REPLACEMENTS, THE Tim (Sire / Rhino) cd 16.98

REPLACEMENTS, THE Tim (Sire) lp 17.98

REPLICATOR Validation Complex (self-released) cd-r ep 4.98
Picking up from right where they left off with last year's cd "Winterval", Replicator's follow-up comes in the form of a cd-r. They've taken their loud/quiet approach up a few notches, leaning much more on the former this time out. Aggressive, and angstful vocals with tense, raw guitars and bass. Containing four tracks totalling approximately 20 minutes of rock.

RealAudio clip: "Bawkbakawk Bawkbagone"

REPLICATOR Winterval (Psychotic Astronaut) cd 7.98
"Winterval" begins with an almost hesitant simmering of guitar that slowly builds to a thunderous crescendo. And well, I have to admit I was a bit disappointed that the rest of the album continues in pretty much the same fashion of quiet/loud. However on the upside, it does so with raw, angular, barbed guitars and angstful, hollered vocals which make for more edginess in the build ups and releases. The final number is quite a divergence from the preceding seven tracks and proves to be a pleasant finish - toned down yet full of sinewy ebowed guitar, plaintive piano and blown-out drumming.
RealAudio clip: "Taxi Driving"

REPLICATOR You Are Under Surveillance (Substandard) cd 9.98

REPLIKANT RUMBA ROCKERS s/t (Nonplace) cd 16.98
Between the recent delightful Senor Coconut reissues and new albums by Los Negritos, the man behind it all aka Atom Heart (uh, aka Uwe Schmidt) simply cannot be stopped... and who'd want him to anyways! Here's another of his musical incarnations, Replikant Rumba Rockers (let's hear you say that one five times fast!). For Atom Heart fans, this needs no introduction nor any explanation. For others, well, if you wanna get whipped up into a frenzy of deliciously bizarre laptop-tronica, few midi-minded artists can do it like he can and in so many different candy-colored guises. With that in mind, we have to note that this might be one of his most surprising low-key cds. It struck us as being positively sedate by his standards, yet still super fun! Mixed by frequent collaborator Burnt Friedman.
MPEG Stream: "El Ovni Mambo"
MPEG Stream: "Dreaming Of A Huge Reverb"

REPO MAN (OST) (MCA) cd 11.98

REPTILJAN The Hellbender Suite (Some Place Else) cd 15.98
First off, what's with bands that stick an excess "J" into their name? Wooden Shjips... Frijid Pink... now Reptiljan! Well we love those bands, so we'll take the "J" in Reptiljan as a good sign. Another good sign: these guys are from Finland! All well and wonderful so far you say, but what the heck do they sound like? Well, this is something for folks who've been digging the apocalyptic metallic drum machine fueled hardcore electronic mayhem of such recently reviewed (and raved about) discs as Drumcorps, and that Drum>Machinegun compilation, along with the drillnbass mashups of DJ/Rupture, DJ Scud, Venetian Snares, and Jason Forrest.
This Reptiljan disc is a full auto barrage of lethal stuttering stittering glitchery. Totally AGGRO...vating...ahh...love it!!! Twisted humor, twisted sonics, utterly abrasive and so satisfyingly scratching that itch we have for over-the-top digitally damaged jackhammering laced with samples and noise. Pretty much cranked to maximum distortion, even when exploring crinkly textures rather than higher BPM velocities as some of this does, The Hellbender Suite is certainly EXTREME ten ways from Sunday. Perhaps it might indicate something to you if we quote the dedication on this cd: "to Nuclear Death, Beherit, Impetigo and Cryptobranchus alleganiensis." The latter item being not an extreme underground metal band, but rather the scientific name of the variety of salamander in fact known more commonly as the "hellbender".
MPEG Stream: "Freegulls"
MPEG Stream: "All Songs Must Die"

REPULSION Horrified (Relapse) 2cd 14.98

REPUTATION, THE s/t (Initial Records) cd 14.98
Have to admit that when I saw the name of this band I groaned and thought "oh no, not another 'The ____' retro rock band (a la The Go, The Strokes, The Gossip, The Pattern, etc etc etc). And hurrah! This isn't. What it is is very mid-'90s-ish female-fronted power pop not unlike Veruca Salt, Belly or lead singer Elizabeth Elmore's previous group the unsung Sarge of Champaign, IL. It's nice to hear she's still wielding her crafty songwriting pen. The basic rock ingredients of guitar, bass and drums provide a solid base for her voice as well as the warm polished piano and mellotron embellishments. But it's clear her voice is indeed the focus in this quartet as she delivers her alternately throaty, belted-out and lilting, emotive vocals with confidence right to the end - closing the album with a stirring rendition of Elvis Costello's "Almost Blue".
RealAudio clip: "Either Coast"
RealAudio clip: "For The Win"

REQ Sketchbook (Warp) cd 16.98
Music for smoking weed and making graffiti to. REQ is a Brighton-based graffiti artist and music / beatmaker signed to Warp after his debut for Skint (Fatboy Slim label). The downtempo breakbeat stuff here is very stripped down, no lush layers to obstruct, the sound mainly defined by slightly interesting percussive loops made out of various acoustic elements (shakers, thumb piano, melodica, various wooden objects) -- as if REQ just now discovered that you can loop anything and it's bound to sound good. Would be useful for DJs to mix with other stuff, and I have a feeling others will just love this (especially Mo'Wax fans), but intrepid AQ-customers might find it a bit *too* barebones to hold your attention, so listen to the clips first.
RealAudio clip: "Dolby C"
RealAudio clip: "Colours"

REQ Sketchbook (Warp) lp 15.98
Music for smoking weed and making graffiti to. REQ is a Brighton-based graffiti artist and music / beatmaker signed to Warp after his debut for Skint (Fatboy Slim label). The downtempo breakbeat stuff here is very stripped down, no lush layers to obstruct, the sound mainly defined by slightly interesting percussive loops made out of various acoustic elements (shakers, thumb piano, melodica, various wooden objects) -- as if REQ just now discovered that you can loop anything and it's bound to sound good. Would be useful for DJs to mix with other stuff, and I have a feeling others will just love this (especially Mo'Wax fans), but intrepid AQ-customers might find it a bit *too* barebones to hold your attention, so listen to the clips first.

REQUIEM Storm Heaven (Crimethinc) cd 11.98

MPEG Stream: "Storm Heaven"
MPEG Stream: "Defeat"

REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (OST) (Nonesuch) cd 17.98
The music from the new movie by Darren Aronofsky, director of Pi (the soundtrack to which is sadly, and strangely, unavailable)...this one features the Kronos Quartet playing music by composer Clint Mansell.

RESIDENTS, THE Commercial Album (Cryptic / Mute) cd 22.00
Probably the second most talked about Residents album, and some would argue their last great effort, is the brilliant Commercial Album. The concept was to craft 40 pop gems (in true Residents fashion) each spanning exactly 60 seconds (to match the time of the average television commercial in 1980). With the help of some of their friends: Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Andy Partridge and of course Nessie Lessons and Snakefinger, the Residents crafted some truly beautiful, surreal and poignant tunes; each one completely trimmed of any excess fat. A classic Residents album wouldn't be complete without a jab at the Beatles, included here as the "Simple Song". Other songs take on psycho-sexual topics, dream-like narratives twisted love songs and down right non sequiturs. This special edition comes packaged in a hardcover booklet with lyrics to the songs and new images from videos the Residents have been working on to complete the entire song cycle of videos they started in the eighties.
MPEG Stream: "Die In Terror"
MPEG Stream: "Loss of Innocence"
MPEG Stream: "Moisture"

RESIDENTS, THE Commercial DVD (Mute) dvd 19.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Probably the second most talked about Residents album, and some would argue their last great effort, is the brilliant Commercial Album. The concept was to craft 40 pop gems (in true Residents fashion) each spanning exactly 60 seconds (to match the time of the average television commercial in 1980). With the help of some of their friends: Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Andy Partridge and of course Nessie Lessons and Snakefinger, the Residents crafted some truly beautiful, surreal and poignant tunes; each one completely trimmed of any excess fat. A classic Residents album wouldn't be complete without a jab at the Beatles, included here as the "Simple Song". Other songs take on psycho-sexual topics, dream-like narratives twisted love songs and down right non sequiturs. Four of these nuggets were made into one minute videos (always on the bleeding edge, the Residents predated the video craze) which equal the music in their visual surreality. The Residents had intended to make videos for the entire album, but the project was never completed... Until now. With the help of an international roster of video artists the new Commercial DVD comes packed with 56 one minute movies, 10 new Residents videos, lots of easter eggs, and a 5.1 surround sound remix of the original album.

RESIDENTS, THE Demons Dance Alone (East Side Digital) cd 16.98
Lyrically The Residents have always had a darker side, a subversive voice from the underground. This is their post-9/11 album, a procession of tales of bleakness, despair and questioning set against garish black-lit neon hues and unsettling wit. Needless to say, considerably more sobering and subdued, direct and intimate than most other Residents releases, but no less wryly tweaked.

RESIDENTS, THE Eskimo (Cryptic / Euro Ralph) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
If there's one Residents record that is the one Residents record that people who aren't necessarily Residents fans own it is Eskimo (their sixth release, from 1979). There's good reason for this album being in so many libraries, if for no other reason than that it's one hell of a concept album. And if there's one thing the Residents do well it's concept albums. For Eskimo the Residents partially impersonate a Folkways ethnomusicological document from the 60's and a Firesign Theater record. The album is presented as a recreation of "not only the Eskimo ceremonial music, but also a living context for its existence". And so included is a booklet of stories illustrating the daily life and ceremonies of the Eskimo with which you can read and follow along with the music. The music is a combination of likely, but miscellaneous percussion instruments (Chris Cutler of Pere Ubu, Art Bears, Henry Cow fame is credited for his "precision drumming" here), analog synths, and chanted vocals. It's all about as convincing as genuine Eskimo music as you can imagine coming from the eyeballed wonders, and that's definitely part of its charm. The vocals themselves you can take as non-sensical made up words, or listen closely and you might be able to hear some familiar phrases here and there: "Coca Cola adds life" and "we want Coke, oh yeah!" are definitely in here. How much other subliminal marketing the Residents slipped in here is up for debate. Some people hear more than others. This handsome digipack edition comes with the original cover art; a classic image of the Residents on wearing tuxes, tails and eyeballs on a deco stage setup out of the 40's.
MPEG Stream: " The Walrus Hunt"
MPEG Stream: "The Angry Angkok"

RESIDENTS, THE Eskimo (Cryptic / Euro Ralph) dvd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now expanded in 5.1 surround! If there's one Residents record that is the one Residents record that people who aren't necessarily Residents fans own it is Eskimo (their sixth release, from 1979). There's good reason for this album being in so many libraries, if for no other reason than that it's one hell of a concept album. And if there's one thing the Residents do well it's concept albums. For Eskimo the Residents partially impersonate a Folkways ethnomusicological document from the 60's and a Firesign Theater record. The album is presented as a re-creation of "not only the Eskimo ceremonial music, but also a living context for its existence". And so included is a booklet of stories illustrating the daily life and ceremonies of the Eskimo with which you can read and follow along with the music. The Eskimo DVD has a psychedelic slide show of the events which unfold in the course of the album. The images, mostly in black & white are grainy, dare I say snowy and pixelated photos and drawings of the Eskimos doing the things described in the notes. The images are constantly shimmering and dissolve from one to another in an effect that must be truly enjoyable under the influence of certain illegal substances. The music is a combination of likely, but miscellaneous percussion instruments (Chris Cutler of Pere Ubu, Art Bears, Henry Cow fame is credited for his "precision drumming" here), analog synths, and chanted vocals. It's all about as convincing as genuine Eskimo music as you can imagine coming from the eyeballed wonders, and that's definitely part of its charm. The vocals themselves you can take as non-sensical made up words, or listen closely and you might be able to hear some familiar phrases here and there: "Coca Cola adds life" and "we want Coke, oh yeah!". The DVD version removes all doubt about what the eyeballed wonders are chanting in this final track: Along with an image of the Golden Arches in the background and a bag of McDonalds fries which floats by in the final minutes, a polar bear holding a bottle of Coke (remember those annoying commercials from a year or two ago?) floats out of nowhere to drive the line home. In addition to the entire album remixed in 5.1 surround, this disc comes with several "easter eggs" containing 25 minutes of additional material. For those outside the US the following information might be helpful: the DVD is encoded NTSC all regions.

RESIDENTS, THE God In Three Persons (Cryptic / Euro Ralph) 2cd 17.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
One of a string of concept albums by Bay Area mysterious geniuses The Residents! God In Three Persons was originally released back in 1988, but still drops jaws today. Steeped with themes of religion, morals and sexuality, the drama centers around a pair of siamese twins who possess healing powers and is narrated in first person by the main character Mr. X with support from a female chorus. The deceptively spartan yet weighted electronic compositions offer the spoken-sung narration and near-operatic interjections ample berth. Oh and the opening credits are sung too! Yes, like an old tyme circus freak show, this is ever so strangely fascinating.

RESIDENTS, THE Meet The Residents (Cryptic / Euro Ralph) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Meet The Residents, a truly fucked up psychedelic masterpiece if ever there was one, was originally released in 1974. As a recording, half of it sounds like it was taken from cassettes that had been baking in a thrift store window display for several years before being dubbed to multi-track with overdubbed toy pianos. The deranged arrangements are impossible to decrypt. There's obviously some good players involved here, but there's a great deal of clumsy, high school band dropout playing as well -- and that's what really makes this album intriguing. The album kicks off with a quite intentionally terrible version of Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Were Made For Walking" with the previously mentioned "high school band" playing accompaniment, but we're fortunately left off the hook from receiving an abused cover and instead the song loops over the final phrase of the chorus before degenerating altogether. The balance of the album is a reflection of this degeneration, with songs knit together by shifting from one small repeated element into entirely new pieces. Meet The Residents is noisy, rough and brutal. Full of fucked up tangos, jerky rumbas and twisted waltzes. This is very much not the same band that produced God In Three Persons some 13 years later. These Residents had never even heard of a synthesizer, let alone a sequencer; every instrument on here is painfully detuned by hand. This is garbage psychedelia at its best and an absolutely essential album for anyone who walks that crooked line between fucked up experiemental noise and pop music!
MPEG Stream: "Numb Erone / Guylum Bardot / Breath And Length "
MPEG Stream: "Rest Aria"
MPEG Stream: "Seasoned Greetings"

RESIDENTS, THE Our Tired, Our Poor, Our Huddled Masses (Euro Ralph/Cryptic) 4cd 60.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Comes in handsome full-color hardcover box with 32-page color booklet. Anthology spans 25 years of ear bending from the anonymous 3 eyeballs and a skull. Includes exclusive tracks unavailable elsewhere.

RESIDENTS, THE WB: RMX (Cryptic) cd 15.98
Legend has it that way back in their infancy, these infamous southerners transplanted to San Francisco sent a demo tape to Warner Brothers for consideration. Needless to say, the Bros. passed on the project and shipped the tape back to the address from which it had come, addressed to "The Residents" -- as no names had been included with the cassette. And so the band earned their moniker. Apparently these earliest recordings were not what eventually became the album Meet The Residents, and have never been heard outside of the Warner Brothers' offices (if they even bothered to put the tape on at all). So now I bet you're all slathering at the mouth to hear these recordings. Well so are we... still. Unfortunately, what you get with WB: RMX is a remix of those original recordings which basically amounts to a lot of bad factory preset rock / hip hop drum programming and some sampled elements of the original tapes. Listen really carefully and you might be able to dissemble the original recordings from the mix. While true Residents fans will be forced to purchase this out of obligation, we can't recommend this as a starting point for anyone else. Sigh... Maybe this is a prelude to a release of the original demo tape.
MPEG Stream: "The Mad Sawmill Of Copenhagen, Germany"

RESIDUAL ECHOES California (Holy Mountain) lp 15.98
In addition to being the home to a lot of the "music industry", the (so-called) sunny state of California has provided plenty of songwriting inspiration for artists over the years. Uh, from the Mamas and the Papas to the Dead Kennedys to LL Cool J to the Skygreen Leopards. But this new vinyl-only, gatefold album from damaged Santa Cruz (now relocated to LA, we're told) psychmongers Residual Echoes might be the last word, certainly the most freaked out one, in musical California tribute. It's got lyrics referencing earthquakes, the SST label, and elephant seal mating rituals among other Cali-centric concepts. Actually it's just side B that's RE's 'California suite', but the two songs on side A are just as wild and heavy, which is how we like it here in California, right???
Dunno when/if this will ever come out on cd, so for now it's only the turntable enabled amongst you who can enjoy this platter of psychedelic excess.

RESIDUAL ECHOES Firsts E.P. (Elevation) cd 8.98
WTF? Guitarist Adam Payne of Santa Cruz destroyed psych heavies Residual Echoes just made the move (back) down to the LA area... and this 20 minute, 5 song ep is the first recording we've heard from his new SoCal based RE lineup. And... suddenly they've got (more of) an SST punk thing going on? Raucous first track "Dosed Clothes" might make you think so, and track two too, but then you get to "Wipe It Up", their Blake Babies cover (!) and it seems RE has gone the extra step into jangly '80s /early '90s college radio indie rock. The sunshiney "Fresh Eyes", track 4, being their own take on that sorta thing.
Well, uh, if you thought they were weird before, well in a way this punky, poppy RE is even weirder. Even though it's much more tuneful and tightly rockin'. Yet their usual '70s psych and krautrock influences haven't been discarded... Payne wrangles plenty of feedback n' distortion from his Stratocaster throughout. In fact the final cut here, the nearly ten-minute "Strawberrytea" is (in part) a heavy duty, raw psych guitar blow out in the typical 'Echoes tradition.
Not entirely what we were expecting, but pretty cool nonetheless.
MPEG Stream: "Fresh Eyes"
MPEG Stream: "Strawberrytea"

RESIDUAL ECHOES Mfi-Gbsp (Rocket Recordings / Invada) cd 14.98
Shambolic Santa Cruz psychsters Residual Echoes follow up last year's Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean with this new album, a UK import on cd and/or colored vinyl, as you please. The tracks are few (four) but the lengths are long (averaging upwards of nine minutes each). Things start off in krautrocky acoustic strum mode, building to adrenalized, electronics/effects enhanced ceremonial drone worship, but it's not really until the third track ("Headache Transverse") that the band busts out the loud electric guitar distortion that made Phoenician Flu almost a stoner metal album. Said heaviness kicks in, feedback action too, and then they're off! The relatively peaceable and mellow vibes of the first two trancey, folky tracks are displaced somewhat in favor of dealing out damage in the amped up style of fellow travellers Comets On Fire. The fourth and final cut does so likewise... so half-and-half rockin' here pretty much, and we like both halves, 'specially when they come together (they do) and the Amon Duul meets Pelt style trance-throb blends with the Crazy Horse/Comets/Dinosaur guitar freakouts... Yessir, Residual Echoes have certainly earned their place alongside bros Comets On Fire and Six Organs Of Admittance as NorCal psych heroes, with 'em around we hardly need Japanese imports like AMT, Up-Tight and LSD-march...not that we'd not want those, the more the merrier! Anyway Mfi-Gbsp (what's that again?) is a good one for anyone who digs druggy drone jams that let loose in the guitar dep't too... Fans of the aforementioned acts, or East Coasters like Bardo Pond and Dead Meadow fer instance, should get hip to Residual Echoes if you aren't already.
MPEG Stream: "Elu Of The Nine"
MPEG Stream: "Headache Transverse"

RESIDUAL ECHOES Mfi-Gbsp (Rocket) lp 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Shambolic Santa Cruz psychsters Residual Echoes follow up last year's Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean with this new album, a UK import on cd and/or colored vinyl, as you please. The tracks are few (four) but the lengths are long (averaging upwards of nine minutes each). Things start off in krautrocky acoustic strum mode, building to adrenalized, electronics/effects enhanced ceremonial drone worship, but it's not really until the third track ("Headache Transverse") that the band busts out the loud electric guitar distortion that made Phoenician Flu almost a stoner metal album. Said heaviness kicks in, feedback action too, and then they're off! The relatively peaceable and mellow vibes of the first two trancey, folky tracks are displaced somewhat in favor of dealing out damage in the amped up style of fellow travellers Comets On Fire. The fourth and final cut does so likewise... so half-and-half rockin' here pretty much, and we like both halves, 'specially when they come together (they do) and the Amon Duul meets Pelt style trance-throb blends with the Crazy Horse/Comets/Dinosaur guitar freakouts... Yessir, Residual Echoes have certainly earned their place alongside bros Comets On Fire and Six Organs Of Admittance as NorCal psych heroes, with 'em around we hardly need Japanese imports like AMT, Up-Tight and LSD-march...not that we'd not want those, the more the merrier! Anyway Mfi-Gbsp (what's that again?) is a good one for anyone who digs druggy drone jams that let loose in the guitar dep't too... Fans of the aforementioned acts, or East Coasters like Bardo Pond and Dead Meadow fer instance, should get hip to Residual Echoes if you aren't already.
MPEG Stream: "Elu Of The Nine"
MPEG Stream: "Headache Transverse"

RESIDUAL ECHOES Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
We're still hearing the "residual echoes" of this Santa Cruz based band's self-titled debut record from earlier this year ringing in our ears...and now, here's their follow-up release already. No complaints about that though, we love these guys!!
Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean offers up all the druggy, damaged psych-rock fans of the band could hope for. Blasting off with the deleriously lo-fi, Sabbath-on-SST stomp of "Death Comes For The Archbishop" its evident right away that this record is gonna be a heavy one, indeed this track gets totally ripping metal (in a Seventies way) in spots. But then, you'll also find some rather folky stuff on here as well (borrowings from Nick Drake and the Carter Family are both credited in the liner notes). It's a blend that anyone into Residual Echoes' pals Comets Of Fire will already dig, though if anything, the Echoes are even more shambolic than the most fucked up Comets stuff! This record is a wrestling match of the boogie vs. the drone and it doesn't much matter which one wins.
Yes indeedy, Holy Mountain has put out some great releases. But we'd say that an adventurous listener scaling the Holy Mountain's heights would probably find Residual Echoes rockin' out at one of the toppermost peaks! Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Death Comes For The Archbishop"
MPEG Stream: "Lorelei"
MPEG Stream: "Greetings Ancient Ocean"

RESIDUAL ECHOES Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean (Holy Mountain) lp 14.98
Now available on vinyl! Here's our review from when we listed the cd a while back:
We're still hearing the "residual echoes" of this Santa Cruz based band's self-titled debut record from earlier this year ringing in our ears...and now, here's their follow-up release already. No complaints about that though, we love these guys!!
We're still hearing the "residual echoes" of this Santa Cruz based band's self-titled debut record from earlier this year ringing in our ears...and now, here's their follow-up release already. No complaints about that though, we love these guys!!
Phoenician Flu and Ancient Ocean offers up all the druggy, damaged psych-rock fans of the band could hope for. Blasting off with the deleriously lo-fi, Sabbath-on-SST stomp of "Death Comes For The Archbishop" its evident right away that this record is gonna be a heavy one, indeed this track gets totally ripping metal (in a Seventies way) in spots. But then, you'll also find some rather folky stuff on here as well (borrowings from Nick Drake and the Carter Family are both credited in the liner notes). It's a blend that anyone into Residual Echoes' pals Comets Of Fire will already dig, though if anything, the Echoes are even more shambolic than the most fucked up Comets stuff! This record is a wrestling match of the boogie vs. the drone and it doesn't much matter which one wins.
Yes indeedy, Holy Mountain has put out some great releases. But we'd say that an adventurous listener scaling the Holy Mountain's heights would probably find Residual Echoes rockin' out at one of the toppermost peaks! Recommended!
MPEG Stream: "Death Comes For The Archbishop"
MPEG Stream: "Lorelei"
MPEG Stream: "Greetings Ancient Ocean"

RESIDUAL ECHOES s/t (Holy Mountain) cd 13.98
If you ever thought Comets On Fire sounded chaotic and possibly drug-addled (which they do), and liked that and wanted even more chaos and drugs in the mix, then you've got to check out these seriously fucked Santa Cruz cousins of theirs, a band called Residual Echoes -- actually the brainchild, it seems, of one Adam Payne, recording mostly solo (though there's a live band now). His friends help out on the record -- Adam and Co. variously credited with "unseasoned drumming", "shirtless drumming", "manhands", "air", "flutophone", "shitty bass", "fuzz", "computer din", "broken alto" and other instruments (or not).
Blending krautrock, '80s SST style experimentation, and the wiggiest of the Japanese destructo-psych underground into one potent pot-brownie of a record, this is fucked up and will fuck you up too if you let it. First released in a limited vinyl edition, but this cd sounds better though. And you need all the help you can get.
Lotsa squawking squonk, but always with drive, goin' someplace good. Long songs, many moods, hard to grasp in it's entirety, entirely. We seriously dug it though. Again, it's easiest to describe this for/sell this to Comets fans -- just imagine Comets at their craziest and go from there. Heavy psych action with few if any boundaries and lots of arty energy. Oh yeah, remember that Leaf Yard cd-r? If so, that means you want this too.
FYI, it's a Record of the Month on Julian Cope's Head Heritage website at www.headheritage.co.uk (which we recommend you check out for the music reviews!), who also recently bestowed similar honors on another recent Holy Mountain release, Om's Variations On A Theme. And we know Holy Mountain ain't payin' payola to Mr. Cope... nor to us for that matter though we wouldn't be opposed...
MPEG Stream: "Slant"
MPEG Stream: "A STARDT 3 & 3 1/2"

RESONANCE volume 7, number 2 magazine+cd 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
'Taking the pulse of the world's musics' is this issue's theme, and there are some fascinating articles about cultural responsibility (sadly in very short supply) along with articles about Marta Sebestyen/Muzsikas, Robin Williamson, and Reg Hall. Also, writings by Tim Hodgkinson, John Zorn, Evan Parker, David Toop, Steve Beresford, etc.

RESONATOR Lost Language (Human Identity Recordings) cd 14.98
The first few seconds of Lost Language, a blast of fuzzy crumbling distortion will have you expecting the latest slab of monster sludge, or a blast of pummeling downtuned brutality. And the bands pedigree might have you expecting something similar, guitarist Larry Dolan produced the debut full length from metallic post rockers Tides and drummer Mikey Lemieux used to bash the skin for metalcore heavyweights Drowningman. But what you get instead is some killer, super propulsive, slightly mathy, but very moody, instrumental rock, that harkens back to bands like Pell Mell. There's all sorts of definite reference points, Pell Mell is the most obvious, a simultaneously laid back and caffeinated burst of super energetic mathy groove. But can hear lots of nineties indie rock, plenty of SST, a bit of Tortoise, some Minutemen for sure. Surf rock guitars are wound tight beneath thick splashy swirls of open high-hat and frenetic almost funky drumming, the bass is sometimes slithery and dark, sometimes rubbery and almost dub like. Some tracks stretch into languid epics, others fly by, a manic expulsion of chaotic energy. Once in a while they sound a little like a less Joy Division obsessed Interpol, but again with that nineties instrumental rock vibe. The final track is the show stopper, a near half an hour epic, that almost sounds like the band took the first seven tracks and rearranged, reshaped, and reimagined them into one lengthy jam, keening angular riffs, wildly chaotic drumming, a hypnotic neverending epic, with cool backwards guitars, some My Bloody Valentine swoosh, the whole thing constantly shifting from full blown overdrive, to laid back lope, and back again, until the whole thing fades to a haunting soundscape of minimal guitar drone. Finally, a simple tribal rhythm emerges, and the track unwinds, a slowly decelerating coda, all muted rhythmic rumble and barely there melody. So cool.
MPEG Stream: "Bombed On The Reeperbahn"
MPEG Stream: "Evidence Of Dreams"
MPEG Stream: "Passenger Pigeons"

RESTGERAEUSCH Vol.2 2x30min.30sec. (Mille Plateaux) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dark drone w/ hidden hip-hop beats experimentation, maybe not quite as good as their first (Vol. 1 1hr.1min.) but still excellent and not like anything else...the first half hour thirty seconds has the buried beats under the noise, the second half goes fully ambient.

RESTGERAEUSCH Vol.2 2x30min.30sec. (Mille Plateaux) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Dark drone w/ hidden hip-hop beats experimentation, maybe not quite as good as their first (Vol. 1 1hr.1min.) but still excellent and not like anything else...the first half hour thirty seconds has the buried beats under the noise, the second half goes fully ambient.

RESTIFORM BODIES s/t (Anticon / Pointless) cd 15.98
More good stuff from the Anticon crew. Fucked up, malfunctioning hip hop weirdness, with whiny tongue twisting white boy flows, bizarre samples and off kilter loops, and truly demented stream of conciousness lyrics. Fans of Them, Aesop Rock, Dose One and Cannibal Ox will love this.
RealAudio clip: "Teleprompter"

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR 2 (Sub Pop) cd 13.98
Record number 2 (hence the title) from Allan Sparhawk of Low's Retribution Gospel Choir, a way more rocking foil to Low's less rocking slowcore. And a pretty bad ass chunk of riff heavy rock for sure. Thankfully, much of the songwriting that defined and still defines Low has of course followed Sparhawk to the Choir, so in some cases, many of these songs are easily imagined stripped down and slowed down into Low jams, but on their own they function as some classic sounding, sometimes heavy, sometimes jangly sounding indie rock. Sparhawk's vocals powerful, the arrangements lush, plenty of hooks, some not so obvious, while others nail you right out of the gate.
Our favorite moments are when RGC get heavy, like on "Your Bird", the main riff is a monster, the indie vocals balancing the almost metallic tenor of the guitars, but the song twists and turns and does get pretty dang metal here and there. But even then, there are plenty of 'ooooohs' or something else to ground it far from actual metal.
The band also space out here and there, letting songs sprawl and smolder slowly, "Poor Man's Daughter" starts out like that, peppered with bursts of guitar chug and drum crash, but allowing for lots of drift and shimmer, until the last few minutes when things get super heavy, churning guitars, almost Jesu-like, blown out and in-the-red, but it's Allan Sparhawk, so the last few minutes returns to some lilting almost folkiness, which sounds divine on the heels of something so caustic.
It took us a while to warm up to this record. Not sure exactly what it was, but now we find ourselves returning to this a lot, and getting these songs stuck in our head like crazy...
MPEG Stream: "Hide It Away"
MPEG Stream: "Your Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Electric Guitar"

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR 2 (Sub Pop) lp 15.98
Record number 2 (hence the title) from Allan Sparhawk of Low's Retribution Gospel Choir, a way more rocking foil to Low's less rocking slowcore. And a pretty bad ass chunk of riff heavy rock for sure. Thankfully, much of the songwriting that defined and still defines Low has of course followed Sparhawk to the Choir, so in some cases, many of these songs are easily imagined stripped down and slowed down into Low jams, but on their own they function as some classic sounding, sometimes heavy, sometimes jangly sounding indie rock. Sparhawk's vocals powerful, the arrangements lush, plenty of hooks, some not so obvious, while others nail you right out of the gate.
Our favorite moments are when RGC get heavy, like on "Your Bird", the main riff is a monster, the indie vocals balancing the almost metallic tenor of the guitars, but the song twists and turns and does get pretty dang metal here and there. But even then, there are plenty of 'ooooohs' or something else to ground it far from actual metal.
The band also space out here and there, letting songs sprawl and smolder slowly, "Poor Man's Daughter" starts out like that, peppered with bursts of guitar chug and drum crash, but allowing for lots of drift and shimmer, until the last few minutes when things get super heavy, churning guitars, almost Jesu-like, blown out and in-the-red, but it's Allan Sparhawk, so the last few minutes returns to some lilting almost folkiness, which sounds divine on the heels of something so caustic.
It took us a while to warm up to this record. Not sure exactly what it was, but now we find ourselves returning to this a lot, and getting these songs stuck in our head like crazy...
MPEG Stream: "Hide It Away"
MPEG Stream: "Your Bird"
MPEG Stream: "Electric Guitar"

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR s/t (Caldo Verde) cd 13.98
For most folks involved in rock music the usual trajectory is that they start out loud and rocking, full of piss and vinegar and then as they get older they mellow out and explore their more sensitive and mature sides. But if you're Allan Sparhawk, you did just the opposite and started out as quiet and slow as can be, so it kind of makes perfect sense that he's now moonlighting, using his -other- non-Low project to explore his more full on rock cravings. While there have been some hints of Sparhawk's desire to rock on a few Low albums (especially on Low's Sub-Pop debut, The Great Destroyer) it hasn't been until now that we've actually heard a record from him that is all about the rock, from start to finish. Produced by Mark Kozelek, we can imagine it was really refreshing for both Allan and Mark to let loose in the studio and let out some good old fashion testosterone, where both usually have to hold back so much in all of their other endeavors. Of course Sparhawk's trademark voice and guitar playing are instantly recognizable. Just because he's rocking don't expect this to be some fluffy fun rock band, because the same intensity, tension and conflict that has made Low's music so important to so many of us is still embedded in what he's doing with Retribution Gospel Choir. The record sounds like someone working out their demons and battling a possible musical mid-life crisis in a really cathartic and moving way. This isn't really a departure as much as it is someone letting off some much deserved steam, sweating in the garage and showing that just as he helped invent and perfect slowcore, he's just as capable at rocking, with the same glorious results.
MPEG Stream: "They Knew You Well"
MPEG Stream: "Somebody's Someone"

RETRIBUTION GOSPEL CHOIR s/t (Caldo Verde) lp 17.98
Now on vinyl!
For most folks involved in rock music the usual trajectory is that they start out loud and rocking, full of piss and vinegar and then as they get older they mellow out and explore their more sensitive and mature sides. But if you're Allan Sparhawk, you did just the opposite and started out as quiet and slow as can be, so it kind of makes perfect sense that he's now moonlighting, using his -other- non-Low project to explore his more full on rock cravings. While there have been some hints of Sparhawk's desire to rock on a few Low albums (especially on Low's Sub-Pop debut, The Great Destroyer) it hasn't been until now that we've actually heard a record from him that is all about the rock, from start to finish. Produced by Mark Kozelek, we can imagine it was really refreshing for both Allan and Mark to let loose in the studio and let out some good old fashion testosterone, where both usually have to hold back so much in all of their other endeavors. Of course Sparhawk's trademark voice and guitar playing are instantly recognizable. Just because he's rocking don't expect this to be some fluffy fun rock band, because the same intensity, tension and conflict that has made Low's music so important to so many of us is still embedded in what he's doing with Retribution Gospel Choir. The record sounds like someone working out their demons and battling a possible musical mid-life crisis in a really cathartic and moving way. This isn't really a departure as much as it is someone letting off some much deserved steam, sweating in the garage and showing that just as he helped invent and perfect slowcore, he's just as capable at rocking, with the same glorious results.
MPEG Stream: "They Knew You Well"
MPEG Stream: "Somebody's Someone"

RETRO-A.K.A. Synaethesia (Staalplaat) cd 14.98
Volume 017 in the "Korm Plastics Introductory Paperback" series of previously unknown artists discovered by the acclaimed Staalplaat label. Not surprisingly, there is not much background information provided on Retro A.K.A., though one guess is that this outfit hails from Iceland as Heimer from Stilluppsteypa contributes some production work on one of the tracks. Or Retro-A.K.A. perhaps is Dutch, 'cause the Stilluppsteypa folk live in Holland now. Some of the sterile laptop glitchiness characteristic of the Raster and Ritornelle labels appears, but Retro A.K.A.'s cavernous, windswept drones really resemble the haunted loops of Omit, resulting in organic noise overlaid with digitized blast and skitter. Cool.

RETSIN Cabin In the Woods (Carrot Top) cd 14.98
Our pals at Revolver distro said it best in their description:
"Take a load off, sit back, and let Tara Jane O'Neil (Sonora Pine, Rodan) and Cynthia Nelson (Naysayer, Ruby Falls) do the driving for a while. The latest in the duo's ongoing love affair with quirky and emotion-fueled pop comes floating with a somber and beautiful blend of banjo, flute, accordion, violin, and English ballad sounds, designed to intrigue, relax, and bewitch. Lovely on all fronts."
RealAudio clip: "The Good Lady Obstacle"
RealAudio clip: "Carnival"

REV, MARTIN Stigmata (Blast First Petite) cd 17.98
Somehow this is nothing like what we expected, not sure what we actually expected but this definitely was not at all it. Rev has spent most of his musical life in the seminal group Suicide, creating the iconic musical backdrops for his partner Alan Vega, he's also released tons of solo records over the years, from pop to new wave, we've heard a handful of them, but none of them prepared us for this.
Stigmata is basically soundtrack music, all strings and synths and Rev's dreamy almost Antony like vocals, most of the tracks are short, and establish a musical theme, and then work around it, creating tension, establishing the mood, pizzicato string plucks, soaring stringed melodies, some ominous and haunting, others playful, and still others majestic and epic, all moody and dramatic, while Rev croons and coos, not singing so much as offering up almost falsetto sounding 'whooo's, it sounds strange, but in fact, it's pretty compelling, and moving, and intense. The music sounds classical, or operatic, while the vocals are weirdly distorted and way up in the mix, mostly wordless, as far as we can tell, almost like karaoke opera, which is a lot cooler than it sounds, check out the sound samples, not sure what it is, but we just can't seem to stop listening to this. Be cool to see what Rev could do with an actual score, seems like it might be pretty interesting...
MPEG Stream: "Laudamus"
MPEG Stream: "Te Deum"
MPEG Stream: "Jubilate"
MPEG Stream: "Dona Nobis Pacem"

REV. KRISS HADES The Wind Of Orion (Modern Invasion Music) cd 14.98
This is not really new, but it's one of our favorite freaked out black metal records, and it was reissued last year (originally released in 2002) although we only now managed to get in touch with the label (they also released the Vorak, reviewed elsewhere on this list) but now finally we can list and review, this amazing slab of bizarre blackness.
Those familiar with the Rev. Kriss Hades, probably know him as the guitar player for Aussie black death metallers Sadistik Exekution, who while weird in their own right, are pretty much furious grinding blacknoise, a sort of sloppy psychedelic black mess, awesome by the way, but more simple and fast than freaked out and fucked up. Which is why this first album from Sadistik guitarist Hades is such a mind blower. This is super abstract, noisy, buzzy, outsider experimental black metal, peppered with stretches of black ambience, industrial soundscapes and plenty of whatthefuck heaviness. This record has been described as a mix of Einsturzende Neubauten, Beherit and Pink Floyd, and while the sound here is probably much closer to Beherit than the other two, their are definite moments of tripped out psychedelia and industrial grind and whir.
But from the first song, it's easy to tell this is some freaky mind blowing stuff. Beginning with haunting acoustic guitar, weaving mournful melodies amidst whipping winds, when the band kicks in, instead of launching into blasting blackness, it's more a sort of murky blown out buzz, the guitars super washed out, the riffing just a blackened smear, underpinned by epic swells of super dramatic keyboards, the drums a buried blast, WAY down in the mix, while over the top the vocals are a confusional pile up of grunts and growls, of shrieks and howls, mumbling and singing in tongues, the whole thing smeared and seasick, buzzing abstractly, almost more experimental black ambience than metal, but there are riffs, and drums blasting away, reminiscent of Wold and Velvet Cacoon in some ways. The first track finishes off with more acoustic guitar, this time though draped delicately over muted black riffing.
And the weird thing is, that's about as metal as the record gets, that first track, from then on it gets more and more unhinged, more psychedelic, less riffy and definitely less 'metal', but no less heavy. The next two tracks are reinterpreted Sadistik Exekution tracks, and while we're not that familiar with the originals, these versions definitely twist the originals into new shapes. The first is a blazing black blast of buzz, but beginning with a tripped out psychedelic assemblage of backwards guitars and processed vocals, then the song itself is super convoluted, riffs slipping and sliding everywhere, squiggly leads, a total damaged black psych freakout, while the other is a sort of blissed out ambient Godflesh / Pitchshifter thing, all industrial rhythms, the riffs, way down in the mix and doused in FX, haunting vocals and all manner of swirling shimmer and crumbling drones...
Right after that is the super brief "Luciferion", a super distorted, ultra fuzzed out shred fest, just guitar, buzzing riffs and wild leads, the whole thing blown out and in the red, followed by "Meditation Of The Midnight Candle Practice" an extended soundscape of warped distorted guitars, strangled effects, huge washes of glacial guitardrone, super affected leads, glitched out minimal rhythms buried way down in the mix, drifting lo-fi ambience and super tweaked studio sounds, all woven into a seriously cracked world of black sound. The record finishes off with a creepy haunted house horror movie church organ jam that morphs right at the end into a super thick corrosive deathdronedirge...
A seriously demented slab of damaged psychedelic black buzz. Which obviously means WAY recommended.
The reissue includes a thick booklet with lyrics, photos, an excerpt from an interview with Hades, and lots of Hades' super intense artwork...
MPEG Stream: "Winds Over Orion / Pyramids Of War And The Destruction Of Enemies"
MPEG Stream: "Black Mass Murder (Satanic Version)"
MPEG Stream: "Final Execution (Ouija Version)"

REVELATION Frozen Masque (The Miskatonic Foundation) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
UK label Miskatonic, supporters of true underground doom metal, bring us this disc by the semi-legendary Revelation from Maryland (of doom). Featuring Revelation's 'new' line-up, this disc consists of eight demo cuts plus two live tracks circa their 1995 European tour supporting Saint Vitus and Solitude Aeturnus. It comes as a prelude to a brand new fourth album on which this long dormant band is now, at last, at work. To certain doom fanatics, these 'demos' are going to be more thrilling than many proper albums from other bands, such is the regard in which this band is held. If you've never heard Revelation before, expect doom metal (or, alternatively, depressive stoner rock) along the lines of The Obsessed and Place Of Skulls -- heavy, slow, Ozzified.
MPEG Stream: "Within The Answer Lies"

REVENANT Topolo (Prele) cd 14.98
Field recordings and the sounds of activated environments (e.g. the crunching of leaves, the tactility of sand, the resonance of an abandoned warehouse, etc.) are the building blocks for the compositions of many a musician championed here at aQuarius. You could look no further than the Jewelled Antler bunch, who marched out in the woods to craft much of their rustic psychedelia crowned with lichen, twigs, birdsong, and rocks. This Revenant project may share the spirited tromps out in the forest and even the revolving door approach found in Jewelled Antler; the but the results end up being quite different. The members of Revenant for this recording were Patrick McGinley (aka Murmer), John Grzinich, Hitoshi Kojo (aka Spiracle), Yannich Dauby, and Olivier Fernaud, all gathered together on the Slovenia-Italy border surrounded by an old growth forest and a few confounded birds. The idea behind Revenant is site-specific acoustic actions, or activated environments with each action being a document of a specific moment in time in a specific location. The five brought minimal equipment, just a few violin bows and a couple of digital recorders, and scrounged around the woods for the rest of their soundmaking devices: leaves, blades of grass, seedpods, heavy stones, etc. The violin bows were employed to atonal use on the first track as these five each took up a particular branch on a particular tree to scrape rasping tones that would even give Tony Conrad the shivers. The following explorations of tactile abrasions, weird gurgles, and gentle swoops enjoy a deliberate pacing; and the concluding track features what must be Hitoshi Kojo chanting in Japanese amidst a chorus of mouth organ drones, which ends up more like an Akio Suzuki meditation.
MPEG Stream: "Track 1"
MPEG Stream: "Track 3"
MPEG Stream: "Track 6"

REVENGE Victory.Intolerance.Mastery (Osmose / Red Stream) cd 14.98
There's actually a goodly number of black and/or death metal releases on this week's list, and they wouldn't be here if we didn't like 'em. But if what you're looking for is something that's *really* evil-sounding, shredded, distorted, blackened, and fucked up, well, like they say: dude, Revenge is sweet. (Forget about the best served cold part, though.) Seriously, Canada's Revenge sure as heck here have made one of the noisiest, nastiest black metal records we've heard in a long time. Their second full-length, Victory.Intolerance.Mastery (how's that for an album title?) is, uh, extremely extreme. Utterly so. Roaring, rumbling, raw. Not for those concerned with such sophisticated niceties as polished production, or melody, or even, well, music. Nope, this is purely over-the-top hellish thrashing mayhem. Clattering drums, belching vocals, screaming guitars, all recorded past-the-point-of-pain. Really, we thought that Aufgehoben No Process was the Anaal Nathrakh of noise-rock...but now we think that Revenge are the Aufgehoben No Process of black metal...does that make sense? Truly cult stuff. What else to say? Well, this blasting brutality boasts the, ah, talents of bass warrior Pete Helmcamp (Angelcorpse, Order From Chaos), whom along with the other guy in the band (one J. Read on "bloodhammers" and "actrocity commands") is one of the reasons that our pal Drew from Matmos just came in and bought this disc -- he thinks these guys are cute! Bet that's the only time someone purchases this cd for the cuteness factor. Another selling point: Revenge have such a nice, spikey, negative-space logo.
MPEG Stream: "Destiny Mastery"
MPEG Stream: "Blood Annihilation"

REVEREND BIZARRE Dark World / Deceiver (Primitive Reaction) 7" 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We always talk about how something is super limited and sold out and out of print so we won't go into too much detail, but then we invariably do, but not this time. We have less than 10 copies, originally limited to 500, sold out and out of print. Once these are gone it's off to eBay with you.
Two covers, one recorded in 2001, one recorded last year, Saint Vitus' "Dark World" and Judas Priest's "Deceiver", both given a Reverend Bizarre makeover. With vocalist Albert doing his best "Vocal Impersonation" according to the liner notes. His Rob Halford is wildly over the top and pretty amazing. And he already sounded a lot like St. Vitus's Scott Reagers to begin with, as that band such a huge influence on Rev. B.! As always, heavy and doomy, the songs obviously classics, too bad we got so few of these.

REVEREND BIZARRE Death Is Glory... Now (Spikefarm) 2cd 16.98
Along with the post-Reverend Bizarre project we just got in and made our Record Of The Week (Sami "Sir Albert Witchfinder" Hynninen's ultra-doomy The Puritan, you already read about it above, right?), we also were finally able to get some copies of this, a MUST HAVE for all fans of these now defunct Finnish true doom metal legends. In fact, it's so good we would not hesitate to recommend it to any curious persons who have yet to hear ANY Reverend Bizarre. It's not an official "best of", actually this posthumous collection consists of uber rarities from various vinyl split ep's and other obscure sources, but it does still have some of their best stuff on it. And, since Rev. B. had fashioned themselves into one of the best "traditional" doom metal bands around (in part by not being TOO traditional) that means this is one of the best double discs of doom we've heard since, well, the LAST Reverend Bizarre album, the 2cd swansong that was III: So Long Suckers.
There's 15 tracks here, leading off with "Demons Annoying Me" from a long vanished split 12" with Orodruin, which happens to be a NON-boring nearly 18 minute epic, a true masterwork of heedless heaviness, built from raging riffs, distorted noise, and cathartic screams, one of the tracks that transcends this band's obvious influences and definitely deserves pride of place as the first track on this altogether awesome double disc. Other standouts abound, from the anthemic "Blood On Satan's Claw" (boasting some King Diamond-y falsetto in the vocal dep't.), to the brief and bludgeoning "Odinn's Men", to the seemingly Current 93 influenced "Apocalyptic Riders", to the also pretty darn epic eleven and a half minute "From The Void II", complete with slo-mo drum solo...
Then there's all the killer cover songs included here, including two from a long out of print 7" we once stocked: Judas Priest's "Deceiver" and Saint Vitus' "Dark World". As the liner notes put it, it's as if Saint Vitus wrote that song for RB to cover. And while Albert's vocals are quite impressive throughout this entire collection, it's really amazing how well his wildly over the top "impersonation" of Rob Halford comes off on "Deciever", and with Vitus such a huge influence on RB to begin with, it's no surprise that Albert channels Scott Reagers perfectly on "Dark World" (heck he channels Reagers perfectly all the time, check out the track "The Tree Of Suffering" for another very good example). Wow.
RB's music can get pretty trancey, doing a dirgey drone at a creepy crawl, with the likes of the gloomy "Bend" (an unlikely "cover" of a track by Finnish electro artist Mr. Velcro Fastener, by the way, from a split they did!) and a bunch of others bringing in hints of black metal grimnity. But also some tracks are fairly uptempo and succinct, like the '70s Sabbatheque rockin' of "Broken Vows", which any Witchcraft fan is gonna love (it's a Pentagram cover). And if you get at all bothered the Devil in your music (why are you reading this then?), beware the backwards shit going down on "The Gate Of Nanna" (a Beherit cover!) at the end of disc 2, that's Satan worship if we've ever heard it. So cool.
The cd booklet deserves mention as well, they didn't neglect the liner notes that's for sure. There's many pages of text in tiny tiny type discussing the what/when/where/why of each track in great depth.
R.I.P. Reverend Bizarre... and doom on brothers, Doom On!!
MPEG Stream: "Demons Annoying Me"
MPEG Stream: "Dark World"
MPEG Stream: "Broken Vows"

REVEREND BIZARRE Harbinger of Metal (Spikefarm) cd 14.98

REVEREND BIZARRE II: Crush The Insects (Season Of Mist / Spikefarm) cd 16.98
Reverend Bizarre is so worshipful of their obvious influences (Sabbath, St. Vitus, Cathedral, Witchfinder General, Pentagram, Trouble, Sleep, Electric Wizard, etc.) that it might be easy to dismiss them as being just fans instead of the real thing... but we've got to say, there's something just so darn charming about how much these lads LOVE doom metal. It's infectious. And their songs are even ABOUT doom! Sloganeering for doom, that's their thing -- sing-along album opener "Doom Over The World" is a doom-lovers anthem basically. And they've chosen stage names guaranteed to amuse: Albert Witchfinder (vocals, bass), Peter Vicar (guitar), Earl of Void (drums). Yup, they've got some sort of extra-special, amateur fanboy appeal that makes you root for 'em. And they've worked so hard at living up to the standards of their heroes that they're not half bad, in fact, we're darn impressed. They come across like a hybrid of Saint Vitus and Cathedral, with dramatic, clean vocals definitely owing something to original Vitus singer Scott Reagers.
Their discs are always adorned with cryptic inscriptions like "Lohja Power" and "C.O.T.D" -- the latter standing for "Circle Of True Doom" something I think these guys invented, though I've seen it on other bands' cds. It also says "Apocalyptic Doom Metal" in big letters on the back cover of this one but when you first spin the disc, for the first few songs you'd think that "Party Time Doom Metal" or something like that would be a better motto since there's a definite headbanging catchiness to the first few tracks, the Rev. Bizarre boys rockin' out whilst dooming it up. As "into" doom and depression as they and their audience (you?) might be, the listener can't help but have their frown turned upside down when the band kicks into such rollicking, riffy, uptempo tunes as "The Devil Rides Out" and "Cromwell". It's heavy metal, and it's doom. But II: Crush The Insects ain't all fist-waving rockers. They do play slooooooow a lot of the time too. After the first three cuts, the album takes a turn into the realm of, well, apocalyptic doom metal, with track lengths in the double digits. Like the crawling epic "Slave Of Satan", which was apparently a number 2 HIT song in their native Finland!!! Hard to believe, as it's 13 and a half minutes long!! And that's the edited album cut, which is considerably shorter than the 21 minute single version!!! Torturously slow, anywhere else in the world it'd be a miracle if it made it into the Top 40 THOUSAND. The record continues in this vein, with some brief bursts of speed, through to the very last song, with the dumb/brilliant title of "Fucking Wizard".
MPEG Stream: "Cromwell"
MPEG Stream: "By This Axe I Rule!"