Songs of Love, Destruction and Other Synthetic Delusions of the Electric Head

White Zombie (USA)

Astro-Creep: 2000

April 11, 1995

In my opinion, the best release Rob Zombie ever put his name to (Besides "Thunder Kiss '65" or "Black Sunshine"). I feel like it was around this time that the final nails in the smack-encrusted coffin that was American grunge (whom White Zombie very much influenced in the mid-80's) were hammered through cast-iron, piss and blood, and buried alive in the woods where nu-metal dumpster divers began taking root. But besides all that, I grew up during the 90's, so bands like this were somewhat of a stepping stone towards the madness and mayhem lurking just a bit deeper in the underground. Sure, there were a few embarrassing stumbles along the way, as anyone who's ever grown up will attest to, but listening back on this particular slab of horror-drenched white trash, there's a disturbingly alluring physical sleaze to such meat headed stomps through graveyards. Perfecting the formula that Ministry laid out, driven by a super-charged psychedelic hearse from the 60's and beefing up the commercial sensibilities of Alice Cooper and Kiss, with the depth and subtlety of any 70's slasher flick, this was made to enjoy at surface level, so leave your thinking at home, and dance the zombie shuffle. Read more to stream.

The Place Seems Still Alive When the Smoke is Going Down

Scorpions (Germany)

Blackout

April 10, 1982

Arguably the highest regarded of Scorpions releases (though I do have a soft spot for In Trance and Lovedrive). These Germans took quite a while to gain recognition over seas due to limited early releases and banned controversial cover artwork. Before "Rock You Like a Hurricane" made them international superstars, "No One Like You" brought the first glimpse of savage glory well into their careers. Success came with the balance of catchy hard rock, the brief addition of Matthias Jabs' blazing fretboard assaults (they were quite reigned in compared to Michael Schenker's), and Klaus Meine's distinctively animalistic vocals. The sound seemed to follow the commercial success of Van Halen, but I will take this over the latter any day. Dumbass dad-metal hits like "Can't Live Without You" and "Arizona" tangle up against bar room bruisers like "Now!," "Dynamite" and "China White." No one will argue this was pretty tame in 1982, but it gave a reason to check out their stellar 70's releases that paved the way for teutonic proto-thrash. Make some love in the back of your car to this. Read more for the album stream.

Waiting to Find What Sets You Free

Dead Meadow (USA)

Old Growth

February 5, 2008

Fuck yeah, today I got the day off work, so I'm heading out with some friends for the first camping trip of the year. I always listen to Dead Meadow when going out camping. Old Growth, in particular, suits the laid back freedom that only nature can provide. From the cruise down the most obscure backwoods logging road, beaming sun, warm breeze, glistening cold beer, to the acid-fried campfire-side jam-outs shared only with good buds, the animal kingdom and the illuminating tapestry of the stars above. Tonight it also happens to be a full moon, so there's no better choice to light the spark that will blaze the evening full of feral ritualistic hedonism and woodland debauchery than 60's-influenced stoner rock jamming out infectious blues/folk tinged pych rock similar in sound to Wolf People and Black Mountain, but paying homage to literary greats J. R. R. Tolkien and H.P. Lovecraft. The darkness of this band is implied but not necessarily blatantly portrayed, appealing to just about anyone who enjoys any kind of rock and roll throughout history. That includes you, I guarantee it. Read more and give it a try. Don't forget the bug spray.

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.

If the Light Takes Us

Burzum (Norway)

Hvis Lyset Tar Oss

May 15, 1994

Well, it looks like Burzum is coming out with another new album next month, so I might as well get this post out of the way. For all intents and purposes, this album is absolutely mandatory. I don't care what your personal disposition is, if you even marginally enjoy any kind of black metal (or really anything remotely 'blackened'), this is a must-hear. While I regard the subsequent release, Filosofem as Varg Vikernes' absolute peak, it was also conceived as a backlash against the rising global popularity of the genre, whereas Hvis Lyset Tar Oss is the epitome never to be reached again for what black metal as a whole is all about. This is what it sounds like. This is what it represents. This is where it comes from. This is required listening. A solitary quest for answers, a bittersweet youthful rebellion against modernity, brooding atmosphere of distant hateful cold to the point of trance-like catharsis. The intensity and singularity of intent can capture equally both the dire fury and reflective solemnity of nature itself. Step inside and leave your politics at the door. Listen below, read more...

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.