This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
This is a
pretty interesting compilation of tracks that Nick sung the lead vocals on for
other bands so it is not his music. The CD features tracks by Komatsu, Death
Acoustic, Winnebago Deal, Svetlanas and Kniks Grounden Pistolhogs. Quite a few of the songs are cover songs
including Black Flag, Motorhead (Speedfreak) and the Groundhogs. IT is a short
20min EP but rocks and if you like Nick, you will probably dig to hear these
tracks.
This is a
band from Sardinia, Italy formed in 2011 and with three albums released. The
four piece band has played with a lot of stoner rock bands in the scene (and I
guess Duna Jam!).Anyway, the album
features 7 tracks starting off with Klepsydra. Classic stoner rock groove with
a sort of shouted vocal as the band powers on. Some nice guitars in the break.
Later the track slows things down to a doomy crawl and the vocal comes back
again on this long track. Rokka
continues with a straight up stoner riff and groove. Volcano has a cool effect
on the guitar at times and starts slow but then rocks out but later spaces out
and later gets very repetitive, so be patient. Interlude I is a strange spoken
word thing that ends side A. 17 January starts side B. Some nice spacey guitar
on this track and classic stoner riffing as well. 21st June has a
bit too much of the same singing and riffing but a good energy. Idyllium is a cool
song a real change of pace with a really beautiful melodic start and a nice
laid back track. Interlude II is another strange one with some almost like throat
singing that leads into the song, Oracle. This track probably has the best
guitar playing on the record and starts very relaxed but builds in a great way.
The track also features some organ.
The band has a great stoner rock sound and groove and mix it
up with some nice guitar parts. I did not like the sound production on the
record as it has a quite loud and dry drum sound. Stoner rock in Italy
lives!!!!!!
Dead Witches is a new UK band featuring Mark Greening
(former Electric Wizard/With The Dead/Ramesses) and vocalist Virginia Monti
from Psychedelic Witchcraft. Carl Geary on bass and Greg (Pearson) Elk on
guitar (who died last year) fill out the line up. The album featuresan intro and then 5 tracks (about
30mins).The intro features some drony
organ and slow melodic guitars and dies out before 3mins before really getting
far. Dead starts the slow doom trip with a pretty basic doom sound and a very
clean production with drums mixed quite high, nearly equal to the guitar and
bass, so it sounds a bit strange to me. IT is the drummers band so he wants to
be the loudest perhaps? Anyway, pretty basic slow building with passionate
female vocals. Drawing Down the Moon continues things in about the same vein
but rocks out at the end. A melodic guitar is played underneath (a bit too low)
the main heavy riff. There is a short guitar solo again really buried as the
track really picks up the pace towards the end and rocks out (Check out the video below). Ouija brings back
the doom guitar (No god in Heaven, no god in hell is the main vocal line) and
intense drumming but not much happening on this track. Mind Funeral has the
most heavy riff on the record, a bit more of a groove and one for the doom
bangers! A World of Darkness ends this short record with another track, much
like the previous. I have to say, due to the sound production, which I did not
like, this is an album I will not visit much. Pretty average doom does not
really stand out in the genre, sorry to say. Check it out and make your own
decision.
This band
comes from Turku Finland and has been around since 2011. Both of these tracks
come from a previous release (never on vinyl though!) called Explore the Void.
The 7” starts off with Meet on Mars. This is a heavy riffing (no solo) stoner
rock track with slower breaks and good dynamics and a great sound production.
The singer has a cool voice. Holy Oath has a sort of punky frantic pace and a
more spoken word like vocal to start. As the track evolves it kicks into a more
stoney groove with some cool wah guitar.This 7” comes in several colours and a great fold out artwork sleeve.
Cool stuff.
Svart records has recently come into a gold mine of old
Finnish TV broadcasts from the early 70s and begun to release these on vinyl.
I am a big fan of this Finnish band and Jukka Tolonen (the guitarist). I was
really surprised about this record and it pretty much blew me away. A strange
mix of prog rock, a bit of singing, some folky stuff but then strange chanting,
and hypnotic stuff and cool drumming reminding me a lot of CAN!!!Side A is one long 19min piece and side B a
shorter 14 and half min track with a great wah solo and very hypnotic at the
start, reminding me of CAN. Sadly, due to technical problems only 34 of the
56mins set was useable. Very cool album..Limited edition of 500 and comes with a poster.
The Clamps
are an Italian band from the north. This album features 10 tracks of high
energy stoner rock band. Barraduda start things off with a short 2min
instrumental. Liar keeps the place high and features a bit of piano here and
there by Marco Carrara. The vocal is pretty rough and reminds me of a Swedish
band Dozer, I think. The band reminds me of an Italian version of the Swedish
Hellacopters at times. The record is mostly all high riffing energy rock and
roll with the occasional guitar solo but not many. I found the album to be a
bit too much the same and lacking in varation but they ROCK, no doubt about it
and I am sure they are powerful live.
