…you hear the ancients call your name: BRIMSTONE COVEN – ‘II’ (Album Review)

On the eve of the vinyl release of their excellent self-titled debut courtesy of STB Records, Brimstone Coven have conjured forth ‘II’, an album that expands on the vintage vibes that the band established on their 2012 release. Rather than simply going through the motions by trying to recreate past successes the band has expanded on their sound by incorporating a wider range of influences and seemingly spending more time translating their tunes into a final recorded product. The end result is that ‘II’ is a richer listening experience reflecting subtle nuances that were not as apparent on their debut. Overall ‘II’ is a more subdued album that foregoes the predominant doom-laden groove of its predecessor in favor of a singular, melancholic mood that is perfect for an autumn day. This isn’t to say that ‘II’ is devoid of heavy grooves—quite the contrary—but the album is masked by a monochromatic filter that produces an all-enveloping atmosphere that is forlorn and distant.

 Where the self-titled album had an unwavering focus on proto-doom and 70’s inspired psychedelia—still a priority for the band—‘II’ seems to include within its gaze the entirety of 70’ hard rock and early metal which has yielded tunes that are more complex and varied. Album outlier “The Black Door”, “Blood on the Wall”, and “Vying” are examples of the band’s growth and willingness to experiment. The “retro-future” vocal effect during the chorus of “The Black Door” is a bit disarming at first, but the mesmerizing bassline and layered clean vocals more than make up for it.  “The Black Door” is easily the catchiest track on the album due to the pulsating groove and layered vocal harmonies of John Williams who, again, does an outstanding job complementing the songs with a dose of soul. The morose “Blood on the Wall” has a dusty, road-weary feel that fits right in with the overall tone of the album. “Vying”, for the most part, is a scorcher where rhythm section swing is emblazoned with killer leads until the song fizzles to a slow-burn instrumental fadeout.

 While the band has clearly expanded on their sound ‘II’ isn’t completely defined by songwriting progression. Brimstone Coven haven’t forsaken the doom and occult leanings that ran rampant on the debut. The second track “Behold, the Anunnaki”, is probably the best tune that Witchcraft or Burning Saviours never recorded. It’s a deceptively simple track that channels the best of 70’s inspired doom with catchy vocals and a shredding finale. Other album highlights in a similar vein include “The Grave” and “The Séance”—a tune that comes crashing in following the gentle denouement of “Vying”. “The Séance” flat-out rocks with an urgency unmatched by anything on the album and despite the fact that it’s one of the shortest tracks it still finds room to take a respite from the riffs for a breakdown that showcases the individual talents of the players. The ominous “Hades Hymn” is a simple, yet effective instrumental that features a lone organ accompanying a thunderstorm. At only a minute-and-a-half the instrumental doesn’t overstay its welcome and builds up perfectly to “The Folly of Faust”, an epic tale of woe and misery that finishes out ‘II’.

 What’s interesting about Brimstone Coven’s ‘II’ is that though the songs are more varied, complex, and have greater depth, the album is united by an overarching mood that is cheerless and, at times, remote. And in a good way. While the self-titled album was instantly gratifying and familiar, ‘II’ is densely layered and rewards multiple listens. The band has minimized some of their more overt influences in favor of an all-inclusive approach to their songwriting allowing them to experiment and expand their sonic palette. Not only is ‘II’ a well-rounded, kickass record, but it also stands as a portal that gives a glimpse into the possibilities of prospective recordings. Brimstone Coven have made an impressive leap with their second outing and it will be interesting to see how the band further develops in the future. The vinyl of the band’s debut is about to be released through the excellent STB Records imprint. ‘II’ is available for download through the band’s Bandcamp page and on CD directly from the band upon request.

 Words: Steve Miller

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Brimstone-Coven/173445806091034

http://brimstonecoven.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/pages/STB-Records/471228012921184?fref=ts

http://stbrecords.bigcartel.com/

... FIRELORD "Among the Snakes" (Album Review)

Ta-da: Italy's stoner scene is rife with bands, but hardly any of them can claim to be paragons of originality. This goes for Turin's Firelord as well, but this does not imply that they are unlistenable. In fact, the music on their debut is a lot of fun thanks to the no-frills trio approach, albeit frontman Mario overdubbed his guitar for his solos ... yes, he's actually not afraid of the higher registers on his fretboard, which the vast majority of his colleagues within the genre seem to be.

Another plus of "Among The Snakes" is the energy displayed throughout: Most songs are uptempo, such as the first two "Man Of Mayhem" and "Black Kommander", yet when Firelord slow down the pace, they do not run danger of boring the listener, as they appear to know when it's time to stomp on the pedal again. The eleven-minute "The Ghost Of Eymerich", which stands at the centre of the record, attests to this songwriting ability, while frankly speaking, Mario's voice fails to impress with its uniformly hoarse snarl. It keeps sounding a tad distorted and tends to disappear into the background as just another instrument come halftime.

From the instrumental side of things though, the stronger tracks are even to be found at the back: "Werewolf" shows of some subtle twin harmonies, and closer "Among The Snakes II" is the dust-kicker of the album with some of the most powerful passages you will hear. All in all, this is conventional fare, but not to a degree that it leaves you craving for the real deal. Firelord deliver the obligatory programm (warts and all ... plus an okay cover of "Children Of The Grave") and no freestyle - which in itself can be a commendable characteristic in times of mindless crossover.

words by Andreas Schiffmann

https://www.facebook.com/FIRELORD999

... pray at the altar of the Temple : an Interview with Jon Rossi of PILGRIM !!!

A little week has passed since the stunning  performance of PILGRIM in Paris and the same feeling prevails : with their utterly crushing doom, the wizards of Rhode Island slayed impressively everything around this night !!! 
If 2013 kind of ends sadly with the demise of TGoS, I'm convinced that PILGRIM will considerably reinforce their position within the Doom scene in 2014; indeed everything indicates that those young hopes will become pillars of the US scene with their upcmoing sophomore album, about which Jon Rossi (Guit/voc) kindly agreed to speak to me, along with his appreciations on the tour of course... Thanx a lot mate :)

Hi Jon ! I left you pretty enthutiastic in Paris a few days ago, how has been the tour going on since the beginning (Belgium, England, Spain) and those last dates in Holland, Denmark and Sweden ?

-The tours been good so far! Just about every show has been packed or sold out. That's really flattering! We feel really fortunate that Windhand wanted to take us with them. Sweden last night at Truckstop Alaska was wild and a lot of fun, definitely my favorite show thus far. People in Sweden get drunk as fuck! All the shows have been solid aside from a few little hiccups (in Bilbao, Spain the power cut out during the opening bands set and didn't return for 2 hours. Then in Denmark only about 10 people showed up). The overall chaos of the shows is building. We're all getting exhausted so the passion is more furious now and the playing is tighter. It was getting pretty boring there for a while, at least for me personally!

This tour covers a great part of western and northern Europe, did you have special expectations about new visited countries like Spain and France ? Have you seen or heard things that surprised you?

-Not really. A lot of the stereotypes and smack talking about the different countries is pretty spot on. England was uptight and whacked out, Spain was wild, Holland was reserved but passionate, those kinda things. I've never eaten so much Bree in my life. It's good but it smells like farts. I also like how the toilets here have a piss and a shit button. Very crafty. Also rotaries are way more convenient than four way intersections.

What’s fun and boring or disturbing in Europe for you and does really make a change over life in the States ?

-Driving from venue to venue is BORING AS FUCK. I've never slept so much in my life! The constant waiting around is such a bummer to me! I have the most fun when we're playing and our crowd is into the music and is rocking with us. I also really really enjoy meeting new people. I've talked to a ton of people I've only ever met on the internet discussing music. It's cool to finally meet all these dudes! I hope I didn't give off a bad impression, I'm usually pretty drunk after sundown! The States are the States. The more I dwell on it, it's really pretty much the same there as it is here, except for some minor differences like I listed above. I like Europe but I don't think I'd ever come love here.

After a common US tour last winter, the fact of touring again with Windhand makes things easier for everyone I guess, was that the band that asked for you or a business between labels and bookers ?

-Garrett Morris (the guitarist of Windhand) and I have known each other for a while, we used to listen to each other's bands on MySpace Music back in the day hahaha. I must have been 16 or 17 then. Eventually we stayed at his house a few times and our bands became friends. We always talked about wanting to tour. They asked us to come with them and now it's finally happening! There's no label interest or bookers involved between us. We're just great friends.

Count Eric the Soothsayer left the band just a few weeks before you were supposed the enter the studio for your 2nd album, was it a sudden decision you didn’t see coming ?

-That is a very long and personal story. I suppose it was rather sudden. I will say that I am deeply saddened by the situation and wish it hadn't ended the way it did. It was all so stupid. It was sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It was stupidity.

The recording was delayed of about two months, did you look for a new bassist immediately or did you know you had to handle the bass duties for the album and maybe re-arrange a few songs ?

-No, I'm rather comfortable playing the bass. I'm actually quite glad that I got to do it. Back with Elric, I would write the baselines and then show him how to play them. We're going to take our time trying to find a new bass player. Our good friend Braddock (the drummer of the amazing ICE DRAGON) is filling in with us for this tour. He's doing an amazing fucking job. What a guy. So handsome and muscular, he makes us look like fucking losers haha.

With the experience of the 1st album, tours, Roadburn… the band has quickly matured, was your approach of studio different this time?

-We got really lucky with our sound Engineer Mike Moebius. He fucking rules and he basically made our next record a fucking masterpiece sonically. It's funny, just days before we chose him we were scrambling for someone, ANYONE to record the record and just get it fucking finished. We were so tired of sitting on it. At the last second we got a call from Henry our manager recommending Mike. Mike had just done the first NATUR record and we are really good friends with them, so it all came full circle. Our approach was very calculated this time. We knew exactly the feel and sounds we wanted. We experimented with tone just a tad. We've been sitting on these songs for so long that it was like child's play blowing through take after take. I think it only took about 3 days to finish all the tracking. Fuck it came out good.

https://www.facebook.com/richardnursephotography

Judging by new songs heard in Paris like ‘Master’s Chamber” and “Void Worship”, it looks like new album will be even more crushing and rooted in Trad’ Doom misery… could you speak a bit about its general mood please ?

-Well the record will be called VOID WORSHIP, and I feel like that's the general mood of the record, conveying the misery of the void, but through powerful and engaging music, not weak atmospheric sort of bland stuff. It's hard to speak on the theme of the record as a whole. There's a lot to it! It's more of a song to song basis like the first record. There's fast upbeat tracks, there's instrumentals, there's 5 minute hammers and 11 minute epics. It's got everything! I'm very proud of the work we've done this time around.

I know you’re a great fan of Black Metal stuff, particularly Darkthrone and Burzum and this we can hear in a song like “Adventurer”, is there still some of those elements in new album which bring a kind of epic north vibe, the beginning of “Paladin” perhaps… ?

-I think that the influence I'm drawing from in black metal is the fantasy aspect of it. That epic, radiant, adventurous feeling you hear. Folklore and fantasy collide a bit.

We’ve been lucky to get to hear 3 new songs in Paris, new album will contain 8 ones, if possible could you please give a couple more song titles and the album title ?!

-PILGRIM II: VOID WORSHIP 

Intro

Masters Chamber

The Paladin

Arcane Sanctum

In the Presence of Evil 

Void Worship 

Away From Here

You’re actually in Scandinavia, do you feel any special vibes within the northern darkness, the call of the ancient ones ? Do you see a difference between scandinavian people and Spanish/French ones ?

-Nah, not really. Perhaps if I was left in solitude and could reflect on these things I would feel that. But being on tour means you're stranded in the van and at gas stations and populated areas so it's difficult to get into that mindset, at least for me personally! I have noticed how absolutely beautiful everyone here is, with their log flowing golden white hair. True nords!

What’s next for Pilgrim after this tour ? you guys told me that new album should be out in April ? Which continent would you like to play on next - in 2014 or a bit later ?

-Asia! I want to go to Japan so bad! Yeah, the record will be out in March or April.

Well, hopefully this interview was not as gay as last one, hahaha ! thanx a lot Jo, all the best to you and your mates for the rest of the tour and future. Hail the wizard !

-I shall forever pray at the altars within the Temple of Perdition! Hails!

https://www.facebook.com/hailthepilgrim

... WEEDPECKER 's/t" (Album Review)

Pure coincidence or not (the polish scene contains more and more great bands!), after Palm Desert, here's another band coming from Poland with WEEDPECKER... Even if it has the merit to be easily memorizable and can eventually tie a little smile on your doomed face, forget about the thoughtlessness of the band's name because there's much to concentrate on with their stunning Heavy psyched-out Stoner Rock !

Where their most prominent influences (probably Elder, Colour Haze, with a pinch of Wo Fat for some tasty fat grooves...) may have found their real own sound and audience after two or three albums, Weedpecker come from almost nowhere with this 1st album whilst revealing instantaneously a striking maturity, a true own identity and vision... I don't know if this will meet the audience it deserves but this a worthy discover really.

From the opening "Berenjena Pipe" to the closer "Weedfields", all the inside 40 minutes are marked with an heavy and melodic seal crossing the path of the best classic Stoner Metal and mindblowing Psychedelia; and again I insist on the fact to not think about the cliches surrounding the band's image (name, title songs...)  - sure, weed obviously seems to stimulate their creativity and that's great but believe me the cliches stop there, nothing to do with your usual weed-(whatever)subgenre served at so many streets corners of the globe... 

Without any retro-take feeling, the quatuor from Warsaw has polished up a crystal clear heavy sound with an ever-evolving mix of soaring melodies and sonic soundscapes chuggin' away with propulsive radiance. 

Instrumental songs like "Don't Trust your Elephant" and "Kraken" are including pretty memorable dynamics and inspiring directions; first one is a long melodic and hazy journey with reverbed guitars that puts you in cosmic territories, while the second is more crushing and has drawn out progression which pushes the band into thicker sounds, metallic and just enough dissonant to remind you that this is an all-out Heavy affair we're speaking about here ! 

There's definitely no filler, "Sativa Landscapes" is another song that doesn't lack of earth-shaterring intensity, just a few vocals in its beginning which judging by their minor presence all along the album - makes  think that the band may have been instrumental first during some time (?), it's not a real regret even they're powerful, passionate and intense, no rasp or growl, just some kind of traditional Metal singing with a somber melancholic edge taking to grunge heroes ! As rare as they can be, they're fitting well with this heavy instrumental backing ! 

Not just heavy, melodic and twisted too, the music of Weedpecker is rich and intense, although not blowing up blatantly in overstretched jams which all in all makes this album a refreshing and captivating discover that I highly recommend !

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Weedpecker/349871488424872

... PALM DESERT "Adayoff" (EP review)

Just some months ago Palm Desert from Wroclaw/Poland sparked me with their album Rotten Village Sessions and now they come up with a new release, an EP called Adayoff. Running the risk of spoiling the bottom line, I say this release is something special. It belongs into this category of music I actually don’t want to write or talk about, but I’d rather just say: “Listen to it”, because the essential points about it can’t be described by words appropriately. It’s a case of either you get what’s going on here, or you don’t.

I could, of course, tell you that the EP comprises six songs of exquisite stoner rock and its overall runtime is just short of 30 minutes.

I could tell you that the opener Leave me alone begins with a lot of blues feel put into warm fuzzy guitar sounds, heads into a heavy, stormy rock jam to find its way back to the blues again.

The second track End of the certain is a folky acoustic instrumental, demonstrating how beautiful simplicity can be, with a strong melody and an unboastful but effective  instrumentation. This is the only song that is not drenched in fuzz, but don’t worry, the fuzz comes back immediately with the next song Among the stones, together with a driving rhythm ploughing its groove through fuzzy thickness.

The strong groove continues in the following track Final scream, accompanied by a hypnotic krautrock vibe with lots of drumming goodness and guitar jam.

Dusty brings on some psychedelic moments, slow and mellow, like a daydream in soft warm summer rain. With echoing vocals, extremely relaxed and almost fading out after two-thirds through, it suddenly breaks into a hard driving groove to its end.

The closing track Overload brings yet another facet into the album, female vocals to perfect the spacey entrancing bass driven repetitive rhythms with a beautiful melody.

I could tell you all this and more, but in fact all you need to know is:

This band spends one day in the studio and comes out with this album that sounds breathtakingly soulful. It proves that brilliant musicianship doesn’t necessarily need overly intricate constructions and yet is able to create  exciting music that contains a variety of moods and facets. A kind of laid-back unobtrusive attitude and tons of heartfelt tunes is all these four guys need to create something special.

“Listen to it”

words by Ulla Roschat

https://www.facebook.com/palmdesertband

…all has fallen: SUMMONER – ‘Atlantian’ (Album Review)

With a subtle shift in direction and a name change from Riff Cannon, Boston’s atmospheric psych-rockers Summoner had released one of the great surprises of 2012 with their debut, ‘Phoenix’, a trippy, hard rocking album that didn’t receive the widespread attention that it deserved. Summoner have returned with their sophomore effort ‘Atlantian’, a sprawling, progressive journey that builds upon the elements that the band had developed on ‘Phoenix’. In addition to the catchy riffs, dual guitar harmonies, mesmerizing grooves, and psychedelic flourishes of the debut, ‘Atlantian’ swells with a languid, ethereal atmosphere resulting in an album that arguably has more depth than its predecessor. Over the span of forty-five minutes Summoner drenches the eight tracks of ‘Atlantian’ in moments of blissed-out psychedelia and bluesy, acid-tinged leads all of which are anchored by heavy riffs and an upbeat, groovy rhythm section.

What really separates ‘Atlantian’ from the band’s earlier work as either Summoner or Riff Cannon is the craftsmanship and refinement of the band’s songwriting. Rather than attack with the immediacy of ‘Phoenix’ or ‘Mercury Mountain’, ‘Atlantian’ unfolds to reveal a myriad of layers that engulf the listener. Initiated by “The Gatekeeper”, a track that captures the essence and feel of ‘Phoenix’, the album really begins to reveal its secrets on tracks two through four. “The Prophecy” begins with a mesmerizing, fluidic bassline before kicking into overdrive. The song heaves and swells, alternating between moments of lysergic groove and riff-slinging rock before plummeting into the depths of a watery abyss. “Horns of War”, another up-tempo burner, is accompanied by gusts of swirling psychedelia and intertwining dual guitar leads that melt and coalesce. “Changing Tides”, one of the softer tracks of the album, serves as an instrumental interlude that best captures the aquatic themes of ‘Atlantian’. It’s an easy-going, blissful ride that is punctuated by moments of turbulence and upheaval only to be lulled into complacency by slide guitar. Another album highlight, “Under the Crystalline Sky”, infuses elements of doom into the band’s distinct take on psychedelic stoner rock.

Though each of the tracks of ‘Atlantian’ unfold in countless directions and include a wide range of textures and tempos, it is not a huge departure from the band’s accomplishment with ‘Phoenix’. The aquatic themes of ‘Atlantian’ lend themselves to the tranquil moments and trippier atmospheres that trickle into each of the eight tracks to varying degrees. Summoner’s evolution from album-to-album has been a natural progression and despite an increase in serene, ethereal moments the album still rocks and it rocks hard. Aided by thoughtful and effective sequencing, ‘Atlantian’ is an engaging listen from start to finish, particularly for those who are seeking heavy, psychedelic metal with a progressive edge. ‘Atlantian’ is set for digital release on November 19^th but “Horns of War” and “Under the Crystalline Sky” are available to stream on Magnetic Eye Records’ Bandcamp page.

Words: Steve Miller

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Summoner/127767264005650

http://summonerboston.bandcamp.com/

http://magneticeyerecords.bandcamp.com/

... O.S.M./BARABBAS/PILGRIM/WINDHAND - Paris, November 12th LIVE REPORT !!!

It's been quite a while since I came in Paris for the last time to attend a Stoner/Doom gig; it's not that it's rare to have great gigs in the capital - but most of the time for me, who needs to take the train and got about 4 hours of travelling to get there, it implies to take a day off from work, thus this needs reflection and often concerns bands that I get to see for the 1st time like Wo Fat earlier this year !!! Well, PILGRIM one of the most promising Trad' Doom bands coming out from the US -  playing in Paris with WINDHAND whose 'Soma' is unanimoulsy acclaimed and ice on the cake - my good friends of BARABBAS, this was a mandatory move towards fucking Paris city :) 

Le KLUB was pretty much packed (around 130 - 150 doomheads) and I guess for everyone the whole evening has been pretty memorable ! 

OKLAHOMA SWAMP MONSTER opened the hostilities with an energic set of a bit more than 30 minutes. The trio is young but yet presents serious abilities for a stomping Stoner Rock based on fatty grooves paying hommage to the greatest (Kyuss, Orange Goblin, Down)... but additionally, the guys infuse aptly some breaks of swampy haziness with a slight insidious outlaws flavour which anchors definitely the band's sound with the best US codes of Heavy music. I bought their 5 tracks debut and will probably tell you more about them soon !

setlist : 

Intro - Oklaoma Swamp Monster

One Man Riot

Whyskey Drinkin' Woman

Omega

Pallinghurst Morrow

Tactical High

Last of the Mohicans

Poppin Pills one Time Machine

The cellar scene downstairs (used for both opening french bands) is quite small, that's why BARABBAS couldn't play with their usual candles which fit so well with the religious theme of their redemption through riffs and sweat... But that's a detail in the end, cause the guys were ultra-motivated and have played here their best gig of the year. 

The set started with "Horizon Golgotha" and "Barabbas", two classic stonerized Doom pieces of the debut, tonight the buddies slay harsh and I quickly feel the thrill of those memorable moments shared with bloody friends which you remember years later !

Barabbas benefit from a very well-balanced sound, something not always mastered previously and wasn't serving vocals by Rodolphe; this time we can sing, shout, growl all together in harmony and notice definitely that Rod's vocal range is more varied than one can expect from such a molossus ! What better song than the new "Judas est une Femme" to prove it with a true sensibility, the frontman is always at ease and never hesitates to come in the audience, baptized new converted preachers with beer or spite some on others... but on this one (which means "Judas is a woman") the not so rough tattoed giant seduce a few girls with emotion, supported by saint Stephane and his soaring melodies. This is simply brilliant and if "Le Sabbat dans la Cathédrale" (another new song) brings you on another level of overwhelming enjoyment, it's more by its raging up-tempo and neckbreaking chords of crushing heaviness in the long bridge leading to another sonic attack to end the song in a memorable circlepit !!! 

The set ends in an ominous version of another classic "Les 4 Cavaliers", the band is utterly sharped tonight and probably gained more than a couple of new fans; even if they played only two new songs out of five, the guys are now clearly ready for the recording of the new album (starting in januray) which will contain 7 or 8 songs and hopefully should be a fantastic passport to wider horizons on the Live front !!! 

Setlist : 

- Horizon Golgotha

- Barabbas

- Judas est une Femme

- Le Sabbat dans la Cathédrale

- les 4 Cavaliers

Time for the solemn performance of PILGRIM upstairs (both them and Windhand will be playing on the main stage) with the presence of Brad (actually drummer in the almighty Ice Dragon!!!) to compensate the lack of bassist for the tour , after the sudden departure of Count Elric a few months ago... If, logically, Jon "The Wizard"  attracts most of the attention with its aura of grand master of ceremony, one can not forget the human and musical collusion between him and drummer Krolg Splinterfist...

After an excellent debut Album, domestic and Euro tours, Roadburn... the demo era seems very far now and the band gained in maturity, crafting their sound at their image, simple yet racy, crushing and full of misery yet engaging, soaring and infectiously driving !!! 

Considering the band had just recorded its new sophomore album, it was logical to expect new songs from Pilgrim but to have downright 3 new ones was incredible ! I'd say that "Master's Chamber' and "Void Worship" are pure classical PILGRIM Doom with an impressive enhancement on maximized slowification and crushing heaviness. Maybe not as up-beated as "The Adventurer" on the 1st album, "Paladin" sounded a bit different, more of a raging one with hints of northern epic blackness... nice little misdemeanor which remains cohesive in the overall, as the tone keeps always sinister and hauntingly infectious.

Not just for me apparently and again pretty logically, the highlight of the gig was the anthemic "Astaroth", you get time to sit with the track and let Rossi build an incredibly dragging atmosphere, it's not before half way that vocals soar with grace and despaired emotiveness... a fabulous song which in some way is very representative of the band's sound !!!  One can regret the relative short length of the performance which prevented the guys to play the song "Misery Wizard", but this set gave HIGH expectations towards this much-anticipated album due to be released in the 1st weeks of next spring. Much respect and big thanx to PILGRIM for being such awesome wizards of the truest form of DOOM, also much dedicated and appreciative to their fans !!! 

setlist : 

Master's Chamber

Paladin

Astaroth

Void Worship

Hard to not have a consistent break after both those brilliant performances revigorating at 300% the flamme of each doomsters present ! time for some discussions, drinks and spliffs before getting into the mesmerizing sounds of Richmond's wordly acclaimed WINDHAND... 
First, it's a good thing to see that guitarist Asechiah Bogdan is present and recovered from health problems that imposed the band to play as a quatuor on several dates the week before... Probably this fresh comeback played a little role in the massive sonic destruction the band delivered during this excellent set !? I know Steve Miller gave it a stunning and certainly well-deserved review here a couple of months ago but it's a fact that I didn't took enough time yet to make "Soma" a serious contender on the top of my end-of year list... things could change after their mindblowing performance which luckily for me included a good balance between old and new songs (2 from the debut, one from the split with Cough and 2 from "Soma") ! 

In the days before preceding the set, I had read a couple of somewhat disturbing comments about the vocals of Dorthia Cottrell in Live conditions - being apparently a bit weak, after all she wouldn't be the first to sound too different from the studio works, women as vocalists being sometimes drowned into too massive sounds and/or eventually suffering from thin physical resistance in sometimes hard touring conditions... !? Well, if her tone might have suffered in a few moments of accuracy - but honestly the sound of Windhand in studio is really particular and it's almost impossible to retranscribe such bewitching deepness Live,  I think she was pretty convincing and totally into her set which was not something easy for sure with such a crashing performance from her fellows !!! 

I knew what WINDHAND were capable of in terms of monolithic heaviness but was nicely surprised by the dramatic and tensed strenght they put in; sure this is extremely heavy and mesmerizing but beyond sonic considerations with dissonance and massive fuzziness, there's a palpable energy that keeps you in a delightful state of half transcendencal journey, half neckbreaking captivation !!! Definitely great and as I told them when leaving that's a very cool perspective to know I'll get to see those nice people again at next Heavy Days in Doomtown :)

setlist :
Winter Sun
Amaranth
Summon the Moon
Orchard
Cassock

An excellent gig on many points, the sound was very good for everyone, not too loud - just perfect;  I would just regret a pretty strange allotment of time-playing between the bands, PILGRIM playing almost 10 minutes shorter than the opening act O.M.S., that was a bit strange and disappointing 
Anyway, thanx to you all - bands, organizers, friends - for making it definitely a memorable evening of DOOM !!! 

... An Interview with Clint from THE HAND OF DOOM radio !!!

It had been quite some time since I had a cool chat with an important supporter of the scene... Here's a long one with Clint, the nice guy behind the Hand of Doom radio - an excellent source of heavy sounds, covering the greatest, including of course some killer australian bands! Immensely dedicated, humble and simply friendly, Clint opens with passion and an impressive knowledge the gates of the Aussie underground - thanx for making it so interesting mate !!! 


Hi Clint – thanx for answering the following questions mate ! Could you please start by presenting yourself in a few lines ?

 Stephane`! Thanks man. Well, I grew up in Melbourne Australia and I’m proud of the heavy music scene here across the country, I truly believe we have well more than few fistfuls of bands that deserve international attention. I get out to as many gigs as my ears can take, and just try to spread the word as much as possible.

When did you start Hand of Doom radio ? was it something you had in mind for a while or a sudden challenge/opportunity  ? is it actually the only radio specialized in Doom coming from Australia ?

I started off having a go at the internet radio thing in April 2012, and at that point hadn’t ever thought about doing it myself. I used to regularly tune in to the Foundry Of Doom station, and still tune in here and there to the Soggy Bog of Doom podcast, Grip of Delusion, Core of Destruction radio, Heavy Planet, Heavy Handed Radio and a few other shows like the Electric Beard of Doom, Amplifier Worship etc. I think back around that early part of 2012 Foundry of Doom put out a call for any interest in helping out with their station but ultimately ended wrapping it up, that was a great station for my ears as Tommy would always have this endless stream of new bands and riffs and it was pretty much fair and square in the zone of what I’m into – you could tune in any time and just kick back to the riffs and pretty much every time you were listening you’d find something new. When that station ended I thought I’d have a bit of a go at starting one up myself.

 It’s been a learning curve, great fun and a constant stream of heavy riffs along the way. I had a go at doing a podcast show with the good people at Core of Destruction radio for a while – that was great too, good people there, but I have a crapola PC and it was simply taking me ages to put each podcast together.

There are a good bunch of excellent FM radio shows here in Australia, some of them stream live on the net too. One that particularly springs to mind is a show called “Respect the Rock” with Nicole Tadpole – an awesome and long running show on 3RRR FM radio here in Melbourne which always had the best riffs hammering and featured tons of local bands. That show was off the radio for a while but has made a welcome return this year. 

There’s also “Pilot the Dune” on 3MDR FM  hosted by the bass/singer of awesome Melbourne band Riff Fist, Cozza. Infernal Noize Radio  hosted by Wayniac Noize,  “ShockTreatment”  and on the metal side of things “Burning Bitumen” both on 3PBS FM, and “The Racket” on national FM station Triple J hosted by Lochlan Watt.

I’m not aware of any internet only stations specifically focused on Doom /Stoner /Sludge /Psych /Heavy blues in Australia other than HoD. Basically though, the genre/label you put on it doesn’t matter, if it sounds good to me, I’m more than happy to do what I can to spread the word about it. There is at least one other 24/7 internet radio station here in Australia, this one with a focus on rock & metal by Andrew Haug of the band Contrive that kicked off late last year which plays a lot of local Australian content which is great. (http://andrewhaug.com/)

Not radio as such, but I do want to give a plug to an awesome venture called “Discos Kitchen” which is a combination riff fest/experimental (very!) cooking video series presented by Stu Bacca. Stu teams up with local and international bands and puts a killer soundtrack to some often stomach churning yet strangely inspiring and hilarious 3 ingredient recipes – he’s a mad scientist at work! Check out what I’m on about here http://www.youtube.com/user/DiscosKitchen/videos.

Hand of Doom radio is streaming 24/7 – 365 days a year, are you doing all the programmation by yourself ? how often do you update the program ?

I update the station playlist almost daily, I’d say at least 4 or 5 times a week I’m in there changing things around, adding new bands. On Thursday nights here I run it direct and play the latest gear I’ve found and that’s been submitted to the station over the last week, and plug those bands all over Facebook to spread the word. I don’t program the station playlist specifically for the full 24/7, but I do program up large blocks and some themes here and there throughout the week. Its all riffs, no talk or ads, I don’t think anyone wants to hear me drone on J. Maybe down the track some mates might get involved in programming up some shows too which will add a bit more variety.

Updating the website and the blog is more of a challenge, I do need to get myself far more organized there with regular updates. There are so many great blogs like Temple of Perdition, The Sludgelord, The Sleeping Shaman, The Obelisk, Paranoid Hitsophrenic, Psychorizon, Stonerobixxx (and so many more) out there and I really have a great deal of respect for them.

I guess you must be getting requests from fans to add this or that to the current program, how is the interactivity happening with your followers ?

To me this is the most satisfying and interesting element to all of this. Hearing from bands about their upcoming or new releases, getting the word on bands to check out from fellow fans along with their requests  –  this has opened up the door to so much musical goodness out there for me. I try and pass the word along, there are so many killer bands out there who work hard at putting together the music, recording it, playing gigs etc and they deserve to be heard far and wide.

Are you following  and in contact with  other podcasts like Soggy Bog or The Wicked Lady Show ?

Yeah man there are so many great podcasts/shows out there.  Soggy Bog of Doom, Electric Beard of Doom, Amplifier Worship, Stoned Insanity, Cankle Sprainage, the list goes on and on.

HAND OF DOOM RADIO

Doom / Stoner / Sludge / Psych /Occult Rock Radio 

Playlist of last thursday (direct) show 

Do you remember who was the 1^st heavy band you listened – most probably after AC/DC  ?!  since how long have you been listening to Doom Metal, Stoner and related genres ?

Well yeah it actually was AC/DC to start with, the Fly on the Wall album hit me like a sledgehammer when I was 14 and it was a rapid downhill slide into the riff dungeon from there. Kreators ‘Extreme Aggression’, Sepultura’s ‘Beneath the Remains’ and ‘Arise’, BoltThrower’s “The IVth Crusade’, Death’s ‘Spiritual Healing’ and Coroner’s ‘No More Color’ albums took me in the metal direction, while at the same time Sabbath, Crowbar, Kyuss, Sloth, Acrimony, Sleep, Trouble, Saint Vitus, Cathedral, Fu Manchu, Church of Misery, Down and so many others were taking me in that stoner/fuzz/doom/sludge direction. Some other musical taste explosion points for me were Entombed’s “Wolverine Blues” album, that deathy stoner type sound was so damn infectious, and hearing Yob for the very first time, ‘Universe Throb’ and ‘Clear Seeing’from Elaborations of Carbon and that album overall…that was just amazing. Still very much into the metal side of things, but that ‘tune low, play slow’ vibe seems to resonate more strongly with me these days.

What’s the general opinion on Metal in Australia – are people respecting it and does it get some exposure/consideration  in the general medias ? 

There’s a very healthy field of heavy bands in Australia, and it definitely gets the respect of the people. Certainly here in Melbourne the gigs are well attended. In the mainstream media, like anywhere else in the world I’d imagine, exposure is limited. There’s some great magazines like Veri.live (every issue comes with a 7” vinyl!) and Heavy mag which spread the word on whats happening in the world of rock & metal here. There are a good deal of local FM radio shows which support metal in Australia which I talked about before.

So, did you recover from both successive SLEEP shows you attended last week-end in Melbourne and Sydney ? Was that the 1^st time they were touring Australia ?

This was the first Sleep tour of Australia, yeh. We’ve had Om and High on Fire here a few times now which has been superb, but I don’t think anybody here ever expected to see Sleep. They were so impressive man, can’t really put it into words.

How is the audience composed in that kind of gigs ? does a band like SLEEP bring hipsters and people you’ll never see in a more underground line-up or does this kind of sound only interest people that are really aware of underground heavy stuff ?

Just anyone who knows what good music is (well, in my opinion anyway hah!) was there I reckon. All ages, all walks of life – I reckon it got a few people up off the couch that hadn’t been out to see a gig in ages. That’s the sort of band Sleep are hey, too good to miss.

It looks like you enjoy chatting with your idols, after Church of Misery a couple of weeks before, you had cool moments shared  discussing with Pike… was he excited to play in this part of the globe ?  didn’t he accept a picture with you or didn’t you ask for it ?!

For sure – you know , the Church of Misery shows were some of the best I’ve been to. Mika & the band are such genuinely nice people, the best, so generous with their time and genuinely appreciative of their fans. They hung out all day long at The Tote gig, helped cook the BBQ, talked to everyone who wanted to say hi, gladly signed everyones merch and thanked everyone . Oh, and they put on one of the most stunning live shows ever. This is a band that delivers on every front –Australia wants them to come back every year! Heck, I think its beyond doubt that they are now honorary Aussies!. My girlfriend & I did have a chat with Matt before the Sleep show in Melbourne, and just like the Church of Misery guys he was generous with his time and genuinely excited to be playing here. We got so caught up in talking to him that we didn’t ask for a photo, but he would’ve been up for it no problems had we asked.

It’s related to the HoD radio but besides this,  one of the other reasons I wanted to interview you was because of your important knowledge and support of the Australian scene, which as you know is definitely under-exposed over here,  hopefully guys like you do a great job to make things evolute…  do you think that your geographical remoteness is the only explanation to the relative difficulties of Australian bands to get more attention ? in this internet era,  there should be an evolution towards this problem… don’t you think ?

It is really building here you know, so many great bands are playing shows regularly and putting out albums which really should see them getting that international exposure. I do notice it happening more and more – the latest albums from bands like Adrift for Days and Clagg have gotten very positive reviews from all around the world, and Whitehorse from Melbourne are playing Roadburn and MDF next year. Some local bands are going all out to make it happen for themselves, getting the $ together via fundraising campaigns such as Pozible to head overseas and play shows, Melbourne stoner rock band Don Fernando are currently on tour in South America after having successfully achieved support through just such a campaign. On the metal side, Melbourne heavy grinders King Parrott self funded a tour of Indonesia playing the Obscene Extreme festival and have signed a 3 album worldwide deal with Candlelight records, and the brilliant Psycroptic from Tasmania are currently touring Japan. Rituals of the Oak from Sydney played shows in the US in 2012 too.

Sure the remoteness is an obstacle, but the bands I’ve just mentioned are just a few that have managed to overcome it with sheer hard work & determination. The internet absolutely helps – music specific platforms like Bandcamp can be particularly effective and see the bands really manage what they put out to the world and see a decent $ return direct to the band. Bands are finding it easier to set up a presence on Bandcamp, Bigcartel, Reverbnation and the like and get a very wide coverage. To a degree Spotify and other such music streaming programs can also help listeners find new bands. More and more Australian bands are making better use of these sorts of sites and I’m sure this will see some of them get some great opportunities not only in landing supports with international bands touring Australia, but should also see them get overseas overcome that geographical challenge.

More overseas heavy bands are heading to Australian shores thanks in large part to the efforts of Robert MacManus & Heathen Skulls touring  and the annual Doomsday Festival, along with Life is Noise  and festivals such as Soundwave – this is vitally important in growing the heavy scene here and providing those opportunities for local bands to share the stage with legends of the scene such as Saint Vitus, Church of Misery, Sleep etc, but those bands and their crew also return home with great words to say about the Aussie bands, it all helps.

Who’s been the 1^st Doom band coming out from Australia ? symbolically I’d say Disembowelment but I’m sure there has been some proto-doom bands quite some time before them… ?

I’m no expert on the history of the Australian doom scene, that’s something you can put money on. Owing in part to living away from Melbourne in an area devoid of a genuine live music scene for about 8 years I missed a lot of the early years of the bands that are really hitting their straps now, such as Whitehorse for example. Obviously a killer band, and have been around for a lot of years, and I only caught them live for the first time at this years Doomsday Festival and they are punishing live.    Here ‘doom’ in its various forms  has been kicking along for a lot of years – Disembowelment would have to have been one of the first Australian bands to gain international recognition with a ‘doom’ tag, more locally in Australia we had Christbait who had a great influence with the heavy ‘stoner’ sludge/metal riffs, and also  Pod People who ended up being signed to Rise Above, and Cruciform.  Christbait and Blood Duster, whilst not doom as such, were to my mind influential here as well and are known far and wide.

You mention ‘proto-doom’, that makes me immediately think of Buffalo in terms of being a forerunner here in that heavier riffing style throughout the 70’s – one listen to a track such as  ‘Shylock’ from the ‘Volcanic Rock’ album should explain it better than I can here.

I remember being a great fan of your death metal scene from the late 80’s/early 90’s with Slaughter Lord, Sadistik Exekution, Nomenclature Diablerie,  Necrotomy, Anatomy, Acheron, Christbait, Disembowelment… this scene was extremely promising but things didn’t really take off for most of them… who has been a true leader for the underground scene to keep it alive through time and jump into the new century ?

Death metal isn’t something I’ve ever personally delved into much. I wouldn’t classify them death metal as such, but Christbait’s album ‘dirtypunkmutha’ would have to be one of the all time classics. Craig Westwood from Christbait and Jason PC from Blood Duster form up “Dern Rutlidge”, one of the all time great Australian bands alongside Warped, Thumlock, Peeping Tom (not the Mike Patton band!) , Pod People, Blood Duster and Legends of Motorsport to name a few. Peeping Tom, Craig and Jason V from Christbait are now in a band called The Ruiner here in Melbourne, a band that also features members of Blood Duster, Legends of Motorsport & Pillow. Youngy (Matt Young), currently the frontman of grind metallers King Parrot has to my mind been a driving force in the band scene, along with Gerasimos from Peeping Tom, Sons of the Ionian Sea and TTDC – these guys have been a key ingredient of a slew of Melbourne bands.

Supporting the bands, encouring the scene and arranging killer tours are Robert MacManus of Heathen Skulls, Nathan Millet from Sydney band Summonus, and I’m sure there are others I’m not aware of – their efforts have really been instrumental in paving the way for international bands to tour successfully here. Skye Bird & The Devils Kitchen crew put on great gigs around the country each year too.

Also Jason PC from Blood Duster, not only from the influential bands he’s played in but also the bands he has recorded over the years, helping others to put out great albums, working on the recent Clagg and I Exist albums for example. The guys from Melbourne band Dead are real hard working and apart from gigging constantly they bring some great underground acts out. There are people like Nathan Millet who is in Summonus and Los Hombres del Diablo, as well as promoting gigs and touring bands, and Anthony Von Grimm who is in Yanomamo and Berzerkerfox and also runs an online record store/label – there would be others who are multitasking like this and contributing to the scene on a few fronts.

My take on this here is though definitely Melbourne-centric as that’s where I’ve grown up, but I don’t think it comes down to any one person or city in particular that I know of that has been a ‘true leader’ for the underground scene – it really genuinely seems to be a the combined effort of a lot of the people in bands that have formed great friendships. When one band falls it seems that two or three rise in its place, usually with more than a few familiar faces, and they then take things to the next level. Vital as well is that there are a whole bunch of great band venues, though as economic times get tougher we are starting to see a few shutting down here and there which is really unfortunate.

I remember too that at this time American death metal bands were invading Australia for the 1^st time (and “kidnapping” beautiful  Australian fans - Trey Azagthoth at least, hahaha !), I suppose the flow must have been constant for death metal since then but it looks like it took quite some time to get the Doom/Stoner bands coming to you… ?

Black Sabbath toured here in ’73, then returned 40 years later in 2013 – now that’s a long time between drinks hah :) . This is by no means whatsoever intended to be a comprehensive list at all, but in terms of other notable doom/stoner kinda bands touring Australia we had Kyuss here supporting Metallica in ’93, Cathedral and Paradise Lost in ’95, Queens of the Stoneage in 2000, Electric Wizard in 2005. No doubt about it though, in the last 4 years the floodgates have really started to open up, and this last 2 years or so in particular has been amazing. Saint Vitus, Eyehategod, High on Fire, Black Breath, Om, Sleep, Church of Misery, Eagle Twin, Earth, Russian Circles, Dead Meadow, Cathedral, Paradise Lost, Bardo Pond, Monarch, Scott Kelly, The Atomic Bitchwax, Unida, Beastwars, The Truckfighters, Red Fang, The Sword, Ghost, Kingdom of Sorrow, Kyuss Lives, Chelsea Wolfe, Fu Manchu, Black Cobra, and I’m pretty sure there’s many more I’ve forgotten.

Kylesa, Earthless, The Shrine, Kadavar, Blues Pills, Clutch, Eagles of Death Metal, Graveyard, Lecherous Gaze, Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats are all playing here in the near future, so the freight train is showing no signs of slowing down!

While I’m at it  -  I had a great penpal/tapetrader named Leo Moretti who was an excellent growler in a band called Humorous Suffocation (previously called Morbid Terror), he used to run a zine called Trout Fishing in Australia which I contributed a bit for… if anyone reading this knows this guy, it would be cool to give him a big hug from my part !!!

We’ve covered a few of them here - since the beginning of the blog, with Rituals of the Oak, Dire Fate, Rote Mare, Clagg, Law of the Tongue, Motherslug, Adrift for Days, Mournful Congregation, Eldritch Rites, etc… but I’m sure there’s tons more to discover as the scene seems very active and diverse too, could you please present a couple of bands from each of our fave genres (Doom, Stoner, sludge, Heavy-Blues, psyche rock) that should retain our attention ?

The Temple of Perdition blog has certainly shown a keen interest in Aussie bands over time, no doubt, and you’ve listed a fistful of great bands right there. To add to that (and apologies in advance for anyone I leave out here, or if you have a different take on the labels for reference purposes!) you have (sludge) Yanomamo, Dead, Spacebong, Fattura Della Morte, Broozer – (stoner) Wicked City, Riff Fist, Lomera, Sumeru, The Ruiner, TTTDC, The Devil Rides Out, Bayou, Legends of Motorsport, Arrowhead, Daredevil, Milkmaids, King of the North, Don Fernando, System of Venus, Olmeg, CockfightShootout, Swidgen, Budd, Golden Bats, Shellfin, Sun Shepherd, My Left Boot, The Surefire Midnights, Chainsaw Hookers, to name some, as well as I Exist in the hardcore/stoner realm – those guys have a new album due out very soon, killer artwork on it from Richey Beckett, and they were awesome supporting Black Breath earlier in the year.

More in the doom realms are Whitehorse, Clagg,  Agonhymn, Horsehunter, Zodiac, Judd Madden, Nous. Whitehorse have just released a new split ep with, Claggs new album ‘Gather Your Beasts’ is awesome and is getting great reviews around the world, Agonhymn are releasing some vinyl soon, possibly a split with Sydney sludgemasters Yanomamo.  Horsehunter are a killer young band out of Melbourne that to my mind have a ton of promise, they’re definitely delivering mega riffs at their live shows which have been going off. Those guys are working hard on their debut album which will be a cracker, so keep your eye out for that. Sons of the Ionian Sea are heavy heavy blues with plenty of doom in the mix, and they’re  in the process of recording their next album and this will be insane riff goodness - SOTIS are true musicians and they play heavy and with unrelenting passion.

In the heavy rock/blues/psych type arena we have some killer bands here: Child (https://www.facebook.com/childtheband) who have their debut album set for release in early 2014 – this will be a guaranteed ripping album, ridiculously great live band. Looking Glass and Mother Mars are shining examples of psych/heavy rock also, live they both jam up a storm and they have released a fistful of great albums between them too. Again, apologies to any of the awesome bands I may have forgotten to mention here – Stephane` you may have to let me send in details on anything I’ve overlooked!

Is the XL size of your country a real problem to tour easily for national bands themselves ? is there a great part of the country that isn’t even worth visiting as not enough crowded ?

It is definitely a mission, and an expensive one at that, for bands in Western Australia to tour the east coast and vice versa. That said a good bunch of bands make the trek, and apart from how damn good these bands are its all the more reason people get out and support them by showing up, buying some merch and shouting them a few beers. For international touring bands, its really important that people recognize the importance of buying the tickets in advance rather than waiting to get them on the door at the venue on gig day. It seems that a few planned shows in Perth and Adelaide over the last few years have fallen through due to poor advance ticket sales, so this seems to be one area where the punters can do more to ensure that they end up getting to see those bands.

Hand of Doom also became a blog this summer, why this ? are you planning to post on a regular basis or does it only depend of the time left for this after the usual business ? What will be the next step now, a label or … ?!!!  What would you like to improve and/or develop in the H.o.D. radio for the future ?

I’d definitely like this to be more than it is currently in terms of the station and the blog. I have the utmost respect for the great blogs out there that are regularly updated with reviews, so many are well organized and have contributors from all over the world. Stations like Core of Destruction and Grip of Delusion have a lot more variety than HoD by the very essence of them being a team effort, many people contributing their own podcasts which makes for great diversity in addition to that human element with the “dj’s” doing interviews and talking about the bands etc. I wanted to start the blog within the website, but had some difficulty trying to get that to happen (I’m a html novice!) so I started one separate to the site. It will be updated regularly with album & gig reviews, word on great bands I’ve come across and the like, but it wont be updated as regularly as the great professional blogs like Temple of Perdition, The Obelisk, Heavy Planet, Psychorizon, Stonerobixxx, The Sludgelord etc  are. I guess I’m keeping it simple (mainly because I don’t have the time or talent to make it more detailed) and I intend the station/blog etc to have always have a solid chunk of Australian band content, all riffs & none of me yammering away into a microphone, I’ll spare the world that burden hah.

 

Clint, you’ll be coming to Roadburn next april… congrats for this, I’m sure this will be a memorable experience for you ! while you’re at it, you should then do the Heavy Days in Doomtown a couple of weeks later in Copenhagen and we’ll meet there, hahaha !!! will this be your 1^st coming in Europe ? Do you imagine it much different from where you live ? do you have any kind of special expectations towards Europe ?

This will be my first trip to Europe. Heavy Days in Doomtown will be a stretch to make that for sure, but so very tempting – if we don’t catch up there maybe we’ll  have a few beers at Desertfest Berlin? I imagine Europe will be a complete contrast to Australia – so many countries to visit and it sounds fairly easy to get around. With all of these great bands touring through for Roadburn , Desertfest and HDDT, and fans from around the globe all heading over I’m hoping it’s going to be one big party – hopefully I’ll get some sightseeing done in-between ringing ears and hangovers haha.

Thanx a lot for your good words Clint, all the best to you and keep on doomin’ the world !!!

Thank you Stephane` for all the great work you do with Temple of Perdition and the contributions you make to other such ventures in supporting the scene, and cheers for taking the time to put together the questions man. All the best, Clint.

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