Jun 30, 2014
Check out Giant Sleep reviewed here at THe Ripple Effect. Great album.
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Indonesia
seen from India
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Canada
seen from Portugal
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from Brazil
seen from United States
seen from China
seen from Chile
seen from United States
seen from United States
Check out Giant Sleep reviewed here at THe Ripple Effect. Great album.
Pet The Preacher - The Cave & The Sunlight | Review by Bucky
Here's another review I wrote a couple months ago, going back up after being taken down. Great band.
Review:
So I guess we can start this thing off with the first thing that anybody sees when picking up an album, or for digital purposes, the first thing they usually see when reading about or downloading a particular album and that is the cover artwork. I really dig the colors and have enjoyed all the artwork thus far done by the band. Oddly enough I was reminded of the recent album cover of The Socks album which I reviewed here at the Sludgelord earlier this year. I’m assuming different artists, yet a similar theme and similar colors. I don’t mind cause it looks cool, gives the impression that the music is going to sound cool, which to me, as bad as it sounds can be an immediate deal breaker in today’s music scene. Everything counts so chances are, if your cover looks cool people will judge it and the statistics are likely to show that more listeners tune in for a taste. I judge albums by their cover inadvertently all the time, especially when you’re given hundreds of albums to check out and only have time for a portion of them. Anyhow, Pet the Preacher succeeds on all levels of art visually and in sound.
The Cave and the Sunlight picks up right where The Banjo left off back in 2012. For those that are new to the band, Pet the Preacher preach the gospel of the southern blues riff, with an emphasis on softly petting the supernatural groove until the sin is sung. Whereas The Banjo twanged a little heavier on the blues influenced hard fuzz, The Cave and the Sunlight weaves a bit more finesse into the immensely dark and ragged riff fest.
Already within a couple years Pet the Preacher has carved a distinctive sound of their own within the stoner/blues niche. You can identify that song being a Pet the Preacher song almost instantaneously on their Napalm Records debut. I can say this time around, as opposed to a few of my last reviews, that I've been into Pet the Preacher from the beginning. Well as early as someone living in another country can admit, I've been following the band since their debut. Not many bands combine as powerful of a growl with wickedly gnarly blues metal quite like frontman Christian Madsen. Such a deep sexy gritty tone (she says) that had he became an actual preacher; he would be the one getting molested by beautiful woman and children alike. For an even more bluesy, organic taste be sure to check out his solo records available on bandcamp under the name of Hound.
The Cave and the Sunlight brings forth both the dark and the light sides of the band. The record opens like a misty morning dawn spews its rays westward onto a new day. The dark cave awakens by the first beam of light, rolling quickly into a darker number in Let Your a Dragon Fly. Smattering chugs of the furious guitar open the song which maintains a high energy attack throughout its duration. Madsen annihilates not only the shining position as lead vocalists but is responsible for the vicious sequence of heavy hitting grooves on the guitar.
Next song displays drumming and bass front in center as to not totally isolate Christian as a one man show. Pet The Preacher is indeed a 3-piece outfit and you can hear each participant’s contributions throughout the record, especially on Kamikaze Night which is a drummer’s delight with its throbbing thuds at the forefront.
Clearly Pet the Preacher benefits from pristine production on The Cave and the Sunlight. I've always thought the bands albums had a nice crisp production to them, while maintaining a jagged edge and the new one is no exception. The deep vocals are mixed in perfectly to the spectacular arrangement of riffs, pounding drums, and building rhythm. The music flows not too slow but slow enough to get the delayed head bob going if you will. It’s definitely treading in stoner rock territory in a positive way.
Pet the Preacher bring a subtle beauty to the battlefield. The title of the record seems fitting as the record seems to be about 50/50 hard and heavy to slow and delicate. Like sunlight warming the rim of a slumbering bear's dark and doomy cave.
The energy in the lyrics, "You bring the fire baby" that build at the end of 'Fire Baby' pair perfectly with the gnarly riff which slices straight through the senses and rolls into the 1st instrumental opening of the "Marching Earth" saga. "Marching Earth" parts 1 and 2 are a total mind trip and my personal favorites closing the 1st half of the record. The intensely psychedelic strums carve into your brain like ancient glyphs on the roof of a blackened cave.
"The Pig and the Hunted" continues the trippyness with more innate musicianship combining heavy psych melodies and raw aggression in a casual yet poisonous fashion. Take note about midway through when that razor sharp note comes slashing in with tribal essence as if the pig has ate its last apple.
The album is a consistent ride of quality riffs through to the end. Definitely marking the heavy stoner rock realm with the Preacher's hot iron emblem.
'What Now' answers its own question with perhaps the most sinister tunage on the record. Eerily chanting "What Now?" over and over to a brutally dark hard rock/sludge groove. Now, what now after 'What Now' is the logical question? Answer: 11-1/2 minutes of low and slow, belligerently cerebral riffage taking the album full circle.
The album seems to flow consistently and fluidly with a slight build of intensity from beginning to end. The deeper into the album the more contorted and intense the music becomes. The ending carries a riff of sunlight behind the western horizon with a florescent glow just as the dawn of song one began the album. The Cave and The Sunlight team together as a surreal combination of dark and light soundscapes in heavy rock form. If you liked their previous material you will love the new one, and if you're new to the band, this is certainly an easy entry point as to what the Preacher feels like. Don't be scared, give him a pet. He likes it behind his ears.
Check the band out on Facebook, order the album from Napalm Records. Napalm is definitely melting faces this year with the ever growing roster of rock and metal albums.
6 track album
Review:
"Welcome to the Machine" Pink Floyd once said. I remember vividly tripping out to that song every time it floated through my speakers. The psychedelic, spaced-out and futuristic progressiveness gets me nervous to this day. Imagine if the Floyd crew were buried deep beneath the murkiest swamps of the south. Now imagine I never mentioned Pink Floyd but their rotting corpses started a band anyway. Well, welcome to the Swamp Machine folks.
You hear that? What's that smell? Over there look! The boggy smoke is rising from the chilled mire ponds. Dead limbs hang desolately above the gurgling swamp. Aghori Ritual has begun its worship, plodding slow sinister riffage. Highly intoxicated hallucinations of southern metal bubble up from the marsh popping with a stench vocal aroma. Somewhere between Hangman's Chair and DOWN the opening number displays what Swamp Machine’s debut album Mondo Magic is capable of. Webs and Spirals of heavy doom infested psychedelic stoner groove. "Am I just crazy or deeply insane?... Words and the wisdom are so hard to find.." Fitting lyrics as the Swamp Machine churns it's corroded gears into your brain. There's little hope for escape, that being the slightly up beat energy on display throughout Webs and Spirals. But the web is too sticky and the spirals to confusing to find your way to the surface of the slough. Burning Road torches the darkness with flames of malicious intent. Packed with jagged southern solos, it sounds like a pile of rotting animal carcasses smells, engulfed in a blaze of smoke. Nothing survives the Swamp Machine’s intensity. Ashes to ashes are continually absorbed into the thick rumbling mud to enhance the swamp’s already viscous texture. Gone strums desolation into its victims. Vocals echo through the sludge as bluesy chords wrap bodies with cloaks of psychotic grandeur. Skulls whispers frightening bellows from beneath the caves of the swamp's underworld. It's now that reality sets in that reality is in fact a figment of hope. Sinister vocal chants plod behind slow fuzzed up strokes of distortion which permeate the empty brain cavity inducing a sense of comfort amongst the stained marrow zombie creations. At this point your ear canal is overflowing with 10 tons of crematory sludge. To mitigate the damage the Swamp Machine cools down it's steamy, stony stroke with a soothing instrumental lullaby. After one full cycle Swamp Machine proves it's got the horsepower to manipulate the mind and scarify the soul. Heavily tripped out southern sludge at its finest. Welcome to the Swamp Machine.
Order the album now and listen over at bandcamp.
6 track album
Review:
Sioux, who marched onto my radar just recently with their debut self-titled EP released back in May of 2013 smashed eardrums with an extremely loud and heavy psychedelic-sludge sound. Honestly it wasn't until I heard news about this new album, which is partially available to stream at their bandcamp now, that I fully realized the power of their self titled. As tough as it was and is, the new one is even stronger. It's basically a continuation towards becoming the heaviest sludge band on the scene and flows seamlessly, building off the foundation poured by the s/t. Both albums are highly recommended and they even have an audio tape package deal available too if your into that sort of thing. Let in the Night starts the trip with a slow lumbering dark and mystic chug a lug opening sequence of grooves resembling an early Mastodon sound. Calculated, heavy and dark riffs with a spooky vibe dominate the airwaves. Faithless crafts a sludge soaked, progressively twisted crunch with a catchy melodic chorus. "You will get what you deserve. I am master you are slaves" is a reminder that, here, riff is king and we are merely slaves to its scummy grind. Vocals continue with a sort of echoed production style resonating a mild stoner rock tendency with a strong dirty boggy progression. A killer discordant solo leads into a beat down of deathly growls set to a fuzzy bass line to close the song. As the album roars on, Ad Astra maintains the prominent Mastodon comparison but I also hear howls of the likes of Monster Coyote featured here on the blog before. If you heard their last album, you'd know the ferociousness I speak of. Stomping grooves fuzzed up like a bed of cactus. The One and the Many opens with an eerie electrically plucked extravaganza. Soloing along with a dreary and doomy attitude, the title track majestically builds into a heavy and progressive outburst of groovy grime. Wrong right or indifferent, Ascension can be described as a witchy wondrous wailing, wrapped together wildly as a sinister festival of ripping noise. Say that ten times real fast in front of your bathroom mirror, lights turned off, If you wanna get real weird. Scapegoat closes the 28 minute album and exhibits a fantastic doom-laden progressive sludge treat packed with plenty of punch. At only 28 minutes in length I wouldn't let the size fool you. It's all about the motion of the potion and Sioux hits the auditory G-spot for fans of loud, psychedelic sludge metal, capable of rendering the listener intoxicated and potentially sterile due to the supreme throbbing sensation within the aural love canal.
Whether you're lonely or a musical whore like me you need to snatch this up now and give it some love.
Check them out on Facebook, bandcamp, or if you’re close to Portland, perhaps they are your friends and you prefer personal contact. Just listen regardless.
Listen/purchase: Our Final Days On Bellicus Prime by Spiral | Bucky’s Blurbs
"Progressively experimental and mind boggling, Our Final Days on Bellicus Prime spirals its way from serene atmosphere to brutal riffs and through the battlefields with psychedelic marathon solos. Intensely satisfying. This needs more faces on its page."
9 track album
PRESS:
After a successful 2013, the guys from Hamburg to go in 2014 with a new album at the start! Nine tracks somewhere between blues, rock and classic 70s sound reflect the idea of the modern Stoner of five of the Elbe. The album "ELEMENTS" offers bold Stoner boards, groovy songs and also quieter tone beat the guys at. Released on April 25, 2014 through Setalight/ Fuzzmatazz Records.
REVIEW:
Hyne ignite on all cylinders wasting no time in route to the keg party on 'The Engine' which cranks the RPMs up with one of the most heavy hitting, high flying "whoooah yaaaaa's!!!" I've heard in recent memory. Melodic guitar groove burns out like classic muscle car rubber on black top while purring out vocals clocking in around the James Hetfield registry. And by Hetfield I'm talking the toughness in the crackle of Christoph Kozieski's throat holds merit amongst the meanest of the hard rock masters.
'The Engine' easily qualifies for the main event in good starting position as 'Beneath the Radar' kicks in insinuating just that, that Hyne is flying under the heavy rock radar yet beating out the competition in the stoner hard rock race. Lyrically the message is simple, like they play their guitars, loud and relentless to a head bobbing trance, the message seems to portray their nonchalant attitude towards authority, not causing any harm to anyone, speaking of both overcoming and being overcome by obstacles. As evidenced by 'Burn', chanting "You burn me once again" over and over sounds like pretty generic stuff, yet it's easily relate able and comes across so smooth and natural that it's hard to ignore and easy to accompany. Kind of like that stinky, grassy stuff rolled up in paper being passed around the party. No pressure to inhale but if you don't your smile just won't reach that ecstatic perma-state, and if you do you are partaking in the very rebellious action the lyrical theme of Elements is expressing. So what's the big deal right? Puff puff give and let the good times roll.
Speaking of engaging in debatable quandary the title track 'Elements' floats in with it's slowed down and psychedelic blues tone. The guitar melody reminds me of a favorite band of mine 'Black Cowgirl' which speaks for itself. Clearly a highlight, (they named the damn album after it right?) Elements smokes out a verse sounding like a stoned out bluesy 'Rage Against the Machine' on their classic teen angst number 'Killing In The Name' from a lyrical standpoint. "I won't do what they want... I will question their ways... I won't do what they tell me to do..." Doesn't get any more defiant than that. The whole song is an anthem of freedom of expression and power to the people, depending on who you work for that is.
Contradictory to some popular belief the next song apologizes for it's rebellious actions by offering up a harmonica interlude. Actually breaks up the album nicely coming in at almost exactly the mid point like a halftime show to a western shoot out, resulting in song 6 called 'Dead Men' which riffs along nicely, maintaining the commanding vocal and fading into a rusty white noise outro.
'Paralyzed' hammers out a metallic crunch which severs the auditory backbone with more dark and dreamy fuzz rock. By this time you've likely been reminded of multiple more well known, highly praised bands. To me I have had visions of Clutch and Black Cowgirl and by 'Pieces of the Universe', my favorite song on the album, elements of Truckfighters' mojo are confirmed. Not only does the band put the pieces of the music together perfectly, but the production team has done a fantastic job mixing and sorting through any hiccups. The album closes with an instrumental lullaby that chills the senses with a surreal melody of enchantment. I especially love the mixing on this album and the variation of several layers of volume and tone all while maintaining a muscular rock n' roll flair.
I ordered the vinyl version offered up by the band, which appears to be sold out now unfortunately. I payed for the high priced digital at bandcamp, and went out if my way to contact the band about a review. I don't just do that for any run of the mill rock band. Hell, I don't even usually order vinyl with international shipping charged, but when I do son, when I do it's because the record is spectacular! At a minimum go stream the record online at bandcamp. Check out their older record as well. But eventually become a man and support these Germans with some coin. The end!
Review:
I approached this album as I do every album. I pushed play without thoroughly researching the band, their intentions, their hopes and dreams, rather my hopes and dreams as to perhaps finding a cool ass album to play over and over. That said, these guys seem to have a ton of ambition and unique ideas reading up on them after I had listened to the album and formed initial thoughts and descriptions for this review. Go check them out on their website to get a feel of what they are all about. As for the music here goes my experience:
To start things off, if there ever was a band to pull off being named Ethereal Riffian it’s the band named Ethereal Riffian. They basically invite all those who live within the riff worshipping community to gather, uninhibited, for a celebration of poetically and celestially heavy riffs. Although the riffs aren't light, the music portrays a feeling of serenity within its masculinity. Take heed of the album art as well which is always the first thing we as listeners see when scanning for new albums before pushing the play button. Grinding brain gears propelled by a sonic planetary spectrum of light. Ya, that could be used to describe the sound of the 4 track 45 minute album as well.
Thugdam opens the album with a crunchy magnetic riff, shaping into psychedelic solo interludes laced between melodic guitar cracklings. The vocals brood together scriptures of worship to the occult altar, with all out doomy intentions. The shortest song on the album dances to a close with an evil tribal psych guitar pow-wow. Huge drums throb their way to the frontlines to kick off the March of Spiritu. Trudging away, awakening all inhabitants within winds distance, the 2:20 minute mark sparks the commanding orders of Captain Stonezilla himself, guarded by troops of distorted fuzz. The spirit of doom battles on proudly and strategically, growing larger with every smattering riff. Ducking and darting in and out of the gargantuan slumbers of the riff cannons, to snarly strumming of the swords, Spiritu marches on into the Nothing. Vocals keep the adrenaline from excerpting all energy by restoring their true doom origin throughout. The tracks seem to flow epically in nature, captivating the listener throughout their 11-minute plus durations. The singing seems to delve deeper and softer into the mix as the journey peddles on acting more as an instrument accentuating its dark mystic tone amongst its guitars. Each song is spiked full of latent fuzz, scented with that ever so pleasant Nola groove which deserves the utmost applause by combining raw power and rhythm to the wickedly brain-fried absence of reality. Anatman conquers the beaten warpath by unlocking a majestic Pink Floydian introductory passage leading to a hammer down of perhaps the wickedest rhythm on the 4 song epic. High pitch guitar screams frantically echo through the boggy field of mire while the battle-axes palpitate the landscape into liquid sludge. The album oozes seriously doomy bliss without surrendering its medicinal marijuana card. Only getting better with each listen as more and more buried treasures unearth themselves from beneath the belly of this epic beast. If you claim to be a fan of the all mighty riff, the darkness of doom, or the tripped out jammy type, you will find it all on Aeonian. Be on the lookout. Order the album now over at bandcamp, or troll all other possible outlets to enable a proper listen of this band. Take my word, this shit is ethereal!!!
Bandcamp
Website
This was my first ever review published on a mainstream blog, and the band even used my quotes on their bandcamp page to describe the album. To be honest, I personally think my early reviews were some of my strongest from a writing perspective. With personal lives getting busier and time getting sparser, writing reviews in between trips to the grocery store, changing diapers and running dogs gets to be more of a chore than a passion, and thus these early ones, although I didn't put too much time into them, they just came out a lot more organic and natural. I was feeling the flow if you might say. Or I'm just a chump who thinks he knows what good music sounds like and doesn't know shit. Could be, and who cares. Haven't listened to this one in months, but it definitely had that initial impact and deserves some attention.
Review:
Review written on first listen as I was listening. First I've heard from the band who released their debut back in 2011 called Guerrilla Drive Valley which I'll have to now go back and check out.
Album opens with the ever so pleasant crackle of a cold can of brew. Deep throbbing bass-y fuzz coated with echoed chantey vocals. The repeating sonic riff initiates the classic head-bob as per the stoner fuzz handbook.
Red Carpet Lane brings more giant peachy fuzz backed by desert highway sing-a-long slurs and followed by an eerie instrumental guitar twang capable of summoning the serpents of the barbarian landscape. But before the snakeoid surfaces it's crushed by the colossal riff that closes out the second half of this ten minute monster.
7th Stone begins the end of the stoned out Joy ride with 13+ minutes of spacey rhythms and slow brewing bass tripping it's way through the abyss as a tribal drum beat whittles away through a quarry of enchantment only to reach the 7th and final stone upon its last breath, acoustically strumming it last chord.
The quest marches on with Godmason which continues the trend by adding intense swirls of psychedelia at a medieval pace slowly inching it's way towards the center of the black hole, or it could be warping through asteroid fields at the speed of light? Either way the sound remains distorted to the point of abysmal despair. Around the 5 minute mark Godmason lays on a slab of metal mortar that constructs an impermeable wall of psychedelic sludge. The doomy trance continues slaving away for the remainder of the soundtrack to hell with no breaks, no lunch, no furlow, and no prisoners other than it's now owned and converted listeners.
By this time the music has won, there is no escape, Bog begins to bury all hope to survive the inevitable collision which turns out has already happened light years away. The pummeling drain of Bog's onslaught of creepily orchestrated doom washes the listeners cavity clean with sludgy drippings of what once was just another casual album listen.
Acid Elephant have created one of the heaviest slabs of doom I've heard this year, which surprisingly held me hostage for an entire hour. I'll admit I'm normally not a huge fan of the 15+ minute doomasaurs but this one was riveting enough to bury me alive. What starts as an innocent buzz-inducing desert getaway turns quickly into a bludgeoning assault of psychedelic doom which slowly carves it's way into your brain with the very guitar pick that hooked your fuzzy neck in the first place. There's no escaping the Star Collider.