Tag: doom metal

Pilgrim announces tour dates with Castle, Blizaro

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Announcement/News, Event, Streaming

Rhode Island’s doom metal trio Pilgrim has announced a short east coast run this August! Featuring Castle and Blizaro on the bill, these shows are not to be missed; see below for all dates.

Pilgrim tour dates
w/ Castle, Blizaro
Aug. 4 – Ralph’s Rock Diner – Worcester, MA
Aug. 5 – The Acheron – Brooklyn, NY
Aug. 6 – The Fire – Philadelphia, PA

The Wizard (guitar/vocals) comments: “We are very excited and grateful to be asked to join Castle on the east-coast portion of their tour. We are also ecstatic to reunite with John Gallow, a great friend and a huge inspiration and influence, and finally see the almighty Blizaro live! Hopefully we’ll get some Dungeons and Dragons in on the journey to Philadelphia!”

Pilgrim will be playing in support of their latest album, II: Void Worship. A frighteningly crushing exercise in pure, sonic doom, II: Void Worship ebbs and flows into frenzied climaxes, while fading into sweet audio depressions – all molding perfectly crafted rock songs into twisted spires of shadowy doom metal epics. Put simply, Pilgrim‘s sophomore full-length is “one of 2014’s most satisfying drams of doom” (Spin.com). To preview and purchase II: Void Worship, please visit: metalblade.com/pilgrim

Pilgrim online:
http://www.facebook.com/hailthepilgrim

REVIEW: Sahg’s New Concept Album Is Downright Ascendant

by Alex Carlson, posted in Music review

Norway’s Sahg have been melting faces since 2004, but 2013 marked a fresh new approach for the ambitious Scandinavian metalheads. After three albums, all of which sequentially numbered, the group let their imaginations run wild with a conceptual album idea, one that wouldn’t be given a number like past records. Delusions of Grandeur took the road instead of a simple Sahg IV, and while it sounds like a break of tradition, it’s actually an incredibly smart move by the band. Delusions of Grandeur is a standalone concept album with as much cosmic energy as the brightest star. Sahg’s latest metal creation delivers just as much finesse as its already ascendant concept implies.

Sahg express their innermost creativity with Delusions of Grandeur, a concept album about a protagonist and his blind obsession with his own ego (aka “delusions of grandeur”). As the character’s reality begins to fade from the delusions, he appears in an imaginary existence where he believes he is the ruler of the universe. His control comes to an end, however, when he falls from his mountaintop palace and fades into the darkness surrounding him, all while being stripped of every bit of his power. Sahg have noted Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as thematic influences, which fits extremely well with the many different moods that are fully released in Delusions of Grandeur. From the triumphant rule of “Blizzardborne” to the tragic reincarnation into the real world in “Sleeper’s Gate to the Galaxy”, the record demonstrates maniacal control, acceleration of danger and an overarching mood that illustrates a false kingdom’s downfall in picturesque and textured forms.

Throughout the album, Sahg demonstrate every single influence they can get their mitts on. In one track, “Firechild”, they’re tossing ravenous guitar solos that share tones with Mastodon’s Crack the Skye record, while the following track “Walls of Delusion” is purely brilliant sludgy doom metal, taking cues right from The Melvins or even Black Sabbath. Singers Olav Iversen and Tony Vetaas show off extremely versatile vocal styles mixing the spectral snarl of Ozzy Osbourne and the shrieking battlecry of Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson across the tracklist. Iversen, along with fellow guitarist Thomas Tofthagen, demonstrate extreme versatility on the axe, with riff-heavy rhythms crashing through on slower songs like “Walls of Delusion” and revving into overdrive with the fantastically melodic grinding on “Ether.” Drummer Thomas Lønnheim doesn’t skimp on the jazzy drumming either, especially in opener “Slip Off the Edge of the Universe.” There are so many moods shown in Delusions of Grandeur and that’s what every great concept album has been able to do: show off multiple vibes. A consistent stream of mood is no way to tell the highs and lows of a story like Delusions of Grandeur, and Sahg are able to show the rise and fall of its protagonist by creating various tones throughout the album, each one to complement a critical point in the storyline.

“Sleeper’s Gate to the Galaxy” is the eleven-minute-long closer to the record, a multi-portioned departure of the protagonist back into the reality that he leaves behind, all with his own madness in tow. Mixing 2000’s prog metal like Opeth with Led Zeppelin groove and Iron Maiden-esque vocals, Sahg make one hell of a closer, one with multiple steps and sections to tell the album’s climactic final act. The acoustic intro and mid-song interlude set the stage well, breaking up the intensity and letting the listener reflect on what transpired beforehand. With a mighty burst, the album ends as it begins.

Delusions of Grandeur’s ambitiously conceptual nature may sound a recipe for pretentiousness, but Sahg keep this spacey inter-dimensional odyssey (ironically) rather down-to-earth. And that’s a good thing. The band lets tone and texture take control instead of bizarre melodic chords or superhuman rhythm patterns, creating a story that’s both fully envisioned and phenomenally presented. It does tend to lose its most striking luster around two-thirds in (“Then Wakens the Beast” is rather lackluster compared to the rest on the album), but Sahg prove their conviction to their concept and even more conviction to their songwriting. Despite that lull, Delusions of Grandeur finishes strong with a climactic epilogue. Sahg make a ton of smart moves with Delusions of Grandeur; from the tumultuous tonal shifts to the fit and resonant instrumentation, this is a concept album whose intriguing narrative is never a crutch for its songwriting of virtuosity. Delusions of Grandeur is a mix of many different ideas, but a synergy of only the best. It’s a downright out-of-this-world album.

YOB: Oregonian Doom Metal Trio Join The Neurot Recordings Family

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Announcement/News

Neurot Recordings is pleased to welcome long-running Eugene, Oregon-based doom metal trio, YOB, to their expanding household of eclectic, thought-provoking music. The band — founding vocalist/guitarist Mike Scheidt, drummer Travis Foster and bassist Aaron Rieseberg — will release their seventh studio offering this Fall preceded by an appearance at the illustrious Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands in April.

 

Comments Scheidt of the recent union, “YOB is very happy to have signed to Neurot for our new album. Travis, Aaron and I agree that Neurosis is the epitome of forward-thinking heavy music, made with zero compromise. Our love for their music is total. Neurot’s dedication to putting out uncompromising music is no different. To have this opportunity to put an album out on their label is an honor that runs deep. We cannot wait to share our new music with Neurot and our friends worldwide.”

 

Neurosis’ Steve Von Till notes, “This was meant to be. Neurot has always sought out to work with those who share in the purification of spirit through sound and who harvest their sound from originality and intensity. When I listen to YOB, see them leave it all on the stage, or share a  conversation with them about life,  I can say beyond a shadow of a doubt that they embody what Neurot stands for completely and we are so very honored that we get the opportunity to work together with them on their next album.”

 

Adds Scott Kelly, “YOB, as with all things that actually matter, there is only one. They have built their temple with a foundation concreted in absolute truth. The truth is the riffs, the truth is in the delivery, it’s in the unwavering commitment, and in the handshake and the look in their eyes. If you don’t know them, then you are fucking up your own lifes’ truth. There’s is nothing heavier on the face of this earth than this band. The Neurot Family is honored to be a part of legacy of this, the monolithic treasure of sonic achievement that is YOB.”

 

Further details on YOB‘s forthcoming new release to be unveiled in the coming weeks. Stay tuned.

 

“YOB might be one of the best bands in North America,” — Ben Ratliff; New York Times

   

YOB on Facebook

http://www.neurotrecordings.com
http://www.facebook.com/neurotrecordings

THE LION’S DAUGHTER: St. Louis Doom Metal Misfits Unleash Collaboration With Folk Ensemble Indian Blanket

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Streaming

St. Louis doom metal misfits, THE LION’S DAUGHTER, are pleased to unearth the forbidden fruit of their latest full-length, A Black Sea. A full collaborative effort between THE LION’S DAUGHTER and somber folk ensemble/fellow St. Louis occupants, Indian Blanket, the initial idea was to create just one special song together, however through an enormous outpouring of creativity, musical chemistry, and perhaps some support from Jim Beam and various forms of earthbound psychedelics, what was prearranged as one track mushroomed into a full LP with both bands stepping far beyond their immediate comfort zones. Recorded, mixed and mastered by Gabe Usery (Fister) at Encapsulated Studios in St. Louis, A Black Sea features seven apocalyptic, blues-based, doom metal mantras that will blur your vision as they cradles your soul.


Sample “Wolves,” currently streaming via Cvlt Nation at THIS LOCATION.

 

A Black Sea Track Listing:

1. Wolves

2. Gods Much More Terrible

3. Swann

4. A Song For The Devil

5. Timeless Waters

6. Sea Of Trees

7. That Place

 

THE LION’S DAUGHTER was born out of a hatred for the insincere and uninspired cookie-cutter fodder the mainstream metal scene has become. They takes notes from black metal and doom, but live by no musical limitations and are driven to please no audience but themselves. The band’s most recent work is a prime example of their play-to-please-no-one credo. Previous releases include two self-released EPs, a 12″ split with Fister (Hands Up Records, 2011), and the full length Shame On Us All(Pissfork, 2012), which Cvlt Nation described as a, “hard-hitting blast of bruising riffs that will surely leave you drained from start to finish.” The trio was created in 2007 by guitarist/vocalist Rick Giordano and drummer Erik Ramsier after leaving a band that neither liked much, and named their new project after a campy romance novel they saw at the airport. Scott Fogelbach of Love Lost But Not Forgotten soon joined and opening spots for Torche, Nachtmystium, High on Fire, Dark Funeral, Eyehategod, and more ensued as well as a national tour with Fister, with the band delivering a live show that theRiverfront Times called, “absolutely punishing.” Additionally, THE LION’S DAUGHTER won the RFT Reader’s Poll “Best Metal Band” (in St. Louis) award in 2011 and again in 2013. Forever Cursed callsTHE LION’S DAUGHTER, “one of the most underrated bands out there,” No Clean Singing champions their, “heavy, harsh, and harrowing,” sound while The Bone Reader welcomes their,”caustic, blistering noise of the post-apocalypse.” But the band doesn’t play as if it simply wants to see the world end; it sounds like they want to be the ones to destroy it.

 

THE LION’S DAUGHTER:

Rick Giordano – Vocals, Guitars

Erik Ramsier – Drums

Scott Fogelbach – Bass, Vocals

INDIAN BLANKET:

Joe Andert – Vocals, Guitars, Banjo

Gina Eygenhuysen – Violin, Strings

Jim Hughes – Percussion, Mandolin

Alex Beaven – Guitars, Effects

Mike Brown – Bass, Bells

A Black Sea is officially available via the Good Die Young Music webstore. This LP is a two-hundred-fifty pressing with fifty limited edition, all white pressings available and includes a digital download of the album with a bonus track, “Moonshiner.” Order your copy HERE.

 

https://www.facebook.com/thelionsdaughter

http://gooddieyoungmusic.com

http://thelionsdaughter.bandcamp.com

The Body Beyond Redemption

by Alex Carlson, posted in Music review

There is a way to make something beautiful and noteworthy out of something unexpected and unorthodox. Noise is a tough element in music to use well, but there are some ambitious artists who can shove distortion to the front lines and actually make something wonderful. The same mantra can be applied to grindcore, death metal or any other metal subgenre that really on roughness, heaviness and a lack of melody; there are ways to make them appealing. It’s not easy, but it’s possible and it’s always nice to see something once classified as cacophony pioneer music into something valuable and culturally essential.

The Body’s Christs, Redeemers doesn’t do that. It doesn’t do anything good. Nothing at all. You can call them “avant-garde” till the cows come home, but that makes no difference when their music is this drained of personality, creativity or any trace of likability.

While the fundamentals of doom metal are slow, lurching rhythms and downtuned melodic instruments, The Body bring this concept into criminal excess in “An Altar or a Grave” and “Failure to Desire to Communicate.” These two songs sluggishly drag their feet for eight minutes with no change in tempo or sampling. They are the same smashing cymbals, super-low riffs and heavily distorted vocals for the entire two tracks. It cannot be overstated how grating this becomes; two minutes into “An Altar…” and you’re already sick of it, but it continues in the exact same pattern. Right when the songs end and you get the okay interlude of “Night of Blood in a World Without End”, it goes right back to the same pattern. It’s disgustingly repetitive to the point of not even being listenable.

Every now and then you’ll hear a new vocal style or the occasionally refined use of metal noise, but these moments are brief, so brief that you might not even recognize them at all. “Prayers Unanswered” features a muffled spoken-word segment while the opener “I, the Mourner of Perished Days” actually can sound majestic, but they’re just not enjoyable. These moments aren’t good for what they truly are; their value simply comes from taking a break from every other pathetic musical notion the album throws at you. They are noteworthy only because they’re not like the rest of the record, not because they themselves are good.

But is The Body a brutal band? They sure do pitch themselves as such, but no, they’re not. Christs, Redeemers isn’t heavy or threatening in the least; the guitars are mindlessly distorted, the rhythms simplistic to the point of basic metronomic pacing, and the cinematic qualities absolutely buried. The most successful doom metal bands make something elegant out of something lurching and brooding; the task of metamorphosis is the genre’s most crucial feature. The Body don’t make any effort to do any of that.

Christs, Redeemers doesn’t sound like music. While you can argue that there are bands that do similar things, but this is experimentalism in its most putrid and abused form. The Body offer compositions on the lowest common denominator possible; they use their walls of noise in very random and unintegrated ways, all while using the same tactics throughout the entire album. Christs, Redeemers sounds like one huge song stretched across ten tracks, but not in any way a good song. It’s monotonous. It’s noisy. It’s unorganized. It’s one thing to challenge the status quo of music and try to be experimental, but it’s another to cite something boring and poorly designed as experimental. Artists use the excuse of experimentalism to justify their work as something viable and creative when it’s not (the “you just don’t get it” or Lulu paradigm). Whether or not The Body are implying this idea may be up in the air, but rest assured that Christs, Redeemers is so devoid of any sense of quality that you’re better off eating your money instead of spending it on this. Do not, I repeat, do NOT listen to this album.

BATILLUS: Brooklyn Industrial Blackened Doomsmiths Unveil Their First Ever Music Video

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Video

Brooklyn’s favorite industrial blackened doomsmiths, BATILLUS, are pleased to unveil their work of cinematic grimness in the form of “Concrete.” An ultra bleak, narrative story that brings the track to life in a most uncomfortable fashion, “Concrete” was directed by Gretchen Heinel, features actors Candice Freshko, David McManamon, Rush Aaron Hicks, Mockingbird Girl, Jane Marguerite and La Luna and serves as the band’s first ever music video.

 

Plot your next nightmare, courtesy of “Concrete,” at THIS LOCATION.  

 

“Concrete” opens BATILLUS‘ mammoth Concrete Sustain full-length, released via Seventh Rule Recordings earlier this year. With songs that range from relentless mid-tempo churns to subterranean crawls, BATILLUS coheres the extremes of heavy music into a surge of massive riffing, rolling over and descending upon the listener with the force and intensity of steel dropping from the sky. Originally conceived in 2007 as an instrumental trio, the BATILLUS lineup expanded in 2009 to add vocals, synthesizers, and samples to the dynamic range of their music. Described by The New Yorker as “[a] sludgy four-piece that slows monstrous Black Sabbath riffs to a crawl to produce highly textured compositions of droning doom-metal,” and commended for their meticulous weave of “searing feedback and blistering riffs” by NPR, the tight and focused songs on Concrete Sustain reflect this expanded palette, which has had a profound effect on the band’s writing process. Concrete Sustain was recorded and mixed by Sanford Parker and BATILLUS at Sound Generation in Manhattan and Hypercube in Chicago and mastered by Collin Jordan at the Boiler Room.

 

Order your copy of Concrete Sustain HERE.

“Concrete Sustain filters the hard edged and bleak urban landscape through heartfelt and meaningful industro-doom, cementing BATILLUS near the top of the heap. Put on your best heavy-lidded scowl and prepare to sustain and dominate.” – About.com

 

“At their stripped and shrapnel-scarred heart, BATILLUS are a doom band, and Concrete Sustaincarries a bit of the funereal around with it, though the dead it mourns were not made of flesh and bone, but rather concrete and steel,” – Exclaim!

 

“In addition to an abundance of trudging, mid-paced riffs played on densely distorted guitar and bass,BATILLUS have built a framework of counterpoint rhythms that provide tension and contrast: Grinding, whirring industrial samples abound, as do textural washes of feedback that border on the post-rock nihilism of Neurosis.” — Emusic

 

“…their most cohesive release yet.” – MetalSucks

 

“Concrete Sustain is the sound of modern doom and each track here holds dear to its heart the essence and core of the doom genre, yet BATILLUS twist it and turn it onto something new and different and a marvel to experience.” – Cvlt Nation

 

“Sounds and noises come at you from nowhere in the vast darkness BATILLUS have offer on here. Concrete Sustain is an album that is truly alive. They have added a dark demented soul to their music and it is not a pretty sight. BATILLUS have taken another almighty step towards greatness…” – The SludgeLord

 

“For many metal acts the word ‘industrial’ is simply an adjective to throw around. For BATILLUS, who hail from the home of skyscrapers and 24-hour Starbucks known as New York City, this workman-like take on pressurized doom metal is not just another sonic layer, but a sense of being.” – Invisible Oranges

 

“BATILLUS have excelled on Concrete Sustain creating their best work and to my ears a faultless album.” – Echoes And Dust

 

“…a 2013 must-listen for fans of doom, especially those who might want to do more than stand in place and nod dreamily at the floor.” – No Clean Singing

 

http://www.batillusdoom.com
http://www.facebook.com/batillus
http://www.seventhrule.com
http://www.facebook.com/seventhrulerec
http://seventhrule.bandcamp.com

Casting a Scornful Eye: Primitive Man’s One-Note Debut

by Alex Carlson, posted in Music review

Filthy. Malignant. Frightening. These words can and have been used to describe Scorn, the debut album of Denver’s Primitive Man, the death/doom metal double team. Those three words are potent adjectives to describe the band’s undeniably angry and depressing musical force. The filthy grinding guitars, the rough, guttural vocals, the frightening bass tones: those adjectives are not at all inappropriate for Scorn. But with that fitting mood, Scorn builds up a number of mixed messages, ones that make the album much less than what it could’ve been. Primitive Man have made an album that is depressing on every possible level, not only in the purposely weighted tones and blackened vocals, but in the fact that this 44-minute death/doom hybrid is one of the most unappealing slogs through metal seen this year.

Scorn opens up with its title track, a 12-minute long grind through some of the heaviest and darkest musicianship this side of Black Sabbath. It’s so weighted and packed with low-tuned riffs that the album doesn’t bring up any kind of consciousness on energy. The members of Primitive Man have prided themselves on a sense of sheer pessimism and depressing tones and in that regard, Scorn does its job incredibly well. This album is devoid of anything resembling positive thinking. It’s the theme of doom and death metal to offer a rebellious and distorted view on music, but Scorn takes that theme and sucks the soul right out of it.

Scorn is an album drenched in monotonous darkness. Doom metal is a genre that possesses those heavy tones, but it also offers melody. It’s unquestionably dark, but that melody is what keeps any great doom metal album from becoming a flat and boring one. On the other hand, death metal is intense and furious, complimented by percussive death growls and aggressive rhythm sections. In Scorn, Primitive Man mixes the two together. It most certainly is heavy and dark, but in combining death growls with doom metal, the album becomes flat and boring. Songs blend together with their stomping tempos; even before the first track is over you’ll begin to get bored.

The album does pick up a little in the song “I Can’t Forget”, an ominous instrumental with clashing drums and ambient soundscapes and in “Black Smoke”, a slightly experimental soundscape track with chanting in the background. “Stretched Thin” is a faster, thrashier song, one that picks up the pace late in the album after over 30 minutes of terribly boring death metal doom. “Stretched Thin” is better, a refreshing glass of water after the potent cocktail of doom/death metal, but once the song’s over, the band regresses right back to painfully repetitive growls and stomping drum smashes.

Primitive Man’s mix of death metal intensity and doom metal heaviness isn’t necessarily an unsteady one. The genres combine seamlessly and the entire album takes some of the better parts from each. However, the album is about as varied and interesting as a brick wall. No song stands out and the entire album drags on considerably because of it. It’s a 40-minute grind of a record that tries to be ambitious, but ends up being an uninteresting slog with no left-turns or shocking melodies to speak of. Even if you’ve gotten involved in either the death metal or doom metal scenes, Scorn cannot be recommended. Primitive Man’s attempt for uniqueness and creativity is admirable, but the end result is a wasteland of bleak and empty metal songs that don’t possess any kind of spark of personality. Stay away from Scorn.

WINDHAND: Announce New Album

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Announcement/News
Listen to the ‘Soma’ album trailer here!
Richmond, Virginia’s psychedelic doom band, Windhand, are set to release their second full-length album Soma via Relapse Records on September 17 (Pre-order here).  After surging the DIY circuit with months of touring, their own IPA, a critically acclaimed self-titled release last year and a split with label-mates Cough this year, Windhand have confirmed they’ll be taking the main stage at next year’s Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands on Saturday, April 12. Soma is nothing short of transcendent.  This record is for more than just doom-metal fanatics—this is an epic record for all fans of guitar driven rock and roll.
On Soma, Windhand successfully make syrupy slow, downtuned doom hooky and anthemic.  Propelled by singer Dorthia Cottrell’s beautifully haunting bellow, Windhand’s dual guitar attack sounds like the glorious misfit offspring of Black Sabbath and Nirvana.  An easy candidate for heavy music record of the year.  The album was recorded and mixed by the band’s own Garrett Morris at The Darkroom and mastered by James Plotkin in their hometown. Take a sneak peak of the album here.
Formed in 2009, Windhand (Asechiah Bogdan – Guitar, Parker Chandler – Bass, Dorthia Cottrell – Vocals, Garrett Morris – Guitar, and Ryan Wolfe – Drums) play what has been described as a tinnitus inducing mix of eerie psychedelia and haunting ambient doom. 2012 saw the release of their self-titled, debut LP via Forcefield Records and was critically acclaimed by Decibel, Pitchfork, CVLT Nation and many more.
 GD30OB2-N.cdr

Forever Doomed – Trouble Stomp Back With The Distortion Field

by Alex Carlson, posted in Music review

Black Sabbath are widely recognized as the progenitors of what would later become heavy metal. Unsatisfied with what rock was during the 70’s, the British kings of metal become one of the most important bands in history, pioneering a dark genre and a mighty movement unlike anything seen before in rock. Metal was alive. But with the emergence of a fascination of speed in heavy metal, many bands abandoned the cornerstone elements of Black Sabbath’s sound in the late 70’s and early 80’s. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal brought out bands like Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, bands that demonstrated their virtuosity with a frighteningly fast and aggressive pace. That eventually led to thrash metal; bands like Metallica took Judas Priest and Iron Maiden to heart, catapulting metal into a new age dominated by speed.

But some bands found more value in what Black Sabbath and Deep Purple had to offer: a thunderous and heavy tone, mixed with a virtuosity that could set influence toward the later works of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. Chicago’s Trouble marked a back-to-basics sound that, despite relying on the older days of metal, felt just as fresh, potent and meaningful as what both Judas Priest and Metallica would eventually bring to life. The band’s first album since 2007’s Simple Mind Condition isn’t just a recognition of doom metal’s fine past, but it’s a damn good album that can match anything that metal has showed off this year.

Living in a genre based around a near perpetual sense of morose heaviness, Trouble keeps the traditions at the forefront of their battalion. Despite living in eras of both the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and its later-inspired thrash metal cousin, Trouble set speed aside and moved in the opposite direction. Quickness and nimbleness was never in the band’s blood and that doesn’t change on The Distortion Field. Songs like “Glass of Lies” are some of the most stomping tracks in metal; Trouble shows every bit of their skill and finesse in bringing out the weight of their world. “One Life” is a massive slam of a track, with an opener with such gravity that you might need to upgrade your subwoofer by the song’s finale. Even when the grinds subside in the more elegant and melodic “Have I Told You,” the pacing is still very steady, which makes for a refreshing glass of water among the Red Bull cocktail of furious speed metal.

But just because Trouble is a heavy grind of a band doesn’t mean that the virtuosity is set aside. “Hunters of Doom” manages to inject a spike of adrenaline to the record, but not moving too fast and leaving the band’s roots in the dust. The Judas Priest-inspired double-guitar assault from Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell remains a finely dimensionalized approach to a genre so enamored with stalwart golems of metal. Trouble isn’t a one-trick pony on The Distortion Field; they show a sense of groove on “Greying Chill of Autumn,” demonstrating the band’s reverence for psychedelic rock along with their metal background.

A new vocalist offers a new beginning for the doom metal legends. Kyle Thomas may not be a stranger to the band (he filled in as lead vocalist from 1997 to 2000), but this is his first role of the official vocalist for the band and his first studio album recorded as it. While the instrumentalists in Trouble have focused on the sludgy metal of all eras of Black Sabbath, Thomas settles into a niche brought to life by the late, great former Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio, where the steady pace isn’t shoved down by low and otherworldly screams. Instead, it’s all about a balance, an uplifting and gripping voice complimented by some great musicianship. Thomas’s range is phenomenal; while it’s a bit rougher than Dio’s, he still shows off vocal chops with high notes, vibrato calls and a great amount of diversity even throughout single songs alone, such as the lower-toned “Your Reflection.” It’s clear that he is right at home with Trouble.

The Distortion Field doesn’t distract the listener; each song is focused and packed with substance. The band’s straight-ahead metal groove is something of unsung heroism. While other bands have claimed the main stage of metal with speed, Trouble remains as a group of giants of musicians, enamored with tradition, but still willing to move forward and break new ground in their doom metal empire. They can play and play very well, but their shining victory as doom metal kings comes from songwriting with a clear vision in mind. They don’t try to be anything they’re not. The Distortion Field is metal’s wakeup call to a band that have been creeping and grinding for more than 30 years now. Don’t expect speed in The Distortion Field; just expect an incredibly well-crafted doom metal record that any headbanger should listen to.

VATTNET VISKAR to kick off North American tour next week

by Alan D. Welding, posted in Announcement/News

Ambient blackened doom metallers VATTNET VISKAR will be back on the road next week to play some shows around SXSW 2013. Check the dates below to see when they’ll be coming to a city near you!

VATTNET VISKAR tour dates
March 4– Clementon, NJ @ J Walker’s
March 5– Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter
March 7– Raleigh, NC @ Slim’s Downtown
March 8– Charleston, SC @ The Charleston Skatepark
March 9– Marietta, GA @ Swayze’s
March 10– Pensacola, FL @ The Handlebar
March 11– Lafayette, LA @ JP’s Hookah Lounge
March 12– San Antonio, TX @ The Korova
March 13– SXSW appearances: 2PM @ House of Vans at Mohawk (Pitchfork Show No Mercy showcase), 12AM @ Hoeks Death Metal Pizza
March 15– San Marcos, TX @ Triple Crown
March 16– Baton Rouge, LA @ Spanish Moon
March 17– Tulsa, OK @ The Downtown Lounge
March 18– Topeka, KS @ The Boobie Trap
March 19– Chicago, IL @ Ultra Lounge
March 20– Indianapolis, IN @ Indy’s Jukebox
March 21– Columbus, OH @ Kobo Live
March 22– Ithaca, NY @ The Underground
March 23– Burlington, VT @ ArtsRiot

Hailing from the small town of Plaistow, New Hampshire, VATTNET VISKAR is anything but small. Formed in the fall of 2010, the band has quickly risen amongst the ranks of US black metal acts with their self-titled EP, which was named one of the best metal albums of 2012 by Pitchfork.com, Stereogum.com, and countless others. To purchase this EP, please head over to the band’s official Bandcamp page.

Stay tuned for news about VATTNET VISKAR’s upcoming full-length album (and Century Media debut) coming soon.

VATTNET VISKAR online:
http://www.facebook.com/vattnetviskar
http://vattnetviskar.bandcamp.com/
http://twitter.com/#!/vattnetviskar