“We all have our dirty metal secrets that we selfishly keep to ourselves, only sharing with a select few close to us. Or alternatively, we incessantly talk up underground gems and spread the gospel to anyone that will listen, as we cherish our slice of underground cred. Into the Obscure aims to right the wrongs and unearth the artists/albums that for whatever unjust reason didn’t get the exposure, appreciation or credit they sorely deserved the first time round.” Master! Master!
“Okay, I know that back in February I promised myself no more retro rock. But a shift in release dates created a gap in my calendar, and Madam X, in her infinite wisdom, bestowed upon me an album as retro as it gets: Bury the Hatchet, the sophomore album from Californian blues/metal trio Shotgun Sawyer. I groaned inwardly, hit the download button, and prepared for the worst.” C’mon Hucky, don’t fear the retro.
“Our reviewers diligently convince our readers to give a listen to promising bands in hopes of them making a bit of money via their Bandcamp page or even drawing enough attention to get them signed to a big label. Sometimes, though, one or two will slip by our radar. Texas’ Blues Funeral is such a case. Having formed in 2014, they self-released their debut, The Search, last year with some notable buzz. Now they’ve returned with their second album in as many years in the form of Awakening.” Blues clues and brews.
“Apart from Black Sabbath, no doom band can claim the same progenitor status Pentagram can. Coming into existence in 1971, they were the first American doom band and along with their slightly older British brothers in arms, they wrote the book on the entire genre. They also penned another book over the years on how to become the ultimate obscure, underground and kvlt act and stay that way for four fucking decades without ever getting proper recognition.” Last days are not here!
“Being of the ‘80s thrash generation, I was born a few years too late to experience the actual birth of metal first hand. As a result, I have had to seek out that old-school sound and those pioneers of what we now know as “metal.”” And seek out he did.
“The entire concept of a “supergroup” requires that at least some of the parties involved were “super” individually, prior to forming a band together. An unfortunate side effect of this is that when they have bills to pay, or get tired of working with their bandmates, they can always go back to whatever they were doing before. This is what led to the demise of Black Country Communion, when guitar superstar Joe Bonamassa returned to his solo career, taking BCC keyboardist Derek Sherinian with him. Undaunted, bassist/vocalist Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple) and John Bonham stunt double Jason Bonham carried on, enlisting unknown guitarist Andrew Watt.” Another supergroup…sigh. Mr. Fisting tells you just how super they truly are.
“As a long time fan of American doom pioneers Pentagram, I’ve been an admirer of Victor Griffin’s playing and his bluesy, but street tough style. Sure, he borrowed a lot of his sound from Tony Iommi, but he made it his own by mixing it with the sound of Cream-era Clapton and a touch of Hendrix. When he left Pentagram, their stock dropped precipitously, and when he returned for their Last Rites opus, everything was right in the doom world again. I enjoyed most of the material from his Place of Skulls outing, so when I heard of the new Victor Griffin’s In-Graved project, I expected solid results, which this delivered, along with a few surprises.” Doomy biker rock? Does Steel Druhm need to say more? Well, he will anyway because he’s wordy!
More Finnish music you never heard of? Yep, and this time it’s vest metal! Seremonia brings you some doom rockin, acid ingesting, 60s influenced rock with creepy female vox and Finnish lyrics. If that patches your denim, then read on, flower child!
