uncomfortable, and to combine layer after layer, melodies and create connections. There’s so much cinema in my head when creating music. The album is both a step back, stylistically, and forward when talking about new influences like pointed post-metal elements, vast soundscapes and loads of flow, which I dig a lot.”
In 2018, DOOMED is far away from the standard death doom metal of their early days writing ambitious multifaceted and highly empathetic music that is channeling anger and frustration in pure sonic beauty. For the first time Pierre is singing the clean parts himself proving that his vocal skills are as impressive as the abyssal growls. Adding his brother Yves into the compositorial process, who is playing all main guitar leads on the album, DOOMED has become something like a real band leaving its strict one-man project character.
Guest musicians:
Willjiam Nijhof (vocals – Faal)
Andreas Kaufmann (vocals – Charon, Hatespawn, Purgatory)
The rite is a 9-track vortex of majestic heaviness laced with an evocative psychedelic haze, whereby classic melodies meld with fuzz-drenched riffs cultivating an enticing potion of technicolour wickedness. Although a grooving heavyweight tone drives throughout the rite, a darkened presence is forever evident, hexing you into DRUG CULT’s realm.
“DRUG CULT’s self-titled debut serves female fronted, hypnotically rolling occult doom metal unmistakably nourishing itself from the billowing womb of the stoned master wizard!” – Doom Metal Front
Formed at the edge of Mt. Jerusalem in the hills of Mullumbimby, Australia, DRUG CULT is the alchemic workings of guitarist Vin Steele (ex-Wolfmother, Megaritual, Sun Of Man), vocalist Aasha Tozer, drummer Dale Walker (Megaritual, Sun Of Man) and bassist Maggie Schreiber. Their elemental craft has been brewing since April 2015, shaping the vision of a heavy celestial voyage through atmospheric sound connection.
The band’s first offering was recorded live at Rocking Horse Studios, Byron Bay during Solstice December 2016, with George Carpenter at the recording and production helm and mastered by Brian Lucey of Magic Garden Mastering.
KING HEAVY’s “Guardian Demons” reflects the most visceral edge of their first EP, “Horror Absoluto”, and the sophisticated side of the self-titled debut but closer to traditional Heavy Metal and to the darkest Epic Doom.
“Once more, KING HEAVY showcase Chilean doom power on ‘Guardian Demons’, which is deeply rooted in 80s epic metal and characterized by Luce Vee’s unique extroverted vocal style!”
Two years in the making, the album leads to the most classic sound of Trouble, Judas Priest melted with the sound of Northern Europe as Minotauri or Reverend Bizarre. Featuring HOODED PRIEST’s singer Luce Vee and founding PROCESSION member and ex-bassist Daniel Saa, the band will embark on an European tour in October 2018 performing at the Doom Over Vienna festival among others.
Tracklist:
1. Guardian Demon (7:12)
2. (Death is but an extreme form of) Narcosis (6:58) 3. Doom Shall Rise (6:59)
THE RED COIL released the first three tracks Ep “Slough Off” in 2009. On April 2013, their debut album “Lam” came out including ten songs, recorded and mixed by Andrea Garavaglia (Mesmerize) and mastered by Jacob Bredahl (Hatesphere, Allhelluja) at Dead Rat Studio (Denmark). The album received very good feedback and positive reviews. The Red Coil played a lot of live shows in the north of Italy, very appreciated for their energy and raw attitude. In autumn 2015 the bass player Toni decided to left the band, when a lot of new songs was quite ready. The Red Coil announced the new bass player Gelindo in December 2015 and immediately started working and arranging the new material. The new album, “Himalayan Demons”, is highly recommended to fans of Iron Monkey, Spiritual Beggars or Corrosion Of Conformity.
“THE RED COIL unleash the ‘Himalayan Demons’, serving a sludge-infested groovy southern metal/stoner bastard!” – Doom Metal Front
YOB, the Oregon-based trio released “Our Raw Heart”, the band’s eighth full-length album and Relapse Records debut.
“‘Our Raw Heart’ is digging deep turning hidden emotions inside out – it’s the most possessive album YOB have ever been recording!” – Doom Metal Front
“We’re very excited to share this new music”, says singer and guitar player Mike Scheidt. “We gave it everything we have. Going from an uncertain future in the beginning of 2017, to writing and then recording a new album at the end of it, it was quite a year. We’re very grateful. We’re looking forward to hitting the road again and celebrating decibels and good cheer with friends worldwide. Can’t wait.”
Photo credit: Orion Landau
“Our Raw Heart” was co-produced by the band and Billy Barnett at Gung Ho Studio in Eugene, Ore., with mastering handled by Heba Kadry (The Mars Volta, Diamanda Galas, Slowdive).
Sicily’s HAUNTED drop second album called “Dayburner”, which has been recorded by Carlo Longo at NuevArte Studio in Catania and mastered by the renowned producer Brad Boatright (Sleep, COC, Yob, Obituary, among others) at Audiosiege Engineering in Portland, Oregon.
Singer Cristina Chimirri comments: “When we started to develop the songwriting process of ‘Dayburner’, we wanted to talk about the course, the unexplored passage between the beginning and the end. Without necessarily imposing fixed points, but tracing a material circle and an anti-material ascensional progression.”
Bass player Frank Tudisco adds: “‘Dayburner’ is actually the representation of a day, not properly a day as we commonly know it, but something that become immediately night right after the first flashes of the sun. The light of this sun is too weak and can’t afford to challenge the strength of the darkness. Only thanks to minimal differences in tonal contrasts we are able to distinguish the sun from the moon. We can actually say that all the proper attributes of the day miserably fail here.”
“HAUNTED is the Sicilian answer to grand female fronted bands like Windhand or Alunah. Find top quality, stoically rolling doom metal on ‘Dayburner’, which is filled to the brim with catchy guitar riffs and Cristina Chimirri’s exceptionally soulful vocals!” – Doom Metal Front
The evocative cover artwork has been created by the well-know artist and photographer Deborah Sheedy.
“The All Penetrating Silence” by Norwegian band KITE is digitally released via Sludgelord Records. A vinyl release is also planned for the near future.
The band was originally formed in 1998, and went through different lineups until today’s three‐piece got together in 2007. KITE released numerous DIY demos and EP’s in the early years, while building up a following with frequent touring all over Scandinavia, but first and foremost Britain, where they pulled off 5 tours. In 2007, starting over with a fresh and heavier sound, their second album – “The Hook, The Line, The sinker” – was released on their own label 60/40 Records. Since then the band has been working on and off in between their other band projects, but 2018 sees KITE back at it full throttle, stronger and heavier than ever.
“KITE play non-standard sludge/post-metal, which is much too groovy and diverse to fit the common genre trademarks. ‘The All Penetrating Silence’ is an ultra-heavy riff monster, blues-soaked and as infinitely reverberating as the cosmological radiation.” – Doom Metal Front
Recorded summer 2017 at Amper Tone, Oslo, by Kim Lillestøl
London’s fine EYE OF SOLITUDE are having their fifth full-length album called “Slaves To Solitude” out presenting the band in top form when it comes to crawling funeral doom metal that is soaked with utter grief and despair. Feels like being trapped in your own mental abyss in search for the way out of illimitable darkness and sorrow.
Comes with five beautifully arranged lengthy tracks full of heartbreaking melodies, monolithically drifting riffage and jaw dropping growls. “Slaves To Solitude” leaves me isolated and shattered in a world of decay and nihilism. Highly recommended for fans of Godgory, Mournful Congregation and Shape Of Despair. (SM)
When MIST first released their 2013 Demo as an all-female band they never dreamed it would become recognized around the globe for its unique dark harmonies contrasted by powerful feminine vocals. Their music is natural, raw and the riffs reflect the themes of their lyrics – nature, spells, death – which are more often than not deeply inspired by the occult. MIST’s traditional doom sound builds on the legacy of legendary bands like Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Candlemass, Coven, Saint Vitus and others.
In 2014 the band signed with Soulseller Records and released the “Inan” EP in 2015, as well as their 2013 Demo, which had previously been sold-out twice. They have since performed with a number of legendary artists, such as Manilla Road, Jex Thoth, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats and have owned the stage at Bloodstock, Hammer Of Doom, MetalDays, Malta Doom Festival and more.
Now, the Slovenian priestesses of doom release ten brand new songs on their first full-length album titled “Free Me Of The Sun”. Staying true to their traditional doom roots the band builds upon strong riffs with bright female vocals and epic guitar solos.
The album was recorded in Studio Ork, produced and mixed by Benjamin Kic and mastered by Patrick W. Engel – Temple of Disharmony. With this release MIST are starting a new chapter on their path in the depths of doom.
Black Bow Records have re-released the classic split album between doom bands CONAN and SLOMATICS. The album is produced on limited edition ogre green vinyl. There’s nothing left to say about this stunning collaboration of doom but that two volcanos have risen from the depths of England permanently spilling earth shaking sonic lava off the speakers to crush your mangled bodies and tortured souls! (SM)
SOLILOQUIUM from Sweden are having their second full-length album, “Contemplations”, out via Transcending Records. Once again produced by Mike Watts (Sleepwalkers, Terminus), who also handles the drums and electronics this time. “Contemplations” is a more varied release off the death/doom metal standards combining heavy guitar riffs and abyssal growls with acoustic parts as well as dreamy clean vocals. The typical Stockholm darkness is omnipresent on this album, which is filling the void of the Katatonia hiatus.
“Contemplations” track list: 1. Chains 2. Catharsis 3. Streetlights 4. Unfulfilling Prophecy 5. 22 6. For the Accursed 7. In Affect 8. Wanderlust
SOLILOQUIUM is a three-piece melodic doom/death metal band from Stockholm, Sweden, featuring members of Desolator and Ending Quest. The band began in 2011 and have 3 EPs out, which were all released on Transcending Records as well as their debut full-length “An Empty Frame” (2016). SOLILOQUIUM’s music draws clear influence from old school doom metal bands such as Katatonia, Anathema, Paradise Lost, and October Tide.
Formed in Canberra in 2014, WITCHSKULL grabbed the attention of the hirsute, underground hordes with their first demo in 2015. The band’s debut album, “The Vast Electric Dark”, emerged soon after to great acclaim: its thunderous, turbo-charged squall striking an instant, devilish chord with headbangers hungry for life-affirming riffs, a dash of grubby-fingered authenticity and lashings of supernatural venom. Honed and nurtured in sweaty practice rooms and on stages across the band’s native Australia, the WITCHSKULL sound has subsequently evolved, leading to “Coven’s Will”: a sophomore outing that looks certain to thrust the three-piece to the upper echelons of the stoner world. Recorded at Studio G in Brooklyn, NYC, with producers Billy Anderson (Neurosis, Sleep, Buzzoven) and Jason Fuller (Blood Duster) and mixed at Jason’s Goatsound Studio in Melbourne, “Coven’s Will” has mutated into a snarling, muscular acid-metal monster.
“Tony (McMahon, bass) is from New York originally, so we wanted to make the album in his home town”, Joel explains. “Sonically, we knew Billy would be able to capture huge tones and we knew Jason would be able to mix it how we wanted. Jason did our first record, so having him there was a huge bonus. We wanted to make the album as organically as possible, going live to tape without click tracks and capturing most of it in the first or second take. Working with Billy was definitely an experience we’ll never forget. He also introduced us to Erica Stoltz (Sanhedrin, ex-Amber Asylum), who sang on two of the songs, and she did an amazing job.”
Boasting eight, groove-driven slabs of infernal fury, “Coven’s Will” pulls off the neat trick of sounding simultaneously timeless and timely, as the fundamental principles of our beloved genre are fed through the Australians’ pitch-black prism and spat out in a shower of wild, hallucinatory devil blues. Ranging from direct, bowel-rattling assaults like opener “Raven” and the none-more-Sabbathian crescendos of “Priestess” to the more expansive, psycho-delic sprawl of “Son Of The Snake” and epic finale “The Empty Well”, it’s an album driven by dark thoughts, twisted nightmares and the looming shadow of mortal madness. According to vocalist/guitarist Marcus De Pasquale, WITCHSKULL subsist on a thematic diet of “the Occult, fantasy, dreams, the Moon and the Elements, isolation, loneliness, depression, mental illness, regret and time – all the good, bleak things in life!”
A crazy-eyed howl of discontent from the sun-scorched wastelands of Australia, “Coven’s Will” is a ferocious statement from a band that seem to be hitting their stride and gaining power by the hour. Newly signed to Lee Dorrian’s revered Rise Above Records imprint, WITCHSKULL have found the perfect home from which to spread their irresistible gospel of unholy heaviness. Hell’s gates have opened, the riffs are coming and the coven compels you to surrender your soul. (Dom Lawson, 2018)
The calling of doom metal is not for those who seek an easy path to glory. For those drawn to its flame, it is the awakening of Black Sabbath’s dark spirit through the music that is its own rich reward. And for those who truly walk the path of doom, it is a journey without end, a pilgrimage that eventually becomes part of the traveller’s very bones and being.
For Hampshire doom metal maniacs WITCHSORROW, it has become a life’s work. Formed by frontman Necroskull and bassist Emily Witch over a decade ago (later completed by drummer Wilbrahammer), and with a mission to celebrate the traditions of doom as practiced by such puritans as Black Sabbath, Cathedral, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass, across three albums their hymns to the void have earned them a place among the genre’s elite. Obsessed with doom, proudly upholding the heavy metal roots of the genre, and with a lyrical outlook that takes in madness, misanthropy, witchcraft, evil, and no less a topic than the destruction of the Earth itself, the trio are as much about the worship of doom as they are pouring scorn on a world of hate and envy.
And as the world continues to live in ever-more interesting times, a new collection of hymns emerges. Those familiar with the history of witch trials will already know of the Malleus Maleficarum, the dreaded book by fifteenth-century Catholic clergyman Henricus Institoris that detailed and endorsed the torture and extermination of witches by violent means. But, like the album, it also went by another name: Hexenhammer.
Written during a hermetic period following an intense run of live shows, and recorded at Skyhammer studio with long-time co-conspirator Chris Fielding (Conan, Primordial, Electric Wizard), the songs find WITCHSORROW continuing to explore the dark corners of doom, and illuminate them with the blinding light of sheer heavy metal forged of the strongest steel. It’s an almost anthemic soundtrack to the end of the world lyrics.
“I’ve always been obsessed with the end of the world,” explains Necroskull. “On previous albums, I’ve been wanting it to happen, because I was caught in a very dark place. On ‘No Light…’, I was almost angry that it hadn’t happened. This time, it’s a massively confusing time where we’re basically staring at it and waiting for it. I have no solutions. There are none to be had.”
If 2018 needs a soundtrack to its madness, WITCHSORROW have provided it. Heavier, darker, doomier, and more metal than ever before, one of doom’s leading lights have made the perfect album for our times.
DOPETHRONE plays “Slutch Metal”, a foul Canadian mix of yellow snow, crackhead diarrhea, blood, tears and broken dreams. This new album “Transcanadian Anger” follows in with the trio’s widely acclaimed fourth full-length “Hochelaga” (2015) and pushes their pervasive, filthy brand of sludge metal to its most extreme and intoxicating levels. This is eight punishing tracks of the highest order, a no-frills-given riff carnage with all the sleaze and groove you can expect from a DOPETHRONE record, while embracing the band’s punk and hardcore roots as never before.
It was late summer of 2013, Otu and RiQ met on the web and quickly discovered that their music interests were the same. Wasting no time, they formed a band, this machine called KAISER. Their initial session showed that their chemistry was more than right, it was supreme. They recruited Pex, who had played bass in the same band as RiQ in the past.
The band worked with legendary producer Hiili “Carbon” Hiilesmaa on “1st Sound”, most notable for his work with fellow Hellsinki rock legends HIM.The result is a crushingly heavy, super tight and melodic stoner rock album that is sure to hit home with fans of Kyuss, High On Fire, The Sword and Red Fang.
Oak Island Records carved the fuzzed-out, riff fuelled energy of KAISER in vinyl and CD.
Coming off their debut release “Ruins”, BODY VOID returned to Earhammer Studios and has submitted almost an hour of painful sludge and wretched doom. With 2018’s “I Live Inside A Burning House”, this San Francisco sludge/crust outfit sought to create a darker and more substantial release, expanding on their sound but still holding true to the aural assault fans have come to expect.
Under the watchful ear of audio engineer Greg Wilkinson, BODY VOID continues in the style of label mates Primitive Man and Keeper, as well as genre-defining bands like Khanate, while staying grounded in the same harsh sludge sonic palette as “Ruins”.
“I Live Inside A Burning House” is frightening and caustic, from the cinematic opener “Haunted” to the cacophonous nightmare of “Phantom Limb” and the tortuous drone of “Given.” Lyrically, the album seeks to explore queer identity, mental illness, and how those factors impact the push-pull relationship between material and immaterial existence.
“I Live Inside A Burning House” is co-released with Dry Cough Records and Seeing Red Records on vinyl, cassette, and compact disc formats.
Recorded and mixed by Greg Wilkinson at Earhammer Studios between April and October 2017
Mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege
Artwork by Muhamad Ikbalarinfin Suradi
Track-listing:
1. Intro/A Burning House
2. Haunted
3. Trauma Creature
4. Phantom Limb
5. Given
CHRCH
“Light Will Consume Us All”
Neurot Recordings
Sacramento-based doom band CHRCH has joined the Neurot Recordings family for the release of their brand new full-length, “Light Will Consume Us All”.
Standing at a crossroads of light and dark, CHRCH create epic, lengthy songs, with a massive low end, and a supernatural vocal presence, in a perfect blend of height and depth. CHRCH has been hard at work crafting their particular sound since 2013. There is no image or gimmick to uphold, only the humble glorification of their fundamental musical elements.
This purity and honesty comes across in a striking manner on the band’s debut “Unanswered Hymns” (Battleground Records, 2015), a sprawling roller coaster of an album. Long-form songs build and dismantle as the band reaches sonic heights and beautiful plateaus. Severe, sometimes unrelenting, guttural vocals contrast with melodic singing, just as massive guitar fuzz gives way to cleaner parts. Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Patrick Hills at Earthtone Studios in Rocklin, California, it exudes a warm, organic tone that draws the listener in with a sound influenced by traditional doom, psych rock, drone, and ambience.
CHRCH teamed up with Fister to release a split 12-inch via Battleground Records / Crown And Throne LTD, earlier this year. Their track, “Temples,” displays the increasing subtlety and intensity of CHRCH’s songwriting. Intricate melodies and composition build upon the band’s thunderous drums, strong vocals, and gargantuan riffs.
The band’s second full length, “Light Will Consume Us All”, carries with it the same quality of songwriting that caught the attention of fans worldwide on their debut. Building upon this unyielding foundation, “Light Will Consume Us All” also continues CHRCH’s narrative, traversing life’s epic journey of loss, reclamation and, ultimately, finding hope within the darkness.
“Filthy Flowers of Doom” is Tons’ second full length album. Forty minutes divided into five tracks of in your face sludge/doom metal. Slabby and Luciferian riffs, tight drumming and a demonic voice characterize the last effort from the Turin band, now with a new drummer and a second guitar. Low-league occultism and weed devotion are the basis of this muddy album that will drag you into a sulphurous and sabbathian void. “Filthy Flowers of Doom” is recorded by Danilo “Deepest Sea” Battocchio, while mastering is helmed by Brad Boatright (Sleep, NAILS, Obituary) at Audiosiege (USA).
Recommended for fans of Weedeater and Dopethrone style sludge nihilism!
TRACKLIST:
Side A
01 – Abbath’s Psychedelic Breakfast
02 – 99 Weed Balloons
03 – Those of the Unlighter
Side B
04 – Girl Scout Cookie Monster
05 – Sailin’ the Seas of Buddha Cheese
BIOGRAPHY:
TONS is an italian doom sludge band formed in Turin in October 2009 from the ashes of three popular hardcore bands of the city. The band consists of Steuso on guitar (rock poster artist and guitarist of The Redrum) Marco on drums (drummer of Noinfo and Medusa) and Paolo on bass/vocals (singer of Lamatematica). The aim of the band is to remain close to the hardcore influence of the city where they were born but they decided to move on to sludge and doom. In June 2009 with the help of Danilo Bottocchio (Last Minute to Jaffna guitarist and a closer friend of the band) they recorded a first demo of four songs in which we can find the first features of the band: a powerful stoner rock trio, sludge riffs, psychedelic landscapes and doom sessions. The atmosphere around the band is devilish, but ironic as we can see from some song titles such as “The Rime of the Ancient Grower”, “Tangerine Nightmare”, or “Once Upon a Tentacle…”, that suggest the passion of the guys for H.P. Lovecraft and in a more general way for esotericism. The mistery of the city of Turin and the magical and esoteric places around it fascinate the band as we can notice from the title and the cover of the first album “Musineè Doom Session Volume 1”. Mount Musinè is situated in Val Susa and has always been sourronded by local myths such as witchcraft and alien life. In July 2011 the band recorded the six songs on the album “Musineè Doom Session Volume 1” (CD – CD LTD screenprinted – LP) with the help of Danilo and Paolo Paganelli (Woptime, Linea 77, Muddy Mokes, Rock-a-Hula) and the master session has been done by Lorenzo Stecconi (sound engineer for Ufomammut, Lento, ZU, Grime, Amen Ra). The album includes the four songs of the old demo and two more new songs “Ketama Gold” and “At War with Yog-Sothoth” that clearly suggest the direction of the band. The album, released by Heavy Psych Sounds (www.heavypsychsounds.com) and Escape from Today (www.escapefromtoday.org), is available from March 2012.
In 2013 the band recorded a couple of songs for a split-album with Lento, released by Heavy Psych-Sounds, with the help of Danilo and Paolo Paganelli, while the master session has been done by Lorenzo Stecconi. Luca T. Mai, member of ZU, Mombu, played baritone saxophone with Tons on “Dark Medieval Skunk”. They shared the stage around Europe with bands like Bongzilla, Weedeater, Church Of Misery, Unsane, Napalm Death, Karma To Burn, Big Business, Kylesa, Lesbian, Pentagram, Naam, Fatso Jetson, Yawning Man, between Italy, Austria, Netherland, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, France and Switzerland. In 2014 Tons played at Duna Jam festival in Italy and at Incubate Festival in Tilburg (NL). In 2016 Marco left Tons and Andrea Peracchia (Slaiver, Dogs for Breakfast) joined the band as a new drummer; in the same year Paolo Paganelli, a longtime friend, who already collaborated with the band, became a permanent member too.
In 2017, with the new line-up, Tons finally recorded the second full lenght album “Filthy Flowers of Doom”, which will be released by Heavy Psych Sounds in April 2018. In May 2018 Tons will be on tour across Europe.
Just in time for Easter, we have compiled a list including the best Doom Metal, Sludge and Stoner releases of the first quarter 2018. If you stumble over that blue, weird looking bunny in the meadow just give a high five and let him hide those leaden eggs of doom and gloom for your enjoyment. Heavy holidays!
MOURNFUL CONGREGATION
“The Incubus of Karma”
Osmose Productions
20 Buck Spin
Weird Truth Productions
“Founded in 1993, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION have become one of the most influential funeral doom metal bands on the planet. Being Australia’s slowest export, they have constantly been evolving their impressive style of crawling heaviness starting with the debut ‘Tears From A Grieving Heart’ (1999), followed by crushing ‘The Monad Of Creation’ (2005), glacial ‘The June Frost’ (2009) and majestic ‘The Book Of Kings’ (2011). Another seven years later, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION are back with ‘The Incubus Of Karma’ marking their bleakest and most haunting opus so far. Delivers grandiosely played, two-voiced guitar melodies that take you on a mesmerizing trip through mental darkness and infinite suffering.”
HOODED MENACE “Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed” Season Of Mist
“On their fifth album, ‘Ossuarium Silhouettes Unhallowed’, HOODED MENACE from Finland perfectly interweave slowly crushing, hymnal doom with 90s style technical death metal. Partially feels like My Dying Bride recruited Death-mastermind Chuck Schuldiner (R.I.P.) to make the guitars cry and shred!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
EAGLE TWIN “The Thundering Heard (Songs of Hoof and Horn)” Southern Lord Recordings
“Six years after ‘The Feather Tipped The Serpent’s Scale’, Salt Lake City’s extreme music duo EAGLE TWIN is back with the third full-length album. ‘The Thundering Heard’ continues their unique and relentless style combining groovy sludge and monolithic doom riffage with stomach kneading drones and ear bleeding distortion. Serves four outstanding tracks that leave you sonically crushed and trampled by thousands of hoofs!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE
“From Gold To Ash”
Cruz Del Sur Music
“At the very latest since their stunning predecessor ‘Of Woe And Wounds’ (2014) and a jaw dropping show at the Hammer Of Doom festival, Indiana’s APOSTLE OF SOLITUDE belong to the top bands of the traditional doom metal genre. Their actual album is called ‘From Gold To Ash’ serving dramatically rolling hymns of gloom and sorrow adorned with Chuck Brown’s captivating vocals and razor sharp guitar leads. Favorite tracks: ‘Keeping The Lighthouse’ and ‘My Heart Is Leaving Here’!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
ANGUISH “Magna Est Vis Suignah” High Roller Records
“ANGUISH are back with the third full-length, ‘Magna Est Vis Suignah’, which is showing the Swedes reformed as a four-piece and having found back to their stylistic roots to create a masterpiece of death/doom metal. Comes with overwhelmingly heavy, mournful guitar riffs and weeping solos that tell about death and the life after.”
“Portugal’s SINISTRO released ‘Sangue Cássia’ continuing the sonic path paved with outstanding predecessor ‘Semente’ to evolve an even darker and heavier album that is bursting with dense atmosphere and compositional complexity. Combines enthralling doom with jazz-tinged, dreamy ambience. The extraordinary, haunting vocal style of Patrícia Andrade and vast passages reminiscent of a full string orchestra are making the album a gloomy, operatic sound experience.” More infos here: Homepage, Label
BENEATH OBLIVION
“The Wayward and the Lost”
Weird Truth Productions
“‘The Wayward and the Lost’ is the third album by Ohio’s BENEATH OBLIVION, who grandiosely combine utterly crawling, sorrowful funeral and death doom metal with sludge style nihilism in both the immanent melodiosity of the full album and the abysmally gurgling and desperately crying twin vocals. Breathtakingly beautiful and pulping!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
CRUTHU
“The Angle Of Eternity”
The Church Within Records
“Michigan-based CRUTHU play traditional doom metal on ‘The Angel of Eternity’, which is filled to the brim with Seventies prog and proto metal passages to give you the full dose of slowly paving lo-fi heaviness reminiscent of Sir Lord Baltimore, early Pagan Altar or Trouble and the like. Comes with stunningly catchy NWOBH style vocals by Ryan Evans!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
BLACK LABEL SOCIETY “Grimmest Hits” Spinefarm Records
“BLACK LABEL SOCIETY have their ‘Grimmest Hits’ out marking the tenth studio album of this southern metal act around Ozzy-guitarist Zakk Wylde. It is not as grim as the title suggests but fishing in the doomiest waters of the band’s album history. Serves typical Zakk-style guitars shooting one ultra-catchy riff and lead after another. It’s the immanent blues that makes me swing to the slow groove of ‘Grimmest Hits’. Recalls BLS’ grand debut full-length, ‘Sonic Brew’, released in 1999.”
BELDAM “Pasung” Horror Pain Gore Death Productions
“On ‘Pasung’, BELDAM set the Indonesian practice of shackling and imprisoning people that suffer from schizophrenia in music. Serves disturbing sludge spreading from possessed fury to massively crushing, almost still-standing doom riffage and ear bleeding distortion. It’s a dissonant trip through the suffering and misinterpretation of the mentally ill.” More infos: Homepage, Label
LEECHFEAST
“Neon Crosses”
Dry Cough Records
Rope Or Guillotine
“Slovenia’s LEECHFEAST pull Grief-style sludge through hot, cancerous tarmac on ‘Neon Crosses’, which is their most misanthropic and sonically devastating release so far – painfully slow and ultra-heavy at the same time!” More infos here: Homepage, Label
DAUTHA
“Brethren of the Black Soil”
Ván Records
“DAUTHA from Sweden recruits of actual Wardenclyffe members including Ola Blomkvist, who already was responsible for all lyrical agony and the guitars in deceased doom metal grandmasters Grifegård. After the respected ‘Den Förste’ demo (2016), DAUTHA have their debut full-length, Brethren of the Black Soil, out packing Europe’s Medieval history in six psalms full of haunting doom riffs, stirring melodies and epic choral singing.“ More infos here: Homepage, Label
SABEL
“Re-Generation”
Oak Island Records
“Imagine Sleep’s ‘Jerusalem’ stirred well with Electric Wizard’s ‘Dopethrone’ and Atomic Rooster style blues and hard rock – or Monolord dancing with Kadavar – to get an idea about SABEL’s amazing debut album called ‘Re-Generation’. Serves raw, Sabbathian doom and driving, hips shaking proto-stoner with maximum fuzz on the howling guitars as well as reverberating, weed tanned vocals. Swedish quality!”
“UK’s GODTHRYMM recruits of current and former members of My Dying Bride, Vallenfyre, Malediction and Anathema, who already joined forces in Solstice. All of these influences culminate on the band’s four-track debut EP, ‘A Grand Reclamation’, rolling out leaden twin guitars and lamenting melodies typical for early 90s doom metal, interfused with 80s style heaviness and epic power vocals.”
“THRONELESS serve buzzing and droning doom metal on ‘Cycles’ reminiscent of Conan’s early destruction, but with the difference that these Swedes keep crawling stoically from the very first to the final tone. Comes with stoned acoustics in between the squelching riffage.”
“Hamburg-based SWAMP CORPSE blow ultra-brutal, drone-like oscillating sludge/death doom metal off the speakers somehow reminiscent of Autopsy’s ‘Acts of the Unspeakable’. But this ‘Bone Mill’ is crushing radically and kicking asses without using any sort of vintage gear – a bludgeoning feast of crawling destruction and distortion! For fans of extrem doom metal à la Burning Witch, Khanate and Grief!”
“DDENT is the only band in the wide doom and post rock genre I would use the term progressive for. Coming from Paris, this instrumental four-piece takes any heavy or acoustic guitar riff to evolve a multidimensional, orchestral soundtrack that is brimming with dramatic, gently drifting melodies and floating synths; even the industrial rhythms fit perfectly in the songs’ blue mood. Actual album ‘Toro’ serves seven acts, which sound like performed in a renowned opera house. Once more, DDENT prove their exceptional writing skills offering a thrilling, jaw-dropping masterpiece of dreamy melancholic musical art – the Pink Floyd of doom!”
“SOLDAT HANS (German for: Soldier called Hans) from Switzerland combine utterly dark, amazingly catchy Bohren & Der Club Of Gore style jazz – including trombones, melotron and violins – with pointed postrock guitars, bluesy slides and towering sludge riffage that goes along the stoically crawling tempo just like the hauntingly beautiful and desperately screamed vocals. ‘Es taut’ (It melts) is a didactic play in the matter of Jazz Doom Metal!”
“Digitally released in 2017, SPACESLUG’s ‘Mountains & Reminiscence’ is finally pressed in vinyl archiving five original tracks plus a bonus jam session for eternity. Coming from Wrocław, SPACESLUG represents Poland’s flourishing stoner/doom underground scene delivering top quality music that spreads from billowing psychedelia over blues-infested, Sabbath worshipping riffage to interstellar space rock. ‘Mountains & Reminiscences’ is like the echo of the Big Bang – once explored its sonic roots are clearly retraceable to the stoned 60s and fuzzy 70s, lulling you gently with tons of wah-effects on the guitars and catchy sing along la-las as a reverberating result of pointedly set heavy rocking impacts.”
“NEST from Lexington Kentucky have packed the pain of Metempsychosis – the transmigration of the soul after death from a human or animal to some other human or animal – in torturous, nihilistically grinding doom, which is dripping with feedback and distortion channeling NEST’s ‘visceral contempt with a barrage of sludge soaked riffs accompanied by harsh, evocative vocalizations that gives Metempsychosis (…) all the makings of a memorable foray into misanthropy’.”
