Mist form a unique doom metal sound in anniversary video

Today a lot of videos and sounds are shared around the World Wide Web. But what I found in my inbox of slovenian all female doom metal band Mist really opened up my ears.

Mist are already around for ten years.

It's this in-depth sound that is composed of the direct sounding guitars, the constant pushing and permanent cymbal using drums in combination with the vocals that leave a mark, something that makes it stand out from all the others. The high vocals may sound a bit unusual but with every moment passing they fit in better.

I love the natural sounding production and the not-overloaded guitar sound. It's all constantly moving in a flow but at certain points leaves a moment to stop and take a breathe. The end is something even more special. The whole track changes it's pattern and also the visual presentation moves to a different point. Make sure to stay at the screen 'til the end.

»Altar Of You« is taken from the 2018 album »Free Me Of The Sun« (Soulseller Records). The album was recorded, produced and mixed by Benjamin Kic (Metalsteel) and mastered by Patrick W. Engel (Candlemass, Pentagram, Darkthrone, Exodus) at his Temple of Disharmony studio.  

Stream / order »Free Me Of The Sun« here:

https://soulsellerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/free-me-of-the-sun

Make sure to keep in touch with the band on Facebook or Instagram.

Single Preview: Salava - Remorse (Melodic Doom, 2020)

Can such a traditional genre such as doom be updated with modern elements? The new Finnland based powerhouse duo Salava gave it a try and came to great fruition in this preview to their first single.

The bandphoto of Salava was shot by Risto Vauras.

The single starts a classic way but shortly afterwards the vocals of Jukka Salo give the first freshness in the music. The voice has a much more melodic range in it giving room for emotional versatile expression in lighter ways without letting the guiding voice fall away. It's these finer elements that give a extra shine to stay on the stereo.

The songwriting reveals modern splitters in the ongoing progress of the track playing around with guitar riffing in ways that halt the riffing for the moment just to let it roll few seconds later. There are many little of solo passages build in. They mix the track heavily through this way and add more excitement. It's all turned to 11 this time so prepare for a massive guitar attack.

Be sure to pick up a digital copy on Bandcamp for just 50 cent or add the track to your Spotify collection. 

I'll keep a eye on Salava on Instagram or Facebook.

Album Review: Witnesses - Doom II (Progressive Doom, 2020)

Hardly any Doom Metal release touches me much these days. It's not that I dislike it. It's simply as if it feels like anything has been said and performed already.

Until one day this release of Witnesses reached me. It opened up my ears back again. How? Besides the traditional doom trademarks like the powerful guitars and the well known compact rhythm package that accompanies the music it has more to offer.

The album tells the story of a cursed plague-bearing ship that finds landfall at one unfortunate village. 

It's a good batch of feelings that shines at the right moments. The music becomes more sensible. Finetuned melodies find their way into the sound giving it a broken touch. It feels like the own sensible emotional world of a human comes in to bring a own color to the picture.

All tracks are total longplayers. You can easily loose yourselves a bit in them.
Happily they are not too long to become boring or make you skip easily.

There's a need for concentration but at the same time it's also headbang-compatible material so there's still enough fun and heavyness inside. Much dedication and detail-work can be heard. Sometimes you can find your own feelings in works of musicians. That's what happened at least to me with this release.

My faves are the opener "On this Black Ocean" for the epic feelings and "Worse with time" for the heavier side.

It's a independent release. Please consider a purchase of this directly through
the band's Bandcamp page. It's available as a download for just one dollar or more.

Keep in touch with Witnesses through Facebook or the growing popular platform Instagram.

CD Review: The Tronautas - Olovörgo (Doom, 2018)

Is it all just doom and gloom in this world? At least when it comes to the music of The Tronautas I feel a ray of light shining into my flat.

The cover of the EP shows that a band with own ideas is going to blast your ears. (c) The Tronautas

These three guys come from the far away country of Mexico. What they share with us is a bold and impressive pack of doom metal in various tempos. What stands out are the vocals that come around a bit broken like those Ozzy Osbourne presents to the audience.

The bass guitar also shines bright with it's constant ripping. These bass sounds stand out a bit and there are many times you'll spot them. Not too many bands do it this way. The dark tonality of the drums fits properly forming the shell for the music with a good groove.

From all of the tracks "Eternal Gloom" got me quickly with it's constant re-calling refrain. I thought more than just once that it fits so well to the world we're living in these days. Happily it made me feel comfortable knowing that I'm not the only one out there feeling this way.

The other offerings from this EP are differently. The last track "To destroy a beautiful thing" stands out with it's bold sound and it's two big parts each forming a different atmosphere. The opener "Last days" is hard to get by through it's slow and dark woven riffs. Few melodic guitar glimpses show up every here and there. This may need more rounds to come to fruition in your mind.

"My god" goes all the way up and down with it's constant riffing guitar. The spoken sample surprised me while the overall sound is bright and pushing.

Finally if you're after classic doom songs filled with slightly modern effects rounded out with parts needing closer re-listening this EP is it. Just hand some bucks to the band on Bandcamp and you're having great new noise. Plus like 'em on Facebook to stay up to date for further updates.

Single Review: Saarnastuoli - Kohtalon Kinnas / Sininen Voima (Doom Metal, 2017)

This digital single impressed me with it's complete oldschool attempt. I remember having heard such stuff from tape back in the early days of listening to metal music. I like this slower start, the way the song builds up while the rhythm keeps pushing constantly. Later on it kicks in with more drive giving it a positive note, too. The end feels a bit like being with the band in their rehearsal space but I think most of you guys out there will love that feeling. 

Their sound is abrasive but for sure the proper soundtrack to come down from the start into a new week. Black Sabbath have for sure found the one's taking over the torch they left behind in a way that should satisfy the old legends.

Saarnastuoli are based out of Finnland. The vocals are held in finish language and that's something that points them out of other bands writing and performing in the same genre. They gave me a shot on Facebook presenting me this release. Currently the band is on hold. Anyway feel free to join them on the social network with the like button. Maybe it helps to bring in some fresh motivation to push on. I would love to hear more from them.

The doom metal band Saarnastuoli, Photo Credit: Riikka Rissanen.

CD Review: Unothera - Broken EP (Doom/Death Metal, 2016)

A EP rooted in both genres - Doom and Death Metal with extraordinaty vocal performances packed in classic songwriting format.

The cover of Unothera's "Broken" EP, (c) by Unothera, used with kind permission

Summary

This silver disc reminds me of classic gothic metal releases of the traditional acts such as Paradise Lost in their beginnings. It lives of the contrasts in the sound. On the one hand many clear and lighter sound-textured parts are part of the songs while other sections are held much heavier, darker with growls and lot's of distorted guitars rounded out with midtempo grooving drums.

On above all of this mixture melodic splitters are put inside that give a softer tonality or dominate with their high notes some heavier sections as if they were put there to light those parts a bit up. 

The high vocals deserve a special mention. They vary a lot through the whole EP and spice the whole release up. "Winter" is a good example for this. Everything is held in classic songwriting format but the slight additions mentioned above make this one to point to later on again. It sounds different from other releases of the same genre. If you're into this sort of metal I recommend you to check this EP. It may be a fine surprise to you.


Purchase-Link & Preview Track

This five track disc can be purchased directly through the Facebook page of Unothera for 5 Euro plus shipping and handling. You'll receive a burned silver media in a small slipcase but with a professional, sharp layouted small booklet that holds the lyrics of the release. That's not very common for such offerings. The disc itself comes labeled with the motive of the cover but in a different incarnation. Nice gimmick that is not to be found too often.

One track of the EP found it's way online so I've added it here as a preview track.

Contact Data

You can get in touch with Unothera via there online presence on Facebook.

Female fronted doom band Mist confirmed for Bloodstock 2017

The Bloodstock Open Air has become a event of high profile. In the past years many great performances could be enjoyed there. The 2017 edition will feature well-known names such as Ghost, Megadeth, Testament, Obituary, Arch Enemy, Kreator, Blind Guardian and Amon Amarth.

But what about the smaller bands that will play? Which may be worth a look? One of them surely is be the female fronted doom combo Mist which have just been confirmed for the 2017 edition of the Open Air.

The band "Mist", Photo by: Uroš Spruk ,used with kind permission

The band is happy to be able to play a show there and has already announced to make this performance a special one:

»We are thrilled to have been given this opportunity! Our first album is coming out this year and we've decided to perform one of the unreleased songs for the first time at BOA. This will be our second time in the UK and we'll make sure it's a blast.« Grab the flyer below to make sure not to miss out their perfomance at the Bloodstock Open Air.

The showtime and stage for BOA 2017, (c) by Mist, used with kind permission

Mist build their music on the legacy of legendary bands like Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Candlemass, Coven and others. Check out the title track of the EP Inan' in the player below. 

The band released their first demo recordings in November 2013 which have been re-issued on CD three times due to great interest. 

In 2014 they signed to Dutch label Soulseller Records and released their first EP »Inan'« the following year. Currently the band is busy recording their first full-length album, the title is to be announced soon.

Make sure to follow them further to be notified on how the story of this uprising band goes on.

https://www.facebook.com/mist. doom
http://mistdoom.bandcamp.com/
http://mistdoom.tumblr.com/

CD Review: Reclvse - Evil Lvrks (Doom, 2016)

This EP from Reclvse shows impressively that a band can evolve a lot from one record to another.

Introduction
 
Thinking back on their debut recording in 2014 I had in mind that these guys prefer a sort of doom that comes around slowly in terms of speed and with lots of majestic vocals. Having turned on their their current output that has been dropped in August 2016 a surprise came my way and it already began with a much more decent and detailed cover sleeve.

The cover of Reclvse's "Evil Lurks" painted by Bvrzerk, (c) by Reclvse, used with kind permission

Summary

The EP starts with a short bell intro and the title track makes clear that the band has started to open up a new chapter with the release of this one. While the overall tonality remains true to the classic and oldschool doom formula the songs itself are kept in a much more faster way. In addition to that they are much more groove oriented and the song structures are set in a more precise and sharper way. You can jump into the sound straight from the start without knowing too much of the band beforehand.

"Evil Lurks" itself is only the beginning. The record pushes the mood of the listener further with each track until it explodes in the third number named "Inn Modern Times". Another surprise - the fastest number I wouldn't have expected ever from them. The last two tracks are live recordings. Both numbers help you to come down a bit again. They are held in the style of the first two songs of the EP. Check the title track if you want to find out quickly if this band fits to your musical taste.

Purchase-Link and Album-Stream

Overall this recording should be a fine discovery to all those people out there loving the old days of Black Sabbath. Riffs, simple groove and straight vocals are the essence of this recording. The recording is up for a "Pay what you want" price on Bandcamp. Please consider giving some bucks so the band can continue to provide you with more fine doom metal and let you enjoy liveshows that we all love and need so much.

Contact-Data

Make sure to keep the contact with this Doom band located in South Wales through their Facebook page offering a lot of nice bonus-content.

CD Review: Dö - Tuho (Dark Stoner Doom Metal/2016)

This album has a calming and positive effect on me. It helps you to distress from things and besides that comes with much variations in the songs.

Introduction

Dö is a dark stoner doom trio from Helsinki, Finland. The origins of the band go all the way back to 2007, but the current style has been developed only for a few years. The men behind the wall of sound are Deaf Hank (Bass & Vox), Big Dog (Guitar & Vox) and Joe E. Deliverance (Drums & Vox - 'E' stands for 'Epic')

The band's music is a genuine combination of stoner, doom, sludge with death/black metal twists here and there.  "Tuho" has been released in April 2016 and is the second release of the trio.

The cover of Dö's album "Tuho", Cover Art by Big Dog, (c) by Big Dog, used with kind permission

Summary

The record that comes under the title of "Tuho" (meaning Devastation) has a dark basic tonality no question. The vocals are black and doomy but the music has a constant movement and note inside of it. It's this continuous song structure that makes me feel positive about it. It's like that the songs go slowly but they always move along. They may never take big steps but you feel all along that they keep the direction. It's this permanent movement that makes me feel so good about it.

The first two tracks are typical for this style. The production is heavy and strong but there's also much clearness in the sound. The drums for example shine through fine and clear something that cannot be found too often in these musical style. Everblast II (The Aftermath) is a bit faster, yet it's still midtempo, something much welcome to me in times where music often tends to be played all just too fast.

Ex Oblivione is a surprise It's a slow track with a great melody inside and feels as if it has been written in a jamming session. But beware: it's a great song that unfolds slowly just to blast you away towards the end. One of the best tracks I've heard in a long time!

Kylmä is a bit mixed to me. A rough and edgy track but I somehow dislike it. I doesn't feel so harmonic through it's various parts in it so I don't like it as much as the other numbers on the record.

The album closes out with the shortest and the longest songs of the whole release. The first one Hail The Fire comes as a short clear guitar intermission - a welcome pause after the rough music in the track before. Forsaken Be Thy Name reminds me the most of the longtracks that Black Sabbath did release back in their early days. A mighty riffer with a jammed melodic and clear intermission part. You nearly don't notice when it's over that it was about twelve mintes long. A great way to round out a fine release.

Album stream

The full record can be heard from the Bandcamp widget below.



Purchase-Link

The album is available as a paid download on Bandcamp. If you decide to give a few bucks more you'll have the chance to get your hands on one of the CD-R copies. The price includes worlwide shipping so it could be a nice addition to your stoner/doom collection. It's well worth the money since I guess a lot of the fans of the mentioned genres will pick the album up often to have another listen and relax from the daily stress.

Contact Data

Be sure to keep in touch with Dö using Facebook or Twitter, maybe you'd also like to add them to your watch list on Spotify. They are looking for a label to release the album on vinyl so if there's someone interested out there - don't hesitate to contact them!

Vinyl Review: Heavy Baby Sea Slugs - The Minotaur / Trout Fishin' Man (2016)

A really raw piece of music, this experimental seven inch disc will make every listener happy who likes to endeavour something new and prefers to see music as a journey on his mind. It's like reading a book - everyone has a own imagination to the input that comes along.

Preface

It's not coming along often that a vinyl record fly's into my postbox but these days it happened and gave a good feeling to the writer of these lines. I mean how often do you touch one of these small round pieces of music in this times? The process alone of putting the vinyl on the table of the player, selecting the correct Round's per minute option and finally putting the tonearm carefully on the record is something special and sort of ritual.

The packaging

The double-sided cover itself is something unique - I've not seen something similar before. It reminds me of Iron Maidens old albums like Somewhere In Time or Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son where the full picture only comes to life when you add both the front and back cover. This one follows a similar concept and I like the way it's done. Good old handcrafted art. You rarely get to see this in 2016.

The cover of the Heavy Baby Sea Slugs 7' The Minotaur, (c) by Claire Taylor

The music

'The Minotaur' is centered around a doomy core and 'Trout Fishin Man' leans towards down-tuned noise rock. A really raw piece of music, but I love keeping it heavy and direct.

The Minotaur has a dark and heavy riff in it's center core. I like the way the groove spreads around this one. The haunting voices and effects give it a mighty atmosphere as if somehing bigger is sharing a message throughout the sound. A wall of sound that needs some closer listen to get fully through it.

Trout Fishin' Man: This song has a heavily distorted riff running through it. I needed some repeats to get to the point but you can hear that this has many layers put together all over. Surely a experimental track to be remembered. But no evolution has ever come from going the same ways over and over again. It always just happens where you try new paths. And that's what this track surely does.

Purchase-Link / Player

Do yourselfs a treat and purchase one of the limited edition seven inch vinyl records from the band's Bandcamp page directly. It comes along with one white and one black labeled side. Inside the cover you'll find the record as well as a little sheed with details about the release and the text of The Minotaur on the backside. The whole package is protected with a proper plastic foil bag. It all comes along handcrafted but with much love and dedication. Please support such efforts with your puchase. As for a first listen you can listen to the Heavy Baby Sea Slugs single right here.

Make sure to keep in touch with band during the Bandcamp page or see the Facebook presence of the record company of the band.

CD Review: Charm Designer - Everlasting

A dark and mysterious Gothic / Doom record. Besides the typical growling vocals it features a lot of groove, melody and a lot of blistering, haunting atmosphere. If you like a mixture of these ingridents you shouldn't hesitate and take a close look at "Everlasting".

Short Introduction

Charm Designer is a Gothic / Doom metal band located in Columbia. It was the first time for me that I had the chance to listen to a band from that country so I was extremly excited how they would attempt writing songs. Plus I didn't listen to a album of that genre for some time so I felt it would be a good idea to check it out.

My attention was raised even more as I got to know that the follow-up to 2008's “Blood Sounds” was recorded with legendary producer Waldemar Sorychta, known for his work with Samael, Tiamat, Lacuna Coil, Sentenced and Moonspell among others, being the first time for him to produce a Latin American band. The artwork was designed by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu (At The Gates, Arcturus, Vulture Industries, Primordial, Arch Enemy, etc.).

The cover of Everlasting, (c) by Charm Designer, used with kind permission

Summary

Charm Designer did a outstanding job on this one. The album contains eight brand new tracks that will take you on a wild ride through your inner feelings and emotions. It's filled with all that makes us humans and it goes to all the extremes we all endure and are pushed through every day. It sounds extreme and will give you pain at some points but after all the harsh parts and heavyness there's always release and silkness coming back in giving you freezing chills and giving you the breath back. In the end it will strenghten you for all that still is yet to come.

The album lives of it's contrast of dark, brutal vocals and the much lighter contra female voice parts. The same goes for the music. Sure there's darkness and heavyness all around but it never presses you down. It still pushes on forward through the groove and there's always some melody shining through. Black clouds and silver linings. The best way to quickly check out if the record is for you is to see the lyric video of the title track which you can find at the Player and Purchase Link section further down in this review. If you feel like it touches you the you should give the full album a listen, because there's a lot more yet to come so prepare yourselves for the ride...

Album Overview

The album is well balanced but there are some tracks I'd like to point out. Besides the title track my personal favorites are Never After and most of all Inertial Dream for their very heavy attitude and remembering me of old classic Gothic metal times.

Disruption is one of the most flexible cuts of the full length bringing together a good mixture of oldschool and slightly modern elements. But all the modern stuff is kept in a discret way. They are never overused and only taken if they add to the mood so it sounds authentic. Some tracks have a length of nearly seven minutes but never sound lengthy. If you prefer the shorter one's make sure to listen to Mentors, it goes out as a very straight number.

It should be mentioned that the band did a cool cover version of Depeche Mode's "Policy of truth". The song remains intact in it's structure through the cover conversion, but you can heavily hear that Charm Designer put their signature of Doom 'n' Gothic brutality on it. It's a good cover I can see this going down quite well in Gothic or Metal clubs on a saturday night with many people handbanging along to it.

Player and Purchase-Link

The album is available through the store of the band's record company Inverse Records as a physical CD.
There also the chance to buy a mp3 version of the record from Amazon. 

Update 2016/02/20: You can also place your order via the band's Facebook account. Read this info sheet they released for detailed info. They also have some nice goodie packs available with T-Shirts plus CD and you can also ask for other combinations. Just send them a message and they'll put together a nice package for you.

As far as I've seen there's no album stream available so I've added the official lyric video of "Everlasting" here to give you a quick idea of the band's sound and style.

Update 2016/02/22: The album has been uploaded to streaming services such as Spotify and Deezer. I've added the Deezer widget under the YouTube lyric video of the title track. Also if you're not registered to the service you can at least listen to some 30 second clips of the album.


Links

www.facebook.com/charmdesigner
www.twitter.com/Charm_Designer
www.reverbnation.com/charmdesigner
www.soundcloud.com/charmdesigner
www.youtube.com/charmdesignervid   

Band history of doom band Nest speaks of hope

Making music has never been easy. And in fact it still is like this these days. I cannot understand some people saying making music is free. It's not. You need to buy equipment, you need a rehearsal space (a lot of bands need to pay a rent for that) and in the end you need to make a record and promote it with a decent video. Everyone of these steps (and some more) needs to be backed finacially. Plus in the end you can never know if the people out there will like and buy your stuff.

But there are also signs of hope out there in the darkness. One is the story of the doom/sludge three-piece called Nest situated in Stockholm, Sweden. Read below how things went out for them and listen to their full record in the stream below.

It started in 2011 with two brothers, Fredrik & Jonas, and a riff. The riff is key, for it carries the song, driven only by understated and economical drumming. For this the band  needed the right drummer, but good drummers are few and far apart. The brothers happened upon a Frenchman named Dave, a drummer with death metal roots that brought that extra something to the fold. Nest was now a three piece. A band. The idea came to life and the riff became a song.

(c) by Nest, used with kind permission

A couple of riffs later, the songs became a set, and Nest played their first show at a bar called Snövit, known to play host to punk shows. People seemed to like it.

When the time came to record their songs, they knew that the heaviness was there but wanted to capture the raw nerve of the punk influences that might get lost in hazy riffs. They turned to their friend Mattis Rundgren (Makabert Fynd/Dissekerad/Kakafoni) for the recording. The result is the self-titled debut, released in 2015.

The band was now faced with a new problem: how to get that recording out into the world. Nest opted for a DIY approach, pressing CDs and selling them themselves, in hopes that they could sell enough to afford a vinyl pressing.

At a bar in Tilburg, Holland, during the Roadburn festival, Fredrik and Jonas met up with their dear friends, Craig and Andrew, from the new country across the sea, Since they, too, worship at the altar of the riff, they were given CDs and t-shirts. The words spoken after that went something like this:

Craig: So when do I get to hear this on vinyl?
Fredrik: When we've sold enough CDs and shirts to afford it.
Craig: If I start a label, would you consider letting me release it?
Fredrik: Yes. That would be awesome!

Not long after that Tribunal of the Axe Records was born, and the record was pressed.

If you'd like to purchase a copy on vinyl just head over to the Bandcamp page and get one of the limited physical releases or the digital version.

What I like in the band's sound so much is that they keep things raw and direct. It's not that much polished and it's kept simple and straight forward. If you like bands like Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard and the like I think you'll love this.

Make sure to stay in connection with Nest through their Facebook page or have a look at the label that helped them to do the vinyl pressing - here's the link to Tribunal of the Axe Records Facebook site.

Queen Elephantine add mediative elements to psychedelic music

One of the nice things when running a blog like this one is the chance to discover not only unknown bands but also sometimes unravel mysterious bands than go different ways than other combos do. One of them seems to be Queen Elephantine, a band which saw many lineups as well as changes of locations they are living in. Their vita lists New York, Hong Kong or Rhode Island as places where they made music and as different as these places are so is their musical journey going which can be called a collection of dark psychedlic tracks that have a deep meditative sphere in them.

Queen Elephantine live in Boston 2013, (c) Quenn Elephantine, used with kind permission

It's with a lot of pleasure that I can bring you one track of their recent output called "Omen". The whole record which the band speaks of as a EP has a playing time of around 70 minutes. It goes all in all in a sort of drone and psychedelic music direction outliving the extremes of the musical spectrum but I think people open to taking new courses in their musical journey will love to have the chance to discover something new and unique in here.

Don't let the unusual song structure confuse you - the track slowly builds up over it's duration. The drums keep a static rhythm while the guitars add to the monotone form. Slowly distorted vocals keep coming in and the whole procession moves on forward until some sort of climatic ending comes in.



If you like this track don't hesitate to head over to the Bandcamp page of Queen Elephantine and have a listen to the rest of the album. That's also the place where you can  purchase a copy of the band's current output. The album has been released through the French label Atypeek Music on further plattforms such as Amazon, or iTunes.

Also make sure to take a look upon the band's plattforms throughout the Internet such as Soundcloud, YouTube or go the traditional way and take a look at the band's homepage for more detailed info about 'em.

Prog Doom band Awake the Sun streams full first album

So the year is winding down quickly. Time to make plans for 2016. What shall happen in the upcoming time? One thing I'll keep doing is looking forward to new releases.

One of these records that I'll keep a eye upon is the one of the Progressive Doom metallers Awake the Sun. The band from Venice, Italy has just announced the release a new album in Europe on February 2016 through Sliptrick records.

(c) by Awake The Sun, used with kind permission

The band is a project created by the founders of the Italian avant-garde metal band Ensoph (active for more than 13 years with 4 albums released and many gigs played around Europe) and members from Alkemic Generator, Cube and Howl of Minerva.

The project blends together dark progressive metal and electronic/ambient influences with the aim to create unique misty melancholic atmospheres and to obtain a personal interpretation of the classic European Dark/Doom metal sounds. In some ways they remind me of a mixture of the heavier musical side of Paradise Lost with the unconventional arrangements of bands like Vanden Plas.

Gloomy and technical riffs, dismal scores, unconventional rhythmic patterns enhanced by a range of melodic vocal arrangements are the trademark of the band.

The debut album of the band is titled The Barren Sleep, 8 tracks of sad emotional landscapes, a journey through broken hopes and inquietudes, heavy and sharp riffs on polish rhythmical structures entwined with bittersweet melodies and haunting feels. Make sure to have a listen to the band's debut record while we wait for the new album to arrive.

Make sure to see the band's web-presence on Facebook or the record company's website to stay up to date about the impending album release.

CD Review: Sorrows Path - Doom Philosophy

Band Introduction
 
Sorrows Path was formed by Takis Drakopoulos (bass) and Kostas Salomidis (guitar) back in November 1993. The doom metal band from Greece is inspired by bands like Memento Mori, Solitude Aeturnus and Candlemass. After many ups and downs the band finally found back to it's form and has released the full-length album "Doom Philosopy" in 2014 via Iron Shield Records.

(c) by Sorrows Path, used with kind permission

Summary

The album is a definite fest for all the dedicated fans of the doom metal genre. It offers 11 in-depth studio tracks that have been worked on with love and passion. The songs range from the midtempo open "Tragedy" over to a fast hacking  "A Dance With The Dead" that finally builds a bridge to a slower middle part of the record which consists of a good buch of slower tracks. Finally the record comes to an end from the start of "The Venus And The Moon" with more faster tracks which bring back the more rough edge of the sound. The final instrumental song "Damned (O)fish-L.S.D." is a absolute killer, bringing the technical abilities of the band up to the point.

If you love to listen to your music very closely and intensively you should give this band a listen, it's music coming from the heart and you can hear that the band put much heartblood and effort in making this record a reality.

Album-Overview

As for me personally I prefer the faster tracks of the record since the slower one's can feel a bit lenghty at times. The track "Epoasis" is a good example for that. The longer, slow introduction together with the hard, ripping guitar riff gives the track a special note. It's cool to have two solo sections in there. The same goes for the song "Tragedy". It has a cool rhythm with it that reminds me a lot of the good old Memento Mori. "A Dance With The Dead" hits it very hard, pushing the band's sound to the heavier limit. 

Anyway two songs of the slower part need a special mention in my eyes. First of "Everything can change". It features guest performances by two well known names in the metal universe, you can hear Snowy Shaw (King Diamond, Therion, Dream Evil e.t.c.) and Edgar Rivera (ex-Solitude Aeternus) on this one. I like the message of the lyrics. The song is outworked the very well, I think the band added some unique elements to the traditional doom sound on this one.
"Epoasis" will last in your mind for it's longer, slow introduction together with the hard, ripping guitar riff that gives the track a special note. It's cool to have two solo sections in there.

Player  

There isn't a full album stream available but I put the two official videos for the album up here. Those should give you a good first impression on the band's sound. The other tracks can be heard as short previews for instance on Amazon which gives you a 30 second glimpse on each track.
Purchase-Link / Contact Data

You can purchase the album at the band's website for 10 Euro plus shipping and handling as a physical CD or get a digital copy on stores such as Amazon or CD Baby.

Currently (December 2015) the band also has a special offer up and running. It contains the CD along with the official T-Shirt as well as a patch for free altogether going for the price of 20 Euro plus 5 Euro shipping and handling in a registered mail. The package is available through Paypal, orders can be placed through the merchandise-subsite of the band's officlal Headquarter on the World Wide Web.

If you like to stay in touch with them, make sure to see the band's Facebook page.

CD Review: Arcade Messiah - II

Short Introduction

Arcade Messiah is a one-man instrumental metal music project from KingBathmat frontman John Bassett. It combines a mix of Metal/Post Rock/Stoner/Doom/Prog elements all together on one disc. The first album was released exactly one year ago and received a lot of positive feedback from fans all over the world.

John Bassett spoke to Prog Megazine about the resonace he received. He was surprised about the positive reactions so he decided to create a sequel. He further said that it's meant to be a sort of continuation of the first record but with the hope of being a better, bigger and more dramatic piece of music. The intention was to grow the music without losing the vibe and atmosphere of the original album. The next chapter in the history of Arcade Messiah is set for release on 22nd November 2015 via Bandcamp and then everywhere else on Nov 27 through Stereohead Records.

(c) by Arcade Messiah, used with kind permission

Summary / Player / Purchase-Link

Please bring some time to listen to the album properly. It comes with many layers of melody and variation in them that are ofter overwhelming on the first listen. But if you give them more spins you'll discover so many fine points that you'll wonder what you may've overheard the time before. 

The album is well worth some money. Currently the pre-order price is set at 0,99 GBP on Bandcamp until the release on 22nd of November 2015. Afterwards you'll be able to set the amount free of choice. Please give some bucks so independent and progressive music can continue to push on forward and offer all of us even more of these great musical journeys. It will take you out of your everyday life for a good amount on time and I remember having enjoyed every single minute of it.

If you decide to pick up a physical copy packed in a six panel digipack you'll be rewarded with a ninth track on the disc that add's a playing time of 19 additional minutes to your playing time. That track is something very special, all of you guys out there digging the long-tracks of progressive music will love this. It's like a never-ending epic.

The record will be released on 22nd November via Bandcamp. Currently a album preview is available for streaming as well as two full tracks. I've included the full songs at the Album-Overview section of the review. Here is the album-roundup to get a quick idea of the record:

Album-Overview (Track-by-track review)

Moon Signal: after a slow intro section the album starts with a high complexity. This is a well outworked piece of guitar work. It really needs a lot of time to get through all of the sections and comes in very rough. Don't let this hinder you. It's a rather heavy start to the album but the further tracks go in a bit easier.

Red Widow: More groove based progmetal. It's a breaker and positive "push-it-forward-track". Complex yet very fitting drums and guitar shred on this one. Rough sections follow cleaner parts and surprisingly some total soft-toned notes see the light towards the last third of the song. They lead over to a very dirstorted part with crushing guitars all over. The end comes fast and abrupt.

Black Dice Maze: The song starts out as a beautifull ballad with clean and pure guitars. The drums fit very well to this starting a soft rhythm. Drastically it all changes and a lot of roughness comes rushing in. This goes over to a typical prometal riff and finally unfolds into some more rough crushing and edgy guitar sound giving it all a more complex and hard sound structure. The next move goes back to the progmetal style and comes around clearer and in a more compact style. The end comes in very climatic and dramatic before the whole soundsphere collapses and goes back to some soft notes but not in the same style as at the beginning.

Gallows Way: A clear and calling sound speaks out of the guitar. Is there someone out there? This creates a very spheric and haunting atmosphere. I often wonder why some of the roughest records include hard tracks but at the same time there are these soft pearls in there as well. Those give you freezing chills. This is one of those shining diamonds. It doesn't last long but maybe you'll remember it as long in your mind as I did... The slightly distorted ending builds a crossing to the next track.

(c) by John Bassett, used wth kind permission

Fourth Quarter: A fine mixture of rougher and silker soundscapes can be found in this one. Held in a typical progressive style it's slightly hard but with a very warm and melodic tonality to it. Beautiful melodies can be found a lot in here.
It's like walking through a garderen that offers so many flowers to see. A intensive journey through what instrumental progressive music can offer in all of it's variations, diversity and complexity.

Via Occulta: A short intermission. Clear guitar notes flying around. The drums catch them up and form a little jam-alike atmosphere.

Read the Sky: A highly complex track. It get's back to the rough style. Held in a midtempo the track evolves around the main riff and comes with a lot of distortion. Inside of the storm you'll find a eye of melody that shine through. The darkest and hardest track of the album in my ears.

Start Missing Everyone: Spacy sounds start this one.But once that is gone sheer power takes over. A compact closing point. A good ending point for all people taking the download edition.

The Four Horsemen (CD-only-track): A catchy start to the epic with soft yet ever-changing guitar sounds and rhythm patterns. It evolves even further to a powerfull guitar bloom but not so heavily distorted as "Read the sky". It comes to a first peak towards nearly the half of the track and goes over to a somewhat ghostly spheric intermission just to come back with fresh power before going back in the softer mode and back to power again. The chilling and dreamingly sphere is present on the vast majority of the next track section before heavyness comes rushing back in. The drumming is most complex on this song. Lot's of variations and drum fills. The end set's a last mark on heavyness leaving me in the hope that we'll hear more of this great musician in the future.

Bevar Sea taking us inside of the studio with full new song

Yeah, india's doom metal band Bevar Sea has entered the studio a while back to lay down their new written songs on tape. Happily enough for us the band is sharing some insights into this creative working process by letting us hear some of the new material in advance.

(c) by Bevar Sea, used with kind permission

This time they've released the full new track "Where there's smoke (there's a pyre)" on Soundcloud. As far as I can hear this one is showing a bit of the faster side of the new album since it's a pushing forward track yet it has all the strong and pure riffing trademark's for which doom metal became so loved and liked for.

What I like on top of this is that it comes along packed in such a traditional sounding production. It feels as if you could be inside of the rehearsal room with Bevar Sea and hear them playing. I love the roughness of the sound, it gives such a hard, heavy and direct feeling to the music. The song made me feel well all the way.

The new record is entitled "Invoke the bizarre" and has been set for release on 1st September 2015. Make sure to see the band's Soundcloud page, there's already more preview stuff up there for you to check out... And give the band a like on Facebook to be sure not to miss out the further recording process.

Reverence Festival 2015 announces line-up and early bird tickets

Yeah, the Open Air season is drawing near. You can feel in my eyes that the emotions and feelings are getting better the more the sun shines and the more time you can spend outside.

So here's the info for the 2015 edition of the Reverence Festival for all the people living in Portugal or nearby to make this summer something special for you. Note that the early bird tickets can help you save some of your precious festival budget and a new feature the "Sunrise Psychedelic Jam" has been installed. There's also a new possibility for accommodation available if you need a bit of luxury at this point.

On August 27th, 28th and 29th Reverence festival returns to Valada, Portugal, to offer up another weekender of quality psychedelia. This monster line-up showcases acts from the stoner, grunge, shoegaze and doom scene, with more acts to be announced in the coming weeks.

Update 2015/07/06: If you want to have the quickest overview on this festival I suggest you to watch the video below. It presents the 2015 edition line-up along with some nice video impressions from the camping grounds, festival visitors, some stage impressions and the nice surroundings of the festival place in a short 2 minute video. A longer video showing a more detailed view on the 2014 edition can be found at the very end of this article (just scroll down to the end of the text).

Update 2015/07/02: The line-up still grows! This looks like it will be a massively valueable event to visit.
Recently added to the already diverse line-up is the cemented folk rock band Sean Riley & The Slow Riders, also performing will be heavy doom rockers, Samsara Blues Experiment, and legendary stalwarts The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, who continually push the line in experimentation.

Update 2015/05/21: New bands have been added to the line-up: UFOMAMMUT, BIZARRA LOCOMOTIVA, 10.000 RUSSOS, DEAD GHOSTS

(c) by Reverence Festival, used with kind permission

Reverence Festival is somewhat of a marathon, where hardcore fans can bask in Valada’s Summer heat as late as 6am. This year they’ll debut their ‘Sunrise Psychedelic Jam’ which will see members of various bands on the bill play together while the sun rises over the river.

UK psych breakthroughs The Horrors headline with Californian doom legends Sleep, at two ends of this hyperspecific spectrum, these giants of their genres perfectly summarise the Reverence sound pallet.

French post-rock heroes Alcest also star at the top of the bill next to Amon Düül II, the German outfit largely considered to be one of the founders of the Krautrock scene and a seminal influence on its development. It’s with bands like these that not only prove Reverence to be multi-cultural in their tastes, but also true to the scene in which they’ve mastered.

Ex Brian Jonestown Massacre, Joel Gion & The Primary Colours also head up the powerhouse weekender with transcendental psych soundscapes and blistering walls of feedback, whilst Ukrainian rockers Stoner Jesus dish up their own divine take on the genre.

The event takes place in the relaxed surroundings of Parque de Merendas, which runs along the banks of the Tejo river and includes a fluvial beach, picnic areas and coffee shops. Traditional Portuguese food and drinks including vegan and vegetarian will be available, as well as camping facilities adjacent to the festival site with toilets and showers.

Valada is a small picturesque village, in the heart of Cartaxo, famous for agriculture and wine production. Often considered the wine capital of Portugal, Reverence are celebrating by having the local produce available all weekend. Located approximately 60kms inland from Lisbon and 550km from Madrid, easily accessible via train from Lisbon where shuttle buses will be running from nearest station Reguengo to the festival site.

This year Reverence have teamed up with ‘Sleep Em All’, an up-market Portuguese camp accommodation company who specialise in tee-pees and luxury camping facilities. They will be taking over a one acre area of the fifteen acre campsite with luxury tents and caravans, which will be available for €11 to €17 per person per night.

3 DAY TICKETS:
€ 58 from February 13 - 30 June
€ 65 from 1 August - 26 August
€ 70 from 27 August

DAY TICKETS:
€ 35 from 13 February - 4 June
€ 30 from 1 August - 26 August
€ 45 from 27 August

THURSDAY TICKETS:
€ 10 from 13 February - 26 August
€ 27 in August

Tickets: www.blueticket.pt  www.ticketline.sapo.pt 
Reverence: http://www.reverencefestival.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/reverencevalada
Sleep Em All: http://www.sleep-em-all.com

If you would like to check out some of the highlights of Reverence Festival 2014 or just to see how things are set up there see the video below.

CD Review: Bevar Sea - Bevar Sea

Note:  If you have a own band or project that you think might fit in well here for a review or as a presentation / introduction please drop me a line or two in a E-Mail. Please see my profile for my E-Mail adress. I appreciate new suggestions very much so don't hesitate to contact me. I'm also interested in band news / updates / tourdates so keep the stuff coming. Thanks!

If you're having troubles writing in English please send me a E-Mail in your preferred language or use the free Google Translator to transfer your message to English. I also use that tool, it's of course not perfect but I think it will mostly likely work out for our purposes.

Short Introduction

Bevar Sea are a stoner/doom band that is located in Bangalore / India. The band formed back in late 2010.  They have been influenced by heavy blues-rock of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the band is focused on presenting classic heavy metal exactly the way it should be, by employing an organic, no-frills approach to songwriting and live musicianship. This review talks about the first full length output of the band. At the moment Bevar Sea are working on a brand new record which is schedulded for a release mid 2015.

(c) by Bevar Sea, used with kind permission

Short summary / Player / Purchase Link

If you love the Black Sabbath albums back from the very first days of this legendary band you'll love the music of Bevar Sea,too. To me personally the band took me back to my childhood days when I used to listen to songs like "Sabbath bloody sabbath", "Ironman" or "War pigs". It is a great pleasure for me to see a band is carrying on the torch of these roots of the doom metal.

The even more cool thing is that besides all the traditional sounding elements the band also took care to put in some fresh efforts by mixing in elements from the Stoner music into their songs. Another aspect I like is the length of the tracks. All of the tracks are longer tracks which play around a lot back and forth with the riffs and elements so you have a pure time of enjoyment with them and can the sometimes montone repeat of the stuff even let's you get in deeper into the songs. Well done!

The albums comes for the nice price of only 3 US Dollar as a download. There's also a cool limited edition of 500 physical copies on CD available that comes in a 3 panel digipak with a clear tray in the middle and a 12 page booklet. This version can be purchased for 8 Dollar at the Bandcamp page of the band.

Don't miss out the progress of the band recording the new album. You can keep a eye on them through Facebook or go to Youtube to see some videostuff of the album recordings.


Track by track review

1. The Smiler 
Big, bright riffs kick in rough and hard to this one. A riff change leads over to the vocal driven part. Very dark and sharp vocals give the track a gloomy atmosphere. Much variations put inside in this one like the clear bridge at the middle of the track. Extensive solo sections towards the end. A very compact and fitting open for the album.

2. Abishtu  
A slow bass intro opens up track two. Clear guitars follow before the typical rough guitars jump in and the tempo is altered. The fastest song of the album. In the middle towards the solo section a slight change to clear guitars mixed with distorted parts. The end is set in a similar form as the beginning. The cycle closes again.

(c) by Bevar Sea, used with kind permission

3. Universal Sleeper
More set in the doom tradition this one comes slower and more room for experimenting around with the riff. Vocals are very clear in the beginning but go over to a heavier style as the song progresses. A new riff at the middle gives the track a new direction, pushing forwards to a more experimenting, progressive touch.

4. Mono Gnome  
A very long and epic track with seventeen minutes duration this one closes the album. It starts with a typical riff and form for a Bevar Sea track. A riff-hacker with the hard and dark vocals many parts are set on a longer and montone form but giving the song the room for some experimentation and trying out several variations. Towards the middle of the song seems to morph over with a slower  section but comes back with the main theme afterwards only to change over to the next slower, experimental part with distortion filling a big room of the music. The final chapter is kept on a softer note with clear notes setting a big contrast to the previous very heavy styled song segments. A great way to end this epic song.

Reclvse present first track from the recording sessions

The doom metal band Reclvse from Swansea / South Wales is currently recording songs for a upcoming new release after the first demo of the band received very positive feedback from various media.

In the meantime the band gave their fans on Facebook and Soundcloud the chance to listen to the first track the band finished in the recording process. The band revealed that "(...) the intro bells of the track were recorded at the local church, St Mary's. The bass guitar was recorded by Blundel on his first take!(...)".

Entiled "The hanged man" the track shows a much more professionell sound in my ears and you can fastly hear that the band made a lot of progress since the early days. The vocals are dry and less majestic on this track while the rest is also kept more compact and shorter compared to the previous release of the band. The song surprised me a lot. It doesn't mean they changed it all completly, but it shows for sure that bands make progress when they dare to step forward.

So far no release date has been set for the new record. It's also not sure if the band will maybe put it out as a split release with another band. Make sure to follow the further recording activities of Reclvse on Facebook or Soundcloud.