“In recent years, very few bands have been able to prevail over my increasingly jaded and negative outlook on music and life itself. One of those bands is Miami natives Torche, who won me over with their unique combination of melodic sense and gut-pummeling heaviness.” Will Mr. Fisting still carry the Torche after this release?
“Stoner metal is not known as a particularly inventive genre. Though improvements to equipment and recording techniques have allowed bands to push the boundaries of heaviness, the basic musical template has remained pretty static since its conception. That said, there is little sweeter in the metal world than a stoner doom band totally crushing a hammering riff, however many times you’ve heard it done before.” Looks like we’ll be hearing it again…and again.
“I was only quite recently introduced to The Flight of Sleipnir. Since their formation in 2007, they have produced a steady stream of albums, with last year’s Saga being their best effort so far. Though based in Colorado, The Flight of Sleipnir follow the path of figuratively every folk metal band ever and take inspiration from Scandinavian folklore; yet both aesthetically (just look at that gorgeous album cover!) and sonically they have managed to distinguish themselves from the hordes of other Viking worshippers.” Stoner Viking doom sounds cool enough, but can this eight legged horse get off the ground?
“Harmony pervades Once There Was A Time When Time And Space Were One. Not in the strictly musical sense, but in its idyllic unity between typically opposed characteristics. Time and space, old and new, science and nature. Sweden’s My Brother The Wind returns on this, their third record, to peacefully entrance and impart their wholly-improvised instrumental Space Rock on the rushed and pressured masses.” God knows we all need a break from the pressures of modern life!
“The pub gremlins known as Orange Goblin are back and once again, they’ve been fed after midnight and doused with way too much cheap beer and rotgut whiskey. For the uninitiated, that means more rowdy outlaw biker rock filled with southern blues, doom and stoner influences that all get sent crashing into the rocks of macho bravado and testosterone. Following up 2012s enjoyably soused A Eulogy for the Damned, Back From the Abyss keeps the sketchy pool hall chic intact and adds more dumbbells, prison tattoos and Lemmy-isms for a potent potable of in-your-face, no bullshit biker metal.” Grab the moonshine and the brass knuckles, the Goblins are back in the bar!
“Wikipedia has an interesting list of artists that have taken their monikers from other bands’ song titles. I used to think this signaled a lack of creativity (Funeral for a Friend, Gamma Ray, Godsmack), but when you see that the likes of Overkill, Radiohead and The Sisters of Mercy also took this approach, you realize it’s not a reliable indicator. What to expect, then, from a sludge/doom band that names itself after an Ufomammut record? Snailking is certainly a good choice – you can probably guess the band’s genre even without knowing the name’s etymology – but do they manage to channel their nominal inspiration’s flair for creating heavy, psychedelic masterpieces that don’t require you to be stoned off your tits to enjoy?” Haha…he said “tits.”
“In a month where Pallbearer dropped an irresistible doom monstrosity on us, an unheralded act is quietly sneaking out a release that could easily slip through the cracks and escape notice unfairly. The Order of Israfel is a project put together by Tom Sutton (Church of Misery) and Patrik Andersson Winberg (Doomdogs) and their Wisdom debut is a surprisingly addictive fusion of classic Sabbathian doom, 70s hard rock, The Obsessed and the Cathedral school of mega heavy riffs.” Hey, Pallbearer isn’t the only doom crew out there. Sheesh!
“Kyuss were Gods (capital G intentional). You can argue with me, and you would be dead wrong and quickly shunned for all eternity. In the band’s short timespan, they cemented themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the desert rock/stoner metal arena. One thing that can be argued is the band were greater than the sum of its splintered parts.” The voice of Kyuss is back from the desert.
“Mastodon’s 2011 record The Hunter represented a significant, if predictable, turning point in their career. Having earned a respectable degree of mainstream popularity and critical acclaim through heady, yet accessible psychedelic sludge records, Mastodon very deliberately decided to meet their peaking success by transforming into essentially a heavy rock band. The prog had reached critical mass, but Mastodon clearly had one thing left to prove in their ever-shifting sonic palate, and that is their capacity for radio-rock stardom.” So… are they rock stars now? Bigger than GaGa?
“The Atlas Moth is not your average “genre” band. More than being another entry in the long list of throwaway stoner doom acts, the Chicagoan five-piece’s sophomore LP An Ache for the Distance was a gorgeously rendered amalgam of sinewy sludge, painterly post-metal and heavy-handed psychedelia; a lushly psychedelic heavy metal record impossible to pigeonhole and just as easy to love. It’s the kind of record that screams “classic” in its first couple of seconds and could possibly reaffirm one’s faith in modern metal.” Can this release entrench The Atlas Moth as the savior of modern metal?
