Doom

Ruby The Hatchet at The Stone Church, March 17, 2023

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ruby The Hatchet made the journey north to perform at The Stone Church in Brattleboro, Vermont, as part of the Women’s History Month celebration.

Ruby The Hatchet

As in previous years, “The Stone Church is hosting around a dozen shows featuring women-fronted bands for Grrrls to the Front, now a month-long series honoring all affected by gender inequity. At each event, Planned Parenthood and the Women’s Freedom Center will be available with a table and resources.” As part of this programming, Ruby The Hatchet headlined a show with four women-fronted bands at The Stone Church on Saint Patrick’s Day. It is an incredible venue that is exactly what it sounds like – an old stone church. The pews have been removed and a stage has been installed, but otherwise all the trappings of religiosity are present – stained glass windows, a balcony overlooking the hall, and even the bones of a pipe organ. It is a small, intimate place that is the perfect setting for heavy music.

The first band to play was Coma Hole, a two-piece doom band from Rhode Island that has been a around for a few years and released a self-titled EP last year. There seem to be a proliferation of duos in the past several years, more than I remember from days of yore. Bass-drum combos, like Coma Hole, are fairly common – Year of the Cobra is another example that comes to mind. Coma Hole expands the range of sound through the use of pedals, adding variety to the compositions and further enhancing the accompanying vocals. The format of the show allowed the early bands to play longer than you might normally expect, so the crowd got to hear about forty minutes of soaking doom.

Coma Hole
Coma Hole

Next up was a local band, Jeopardy. I have seen their music described as crossover thrash. I would add to that the label of beer punk, maybe. The crowd loved them, being familiar with their act, and there was a noticeable amount of communication between the stage and the room, including the hurling of beer cans now and then. The press blurb for the band reads, “We’re not here to impress anyone. We’re not here to raise the bar. We’re not here to be innovative. We[’]re here to drink beer and thrash.” Mission accomplished.

Jeopardy
Jeopadry

Ice Giant is an epic metal band from Massachusetts. Their debut album came out in 2017, Ice Giant, and they have been touring ever since. They are working on a new record now, and their set had material drawn from across their timeline. This is a band that has been honing their craft for quite a while, and their hard work shows in their performance. They operate in epic landscapes, and the temporal menace is a thrashing attack – an excellent array of big riffs and a towering sound. As with the first two bands, I had never seen Ice Giant before. It is always great to hear new music, but besides that, this show lineup has in common the fact that all the lead singers are women but otherwise the four acts play completely different kinds of music. It is a good mix.

Ice Giant
Ice Giant

The main reason I did make the journey to southern Vermont was to see Ruby The Hatchet, a band I have seen before many times, most recently last year at Psycho Las Vegas. They are a heavy psych band, one of my all-time favorites. Their latest album is Fear Is A Cruel Master, out now through Magnetic Eye Records.

Ruby The Hatchet
Ruby The Hatchet

Their set began with “Thruster,” and ran through many cuts from Cruel Master, along with a few recognizable songs from the past. I could listen to this band every week and still want to hear more. Jillian Taylor’s voice is both mesmerizing and commanding, and the full sound they get with the combination of guitar, keys, and the rhythm section is unmatched. Any chance you get to see them live is one you can’t pass by – drop everything and get to the show.

Ruby The Hatchet
Ruby The Hatchet

Ruby The Hatchet has a couple of shows coming up in April, at Underground Arts in Philly on the 12th and at the Anchor Rock Club in Atlantic City on the 22nd. They are on tour with Elder from May 3rd to June 3rd – check out the tour poster below for cities and dates, then grab your tickets before they are all gone.

Photos by Wayne Edwards.

Links.

Ruby The Hatchet, http://rubythehatchet.com/

Ice Giant, https://icegiantband.bandcamp.com/album/ice-giant

Coma Hole, https://comahole.bandcamp.com/music

Jeopardy, https://jeopardyvt.bandcamp.com/

The Stone Church, https://stonechurchvt.com/

Photo Galleries.

More Ruby The Hatchet photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/03/26/photo-gallery-ruby-the-hatchet-at-the-stone-church-brattleboro-vermont/

More Ice Giant photos, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2023/03/26/photo-gallery-ice-giant-at-the-stone-church-brattleboro-vermont-2023/

© Wayne Edwards

Ruby The Hatchet at The Stone Church, March 17, 2023

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , ,

The new record from Mammoth Caravan has the weight and pace of an ancient glacier of doom: Ice Cold Oblivion.

Mammoth Caravan is from Little Rock, Arkansas. They are a doom band, and they don’t sound like anything I heard when I was last in Little Rock. Huge riffs and inventive constructions surround variegated vocals and flaring guitar to produce fantastic results. The band is Brandon Ringo (bass, vocals), Evan Swift (guitar vocals), and Robert Warner (drums).

The odd tinkling sounds that open the set on “Ice Cold Oblivion” give no clue that titanic riffs will follow. Neither do they hint at the gravely vocals which align perfectly with the other instruments. Mystical, freezing doom is what this is. “Nomad” is a clomping continuation, a revving up of the premise established in the opener. With a tighter pace and steady drive, much ground is covered, and a tasty lead guitar break is introduced, opening the way for huffing vocals that might have come from an actual mammoth. “Petroglyphs” is a melancholic spellcaster, a cratered celestial body of ancient wisdom. The beautiful wind-down is haunting.

Side two offers first “Megafauna,” a temperamental tune that rattles you and brings on an itch. “Periglacial” is a fascinating piece, with unexpected drumming and vocals, that latter being clean and clear at the front, creating an epic metal expectation and delivering something off to the side of that. It is one of my favorite tracks on the album. The set closes on “Frostbite,” an eleven-minute creeper that is so entrancing you might forget to breathe. I love this song. The entire album has impressed me, clocking doom as it does and ploughing a course all its own. Recommended.

Ice Cold Oblivion is out on Saturday, February 25th. Listen and buy at Bandcamp through the link below.

Band Photo by Kurt Lunsford.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://mammothcaravan.bandcamp.com/album/ice-cold-oblivion

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/MammothCaravan

© Wayne Edwards

Mammoth Caravan, Ice Cold Oblivion (2023)

Stones Of Babylon, Ishtar Gate (Raging Planet 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , ,

Instrumental doom band Stones of Babylon unfurl their second full-length album, Ishtar Gate.

Stones of Babylon is from Lisbon, Portugal. They play a psychedelic-infused brand of instrumental doom. They came together five years ago, and have released a demo, a live album, and the debut long-player Hanging Gardens. The band is Alexandre Mendes (guitar), João Medeiros (bass), and Pedro Branco (drums).

What’s the album about, you ask. “Somewhere in Babylon, in a space almost lost in time, the eighth gate of the city was erected. Like any door, the Ishtar Gate symbolizes access to coded worlds, the closing of crossroads, or simply the thunderous force of power.” When you peruse the track list, you get a further idea of the geographic and mythological locus of the themes explored in the music. In any case, with instrumental music you can make it about anything you want when you listen. However, in this case, the music matches the theme perfectly and knowing the ideas behind it all improves the listening.

There are six long tracks on the album, starting with “Gilgamesh (…and Enkidu’s demise).” The riffs are massive and extra buzzy, filling the space around you ears. The first lead guitar enters a couple of minutes in, and a little later, the Middle Eastern nuances of the music step into the spotlight. The pairing of these seemingly divergent attitudes is one of the main sources of the music’s strength. “Anunnaki” follows, stepping in with a lighter approach than its predecessor. Quiet and cautious, the music builds slowly. You wait more than two minutes for the wall of guitar to bowl you over. “Pazuzu” begins with a spoken narration (from The Exorcist) introducing the evil spirit for which the song is named. To me, the riffs on this song are the most threatening so far – they generate at least trepidation, if not fear. The quieter passages, then, stage an anticipation that evolves quickly into dread. Well done.

Side two: “The Gate of Ishtar,” “The Fall of Ur,” and “Tigris & Euphrates.” The final three songs are where I was absorbed fully into the music. Each track is quite different, and yet they go together like movements of a larger whole. You can listen to one at a time, but I think the experience is greatly enhanced by taking it all in at once in a single sitting. I love instrumental doom music and Stones of Babylon does it right. Highly recommended.

Ishtar Gate is out now through Raging Planet Records in digital, CD, and vinyl. For this one, I would go with vinyl. The music lends itself to the form.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://stonesofbabylon.bandcamp.com/album/ishtar-gate

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/stonesofbabylon

Raging Planet Records, http://ragingplanet.pt/

© Wayne Edwards

Stones Of Babylon, Ishtar Gate (Raging Planet 2022)

Witchfinder, Forgotten Mansion (Mrs Red Sound 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Witchfinder brings out another great record with their third full-length album, Forgotten Mansion.

The French psychedelic doom quartet Witchfinder is Clément Mostefai (vocals, bass), Stanislas Franczak (guitar), Thomas Dupuy (drums), and Kevyn Raecke (keyboard). Since their first album dropped just five years ago, they have been on a winning streak with Hazy Rites two years later, and the well-received Endless Garden earlier EP this year. Their newest album is some of the best music they have made so far.

“Approaching” has a trippy, psychedelic ramp that pushes into a classic doom guitar drop. The vocals are cast from the distance in an echoey framing which pulses perfectly inside a mind that has achieved an altered state. The lead guitar segment that first appears is laid back and effective, setting up a tempo shift and that offers a mid-song lift, providing fertile ground for the following Iommi-inspired riff. The construction of the song is a credible integration of psychedelic entreaties in a doom architecture. “Marijuana,” which features Haldor Grunberg adding vocal depth, puts the lead guitar near the front, placing it as a signpost for the changes that follow. Here again we have the beautifully heavy, fuzzy riff and rhythm that carries the water for the ethereal vocals. Excellent. And then “Lucid Forest,” the shortest song so far at a mere five and a half minutes, slides in trippingly and lightens things up a little. It is still heavy, of course. It seems more reflective to me than its predecessors, changing the mood a might. The keys are more prominent in my ears, too, and the lead guitar break stands out.

“Ghosts Happen To Fade” is my favorite track. I like the entire album, but this one lands just right in my ears and brain, touching a place with the guitar that hadn’t been activated yet. The vocals are more sinister here, and that has an appeal as well. “The Old Days” wraps things up and brings back the straightforward doom at the front of the track. The music turns up the psych knob halfway through and reminds us of the range of the band. The album is solid psych-doom through and through. Recommended.

Forgotten Mansion is out now through Mrs Red Sound Records. Bandcamp is the place to go in the US to pick this one up.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://witchfinder.bandcamp.com/album/forgotten-mansion

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/witchfinderdoom

Mrs Red Sound Records, https://mrsredsound.com/

FFMB review of the Endless Garden EP, https://flyingfiddlesticks.com/2022/06/06/witchfinder-endless-garden-mrs-red-sound-2022/

© Wayne Edwards

Witchfinder, Forgotten Mansion (Mrs Red Sound 2022)

Mother Of Graves, Where The Shadows Adorn (Wise Blood 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

The debut full-length album from Indianapolis doom band Mother of Graves is Where The Shadows Adorn.

Mother Of Graves came together in Indiana’s capital city in 2019. Just last year they released their first EP, In Somber Dreams, and the title track from that record made on to Metal Blade Records’ Metal Massacre XV anthology. I think of their music as doom metal because I have such an abiding affection for that kind of music. In fact, Mother Of Graves has a broader reach and, while their sound is massively heavy, it spills out into the musical lands that surround doom. The band is Brandon Howe (vocals, keys). Chris Morrison (guitar), Ben Sandman (guitar), Corey Clark (bass), and Don Curtis (drums).

There are eight songs on the new album, beginning with the title track. A solitary piano breaks the silence and starts an avalanche that is slow at first, then builds momentum and force until is flows over the cliff. Howe’s commanding voice delivers the message surrounded by abominable riffs and lyrical keys., Rather than being in juxtaposition, the combination and enmeshing of these forces coalesce into a greater whole. While the opening track is a shining example, you can expect this manner of creation in the other songs as well.

“Rain” is a bit more straightforward in its construction and features a beautifully somber movement. “Tears Like Wine” goes in another direction and has the feeling of a story (and/or a warning) told by a traveling heavy metal mage. Very mystical. “Of Solitude and Stone” has one of the greatest ranges in sound and force in the set and “Ghost in the Twilight” is filled to its very edges with drama.

It all comes to a close on “The Caliginous Voice,” the longest track on the record. The lead-in bars are filled with emotion. When the big riffs land, you are in a state to accept the weight of the unfolding message. Paced perfectly, the song takes you on a journey that will stay I your mind long after the music stops. I would say the same about the album overall. Recommended.

Where The Shadows Adorn is out now through Wise Blood Records. You can listen and buy at the links below.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://motherofgraves.bandcamp.com/album/where-the-shadows-adorn

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/motherofgravesband/

Wise Blood Records, https://wisebloodrecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Mother Of Graves, Where The Shadows Adorn (Wise Blood 2022)

Lathe, Tongue Of Silver (Grimoire 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

Droning doom band Lathe open the way westward toward an uncertain, peculiar place on their debut album, Tongue Of Silver.

Lathe is Tyler Davis (guitar, bass, organ), Eric Paltell (pedal steel, guitar), and Flynn Diguardia (drums). They are an instrumental doom band from Baltimore, Maryland. This manner of composition is the sort of thing I greatly appreciate because, to me, this is clearly doom music but it is also country music, obviously, and the drone elements are unmistakable, too. None of these separate lands are compromised by the amalgamation. What results is unique.

“Vinegar” is a lonely country tune at the beginning. After a few bars, the music shifts into a more ethereal lonely country tune, with peculiar side bars laying at odd angles, some almost perpendicular. “Drain” is even more sorrowful and downtrodden, offering a beautiful lead guitar presence. “Heat Wave” slows the pace and deepens the atmosphere to a point so thick it begins to close off your air. “Rodeo Fumes” is an upbeat rambler compared to its predecessors. It has a good clip, and a nice melody. There is still the echo of uncertainty that keeps this one in the doom realm.

Things start to get more peculiar on the second side. “315W” has a droning noise bed that tones slip into and around. “Cauliflower” lays on the blues, and the guitar here is a highlight in the set. “Journey To The East” is the big dog in the barnyard and has the most Lost Highway weirdness feel among the contenders, I would say, all the while maintaining the established laid back attitude. It is unhurried, certain. Lastly there is “Morris,” a song to nourish your darkening soul. The powerful rumbling of the guitars is a cushion for the beautiful lead string rambling. A tinge of bitter flashes in once or twice, reminding you that this is real. I am captivated by this album. Recommended.

Tongue Of Silver is out on Friday, July 29th through Grimoire Records. Touch the links below to see the sites.

Band photo by Daniel Regner.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://grimoirerecords.bandcamp.com/album/tongue-of-silver

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/lathe66

Grimoire Records, http://www.grimoirerecords.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Lathe, Tongue Of Silver (Grimoire 2022)

Behold! The Monolith, From The Fathomless Deep (Ripple Music 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Los Angeles metal band Behold! The Monolith have created a doom-laden masterpiece with their new album From The Fathomless Deep.

Behold! The Monolith have gone through some changes since their inception fifteen years ago. They have released an EP and three previous long-players prior to the latest album. The band has shifted and reshaped since the sudden loss of vocalist and bassist Kevin McDade in a car accident in 2009. Reorienting to a trio on the new album, Menno Verbaten plays bass and sings, Matt Price is on guitar, and Chase Manhattan, drums. This latest music is some of their heaviest to date.

There are six tracks on From The Fathomless Deep. “Crown/The Immeasurable Void” opens the set and establishes a weighty foundation. All instruments, including voice, hit on the first note laying out a heavy front of doom. Slow and monstrous, you can feel the behemoth getting closer as the song moves along. The tension grows throughout and, when you hear a quiet passage, it is positively ominous. “Psychlopean Dread” has a mysterious beginning and melancholy lead work. Verbaten’s gruff vocals churn primordial forces to create meaning from the mist. “Spirit Taker” picks the pace up, and then some. The stabbing guitar riff and rapid-fire percussion catch you off guard and hit all the harder for it. It’s a rager.

Side two leads with “The Wailing Blade,” a song that has a less ominous but more directly threatening tone. It is short and cracking. “The Seams of Pangaea” is a fascinating title when you think of the implications it carries, and the music delivers a full-on expression of the possibilities. The overlayed lead guitar work is exceptional, and the Pink Floydian movement is an experience. The album closes on the eleven-minute epic “Stormbreaker Suite.” This piece has some of the most progressive segments on the record, to my ear, anyway. Over the course of the song, an ambitious array of ideas is explored, and the answers are found.

The is album is very heavy, and it is one of my favorites, not just from Behold! The Monolith, but among the all the albums I have heard so far this year. Highly recommended.

From The Fathomless Deep is out now through Ripple Music. Secure your treasures at the label’s site, or at Bandcamp, like I did.

Links.

Band website, https://beholdthemonolith.com/home

Bandcamp, https://ripplemusic.bandcamp.com/album/from-the-fathomless-deep

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/beholdthemonolith

Ripple Music, https://www.ripple-music.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Behold! The Monolith, From The Fathomless Deep (Ripple Music 2022)

Lucid Grave, Cosmic Mountain (Electric Valley 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , ,

Stoner doom band Lucid Grave release their debut long-player, Cosmic Mountain.

Situated in Copenhagen, Denmark, Lucid Grave has been haunting stages for a few years. After a demo and an EP, they have now put together an impressive full-length album for their ever-expanding fan base to groove on. Heavy psych, doom, ritual, and stoner vibes infiltrate every nook in this music. The band is Malene (vocals), Jon (drums), Alex (bass), Casper (guitar and synth), and Kriller (guitar and synth).

There are six tracks on the new album, three long ones and three very long ones. The title track kicks the set off with opening ambient tones and an eerie, emotive vocal. The voice is mesmerizing, having the effect of a chant in this context, rather like ritual metal. It is nearly three minutes in before the first big guitar riff lands, and when it does the impact is titanic. The pace is slow but determined and meaningful. “Old Spirit” follows in a completely different way, reminding me at times of a Nina Hagen – digging in with punk attitudes and contemporary sentimentiation [I made that word up just now]. The lead break toward the end is very trippy.

The differential existence of both faster-paced and slow-paced songs works exceptionally well on this record. “I’m Still High” is next and it has an arc the other songs largely avoid. “I Feel The Fire” is somber and not at all sober. “Stay Away” is a Pink Floyd tonic and the closer, “Curse Of the Crow,” digs in deep. The massive natural musical weight of the composition gains access to your deepest inner self if you have prepared for it properly and if you are open to the experience. The ramp out could be effective in an Ayahuasca exploration. This song, and this album, could change you. Recommended.

Cosmic Mountain is out on Friday, July 15th through Electric Valley Records.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://lucidgrave.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/LucidGrave

Electric Valley Records, https://www.electricvalleyrecords.com/category/electric-valley-records-releases

© Wayne Edwards

Lucid Grave, Cosmic Mountain (Electric Valley 2022)

Negative 13, Mourning Asteri (2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , ,

The sophomore album from Negative 13 is an ambitious affair, Mourning Asteri.

Negative 13 is a band from Pittsburgh, and it is the new incarnation of the band Negative Theory which proliferated in the early aughts. The music is sludge-centered with adventures in many other directions. The musicians are Scott Fisher (vocals), Edward Banchs (guitar), Chip Reynolds (drums, vocals), and Mary Bielich (bass).

I listened to the record straight through and wrote down a one-line knee jerk reaction to each song. These are not really based on the lyrics and mostly have to do with whatever popped into my head as I heard the songs for the first time. It is what the music made me think of and therefore what I plastered onto it. I wouldn’t take this too seriously.

Here we go. “My Scars Are Showing Again” – like a hoarse, wandering goblin minstrel drinking in a rural English pub talking about its day by candlelight. “Never Ending Exit Wound” – a very punk piece that turns into doom toward the end. “Pain Prism” – belligerent angst stemming from the lost search for peace and isolation.

“Mourning Asteri” – a sinister instrumental mood track. “Crack the Code” – continues from previous song and builds into a journey where many things go terribly wrong. “The Key and the Coat” – a hot punk take up front meandering off into the psychedelic wilderness as the song goes on. “Parahell” – wandering somewhat lost in mental confinement, searching for an exit. “Villain” – somber long-form doom, beautifully dark.

More thoughtfully, let me say I really like this music. In its totality, is unlike what I usually hear. The idea of combining sludge and doom with punk is a winner for sure. Adding psychedelic and even ambient-like passages deepens the effect. Give it a listen. Recommended.

Mourning Asteri is out on Friday, July 8th. Check it out at Bandcamp or any other elsewhere you like.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://negative13.bandcamp.com/album/mourning-asteri

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/people/Negative-Thirteen/100063690412382/

© Wayne Edwards

Negative 13, Mourning Asteri (2022)

Witchfinder, Endless Garden (Mrs Red Sound 2022)

Wayne Edwards, , , , , , , , , ,

Hazy stoner doom band Witchfinder cast out their new EP into the world, Endless Garden.

Just a few years ago in France, Witchfinder began creating music with hallmarks of doom, sludge, and heavy psych. Leaning toward the stoner end of the room, they released two full-length albums, a self-titled one in 2017 followed by Hazy Rites in 2019. There is a new long-player on the horizon, and meanwhile they offer Endless Garden. Witchfinder is Clément Mostefai (vocals and bass), Stanislas Franczak (guitar), Thomas Dupuy (drums), and Kevyn Raecke (keys).

There are two long tracks on the new EP beginning with “Eternal Sunset.” Any song that runs nearly eleven minutes will have some change-ups, or an arc, or both. Here we have a quiet opening, reflective music establishing space to expand into. Guitars and keys arrive in due course. There are moments that seem like self-contain songs themselves, and other, longer stretches that feel like a movie soundtrack. The vocals are spacey, almost cavernous at times, adding depth and mystery. The hallmarks of riff-driven stoner rock never stray too far from focus.

“The Maze” starts with a wandering bass, paired with a guitar that looks in a different direction. The mood here is darker than on the first song, instilling trepidation in the listener. The vocals offer what seems like a warning, or at least a sinister tale to put you on your guard. Decisive plodding appears, and is like a marching force on a mission; they will not be swayed. There is a sudden, violent shift at the end, an abrupt black metal moment that signals the conclusion of the conflict.

The band has planned a full-length album for later in the year. These two songs will hold us over until then. It is also a rewarding enterprise to listen to Witchfinder’s earlier albums in the interim. Recommended.

Mrs Red Sound will release Endless Garden on Friday, June 3rd. Bandcamp is a good stop when you are looking for this music.

Links.

Bandcamp, https://witchfinder.bandcamp.com/

Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/witchfinderdoom

Mrs Red Sound Records, http://mrsredsound.com/

© Wayne Edwards

Witchfinder, Endless Garden (Mrs Red Sound 2022)