You know what I always found odd? I don’t like oranges, but I like orange-flavored things. Orange soda, orange drink, orange candy, orange cake, orange gum. All good stuff. The actual orange? Not so much.

I’m not sure I’m going to get the Vitamin C I’m missing by listening to the new, self-titled full-length from Portland doom rockers White Orange, but I’m sure willing to find out. Actually, my guess would be if anything of substance were to affect my body because a White Orange album was playing, it probably wouldn’t be all that good for me, if you catch what I mean. You do.

Anyhow, I’ve had my hands on their debut, that is just getting ready for release, for a few months now, and it’s been a bit of a strange trip for me. First few times with it I was OK with the music, but it didn’t quite resonate. I returned a few weeks later, and something about it caught fire with me, and now I’m spending a lot of time with the record. Part of this could be I now have a better pair of headphones, and all of the psychedelic color is coming at me full force. It’s a record that’s all over the map, as you can hear strains of Kyuss, Queens of the Stone Age, Dinosaur Jr., the glammed-out David Bowie era, really early Soundgarden and Mudhoney, and so much more. It’s kind of doomy at its base, but it swings. It has a lot of pre-grunge-explosion-era Seattle in the guitar work and melodies, and the vocals are clean and smooth, but with a snarl and attitude. It’s a really cool approach that, while it draws on many camps for the formula, sounds pretty unique compared to many of today’s bands of the same ilk. I could see these guys winding up on Tee Pee Records at some point.

The songs rock pretty hard, but calling them straight-up metal is a bit of a stretch. Still, I think for those who like, say, The Sword, High on Fire and even a band like Baroness could find plenty to enjoy on this disc. The nine-track effort opens on a gnarly, stoner-friendly note with “Where,” the song most likely to get you into a full-on brawl at one of their shows. Not that we condone that kind of thing. “Color Me Black” has a bit of an ominous feel initially, with a dark, almost Danzig-like lead-in, before it melts into a sludgy groove, with Dustin Hill settling into a Josh Homme-like croon; “Dinosaur Bones” has that early ’90s indie rock slide, like it could have been something on the “Singles” soundtrack, and is one of the catchiest songs on here; “Kill the Kids” is dark, abrasive and almost hardcore-minded; and dreamy ballad “Sigourney Weaver” closes the disc on a trippy, honey-dripped note that keeps ringing out in your head after it’s over.

White Orange are like a fresh-squeezed glass of doom rock, with chewy pulp and a kick. It’s a great rock record, front to back, in an era when those things are growing increasingly rare. The songs are a blast and might even get you digging back into your dusty cassette collection from an era when the term “alternative rock” existed and when stoner metal was a drop of water on the floor and not an ocean of a genre.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.facebook.com/whiteorangeband

To buy the album, go here: http://whiteorange.bandcamp.com/releases

For more on the label, go here: http://madeinchinarecords.com/

There’s an old episode of the “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” cartoon that introduced the heel character Evil Seed, who is hellbent on making Eternia a home for his plant life to survive and who will suffocate all living things. Of course, his methods were of the purely selfish variety, and after the obligatory struggle in order to fill out a 22-minute episode, He-Man prevailed. The good guys won.

The world of The Botanist is much like that of Evil Seed’s, just without the self-serving rhetoric. He sees humankind as having a hand in the destruction of the green parts of our world, and many people would be hard-pressed to disagree with that assertion. The ones who do disagree are called Republicans, at least for the most part. The Botanist, who is both the name of the musician responsible for this project and the name of the main character in the story, isn’t afraid to bandy about a term such as eco-terrorism, and while that action has negative connotations to it, his protagonist sees it as the only way to battle against the very people who are trampling the green life he holds dear. In his eyes, this is self-defense.

While the philosophies of the Botanist’s music are very real and ever so timely (especially with the next presidential election potentially having a giant impact on environmental protection going forward), there are some fantastical elements as well. Our main character hails in exile in a place called the Verdant Realm (the musician hails from San Francisco), and while on his throne of Veltheimia, he awaits the day that plant life rises up and chokes out those human forces that seek to destroy it who, along the way, do irreparable harm to their own fellow man and woman. You have two Armageddons playing out at once, and in the end the Botanist hopes to be the one who survives, along with his beloved greenery. It’s bizarre, thought-provoking, and even a little psychotic, and just flipping through the booklet that accompanies this effort helps the listener see the leaves and vines rise up and prepare to rule their kingdom. They’re intertwined with the Botanist’s words, that speak for the foliage. It’s fascinating stuff. On the Botanist’s web site (the link is below), you also can find all of the elements that make up this entire realm, which will help flesh out the concepts and philosophies even more. Some of the plants have voices, too, and they help the Botanist create his vision of destruction.

This doesn’t even begin to dig into the music. Last week, I told you we’d visit an album that may be the weirdest metal record you’ll hear all year long, and this is the one. It’s black metal. But think about what you come to expect, sonically, from black metal. The only one you get here are the monstrous, creaky faucet growls and warbles the Botanist uses to tell his tale and explain his future, but other than that, it’s nothing you’ve heard before. The primary instruments are rattling drums and hammer dulcimer, an instrument that hardly has an expectant seat at the genre’s table. But the Botanist makes it work like the most sinister of guitar lines, the most guttural of all riffs, and it becomes a creepy, terrifying weapon. Typically the strange-looking instrument, that often sounds like one is strumming piano chords, typically is used for folk music, but not much here sounds that like form of music. It does, however, suit the deep forestal heart of this project and sounds more fitted for this music than any electric guitar ever could.

If you need a crash course on the instrument, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammered_dulcimer

The Botanist not only is ambitious in his message and goals, but also in his music. The double album “I. The Suicide Tree/II. A Rose From the Dead” is comprised of 40 tracks and are spread over two CDs. That may sound like a lot of material to absorb at once, but it really isn’t. It’s more like two separate movements of music, where the tracks seamless are attached, so you’re more inclined to want to take this thing on as a whole in order to fully understand it. Most of the songs are pretty short, with the longest coming at the tail end of the entire production, with “Abrus Precatorius” and “A Rose From the Dead,” so usually, if you’re not paying attention to the track listing, you’ll be deep into this thing before you even know it. The songs are buzzsaw raw and typically throbbing, but there’s also a rich, hearty melody in these cuts, too. They’re catchy and theatrical. There’s a sense of showmanship. It sort of reminds me if The Dresden Dolls tried to do a black metal album. They’re stripped-down songs that drip with life but conversely include the premonition of death. The album opens with a warning – “The beast rises” – on “Dracocephalum” as it sets the stage for what follows. “Helleborus Niger” has a classical feel and is oddly playful in spots; “Dionaea Muscipula” is dissonant and sorrowful; “Bromeliad” sounds Shakespearian yet also quite ominous; “Convolvulus Althaeoides” actually has some savagery built in, with the dulcimer struck as violently as ever; and “In the Hall of Chamaerops” even has a gothic pop melody line to it, making it damn-near approachable. I could go on and on, but there’s a lot of ground to cover, so hopefully you have some kind of idea of what is in store for you if you enter the realm of the Botanist. Yet how could the picture be complete with hearing these strange passages?

Admittedly, it took me a few listens to get with the Botanist, but I never was turned off from what’s on the double effort. It just took a little adjustment from what I’m used to hearing, but that was a refreshing transformation for me. It was getting out of my comfort zone and accepting something dressed in a way I don’t expect. But, as odd as this record sounds, make no mistake it’s metal through and through. It’s threatening, dangerous and passionate, sort of like the Nordic musicians of the early ’90s, only more mature, and scary enough, based more in reality. As crazy and abstract at this story is, everyone can understand the Botanist’s plight, and even if you don’t agree with his methods or are shaken by his psychosis, you should heed his word. Despite what some may insist is a myth (because of special interests, natch) we are in a dangerous time, surrounded by deniers and naysayers who are armed with nothing more than a political affiliation. Maybe we need more people like the Botanist to wake us up before he ends up our ruler. Evil Seed would end up seeming like the wacky cartoon character he is in comparison.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.botanist.nu/reviews_I_II

To buy “I. The Suicide Tree/II. A Rose From the Dead,” go here: http://aquariusrecords.org/bin/search.cgi

For more on the label, go here: http://www.tumult.net/

I don’t have anything to say, really. It’s Saturday. College football is on. No one is on the Internet. Except you. And thank you for visiting. Might I suggest you do what I am doing and annoy your neighbors with some Burning Witch? You’ll feel so much better when it’s all done.

Hey, next week we have some fun stuff. We’ll have a really great Outer Edges piece about two non-metal releases that have very, very metal connections. One of those records is, in my opinion, the best non-metal album of the year so far. And it is both weird and seductive. Think Burzum. That’s a really easy hint, actually. We’ll also have a look at two new records from one of my favorite up-and-coming labels. Both albums are not for the weak of heart or the bland of taste. And one you better get on right away because it’s only out in limited release! We’ll also have a look at, hands down, one of the most bizarre metal albums of this year. Or any year, for that matter. Let’s put it this way, the instruments you’ve come to expect from a black metal band, only one of those come into play on this thing.

OK, so, all of our U.S. readers, have a wonderful and safe Labor Day weekend. Please use your brains this weekend, because we don’t want you to end up in jail or dead. Everyone else, have a splendid regular weekend. We love you all the same.

I speak often on this site about beer-drinking metal, mainly because it’s fun when kicking back some brews to have something ass-kicking bleeding from the stereo. Not everything qualifies under that designation. For instance, I’m not going to be too eager to have a nice ale alongside, say, Lurker of Chalice or Agalloch. Love those projects, but they don’t really ice my glass a whole lot. That music is for entirely different activities and moods.

Now Oakland’s Saviours always have been labeled a stoner metal band, and certainly that’s with good cause, but I’ve always liked to hear them when enjoying a few choice, cold bottles from my refrigerator. Their 2008 album “Into Abaddon” always has been one of my favorites for that type of occasion, as its furious, Motorhead-meets-thrash make-up made for the perfect rowdy mood-setter. But, you know, I’m a little older now, as are the dudes in Saviours, and I like to chill a bit more than I did a few years ago. So it is with the band’s fourth record “Death’s Procession” that I have found a new record to give me company when I want to sit on the couch, put on a pair of headphones, and slowly take down a dark, bitter, probably high-ABV beer. I could not be happier. I said similar things about label mates Moab this week, so apparently Kemado wants me to drink. Well, if I must.

Saviours’ sound has come a long way since aforementioned “Abaddon” and their first full-length “Crucifire,” that dropped on Level Plane in 2006. There’s an even bigger feel of New Wave of British Heavy Metal on “Death’s Procession,” and seeing that I’m a huge sucker for that sound, this record instantly drew me into its power. There isn’t the reckless abandon here as there was in the past, but I think it suits them fine. If anything, it will add some variety to their ear-splitting live sets. Speaking of which, true story: A few years ago I took my non-metal-loving wife (who, at the time, wasn’t bound to me legally) to go see Saviours, High on Fire and a few other bands on Valentine’s Day evening. Yes, she still married me. Anyhow, she was due for dental work coming up, and Saviours was so damn loud (and HoF didn’t help later in the evening) that we had to leave the show since she was in utter pain. Now, THAT is power. No wonder she hasn’t been too eager to let me play the new Saviours.

Before hearing this new album for the first time, I did have some reservations. I didn’t get too into the band’s last record “Accelerated Living.” There was just something about it, as a whole, that really didn’t work for me. I can’t really recall the last time I listened to the thing. But those fears were dashed early when hearing the opening strains of “The Eye Obscene,” a song that does have a nice gallop, but a more calculated one than I’m used to hearing from these guys. Austin Barber maintains his Lemmy Kilmister/Matt Pike bark, but it’s a little smoother now. He’s singing more than howling, and that suits these songs really well. “To the Grave Possessed” and “Fire of Old” have that NWOBHM sensibility that I mentioned, and it actually kind of makes me feel a little nostalgic. That’s an odd reaction to new songs, eh? “Earthen Dagger” has a doomy condition, sounding more like the band’s older stuff, and it arrives in time to change things up and keep the pace interesting; “Earth’s Possession, Death’s Procession” is a really cool instrumental that is fiery and adventurous; while closer “Walk to the Light” is trippy, even dreamy in spots, but it eventually picks up steam and blows the doors off. The track also has some excellent guitar work by both Barber and lead man Sonny Reinhardt.

Simply put, “Death’s Procession” is just a really great, classic-sounding heavy metal record. I miss collections such as this. There’s no worries about trying to fit into a scene, sound according to whatever the genre’s parameters say they should, or do something that’ll get them a nice, warm hug from the Internet. It’s a record that will make you want to pull out a jean jacket, preferably with an oversized back patch, chains, a bullet belt, whatever. Yeah, that’s a cliché, but you’ll know why I wrote it once you hear this thing. It’s the truth. It sounds great, it’s an example of how heavy metal is supposed to sound, and it’ll be a go-to record for me just as long as my wife doesn’t have any impacted teeth.

For more on the band, go here: http://www.killforsaviours.blogspot.com/

To buy “Death’s Procession,” go here: http://www.kemado.com/shop/

For more on the label, go here: http://www.kemado.com/home/

The band also has a ton of tour dates coming up, both in the States and abroad. Here they are:

9/2 Lawrence KS @ Jackpot w/ BISON B.C. only
9/3 St. Louis MO @ FUBAR w/ BISON B.C. only
9/4 Nashville TN @ The End w/ BISON B.C. only
9/5 Asheville NC @ Lexington Ave Brewery w/ BISON B.C. only
9/6 Raleigh, NC @ Kings Barcade
9/7 Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
9/8 Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
9/9 drinking in NYC – no show
9/10 drinking in NYC – no show
9/11 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
9/13 Toronto, ON @ Lee’s Palace
9/14 Rochester, NY @ Montage Music Hall
9/15 Columbus, OH @ Outland Live
9/16 Grand Rapids, MI @ The Pyramid Scheme
9/17 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Rock Club
9/18 Marquette, MI @ Upfront And Company
9/19 Minneapolis, MN @ Triple Rock Social Club
9/20 Rock Island, IL @ Rock Island Brewing Company
9/23 Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge
9/24 Salt Lake City, UT @ Burt’s Tiki Lounge
9/26 Seattle, WA @ The Highline
9/27 Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
9/28 Portland, OR @ Branx
9/29 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
10/1 San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar
10/2 West Hollywood, CA @ Key Club
10/4 Albuquerque, NM @ Launchpad
10/6 Austin, TX @ Emo’s
10/7 Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s
10/8 New Orleans, LA @ Siberia
10/9 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
10/10 Athens, GA @ New Earth Music Hall
10/11 Tallahassee, FL @ Engine Room
10/12 Tampa, FL @ The Orpheum
10/14 Savannah, GA @ The Jinx

19.10 GER – Cologne @ Sonic Ballroom
20.10 BEL – Brussels @ Cafe DNA
21.10 NL – Tilburg @ 013
22.10 NL – Nijmegen @ Merleyn
23.10 NL – Utrecht @ ACU
24.10 GER – Hamburg @ Hafenklang
25.10 NOR – Oslo @ Revolver
26.10 SWE – Gothenburg @ Truckstop Alaska
27.10 SWE – Stockholm @ Kafe 44
28.10 SWE – Linkoping @ L’ Orient
29.10 DK – Copenhagen @ Stengade 30
30.10 GER – Hannover @ UJZ Korn
31.10 BEL – Kortrijk @ De Kreun
01.11 UK – Stoke On Trent @ Harry’s Bar
02.11 UK – Manchester @ Gullivers
03.11 UK – London @ The Unicorn
04.11 UK – Plymouth @ White Rabbit
05.11 UK – Oxford @ The Wheatsheaf
06.11 UK – Brighton @ The Prince Albert
07.11 FRA – Lille @ Le Bistrot De Saint-Saveurs
08.11 FRA – Le Havre @ Mc Daid’s
09.11 FRA – Paris @ Les Combustibles
10.11 FRA – Besancon @ Les Passagers Du Zinc
11.11 LUX – Arlon @ La Curieuse
12.11 SWI – Winterthur @ Kulturzentrum Gaswerk
13.11 AUT – Dornbirn @ Cafe Schlachthaus
14.11 GER – Wuerzburg @ Immerhin
15.11 CZ – Slavonice @ Baràk
16.11 AUT – Vienna @ Escape Metalcorner
17.11 ITA – Pisa @ La Centrale
18.11 ITA – Roma @ Init
19.11 ITA – Fidenza (PR) @ Arci Taun
20.11 ITA – Arese (MI) @ S.G.A
21.11 SLO – Ljubljana @ Klub Gromka
22.11 HUN – Budapest @ Szabad Az A’
23.11 CZ – Brno @ Yacht Club
24.11 CZ – Prague @ Klub 007
25.11 GER – Leipzig @ Zoro
26.11 GER – Berlin @ Schokoladen
27.11 GER – Osnabrueck @ Bastard Club