Argonauta Records

Dee Calhoun – Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia Review

Dee Calhoun – Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia Review

“Of all the not-metal-but-metal-adjacent things we cover on this site, my favorites are easily dark folk/country or Gothic Americana releases. I’m always scanning the promo sump for those occasional gems like Henry Derek Elis or Lord Buffalo or Wailin’ Storms so I can snap them up before my mouth-breathing colleagues have a chance to whine “Hey! This am country! No like twang! Make riffs go ‘brrrrr!'” I won’t belabor the point, but if you want a window into my tastes, you can read the intro to my review of Tohu Wa Bohu. All this to say, the moment I saw the title of Dee Calhoun’s fourth solo record in the pit, Old Scratch Comes to Appalachia, I was on it like a fly on a cow pie.” Dip, dirt, country doom.

Mitochondrial Sun – Sju Pulsarer Review

Mitochondrial Sun – Sju Pulsarer Review

“It has been a scant nine months since I reviewed Mitochondrial Sun’s debut. Under normal circumstances, I’d be wondering whether nine months is enough to generate a new album’s worth of material. However, 2020 has finally banished any remaining illusions I may have had about the linear flow of time, and calendars are now meaningless.” The genuine pulsar.

Megatherium – God Review

Megatherium – God Review

“There is one reason and one reason alone why I’m reviewing this album. It’s not the passable art, or the generally nice but fairly uneven roster of sludge and sludge-adjacent bands Argonauta Records have built up. It’s the handle, because Megatherium has to be one of the coolest band names I’ve ever laid eyes on.” Mega deficit.

Ocean Chief – Den Tredje Dagen Review

Ocean Chief – Den Tredje Dagen Review

“Doom is a tricky genre to get right. At least in my opinion. It has a fine line to walk, trading in tectonic riffs, bleak atmospherics and roared vocals, often at glacial speeds, it risks sacrificing memorability on the altar of heaviness. Swedish quartet Ocean Chief have done their time and paid their dues, however, and should be well equipped to avoid this pitfall.” Riff rafts.

Shadow Witch – Under the Shadow of a Witch Review

Shadow Witch – Under the Shadow of a Witch Review

“I often marvel at the diversity of the wondrous art form of metal music. Doom is no exception, flowering beyond the traditional Sabbathian foundations. Along with its various genre affiliates, it continues to impress in genre depth without deviating too far from slow and heavy pathways. New York’s Shadow Witch lean towards a hard-rocking, bluesy, riff-centric stoner doom template on their third album, Under the Shadow of a Witch.” Wicked witches.

Mitochondrial Sun – Mitochondrial Sun Review

Mitochondrial Sun – Mitochondrial Sun Review

“Solo projects are an interesting beast. While rarely as successful as their originating bands, done well they can tread new and interesting ground. Done poorly, though, they can end up a pale imitation of the bands they came from. Mitochondrial Sun is the side project of Niklas Sundin, Dark Tranquillity’s long-time guitarist. Fortunately, it falls into the former category. ,b>Mitochondrial Sun is primarily dark instrumental electronic music, largely in the vein of 65daysofstatic, but also forays into modern classical.” Dark new age.

Sycomore – Bloodstone Review

Sycomore – Bloodstone Review

“Sludge metal. Depending on who you ask, it’s either awesome or meh. If you ask me, sludge falls under the hit-or-miss category, with an unfortunate bias towards miss. When everything comes together, e.g. all four records of Beastwars and the first four of Mastodon, the result is usually a monolithic slab of grimy riffs and scathing vocal assaults drowned in the fuzz of the damned. This is a good thing. However, all other times you end up with something about as interesting/enjoyable as room-temperature coffee poured out of a carafe stained as yellow as the dust inside a chain-smoker’s PC. This is a bad thing.” Sludge life.

Kal-El – Witches of Mars Review

Kal-El – Witches of Mars Review

“With the amount of duplicate band names out there, it’s a small miracle Kal-El are the only ones naming themselves after the Man of Steel’s Kryptonian name. Perhaps others fear being smacked with the lawbook by a team of lawyers from DC (the comic book publisher, not the city). However, if you were hoping for a Superman-themed metal album, I’ll have to disappoint you. If you couldn’t guess from the collage disaster of a cover or the title, Kal-El prefer their sci-fi themes to be of the retro schlock variety, and they bring it in stoner doom form with mountains of fuzz and Hammond keyboards.” Mars needs stoners.