ELDER s/t (MeteorCity) cd 11.98

ELDER Spires Burn / Release (Armageddon) 12" 15.98
Are those purple icicles on the cover? We're not sure exactly, but it looks cool and psychedelic and eldritchÉ perfect for this latest, vinyl-only release from these stoner sludge heavies. We loved their MeteorCity cd from two years ago, Dead Roots Stirring, a disc of desert-y doom that was both crushingly heavy and mesmerically melodic. Now on it's second pressing, this newer two-tracker (one song to a side, 22 minutes total) follows on from that album with yet more lumbering riffage and fuzzed out psych glory. The track on the second side, "Release", in particular is a thing of epic, grungy beauty. Like we said, second pressing, no doubt just as limited as the first was.

ELDRIG Everlasting War Divinity (Eastside) cd 13.98
Second of two new releases from this Portland black metal horde, the first, Kali, reviewed a few weeks back, was a glorious chunk of epic and majestic, nearly symphonic buzz, three looooong track separated by gorgeous little ambient drone interludes. We still have a few of those left, but in the meantime we just got release number two, and while structured differently, if anything, it's even more massive and grandiose, triumphant and fucking EPIC.
As we mentioned in the review of the other disc, there does seem to be some questionable politics lurking below the surface. Nothing obvious, not in the song titles, the lyrics or the artwork, like most black metal it seems to be more concerned with nature and misery, war and death, but folks who are sensitive to the problematic politics that underscore a lot of black metal, might do well to read the other Eldrig review. But if you can look past that stuff, and as we mentioned it's not really that difficult here, as the band seem more concerned with crafting soaring blackened buzzscapes, and the cryptic lyrics (if you could make them out at all) are cries of war and wails of anguish.
But the music, holy shit. The sound of Eldrig manages to be buzzing and grim and brutal, but at the same time, the riffing is totally majestic, almost chiming, the melodies soaring skyward, the drums a furious thrashing framework, the vocals a barely audible howl, all woven into what sounds like a black metal Explosions In The Sky or a Satanic Godspeed. Spiraling riffage that just builds and builds, the melodies so intense and emotional, everything peppered with swaths of swirling keyboards, but unlike the other Eldrig, here the riffs sound almost like classic eighties metal, little bursts of NWOBHM tangled into much blacker shapes. But the sound is somehow impossible poppy, like if you stripped all the snarling guitars and the demonic rasps, the blasting beats, you'd be left with some sort of simple catchy lullaby, or some perfect pop song, but here it's buzzed and blackened into some impossible black metal hybrid. So fast and furious and black, but so goddamn catchy and moody and melodic, culminating in the near power metal sounding outro to the final track "Death To The Unwilling", with classical sounding keyboard runs, chiming keyboards, and super poppy riffage, all whipped into a glorious frenzy, before it fades out with a strange skipping cd sound, and then returns with a programmed drum fill, only to explode into an even more over the top power/back metal frenzy with epic keyboards, those majestic riffs, all wrapped in wild squiggly leads, only to eventually fade out into some churning, mournful, abstract riffage.
Super limited! We may have gotten all we can get of these, so when we run out, prepare to either be disappointed, or to wait a while for us to track down more.
MPEG Stream: "Power Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Death To The Unwilling"

ELDRIG Everlasting War Divinity (Eastside) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This epic chunk of grim and grand black fury, available on vinyl for the first time. And of course ULTRA ULTRA LIMITED. ONLY 500 COPIES PRESSED. In beautiful hand screened silver on black jackets, with a super deluxe full color fold out insert. Here's our review of the cd when we first got it in:
Second of two new releases from this Portland black metal horde, the first, Kali, reviewed a while back, was a glorious chunk of epic and majestic, nearly symphonic buzz, three looooong tracks separated by gorgeous little ambient drone interludes. Everlasting War Divinity, while structured differently, is if anything, even more massive and grandiose, triumphant and fucking EPIC.
As we mentioned in the review of the other album, there does seem to be some questionable politics lurking below the surface. Nothing obvious, not in the song titles, the lyrics or the artwork, like most black metal it seems to be more concerned with nature and misery, war and death, but folks who are sensitive to the problematic politics that underscore a lot of black metal, might do well to read the other Eldrig review. But if you can look past that stuff, and as we mentioned it's not really that difficult here, as the band seem more concerned with crafting soaring blackened buzzscapes, and the cryptic lyrics (if you could make them out at all) are cries of war and wails of anguish.
But the music, holy shit. The sound of Eldrig manages to be buzzing and grim and brutal, but at the same time, the riffing is totally majestic, almost chiming, the melodies soaring skyward, the drums a furious thrashing framework, the vocals a barely audible howl, all woven into what sounds like a black metal Explosions In The Sky or a Satanic Godspeed. Spiraling riffage that just builds and builds, the melodies so intense and emotional, everything peppered with swaths of swirling keyboards, but unlike the other Eldrig, here the riffs sound almost like classic eighties metal, little bursts of NWOBHM tangled into much blacker shapes. But the sound is somehow impossible poppy, like if you stripped all the snarling guitars and the demonic rasps, the blasting beats, you'd be left with some sort of simple catchy lullaby, or some perfect pop song, but here it's buzzed and blackened into some impossible black metal hybrid. So fast and furious and black, but so goddamn catchy and moody and melodic, culminating in the near power metal sounding outro to the final track "Death To The Unwilling", with classical sounding keyboard runs, chiming keyboards, and super poppy riffage, all whipped into a glorious frenzy, before it fades out with a strange skipping cd sound, and then returns with a programmed drum fill, only to explode into an even more over the top power/back metal frenzy with epic keyboards, those majestic riffs, all wrapped in wild squiggly leads, only to eventually fade out into some churning, mournful, abstract riffage.
MPEG Stream: "Power Ascension"
MPEG Stream: "Death To The Unwilling"

ELDRIG Kali (Supernal) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of two new releases from this Portland based one man black metal project. And it's a doozy. Been playing this nonstop since we first got it. But as with a lot of black metal records, some questionable right wing politics come into play, so fair warning to those put off by those things. On Kali, that influence is subtle, especially considering the fact that the record is totally instrumental. The song titles give nothing away either, but there's a quote on the inside of the cd booklet, "Creation and destruction are one, in the eyes who can see beauty." Which also doesn't seem any more oblique and grim than text found on other black metal records. But the quote is attributed to Savitri Devi, a French writer who wrote much of trying to synthesize Hinduism and Nazism, believing Hitler was an avatar for the Hindu god Vishnu, among other problematic and bizarre beliefs. Woah. She does seem pretty fascinating, what little we've read about her, at least in a seriously fucked up way, but she was definitely a total loony, and because of her strange beliefs has become a bit of a favorite amongst neo-Nazi's, hence the quote and hence the warning.
But if you can overlook the politics, as subtle as they may be here, this record is intense and beautiful and completely epic. Three loooooooong tracks, blazing buzzing, majestic, almost orchestral black buzz, furious and frenetic, relentless and weirdly gorgeous, separated by brief droning ambient interludes, moaning cellos, deep cavernous rumbles, epic minor key swells, soaring majestic synths, crumbling distortion, a dark industrial ambience with haunting music box melodies drifting over stretches of mournful murk.
But it's the three long tracks, which make up the bulk of this disc, that really make this such essential blackness. And even referring to this as blackness is not entirely accurate, as those tracks soar, the chugging guitars and tangled melodies, the furious drumming and the super emotional melodies all whirled into an epic slab of blissed out metallic beauty. In fact, the first long track, "The Great Destroyer", sounds to us what that Alcest record would have sounded like if it was actually metal. Shoegaze-y and dreamy and blissy, but still fierce and heavy, multiple guitar lines unfurling melodic tangles that stretch heavenward, all sustained and super dramatic, the drums a non stop barrage, perfectly complimenting the dense whirl of dreamy high end buzz.
The second long track, "The Intoxication", begins all slow and meandering, a crumbling distorted guitar picking out a minor key melody, before the song launches into a furious melancholy blast, the guitars continuing to soar and wail, with brief bits of midtempo drift separating the blissy blasts. The final long track, "The Dance Of Creation", is more of the same, but with two awesome interludes, the first, a gnarled breakdown with grinding high end guitars, and convoluted melodies over seasick riffing, the other a haunting expanse of synthesized strings, wavering and whirring before being swallowed up by the drums and guitar crashing back in. Very weird and strangely beautiful, epic grim not-so-blackness. The disc ends with a two minute stretch of ghostly buzz and reverb drenched swells of hiss and whir, creepy and abstract...
And again, while we of course find all that aforementioned political / racial stuff reprehensible, it's hard not to love a record this fucked up and gorgeous.
The packaging is pretty amazing too. Super thick textured paper, the images all washed out like some old parchment, the cd itself, red on the playing side, matching the artwork on the cd face. Cool.
MPEG Stream: "The Great Destroyer"
MPEG Stream: "The Intoxication"

ELDRIG Mysterion (Supernal) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The return of Portland one man black metal horde Eldrig. We have been totally obsessed with the two previous records, Kali and Everlasting War Divinity, both sounding like an impossible mix of Godspeed and Darkspace, furious and relentless and blackened, sweeping, epic and emotional, looong tracks, rife with droning buzz guitars, furious drumming, surprising melodies, all wrapped around some super abstract and far out mythologies, but here, those same strange obsessions are tangled up with a totally new, and seriously demented and unlikely sound.
As we mentioned in previous Eldrig reviews, like much black metal, there seems to be in Eldrig, some somewhat unpleasant political leanings, flirtations with Aryanism, Nietzschism, that sort of thing, which is only represented in the lyrics and the artwork as the music is all (or almost all) instrumental. But the more we hear, and the more we dig into the strange liner notes, the less this seems like some sort of NSBM, and the more it appears to be an all consuming and twisted obsession with all manner of problematic and crackpot theologies, far out mythologies, arcane symbolism, Eldrig revel in exploring the hidden meanings of symbols, both classic and traditional, forbidden and shocking, the music, in some strange way expressing the power and energy behind and within these symbols, the words wrapped around those symbols, and the people who lived and died over ideas and beliefs and yes, symbols. The booklet is gorgeous this time, thick marbled matte black pages, with text and symbols in super reflective ink, each song represented by a symbol, and some notes on the symbol and the music from Eldrig himself, there's a pentagram (of course), the cosmic egg, the AUM, the black sun, and of course the sunwheel (aka the swastika). The text accompanying the sunwheel speaks merely of the 'golden sun' and its abstract symbolic significance. But fair warning, folks sensitive to this stuff should steer clear, it's subtle but it's definitely there (for instance, Eldrig are still obsessed with Savitri Devi, a crackpot who was all about combining Nazism and Hinduism), although the interest does seem more abstract and intellectual than political or social.
But all of that hardly prepares you for the sonic shift Eldrig have undergone since the last album. Where was once, massive stretches of near static buzz and blast, sweeping epic blackened heaviness, there is now, what can only be described as, well, power metal. Black power metal (not BLACK POWER metal, if only!), Symphonic and super melodic and seriously over the top. It's barely even black metal anymore, lots of guitar leads, and squiggly melodies, and lush keyboards, there are vocals this time around, and they are blackened throat shredding vokills, the drumming is insane, the guitar is buzzy and insectoid, but the arrangements are ridiculous, totally epic and major key, the melodies sound sped up, keyboards everywhere. It's like Hammerfall with a black metal makeover. Some of the tracks do dip into doomy black grimness, the guitars thick and grinding, the vocals raspy and hateful, ploddingly along, but without fail, in will swoop some totally nuts guitar freakout, or an avalanche of majestic keyboards, sometimes the tracks slip into full on melodic hard rock, bordering on power ballad, there are even stretches of pretty clean guitar laid over burbling brooks and chirping birds, but those tracks always seem to return to some sort of furious power metal buzz. It sounds ridiculous, and it is, sort of, but it's also completely unhinged and fucked up and GENIUS. Not sure what he was thinking, but with Mysterion, Eldrig has crafted some totally outsider black metal, and be sure, this will definitely not appeal to the the troo and the grim, instead this is for fans of the fucked, the damaged, the so bizarre it blows your mind. And Mysterion most definitely blows our mind. Fucked up blackened power metal record of the year? As if there could possibly be any other contenders...
MPEG Stream: "The Ray Of Green Light"
MPEG Stream: "Physis"

ELDRIG Urlagarne (Darker Than Black) cd 10.98
The return of this Northwestern one man black metal horde brings us yet another collection of soaring, majestic, symphonic transcendental blackness, that like on past records reminds us almost more of old school power metal than typical grim black metal buzz, the record divided into three lengthy epics, those proper tracks separated by three interludes (structured much like their 2007 debut Kali) and each of those proper tracks a sprawling, instrumental metal majesty that few other bands can touch. Sonically a bit reminiscent of Krallice, but way more melodic, in fact, those Mick Barr solo guitar records, where he's basically doing these epic arrangements of black metal shred, if that stuff was transformed into proper black metal, it might just sound like Eldrig. But melody is huge in Eldrig's world, hence the power metal comparisons, and listening to this new one, we're even hearing other stuff, more post rock and post metal, the melodic component even more pronounced than before, and beyond the usual soaring epic metal, there are moments, like at the end of opening "Urd", where the sounds is somehow pushed even further, blossoming into something impossibly lush, almost choral sounding, layer upon layer, multiple melodies, woven into something emotional and passionate, that in some weird way almost sounds like a blackened Arvo Part. Symphonic and cinematic and so goddamn good.
The interludes this time around are pretty strange, all three a sort of gypsy folk, the main melody played on a jaw harp, there seem to be mandolins too, the sound of crackling fire surrounding the jaunty jam, in a weird way, it's upbeat vibe is not that far removed from the metal songs proper here, but at first blush it's pretty surprising.
The second proper song, "Verthandi", begins with epic arcs of howling high end guitar skree, filling the sky with a lush sprawl of slowburn melody, all over swirling synths, melancholic and minor key, slowly building, growing more and more dramatic, before finally bursting into a pounding blast, those guitar trills soaring and epic, while the drums pound away in a frenzy, the whole thing ratcheting up the tension, until finally, the song breaks into an old school metal gallop, but those guitars continue to soar in fast picked high end streaks, the sound occasionally bursting into impossibly frenzied freakouts, rife with emotional energy, the sort of vibe that is lacking from even the most intense traditional black metal, but here, Eldrig conjures up a dense cloud of raw sonic emotion, and sends it swirling into a wild buzz drenched squall, that is tense and intense and utterly epic.
Finally, the fifteen minute closer wastes no time, just lurches right into it, as if it was taking up right where "Verthandi" left off, all furious drum pound, soaring guitar trills, wild soaring melodies, but this time, there's a whole second layer of strange ethereal keyboards draped over the top, adding a sort of prismatic psychedelic feel to the proceedings, the soundtrack to storming Valhalla, or some sort of epic battle, this the ultimate cinematic blackness, evoking deep emotion, conjuring up images of wide open expanses, massive oceans, alien ice fields, crumbling planets. Eldrig should be scoring avant sci-fi flicks or bleak apocalyptic art films, rare is the black metal record that pushes past the rote black buzz and manages to move into a higher realm. But Eldrig's Urlagarne most definitely does...
MPEG Stream: "Urd"
MPEG Stream: "---"
MPEG Stream: "Skuld"

ELECTRIC VOYAGE Flight of No Return (Kemado) 7" 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
NWOBHM single reissued, Kemado following their hearts on this one. Nice.

ELECTRIC WIZARD Black Masses (Rise Above) cd 42.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
What is it about this new Electric Wizard record? Don't get us wrong, we are longtime worshippers at the altar of the 'Wiz, but for some reason, this new one, has everyone around here freaking out, even the more non-metal folks, ESPECIALLY the non-metal folks. People who normally don't spend much time listening to witchy druggy demon conjuring sonic rituals, like those practiced by EW, suddenly can't get enough and play it EVERY day. We've tried to get to the bottom of it, cuz Black Masses doesn't seem that far removed from any of the other EW's, but it must be. Cuz it's cast some serious bongsmoke spell (smell?) over pretty much everyone here, which if anything is a good argument for the power of this slab of post Sabbathy psychedelic spaced out drugdoom heaviness.
Everything we love about Electric Wizard is in full effect here: the epic slabs of downtuned doomy crunch, the swirled clouds of lysergic effects, the crushing riffage, the thick pulsing bass, and of course EW high priest Just Oborn's wailing vox, all wound into druggy doomy trancelike jams, the vocals repeated mantralike, the guitars churning and roiling, totally hypnotic and mesmerizing, spaced out and impossibly catchy.
One difference this time around is the production. It's way less obviously heavy, less downtuned and sludgey, the low end is dialed way back, the sound much more raw and trebly and high end, which maybe makes it sound less metal and more psychedelic and garagey, although it definitely sounds like plenty of both to us. But perhaps that's the mysterious component that suddenly has everyone in its thrall.
The record is rife with the (un)usual sonic filigree, swirling winds, loads of effects, long drawn out dirgey drones, bizarre samples, voices, laughter, loops, film clips, all laced within long drawn out psychedelic space jams, the sort of freakouts that would sound just as at home on a Monster Magnet or Hawkwind record, but they always eventually find their way back to whatever satanic drug doom groove they had been exploring before they drifted off.
Heavy and doomy and druggy and psychedelic and seriously tripped out and apparently not just for metalheads anymore. A unanimous aQ fave for sure...
Housed in a fancy embossed slipcover! (Vinyl version sadly has not yet materialized here, we're hoping someday but dunno what's up...)
MPEG Stream: "Black Mass"
MPEG Stream: "Venus In Furs"
MPEG Stream: "Crypt Of Drugula"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Black Masses (Rise Above / Metal Blade) cd 14.98
NOW AVAILABLE DOMESTICALLY AT A NICE PRICE! (Same swank packaging.)
What is it about this new Electric Wizard record? Don't get us wrong, we are longtime worshippers at the altar of the 'Wiz, but for some reason, this new one, has everyone around here freaking out, even the more non-metal folks, ESPECIALLY the non-metal folks. People who normally don't spend much time listening to witchy druggy demon conjuring sonic rituals, like those practiced by EW, suddenly can't get enough and play it EVERY day. We've tried to get to the bottom of it, cuz Black Masses doesn't seem that far removed from any of the other EW's, but it must be. Cuz it's cast some serious bongsmoke spell (smell?) over pretty much everyone here, which if anything is a good argument for the power of this slab of post Sabbathy psychedelic spaced out drugdoom heaviness.
Everything we love about Electric Wizard is in full effect here: the epic slabs of downtuned doomy crunch, the swirled clouds of lysergic effects, the crushing riffage, the thick pulsing bass, and of course EW high priest Just Oborn's wailing vox, all wound into druggy doomy trancelike jams, the vocals repeated mantralike, the guitars churning and roiling, totally hypnotic and mesmerizing, spaced out and impossibly catchy.
One difference this time around is the production. It's way less obviously heavy, less downtuned and sludgey, the low end is dialed way back, the sound much more raw and trebly and high end, which maybe makes it sound less metal and more psychedelic and garagey, although it definitely sounds like plenty of both to us. But perhaps that's the mysterious component that suddenly has everyone in its thrall.
The record is rife with the (un)usual sonic filigree, swirling winds, loads of effects, long drawn out dirgey drones, bizarre samples, voices, laughter, loops, film clips, all laced within long drawn out psychedelic space jams, the sort of freakouts that would sound just as at home on a Monster Magnet or Hawkwind record, but they always eventually find their way back to whatever satanic drug doom groove they had been exploring before they drifted off.
Heavy and doomy and druggy and psychedelic and seriously tripped out and apparently not just for metalheads anymore. A unanimous aQ fave for sure...
MPEG Stream: "Black Mass"
MPEG Stream: "Venus In Furs"
MPEG Stream: "Crypt Of Drugula"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Come My Fanatics (Rise Above) cd 13.98
Originally released as a double cd, teamed up with 1995's self titled debut, Electric Wizard's Come My Fanatics, originally released in 1997, gets its own digipak release, re-issued with expanded artwork, new liner notes, tons of photos, and most importantly two bonus tracks, "Demon Lung" and "Return To The Son Of Nothingness"!!! Here's what we had to say when this first came out (it's the same review for both self titled and Come My Fanatics, since they were paired together the first time we heard them and they still sound like parts one and two of the same record, which is a most definitely a good thing!) :
With a sickly sweet haze baked around half formed thoughts of science fictions and demonic mythologies, Electric Wizard's stoner metal has just enough intellect to roll out the gargantuan post-Sabbath riffs and burnt-out grooves. Dude. This shit is absolutely essential listening for the next time you decide to fire up that bong. (Or not, seeing as how Andee and Allan definitely seem to enjoy this quite a bit and neither have ever "fired up" a "bong" in their lives, "dude". Well, okay, Allan did smoke a joint once but he didn't "inhale"...very much at all.) Especially suitable for all fans of Sleep's immense Jerusalem opus and those AQ-record-of-the-week-winning Esoteric double cds!! Electric Wizard are in fact notorious rivals of Esoteric, as they compete for England's throne of ultimate heaviness. Anyone who's heard Electric Wizard's Supercoven ep (Andee's favorite EW joint for sure!) will know what they're in for: the ultimate bellbottoms doom trip, a Lovecraftian space sludge psych jam that'll do your head in right.
MPEG Stream: "Return Trip"
MPEG Stream: "Wizard In Black"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Come My Fanatics/Electric Wizard (The Music Cartel/Rise Above) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
With a sickly sweet haze baked around half formed thoughts of science fictions and demonic mythologies, Electric Wizard's stoner metal has just enough intellect to roll out the gargantuan post-Sabbath riffs and burnt-out grooves. Dude. More proof that the crappy 10" Electric Wizard made for Man's Ruin was just a sad anomaly, this double cd compiling their first two records is a neccesity for the next time you decide to fire up that bong. (Or not, seeing as how Andee and Allan definitely seem to enjoy this quite a bit and neither have ever "fired up" a "bong" in their lives, "dude". Well, okay, Allan did smoke a joint once but he didn't "inhale"...very much at all.) Especially suitable for all fans of Sleep's immense Jerusalem opus and those recent AQ-record-of-the-week-winning Esoteric double cds!! Electric Wizard are in fact notorious rivals of Esoteric, as they compete for England's throne of ultimate heaviness. Anyone who's heard Electric Wizard's more recent Supercoven ep will know what they're in for: the ultimate bellbottoms doom trip, a Lovecraftian space sludge psych jam that'll do your head in right.

ELECTRIC WIZARD Dopethrone (Rise Above) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Originally released way back in 2000, now re-issued with expanded artwork, new liner notes, tons of photos, and most importantly a 15 minute bonus track!!! Here's what we were smoking when we first got this in way back when:
These British lads have the distinction of being, as far as we know, the first *metal* band ever reviewed in the hallowed pages of popular cutting-edge new music magazine The Wire. But if that makes you expect that the album in question, "Dopethrone" is some sort of pretentious electronica-leaning, intellectual-metallic curiosity worthy of much beard-stroking, you'd better think again! Take a look at the album title, dude! Electric Wizard play super-heavy sludge metal, taking the appellation "stoner rock" very seriously indeed. Satan's even seen smoking a bong on the album cover. Doomy sub-Sabbath riffs, toked-up vocals, spacey fx -- this is primal stuff. This band seems to just keep getting better and better (meaning, they don't change much!). The lyrics celebrate their interests in pulp fantasy fiction (HP Lovecraft and RE Howard both get referenced) and of course the Sweet Leaf: "Dopethrone in this land of sorcery/Dopethrone vision through T.H.C./Dopethrone feedback will free/Dopethrone three wizards crowned with weed." No, not brilliant literature, (and the music's not avant-garde composition for that matter, not intentionally anyway) but "Dopethrone" is still thoroughly enjoyable even by those of us (Andee and Allan for example) who aren't potsmokers (in fact, Andee and Allan are definitely the biggest fans of this record and other "stoner rock" at Aquarius anyways -- I wonder what that means?!). No, you just have to like the sheer heaviness and killer-hippie aura ("Legalize Drugs and Murder" is their slogan, and they're at least half serious)... But if we *were* ever to decide to take up pot-smoking as a casual hobby, we have promised several friends (& Electric Wizard fans) that this album will definitely be the soundtrack to our first "experience". We're tempted...
MPEG Stream: "Funeralopolis"
MPEG Stream: "Barbarian"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Dopethrone (Rise Above) lp 25.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available for a limited time on WHITE VINYL (limited to 1000 copies worldwide!), in a deluxe gatefold sleeve with the bonus track "Mind Transferral" which was not on the cd. Here's what we had to say about Dopethrone way back in 2000:
These British lads have the distinction of being, as far as we know, the first (and perhaps last!) *metal* band ever reviewed in the hallowed pages of that popular cutting-edge new music magazine The Wire. But if that makes you expect that the album in question, "Dopethrone" is some sort of pretentious electronica-leaning, intellectual-metallic curiosity worthy of much beard-stroking, you'd better think again! Take a look at the album title, dude! Electric Wizard play super-heavy sludge metal, taking the appellation "stoner rock" very seriously indeed. Satan's even seen smoking a bong on the album cover. Doomy sub-Sabbath riffs, toked-up vocals, spacey fx -- this is primal stuff. This band seems to just keep getting better and better (meaning, they don't change much!). The lyrics celebrate their interests in pulp fantasy fiction (HP Lovecraft and RE Howard both get referenced) and of course the Sweet Leaf: "Dopethrone in this land of sorcery/Dopethrone vision through T.H.C./Dopethrone feedback will free/Dopethrone three wizards crowned with weed." No, not brilliant literature, (and the music's not avant-garde composition for that matter, not intentionally anyway) but "Dopethrone" is still thoroughly enjoyable even by those of us (Andee and Allan for example) who aren't potsmokers (in fact, Andee and Allan are definitely the biggest fans of this record and other "stoner rock" at Aquarius anyways -- I wonder what that means?!). No, you just have to like the sheer heaviness and killer-hippie aura ("Legalize Drugs and Murder" is their slogan, and they're at least half serious)... But if we *were* ever to decide to take up pot-smoking as a casual hobby, we have promised several friends (& Electric Wizard fans) that this album will definitely be the soundtrack to our first "experience". We're tempted...

ELECTRIC WIZARD Legalise Drugs & Murder (Rise Above) 7" 14.98

ELECTRIC WIZARD Let Us Prey (Rise Above) cd 16.98
Originally released way back in 2002, now re-issued with expanded artwork, new liner notes, tons of photos, and most importantly a 6 minute bonus track, "Mother Of Serpents"!!! Here's what we had to say when this first came out:
AQ-faves Electric Wizard return with the eagerly anticipated "Let Us Prey". After their totally wrecked, wretched performance here in San Francisco last year (which we still enjoyed, but as comedy), this excellent, totally competent new album can only raise the question: did they bring session musicians in to do this stuff, or what? I mean, the drummer is able to find his drumkit, the guitar solos include the correct notes, someone's even playing piano, how can this be the same band we saw? They must have recorded it during during a rare binge of not taking drugs and alcohol! (Horrors!) Of course, we already knew they had it in 'em, since their previous studio effort "Dopethrone" was so perfect. This doesn't surpass that album, but how could it? But it does explore some new directions while mainly providing more of what you want, and thus is certainly a worthy follow-up, recommended to all fans of stoner/doom metal. Doom metal doesn't have to be stoner rock, and stoner rock isn't always (or even often) doom metal, but the combination is natural -- and for that nobody beats the Wiz. Electric Wizard's spacey, metallic drug-punk (a mixture of Sabbath, Hawkwind, and Melvins) features lost, buried, hopeless vocals singing dirgey hymns to the God-Bong amidst bowel-rumbling, super-heavy, super-sludgey guitar and bass psychedelia. What's not to like?
This is the kind of album that lends itself to a track-by-track rundown (why? 'cause there's only six songs):
The disc starts with a classically slow n' massive Wizard song entitled "A Chosen Few", designed to bludgeon the listener into stuporific submission from riff one.
"We, The Undead" changes tactics, being fast and kinda punky (in an Eyehategod/Black Flag way), with a riff that's *very* Saint Vitus.
"Master Of Alchemy" is another slow crusher a la the first track, with a truly EVIL sounding main riff. This song is a relentless juggernaut that eventually morphs (it's a two-part suite nearly ten minutes long) into a mellower, but still quite EVIL, psychedelic drone jam.
"The Outsider" is, if possible, even lower, slower, and more drugged-out sounding, building into a wah wah propelled epic before its nine minutes are out.
Then, out of nowhere, the beautiful, melancholy "Night Of The Shape" (great title) kicks in -- noirish piano figures over busy, shuffling drumbeats that sound almost drum 'n' bass inspired. This could be on a Radiohead record, yet somehow it's totally doomy.
After that lovey interlude, the Wizard get back to their usual business on the epic album closer "Priestess Of Mars". More sludge, more wah, more pot smoke.
And then, three quarters of an hour after you put it on, "Let Us Prey" is over and you'll need another fix!
MPEG Stream: "...A Chosen Few"
MPEG Stream: "We The Undead"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Let Us Prey (The Music Cartel) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now available on vinyl!
AQ-faves Electric Wizard return with the eagerly anticipated "Let Us Prey". After their totally wrecked, wretched performance here in San Francisco last year (which we still enjoyed, but as comedy), this excellent, totally competent new album can only raise the question: did they bring session musicians in to do this stuff, or what? I mean, the drummer is able to find his drumkit, the guitar solos include the correct notes, someone's even playing piano, how can this be the same band we saw? They must have recorded it during during a rare binge of not taking drugs and alchohol! (Horrors!) Of course, we already knew they had it in 'em, since their previous studio effort "Dopethrone" was so perfect. This doesn't surpass that album, but how could it? But it does explore some new directions while mainly providing more of what you want, and thus is certainly a worthy follow-up, recommended to all fans of stoner/doom metal.
Doom metal doesn't have to be stoner rock, and stoner rock isn't always (or even often) doom metal, but the combination is natural -- and for that nobody beats the Wiz. Electric Wizard's spacey, metallic drug-punk (a mixture of Sabbath, Hawkwind, and the Melvins) features lost, buried, hopeless vocals singing dirgey hymns to the God-Bong amidst bowel-rumbling, super-heavy, super-sludgey guitar and bass psychedelia. What's not to like?
This is the kind of album that lends itself to a track-by-track rundown (why? 'cause there's only six songs):
The disc starts with a classically slow n' massive Wizard song entitled "A Chosen Few", designed to bludgeon the listener into stuporific submission from riff one.
"We, The Undead" changes tactics, being fast and kinda punky (in an Eyehategod/Black Flag way), with a riff that's *very* Saint Vitus.
"Master Of Alchemy" is another slow crusher a la the first track, with a truly EVIL sounding main riff. This song is a relentless juggernaut that eventually morphs (it's a two-part suite nearly ten minutes long) into a mellower, but still quite EVIL, psychedelic drone jam.
"The Outsider" is, if possible, even lower, slower, and more drugged-out sounding, building into a wah wah propelled epic before its nine minutes are out.
Then, out of nowhere, the beautiful, melancholy "Night Of The Shape" (great title) kicks in -- noir-sh piano figures over busy, shuffling drumbeats that sound almost drum n' bass inspired. This could be on a Radiohead record, yet somehow it's totally doomy.
After that lovey interlude, the Wizard get back to their usual business on the epic album closer "Priestess Of Mars". More sludge, more wah, more pot smoke.
And then, three quarters of an hour after you put it on, "Let Us Prey" is over and you'll need another fix!
RealAudio clip: "Master Of Alchemy"
RealAudio clip: "We, The Undead"
RealAudio clip: "Night Of The Shape"
RealAudio clip: "A Chosen Few"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Pre-Electric Wizard 1989-1994 (Eternal, Thy Grief Eternal, Lord Of Putrefaction) (Rise Above) cd 13.98
When we first heard Electric Wizard way back when, we were completely and totally blown away, but we were so filled with glorious doom and gloom, and druggy spaced out stoner rock, that it never occurred to us that anything might have come before. When in fact in one form or another, Electric Wizard had been developing their sound since 1989! This disc collects the two pre-Electric Wizard lps released a while back (and now out of print) as well as super rare recordings from the band that was the original seed for what would eventually become Electric Wizard.
Starting way back in 1989, there was a group of young metalheads fronted by future EW mainman Jus Oborn, who were totally obsessed with Carcass, Bolt Thrower and the like, and thus were appropriately named Lord Of Putrefaction. And their sound suited the name perfectly, a murky grind thrash doom, grunted death metal style vocals, psychedelic freakout guitar over pounding drums and sludgy riffing. Slow and heavy with bursts of not quite blasts and wild squalls of chaotic noise, but all rooted in dense, druggy, doomy sludge. They only ever released a split lp with Mortal Remains, and this here is it. Remastered and heavy as ever. Fans of Winter, diSEMBOWELMENT, Mordor and all that early Earache stuff will be so into this!
Not soon after the end of Lord Of Putrefaction, three of the four lords reconvened as Thy Grief Eternal, who recorded 2 lengthy tracks for a 12" in 1991 which was never actually released. By '91, Jus Oborn and his merry band of metalheads continued to get slower and heavier, hinting at what would come, but still sounding like they'd be right at home on Earache, alongside Carcass, Napalm Death, Godflesh and the like. Pounding industrial sludge doom, with grunted gutteral cookie monster vocals, pounding relentless drumming and BIG RIFFS, very sludgy and crusty, much more akin to the ultra slow, monochromatic dirge of funeral doom, as they had yet to discover the groove that would play such a crucial part in their later sound.
The same 3 members who started out together in Lords Of Putrefaction decided on another name change to represent their continued musical growth and thus was born the simpler Eternal. While Thy Grief Eternal were a crusty bunch of metalheads spitting out blurry blasts of Earache style industrial sludge, a couple years later, with a new name, a new love of mind altering chemicals, and the discovery of the all important GROOVE, Eternal was born, and the sound on their never released EP was only a hop skip and a drunken stumble from the sound of Electric Wizard. The doom and sludge is tempered on the Eternal tracks with a huge heaping pile of Hawkwindish swirling psychedelia and that oft purloined Sabbathy groove that pretty much defined Electric Wizard and the stoner rock movement that followed. Four tracks (one's a Sabbath cover!) including a 16 minute epic that would later become an Electric Wizard track.
Fucking awesome! Comes in a spiffy digipak, with a booklet packed with liner notes, photos, as well as old flyers and demo cover artwork.
MPEG Stream: ETERNAL "Lucifer's Children"
MPEG Stream: THY GRIEF ETERNAL "Swathed In Black"
MPEG Stream: LORD OF PUTREFACTION "Wings Over A Black Funeral"

ELECTRIC WIZARD s/t (Rise Above) cd 13.98
Originally released as a double cd, teamed up with 1997's Come My Fanatics, Electric Wizard's debut, originally released in 1995, gets its own digipak release, re-issued with expanded artwork, new liner notes, tons of photos, and most importantly two bonus tracks, "IIIimitable Nebulie" and Mourning Prayer Part 1" from the unreleased Doom Chapter Demo!!! Here's what we had to say when this first came out (it's the same review for both self titled and Come My Fanatics, since they were paired together the first time we heard them and they still sound like parts one and two of the same record, which is a most definitely a good thing!) :
With a sickly sweet haze baked around half formed thoughts of science fictions and demonic mythologies, Electric Wizard's stoner metal has just enough intellect to roll out the gargantuan post-Sabbath riffs and burnt-out grooves. Dude. This shit is absolutely essential listening for the next time you decide to fire up that bong. (Or not, seeing as how Andee and Allan definitely seem to enjoy this quite a bit and neither have ever "fired up" a "bong" in their lives, "dude". Well, okay, Allan did smoke a joint once but he didn't "inhale"...very much at all.) Especially suitable for all fans of Sleep's immense Jerusalem opus and those AQ-record-of-the-week-winning Esoteric double cds!! Electric Wizard are in fact notorious rivals of Esoteric, as they compete for England's throne of ultimate heaviness. Anyone who's heard Electric Wizard's Supercoven ep (Andee's favorite EW joint for sure!) will know what they're in for: the ultimate bellbottoms doom trip, a Lovecraftian space sludge psych jam that'll do your head in right.
MPEG Stream: "Stone Magnet"
MPEG Stream: "Mourning Prayer"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Supercoven (Southern Lord/MIA) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Reissued, remastered version of this psychedelic stoner doom metal classic, originally released in '98 on vinyl and cd in their native England by the Bad Acid label. Two bonus tracks have been added to the two from the original ep (one live, one demo). If you have any interest in the sludgy, the doomed, and, um, the super slow and heavy, check this out...

ELECTRIC WIZARD Witchcult Today (Candlelight) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ok, someone needs to give these guys a medal. First off, there's a song here called "Satanic Rites Of Drugula". Drugula?? That's brilliant. Dave Wyndorf is kicking himself for not having thought of that first!
England's Electric Wizard, the reigning kings (and queen, with Liz Buckingham of 13 and Sourvein on guitar) of utter spaced-out heaviosity (think Black Sabbath + Hawkwind + Eyehategod) also deserve a medal 'cause they are still caning harder and making great albums worthy of their legacy (2000's Dopethrone is an all-time AQ fave of psychedelic sludge stoner genius). It's like they themselves have morphed into the ancient ones from whence all these drugged-out, doooooom metal vibes come.
On their sixth album Witchcult Today, which opens with the sluggish title track, they keep doin' what they do best. Guitarist/vocalist Jus Oborn's wasted wail drifts up from beneath the band's monolithic, mesmeric riffage, as they enact such "Black Magic Rituals & Perversions" as, well, that one, and the other seven tracks here. As blown out and sludgey as it gets (which is VERY) they have an uncanny knack for keeping it catchy and poppy too when they desire. Songs like "Torquemada 71" and the one about Drugula will get stuck in your head, only to slowly drip out like the viscous black tar they are... while "Dunwich" has got to be the grooviest -and- heaviest H.P. Lovecraft-inspired song of the year. As usual, the whole album is getting heavy airplay here in Aquarius, where we're ALL fans even those of us who don't smoke pot, do drugs, or usually listen to stoner metal... we've just been bitten by Drugula is all.
MPEG Stream: "Witchcult Today"
MPEG Stream: "Satanic Rites Of Drugula"
MPEG Stream: "Saturnine"

ELECTRIC WIZARD Witchcult Today (Rise Above) 2lp 36.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
HOLY CRAP! This is one of the nicest looking lps we've ever seen. And it's priced like it, but c'mon! Wait 'til you see it. It looks like the cd art but all the grey parts are reflective silver, just silver and black, shiny and eye popping, all wrapped around a super deluxe gatefold, wow. Even if it wasn't an amazing record, it would be almost worth it just for the packaging, but the thing is, it IS an amazing record, a few lists back, we raved about it quite a bit:
Ok, someone needs to give these guys a medal. First off, there's a song here called "Satanic Rites Of Drugula". Drugula?? That's brilliant. Dave Wyndorf is kicking himself for not having thought of that first!
England's Electric Wizard, the reigning kings (and queen, with Liz Buckingham of 13 and Sourvein on guitar) of utter spaced-out heaviosity (think Black Sabbath + Hawkwind + Eyehategod) also deserve a medal 'cause they are still caning harder and making great albums worthy of their legacy (2000's Dopethrone is an all-time AQ fave of psychedelic sludge stoner genius). It's like they themselves have morphed into the ancient ones from whence all these drugged-out, doooooom metal vibes come.
On their sixth album Witchcult Today, which opens with the sluggish title track, they keep doin' what they do best. Guitarist/vocalist Jus Oborn's wasted wail drifts up from beneath the band's monolithic, mesmeric riffage, as they enact such "Black Magic Rituals & Perversions" as, well, that one, and the other seven tracks here. As blown out and sludgey as it gets (which is VERY) they have an uncanny knack for keeping it catchy and poppy too when they desire. Songs like "Torquemada 71" and the one about Drugula will get stuck in your head, only to slowly drip out like the viscous black tar they are... while "Dunwich" has got to be the grooviest -and- heaviest H.P. Lovecraft-inspired song of the year. As usual, the whole album is getting heavy airplay here in Aquarius, where we're ALL fans even those of us who don't smoke pot, do drugs, or usually listen to stoner metal... we've just been bitten by Drugula is all.
MPEG Stream: "Witchcult Today"
MPEG Stream: "Satanic Rites Of Drugula"
MPEG Stream: "Saturnine"

ELECTRIC WIZARD / REVEREND BIZARRE split (Rise Above) 12" 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Odds are most folks who would be into this record, won't even make it this far in the review, they'll just grab one. For doomlords and ladies, this really needs no description other than the names of the two bands, Finland's dead and deceased Reverend Bizarre, whose post mortum release schedule rivals Tupac's, and UK masters of downtuned sub-Sabbathian stoner sludge, Electric Wizard. Each band offers up a sidelong track of crushing doom drenched heaviness, each coming from their own distinct direction.
The sound of Electric Wizard is something special, in some ways so derivative, so sonically similar to about a million other bands, but the second it comes on, it could be no one else. A testament to their doom mastery for sure, and this is primo doom, a slowly unravelling main riff, lurching and lumbering, melodic vocals settled way down in the mix, languorous stoned leads over the top, thick swirls of psychedelic organ, and endless spaced out drug drenched jams, Hawkwind meets Monster Magnet meets Sabbath, but slowed way down and dirtied up, culminating in a nearly drumless melting riff outro, the guitars slowing down, the riff crumbling, squalls of psychrock leads, thick whirring organs, the song eventually grinding to a halt after droning on and on and on. Awesome.
Reverend Bizarre counter with their own extended slab of plodding doom genius, spaced out riff, pounding drums, vocals slipping from guttural howl to ominous whisper, but this is RB, so it's bound to get bizarre, and it does, with a chanted midsong ritual, soaring clean almost operatic vocals invoking demons over a woozy melodic lope, before slipping into an almost krautrock like groove, before lo and behold, the song flips and the second half of the track is BACKWARDS!!! Hypnotic and creepy, the sounds whooping and shimmering, the vocals a demonic gurgle over the top, very tripped out and dizzying, a weirdly blackly psychedelic outro from these twisted doomic Finns. Who we would say we miss like crazy since they broke up, but they haven't really stopped releasing records quite yet...
Pressed on what appears to be black vinyl with bits of glitter in it, with a garish seventies horror exploitation cover, a saucy lady cutting up another saucy lady on some black altar, candelabras and skulls, long velvet gloves and capes, knee high leather boots and way too much makeup, but fear not sensitive ones, the exposed crotch (right beneath the grinning skull) is covered by a little pentagram, and the sliced nipple by a little black circle. Phew!!

ELECTRIC WIZARD, THE We Live (Rise Above) cd 16.98
If you've seen Electric Wizard perform live ever, you probably had the same experience we did: they were WASTED. Living up to their "we came harder" motto, the Wiz had some substance abuse problems on tour for sure. The last time they played here in San Francisco, their drummer both ruined the show (by not being able to play the songs) and also stole the show (by not being able to stop playing, in between songs or even when the rest of the band left the stage at the end of their shambolic set -- he just continued on drumming -- with members of the opening bands backing *him* up! he even dragged the mic stand behind his kit and started "singing"! How rock and roll is that!?). Apparently guitarist/vocalist/band leader Jus Oborn got fed up and fired his drummer and bassist (or maybe they quit?). At any rate, those two have a new band, Ramesses, whose split with Negative Reaction suggests that Oborn was indeed the one in Electric Wizard with the talent... Now Oborn is back with a new Electric Wizard line-up (and maybe a subtle new name, as the cd cover says The Electric Wizard, and I'm not sure if they used the definitive article before...and elsewhere in the cd booklet they are credited as Electric Wizard II). Now backed by drummer Justin Greaves (ex-Iron Monkey), second guitarist Liz Buckingham (of Sourvein, ex-13), Oborn's new Electric Wizard is sort of a doom/sludge supergroup! So you know that they're just as heavy as they ever were, if not even heavier. There's grimmer grind on here than ever before, and also some amazingly melodic material as well such as the almost-pop by Wizard standards "Another Perfect Day". For the most part, We Live harks back to past Wizard classics like Come My Fanatics and Dopethrone and stands proud beside them. It's utter psychedelic doom, that brand of droning feedback dirge metal that begs to be played LOUD. For long stretches, this is kinda like a hybrid of Hawkwind and the Melvins (Jus sings a bit like the Melvins' Buzz Osbourne on the title track, which we must note also opens with a sample from AQ-fave British zombie biker flick Psychomania!), so fans of the likes of UFOmammut and Boris will be mighty pleased, ultimately so with the mantric devastation of the 15 minute album-closer "Saturn's Children", driving you the listener right into the earth... Slightly more sober they themselves may now be, but this new Wizard remains a very potent sonic drug.
MPEG Stream: "We Live"
MPEG Stream: "The Sun Has Turned To Black"

ELECTRO QUARTERSTAFF Aykroyd (Willowtip) cd 14.98
All right! We've been waiting for this, at long last a new album of mathy mania from our favorite Manitoban instru-metal nerds, who rip it up like an unholy hybrid of The Fucking Champs and Gorguts.
So, we threw this on as soon as we got it in earlier this week, and as we were listening to it in the store, a dizzying display of complicated instrumental triple-guitar metal pyrotechnics, completely ridiculous stuff, Andee remarked to Matt that THIS must be what it sounds like inside Allan's head all the time. To which Allan says, "I wish!"... And Allan's wish is Electro Quarterstaff's command. All he (or anyone) has to do is strap on some headphones and hit "play", and your brain can start doing somersaults and backflips to the tricky tunes of these tech-metal masters!
Yes, it's a fun ride. Somehow the Electro Quarterstaff boys make their music crazy technical and also utterly rock out at the same time. In fact, on some of the tracks here, we declare EQ may have invented the hitherto unknown subgenre of "technical boogie"!!
The Willowtip label is of course known for uber-technical death grind, bands like Arsis, Capharnaum, Gorod, Necrophagist... serious, brutal stuff, though they do have their "humorous" side (remember, uh, Crotchduster?). Electro Quarterstaff certainly have a quizzical sense of humor, witness song titles like "Waltz Of The Swedish Meatballs" and "Unholy Gravy" (though others are less overtly absurd, to be sure). But that's not why we like 'em so much. Any band can come up with silly song titles, but NOT just any band can play like this, nosiree. Grin-inducing MUSICALLY 'cause it's so damn complex, yet catchy too. Reminds us a bit of An Albatross, but not so spastic and noisy, way more METAL, their hectic shred conversant with classical-sounding melody. In fact, first track "The Wolf Shall Inherit The Moon" is a disarmingly beautiful semi-acoustic piece, setting any unsuspecting listeners up for a shock when frantic next track "McNutty" erupts into their ear-space.
Once again, they've named this after a famous Canadian (Gretzky was their debut). And once again, this cd is graced with really awesome artwork. This 2nd album was worth the five year wait, but we hope EQ don't go back into lengthy hibernation right away... what would be really rad would be to see 'em play live, how 'bout a West Coast tour, guys? We'd be in the front row for that, along with any fans of Scale The Summit, Suzikiton, Pegataur, The Champs, Gorguts, etc.
MPEG Stream: "Waltz Of The Swedish Meatballs"
MPEG Stream: "Descent By Annihilation Operator"
MPEG Stream: "Stroganoff"

ELECTRO QUARTERSTAFF Gretzky (Willowtip) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Winnipeg, Manitoba has certainly spawned some notable music artists -- Bachman Turner Overdrive, the Weakerthans, Neil Young, and uh, Burton Cummings. Now firing up their own prairie block heater are Canadian metallers Electro Quarterstaff. Yes, let's repeat that... all hail, sheer instrumental heavy metal wizardry from Winnipeg, Canada: Electro Quarterstaff! That band name alone would pique our interest here at AQ. But actually we've been waiting for this release for AGES, as one of the EQ boys is an AQ fan and was cool enough to send us down some of their cd-r demos a while back, thinking we just might like his band's brand of mega-mathy, tech-metal madness. And he was right!! So, now suitably signed to the Willowtip label, here's the thus (to us) long-awaited Electro Quarterstaff debut! And it's a doozy. These blasting, bombastic songs practically turn themselves inside out with all the insane drumming, dual guitar shredding, and chunky chops crammed into 'em. Hectic heaviness overload!! We're happily dizzy after just a couple tracks. And the Zakk Wylde fans here appreciate all the pinch harmonics one of the guitarists flings like picks...
No surprise their thanks list includes members of Gorguts, Voivod, and Breadwinner! Basically, if you'd like The Fucking Champs to sound even more like Carcass, on crack, this is for you. Or, it's like a haywire super computer programmed to defeat Zebulon Pike at their own game. Damn. Some cuts, like, "Charmony" slow down a bit for some classic, majestic rifferama, giving more reason to make Champs comparisons... Oh yeah and like the Champs they've got that half-ironic, smart-ass post rock song titling thing down, getting the biggest groan from us with "Something's Awry In The Hetfield Of Dreams" (an eleven-minute epic by the way). Thank God they're an instrumental band! They're a bit more straight-forward with other titles like "Neckwrecker" (so true!) and "Twisted Squid" (sounds like it, if anything does). They've also got some really sweet artwork adorning this disc, not your usual metal stuff (though there's skulls) but way cool. Not sure what more to say to recommend this to the right folks, we just don't want any fans of the Champs, ZP, Girth, Loincloth, Hematovore, Suzukiton, etc. to miss this!
MPEG Stream: "The Right To Arm Bears"
MPEG Stream: "Charmony"
MPEG Stream: "Titanium Overlords"

ELGIBBOR Apolutrosis (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
More unblack metal, this time from way off in Poland, probably most notable, metalwise at least, for the mighty Graveland, but this, the 2004 release from Elgibbor, now remastered, remixed and re-released, has very little to do with Graveland, sonically, religiously, or politically.
The sound of Elgibbor like much of the stuff on E.E.E., the home to most of the crucial white metal being produced and released these days, is utterly bizarre, all over the map, with a wide range of sounds and songs and even production qualities. The opener is super fast, completely distorted and ultra blown out, the drums and guitars and vocals, become one thick layer of buzz, so fast and distorted it almost sounds like some sort of noise record, but close listening does reveal some furious blasting and some intense buzzing riffage, the weirdest part is the keyboard, which hovers and lurks underneath the buzz, almost as if it had nothing to do with the songs themselves, a bit of random ambience, deep keyboard swells that ebb and flow hauntingly in the background, beneath a thick sheet of blacknoise. But then there's the second track, all clean reverbed guitars, distant chug, simple way-up-in-the-mix drumming, and super emotive actual singing. Like some strange deconstructed metallic pop. Song number three confuses things even more, with some midtempo Burzumic buzz, but with some strange glitched out rhythms, and some ultra distorted garbled vocals, it almost sounds like some sort of unearthed DHR demo. It goes on and on like that, some swirly ambient swirl, muted black metal blurred into soft focus fuzzed out dreaminess, some super strange techno-black metal, with rhythms that sound like boiling liquid, while all around it guitars churn and vocals howl, and probably our favorite song "Awesome God", that sounds like a choir singing hymns with black buzz wrapped all around it, the results are less evil than they are totally bizarre, it's like a Merzbow remix of Wold covering Incredible String Band. Worth it for that track alone, but the rest of the record is just as far out and fucked. Once again, the unblack bands are upping the ante on truly damaged demented and inspired musical 'blackness'.
MPEG Stream: "Annouchnou Ro'im (We See Jesus)"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 42"
MPEG Stream: "Isaiah 60: 19-22"
MPEG Stream: "Psalm 43 (My God)"

ELGIBBOR Satan Is Defeated (E.E.E Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

MPEG Stream: "Psalm 63"
MPEG Stream: "Powstan"
MPEG Stream: "Satan Is Defeated"

ELGIBBOR / MORIAH split (E.E.E. Recordings) cd-r 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Killer white metal and melodic doom metal from Poland & Brazil.
MPEG Stream: ELGIBBOR "Psalm 12"
MPEG Stream: ELGIBBOR "Za Mnie I Za Ciebie"
MPEG Stream: MORIAH "Where Death Is Your Victory"
MPEG Stream: MORIAH "Blood Fall"

ELITE Bekmorkt (No Colours) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Everyone went nuts for Bifrost, the latest release from Norwegian black metallers Elite that we reviewed a few lists back, so while we're waiting to get retocked on that we figured we oughta list the ep that came out right before Bifrost. Elite have definitely earned their highly problematic monicker as they are indeed musically elite, the new wave of TRUE Norwegian black metal. Following in the black festering footprints of their BM forefathers, Mayhem, Gorgoroth, Darkthrone, Ulver and the like, Elite buzz and blast brilliantly and blackly. Each of these four tracks is a dizzying black swirl, thrashing and chaotic, wild spiked blurs, epic melodic riffing wrapped in thick dark swirls of harsh ambience, the drums a relentless pound and blast, vocals harsh and hateful, and is the case with the best black metal, strange haunting and hook filled melodies lurk just beneath the black buzzing surface. So good. Elite indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Antican"
MPEG Stream: "Misteltein"

ELITE Bifrost (No Colours) cd 16.98
It takes a lot of balls to call your black metal band ELITE. It would lead everyone to believe, that your black metal horde is indeed significantly more elite than all others. In fact, it pretty much means that your band is the most elite. So elite in fact, that you are just simply, ELITE. That's like naming your band 'cult' or even 'grim', oh wait a second, there is a band called Grimm, with two 'm's though, which must make them way MORE grim than all the other grim black metallers out there. Anyway, Elite are in fact a truly elite black metal outfit hailing from the forests of Norway, and they sound like it. This is the new wave of TRUE (and of course ELITE) Norwegian black metal. And it rules. Fierce and fast and pounding and buzzing. Think just the most epic elements of Taake, Burzum, Gorgoroth, etc. woven into a pitch black tapestry of spikes and blood and upside down crosses. Growled guttural vocals, huge thick buzzing guitars, and some of the most epic sounding riffs EVER. Fast and fuzzy, but totally triumphant, melancholic, repeated riffs become totally hypnotic and mesmerizing and weirdly moving, sort of cinematic even, listen to the first track and it will all make sense. Pummeling and grim as fuck, but so totally hook filled. The half time parts sound almost like some sort of blackened Nirvana, or at least Khold channelling Nirvana, either way it's catchy as hell and totally magical sounding. One of our new favorite black metal records for sure.
Amazing record cover too, a foggy winter forest, with some sort of hairy fanged beast lurking and ready to pounce.
While they last we have the super limited digipak version, limited to 500 copies, each one hand numbered, once those are gone you'll just get the regular jewelcase version.
MPEG Stream: "Aerelos"
MPEG Stream: "Take"

ELONKORJUU Harvest Time (Shadoks) cd 17.98
Yeah! Here's another rad reissue of early '70s proto-metal. Of special interest to us, Elonkorjuu are Finnish, in fact hailing from the same town, Pori, that later gave us AQ faves Circle!
Their ultra-collectable 1972 album Harvest Time is a heavy progressive gem, full of ripping guitar and wild organ... wailing English-language vocals, melodic moody parts, many mathy changes, and galloping riffage are also all elements of the sometimes complex Elonkorjuu equation. Although fairly heavy for the time, they also have a generally "happy" sound, one that's often hectic too, these guys obviously reveling in their music making prowess. Their fervor is infectious, this is great stuff for anyone who loves other early '70s prog-psych acts of this ilk like Trettioariga Kriget, Wishbone Ash, Cargo, Culpeper's Orchard, Murphy Blend, Steamhammer, Wind, Irish Coffee, Osage Tribe, Odmenn, Blues Addicts, Stonewall, Toad, Road, etc.
While they only recorded one more album in the late '70s, the talent and exuberance displayed on Harvest Time earned 'em (and Finland) a spot in early, obscure hard rock history, for sure. Forever underground, they even title a song here "Praise To Our Basement", wherein these young long haired hippies first had first begun jamming back in '69...
MPEG Stream: "Unfeeling"
MPEG Stream: "Future"
MPEG Stream: "Old Man's Dream"

ELOPE The No Name Record (Parasol / Gravitation) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's an album from last year that we LOVED, and it turns out we're not the only ones who thought it was pretty special, 'cause our friends at Parasol decided to license it for release in the US. So now it'll be easier to keep in stock, and it's a buck cheaper than the previous import version was! So if you missed it before, here it is again...
And note that Elope hail from the same part of the world as the much hyped (and deservedly so) Dungen, and play music that similarily has got a decidedly retro bent. So if you've been impressed with Dungen, you might find Elope to be an equally wonderful addition to your cd collection. And maybe we should also mention another lauded band of Scandinavian '70s worshippers, heavy rockers Witchcraft...what is it with these Swedes and their mastery of the way-back machine??
Anyway, here's our Elope review again, from AQ list #190:
We get A LOT of records coming through here, as you might imagine, many of them great -- but very few that I (Allan) have listened to as many times upon acquisition as this one. I just can't stop spinning it. It's one of those special cases, the new purchase that actually achieves "heavy rotation" in my home. The Elope trio hail from Sweden and are on the same label, Gravitation, that's been bringing us those lovely Bjorn Olsson albums. They're a current, contemporary band but you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise 'cause this record sure sounds like it was recorded no later than 1973, if it was yesterday. They've captured a long-ago, classic rock, heavily Beatles-influenced vibe, and written songs with pop brilliance to match. They're retro but not self-consciously, calculatedly so. I mean, the album cover suggests indie rock along the lines of Death Cab For Cutie or Modest Mouse or something like that, way more than it does what the band actually sounds like. Which is the Beatles, Neil Young (they cover his "Bad Fog Of Loneliness"), a little country-Stones, a little Pink Floyd, maybe the Pretty Things circa their Parachute LP, and some Wings (or more Beatles). More obscurely, I'd say a lot of this has the same magical effect on me as do the albums by early '70s Peruvian Paul McCartney worshippers We All Together. (Some of you might be familiar with those guys, we used to stock the reissues of their two albums when we could get 'em). Relaxed, super melodic, stick in your head songwriting. Another kinda obscure comparison would be to the quieter, acoustic side of heavy British '70s rockers Budgie (!) who also were devoted Paul McCartney fans I'm sure. And, additionally, this has a restrained-but-effective hard/psych rock side to it that also could relate to the riffing of Budgie (a lot of critics apparently say Cream, but I don't hear that as much). Like the guy from Budgie doing their more sensitive songs, the intimate, gentle vocals here have an air of wistful melancholy I always find hard to resist. Pretty, exquisitely crafted songs that are so very seventies but also evoke the current folky indie-pop of, say, Belle & Sebastian. I wasn't entirely surprised to find out that Elope apparently includes some member(s) of stoner rock band Lowrider. Indeed, Elope had a release (a split with a band called Backbiter) on the defunct Man's Ruin label some time ago, and have been called "possibly the mellowest stoner rock band ever", although they certainly are capable of rocking out, as on the track "Pride Approaching". They do it rarely but they do it well. But unlike a lot of 'stoner rock' bands, whatever inclinations they have towards psychedelic guitar jamming are balanced by the melodic/structural needs of the song at hand. So good. I know I'll keep spinning this for some time to come. Quite possibly top ten 2004 material as far as I'm concerned!
MPEG Stream: "Anyone"
MPEG Stream: "Oh Patchouli"

ELVES, THE And Before Elf... There Were Elves (Niji Entertainment) cd 14.98
Early Ronnie James Dio band compilation! Fancy packaging too.

ELYSIUM / MONARCH s/t (Shifty / Amanita / (((Parade))) / 213 / Throne / Amertume-Corruption #2 / Fidelio / Murder / Wee Wee / Solitude) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Back in stock. Might just be your final chance to pick one of these up!!
When we first heard about this record, a split release between some unknown band and ultradoom AQ crushworthy sludgelords Monarch, whose track was an hour long, we wondered how the heck that was fair to the other band. We then discovered that the other band was in fact French grinders Elysium, whose songs average around the one minute mark (one song here clocks in at a whopping 8 seconds) it started to make sense. And what an awesome idea, what a great combo, the two extremes, blazing buzzing hyperspeed grindcore and slow motion sludge. Two great tastes... er, sounds... So here we have 4 tracks from Elysium, total time 5:55, and one track from the mighty Monarch, total time 58:27. Fucking awesome!
So first up Elysium, fast and furious, guitars like squiggles of white hot lightning, the drums like rhythms being fired from a machine gun into your head at point blank range, vocals that screech and gurgle, everything a head spinning blur. Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Nasum, Rotten Sound, you might as well add Elysium to that elite list.
But they're just the warm up, the appetizer, Monarch's "Amplifire Death March" is why we're here, and they do not disappoint.
So Monarch, for those who don't already know, are one of the slowest, heaviest bands in existence, whose artwork consists of weird Hello Kitty like crosses, skulls and burning churches, as is fronted by a very cute, non-tattooed, non-pierced, spikeless, leatherless, young lady in a sensible skirt and top, who howls like a banshee from the depths of hell and who write in the liner notes "Listen To Judas Priest"? How rad is that? RIDICULOUSLY RAD! And sure we'd be crushed out on Monarch just based on their lugubrious tarpit sonic sludge, we're just like that, but having an adorable frontperson just pushes it over the edge.
So yes, this rules, and is suitably funereal, appropriately slow and somber, so slow in fact it makes Khanate sound like speed metal. Okay, maybe that's stretching it a bit, but this is some seriously slow motion shit. The riffs stretch out for ages, the drum hits are MILES apart, the vocals a screech / howl / moan, a mouthful of dirt and broken glass, a voice so harsh and hatefilled it seems impossible that it could come from Monarch's diminutive sensibly dressed leader. There are huge stretches of near ambience where it's just the hum of the amplifier, some soft lilting chords, a pounding single drum rhythm, vocals screeched across wide expanses of space, draped across fading riffs like flayed skin before the next chunk of sludge drops. It's almost as if some leather winged demon was flying above, soaring through the black night sky, hurling huge hundred ton chunks of sludge at the ground every few seconds, or few minutes, where they splinter into a million pieces, filling our ears with shards of searing sludge. A pounding ultra-dirge, a tempo well below 16rpm, the sort of creepy crawl that were it to slow down any more would be just a single tone, albeit a crushing pummeling one. So heavy, and so slow it's almost stops being sludge and simply becomes some abstract heaviness. By now you should know what we're getting at. This is doom, ultramegadoom, doom with a page full of 'o's, wallowing in the same murk as Moss, Rigor Sardonicous, Stumm, Catacombs, Esoteric, and all who bow before the power of dooooooooom.
This is a split release between TEN labels (count 'em: Shifty / Amanita / (((Parade))) / 213 / Throne / Amertume-Corruption #2 / Fidelio / Murder / Wee Wee / Solitude) which is kinda cool, but also kinda dumb, as each label only gets a handful of copies and therefore it goes out of print before you know it. We got 50 copies originally and those disappeared in a flash, and only now finally managed to get a handful more from one of the labels' secret stash! Probably the last copies ever.
MPEG Stream: ELYSIUM "Amen Jesus Je T'Aime"
MPEG Stream: ELYSIUM "Menteurs"
MPEG Stream: MONARCH "Amplifire Death March (excerpt 1)"
MPEG Stream: MONARCH "Amplifire Death March (excerpt 2)"

EMIT A Sword Of Death For The Prince (Total Holocaust) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ostensibly a black metal record, A Sword Of Death For The Prince from the UK's Emit seems more like sort of an abstract experimental industrial dark ambient record. Or something. Actually, to be totally honest, we're not sure what the hell it is. We are sure of one thing though, this is quite possibly the weirdest fucking record we've ever heard. Reverby riffs, not distorted at all, sort of clangy and chime-y, are struck violently and sent into space to hang there in wide open expanses of haunting creaks and drones, everything heavily delayed, so each riff sort of reverberates into the ether, echoing endlessly, with creepy almost spoken vocals also drenched in delay. It's like someone took a pop record, took out ALL the song structures and all the melodies, ran the whole thing through a bank of effects pedals and then had King Tubby make a dub version of the whole thing. Like songs by Wolf Eyes or the Dead C being reinterpreted by Benighted Leams. Riffs and notes are spit out seemingly haphazardly, as they careen back and forth, echoing and colliding with vocals and all the notes that follow. This is one of those records, that is either so completely high concept that no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to wrap our puny minds around it, or it's just some kid fucking around with a 4 track and his first delay pedal. Either way, we LOVE it. So completely damaged and far out and WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD.
MPEG Stream: "Herald The Dawn With Your Offerings"
MPEG Stream: "Utlag, Avenger, Spiritual Scourge Of Deformity"

EMIT A Sword Of Death For The Prince (Niessedrion) 2lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a very few of these in on vinyl, direct from the band HIMself. But fair warning, these records seemed to have a harrowing journey across the sea, so some of them have slightly bent corners, but other than that, perfect. Plus they come in awesome gatefold sleeves and odds are we probably won't be able to get these back in ever again.
Ostensibly a black metal record, A Sword Of Death For The Prince from the UK's Emit seems more like sort of an abstract experimental industrial dark ambient record. Or something. Actually, to be totally honest, we're not sure what the hell it is. We are sure of one thing though, this is quite possibly the weirdest fucking record we've ever heard. Reverby riffs, not distorted at all, sort of clangy and chime-y, are struck violently and sent into space to hang there in wide open expanses of haunting creaks and drones, everything heavily delayed, so each riff sort of reverberates into the ether, echoing endlessly, with creepy almost spoken vocals also drenched in delay. It's like someone took a pop record, took out ALL the song structures and all the melodies, ran the whole thing through a bank of effects pedals and then had King Tubby make a dub version of the whole thing. Like songs by Wolf Eyes or the Dead C being reinterpreted by Benighted Leams. Riffs and notes are spit out seemingly haphazardly, as they careen back and forth, echoing and colliding with vocals and all the notes that follow. This is one of those records, that is either so completely high concept that no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to wrap our puny minds around it, or it's just some kid fucking around with a 4 track and his first delay pedal. Either way, we LOVE it. So completely damaged and far out and WEIRD WEIRD WEIRD.
MPEG Stream: "Herald The Dawn With Your Offerings"
MPEG Stream: "Utlag, Avenger, Spiritual Scourge Of Deformity"

EMIT Abortions (Autumn Wind Productions) cd 12.98
We go on and on at length about all the fucked up and damaged, weird as fuck black metal bands we love so much, but we don't really mention Emit usually, which, as we listen to this final Emit release seems just plain wrong. Might be due to the dearth of recordings, only 3 proper releases, one a split, now mostly unavailable, this latest is another collection, gathering up all manner of unreleased tracks as well as a handful from various demos. And holy shit is this stuff amazing. We absolutely loved A Sword Of Death For The Prince, but Abortions makes that one seem downright tame in comparison. This is a tough one to describe, but we'll do our best.
Emit exist somewhere between raw black metal buzz, and creepy black ambience, but their take on both is absolutely tweaked and damaged and pretty insane. The opener here is a thick wall of buzzing guitars, layers of feedback, and what could be analog synths, some serious drone, but all draped over a VERY un-metal rhythm, a weird jaunty shuffle, all offbeat high-hat, like a calypso or something, the beat changing tempo wildly and randomly throughout, speeding WAY up, then right back down again, while the track continues to undulate and buzz fiercely. Right after that the sound shifts to something much more abstract, a dark and brooding drift, laced with strange ambient sounds, warbly low end melodies, bits of crackle and hiss, only to immediately transform into a blast of caustic noise, before slipping back into minimal drone, and finally a haunting reverb drenched spoken word invocation. And we're only 4 tracks in. The rest of the record is equally and gloriously schizophrenic, some highlights: super spare drums over a thick whirring organ drone, and what sounds like a super high pitched harmonica melody, super angular and slightly off key black metal buzz, with an organ or a synth, making the whole thing sound super sinister like a busted metal music box and the drums still doing some sort of UN-metal beat, a totally bizarre, processed buzzscape, all stuttery and staticky, like a skipping cd, but shaped into something weirdly metal and very twisted, swirling thick clouds of black drone and chanted vocals, lots of quite beautiful dark ambience, all very creepy and haunting and ethereal, finally finishing off with the 13 minute epic "Visions Of Timeless Nought", a super obtuse sort of black metal jam, more of those fractured fucked up drums, vocals wrapped in reverb and careening wildly all over the place, guitars that moan and groan and squeal, everything weirdly dubbed out, the drums bouncing wildly, the high-hat loud and sizzling all over the place, the entire song sounding like it's being reflected in a funhouse mirror, warped and warbly and woozy, just listening makes your head spin, which is pretty fantastic actually.
The band has recently ceased to be, reinventing itself as Hammemit, with a new sound and new direction, so for those of you who have yet to discover the warped joys of Emit, and have been hankering for some new blackened weirdness, freaky and fucked up, druggy and confusional and so so so strange, this is probably your last chance...
MPEG Stream: "Behind These Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "An Empty Room & A Mysterious Sermon"
MPEG Stream: "Visions Of Timeless Nought"

EMIT The Dark Bleeding Gods (Goatowarex) cd 9.98
The return of one of our favorite mysterious black hordes, Emit, although not technically a return as the band is defunct and have already re-emerged as the similarly named Hammemit, instead, this is the second posthumous collection from these bizarre black alchemists, gathering up two old recordings, The Dark Bleeding ep from 2003 and the The Dark Gods demo from 2004. The cool thing about Emit was they were never really black metal, but their sound was blacker than many of their buzzier / blastier compatriots. They trafficked in a raw sort of primitive free black noise, more like Abruptum really, with clouds of noxious distorted guitars, howling anguished processed vocals, and often no drums to speak of at all.
The Dark Bleeding is the group at their rawest. Distorted tangles of free form guitar, drenched in reverb, vocals grunting and growling, some actual riffage for sure, but buried beneath dense slabs of crumbling distortion, and heaving low end rumble, the final of the four tracks features some awesomely distorted church organ, resulting in a super creepy, ultra noisy chunk of circusy black drone-noise.
The Dark Gods is a bit more song oriented, but only a bit, still plenty abstract, spaced out swells, melodic and downright pretty, give way to creeping black riffage, and warped and warbly low end, sick vocals, garbled and processed, drums show up, but instead of blasting or pounding, they are totally abstract, another element to drift and meander and get all tangled up in the ever swirling morass of blackened sound. Near the end, the drums do make their presence more known, giving the sound a distinctly doomy vibe, but still totally unhinged and chaotic and fractured and gloriously fucked up.
Like WOLD meets Abruptum meets Circle Of Ouroborus, noisy, heavy, abstract, weirdly pretty, totally and completely damaged, and thus WAY recommended.
MPEG Stream: "The Pain Of Bleeding"
MPEG Stream: "Death Before Death"
MPEG Stream: "Distant Dragon"
MPEG Stream: "Watching From The Hills"

EMIT / VROLOK Musikalisches Opfer / Pestilence 1440 (Goatowarex) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Last year, in our neverending quest for the weirdest black metal ever, we discovered the mysterious and perplexing Emit. And while technically they may in fact be black metal, realistically, they are more of some sort of ambient, ethereal, damaged drone outfit, spewing a deconstructed, abstract whatthefuck crash, clang and creep. Definitely black, but more in mood than sound. Either way, we were totally taken and were super psyched to discover a new record from these freaks, a split with Vrolok, more on them later. On their half of this split, Emit start off the proceedings with all vocals, the first track a soft shimmery swirl of ghostly reverbed vocals, floating and drifting, the second track is more vocals, this time some sort of monkish chant, low and liturgical, over a whirring distant drone. It's only by track three, that any sort of 'metal' becomes evident, but even then, it's metal of the most abstract fucked up kind. A buzzing blasting burst of lo-fi blackness, that starts of blazing but as it forges forward it falls apart more and more, each separate element becoming more distorted and more twisted and tweaked, until it's like listening to Darkthrone on a transistor radio through an endless series of funhouse mirrors. Woah! The rest of the tracks delve deeply into a dark realm of medieval ambient drones, a sort of more damaged Abruptum, with haunting atonal detuned guitars, and creepy tiny monster vocals, occasional bursts of super distorted black buzz and sonic shrapnel, but for the most part, a dizzying onslaught of chaotic creepiness and bizarre blackness.
Vrolok while not nearly as weird as Emit, are definitely a bit more overtly black metal, but are the perfect match for Emit with their furious and fucked up black buzz. From the tumultuous blast of blazing lo-fi blackness of the first track "Hellchoir (Pestilence 1440)", a snarling, squirming riff, tangled up with lightspeed blast beats and buried under all sorts of suffocating sonic sludge, to the weird martial soundscape of "Black Chemical Waltz", a super blown out simple drum beat, amidst swirls of subsonic drones and buzzing weirdness peppered with creepy distorted snatches of found sound and bits of conversation, to the epic blackness of "Inverse Devotion" sounding like a glorious collision between Xasthur and Immortal, albeit recorded on a busted 4-track, to the epic closer "Between The Astral Shades", which starts off as a shimmering creeped out ambient soundscape, turns into what sounds like Bathory recorded in a high school gymnasium, and finally morphs into an ultra distorted seasick black dirge, replete with anguished howls and washed out black drone guitars, the whole thing blurring into a glorious blackened dronedrenched waltz.
More absolutely essential bizarre blackness for sure!
MPEG Stream: EMIT "Death's Black Diadem"
MPEG Stream: EMIT "Infinite Lucidity"
MPEG Stream: VROLOK "Hellchoir (Pestilence 1440)"
MPEG Stream: VROLOK "Black Chemical Waltz"

EMIT / VROLOK Musikalisches Opfer / Pestilence 1440 (Christcrusher) picture disc lp 10.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Managed to get a very few of these in on vinyl (think FIVE), direct from the band HIMself. But fair warning, these records seemed to have a harrowing journey across the sea, so some of them have split seams (since they're picture discs and are packaged in those brittle plastic sleeves), but other than that, perfect. Plus they're picture discs! And come with a printed insert and odds are we probably won't be able to get these back in ever again.
Back in 2005, in our neverending quest for the weirdest black metal ever, we discovered the mysterious and perplexing Emit. And while technically they may in fact be black metal, realistically, they are more of some sort of ambient, ethereal, damaged drone outfit, spewing a deconstructed, abstract whatthefuck crash, clang and creep. Definitely black, but more in mood than sound. Either way, we were totally taken and were super psyched to discover a new record from these freaks, a split with Vrolok, more on them later. On their half of this split, Emit start off the proceedings with all vocals, the first track a soft shimmery swirl of ghostly reverbed vocals, floating and drifting, the second track is more vocals, this time some sort of monkish chant, low and liturgical, over a whirring distant drone. It's only by track three, that any sort of 'metal' becomes evident, but even then, it's metal of the most abstract fucked up kind. A buzzing blasting burst of lo-fi blackness, that starts of blazing but as it forges forward it falls apart more and more, each separate element becoming more distorted and more twisted and tweaked, until it's like listening to Darkthrone on a transistor radio through an endless series of funhouse mirrors. Woah! The rest of the tracks delve deeply into a dark realm of medieval ambient drones, a sort of more damaged Abruptum, with haunting atonal detuned guitars, and creepy tiny monster vocals, occasional bursts of super distorted black buzz and sonic shrapnel, but for the most part, a dizzying onslaught of chaotic creepiness and bizarre blackness.
Vrolok are not nearly as weird as Emit, definitely a bit more overtly black metal, but are the perfect match for Emit with their furious and fucked up black buzz. From the tumultuous blast of blazing lo-fi blackness of the first track "Hellchoir (Pestilence 1440)", a snarling, squirming riff, tangled up with lightspeed blast beats and buried under all sorts of suffocating sonic sludge, to the weird martial soundscape of "Black Chemical Waltz", a super blown out simple drum beat, amidst swirls of subsonic drones and buzzing weirdness peppered with creepy distorted snatches of found sound and bits of conversation, to the epic blackness of "Inverse Devotion" sounding like a glorious collision between Xasthur and Immortal, albeit recorded on a busted 4-track, to the epic closer "Between The Astral Shades", which starts off as a shimmering creeped out ambient soundscape, turns into what sounds like Bathory recorded in a high school gymnasium, and finally morphs into an ultra distorted seasick black dirge, replete with anguished howls and washed out black drone guitars, the whole thing blurring into a glorious blackened dronedrenched waltz.
More absolutely essential bizarre blackness for sure!
MPEG Stream: EMIT "Death's Black Diadem"
MPEG Stream: EMIT "Infinite Lucidity"
MPEG Stream: VROLOK "Hellchoir (Pestilence 1440)"
MPEG Stream: VROLOK "Black Chemical Waltz"

EMPEROR Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (Candlelight) cd 10.98
The most highly-anticipated black metal album of the summer. You already know that, and you want it, right? Otherwise, what can we say... Emperor is pretty much THE black metal band of the 90's, unsurpassed at what they do, despite their legions of imitators, and this disc not only meets our expections but exceeds them. Formerly on Century Black, now a Candlelight reissue with bonus tracks.
While the Century Black domestic edition included as a bonus the songs & cd-rom video from their import "Reverence" ep, this newer reissue includes the same three ep tracks plus live footage from 1997-98 and an interview on a Finnish television program.

EMPEROR Emperial Live Ceremony (Candlelight) cd 16.98
The live intensity of Norwegian black metal standard-bearers Emperor captured on disc, from a show at London's Astoria theatre (the same show featured in the video of the same name, of course). This is probably a better investment than the video version, however, 'cause let's face it, it's the music that rules, not Emperor's rather static and grimfaced stage "act." Good sound, and a great selection of songs from all three proper Emperor albums. With Charmand Grimloch (Tartaros) on keyboards and Tyr on bass, plus the Emperor core of guitarist/vocalist Ihsahn and guitarist Samoth, and drummer Trym. Includes a cd-rom track with the video to "I Am The Black Wizards" as well as Emperor screensavers! Hmm. Screensavers aren't very evil. Maybe t-shirts are a little evil, but a screensaver!? Better yet, why not an Emperor computer virus? If you get any email with the subject line "Curse You All Men!" DON'T OPEN IT!

EMPEROR In The Nightside Eclipse (Candlelight) cd 10.98
A landmark Scandinavian Black Metal album essential to any good Satanist's collection. The forward impetus of this album is incredible, as the majestic keyboards, rasping cries, and pummelling drums all sweep together like a freezing, evil wave carrying pagan Viking longboats across the North seas to attack and pillage Christian lands. Like opera music for howling wolves. A Nordic church-burning classic. Formerly on Century Black, now a Candlelight reissue with bonus tracks.

EMPEROR IX: Equilibrium (Candlelight) cd 16.98
Kneel and worship. No, seriously, they're not called Emperor for nothing. These Norwegians strike yet again with an amazing, state-of-the-art black metal masterpiece. Fans of the genre won't have read this far, they're already down here at Aquarius buying it. But the obligatory description is thus: Emperor remain just as progressive and epic as they were on their prior album, adding some amazing King Diamondesque screams (go, Ihsahn!) and a bushel of death metal brutality...making for an album that pretty much defines the word "killer".

EMPEROR Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise (Candlelight) cd 14.98
Norwegian black metal emperors Ihsahn, Samoth and Trym are back with what's billed as their latest and greatest achievement in a career of evil that's second to none. And by latest we also mean last: supposedly this is their final album, ever, sob. And so they mean to make it a statement of utter superiority -- and pretty much succeed. Certain metal scribes are already falling all over themselves to praise this album, and while we can't agree that it's necessarily the best black metal album ever, or even Emperor's best, it's certainly up there! It's an insane, impressive sensory overload of brutal drumming, rasping and screaming and operatic-choir style vocals, jazz-inflected guitar labyrinths, gothic keyboard decadence... While of course grim and violent, they've really embraced the clean, technical, almost-Prog style developed over their last few albums. Parts of this disc could almost be from an '80s prog-metal album by, say, Watchtower! But their wall-of-sound "Nightside Eclipse" roots are evident too, as their prog-technicality is sooo extreme it's mindboggling, kind of exhausting, dense with complexity as well as heaviness. Ihsahn's majestic, mathematical compositions leave much to discover on repeat listens. All hail.
RealAudio clip: "The Eruption"
RealAudio clip: "The Tongue of Fire"

EMPEROR Scattered Ashes: Decade of Emperial Wrath (Candlelight) 2cd 15.98
This is the inevitable 'greatest hits' collection from the undisputed masters of hyper-technical, super proggy, grim and frosty Norwegian black metal EMPEROR!! Disc one is heavy on the covers as almost half is culled from tributes to Darkthrone, Mercyful Fate, Mayhem, etc... and is filled out with EP tracks and a few tracks from the amazing Thorns Vs. Emperor album. Disc two is all album tracks spanning their whole career. There's nothing here unreleased. About as "rare" as it gets is an Ulver remix that was a bonus track from the limited version of IX Equilibrium. So consequently, there's not much essential here for those of you who have been loyal subjects from day one, but definitely a great introduction for the uninitiated.
Random note: The disc comes with the official Emperor merchandise catalog and holy shit! No less than 8 cds, 1 DVD, 7 posters, 20 shirts, 12 badges, 2 knit caps, 2 baseball hats, 1 jacket, 1 patch, 1 mouse pad and 1 silver pendant!! Phew.
MPEG Stream: "Curse You All Men!"
MPEG Stream: "Sworn (Ulver remix)"

EMPEROR Scattered Ashes: Decade of Emperial Wrath (Candlelight) book+cd 19.98
Believe it or not, this is a big book of sheet music and guitar tabulature devoted to the songs of Norwegian black metallers Emperor!! Includes lyrics too. Wow. You know you you've made it when someone publishes a fancy 129 page book of your tunes, so that fans can read your music as well as listen, and presumably learn to play it all, though this stuff is waaaaay beyond our resident beginning guitar student (Allan). Maybe years from now if he really really practices.
13 of Emperor's "greatest hits" are detailed here, including such favorites as "Cosmic Keys To My Creations And Times", "I Am The Black Wizards", "Thus Spake The Nightspirit", and "The Loss And Curse Of Reverence".
It's page after page of horizontal lines machine-gun 16th note repetition, more rhythm than melody. It looks like this music was printed out by a runaway computer. We've never seen sheet music that looks this dense and linear. It's just kinda cool to look at!
These songs were transcribed by Emperor guitarist Ihsahn himself, by the way, who also pens a humble introduction to this tome. Includes a cd (disc two of the greatest hits/rarities collection Scattered Ashes: Decade of Emperial Wrath, featuring all of the songs in the book).

EMPIRE AURIGA Auriga Dying (Moribund) cd 14.98
There aren't a whole lot of grim black metal bands from Michigan. And Empire Auriga aren't gonna do anything really to change that. They are grim, and black metal maybe, in their own way, but they're also industrial, gothy, a little new wavey, a bit shoegazey, even pretty poppy. In fact they're almost definitely more of all of those than they are 'grim black metal'. Yet they're on Moribund, and they are being touted as a sort of avant black metal outfit. We do see the appeal, black metallers have been expanding their horizons lately, opening up to bands like Brown Jenkins, Wrath Of The Week, Have A Nice Life, Nadja, and there have been groups like Blut Aus Nord and Spektr, distinctly black metal, but who have transformed their sound into something much more industrial and avant.
So thus we have Empire Auriga, a duo from Michigan, Lansing to be exact, one guy on "communications", the other on "transmissions", and on repeated listens, we're gonna have to go out on a limb and say this isn't actually black metal at all, at least not in the traditional sense. The opener is all marital drumming, militaristic snares, over a nearly static sheet of slow shifting distorted buzz, some mournful horns (?) or at least a keyboard melody that sounds like horns, it ends up sounding like a metallic version of some medieval music, the vocals are a drawled sort of croon, more Joy Division than Darkthrone. And while it may not be black metal, it's still eminently cool. The next track is a lugubrious doomic trudge, super processed percussive pound, lots of drone and buzz, howled vocals buried in the mix, all very machinelike and lumbering, almost like a more washed out drone-y Godflesh. Later tracks get super industrial, the drums a mechanical pound, the vocals a demonic croak, again the melody distinctly medieval, almost like blackened Renn Faire music, others are just long stretches of staticky noise, buried radio transmissions, bursts of jagged interference, a weird sort of crumbling caustic drone, while still others are deep drifting stretches of creepy black ambience, rife with found sounds and disembodied voices. Only one track can really be called black metal, and even that one is pretty far out. The main riff is not so much a riff as a long drawn out buzz, the vocals are a strangled guttural growl, over the top a haunting Burzum like keyboard melody, but the cool thing about it, and exactly what makes it so not black metal, is the lack of propulsion, it's more like some fucked up buzz drenched ambient Whitehouse, really cool and creepy and grim, but only marginally black metal.
All this talk about whether Empire Auriga is black metal or not, but to be fair, we could really care less, it's just the fact that they seem to get lumped in with other black metal bands, even though the connection is tenuous at best. But fuck it, we love black metal and we dig this big time. You won't necessarily love this if -all- you listen to is metal, but if you're into weird metallic noise, or dark rhythmic weirdness, or abstract blackness, or any sort of abstract arty heaviness, this is definitely all of that and more.
MPEG Stream: "Sorrowsong"
MPEG Stream: "Dreaming Of Breath And Stars"
MPEG Stream: "The Lurker"

EMPIRE OF HATE / MORTHOND split (Heidros Hart) cassette 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Another killer tape of weird black metal buzz. This time it's Australia's Empire Of Hate and US black metal horde Morthond (not to be confused with the Cold Meat Industry Morthond).
Empire Of Hate whip up a black storm of relentlessly buzzing guitars, stumbling blasting drums, and some truly tortured vocals. Harsh glass gargling howls that dip into death metal gargles as well as the occasional hysterical shriek. The production is perfectly murky, a depressive suffocating crush, perfectly suited to the hellish buzz and inhuman howls.
Morthond counter with their own brutal black burst, channelling the raw trancelike sound of early Burzum and classic Darkthrone. Some mournful keyboards and whispering winter winds lead us into their wintry world. Mournful melodies give way to murky black buzz, galloping drums, everything drenched in reverb, a furious classic blast of vintage Norwegian style blackness. So good.
Awesome high school binder cover art, with a scary tree and a rabid dog or wolf and a dead body that kind of looks looks like a magic marker version of Munch's The Scream...