RIDE FOR REVENGE King Of Snakes (Bestial Burst) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NOW ON CASSETTE!!
We talk a lot about how weird Finland is, so before we go any further, let us apologize to the majority of Finland who to be fair are probably not weird at all. Now that we've got that out of the way, HOLY SHIT! Is there no end to the amazing and damaged and demented music coming out of Finland. We're beginning to think not.
The latest evidence comes in the form of the brand new full length from Ride For Revenge, who we first heard a while back on a split with fellow countrymen Torturium, their half of the split a downtuned black trudge, like Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT but with that impossible to describe Finnish something that transforms everything into some special sort of what-the-fuck. Creepy synths, plodding drums, grinding guitar and harsh vocals, not exactly black metal, not in the traditional sense at least, but most definitely metal.
On King Of Snakes however, the band have gotten even weirder, and distinctly less metal, but no less heavy. Supposedly there are guitars, but to our ears it just sounds like just drums and lots and lots of bass. Each song a plodding doomic lurch, the drums pounding out a simple rhythm, the riff repeating over and over, most songs with just a single part, very mesmerizing and hypnotic. Like a caveman Circle or a guitarless Gore, these guys just bash out endlessly cycling looped low end and killer crushing doom drum pound. The vocals are a super affected gurgling growl, not in the death metal sense, instead, super dramatic, intoning unspeakable evils, a rumbling demonic baritone, peppered with the occasional super delay drenched goat metal grunt.
Some tracks also have cool creepy keyboards as well, that add all sort of mood and texture, and it's not cheesy metal synth either, it's all strange analog buzz, a sort of krautrocky blur draped over the endlessly pounding groove.
Ride For Revenge are another one of those black metal bands, who seem to be black metal more out of pedigree than sound, but even though this doesn't sound like metal, it is most definitely black. It sounds a bit like Godheadsilo jamming with Finnish alchemical dronelords Tiermes, with the occasional injection of Hawkwinded FX and SUNN-drenched rumble, mysterious and murky swaths of throbbing low end thrum wrapped around the drums like some evil warlock's cloak.
Imagine if Amphetamine Reptile was a black metal label... then these guys would be Halo Of Flies... Most definitely one of our new favorite 'black metal' records...
MPEG Stream: "Erotic Needs In Emotional Void"
MPEG Stream: "Disturbed By Spiritual Tormentors"
MPEG Stream: "Death Of The Feeble Masses"

RIDE FOR REVENGE Under The Eye (KVLT / Bestial Burst) cd 13.98
The thing about Finnish black metal weirdos Ride For Revenge, is that really, they are hardly even black metal. Hell, hardly metal at all. Instead, they always seemed to traffic in a mysterious low slung, sludgy abstract blackened rhythmic minimalism that reminded us of Circle and Aluk Todolo way more than Darkthrone or Beherit. And then there's RfR offshoot Will Over Matter, who take that same sort of abstract rhythmic weirdness and harness it to primitive electronics, and have created a sort of tripped out blackened power electronics. So of course we were super excited for a new Ride For Revenge, and were expecting another disc of twisted rhythmic churn, or something similar, but what we were not expecting was THIS. After a truly strange intro, which is essentially just a Speak & Spell toy emitting all those 8bit bleeps and bloops and wreathed in echo and delay, which had us imagining maybe RfR had moved toward Will Over Matter sonically, but then when the first song proper kicked in, we were blown away. Metal. And we mean METAL. Dirgey and sludgey and super distorted. Right out of the gate, the band erupt into some seriously corrosive blasts of full on blast beat-ed GRIND, in between which, the band churn and lumber, the guitars filthy and crumbling with blackened distortion, the vocals a glass gargling gurgle, the drums a simple dirgey pound, so we were prepared for the band's return to full on primitive blackness, but then out of nowhere, in swoop all manner of weird warbly synths, and tolling bells, the whole song transformed into some sort of woozy avant buzz drenched doomic dirge, it's pretty ruling.
But then by track two, it's right back to the primitive bash and pound, the distortion even more blown out and in the red, the band sounding a bit like a blackened Brainbombs, which is not at all a bad thing, the songs peppered with ridiculous twisted drug addled guitar leads, super effected crooned gothic vox, some totally fucked up and freaked out Butthole Surfers style vocal garble, cool thick layered harmonies, that add a sort of warped majesty to some of the tracks, and at least one blast of weird bellowed, strident sermonizing beneath a cloud of in-the-red white noise skree.
There are a couple tracks that strip away some of the crumble and buzz, and harken back to the more purely rhythmic RfR of old, but those moments are brief, the band quickly slipping back into their woozy sea sick doom-sludge churn, but even then, pretty much every stretch of seemingly pure raw blackened doomic primitivism, is in fact seriously fucked up, whether that fucked upness is in your face, or buried way below the surface, it's there, and it keeps Under The Eye firmly rooted in whatever fucked Finnish tradition RfR oozes from...
MPEG Stream: "Second Gate Opened With Power"
MPEG Stream: "For Those About To Kneel"
MPEG Stream: "The Gutter And The Grave"
MPEG Stream: "Under The Eye"

RIDE FOR REVENGE Under The Eye (KVLT / Bestial Burst) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The thing about Finnish black metal weirdos Ride For Revenge, is that really, they are hardly even black metal. Hell, hardly metal at all. Instead, they always seemed to traffic in a mysterious low slung, sludgy abstract blackened rhythmic minimalism that reminded us of Circle and Aluk Todolo way more than Darkthrone or Beherit. And then there's RfR offshoot Will Over Matter, who take that same sort of abstract rhythmic weirdness and harness it to primitive electronics, and have created a sort of tripped out blackened power electronics. So of course we were super excited for a new Ride For Revenge, and were expecting another disc of twisted rhythmic churn, or something similar, but what we were not expecting was THIS. After a truly strange intro, which is essentially just a Speak & Spell toy emitting all those 8bit bleeps and bloops and wreathed in echo and delay, which had us imagining maybe RfR had moved toward Will Over Matter sonically, but then when the first song proper kicked in, we were blown away. Metal. And we mean METAL. Dirgey and sludgey and super distorted. Right out of the gate, the band erupt into some seriously corrosive blasts of full on blast beat-ed GRIND, in between which, the band churn and lumber, the guitars filthy and crumbling with blackened distortion, the vocals a glass gargling gurgle, the drums a simple dirgey pound, so we were prepared for the band's return to full on primitive blackness, but then out of nowhere, in swoop all manner of weird warbly synths, and tolling bells, the whole song transformed into some sort of woozy avant buzz drenched doomic dirge, it's pretty ruling.
But then by track two, it's right back to the primitive bash and pound, the distortion even more blown out and in the red, the band sounding a bit like a blackened Brainbombs, which is not at all a bad thing, the songs peppered with ridiculous twisted drug addled guitar leads, super effected crooned gothic vox, some totally fucked up and freaked out Butthole Surfers style vocal garble, cool thick layered harmonies, that add a sort of warped majesty to some of the tracks, and at least one blast of weird bellowed, strident sermonizing beneath a cloud of in-the-red white noise skree.
There are a couple tracks that strip away some of the crumble and buzz, and harken back to the more purely rhythmic RfR of old, but those moments are brief, the band quickly slipping back into their woozy sea sick doom-sludge churn, but even then, pretty much every stretch of seemingly pure raw blackened doomic primitivism, is in fact seriously fucked up, whether that fucked upness is in your face, or buried way below the surface, it's there, and it keeps Under The Eye firmly rooted in whatever fucked Finnish tradition RfR oozes from...
MPEG Stream: "Second Gate Opened With Power"
MPEG Stream: "For Those About To Kneel"
MPEG Stream: "The Gutter And The Grave"
MPEG Stream: "Under The Eye"

RIDE FOR REVENGE Under The Eye (KVLT / Bestial Burst) cassette 7.98
ALSO ON CASSETTE...
The thing about Finnish black metal weirdos Ride For Revenge, is that really, they were hardly even black metal. Hell, hardly metal at all. Instead, they seemed to traffic in a mysterious low slung, sludgy abstract blackened rhythmic minimalism that reminded us of Circle and Aluk Todolo way more than Darkthrone or Beherit. And then there's RfR offshoot Will Over Matter, who take that same sort of abstract rhythmic weirdness and harness it to primitive electronics, and have created a sort of tripped out blackened power electronics. So of course we were super excited for a new Ride For Revenge, and were expecting another disc of twisted rhythmic churn, or something similar, but what we were not expecting was THIS. After a truly strange intro, which is essentially just a Speak & Spell toy emitting all those 8bit bleeps and bloops and wreathed in echo and delay, which had us imagining maybe RfR had moved toward Will Over Matter sonically, but then when the first song proper kicked in, we were blown away. Metal. And we mean METAL. Dirgey and sludgey and super distorted. Right out of the gate, the band erupt into some seriously corrosive blasts of full on blast beat-ed GRIND, in between which, the band churn and lumber, the guitars filthy and crumbling with blackened distortion, the vocals a glass gargling gurgle, the drums a simple dirgey pound, so we were prepared for the band's return to full on primitive blackness, but then out of nowhere, in swoop all manner of weird warbly synths, and tolling bells, the whole song transformed into some sort of woozy avant buzz drenched doomic dirge, it's pretty ruling.
But then by track two, it's right back to the primitive bash and pound, the distortion even more blown out and in the red, the band sounding a bit like a blackened Brainbombs, which is not at all a bad thing, the songs peppered with ridiculous twisted drug addled guitar leads, super effected crooned gothic vox, some totally fucked up and freaked out Butthole Surfers style vocal garble, cool thick layered harmonies, that add a sort of warped majesty to some of the tracks, and at least one blast of weird bellowedcstrident sermonizing beneath a cloud of in-the-red white noise skree.
There are a couple tracks that strip away some of the crumble and buzz, and harken back to the more purely rhythmic RfR of old, but those moments are brief, the band quickly slipping back into their woozy sea sick doom-sludge churn, but even then, pretty much every stretch of seemingly pure raw blackened doomic primitivism, is in fact seriously fucked up, whether that fucked upness is in your face, or buried way below the surface, it's there, and it keeps Under The Eye firmly rooted in whatever fucked Finnish tradition RfR oozes from...
MPEG Stream: "Second Gate Opened With Power"
MPEG Stream: "For Those About To Kneel"
MPEG Stream: "The Gutter And The Grave"
MPEG Stream: "Under The Eye"

RIDE FOR REVENGE Wisdom Of The Few (Bestial Burst) cd 14.98
The long awaited return of Finnish black metal weirdos Ride For Revenge, and when we say weird, we do in fact mean WEIRD. We sort of forget about these guys when we're going on about the most fucked and damaged black metal ever, and maybe that's because their sound ends up being SO fucked up and freaky that it almost ceases being black metal entirely, instead, they seem to traffic in some sort of bass and drums, downtuned doom dirge, a series of hypnotic loops, locked riffs, all completely fractured and crumbling and confusional.
In the review of the last RfR record, King Of Snakes, we mentioned Amphetamine Reptile, and Halo Of Flies, Winter and diSEMBOWLEMENT, Gore and Circle. On Wisdom Of The Few, they continue on in that same baffling blackened trajectory resulting in a sound that off the top of our heads sounds a little like Om and Faxed Head. Right. Most metalheads we'd imagine will not be pleased, as this is seriously wacked, more textural and rhythmic than riffy and buzzy, it again sounds mostly like just bass and drums, but that's once you make it past the lurching, stumbling, guitar intro, streaks of feedback are all tangled up with a strangled reverb drenched guitar, playing out some sort of fractured atonal riff, the entire thing peppered with bits of hiss and glitch, before finally exploding into the lo-fi dirgery of the title track. A super murky muddy looped riff, pounding drums, rumbling low end, and some croaked demonic gurgles, the sound is super in the red, the drum fills peg the needles, but it still manages to sound muddy and subterranean. The drums and bass (or extremely downtuned guitar) locked into a mantra-like loop, the cymbals super hot, a relentless crash and sizzle, again reminding us of a blackened super minimal Gore. But things get even weirder. The clouds of hiss and glitch from the opening track return, and suddenly the sound is not metal so much as some sort of abstract doomy drone. A bass riff pounded out over and over and over, while around it, static crumbles and buzzes, sheets of feedback drift off in the distance, the 'groove' is peppered with little squalls of scrape and crunch, all underpinning a creepy spoken vocal.
The next track is even weirder (or perhaps just as weird), the drums wrapped in weird warped FX, pounding out a simple propulsive beat, wrapped in flanger and phaser, sounding super space-y while all around it, the gurgling demonic vocalist grunts and gurgles, over another totally mesmerizing black groove. Let's not describe the next track as weirder than the one before, cuz it's gonna seem ridiculous after a while, needless to say, it's weird in a different, equally twisted way. A deep whirring rumbling low end, a skittery almost funky krautrock beat, a heavily accented voice speaking ominously and dramatically, the voice switching from speaker to speaker, the drums shifting and subtly speeding up and slowing down, the rumbling drone-y buzz, occasionally revving up, then revving back down. Fucked up for sure, but so creepy and cool.
"Morning Won't Bring A Twinkling Star" is the longest track here, and manages to merge many of RfR's disparate elements into one epic sprawling blackened rhythmscape, a loping drum beat, a woozy seasick bassline, the drums distorted and motorik, the vocals reverbed and haunting, before slipping into a long stretch of warped low end warble and high end sine wave shimmer, before lurching back into blackened action. The record finishes off with a brief soundscape, equal parts distorted crunch, moaning feedback, downtuned flutter, minimal whirring synth, thick doomy buzz and FX drenched warble.
Woah. It's like dipping your head into a garbage disposal grinding up muddy murky chunks of Darkthrone, Aluk Todolo, Gore, Faxed Head, Circle, Urfaust, Geronimo and Lightning Bolt at 16rpm, a utterly demented and genius mix of freaked out, lobotomized black sound, a total mind melting, speaker shredding, ear punishing, minimal post black metal mind fuck. SO FUCKING AWESOME!
MPEG Stream: "Ghostship"
MPEG Stream: "Wisdom Of The Few"
MPEG Stream: "Dungeons Of The Original Sin"
MPEG Stream: "Morning Won't Bring A Twinkling Star"

RIDE FOR REVENGE / TORTURIUM split (Bestial Burst) cd ep 9.98
ATTENTION FINNISH MUSIC FREAKS!!! It isn't all forest folk and hypnotic space rock over there you know. Finland has some serious metal bands as amazing, as heavy and as fucked up as anyplace else, maybe even more so. Just off the top of our heads, Dead Reptile Shrine! Maybe the weirdest black metal band ever, Reverend Bizarre, amazing classic doom, and let's see... Horna, Thergothon, Circle Of Ouroborus, Spiritus Mortis, Stumm, Wyrd, Vultyr, Trollheim's Grott, Uncreation's Dawn, we could go on and on and on...
So here we have a split from two Finnish black metal one man bands, one name you might recognize, the other you might not, but both are equally amazing.
It takes a very special band to share a split with the mighty and mighty demented Dead Reptile Shrine, but Torturium were up to the job, as evidenced on their recent split with DRC reviewed right here a few months back. Here they continue on their damaged and convoluted journey through some off kilter black thrash buzzscape. Midtempo and completely blown out, guitars are thick snarling beasts, flaying the flesh fron your skin, while some of the most anguished vocals EVER soar and shriek, the drums a murky thud, everything chaotic and crazed. Blasting and buzzing relentlessly, the whole thing threatening to come hunhinged and fly into sharp jagged pieces. Fucked up and furious and so great.
Torturium shares the split with fellow counryman Ride For Revenge, who with a name like that you might expect some classic thrash, but this is anything but. Muddy downtuned guitars, harsh vocals and simple pounding drums, all woven into some sort of murky dirgey black doom. Midtempo rhythms, drums WAY up in the mix, everything sort of droney and hypnotic, tons of reverb, weird swaths of creepy clean guitar, everything cloudy and indistinct, a super old school production like Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT, fuzzy and relentlessly, trudging through thick FX drenched drifts of black buzz and weird whorls of creepy haunted house synth. So cool and so weird. Definitely a new favorite, and another notch in Finland's holster, or bedpost, or whatever. SO RECOMMENDED!!!
MPEG Stream: RIDE FOR REVENGE "On The Rays Of Victory"
MPEG Stream: TORTURIUM "Blasphemous Contemplation Of The Void"

RIDE FOR REVENGE / TORTURIUM split (Bestial Burst) 10" 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorite weirdo metal matchups, Finland vs. Finland, Ride For Revenge vs. Torturium, gets the deluxe vinyl reissue treatment. Fancy gatefold sleeve, thick 10" vinyl, here's us raving about the cd when we first got it in:
ATTENTION FINNISH MUSIC FREAKS!!! It isn't all forest folk and hypnotic space rock over there you know. Finland has some serious metal bands as amazing, as heavy and as fucked up as anyplace else, maybe even more so. Just off the top of our heads, Dead Reptile Shrine! Maybe the weirdest black metal band ever, Reverend Bizarre, amazing classic doom, and let's see... Horna, Thergothon, Circle Of Ouroborus, Spiritus Mortis, Stumm, Wyrd, Vultyr, Trollheim's Grott, Uncreation's Dawn, we could go on and on and on...
So here we have a split from two Finnish black metal one man bands, one name you might recognize, the other you might not, but both are equally amazing.
It takes a very special band to share a split with the mighty and mighty demented Dead Reptile Shrine, but Torturium were up to the job, as evidenced on their recent split with DRC reviewed right here a few months back. Here they continue on their damaged and convoluted journey through some off kilter black thrash buzzscape. Midtempo and completely blown out, guitars are thick snarling beasts, flaying the flesh from your skin, while some of the most anguished vocals EVER soar and shriek, the drums a murky thud, everything chaotic and crazed. Blasting and buzzing relentlessly, the whole thing threatening to come unhinged and fly into sharp jagged pieces. Fucked up and furious and so great.
Torturium shares the split with fellow countryman Ride For Revenge, who with a name like that you might expect some classic thrash, but this is anything but. Muddy downtuned guitars, harsh vocals and simple pounding drums, all woven into some sort of murky dirgey black doom. Midtempo rhythms, drums WAY up in the mix, everything sort of droney and hypnotic, tons of reverb, weird swaths of creepy clean guitar, everything cloudy and indistinct, a super old school production like Winter or diSEMBOWELMENT, fuzzy and relentlessly, trudging through thick FX drenched drifts of black buzz and weird whorls of creepy haunted house synth. So cool and so weird. Definitely a new favorite, and another notch in Finland's holster, or bedpost, or whatever. SO RECOMMENDED!!!
MPEG Stream: RIDE FOR REVENGE "On The Rays Of Victory"
MPEG Stream: TORTURIUM "Blasphemous Contemplation Of The Void"

RIGGS, DAX If This Is Hell, Then I'm Lucky (Fat Possum) cd 14.98
As always, we were way ahead of the curve. You were too, right there with us. Going all the way back to Acid Bath, that seminal NOLA rock band, that somehow combined Eyehategod style sludge, and groovy dramatic emotional rock a la Alice In Chains or Katatonia or Jeff Buckley, we were proclaiming that not only should Acid Bath have been HUGE, but AB frontman Dax Riggs should be a rock star. So here we are over ten years later, and all that time, Riggs has continued on, first with Agents Of Oblivion, then Deadboy And The Elephantmen, all groups and records we LOVED, and played incessantly, but still, Dax and co. lurked way underground, barely even making a ripple in the mainstream music world.
But come last year, Riggs resurfaced, performing live and releasing a pretty decent disc (that we've yet to review), and suddenly being pushed hard, his sound, not all that different from Agents Of Oblivion, but now with some promotional real label muscle behind him. Unfortunately, not much happened with his solo record, so it was time for plan B, the first Deadboy And The Elephantmen record, re-released as a Riggs sort-of-solo record. Fair enough. We proclaimed it genius way way back when, and time has done nothing but demonstrate what a killer slab of dark grooviness and intensely emotional heaviness this record is, was and continues to be. So since lots of folks may not have been around when we first gushed about this disc, figured this was the perfect time to gush again.
Years and years ago, the big rock n' roll sleeper hit here at Aquarius had to be the awesome Agents Of Oblivion album, featuring two crucial ex-members of the late lamented cult band Acid Bath. Heavy, poppy, psychedelic rock with vocalist Dax Riggs crooning beautifully over it all. We shoulda made it record of the week, we all thought in retrospect. It became one of our favorite records EVER. We were really bummed then to hear that the Agents, like Acid Bath before 'em, broke up not long after the album's release. But, rumors filtered in that Dax and a new crew of New Orleans n'er-do-wells had formed a new band with the unlikely name of Deadboy and the Elephantmen to carry on where the Agents left off. Allan confirmed this when he happened to visit N.O. and was lucky enough to catch a live performance from this new band. They had a demo out then, and we anticipated a full album release on some big label to appear soon...we waited...and waited... and eventually a Deadboy record did come out, but the band had to release it themselves, since once again, the big labels had no idea and dropped the ball big time. Mystifiying, 'cause Dax is a rock star if ever there was one, and these guys should have been HUGE. This record is epic and darkly dramatic, heavy and groovy and weird as fuck, but also catchy and beautiful. Totally accessible yet morbidly underground, we hear everything from some voodoo Alice Cooper darkness and drama, to a little Aerosmith swagger, to the heaviness and angst of Alice In Chains of course -- Acid Bath was always an AIC meets EHG (Eyehategod) hybrid, in a really good way. Radiohead's "Ok Computer" is hinted at too, and Jeff Buckley, as the music combines weirdly sensitive melodicism and dark atmosphere inspired by their hometown's swamps and cemeteries. Dax is as impressive as ever, he really *sings*, drawing out vowels over a dozen notes. His vocals are oddly warm and comforting but also anguished and intense. While the songwriting on this album does not quite match the relatively flowery yet heavy tunesmithery of the Agents of Oblivion album, and neither does the instrumentation call attention to itself, that's not necessarily a bad thing here as it lets Dax' voice take center stage and he... just... wails. He's like a sludge metal Bowie, flamboyant, and dramatic, his vocals impossibly emotive and intense. Sometimes despairing, sometimes incantatory. Oh the angst! And the music is a perfect match, going from brooding and minor key, to explosive and space-y. For fans of Alice in Chains, Acid Bath/Agents of Oblivion (of course), Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees, and Woven Hand. It may have taken a decade, but finally the rest of the world can discover what some of us knew all alongÉ
MPEG Stream: "Strange Television"
MPEG Stream: "Waking Up Insane"
MPEG Stream: "Song With No Name"
MPEG Stream: "Grave Beyond Windows"

RIGOR SARDONICOUS Apocalypsis Damnare (Paragon) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We were totally blown away by the last Rigor Sardonicous record, a massive crushing black hole slab of funereal doooooooom (WAY more than two o's!) with its slow motion sludge, impossibly guttural vocals, but more importantly (to us at least) was what we dubbed "the most evil cymbal in the world", a huge trashcan like crash, that punctuated almost every measure. As we reasoned, it HAD to be the most evil cymbal in the world, why else was it so frigging HIGH in the mix?! To praise the Dark One of course. And while the ridiculous aspect certainly appealed to us, the 'evil cymbal' only added an extra element to what undoubtedly would have been a completely amazing doom record anyway. But add the evil cymbal and we've got a metal record of the year contender for sure. But now we have a brand new record, or more accurately a brand new recording, as these tracks are re-recorded versions of the band's pre-Principia Sardonica demo. So now, if the weirdly mixed cymbal was a fluke or a recording mistake, here's a chance for the band to fix it, change the levels, record it correctly. But they didn't!! In fact just the opposite! Which most definitely proves the 'evil cymbal' theory!! The cymbals, yes there are more than one, are EVEN LOUDER, clanging and clanking even more dark praise to the most evil one. In fact every aspect of Apocalypsis Damnare pushes all the stuff we loved about the first record even further. The riffs are thicker and slower, hugely sludgey and downtuned. There's more bizarre stuttering double kick drums, and the vocals are SO low, they are dangerously close to dipping below the boundaries of human hearing. A rumbling subsonic gurgle that sort of just drips like tar all over these tracks. And that would already be enough to kick our asses for sure. Maybe the heaviest slowest 'funereal doom' record since Skepticism's Stormcrowfleet or Thergothon's Stream From The Heavens. But then there's those 'evil' cymbals. Holy fuck?!?! Like giant dented trashcan lids, a massive clattery crash demarcating the ponderous plodding rhythms. Imagine UK ultradoom outfit Esoteric, jamming in the garage, spewing that thick viscous doom we love so, while neighborhood kids stood outside throwing bones and sticks at the metal garage door. So weird. And so completely genius.
MPEG Stream: "Apocalypsis Damnare"
MPEG Stream: "Pandemic"

RIGOR SARDONICOUS Principia Sardonica (Paragon) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
There's been tons of good doom lately. Especially of the funeral death dirge type. You know, the reviews we usually start with the word dooooooooooooooooom. The more o's the slower and creepier it is. So we'd have to give this one about 10 o's, cuz man is this dark and dismal and glacier slow. This is straight up Skepticism / Thergothon worship. And we love it! Huge tarpit guitars, broadcast from the bottom of a fiery pit, so the sound is a throbbing muted hum, struggling to be heard through the damp stone walls of whatever keep you're holed up in. So overdriven that even at low volume it cause the speakers on our computer to practically melt. Simple pounding drums keep the doom from spilling into space and becoming shapeless rumpling drones. But Rigor Sardonicous have two things that set them apart from the doooooooooom (yes, ten o's) pack. First, the vocals. So gutteral and subhuman they sound like the growl of an angry mother bear defending her cubs. Or sort of like the recent Caninus record that featured pitbull dogs growling out the vocals. So impossibly low and rumbling and demonic. The second is "the most evil cymbal in the world." It must be the most evil cymbal. Why else would it be so much louder in the mix than anything else? Right. It must be because as the most evil cymbal, the best way to praise the Dark Lord, is to offer up a crash every few seconds. But wait, track three contains what can only be "the most evil gong in the world!" And again proper worship to the Dark Lord requires whacking a big ol' gong every few seconds. Definitely bizarre (too bizarre for some -- AQ pal and Stalin Claus mastermind Steven Schultz could not handle the evil cymbal!) but it all adds a certain weirdness that we can't seem to get enough of. So just imagine Benighted Leams mixed with Skepticism. And then of course include the "most evil cymbal in the world". Oh, and the "most evil gong". And on further listening there seems to be a "quite evil hi-hat" as well. Fucking awesome!
MPEG Stream: "In Autumn Twilight"
MPEG Stream: "The Dead"

RIGOR SARDONICOUS Risus Ex Mortus (Endless Desperation) cd-r 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ah, nothing like a glacially slooooooooow blast of ultra mega doooooooooooooom to calm the nerves, at least that's the way it seems to work around the mail order department for the boys (and girls!) who work back in "the Tombs" of AQ. Rigor Sardonicous - one of our all-time favorite "apocalyptic doom" bands - sent a package recently containing their latest CD, "Risus Ex Mortuus" along with some stickers and a hat...we all fought over the hat a bit, but Andee doesn't like to mess up his "drummer hair" and Jason already sports a bitchin' Rigor Sardonicous glow-in-the-dark print T-shirt, so Allan scored the new lid. Besides, we see him wearing that hunter's orange/camo cap a bit too often lately and - where were we - oh yeah - Risus Ex Mortuus!!!
Once again, Rigor Sardonicous is back, and on this CD we get a bunch of re-recorded versions of early tracks from long out-of-print releases, an unreleased track, and even a Kiss cover! You haven't heard "God Of Thunder" until you've heard it Rigor-ized, a thick syrupy sludge-y Sunn-y crawl, with the vocals belched out in impossible guttural grunts. The CD even somehow sports some beautiful "Rigor Sardonicous" Old English script printed on the UNDERSIDE of the CD - SICK !!!
Also back again is the signature drum machine (who has occupied the throne since 1991) and the return of 'the most evil cymbal in the world', tha clanged-out trash can lid of a cymbal that we have been totally obsessed with and completely transfixed by since we first heard RS. It's like nothing you've ever heard in the realms of dark murky doomy sludge-pyre music (except on the other RS records obviously). It is back and better (and louder) than ever - way out in front where it constantly rears its ugly head again and again, crashing forth with a clanging clattery crash, before quickly fading back into the sludge. Sounds like Sunn 0))) playing Moss covers at the bottom of a giant sewer pipe while someone drops metal garbage cans from above... a strange kind of beautiful.
Mr. drum machine also seems to be taking it up a notch rhythmically with more blast beats, faster and louder, while somehow not actually making the music sound any faster, just weirder and heavier. And there's no mistaking the downtuned, strings-so-slack-they-touch-the-floor, buzzed-out slow sludge rumbling roar coming from the guitar. Like the sound of low-flying aircraft "strumming" overhead power lines... And again those vocals, spread all over the proceedings like some viscous black paste, a subsonic curdle / gurgle that is hardly human. If you close your eyes, you can't help but picture some goo spewing giant lizard ready to consume you whole, or some creepy Hellraiser / Pinhead style hellbeast declaring your doooom. WE LOVE IT.
The AQ dark lords, sit upon their throne of skulls, surrounded by fire and burning flesh, demons swooping through the murky skies, the earth trembling, the ground littered with the dead, gazing cooly at the scorched landscape that stretches forever in all directions, before looking to the sky and letting out a blood curdling cry of "MORE EVIL CYMBAL !!!"
(The band claim that these are indeed actual cd's, although, we're pretty sure they're cd-r's, but who the hell cares, you can't go wrong for $10.98, and you can't print bitchin' olde English band logos on the playing side of a real cd... or can you?)
MPEG Stream: "Prooemium"
MPEG Stream: "Rigor Sardonicous"
MPEG Stream: "God Of Thunder"

RIGOR SARDONICOUS Vallis Ex Umbra De Mortuus (Paragon Records) cd 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
It's been a while, but it's time to haul out all those extra doom 'o's we've been saving for an occasion just like this. The return of ultra doomlords Rigor Sardonicous, they of the monstrous glacial downtuned crawl, the 'evil' cymbal (more on that in a second), the growled demonic vox, the lugubrious slow motion trudge, all that stuff we love, and all the stuff that can usually only be described by a whole handful of extra 'o's in doooooooooom.
But the opening track threw us for a bit of a loop. All weirdly folky, with chanted vocals, and fluttering flutes, some haunting almost Renn Faire court music, which quickly gives way to clean mournful minor key clean guitar, could this be the same Rigor Sardonicous? All doubts are wiped away moments later when the whole sound shifts down about a hundred octaves, the crumbling super distorted guitar spreads out like a black fog, the drums pounding, the cymbals still way up in the mix (beginning to think it's their trademark), and then the vocals. WOAH. Impossibly gurgly rumbles, like a frog croaking from the bottom of a tarpit, perfectly complimenting the band's murky plod. Weirdly the band does speed it up, but everything is so muddy and blurred that it almost makes no difference. You can hear what sounds like a little girl way off in the distance, as if she's locked in the dungeon of some great black beast. This is some awesomely creepy, heavy, and fucked up dooooooooooomy shit for sure.
If it's even possible, this is the most extreme Rigor record yet. The guitars more dense, heavier, even more downtuned, the vocals absolutely inhuman, it does almost sound like some super slow dooooom record, slowed down even more. And when the band do 'rock', they still out-doom most of their slow motion contemporaries.
Nothing else to say really. Been digging the most recent Moss, the Corrupted reissue? Still loving those Monarch records, the recent Trees disc? Fancy yourself a doomlord? Well strap on your armor, your headlamp, some industrial strength ear protection, and crawl headfirst into this black tarpit of sound, Rigor Sardonicous take even the heaviest and slowest sounds somewhere even slower and lower and so much doooooooooooooooooooooooomierÉ
MPEG Stream: "Silens Somnium"
MPEG Stream: "Incompertus Quod Anon"

RIGOR SARDONICOUS Vallis Ex Umbra De Mortuus (Paragon Records) lp 12.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
It's been a while, but it's time to haul out all those extra doom 'o's we've been saving for an occasion just like this. The return of ultra doomlords Rigor Sardonicous, they of the monstrous glacial downtuned crawl, the 'evil' cymbal (more on that in a second), the growled demonic vox, the lugubrious slow motion trudge, all that stuff we love, and all the stuff that can usually only be described by a whole handful of extra 'o's in doooooooooom.
But the opening track threw us for a bit of a loop. All weirdly folky, with chanted vocals, and fluttering flutes, some haunting almost Renn Faire court music, which quickly gives way to clean mournful minor key clean guitar, could this be the same Rigor Sardonicous? All doubts are wiped away moments later when the whole sound shifts down about a hundred octaves, the crumbling super distorted guitar spreads out like a black fog, the drums pounding, the cymbals still way up in the mix (beginning to think it's their trademark), and then the vocals. WOAH. Impossibly gurgly rumbles, like a frog croaking from the bottom of a tarpit, perfectly complimenting the band's murky plod. Weirdly the band does speed it up, but everything is so muddy and blurred that it almost makes no difference. You can hear what sounds like a little girl way off in the distance, as if she's locked in the dungeon of some great black beast. This is some awesomely creepy, heavy, and fucked up dooooooooooomy shit for sure.
If it's even possible, this is the most extreme Rigor record yet. The guitars more dense, heavier, even more downtuned, the vocals absolutely inhuman, it does almost sound like some super slow dooooom record, slowed down even more. And when the band do 'rock', they still out-doom most of their slow motion contemporaries.
Nothing else to say really. Been digging the most recent Moss, the Corrupted reissue? Still loving those Monarch records, the recent Trees disc? Fancy yourself a doomlord? Well strap on your armor, your headlamp, some industrial strength ear protection, and crawl headfirst into this black tarpit of sound, Rigor Sardonicous take even the heaviest and slowest sounds somewhere even slower and lower and so much doooooooooooooooooooooooomierÉ
MPEG Stream: "Silens Somnium"
MPEG Stream: "Incompertus Quod Anon"

RIMFROST A Frozen World Unknown (No Colours) cd 16.98
This band name may have elicited a few snickers around these parts, but there is nothing funny about Sweden's Rimfrost. Any and all smiles were quickly wiped from the offending faces once the play button was pushed. No record in recent memory has resulted in so much spontaneous headbanging amongst the AQ metalheads. While ostensibly a black metal band, the vibe and sound on A Frozen World Unknown is way more death metal, and while we're sometimes down on the death metal, none of us would hesitate to jump all over a kick ass slab of ultra brutal death metal. And goddamn if this isn't just that. This record is so amazing. Heavy and chuggy, fast and incredibly LOUD, the drums are insane, the riffing is incredible with plenty of pick squeals and downtuned buzz, but the songs are so totally catchy, and weirdly groovy. Super convoluted stop start arrangements, but not complex for complex sake, those parts actually make sense in the context of the rest of the song and somehow manage to be just as catchy as the rest of the track. Strangely epic and anthemic, a bit melodic, but ultimately just intense and furious and fucking awesome. Absolutely one of our favorite new metal records, death, black or otherwise...
MPEG Stream: "Freezing Inferno"
MPEG Stream: "At The Mighty Halls They'll Walk"

RIMFROST A Journey To The Greater End (No Colours) cd 13.98
More black brutality from No Colours records in Germany. Home to Nargaroth, Graveland, Wigrid and Woodtemple, so you know this is gonna be good, what you might not expect is that Rimfrost's A Journey is basically a super technical slab of brutal black death metal. Super fast tight triggered drums, downtuned but super compressed riffing, growled blackened death metal vocals, the whole thing super polished and ultra tight. We usually expect No Colours stuff to be buzzy and blurry and home recorded, sometimes stumbling, often midtempo, super personal blackness, so this was a huge surprise, but not a bad surprise at all, cuz we love this stuff just as much. Think Khold, Thorns, newer Satyricon, that sort of clinical black metal, but filtered through some early nineties death metal. Fierce and heavy, with lots of half time chug, killer pick squeals, pounding near doom, and c'mon, they're called Rimfrost!
MPEG Stream: "At The Mighty Halls They'll Walk"

RIMFROST Veraldar Nagli (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98
Rimfrost is either a totally grim and kvlt name for a black metal band, or a sort of goofy, possibly questionable one. These guys are from Sweden though, so odds are the rims there are indeed frosty. And the sound? Frosty as well. Super dense and heavy and punishing, a sort of Viking black metal but without all the folk, this is thrashing blackness of the highest order. Fans of classic Enslaved, old Immortal, you know, that classic Scandinavian sound, which is obviously what these guys are shooting for, and they pretty much nail it. No synths, no acoustic guitars (okay, well, maybe a few), no pretty fluttery interludes (only one, or two), instead, these guys pepper their blasting panzer attack with some super dynamic stop start arrangements, plenty of weirdly mathy bits, some incredibly drumming, the sound MASSIVE and so epic. Riffs gnarled and explosive, the rhythms galloping and relentless, blazing double kicks, the guitars chugging and crunchy, the vocals a demonic croak, the songs themselves, epic and majestic, the tempo often pounding and midtempo, but Rimfrost mix it up, exploding into a full on black frenzy here and there, or sometimes slowing down to a doomic lumber. There are melodies and hooks too, usually subtle, but sometimes brought to the fore for a moment of almost NWOBHM sounding radness, before blasting black into the (g)rim frost. Excellent.
MPEG Stream: "Veraldar"
MPEG Stream: "The Black Death"
MPEG Stream: "Void Of Time"

RIOT Fire Down Under (Metal Blade) cd 16.98
Reissue of this 1981 American metal / hard rock all-time classic...you like classic metal? you don't have this? Buy it! Hooky and energetic with amazing vocals and guitarwork. The USA's answer to the best of the NWOBHM. One of those 'I envy you for getting to hear this for the first time just now' albums sez Allan.

RIOT Narita (Rock Candy) cd 17.98
Holy grail second album from one of the best American metal bands EVER (who never get their due). While we'd say 1981's Fire Down Under (their third) is THE one to get, if you were to get only one, once you've heard that you're gonna want to hear more. And so mucho kudos to Rock Candy for at long last providing the world with a cd reish of Narita, originally released on LP by Capitol in 1979. New York's Riot were what the NWOBHM would have sounded like if it would have happened in the USA instead of the UK. A supercharged, metallized step up from the American '70s hard rock of the mid-seventies (bands like Starz, KISS, Ted Nugent, ZZ Top), definitely melodic, but much more rippin'. And also way more ass-kicking and streetwise than most of the Sunset Strip style hair metal that the US offered up a few years later, though Riot surely were an influence on the best of that bunch. They still exist today, by the way, releasing records (big in Japan!) but lots different from back when, in part due to the fact that their original lead singer, the amazing Guy Speranza, RIP, is long gone from the lineup. That guy shoulda been a famous rock star, just listen to him here.
MPEG Stream: "Narita"
MPEG Stream: "Waiting For The Taking"
MPEG Stream: "49er"

RIOT Thundersteel (Columbia) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**

RISE FROM THE DEAD Early Days 1990-1993 (Time Bomb ) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

RITES OF CLEANSING Nemesis (Nightfog Productions) cassette 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Mysterious ep of ritualistic black metal from this German duo. Sorath, "visionaire and heralder" and Aer, "moulder of ritual ambience", whip up a strange black metal brew, some tracks are long slow stretches of roiling ambience, which give way to harsh slow motion doomic dirge, howled vocals, and lurching tarpit riffage, before suddenly exploding into blasts of Nordic style buzz, with stumbling double kick drumming, insectoid riffing, and strangled cries, all tangled into a murky black swirl. Others, are raw bursts of pounding midtempo riffage, simple metallic stomps, grim and frosty. A weird blend of classic Norwegian style black metal Mayhem and a more necro primitive black blast that totally slays in its own murky muddied lo-fi way...

RITUAL Widow (Shadow Kingdom) cd 12.98
NWOBHM rarity reissued. Thumbs up.

RITUAL STEEL A Hell Of A Knight (The Miskatonic Foundation) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
True metal fans! Bend an ear... and perhaps prepare to bend a knee? Ritual Steel (not to be confused, though it's not easy, with fellow Germans Sacred Steel) record for Rich Walker of Solstice's cult metal label Miskatonic and are the sort of band whose cd booklet proudly includes a reproduction of a show flyer with their logo beneath those of The Lord Weird Slough Feg and Twisted Tower Dire. Actually, we heard about these guys from Slough Feg -- those San Franciscan metal masters remarked upon playing with Ritual Steel in Germany last summer, giving 'em the thumbs up. And this record is indeed a lot of old school fun, starting with the fantasy cover art of skeletal knights and the punning album title (who said Germans don't have a sense of humor?), right through to the heavy-(and-hoary)-as-hell, head-banging '80s style metal music and frontman Sascha Mauer's leather-lunged screeching. He does a deliberate, indecipherable Udo Dirkschneider impression in one song that will just kill you. His band's brand of DIY Maidenesque gallop is in the same arena as Metalucifer, for instance. Pure metal mania, by fans, for fans.
MPEG Stream: "Where Shall I Sleep?"

ROACHPOWDER Atomic Church (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We'll keep this one simple: if you're a fan of the 'stoner rock' genre, and especially if you're into those lords of space Monster Magnet, you must buy this disc!! Atomic Church is second album by Sweden's Roachpowder (the name comes from Burroughs' Naked Lunch by the way), and it kicks ass on almost anything else out there in the heavy, metallic, psychedelic, Satanic-drug-thing-you-wouldn't-understand multiverse. Their massive, New Orleans-tinged (think Phil Anselmo's Down project) debut "Viejo Diablo" from a couple years back (still in stock, by the way) made us sit up and notice this band, and we've been waiting for a follow-up ever since. Now here it is, and we're not disappointed. The vocalist's stoner dude Anselmo-isms have given way to a Dave Wyndorf drawl, and while Roachpowder can't claim to be the most original band around, they do what they do so, so well: such great songs, and so heavy. And it's not all space-metal bludegon and drugged out cock rock, there's even a beautiful solo harp track on here. I do wonder why bands like this always end up sounding less like their '70s heroes (Sabbath, Hawkwind, Blue Cheer) than their similarily-inspired contemporaries, but fans of Monster Magnet, Kyuss, and all that can't complain: here's your new favorite band!! Recommended.
RealAudio clip: "House of The Wicked "
RealAudio clip: "All Hail And Kneel Before Me"

ROACHPOWDER Viejo Diablo (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Swedish 'Southern' groovy stoner metal. Who would've thought that something this southern fried and stoned sounding could come out of Scandinavia? Huge crushing riffs, ultra catchy hooks, and an amazing Phil Anselmo (Pantera/Down) sound-alike vocalist (that is, like Phil when he's actually singing, not when he's sounding stupid). Incredible.

ROAD s/t (Relics) cd 17.98
The proto-metal lovin' legions who read the AQ list should be quite pleased with this reissue - take a trip down this particular Road and it's heavy riffing all the way, early '70s style! A power trio put together by former Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding in 1972, Road only made this one record for a rock-oriented Motown sub-label (the eco-friendly Natural Resources) before they broke up, and it quickly became lost to the mists of time, though we'd have thought Hendrix fans, if they'd heard it, would have been chuffed... anyone who likes stoned hard psych, with loads of wah wah wailing will dig this, it's total hippie heaviness (well, "I'm Going Down The Country" isn't so heavy, it's an acoustic jam, natch). There's some sixties sike-pop to it as well. But tracks like "Mushroom Man" and "Spaceship Earth" are spaced out and heavy all right, these three long hairs dishing out quite the din, with the 9+ minute album closer, title track "Road" gettin' almost DOOMY riff-wise.
Certainly deserving of recognition in the proto-metal realm, Road goes with Toad, Cactus, Moses, Tiger B. Smith, etc., and is probably the best thing that Redding did post-Hendrix, though we haven't heard his whole discography, to be sure. But it beats Fat Mattress, in volume and heft for sure, despite that earlier outfit's name (the drummer here was also in Fat Mattress, by the way, while the guitarist hailed from Rare Earth).
This is one of several new reissues from the new Relics label (Churchills, Aguaturbia are some other, more internationally-oriented titles that just came out, we'll be listing soon too). Nice to have, though the booklet's a bit skimpy, the cover reproduction looks kinda washed out and blurry. It does include something in the way of liner notes, though, from which we learn that Redding fell down some stairs at Frank Zappa's place prior to the formation of Road. Hmm, that almost sounds like the description of a band, but not this one! Thankfully he recovered from the accident and added Road to the list of awesome proto-metal obscurities.
MPEG Stream: "Road"
MPEG Stream: "Spaceship Earth"
MPEG Stream: "Man Dressed In Red"

ROANOKE Stormbringer (Supernova) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of our favorite underground doom sludge releases of the last little while (and there have been a whole lot), available now as a real cd (not a cd-r) with TWO EXTRA TRACKS!!! Here's what we had to say about the disc when it was just a single track of gloriously punishing pummel:
All you need to know is that the record is called Stormbringer, it's one single thirty minute track, and the instrumentation listed is: drone, sub-sonics, drone & invocation, and temporal distortion. Okay, maybe some of you need to know a little bit more, how about... DOOM. Or DRONE. Or SLUDGE. Or maybe... SUNNO))), Khanate, Whitehorse, Marzuraan, Monarch, Moss, Boris, Corrupted... uh huh, you see where we're headed. Portland's Roanoke are the latest outfit to dive headlong into that same black doom tarpit, And their glorious din, while having much in common with their slow motion brethren, definitely has a hellish charm all it's own. The guitars are huge, of course, riffs are so slow and low they sound less like riffs and more like molten flows of distorted rumble, the drums are a simple pummeling thud, the vocals are like death metal growls at 16rpm, an impossibly low gurgle, but Roanoke have a crazy dynamic thing going on too, wherein their endlessly droning downtuned sludge is occasionally punctuated by strange stop start stretches where the guitars tighten up and cling to the drums and lock into a sort of stuttering chug. Pretty cool. And definitely way more dynamic than most of the droning sludge doom outfits around. But never fear, this is first and foremost, slooooooooooow, drooooooooooooning dooooooooom, ultra mega sludgy and heavy as fuck. Listening to it right now and even at super low volume it makes the speakers on this computer sound like they are crumbling to bits!
The bonus tracks: the first, a groovy stoner dirge, that's lightning fast compared to Stormbringer, but still manages to crawl along like some woolly mammoth dragging himself out of a tarpit. Lumbering downtuned black hole brutality. Even some weird little psych rock leads here and there. The second is sort of like a coda to "Stormbringer", a similarly plodding slow motion beast, but with just a tiny bit more groove mixed in, like some impossibly slow motion stoner rock or Corrupted doing Kyuss covers. Awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Stormbringer"

ROBE. Night Terror (Waves Of Decay) 2 x cassette 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two tapes, two hours, eleven tracks, a sprawling exploration of blackened sonic inner space from this masterful dronescaper, a collection of epic longform droned out drifts, gorgeous abstract fields of hushed grim ambience, the usual rumble and whir and buzz laced with what sound like horns: trumpets, trombone, who knows exactly what, but they lend a mournful, melancholy vibe to the already dark and dismally dreamlike proceedings. As does the tinkle of keyboards, barely there, the melodies ghostlike, field recordings drift in and out as well, the sound of children, or are those birds? Hard to say, as they are deftly woven into the undulating tapestry of mysterious minimal blackness. Those horns the only melody, dragging the rest of the black ambience along, a gorgeously depressive bit of funereal otherworldliness.
The sound shifts from aching abstract skeletal slowcore doomdrift, to brooding rumbling black ambience, to hushed barely there shimmer, the sounds swirling and shifting, sometimes muted and muddy, other times pulsing and throbbing, a very Tim Hecker vibe to much of this, everything faded and washed out, like some strange steampunky contraption that lets us view some alternative dystopian future, and this is the sound, the soundtrack to a land barren and bereft of life, of a planet purging and beginning again, the sound of living things withering and dying, of flesh melting from bones, of the sun dimming and the landscape turning gray with shadow and ash, a hazy, gauzy dreamlike drift into the unknowable, into the other, into nothingness. So dark and strange, murky and mysterious, weirdly and impossibly lovely...
Fantastic packaging, the two cassettes housed in a double wide tape case, with a silver on black silkscreened card stock insert, the whole thing sealed with a similarly silver and black silkscreened Japanese style obi.
LIMITED TO 70 COPIES!!! WE HAVE LESS THAN A DOZEN!!

ROBEDOOR Burners (Important) lp 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest chuck of spaced out doom drone from these long time aQ faves, Burners finds the group getting seriously melodic, sort of. Where on past records, RD trafficked more in abstract drones and ambient doom, and psychedelic soundscapery, the three extended tracks here are more slowcore than doomdrone, more space rock that soundscape, a new direction for sure, but without losing the various drone and doom elements that made past records so compelling.
The record opens with a loooooong stretch of moaning ambience, heaving slabs of muted crumbling distortion, before the drums kick in, a simple, skeletal, almost krautrock beat, and then the rest of the band launch into a droney, fuzzed out space rock dirge, tons of reverb and echo and delay, distant tinkling melodies buried in the mix, the vocals processed to the point that they become just another layer of swirling sound, a plodding, hypnorock workout that builds to a blown out, seriously in-the-red finish. The second track dials it back a bit, all tribal drumming and warm whirring organs, more reverbed vox, washed out and ethereal, murky and muddy, a gorgeously blurred bit of slowcore lumber.
The second side is all one track, which begins with keening soft melodies over buzzing layered low end, and epic slowburning dirge, almost like White Hills or the Heads, at 16 rpm, a blown out space rock, slowed waaaaay down and wrapped in layer after layer of haze and grit and buzz. Majestic, melodic, melancholic, the bass thick and billowing and blackened, the guitars howling above it all, total, with a blurred tribal outro, garbled vox, chiming guitars, tons of effects, all drifting beneath a ever shifting layers of sonic murk, total space kraut doom dirge bliss!

ROCK JACK Belly Bones (self-released) cd-r 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So, what if we tell you that there's this band called Rock Jack that does songs with titles like "Belly Bones", "Goblin Talk", "Toilet Master" and "Darth Vader Is Mean"? And sound like some exuberantly drunken bar band fronted by a vocalist with an unusually high, childish voice, unusual enunciation (and pronunciation) and a gift for seeming stream-of-consciousness babble? Sounds like it might be one of those weird AQ faves already? Well then let us add the crucial fact that the singer for Rock Jack, one Erza Lux, is all of three and a half years old. That's right, he's a little boy, and (we know, 'cause we've met him) an exceptionally precocious, adorable, cute little boy indeed. Ezra Lux's dad some of you SF locals know as Aesop, drummer for Ludicra (and formerly, Hickey). Aesop sure has one cool kid. Whenever he brings him into the store, Ezra entertains us with his banter... we know he's really into music, heavy metal especially, 'cause he's told us about the various bands he's supposedly formed, our favorite being "Iron Potato". So when Aesop told us that Ezra had recorded his first cd-r release, we had to hear it. And although it's not the Iron Potato debut we still want to hear, Rock Jack is pretty cool too. With his Fisher-Price karaoke machine, Erza sing-speaks his own weird and funny lyrics (the lone exception being a Van Halen cover) over backing from members of Ludicra (Aesop, John and Ross), who crank out some some punked up, trashy rawk n' roll vamping with metal riffs and blues licks a lot older but no less energetic than Ezra. I think the way it worked is that the Ludicra guys made up a bunch of songs in their rehearsal space, gave the tape to Erza and he picked the ones he wanted to sing on. The results have got a whiff of The Shaggs, Motorhead, Great White, Reynols, Van Halen, Wesley Willis and Hanoi Rocks... We've noticed an "alternative children's music" trend lately, but Rock Jack is one of the few examples of music BY a child. Certainly irresistably cute, and really very strange. 18 and a half minutes, 8 tracks.
MPEG Stream: "Toilet Master"
MPEG Stream: "Darth Vader Is Mean"

ROCKA ROLLAS The War Of Steel Has Begun (Stormspell) cd 11.98
Many song titles featuring the word "Steel"! And you gotta love the band name.

ROGUE MALE Animal Man (Metal Mind) cd 17.98
Those of you who exhibited the good taste to purchase the cd reissue of Rogue Male's debut album, the 1985 NWOBHM classic First Visit, highlighted here recently, are all probably wondering when the reissue of the band's second and last album, 1986's Animal Man, would arrive, right? And you might also be wondering, just how well does Animal Man stack up against First Visit anyway? Well good news all around. It's finally here, and damn right Animal Man is just as good as First Visit, maybe even better. Which means: tough, hard rockin' '80s British metal, catchy, somewhat speedy, and still semi-futuristic (as far as their Mad Maxish costuming goes anyway... also note the computer voices at the start of side one).
Motorhead is still an obvious influence, some Thin Lizzy too. We're hearing both in the vocal dep't., which are sorta gruff and yobbish... kinda punk really. "The Real Me" reminds us of some Di'Anno era Maiden, specifically "Running Free" from Killers. Love the harmonica blowin' coda on that one too! There's definitely a punk, streetwise element to this band's metallic stylings, lots of take-no-shit attitude certainly. In fact, anyone in the market for an uplifting personal anthem might try out track three, "Take No Shit"!
At their most pogoish punk, the poppy unemployment protest rocker "Job Center" could be a Rezillos track. And at times, particularly when they work in the quasi-industrial "sci-fi" effects, this sounds a bit Killing Joke, actually. But their influences go further back - "You're On Fire" includes a nod to the Crazy World Of Arthur Brown.
As with the First Visit reissue, this too is limited (2000 copies) and comes in a digipack. One bonus track this time, the non-album cut "Rough Tough (Pretty Too)" from the "Belfast" 12" ep that preceded Animal Man's release. The cd booklet includes lyrics, and biographical liner notes that yet again misspell Rogue Male as Rouge Male. Whoops.
Remember, if Andee and Allan here at AQ had gotten their as-yet-unnamed and still utterly hypothetical '80s metal reissue label off the ground already, THEY might have reissued the two Rogue Male albums themselves, if they could have. Rogue Male was top of their list - get this (and First Visit) to really understand why, maybe.
MPEG Stream: "The Real Me"
MPEG Stream: "Progress"

ROGUE MALE First Visit (Metal Mind) cd 21.00
So, as you probably aren't aware, Aquarius co-owners Andee and Allan have been thinkin' about doing a heavy metal reissue label for a while now. For obscure stuff they love from the '80s that's never ever been legitimately reissued on cd. They even each came up with a short list of things they'd want to try and put out on their (as yet hypothetical) label. Why are we telling you this? Well, on both their lists, you'd find this band, England's Rogue Male.
Now it turns out that they can take Rogue Male off the list - 'cause their album First Visit HAS just in fact been reissued! Yay! Metal Mind just saved Andee and Allan a lot of trouble, and thousands of dollars!
Rogue Male only made two albums, of which this, from 1985, is the first. It's speedy, fist-pumping metal with a definite, catchy rock n' roll edge to it. In combination with the singer's gruff, Lemmy-like voice, this garnered a lot of comparisons to the mighty Motorhead, especially with regard to this disc's lead-off track "Crazy Motorcycle".
But also, they were known for their "futuristic", "sci-fi" image, because of their Mad Max style stage gear and the cover of this album, which depicts what appears to be a Terminator cyborg with a mullet! For a few brief moments there in '85, Rogue Male were the heavy metal equivalent of William "Neuromancer" Gibson or something. Or thought they were. After all, the British heavy metal magazine of record Kerrang! named them "the next big thing", which unfortunately was probably the kiss of death (how many next big things ever are?). After just one more album (1986's Animal Man, also a good 'un and hopefully soon to be in stock here too) they called it quits.
Really, Rogue Male weren't as advanced as their whole "cyberpunk" image seems to suggest. They were maybe more punk than cyber, doing songs more streetwise than science-fictional, about such topics as motorcycles, sex, and unemployment. Though we suppose, if Mad Max is the model, then at least motorcycles and unemployment are indeed "futuristic".
Despite Rogue Male's lack of success back in the day, anyone into a gritty, melodic mix of heaviness and poppiness '80s style should enjoy this overlooked album, one that from start to finish is a simple headbanging pleasure! Definitely one of the best from the latter days of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, that reminds us not only of Motorhead but also some of the more "hot rockin'" Judas Priest tracks of the era, and also of Thin Lizzy just a bit as well. There's just such a raw charm to the urgent, chunky, repetitive riffing of a song like "Look Out" that we gotta love. It doesn't matter that Rogue Male weren't actually innovating anything, they still managed to have a distinct identity and make some basic, quality NWOBHM tunes that have stood the test of time and well deserve reissue.
This limited edition digipack cd includes two worthy bonus tracks, and a cd booklet with new liner notes (which unfortunately contain a couple of typos, misspelling the band's name as "Rouge Male", whoops) and a couple of pretty funny band photos. Recommended! Remember, we were gonna put this out if we could!
Why haven't Andee and Allan gotten their reissue label off the ground yet? Well aside from being way busy with Aquarius (and in Andee's case, tUMULt) they haven't had too much luck contacting the bands they were interested in, so far... and also (and most importantly) they can't seem to agree on a NAME for the label. Andee wants to call it Heavy Rescue Records. Allan's keen on Hair Sprain Records. Anybody have any better ideas? ...Or, know how to get a hold of any former members of a band called Lords Of The Crimson Alliance (from New York, circa '86)??
MPEG Stream: "Crazy Motorcycle"
MPEG Stream: "All Over You"
MPEG Stream: "Look Out"

ROLLER, THE Wasted Heritage (Cyclopean) lp 12.98
Latest from these Texas based heavies, and their first record to make it on the aQ list. Which seems weird considering how fucking kick ass and so very aQ this stuff sounds. Plus as much as we try not to judge a book by its cover, how can we not when said cover is a sprawling expanse of forest, with a rainbow soaring overhead, and in the midst of this jungle like foliage, a row of full stacks and a drumkit, right in front of what appears to be a river. Hell had we not already heard this, we would have been sold big time. And then, there's the fact that the first two minutes of record opener "Candle Black" essentially sounds like a Slayer 45 spinning at 33rpm, one of THOSE riffs, and then when the band does kick in, and cranks it up, it sounds like a doom-ed out stonery sludge combo channeling Slayer, into something much less speed metal, and way more lurching, lumbering doom sludge majesty. The band locking into mesmerizing and supremely headbangable grooves, the vocals a gruff growly bellow, the sound slipping from low slung riffery, to soaring epic almost-post-rock, to churning math flecked doom, to death march plod and back again.
Four songs, nearly 40 minutes, the longest jam 14+, the shortest nearly 7, this is dense, chugging, crusty, metallic, grim, doom-ed, sludge-y, slow burn, blackened, tripped out, mathy, stonery, Sabbathy heaviness that will no doubt hit the spot for anyone into similarly minded outfits like Bongripper, The Sword, Sourvein, Eyehategod, etc...
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES, housed in a super heavy, deluxe gatefold sleeve. Includes digital download too!
MPEG Stream: "Candle Black"
MPEG Stream: "Of Feather And Bone"

RONDELLUS Sabbatum (The Music Cartel / Bed The Bug) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Finally back in stock, now as a domestic release on stoner rock label TMC, licensed from Estonia's Bed The Bug Records: the amazing "Sabbatum".
OK, here's an Aquarius-approved 'high concept' album, all right: Estonian medieval music group Rondellus performing covers of Ozzy-era BLACK SABBATH songs translated into Latin!!! Now *this* sounds like a Black Mass! Backed by lute, harmonium, psaltery, frame drum, bagpipe, and sundry other early instruments, Rondellus' male and female vocalists sing Latin versions of "Verres militares" ("War Pigs"), "Funambulus domesticus" ("A National Acrobat"), "Symptoma mundi" ("Symptom of the Universe"), and nine others -- it's all amazingly beautiful, and soooooo appropriate for Sabbath. Some songs are immediately recognizable, others will probably sound familiar to dedicated Sabbath fans only. Partly that's because of the unique arrangements, and partly because the songs selected for "Sabbatum" thankfully avoid (except for "War Pigs") the over-obvious: there's no "Iron Man" or "Paranoid"; indeed, instead they even picked a few less well known songs like "Junior's Eyes" and "A Hard Road" from Ozzy's last album with the Sabs, 1978's "Never Say Die"! Cool! There's plenty of variation in the instrumentation and vocal arrangements throughout the disc, and it's obvious a lot of hard work and love of Sabbath went into it. Maybe you know (another AQ-fave disc) the Atrium Musicae de Madrid's reconstruction of what ancient Greek music might have sounded like? This is along the same lines, imagining what it would have been like if Iommi/Butler/Osbourne/Ward had made church music back in the 13th century!! Rondellus' languid, haunting renditions demonstrate how timeless Sabbath's music is.
One of the best, and most original, 'tribute' records ever. Now they should go on tour with Apocalyptica (the Finnish cello quartet that does Metallica covers)!
RealAudio clip: "Oculi filioli"
RealAudio clip: "Funambulus domesticus"
RealAudio clip: "Post Aeternitatem"

ROOT Black Seal (Redblack) cd 14.98
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Probably the best metal band to come out of the Czech Republic (and though it may seem unlikely, there are quite a few!) is the ominously monikered Root. Around for almost 15 years now, Root continue to make amazing records, evolving and growing with each release, from their roots (ahem) in raw black metal to avant-garde almost-operas more recently. "Black Seal" is easily their best, blending their old, simpler metal sound, and their new more polished, more melodic direction.
Classic eighties sounding metal, with killer riffs, amazing harmony leads, great production, super interesting and complex songs, and wildly creative drumming, but it's the vocals of Root leader Big Boss that really push this over the top. From warbly maniac-lounge-singer wailing to hushed chants to occasional guttural growls (not like death metal cookie monster vocals, more like sinister preacher threatening sinners with the end of the world), to absolutely dreamy, rich and lustrous lower register crooning. And somehow these bizarre vocals complement the music perfectly, with the band deftly veering between almost-thrash-metal, doomy Sabbath style epics, classic sounding hard rock, and awesome Katatonia-esque moody minor key masterpieces with hymn like harmony vocals. The whole record is dark and moody and heavy, personal, introspective and creepy. It all culminates perfectly in the album's final track, an intense and beautiful mid tempo epic, with chugging guitars and wispy minor key synths and gorgeous melodies. Big Boss contributes perhaps his best vocals of the record with a Nick Cave sort of baritone spinning a heartwrenching tale of loss and sorrow, that slowly turns into a bizarre acapella chant, with rich, low harmony vocals that go on and on and on for a full 15 minutes! SO bizarre but SO great!
RealAudio clip: "The Incantation Of Thessalonian Women"
RealAudio clip: "Nativity"

ROOT Daemon Viam Invenient (Shindy) cd 15.98
We'd be exceedingly remiss (in our duty to Satan) if we were never to list the most recent record from long-running Czech "black metal" (or "dark heavy metal") practitioners Root. Their eighth full-length studio album, 2007's Daemon Viam Invenient begins with an acoustic prologue, after which Root then launch into the storming "Human", an auspicious beginning to this fully epic and idiosyncratic collection of ripping tracks. Band mainstay, vocalist Big Boss (bedecked with face paint that makes his bald head look like a badly cracked egg) is in fine form, mixing up rasping croaks and whispers with almost-operatic bellowing that's melodic, yet deep and gruff. On that aforementioned intro, he even sings quite softly & sensitively, sounding a bit like a shaky Leonard Cohen with a Czech accent! Likewise, Root's music shifts gears continuously, moody moments swept aside by catchy riffs, choppy chunky rhythms, swarms of shred guitar soloing, and prominent basslines. Imagine a modernized version of '80s evil like Bathory and Mercyful Fate competing with the WTF? factor of a band like Sigh. And, as always with Root, there's an unholy dose of Eastern European eccentricity at play here too. Or, maybe the baroque bizarreness is all them. Fans, who have learned to expect the unexpected (and extreme) from these guys, should be satisfied.
MPEG Stream: "Human"
MPEG Stream: "Awakening"

ROOT Dema (Nuclear War Now! Productions) 4lp / shirt / box 60.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Last copies, last chance!! ROOT!!!
Ultra limited, insanely deluxe quadruple lp box set from the greatest weirdo black metal band to ever come out of the Czech Republic. Fronted by the truly iconic Big Boss, with his evil black face paint and booming low voiced delivery, he howls dramatically over fierce black riffing and weirdly romantic keyboards, a buzzing blackness reminiscent of Venom or Bathory, but WAY weirder. Definitely one of Andee and Allan's all time favorite black metal bands. This box set contains all of Root's demo tapes from the late 1980's plus various bonus live recordings taken from the Death Metal Session Festival vol. 2 (Prague 1988). Also included is a massive 32 page 12" x 12" booklet containing tons of photos from the band's early days, flyers, newspaper clippings, interviews, fanzine articles, and lots more. 4 lps in two deluxe gatefold jackets, an XL Root t-shirt, a big poster, all housed in a custom made box printed in red, black and metallic silver, sealed with a vellum obi with a foil-stamped logo. Holy crap, this is amazing. You have to see it to believe it. Definitely one of the most extravagant packages we've ever seen. And c'mon, it's ROOT!!!

ROOT Heritage Of Satan (Agonia) cd 16.98

ROOT Kargeras + Hell Symphony (Redblack) 2cd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The Czech Republic's Root are one of the most talented, original, and eccentric black metal outfits around. Slowly we in the West are getting clued in to their stuff. Here's two of their earlier efforts remastered and repackaged as a double cd: 1991's relatively raw "Hell Symphony" and 1995's more advanced and melodic "Kargeras". Also included: some live bonus tracks recorded in 2000.

ROOT Madness Of The Graves (Redblack Productions) cd 14.98
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Damn, the new Root! Weird black metal from Czech just gets weirder. They're set apart from all others by their sense of drama, and by vocalist/mainman Big Boss and his deep voiced delivery. And the unbridled dementia they bring to their very metal, very odd songwriting and arrangments. Originals they most certainly are, combining killer blackened riffage with romantic keyboards and parts that sound a bit Jesus Lizardy though they might not be aware of it. One of the most striking tracks, "The Last Gate (The Story Of Demons)", uses tribal drumming and overlapping vocal chants to approximate the sounds of demonic possession or worship (or something), making Root sound like Sepultura's Roots (until insane chipmunk voices like those on the last Sigh album kick in!). Wow.
MPEG Stream: "Madness Of The Graves (Calling)"
MPEG Stream: "The Last Gate (The Story Of Demons)"

ROOT The Book (Redblack) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Root is Czech black metal band, led by vocalist/visionary Big Boss. They've been around for a long time now, developing from rather primitive and fucked up black metal to the likes of this album: classical-leaning heavy metal opera weirdness. As fucked up as their earlier stuff but so much more advanced. Really amazing and strange, with Big Boss' sub-baritone vocal stylings being only the first of the many eccentricities on display here. Recommended.

ROOT The Revelation (Sheer) cd 14.98
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Czech bizarro-black metallers Root present the previously unreleased *English* version of their excellent "Zjeveni" opus, as "just a document of ability and lust of the Root original musical ideas"!

ROOT The Revelation (Nuclear War Now!!!) cd 9.98
For years now we've been singing the praises of these weirdo Czech black metallers, fronted by the enigmatic Big Boss, a big guy with some crazy evil panda face make up and a super unique bellow. Their sound, at least in the beginning, raw and grim like classic Hellhammer and Celtic Frost, but often slowed down, more midtempo, lumbering and lurching, sometimes blasting chaotically, but more often than not, fantastically plodding, the guitars super raw, the sound lo-fi, but perfectly suited to Root occultic and cult-y sounding metal, and the truly strange vocals of Big Boss just sealing the deal, from froglike croak, to demonic croak, to raspy croon, to multitracked, almost Butthole Surfers sounding alien drawl, there's just something so mysterious and magical about these guys. Easily one of our all time favorites.
Revelation, originally recorded in 1990, is a re-recording of their Zjevni debut, with all the lyrics redone in English. And while it's been 20+ years, The Revelation still sounds just as good, and haunting, and heavy as ever. Sure it's black metal, but this is more old school classic metal, with black elements. It's more witchy and doomy and creepy and atmospheric and dirgey, which only makes the fast bits sound that much more fast, the chugging guitars and way-up-in-the-mix double kick drumming. And all the heavy parts are balanced by the multiple song intros, acoustic guitars, analog synths, weird bits of percussion, swirling atmospheres, Big Boss's strange almost liturgical sounding spoken word, each intro a little mysterious sonic ritual designed to evoke some ancient atmosphere, perfect to conjure up the next blast of stumbling buzz drenched blackness. Totally cult and totally genius.
Includes new liner notes...
MPEG Stream: "The Revelation"
MPEG Stream: "Aralyon"
MPEG Stream: "Song For Satan"

ROOT Zjeveni/The Temple In The Underworld (Redblack) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A double cd reissue (w/ bonus tracks) of two albums (from 1990 & 1992, newly remastered) by this cult Czech black metal band. Not as advanced as their latest release "The Book", but definitely unique and full of interesting music. For fans of fellow Czech weirdos Master's Hammer and strange black metal in general.

ROSETTA A Determinism Of Mortality (Translation Loss) cd 14.98
Of the hundreds or thousands (or millions?) of metallic post rock bands in the world, there are a select few, who never fail to blow us away, whose records we will buy without a second thought, whose music has proven to be more than just heavy and intricate, whose sound is one we can never seem to get enough of, that perfect blend of crushing and intricate, moody and heavy. One of those bands is most definitely Philly's Rosetta. It's hard to know what to say about these guys that we haven't already, this is the fifth record of theirs we've reviewed, and we gushed like crazy about the first 4, and we're primed to gush about this one too, but then we realized we'd just be repeating ourselves, cuz like we said, what more can we say. These guys are masters of the metallic post rock / post metal / post metallic rock sound, equally adept at howling downtuned Neurosis style crush, as they are at mathy, jangly lopes, and the fact that those two elements are constantly bleeding into one another, well maybe that's what makes these guys so special. Even when they're in full on pound and pummel mode, the melodies and complex arrangements remain, it's not like they're switching from smart and intricate to loud and dumb, it's more like they're simple adjusting certain elements, often the band will slip into an intricate rhythmic workout, no guitars, but those howled vocals will continue on, a strange combination for sure, but it sounds brilliant, and it's that constant push and pull between those two definitely metallic post rock elements that are really the measure of this sort of band, and few do it better than these guys.
There's also the fact that these songs are not just exercises in loud/soft, quite/heavy, they're proper songs, tension and release, slow building, explosive emotional cathartic climaxes, long brooding moody 'verses', the guitars don't just jangle or roar, they shimmer and chime and ring out, the drums are incredible throughout, tight, powerful, restrained when they need to be, but explosive when they don't. The vocals while more often a rough bellow, can just as easily slip into some serious singing, high and melodic. Needless to say, this is a sound we love, and Rosetta are one of our favorite creators and practitioners of said sound. If you need more, check out the other reviews on the website, but better yet, just trust us, check out the sound samples below, and grab one of these. You won't regret it. Especially if your cd shelves already bow under the weight of records by Isis, Pelican, Tides, Angel Eyes, Neurosis, Conifer, Irepress, Souvenir's Young America, Transmission 0, Mouth Of The Architect, Balboa, The Other Side Of The Sky, Baroness, Snowblood, Anapparatus and the like...
MPEG Stream: "Ayil"
MPEG Stream: "Je N'en Connais Pas la Fin"
MPEG Stream: "A Determinism of Morality"

ROSETTA Cleansing Undertones Of Wake/Lift (Translation Loss) cd 9.98
The debut double disc from long time aQ metallic post rock faves Rosetta, was a massive dose of high concept heaviness. A disc of proper songs, all churning heaviness and doom drenched math rock blow outs, and a second disc, a companion of sorts, more ambient and abstract, it was unclear whether the two were meant to be played simultaneously, of if they merely complimented each other, two sides of Rosetta's sound. Not sure it mattered. Both discs were amazing, both sounded great on their own or played in tandem.
We originally assumed that this disc was a companion to the newly released Wake/Lift (reviewed elsewhere on this list), but on closer examination, and after repeated listens, it seems to be something entirely different. The liner notes explain that this disc is made up of EVERY sample the band collected or manipulated over the course of the last 7 years or so, with the final declaration "I Am Starting Over". It's hard to tell if these sounds were indeed actually used on the records proper, or if this disc is merely a clearing house for cool left over and unused sounds, but it hardly matters, as these 4 extended sound collages function just fine on their own, as their own record, and it's the sort of sound that most cd-r noise bands would kill for. Dense and dark, evocative and atmospheric, crumbling and chaotic, dreamy and droney, layered and rife with fuzzy buzzy texture. Rhythms surface from strange looped sounds, melodies buried beneath constantly shifting walls of sound, massive chunks of super distorted heaviness, streaks of glitch and hiss, wild dubbed out drumming, mysterious voices and samples, an expansive organic whole, the four tracks functioning as one epic, seamlessly woven together, slipping one track to the next, the track markers seemingly arbitrary, as it all sort of bleeds into one massive textured slow motion abstract doomdrone. So divine. If this was a limited cd-r released on some super cool underground microlabel, limited to 100 copies, people would lose their living shit. So don't let the fact that it's a real cd released on a real label keep you from checking it out. Fans of stuff like Acre, Tunnels, Expo '70, Birchville, Axolotl, Black Boned Angel and other purveyors of buzz and murk and drone, should absolutely check this out.
MPEG Stream: "Untitled 3"

ROSETTA The Galilean Satellites (Translation Loss) 2cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It always amazes us, when everyone starts digging a certain kind of music, that there can suddenly be millions of bands that just start coming out of the woodwork, who play -that- sort of music, really well. It's perplexing. It's too far fetched to think that there are a multitude of bands, great players, super creative, just waiting in the wings for someone to decree what the NOW SOUND is, at which point these bands immediately leap into action crafting exactly the sort of music people suddenly want to hear. We may be cranky old jaded music nerds, but even we're not that cynical. We'd like to think the process is much more organic, an outgrowth of the massive interconnnectedness of the underground, the sharing of ideas, the discovering of new sounds via the music of ones peers. How else to explain the seemingly endless torrent of math rock / post rock /sludge metal hybrids we've been seeing lately. We're not complaining, we love it! And so far, for the most part, for a scene based on similar influences and execution, the results have been quite varied and really fucking awesome. A quick off the top of our heads list reads like a who's who of AQ favorites: Tides, Minsk, Isis, The Ocean, Indian, Warhammer 48K, Akimbo, Baroness, Pelican, Cult Of Luna, Conifer, Mouth Of The Architect and we could go on and on. So what's a band got to do now to really stand out in a pretty overcrowded field? The answer lies right here, this mind blowing double disc debut from this Philadelphia crew.
The Galilean Satellites is some sort of concept record (no lyrics, only the cryptic line: "These songs are about a space man") and sprawls grandly over two discs, taking all the elements we love about the above mentioned bands, and pushes each of those elements to their very limit. Imagine a collision between Explosions In The Sky and Coalesce, and you'll understand just the framework, a starting point, from there, Rosetta build and build, stretching skyward, fingers brushing the heavens, their sound so massive and expansive it's hard to even begin to describe The Galilean Satellites. If you like any of the above mentioned bands, if you like that sound, then this is the next logical step.
Heavy parts are heavier, the ambient parts are more dense and fully fleshed out, lasting minutes instead of seconds, as critical to the mood and the journey as any riff or hook, not just a by rote method of building dynamics. The sound is HUGE, hypnotic and loping, slow melancholic grooves that give way to planet crushing heaviness, each track drenched in swirls of electronic whir and thick swaths of ambient color. Riffs are not just distorted and loud, they grind and churn, tuned low, sludgy and punishing, slithering and squirming, like they're alive and intend to do you harm. The vocals are throaty and howled, dripping with anguish, very reminscent of Coalesce's Sean Ingram. But it's the color and subtleties that really make these discs totally unique. Sheets of clear ringing guitars (almost Edge like) will soar majestically over a prickly framework of ultra skittery jazz drumming (the drummer is incredible) before slipping into glacial sludge. If Isis are the masters of thinking man's metal, then Rosetta are their precocious little brothers, determinedly striving to outdo their more famous siblings, and in many ways succeeding. This is the sort of music, much like drone music, that benefits from being allowed to stretch out, two minutes is fine, but twelve minutes is better, allowing for the song to grow and change and stretch and morph organically. Disc one is definitely the core, a dense raging avant post metal juggernaut, whereas disc two is more contemplative, more abstract and ambient, but no less heavy. The guitars are still present, but here they have crumbled into rough washes of buzz and whir, clear ringing melodies drifting above like black smoke from burning cities, the whole disc a dense melancholic drift, a series of soul stirringly creepy soundscapes, at the same time impossibly lovely and moving. Some sort of post metal abstract ambience that acts as the perfect emotional foil to the first disc's furious pummel. Utterly and absolutely essential.
Beautifully packaged with gorgeous metallic cover art by Aaron Turner of Isis/Hydra Head.
MPEG Stream: "Departe"
MPEG Stream: "Europa"

ROSETTA Wake / Lift (Translation Loss) cd 13.98
Metal. Post rock. Metallic post rock. Post metal. It matters not what you call it, there are so so so many bands who play it. We haven't seen a movement of similar sounding bands since Slint launched a million imitators. That said, there are plenty of bands who do it well. And it's a sound we love. Isis, Pelican, Tides, Conifer, Mouth Of The Architect, we could go on and on. They all play some sort of hybrid of post/math rock and metal, each giving it their own spin, some spinning it more than others. At some point it's really a matter of degrees, what separates one group from another can be some ineffable something, the way they arrange their songs, the instrumentation, even just the vibe. And as much as we love the above mentioned bands, we can help but feel like one of the bands who have most captured that sound and made it their own, is Rosetta.
They simultaneously embody all the things we love about THAT sound, while pushing the envelope, their songs sprawling and expansive, even their releases, often split up over two separately released discs, their songs are loooooong, their sound is heavier more furious, the pretty parts are more complex, again it's something that's hard to pin down. Their records are just so totally overwhelming, the perfect hybrid of epic majestic beauty and utterly crushing heaviness. Brutal and pounding, furious and frenzied, at their heaviest, they almost sound like Converge or Coalesce playing post rock, heaving massive chunks of sound, tangled guitar lines, insane hammer of Thor drumming, and vocals as guttural and animalistic as they get. All wrapped up into songs that manage to be dizzyingly complex, ridiculously epic, but still weirdly catchy and groovy.
Wake/Lift is no different, in fact, if anything, it's everything we already loved about Rosetta, but more. Heavier and prettier, more convoluted, more varied, and intense, more epic, more dense, it's definitely the best thing they've done, and maybe about as far as this sound can be pushed. The guitars jangle and ring out as often as they are downtuned and grinding, often whipped up into crazily hooky soaring harmonies, before collapsing back into a churning sonic black hole. Long stretches of loping maathy meander wrap around dense rhythmic tangles and sludgey doomic roars, riffs chug and crunch, sometimes give way to whispered tranquility, other times becoming more and more intense until the band threatens to collapse under the sheer heaviness of their ever expanding sonic sprawl.
Absolutely essential. Required listening for fans of all things post, rock, and metal, in whatever combination you prefer.
MPEG Stream: "Red In Tooth And Claw"
MPEG Stream: "Lift Pt. 1"

ROTH, DAVID LEE Sonrisa Salvaje (Friday Music) cd 15.98
Si, that's right: DLR's classic Eat 'Em And Smile solo album, Spanish language version!! We were so amazed they reissued this, we had to order it in!
MPEG Stream: "Rosa Yanqui"
MPEG Stream: "La Calle Del Tabaco"