It’s always interesting hearing a relatively new band develop along their journey. Not all bands even seem to do that nowadays, as formulaic has become a commonplace description for a lot of newer musicians. This doesn’t mean all bands need to take major risks in order to get better or to fully form. Just getting tighter and broadening their horizons can be enough.

Rhode Island might not seem the ultimate cauldron of blackness and destruction, but the state did spawn Pilgrim, one of the United States’ more impressive new doom metal bands. They delivered their first full-length effort in 2012 with the strong “Misery Wizard,” a collection of six epics that stretch over 55 minutes, building off the excitement they generated with their killer 2011 demo “Forsaken Man.” They revelled in traditional doom but also drone, and while so many like-minded groups employ growls and screams these days, these guys stick to clean, majestic vocals to tell their tales. It fits their skullduggery, swords, and wizardry that are the themes of their music, and it was clear they had something good here on which they could build.

With the arrival of the band’s second record “II: Void Worship,” that potential Pilgrim held has seriously paid off for them. The music remains true to doom tradition, but they also branch out more than what they did on “Forsaken Man” and stretch it to altogether new areas. They sound stronger and more confident, their songwriting is even better than ever before, and there is just something about this record that grabs you and pulls you into their horrors. The vocals from guitarist The Wizard are more realized, have more depth and emotion, and really get their stories across with great effect. The singing wasn’t bad at all on their debut, but it’s now a strongpoint for the band. Of course, alongside him, is creatively named drummer Krolg Splinterfist, Slayer of Men, who bashes his kit and keeps an evil pace. No doubt he lives up to his name, at least from a figurative standpoint. Combined, these two have continued to create a demolition machine that tells stories of old and conjures weirdness you can feel in your bones. It’s awesome.

The record opens with the bizarre, classically minded “Intro,” that makes it seem like an old door is getting ready to open to take you into a story about creatures long since gone to their graves. “Master’s Chambers” (which runs 10:36) is the first foray into Pilgrim’s expanded headspace, as fuzzy guitars erupt, and The Wizard observes, “I was turned to stone,” that should put chills down your spine about the title character. The song plods along at a nice pace, as the guys hit on a long section of playing toward the end of the song, and once that smoky doom subsides, the vocals turn somewhat tender and vulnerable. The track dissolves into a pocket of rumble and feedback. It’s a tremendous song. That leads into “The Paladin,” a song that shows the more aggressive side of the band. It’s actually a little faster than what we’ve come to expect from Pilgrim, and the vocals have a ’70s-style prog edge to them. It’s a catchy, powerful explosion that’s damn fun to take in. Up next is “Arcane Sanctum,” the first of two consecutive instrumental cuts, that opens with clean tones that eventually meet textured guitars, eerie transmissions, and ghostly playing that might leave you intoxicated.

“In the Presence of Evil” is the next instrumental up, with dark riffs spilling out before they run headlong into pulverizing crunch and classic metal-style guitar work that get the energy level kicked into a higher gear. The title track follows, bathed in furious drone and chaos at the start, with the vocals slipping in and slowly unfurling. A scene of disturbing darkness is set up, with details such as burning candles, and the music fits the mood perfectly. The guitar work feels like it is worshipping at the altar of Black Sabbath, as it’s sooty and muddy, but there also is drone and suffocating darkness to all of this as well. That never really goes away. The vocals soar, all the music comes together, and it’s a damn well-done track. “Dwarven March” is another instrumental, but more of an interlude, and it paves the way for the finale “Away From Here,” a 9:38 bruiser that begins as a slow, mesmerizing killer and eventually gets treated with nuanced vocals and bludgeoning hammering. The Wizard hopes “to say one last goodbye,” as waves of classic doom lap over and darken everything with unforgiving tides. The song builds nicely through its running time, keeping your mind engaged and your fears realized as they build toward the final moments of feedback and suffocating smoke. It’s a great final statement at the end of the best thing Pilgrim have done to date.

I doubt Pilgrim’s formation will halt with “Void Worship,” and this should just be another steppingstone of their career angling toward doom greatness. It’s so satisfying hearing this great new record from a band I have followed from their first demo, and the bloody, darkened sky really is the limit for these guys. As long as Pilgrim keep moving on the path they’re on right now, who knows where they’ll go next?

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/hailthepilgrim

To buy the album, go here: http://www.indiemerch.com/metalbladerecords/band/pilgrim

For more on the label, go here: http://www.metalblade.com/us/

It’s always pleasingly convenient when you can compare a band or an album to a time of the year or a season, because it’s an easy way to help your readers get into the frame of mind of the music in a way that could make sense with their surroundings. We have that today. Sort of.

Unfortunately in the case of Portland, Ore.,doom rockers Satyress, the time of year that would go best with their music would be mid-autumn, where the leaves are off the trees, their death crunches under your feet as you walk over them, and a biting chill is in the air warning you death is near. In the States, we’re getting ready for spring and new life, a time that seems decidedly the opposite of this band’s music. Oh well. You’ll have that. Maybe a better time to absorb this band and their debut offering “Dark Fortunes” is late at night, with nothing but flickering candles to offer you light, as you enjoy a very dark, very potent beer. That might help you get into the band’s psyche a little better, if you have something to help your mind soar, and if you connect spiritually, you’ll find yourself in the midst of an unearthed gem that sounds poised for greatness.

Satyress actually formed in the brutal winter of 2012, bringing together these punishing forces who would breathe new life into the doom genre, pay homage to its past, and set themselves up for being one of the bands to lead it into its murky future. The main talking point of this band is vocalist Jamie LaRose, whose singing booms out your speakers or headphones, gripping you and pounding you with her passion and energy. I always hesitate to describe vocals in this sense because I’m afraid it’s going to come off the wrong way, but LaRose’s work makes me think of a witches coven, and her in total and full command, with her followers ready to heed her every command. She’s that good and that engaging. The rest of the band are just as rock solid, with Billy Nitetooth as a complete force on guitar, bringing a Black Sabbath edge to his work at times, and Alex Fast (bass) and Yorck Franken (drums) holding down the lower end and rumbling you to death. Another great thing about Satyress is that while they have a decided metallic edge to their music, they also should appeal to rock and roll fans who are hard pressed to find good bands these days who really get their juices flowing. I doubt they’ll be disappointed.

The record kicks off with “Possession,” situated in a killer doom groove that gives way to some serious crunch, while LaRose promises shadowy danger by repeatedly warning, “He’s coming,” and trading off between soaring singing and more aggressive vocals. I’m not taking growls here, by the way. She always stays clean, but she has sections on this record where she sounds more dangerous. The guitar work in this one also keeps upping the ante as the song goes on, ending in a full blaze. “Esta Noche” has a heavy, sinister start until it blows into smokey territory, with LaRose insisting, “All I need is a little more darkness in my life.” The song feels like a total backlash at the light, almost in a vampiric sense, and as the song goes along, the band settles into some bluesy grooves that match the lyrical content perfectly. When the end comes and LaRose repeatedly howls, “Darkness saved my life!” the band matches her intensity perfectly. “Soma” is a total punisher, with NWOBHM-style guitar work burning brightly, a flashy doom swagger that is infectious, and dark fun that’ll get in your blood.

The title track has a grinding, nasty guitar riff that opens the track, but that eventually opens up into full doom glory, with LaRose weaving her magic vocally, promising, “I’m coming out to raise the dead.” Glorious guitars erupt into soloing, with the rest of the band hitting on a crushing tempo that’ll rattle your soul, and LaRose’s voice pushing the song into the stratosphere. “Spread Thin” is slow driving and even a little sultry at the start, but as the song goes on, the tempo builds, the volume kicks up, and the band hits on a fiery pace that is full of volcanic fun. Closer “Archaic Passage” has tar-thick bass work that opens the track, drums keeping an ominous pace, and the guitar work feeling like righteous Tony Iommi worship. LaRose’s vocals take on a different tone, hanging in the air and sounding hauntingly detached, as if she’s a lost soul somewhere spouting incantations and looking for other ghosts to capture. The song has a strange, eerie feel to it, with some spooky tones, and the whole thing bleeds out into the night.

Satyress are at the beginning of their dark journey, so don’t feel bad or out of touch if you are just learning about this band. They have an incredible appeal and true doom magic that not every band of their ilk can boast, and as noted, they have one hell of a great singer who seems capable of anything. “Dark Fortunes” is a really strong first effort, one you should make a point to hear even if you only have a mild interest in doom metal. This band has the chance to surpass that boundary and enrapture a much larger audience. All they need is your ears and an eager heart, and they’ll have you in their clutches for good.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Satyress

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

We have made this point before, but it probably bears repeating. You don’t have to play heavily, loudly, and with pure evil pouring out of your soul in order to convey true darkness and hopelessness. In fact, sometimes the quiet approach is the way to go, because the sounds easily can disarm you and catch you off guard when things go south.

You can find all the evidence you need of that theory with “Subtle Cruelties,” the debut full-length record from doom-ridden, dark folk duo Barren Harvest. Now, when I say it has doom elements, do not expect droning violence and muddy punishment that’ll wreck your eardrums. I mean doom in the dictionary sense, of some impending terrible state hanging above your head, because you do get a sense of that going on here. That doesn’t mean destruction, necessarily. It can just be life’s everyday blackness, the woe that accompanies a dissolved relationship, or one’s own depression, that can own us and drive us further and further into the ground.

The two artists represented here should be known to most metal fans, especially those who visit this site with any regularity. Jessica Way (vocals/guitar/autoharp), of the mighty and dream-inducing Worm Ouroboros, and Lenny Smith (vocals/synth), of the destructive and psychologically chaotic Atriarch, are your two voices, and together they conjure a sound that’s decidedly not metal but could find favor among those who like Agalloch’s quieter moments, Amber Asylum, Ulver, Dead Can Dance, and, of course, Worm Ouroboros. That doesn’t mean the music here sounds like those bands. Rather, their fans probably will understand and appreciate this record more than, say, a Grave Miasma devotee. Both Way and Smith have traveled shadowy territories with their other bands, so this is not new territory. But what they bring to the table is pretty different from anything Smith has done before, and even pushes Way into foggier territory.

“Subtle Cruelties” also is immersed deeply in poetry. The duo found inspiration in Lord Tennyson’s work “In Memoriam,” that mourns the loss of a friend (namely his friend Arthur Hallam who was supposed to marry Tennyson’s sister), and it gets laced through the many “Memoriam” tracks included here, most of which are brief, ghostly interludes. Also, Rumi’s poem “Silent Articulation of a Face” inspired their song “The Bleeding,” that leads off the album, and led to them coining the collection “Subtle Cruelties.” So just from that, you get a sense of the solemnity and sadness that pervade this record, which is darker than many black metal albums.

The record opens with the aforementioned “The Bleeding,” that has thick synth, acoustic picking, and Way’s mesmerizing singing, though later Smith slips in and she takes over harmonies. That’s something that happens a lot on this record, that being one of them takes leads and the other backs up with texture-building harmonies. The song itself gives me the feeling of walking alone at night in abandoned sections of woods, with the feelings of exhilaration and fright working together. Next are three consecutive “Memoriam” cuts, the first with birds chirping and foggy keyboards, the second packed with murky synthesizer, Way’s voice haunting, piano drizzling over the cut, and the song’s spirit hanging in the air. The third has Smith uttering a simple line in a quick bit that’s over in about 10 seconds. “Heavens Age” follows, opening with somber acoustic guitars and Smith’s baritone vocals taking over, with him hitting deep, sometimes detached notes. Way then switches over to the front and delivers some of her most forceful vocals on the record, with her wondering, “What causes heavens to age?” It’s a chilling track.

“Memoriam IV” opens with Way whispering, “When fill’d with tears that cannot fall, I brim with sorrow drowning song,” from Tennyson, and that leads into “Coil Uncoil,” that is built on acoustic guitars and Smith’s raw vocals, that sound filled with torment. “I surround myself in the darkness,” he calls, before Way slips back in and takes the reins for the rest of the song. This track might remind you of a cold autumn day, when rain soaks your clothes and you can’t get a hint of warmth in your body. “Memoriam V” follows and is steeped in the sounds of nature, but also ominous darkness, as Smith takes over recitation. “Claw and Feather” also starts with lushly picked acoustic guitar that is coupled with a sense of dread from the synth and strings. The song builds slowly, with each of them having a turn at vocals, with Smith taking the song to its conclusion. “Memoriam VI” is the longest of these tracks, clocking in at 6:43, and it opens with an angelic blanket of keys, Smith whispering, then warbling as if trying to come to terms with something beyond him, and darkness envelops everything, leaving you with a feeling of such little hope. Closer “Reveal” is the one that reminds me most of a Worm Ouroboros track, but surely that’s just by chance. Guitar lines slowly fall like sheets of rain, while Smith sings over Way’s whispers. Then, as they are wont to do, they switch that up, with Way reaching deep into the void, autoharp making things emotionally frigid, and strings churning. The song plays out like a funeral hymn in a dreamstate ceremony, with dreary melodies, sequences that seem detached from real life, and Way sensing, “My joy and grief are hollow.” It’s an emotionally crushing end to a record that can drive a stake in your heart and leave you wailing.

Barren Harvest prove that musical heaviness is not required to offer up one of the darkest statements so far in 2014. This is a haunting collection, one that could keep you awake at night seeing spirits dancing in pain on your walls. You likely won’t even be ready to see such apparitions because the beauty of this music has arrested your senses. This collaboration of Way and Smith isn’t just fruitful, it’s otherworldly. We won’t have many more dark, cold nights left in the States, but if you find yourself upon one, take the chance to turn down the lights and spend the stretch with Barren Harvest. You might find your own darkness transformed.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/BarrenHarvest

To buy the album, go here: http://www.handmadebirds.com/store/

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

Coltsblood

For the last couple years, Candlelight Records has done a great job shedding light on metal bands operating deep beneath the earth’s crust. These groups all have been more than worthy of the attention of metal fans the world over, but for some reason hadn’t quite made it to the surface yet so that more people could appreciate their worth.

The effort reminds of what Southern Lord has done in the same period of time for hardcore and crust bands, though Candlelight’s project, which used to be called the Cult Series, branched out all over metal to find bands of all different styles. This has led to bands such as Wodensthrone, Nine Covens, Reverence, Khors, Cnoc An Tursa, and a few others who got more notoriety and attention simply from having the Candlelight stamp affixed to their album. It’s been a pretty cool undertaking, and now we’re getting some more new bands you might not be aware of yet. But you certainly should work to familiarize yourself with these groups sooner rather than later.

As noted, all three bands whose records are featured in today’s piece have completely different sounds. So chances are, if you’re a rigid listener, you’ll probably gravitate toward one of the bands over the others. But try to expand your thinking if you operate that way, because you might be surprised by what these groups have to offer, even if their music isn’t in your typical wheelhouse. I have no idea what people keep in wheelhouses. Anyway.

We’ll kick off with Coltsblood debut full-length “Into the Unfathomable Abyss,” my personal favorite album of the three we’re covering today and a damn weighty new addition to the doom/drone cauldron that’s been boiling hot for years. If you’re a fan of bands such as Unearthly Trance, Inter Arma, Batillus, or Sunn 0))), you’ll likely immerse yourself gleefully in the band’s imposing heaviness and suffocating sound that comprises this seven-track, nearly hour-long record. The band is comprised of three members (two who are singularly named) including vocalist/bassist John (formerly of strange doom band Black Magician), bassist Jem, and drummer Jay Plested (who still plays with Black Magician). Together, they form a mighty combination that should maul and frighten you but also make you feel hope for this style of doom, that’s admittedly becoming something of an endless sea.

There are three devastating epics on this record, namely “Beneath Black Skies,” a track that sets its pace deliberately but heavily and drags you through clouds of drone thunder, mourning, and some fiery vocal rage to balance everything out; “Abyss of Aching Insanity,” that is full of hammering madness, thick noise, and sweltering madness that could mess with your head; and “Ulfeonar,” that has tribal drumming, deep caverns of sludge, and a lumbering pace that can bust up your face. But there are sections where they change things up, especially on “Blood,” that explodes with a fury and even lets some black metal filth slip in and cover the walls with soot, and “Grievous Molestation,” that also has injections of speed but mostly goes for spacious and atmospheric. Closer “Return to the Lake of Madness” is a clubbing instrumental reminiscent of the epic cuts on here, as it wallows in doom, heaviness, and drone, capping off this killer debut perfectly. I’m really excited about this album and band, and it’ll be fun to witness their metamorphosis as they get more experience under their collective boots.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/Coltsblood

Shores of Null

If you’re more into melodic and sweeping doom and death metal and bands such as Enslaved, Opeth, Amorphis, Swallow the Sun, and others of that nature, you’ll probably find a lot to like about Shores of Null. The band, that hails from Rome, is still a relatively new venture, featuring members of groups such as Zippo and the Orange Man Theory, and they don’t even have a profile yet on Metal Archives (or I am horrible at searching things). But for a newer group, they’re pretty tight already, trading off between gothic atmospherics and blackened nastiness, with clean singing and grisly growls taking turns telling the stories. As for its members, they are vocalist Davide Straccione, guitarists Gabriele Giaccari and Raffaele Colace (who both provide backing vocals live), bassist Matteo Capozucca, and drummer Emiliano Cantiano. On record, this band sounds full of life and passion, and I can only imagine how that must transfer live.

The nine songs on here are equally melodically heavy and gothically somber, making it perfect music to hear on a dark, stormy day when hope is fleeting. “Kings of Null” follows the instrumental opener “0x0000,” and it mixes deep clean singing with grisly growls, a common occurrence on this record, and the finish even gets a little proggy, which is a nice touch. “Souls of the Abyss” has that aforementioned Enslaved/Opeth feel to it, but not in an imitation sense. It’s more than they absorbed those influences organically and use them as guiding lights for their music. Other highlights on the record include “Quiescent,” a slow-moving, trickling song that has  a deep sense of sorrow dressed in melodic glory; “Time Is a Waste of Land,” one of the heaviest tracks on the record with vicious growls, drums that approach blast beats, and a nice dose of fury; and closer “Eudaemonia,” a track that combines the best of both worlds for this band, trading off between brutality and strong melodies, harsh growls and passionate singing. This band holds a lot of promise as well, and considering they’re so damn new, who even knows how their sound will progress on their next record? It’ll definitely be worth hearing when it arrives.

For more on the band, go here: http://shoresofnull.com/

Ancient Ascendant

Finally, you knew we couldn’t get away without some straight-up death metal, and you get all of that (and even a little more), from UK crushers Ancient Ascendant. This band is the one with the most experience and biggest backstory of all the bands included today, as they have been together for nearly a decade and already have another full-length effort (2011’s “The Grim Awakening”) and a bunch of EPs to their name before their new one “Echoes and Cinder” arrived. The band worked with legendary metal producer Dan Swano on their new record, and once again, they splash doses of black metal and even prog into their furious mix. The members responsible for this nastiness and chaos include vocalist/guitarist Alex Butler, guitarist Nariman Poushin, bassist Alan Webb, and drummer Dave Moulding, and clearly they have sharpened their teeth over the years to become an even more effective killing machine.

You pretty much get thrown into the fire right away with this band, as they kick off with the unforgiving “Crones to the Flames,” a crushing number that highlights Butler’s monstrous vocals that sometimes sound a notch or two more intense than the music. In a good way. “Patterns of Bane” is neat in that it adds some proggy, sci-fi-washed elements to keep you guessing, but you still end up battered; “Fueling the Flare” also has some proggy notes to it, but the focus is on fire-breathing death and blackness, dressed with creaky growls and penetrating chugging that sounds a little thrashy; “To Break the Binds” has some massive double-kick drumming, strong lead guitar work, and more throaty growls that sound like they hurt to emit; and “The Toll of Mourning” is both grisly and melodic, letting the band show off different sides of their musical personality by knocking you over with their power and their prowess. For those who like melodic death on the more violent side, this is a band you definitely want to check out. Ancient Ascendant prove you can do death metal with a modern touch but not lose your sharp teeth, a lesson so many bands of this ilk could learn to make their music sound that much more dangerous.

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

To buy any of the album, go here: https://www.manicmusiconline.com/

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

It’s funny that something like religion, which at its very basics should bring people together, give them a positive force to follow in order to be decent, and offer some structure to one’s life pretty much does the opposite so often. Name another thing that drives people at each other’s throats and causes them to express hatred more than one’s supposed faith.

This isn’t something that has popped up overnight either. For centuries, people have used their god’s name to invade countries, oppress and torture people, cast out those with whom they disagree, and basically act every bit unlike what their faith requests that they do. The number of people who have been murdered in the name of one religion or the other has to be astronomical, and that just flies in the face of logic, does it not? Or is it an excuse for people to be evil? Does it give them something to hide behind in order to justify their hatred, their poor behavior, and their prejudices since their actions are supposedly preordained by a god? This is one of the reasons I chortle every time I hear some gasbag claim that war is being fought against religion. Don’t you figure at some point the people you hammer down are going to fight back?

It sounds like there is some serious pent-up anger on “All Hell’s Martyrs,” the debut full-length record from Dread Sovereign, the Dublin-based trio that revels in old-style doom metal, some death metal, and even a touch of black metal. We’re talking blackness that dates back to the Crusades, and much of the material here sounds like it emanates from poor souls who perhaps were victims of the Christian violence and oppression and the very natural tendency to lash back at what’s transpired. The words drip like venom from the mouth of Alan “Nemtheanga” Averill like he’s immersed himself in the bad that religion has brought to Europe and his home country over the centuries, and he’s hellbent on firing back.

So we’ve mentioned Averill (he also plays bass on the record), who any metal fan worth his or her weight should know from bands such as Primordial, Blood Revolt, and Twilight of the Gods. This is subject matter he has visited before with Primordial especially, but never has he delivered his words with such darkness, venom, and revenge. His delivery is so convincing and passionate, you can’t help but stand beneath his bleeding heart while he rails against every force that created evil with something that is supposed to be a good force. Joining him are guitarist Bones, who also plays with Wizards of Firetop Mountain, and drummer Simon “Sol Dubh” O’Laoghaire, who plays with Primordial as well as Geasa.

Eerie intro piece “Drink the Wine” opens the record on an ominous note, with noise and the sound of a warped preacher, and that leads into “Thirteen Clergy,” that trickles with doom and terror. “The devil is coming,” Averill warns with monstrous glee, as the song leads into its powerful chorus, where the singing really hits its stride. The rest of the song refers to King Robert II of France, blood being shed on the clergy robes, and promises that, “they will burn at the stake.” This is an incredibly strong song immersed in history and real, bloody events. “Cthulhu Opiate Haze” follows and is as bizarre and fever-dream odd as one might expect from the subject matter, as the song begins to boil and Averil howls about “a nameless horror.” The track builds in heaviness and destruction, the music leaves a chill over your body, and a dark, haunting melody bleeds while Averill warns, “Cthulhu haunts us, he was always with us.” Interlude “The Devil’s Venom” continues the sense of spookiness and carries that over to “Pray to the Devil in Man” that is built with chant-like vocals and even more strangeness. Eventually the song evens out, with Averill sounding much like he does in Primordial as he wails away, and the rest of the band just soars, going back and forth from classic metal glory to death-doom punishment that carries to song to its tumultuous ending.

“Scourging Iron” kicks off with liturgical-sounding chants and trickling guitars before it lights fully ablaze, with guitars rising up and taking control. The song then hits a decimating chug, with noise and squall rising up and choking you out. “The Great Beast” is an interlude that is haunting and filled with strange voices, and it bleeds into “We Wield the Spear of Longinus,” a reference to the soldier who pierced Christ’s side while he hung on the cross. So you learn a lot just from that title, don’t you? This 11:35 track is packed with doom melodies, slow-moving tension, and strange vocals, as if Averill is channeling something weirdly spiritual. Bluesy soloing eventually slides in, giving the song a smoky tone, and the it reaches its climax with Averill howling, “Hail Satan!” seemingly more as a cry of rebellion than an actual show of devotion. “Cathars to Their Doom” runs nearly nine minutes and is unforgivingly heavy and swollen, with Averill warning, “You god will not answer,” as the track boils, chugs, and reaches a dramatic, epic conclusion that would have been a perfect album capper. But there’s one more epic in store, that being “All Hell’s Martyrs, Transmissions From the Devil Star” that runs 13:19 and begins with a Black Sabbath-style pace. Averill takes on the role of evil storyteller, warning, “We shall flay and crucify,” as the band hits a mucky pace that eventually goes mystical and atmospheric. There is a trippy bit of playing that opens a long instrumental section that drives the song toward its finish, and the final moments launch into the cosmos, bathing the end in black stardust.

This record won’t convince or find welcome with the rising tide of people who are using their alleged faith to continue to wage wars and hurt people today. But for those of us who have watched on objectively and have been disgusted by some people’s action towards others, this is an eye-opening experience and a very sobering one. But beyond the lyrical content, Dread Sovereign’s debut is a damn powerful collection that gains steam as it goes on, and there is no way you can question the passion and power behind these songs. This is an awesome force that should find a hungry audience with any number of metal fans, a dose of pure darkness that’ll burn your blood, scorch your soul, but also get your hairs raised on your arms. Hopefully there’s way more coming from this band, because who knows how violent their next record could be?

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/DreadSovereign

To buy the album, go here: http://www.van-records.de/content/en/store.html

For more on the label, go here: http://www.van-records.de/

We are approaching the time of the year when people who live in my hometown of Pittsburgh usually can taste the bile in the back of their throats and start to prepare for month after month of anguish and complete futility. That’s because the Pirates are preparing to play baseball again, and hardly anything that’s transpired over the past 20 years has been remotely hopeful.

But that was until last year when the Pirates finally rose up, flexed their muscles, and stopped taking bullshit. They made the postseason, battered the Reds, and even pushed the almighty Cards to the limit. Hope springs eternal now, but they still need a few more twists before they really can be taken completely seriously. They need a real killer instinct, something to instill fear in their opponents and those teams’ fans who dare enter our town, and I can think of no better way to do that than have music from Cauldron Black Ram play at top volume 24 hours a day, seven days a week during baseball season at PNC Park. I don’t care if there isn’t a game going on or the team is away. That music will create great terror. No mercy!

The team also brings in these lame-ass bands every year to play after games on special nights in the summer, but the Aussie maulers would be ideal for giving that idea a much needed shot in the arm. For this band has been telling stories of pirate violence, pillaging, and plundering for years now, and their raw brand of death, black, and doom metal might just be what the team needs to find the hate inside their hearts and lay waste to every team that opposes them. It has to work, and it’s way better than having the same awful pop country and bro-dude music usually played at the stadium. I’d even let them hand out real swords to people. Whatever it takes, man.

All that fantasy baseball promotion aside, Cauldron Black Ram have been a destructive force ever since their formation in 1996. After delivering a demo the year after they formed, they put out a 7-inch EP and contributed to a split with Misery’s Omen before their debut full-length “Skulduggery” landed in 2004. They were quiet as far as studio content for another six years when they returned with “Slubberdegullion”, and now they’re back with their pulverizing third record “Stalagmire,” that’s being released in North America by the trusty 20 Buck Spin. The band’s lineup contains notable figures you might be aware of including Damon Good (Mournful Congregation, StarGazer) on guitars and vocals, Ben Newsome (also of Mournful Congregation and Intellect Devourer) on bass and vocals, and Denny Blake (also of Mournful Congregation and StarGazer, as well as Misery’s Omen and Martire) on drums and vocals. It’s a mighty unit that cannot be questioned simply based on their respective backgrounds, and once you hear the band’s music, you’ll be ready to see a band of pirates rage through your town as well.

“Fork Through Pitch” gets it started just right, with gruff vocals, a mauling tempo, and some straight-up galloping that seems to channel classic Iron Maiden. As the song progresses, it gets darker and more menacing, beating you down before it leads you onto “Maw,” that opens with an eerie sense of foreboding. The vocals are harsh, quite obviously, and there are weird creaks and cracks that pop up during this doomy mashers. But before it all ends, the pace hits high gear and thrashes away righteously, with some excellent guitar work carrying the back end of the song. “Discarded Death” is packed with throaty growls that are turned toward infernal, a drubbing, muddy pace, and a finish that grinds your face in the sand, leaving you with grit between your teeth. “A Litany of Sailors Sins” is a fun one, as it mixes sludgy doom with a Pirate folk melody, but as it goes on, its gets darker and uglier, with the guitars eventually igniting and lighting everything ablaze. This is a killer track.

“Bats” blows up from the get go, with a fast start aiming to maim, some more doom dumped in for good measure, and biting riffs that sound like they take inspiration from the song’s title. “Cavern Fever,” as sly a title as you’re going to find anywhere, is a dirty, dizzying instrumental that takes on a thick thrash groove and then leans hard into stoner-style riffing and hard crunch. “From Whence the Old Skull Came” plods through the tar, as an abundance of coins from pirates booty is jingled in the background through the track’s duration. It’s mean, heavy, and slow driving, providing a thorough beating from which you won’t soon recover. “The Devil’s Trotters” settles into a nasty groove swagger, with scary vocals that border on demonic, and the bass takes the lead on this song, driving everything to sink in the massive low end of this killer. Closer “Speliogenesis” has strange monologues, mournful guitar tones, and a lot of warbling madness, almost as if the narrator is stuck in a dark cave, meandering about and bordering on insanity. The song has its violent parts and can leave bruises, but for the most part, it’s a really weird, wholly mesmerizing track that might leave you emptying your stomach contents into the sea.

Perhaps my Cauldron Black Ram/Pirates promotional idea has no shot in hell of happening, but it’s a good one. It’s better than some bobblehead. After all, we need someone to remind people of the ruthless, murderous nature of pirates, and how they show no mercy when in the reach of something they want. Cauldron Black Ram hammer home that violent intent perfectly, and they’ll scare the hell out of anyone within arm’s reach. Argh!

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/cauldronblackramofficial

To buy the album, or for more on the label, go here: http://www.20buckspinshop.com/

There are those records you put on that almost immediately clue you into something not being right. It’s not just that it’s heavy and smothering, because so many metal albums are that and take little effort to be that. I’m talking the ones that carve into your soul and make you feel morbid things you ordinarily would not want to be around ever.

If you’ve ever spent any time with the music from Indiana blackened doom monsters Coffinworm, you know that these guys go beyond just making heavy music. There is something disturbing and filthy going on beneath all the noise, and getting to where they are operating to understand the murk isn’t something that’s necessarily in your best interests. There are disturbing images, borderline criminal thoughts, and things lurking that can force you to experience true psychological torment and terror. It’s not a record that will make you feel good inside or bathe you in sunshine and happiness, and that’s a major reason why the band’s punishing new record “IV.I.VIII” is such a scarring, mind-destroying experience. It’s not just a heavy metal record. It’s a journey through torment and pain. Or, if we want a super up-to-date reference, it’s Carcosa without the pine air fresheners.

The band first sliced their way into the attention of the metal underground with their astonishing 2010 debut “When All Became None,” a record you could tell was warped and depraved simply by reading the song titles. It offered something new to the doom genre, an album that made you feel sick and uncomfortable inside, one that made you wonder if you weren’t peering into someone’s broken world you weren’t supposed to see. The new one (with eerie cover at by Scott Shellhamer) just ups the ante on all of that, and the dark shadows and impending chaos awaiting you on this six-track beast should make you nervous and shaky inside. But, if you’re like me, you’ll be compelled to rip right into the thing, because it’s just impossible to turn away from bloody carnage, isn’t it? Human horrors and mental damage are a part of so many of our lives, that maybe some of this will hit home a little too hard. But dig in anyway, and prepare to unearth some skeletons.

Coffinworm are comprised of figures as mysterious and dark as their name and music. On vocals is the monstrous, lurching D, whose delivery and menace would be bone shattering if he was wailing a capella. He’s that effective and believable. On guitars are C (who switched over from drums) and G, on bass is T, and behind the drums is J. The band sludges and hulks through these songs, sometimes speeding up to make you catch up with them with your chest burning, but mostly they’re taking their time pounding away, and you are screamed at and taunted vocally, with nowhere to run but further into the deviance and death. And getting the most of the band’s sound is producer Sanford Parker, whose reputation precedes him and certainly draws out the right amount of ugliness from these guys.

The insanity begins on “Sympathectomy,” a track that ignites with blackness from the start, with crazed growls, howling noises encircling you, and a massive, devastating tempo that hits you like a slow-moving, but terribly heavy truck. Shrieks erupt, the tones gets smeary and slurry, and the grisly chaos dissolves into a pocket of noise. “Instant Death Syndrome” grinds and smothers from the start, feeling both damaged and mesmerizing, before it kicks up its pace with the drums fueling the killing machine. The vocals are completely unhinged and terrifying, and eventually calm acoustics come in that, weirdly, make you feel anything but serene. “Black Tears” is plodding and dreary, with the band pushing forward looking to kill and kill on the first half of the track. It’s another that sets a muddy, deliberate pace, but it also is something that is a red herring. Just when you think the song is trickling out, the violence returns at a more aggressive pace, with the band blasting you, D howling like there’s no hope anywhere in the universe, and the whole thing slipping into wind-whipped drone that could redden your skin.

“Lust vs. Vengeance” really needs no explanation, because the title is descriptive enough. But we’ll go ahead anyway. The guitars charge up and get the blood flowing, and vocals sound like they’re emanating from a guilt-ridden monster, looking to exorcise demons or at least the pressure building up inside his body. The music is sludgy and mean, there are strange noises that sound like they arrived from space, and the growling gets under your skin and infects. “Of Eating Disorders and Restraining Orders” is another that reveals itself to you merely in its name, but then you take a trip into dark slurry terror, trippy effects, torture-laced vocals, and long periods of sweltering playing that comes off like they are beating you into a plea for mercy. The last part of the song flattens and pulverizes, with the vocals hitting a deranged pitch, and the whole thing bleeding out in a sea of desperate screams and noise. Closer “A Death Sentence Called Life” opens with dissonant guitars, drums building up the tension, and growls and shrieks that both threaten and warn. The pace is dizzying throughout, and as it goes on, D’s vocals are practically spat out, like he’s trying to rid himself of something harmful. It’s a dark, haunting cut that gives you a true indication of the suffering that goes on in people’s minds, and even though the final moments are kind of tranquil, you never get the sense that anything is even remotely OK. In fact, you might feel like your lungs are coated in soot after having witnessed all of the destruction and burning even though it was completely psychological and not physical.

Coffinworm are one of those metal bands that are legitimately scary and unsettling and not just going through the motions. Their albums can scar your mind if you fully engage with them, and “IV.I.VIII” is no exception. Coffinworm’s music isn’t for those who need gloss, hooks, and fun. Their records are for the dark, suffering, permanently damaged among us, the ones who struggle every day to acknowledge the good in life and wallow in the shadows. These guys mean this, and you can feel that in every bit of what they do. This record should be hailed for the deathly doom titan that is is, and maybe it should give you a little bit of guilt reveling in something that clearly took a lot of suffering to get to you.

For more on the band, go here: http://coffinworm.net/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.profoundlorerecords.com/products-page/

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

Perhaps it’s just poetic that a band that combined some of the most interesting, yet volatile forces in U.S. black metal would come to such a tumultuous finish. Maybe it was written in the stars that it happened that way, and perhaps that’ll add to the band’s lore as time goes on. But from my perspective, it’s really sad because these guys just hit on something amazing.

The band I speak of, of course, is Twilight, a combination of artists that had a definite core but always welcomed some of the most prolific musicians to be a part of their machine over time, never having the same lineup on any of their three records. And each release always had a black heart and soul of its own, from their destructive self-titled debut record through to the more ambitious and sprawling second release “Monument to End Time”, an album I feel never got its due, and now down to their final album “III: Beneath Trident’s Tomb,” their strangest work to date and easily their most exciting. It’s actually a damn shame the guys decided to disband following this record, all the hell they endured completing it aside, because this is the most exciting, jarring, knock-you-for-a-loop document they’ve released to date, and I’d love to hear more from this version of the band and from their current headspace. I guess that’s going to have to be left to our imagination.

As noted, many well-known artists have come and gone through Twilight’s doors, from Malefic of Xasthur, Aaron Turner of ISIS and Mamiffer, Hildof of Draugar, and Blake Judd of Nachtmystium. Well, we all know Judd’s story by now, and if you don’t, Google it because it’s not worth rehashing this thing, and he was supposed to be a part of this record until the rest of Twilight grew tired of his game. That was the first thing that delayed this much-anticipated record, leaving the rest of the band to pick up the pieces and forge ahead with their own vision, one that perhaps benefits greatly from Judd’s absence. I’m guessing here since I wasn’t in the room for the creation process, but I can’t get over how destructive and ominous this record is and the rage and damage conjured by the guys who created these pieces and deliver them with hellfire.

We mentioned the history of the band, but let’s talk about what really counts, that being the guys responsible for “III.” N. Imperial, who you know from Krieg and a ton of other bands, is on guitars and vocals; Wrest, the man behind Leviathan, is here on drums, vocals, and bass; Stavros Giannopoulos, from the Atlas Moth and Chrome Waves, contributes guitars and vocals; Stanford Parker, producer extraordinaire and also a member of bands such as Corrections House and Burial at Sea, contributes keyboards, effects, and production; and Thurston Moore, who you may have heard of from some band called Sonic Youth, is here on guitars and vocals. That’s a lineup for the ages anyway, sort of like the perfect band to play during the end of the world that’ll destroy your mind and senses as the earth burns to death. Oh, and if you’re all caught up by Moore being here, get over it and listen to this thing. I shouldn’t even have to explain this to anyone, but have you ever heard the man play a guitar? He’ll deafan you, and he mixes in wonderfully here.

The record opens with “Lungs,” that immediately rakes your eyes with stinging guitar squall and a numbing tempo, that leads into furious growls that are complemented by crazed yowls lurking behind. The song is perfectly damaged, with layers and layers of sound colliding, and the finish is just monstrous. “Oh Wretched Son” begins with tortured wails that sound like they’re rolling from Wrest’s throat, and while the song dizzies and disorients you, it also pulls you into cooler spaces with the trickling guitar work. But then ferocity returns, the vocals release a sense that you are in severe danger, and the black metal swagger that settles in reeks of confidence, anger, and a lack of control over your fate. The noise that rips out and sizzles at the end perfectly encapsulates the damage that precedes it. “Swarming Funeral Mass” has slurry guitar, programmed drum beats, and deathly doom riffs that serve to enhance the thick shadows. The vocals are menacing and abrasive, the noise continues to boil, and the effects that slip in are of the cosmos, making you wonder from what world they originated.

“Seek No Shelter Fevered Ones” kicks off the second half of the album with strange transmissions and cymbal crashes before meeting up with bristling guitars, thrashy sentiments, and programmed beats that pelt you like machine gun fire. There’s a hazy, medicine head feel to a lot of this track, with gruff vocals, noise festering, and an intensity that keeps building as the song reaches its conclusion. The final moments drill into you and bore through you, like it’s trying to dig into your body cavity. It’s intense. “A Flood of Eyes,” a song that has just about every members’ hands involved in the writing process, is the weirdest of the bunch but also one of the most intriguing. The pace is calculating, with the melodies veering into post-rock-style territory, but just when you think it’s going to soar into the atmosphere, it rams everything back down to earth. There is pulverizing playing, melodies that remind me of a black rainstorm, and gurgly, fearsome growling and feedback that pull the track into the abyss. Closer “Below Lights” is an ideal ending, with weird electronics, unhinged vocals that seem to be welcoming the end, noisy guitars, and bristling experimentation. There is industrial chaos smeared all over this thing, with chugging riffs pounding and a bizarre finish that should make you tilt your head before you bow it in reverence for the passing of the best version of Twilight to date.

I think I’ve made it clear that I mourn the passing of Twilight, especially with them offering up their strongest, most diverse record in their history with “Beneath Trident’s Tomb.” Luckily, we will get more from the respective members and their own projects (new Krieg is in the works, as well as new Leviathan, and there’s talk of Imperial and Wrest doing something further together), which makes the blow a little easier. But it’s awesome to hear how these guys fought against the odds, absorbed all of the torment, ignored what people would expect from a Twilight record, and created something wholly theirs and powerfully different. All hail Twilight, a band that after its corpse was almost burned to a crisp still found a way to go out on top.

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/TwilightBlackMetal

To buy the album, go here: http://www.cmdistro.com/

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

Photo by Susanna Honkasalo

There is enough death, doom, and dying, destruction, deviance, and decay to keep any metal fan completely filled and satisfied pretty much until the end of time. Obviously those subjects fill up a great deal of the medium, and we would have it no other way. Still, it’s always nice when a band has a different approach and pulls from other sources than what we’ve all come to expect.

Like their country mates Amorphis, Finnish doom outfit Kuolemanlaakso (which means “death valley”) concentrate on their homeland and its history, the surrounding forests and bodies of water, as well as the nation’s collection of folklore. In fact, according to the band’s bio materials, to create their new album “Tulijoutsen” (translates to “The Fire Swan”), the members actually isolated themselves in their land’s surroundings to soak up the ambiance and have that come out in the music. It makes for something a little different, and while there are dark and dangerous elements to what they do, they are inspired by other things than your run-of-the-mill death and doom bands. It’s refreshing and very much a unique perspective that you don’t get from every other band, and that gets translated into the band’s atmospheric, death-scorched music that’s equally melodic and devastating.

The band worked on branching out their music even more than they what we heard on their debut record “Uljas Uusi Maailma” from 2012. The melodies are larger, the vocals are more expansive, and while there are more delicate moments and airier sections, they still maintain their penchant for crunch. So don’t worry that this band is going soft on you. No way. They’re just finding different ways to bring the darkness, sadness, and majesty they see before them. In addition, the new record is more of a collaboration among the members of the band, so elements of each personality in Kuolemanlaakso get a chance to come to the forefront and make a more complete, more interesting machine.

Those entities that comprise Kuolemanlaakso all bring rich experience from other bands to what they’re doing here. On vocals is Mikko Kotamäki, who you also know from Swallow the Sun, Verivala, and from his time with Barren Earth; on guitars are Kouta and Laakso (also on keys) who both are from Chaosweaver; on bass is Usva (of Nibiruan and Elenium); and behind the drums is Tierra (also of Backstabbing Bastard and Cult of Endtime). You can just hear from what’s going on during this experience how much they’ve grown as a band, and having V. Santura (of the mighty Triptykon, as well as Dark Fortress) producing the record helps them find that extra grit they need to make the music sound evil and nasty when the need arises.

Opening cut “Aarnivalkea” (named after a place of eternal fire where gold is said to be buried), is doomy and murky, with low-register singing that eventually switches over to ugly growls. The guitar work sounds like vintage, downtuned Celtic Frost horror, and the song blows up into a fury as it reaches its conclusion. “Verihaaksi” has a rather dreary tempo, staying mostly slower for its duration, which is ideal for this track. The vocals go from a death growl to a goblin-like delivery, while the guitar work drips over the whole thing, with the synth coming into the scene and adding more color and texture. “Me vaellamme yössä” follows with a serious dose of crunch, heavy, sweltering guitar work, and vicious growls that make this one menacing piece. It might sound silly to say this, but this track just sounds so Finnish, making this one of the songs that most represents what they experienced in their woodsy preparation. “Arpeni” has an interesting first half, with a composition that trades off between doom bells and a sludgy guitar lick, and that leads into a gothy section that dominates the middle section of the song. It’s compelling and melodic, with tortured growls and darkness drizzling all over, and it’s a track that just grips you and pulls you the whole way through to the closing funeral bells.

The second half of the record opens with “Musta,” that has acoustics greeting you at the gate, and that gives way to sorrowful guitar work, aggressive chugging, and filthy grit you can taste between your teeth. This feels like a fever dream at times, and it’s the song that lurks the deepest into the shadows on this album. The the most interesting piece of all lands by way of “Glastonburyn lehto” that opens with a jazzy tempo complete with finger snaps and the feeling you might be in a bar that’s a little too cool for you. Lots of people calling each other “Cat” and all. It has a chance to really sink like lead, but it doesn’t largely due to how the band sells this wacky piece, right on through to Kotamäki’s showman vocals that remind of Mike Patton at his most rubbery, as well as the synth that sets in and feels like it landed from outer space. “Tuonen tähtivyö” also feels a little different, with clean guitar work and mesmerizing synth. There is more actual singing from Kotamäki on the track, and the band goes for spacious and breezy before settling into a heavier finish, with bent doomy guitar lines and bubbling trauma. Closer “Raadot raunioilla” has an ominous start before the band launches into a chugging pace that’s designed to flatten, and the singing quickly morphs from clean to gruff growls. The song is pulverizing, sure, but it also feels weirdly inviting, like it’s drawing you into an adventure. As the song goes on, it changes from dreamy and foggy to grisly and gothic. It’s quite a capper to a record with a ton of different faces and that’s always keeping you guessing.

There are plenty of death-encrusted doom metal bands out there, so it’s hard to sift through and find the really good ones. Kuolemanlaakso is one of those groups without question. They mix the atmospheric and uncomfortable darkness as well as anyone, and they seem like they’ve really hit on something with “Tulijoutsen,” that’s now their high-water mark. Sure, these guys have responsibilities elsewhere to other bands, but I really hope they take time to explore even more of what they’re capable of unearthing with this project. Maybe next time they can spend six weeks in the middle of a lake or something, but whatever they do, it’s bound to be enthralling.

For more on the band, go here: http://kuolemanlaakso.net/

To buy the album, go here: http://www.svartrecords.com/shoppe/en/

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

Who can’t use a pick-me-up on a Tuesday? It’s still early in the week, and there’s a lot of things that have to be done before it’s time to relax again, so having something to kick you into gear can be a good thing. One’s coming for you today from California.

You can’t possibly put on “Bless Off,” the new record from The Shrine, and not feel a boost of energy going through you. Every second of this record sounds like it is aggressively trying to kick your ass, as these three guys pound through classic metal and hard rock, vintage punk and hardcore, and even a little doom and sludge on these 11 songs that are chock full of guitar goodness and sonic demolition. If you’re into Thin Lizzy, Motorhead, Coliseum, and early Metallica, these guys are for you. It’s also a really fun record, one that’ll sound even better with the warmer months approaching here in the States as backyard barbecues become a more common thing, kids take to their bikes and boards, and you need loud, spirited rock to make what you’re doing even more memorable. The Shrine’s music definitely would serve.

The three members of The Shrine–guitarist/vocalist Josh Landau, bassist Courtland Murphy, and drummer Jeff Murray–formed in 2008, started playing around, and eventually caught the ear of former Black Flag bassist/songwriter/founding member Chuck Dukowski, who got them going even further by producing their earlier recordings. In fact, they recorded a track using Bukowski-penned lyrics originally intended for Black Flag song on “Bless Off.” More on that in a bit. They released their debut full-length “Primitive Blast” in 2012 on Tee Pee and started playing tours with like-minded bands such as Red Fang, Fu Manchu, Earthless, and the mighty Dinosaur Jr. On “Bless Off,” everything is amplified bigger than ever, from their attitudes, the rock, the vocals, the sneering, everything. It’s meant to be played at top volume. Anything else would be an insult.

“Destroyers” is a pretty fitting opening salvo, with Landau warning, “We ride the streets,” like they’re bringing Armageddon behind them, as the band settles into a filthy groove and eventually really kicks up dust as the song reaches its end. “Worship” is fast and blistering, with a thrashy gallop, noise, and some rough punk rock edges, while “Tripping Corpse” has some cool, bluesy riffs, the band trucking full speed ahead, and a simple, infectious chorus that’s easy to yell back. “The Duke” is the track with the Dukowski-penned lyrics, and the guys do a fine job injecting some of the Black Flag spirit into the song, as it’s catchy and swaggering. “Nothing Forever” has some attitude-laden thrash and hardcore spilled into the song, with shouting vocals and more infectious melodies. This one will wreck your neck.

The title track has some nice Southern rock-style guitar work figured into the mix, with a pace that can maul you, and the lyrics bite hard with sarcasm, as Landau taunts, “That gun in your hand makes you feel like a man.” “On the Ground” should sound great when your belly’s full of beer and you want to shout incoherent things at people. It’s packed with cowbell goodness and shuffling melodies, but as the song progresses, it gets mean, doomy, and punishing. “No Penalty” is a blast and full of memories of youthful damage-causing and no consequences as a result, and they treat that with some abrasive fun. “Spit in My Face” also has a Black Flag essence, with Landau poking, “One of these days I’m going to dance on your grave.” “Napalm” has that killer Thin Lizzy feel to it, with a classic hardcore edge with some classic rock guitar work layered in for good measure. The closer “Hellride” is a final blast of madness, with some great riffs, more cowbell, blazing insanity, and Landau barking what could be their mantra with, “We are road dogs!” Great finish to a fun album.

“Bless Off” might not be a record that revolutionizes heavy music, and for those who take themselves a little too seriously, the vibe here might go over that audience’s heads. But if you want a seriously rowdy, kick-ass rock record you can put on and get your creative juices flowing, you won’t do much better than this second album from The Shrine. Even when they’re pissed off they sound like they’re having a blast, and it’s impossible not to get caught up in the energy. They may not be pretty, they may not be proper, but The Shrine always gets the job done right and have a crushing second album to prove that point over and over again,

For more on the band, go here: https://www.facebook.com/theshrinefuzz

To buy the album, go here: http://shop.teepeerecords.com/

Or here: http://www.eliminator.bigcartel.com/

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