500 FT. OF PIPE Dope Deal (Beard of Stars) cd 14.98
Detroit's 500 Ft. Of Pipe are another new band of hard-rockin' hopefuls in the crowded stoner rock arena, and they are better than most. What with their Motor City pedigree, they align more with Stooges-fans Monster Magnet than with Kyuss (Kyuss being the most common template for young stoner rock bands to follow, y'know). There's (of course) a big drug fixation going on here -- witness song titles like "420 to Go", "Dope Deal", and "D.E.A." Loud, bass-heavy, rock action, with psychedelic balls enough to cover Donovan's "Sunshine Superman"! Allan's fave stoner rock disc of the year.
RealAudio clip: "Detroit City (Never Done Me No Good)"
RealAudio clip: "Wear It Out"

5IVE Hesperus (Tortuga) cd 14.98
The cover photo on this digipack release shows placid waters, probably some sheltered harbor near Boston, from whence this guitar-drums two-piece hail. The photo on the interior gatefold also depicts relatively calm seas. But the sonic waves that 5ive stir up are something else, bigger and meaner! 5ive's relentless and riff-repetitive, mostly-instrumental music is HEAVY all right. And thus, floats our boat, even as it tosses said boat about upon its stormy waves.
We've been waiting for some new 5ive for quite some time. This is their first full-length of new material in forever. 2006's Versus ep, featuring a couple remixes by Justin Broadrick (Jesu), only left us hankering for more... so we're glad to report that this new 5ive is finally here and it's got what we want. Thick n' distorted stoner rock meets post rock jams, full of loud soft dynamics for maximum sludgecore beauty and power. Tracks like "Heel" and "Big Sea" have plenty of rollicking psychedelic swing to 'em, after the pretty parts that set you up for the heavier hitting... and while the likes of "News II" gets up into the 12 minute range, even the shorter tunes here manage some epic, hypnotic heft. Fans of 5ive won't be disappointed, and if you haven't heard 'em before check this out if stuff like Pelican, Kinski, godheadsilo, Isis, Old Man Gloom, etc. is on your personal playlist.
MPEG Stream: "Gulls"
MPEG Stream: "Big Sea"

5IVE s/t (Tortuga) cd 13.98
Not to be confused with the identically named "ladband" we discovered while trying to look up info on this one on the internet -- no, this 5ive are no boyband, they're a Boston psychedelic-doom-core duo making their cd debut after releasing one amazingly heavy LP last year. Their label Tortuga is also the home of AQ-faves Old Man Gloom. Following in the prolific footsteps of OMG (and GnR for that matter), 5ive have not one but two simultaneous new releases. The self-titled one is actually just the cd version of the aforementioned LP. And it's a monster. Six long tracks of mostly-instrumental sludge heaviness. Their weighty distortion-dirge-demonics are in a league with Gore, Earth, Corrupted, Electric Wizard, and fellow Bostonians Warhorse. That hypnotic, heavy, and stoned! Follow-up full-length "The Telestic Disfracture" is similarly heavy, and adds not-entirely necessary guest vocals (from another Boston metalcore band, Milligram) on several tracks. Brutal. Again, the songs are long and droney, but with good use of quiet/loud dynamics for maximum punishment effect (and surprising beauty too). These discs would make that ladband go running for mommy!
RealAudio clip: "The Baron"

5IVE The Telestic Disfracture (Tortuga) cd 13.98
Not to be confused with the identically named "ladband" we discovered while trying to look up info on this one on the internet -- no, this 5ive are no boyband, they're a Boston psychedelic-doom-core duo making their cd debut after releasing one amazingly heavy LP last year. Their label Tortuga is also the home of AQ-faves Old Man Gloom. Following in the prolific footsteps of OMG (and GnR for that matter), 5ive have not one but two simultaneous new releases. The self-titled one is actually just the cd version of the aforementioned LP. And it's a monster. Six long tracks of mostly-instrumental sludge heaviness. Their weighty distortion-dirge-demonics are in a league with Gore, Earth, Corrupted, Electric Wizard, and fellow Bostonians Warhorse. That hypnotic, heavy, and stoned! Follow-up full-length "The Telestic Disfracture" is similarly heavy, and adds not-entirely necessary guest vocals (from another Boston metalcore band, Milligram) on several tracks. Brutal. Again, the songs are long and droney, but with good use of quiet/loud dynamics for maximum punishment effect (and surprising beauty too). These discs would make that ladband go running for mommy!
RealAudio clip: "Nitinol"
RealAudio clip: "Shark Dreams"

A TORTURED SOUL Kiss Of The Thorn (Eyes Like Snow / Northern Silence) cd 11.98
A change of pace from the usual black metal grimnity we expect from the Northern Silence label (who have brought us the likes of Angmar, Alcest, Amesoeurs, Stielas Storhett, Necrofrost...) comes from Milwaukee metallers A Tortured Soul (not to be confused with another metal band called This Tortured Soul fyi). In truth, they're on a Northern Silence sub-label called Eyes Like Snow, and actually ARE pretty grim. But not in a black metal way, unless you count Mercyful Fate/King Diamond as black metal (which they were definitely considered, back in the day, due to KD's LaVeyan Satanic philosophies). This is '80s styled epic power metal, with soaring-with-the-eagles, then-tearing-them-to-shreds singing that reminds us at times of Judas Priest's Rob Halford -- or even ol' Ozzy Osbourne -- especially on this album's best track, "Not Tonight"...
Vocalist Black (that's his name) has a high falsetto attack that mixes it up with more growly-man discourse. Likewise, A Tortured Soul's music ranges from moody n' melodic to ball-crushingly heavy, from doomy plod to speedy chug, doing their damnedest to deliver on their negative, depressive moniker. For fans of KD's outfits, also Justice-era Metallica, Nevermore/Sanctuary, '90s Judas Priest, Iced Earth, maybe even Shadows Fall. All despite the looks of their very black metal seeming band logo/symbol!
MPEG Stream: "Tomorrow's Door"
MPEG Stream: "Not Tonight"

ABDULLAH Graveyard Poetry (Meteor City) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ohio stoner/doom/post-grunge metal band Abdullah return with their 2nd proper album, continuing (sort of, read on) their tradition of heavy Black Sabbathy guitars/riffs overlaid with melodic vocals, that kinda sound like those of Dax Riggs of Acid Bath/Agents of Oblivion/Deadboy and the Elephant Men. Songwise, Abdullah are a bit like a slightly doomier version of the late lamented Spirit Caravan (if you didn't hear, Spirit Caravan recently broke up -- but don't worry, Wino joined up with Victor Griffin in his band, Place of Skulls...dunno if that means Wino's a Christian now, but whatever...ok, back to the Abdullah review) but with some big twists this time out. Before we heard "Graveyard Poetry", we were a bit surprised to see that that Abdullah's European record label was comparing this release not only to doomsters like Trouble as we'd expect, but also to a bunch of obscure, traditional 80s metal acts, among them, local SF semi-legends Brocas Helm! Well, it's kinda true, at least on a few tracks anyway (like "Deprogrammed" and "They, The Tyrants"), wherein they leap from the moody, grungy doom style they established on their previous releases (and much of this one) into full-on rockin', quasi thrash metal territory. In this context, the vocals remind us a lot less of Dax Riggs and a lot more of the guy from Diamond Head!! I guess they've been listening to, if perhaps not Brocas Helm, at least some early Metallica and NWOBHM stuff!! Cool. A nice surprise. Although, while WE like the mixture, it might be a problem for some folks who will either dig the 60 percent doom content, or the 40 percent thrashin', but maybe not both.
RealAudio clip: "Black Helicopters"
RealAudio clip: "Deprogrammed"
RealAudio clip: "Secret Teachings Of Lost Ages"

ABDULLAH s/t (Meteor City) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Ohio stoner/doom band, with grunge leanings. Maybe not as doomy as one might hope, 'cause the drummer/vocalists Ozzy-ish voice makes one wish for more Sabbath, less Soundgarden. Good tho.
Nice cd booklet art/design, kind of a surprise coming from the usually aesthetically-impaired Meteor City...

ABDULLAH / DRAGONAUTA split (Dias De Garage) cd 12.98
We last heard from Sabbathy stoner rockers Abdullah back in 2002, when the Ohio-based quintet released their second album, Graveyard Poetry. Now they've reappeared on this split release in the company of Argentinian weirdos Dragonauta, whose previous full-length Luciferatu was justly celebrated 'round these parts when it came out last year. Celebrated by those of us at AQ who like eccentric, proggy doom metal, that is! It's nice to hear something new from both bands, and although they take differing approaches to the stoner/doom style, they both have a love of Black Sabbath in common and also aren't afraid to be, well, a bit different (in very different ways, we should add).
Abdullah serve up six new tracks of moody, dynamic rock/metal with what we've described before as having somewhat of a "grunge" flavor. But Abdullah are much darker and heavier than the average Seattle band of the '90s... For fans of Down, CoC (circa Blind or Deliverance), Alice In Chains, and Acid Bath, we'd venture to say.
After the relatively mainstream and melodic Abdullah, Dragonauta seem even less "normal" than they already are (aren't?). They offer three new studio cuts and two live tracks, all of 'em being creaky, spreaky, riff-freaked workouts marked by fat psychedelic guitar noodle and raspy, strangulated Spanish-language vocals. From headbanging gallop to mellow jazz chords, Dragonauta take their compositions to various unexpected extremes, wild-eyed and drunkenly metallic at all times (except for when they're not). They're a bit like Los Natas but with even more of a 'we're crazy and we don't give a damn, let's play!' attitude. As far as we're concerned, they're the main reason to get this split, even though we like the Abdullah stuff ok too. But Dragonauta are just plumb loco and that really floats our boat in their moat.
MPEG Stream: ABDULLAH "Grey Sky Faith"
MPEG Stream: DRAGONAUTA "Revolucion Luciferiana"

ACID KING III (Small Stone) cd 15.98
San Fran stoner metal heroes (and heroine) Acid King roll their big ol' ball of fuzz in our direction with this latest (presumably third, but we didn't count 'em) album of heavy Sabbath-influenced spacey sludge rock. Singer/guitarist Lori S. and company kick out the jams (albeit slowly) on such tracks as "2 Wheel Nation", "Heavy Load" and "Into The Ground". With her wailing moan drifting over the sort of plodding, low-end riff repetition you'd expect from pals of Boris, this is one for those of you into the likes of Om, Sons Of Otis, Dead Meadow, that sort of thing. Of course, you might nod off before the cool guitar part or catchy bit of the song heaves into view...but that's the risk you take with a lot of the stonier stoner stuff like this!
MPEG Stream: "Heavy Load"
MPEG Stream: "War Of The Mind"

ACID KING / THE MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT Free... / The Father, The Son and The Holy Smoke (Man's Ruin) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Split release of stoner rock majesty. First up, the doomier side of the album courtesy of local SF heavies Acid King (the band lead by Dale Crover's ex-wife Lori, featuring as well 'Thee' Guy Pinhas of ex-Obsessed, ex-Goatsnake, ex-Beaver fame). Their four tracks of sludge love are followed by the somewhat 'funkier' stylings (well, there's an organ player in the band) of deep South instrumental combo The Mystick Krewe... Funky spelling anyway. This New Orleans band (boasting members of Eyehategod) aren't actually instrumental on this disc, though, as they are joined by stoner rock legend Wino (Spirit Caravan, ex-Saint Vitus, ex-Obsessed) on vocals, a smart move. Again, heavy stuff. Rock out! Recommended.
RealAudio clip: MYSTICK KREWE OF CLEARLIGHT "Veiled"
RealAudio clip: ACID KING "Free"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Electric Heavyland (Alien8 Recordings) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
I know we're all thinking the same thing: Enough with the Acid Mothers Temple already! Can't Makoto Kawabata and his band of krautrock-obsessed Japanese pyschedelic hippy freaks go on a six-month nature retreat or something, and give us (and our wallets) a break? But, the fact remains, that for fans of psych-rock weirdness, very few of the many AMT releases have been disappointing, really.
So, then, what's the deal with this one? "Electric Heavyland" (one thing Kawabata & co. are NOT good at is titles) is a bit unsubtle, wearing its intentions on its all-black sleeve (or, rather, obi): this is AMT's stab at non-stop, super-heavy rockin'. Alien8 compares it to "Mellow Out", the now out-of-print first album from Mainliner, the High Rise related group that Kawabata played in prior to AMT's debut. (They even point out that "Electric Heavyland" even LOOKS a lot like "Mellow Out", something which hardly seems all that meaningful or significant...I mean, c'mon.) Regardless, it's certainly in the ballpark. Sloppy, noisy, spacey, utterly indulgent, this is the sound of a stoner heavy psych band fully amped up, plugged in, and jacking off. The blown-out, sub-Stooges motorcycle metal of Mainliner (and High Rise) is perhaps more purposeful than this, without the spacey detours, synth fx, and wordless female vocalizing of this disc. But, when you're in the midst of "Loved And Confused" or "Atomic Rotary Grinding God" or "?Quicksilver Machine Head" on this disc (see, decidedly un-subtle indeed), that hardly matters. Not the heaviest ever, but heavy enough. Would Monster Magnet dare take 'em on tour?
RealAudio clip: "Loved And Confused"

ACID MOTHERS TEMPLE Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness (Important) cd 14.98
This is the new album from Japan's Acid Mothers Temple, that AMT leader Kawabata Makoto contends is heavier than the average heavy AMT release, going so far as to say it's in the league of something like SUNNO))). Well, is it really?? Would he bet his beard on it? (We all ask, salivatin'.)
The answer: holy shit, yes. It's like indeed kinda like SUNNO))) jamming with Amon Duul, in a relentless riff orgy. That heavy. That droney. That creepy. That kosmic. A slow screaming blackened drone-groan vomiting forth from bad trippin' hippy minds, third eyes staring dull and glassy into the spinning vortex of the void. There's about ten minutes of pure bliss-out at the end of the disc, but before that, what you get is psychedelic guitar gunk out the wazoo. Riff after plodding riff, adorned with alien electronics. Dirge, splurge and more dirge. A roar to end all roars. A space-sludge feedback fantasy.
Each clocking in at about 36 and a half minutes, there's two long tracks (with long track names) here: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare" and "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness". Sound kinda black metal don't they? Actually they do. This is an EXTREME Acid Mothers Temple experience let me tell you. Boris, beware! Ufommamut, watch your backs! Electric Wizard, better take another hit!!
Definitely worthy of the nifty, unmistakable Seldon Hunt cover art. Also, FYI we have this in both digital and analog formats. The vinyl version, a heavy gatefold double LP affair, is limited to 1000 copies, and it includes two bonus tracks!!! So act fast...
MPEG Stream: "Eternal Incantation Of Perpetual Nightmare"
MPEG Stream: "Recurring Dream & Apocalypse Of Darkness "

ACRIMONY Bong On - Live Long! (Leaf Hound) cd 16.98
We've long been fans of the druggy stoner grooves of the UK's Acrimony, ever since 1996's Tumuli Shroomaroom, a record that has been out of print for a while now, otherwise we would have most certainly given it some long overdue love on the AQ list. Just recently, Japanese label Leaf Hound reissued Tumuli Shroomaroom (which we now have in stock, and will list next time) but also this killer odds and sods collection called appropriately enough Bong On - Live Long! So we figured we oughta tackle the newest release first, plus for long time fans like us, there's tons of amazing out of print stuff on it we'd been dying to hear.
Acrimony exist in a similar sonic universe as their metallic countrymen Electric Wizard (as well as folks like Boris, Church Of Misery, Kyuss, Bongzilla, etc.) and while not quite as filthy and blown out and Sabbath obsessed, they are definitely just as heavy, but probably way more groovy and spaced out, adding some Hawkwind to the mix, and some organ (fuck yeah!) turning crushing druggy jams into crushing freaked out groovy druggy SPACE jams which is never a bad thing. 
Collecting tracks from old eps, compilations, and a split with Church Of Misery (even a badass Status Quo cover!), every song here is a sludgy groovy stoner space jam of the highest order, the riffs are massive and downtuned, the drums a barrage of pounding pummel, the vocals a raspy howl, wah guitar everywhere, hooks galore, lots of swing and groove, throbbing distorted bass, churning riffage that often slowly morphs into a spaced out sprawl a la Monster Magnet or Hawkwind, even the folks who don't get high here (Andee, and...?), can imagine that this is exactly what that must (or at least -should-) sound like, heavy and freaky and groovy and mind blowing. 
Fans of bands like Electric Wizard and Nebula and Ufomammut and Orange Goblin and Spiritual Beggars and the like who have somehow missed out on these guys might just have found a new favorite band...
MPEG Stream: "Spaced Cat #7 (Hammond Moon - Bong Mix)"
MPEG Stream: "Earthchild Inferno"
MPEG Stream: "O Baby"

ACRIMONY Tumuli Shroomaroom (Leaf Hound) cd 16.98
A few lists back, we reviewed a newly released collection of odds and ends from stoner doomlords Acrimony, a UK band, who combined all the best parts of many of our favorite bands, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Monster Magnet, Hawkwind, Church Of Misery, Boris, Bongzilla, that list alone should have many of you already leaping for the 'buy' button, and that's as it should be. These guys destroy. Unbelievably heavy, crazy catchy, killer riffs, hooks galore, and plenty of spaced out druggy drone.
But YEARS before that comp, Bong On- Live Long!, we were already huge fans of this here disc right here, Tumuli Shroomaroom, now reissued with new improved sound, maybe one of the best stoner rock records EVER. High praise indeed, but not unwarranted we think. The guitars are massive, downtuned and crunchy, spitting out groovy Sabbathy riffage, but way more psychedelic, plenty of wah guitar, streaks of wild leads, all over a super dense rhythmic foundation. The drums heavy as fuck, pounding away, the bass throbbing and buzzing and holding it all together. The vocals a rough raspy, but melodic caterwaul. And the songs, as catchy as they are heavy, super charged and blown out, like someone took perfect pop songs, dipped them in LSD, rolled them in broken shards of Monster Magnet, wrapped them in thick sheets of Hawkwind, lit them on fire and smoked them, and then picked up guitars and this was the result. Not sure why these guys weren't huge.
Besides being a kick ass band, heavy and catchy, they also have a serious thing for repetition, and drone, most of the songs have long stretches of churning riffage that just repeats and repeats, mantra like, mesmerizingly headbanging, lots of them also lock into some sort of endless groove near the end, the song often transforming into an ultra heavy hypnorock workout, looped over and over, repeating sometimes for minutes, and then sometimes unexpectedly slipping right back into the song. Definitely part of what gives them such a druggy vibe. The best example of that is the track "Motherslug (The Mother Of All Slugs", a massive stoner rock jam, that is constantly locking into perfect looped grooves, so tight and hypnotic they almost sounds like the cd is skipping, a single riff churning again and again, so completely trancelike, while all around the main riff, other guitars swell and swoop, shimmering in little squalls pf psychedelic FX, sort of like those kick ass spaced out Hawkwind outros but way less spacey and more relentlessly and repetitively rocking, until the track suddenly and effortlessly slips back into the main groove again, eventually drifting apart into some awesome spacious doom jam, the guitar and drums locked in big crashes, spaced way far apart, the guitar chords crumbling and fading almost completely before the next crash comes, finally fading into some throbbing drone, buzzy and muted, maybe a didgeridoo or faux throat singing or something, finally fading out into the space-rock Sabbath riff that opens the next track.
Hard to know what else to say, one of our favorite heavy records ever, every track on here is a killer. Heavy and groovy, droney and hypnotic, druggy and spaced out, the ultimate stoner rock doom disc for sure. As we mentioned above, folks into Monster Magnet, Sleep, Electric Wizard, Ufomammut, Orange Goblin, Kyuss, Black Sabbath, Spiritual Beggars, Nebula, Bongzilla, Green Machine, Boris, Lowrider, Spirit Caravan, Solarized, Fu Manchu, Dozer and Mammoth Volume and have somehow made it this far without hearing Acrimony, might just have discovered their new favorite band.
MPEG Stream: "Hymns To The Stone"
MPEG Stream: "Million Year Summer"
MPEG Stream: "Vy"

AHAB The Call Of The Wretched Sea (Napalm) cd 16.98
While it may have been a bit of a misstep to release a metal record based on Moby Dick and with a big ol' whale on the cover in the long black shadow cast by Mastodon's Leviathan record, it would be even more of a mistake to pass up this Ahab record based solely on that. Obviously a lot of though went into the sound and the artwork and the execution, and if anything, we actually like this record more than the Mastodon.
So if you can get past the whole Mastodon thing, you're in for some massive and fantastically epic slow motion doom. This German outfit is CLASSIC doom, well not quite like Sabbath and Candlemass, but not the filthy slow motion grungy grimey dirgey sludge sort of doom either, this is epic and majestic, slow and sorrowful, occasionally loping with bursts of wild kick drums, more often trudging along glacially, a funereally death march through the pouring rain, knee deep in black sonic murk, but with a surprising amount of dynamics, stops and starts, some super hooky riffs, mournful guitar melodies, massive downtuned chugs that sometime morph into mathy metal workouts. Vocals that rumble and groan, a huge guttural gurgle, the whole thing impossible heavy and aggressive, but strangely pretty. Definitely reminds us of old Cathedral, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, that sort of thing. Like classic heavy doom metal slowed waaaaay down and made somehow even heavier. As much as we love extreme doom, the slower and the sludgier the better, it's actually nice to hear some extremely dark depressive doom with some actual melodies, and some memorable riffs, heck even some songs. We'd forgotten how good stuff like this sounds. One of our favorite new TRUE DOOM records for sure.
MPEG Stream: "Below The Sun"
MPEG Stream: "The Pacific"

AJILVSGA Gathering Of Owls (Digitalis) cassette 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Some super experimental low end doom drone minimalism from Brad Rose, who besides playing in The North Sea, Corsican Paintbrush, Jade Emperor also runs the insanely cool Digitalis label.
Up until now, most of what we've heard from Rose has been on the folky side of things, who knew he had this in him. A seriously grindingly dense churning buzzscape. Caustic and thick, huge slabs of heaving low end, layer upon layer of black hole heaviness. Dentist drill high end surfaces here and there, but overall, every track here is some sort of leap into sonic tar, struggling to breath or even hear, your ears clogged with crumbling back grit, your body pinned to the ground beneath wave after wave of slow motion blacknoise pummel.
You know if you need this. If you're into the slow, and low and HEAVY, you probably do. But this was LIMITED TO ONLY 72 COPIES. It's out of print. We have 15. Do the math.
Red cassette cases, red cassettes, cool full color sleeves on nice textured paper, each copy hand numbered.

ALABAMA THUNDER PUSSY Constellation (Man's Ruin) cd 12.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALABAMA THUNDER PUSSY River City Revival (Man's Ruin Records) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY / HALFWAY TO GONE split release (Slow Ride / Game Two / Underdogma Records) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALKERDEEL Luizig (At War With False Noise) cd 14.98
We had copies of this on tape last year, and they flew out of here in no time. Not a huge surprise since A, it's a fucking fierce and sludgey slab of sonic weirdness and B, it was limited to 66 copies! So for everyone who missed out, it's At War With False Noise to the rescue. These guys are quickly turning into our new favorite label, having released the twisted bedroom black metal of Zarach'Baal'Tharagh, the blown out psych prog of Veee Deee, the fucked up damaged sludge of Sloth, as well as THREE other releases on this list, including discs from huge aQ faves Gnaw Their Tongues and Marzuraan. But we've been dying for the cd version of this Alkerdeel record. You'll understand why when you read below and listen to the sound sample.
We had a handful of customers recommend these fucked up doomdamagemetalnoise weirdos, and from the first sick, depraved, filthy fucked up note, we were sold...
These Belgians create a serious ruckus, pounding super distorted grim necro ultra raw dirgey droney doom metal, we saw it described as filthyblacksludgedoomdrone which pretty much sums it up. Pounding sludge, with blown out practice space production, grinding guitars, blasting super distorted drums, filthy super sick vocals, with bursts of blackness and stretches of loping minimal crunch, sort of mathy, very doomy, all very very heavy and noisy and awesome. One of our favorite new bands easy. 
Essential for fans of Bone Awl, Ancestors, Ash Pool, Beherit, Akitsa as well as other practitioners of grim buzz and noise drenched sludge...
The packaging is super swank too, screen printed, 6 panel, off-black ink on thick black cardstock. Nice.
MPEG Stream: "Luizig"

ALKERDEEL Luizig (Funeral Folk) cassette 5.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We had a handful of customers recommend these fucked up doomdamagemetalnoise weirdos, and around the same time, in some glorious moment of serendipity, the band dropped us a line so we grabbed as many copies as we could of their super limited (only 66 copies) cassette, released on the same label that fellow countrymen Silvester Anfang call home...
These Belgians create a serious ruckus, pounding super distorted grim necro ultra raw dirgey droney doom metal, we saw it described as filthyblacksludgedoomdrone which pretty much sums it up. Pounding sludge, with blown out practice space production, grinding guitars, blasting super distorted drums, filthy super sick vocals, with bursts of blackness and stretches of loping minimal crunch, sort of mathy, very doomy, all very very heavy and noisy and awesome. One of our favorite new bands easy. 
Essential for fans of Bone Awl, Ancestors, Ash Pool, Beherit, Akitsa as well as other practitioners of grim buzz and noise drenched sludge...
LIMITED TO 66 COPIES!!! In super DIY packaging, printed sleeve, photocopied insert, each tape hand numbered... 

ALL NIGHT s/t (Tee Pee) cd 15.98
I think the Champs toured with these guys and loved 'em. At least, I know Josh from the Champs raved about them to me once. All Night are retro rock n' rollers from North Carolina, doing the seventies guitar rawk thing with rare authenticity. Bluesy, swaggering, Stonesy, drawling, kick ass stuff a la Cherry Valence, The Want, Gorilla and few others today. The kind of band you hope will be playing in the next bar you visit. They sound more '70s than the last dozen "stoner rock" bands you ever heard. Boogie!
RealAudio clip: "Come On Baby"

ALTAMONT Civil War Fantasy (Man's Ruin Records) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.

ALTAMONT Our Darling (Man's Ruin) cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Melvins drummer Dale Crover's side band, where he straps on a six string and does his southern rock, '70s stoner thing. The Altamont trio also includes a member of Acid King. Their last album had a Hendrix cover, this time they do one by the Heartbreakers, and a Mose Allison by way of The Who tune, among their retro originals.

AMORT Weird Tales (Orobas) cassette 4.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This cassette just showed up in the mail one day, with a short note asking us if we wanted to sell it in the store. Hard to tell what it would sound like: band called Amort, two songs, cover image an oil painting of wild horses, very striking, but still no clear sonic picture. The tape came wrapped in a flyer, with the words "Slow end sonic destruction" printed in thick black letters across the top. Our first clue...
So we threw it on, and were first greeted with the sound of lilting piano, notes hanging suspended in wide open expanses of near silence, but soon that piano was joined by a slow lava like flow of glacial riffing, a downtuned low end thob, a la SUNNO))), Earth, Corrupted, but draped over a delicate slowcore background, then in came some incredibly low, gurgling vocals, and suddenly all was revealed to us, gloriously hauntingly beautiful slowcore sludge. The massive riffing and monstrous vocals, drift in and out, often leaving just a lilting minor key guitar, to gently pick out the melody, hushed and minimal, like some sort of super abstract post rock, before the guitars pour back in and the vocals croak forth, but even at its heaviest and sludgiest, it's strangely pretty, the melody a minor key lament, the sound more murky and muddy than pummeling and heavy, like Corrupted covering Low maybe... The tempo gets upped a notch or two, sounding like the band might lurch into full on rocking, but instead, the riff just loops over and over, becoming more of a rhythmic drone than an any sort of actual rock riff, eventually fading to black.
Side two creeps along similar ground, beginning with abstract minor key guitar figures, allowed to unfurl and drift through an empty space, joined by simple piano, before launching into a slow motion ambient doom, all burnt out guitar and reverb drenched vocals. Very reminiscent of the Tomb Of... cassette, a strange melding of abstract ambient piano and dirgey doom drenched sludge. The interesting thing about Amort is there are no drums, this is all just huge walls of guitar, harsh demonic vocals, and tinkling piano, on the second track, the guitar becomes weirdly harmonized, creating super tense harmonic melodies, like some displaced Iron Maiden lick, slowed down to 2 or 3 rpm. This track two sort of wanders back and forth between forlorn slow motion cabaret, just piano and undistorted guitar, and pummeling drone doom crush. But in the hands of Amort, they sound so perfect together. The ultimate post rock downer doom...
LIMITED TO 100 COPIES!!!

AMORT / THE COMFORT WIVES Black Blood / Locusta (Orobas) cassette 4.00
Tape number two from ambient slowcore doom outfit Amort, whose first tape we dug heavily. A dense drifty blend of SUNNO))) style ultra doom, and lilting Low like atmospherics. This time they're teamed up with the strangely named Comfort Wives, who based on the name were ready to be disappointed by, but just like Mom always told us about books and covers, The Comfort Wives actually kick up a pretty mean din. The strange thing is how different Amort sound here. Actually to be honest, the labeling is sort of confusing and we just assumed Side A was the Comfort Wives but in fact appears to be Amort unless the tape was mislabeled. Either way, both sides are awesome, we'll go by the label for now. So Amort sound much more like a band, than a man crafting bleak dronescapes on his own. A plodding midtempo, noisy blackness, huge guitars so low and blown out they threaten to overwhelm the whole recording, which is in no way a band thing, in fact, it's the sort of guitar sound most bands would kill for. An in the red throbbing downtuned buzz, wrapped around a sort of melodic noise rock. The sound here is not so much black metal as it is taking bits and pieces of black metal and incorporating them into their own sound. And the sound here is more of a mournful minor key midtempo dirge rock, with super catchy melodies, simple drumming, some cool harmonies, all wrapped in a blacker than normal production, with some harsh howled vocals. Like a poppier, noise rockier version of Bone Awl or Beherit maybe? Cool stuff regardless, but a strange direction for Amort, while The Comfort Wives end up sounding more like Amort did on the last tape, but somehow darker and doomier and sludgier and much more black metal. An epic and corrosive sonic sludge, that unfurls like some thick black fog. Slow minor key guitar figures drift amidst wide open space, vocals gurgle and growl, all swallowed up by a MASSIVE glacial downtuned dirge, before the low end abates and leaves a simple strummed, almost out of tune guitar to sort of meander, before the blackness falls again. This is not so much BM as ultra doom, or black ambience, the guitars rumble and reverberate, single chords stretched out over vast expanses, the vocals another layer of low end, the riffs so slow they seem to be single plodding thuds that ring out and bleed into the next crusty note, a bit like Abruptum, a ritualistic black minimal doom, epic and murky and hellish and muddy and massive and seriously scary...

ANTLER Nothing That A Bullet Couldn't Cure (Small Stone) cd 14.98
The return of our favorite classic hard rocking, shit kicking, wild eyed Southern rock band. Okay so, there's not a whole lot of them left, but that's exactly why we gotta love the ones we got. There's Raging Slab of course. Our love for them is eternal. There's new kids on the block, Black Stone Cherry, who are cool, but get a little close to mainstream MTV Nickelback territory. Then there's Antler. Who we originally thought were indie rock kids taking the piss. But their debut was just too fucking good. And too fucking genuine to be anything but. Allan and Andee saw them live at CMJ, in front of a slightly confused crowd, who were obviously unprepared to the cowboy boots, the cowboy hats, the Southern boogie, the twang and the killer classic Southern rock that was exactly what we were there to see.
Record number two finds the band in fine form. Still channeling Lynrd Skynrd, the Allman Brothers, the Outlaws, Blackfoot, but adding some extra stomp, some more crunchy guitar, but staying true to their Southern rock roots. It's perplexing why these guys were on Indie meta label Tortuga and are now part of Small Stone's stoner rock stable. These guys should be HUGE. On some major label. Playing stadiums, touring the Midwest and the South, showing rednecks worldwide that real Southern rock and roll is not dead. These guys should be wrapped in Confederate flags and showered with whiskey and weed, a harem of pretty little trailer trash girls, a private jet with a big set of antlers painted on the tail. That's what this sounds like. Kids who were 15 and 16 when Skynrd's Pronounced... came out, were getting high, getting drunk, and blasting shit like this in their Dad's pick up, parking by the lake and trying to get to second base with their second cousin.
Maybe one of these days, some label bigwig will figure out what the hell is going on, wine and dine these motherfuckers, hustle them into some penthouse office, ply them with booze and drugs, have them sign in blood on the dotted line, shove them in a tour bus and set them free to rule the rock and roll world like the boogie born Southern Rock scions they truly are!
MPEG Stream: "The Gentle Butcher"
MPEG Stream: "Deep In A Hole"
MPEG Stream: "A Little Goes A Long Way"

AQUARIUS BUTTONS 2 x 1" buttons 1.00
Spread the word! Show the world your true aQ colors! COOL COOL COOL aQ buttons, in 5 different colors. TWO FOR $1!!! Colors are random, but buy enough and you'll be guaranteed to get 'em all! All 5 feature our spiffy James Gang style logo!!

ASKA / HYPOTHERMIA Melankoli / Abuse Myself (I Want To Die) (Unjoy) 7" 8.98
Killer match up between two AQ faves, Hypothermia (who we've raved about in the past) and Aska, who have yet to grace our list (until now!). Massive, brutal, abysmal, blackened doomic buzz from both, Aska even tackle a GG Allin cover and dedicate it to Poison Idea's Pig Champion. Awesome.

ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND, THE s/t (Sunburst Sounds) lp 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Local psych merchants vinyl-only debut. For Comets fans!

ASTROQUEEN Into Submission (Pavement) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Sure, these heavy jam-kicker-outters from Sweden are yet another '70s lovin' stoner rock band hoping to become the Scandinavian Kyuss, joining the ranks of Mammoth Volume, Roachpowder, Spiritual Beggars, Terra Firma, etc. I mean, the Swedish government must have a multi-million kroner R&D budget devoted to subsidizing these outfits in hopes of stoner rock world domination. And that's money well spent, 'cause Astroqueen, among others, do the stoner rock thing really well we must say! Super fuzzed-out guitar (fuzz worthy of the mighty Sir Lord Baltimore!), hopelessly rockin' riffs, rough but melodic vocals (a bit like their countrymen Entombed), more fuzz, and even more fuzz -- it may seem like a simple formula but it works! They can be fast and energetic, or slow and massive, with some tasty Thin Lizzyish guitar licks.
Astroqueen (who in homage to the second half of their name use a detail from Queen's "News Of The World" album cover for the back of their cd) are not to be confused with the also awesome and similarly "astro" Dutch stoner rockers Astrosoniq, although we did, which was a good thing 'cause otherwise we might have overlooked this excellent release!
RealAudio clip: "Planet Dust"
RealAudio clip: "Superhuman God"
RealAudio clip: "The Sonic Ride"

ASTROQUEEN VS. BUFFALO s/t (Dias De Garage) cd 12.98
If you're reading this on our New Arrivals list (as opposed to searching out this entry on our website), you should have already seen our review of the Abdullah/Dragnauta split cd just released by the South American stoner rock label Dias De Garage. Well I guess the label likes the split release idea pretty well, 'cause here's another one. This time, between Argentina's Buffalo and Sweden's Astroqueen. Both bands are kinda in that Kyuss/Queens Of The Stone Age vein we love so much.
First up, Astroqueen, with six tracks and a video clip. Sweden has a reputation for producing excellent Kyuss clones and Astroqueen does nothing to tarnish said rep. Utterly catchy, with thick distorted guitars, what's not to like?? They throw in some nice 'metal' details now and then (a Maideny riff, an unexpected blast beat), but this should be on the radio and HUGE. Maybe they are in Sweden, who knows? Anyone who wants a big, heavy rock fix won't be disappointed. Wish we could still get their Into Submission full-length but it seems to be out of print...
Next up, five tracks and one video from Buffalo (not to be confused with the '70s Australian band of the same name), who are, well, a lot like Astroqueen!! Though they have a bit more of a psychedelic, swampy swagger to them, and their vocalist (who sings in Spanish, whereas Astroqueen's vocalist sings in English, not Swedish) has a rougher, tougher delivery. For fans of Roachpowder (remember them?), Los Natas, early Black Label Society, Heavy Rocks style Boris, and Kyuss/QOTSA, too, of course! And also Metallica, 'cause Buffalo do a kick-ass cover "Four Horsemen" (in Spanish) to wind up their half of this split. All right!
Between Astroqueen and Buffalo, there's no clear-cut winner here -- except for you, the stoner rock fan, who buys this!
MPEG Stream: ASTROQUEEN "The Untitled"
MPEG Stream: BUFFALO "Bendecidos"

ASTROSONIQ Son of A.P. Lady (Freebird Record) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Fuzzed out seventies style stoner space rock from this Dutch band. Equal parts Sabbath and Zeppelin.
Heavy and groovy, huge fuzzy guitars, throbbing bass, and gruff (but still high) vocals. Reminds us a lot of AQ faves The Want. One of the better stoner rock bands around. And one of the most beautiful cd packages we have ever seen!

ASUNDER A Clarion Call (Life Is Abuse) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Deep, depressive, uber-heavy doom-death from this Bay Area outfit featuring in their ranks none other than John Gossard, fomerly of cult black metallers and AQ faves Weakling! He's no stranger to ten-minute-plus track lengths and that's what you get here, three atmospheric doom epicks (plus one ambient, almost inaudible bonus track), the shortest about twelve minutes, the longest around fifteen. And when you think that Asunder's slowed-down sickness couldn't get any more mournful, they kick in with the cellos! That's right, funereal doom with a string section. Gotta love it...to death.
MPEG Stream: "Twilight Amaranthine"
MPEG Stream: "Crown Of Eyes"

ASUNDER Works Will Come Undone (Profound Love) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Oakland's doooooooooooooooooooomiest, Asunder, return with their second full-length album. Just back from a tour of Japan with none other than cultish doom-crust behemoth Corrupted, Asunder further cement their doom bonafides with Works Will Come Undone, which features just two tracks, one of 'em ("Rite Of Finality") almost a full-length itself at 50 minutes duration! The other track ("A Famine") isn't quite so long -- a mere 20 minutes. That's more than enough time for these guys and gal to squeeze in a few lugubrious riffs, even at the glacial pace with with they play their morose metallic funeral marches.
Asunder are all about atmosphere, allowing some really pretty and mellow parts into their crushingly heavy and depressed, slow-moving sound-world. The use of cello (played by Jackie Perez-Gratz, also of Amber Asylum) is one of Asunder's trademarks, and for giving an extra-mournful, classically elegant dimension to their doom it's hard to beat. The guitarists successfully venture to enter that sublime realm as well. Meanwhile the vocalist recalls the phlegmy throat of Forest Of Equilibrium era Cathedral frontman Lee Dorrian, mixing the rough with the smooth as it were...
For those unaware, we should also note the presence of former Weakling guitarist/vocalist John Gossard. What Weakling was to trance-inducingly epic Norwegian style black metal, Asunder is to trance-inducingly epic Finnish style doom metal!! Or maybe we should just say Oakland style, since this genre of doom has its roots all over, from Finland's Thergothon to Australia's Disembowelment and Long Island's Winter...
MPEG Stream: "A Famine"

ASVA Futurist's Against the Ocean (Mimicry) cd 14.98
It's funny how suddenly every one has a doom drone dirge project happening. The popularity of Sunn 0))) and Earth and Corrupted and Boris not only has record collectors scrambling for their wallets, but seems to have other musicians scrambling as well, buying bigger amps, more distortion boxes, trying to tune lower and play slower, all of this evidenced by the sudden glut of bands whose influences don't extend much beyond Earth and Sunn 0))). We're not complaining mind you 'cuz you know we can't get enough of that sludgy downtuned dirge! And, you can't give Asva too much grief as bass player Stuart Dahlquist (brother of Silkworm's Michael Dahlquist) was there in the early days, having played in doom dirge metal outfit Burning Witch, and Asva actually feels like a logical extension of his old band. Dahlquist is joined in Asva by guitarist John Schuller and ex-Mr. Bungle guitarist / current Web Of Mimicry head honcho Trey Spruance, as well as an organist (!) and a female vocalist (!). It's these last two elements, as well as a flair for incorporating melody into a sound usuallylight on the melodic end of things, that makes Asva a much more interesting prospect. Of the four extended tracks here, it's the first and the last that hue closest to the Sunn 0))) / Earth template. Huge slabs of ultra distorted guitars, working their way through slow motion riffs, a ponderous plodding metallic crush. On the final track, vocalist Jessika Kenney belts out a one woman chorale, adding a strangely angelic vibe to the proceedings, minor key, but soaring over the slow motion Sabbath beneath, beautiful and haunting in a way few bands like this have managed. The two tracks in between are much more abstract and spare, not in the least but heavy, but still creepy and droney. Track two is all minimal whir and shimmer, slowly shifting and subtly moving through a minimal almost melody. Track three again features Kenney's voalisations, this time though, it's ALL about the vocals, the musical bed is a hushed doomy organ driven drone, endlessly sustaining with occasional super reverbed bass and sizzling barely-there percussion, while Kenney wails and trills, swooping through strange alien melodies, her multi tracked vocals harmonizing with themselves, creating a very bizarre, but thrillingly creepy soundworld. Fans of the genre (sludgedoomdirgedeathdrone) probably already know about this record and know they need it, but folks who have yet to get into this stuff, might find Asva just melodic enough and weird enough to merit further investigation.
MPEG Stream: "Kill The Dog, Tie Them Up, Take The Money"
MPEG Stream: "By The Well Of Living And Seeing"

ASVA The Third Plague / A Trap For Judges (Enterruption) 12" 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This whole slow motion doom dirge explosion continues to bring us band after band who think they can make a record by just leaning their guitars up against their amps and recording the mighty flow of glorious Earth-like sludge that will undoubtedly flow forth, like some sort of divine doom from the gods. Thankfully there are a few outfits who realize that maybe we need a little bit more than just another doom-drone planet to join the already slow motion orbits of Earth and SUNNO))). And as we have mentioned before (in our review of their excellent Futurist's Against the Ocean debut earlier this year), Asva is making a successful attempt to extend beyond the Earth/SUNN template, having added huge swaths of warm and warbly organs to the mix as well as soaring operatic female vocals, giving their sound a strangely melodic and gorgeously alien feel. This two song 12" proves that even that's not enough for these guys, as they push and twist their sound once again into new and strange shapes. The first track is a super slow building drone, a hushed assemblage of subterranean rumble and machine like whirr, that doesn't build so much as just sort of shift and take up more and more of the sound field. Eventually the drone begins to fragment and the constituent parts become more and more distinct, the most noticable being what sounds like a strangely haunting psych guitar riff, looped and smeared into a subtle Sunroof! like skree. Soon more and more bits float to the surface, some reverbed chanting, abstract streaks of distant guitar, and a far away riff, played super slowly and drenched in effects, creepy and clean and barely discernible through the murk and haze, sounding a bit like a snippet of Chris Issak guitar, as if played at 8 rpm and broadcast through a the tiny speaker of an old transistor radio. Special guest Eyvind Kang supplies the viola, while band member John Schuller contributes the locusts! Side two is much more straight ahead dooooom, a crushing slow motion metallic dirge a la Khanate or Skepticism, but even here Asva manage to make that sound their own. A slow sludgy plod, with plenty of space in between for swirls of dark drone and reverby rumble, and that same haunting abstract clean guitar melody from side one resurfaces here and there, but the focus is most definitely on the vocals, an unholy screech, that swoops and soars from demonic howl to bile spewing guttural growl, courtesy of Asva's vocalist Jessika Kennney, falling somewhere between Lydia Lunch, Diamanda Galas and Edgy from Burning Witch. Super limited (only 500 copies) each copy is hand stamped and numbered!

ATAVIST II: Ruined (Profound Lore) cd 14.98
Oh, the misery! Vying with the likes of Moss and Marzuraan for the title of Sludge Lords of England, Atavist offer up their second full-length (hence the title), following a split with Nadja not long ago. But Atavist are a complex beast with a tortured soul that in some ways is really less about sludge than it is about sheer sadness, opting for beauty over brutality much of the time.
Drums echo. Acoustic guitars weep. And then the walls of doom-drone (droom?) riffage come closing in, crashing down. But although there's heaviness galore, with gruff vokills raging, the gentle side to Atavist is nakedly displayed here too. Tranquil, haunting, Atavist possess almost a campfire drone post rockishness that curdles Khanate-like when the heaviness is let loose. All seven tracks, together something of a continuous emotional breakdown, demonstrate definite extreme mood swings, all of 'em melancholy and majestic, some of 'em massively metal. Actually it's a six-part dirge, plus a bonus track at the end, appropriately enough a cover of "I Hate The Human Race" originally by Boston sludge merchants Grief.
For fans of both Mogwai and Asunder for sure. So good.
MPEG Stream: "II"
MPEG Stream: "VI"

ATAVIST s/t (Invada) cd 15.98
Sludge is like a drug. Those of us who are hooked, can never get enough. And the heavier or weirder it gets, the more we need every fix to be just a little bit slower, a little bit heavier, a little bit more fucked up and freaked out. This stuff is already pushing the limits of how slow and heavy it can go, you can only get so slow and heavy before notes and melody and any sort of tonal color disappear completely resulting in what is essentially a super dense drone (and lord knows we love those too!!) so most of the bands that have been supplying us with our sludge fix of late have pushed the limits of slow and heavy obviously, but have mostly managed to twist their particular take on the sludge and the doom and the drone into seriously creepy and contorted shapes.
Thus we have Atavist. On first listen, they seem to be trudging down the same black and glacial path as Khanate, plodding Neanderthal drums, crumbling downtuned grit caked guitar rumble, and of course super processed demonically gurgled growls and shrieks. A horrifying and harrowing slow motion journey through the blackest pits of hell for sure. That along would be enough to have us jonesing. But then Atavist mix in some super unlikely elements. First, they actually rock. Not the whole time, but sometimes, they slip into an actual stonery doomic riff, and the tempo picks up, not too much, more like moving from steamroller tempo to runaway dumptruck tempo, but it definitely rocks, heavily and furiously, but never strays from the sludge too long, always slowing back down like said dumptruck plunging into a stretch of road where the tar has melted into black quicksand. The other unlikely element is a certain strange melodic flair, which seems unlikely, but somehow fits perfectly nestled amongst the surrounding doom. From the dreamy, propulsive post rock buried within the first track, gorgeous minor key guitar arpeggios, and shuffling loping almost krautlike rhythms (sounding at moments like a more dirge-y Katatonia) to the delicate intro to the second track, a glistening framework of soft melancholy melody and subtle simple bass lines, all drifting in a swirl of ambient haze (complete with a super creepy sample from the movie Session 9). There are even some blasts of full on freenoise freakout.
But Atavist at their core, are sludge pure and not so simple. Mighty hellbeasts wielding impossibly heavy slabs of ultrasludge, hurling dense chunks of black sound, moving in slow motion, but laying waste to all who cower before them. Neverending Eyehategod-ish high end feedback, dirge-y superdistorted bass grooves slowed waaaaaay down, until they're almost just big muddy smears of low end, guitars so low they sound like they're being dragged behind a truck through a tarpit. Those of you who have been fiending for more Khanate, Eyehategod, Moss, Bunkur, Monarch or who just need your head dunked in hot tar and beaten with feeding back guitars once in a while, may have just found the perfect prescription for your deathdoomdronedirgesludge fix.
MPEG Stream: "31:38"
MPEG Stream: "20:11"

ATAVIST s/t (Invada) lp 22.00
NOW ON VINYL! It's an import, probably not gonna be around too long...
Sludge is like a drug. Those of us who are hooked, can never get enough. And the heavier or weirder it gets, the more we need every fix to be just a little bit slower, a little bit heavier, a little bit more fucked up and freaked out. This stuff is already pushing the limits of how slow and heavy it can go, you can only get so slow and heavy before notes and melody and any sort of tonal color disappear completely resulting in what is essentially a super dense drone (and lord knows we love those too!!) so most of the bands that have been supplying us with our sludge fix of late have pushed the limits of slow and heavy obviously, but have mostly managed to twist their particular take on the sludge and the doom and the drone into seriously creepy and contorted shapes.
Thus we have Atavist. On first listen, they seem to be trudging down the same black and glacial path as Khanate, plodding Neanderthal drums, crumbling downtuned grit caked guitar rumble, and of course super processed demonically gurgled growls and shrieks. A horrifying and harrowing slow motion journey through the blackest pits of hell for sure. That along would be enough to have us jonesing. But then Atavist mix in some super unlikely elements. First, they actually rock. Not the whole time, but sometimes, they slip into an actual stonery doomic riff, and the tempo picks up, not too much, more like moving from steamroller tempo to runaway dumptruck tempo, but it definitely rocks, heavily and furiously, but never strays from the sludge too long, always slowing back down like said dumptruck plunging into a stretch of road where the tar has melted into black quicksand. The other unlikely element is a certain strange melodic flair, which seems unlikely, but somehow fits perfectly nestled amongst the surrounding doom. From the dreamy, propulsive post rock buried within the first track, gorgeous minor key guitar arpeggios, and shuffling loping almost krautlike rhythms (sounding at moments like a more dirge-y Katatonia) to the delicate intro to the second track, a glistening framework of soft melancholy melody and subtle simple bass lines, all drifting in a swirl of ambient haze (complete with a super creepy sample from the movie Session 9). There are even some blasts of full on freenoise freakout.
But Atavist at their core, are sludge pure and not so simple. Mighty hellbeasts wielding impossibly heavy slabs of ultrasludge, hurling dense chunks of black sound, moving in slow motion, but laying waste to all who cower before them. Neverending Eyehategod-ish high end feedback, dirge-y superdistorted bass grooves slowed waaaaaay down, until they're almost just big muddy smears of low end, guitars so low they sound like they're being dragged behind a truck through a tarpit. Those of you who have been fiending for more Khanate, Eyehategod, Moss, Bunkur, Monarch or who just need your head dunked in hot tar and beaten with feeding back guitars once in a while, may have just found the perfect prescription for your deathdoomdronedirgesludge fix.
MPEG Stream: "31:38"
MPEG Stream: "20:11"

ATAVIST / NADJA 12012291920 / 1414101 (Invada) cd 14.98
Not one, not two, but THREE Nadja releases this week! Two of them are collaborations, but still, how's a Nadja fan supposed to keep up? But as we've learned, it's well worth the effort, as each disc has been a bonafide killer, and this one is no different.
Teamed up with UK sludge doom quartet Atavist, this seems like the ultimate doom drone matchup, and thus you might expect that these two bands would bring out the heaviest and sludgiest in each other, when in fact, the exact opposite is the case.
Two nearly half hour tracks, each one meandering and blissful, darkly tranquil and really really pretty. The first is a slowcore / postrock drift, delicate guitar figures, looped over a slow shimmery dronescape, the backdrop constantly shifting, the guitar line spidery and minor key, repeating hypnotically above a constantly intensifying backdrop of drones and rumblings. Eventually the background noise overtakes the lonely guitar, but not in a sludgy bombastic way, more like a muted churning swirl, lots of billowy low end guitar, and drifting smoky ambience. Near the end, the guitars do thicken, and suddenly the dreaminess is mired in some serious sludge, shot though with distant keening psychguitar, but it doesn't last, and the sludge softens quickly into more whispery whir.
The second track is a wide open expanse of billowy dark ambience, lots of strange muted FX and pulsing krautrocky swirl. More in line with Tangerine Dream and Popol Vuh than SUNNO)) or Earth. Eventually building into a moaning majestic wall of sound, like Sunroof! or Vibracathedral, but less skree and more rumble, huge slabs of crumbling guitar, beneath glistening melodic fragments and soft whirls of sound.
Droney and dreamy, divine and doomy and obviously essential.
MPEG Stream: "Twentyfour:sixteen"
MPEG Stream: "Twentynine:thirtyseven"

ATOMIC BITCHWAX, THE Spit Blood (Meteor City) 2cd 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
So we really liked the last few Atomic Bitchwax records. Member of Monster Magnet busts out and does a record of guitar wanker stoner rock. Sounds good. So what's wrong with the new one? Not sure exactly. It's just sort of flat. Sort of pointless. And there's some seriously bad vocals. Oh and then there's the cover of AC/DC's 'Dirty Deeds.' Bad. Well, not bad, just the same as the original. I mean sure it's fun to play, but why listen to a sort-of-the-same-version when you could just throw on the real thing. And why in god's name put it first on the record?! Anyway, if you're in need of even more stoner rock, or need a Monster Magnet fix, and your standards aren't super high, go for it, otherwise, check out 500 Ft. Of Pipe or Spiritual Beggars or Roachpowder or some of the other killer stoner metal we've listed in the past.
Does come with a bonus cd, pretty cool Meteor City label sampler, chock full of, you guessed it, stoner rock.

AURAL FIT Livestock (Slant Eye Archives) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
We tracked this down for those of you who really liked the first band on that recent Tokyo Flashback 5 compilation, or who, failing that, end up intrigued by the following description... We're talking about a Japanese trio called Aural Fit. We'd never heard of 'em before, but we were impressed by their cut "Behind 20, Beyond 20k" on that comp, which we described as "a very heavy, doomy, dirgey track that fans of Boris and Earth will dig, cacophonic and dense". Turns out they'd recently released a full-length cd entitled Livestock that's equally dirgey. Five tracks, 33'36" of unrelentingly creepy, cavernous, noisy, plodding improv psych. This is the dark, moody, hypnotic, rumbling music of rock n' roll void-dwellers, with crashing drums, harsh blasts of feedback guitar, and anguished vocals buried in the mix. Chances are they're fans of Fushitsusha and Skullflower...
(We've actually only got 11 copies of this, hopefully we can get some more, but please be patient if we run out.)
NB. the band put this out themselves, so Slant Eye Archives is their own label, something that anyone offended by the name might want to know!
MPEG Stream: "Obedience"
MPEG Stream: "Sensory Deprivation"

B.SON Black Shape Of Nexus (Vendetta) cd 17.98
A while back we listed a super limited lp from these German doomlords (we still have a couple left, but after those are gone, the vinyl version is gone gone gone), a record that completely and utterly kicked our asses. Now it's available on cd, and it includes not only the tracks from the lp, but also, their tracks from a recent vinyl only split with Crowskin, another German doom/drone/sludge combo we have yet to hear...
As for the sound of B.Son, well, by now, you must all realize how much we at aQ love us some ultra doom, some seriously sick slowness, you know, that doooooom, that is so glacial, that the songs begin to crumble and ooze into viscous black pools. We do. But sometimes we just want our doom to ROCK. Sounds contrary but it's been known to happen. Doom can be slow and low and still rock. Take B.Son for example. Whose particular brand of doomic energy is drawn from bands like Harvey Milk, Karp, The Melvins, godheadSilo, more a sort of downtuned propulsive sludge with doom elements, than pure doom. But goddamn if it isn't just as brutal and heck, doomy...
Thick ropy buzzbass, pounding destructo drums, throaty howls, grinding guitars, all lurching and swaying like some drugged and demented superrock doombeast, all filtered through a bit of grinding screamo and some buzzed out metallic blackness. There are moments of blisssed out post rockiness, and weird laid back grooves, stretched out near ambience and dense little mathy jams, but those moments just serve to keep the doomed sludge rock fury from becoming too much.
Produced by James Plotkin. The cd is packaged in a golden metal fold open cd box (much like the last Caacrinolas) with a full color, four panel, thick paper insert.
MPEG Stream: "IV"
MPEG Stream: "III"

B.SON Black Shape Of Nexus (Vendetta) lp 17.98
As much as we love us some ultra doom, some seriously sick slowness, you know, that doooooom, that is so glacial, that the songs begin to crumble and ooze into viscous black pools. We do. But sometimes we just want our doom to ROCK. Sounds contrary but it's been known to happen. Doom can be slow and low and still rock. Take B.Son for example. Whose particular brand of doomic energy is drawn from bands like Harvey Milk, Karp, The Melvins, godheadSilo, more a sort of downtuned propulsive sludge with doom elements, than pure doom. But goddamn if it isn't just as brutal and heck, doomy...
Thick ropy buzzbass, pounding destructo drums, throaty howls, grinding guitars, all lurching and swaying like some drugged and demented superrock doombeast, all filtered through a bit of grinding screamo and some buzzed out metallic blackness. 
There are moments of blisssed  out post rockiness, and weird laid back grooves, stretched out near ambience and dense little mathy jams, but those moments just serve to keep the doomed sludge rock fury from becoming too much. 
Produced by James Plotkin. Spiffy black and gold sleeves... This seems to already be out of print as well, so this batch could very well be the last we see of these...

BACHWIND Psychedelic Warlords Resin Their Bows (Spinefarm) cd 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, MAINLY BECAUSE IT WAS AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE! HEE HEE! SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Space rock gone classical? Yes! It's a drugs and flutes thing you wouldn't understand. We got turned on to these guys by our friends in Circle. This band from Finland started as a standard-issue jamming stoner space rock outfit, doing the heavily effected, free form freakout thing. Not quite so damaged as countrymen Doktor Kettu or Avarus, but close. But, perhaps tiring of the more untrained approach, one long dark Arctic winter they spent woodshedding, studying up on their classical chops. And they also drafted in some drop-outs from the local conservatory of music to help out. Now they make their debut as Bachwind, doing, among other things, a monster magnetized adaptation (a very loose adaptation) of Johann Sebastian Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 2 (BWV 847) of 1738, with an instrumental lineup that includes both fuzz bass and viola, analog synth and harpsichord. It's Avarus meets Apocalyptica, basically. Recommended, of course.
MPEG Stream: "Well-Tempered Clavier 1: Prelude & Fugue No. 2"

BAD ACID Tab 6 dvd / cd-r / magazine 29.00
Okay drug rock freeks, space rock explorers, doomlords, sludge demons, prog obsessives, metal maniacs, stoner dudes, noise nerds, and basically most of the other folks who read this here aQ list, Bad Acid is the magazine for you. And calling Bad Acid a magazine is a bit of a misnomer. It's more of a multimedia spacemetaldoomprogsludgenoise experience. You think we're exaggerating? A seventy minute dvd, an ELEVEN HOUR mp3 audio disc, a nearly two hour long label sampler, AND a 60 page booklet/magazine packed with liner notes, articles and interviews.
Packed with SO many aQ favorites, but just as many new bands we'd never heard, a bunch who could very well turn into new favorites. We've barely scratched the surface, since if we spent 14 hours on each review, the list would be, oh, about 5 items long. But from what we've heard / seen / watched so far, this latest issue of Bad Acid is pretty essential.
The dvd first, a series of music videos, film excerpts and slide shows, we were mostly excited about the scenes from an Antonius Rex movie, Antonius Rex being the dude from JACULA!! Tripped out and satanic and appropriately what-the-fuck. Some killer live footage of doom mongers Ogre, a killer art gallery slide show from the Malleus artist collective, featuring an awesome soundtrack from Morkobot, a Northwinds video, and then some more obscure stuff, Manatees tour video, Wicked Minds video, King Suffy Generator video, Lento live footage and tons more. All woven together by some super creepy animated menus.
Then there's the cd-r, featuring 11 hours of mp3's from Moss, Danava, White Hills, Barbara, Hey Colossus, Orange Sunshine, Capricorns, Khlyst, Acid King, Heresi, Raw Radar War, Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, Shinjuku Thief, Litmus and those are just the bands we know and already dig. 57 bands total, 102 tracks, tons of new bands to check out and discover. Also included is a label sampler focusing on the Bone Structure cd-r label, whose releases run the gamut from raw black metal, to buzzing industrial noise, to black ambient to grinding industrial weirdness. We actually have some BS stuff on the way, to be reviewed on the list soon, but this is a killer way to check out tons of stuff on the label.
And then there's the actual magazine component, with notes on each of the bands on the cd-r, a feature on each of the bands on the dvd, tons of info about Bone Structure and the bands on the label, as well as interviews with Fire Witch, Taint, Orange Goblin, and probably most exciting of all Alan Dubin, formerly of Khanate, talking about his new band Gnaw, which features folks from Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Atavist, Enos Slaughter and Ike Yard(!). Man, we can't wait to hear that.
All of the above packaged in a standard dvd style case, with killer cover art from the Malleus Rock Art Lab. A bit pricey due to the weak dollar and the expensive overseas shipping, but pretty well worth it.

BANG Bang / Mother - Bow To The King (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Dunno what it is -- maybe reading Martin Popoff's encyclopedic Collector's Guide To Heavy Metal Vol. 1: The Seventies (reviewed last list) -- but we've been on a real early '70s proto-metal hard rock kick of late. And one band essential to such listening is this one, so we've restocked a bunch of this cd reissue and thought we'd give it a re-list for those who missed it before. Here's what we wrote a while back when we first listed this:
Dust, Captain Beyond, Toad, Pentagram, Highway Robbery, T2, Buffalo, Budgie, Blue Cheer, Lucifer's Friend...if these names mean anything to you, you're probably one of our customers who dig that heavy '70s acid rock proto-metal stuff. Whenever we find a reissue of another lost gem from the era we try to share it with you. So, here, at last ... the legendary Bang, a trio from Florida (by way of Philly) circa '71-'73 who managed to crank out some Sabbath-like riffing to go with the very Ozzy-like vocals of lead singer and bassist Frank Ferrara!
Bang never got big -- although they did share stages with everyone from Alice Cooper to the Allman Brothers to Chuck Berry to Funkadelic to Black Sabbath themselves, apparently had a #1 hit in Hong Kong and at one point owned their own private plane! They released three albums in their career (for a US major label in fact) plus they recorded some singles and made an entire unreleased album as well. Their entire output has now been reissued on two cds, the first of which (this one) contains their self-titled debut, recorded in February of '72, as well as their follow-up sophomore album recorded that same year in November (groups back then didn't dilly dally with putting out one album every couple of years like today's bands).
As we said, Bang, especially on their first self-titled album, bore a remarkable resemblance to the Sabs, which was really unusual for their era, when heavy bands were more likely to copy Zeppelin or Purple or just be stuck in the '60s. Kinda lo-fi, but quite heavy, "Bang" delievers doomy hard rock, with a kinda Comus-y Pagan slant, that also brings to mind the most powerful early King Crimson. Like most heavy bands of the period, Bang weren't cognizant of the "metal" concept, and probably saw themselves as a pop rock group -- a dark and pyschedelic pop rock group to be sure -- and so sometimes the hard riffing lets up to allow for some happier or more gentle fare, which is not always a bad thing anyway (this a phenomenon we discussed in our review of the Dust albums not long ago).
Bang's 2nd album was oddly presented as two distinct side-long mini-albums, each with its own 'front' cover. Side one (the heavier) being "Mother" with side two dubbed "Bow To The King". Both sides together were not as Sabbathy as the debut perhaps, but still excellent '70s proto-metal indeed.
MPEG Stream: "Lions, Christians"
MPEG Stream: "Future Shock"
MPEG Stream: "Keep On"

BANG Bang Music / Death Of A Country / Three Lost Singles (BANGmusic.com) cd 14.98
Recorded in Hollywood, California in 1973, "Bang Music" was quite a bit more of your standard '70s rock/pop fare, not nearly as heavy as their earlier efforts. But it's nicely melodic and has a few rockin' tracks on it, like opener "Windfair".
Then we step back chronologically a couple of years for the conceptual "Death Of A Country", which was Bang's never-released first album, recorded in 1971 prior to their self-titled debut that came out the next year. With visions of societal corruption and ecological disaster, this album's doom-filled lyrics are certainly Sabbathian, although the music really doesn't get as apocalyptically heavy as what they came up with on "Bang". But still, a decent slab of downer psych-rock, more '60s hippie than '70s metal.
True heavy music connoisseurs really need this disc, though, for the two of the three "lost singles" included: the tracks "Slow Down" and "Feels Nice". They're the highlights here for sure. "Slow Down" woulda fit in well on their debut, while "Feels Nice" has more of Led Zep vibe.
Bang's slogan was always "Music Shot From Guns". Of the two cd reissues, it's the first ("Bang / Mother - Bow To The King") that's definitely using the higher caliber ordnance. But this one also gets off some good shots.
Note, unlike cd versions you might have seen before, these aren't bootlegs -- these reissues were done by the band themselves through their website. Initally they reissued 'em as cd-rs, but now they've done real cds, professionally printed. The cd booklets have the lyrics and credits, but we'd have liked some more art, photos, notes, etc. And as 2-on-1 releases, they've scrunched the cover art for two albums into each booklet's front panel, along with using some not-so-'70s Macintosh computer fonts. So, visually these could have been better, but oh well -- it's the music that matters. And much of Bang's music should definitely stoke those into early metal a la Black Sabbath and the aforementioned obscure greats.
RealAudio clip: "Windfair"
RealAudio clip: "Slow Down"
RealAudio clip: "Future Song"