Green & Wood radiate an aural agony and gloomy atmosphere that few bands can match. Taking tips from early Electric Wizard, St. Vitus, and miscellaneous psychedelia; Green & Wood spew sonic frustration through repetition and spiritual transcendence. Sitting down and listening to this album in its entirety feels akin to getting loaded and reading the Necronomicon backwards while summoning the Fire Lord in the tongue of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred.
You see... I tried writing this 'review' like those I've seen in magazines like Terrorizer, Decibel, et cetera. Once I brought in the Necronomicon, I guess I subconsciously gave up on the mission of trying to actually be serious while using adjectives and analogies that really don't mean anything.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?fmvwdm58a7vo2pd
The singer is a professional skateboarder or something.
I've neglected you fellows. I've neglected myself, to be honest. I've neglected my commitments, my goals, my responsibilites, et cetera. I'm the torn, half-open husk of a man I used to be. But with a dismembered outer shell comes the spreading of the seed that eventually sprouts into a new person. That person is me (reymon14). Alright, that's plenty pompous pilfering of the pretense for present. On to reality: I'm back and with me, comes hordes of music and shit. I'll hold off on the shit for now. Hopefully this stuff will keep you satisfied for a little while.
FIRST UP WE HAVE
A Forest of Stars - The Corpse of Rebirth (2008)
Starting strong with this one. I love everything about the music that this band makes. It's radiant, it's miserable, it has aura, it's raw. I even love the drug-addled howls and moans the vocalist presents. If you're not open to black metal or atmospheric shit with violins and cellos and Victorian era garb (this really doesn't matter because I think they look like idiots, but the music is still good), then don't bother (even though you should). The build up on the first track is so amazing that one time I was under the influence and had my eyes closed, I sharted to the climax of the building tension. Yeah.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?79dhkbky23a4jdj
MORE LIKE A CHORUS OF FARTS
UP NEXT IS
Ulver - Kveldssanger (1996)
From the darkened chasm in time known as NINETEEN NINETY SIX (lightning; thunder; wolf howl cut short by wimper) comes an album from a renown band in the BM circuit that has nothing to do with BM. I'm sure Agalloch took some cues from Ulver in their releasing of the White EP, as there are many parallels. Agalloch and Ulver both mainly BM(ish) in their earlier releases, Ulver releases Kveldssanger as a complete folk album in 1996, Agalloch releases the White EP as a complete folk [neo-folk] album in 2008. Both albums are very string-oriented as well, and both have very few, if any, BM tendencies - not to mention that Agalloch cites Ulver as a major influence. So what I'm trying to say is... If you like Agalloch's White EP, this is its forebearer.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?cmplro2rt9a993s
One time my mom walked in the room while this was playing and went, "I really like this!".
MOM APPROVED.
THIRD IS THE WORD
Spirit Caraven - Dreamwheel EP (1999)
The cover of this album combined with the Wino riffsyrup that this EP is drenched in makes me want to get into a giant shiptimemachine with Wino and Co. I want to travel the poly-fold transdimension with Wino so fucking bad. That desire is probably number 2 on my list. Number 1 is hugging a grizzly bear. One of the first albums this blog had the displeasure of sharing was Wino's solo album Punctuated Equilibrium. I like Spirit Caravan better, which is saying a lot. I haven't stopped drooling over the riff on the title track yet.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?iomevn6aj0kn0h4
Keeeeeeeeeeep on rollinnnn (not Fred Durst lyrics)
NEXT
Flower Travellin' Band - Satori (1971)
This shits amazing. And it's Japanese. So if you're an appreciator and/or propagator of culture or a weeaboo, then it's double amazing. This band is intense shit and if you haven't listened to yet then you're an idiot and need to download this. Fantastic early 70s psych/acid tunes. Even one of Rolling Stone's people (eghhhhhh....) said it was the best Japanese rock he's ever heard. But he's probably an asshole, so it might be the only Japanese rock he's ever heard. I hate that magazine.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?kj90tkv8f92pf42
When I'm blowing smoke signals and this song comes on I do the "dat ass" face for some reason.
LASTLY
Naam - Kingdom EP (2009)
Now some new(ish) stuff. Naam is great music and definitely Flower Travellin' Band (see above) influenced. A little more modern, slower, and doomier though. There's so much reverb in these songs that even if a fart was thrown in there it would make me trip the fuck out. You can tell these guys just got together and wanted to make music that would be fun as shit to jam out to. I don't know what these brosteins look like, but I'm almost certain they all have long hair, and one of them probably wears bell bottoms. And in this context, that's definitely not a bad thing. Actually... maybe it is.
What started as a little known solo black metal project from equally as little known one Maelstrom has now evolved into a little known 2-person black metal project, with Aavistus coming to aid Maelstrom in his battle within Philadelphia. While the creator of the band, the band, and its music are relatively unknown, I see good things in store for Astral Throne. Or evil, demented, christfucking things, depending on whether or not he wants to be kvlt enough.
Download here:
Part 1 - http://www.mediafire.com/?b7i8btbu0befpdo
Part 2 - http://www.mediafire.com/?ow34bfzmobfnb0i
Some may consider Drudkh innovators in the black metal kingdom. Some may consider Drudkh pioneers of atmosphere. Some may consider Drudkh as an apple with one stem and two leaves. It's all perception, really. I'd like you to check out Drudkh so that they can become what you perceive them to be. This is my favorite Drudkh release, with Blood in Our Wells coming in at a close second.
This is a mix I made for my girlfriend for her barfday. It has a huge variety of sounds on it, ranging from punk to bluegrass to psychadelic. It might be the best mix I've ever made. Although, some of it might seem a tad pedestrian to a few of you ultra cr00sh dudes. Don't download it expecting kvlt norsk arisk as fuq shit.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?27at0sn53gyp3ku
Track list: 1 Mondo Drag - Fade Out
2 Unwound - Laugh Track
3 Winters - Endless Fight
4 Throwing Muses - Dragonhead
5 Teenage Bottlerocket - In the Basement
6 RVIVR - Real Mean
7 Shorebirds - Down in Denver
8 Plasmatics - Dream Lover
9 Sundowner - The Sea of Lights
10 Austin Lucas - Wash My Sins Away
11 Murder by Death - Rum Brave
12 Fake Problems - Mutt
13 Comet Gain - Ripped-up Suit!
14 Mew - Repeater Beater
15 Operation Makeout - Life On Your Windowsill
16 Minutemen - Viet Nam
17 Future of the Left - I am Civil Service
18 The Melvins w/ Jello Biafra - Those Dumb Punk Kids
I ate a lot of cheese today. In fact, I ate so much cheese that I've been shitting diarrhea out of my butt for the past 6 hours. And wanna know what? Atheist is the perfect band to help you get over your cheese induced diarrhea-having blues. Diarrhea's a nightmare, but the dreamy bass on this album helps make perfect equilibrium in your shit tube. I didn't know jazzy tech death could have so much soul and power.
I won't pretend I understand what half the song titles mean, let alone the lyrics, but it's just really fucking easy to tell that Solstafir's Masterpiece of Bitterness is just overflowing with brilliance. I don't know how the fuck they do it (and I wish I did), but Solstafir seemlessly blends black metal, post-rock, and atmosphere. What the fuck?
Download here: Part 1 - http://www.mediafire.com/?4zumoumdo43
Part 2 - http://www.mediafire.com/?idmyhejmzah
That squirting noise you just heard is spinal fluid rushing to your hindbrain.
Ok... So do me a favor and throw away any inhibition you have about guttural vocals, blastbeats, and palm-muted staccatos. Now that you're past phase 1, you can accept that this album is one of the best death, grindcore, atmospheric, whateverthefucks I have ever heard in my entire life. Jesus fucking Christ, this album blows me away every time I listen to it. I can't even begin to explain the depth Lykathea Aflame show with this release. Like I said before, I don't care how you feel about death metal, grind, or whatever, as a musician or even as an appreciator of music, you'll be able to enjoy this album.
Released just last year, Russia's The Morningside bring fresh stylings to a sometimes stale genre with this one. Containing equal parts of atmosphere, doomish, and death influence, this album has seen its fair share of play on my end. The Morningside reminds me of the offspring of a consensual orgy between Agalloch, Neurosis, and various death acts. Have a listen.
Bolt Thrower. Yes, their lyrics are about the boardgame Warhammer, and yes they are one of the best death bands to ever exist. This is one of my favorite albums of theirs because it makes me want to morph into a Khornate champion and use my massive battlesword to a rip a hole in spacetime. That and headbang nonstop.
Agalloch's The White EP is their second release for Vendlus. Throw away any preconceived notions of how you think Agalloch sounds and how you think Agalloch should sound, because this EP is a lot different from the Agalloch you [possibly] know and [probably] love. This time, Agalloch takes a more folk way of going about things, meaning there are a lot of cryptic lyrics and acoustic guitars. This is by far one of my favorite records to listen and releax to.
The Grey EP is the first half of Agalloch 2-release deal with Vendlus, taking on a much dronier sound. The songs, labelled as "remixes", really sound nothing like their original counterparts off The Mantle. It's definitely worth a listen.
American Steel is awesome punk. They're awesome because they came back after one of their dudes had leukemia. They're also awesome because they came back after they decided they didn't want to change the name of their band and make worse music. Although Destroy Their Future and onward is a little tame compared to this stuff.
Death in June is a folk-type band with tons of post-punk and industrial influence. Apparently, they are credited with the creation of the genre "neofolk". To me, folk's just folk. Death in June has often been criticized for their use of Nazi imagery in their work, which in reality has nothing to do with their political leanings or social ideologies. An air of intrigue exists around the history of Nazism and WWI-WWII Germany in general. If this weren't true then "Wings of the Luftwaffe" wouldn't have been one of the highest rating specials ever to be shown on the History Channel. Anyhow... I listen to Death in June when I'm feeling particularly low-key and just want to relax and listen to some good tunes without having Gaahl scream at my face. I suggest you give it a shot.
Damad was the type of band that would medley a few genres chaotically in a big pot and make a nice batch of very-listenable musicgumbo. It seems like they threw in every genre they enjoyed, which includes crossover, sludge, crust, southern metal, etc. It really worked out for them, considering the high regard that many people hold Damad in. However, the sun always sets at some point, and they broke up after a 9-year stint in 2001. Some members went on to form Kylesa and others went on to make Karst, which are both extremely relevant.
Entombed is one of my favorite band's. In fact, their first album Left Hand Path is for certain in my top 5. That's how much I like Entombed. Although I have to admit, on some level, Entombed seems/ed to be travelling down the Metallica path in favoring a more "rock" influence in their later releases, rather than straight death metal, like in Left Hand Path. Those of you who don't know Entombed are probably cringing right now a little bit. Don't. While Metallica took that path and started to release awful songs with awful titles like "Ain't My Bitch" and "4x4", Entombed kept releasing solid music, even if it isn't the old school death metal I know and love. In any case, Wolverine Blues was Entombed's first album to mark this trend toward change, with a more punk (?!) influence, among other things. It's pretty fucking good.
Download here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?1fjzd21m2mv
I'm not joking when I promise that this album has nothing to do with Wolverine of Xavier's Men. Thank Earache for that fuckup.
Iron Monkey is the sludge band that steamrolled the world from 1994-1999. This is the type of band shitty artists nowadays should be taking cues from. Iron Monkey is savage, riffy, and makes me want to punch a Dakosaurus andiniensis in the face. Maybe it won't have the same affect on you, but it probably will. I wish scientists would clone a bunch of Dakoasfdaash andinsafgas so I could punch them all in the face while blasting Supagorgonizer.
This band is a 2-piece. Hold on, I have to clean up the puke that just bellowed out of my facehole because I remembered for the 80th time today that they're a 2-piece. I'm running out of bodily fluids to spew because of this. Yes, this band is a 2-piece, and yes they will demolish your dick/hamwallet so that it looks like a slice of momma's meatloaf. I recently had the pleasure of seeing them in a basement and I still haven't recovered. I took the advice of the Viagra commercial and called my doctor after having a boner for over 6 hours (I was pushing 4 days). Welp, it looks like Black Cobra is the reason why I have a faulty prostate.
I cry every time I listen to Agalloch. Not only because Agalloch's music erupts with emotion like the geysercock of a man bound to solitude who stumbles upon a ready and willing partner, but because they are that fucking good. Agalloch is one of those bands that you play around someone and they're all "What is this, brah? It's like... weird and shit I guess" and then 15 minutes later they're like "Fuck I'm wearing corpsepaint and playing an acoustic guitar in the woods while beating a deerskull with a mallet for atmosphere." I fucking love Agalloch.
Yellow Machinegun is so fucking ridiculous that I can't smith the proper words in my languageforge to describe how much I love them. I sincerely hope and wish that Yellow Machinegun can reach as many people as possible so that I won't feel as if I'm alone in America. This is the same Yellow Machinegun that did a split with S.o.D., Scott Ian from Anthrax's side project. Yellow Machinegun consists of 3 dangerously cute Japanese girls that mastered crossover.
Quicksand is the band Tool ripped off. More or less everything Tool does is an exact carbon copy of what Quicksand has already done (except Danny Carey's insane drumming technique), from the vocals to the chugging bass. The only thing Tool has that Quicksand doesn't (except Danny Carey's insane drumming technique) is moderate radio play on buttrock stations. Now, I'm not trying to discredit Tool, because I think they're great... but most of the time I'd rather listen to Quicksand. So maybe I am trying to discredit Tool. But that's neither here nor there (possibly here)... Walter, Quicksand's vocalist, fronted hardcore act Gorilla Biscuits pre-Quicksand and post-Quicksand, he went on to form Rival Schools, which is awesome. I might up some Rival Schools later.
Codeine's music sounds exactly like the feeling of taking a bunch of oxy and riding a train. Seriously. These folks are the pioneers of the little known "slowcore" genre from the 90s/early 2000s. And that band Low, which are a lot weirder, but not as slow. In any case, I like Codeine a lot more.
Wino's great. I'm speaking of the incredible Wino of St. Vitus, Spirit Caravan, and The Obsessed fame, of course. You see... Wino's great. I've never met the guy, but I'm sure he's just great. Probably a real solid character. Probably a chip off the old block (that's assuming his dad is/was great). This album is doom-flavored rock featuring JP of Clutch and Brian White from Dog Fashion Disco. It's kind of like sucking on the now-hardened volcanic aftermath of the shit that destroyed dinosaurs. The shit that destroyed fucking dinosaurs. I didn't believe it either, at first... but don't worry. Wino's great.
Graham Central Station is a collective of the happiest folk on the planet (excluding the keyboardist, he's full of sorrow and morbid curiosity) that create the funkiest, most dancable, most outrageous music on the planet. Listening to them makes me want to be a host on a kid's TV Show called FUNK AROUND DA CLOCK. Kind of like Soul Train, but for four to ten year olds of all ethnicity. On FUNK AROUND DA CLOCK we'd talk about the nastiness of funk music, and then we'd dance.
ps: The song on this album called "Is It Love" makes me want to get silk sheets and romance the pants off of the approximately 6 billion women on the planet.
Cathedral is a doom band out of England (motherland of doom) that represents everything amazing about doom. If you don't know what doom is, either click the 'x' at the top right of your window or click here. Cathedral's been a band since many moons have passed (many moons passing refers to the year of great birth (1989) in this context). This particular single is one of many in their vast discography which ranges from their stellar debut In Memoriam to The Garden of Unearthly Delights. I find these particular songs riveting because listening to them makes me want to sacrifice a baby, fuck a goat, and steal a firstborn son in one serving.
This is Danzig's first album outside of Misfits and Samhain. I think Glenn was at the point in his life where he realized he was too powerful and dangerous to pursue a standard existence, which left him few options. You can see these thoughts leaking through in songs like "Am I Demon". I feel as if I can really empathize with Mr. Danzig. This album contained the minor radio hit "Mother" that you can still hear today on the local buttrock station, of all places. The one around these parts is called the WRAT. Very buttrocky sounding name, to boot.
Green & Wood radiate an aural agony and gloomy atmosphere that few bands can match. Taking tips from early Electric Wizard, St. Vitus, and miscellaneous psychedelia; Green & Wood spew sonic frustration through repetition and spiritual transcendence. Sitting down and listening to this album in its entirety feels akin to getting loaded and reading the Necronomicon backwards while summoning the Fire Lord in the tongue of the Mad Arab Abdul Alhazred. 
