"Celestial Blues" is the sophomore album by KING WOMAN. Led by the hypnotic and breathy vocal dramatics of Kris Esfandiari. KING WOMAN unveil a profoundly crafted opus of brooding, ethereal doom-rock. Produced by Jack Shirley (DEAFHEAVEN, WRECK & REFERENCE, OATHBREAKER).
Feeling compelled to reshape the biblical archetypes that once bound her, Esfandiari has created a theatrical tale of rebellion, tragedy, and triumph — a metaphor for her own personal experiences over the years — "Celestial Blues" was born. The former’s name refers to Lucifer himself, taking root in a John Milton-ish humanization of the Biblical adversary.
Esfandiari has written an epic poem in blank verse where the dramatic tone for the record is set with "Morning Star" where "Lucifer, falling from the heights" with an primeval echo in the heavy riffs by Peter Arsendorf that played both bass and guitar on the album in the absence of former guitarist Colin Gallagher and drums beaten with a firm handshake by Joey Raygoza. "Boghz" is about the delicate line between love and drugs. Beautiful-sounding tones begin "Golgotha" which invites to some gymnastics choirs, laze distorted guitars and violins that try to hide the bloody lyrics. "Coil" is a massive wall of big sounds in this punkish gospel. "Entwined" starts nicely at a low tide pace, only when halfway has been passed, it break loose and she sings "I've been fucking around my whole life, No more". In "Psychic Wound" she get enslaved by the pinions under seductive rule. The music surrounds in a horror theme around her screams. A bass line lick opens up "Ruse" is another story of betrayal in the sense of intoxication. The album closes really beautiful in "Paradise Lost" where the inspiration is taken from John Milton epic poem, a neat guitar and soft drums along with a naked and soulful vocals makes me shiver. "Celestial Blues" is marvelous and so different, as the lyrics is very important to understand it's composition and meaning, the music frames up the story very well. Highly recomend to spin this with headphones.
"Celestial Blues" was recorded in Oakland, California by GRAMMY-nominated engineer Jack Shirley (DEAFHEAVEN, WRECK & REFERENCE, ANENRA, OATHBREAKER). Released July 30, 2021 by Relapse Records
Sum: "Celestial Blues" is one of the year's most evocative records.
Today's tune "Morning Star", taken from "Celestial Blues", The video is pretty creepy and get's me think about Marilyn Manson, could this be his sister???, well enjoy!
The Portland, Oregon quartet RED FANG have established themselves as one of the heavy rockers more engaging acts. Since the start with amazing 2011's "Murder The Mountains" and last release with 2016's "Only Ghosts", they have with thier infectious gooves and energetic powerful riffs made a name in the riff rock scene, a band that most nowerdays knows about.
"Arrows" is the fifth full-lengt album and was recorded at Halfling Studios in the band’s hometown of Portland, OR, with longtime collaborator Chris Funk, producer of "Murder The Mountains" and 2013’s "Whales And Leeches". The album was released June 4, 2021 via Relapse Records.
"Arrows", takes a slightly different direction for the band, loose screws and half inflated tires, the wheels are more dirty and the sound is woozy and gruffy where influenses could easly be HIGH ON FIRE, MELVINS and ORANGE GOBLIN. From the opening rumble intro "Take It Back" via the stoner rocker "Unreal Estate" and the crunchy doomish title track "Arrows". Tunes like full blown punkish "My Disaster" and "Dr. Owl" are cool break outs in the album along with the sharp stomp of "Rabbits In Hives". The tune "Fonzi Scheme", a tune was named after legendary Happy Days cool guy Arthur Fonzarelli. Producer Chris Funk came up with the idea of bringing in string players from the Portland Cello Project to class up the track. A track that shines MASTODON and BARONESS. Beautiful guitars in the half paced "Days Collide", where the vocals are a little more dark and withdrawn. "Why"is a magnificent thing where the bass licks gets a lot of space. The opening riff of closer "Funeral Coach" was written 11 years ago. Of course you get thoughts back to the debut, sounds magically good.
On "Arrows" do we get a adventurous journey in the dirt pit where we get served some of the dirtiest and space mutated riffs in RED FANG catalog. And they do a marvelous job to take the next step and take experimental risks with the new material. Check it up!
Sum: A grand return of RED FANG!
Today's tune "Arrows" is the title track from the new album, enjoy!
AMENRA’s first release for Relapse Records is at once a departure and a momentous act of deliverance. Stepping outside the run of albums titled "Mass I-VI", "De Doorn" casts a 21-year journey from the heart of Belgium’s crusading hardcore scene to world-renowned, spiritually guided innovators in an enthralling new light.
The album "De Doorn" is set to be release date: June 25, 2021. Recorded by Tim De Gieter at Much Luv studio, Lembeke BE.
Mastered by Frank Arkright, Abbey road studio, London UK.
Ritual, remembrance and hard-won rebirth have always been at the heart of AMENRA’s colossal, soul-purging approach. Centered around frontman Colin H. Van Eeckhout, but marked out by a transcendent unity of purpose, their albums have acted as totemic, personal marker points, a means to process individual grief as a shared, cathartic experience. Their live shows are acts of incendiary, communal exorcism that reach a cusp of sublime, out-of-body experience. A closely knit collective, they transport you to a febrile state where confrontation of pain, transformation and true healing can occur.
AMENRA is a Belgian band from Kortrijk. It was formed in 1999 by vocalist Colin H. van Eeckhout and guitarist Mathieu Vandekerckhove, who now perform alongside drummer Bjorn Lebon, guitarist Lennart Bossu and bassist Tim De Gieter. Among a number of other works, they have released six studio albums in the "Mass" series, the latest of them through Neurot Recordings. The band's unique musical style, characterised by brooding atmospheres and spiritual intensity, is rooted in doom metal, hardcore punk and post-rock. Their live performances, accompanied by visual art, have been described as "entrancing communions". In 2005, AMENRA formed Church of Ra, a collective of collaborating artists which now includes OATHBREAKER and THE BLACK HEART REBELLION.
Today's tune "De Evenmens" is taken from the upcoming album "De Doorn", enjoy!
ZOMBI returns with their new EP, "Liquid Crystal"!
A five track EP, "Liquid Crystal" sees Steve Moore and A.E. Paterra continue to explore the very melodic sensibilities, synthscapes, and driving rhythmic section that propelled the band upon the release of their latest critically acclaimed full-length, 2020. Tracks such as "Black Forest" finds the band leaning on heavy grooves alongside soaring leads, hear it below while the opening and second single "Mangler" oozes with ominous synths as crescendos build and build.
Producing work that is epic in concept, sound, and artistic approach, the masterminds and multi-instrumentalists behind ZOMBI have re-imagined the architecture of progressive rock and dynamic instrumentals by carving a niche in underground music distinctly their own. The band's signature sound is deceptively lush considering its two man skeleton crew ensemble.
Today's tune "Black Forest", taken from the upcoming EP "Liquid Crystal", enjoy!
Amalie Bruun, best known as MYRKUR has always paved her own path, challenging underground preconceptions of heavy metal ever since the release of her debut "Myrkur" EP in 2014. Her first two full-length studio albums, 2015’s "M" and 2017’s "Mareridt", recast black metal in the most personal yet expansive of terms, their blending of Amalie’s Danish folk roots with tempestuous internal struggles breathing new life into a subgenre whose followers can be rigidly possessive.
"Folkesange", will be a journey “into the heart of Scandinavian culture”. "Folkesange" will launch on March 20 through Relapse Records and is said to relinquish “black metal for a refined yet far-reaching evocation of traditional folk, combining songs ancient and new to sublimely resonant effect.”
Today's tune "Ella" is the result of years of studying, playing and listening to traditional Nordic folk music, says Amalie Bruun, she also adds “This is my version of a new folk-song, with roots planted in history and in the past. It is my ode to mankind and our connection with nature – a rite of passage as a woman and a rebirth-ritual in the sea". Enjoy!
Monday, new week, time to introduce "Record of The Week".
Gothenburg and Sweden's finest doomish sludge troupe MONOLORD have returned with their fourth album "No Comfort", released on September 20th via Relapse Records. MONOLORD has been on here pretty frequently over the years, the 2014’s "Empress Rising" (review here), 2015’s "Vænir" (review here) and 2017’s "Rust" (review here) and "Fairies Wear Boots" (here) and now it's time for the fourth album.
"No Comfort" is a heavy piece of work, sludgy doomed and lightly psychedelic and one thing is for sure it's a "No Comfort" for pop or indie peeps or hip-hoppers, but this is true comfort for any doomheads around this world. It's slow and massive with hazy vocals and minimalist and heavy ponderous riffs and partly very melodic, almost hypnotic and grabs a firm grip on the listener.
Once again they released a six-track mammoth album, the magic six-track have been the MONOLORD standard on the last three releases. On "No Comfort" the six tunes are all sharing the playtime of forty-seven minutes, this divided by six is an average of nearly eight minutes, pretty long tunes indeed. The album starts with the fat and grinding riffs in a classic MONOLORD way in "The Bastard Son", you instantly recognize the meditative pattern. "The Last Leaf" really opens up the soul in these gents, fat bass licks flow straight through the tune like a bursting oil pump and the melodic psychedelic guitar chorus in the middle of the tune, a sound that is piercing a hole in my heart all the way to the end. My breath is almost out and I'm totally exhausted before the gentle sound of the guitar playing that opens up the gentle "Larvae", a half pace tune that slowly rises into a heavy doom piece with some classic NWOBHM riffs and suffering groovy bassline and after almost eight minutes is closes up with a monotone duel riffing. "Skywards" is full of energy with groovy and melodic riffing in a great atmosphere. "Alone Together", monotone low-end bassline and atmospheric guitar make this beauty a memorable tune. The album closes up the eleven-minute title track "No Comfort", painfully rueful clean vocals and slow chugging colossal riffs make this an epic ending.
This album may be more polished than before with improved production quality instead of recorded it in the living room. But that does not mean that MONOLORD has forgotten how to create magic and that they show greatly through "No Comfort", and an excellent album art work is just another star in the book.
Sum: BANG! MONOLORD did it again.
MONOLORD is:
Mika Häkki - Bass
Esben Willems - Drums
Thomas Jäger - Guitar and Vocals
Today's tune "The Last Leaf" is taken from the album "No Comfort", the video is freaking stunning, enjoy!
"Uncertainty Is Bliss" is the Relapse debut from German psychedelic, hard rock trio BLACK SALVATION. The band featuring Uno Bruniusson formerly of IN SOLITUDE and GRAVE PLEASURES and currently of DEATH ALLEY, challenge the listener to open wide the doors of perception and slowly drift away amongst their transcendental compositions and deeply hypnotic tales of magic and mysticism. Across eight tracks and 40+ minutes, BLACK SALVATION exquisitely blend hard rock, doom and psychedelia into an intoxicating synthesis of rock n' roll alchemy. "Uncertainty Is Bliss" is a very interesting rock album.
The band was formed in Leipzig in 2009 by Paul Schlesier, BLACK SALVATION’s early years pivoted on jamming gritty dirges, à la ELECTRIC WIZARD, and elongated, repetition-based space-outs. Over the next few years, the Germans, with bassist Birger Schwidop and drummer Christian Seitz in tow, honed their craft and assisted in the foundation of Into Endless Chaos (IEC), a DIY organization of Leipzig-based counter-culture musicians and artists. Confident in their heavy wander and galvanized by their IEC interactions, BLACK SALVATION released their debut album, In Deep Circles, without label support in 2014.
For new album "Uncertainty Is Bliss", Schlesier and Schwidop wrote together—drummer Seitz had already exited. Finding capable drummers was relatively easy, but getting the right fit, both musically and philosophically, proved to be a challenge. So, Schlesier and Schwidop kept BLACK SALVATION’s newest odes to the uncharted simple but imaginative. The result was a puzzle of drums, overdubbed bass, fuzzy yet nimble guitar, and Schlesier’s baritone vocals. The glint of genius in the early versions of ‘In a Casket’s Ride,’ ‘Leair,’ ‘A Direction is Futile,’ and ‘Floating Torpid’ was all too real, but BLACK SALVATION needed the right drummer—a skinsman with significant swing and a sizable attitude—to send them into the stratosphere. Enter Uno Bruniusson.
With Bruniusson behind the kit and the vibes at 11, BLACK SALVATION wasted little time—a week, basically—before entering an unnamed rehearsal room (not a studio proper) to track "Uncertainty Is Bliss". They had as long as they needed, but environmentally it wasn’t the best place to record a trans-genre, beyond-space masterpiece. For eight days, BLACK SALVATION fought the confines of the rehearsal room. But between high-end mics and vintage, if temperamental 8-track Fostex tape machine, they emerged with a modern-day gem of psychedelic hard rock madness. The songs were eventually transferred to computer, where the finishing touches—overdubs and vocals—were constructed for mixing and mastering aces Martin "Konie" Ehrencrona (TRIBULATION, IN SOLITUDE) and Pieter Kloos (SUNN O))), THE DEVILS BLOOD).
Paul Schlesier - Guitar and Vocals
Birger Schwidop - Bass
Uno Bruniusson - Drums
Today's tune "In A Casket's Ride" is taken from "Uncertainty Is Bliss", enjoy!
Hard and peculiar is something the Denver’s nihilistic trio PRIMITIVE MAN shows associated with the video to the tune "Victim", a track taken from their second full-length album "Caustic", released on Relapse Records October 6th, 2017.
"Caustic" offering of soul-crushing blackened doom and noise-ridden claustrophobia, it's dirty, well-made and full of anger, like the contractions of childbirth or when you get hit with a concert block right in your face.
Recorded and produced at Flatline Audio by Dave Otero (COBALT, CEPHALIC CARNAGE, CATTLE DECAPITATION). "Caustic" is for anyone who enjoys some pain with their pleasure.
Vinyl version
Today's tune "Victim" is 6 minutes of bloodcurdling howls, abysmal tones and dense, unsettling feedback spewing forth a cesspool of utter misery. The video was Produced By: Dirt City Studios, Trill Kommand, Directed By: Neil Barrett, Marcos Morales
