JUDAS PRIEST British Steel (Columbia) cd 12.98
1980 Priest album remastered and tricked out with two bonus cuts (the patriotic and very lame "Red, White & Blue" and a live "Grinder"). But the original LP tracks are where the action is: bonafide metal classics like "Living After Midnight", the seemingly autobiographical "Metal Gods" (actually, no, it's about evil robots!), and everyone's favorite sing-along, "Breaking The Law".

JUDAS PRIEST Defenders of the Faith (Columbia) cd 12.98
"Rising from darkness where hell hath no mercy and the screams of vengeance echo on forever, only those who keep the faith shall escape the wrath of the Metallian...master of all metal." Don't provoke the Metallian, pick up this 1984 Judas Priest album in all its remastered glory and thrill to video-age classics like "Freewheel Burning" and "Love Bites". Includes, as all these remasters do, two bonus tracks, one live, one (weak-ass unfortunately) studio.

JUDAS PRIEST Hell Bent For Leather (Columbia / Legacy) cd 7.98
More Priest remastered reissues! Their new album, "Demolition" turned out to be a big piece of crap but that makes these old reissues even more necessary, as a reminder of their former glories in the days of Halford, particularily in the '70s. 1978's "Hell Bent For Leather" (UK title: "Killing Machine") has been a classic album since the day it was released, and nothing's going to change that. This has their great Fleetwood Mac cover "The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown)", that inspired further cover versions by both the Melvins and The Need. Includes two bonus tracks: a live "Riding on the Wind" and an unreleased studio recording called "Fight For Your Life".

JUDAS PRIEST Nostradamus (Epic) 2cd 17.98

JUDAS PRIEST Painkiller (Sony) cd 12.98
Supreme metal triumph. The last good (in fact, great) Judas Priest album, also happened to be their last with 'Metal God' Rob Halford at the mic. Originally released in 1990, "Painkiller" at the time seemed like the big Priest comeback, after a string of crap, commercial late-eighties releases ("Ram It Down", "Turbo"). But, it was SO good that the classic Priest line-up imploded soon thereafter. At least they went out with a bang (and never should have done anything else afterwards!). The proudly uber-metallic, melodic but mighty and punishing beast that is "Painkiller" influenced many a more recent metal band, with songs from this album even getting cover treatment from a host of younger outfits. Lyrically, it's totally over the top and cheesy (but cheesy in a good way, unlike "Turbo" et.al.) with song titles like "Leather Rebel" and "Metal Meltdown". The twin guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing was at an all-time peak, spitting out riffs and trading off leads left and right. New drummer Scott Travis' double bass barrage also added to the band's firepower. Belongs in the book of "ultimate metal albums" for sure. It's actually hard to imagine any record being MORE metal than this one! Like the other discs in the JP reissue series, this is remastered and includes a couple of ok but non-essential unreleased bonus tracks. Allan remembers buying this on cassette at Sam The Record Man on Toronto's Yonge St., back in his college days, and it's one of the albums that helped forge his love of metal. We had to physically restrain him from making this reissue "record of the week". Well, no, not really, but he likes it a lot, and was excited about this cd.
RealAudio clip: "Painkiller"

JUDAS PRIEST Painkiller (Back On Black) 2lp 36.00
Had to get this in, reissued on lp, so you can proudly add the most metal metal ever made to your vinyl collection!
Supreme metal triumph. The last good (in fact, great) Judas Priest album, also happened to be their last with 'Metal God' Rob Halford at the mic (until of course their current, predictably disappointing, reunion). Originally released in 1990, Painkiller at the time seemed like the big Priest comeback, after a string of crap, commercial late-eighties releases (Ram It Down, Turbo). But, it was SO good that the classic Priest line-up imploded soon thereafter. At least they went out with a bang (and never should have done anything else afterwards!). The proudly uber-metallic, melodic but mighty and punishing beast that is Painkiller influenced many a more recent metal band, with songs from this album even getting cover treatment from a host of younger outfits. Lyrically, it's totally over the top and cheesy (but cheesy in a good way, unlike Turbo et. al.) with song titles like "Leather Rebel" and "Metal Meltdown". The twin guitar attack of Glenn Tipton and K.K. Downing was at an all-time peak, spitting out riffs and trading off leads left and right. New drummer Scott Travis' double bass barrage also added to the band's firepower. Belongs in the book of "ultimate metal albums" for sure. It's actually hard to imagine any record being MORE metal than this one!
Allan remembers buying this on cassette at Sam The Record Man on Toronto's Yonge Street, back in his college days, and it's one of the albums that helped forge his love of metal. We had to physically restrain him from making this reissue "record of the week". Well, no, not really, but he likes it a lot!
Includes two bonus tracks, too.

JUDAS PRIEST Point of Entry (Columbia) cd 12.98
1981 album remastered ("for speaker-splitting sound" it says on the cover sticker), w/ unreleased 2 bonus tracks ("Thunder Road" is the studio one, it's pretty good actually, by "Point of Entry" standards). C'mon, go hot rockin'!

JUDAS PRIEST Rocka Rolla (Koch) lp 22.00
BEST PRIEST ALBUM. On vinyl.

JUDAS PRIEST Sad Wings Of Destiny (Koch) cd 9.98
THE Judas Priest cd YOU MUST OWN. It's their second album, from 1976, and is one of the prototypical heavy metal albums of all time (along with earlier masterworks like "Paranoid" and "Machine Head" and later classics like "Killers" and "Master of Puppets"). When I (Allan) was in high school, I thought Priest sucked 'cause I'd only heard their commerical late '80s output like "Turbo" -- but someone played me a tape of some early Priest and I was blown away. They were heavy and psychedelic, not cheesy and leather-clad like latter-day Priest (not that there's anything wrong with that though). The majesty and drama of Queen, the doom-laden might of Sabbath, the speedy rockin' of Purple: Judas Priest blended all that into "Sad Wings", a cornerstone of heavy metal if there ever was one. This is one of those albums where pretty much every song is a classic: the epic "Victim of Changes", nightprowling rocker "The Ripper", "Genocide", "Island of Domination", more. Recommended! We're listing this 'cause of the recent reissues of some other Priest albums -- as long as we reviewed those, we figured we ought to also tell you about our all-time fave Priest disc too (the band doesn't own the rights to their first two albums, apparently, so this isn't in the same reissue series).
RealAudio clip: "Sad Wings of Destiny"
RealAudio clip: "Tyrant"

JUDAS PRIEST Screaming For Vengeance (Columbia) cd 12.98
Of the four newly reissued/remastered JP discs, this 1982 uber-classic and "British Steel" are the definite essentials. (Of course, there's eight others coming up in this welcome reissue program, just in time to light a fire under today's Priest to make their new disc "Demolition" live up to these old records). Fuck, this one's got "The Hellion/Electric Eye", the title track, "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" and more...including, as with the other three, 2 unreleased bonus tracks (and this time, the studio track isn't so bad).

JUDAS PRIEST Sin After Sin (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
The one with their Joan Baez cover, "Diamonds And Rust". Plus the song Slayer later covered, "Dissident Aggressor". And "Sinner" and "Last Rose of Summer" and more. Early Priest rules, and this was their first album for Columbia, from '77 (and thus the earliest in this reissue series). While not the equal of its amazing predecessor, 1976's "Sad Wings Of Destiny", it's still essential. It comes remastered with the requisite two bonus tracks, that honestly haven't been all that worthwhile on any of the reissues we've checked out. But it's the actual albums that count, so if you don't have this one or the others, get 'em!

JUDAS PRIEST Stained Class (Columbia / Legacy) cd 5.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
Another Priest classic! For some folks, this is THEE Priest platter. If you're any sort of metalhead, you'll have this 1978 album in your collection. "Exciter", "Invader", "Beyond The Realms of Death", "Saints In Hell", their cover of "Better By You, Better Than Me"...so many great songs. This disc is of course remastered and includes two bonus tracks, one live, one studio.
MPEG Stream: "Exciter"
MPEG Stream: "White Heat, Red Hot"

JUDAS PRIEST Unleashed In The East (Columbia / Legacy) cd 12.98
Known to fans as "Unleashed In The Studio", this is their 'live' album recorded in 1979 in Japan. Overdubbed or not, it's another essential metal artifact from the band that pioneered on-stage motorcycle riding. For once, the bonus tracks on this remaster make it a superior album to its previous incarnation, adding 4 "Hell Bent For Leather" era live cuts to your home 'concert' experience.

JUMALHAMARA Resignaatio (Ahdistuksen Aihio Productions) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A few years back, we became particularly obsessed with a Finnish (sort of) black metal group called Jumalhamara. Now, we know, aQ becoming obsessed with a band from Finland is hardly big news, but this was something else.
As mentioned in our old review, a friend warned us off these guys, saying they were barely black metal and were way too wussy and jangly, but everything he said just made us want to hear it more. Besides, they were from Finland, they were called Jumalhamara AND they had a song called, "Discover The Pigtail", which ended up being as good as the title might lead you to believe. Probably better to just revisit what we said about that track last time:
"Discover The Pigtail" begins with glistening harmonics, which are soon joined by some strange off kilter drumming, tangled riffing and howled vocals, and those harmonics never go away, so even as the band slithers and sprawls, spewing out a sort of buzzy blackness, the glistening shimmer totally shines through, diluting the heaviness, turning what might be something raw and heavy into something way more bizarre and trippy, at times it almost sounds like two records playing simultaneously, they drift in an out of sync, all very dizzying and gloriously tweaked."
And listening to it again recently, we realized there were horns, and all sorts of other weirdness going on. Unfortunately, that record was only a 3 song ep, so it definitely left us wanting more.
Here we are 3 years later, and the band finally deliver their first proper full length in close to 14 years of existence. And how does it stack up? Well on first listen, it doesn't sound nearly as weird, in fact it sounds way heavier, and more black metal, but it doesn't take long, in fact within a few minutes of the opening track's 10+ minutes, the song reveals itself as way more than black metal, subtly at first, the riffs atonal and sort of off kilter, that feeling of two records playing at once returns, everything a little warped and twisted, and then suddenly the song fracture, and the band gets super intense and aggro, the song lurching and starting and stopping, before launching right back into it. Buzzing blackly on the surface, but all around the main riff, other guitars are moaning and pealing, and adding that weird second melody / other record vibe. And then it just gets weirder and weirder, gnarled vocals, operatic female singing, the guitars getting more and more angular, the sound blurring and smearing and becoming more dronelike. Twisted for sure, but definitely some of the most original and warped black metal we've heard in ages.
And don't worry (or maybe do!), it gets WAY weirder, and way less black. As the record unfurls, spidery blues guitars drift underneath groaned deep dramatic vocals, before being blasted by some crumbling crushing doom, only to blossom into some propulsive industrial flecked noise rock, laced with what again sound like horns.
After that it's a sonic tug of war between a sort of swampy gothicky almost Woven Hand sort of vibe, and noise drenched back metal weirdness, doomy slithery guitars wrap around martial snares, splintering into shrieked noisy blackened chaos, only to settle down into some moody meandery reverb drenched slowcore blues, big buzzy guitars and almost Harvey Milk like crooning.
The title track is a frenzied blast of black metal riffing howled vox, and some dense intricate mathy drumming, epic and majestic but never truly slipping into 'black metal' until the last minute, a frantic blast that leads directly into the album closer, a sprawling bit of epic weirdness, a relentless pounding cymbal crash keeps the tempo, guitars howl and grind and buzz, strange melodies tinkle and drift off, like someone playing bottles, the vocals alternatingly shrieked maniacally and bellowed defiantly, a frenzied stretch of blown out psychedelic noisedrone chaos, with super intense dramatic vocals that follow the guitars and the crashing cymbals to their final termination point.
Somehow these guys have managed to make a record that's crazy fucked up and twisted, but with a sonic dementia that's just subtle enough, that some unsuspecting true grim warriors might just get suckered into listening to this chunk of blackened what the fuck genius.
Gorgeous packaging too, matte finish digipak, with super striking artwork, and a booklet filled with lyrics, and weirdly old timey imagery.
MPEG Stream: "Ecstacy In Blood - A Ballad"
MPEG Stream: "Storm Is Coming"
MPEG Stream: "Haul"

JUMALHAMARA Slaughter The Messenger (Hammer-Of-Hate) cd ep 10.98
We've gotten to a really weird place in our music obsession, as evidenced by the fact that sometimes a recommendation against, is almost stronger than a recommendation FOR. Sounds weird but it's true. We have friends at other stores, who will tell us something is terrible, they hated it, but then will add "you might like it though." And the weird thing is, they're usually right (that we'll like it). We've developed such a taste for the bizarre, it's sometimes hard to tell if something is bad, or so fucked up it's genius.
However, one of those friends recommended against buying this very record, very vehemently in fact. Hard to recall, but it was something along the lines of it not being very metal and being all jangly and wussy. Fair enough. But they are from Finland, and they do have a song called "Discover The Pigtail"! Those two pieces of critical info were enough to overrule our friend's warning, and we're so glad they were.
This latest ep from Finnish black metal, psychedelic post rock horde Jumalhamara is AMAZING. Three songs, all on the long side, with a sound that is pretty difficult to pin down. It is easy to see why someone questing for serious black metal grimness might be disappointed. The record begins with the sound of children, laughing, playing, and what sounds like oinking pigs, a field recording of some village, until the band ROAR into action, pounding out a fierce blast of blackened buzz, grinding and intensely heavy, but it literally only lasts for about 10 seconds, then the band drifts off into some washed out hippy psych territory, all crooned reverbed vocals, lazy sun baked melodies, simple hand drums, slippery minimal bass, streaks of dubbed out distorted guitar, but for the most part, this is almost like some blackened Finnish Grateful Dead. Near the end there's even some fuzzy organ, the guitars get a bit heavier, the vocals moaning and chant-like, but it never really explodes, just gets thicker and more dense, while still seeming jammy and druggy. So awesome. Almost like a slightly heavier, way more fucked up black metal version of the recent Dead Man record.
"Discover The Pigtail" begins with glistening harmonics, which are soon joined by some strange off kilter drumming, tangled riffing and howled vocals, the cool thing about this track is that those harmonics never go away, so even as the band slithers and sprawls, spewing out a sort of buzzy blackness, the glistening shimmer totally shines through, diluting the heaviness, turning what might be something raw and heavy into something way more bizarre and trippy, at times it almost sounds like two records playing simultaneously, they drift in an out of sync, all very dizzying and gloriously tweaked.
The final track is the briefest of the bunch, and begins as a grinding gnarled and blackened doomic dirge, but not typically sludgy and murky, instead it's super dense and layered, the drums doing much more than pounding away, stumbling and skittering, beneath streaks of high end guitar, and chugging blown out riffage, the cymbals sizzling, the whole track recorded super hot and in the red, blasting and pounding and twisting until it fades out.
Definitely not really black metal, more like some sort of twisted doom-ed post rock avant psych, but still plenty heavy and really fucking great!
MPEG Stream: "The Swing"
MPEG Stream: "Discover The Pigtail"

JUNIUS Reports From The Threshold Of Death (Prosthetic) cd 14.98
We first heard Boston post metal heavies on a recent split with fellow post metallers Rosetta, and were surprised by just how UNmetal these guys were, they're still heavy, but more like Katatonia or 'Radiohead' era Cave In, bombastic and epic, majestic and yeah, heavy, but clean vocals, soaring and dramatic (right down to some hazy dreamy female backup vox), the songs proggy and sprawling, unfurling brooding dramatic slow build verses, that build to massive crushing choruses, but never getting fully metal, instead blossoming into some sort of epic doom pop, the sound is a bit mathy too, and weirdly enough, some of the tracks remind us of Three Mile Pilot, albeit a much more metallic version, but the phrasing and hypnotic rhythms definitely draw from the same sonic well. As we mentioned in the review of that split with Rosetta, we can definitely see that this stuff might be too poppy and wimpy for a lot of metalheads, in fact, these guys opened up for some metal show here recently, and were definitely not appreciated, but hell, get these guys on a tour with Katatonia or Opeth or Lifelover, and people would be losing their mind. And really, this stuff could and should be all over the radio, the songs are that good, the production massive, the sound incredible, just like Cave In, if there were any justice in the world, these guys would be huge. And honestly, we weren't totally sold on these guys, but after a handful of listens, we find ourselves a little bit obsessed, playing this record like crazy. So, recommended if you like your metal tempered with plenty of poppiness, or alternately if you can handle your pop music on the seriously heavy side. A new favorite for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Betray The Grave"
MPEG Stream: "All Shall Float"
MPEG Stream: "Dance On Blood"

JUNIUS + ROSETTA s/t (Translation Loss) cd 10.98
We've long been fans of progressive post metal combo Rosetta, every record is a super ambitious sprawling multi-part epic, that manages to do MORE than just cram a million parts into a twenty minute song. They are as adept at meaningful song construction as they are at shredding, and they manage to make their metal art crazy catchy to boot. Which is true here too, their half of this split cdep is a single ten minute track, but it's fantastic, opening with a long stretch of chiming guitars and muscly drumming, definitely post rock, then the bellowed vox come in, and the song begins to metallize, but they haven't really gotten into it yet, cuz a minute or so later, the song proper kicks in, and the already epic jam gets that much more epic and heavy and loud, the band unwinding a thick tangled chunk of psyche metal crush, slipping from mathy post rock to churning downtuned sludge and back again, before shedding the heavy and unfurling a moody, shuffling, shimmering post rock interlude, with chiming guitars and some killer intricate drumming, a slow build smolder as the band builds their way back up, eventually erupting into a wild proggy mathy freakout, some killer guitar playing intricate and a little bit shreddy over what is almost a continuous drum solo, the sound getting more and more blissy and blown out, until the final minute or two, a seriously dense and heavy as fuck stop/start chug fest, with more insane drumming. Holy shit do these guys slay. When we haven't listened to them for a while we tend to forget how incredible their records are. But we just listened to this one song about 4 times in a row.
Never heard Junius before, but these Boston heavies definitely have their own take on the whole post metal thing, their take being a way more melodic one, with the vocalist front and center, his voice soaring and clear, which gives the music, no matter how heavy the sounds in the background, a much more commercial feel, definitely reminding us of Cave In during their Radiohead period, which is not a bad thing at all, in fact, after hundreds of records of screeching and howling and yowling and grunting, it's kind of excellent to hear seriously heavy music paired with real vocals. And while much of the music here is heavy, the band do stretch out into a sort of progged out shoegazey metallic pop, the sound epic and emotional, perhaps a bit to wimpy for a certain segment of metalheads, but we're digging it a lot, and this one song definitely has us wanting to hear more.
Killer packaging too, a nice digipak, but with one of those 3" cds within a 5" cd, so the outer ring is clear plastic, with the printing on the top, done so that when you look at the underside of the disc, there's readable text underneath the disc art. So cool. Also includes a download coupon for extra exclusive songs!
MPEG Stream: JUNIUS "A Day Dark With Night"
MPEG Stream: ROSETTA "TMA-3"

JUTE GYTE Discontinuities (Jeshimoth Entertainment) cd-r 6.98
This may be only the second release from one man band Jute Gyte that we've reviewed, but it's at least his TWENTIETH in about 6 or 7 years, and thankfully it seems that his prolific nature has done nothing to dull his creativity, or the power of his sound, a dense, dizzying microtonal black metal, that spends much of it's time locked in spiraling, frenzied swirls of frenetic buzz, the sounds slippery, slithery and shimmery, those moments the closest any modern black metal band has come to creating something truly transcendental, the fact that those blasts of epic ur-drone black-buzz majesty are surrounded by all manner of woozy, warped, atonal black-prog, and lumbering almost doomic grim churn, only serves to make those moments that much more intense. And the strange sound, that microtonal tuning, gives the music a serious bent quality, everything just slightly off, and a little twisted. The sound at first seems almost out of tune, but the more you listen, the more those strange intervals begin to make sense, and wow does it add a definite alien tension to the proceedings, the vocals too, a hysterical shriek, and when all of the various twisted elements come together, it's some sort of demonic black musical magic, that is tough to beat, and honestly even tougher to describe. Those transcendental moments almost sound like a symphony of super distorted fretless guitars, the sound slipping fluidly between the chords and notes making everything super tripped out and most definitely psychedelic, and that tuning and the tension it produces, makes every song super dramatic, ratcheting up the tension, with no release, and no resolve, just building and building, the intensity of Jute Gyte's black energy of the charts. Then there's the whole avant/experimental angle, that gives the music to non-fans of black metal, check out the opener to "Night Is The Collaborator Of Torturers", it's so twisted, the notes so weird, and the arrangements so fucked, it almost makes your eyes water, and the drums too follow suit, abstract and stumbling, the vocals come in, and voila, it's some sort of avant prog, no distortion, no manic riffing, just spidery melty melodies, tangled off kilter drumming, the whole thing seemingly on the verge of total collapse. But then "Romanticism Is Ultimately Fatal", launches directly into another one of those flurries of majestic black buzz and warped detuned melody, and then somehow, even though the sound is fully cranked, they somehow push it even further, and it's the sort of sound that could make your head explode.
This stuff is incredible, and we're guessing if you're like us, you'll get an earful of this, and then have to track down the other 19 releases. Fans of Mick Barr's mutant strain of black metal will be in heaven, as will anyone into warped, outsider blackness. Packaged in a dvd case, with full color cover and color printed insert with (amazing) lyrics.
MPEG Stream: "The Haunting Sense of an Unrepeatable Unidirectional Vector"
MPEG Stream: "Night Is The Collaborator Of Torturers"
MPEG Stream: "Romanticism Is Ultimately Fatal"

JUTE GYTE Old Ways (Jeshimoth) cd-r 11.98
We should all be very grateful to the mailmen who serve aQ. Without them, the aQ list would be a very different beast. They come by almost every day, through sleet and rain if necessary. Usually bearing gifts of strange sounds transported from all corners of the globe. And often, some mysterious unmarked package will contain something special, a gorgeous ambient lp, or some obscure otherworldly folk record, or in many cases, some bizarre twisted chunk of black metal. And often those records will go on to be big time aQ faves, which is bound to be the case with this strange disc from a mysterious black metal horde called Jute Gyte, that just showed up one day in the mail.
The package we got was jammed with records by bands with names like Night Troll, Tremor Of The Black Manx, Pumpkin Buzzard, Testikill, but we were strangely drawn to this Jute Gyte record, weird name, cool oversized dvd style packaging, and once we threw it on we understood why. The description on the label's website introduces us to Jute Gyte with these words:
"A bipedal humanoid rat releases a sandpaper-throated screech as most of its internal organs exit through a huge hole in its furry back. Large and small intestines launch forth in whip-like arcs, briefly straightening into perfectly even ropy lines. A massive snail-demon explodes into fragments of confetti: red, green, blue."
And as weird as that reads, once you immerse yourself in the blown out crumbling ultra raw industrial tinged synth laden black metal of JG, maybe it'll make more sense. Then again, maybe not.
The guitar sound is so fierce and fucked up. Ultra distorted, super saturated and fuzz drenched, not so much chuggy or abrasive as massive and blown out, as if a tiny bit more of anything and the riffs would just crumble to pieces, the drums mechanical and machinelike, the vocals a demonic shriek, howling and anguished, everything wreathed in washed out synths and what sounds like a million layers of distortion. The melodies are super catchy, the sound is impossibly warm and lush, even though in every other way it seems harsh and heavy.
Things slow down here and there, the music transformed into a lurching industrial stomp, all gnarled guitars and new wave synths, almost like some crazy blackened Six Finger Satellite jam. There's a cool abstract mandolin interlude (apparently there's mandolin throughout the whole record too!), that's all super spare and skeletal, before a thick warped and warble synth comes in and obliterates the mandolin, leading directly into the second half of the record, the guitar comes back in and is again sop distorted and heavy, that it almost sounds like a synth, the chords ringing out crumble and distort and cause the speakers to nearly implode. Locked into a churning low end psychedelic blow out, the track just throbs and pulses, not so much metal or industrial as some sort of drone music unleashed, the various tones and notes expanding like miniature supernovas.
After a bout of woozy twisted detuned-guitar post rock drift with harsh vokills, burbling underwater synths, and tangled atonal melodies, like Khanate heard through a funhouse mirror, the record closes with another massive and epic dose of in-the-red blackdrone buzz, like Nadja, if they decided to throw in with the dark lord, another heaving wall of crumbling blackness, wrapped around a surprisingly catchy melody, the drums buried in the mix, just a distant throb, with a lurching stop start arrangement, like some sort of slowed down black metal math rock, but dripping with distortion and effects, infused with spaced out synths, and again on the verge of total implosion. And like the rest of the record, impossibly warm and fuzzy and melodic, while simultaneously being one of the most distorted and blown out things we've ever heard.
This isn't brand new, it's maybe a year old, but we only just discovered it, and figured it was something we had to share with the loyal aQ. Quickly becoming a new black metal favorite, just in time for our year end lists...
MPEG Stream: "Waves"
MPEG Stream: "Teeth"
MPEG Stream: "Round"

KADAVAR s/t (Tee Pee / This Charming Man) cd 14.98
Just take one look at this record's cover - if you guess these longhaired & bearded hippie boys in their vintage duds are another retro-proto-metal band in the Sabbathy style of Witchcraft, Graveyard, Horisont, and Noctum, you'd be guessing correctly!! Only thing is, time trippers Kadavar aren't from up in Sweden like those bands, they're from Berlin. But damn, just like all those Swedish faves, they are sure good at kicking out the jams with authentic sounding, bellbottomed bombast. The six tracks here are like the March Of The Riffs, unstoppable; from start to finish it's a rollicking ride of fuzzed out retro-riffery frequently adorned with ripping wah wah psych guitar leads, and some even psychier synth (that to be found on the spaced out final track, "Purple Sage", courtesy of guest synth wiz Shazzula, she of Black Mass Rising fame). The tones are fat, the grooves loping, the vibe very much 1972 or so, harking back to the likes of Sir Lord Baltimore and Kadavar's hard (kraut-)rockin' countrymen Night Sun and Tiger B. SmithÉ funnily enough, the drummer here is named "Tiger". The rest of this classic power trio is rounded out by "Mammut" on bass and "Lindemann" (ok that sounds like a real name) on guitar and vocals, which are in a generally more gentle mode than his dun-dun-dundering heavy riffs, suggestive of folky ritual at times.
Kadavar's debut gets a hell yeah recommendation to all fans of any of the doomy '70s sounding stoner rock, particularly the Swedish bands mentioned above and their counterparts over here like Danava, Witch, and SF's own Dzjenghis Khan.
Digipak cd release or colored (translucent vanilla?) vinyl with digital download.
MPEG Stream: "All Our Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "Black Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Forgotten Past"

KADAVAR s/t (Tee Pee / This Charming Man ) lp 17.98
Just take one look at this record's cover - if you guess these longhaired & bearded hippie boys in their vintage duds are another retro-proto-metal band in the Sabbathy style of Witchcraft, Graveyard, Horisont, and Noctum, you'd be guessing correctly!! Only thing is, time trippers Kadavar aren't from up in Sweden like those bands, they're from Berlin. But damn, just like all those Swedish faves, they are sure good at kicking out the jams with authentic sounding, bellbottomed bombast. The six tracks here are like the March Of The Riffs, unstoppable; from start to finish it's a rollicking ride of fuzzed out retro-riffery frequently adorned with ripping wah wah psych guitar leads, and some even psychier synth (that to be found on the spaced out final track, "Purple Sage", courtesy of guest synth wiz Shazzula, she of Black Mass Rising fame). The tones are fat, the grooves loping, the vibe very much 1972 or so, harking back to the likes of Sir Lord Baltimore and Kadavar's hard (kraut-)rockin' countrymen Night Sun and Tiger B. SmithÉ funnily enough, the drummer here is named "Tiger". The rest of this classic power trio is rounded out by "Mammut" on bass and "Lindemann" (ok that sounds like a real name) on guitar and vocals, which are in a generally more gentle mode than his dun-dun-dundering heavy riffs, suggestive of folky ritual at times.
Kadavar's debut gets a hell yeah recommendation to all fans of any of the doomy '70s sounding stoner rock, particularly the Swedish bands mentioned above and their counterparts over here like Danava, Witch, and SF's own Dzjenghis Khan.
Digipak cd release or colored (translucent vanilla?) vinyl with digital download.
MPEG Stream: "All Our Thoughts"
MPEG Stream: "Black Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Forgotten Past"

KADAVAR & AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR White Ring (This Charming Man) 2lp 27.00
Killer split/collaboration between German retro heavy rockers Kadavar and French psychedelic spacerock heavies Aqua Nebula Oscillator, three new tracks from each band, and then two side long epics, where both bands team up and play together. Kadavar kick down a sort of proto metal style heavy blues rock, with bellbottom riffs, fat fuzzed out bass, and a wailing vocalist, total seventies hard rocking riff-o-mania, with some serious psych overtones, and one track that has some killer start/stop dynamics, and one that's a slithery southern stoner jam, all swaggery and snarly, with a second half that cranks the tempo into a frenzied bas heavy freakout. Aqua Nebula Oscillator counter with a sound that's much more noisy and abstract, space rocking and heavy, spaced out and hypnotic, they do indulge in some retro riffing action, the bass driven breakdown on the very seventies titled "Purple Sage", replete with wild tangles of psych guitar shreddery, or the weird percussion and deep dramatic vox on "Jungle Man", which totally sounds like it could be a cover of some old sixties groover, by the Animals maybe? There's even some fake animal sounds, tiger roars and everything! And then finally there's their organ driven blooz ballad, that sounds like a heavy psych version of the Moody Blues, all drowsy and moody and dreamily dramatic, a little Pink Floyd in the mix too.
Those tracks are all well and good, but it's the collaborations that are the real reason to pick this up. The first, epically titled "From The Flying Dutchman", weaves a spaced out sprawl of wild drum splatter, and heavily effected guitar swirl, a dreamy droned out psychscape, that gradually builds to dizzying squall, all flanged and phasered, but still loose and free, never quite locking into a song proper, at least until about 5 minutes in, when the song finally coalesces into a serious guitar heavy chunk of kraut-psych heaviness, the drums (dual drumming), dense and driving, the drums too doused in flanger, the song sprawling out endlessly, constantly morphing from riff heavy crunch, to ethereal psychedelic shimmer, to brooding murky drift, to chiming almost jangly shimmer, and finally, to bass driven dirgey, that finishes things off in a cloud of murky FX and slow decaying chords. Awesome. As is the title track, a similarly structured epic, but one that launches immediately into a drum heavy stretch of fuzz guitar psych, occasionally settling down into something droney and tranced out, but for the most part never letting up, the guitars swirling and howling, grinding and crunching, multiple leads spiraling into wild tangles, the bass throbbing, the drums pounding, total heavy psych bliss out for sure.
Super swank, embossed, heavy stock gatefold jacket, includes a download code as well.
MPEG Stream: AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR "Jungle Man"
MPEG Stream: KADAVAR "Flying Mountain"
MPEG Stream: KADAVAR & AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR "From The Flying Dutchman"
MPEG Stream: KADAVAR & AQUA NEBULA OSCILLATOR "The White Ring"

KAISERREICH Ravencrowned (De Tenebrarum Principio) cd 13.98

KALAS s/t (Tee Pee) cd 15.98

MPEG Stream: "Monuments To Ruins"
MPEG Stream: "Frozen Sun"

KALEIDOSCOPE #4 magazine 6.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We're always on the lookout for new weird music magazines, and we're fairly sure this might be our new favorite. To begin with, it's put out by one of the guys in weirdo black metal outfit Circle Of Ouroborus. Plus just have a gander at the contents, loads of AQ faves and a few bands we have yet to hear, but definitely sound promising. Blissy black metallers Amesoeurs and Amesoeurs offshoot Alcest, Finland's Ride For Revenge, Japanese metallic black ritualists Arkha Sva, Swedish suicidal black doomsters Hypothermia, Irish black metal cult Primordial, German black metal warriors Secrets Of The Moon, pagan folk legends Current 93, Australian one man metal horde Grippiud and Italian blackdeath warkult Blasphemophagher. As if that weren't enough, a bunch of record reviews, tons of cool photos, and every page is decorated in the margins with that cool pencil art that adorns all the Circle Of Ouroborus discs. Awesome!

KALEIDOSCOPE #5 magazine 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest issue of this kick ass metal mag from long time aQ favorites, black metal geniuses (maniacs?) Circle Of Ouroborus, who, when not crafting twisted damaged folk flecked stumbling blackened buzz, put together a seriously excellent 'zine, covering a super varied selection of very AQ worthy outfits.
Number 5 features NY based primitive black metallers Ash Pool, Japanese doomsters Coffins, Danish doom combo Sol, legendary Norwegian black metallers Trelldom, German blackened death metallers Drowned, death metal legends Incantation, stoner doom trio Ramesses. And even some new-to-us stuff: Australian black thrashers Denouncement Pyre, and four super obscure black death doom bands with only demos to their names: Arvet from Finland, Ignivomous from Australia, Exorcism (we're not sure where they're from) and another Finnish band Profetus.
In addition to all that stuff, there's a bunch of reviews, as well as a killer primer on Finnish black metal, and each page has a cool hand drawn border with demons and flames and upside down crosses, skeletons, and in addition to all the various band photos, there are tons of creepy hand drawn illustrations.

KALMAH They Will Return (Century Media ) cd 14.98
Yet another amazing band from the metal mecca of Finland. Bearing no small sonic resemblance to their countrymen and AQ faves Children Of Bodom, Kalmah take the melodic death metal of In Flames and Dark Tranquility, add ridiculously shredding guitar leads and fleet fingered keyboards and end up with a melodic metal masterpiece. Pounding double kick drums underpin the raging riffs, but melodies abound with Iron Maidenish harmony guitars and super melodic guitar/keyboard solos. My housemate who is a sucker for all things melodic death metal heard this and immediately said 'This is the best record ever.' While he says that about LOTS of records, you still get the idea. While the way-up-in-the-mix keyboards might deter some of you 'true' metalheads, the metal is more than heavy enough to balance it out. Includes a Megadeth cover too!
RealAudio clip: "Hollow Heart"
RealAudio clip: "Swamphell"

KAMPFAR Heimgang (Napalm) cd 16.98
Yay, more Kampfar(rrrrrr)! This Nordic horde, whose first ep came out back in 1995, was missing in action for seven long years, returning in 2006 with the frosty Kvass, and now they're back again with another icy blast of their Norwegian black metal mastery. If anything, this one's full of even folkier riffs, but stays super grim and heavy too, making for some sort of pagan ritual trudge, rolling and rasping and rollicking on and on majestically. There's something quite "classic" about the folky metal lope of tracks like "Vansinn" that's for sure. And as frozen cold as Kampar's collective heart must be, much emotion is still conveyed by the likes of "Vettekult". So, recommended obviously to any/all Kampfar fans, but also to anyone if you just like picking up a new Nordic black metal album this week - this one is the real deal like back in the '90s!
Something must also be said about vocalist and founding member Dolk (that's his name), who, in a recent band photo we've seen, displays a remarkable Kampfar logo tattoo across his stomach, gangsta-style! It looks pretty funny we must stay, but on the other hand, it's an excuse for him to show off his sixpack abs. As well as demonstrating he's serious about his band, it's no fly by night flavor of the month outfit. Indeed, though he somehow finds time for working out and getting tattooed and all that, Dolk's main priority remains channelling the wintry spirits of his Viking ancestors into metal music so powerful that even a non-band-member might consider getting the logo of inked on their body.
MPEG Stream: "Dodens Vee track 3"
MPEG Stream: "Vansinn"
MPEG Stream: "Vettekult"

KAMPFAR Kvass (Napalm) cd 17.98
For some dumb reason, we love saying the name of this Norwegian black metal band... but mispronouncing it like "Campfire" with a pirate-y drawl. Campfarrr! Dunno why we enjoy that so much. It's the same with Finnish black metallers Barathrum. "BATHROOM" we call 'em, or maybe "Barthroom". And we chuckle like idiots. None of this is fair to Kampfar (or Barathrum for that matter). Kampfar are in fact very much a not-funny, totally true and serious Nordic pagan black metal proposition, having released several cultish albums in the past, efforts easily the equal of their more famous peers like Gorgoroth and Darkthrone and Enslaved in their early days. Actually we didn't even know they were still around, Kvass is their first album in SEVEN years! And thus, happily, that classic '90s style Norwegian black metal is what you get! Six long, heavy tracks with rasping vox, raw riffage, and some Viking folky bits as well. Frosty and spikey and grim, with lots of slower parts and majestic melodies underneath all the ice. Yah, Kampfarrrrr!
MPEG Stream: "Lyktemen"
MPEG Stream: "Til Siste Mann"

KAMPFAR Mare (Napalm) cd 16.98

MPEG Stream: "Mare"
MPEG Stream: "Ildstemmer"
MPEG Stream: "Huldreland"

KANG, EYVIND Athlantis (Ipecac) cd 16.98

KAPTAIN SUN Trip To Vortex (Rage Of Achilles) cd ep 7.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kaptain Sun are from Sweden and obviously owe quite a bit to their fellow countrymen Entombed. They mix in a bit of Cathedral, make it a bit more melodic, a little more straight ahead and mid tempo and add some heavy stoner groove. Pretty cool. On UK label Rage of Achilles.

KARABOUDJAN Sbrodj (Relapse) cd ep 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If you remember the Pan-Thy-Monium disc we raved about years ago, then you'll have some clue about what Karaboudjan sounds like, and how weird and amazing it is, as it's basically Pan-Thy-Monium mastermind (and celebrated Swedish metal producer/songwriter/drummer/etc.) Dan Swano revisiting the John Zorn-inspired bizarre experimental realms of P-T-M. That means a mindboggling collision of fuzzed-out superheavy bass lines, free jazz sax skronk, caveman vocal freakouts, fusion Moog keyboards, noise grind drum blasts -- it's all here. Three tracks, each one weirder than the last. We'd been waiting for this to come out for a LONG time, ever since a track appeared a couple years ago on a Relapse sampler, and the wait was worth it. Apparently the delay was caused in part by the label's concern over the Tintin-derived artwork (yes, Tintin, the Belgian comic book hero boy reporter with his little dog Snowy), the legal problem of which was solved by dropping that art concept entirely -- although the band name, song titles, and musician aliases still all reference Herge's cartoon adventure saga (i.e. sampler/fx by Agent Sponz, mix by Laszlo Careidas, drums by General Alcazar...) Very cool, for fans of both weird metal/music and Tintin alike!
RealAudio clip: "Plan 714 Till Sydney"

KARG Scherben (Self Mutilation) cd 14.98

KARMA TO BURN Almost Heathen (Spitfire) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Latest and possibly greatest album by this always kinda-good-but-not-quite-there-yet-until-now-perhaps stoner rock band. What sets Karma To Burn apart from their peers is that they're a purely instrumental outfit, despite label-forced flirtations with having a vocalist. This stuff is dark and heavy and metallic and chock full o' riffs. You'd think a band like this, without singing, would fill that void either with lotsa guitar soloing, maybe some extended acid-psych jamming -- but KtB are more about riffs and grooves, and it kinda makes you want, or expect, a singer to jump in, even though they're probably better off without one...

KARP Action Chemistry (Punk In My Vitamins?) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Before there was irony-metal (C-Average, Godheadsilo, etc...), well not really before, but definitely pre-short-pants-white-belt-devil-sign-in-the-air-in-mock-love-of-satan-and-heavy-metal, there was Karp. Three fucked-up, drug-addled, punk rock miscreants raised on cheap beer and real metal. They ruled the scene playing metal, metal that the kids just assumed was punk rock 'casue it was fast and heavy and loud and the kids didn't know any better since they hadn't listened to metal in order to rebel against their stoner older brothers. Sadly, in 1998, Karp died, and Oly-punk kids everywhere lamented the demise of this punker-than-thou, sort of more-metal-than-thou Tumwater, WA gang of hooligans. Recapture their heavy, raging bite from the '90s with this collection of assorted covers, singles, and compilation tracks.
RealAudio clip: "Rocky Mountain Rescue"

KASNER, STEPHEN Works: 1993-2006 (Scapegoat Publishing) book 38.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
ONE COPY LEFT!!
Most of you probably won't be familiar with the name Stephen Kasner, but most readers of the AQ list, and therefore very likely owners of many weird and obscure and heavy records, will most definitely recognize his work. A well respected visual artist, Kasner is probably best known, at least to us, as the man responsible for lots of iconic album cover art, having created covers for SUNNO))), Khylist, Integrity, Ruhr Hunter, Himsa, Trephine, Rotting Christ, and tons more.
His art is amazing. Very striking and quite haunting. Bleak, austere, dark, and nightmarish. Mysterious figures, faces and shapes, animals and figures, signs and symbols, all suspended in fields of washed out browns and greys, blacks and off whites, strangely lit, weirdly textured, each image looking like some old parchment, recovered from the ruins of an ancient temple, the images at once hellish and horrific, lovely and utterly entrancing. Layered and textured, incredibly detailed, but subtly so, you can gaze into Kasner's paintings and feel like you're falling in, or being dragged in.
Record cover fetishists will definitely dig, but art freeks into photographers like Joel Peter Witkin, Max Aguilera-Hellweg, and visual artists like Francis Bacon Odd Nerdrum, H.R. Geiger and AQ customer Justin Bartlett (who's done many of your favorite heavy records as well).
It's a gorgeous cloth covered hardback book, 10.5"x10.5", 160 pgs, beautifully laid out, includes text from Dwid of Integrity, Seldon Hunt and more...
ps: Coming soon: a new series of releases on Utech, all with original Kasner artwork and featuring such aQ faves as Skullflower, Aluk Todolo, Vulture Club and more. Can't wait!

KATAKLYSM Epic (The Poetry of War) (Nuclear Blast) cd 14.98
After a completely baffling stumble into sort of industrial punk nu-metal (complete with a record cover depicting a homeless crusty punk girl and her skateboard?!?!?), Kataklysm get back to basics and spit out a MONSTROUS record of brutally blackened death metal. Complete with pounding blast beats, inhuman shrieks, crushing riffs, gut churning low end, and even some almost-catchy, NWOBHM-style parts.
RealAudio clip: "Il Diavolo In Me"
RealAudio clip: "Damnation Is Here"

KATASTROFIALUE Tuskatakuu 1994-1996 (Crucial Blast) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
How can so much amazing rock come from such a small country?! It never ceases to amaze us! I of course am talking about Finland. Home of Circle, Keukhot, Aavikko, Ajattara, Haikara, Finntroll, Mieskuoro Huutajaat, Pan Sonic, Shape Of Despair, etc. This time it's the mighty Katastrofialue rearing their ugly head and showing us what we've been missing. And what we've been missing is some furious thrash/metal/hardcore ala Discharge, Sore Throat, Seige, Amebix, etc. Formed in 1992 and disbanded in 1999 after the tragic death of their guitarist, these crusty punks whipped up a frenzy of buzzing guitars, pounding drums, and raw-throated howls, short blasts of violent fury, with intense lyrics all sung in their native Finnish. Seriously old school kick ass thrash. Another -ahem- crucial blast from the all-hit-and-no-miss Crucial Blast label. Packaged beautifully (as are all their releases), this time in a DVD style case, with a big book, with cool liner notes and all the lyrics (with the English translations too!).
RealAudio clip: "Veriset Piikit"
RealAudio clip: "Bosnian Kevat"
RealAudio clip: "Oksettavat Ideologiat"

KATATONIA Brave Yester Days (Century Media) 2cd 16.98
Excellent collection for the Katatonia newbie, with some rarities for fans... though the fans here already had most of the rare tracks. Recommended for those not yet acquainted with this Swedish band's gloomy doom-pop (kinda like a metal Cure).
MPEG Stream: "Murder"
MPEG Stream: "Rainroom"

KATATONIA Dead End Kings (Peaceville) cd 16.98
We began our review of Katatonia's last full length, Night Is The New Day, with these words: "Nobody does heartbreaking heaviness like Sweden's Katatonia", and really, we couldn't think of any better way to start this review, of their brand new full length, Dead End Kings, which takes up EXACTLY where Night left off, sweeping epic minor key bombast fused to brooding metallic balladry, bordering on the symphonic at times, their metal past only present in the muscular riffing and the occasional bursts of chugging guitar, otherwise these guys continue to craft a super distinctive, and distinctly NOT metal sound that manages to be instantly recognizable, even to folks who may have given up on them long ago, which at this point is probably a good chunk of their original fans. Cuz at one point, these guys were in fact a metal band, their iconic Discouraged Ones record signaling their shift toward something more melodic and to our ears still the perfect hybrid of metal crush and dramatic brood, like the Cure or Red House Painters gone metal. And over the years, they've continued to hone and perfect that sound, and now it just seems so effortless, every song catchy and dark, heavy and haunting, moody and melancholy, soaring and majestic, and just so goddamn good. We know plenty of folks who don't dig this at all, and to a certain degree we can understand why, we hear people make comparisons to Alice In Chains (who we love btw), Three Doors Down, even Creed or Nickelback, and sonically, there are definitely similarities, but Katatonia are so much more, their metal past, even now relegated to a subtle influence here and there, most definitely informs their sound, and they take that brooding stadium rock, and infuse it with some serious pathos, and the heavy parts are still HEAVY, the melodies so mournful and gorgeously miserable, this time around there are even strings, which only make the sound that much more epic and cinematic. As we've mentioned in past reviews, we LOVE these guys, and with every record they just get better and better. Some of us here have been listening to this nonstop since it came in...
MPEG Stream: "The Parting"
MPEG Stream: "The One You Are Looking For Is Not Here"
MPEG Stream: "Hypnone"

KATATONIA Discouraged Ones (Century Media) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brilliant melancholy not-even-really-metal-anymore music from this boundary-pushing Swedish outfit. Originally inspired by British melodic doom-death act Paradise Lost, Katatonia on Discouraged Ones is equally influenced by the likes of The Cure, Pink Floyd and the Red House Painters!

KATATONIA Discouraged Ones (Century Media) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brilliant melancholy not-even-really-metal-anymore music from this boundary-pushing Swedish outfit. Originally inspired by British melodic doom-death act Paradise Lost, Katatonia on Discouraged Ones is equally influenced by the likes of The Cure, Pink Floyd and the Red House Painters!

KATATONIA Last Fair Deal Gone Down (Peaceville) cd 16.98
After making the recent domestic release of their "Tonight's Decision" opus our "record of the week" on the last AQ-L, we are now very happy to present this BRAND NEW album from these Swedish gods of melancholy. Genius heavy downer pop that will appeal to everyone from Katatonia's core audience of doom-death metal freaks to Jeff Buckley fans to goths to alt. rockers with a clue. Like its predecessor, "Last Fair Deal Gone Down" continues their trademark sound of hypnotically-catchy, psychedelic, melancholic rock, still reminding us of Pink Floyd, Red House Painters, The Cure, and, of course, Katatonia's ever-heavy doom/death metal roots. There's no Jeff Buckley cover (or covers of anybody else) this time, but this new album does seem more varied than "Tonight's Decision", and perhaps more daring and dangerous. There's the inimitable Katatonia brand gloom-pop of "Teargas", the trip-hop/electronica beats that surface on "We Must Bury You", the delicacy of "Sweet Nurse" and the somewhat Tool-like vocal/guitar parts of "Clean Today". Katatonia's mastery of the mixture of melody and heaviness is worthy of fellow AQ-faves Opeth and Agents of Oblivion. This import (no word yet on any domestic release) comes packaged in a handsome, four-way folding digipak. The sticker on the front goes so far as to say "Probably the best Peaceville album -- ever!!" and while we'd have to say that Darkthrone and Pentagram might have some arguments with that, the statement is not idle hyperbole. Recommended! If you dug "TD" you know you're going to want this!
RealAudio clip: "Teargas"
RealAudio clip: "I Transpire"
RealAudio clip: "Passing Bird"

KATATONIA Night Is The New Day (Peaceville) cd 16.98
Nobody does heartbreaking heaviness like Sweden's Katatonia. Nobody. Every record is just the perfect blend of dour gloom pop, and crushing massive metal crush, and Night Is The New Day is no different. It's tempting to say this is the best Katatonia yet, but we really can't because they're ALL great, all practically perfect. If you have all the other ones you're obviously gonna need this one too, odds are you've been dying for it since you first found out a new one was coming. For the rest of you, if you've somehow gone this long without ever hearing Katatonia, it's definitely time to fix that.
This is Katatonia's 8th full length in a little over 15 years, originally these guys were something way more metal, but even back then, they sounded more Cure than My Dying Bride, the gloom and miserablism already seeping into their music. But once the focus shifted, their sound was perfect, and has remain virtually unchanged ever since. Dark brooding metal ballads, we've described them in the past as a doom metal Cure, or a metallized Depeche Mode, but they've become so much more. The covered a Jeff Buckley on a past record, and suddenly it wasn't that difficult to imagine what might have happened had Buckley played with a metal backup band.
Katatonia manage the impossible, balancing delicate, hushed classic rock balladry, with epic modern doom, the guitars massive, the drums pounding, the vocals lush, lots of harmonies, no screeching, it's more like Alice In Chains in the vocal department, but it suits their chugging doom ballads. This is one of those bands who are really difficult to describe, their sound definitely borrows from all over the place, but manages to be totally original, it seems like it would be too wussy for most metalheads, yet, rare is the metalhead who doesn't LOVE Katatonia, and we MEAN LOOOOOVE. Must be tied in to that weird phenomenon of most metalheads digging the Cure and Depeche Mode, and in that case, Katatonia makes way more sense, cuz while they do sound a lot like those two bands, they are also HEAVY, when they want to be. Not sure what else to say, check the sound samples, if "Forsaker" doesn't convince you, then another couple hundred words probably won't either. Deep, dark, melodic, doomy, heavy and heartfelt, and just so goddamn good.
Some of us around here have been waiting for this record for months, maybe even years actually, and we were NOT disappointed, a record of the year contender for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Forsaker"
MPEG Stream: "The Longest Year"
MPEG Stream: "Idle Blood"
MPEG Stream: "Onward Into Battle"

KATATONIA The Great Cold Distance (Peaceville) cd 16.98
We've said it before but it bears repeating, whenever we hear metal bands cover their teenage influences, especially Depeche Mode or the Cure (why do all metal bands LOVE those two bands?), we always secretly wish there would be a band who just actually sounded like that. Not a metal band being ironic or retro, but a heavy heavy band who made incredibly dark and depressing emotional music. Ultra personal and epically miserable. Thus we are massive fans of Katatonia.
Imagine a doom metal Cure, or a metallized Depeche Mode. Katatonia may have started life as a serious doom/death metal band, channeling Paradise Lost, with thick downtuned grinding buzzing guitars, and harsh black metal vocals, but with the release of their classic Discouraged Ones record, they switched to clean vocals and the sound of the band followed suit. A massive, gloomy and dreamy doompop. Exactly what we had been wishing for. Catchy as heck, heavy as hell, but totally morose and melancholy. Since then the band has continued to polish and hone their epic commercial doom, with each record finding them moving closer and closer to MTV rock, but without losing their edge, managing to stay creepy and heavy. But shit, their songs are so good and so catchy, and intense and emotional, it was only a matter of time before these guys blew up. It hasn't happened yet, but listening to The Great Cold Distance, it can't be long now. Lots of moody expanses of bass and drum groove, sprinkled with minor key guitar jangle, bookended by massive chugging metallic choruses, hooks everywhere, gorgeous crooned vocals, dark depressing lyrics, really moody and evocative and so so heavy. There is no reason these guys shouldn't be up there with Tool and the Deftones. They definitely travel the same sonic path, although Katatonia definitely display more of a true doom heritage. But c'mon, all that moody heavy rock that the oh-so-depressed generation Z lap up like Prozac, how have they not discovered Katatonia? If we were 15 again, and hated school and just broke up with our girlfriend, and were always fighting with our parents, we can guarantee you we'd be dressed all in black, wandering around our neighborhood late at night, after everyone was asleep, with The Great Cold Distance blasting in our headphones. And pretty much every track on here would sure as hell make it on all the mix tapes we ever made. But since we're not, we'll just have to make do, luxuriating in these lush depressive epics, wallowing in each glorious wash of miserable metallic doom pop!
Very recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Leaders"
MPEG Stream: "Deliberation"
MPEG Stream: "My Twin"

KATATONIA The Great Cold Distance (Peaceville) 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 ON VINYL!!
We've said it before but it bears repeating, whenever we hear metal bands cover their teenage influences, especially Depeche Mode or the Cure (why do all metal bands LOVE those two bands?), we always secretly wish there would be a band who just actually sounded like that. Not a metal band being ironic or retro, but a heavy heavy band who made incredibly dark and depressing emotional music. Ultra personal and epically miserable. Thus we are massive fans of Katatonia.
Imagine a doom metal Cure, or a metallized Depeche Mode. Katatonia may have started life as a serious doom/death metal band, channeling Paradise Lost, with thick downtuned grinding buzzing guitars, and harsh black metal vocals, but with the release of their classic Discouraged Ones record, they switched to clean vocals and the sound of the band followed suit. A massive, gloomy and dreamy doompop. Exactly what we had been wishing for. Catchy as heck, heavy as hell, but totally morose and melancholy. Since then the band has continued to polish and hone their epic commercial doom, with each record finding them moving closer and closer to MTV rock, but without losing their edge, managing to stay creepy and heavy. But shit, their songs are so good and so catchy, and intense and emotional, it was only a matter of time before these guys blew up. It hasn't happened yet, but listening to The Great Cold Distance, it can't be long now. Lots of moody expanses of bass and drum groove, sprinkled with minor key guitar jangle, bookended by massive chugging metallic choruses, hooks everywhere, gorgeous crooned vocals, dark depressing lyrics, really moody and evocative and so so heavy. There is no reason these guys shouldn't be up there with Tool and the Deftones. They definitely travel the same sonic path, although Katatonia definitely display more of a true doom heritage. But c'mon, all that moody heavy rock that the oh-so-depressed generation Z lap up like Prozac, how have they not discovered Katatonia? If we were 15 again, and hated school and just broke up with our girlfriend, and were always fighting with our parents, we can guarantee you we'd be dressed all in black, wandering around our neighborhood late at night, after everyone was asleep, with The Great Cold Distance blasting in our headphones. And pretty much every track on here would sure as hell make it on all the mix tapes we ever made. But since we're not, we'll just have to make do, luxuriating in these lush depressive epics, wallowing in each glorious wash of miserable metallic doom pop!
Very recommended!!
MPEG Stream: "Leaders"
MPEG Stream: "Deliberation"
MPEG Stream: "My Twin"

KATATONIA Tonight's Decision (Peaceville) cd 13.98
We listed this before when it was only available as a super-expensive, hard to get import. And even then we were like, you gotta get this, it's amazing! Now, at long last it's been issued domestically, at reasonable price -- and it's even been repackaged in a slipcase (jewelbox inside), with two previously unreleased bonus tracks! So now there's nothing to keep us from making it record of the week, which Tonight's Decision so totally deserves. It's the follow-up to 1998's Discouraged Ones, a record that threw everyone for a loop, with clean singing and an hypnotic, almost Cure-like (but ultra-heavy) sound, refining their earlier and harsher black metalish doom-death style. This time around, these Swedes are even more mellow and depressed. They even do a great Jeff Buckley cover (better than the original we think)! In fact, the more we listen to it, the harder it is to understand why they're not huge. They should be huge, but they're ghettoized as a European metal band on a metal label. Don't take this the wrong way, but if Katatonia could somehow get into heavy rotation on MTV or your local alternative rock radio station, they'd be SO popular. But never fear, it's still metal. Just artful, gloomy, doomy, post-death metal with enough melody and emotion and atmosphere to make you cry. Really, one of the best metal records of the year. Yet, one that supposed non-metal fans could easily love as well, for its gloom-pop brilliance. Highly Recommended to all!!
They actually have a new album as well, Last Fair Deal Gone Down, coming out sometime later this year (maybe even later than that in the U.S.) and we can't wait!
RealAudio clip: "Nightmares By The Sea (Jeff Buckley)"
RealAudio clip: "Black Session"

KATATONIA Viva Emptiness (Peaceville) cd 13.98
Swedish doom metal / doom pop band Katatonia are established by now as big AQ faves. Their signature sound -- morose metallic heaviness that's utterly melodic and catchy, like some unholy marriage of The Cure and Opeth, or Tool and My Dying Bride -- is in full force on this, the follow-up to their last three brilliant albums (Last Fair Deal Gone Down, its Aquarius Record Of The Week predecessor Tonight's Decision, and stateside breakthrough Discouraged Ones). Fans of those albums won't be disappointed with "Viva Emptiness", indeed, this may be a case of sticking a little too close to the formula, but heck that's how they're perfecting it. We're not complaining. And we can say that perhaps this rocks a bit more, and faster, overall than some of those others, though the harder metallic assault still leaves plenty of room for quieter piano dirge ballads... Definitely sheer ear candy for those of us who like suicidal heaviness that's also totally radio-ready. Not that we can imagine actually hearing this on the radio, but you know what we mean. If you haven't gotten addicted to Katatonia yet, go ahead and check this one out. And if you have, then you're gonna have to get it!
Some further commentary from AQ-customer John Botz: As usual with Katatonia, great cold gray November day music. As an aside, these guys may do more with the "F" word than perhaps any other white band in history, i.e. "He went too far, that fucker," cracks me up. Also, this is probably their heaviest and fastest album since Brave Murder Day, leaving no doubt as to whether it's actually metal.
MPEG Stream: "Ghost Of The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "Wealth"

KATAXU Hunger of Elements (Conquistador / Supernal Music) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.