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.