Electric Wizard - Wizard Bloody Wizard

Wizard Bloody Wizard is what just about everyone in the doom metal community is looking forward to hearing, but already it has seen some pretty split reviews. 

Its been three years since their crusher Time To Die tore through the scene with riff after riff of stoner doom metal hurled from the deep abyss. Time To Die could have been considered the band's highest point since their string of success in the early 2000s, so it's easy to understand why many are leering at Wizard Bloody Wizard with high expectations.

Wizard Bloody Wizard is a trippy dark rock slugger, but it fades in and out at times into weary-eyed lackadaisical moments. That may be considered the intent, to create music that makes you just want to drop out. What matters are the climatic knockouts in between. If the band is on the verge of exhaustion, then wherever they're digging deep to find the fuel for that authentic Electric Wizard dirge, they do still have it.

The album embarks with an eerie introduction on "See You In Hell", and then transitions to a malevolent space truckin' jam. The song is nearly seven minutes long and carries with it all the eclectic oddities that make Electric Wizard such an inspirational and utterly peerless band.

"Necromania" follows with the primal attitude of old school rock born out of the 60s underground. The lyrical themes of Electric Wizard remain mostly the same, cryptic imagination and all, but what I like most about this new vision of Wizard's sound is it harkens to the legendary days of occultic rock outlaws. The main riff is rhythmically enchanting, a simple hook that lures you in while Liz Buckingham spins groovy spells of her own on the overlay.

"Hear The Sirens Scream" can definitely be used to measure the band's ability to lift you out of a lull. While the first half of track three can be seen as a detrimental snoozefest, it's the climactic closer that shatters the dull haze.

As I said, although there are tired moments, Wizard is still able to represent themselves as the iconic death cult reverb mystics -- only slightly aged by passing of time.

If you come to this album thinking nothing but 'I want the next Dopethrone,' then leave. Or stay and change your mind. There won't be another Dopethrone. Ever. Period. However, Wizard is still capable of pulling out dirty jams inspired by the fantastic imagery of the damned. Their last decade has been a strong point for acidic crooning rockers, much like what Wizard Bloody Wizard became, a monster of corrosive riffs and Oborn's nefarious songwriting. The organic chemistry between this recent incarnation of band members remains strong in every context.

Channeling something somewhere in the darkness, Electric Wizard can still craft monolithic tunes. The album's ominous conclusion may be its strongest track. Over 11 minutes long, "Mourning of The Magicians" is a winding tale of demise at the end of the bend.

Wizard Bloody Wizard may not be the dopest Electric Wizard album, but it's certainly worthy of their legacy. It features the incredible songwriting narrative talents of Buckingham and Oborn that have built the band up for years. It's not too monotonous or burdened by cliches. 

Souldrinker - War Is Coming

Mixing elements of classic rock with the aggressive hooks of groove metal and awesome melodies of power metal, Souldrinker offer a little bit of everything for everybody. 

The album War Is Coming is totally killer no filler from front to back. Although some of the lyrical references throughout the album may appeal to the sci-fi and fantasy fans in the metal community, War Is Coming packed some pretty serious themes, also.

This German unit certainly has some similarities to Edguy, another German band that excelled with well timed catchy groove hooks and absolutely majestic melodies. Souldrinker's female vocalist Iris Boanta has a tough yet charming style. Her raspy delivery fits in well with the tones created by guitarist Markus Pohl of Mystic Prophecy, who guides the songs along with riffs that dance elegantly between abrasive and mellow. The powerful rhythm section helps complete the band as well, with beautiful hard hitting punches that charge the band's anthems. 

The talent of producer Tom Mueller really stuck like glue to the talent of this band. Mueller was definitely instrumental in getting the right sounds together on the album to make this such a solid debut, as was mastering artist Erik Freese.

War Is Coming is a solid debut from this band, and Souldrinker offer a refreshing twist on the power metal. Well done all around.

Daxma - The Head Which Becomes The Skull

Simple and melancholic, the brutally heavy Daxma has a charming mystic appeal to their atmospheric brand of sludge. The Head Which Becomes The Skull is a monolithic banger that sits constantly on a slow burn. The Oakland outfits enchanting melodies reveal layers of aesthetic decay and unnerving rhythms. The exchanging vocals between Jessica, Kelly, and Isaac produce a beautiful dynamic of ranges and tones that befit dreamy serenades and melodramatic gothic sounds.

Although the tracks do tend to drag there are often uplifting moments and grooves that propel THWBtS forward. It isn’t really an easy listen and you may need to go through the album a few times to really feel the dimensions that are weighing on it. In this sense, I can appreciate the artistic execution. It’s not simply an art album, but a wearisome ode to the imposing definitions of mortality.

MIDNIGHT - Sweet Death and Ecstasy

Raging edgy metal from Ohio, MIDNIGHT has been waving the banners of Satanic thrash royalty for an entire era, and now they are coming out with their third album to hold the throne as black n roll’s most savage band.

By the time “Poison Trash” hits I’m on the edge of my seat and already into the bodacious grooves layered under toxic levels of distortion.

The album is short and anything but sweet, however, that’s not to say it isn’t good. Although I think the momentum and energy behind their first two albums is a leap ahead of what is on the third release, Sweet Death and Ecstasy, there is still a lot of potency left in MIDNIGHT that shredders and thrashers are going to be able to enjoy for years. “Poison Trash” definitely has what you might be looking for in a stand out MIDNIGHT track, and should definitely be expected to get the crowd wild at any show.

You can feel the almost satirical darkness of the band in tracks like “Melting Brain”, which are ludicrous lyrically, but conjured with such a thickness in Athenar’s songwriting that you may find yourself gladly sinking into this rocking Hell while laughing at the tongue and cheek lyrics.

The Venom influence is paramount everywhere and most certainly obvious on “Rabid!” and “Bitch Mongrel,” two tracks on the album’s latter half with that definite raw punk rock style that clashes with speed and and deep bluesy guitar tones dripping with acidic abrasiveness.

Iron Monkey - 9-13

There is just something about a classic 90s sludge band that cranks the atmosphere up a notch. Either Iron Monkey album that came out of that decade still holds up.

9-13 is an abrasive assault on par with the gutter music of Iron Monkey's youth. Its juicy grooves and song structures maintain a level of interest from forward to back. Undeniably catchy, the Nottingham three piece have cranked up some voodoo with hooks that downshift into kinetic bluesy jams, then burst out into a spiral of fast break mania; the tracks are casually pummeling and never lose sight of that muddy hardcore punk vibe of the 90s sludge scene. Jim Rushby churns out viscous bayou juke music while simultaneously spitting out glass each time he opens his mouth. The drumming of Brigga is a relentless flood of pulse pounding energy that will guide your step into the undertow of England's hard hitting sludge scene. Steve Watson's bass heavy grooves will shake you loose in any situation whether its in standstill traffic, mopping the floor, or knocking up your neighbor. Solid album. Great stuff.

Release: 10-20-17
Bandcamp

Year of The Cobra - Burn Your Dead

Radical space tripping rock from the great Pacific Northwest, Seattle’s Year of The Cobra are back and crushing with five track EP Burn Your Dead. The EP is a fuzzy hi-fi gnarly jammer with juicy rhythms and clean grooves. There are plenty of pummeling riffs on the album but they don’t lose a sizzling appeal that helps to allure the listener with enchanting tunes. 

Foreboding and menacing, Amy Tung’s vocals have a distinguishing appeal that helps to make the two-piece listenable, and even an edge with some familiarity to early 90s riot grrrl punk rock singers.

Despite some of the positive characteristics, nothing really made me want to remember any of the tracks apart from “The Howl” which stood out to me as the EP’s centerpiece. Because the album is so short, there’s not much to lean on, and I feel that contributes to some of the lackluster. At least there’s some effort to deviate between multiple tempos throughout the tracks, which I found helpful in keeping my attention.

EP releases October 27th 2017!

EP

Bell Witch - Mirror Reaper

Neither boring or ever easily understood, Bell Witch have established themselves in the genre of funeral doom with alluring minimalist conceptual offerings backed by Profound Lore Records.

Just a year ago, Bell Witch’s previous drummer Adrian Guerra passed away at the age of 36, not long after releasing the band released their 2015 crusher Four Phantoms. In that regard, Mirror Reaper may pass as a eulogy or tribute while succeeding the seminal doom unit’s first two chapters, also. 

Mirror Reaper is a dynamic single-track opus that stretches out the depths of funeral doom metal into a melodramatic two-part dirge.

If you’re really trying to capture the feel of this album, then it’s probably not going to come through to you on the first listen. It’s not an easy album to just throw in and jam out to. In fact, it immediately struck me as too listless and unforgivably monotonous, but that’s just the funeral doom metal way.

I had not heard Bell Witch until this promo passed my way, so I went back to Longing (2012) after finishing the 83-minute monolith that Profound Lore is prepping for an October 20^th release. In comparison to Longing, it’s certainly way matured, but an inspection of the subsequent album Four Phantoms (2015) is a more relative album for judgment. I found that Mirror Reaper captivates a greater sense of melancholy and longing than Four Phantoms if that’s even possible.

As I sank into my second listen of Mirror Reaper, the album began to feel more listenable, however no less depleting. Around the thirty-minute mark on my second listen, the clamor of colossal heavy chords forced out a reverie buried beneath all of the morbid angst, and revealed a fountain of sincere poetry juxtaposed with rhythms that could only be the wild spawn of ravenous heartache.

The polish on Bell Witch’s Mirror Reaper sets an ominous tone.  As the track discloses their tortured panorama with execution that blossoms into beautiful cadences and that help Mirror Reaper to prevail over the senses.

The appeal of Mirror Reaper only grew on me after several sessions. Deep into the album’s second half, Dylan Desmond’s reverberating bass chords and Jesse Schreibman’s crushing drumming unravel a sonic work of art within two conflicting forces spilling upon a canvas of the infinite void.

Album release: October 20th 2017