Vinyl odyssey

Two years ago I wrote in my Finnish blog about how Reverend Bizarre's posthumous vinyl splits had made me, despite my initial reluctance, start collecting vinyl in addition to cds. Two years have passed and nowadays I think I buy more vinyl than cds and my collection has expanded quite a bit.

Therefore, in the beginning of June, I decided to spin through my collection, all within this month. 22 days later (and 8 days to go) I'm very nearly finished with the 12-inches I own and still have ten-inches and seven-inches to go.

During this task, I've fondled the sleeves of the albums and gained an even greater respect for this format. The damn cool covers aside, they seem to sound better than cds, whether it's all in my head or not. And at least some albums have benefited from a new mastering for vinyl, such as Katatonia's Dance of December Souls, which was released on vinyl last year by Svart Records. I've also managed to gather a collection of fairly excellent records. I just really love the things, that's all.

The Crane Wife

Every now and then I like to listen to music that isn't so heavy. One such album I've listened to a lot lately is The Crane Wife by The Decemberists.

I'm just quickly typing this to say it's a brilliant album. Folk rock in the vein of I have no idea who, since I don't listen to folk rock that much. Full of catchy melodies and the singer's voice has a very nice timbre to it. You should listen to this album if you generally give a damn about my recommendations.

Thou shalt listen to Thou

Thou are one of my favorite bands of late and pretty much everything they've done (well, I haven't heard something like one third of their rather extensive catalogue) is pure bliss to my ears. Therefore I'd like to say a few words about a couple of their recordings.

Tyrant (2007)
(LP cover)
(CD cover)

Thou's debut album does a powerful job presenting this Baton Rouge, Louisiana sludge doom powerhouse. Low rumbling rhythm guitars and pounding drums are joined by tormented screams and the occasional searingly beautiful and even eerie lead guitars. All this creates an atmosphere of despair, misery and desolation in the most magnificent way imaginable.

Five tracks deep, the album is fairly short, but there is a cd version that adds two tracks of heavy, gloomy goodness. It might be tricky finding the album in a record store or a distro (I have ordered it five times now, received one copy), but the good thing is, it can be downloaded for free quite legally (at the time of writing this) from last.fm, so there's no excuse not to take a listen to this brilliant album.



We Pass Like Night, From Land to Land (2008)


Thou's split with Leech originally came out as a cassette, but my copy is a vinyl reissue by Gilead Media. Here, Thou's dark, gloomy plodding is coupled with an airier, and also faster, track by Leech.

Thou's side is a single piece, "Abandoned", which is subdivided into 4 distinct parts, showcasing Thou's ability to intersperse their dismal sludge with glorious melodies. The final part also ethereally employs piano and additional vocals by Emily McWilliams.

Leech's side is also a single piece, long and untitled, and not a lot information is given about it. It begins with slow, moody, clean instruments before rushing off into a blaze of "true Cascadian grey metal", not entirely unlike such acts as Wolves in the Throne Room and Burzum, until it closes with the return of a slow, clean passage.

This record might also be hard to find nowadays, but a grand total of 2250 copies have been made of all the pressings combined (as far as I know), but if you are interested, I'd start looking by checking out Gilead Media's or Vendetta Records' webstore. At one point, Thou's side was available for download on last.fm too, but that isn't the case anymore.


In conclusion, these are both excellent records and, assuming you are a fan of sludge (and black-ish metal), you'd do yourself a favor by getting your hands on them.

A borrowed word

I'd just like to put this here:
clicky

Burzum - Fallen

Varg Vikernes's music has come a long way from the core of the early nineties Norwegian black metal scene he himself helped to build.

While Fallen is still unmistakably black metal (or, if you are of the persuasion that Burzum has never been black metal, Burzum), it now has a wider variety of shades. Especially Varg's vocal performance has become more varied, signs of which showed already on last year's Belus. Fallen also continues with the concept album theme that was already present on Belus.

In keeping with Burzum tradition, the songs are built on fairly simple, but intricately layered guitars, which slowly roll the songs forward in a hypnotic manner. Again, faster songs, such as "Vanvidd" are in the minority, while "Jeg faller", though principally slow, is filled with double time feels, especially on drums.

Despite the odd aggressive and hostile passage as well as the pervading snarled vocals, the album manages to keep up an air of brooding moodiness. Even the occasional blastbeats manage to sound hypnotic instead of disrupting, though this is nothing new. Fallen is at its best when listened to without rush, in a peaceful state of mind.

Fallen may still be a little too Burzum to convert people who dislike Burzum. It may also drive some of the older fans away. However, I don't think I'm in the minority when I regard this album brilliant. One of the best albums so far this year.

Last year's highlights

So, I thought I'd list some records from last year I picked up and enjoyed.


Alcest: Écailles de Lune
Brilliant post rock tinged with black metal (or vice versa). Contains some melodies I wished would never end. Also saw them live, brilliant!

Burzum: Belus
Already reviewed this one, but I think it deserves a mention. Read the review for more words.

BXI: BXI
Boris and Ian Astbury of Cult fame. What can I say? Atmospheric and very cool.

Earth: A Bureaucratic Desire for Extra-Capsular Extraction
Some of Earth's earliest recorded work, remastered into something amazing. Good, meaty drone.

Electric Wizard: Black Masses
Some of the best stuff happening in doom right now. Delirious and trashy, brilliant!

Hooded Menace: Never Cross the Dead
I enjoy the dirty, rotten sound of Hooded Menace immensely. As I do their uncanny sense of melody to spice things up.

Kowloon Walled City / Ladder Devils / Fight Amp: Lose / Lose / Lose
Already reviewed this as well. Good, rockin' sludge.

Lisa Cuthbert: Obstacles
Ever since I saw Lisa Cuthbert open for Antimatter (actually, Mick Moss & Duncan Patterson playing Antimatter, Anathema and Ìon) I'd been waiting for this album. Absolutely beautiful stuff.

Sailors With Wax Wings: Sailors With Wax Wings
This had flown completely under my radar until a friend told me to listen to it. Goes well with the BXI ep.

The Abominable Iron Sloth: The Id Will Overcome
After getting acquainted with The Abominable Iron Sloth's debut album, I'd been waiting eagerly for some more material from them. A snappy dose of aggressive sludge this is.

The Sword: Warp Riders
Good riffs all around, it's what stoner metal is all about, really.

Thou: Summit
Depressive and dark sludge with searingly beautiful melodies. My personal album of the year for 2010.

Throes of Dawn: The Great Fleet of Echoes
Beautiful, atmospheric metal. It bugs me, that I've managed to not see them live throughout the year.

Triptykon: Eparistera Daimones
If you liked Celtic Frost's Monotheist, this should be right up your alley. Tom G. Warrior has ditched the unnecessary ballast and is doing the best thing yet in his career.

Tuvalu: Tuvalu
With this, their latest, Tuvalu prove again their ability to write excellent music with aspects of everything that's good about progressive rock.

Ufomammut: Eve
Approaching psychedelic doom from a completely different angle than Electric Wizard, Ufomammut sound very much like their name, which is pretty awesome.

Kowloon Walled City/Ladder Devils/Fight Amp - Lose Lose Lose

Some time ago I got this brilliant idea about reviewing records that probably don't make it very widely out of their country of origin, and as quite many of the underground acts I've become acquainted with are from the USA, I'll offer you something from across the pond. I thought I'd start with a new release, and therefore selected the three-way split between Kowloon Walled City, Ladder Devils and Fight Amp, Lose Lose Lose.

The split is available on vinyl, with 1 song from each band on both sides. That makes up for the first 2 new tracks for Kowloon Walled City and Fight Amp since their last year's albums Gambling on the Richter Scale and Manners and Praise respectively and Ladder Devils' first ever released tracks. All the bands play a sort of similar style of punky, rocking sludge and there isn't much variation on the record, although you can clearly tell the bands apart. Nevertheless, there is massive amounts of appeal, at least for yours truly, in their crushing brand of sludge from the brisker end of the spectrum.

Kowloon Walled City opens the album with ”The Busker”, which is a continuation of the style they did on their full-length last year. Ladder Devils then ups the groove with ”Get OK” after which Fight Amp kicks up the gear with a more aggressive ”Thankless”. The second side begins with Ladder Devils' fast and groovy ”Leavers”, followed by Fight Amp's ”Old Soul” and is concluded by a slower number from Kowloon Walled City, ”The Commuter”. Despite from jumping to and fro between bands, the tracklist sounds really well-balanced. Clocking in at a bit over 25 minutes, this split album makes for a sweet, albeit short, soundtrack for a sludge party.

Oh, and best of all, it can be downloaded for free (endorsed by at least Kowloon Walled City): click here!

4/5