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/

It always nice when you can pick a band’s record, glance at the cover art, read the name, and have a really good idea what’s in store for you once you take the thing home and release it from its shrink wrap. Actually, in this digital age, does anyone really do that anymore? Just me?

Anyway, the first time you heard the names and saw the cover art of bands such as Darkthrone, Immortal, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest, groups with powerful monikers who employ eye-catching imagery, didn’t you kind of have an idea of what you could expect once you first heard the music? Granted, those types of bands don’t come along all that often anymore, which is kind of a shame, but it’s not like we’re devoid of them altogether. After all, UK trio Conan are stomping all over creation, making doom metal that’s ugly and monstrous, and living up to their name, making like stoner-fueled barbarians looking to tear down your villages. Or homes. I mean, their name is Conan, so you should expect a sonic beating when you endure their music, and if you didn’t know what they sounded like, their album covers still would lure you in.

Conan first started making a name for themselves globally on their excellent 2012 release “Monnos,” released by Burning World, that first exposed much of the world to their drubbing, massive style. Their records are interesting because there’s like a line that runs through all the songs, keeping things nearly the same pace throughout, with sections that burst and come to bloody life, and heaviness that can maul you. But for the most part, their music keeps you on the ropes, drill you with jabs, and now and again goes for the knockout punch. They don’t seem all that interested in doing what other doom bands are up to these days and have their sights set on making Conan’s world unique to them. That’s also what makes them special, and their new second album “Blood Eagle” follows the same pace. It’s also their best release to date, which is a tall order having to measure it up to “Monnos,” but they’ve added enough meat, sinew, and muscle to their songs to take them to the next level of their sound. They also have Napalm Records behind them, which should only raise their profile and put the in the right hands.

As noted, this hulking machine is but a trio, made up of guitarist/vocalist Jon Davis, drummer Paul O’Neill, and new bass player Chris Fielding, who also handles some vocal work. They’ve slowly perfected their approach over their time together, and over the course of their two full-length releases, as well as a couple of EPs, a split, and a live record, they’ve gotten better over time, reaching their high point with “Blood Eagle,” a record that could conjure hypnosis. And just by seeing the album art alone, you know you’re in for stories of legends, giants, monsters, viking, and all other elements of metal lore, and they do sell it all perfectly.

The record opens with the nearly 10-minute “Crown of Talons,” a buzzing, slow-driving cut that fills your head with fuzz and metes out its punishment in a calculating a manner possible. These guys aren’t in any hurry to get from point A to point B, which is pretty refreshing, and they let the song unfurl with hulking pounding, vocals that rise up and hang in the air, as if trying to seek a ledge on a mountainside, and drone that’ll rupture you. “Total Conquest” follows, feeling mighty trippy and spacey before again unleashing their suffocating doom that even gets treated with a little bit of speed. Vocals go from caveman howl to a more melodic snarl, and the final moments open up a hornet’s nest and fill the entire atmosphere with bone-shaking buzzing. “Foehammer” follows and just buries your ass. The band hits a gallop that actually reminds a bit of Iron Maiden, and O’Neill’s drums completely take over and deliver utter devastation. Eventually, all parts become equal, and the band does an astonishing job hitting a united front as they bring the song to a smashing, bashing finish that could bruise your eardrums.

“Gravity Chasm” rips open the second half of the album with an awesome, thick doom shuffle that might make you think of vintage Black Sabbath, rolliking melodies, and doomy thunder, where they up the ante on their heaviness. The song simmers and boils along the way, with the final few minutes devoted to killer repetition that keeps driving at you again and again until you find yourself begging for mercy. But there is no mercy! “Horns for Teeth” just keeps pushing forward with the momentum Conan have achieved up to this point, with Davis howling, “Destroyed, destruction, outgoing death!” before giving way to some of his most forceful vocal work on the record. The band keeps lunging at you, digging deeper holes to cover you with dirt, and they hit such a massive fever pitch on this song, it’s hard to imagine how they’ll follow up a track so massive. Yet they do it on closer “Altar of Grief,” where deliberate drumming falls into clubbing madness and throat-mangling yells that mix right into the crazy drone and doom fury that coats this song. This is just a killer outright, and over its 10 minutes, it gets ridiculously heavy, kicks out a steady but smoldering pace, and gives them one more chance to shout in your face before they retreat to their caves or holes in the forest from which they hail.

Conan deserve to be in the discussion when talking about the top new doom bands, and they have the added bonus of their own style that you always know is them when their songs come on. Theirs is the perfect chill-out doom that can make you think of fantasy creatures attacking puny humans, vikings ruling the seas, and other crazy things, but their penchant for heaviness is what keeps you awake and prevents you from fully losing yourself in your imagination. This band should be ruling major halls soon, with attendees holding aloft their strong ales as they howl back all of these battle hymns. Conan never have sounded better, and really, it’s just the beginning of the story for this group of barbarians.

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

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

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

Metal albums often are referred to as sounding like wars or battles or struggles, sides pulling at each other for complete dominance over the other. Blood is shed, bodies are strewn about the battlefield–real or proverbial–and the listener is left to sort it all out.

I initially had the same feeling when taking on Psalm Zero, the duo comprised of Andrew Hock of black metal maulers Castevet, and experimental, avant-garde musician Charlie Looker, who has performed in bands as diverse as The Dirty Projectors, the Zs, and Extra Life. On the surface, it would seem these two forces would have nothing to do with each other and have not a thing in common musically. That’s a very rudimentary book-by-the-cover kind of assessment, but if you dig deeper into what each musician does, there’s always been more than enough room for creativity and adventure, and that’s on full display on the band’s self-released two-track 7-inch, as well as on their debut record “The Drain” that we will discuss today.

As noted, my first inclination was to think of this record as a sort of battle of forces, the darkwave, New Wave, and drab sadness brought to the table by Looker, and the savage, unbridled violence unleashed by Hock. But again, that was an on-the-surface assessment first time through the album, but as time has gone on and I’ve had far more listens, that doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. Instead, the seven songs on “The Drain” sound more like a back-and-for conversation between forms, or even the raging bipolar emotions that can go on in one’s head, as sometimes the mood is dreary, dark, and rainy, while at others there are savage explosions, fires raging out of control, and a sense that the only logical way to suppress the madness is to bring it to a cataclysmic end. They’re not at war. They’re working together. The sounds on this record meld so perfectly together that, when a death-like assault rises out of a murky, gothier section, it feels like it’s something that’s been bubbling and has to happen. Same for when it goes the opposite direction. It’s such an interesting, unique record that I could go on and on describing the tugs and pulls I’ve experienced. I know this is a major statement you hear all the time, but you won’t hear another record like “The Drain” this year. That’s a promise.

You are immersed in this band’s mindframe immediately on the opening title cut, that has tenets of deathrock, some metallic washes electrifying the music, and Looker’s deep baritone that fills your mind with depressive thoughts. As the drama builds, Hock’s guitars begin to mangle, and he unleashes his trademark growls, easily jarring you into consciousness and making you ride out the cold sweat final few minutes of dreary madness. “Force My Hand” is mesmerizing, with strange keyboards and guitars swirling. Looker’s singing runs headlong into Hock’s heathen shouts and screams, which actually carry the bulk of the song, especially when he shouts, “Force my hand!” like it’s exploding from his chest cavity. “Chaos Body” is ideally named, with noisy yelling, punchy and mean metallics, and warm synth swimming beneath the black waters and breaking the surface here and there. The tension between the heavy and the dark collide beautifully, as fires in both worlds burn brightly and eventually overlap.Guitars are smeared over the chaos, Hock lets go his animalistic best, and the track has a devastating, spacey finish.

“In the Dead” feels more like it’s out of Looker’s wheelhouse, with disarmingly poppy melodies, deep, morbid keyboard work, and his vocals that remind of Morrissey’s more biting moments, especially when he sings, “I’ll keep you close, close but not safe,” as the two blend together their playing for the final few minutes as the song disappears into thin air. “Drain Postlude” is a cold, isolated, synth-driven interlude that sounds like it was dreamt up in a sterile lab somewhere, and it leads into “Undoing,” with its murky melodies, combination of clean singing and cataclysmic growls, and penetrating keyboards and effects. Hock digs deep for his harshest growls, the program drums pelt you like rapid machine gun fire, and the whole last half has an uneasy feeling like something really bad is going to happen, especially when Looker offers, “The ugly one has quit the stage, we paint our home and burn it down.” Closer “Meanwhile” teases, taunts, and tricks you over its eight-minute run time, starting off with steady beats and trickling guitars, slowly building the tempo and drama, and even getting into proggy territory as the playing branches out further. Looker’s singing is oddly, yet purposely, detached, the guitars conjure a trance-like repetition that’ll get you staring in confusion, and all of the elements come together for the end of the song. Looker and Hock clash vocally, the doom drama builds to its thickness, bells ring as if signaling the end, and the final blaze of synth sounds like doom trumpets, bringing the record to a smoking conclusion.

This is a record that could get people with devout worship of the Cure, My Bloody Valentine, the Smiths, and Swans into a room with Cobalt, Castevet, Krallice, and those who swear to the darkest of the dark and all get something to pull out and devour. There are very few examples of such diverse sides coming together like Psalm Zero do on “The Drain” and have things turn into dark, morbid, depressive magic that was always meant to be together. This record will not soon leave your brain, your blood, or you life, and you might find yourself returning often to figure out just what about this record strikes such a deep chord within you. It’s a struggle that may be eternal, but once I intend to continue to explore well into my days.

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

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

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

I used to take a lot of grief for my love of classic and power metal. Whatever, man. It sounds goofy to some people because it can be kind of bombastic and over the top, but I’ve loved it as long as I can remember. And that passion never has gone away even a little bit.

I relished growing up around cassettes from bands such as Iron Maiden, Dio, Judas Priest, and Helloween, and all of those bands remain in high regard in my heart today. In fact, for as many records as I own, those bands comprise one of the largest percentages of my collection. There is just something about the music, the ability to escape into their fantasy worlds, and get caught up in something larger than yourself. When I hear a great dual guitar part, or a singer who can blow away planets, or songs that just immerse you in fun, it takes me back to my youth when I spent every day defending my music choices and basically costing myself parts of my hearing from having these bands blasting in my ears.

UK metal band Dark Forest (not to be confused with the multiple black metal bands with the same name) bring me back to those times when I was sitting in my humid bedroom in the summer blasting “Somewhere in Time.” They have a knack for knocking out classic heavy metal that sounds like it originated in the 1980s, and even though they don’t hail from that country, have some Teutonic tenets to their style that are what make me think of early Helloween and Gamma Ray, when those bands could do no wrong. Dark Forest’s third record “The Awakening” is one of the better classic/power metal records I’ve heard in some time (meaning the last few years or so), and ever since getting their promo early this year, I’ve listened to it at least a few times a week, which is a lot when you consider I have numerous albums to hear each week for review.

There have been some pretty big changes since the band’s last record “Dawn of Infinity” in 2011, one of which being new singer Josh Winnard. He takes over the mic from guitarist Christian Horton (who remains in the band) and does a fine job keeping his vocals both grounded and energetic. He has the right amount of passion, never goes over the top, and delivers his words in a way you can both feel and understand. Great choice here. The other new addition is second guitarist Patrick Jenkins, who adds some added muscle to the band, that also includes bassist Paul Thompson and drummer Adam Sidaway. These guys are powerful and have a knack for fluid melodies, and they sound like they’re really hitting their stride on “The Awakening.”

The record gets off to a rousing start with the title track, that opens with lines from “The Masque of Anarchy” and then blows open into full-fledged power, with glorious guitar lines, a sense of true majesty, and a rousing chorus that’ll get stuck in your head for weeks. In fact, the band has a real strength carving out killer choruses, which you’ll learn going through the record. “Sacred Signs” gets a little heavier, with strong guitar work, and more of that Germanic metal influence barreling through, and that leads to “Penda’s Fen,” were Winnard howls, “I stand on the last horizon,” as the rest of the band surrounds him with huge melodies and undeniable passion. “Turning of the Tides” has an opening so heavy and pulverizing, it nears death metal territory, but it all evens out eventually, with the tempo chugging along, and Winnard even hits some high points vocally that remind of Michael Kiske. “Rise Like Lions” then comes in, with upbeat guitar work, some classic-sounding tones, and talk of breaking “the chains of slavery.”

“Immortal Remains” could be called a ballad if need be, but it’s not syrupy or sappy. In fact, the track is pretty dark, looking death in the face as Winnard notes, “I hear the final melody,” and the band backs him up with proper amounts of strength and somber sentiment. Really strong song. “Secret Commonwealth” is a decent one, but probably the weakest of the bunch, though the singing is solid, and the soloing hits the spot. Things kick back in with “The Last Season,” opening with Iron Maiden-style guitar textures, hitting a solid power metal gallop, and with Winnard pulling back a bit vocally as to not overwhelm what’s going on here. It’s a good decision and proves he can bring his voice down to match what’s going on. Closer “Sons of England” brings everything back to a head again, as the band plays with passion and energy, Winnard belts out lines such as, “Your freedom is calling,” and things go into a Euro power metal assault. It’s a great epic cut from the band, one that sprawls, rises and falls, and hits all the right buttons over eight minutes, before ending in an explosion of power before acoustic guitars and church bells ring into the darkness.

Dark Forest are one of the most promising pure heavy metal bands out there, and the changes they made from their last record absolutely have been for the better. “The Awakening,” as fitting a title as any, as it really does bring back the memories I have of discovering metal and finding what about it made my heart soar. I hear those same things in this band, and with more seasoning and experience, they could have some real classics ahead of them.

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

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

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

Sometimes you get a bunch of friends together, you pick up instruments, and things you didn’t imagine would transpire do. I’m sure a lot of bands take their form that way, and I’d imagine it’s the best way to do it because it’s so organic and true.

For example, the band Twilight of the Gods brought together some notable members of the metal world so that they could pay homage to Bathory. Instead things morphed into a band that just took influence from Quorthon and crafted their own songs that drip in heavy metal glory. Another one of Mount Salem, a new signee to Metal Blade Records, who practice doom metal along the lines of Black Sabbath, Blood Ceremony, and Pentagram that definitely leans toward the British sense of the genre. Even though they hail from Chicago, where metallic molecules must be in the water. In fact, when this band took form, they even decided to get out of their comfort zones and try instruments that are little foreign to to each member, and from that came their first EP “Endless,” that first was released last February.

Now with Metal Blade behind them, and with live shows under their belts alongside contemporaries such as Windhand, Howl, and Witch Mountain, the EP is being re-released for a larger audience, with two new songs added for good measure. All of this is to introduce them to metal fans while the band gets ready to record their first proper full-length, for which they already are writing. It’s a smart move for both parties, as the label gets an up-and-coming band that plays classic doom as well as anyone going right now, and Mount Salem has more security and support than before, giving them the added confidence they’ll need when hitting the studio.

The band is a four-piece, with powerfully voiced singer/organ player Emily Kopplin right up front, pushing this band along. She has really strong pipes and is one hell of a great singer, and her storytelling skills already are stellar. If there’s one thing she could work on, it would be adding more of a sinister, dark touch to her delivery. She can lure you in for sure, but it would be nice to hear her add a sharper killer instinct so she can slay you once you’re in her grasp. But she has more than enough time to develop that and is a spectacular singer. On guitar is Kyle Morrison, on bass is Mark Hewett, and behind the drums is Cody Davidson, who also are rock solid and deliver their sound with great energy and fire, which should make their doom ancestors proud.

“Good Times” kicks off the record with punchy tempos, swelling organs, and Kopplin telling tales of walking past burned-out churches, setting up some pretty surreal imagery. “You’ll haunt me ’til I’m dead,” she calls, as the song caps off with a catchy, strong finish. “The Tower” is one of the two new tracks, with pulsating sounds, a riff full of dread, and a slow-driving pace that does conjure some of that danger I spoke of earlier. The guitar work just smothers, with a Sabbath feel to the song, and Kopplin delivers some of her best singing on the record. This does make me look forward to what the band is up to next. “Lucid” follows with a thick doomy shuffle, bluesy vocals, and lines that make you feel like you’re stuck in a dream. “Full Moon” is one of the longer songs on here, with an eerie intro, and Kopplin warning, “You will run, but your time is done,” as the song hits a chugging pace that starts to really hammer you. The guitars seriously darken, with the pace picking up and grinding to a halt, and Kopplin cries out in anguish toward the end of the song, with the music burning out and making for a strong finish.

“Mescaline” is a shimmery, psychedelic-edged instrumental, with swelling organs and guitars doing tricks with your mind, and that leads into the other new cut “Mescaline II,” that’s full of crunch, grit, and really strong singing. This song also fills me with hope as for where the band goes from here, and this one really will get smoke in your eyes. “Hysteria” is the longest track on the collection, with more slow-driving playing, and Kopplin once again poking at horror themes with, “Things you don’t believe are true, and they are coming straight for you.” The pace goes back and forth from slow and spooky to fast and clubbing, and the final minutes of the song are some of the strongest on the whole record, with fiery, compelling damage being done. Closer “The End” opens with ritualistic organs wafting out, guitars catching onto that darkness, and a swaggering pace that is something this band always does quite well. The lyrics, obviously, speak of, well, the end, and the song injects tons of power and mystical weirdness, especially with the organs sounding like something out of an old horror film. There aren’t a ton of surprises on this song, and you’ll be pretty sure you know exactly where you’re being led, but that’s not a bad thing. A lot of Sabbath songs are the same way, and as long as the band holds up their end and delivers the fun, that’s all that matters. And Mount Salem do here and on this record.

Mount Salem are off to a strong start with “Endless,” a damn honorable first release that should get them some notoriety in the suddenly swelling doom metal world. With more touring coming up and the band refining their writing and creative skills leading into their debut full-length, there’s a lot to be excited about with Mount Salem and what they are capable of accomplishing. That’ll be one to keep your eyes open for, but for now “Endless” should be enough to tide over their audience, which only should get bigger.

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

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

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

Bands that can adhere to a certain sound for their entire careers, as long as they make good music, are to be commended for sticking to their guns. At the same time, bands that choose to expand beyond rigid boundaries and really explore what is out there to take their music to the next level are the ones that I find the most interesting.

We’ve heard Voivod explore all over the cosmos to season their apocalyptic thrash metal, Nachtmystium step away from black metal to go into areas like psychedelic rock and industrial (admittedly to mixed results), Oranssi Pazuzu create black metal that’ll melt your mind with all of its added influences, and Tom G. Warrior has pushed the limits of extreme metal with the sadly deceased Celtic Frost and his new band Triptykon to form sounds that are downright unclassifiable because no musicians had done it before. Those bands taking risks resulted in records more interesting than what their peers were doing, and even if they hit a wall with what they created, and you at least could give them points for trying something out of their comfort.

We’re seeing all of this again with Swedish death metal band Morbus Chron, who never did things normally or by the books anyway, but who really have gone off the deep end with the excellent, ground-shattering new record “Sweven.” This is the band’s first record in three years (their debut “Sleepers in the Rift” was released by Pulverised) and their debut full-length for indie giant Century Media, the perfect place for these guys to expand their audience, which they richly deserve. The meaning of the album title is a sort of dream or vision, and sitting down and immersing yourself fully in this record certainly could have you seeing shadows on the wall. It is trippy, psychedelic, and worlds more interesting than what most modern death metal bands are doing, putting them in the category of innovator rather than follower. The songs are musically ambitious and stimulating, and no matter how many times you hear this record, you will notice something you didn’t on previous visits.

Morbus Chron are comprised of vocalist/guitarist Robert Andersson, guitarist/vocalist Edvin Aftonfalk, bassist Dag Landin, and drummer Adam Lindmark, and what they conjure together is as much spiritually spooky as it is brutal. The band maintains some of its old-time haunted house ethos (especially with the shrieky, ghoulish vocals), but they bring together so many other sounds, from 1970s-inspired prog, trippy passages that’ll cause your head to float amongst the stars, and even some jazzy moments where they really hit on something musically and find themselves exploring their muse to its fullest. This band might end up being this year’s big out-of-the-dark metal success story based on “Sweven,” and it’s a good bet to end up on a lot of year-end lists, mine included. It’s really that special of an album.

The record opens peculiarly with “Berceuse,” a word that means a form of a lullaby played in 6/8 time, and here is where they begin to lull you into a staring session, with surfy guitar work, and riveting playing that flows organically into “Chains,” making it sound like one big piece. The tempo kicks up here, with harsh vocals that cut through the murk, and the band hits into a prog-flavored death assault that they follow long into the night. The music slips into trippy territory, a place they visit often on this record, and the finish burns brightly and sounds a little jazzy. “Towards a Dark Sky” is one of the best tracks on the album, as it opens cleanly and seemingly gently before it ignites. The middle portion of the song hits on a musical sequence that, if played on acoustic instruments might sound a lot like bluegrass, and it’s at this moment where the brilliance of the band really hits home. It’s such a tasty little segment. The song starts fading at about the five-minute mark, but then the music returns, goes spacey and contemplative, then blows up in your face at the end. “Aurora in the Offing” begins with a nice doomy, trad metal guitar riff that eventually slips into speed metal territory, letting the band remind you their teeth remain sharp. The soloing reeks of classic heavy metal, and the roars from Andersson are downright monstrous. “It Stretches in the Hollow” is dark and eerie, but also one of the more brutal cuts on here, as screams turn into guttural growls, the dueling guitar work dizzies you, and the finish sounds mystical like a lost part of “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.”

“Ripening Life” has a sinister thread running through it, and it has a rustic, country feel to part of the playing (the good, old-time country, not the modern pop bullshit). The latter half of the song just soars, with guitars setting fire to everything, and the vocals a deafening roar. “The Perennial Link” devastates for sure, but there also are plenty of mind-bending things going on here, with keyboard trickling, clean guitar work adding texture, and animalistic shrieks hammering home their message. “Solace” is an instrumental that has a late-hours, nightmarish feel to it, and it leads into “Beyond Life’s Sealed Abode,” that has guitar work that reminds a bit of Blue Oyster Cult, some classically-flavored, but buzzing guitar work, stunning musical interplay among the band, and Andersson imaging what it’ll be like “to take the final leap.” Closer “Terminus” is one last gasp of stardust, an instrumental that let’s you take a final adventure with the band into the universe, with strange, sci-fi-colored guitar work, spacious atmosphere, and a deep sense of exploration that might cause you to need shaken vigorously when the record ends to break from your daydream. Can’t think of a better way to end this album.

Morbus Chron always had it in them to come up with a classic, and they delivered on record two. That’s just astonishing to think how quickly they have come into their own and developed a sound that’s unique, refreshing, and mind blowing. “Sweven” is one of the best metal records I’ve heard so far this year, one that has fully captured my imagination, and an album that I’ve been listening to non-stop since the promo arrived weeks ago. This is the right way to push your boundaries and create something new, and Morbus Chron already have positioned themselves as one of death metal’s most creative bands.

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

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

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