ESOTERIC Epistemological Despondency (Aesthetic Death) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two old favorites at last back in stock after a looong time! Skepticism, Earth, Burzum, Benighted Leams; all bands so "fucked" and/or with such a singular "vision" that they transcend the metal genre. You can now add Esoteric to that list. Self-described as "dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical and barbaric doom", who are we to argue? Two double cds of ultra depressive, dirgey, near ambient drones. A murky morass of slow motion riffs, amphibious guitar solos and tortured cries. But also strangely beautiful, at times recalling the lugubrious soundscapes of Labradford or Magnog. Metal for the drone set, perhaps? While at least well known enough in their home, the UK, to merit a "fuck you" on the thanks list to the Electric Wizard album, in stoner-rock lovin' America they seem destined to be overlooked--due to their brutally uncommercial sound, their ultra-positive drug stance, and their apparent disinterest in allowing anyone to buy their music.
From the liner notes to Epistemological Despondency:
"FUCK OFF AND DIE: Society, the monarchy, the pigs (fucking bastards), politicians, the government, all holy denominations and followers of the 'right-hand path'. Moralistic bastards, the legal system, all oppressors and authority. All of the ignorant, narrow-minded, stupid humans who follow authorities without questioning. Love. All 'pretend' Satanists, who give the ignorant lease to ridicule 'true' Satanism. All bands who are 'out to put what the people like'. All the sad cunts who have turned underground music into pop-music full of cliches. All psychic vampires and scrounging wankers. All perpetrators of censorship. Those that use drugs, Satanism or music as a scapegoat in order to hide the true cause of their actions--you are as weak as the christians, you cannot fight for yourselves, so you cower in renunciation. To those who would interfere with us, beware!".
MPEG Stream: "The Noise Of Depression"

ESOTERIC Epistemological Despondency (Aesthetic Death) 2cd 17.98
Two old doooooom favorites at last back in stock after a loooooong time! And at a way cheaper price. We've long been obsessed with bands like Skepticism, Earth, Burzum, Benighted Leams; all bands so "fucked" and/or with such a singular "vision" that they transcend the metal genre. And from the second we first heard Esoteric we knew they belonged on that list. Self-described as "dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical and barbaric doom", who are we to argue? Two double cds of ultra depressive, dirgey, near ambient drones. Each a murky morass of slow motion riffs, amphibious guitar solos and tortured cries. But also strangely beautiful, at times recalling the lugubrious soundscapes of Labradford or Magnog. Metal for the drone set, perhaps? Plus you gotta love any band that merits a "fuck you" on Electric Wizard's special thanks list!
These guys are the ultimate doomlords, brutally uncommercial, with an unapologetically ultra-positive drug stance, and an apparent disinterest in allowing anyone to buy their music, at least in the early stages, but a band this uncompromisingly crushing and confusionally kick ass couldn't remain a secret forever. And if you still need a reason to pick up BOTH of these double discs, Epistemological Despondency and The Pernicious Enigma, which in our minds can be considered a sprawling single 4 part dooooooom epic, just have a gander at the liner notes to Epistemological Despondency:
"FUCK OFF AND DIE: Society, the monarchy, the pigs (fucking bastards), politicians, the government, all holy denominations and followers of the 'right-hand path'. Moralistic bastards, the legal system, all oppressors and authority. All of the ignorant, narrow-minded, stupid humans who follow authorities without questioning. Love. All 'pretend' Satanists, who give the ignorant lease to ridicule 'true' Satanism. All bands who are 'out to put what the people like'. All the sad cunts who have turned underground music into pop-music full of cliches. All psychic vampires and scrounging wankers. All perpetrators of censorship. Those that use drugs, Satanism or music as a scapegoat in order to hide the true cause of their actions--you are as weak as the christians, you cannot fight for yourselves, so you cower in renunciation. To those who would interfere with us, beware!".
FUCK YEAH!
MPEG Stream: "The Noise Of Depression"

ESOTERIC Metamorphogenesis (Eibon) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
ed 'dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical, and barbaric doom' band return with three tracks, clocking in at almost 45 minutes, of the most brutal doom we've ever heard. Even better than their two previous double cds, because now the production, always their one shortcoming, finally matches the sheer power and intensity of their epic doomscapes. Walls of inpenetrable low-end dissolve into slow motion, spaced out, dire and tortured dirges. Utterly Breathtaking.

ESOTERIC Paragon Of Dissonance (Season Of Mist) 2cd 15.98
We don't haul out the multiple 'o's as often as we used to. Seems like doom bands these days inspire in us just the usual 'double o', but for the return of aQ beloved psychedelic drug doom combo Esoteric, we might as well unleash the torrent of o's these guys have so earned. Cuz the sound of Esoteric remains delightfully and unequivocally pure, twisted, psychedelic dooooooooooooooooooooooooooom. And unlike most bands, who's overall weirdness dulls as they progress as a band, or whose sounds stops being so twisted as the band either become better players, or get better at recording, it seems exactly the opposite has happened to Esoteric. Paragon Of Dissonance is easily their best sounding record, the production is huge, the guitars thick, everything lush and crystal clear, which would normally seem not so good, we like our doom murky and muddy and washed out, but as we've established, Esoteric are no ordinary doom combo. And beyond the sound, it's yet another double disc, Esoteric's preferred doomic delivery method, and one that suits their ridiculously sprawling doom-prog epics. The record opens with some dense chugging, wreathed in swirling high end guitar skree, some furious double kick drumming, the guitars growing more agitated, the sounds more frantic, and then suddenly the sounds start swinging wildly from speaker to speaker, ear to ear in headphones, and blam, we're fully immersed in Esoteric's drugged out doomworld, and it is good. So good. Seven tracks, ninety minutes, of droney, doomy creep, of lurching slo-mo lumber, the sound managing to be totally tripped out and bizarre, but simultaneously strangely melodic, the traces of epic true classic doom loom large in Esoteric's world for sure, but they do their damndest to twist it all up, stretching riffs way out, dousing vocals in crazy effects, dubbing out EVERYTHING, adding weird bits of acoustic guitar, unlikely percussion, and of course that production, all over the map, thick and dense, blurry and brittle, one track here even sounds almost like a doomier Three Mile Pilot, but sort of fusion-y, which sounds bad written, but sonically is totally brilliant, especially as it leads into some seriously pounding epic metal, that is barely even doomy. But fear not, these flights of sonic non-doom fancy, are surrounded on all sides by sludgey tarpit doooooooom, however, those weird bits do pop up more than you might think, there's the super fuzzy, almost poppy opening of "Non Being", which is equal parts gloom pop and indie rock, and doom, doom too, then there's plenty of loping post rockisms in "Disconsolate", and all manner of noise rock, classic metal and who knows what else throughout, but c'mon, it's Esoteric, who do what they damn well please, and who over the years, have fashioned a twisted, idiosyncratic doom, that at this point sounds like absolutely nobody else but them. And is in fact so fucked up, we're often surprised they're as popular as they are, but for us, and quite possibly you, and our (and your!) love of all things sonically warped and twisted and bizarre and baffling, Esoteric are the true doooooooooooooooomlords!
MPEG Stream: "Abandonment"
MPEG Stream: "Loss Of Will"
MPEG Stream: "Cipher"

ESOTERIC Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum (Season Of Mist) cd 14.98
There was once The Pernicious Enigma. There was also Epistomological Despondency. Soon after there was Metamorphogenesis. And now, finally, there is the Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum. What the f**k are we talking about you might be wondering? Just the UK's ultimate doom band ESOTERIC. And we do mean ultimate. And we most certainly mean doom. Esoteric started off as a totally drug addled, musically damaged, slow motion, psych-doom band, releasing epic double cds, with 15+ minute tracks of almost-ambient, not-quite-metal abstract dirges. Steeped in pseudo spirituality and packaged in retardedly trippy black and white geometric art, early Esoteric was an ultra lo-fi attempt at classic doom, but filtered through the band's massive intake of drugs, extreme hate for humanity, and their obvious love of effects, the result -was- truly amazing, but in that Benighted Leams, it's-so-retarded-it's-the-best-thing-ever way. Move forward a few years to 1999's Metamorphogenesis, and this self described "dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical, and barbaric doom" outfit had finally hit their stride, with improved songwriting, and more importantly a newly massive and crushingly heavy production that we had all been hoping and waiting for. The result was easily the best Esoteric to date. Still psychedelic and weird, but so heavy and dark. And now after 5 years, we have the Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum, a record that is so good, it's sort of hard to know how to describe it without resorting to hyperbole. But what can you do? This just may quite possibly be the greatest funereal doom record we have ever heard. Seriously. Thergothon? Skepticism? This outdoes them all. Hard to believe but it's true. The production is so massive. This is the way doom was meant to be. Slow and suffocating, crushing and overwhelming. But it's not just the sound. Esoteric have written some amazing songs. You may think dynamics have no place in doom, but this record is rife with them. Four tracks, fifty minues, an epic journey, bleak and soul stirring, and musically complex. Just cause it's slow doesn't mean it's gotta be simple. Melodies? Some moments on this record are so melodic and so achingly mournful, they could almost make you cry. That is if they weren't falling into mile wide black hole riffs, and being crushed by two ton sledgehammer drumming. Not sure what else to say. There hasn't been a metal record, doom or otherwise, that sounded this good, or that had such emotional resonance in forever. Best metal record this year so far hands down says Andee. And maybe one of the best doom records EVER!
MPEG Stream: "The Blood Of The Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Grey Day"

ESOTERIC The Maniacal Vale (Season Of Mist) 2cd 15.98
While formerly Esoteric was about the most bongloaded experimental sludge metal you could find, perhaps more stoned and bizarre than countrymen Electric Wizard, this new album sounds a bit different, like maybe on different drugs, Esoteric finding some crystal shit to inject in their collective boiling bloodstream that renders them a genius doom-death metal machine, technically and aesthetically uber-achievers. On this, the band's first album since 2004's Subconscious Dissolution Into The Continuum, they again move further from the drug-addled "retardation" (which we loved of course) of their early weirdness, and add another brick to the wall of ultimate doommastery that they already built on Subconscious. And yet, they're still pretty darn weird, as befits their name. Even if way more My Dying Bride or Paradise Lost than before, with that romantic, gothic, doom-death kind of vibe, one that (on the romantic side) even reminds us of fucked up black metallers Eikenskaden or Mystic Forest... With its long passages of ambient spooky spaceiness, and sheer heaviness, The Maniacal Vale also makes us think of a more metallic version of Aussie arty riff merchants Dumb & The Ugly, more metallic due to the awesomely wretched, bestial vokills ensconced within gorgeously noodly neo-classical electric guitar shred. The Esoteric equation includes minor key melody, classical chamber music chops, echoey psychedelic darkness, sizzling drone FX, and much in the way of massive, crushing, METAL.
And this just get more crazed as it gets more deathmetally. Like on disc one's final track, the speedy "Caucus of Mind", wherein you're being chased by utter grunting cookie monster vocals (perhaps even the cookie monster itself) down a hall of mirrors / wind tunnel hybrid, architecture that exists in some extra-dimensional space. Where death metal brutality and doomic drone both tug heartstrings and excite the grey matter simultaneously, thereby proving some obscure theory of quantum physics. Is heaviness a wave or a particle? Maybe a very LARGE particle. Experimental, emotional, extreme. ESOTERIC.
And oh yeah, you noticed where we said "disc one"? That's right, this IS Esoteric, and after the mere single-cd anomalies of Metamorphogenesis and Subconscious..., they're at last back to the sprawling double disc format of their first two op-art-adorned opi, The Pernicious Enigma and Epistomological Despondency.
MPEG Stream: "Circle"
MPEG Stream: "Beneath This Face"

ESOTERIC The Pernicious Enigma (Aesthetic Death) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Two old favorites at last back in stock after a looong time! Skepticism, Earth, Burzum, Benighted Leams; all bands so "fucked" and/or with such a singular "vision" that they transcend the metal genre. You can now add Esoteric to that list. Self-described as "dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical and barbaric doom", who are we to argue? Two double cds of ultra depressive, dirgey, near ambient drones. A murky morass of slow motion riffs, amphibious guitar solos and tortured cries. But also strangely beautiful, at times recalling the lugubrious soundscapes of Labradford or Magnog. Metal for the drone set, perhaps? While at least well known enough in their home, the UK, to merit a "fuck you" on the thanks list to the Electric Wizard album, in stoner-rock lovin' America they seem destined to be overlooked--due to their brutally uncommercial sound, their ultra-positive drug stance, and their apparent disinterest in allowing anyone to buy their music.
From the liner notes to Epistemological Despondency:
"FUCK OFF AND DIE: Society, the monarchy, the pigs (fucking bastards), poiticians, the government, all holy denominations and followers of the 'right-hand path'. Moralistic bastards, the legal system, all oppressors and authority. All of the ignorant, narrow-minded, stupid humans who follow authorities without questioning. Love. All 'pretend' Satanists, who give the ignorant lease to ridicule 'true' Satanism. All bands who are 'out to put what the people like'. All the sad cunts who have turned underground music into pop-music full of cliches. All psychic vampires and scrounging wankers. All perpetrators of censorship. Those that use drugs, Satanism or music as a scapegoat in order to hide the true cause of their actions--you are as weak as the christians, you cannot fight for yourselves, so you cower in renunciation. To those who would interfere with us, beware!".
MPEG Stream: "Dominion Of Slaves"

ESOTERIC The Pernicious Enigma (Aesthetic Death) 2cd 16.98
Two old doooooom favorites at last back in stock after a loooooong time! And at a way cheaper price. We've long been obsessed with bands like Skepticism, Earth, Burzum, Benighted Leams; all bands so "fucked" and/or with such a singular "vision" that they transcend the metal genre. And from the second we first heard Esoteric we knew they belonged on that list. Self-described as "dark, vicarious, pernicious, sinister, hateful, drug influenced, tortured, philosophical and barbaric doom", who are we to argue? Two double cds of ultra depressive, dirgey, near ambient drones. Each a murky morass of slow motion riffs, amphibious guitar solos and tortured cries. But also strangely beautiful, at times recalling the lugubrious soundscapes of Labradford or Magnog. Metal for the drone set, perhaps? Plus you gotta love any band that merits a "fuck you" on Electric Wizard's special thanks list!
These guys are the ultimate doomlords, brutally uncommercial, with an unapologetically ultra-positive drug stance, and an apparent disinterest in allowing anyone to buy their music, at least in the early stages, but a band this uncompromisingly crushing and confusionally kick ass couldn't remain a secret forever. And if you still need a reason to pick up BOTH of these double discs, Epistemological Despondency and The Pernicious Enigma, which in our minds can be considered a sprawling single 4 part dooooooom epic, just have a gander at the liner notes to Epistemological Despondency:
"FUCK OFF AND DIE: Society, the monarchy, the pigs (fucking bastards), politicians, the government, all holy denominations and followers of the 'right-hand path'. Moralistic bastards, the legal system, all oppressors and authority. All of the ignorant, narrow-minded, stupid humans who follow authorities without questioning. Love. All 'pretend' Satanists, who give the ignorant lease to ridicule 'true' Satanism. All bands who are 'out to put what the people like'. All the sad cunts who have turned underground music into pop-music full of cliches. All psychic vampires and scrounging wankers. All perpetrators of censorship. Those that use drugs, Satanism or music as a scapegoat in order to hide the true cause of their actions--you are as weak as the christians, you cannot fight for yourselves, so you cower in renunciation. To those who would interfere with us, beware!".
FUCK YEAH!
MPEG Stream: "Dominion Of Slaves"

ETERNAL Lucifer's Children (Rise Above) 12" 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Eternal is the band that eventually became Electric Wizard. In 1991, they were a crusty bunch of metalheads spitting out a blurry blast of Earache style industrial sludge, but 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 this never before released EP is only a hop skip and a drunken stumble from the sound of Electric Wizard. The doom and sludge is tempered here 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 sidelong track that would later become an Electric Wizard track.
LIMITED TO 500 COPIES!

ETERNAL ELYSIUM Searching Low & High (DIWPhalanx) cd 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fresh from the "Wizard's Convention" show/dvd release wherein they appeared alongside Boris, Green Machine and Church Of Misery, now Japanese stoner metal throwbacks Eternal Elysium have a new album out (import only) on the label that did that DVD, also home to those other bands. Eternal Elysium certainly fits right into such company, maybe coming closest to Boris and CoM at their most seventies n' psychedelic. Song titles like "Reefer Happiness" and "Twilight High" should give you some idea of their focus, stoner stuff somewhere between Sabbath and Soundgarden. They're fairly eclectic though, so you never know totally what to expect...acoustic interludes, spacey jams, riffy rockers, and more, from the tripped-out to the totally heavy. The album ends with the sprawling sixteen-minute-plus monster "Green Song", which some of you have already heard since it was used on that Jamnation disc we listed not long ago!
MPEG Stream: "Twilight High"
MPEG Stream: "Reefer Happiness"

ETERNAL ELYSIUM Share (MeteorCity) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Here's the second Meteor City full-length from these Japanese stoner rockers. HEAVY, '70s influenced psychedelic metal drawing on Sabbath (of course), as well as Japanese bands of that era like Flower Travellin' Band. But Eternal Elysium aren't that simple to pin down. They do some stuff that we're not sure we really always "get" -- like the "Hi de hi de ho" chorus in the song "Dogma", or the weird vocal/drone piece "Fairies Never Sleep" that ends the disc, or what sounds like a distorted kazoo solo in "Feel The Beat". Maybe that's 'cause they're Japanese? Still, such eccentricities are cool and besides, most of the stuff on here is really good, groovy, swinging, bellbottomed, drugged-out heaviness that you don't have to think about too hard. If you haven't heard 'em before, though, start with their previous cd, "Spiritualized D", 'cause it still contains their best song, "Easy Goin'"...
RealAudio clip: "Schizy"
RealAudio clip: "Feel The Beat"

ETERNAL ELYSIUM Spiritualized D (MeteorCity) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Easily a shoo-in for heavy metal/stoner rock album of the month! The long-awaited domestic debut by this cult Japanese band of longhaired 70's Black Sabbath freaks. Although they actually sound less like the Sabs than fellow Sabs-worshippers Trouble. Some other influences that come through the pot haze include the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal (this disc includes their cover of "Innocent Exile" from Meteor City's Iron Maiden tribute), '70s Japanese heavy psych bands like Blues Creation and Flower Travellin' Band, Thin Lizzy, Saint Vitus, Kyuss, and other heavies. Meaning, in addition to sheer psychedelic doom riffage (a la another Japanese band, Church of Misery) they really can write *songs* in the classic sense--one listen to, arguably, the album's highlight, "Easy Goin'" and you'll know. We didn't think they made 'em like that anymore. And stay tuned for the 'bonus track', an unlisted 15 minutes of improv hippie folk drone in the tradition of Japan's Taj Mahal Travellers. Very recommended indeed!!
RealAudio clip: "Easygoin'"

ETERNAL ELYSIUM / BLACK COBRA split (DIW-Phalanx) cd 14.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
When we ordered this Japanese import, we were like, a split release between Japanese psychedelic stoner/doom rockers Eternal Elysium and San Francisco's own metalcore two-piece Black Cobra? Gotta get that! When it showed up, we were surprised to discover that the entire Black Cobra half had exactly the same tracks as those found on their recent full-length Feather And Stone, which we've already reviewed and raved about. Whoops. So... some of you already have that. However, if you want to get it again, you'll also get 23 minutes of Eternal Elysium material that only appears here. More likely, this is a good call for those who haven't yet picked up the Black Cobra album and also like (or think they might like) EE. Or simply for EE fans who don't mind getting the Black Cobra stuff as well (why would you?) as a bonus. Even at the import price, it's still 2 for the price of 2 (or 1.5 more like it) on one handy disc, not too shabby of a deal, really. So, let's say somethin' about the music for those ignorant of EE and/or BC:
Eternal Elysium always has us a little confused. Strange band. Sometimes they're straight up Sabbath-meets-grunge complete with vocals hinting at Alice In Chains or Soundgarden... and then there's the NWOBHM influences... and the groovy retro-sixties stuff... that's all here, plus of course random weirdness like the brief track "Golden Seaweed", with sped-up chipmunk voices. They try hard to make a stoner drug thing you wouldn't understand, but certainly something that fans of Boris, Solar Anus, and Church Of Misery should check into, to rock out to.
As to the BC half, here's what we said about Feathers And Stone before: Two man heavy riff-machine Black Cobra return with another pummeling release... Picking up right where Bestial left off, Feather And Stone shreds from the start. Brutally punishing circular riffs, heavy as all hell doomy moments, throat ripping screams, and incredibly hard hitting and precise drums. The fact that this massive sound comes from two fellas is pretty damn amazing. The album has all kinds of peaks and valleys. Amidst the constant time signature shifting, and brain-burning riff heavitude, there are a couple of beautifully dark intros and outros thrown in, giving the album a very balanced feeling. But it's mostly just crushingly heavy and ripping. If you can imagine a heavier, much more misanthropic Karp, that's kind of what they remind us of. Feather And Stone is a must for anybody needing a little taste of thrashing triumphant, sometimes doomy and dark, sometimes fast and techy, but always heavy and punk as fuck ROCK music... For fans of Cavity, Karp, Floor, Torche, and things that kill shit! (Note though that unlike the domestic edition of the BC album, there's no cd-rom live footage included.)
MPEG Stream: ETERNAL ELYSIUM "Shadowed Flower"
MPEG Stream: BLACK COBRA "Five Daggers"
MPEG Stream: BLACK COBRA "Ascension"

EVOKEN Antithesis Of Light (Mercenary) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Depressive doom death from New Jersey. Where else? Well they kinda sound like they're from Finland, actually, the land of funereal doom acts like Skepticism, Rapture, and Shape Of Despair. But these guys have been on the scene for a long time and are probably inspired by such older bands such as Long Island's Winter and of course the primitive godfathers of the extreme doom/death scene, Hellhammer. Though, the keyboard-laden dirges of Evoken demonstrate a more sophisticated form of grim brutality, one that generates its own notion of beauty, with guttural vocals, eerie atmospheres, slow-motion riffs and minor-key melodies. Lamentations of misery drawn out to (hopefully) cathartic extremes. It's been four years since Evoken unleashed their masterful Quietus album, and in that time they haven't gotten any happier, that's for sure. Antithesis of Light stops the clock with 71 endless minutes comprising seven sorrowful songs of massive mournful metal. It's perhaps the doomiest, deathliest lower-depths trudge we've heard since the last Runemagick disc.
MPEG Stream: "In Solitary Ruin"
MPEG Stream: "Pavor Nocturnus"

EVOKEN Atra Mors (Profound Lore) cd 13.98
Full length number five from these Jersey doomlords, who continue to trudge through blackened landscape of downtuned dirgery and funereal creep, everything wreathed in shadow, rendered in shades of black and grey, but the opening track on Atra Mors definitely reminds us why we dig these guys so much, opening with a sky full of swirling winds, which are soon joined by choral voices and spare tribal drumming, the guitars creep in, those choral voices blurring into a shimmery ethereal haze, the vibe almost shoegazey, the vocals join in, a thick reverbed bellow, the drums too, an echo drenched pound, the vibe still washed out and gauzy, it's not until nearly 5 minutes in, that the track slips into a weird lurching slo-mo chug, laced with haunting chiming melodies, swirling synths, the sound still weirdly drifty and atmospheric, until finally, the track explodes into something much more metal, reminding us of the death metal / doom metal hybrid of diSEMBOWELMENT, wedding relentless double kicks and wild qualls of guitar shred to thick tarpit creep and surprisingly mathy arrangements, all blurred into an epic slab of heaving progged out ultra doom, that KILLS.
And so it goes, the rest of the record engaging in similarly tripped out deep doom exploration, flitting from pounding almost death metal dirgery, to creepy cinematic piano driven chamber music, from swirly blackdoom psychedelia to FX heavy mathmetal churn, and from haunting twang flecked string laden shimmer to classic true doom crush.
MPEG Stream: "Atra Mors"
MPEG Stream: "Descent Into Chaotic Dream"
MPEG Stream: "Into Aphotic Devastation"

EVOKEN Quietus (Peaceville) cd 16.98
Not sure why one of our distributors described Evoken as 'doom for morons', especially considering how much completely stupid metal they actually distribute. In fact, this record is really great, like super-slow motion death metal. Huge and dark, droning and hypnotic, and totally dismal, the way great doom oughta be. From the East Coast (New Jersey we think). Fans of Skepticism should definitely check this out.

EVOKEN / BENEATH THE FROZEN SOIL split (I Hate Records) cd 17.98

EXO In Springtime The Universe Prepares For Winter (self-released) cassette 8.98
Another warped export from the weird and wonderful wilds of Finland, this one in the form of psychedelic sludgelords EXO, who are a three piece, two bass players and a drummer, and thus deliver a punishing wall of sound, all dense low end dirgey, this churning dual-bassed low end onslaught held together by some dense drum pound. And as you might imagine, with two basses, and being mostly instrumental, EXO, traffic in a sort of tranced out riff repetition minimalism that's hypnotic, cyclical, and churning. When the vocals do surface, they're some sort of garbled underwater demonic burblings, which adds a sort of blackened, demonic vibe to the proceedings. Otherwise, the music itself is equal parts OM, Godheadsilo, the Melvins, that sort of murky, super distorted sludge, but more econo, minimal not maximal. Think Dutch instru-metal outfit Gore, and you're definitely in the ballpark. It's psychedelic and spacey at times, but for the most part, EXO are masters of the downtuned, low end doom-dirge trance, the coolest moments being when the two basses deviate, one going high, the other low, sometimes obviously, as if one was playing some sort of lead, but more often, just creating strange harmonies, octaves, thirds, whatever, but the result is a gorgeous headfucking dissonance, that suits EXO's lumbering, monolithic pummel. Fans of all thing slow and low, check this out for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Mata Tahti"
MPEG Stream: "Elaman Etsija"
MPEG Stream: "Kraaterit"

EYEHATEGOD 10 Years of Abuse (Century Media) cd 14.98
Celebrating a decade of their doomier/uglier/more fucked up than thou sludgy, Sabbathy metalcore, New Orleans favorites EyeHateGod serve up their first offical live album. Includes four previously unreleased demo tracks (1990), four live-in-the-studio tracks from a 1990 radio show, and eight live songs recorded on their 2000 European tour.
Live albums are not always essential purchases, even for devoted fans (like we are of EHG), but this one definitely captures the band's particular (peculiar) genius. And if you didn't already know who it was, you could mistake portions of this for a Brainbombs record, with EHG's trademark solid state feedback filling in for the trumpet sounds (at least I did, for a moment, when it was playing in the store. But then, for a second I also thought it was Abruptum or something, as the vocals are much more akin to a black metal croak). But the damaged Sabbathy swing is unmistakable, and the feedback sound IS EHG.

EYEHATEGOD Confederacy of Ruined Lives (Century Media) cd 14.98
The New Orleans dirge masters return! After their recent singles compilation, this rejuvenated doomcore band has mananged to put together a new album, their fourth, and first in years! And it's good old ugly Southern Sabbathy swingin' stoner sludge metal with lots of lyrical/throat brutality, just like they more-or-less invented back on "In The Name of Suffering" in '92. Not to be fucked with.

EYEHATEGOD Dopesick (Century Media) cd 12.98
We've referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review In The Name Of Suffering, most people's fave EHG record, their third, Take As Needed For Pain, Andee's favorite, and this, Dopesick, their third, and part three of final EHG's godlike sludge trilogy. They would continue to make records, great records in fact, but the first three remain untouchable to this day.
In The Name Of Suffering was a hateful, feedback drenched trawl through a world of sludge, creeping and slithering, uncompromisingly brutal and crushingly heavy. Pretty much defining the sound of ALL sludge to come. With record number 2, Take As Needed For Pain, they added a little bit of that NOLA groove (you know, Down, Superjoint Ritual, Acid Bath, Crowbar, Soilent Green, Goatwhore, etc.) to their sound, making their plodding shrieking sludge a tiny bit more melodic and dare we say, catchy at moments. But take that with a grain of salt, melodic and catchy for a band like Eyehategod is still about a million times more caustic and corrosive than almost any other -heavy- band.
So with Dopesick, the groove factor is cranked up a little bit more, making Eyehategod here sound like the scariest, heaviest, druggiest, sludgiest stoner rock band EVER. But again, EHG in stoner rock mode, still outsludges them all, a groove flecked avalanche of slow motion ultradoom, screeching feedback, shrieking throat ripping vocals, blackhole downtuned guitars, all churning in a black sea of sludgemetal tar, lurching, and trudging and so fucking awesome!
Three bonus tracks: two alternate versions and one the appropriately titled "Dopesick Jam", an epic, lengthy freaked out psychedelic slab of glorious drugsludgedoom! Includes revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "My Name Is God (I Hate You)"
MPEG Stream: "Ruptured Heart Theory"

EYEHATEGOD Dopesick (Emetic Records) 2lp 24.00
NOW ON VINYL!
We've referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review In The Name Of Suffering, most people's fave EHG record, their third, Take As Needed For Pain, Andee's favorite, and this, Dopesick, their third, and part three of final EHG's godlike sludge trilogy. They would continue to make records, great records in fact, but the first three remain untouchable to this day.
In The Name Of Suffering was a hateful, feedback drenched trawl through a world of sludge, creeping and slithering, uncompromisingly brutal and crushingly heavy. Pretty much defining the sound of ALL sludge to come. With record number 2, Take As Needed For Pain, they added a little bit of that NOLA groove (you know, Down, Superjoint Ritual, Acid Bath, Crowbar, Soilent Green, Goatwhore, etc.) to their sound, making their plodding shrieking sludge a tiny bit more melodic and dare we say, catchy at moments. But take that with a grain of salt, melodic and catchy for a band like Eyehategod is still about a million times more caustic and corrosive than almost any other -heavy- band.
So with Dopesick, the groove factor is cranked up a little bit more, making Eyehategod here sound like the scariest, heaviest, druggiest, sludgiest stoner rock band EVER. But again, EHG in stoner rock mode, still outsludges them all, a groove flecked avalanche of slow motion ultradoom, screeching feedback, shrieking throat ripping vocals, blackhole downtuned guitars, all churning in a black sea of sludgemetal tar, lurching, and trudging and so fucking awesome!
Three bonus tracks: two alternate versions and one the appropriately titled "Dopesick Jam", an epic, lengthy freaked out psychedelic slab of glorious drugsludgedoom! Includes revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "My Name Is God (I Hate You)"
MPEG Stream: "Ruptured Heart Theory"

EYEHATEGOD In The Name Of Suffering (Century Media) cd 12.98
We've referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review their second album, Take As Needed For Pain, and Dopesick, their third, and part three of final EHG's godlike sludge trilogy. They would continue to make records, great records in fact, but the first three remain untouchable to this day.
Here's Allan's favorite EHG album (Andee's favorite is Take As Needed For Pain, but this is a close second!), their dark and dirgey debut In The Name Of Suffering, first released in 1990 on the French Intellectual Convulsion label, later re-issued domestically by Century Media, with the original's gross medical cover pictures prudently tucked inside now reissued again, with new liner notes and bonus tracks. When this came out, EHG immediately joined the Melvins, Skullflower, and Hellhammer in the pantheon of the heaviest, most fucked up bands ever. Misanthropic metallic misery, complete with samples of Charles Manson's wisdom. Later EHG albums are good too, but this one was may quite possible be their finest moment. If you are one of Aquarius' "doom" customers and you don't have this disc, we urge you, in the name of suffering, get it!
Extra stuff: Four bonus tracks taken from an unreleased 1990 demo, revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "Depress"
MPEG Stream: "Children Of God"
MPEG Stream: "Hit A Girl"

EYEHATEGOD In The Name Of Suffering (Emetic Records) 2lp 21.00
NOW ON VINYL!!
We've referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review their second album, Take As Needed For Pain, and Dopesick, their third, and part three of final EHG's godlike sludge trilogy. They would continue to make records, great records in fact, but the first three remain untouchable to this day.
Here's Allan's favorite EHG album (Andee's favorite is Take As Needed For Pain, but this is a close second!), their dark and dirgey debut In The Name Of Suffering, first released in 1990 on the French Intellectual Convulsion label, later re-issued domestically by Century Media, with the original's gross medical cover pictures prudently tucked inside now reissued again, with new liner notes and bonus tracks. When this came out, EHG immediately joined the Melvins, Skullflower, and Hellhammer in the pantheon of the heaviest, most fucked up bands ever. Misanthropic metallic misery, complete with samples of Charles Manson's wisdom. Later EHG albums are good too, but this one was may quite possible be their finest moment. If you are one of Aquarius' "doom" customers and you don't have this disc, we urge you, in the name of suffering, get it!
Extra stuff: Four bonus tracks taken from an unreleased 1990 demo, revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "Depress"
MPEG Stream: "Children Of God"
MPEG Stream: "Hit A Girl"

EYEHATEGOD Preaching The "End-Time" Message (Emetic Records) cd 14.98
We're not gonna get into how the "Southern Nihilism" message of misery preached by NOLA's EYEHATEGOD has perhaps been made all too real for all too many by the disaster of Hurricane Katrina and its messed up aftermath that nature and man (and perhaps the entity incorporated into the band's name?) visited upon their hometown and surrounding Gulf Coast region. Geez. "End-Time" message indeed.
Fortunately, you can't keep a good doom band down, however far into the filth they've fallen, as the long-running, long-suffering EHG has proven time and time again, always breaking up, going to jail, playing their last ever gig or releasing their last ever disc but then eventually getting back on (or should we say off?) the horse again and coming back with some more Sabbathy sludgecore for us to enjoy... Last year we listed what was supposed to be their swansong single and now here they are raising their collective ugly head again with this cd. True, it's not a full studio album, though it seems one's in the works (or was, before Katrina). Hope it still is when they get back to what passes for normal for them down in Louisiana. Meanwhile, we have the disc at hand. It's in fact the third one they've released that falls into the category of being a collection of rarities as opposed to an "actual" album. But EHG fans take what they can get. What you get here is some fairly crucial EHG stuff -- an old comp track, their song from the Gummo soundtrack (hey just like Absu!), a couple of live-in-Japan cuts, tracks taken from various split singles that EHG shared with the Cripple Bastards, Soilent Green, and A.C. (the latter track a "Sabbath Jam" from the Sabs tribute 7" series Hydra Head was doing). Plus three new songs in demo form, slated for their aforementioned upcoming full-length when/if that ever happens. These cuts are definitely worthy EHG material, especially fuzzed out and psychedelic and of course sludgy and Sabbathy.
This is pretty much something you'd want if you're a fan -- and you should be, if you like the heavy stuff that we sell the heck out of here at AQ. For one thing, there'd be no Khanate if it wasn't for EHG! After Hellhammer in the early '80s, it was pretty much these guys and Corrupted who pioneered the doomy "sludge-core" sound, y'know.
MPEG Stream: "I Am The Gestapo"
MPEG Stream: "36 Beers And A Ball Of String"

EYEHATEGOD Southern Discomfort (Century Media) cd 14.98
New Orleans' sultans of sludge come back with this compilation of singles and alternate takes. Rumors of their demise are highly exaggerated, it turns out, and EYEHATEGOD fans can rejoice that this is no swansong from these pioneers of super slow, ugly, dopesick dirge. And boy do these tracks sound better on cd than they did on the old vinyl!

EYEHATEGOD Take As Needed For Pain (Century Media) cd 12.98
We've referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review In The Name Of Suffering, most people's fave EHG record, their third, Dopesick, and this one, Andee's favorite Eyehategod record, Take As Needed For Pain.
Their debut was a hateful, feedback drenched trawl through a world of sludge, creeping and slithering, uncompromisingly brutal and crushingly heavy. Pretty much defining the sound of ALL sludge to come. With Take As Needed For Pain, they added a little bit of that NOLA groove (you know, Down, Superjoint Ritual, Acid Bath, Crowbar, Soilent Green, Goatwhore, etc.) to their sound, making their plodding shrieking sludge, a tiny bit more melodic and dare we say, catchy at moments. But take that with a grain of salt, melodic and catchy for a band like Eyehategod is still about a million times more caustic and corrosive than almost any other -heavy- band. It's really strange to revisit these EHG records and realize how many bands these days sound EXACTLY LIKE EYEHATEGOD!!! It's almost criminal. Sort of similar to the way SUNNO))) were basically an Earth tribute band, it's almost like EVERY one of the new breed of sludge bands is in fact an Eyehategod tribute band. But hey, who's complaining, it's a dark and disturbing sound we can never seem to get enough of. And as long as EHG are getting the props they deserve, then hell, bring on the sludge!!! Fans of ANY of the above mentioned bands who do not own this, are required by ALL THAT IS UNHOLY to pick this up immediately!!!!!!
As far as bonus tracks, Take As Needed For Pain is probably the best of bunch, 3 tracks from the long out of print Ruptured Heart Theory 7", a track from the also long OOP split 7" with 13, and two tracks from another long gone 7", another split with fellow sludge mavens 13.
Includes revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "Blank"
MPEG Stream: "Shoplift"
MPEG Stream: "Kill Your Boss"

EYEHATEGOD Take As Needed For Pain (Emetic Records) 2lp 24.00
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 referenced these drugged and ugly New Orleans masters of sludge-core in tons of reviews, as they're one of the ur-bands that established the rituals practiced by anyone heavy and feedback laden, like Moss, Bunkur, Boris, Dot [.], Cavity, Corrupted, Khanate, Iron Monkey, Grief, Wellington, Acid Bath, Garadama, etc.
So we were so psyched to discover that EHG's first three discs were getting the deluxe reissue treatment. Elsewhere on this list we review In The Name Of Suffering, most people's fave EHG record, their third, Dopesick, and this one, Andee's favorite Eyehategod record, Take As Needed For Pain.
Their debut was a hateful, feedback drenched trawl through a world of sludge, creeping and slithering, uncompromisingly brutal and crushingly heavy. Pretty much defining the sound of ALL sludge to come. With Take As Needed For Pain, they added a little bit of that NOLA groove (you know, Down, Superjoint Ritual, Acid Bath, Crowbar, Soilent Green, Goatwhore, etc.) to their sound, making their plodding shrieking sludge, a tiny bit more melodic and dare we say, catchy at moments. But take that with a grain of salt, melodic and catchy for a band like Eyehategod is still about a million times more caustic and corrosive than almost any other -heavy- band. It's really strange to revisit these EHG records and realize how many bands these days sound EXACTLY LIKE EYEHATEGOD!!! It's almost criminal. Sort of similar to the way SUNNO))) were basically an Earth tribute band, it's almost like EVERY one of the new breed of sludge bands is in fact an Eyehategod tribute band. But hey, who's complaining, it's a dark and disturbing sound we can never seem to get enough of. And as long as EHG are getting the props they deserve, then hell, bring on the sludge!!! Fans of ANY of the above mentioned bands who do not own this, are required by ALL THAT IS UNHOLY to pick this up immediately!!!!!!
As far as bonus tracks, Take As Needed For Pain is probably the best of bunch, 3 tracks from the long out of print Ruptured Heart Theory 7", a track from the also long OOP split 7" with 13, and two tracks from another long gone 7", another split with fellow sludge mavens 13.
Includes revised artwork and new liner notes from EHG frontman Mike Williams.
MPEG Stream: "Blank"
MPEG Stream: "Shoplift"
MPEG Stream: "Kill Your Boss"

EYEHATEGOD / CRIPPLE BASTARDS split (Southern Lord) 7" 4.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Last ever (again?) recording from New Orleans sludge masters Eyehategod. "I Am The Gestapo" is a typical (i.e. really good!) slab of their hateful, feedback-filled, crushing, churning doomcore. On the flip, this split release is shared by Italian grindcore maniacs Cripple Bastards, whose sludgier-than-usual, deathly track "Self-Zeroing" is well worthy of being teamed to EHG's supposed swansong on the A-side.

FALCON Die Wontcha (Liquid Flames) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Those of you into obscure '70s heavy rock - or cult '80s metal for that matter - ought to be interested in this new album from the power trio Falcon. It's their second record, following a self titled debut in 2004. That one featured a cover of Bang's "Redman", and also a cameo vocal performance by Bobby Liebling of Pentagram, on a song dedicated to the memory of Thin Lizzy's Phil Lynott... and that should give you an idea of where Falcon is coming from, in terms of influences/atmosphere. Capturing the spirit of the '70s proto-metal that we dig so much here at AQ too. Bang! Pentagram! 'Lizzy! c'mon!! Some other obvious selling points in Falcon's favor has to do with who's who in the band. They've got Greg Lindstrom from '80s epic doomsters Cirith Ungol on bass and Darin McCloskey of stoner metal act Pale Divine on drums. The third, crucial part of the trio is vocalist/guitarist Perry Grayson, who used to play in a much more technical power metal band called Destiny's End but gave that up to concentrate on his true love (well, next to the weird pulp fiction of H.P. Lovecraft), full on '70s-sounding downer rock. He's one of those guys with the crazy record collection full of vintage vinyl proto-metal platters, trying to bring it all back to life a la Magnus from Witchcraft. And being a badass guitar player with heavy friends makes it look easy, with Falcon now on to their second album, this one, so let's tell y'all some more about it...
Die Wontcha - love the title, love the cover art, which we can only guess was probably lifted from an old issue of Weird Tales or something like that - features ten tracks of groovy, rockin', bellbottomed '70s heaviness worship. Nine are Falcon originals, the tenth a killer cover of "Leader" by Aussie proto-metallers Buffalo (you'll find the original on their 1972 album Dead Forever, the reissue of which is reviewed elsewhere on our site). Since Perry recently relocated from LA to Australia, it's even more appropriate they do a Buffalo song. And boy howdy does it fit in with their own material.
The disc starts off with Lindstrom's lament for Scottish Formula 1 race car driver Jimmy Clark, who died in a tragic crash back in '68. It's totally the sort of thing a band like this back in the '70s would have written... almost a modern-day folk song. Definitely very Thin Lizzyish, with Perry's slightly gruff, deep voiced vocals, melodic minor key guitar leads, and classic, loping, hummable riffage. For those more into fantasy subjects, a couple tracks later Falcon's got "The King Of Elfland's Daughter", inspired by a poem by Irish fantasist Lord Dunsany. It too has a lot of Lizzyish licks...
Everywhere, Falcon's fuzzed out guitar and fat riffs scream '70s, as do the lyrics, Perry dropping lines like "back in the days of yore/hippie to the core" and "hit the stage with heavy rockin' band/tour the world kickin' out the jams/turn the amps up loud/stun the crowd". Yep, that's rock n' roll like they used to do, and Falcon bring it. But maybe the best expression of Falcon's mission is found in the lyrics to the disc's final track, penned by Lindstrom, entitled "Show You All" - which is all about going to a big show by some currently popular so-called rock band and unavoidably thinking they could do much, much better, Perry singing: "I want to jump on stage/and show you how all to play". That's kinda cocky, but we're sure some of you will share Falcon's sentiments, folks we'd recommend this to who also enjoy such quality, ripping n' riffy bands with retro-rawk '70s influences as Witchcraft, Burning Saviours, Bible Of The Devil, Slough Feg, Danava, Drunk Horse, etc... Some tracks, like "No Future" also remind us of the mood created by Wino's old band The Obsessed.
By the way, although we never listed it before, we do have a just a few copies of Falcon's equally rad s/t album in stock as well, the one with the Bobby L. cameo. We figured since we were highlighting this, some folks might want to pick that one up too, so we got some from the band. They're a little cheaper, 'cause the copies we have of that are pro duped cd-rs, not actual cds, FYI. They still have the same cool metallic foil stamped covers of the original cd version, though. And *this* disc is indeed a real cd, not a cd-r.
MPEG Stream: "Jimmy Clark"
MPEG Stream: "Careless"

FALCON s/t (Liquid Flames) cd-r 9.98
1st album from these retro-proto-metal-doomin' throwbacks, featuring guest vocals on one cut by Bobby L. from Pentagram!!! NOTE: the ones we have are cd-rs, not real cds. The packaging is the same as the original cd version, but the band ran out of disc so had cd-rs made to use up the overrun of covers they had on hand...

FALL OF THE IDOLS The Seance (I Hate Records) cd 16.98
Another plush, ploddering platter for all you doominoids out there... it's the furthering of Fall Of The Idols from Finland, members in good standing of the "Circle Of True Doom" founded by Reverend Bizarre (R.I.P.). A sophomore set consisting of seven downer dirges, slow and slumbersome, lumberingly lethargic - and also quite lovely, if classy, classic doom is yr thing. The Seance is a fine followup to Womb Of The Earth, their previous effort on I Hate Records. As before, the cleanly-sung, sometimes sort of chantlike vocals are a large part of this band's gloomy glory, emboldened by massive, majestic marble riffage and anthemic melody. So deep it is to weep. Imagine a mix betwixt Pentagram and Katatonia, that's the sorrowfully Sabbathy spirit this seance has channelled. The relatively uptempo trudge of track three, "At The Birth Of The Human Shadow", makes it stand out as the rocker of this batch, with the other songs all even more of a smoothly slo-mo, gothic grind taken to an exhausted, exalted extreme. Well done.
MPEG Stream: "Nosophoros"
MPEG Stream: "The Conqueror Worm"

FALL OF THE IDOLS Womb Of The Earth (I Hate Records) cd 16.98
Here's another heavy one from a label that all doom-heads should pay attention to, Sweden's oh-so-positive I Hate Records, who recently brought us the latest from Burning Saviours and Gates Of Slumber, among others. Finland's wonderfully gloomy Fall Of The Idols play slow and lumbering, classic doom with tons of feeling. This debut album of theirs is a downer trip all right, supremely mournful, sunken into depression, like old Candlemass on Quaaludes. It's melancholic and miserable, and somehow melodically peaceful too. The plodding, repetitive guitar riffs and martial drumming (punctuating stretches of spacey quietude), along with the molasses-thick production, help produce this band's hypnotic aura of doom, but what's most crucial are the wretchedly, wrenchingly emotive vocals. The singer reminds us of Pentagram's Bobby Liebling just a bit, but deeper, dronier, and more chant-like, singing of such things as "when heart dies and soul is torn" and "drifting through the blizzard, wondering how lonely you've become"... In addition, the occasional use of acoustic guitars and uptempo attacks of metallic chug, vary the album nicely. But overall, with this one, you're simply doomed, doomed, doomed. For fans of fellow Finns Reverend Bizarre, and also early Cathedral, early Trouble, and maybe even CoC's Blind... A class act.
MPEG Stream: "Sown Are The Seeds Of Doom "
MPEG Stream: "Atonement For The One"

FEAR FALLS BURNING & NADJA s/t (Conspiracy) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
As a music obsessive, it's inevitable that you spend some time fantasizing about the perfect musical match ups. Most of them could never happen, or maybe should never happen, others wouldn't sound as good as one might hope, but some have in fact taken place (SUNNO))) and Boris) and far surpassed our expectations. Which brings us to this, a collaboration between Canadian dream doom duo Nadja, and Dutch one man guitarmy Dirk Serries. These two powerhouses have met up once before, as part of that super limited Conspiracy Records anniversary series, and the sound here is quite similar, hovering somewhere between the colossal crush we know both are capable of, and a surprisingly dreamy drift.
Four lengthy tracks, each more sound than song, but that's exactly as it should be. The opener takes the blown out vacuum cleaner buzz of Total or Skullflower and smears it into soft edged swells, an almost static, barely undulating wall of whirring warmth, which quickly dissipates, leaving just a muted minimal shimmer. The second track is more of the same, a massive pulsing rumble smeared with wispy swaths of fuzzy distortion, but with a bit of percussion added, an industrial clang and thump buried way down in the mix, while above the roiling guitars are draped spidery streaks of coruscating feedback, a sort of Skullflower / SUNNO))) style mashup. Blissful and blown out, but at the same time dark and strangely ominous.
Track three is the anomaly here, the 'quiet' number, a sort of spacious drift, with tons of room sound, simple drumming way down in the mix all Dead C style, some ghostly melodies, and haunting snippets of clean guitar surfacing here and there and what sounds like seasick organs warbly and wavering. So haunting and pretty.
And finally, the closer, which begins with some slightly atonal Nitsch style drones, a wash of what sounds like moaning horns but must be guitars, tense and intense, drawn out for what seems like forever, when suddenly a wall of crumbling distorted guitars drop from the sky like it's raining anvils, a plodding drum beat underpinning the now suddenly caustic riffage, a gorgeously blown out slab of impossibly heavy, and simultaneously strangely lovely, ultra dooooooooom.
RealAudio clip: "1."
MPEG Stream: "2."

FIRE Could You Understand Me (Skyf Zol) cd 17.98
Good grief! FUZZ. Don't you love it? These guys do. Or, should we say did, since this was recorded back in 1973. Fire were a power trio from Yugoslavia, relocated for the purposes of playing and recording to Holland. Could You Understand Me is the only album they made -- though they cranked enuff fuzz guitar on this sufficent for ten albums! Aside from one run of the mill bar band blues cut (track three), this disc BURNS (as per their name) with heavy duty psych guitar mayhem. The last and gnarliest track here is even called "Flames". It's an instrumental, nearly nine minutes of extremely distorted, repetitive, pedals mashed, goin' for broke brainmelt. Dunno how they recorded it, musta done something wrong, but it's brilliant. They can also pen a decent tune, with the title track fer instance having a nice melodic element amidst the fuzz riffage.
Their influences were most likely Hendrix and Cream and possibly Blue Cheer. But when Fire really get burnin', we think this sounds more like current psych-mongers The Heads from the UK, or Japan's motorpsycho outfits High Rise and Mainliner.
MPEG Stream: "Could You Understand Me"
MPEG Stream: "Flames"

FIRE Could You Understand Me (Killroy) lp 25.00
Now reissued on vinyl!
Good grief! FUZZ. Don't you love it? These guys do. Or, should we say did, since this was recorded back in 1973. Fire were a power trio from Yugoslavia, relocated for the purposes of playing and recording to Holland. Could You Understand Me is the only album they made - though they cranked enuff fuzz guitar on this sufficient for ten albums! Aside from one run of the mill bar band blues cut (track three), this disc BURNS (as per their name) with heavy duty psych guitar mayhem. The last and gnarliest track here is even called "Flames". It's an instrumental, nearly nine minutes of extremely distorted, repetitive, pedals mashed, goin' for broke brainmelt. Dunno how they recorded it, musta done something wrong, but it's brilliant. They can also pen a decent tune, with the title track fer instance having a nice melodic element amidst the fuzz riffage.
Their influences were most likely Hendrix and Cream and possibly Blue Cheer. But when Fire really get burnin', we think this sounds more like current psych-mongers The Heads from the UK, or Japan's motorpsycho outfits High Rise and Mainliner.
MPEG Stream: "Could You Understand Me"
MPEG Stream: "Flames"

FIRE WITCH Critter / Kritta (We Empty Rooms) 3" 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.
Another killer heavy rock outfit from down under. Grey Daturas, Whitehorse, Agents Of Abhorrence, Striborg... In fact it was AQ faves Whitehorse who had been telling us about these guys for a while now, but it wasn't until quite recently that we finally managed to get in touch with them and get our hands on some of their music. And boy are we glad we did. Their label is called We Clear Rooms, which besides being a killer name, gives you a hint as to what you're in for. We were expecting some Whitehorse styled sludge and pummel, and while Fire Witch do indeed bring the noise with plenty of heaviness, they are a bit more moody and melodically subtle. Drums pound, guitars growl and roar, but there are long stretches of moody meandering, dreamy drift, in between the bouts of furious psychedelic freakouts. Two tracks, two versions of the same song. The first is an instrumental epic, a cross between Pelican and Khanate, just the right balance of head caving sludge and minor key post rock, slow building, lots of dynamics, expansive and grand, a massive grooving post sludge psychrock blow out. The second, lengthier track sonically resembles the first, but immediately strikes out on its own, WAY free-er tangent. the drums are way more spread out, the rhythms are much more abstract, the feel is much more plodding and glacial, guitars don't riff so much as they slither and scrape and squeak, a creepy soundscape of strange guitar sounds and a massive layer of low end rumble, letting the drums sit right up front where they belong, alternating between slow motion crush and complex tribalism, the drums offer up a densely woven world of pound and pummel, a tangled web of strangely shifting rhythms, over a blown out psychedelic swirl. Killer!
And the packaging, HOLY SHIT! Super deluxe origami style silkscreened fold-out sleeve wrapped in a vellum slip case. The disc is printed and sits inside beneath a clear plastic insert, beneath yet another printed insert and with a miniature reproduction of an old show flyer where they played with the Grey Daturas. Cool. The packaging says this was limited to "around 100 copies" but according to the band, these are the last 30, that they had been saving specifically for us!
MPEG Stream: "Critter"
MPEG Stream: "Kritta"

FIRE WITCH I Spit Lies (We Empty Rooms) cd-r 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We've yet to get a record from these guys that wasn't super limited, and this one is no different. We were meant to get 50 copies, but only got 15. But we'll keep trying, for now, at least a handful of you can get your mitts on this one...
Fire Witch are a guitarless, two bass and drums killing machine from down under, who weave delicate soundscapes of low end drift and simple pounding rhythms, peppered with blasts of skull crushing heaviness, free noise splatter, and gorgeous shimmering ambience. Their sort of aligned with bands like Whitehorse and the Grey Daturas, but somehow, what these guys do is way different.
I Spit Lies is split into two looooong tracks, "I Spit" and "Lies". The former is a slow burning gradual build, with bass feedback draped over a throbbing low end pulse and a simple shuffling rhythm, with occasional lapses into sludgy doom, before resuming the lugubrious groove. Right in the middle there's an extended stretch of delicate drifting low end swirl, that eventually gives way to some seriously hooky propulsive post rock crunch.
The latter is equally mathy, almost groovy, another simple rhythm underpinning soaring bass melodies all held together by the pulsing bass #2. Eventually, things gradually break apart, into epic expanses of space, with just the occasional chord or drum hit. It's doomy, but more in the way Low or other slowcore bands are doomy. A gorgeously abstract ultra minimal deconstructed slow motion math rock, that by the end of the song has turned into a grinding heavy, almost metal groove. Fucking awesome!
Usually we lament the fact that bands choose to jettison the guitar, there are so many bass and drums duos out there, many of which would sound so much better with a guitarist, but one of the bassists in Fire Witch swings his bass like an axe and it makes all the difference in the world!
Packaged in a strange accordion style fold out sleeve, thick silk screened paper attached to little textured wooden (or wood-like) squares.
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES! We got 15... You do the math.
MPEG Stream: "I spit"

FIRE WITCH Japan (Wantage USA) 10" 8.00
**SALE **SALE* *SALE**
The return of these Aussie low end heavies. Two basses, drums, NO guitar, recorded on the tail end of their recent Japanese tour, more of what we love from these guys, mathy, doomy low end heaviness.
The A side is all one track, and it's a beaut. The basses loooow slung, thick and syrupy, streaks of feedback everywhere, the drums scattered, the whole thing gorgeously abstract, the bass lines sound woozy and warped, it almost sounds like one of the basses is being played with a slide, part way through it erupts into a full on free for all, drums going nuts, basses buzzing and roaring, the band managed to sound super tight, but also loose and improvised, slipping from droney to super complex to mathy to space-y to sparse and plodding to freaked out and frenzied.
The flipside begins heavy and downtuned and mathy, sounding like a more metal ruins, super tight, locked into impossible grooves, before slipping into another stretch of drifting abstract free jam, before finishing off with a super rocking jam that is total early nineties Homestead worship. Awesome!
Beautifully hand screened covers, black and metallic silver on white (peep the inside of the cover, they're all printed on recycled Oxes / Arab On Radar sleeves, haha), each one hand numbered and signed, LIMITED TO 355 COPIES! Includes a photocopied insert too.

FIRE WITCH LIARS! (We Empty Rooms / Bro Fidelity) cd 13.98
Finally available again, now on a proper cd, the first two long out of print cd-rs, I Spit Lies and Critter / Kirtta, from Aussie heavies Fire Witch, a bad ass guitarless, two bass and drums killing machine from down under, who weave delicate soundscapes of low end drift and simple pounding rhythms, peppered with blasts of skull crushing heaviness, free noise splatter, and gorgeous shimmering ambience. They're sort of aligned with bands like Whitehorse and the Grey Daturas, but somehow, what these guys do is way different.
I Spit Lies is two looooong tracks, "I Spit" and "Lies". The former is a slow burning gradual build, with bass feedback draped over a throbbing low end pulse and a simple shuffling rhythm, with occasional lapses into sludgy doom, before resuming the lugubrious groove. Right in the middle there's an extended stretch of delicate drifting low end swirl, that eventually gives way to some seriously hooky propulsive post rock crunch.
The latter is equally mathy, almost groovy, another simple rhythm underpinning soaring bass melodies all held together by the pulsing bass #2. Eventually, things gradually break apart, into epic expanses of space, with just the occasional chord or drum hit. It's doomy, but more in the way Low or other slowcore bands are doomy. A gorgeously abstract ultra minimal deconstructed slow motion math rock, that by the end of the song has turned into a grinding heavy, almost metal groove. Fucking awesome!
Critter / Kritta is two tracks, two versions of the same song. The first is an instrumental epic, a cross between Pelican and Khanate, just the right balance of head caving sludge and minor key post rock, slow building, lots of dynamics, expansive and grand, a massive grooving post sludge psychrock blow out. The second, lengthier track sonically resembles the first, but immediately strikes out on its own, WAY free-er tangent. The drums are way more spread out, the rhythms are much more abstract, the feel is much more plodding and glacial, guitars don't riff so much as they slither and scrape and squeak, a creepy soundscape of strange guitar sounds and a massive layer of low end rumble, letting the drums sit right up front where they belong, alternating between slow motion crush and complex tribalism, the drums offer up a densely woven world of pound and pummel, a tangled web of strangely shifting rhythms, over a blown out psychedelic swirl. Killer!
Usually we lament the fact that bands choose to jettison the guitar, there are so many bass and drums duos out there, many of which would sound so much better with a guitarist, but one of the bassists in Fire Witch swings his bass like an axe and it makes all the difference in the world!
Housed in a super swank, hand screened origami style cardstock sleeve, with a printed insert, LIMITED to 500 COPIES, each one hand numbered of course...
MPEG Stream: "I spit"
MPEG Stream: "Critter"
MPEG Stream: "Kritta"

FIRE WITCH Live At The Townie 2004 (We Empty Rooms) cd 9.98
An oldie but a goodie (well oldie as in 2004) from Aussie low end sludge doom terrorists Fire Witch. Recorded live at a hotel in Melbourne, in, you guessed it, 2004, this set shows more sides of the band than we've seen. Very little of this is actually sludgy and slow motion, instead it's dense and chaotic and mathy, convoluted and HEAVY. The opener is a two minute burst of bass heavy groove, with a killer staccato break down, all machine gun snare and swooping crumbling bass. After that, the band stretch out and channel a bit of Lightning Bolt through their drums vs. low end arsenal. The drums a constant splatter, tribal and intense, fills everywhere, pound and pummel relentlessly while various chunks of bass throb and grind, all three players in some vicious fight to the death.
Unlike the usual breed of modern doomlords, the vibe here is way more math rock and Amphetamine Reptile than SUNNO))) or Boris. A super sludgy, groovy and convoluted mathdoom workout, slathered in low end and sent careening into the sweaty crowd. As is the case with most bands like this it's all about the drummer, and Jem Fire Witch is a demon behind the kit alternating between simple propulsive pound and wild off kilter chaos, but never losing sight of what the two basses are doing. A few of the tracks slow way down, and the band begins to sound like some strange bass heavy doomed version of the Necks.... which we shouldn't have to tell you is a very good thing indeed.
Should definitely hit that math-doom-post-spazz-psych-bass-power-trio-sludge-metal spot, assuming you have a spot like that... We sure as heck do!
Packaged in a super swank fold out card stock digipak.
MPEG Stream: "What A Ball Tearer"
MPEG Stream: "Rat"

FIREBALL Blessed Be (High Roller Society Records) 12" 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK -- second pressing! Here's what we said about the first pressing:
Vinyl-only (limited to 500 copies) debut release from an all-girl garage-fuzz five-piece band that takes their record collector obsession with mystical '70s heavy psych stoner rock to an insanely distorted, primal extreme -- these four songs rumble along like an unholy hybrid of Comets On Fire, Angelblood, Hawkwind, Harry Pussy and Amon Duul II. And we sure are sure about the latter 'cause they cover the slayin' "Archangels Thunderbird" from ADII's Yeti album on the b-side of this, and do it so well (the vocals are perfect!), it's worth buying just for that alone, though the other three tracks are great too. They also give thanks to the Edgar Broughton Band, the James Gang, UFO (really early UFO weed, I mean, we'd guess), and you can hear that strain of heavy, hippy, boogie/space rock here, but updated into the grungy lo-fi avant-punk now (either that or cast back into the prehistoric past!). Did we mention the utter utter distortion in which this whole record is bathed? 'Cause they're women, somebody has said that they sound like "hot tar being poured onto the Go-Gos." But not in a torturous way at all, we should hasten to add. It's love, this sound. One song here it titled "Witchy Ways" and yes, these young ladies from Brooklyn are a new wave coven conjuring noisy psych rock grunt.
On 180 gram vinyl, packaged in a hand-screened cover with insert. Get one while you can... and then, like us, wait expectantly for a full-length.

FIREBALL MINISTRY FMEP (Small Stone) cd ep 8.98
LA stoner rockers Fireball Ministry are like a more metal version of Queens of the Stone Age: same irresistibly catchy songwriting, same fuzzed out heaviness, same laid-back vocals, but with much more of a denim clad, iron fisted, devil sign waving, Sabbath-worshipping vibe. Indeed this new ep, in addition to three new FM tunes, includes covers of two '70s metal classics: Alice Cooper's "Muscle of Love" and Judas Priest's "Victim of Changes"! Plus three's three more bonus covers taken from the various tribute cds FM has contributed to in the past (Blue Cheer, Misfits, and Aerosmith). So, their dedication to the metal gods of the past can't be doubted (although the wisdom of trying the Priest cover might be -- it's a great song, but it's hard for any mere mortal to handle the Rob 'Metal God' Halford role, although FM's singer gets an A for effort!) and their own material holds up well in such company. Can't wait for their upcoming sophomore full-length, which will mark their debut with new bassist Janis Tanaka of Hammers of Misfortune infamy! In the meantime, "FMEP" is a blast of quality '70s style metal from one of AQ's favorite stoner rock outfits.
RealAudio clip: "Maidens of Venus"
RealAudio clip: "Victim of Changes"

FIREBALL MINISTRY Ou Est La Rock? (Bongload) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Don't worry about the French title, this disc is in fact pretty darn good. Simply put, if you like the post-Kyuss project Queens Of The Stone Age, you'll probably like this. We do. Fireball Ministry sounds A LOT like the catchy stoner rock of QOTSA, with maybe a little bit more of a metal-ly Sabbath (circa '74) vibe. Almost irrelevant guest musician info: ex-members of The Obsessed/Goatsnake and Megadeth (!) contribute to this album...

FIREBALL MINISTRY The Second Great Awakening (Nuclear Blast) cd 11.98
LA stoner metal templars Fireball Ministry return with their 2nd full-length album, first with former Hammers of Misfortune (and current Pink!) four-stringer Janis Tanaka on board. There she is, right on the cover, alongside the rest of the band in the fantastical comic book vision of a rock n' roll revival meeting that adorns the disc. Pretty cool, and a lot to live up to, but Fireball Ministry deliver the goods, if you're in the market for some retro-styled, rawkin', grungy stoner tunage. They're kinda like Queens of the Stone Age gone denim and leather, teasing out more of the Sabbath vibe while remaining totally radio-ready. Who knows, they're on a bigger label now, maybe MTV fame and fortune are just around the corner. In the meantime they can be new cult heroes for those already into the likes of QOTSA and Spirit Caravan...
MPEG Stream: "King"

FIREBIRD s/t (The Music Cartel) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
British death-metal icons Carcass have, since their break-up, spawned a whole bunch of bands, as their ex-members pursue their own projects. Strangely, none stuck with the gore-grind that made Carcass famous. Instead, you've got Jeff Walker's death-n'-roll band Blackstar, Michael Amott's several projects, among them the Deep Purplish Spiritual Beggars, and now, Bill Steer's Firebird, who, like the Spiritual Beggars, seem more at home in the '70s than in today's "extreme metal" scene. Both band's use of organ is the tip-off, I guess. Totally retro "stoner rock", almost too perfectly '70s (they even cover a Steve Winwood song!!), with Bill's guitar and (rather surprisingly good & authentic) vocals backed up by friends from the bands Cathedral and (hey!) Spiritual Beggars. Not super-heavy or anything, but really well-done and able to satisfy anyone's laid-back, retro rock needs.

FISTULA Goat (Crucial Blast) cd 10.98
The first we heard from Fistula was on a split with Bay Area sonic brutalizers Burmese, and as we mentioned then, it takes some pretty serious sonic balls to hold your own on a record with a band like Burmese, and these guys pulled it off big time. Unleashing a torrent of grinding downtuned doom drenched SLUDGE. So here's the latest from these Ohioan bruisers, a 5 song ep based on the story of Ohio serial killer Anthony Sowell (they found 11 decomposing bodies under his house!) a la Church Of Misery, complete with samples of news reports, but UNlike CoM, these guys are not about groove, just punishment and pummel, a thick, filthy, blackened crawl, Sabbath at 16rpm, howled demonic vox over caustic riffage and Neanderthal drumming, occasional bursts of frenzied crunch and thud, but always returning to that glacial grinding lumber.
Think Eyehategod, Bongzilla, Thou, Cough, Moloch, that sort of thing, but also more classic sludge doom outfits like Winter, Autopsy, Frost, but all filtered through Fistula's twisted and cracked sonic lens, the result a furiously brutal collection of blown out, in-the-red, slow motion, ugly chugging grim dirgery, that definitely belong in the doom-sludge pantheon alongside the above mentioned sludgelords. Fucking awesome.
MPEG Stream: "Ohio Death Toll Rising"
MPEG Stream: "One Chair And An Electrical Cord"

FLAMES OF HELL Fire and Steel (Draconian Records) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We managed to get, like, 5 copies of this mysterious cd reissue the first time around, and the disappeared in a flash, we've been on the hunt for more ever since, and just found a distributor who happened to have 5 more copies. So like before, act fast if you want one, as we won't be getting any more. Unless we get very very lucky. Again. And we sure wish we could though, 'cause this is thee best doomy DIY black metal album recorded in 1987 in the basement of a YMCA building in Iceland we've EVER heard!!
So lo-fi and raw and fucked up it's amazing, with tons of cult '80s atmosphere (a la Hellhammer) and truly bizarre vocal stylings, as on the chugging, erupting "Evil". What strange wretched howlings and absurd rasping shrieks! Like, Tim Baker of Cirith Ungol with more than one frog in his throat. Musically this both shreds and sludges, in both cases clogged with lo-fi production (not helped by this reissue's dodgy mastering from what sounds like a crackly vinyl original) and off kilter outsider aesthetics. But that's all part of the charm. It has to be heard to be believed.
If you liked, say, some of the other eccentric '80s metal artifacts like Black Hole or Dark Quarterer that we've reviewed, and want to hear the "Venom" version of a band like that, this is for you.
MPEG Stream: "Evil"
MPEG Stream: "Flames Of Hell"

FLESHPRESS III (Kult Ov Nihilow) cd 11.98
Back in stock! And these might just be the last copies we're gonna get!
Oh man. This is a good one. A really good one. This is one of those records we've been waiting for, a band that takes the sound of SUNN0))) and Earth, that soon to be done to death slow motion guitar dirge doom, to a whole new level. It's still heavy and glacial, dense and totally overwhelming, but there's just something about it, that sounds, maybe clean, spacious, open? The guitar tone and the composition and the recording all mesh in some magical way to make the guitars float and drift. III isn't sludgy the way we thing of sludge, it's crystal clear, the guitars sharp and well definied, the riffs barbed and glinting in the moonlight the vocals like thorns through soft flesh. But it's all still so heavy. REALLY HEAVY. Maybe even moreso for the perfect production and sonic spaciousness. It's almost dreamy in a way, while somehow remaining dark and ominous and massively brutal. It's hard to explain exactly how they did it, or what -exactly- it is, but this record just really hit the spot in a way few of the many doom-dirge-drone clones have managed lately.
Packaged in a gorgeous silkscreened duotone cd sleeve with a tiny sealable flap! The image is a misty mysterious forest with metallic print and a huge stone figure hunched over in the woods. Appropriately haunting and creepy!
MPEG Stream: "Cold Dawn"

FLESHPRESS III (Kult Ov Nihilow) lp 24.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oh man. This is a good one. A really good one. This is one of those records we've been waiting for, that takes the sound of SUNN0))) and Earth, that soon to be done to death slow motion guitar dirge doom, to a whole new level. It's still heavy and glacial, and dense and totally overwhelming, but there's just something about it, that sounds, maybe clean, spacious, open? The guitar tone and the compostion and the recording all mesh in some magical way to make the guitars float and drift. It's almost dreamy, while somehow still being dark and ominous. It's hard to explain, but this record just really hit the spot in a way few of the many doom-dirge-drone clones have managed lately. Packaged in a cool silscreened vellum sleeve!