There is so much that is right with this two-song split by Howling Giant and Sergeant Thunderhoof. Firstly, can you say epic??? A forty-minute runtime between two bands supplying a song each. Do the math. Secondly, I know of Howling Giant already and they rule. Thirdly, I did not know Sergeant Thunderhoof going into this but now that I do, they rule as well. And fourth and finally, Ripple Music rule. Or have you not been paying attention to every single album they’ve released?!?!?
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Have you ever wanted to go back in time and recapture the feeling of when you first hear an album that you just know will be groundbreaking. Something, like, say Mastodon’s Remission? The first time you hear the sonic onslaught of “March of the Fire Ants” or that huge riffage that begins “Mother Puncher”? Listening through the latest from France’s Stonebirds conjures all those feelings and more. Inducing chills and the hairs on the back of your neck to automatically stand up, Collapse And Fail is a blistering metallic tour-de-force of modern Sludge, Doom, Progressive and everything that’s good in between.
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Fresh off a retread of Karma To Burn’s storied/illustrious discography and everything I hear after seems to remind me of them. Like Louisiana’s Forming The Void who are miles beyond anything that instrumental trio concocted (Not a knock on K2B at all, they’re just living in a Desert Rawk realm all their own) but whose vocalist shares some similarities with onetime K2B collaborator Daniel Davies (Also of John Carpenter’s band and Year Long Disaster among others) as well as Downer’s J. Scott.
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Lowcaster create the kind of Post-Desert Doom that you can’t experience in bits and pieces and on their upcoming full-length, Flames Arise, this San Franciscan quartet have assembled a body of work that demands to be listened to as a whole to fully appreciate it.
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There are still bands out there that continually put out great music. You know what I mean? Like, their albums are constantly consistent, the track order makes sense, and from start to finish they provide a masterclass in how to do things just right. Sonic comfort food, if you will. Tennessee’s Howling Giant is one of those kinds of bands and on their debut full-length, The Space Between Worlds, they offer up a sprawling epic destined to show up on many a 2019 “Best Of” list and linger in the collective consciousness long after this year is through.
But I digress.
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On first listen, Doomstress brings the feels of local Doom purveyors Second Grave (RIP but you can check out new offshoot Benthic Realm, featuring SG vocalist Krista Van Guilder, here) and modern Ghost. Meaning you get bravado alongside the Black Sabbath. Comparisons aside, Doomstress simply rawk.
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2018 is the year where we make an obscene amount of references to Kyuss. Which is not a bad thing! It just means that bands are FINALLY catching up to what the progenitors of modern desert rawk were all about. Case in point is the UK’s Psychlona who, despite a few similarities to the iconic Californian quartet, still stand on their own two feet with their latest offering Mojo Rising. [Read more…]
When you think “Boston bands”, outfits like Aerosmith, Godsmack (Sorry!), The Cars, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones usually come to mind. Stellar bands in their own right and should make any Masshole proud of the tunes coming out of the state. Me? I’m proudest when I think of bands like Cave In, Converge, and Isis. And even prouder over the past few years with bands like Motherboar, Summoner, Doomriders, and the focus of this column: Gozu. [Read more…]