“Czar Behemoth. Kaiser Leviathan. Sister Fluffyheart. These are just three of the names left on the drawing board when King Giant landed on their identity. The cunning subtlety of this name obfuscates great simplicity in their chosen style, drawing on the likes of Kyuss and Down for a Southern-influenced, rollicking doom metal release, entitled Black Ocean Waves.” I’d have gone with El Presidente Gigante myself.
“Goatsnake was originally formed by veterans of seminal doom act The Obsessed, and though they’ve rattled around since 1996, they haven’t been the most prolific crew in the doomiverse. With only two albums and a few EPs to their credit and their last full-length dropping way back in 2000, they would already be relegated to a footnote in the Big Book of Doom if not for how righteous early works like Goatsnake Vol. I were, and the sheer number of bands ripping off their sound.” Goat and snake…unite!
“The Grymm Grab Bag© can be quite the two-sided beast of a backpack when utilized. For every moment when I pull out a gem by a promising band, I get two or three that end up closer to this. Forever undaunted (or just plain stupid), I once again reach into the bag of unknown-to-me goodies hoping to not get struck like that poor sap in Flash Gordon, and I am presented with The Comfort of Loss & Dust, the third album by London’s Cold in Berlin.” Reach into the bag of mystery and squeeze!
“The Wolf Council is what I imagine those not yet inducted into metal hear when anything with distorted guitars, energetic drumming and heavy vocals is imposed on them. I can hear their whining now. “Why is the man shouting?… It’s too loud… It all sounds the same!”” Yes, your mom wrote this review.
“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!
“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.
“I am not ashamed to admit this, but it takes something incredibly special for me to be excited about a simple signpost. A benign, innocent sign nestled in the desert roads of California that, when looked at, conjures up memories of guitars blaring through bass amps, thundering drums, heartier-than-chunky-soup bass, and weed-and-beer soaked vocals about high temperatures, brushing your teeth, and calling the desert home. A sign that resonates within the souls of those who have experienced the musical memories it brings forth. A sign that, whenever viewed, causes people to proclaim, “DUDE!!! FUCKING KYUSS!!!””
“When last we checked in on Pilgrim, they were really fucking slow! Even by doom standards, these guys were the car in the right lane with flashers on and a “Wide Load” sign on the bumper. That’s because they specialize in unflinchingly minimalist, old school Sabbath riffs slowed down to a root’s pace, lightly seasoned with a hint of psychedelic fairy dust. Their Misery Wizard debut was heavily influenced by Reverend Bizarre and Cathedral and weighed down with insanely long, drawn out doom yarns so heavy, they made you feel like a Buick was parked on your chest. This presented an arduous test to one’s attention span, despite the overall quality of the riffs and writing.” Ready for some doom that’s slower than your grandma? Quick, it’s very slowly getting away!
“Every now and then AMG himself deigns to drop an unknown chestnut of metal into my promo bin and demands my thoughtful analysis. From past experience, these have ended up being quite enjoyable surprises (Dofka, Degial). Now he’s provided me with From the Dark, the second release from the obscure Swedish stoner/doom act Nymf which walks the line between typical stoner acts like High on Fire and Orange Goblin, American trve metal like Argus and more traditional doom like Candlemass.” Rough n’ ready stoner/doom from Sweden sounds mighty good and Steel Druhm would usually order it from the menu, but will Nymf satisfy him or get sent back to the chef along with some choice words?
“No, this isn’t the title of the second Palmsszzzzzzzz record. Vista Chino is the mercifully rechristened Kyuss Lives! (A moniker so abysmal that even something like Kinda Kyuss would’ve been an acceptable alternative.) John Garcia and Brant Bjork’s resuscitated baby now has a name befitting something classier than a casino-circuit cabaret act, and they’ve got eyes on reclaiming the long-abdicated stoner / desert rock throne. 2013 is becoming the year of comeback records: Gorguts, Carcass, and now Kyuss. Well, kinda ,
Kyuss.” There’s a special sandy place in many hearts for the desert rock of classic Kyuss. Can the members of that seminal act recapture the magic with the awfully named Vista Chino? Jordan Campbell reports from Sky Valley.
