Bastard Priest - Ghouls of the Endless Night

Bastard Priest's Ghouls of the Endless Night is punked up old school Swedish death metal. Not original by any means, but when done this well, who cares? The vocals are hoarse growls and the riffs alternate between tremolo love letters to the late 80s and d-beat style chord patterns as this review from From the Dust Returned puts it. Fuzzy, filthy fun with an analog-demo style production that perfectly suits the music. Read the review from Teufel's Tomb, click the player and enjoy 36 minutes of thrashy perfection.

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Ethereal Riffian - Shaman's Visions (Remaster)

Review by Aaron Sullivan.

When one thinks of all the countries that have produced great Stoner/DOOM bands Ukraine don’t usually come to mind. With Shaman’s Visions, Ethereal Riffian is looking to change all that.

One of the immediate bands that come to mind at first listen is OM. While Ethereal Riffian employ two guitar players, they are still able to capture the OM vibe. This is spaced out, fuzzy Stoner/DOOM. You can’t help but find yourself swaying with each riff as if you were stuck in a trance. Vocals are not sung but rather chanted. While the album is divided into tracks they each build off the other, making it sound so cohesive that it feels like one track. Additions like flute, bongos, and female vocals only add to their hypnotic brand of Stoner/DOOM.

This album does what good Stoner/DOOM albums should. It takes you on a trip and makes you feel under the influence even if you are not. Doommantia adds

This is one of the most tripped-out albums released in recent years and you will feel like you are on a psychoactive drug while listening to 'Shaman's Visions' as the music really does alter your cognition and perception of everything around you.

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Wizard Rifle - Speak Loud Say Nothing

Review by Natalie Zina Walschots. Originally published here by Exclaim.

Photo by Justine Murphy at Photic Photographic

After two years of making strange sounds together, Portland, OR's Wizard Rifle have released their debut album, Speak Loud Say Nothing. An example of a successful hybrid that's much greater than the sum of its parts, the record combines nimble, noodling math rock guitar playing and songwriting with comfortably fuzzy, broken-in sludge tones.

Wizard Rifle utilize the best from both of these influences. The guitar playing is supple and sophisticated, falling over itself with the swooping, precise grace of a trapeze artist. The tone of the album is warm and woolly, preventing the more technical aspects from becoming too cold. The choral vocals are organic and effective, especially the shouted, cacophonous chanting of the chorus on "Tears Won't Soften Steel."

An album that both challenges and comforts, Speak Loud Say Nothing combines a warm, tuneful aesthetic with some seriously skilful instrumentation.

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Botanist - III: Doom in Bloom / Allies - Pre-order

Art by M.S. Waldron

Doom in Bloom, the new album by Botanist is available for pre-order (it releases 25 May 2012). The previous album was post-apocalyptic botanical black metal with croaky vocals, drums, and hammered dulcimer. On Doom in Bloom keyboards are added to the palette, and the croaks have been replaced with eerie whispering. The tempo has dropped, and the songs are longer and more atmospheric. Botanist almost sound like a new band with this switch from black metal to a type of doom.

Heavy Blog is Heavy said that Quoth Azalea, the Demon (Rhododendoom II), the first track released from the new album, is hauntingly emotional, brilliantly arranged, and sounds absolutely perfect in terms of production quality. The second track, Vriesea, lives up to those words, but Botanist has issued this warning: Watch out. The last 6 songs could be very slow duck calls. And dulcimer. Beware.

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Doom in Bloom will be released together with a companion disk called Allies. It consists of full-band compositions made by friends of Botanist to drums from the Doom in Bloom session. A kind of Botanist alternate reality. Check out this interview from Meat Mead Metal for more details about Allies, and hear a track from it above. It is called The War of All Against All, and it is fantastic.

Author & Punisher - Ursus Americanus

Review by Phro.

Imagine it's 2200 CE, and you've been nothing more than a digital being since birth. Your consciousness was uploaded to a global server--the last of the flesh-babies, if you will. Your thoughts are encoded on quantum dots, but self aware none-the-less. Your physical senses have been replaced with input devices you can use and discard at will.

Now, imagine a malfunction, trapping your immortal, sentient mind in a locked off section of the global network, with no input, no companions, and no escape. You're digital--you have no physical control, and you are essentially immortal.

Now, imagine decades and centuries of solitude wearing on your "mind," slowly driving you insane. Your nonexistent ears seem to manifest sounds that you know cannot be there. At first you fight it, realizing it is yet another symptom of your deepening madness. But then loneliness and desperation overpower your logical reluctance to give in. You find yourself enjoying the tortured beats, the low hum of what sounds like massive electromagnets being switched on. You can hear the rumble of an electrical storm in the distance. And then the static of feedback like a robot struggling to outrun rust and decay. A demonic, pulsating rhythm wraps its tendrils around your spasming brain and squeezes and squeezes and squeezes until you feel the spray of hot blood on your nonexistent face.

The music you had welcomed as a distraction from your boredom and loneliness, you now realize, is no music at all. It is the sound of your server shutting down. Whether the sun has finally gone cold and the power has run out or the Earth has been ravaged by a nuclear holocaust, electromagnetic blasts and radiation having torn asunder the very fabric of space and time, you do not know. But as bits and bytes of your remaining self flicker and disappear, you give thanks for the commutation of your seemingly eternal torture and dance wildly to the dry, marching rasp of death.

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(I’m not really sure why this album is named after the American black bear...)

Beyond Terror Beyond Grace - Nadir

The new album by Beyond Terror Beyond Grace has been released on the Willowtip Bandcamp. Nadir is an intriguing mix of several different styles. A short description could be atmospheric blackened death. Teufel's Tomb adds

They combine the accessible blackened atmospheric melodies of Krallice with the melodic technical ferocity of Ulcerate, with the familiar tempo and intensity changes of a good death doom album.

Rumbling wall of sound riffs, dynamic drumming and powerful throaty rasps and growls. Moody, intense, and often beautiful music. Here'a review from Metal Review and here's an interview from the wonderfully named The Fuck Whisperer.

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Walden - .​.​.​Isolation

Review by Aaron Sullivan.

...Isolation is an Atmospheric Black Metal album from the band Walden, hailing from Victoria British Columbia.

As the name would suggest, nature plays a big part thematically. The acoustic tracks give that sense of sitting in a wooded area with a fire burning to keep you warm. But the Black Metal tracks, full of tortured wails and tremolo picking, are anything but cozy; the fire is now out and you are frostbitten. This juxtaposition of styles is made even better by the production. With the acoustic passages being very well produced, with added outdoor sound effects to enhance the warm feeling. While the Black Metal tracks are raw, as if they were recorded in cave. This difference in sounds never effects the flow of the album, Actually adding to it with great effect.

If you're a fan of Atmospheric Black Metal, especially one that has acoustic passages, this is an album and artist worth checking out.

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