Branching out

I decided to make a facebook page for this blog. You can find it here. Go now, and like it. I'll be posting smaller tidbits every now and then, as well as links for all new blog posts.

Maybe this'll even keep me active.

Until next time!

Pick of the week: Throes of Dawn - The Great Fleet of Echoes

Again it's been ages since I've last written anything, but now I'm back in action. This time we have here a fairly old album, from 2010, but it's just so good that I must write about it.

Back around the time this album came out I knew practically nothing about Throes of Dawn. Then they were interviewed in the Finnish metal magazine called Inferno and caught my interest. I went and bought the album and while I still don't know a whole lot about the band, I know that this is an awesome album.

Throes of Dawn play, for lack of a better term, gothic metal that hits a sweet spot where the doom and sludge I mostly listen to can't reach, not entirely unlike modern Katatonia. So don't go in expecting a barrage of crushing guitars and anguished screaming, the melancholy here is of a more brooding sort and laden with beautiful melodies, only occasionally accented by the odd growl.

I fully expected Throes of Dawn to break through with this album (maybe they have, but if they have, it's gone completely under my radar) but I suppose the best things don't attract a very wide audience. For me, however, this is one of the best records to have come out in 2010.

But don't just take my word for it, take a listen:

The Great Fleet of Echoes is out on Firebox Records.
Throes of Dawn official website

Pick of the Week: Witch Mountain - South of Salem

I've been meaning to write this for a long time, but you know how it goes when you've got work and all of that. Better late than never, though, and now I've the time, and a good time it is, too.

South of Salem, Witch Mountain's second full length album, originally self-released on vinyl, later re-released on CD by Profound Lore, is a doom metal album. And a damn fine one at that. This is doom, no frills.

Inevitably lumped together with the likes of Jex Thoth, Witch Mountain have an ageless doom sound (as opposed to the retro boom currently going strong), brilliant, groovy riffs, and the whole thing crowned with the powerful voice of Uta Plotkin makes this my album of the year 2011.

The only negative side about the album is that it's too short (which is somewhat improved upon on the CD version, with a bonus track), much like this text I'm writing. But what do you need words for when you've got music like this? If bluesy doom is your thing, South of Salem should definitely be, nay, will be your thing too. Go to Witch Mountain's bandcamp page, and get it either as a name-your-price download or on CD (and if they are sold out, try Profound Lore Records). And hopefully there will be a repress of the vinyl in the future.

Witch Mountain also have a new album on the way, which I'm awaiting eagerly.

Pick of the week: Christian Mistress - Agony & Opium

I've been meaning to write about this album from the moment I first heard it, but you know how it goes. Anyway, here it is now, and boy do I urge you to take a look at this here album (if you haven't already). I got the album in December, if I remember correctly, and it would've been my album of the year, except that it had already come out in 2010.

Now, you may think of me as "that guy who listens to a lot of doom and shit", and while Christian Mistress skirt the same musical areas as, say, Cirith Ungol, their stuff is mainly a bit faster. I believe the style is mostly akin to NWOBHM of the early 80s, and while I'm no expert on the genre, I can hear echoes of Iron Maiden &co. in Christian Mistress's music. On top of that, the Olympia, WA -based quintet has a knack for writing kick-ass songs, which are made even more awesome by the vocals of Christine Davis. With a production that reeks of emotion, this album goes directly for my heartstrings. And did I mention that it's awesome? It is.

If you haven't yet heard Christian Mistress, do yourself a favor and take a listen.
Agony & Opium is out on 20 Buck Spin and can probably be found at least at Record Shop X.
They also have a new album out soon on Relapse Records.

Pick of the week: Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats - Blood Lust

I originally meant to write this months ago but didn't have time or didn't feel up to it. Mostly, I guess, I didn't have time. But here it is now!

I originally found out about Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats through an IRC channel I frequent. Someone posted a youtube link for "Death's Door" and I was convinced. I promptly ordered the cd-r edition of Blood Lust that was out at the time, only to sell it to someone else after it had sold out and I'd acquired myself a copy of the vinyl edition, which also had sold out by that time. And now it's out again, on cd, released by the band's own label, Killer Candy, and distributed by Svart Records.


Anyway, onto the music. For it is a lot like it came straight from the sixties or seventies. I'm no expert on those decades, but I hear echoes of Black Sabbath and Deep Purple on Blood Lust, with lyrics that take Sabbath's flirtation with the occult and turn it into full-on embrace, not unlike what Electric Wizard have been doing lately. Lyrically, Ghost might be an apt comparison, but musically Uncle Acid sounds rawer, dirtier and, in my opinion, simply better.

I suppose this kind of music somehow trendy these days, and some people urge us to listen to the original seventies bands instead of these modern day retro acts, but I think an important element in the sound of Uncle Acid & the Deadbeats is that they live in a world where the 80s, 90s and 00s have happened, and it has contributed to how they approach their music. In other words, this band's music couldn't have been made much earlier.

Blood Lust is available as CD from Svart Records.

Pick of the week: Author & Punisher - Drone Machines

So, yesterday my band Ever Circling Wolves' drummer posted a link to this youtube clip that was about a guy who'd built himself, quite literally, drone machines: a setup with which he could perform multi-layered drone music by himself, even live. Naturally, this grabbed my interest and so I watched the clip. Afterwards, I was convinced I needed this guy's music in my life and his bandcamp page came to my assistance.

Author & Punisher has made 3 albums, of which I grabbed the newest, Drone Machines (2010). I've yet to give it but a cursory listen, and too quiet at that, since it's the middle of the night, but I'm convinced nevertheless. The sound is thick, fuzzy and surprisingly organic for stuff that, due to the instruments it's performed with, could sound much more like industrial. I suppose it is because there is still a human body running these drone machines.

This awesome album can be obtained digitally from http://authorandpunisher.bandcamp.com/ or on cd from http://www.authorandpunisher.com/ (if they still have them in stock; I didn't manage to add the cds to my cart).

The video clip I mentioned is here:

Pick of the week: Wolves in the Throne Room - Celestial Lineage

Wolves in the Throne Room deliver again. I remember, some years back, when I first heard their second album, Two Hunters. I thought it was pretty cool, but in the end, I didn't fully understand it until a long while later, after the release of Black Cascade, their following effort. I still haven't heard their debut, Diadem of 12 Stars, and I wonder if the fact prevents me from fully comprehending the rest of their albums, but the way things are, I wholeheartedly enjoy this album.

Celestial Lineage seems to tie together the various styles presented on Two Hunters, Black Cascade and the Malevolent Grain EP, ranging from their bread-and-butter faster parts to doomy slowdowns and moody female vocals. Besides, they still have the uncanny knack, facilitated by the production, which is quite spot-on, for making blastbeats sound atmospheric. And while, instead of 4 tracks like on all the other albums, there is a huge total of 7 tracks on this album, I think it feels even more uniform and flowing than their previous efforts.

The album's out now on Southern Lord Recordings.