Saturday, July 27, 2013

…Embrace the unholy mother of angels: GOATESS – ‘Goatess’


With a doom/stoner pedigree and reputation that precedes him, Chritus Linderson really needs no introduction. All of the projects that he’s been involved with—the criminally underrated ‘C.O.D.’ album with Saint Vitus, the groove-laden psychedelia of Terra Firma, and the epic doom of Lord Vicar—are easily among the finest that the genre has to offer. Enter the Goatess. The collective efforts of Chritus (vocals), Niklas (guitars), Kenta (drums), and Findus (bass), originally formed under the moniker Weekend Beast, have released arguably one of the most anticipated albums of the year. Without a doubt, it delivers.

The unifying sound of the band’s self-titled debut relies heavily on a stoned, repetitious low-end groove which is accompanied by moments of impending doom and bluesy, blissed-out otherworldly excursions. As far as Linderson’s other projects are concerned, ‘Goatess’ has an overall sound that shares more in common with his stint in Terra Firma, most notably on the first half of the album, opposed to the more straight-forward doom of Saint Vitus, Count Raven, or Lord Vicar. But fans of his more traditional doom efforts won’t be dissatisfied, particularly on the epic two-part “Oracle”. The first part, “The Mist”, is the ethereal calm-before-the-storm. It’s a melancholic, spacey introduction that is ultimately blasted into oblivion under the crushing weight of part two, “The Oracle”. Mesmerizing, heavy, and gasp-inducing, “The Oracle” is a definite album highlight that occupies the smoke-filled realms of both stoner and doom with an arch-enchanter’s precision.

While not officially a part of the two-track “Oracle” movement, “King One” acts as a companion-piece both thematically and musically and finds Chritus at his most venomous and acerbic. The track is another exercise in hypnotic heaviness that ultimately breaks down into a contemplative, spacey interlude before resuming the devastation. The Urizen-like triptych tale of the “Oracle” two-parter and “King One” are the core of the album from which the other tracks emanate. ‘Goatess’ concludes with “Tentacles of Zen”, an epic, twelve minute tune that allows the listener to catch their breath and ultimately unwind. This closing track isn’t without its surprises as rhythmic, tribal drumming and exotic riffs serves as a musical interlude suited for the Bacchanalia, or in other words, for copulation on a cosmic scale.

Those who have followed Weekend Beast and the band’s eventual metamorphosis into Goatess in anticipation of a full-length can finally revel in the sonic, doomed-out bliss that is the band’s self-titled album. While ‘Goatess’ is rooted firmly in the stoner-rock camp, there is enough heavy, be-slothed riffs to satisfy even the most discerning doom-heads. With not a weak track on the album, ‘Goatess’ is a welcome addition to the canon of heavy music and another excellent addition to Chritus’s irrefutable résumé. Drink it down, smoke it up, and bow down to the Goatess…

Words: Steve Miller
(Originally published at Temple of Perdition)

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Sunday, July 7, 2013

...A ceremony for the new dark age: WOLVSERPENT – ‘Perigaea’ Demo



Meaning derived from a simple string of words cannot even come close to conveying the immersive, transcendental experience that comes with listening to the music of Wolvserpent. The Boise, Idaho duo’s 2012 demo, ‘Perigaea’—whose primeval nature will function as a seedling for a more developed and mature full-length—is the conceptual basis for the band’s forthcoming Relapse Records debut. The music of the ‘Perigaea’ demo, like most of Wolvserpent’s work, is wrought with equivocal dynamics that are often subject to the listener’s mood, where subsequent spins separated by space and time or context can elicit diametrically opposed emotions.

Composed of Brittany McConnell (drums, violin) and Blake Green (guitar, vocals, keyboards) the duo often crafts moments of sheer beauty—moments that are often violently assaulted with upheaval and unrest. Much of Wolvserpent’s music is embellished with a forlorn, achingly beautiful ambience courtesy of McConnell’s violin, though those moments often melt away to be replaced with passages of unmitigated terror. Few bands are able to proficiently attain this level of atmospheric wizardry, though Godspeed You! Black Emperor immediately comes to mind, a band that Wolvserpent shares much in common. Where Godspeed You! Black Emperor often soars with orchestral swells, Wolvserpent writhes and howls from a primitive blackened abyss.

The ‘Perigaea’ demo is a massive recording of five tracks spanning over 70 minutes. The opener, “Perigaea I”, is by far the briefest track falling just short of the four minute mark. It is dark wave of pure ambience that is underscored with the sound of a crackling fire and a murder of crows seemingly cawing from within a cavernous void. A violin tremolo introduces “Perigaea II” before Green’s cataclysmic riffing and guttural howls erupt and rend the earth asunder. “Perigaea II” is not unchanging, though for a majority of its duration the track remains in a sort of stasis—a state of perpetual climax that is wrought with malignant tension where only the closing moments offer any reprieve.

Words simply cannot do justice for Wolvserpent or their latest effort. The remaining three tracks continue to explore the dichotomy that exists between serenity and terror, harmony and discord, and beauty and the grotesque. While the 2012 incarnation of ‘Perigaea’ is tagged as a demo, the album easily stands up to the band’s earlier releases both production-wise and in terms of completeness. To think that this album is the mere suggestion of a greater, more developed vision verges on being incomprehensible. Nevertheless, it will be interesting to see how the tunes have evolved and how the duo’s ideas have unfolded with the re-envisioning of ‘Perigaea’ which should be released in the near future. While Wolvserpent doesn’t necessarily sound like any of the following, fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Velvet Robe, or even the Melvins/Lustmord collaboration ‘Pigs of the Roman Empire’ should investigate further. Listen to the band’s catalogue via their Bandcamp page or download from their website. Essential listening…

Words: Steve Miller
(Originally published at Temple of Perdition)

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Tuesday, July 2, 2013

...In the name of Satan, I place a curse upon you: THE GRAVE – ‘Demonia’ Demo


Every year it seems a handful of promising demos enter the fray to pique the interest of discerning doomheads and sludge worshippers across the realm. When these bands finally get around to recording their debuts the results can be stunning as with Windhand’s self-titled debut and Pallbearer’s ‘Sorrow and Extinction’. Both Windhand’s ‘Practice Space Demo’ and Pallbearer’s ‘2010 Demo’ kept fans anticipating studio albums for a very long two years before proper studio albums were released. Hopefully we won’t have to wait until next year for Apostle of Solitude’s answer to their ‘Demo 2012’. While perhaps not yet in the same league as the aforementioned bands, Argentina’s traditional doom trio The Grave have thrown their wizard caps into the ring with their ‘Demonia’ EP. Needless to say, I hope it doesn’t take these guys two years to give the five tracks of their initial demo a proper studio recording.

The Grave play an infectious style of traditional doom with a few psychedelic flourishes and they don’t confine their style to a mere slug-paced plod and are just as confident with more upbeat tempos. The opening track, “Lord of Mirrors”, opens with a sample from the schlocky early seventies flick ‘Simon, King of the Witches’ before a plodding bass line is accompanied by a moody introductory riff that could have been composed by Steve Mills of The Wounded Kings. While the recording gives the entire demo a one-dimensional, monochromatic feel, “Lord of Mirrors” really hints at the potential of some serious swing courtesy of the rhythm section of bassist Ramon Araoz and drummer Facundo Correa.

If it wasn’t crystal clear before, the band makes their love of occult cinema apparent on the demo’s second track “Luciferian Woman” (and further evidenced by tracks “Psychomaniacs” and “Blind, are the Dead”) with a sample from Mario Bava’s excellent ‘Black Sunday’. Barbara Steele commands, “"Look into my eyes. Embrace me. You will die, but I can bring you pleasures mortals cannot know,” before a flanged-out guitar riff kicks off the proceedings. The majority of the tune falls comfortably into a driving, head-nodding groove accented with some blistering fretwork during the chorus.

The shortest track, “Black God of Death”, features the demo’s most discordant riffs accompanied with probably the most dynamic bass lines which makes for a stellar track. While guitarist/vocalist Diego Benedetto’s vocals are similar to Balam’s Alexander Carellas, the semblance is even more notable due to Diego’s melodies. With the title of “Psychomaniacs” I expected the fourth track to totally rip and melt my face off. While it’s not bad by any stretch of the imagination, it just doesn’t hold up against the other four tracks. The last track, “Blind…are the Dead”, has moments of classic doom crawl and up-tempo rocking in equal measures until the song’s final moments which is a slow, moody lurch layered with spacey guitar leads.

While I’m a huge fan of a lo-fi gritty production The Grave could really benefit from a fine-tuned, polished recording. There are moments on ‘Demonia’ where the bass lines are just ready to take-off into the stratosphere, but instead sound grounded or restrained. Overall ‘Demonia’ is a more than a solid first outing and hopefully signals great things to come from the Argentinian trio. All of the tracks of ‘Demonia’ have also been captured on the band’s ‘En vivo 2013’ live recording on their Bandcamp page with the addition of a sixth track entitled “Angela Blake”—all of which are worth checking out. Killer stuff…

Words: Steve Miller
(Originally published at Temple of Perdition)

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