Always Upon You, Light Never Ceases

Isis (USA)

Panopticon

October 19, 2004

The electric eye is all-seeing. No matter what you do, an electronic trail is left behind. Someone, somewhere is keeping tabs. Watching. Cold, distant and clinical voyeurism. Panopticon is the zenith of post metal. After tribal space sludge (Celestial) gained new life through a crash landing in the seas of the bermuda triangle (Oceanic), the invasion takes form as a transparent entity of modern artificial sourveillance and control over societal behaviour, conforming the path of mankind. However, the human touch is all but forgotten, as there is delicacy to be found here, a gentle touch that can only come from warm blood, as showcased particularly on the provocative crowning achievement of "So Did We" and the heartfelt transformative power of the instrumental "Altered Course." Distortion comes encrusted with a binary residue, a film of luminescence that is all seeing, and yet unseen. We cannot hide ourselves. Our souls rain down at the foot of authoritarian towers. Eyes unseen, they may be watching, perched upon grinning mouths and cancerous tongues. Resist. Listen. Read more.

Southern Sugar

Witch Mountain (USA)

South of Salem

2011

In a nutshell: Bluesy, soul-stirrin', hip-shakin', sexy swingin', southern-fried sludgy witch doom metal. This will keep that midnight oil burning strong and low all through the night. The sultry evocative vocals bring to mind Janis Joplin, and melt like hot wax over the steamy restraint of the seductive drum beats. Less is oh-so-much more with the smokey riffs made up of Black Sabbath, Goatsnake, Sleep and Electric Wizard. A hint of country twang and a heaping serving of lust-inflected blues show off the curves of this bewitching mistress of the night. An undercurrent of occult vibes blends well within this bubbly cauldron of analog spirits. Bask in this authentically vintage sound with herbal respite. Slow down and feel the mood massage its way from within, let it caress you with a warmth that craves to be shared amongst others. You don't choose to sway your being to these sensual rhythms; you just do. Burning under the sun after a hard day's work never felt so goddamn good. This comes highly recommended, read more for the stream.

Altar of Blood, Altar of Pain

Asphyx (Netherlands)

The Rack

April 13, 1991

Fuck yeah, Friday the thirteenth! Let's bust out some old school death metal horror! So Asphyx have released their latest -post, -post, -post breakup album, Deathhammer, as everyone knows of course. I'm not a big fan of band reunions, or comeback albums, etc. It's not that I'm against the reasons for reforming or anything, or the idea behind coming back together to relive something long past or whatnot, I just find that in the vast majority of cases, the new albums suck compared to the old ones. To me that doesn't necessarily imply their reputation is tarnished in any way. If anything, it makes me listen back to the classics that much more. Granted, Asphyx have not been idle for a few years now, but they've got me pumping out their influential early-90's classics despite the wealth of new material. The Rack is a significant contribution particularly to the Netherlands extreme music scene, but also had far reaching impact elsewhere. They took an approach to death metal with a lot of punk attitude, combining bludgening post-Pestilence power and Van Drunen's unhinged vocal snarls ala Autopsy or Obituary, sped up Discharge-fed d-beat intensity with crushing epic Celtic Frost doom marches, all scoured in grimy crust. Worth it for the title track alone, it's a fucking beast. Stream below.

Start Saving for Your Funeral

Coffinworm (USA)

When All Became None

April 5, 2010

Horror descends and madness takes control. Crusty doom sludge monster lurching through the sewers under the grey rainy city streets. Disease and stumbling disorientation overtakes with the odour of malicious intent. Occasional flashbacks of 'shroom-induced paranoia pump up the blood pressure, while a sonic freight train chugs through the skull. Psychosis takes reign over nihilistic attitude, channelling the fantasies of serial killers and other perverted scum of the earth. Becoming the lurching shit thumping urban monster of death and doom. The apocalypse will be brought with oceans of blood and terror. The cancer breeding forth from hearts of the cities becomes an epidemic. The sickening crushingly dense buildups of corpse intoxication continue to exchange with destructive stomping mosh fits of murder and cannibalism, spreading the plague further towards the death of all. This came out a couple years ago. Great band. Get high on the stench of this decay, and kill some zombies or something. Read more for the stream.

Death Awaits You, What are You Waiting For?

Loss (USA)

Despond

May 31, 2011

Let us put to rest our silence. There is nothing cosmic about this. No divinity to be found here. No consciousness expansion or mystical secrets to be revealed. Flesh has been cut, blood has been shed, and only pain and deprivation provide company in the presence of absolute loneliness. Surrender is the only path out of this cold and damp black corner. Misery is the saviour dragging the noose around your neck towards the gaping void beyond. Choking desperation provides a tourniquet for the wounds that will never heal. Your vacant shell of a body will know sorrows not meant for the living. Sacrifice yourself, the curtains are falling. End it all before you know fear. If you saw the darkness before death, life fading before its last breath, then you would know. If you saw life without hope, death without reason, then you would know. Once you listen to last year's painfully beautiful catharsis of funeral doom excellence, then you would know...

Star, Reign Down on You

Neurosis (USA)

Through Silver in Blood

April 2, 1996

Seeking shelter from the storm. Heart racing, the grinding of industrialized machinery crippling forth destruction of urban realities. Atmospheric forces of alien origin invade the senses, a chilling caress made manifest in a serpentine breeze, pulsating with shockwaves of malignant electrical energy, steals the breath right out of the lungs. Concrete collapsing all around, colours disintegrating with the hopes of survival. Flesh slowly decays and the veins of the soul begin to leak streams of translucent matter, surging forth from the oil fed furnace of iron pumping hearts to the open abyss of the sea of spirituality that is blanketing the world in unified breakdown, global decay and regression towards the one true centre. A return to the soil, a return to stone. Doom encrusted within a tribal trance, ebbing and flowing amongst primordial truths and instincts long since systematically eradicated from human consciousness. The sun pierces the sky, scarring the black with the luminescence of stars. A death of the self, a death of the ego. Rebirth of enlightenment. Listen to Neurosis' finest hour below. Not for the weak.

Seven Psalms for Our Lord of Light

Burning Witch (USA)

Crippled Lucifer

March 28, 1998

Ladies and gentlemen, the legendary Burning Witch. The embryonic minds behind the creations of Khanate, SunnO))), Asva and Goatsnake briefly came together to produce one metric fuck-tonne of a behemoth amongst influential extreme doom/stoner releases. Crippled Lucifer is a collection of rotten sludgy death dirges written around 1996-1997 and released after they broke up, and was significant to the growth of the esteemed Southern Lord Records as it was just starting out. This is a bad acid trip through hell, where the weed is tainted with decay, and the air is thick with the ghastly musk of bloody concrete and urban death. Swampy riffs trudge through graveyard quicksand beneath shrieks of possessed apocalyptic demons. Feedback and chaos strike through the seams of the voids between each passing crush of seismic distortion. A wasteland worth acquiring the taste for, even if only for the historic impact. Pack the bong for this one, and let the crippling begin...

It was All Very Sudden

Rituals (USA)

Rituals

March 20, 2012

Everything about this package had me drawn towards it. From the smoky ambience of the artwork's abstract depth of the flesh of ghosts, the ambiguously occult name of Rituals, right down to the effectively post-blackened font, I knew I was going to enjoy this. I could describe the music as down tempo atmospheric apocalyptic post-doom with soaring ethereal leads ala Year of No Light or even Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the cinematic scope of the arrangements, using textbook examples of post-rock dynamics, of buildups and release. The subterranean, ritualistic rhythms pounded out by drums and bass from the depths of the underworld create the firmament unto which the dying rays of a burnt out sun gleam with decrepit radiance in the form of cerebral tremolo auroras. The music really fits the vast and barren land from which it comes. Listen to this as you doze off to sleep, or have it provide a background accompaniment to some artistic endeavor, and good things will come. Read more to listen.

Under Swirling Moons and Galaxies

Pallbearer (USA)

Sorrow and Extinction

February 21, 2012

Until Ahab slowly sails forth its latest material, I will very happily whet my appetite with Pallbearer. In fact, Ahab can take their time at this point, because this absolutely stunning piece of emotionally devastating craftsmanship has set the bar mighty fucking deep this year for doooooom as far as I'm concerned. The album art is a telling omen. I can't believe how crushingly awesome this sounds and it seemingly came out of nowhere (Arkansas, really?). I will easily and without a second thought place these guys amongst the ranks of the aforementioned Ahab, Warning/40 Watt Sun, hell even the almighty Candlemass. Comparisons could also be made to The Wounded Kings in the cloudy mysterious atmosphere, and even a bit of Ufomammut in the psychedelic leads, but with a fresh outlook on the genre, yet sounding just familiar enough to be grippingly desirable. Listen to what it sounds like to bear the weight of a sonic blanket stitched from the most desolate corners of the cosmos as it pulses with the secrets of omniscience. Best release of 2012 so far. Read more for a listen.

We're in the Shadow of a Dying World

Subrosa (USA)

No Help for the Mighty Ones

March 1, 2011

Music that sounds just as drained of colour as the day outside, like the heavy ceiling of endless grey clouds themselves are a vacuum, a parallel plane of inverted metaphysics, that slowly inhale the particles of hue and saturation, in exchange for gentle offerings of pale flakes of frozen spirits. There's something of almost religious significance to this. It's a gorgeous swell of surreality. Violins provide solace amongst the barren urban decay in the physical caress of winding streams, the softly blowing breeze as it pours forth from the furnace of burning hope, kept alit with the passion of struggling forth when everything starts looking the same. There's a happy ending out there somewhere, you can feel it, you can sense it. Squint amidst the mysticism, and bleed out the bleak because this doom is veiled in secrets and signs. Subrosa released this gem last year, one of the best pieces of musical art to reach my ears in a long time. The concept, the unique sound, the artwork, the whole package really nails it home for me. Bleak post-apocalyptic doom, a fitting theme for the current epidemic of end of the world themed media all of a sudden. The soundtrack to a dying earth. It is 2012 after all, so we shall see. You need to hear this. Stream it below.

Black Birds Descend Down Upon Everything

Jex Thoth/Totem (USA)

Totem

April 27, 2007

Enter a shamanic realm where only through death is enlightenment achieved. To aid this spiritual journey, a hefty dose of alchemical potions is required to be injested. Amongst such concoctions as blood of the lion, ethers that have been passed on through generations of easy riders, Navajo mescaline teas and psilocybin elixers, the transcendent sounds of pre-Jex Thoth cult Totem play host to the events of the Styx-like crossing between the earthly and celestial planes. This midnight fire burns with the ghostly breath of Charles Manson, fueled with the mystical kindling sprouted around Lee Dorrian's Cathedral. The Goddess of the earth is spoken through the overwhelmingly sexy voice of Jex Thoth, Medusa-like in its power to stop you in your tracks, overcome with awe-struck wonder and bewildered seduction. Listen to the psychedelic sounds of a druid black mass under a full moon in the Arizona desert. It's magical. Read more to begin...

Oh, Ye Great Mysterious Shepherd of Waves

Ahab (Germany)

The Call of the Wretched Sea

September 29, 2006

Okay, so this really should have been my very first post for this blog. As far as I'm concerned, Ahab is on a whole different ship when it comes to music. Their debut, The Call of the Wretched Sea is an absolute behemoth that needs to be heard by absolutely everyone. I cannot overstate this. Majestic nautical funeral dooooom of the most crushing magnitude, all based on Charles Dickens' classic Moby Dick. You just can't beat this kind of class. Once in a very long while you find a band that perfectly encapsulates the very idea of 'awesome' in the most literal sense. The weight of all the oceans in the world is felt within these seven magnificent and elegantly written tunes. Delicately submerged ghostly whale songs whistle eerily calm odes to all that has been before and all that will ever remain amidst the blackest deepest canyons of the seas, never before charted by any man. Discover new depths of awareness, sunken treasures await you. Monolithic slabs of eternal enchantment, older than time, deceptively beautiful in a realm easily mistaken for otherworldy. This is doom metal royalty, pay your respects and listen to this masterpiece below.

With Every Deep Happiness There's Some Kind of Pain

40 Watt Sun (UK)

The Inside Room

March 4, 2011

Hey, it's that national capitalistic waste of a holiday today, just when you thought you've crawled your way out of debt from xmas, BAM, you feel obligated to bust whatever load you've since accumulated all over your loved one and its back to square one. However, this is beautiful music. Nostalgic, yet mildly regretful, hindsight can be bittersweet, always in light of what could have been said better, what could have been let go sooner, what could have been found before it was lost. This is music for passionate couples, and music for lonely singles (or maybe that should be lonely couples and passionate singles). Music for the break of dawn and the twilight of dusk. A walk through the park in the fall or a drive through the country in the spring. Hopelessly in love, heart-wrenchingly comforting. Everyone goes through all of this. Just not all the time. You will enjoy this when (if) you feel it. Either way, you will be excused from all the bullshit surrounding today once you let this bleak little gem take it all away. Stream the album below.