We Miss Live Music So Much (Beastwars)

By Calen Henry. "Damn the Sky" was the first song where I got Beastwars. From that single track I was hooked and tore through their discography just in time, unfortunately, for them to go on hiatus then announce that singer Matt Hyde was (ultimately successfully) battling cancer.

By Calen Henry.


"Damn the Sky" was the first song where I got Beastwars. From that single track I was hooked and tore through their discography just in time, unfortunately, for them to go on hiatus then announce that singer Matt Hyde was (ultimately successfully) battling cancer.

After all that their announcement of a surprise comeback album, last year's IV, was the most exciting musical moment of 2019 for me. The anticipation was well founded; it ended up being my favourite album last year. It turns out that wasn't the only surprise the band had up their sleeve.

On May 1, Bandcamp's second "all proceeds to artist" day since global COVID-19 quarantine efforts began and bands faced a cascade of gig cancellations, the boys in Beastwars decided to drop a live album. Not just any set either, their entire comeback concert from July 2018 at Wellington NZ's San Fran. As a Canadian fan who is unlikely to be able to catch the band live, it's an incredible gift. Not just a comeback album, but their comeback show, professionally recorded and mixed. It's even got some nice dynamic headroom with a master clocking in at DR8.


Being a year before the release of IV the setlist is made up entirely of songs from their trilogy. They start the set with the Beastwars song "Damn the Sky". From there they rip through some of the best tracks from the three albums in largely chronological order though they save two tracks from the first album, the savage stomp of "Red God" and mantra-like "Daggers" as the one-two punch to end the set. "Daggers" is such a perfect note on which to end the set, with its repeated refrain

Play that song
Play that one we know
Play it loud
Play that one we love

They sound like a different band from the snapshot of despair, grief, and hope captured on IV. By time they got back to the stage Matt was back to full demon-bellowing capacity and the set is a band with fire in their bellies ripping through their back catalog for their hometown crowd. It's magical and kind of perfect for a band with so much mysticism in their lyrics to hear the moment they hit the stage after so much turmoil and a rebirth. To top it off the band have been kind enough to ask for absolutely nothing in return. It's Name Your Price on the band's Bandcamp page.

Planet of the Dead - Fear of a Dead Planet

By Calen Henry. I love Beastwars so imagine my surprise when an album from a Wellington-based stoner doom band boasting a wicked sci-fi album cover surfaced on Bandcamp and it wasn’t them. Surprise turned to delight when I hit play on Planet of the Dead's Fear of a Dead Planet. While they certainly Obey the Riff, they set themselves well apart from New Zealand’s apocalyptic doom phoenix.

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Jonathan Guzi.

I love Beastwars so imagine my surprise when an album from a Wellington-based stoner doom band boasting a wicked sci-fi album cover surfaced on Bandcamp and it wasn’t them. Surprise turned to delight when I hit play on Planet of the Dead's Fear of a Dead Planet. While they certainly Obey the Riff, they set themselves well apart from New Zealand’s apocalyptic doom phoenix.

Planet of the Dead draws deep from the well of stoner metal and 90’s alt-rock to create a menacing atmosphere then whips up a sci-fi sandstorm. With lyrics drawing from well-known fantasy and sci-fi as well as a few deep cuts - bonus points to them for having lyrics on their Bandcamp page.

The album opens with "The Eternal Void". It's drawn out intro creates the perfect ominous vibe for vocalist Mark Mundell’s melodic howl to tell the tale of the advance of the White Walkers. He then drops into a menacing growl with echoes of stoner metal godfather Matt Pike. The vocal shift kicks the instruments into a lumbering staccato shuffle, showing their hand for the rest of the album. Their “trademark” sound is the juxtaposition of sinister semi-clean vocals and more guttural howls over a similar juxtaposition of slow, menacing passages and extremely groovy, choppy fast riffs.

Album standout "Mind Killer" is the grooviest of all. Opening with a sample of the Mentat Mantra from David Lynch’s Dune, the band then shifts into a groove that sounds like Queens of the Stone Age filtered through High on Fire. With Mark turning the Mantra into the first verse and the Bene Gesserit Litany Against Fear into a glorious chorus reminiscent of Trent Reznor. The rest of the verses weave in the band’s own lyrics about Paul Atreides’ choice between the machinations of the Bene Gesserit and the logic of the Mentat way.

Shifting to a stomping rhythm weirdly reminiscent of Silverchair’s largely forgotten hit "Freak", the band completes the sci-fi / fantasy hat trick with another Dune track. "A Million Deaths" focuses on Paul’s visions of death, his fear of them coming to pass, and his inability to prevent them on his current path.

"Nashwen" goes deep with nerd cred (full disclosure: I didn’t figure this one out myself) for another groovy track with 90’s NIN sounding vocals, this time about Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe. It’s also the first track on the album to feature an extended guitar lead and it’s pretty killer over top of the bands crunchy riffs.

The rest of the track list carries on the band’s formula of groove vs trudge, but the back half of the album has fewer direct sci-fi references and is slower, on balance. "Walk the Earth" bears special mention, though, as it’s inspired by Dawn of the Dead and thereby calls back to the band’s name (though the main inspiration for the name is the Electric Wizard track Funeralopolis). The subject matter is a great fit for the band’s sound. Much like the album opener the slow riffing is a perfect fit for the creeping dread of a George A. Romero inspired song.

Planet of the Dead’s slow/fast formula creates a great signature sound considering Fear of a Dead Planet is only their first full length. It does, however, have the odd recycled riff, but the feeling of deja-vu never lasts long before they do something creative and switch things up. Plus it sounds great, especially for a debut. The master is more dynamic than average for stoner doom coming in at DR 8 and it really shows. Everything sounds massive and the bass really comes through to drive the huge grooves.

Planet of the Dead are unlikely to convert staunch detractors of their chosen style but stoner metal lovers will find a lot to love here, and a surprisingly original take on an overdone sound in what I consider to be the best stoner metal debut since Ordos’ House of the Dead.

The Doomed Concept - Bull Elephant, Howling Giant, and Bushwhacker

By Calen Henry. Last year saw the release of three great doomy concept albums, all of which I either initially missed or glossed over and all of which are worth revisiting both for music and stories. Anonymous UK collective Bull Elephant dropped their self-titled debut in November. They go all in on their concept telling the story of a slaughtered African elephant reanimated by Nazi occultists

By Calen Henry.

Last year saw the release of three great doomy concept albums, all of which I either initially missed or glossed over and all of which are worth revisiting both for music and stories.

Cover art by all4band.com.

Anonymous UK collective Bull Elephant dropped their self-titled debut in November. They go all in on their concept telling the story of a slaughtered African elephant reanimated by Nazi occultists to further their war effort, only to be interrupted by a witch-shaman and turned on its killers. Elder forces, having other plans for the beast, intercede through time and space. They realize that no matter which side prevails, the earth is doomed to a slow cycle of degradation as humans, a mere cosmic footnote, wage their slowly escalating war on nature. After the great pachyderm falls in battle against its captors and killers, these elder gods raise it for one final battle to catalyze humanity’s ruin and reset the cosmic balance.

Backing up the story is a wall of doom/sludge that constantly churns through riffs, leads, and vocal styles. At first listen the heavier side dominates; thundering drums, crushing guitar riffs and guttural vocals. Ultimately, though, the vocals unlock the album’s potential. The vocalist(s) run the gamut from guttural death metal growls, to black metal rasps, gritty mid-range, and a manic falsetto that just pushes into distorted without turning into a shriek.

The instruments lock in with all these changes, always the right sonic palette for the vocals. They effortlessly slip from psychedelic clean guitar passages into crushing doom riffs, and soaring guitar leads, even dropping into full-on HM-2 fueled OSDM for “Corrupted Truth”. The swirling musical shifts match not only the vocal changes, but the scenes in the story. As the story moves from terrestrial to celestial happenings, and into the future and back the musical backdrop always matches. It makes following the story with the included PDF lyrics sheet thoroughly enthralling.

The icing is that, though Bull Elephant are anonymous and independent, they’ve gone to great lengths to perfect their album. It sounds amazing. No matter how airy, busy, or dirty it is at a given point it always sounds just right. Everything comes through and nothing gets lost.

By delivering the full package of ridiculous kitchen-sink metal concept album Bull Elephant have set the bar high on their debut and are allegedly already working on Bull Elephant II...

Cover Art by Lindsey Camelio.

The Space Between Worlds is Howling Giant's first full length after a series of pulp science fiction themed EPs. This time the Nashville trio has gone full sci-fi concept album. The overarching story is that of a huntress on a journey through the metaphysical realm of humanity’s collective dreamscape. In it she must confront a dream eater in an attempt to stop it devouring dreamers and destabilizing the dimension itself. The actual story is told completely within the dream realm and plays out more like a classic fantasy yarn as the huntress traverses the land on the way to the dream eater’s citadel for the final confrontation.

In contrast to Bull Elephant’s prog doom melting pot Howling Giant play extremely melodic stoner rock. The closest touch-point is ASG (Jason Shi even provides some guest vocals). All the vocals are clean with lots of harmonized parts and the guitar tone is warm and fuzzy. It’s an extremely easy album to listen to, and indeed, I glossed over it on my first listen. Underneath the easily digestible sound the band have written a selection of great songs full of hooks and ear-worm sing-along choruses. Instead of falling into the common stoner rock trap of stringing together some huge riffs and calling it an album, the songs feel intentionally structured to both support the story and come out as good songs. They keep things moving along, rarely riding a riff for very long and often working in 6/8, so that when they do drop into a huge “slow headbang” stoner metal riff it always hits hard.

Like The Sword’s sci-fi concept period (Warp Riders and Apochryphon) Howling Giant aren’t reinventing the wheel. But The Space Between Worlds deliver an exciting concept that’s well executed with a signature sound that’s immediately approachable, but continually rewarding.

Cover Art by Adam Burke.

Originally hailing from Canada’s Klondike, Vancouver’s Bushwhacker go full cowboy concept metal on A Fistful of Poison. It chronicles the downfall of a drug addicted band of desperadoes, tricked by a local barkeep into seeking out a cult rumoured to grow their chosen drug and worship the ancient Egyptian crocodile-headed god Sobek. Matt over at Can This Even Be Called Music delves deep into the story better than I possibly could, and it really requires that level of immersion because the narrative drives the whole album and is essential to its success.

The narrative drives everything from the radio-drama style vignettes to the flow of the music itself. The vignettes are over the top, but so is the whole concept so it works. They unambiguously deliver the core story, letting the lyrics deliver the metaphorical and psychological side of the desperadoes' doomed journey. Between these the musical content of A Fistful of Poison leans heavily on long atmospheric instrumental sections to fully develop the story's pervasive feeling of manic desperation. Bushwhacker take the framework pioneered by Sleep of lengthy passages dominated by a single riff, slowly building and shifting, and employ it in service of the narrative. It's a perfect match for the vocals. The incantation-like delivery, a rhythmic chanting, escalates in parallel with the instruments to an unhinged rasp at key story moments.

Bushwhacker are all in on the storytelling and A Fistful of Poison is a fantastic soundtrack to an engrossing narrative, but without delving into both it risks falling flat. That may make it a polarizing album, but it's well worth the effort to unpack and unlike almost any other.

Alunah - Violet Hour

By Matt Hinch. Let's get some formalities out of the way. Since Alunah's last full-length the band has seen some significant turnover. After Solennial, vocalist Sophie Day left to pursue other endeavours. Guitarist David Day stayed for Amber and Gold, the EP that introduced us to new vocalist Siân Greenaway.

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Felipe Froeder/Arcano XV.

Let's get some formalities out of the way. Since Alunah's last full-length the band has seen some significant turnover. After Solennial, vocalist Sophie Day left to pursue other endeavours. Guitarist David Day stayed for Amber and Gold, the EP that introduced us to new vocalist Siân Greenaway. However, new LP Violet Hour finds the guitarist spot now occupied by Diamond Head bassist Dean Ashton. The rhythmic backbone has stayed intact in drummer Jake Mason and bassist Daniel Burchmore. As such, despite a 50% turnover the band still sounds like the Alunah I know and love yet the evolution of their sound leaves no doubt the players are different

I tried to keep the compare and contrast to a minimum while both listening and writing but I couldn't shake it entirely. No one would mistake one vocalist for the other but both work for the material. Live performances have shown that Greenaway doesn't sound out of place handling older material and on Violet Hour she definitely takes the vocals as her own. The version of Alunah that evolved up to what we heard on Solennial felt slower overall as well as more doomed and earthy, suiting Sophie's delivery perfectly. Violet Hour immediately has a different edge on opener "Trapped and Bound". Harder, edgier, with a different force behind it compared to the softer, hazy, more natural feel of old. There seems to be a shift in tone towards "hard rock with doom" rather than "doom with hard rock". It's not really a drastic change but it's powered by different elements. There's a swagger and a more rollicking feel at times.

As the album progresses it settles into darker places. By the time we get to "Hunt" familiar feelings start to come forth. The darkness of "Dance of Deceit" bleeds into the "classic" plodding riff that headlines "Hunt". It feels decidedly like traditional doom bringing to mind Trouble, or even Candlemass.

"Hypnotized" and the title track further display their evolving sound. The former is pretty doomy but still more uptempo. Greenaway's vocals are the smooth and haunting sort the band is known for while in the latter she brings a real power to match the riffier aspects of the track. It's like riding the album rather than sinking right into it. "Unholy Disease" feels like a sprint compared to some of their work both old and new. It's through these middle tracks where the solos highlight the stylistic difference. Definitely more rock oriented. Speaking of solos, during the solo on the smooth-moving "Velvet" the bass lurches into a more prominent recognition with a growl and the whole album is better for it. This is the track that sealed the deal for me. It's very reminiscent of previous albums and Greenaway gets truly bewitching and haunting. A definite high point.

Album closer "Lake of Fire" is my favourite track on the album though. The keys at the opening add more atmosphere. The bass is featured and the smooth cadence warms my soul. The chorus is huge and magnificent with a riff you can really get behind. Greenaway opens right up to captivate the listener. Even the solos have a quality to them that embraces the listener. It's massive and epic and the perfect way to end the album.

There's more comparison above than I wanted but it is what it is. Despite the new lineup this still sounds like Alunah. It's still doomy. The vocals still soar and the rhythm section is still rock solid. Violet Hour will really start to bury itself in your head after a brief and painless adjustment period. It's catchy, man! There's a little more muscle in the delivery but we all need to get a little stronger in some way. The band has always been evolving. Violet Hour just skipped a couple steps in the process of what they'll become. Come along for the ride.

Priestess - Prior to the Fire

By Calen Henry. In 2007 Priestess' straightforward hook-filled hard rock caught the attention of Neversoft, developers of the Guitar Hero series. The Montreal band became a flash in the pan when “Lay Down”, from their debut album Hello Master was featured in Guitar Hero 3

By Calen Henry.


In 2007 Priestess' straightforward hook-filled hard rock caught the attention of Neversoft, developers of the Guitar Hero series. The Montreal band became a flash in the pan when “Lay Down”, from their debut album Hello Master was featured in Guitar Hero 3. But by that point the franchise was just past its peak so Priestess didn’t get the exposure a band like The Sword did with Guitar Hero II, the series’ apex.

Priestess' much overlooked 2009 follow up, Prior to the Fire, saw the band mixing their hooky, driving hard rock with progressive rock and filling the album with fantasy and sci-fi themes. The final product was such a departure from the radio-ready Hello Master that the band ended up parting ways with their US label, delaying the album's American release until they signed with Tee Pee Records.

The differences from its predecessor, though, are why it’s such an excellent record and why, even ten years later, nothing quite sounds like it. Mastodon’s Crack the Skye is often cited as the pinnacle of rock, metal, and prog’s modern coalescence, and rightly so. It’s my favourite album, but Priestess were right there too adding a heavy dose of prog to hard rock without losing any of the energy. They expertly combined hard driving rhythms with serpentine riffs, time signature changes, and unpredictable song structures, all with vintage sounding production for something unequaled ten years later.

Axemen Mikey Heppner and Dan Watchorn really set the sound for the album with custom stacks made by boutique Montreal outfit Richtone. The warm tube driven crunch was ever present, never spilled over into full-blown distortion and was a great fit for the natural drum sound. Mikey’s vocals were a touch gravelly as well, giving the whole album a tour-tested grit that feels classic even though the songs are about everything from Jack the Ripper and werewolves to Robocop, Lone Wolf and Cub, and Dragonball Z. It’s nerd rock with swagger.

You can even still grab the translucent green/orange double LP and a t-shirt from Bandcamp, which is a bit sad since that seems to mean physical sales were low enough they're still selling the first run of LPs ten years later. As for the present, the band has been on hiatus since 2012 and, though I long for more from them, it seems unlikely. For the rest of you, who may have missed out on one of my favourite albums of all time, it’s right there on Bandcamp. 

Spaceslug - Eye the Tide

By Hera Vidal. It’s taken me a while to finally get to Spaceslug’s Eye the Tide, a slow burn of an album that eventually seeps into your skin. First track “Obsolith” is an easy starter that lazily drags along the surface. Heavy blues-tinged guitars create a comfortable, consistent rhythm that makes you want to groove and move your body to the beat.

By Hera Vidal.

Artwork by Maciej Kamuda.

It’s taken me a while to finally get to Spaceslug’s Eye the Tide, a slow burn of an album that eventually seeps into your skin.

First track “Obsolith” is an easy starter that lazily drags along the surface. Heavy blues-tinged guitars create a comfortable, consistent rhythm that makes you want to groove and move your body to the beat. The song exudes a sensuality that I tend to associate with post-metal. It feels like touching a live wire whose current emits a warmth that feels intimate.

The layered vocals sounds like a unified voice. All members sing on the album, but if you listen closely, you can hear all the different timbres. For the most part though, the music focuses on the instruments, as if the band recorded this while they were jamming out in someone’s basement. The use of reverb and tone throughout the album seems to also be a character in itself, coming and going when it pleases. There isn’t a focus on it, but when it comes, you will hear it and be swept by it.

As the album continues the vibe seems to shift, going from that relaxed, intimate atmosphere to something a little more sinister. In the third track “Eternal Monuments” the repetitiveness heard in “Obsolith” begins to combine with lower guitar tones. The beat slows and fades away into the next track, “Words Like Stones”, where the music becomes more aggressive with harsh vocals and even blast beats. Like a drug-taking experience, where the psychedelia kicks in about halfway through and then you can only bask in it. The music also tend to drone in the latter half, as the atmosphere ebbs and flows between laziness and mania.

I found myself coming back to Eye the Tide at different times throughout the past year, each time liking it more. Spaceslug's blend of stoner doom is a delight we all need to hear.

Beastwars - IV

By Calen Henry. Beastwars never promised a fourth album. After going on hiatus upon completing their apocalyptic trilogy, followed by singer Matt Hyde’s Non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, more from the trio seemed even less likely. Matt’s diagnosis, it turns out, catalyzed creativity.

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Nick Keller.

Beastwars never promised a fourth album. After going on hiatus upon completing their apocalyptic trilogy, followed by singer Matt Hyde’s Non-Hodgkin lymphoma diagnosis, more from the trio seemed even less likely. Matt’s diagnosis, it turns out, catalyzed creativity. Booking studio time straight after Hyde’s chemo treatment ended, the band recorded IV; a harrowing journey inwards through guilt, fear, regret, and hope.

IV brings together the sound of each album in the trilogy; the straight up riff worship of Beastwars, the more angular riffing of Blood Becomes Fire, and the psychedelia tinged, slow burning riffs of The Death of All Things. The longer songs and component riffs on IV often bring all these parts together in a single track while solos twist and turn leading from heavy passages into ambient sometimes post-rock tinged sections. It feels more like a journey than before due in part to the frequent compound metering that drives songs forward, but it also sounds grungier, adding more guitar effects, and doubling down on the loud/quiet verse/chorus structure. The core approach of huge riffs supported by fuzzed out bass remains the same.

Matt’s vocals have changed, though. His quiet, seething vocals still drip with menace, but his huge rafter-rattling howl is thinner, more pained. It’s pleading, bleeding emotion. It could be confronting mortality, recording an album straight after chemo, the crushing weight of torment that pours forth, or it could be all of that. Matt’s performance is gripping. It’s his most nakedly emotional performance and this from the man who opens the band’s catalog with "Damn the Sky," a howling sermon to a dying world.

"Raise the Sword" opens the album on a note of hope and defiance. A short feedback build crashes into a trademark trudging guitar riff supported by fuzz bass with a howling verse before breaking into a quiet bass-led chorus. The verses focus on the toll of regret and guilt, while the chorus frames it with hope,

Breathe long
Breathe wise
Don't fall
Raise the Sword

The song’s bridge breaks into a sample from “The Quiet Earth”, about science in the wrong hands which, at first, seems incongruous with the themes of guilt and hope, but its inclusion becomes clear over the course of the album as Matt couples personal guilt with deep guilt and regret over the state of the earth.

An ambient interlude then brings back the main riff, underscoring another hopeful verse, before a chorus reprise into an unresolved chord while Matt howls “Raise the Sword” one last time. A perfect set-up for the album, hope and defiance in the lyrics, with the unresolved chord emphasizing the beginning of something, not the end.

"Wolves and Prey" opens with effect drenched drums, before the heaviness starts. Again centering on regret, it begins to introduce the colossal societal guilt hinted at in "Raise the Sword". Not only personal guilt, but guilt at the state of the earth and what it means for future generations,

Speak of old kings
Hands of your loss
Let everyone say
What have we done

The song’s bridge introduces a new permutation of the band’s sound; their characteristic extended, stomping bass-led sections underneath long, lyrical guitar leads lending the album an introspective and dream-like quality.

"Storms of Mars", with it’s wah drenched intro, hearkens back to The Death of All Things, before launching into the one of the fastest riffs on the album supporting dual guitar leads with lyrics adopting classical and sci-fi imagery to beg for more time,

Let me live
Give me ten more years
Let the child grow
Let me see new Rome

At the same time it warns not to repeat the mistakes of the past,

A refugee
A world as cruel as the last
Remember thee old Gods
Remember their rage

The song shifts into crunchy bass-led riffing, reminiscent of Blood Becomes Fire, and back before an ambient interlude, led by Matt’s bubbling mid-range rage builds to the song’s climax, over top of octave doubled tremolo riffing he begs to “let the child live, to build new Rome”.

"This Mortal Decay" opens with a classic mid-tempo riff, supported by faster than average drumming, and confronts death more directly, describing looking down from a mountain to see what humanity has wrought, and how despite it all, we can’t give up or give in, or escape our “mortal decay”. The vocals hit a sweet spot with the lurching guitar line; never quite out of control, but never settling down to the simmering rage of the more menacing passages on the album. The only exception is after a string swell to support the song’s bridge, an indictment of reckless technological advancement, where the vocal intensity perfectly matches the instruments

Oh God, oh God
Bring us your neon cross
Oh God, oh God
Drive your speed machine

"Omens", the album’s lead single, opens with a pseudo-gallop reminiscent of “Damn the Sky”, and is classic Beastwars through and through, but with flashes of the more psychedelic from the pre-chorus wah guitar to the almost post-rock outro. It was an extremely well chosen single to show fans the band’s triumphant return as well as their subtle sonic shift both instrumentally and lyrically with lyrics that are more esoteric and closer to the band’s older material than the rest of the album

After brief ambiance, "Sound of the Grave" is a torturous guilt-trip driven by rumbling, fuzzed out bass as the guitars build into the fury of the chorus underneath Matt’s seething sermon on forgiveness, death, and nothingness. The consistent rumbling riffs match the off-kilter tone of the lyrics, wondering what it’s worth in the end,

And I try for forgiveness
In the time of the damned
And nothing is better
Than being in the ground

"The Traveller" may be the album's most tortured vocal showcase. Matt wails over nothing but a solo guitar track until the laid back groove kicks before switching to a classic New Wave drum beat supporting a wicked lyrical twin guitar line through the chorus. It leads into a dissonant, chorus-drenched guitar solo ripped straight from the Nirvana playbook before (again, Nirvana-style) the song gets heavier and almost falls apart as Matt intones,

Blessed is the world
And we all must leave

"Like Dried Blood", in contrast to it’s morbid title, starts with clean vocals accompanied by piano and drums before the typical Beastwars (circa Death of All Things) sound bursts forth then parts and brings piano back to lead. Lyrically it bookends the album; ending the fight started with "Raise the Sword" but far more general with Matt saying his great war is over, but

Like all this blood
It will wash away

IV is a towering achievement. Beastwars have always been darker than average for stoner rock, dealing obliquely with environmental ruin and existential angst. IV turns the lens deeply inward and delivers their most emotionally raw and engrossing album yet. It’s as harrowing as it is addicting to listen to and it’s my favourite album of 2019.

Pan - The Boreal Coast

By Calen Henry. The Boreal Coast is an album of contradictions. The intro track, “Eventide”, sets the tone with a stomping metal riff that abruptly turns acoustic to finish out the 1:46 run time. Throughout the album Pan mix extremely groovy death metal riffs

By Calen Henry.


The Boreal Coast is an album of contradictions. The intro track, “Eventide”, sets the tone with a stomping metal riff that abruptly turns acoustic to finish out the 1:46 run time. Throughout the album Pan mix extremely groovy death metal riffs reminiscent of Temple of Void with whiplash tempo changes, angular sections, softer acoustic passages, and the odd guitar solo. It feels barely contained in it’s sub-forty minute run time.

Though Metal Archives lists them as “progressive doom/stoner metal” Pan are much more rooted in death metal. Vocals are mostly a staccato growl, riffs tend to be angular and much of the album shows a Meshuggah-like obsession with rhythm above all. Progressive is certainly accurate, though. The album practically explodes with ideas. Grooves and riffs fly by, turning on a dime and all manner of clean and rasped vocals supplement the death growls. Interestingly, though, the show-stopper is when they completely change gears in the largely acoustic “Litany Nocturnal”; an ominous western-tinged track with appropriately sinister clean vocals.

Throughout the album the grooves are killer and the whole band delivers, but the frenetic shifts are a double-edged sword. On tracks like “The Apothecary” all the riffs and transitions lock together for a roller coaster of a track. But, because the core of Pan’s sound is angular and highly rhythmic, anything less than an expertly executed transition really stands out. The flow sometimes seems stilted with section changes that sound abrupt or unnatural. That being said, some of these transitions sound smoother on repeated listens, after acclimatizing to the band's sound. It’s by no means a deal breaker, though. The band set a high bar for themselves and sometimes don’t reach it and it keeps a good album from greatness.

In a crowded death, doom, and stoner metal space, Pan do things a bit different, and should be celebrated. Adventurous headbangers, don't miss out on The Boreal Coast.

Mad John the Wise - Voyager

By Calen Henry. Dominic Sohor’s eye catching Voyager cover jumped out at me during a dive into Bandcamp’s “progressive sludge” tag. While definitely progressive and stoner rock, Mad John the Wise are hardly sludge, but they're all the more interesting for it.

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Dominic Sohor.

Dominic Sohor’s eye catching Voyager cover jumped out at me during a dive into Bandcamp’s “progressive sludge” tag. While definitely progressive and stoner rock, Mad John the Wise are hardly sludge, but they're all the more interesting for it.

For Mad John, "progressive" means cherry-picking approachable elements of alternative rock, punk, stoner rock, and folk into a surprisingly cohesive melting pot of sounds and influences. They cite the usual stoner metal influences, like Mastodon, High on Fire, and Baroness, as well as an eclectic mix including Bad Religion, Kvelertak, Jethro Tull, and Bob Dylan. Though they never actually sound like any of those bands, the heavy, riffy genre hopping of Kvelertak and Priestess comes to mind as their closest conceptual touch point.

Over its run time Voyager gets heavier while staying melodic and catchy. Songs get longer and slower, bringing some truly crushing riffs while maintaining the genre experimentation of earlier tracks. Album opener “The Only Chance” sets the stage with an extended clean guitar intro before breaking into rock. “Knee Scratch”, a punky ode to truancy, keeps the momentum going into “Whisper’s Load”, a riff-focused rock stomper and the last track before things break apart into weightier tracks. “The Karman Line” builds up atmosphere before adding a lead violin to play off the lead guitars, a highlight of the album. “Call of the Wild” continues the slow-burn portion of things, a slower, more drum-driven track featuring Eleni Papalitsa’s vocals to give it a unique feel. “Banishment” kicks things into high rock gear again before the one-two punch of “Monolith” and “The Way of Grace”, the two longest songs on the record and two of the most diverse. “Monolith” ebbs and flows through riffs and rhythms, always grounded in their accessible hard rock, while “The Way of Grace” brings back the folky feel (and violin) of “The Karman Line” before a glorious pop-punk interlude gives way to a guitar break hearkening back to "The Only Chance" to finish out the album.

Mad John just don’t care about genre baggage, which sets them apart the most from peers. Like Kvelertak, first and foremost, Voyager rocks. It’s chock full of head-nodding riffs, and if the riffs are generic, they're only academically so. It’s a playbook of big, catchy riffs from any genre the band happens to like. Sections sound like they could play on the radio or MTV. It’s a refreshing take in a scene that can sometimes get wrapped up in being “underground-er than thou” and worth a look for anyone who hasn't disowned their gateway hard rock and metal bands in favour of the trve kvlt.

Dvne - Asheran (Vinyl Master)

By Calen Henry. Just in time for the first anniversary of Asheran, Dvne and Wasted State Records released a digital version of the vinyl master on Bandcamp. The vinyl master (DR 9) is less compressed, allowing details in the music to come through better

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Eli Quinn.

Just in time for the first anniversary of Asheran, Dvne and Wasted State Records released a digital version of the vinyl master on Bandcamp. The vinyl master (DR 9) is less compressed, allowing details in the music to come through better than the digital master (DR 6). The original master is quite good for a loud master, but it's such a dense and carefully composed album that the vinyl master gives it the depth it always deserved.

Asheran is a concept album. Drawing inspiration from Frank Herbert, Hayao Miyazaki, and other conservationist-leaning science fiction writers, it tells the epic story of a long exiled space-faring race returning to their home planet to find those left behind having shunned technology, living in harmony with nature. The returning Asheran see the planet as their birthright and thus are compelled to wage a holy war on the others, forcing them to break their sacred oath and unearth their long dormant war machines to defend themselves. Eventually the planet itself goes into self-preservation mode and culls both factions, restoring the balance of nature.

The music flows naturally through the acts of the story, but it’s an album of contrasts: quiet builds versus crushing fuzz, psychedelic stoner metal versus suffocating death metal, and Victor’s cleans against Dan’s growls. The added dynamic range gives a heft that was lacking before. Almost every track on the album features some kind of soft/loud or fast/slow contrast, and these sections sound glorious on the dynamic master; little details surface with each listen. The band has said that they cut around 30 minutes of material from the final album, and it shows. It is expertly paced.

The most evident improvement is the clarity of the bass and drums. All the little cymbal accents are now apparent, and transitions into drum-heavy sections, like the intro to "Viridian Bloom," sound huge. The bass is an integral part of the compositions, often picking up the melody and leading songs, and the added dynamic range helps the bass cut through giving a much fuller listening experience.

Asheran was already a jaw dropping achievement, and the newly released vinyl master makes it even better. Credit to Wasted State Records and the band for releasing it, and simply adding it to the existing album listing, rather than a separate album forcing people to double dip. Hopefully for their next album Dvne will simply release the DR 9 master as the standard version, like Pallbearer and Unleash the Archers.

Yob - Our Raw Heart

By Matt Hinch. I talked to Yob frontman Mike Scheidt once. (OK, twice. But the second time was only for a minute or so.) We didn't even talk about Yob, or even metal really. We talked about our kids and parenting them. It was obvious to me that, as any decent parent should, Mike loves his kids.

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Orion Landau.

I talked to Yob frontman Mike Scheidt once. (OK, twice. But the second time was only for a minute or so.) We didn't even talk about Yob, or even metal really. We talked about our kids and parenting them. It was obvious to me that, as any decent parent should, Mike loves his kids. I even think he mentioned how hard it was to be away from them when on tour. So one can only imagine how hard it was for him thinking he might leave them forever as he battled a severe intestinal disease last year. He fought hard enough to survive and once you hear Our Raw Heart you could even say he thrived.

Drawing inspiration from a life or death battle can lead to a powerful album and let me tell you, powerful doesn't even begin to describe Our Raw Heart. The album title itself is a perfect description of the journey the listener takes on this superb album. In experiencing ORH (and/or seeing Mike's ordeal unfold on social media) his heart becomes our heart and the emotions expressed are as raw as they can get.

On another level even the “our” part could be seen as an expression of the band itself. It wasn't just their bandmate fighting for life, it was their friend. I'd like to think that shared struggle plays into the wholeness one feels on what should easily be considered the band's best album to date.

ORH is a masterwork from beginning to end. From the martial chug of “The Screen” to the funereal pace of “Lungs Reach” to the overwhelming title track to the quietude and beauty of “Beauty in Falling Leaves” and every moment in between Mike, bassist Aaron Rieseberg, and drummer Travis Foster keep the listener completely enthralled. Or at least they should be. Yob has been getting progressively better with each album anyway as the band and its members continue to mature so this should come as no surprise. Personally Atma cemented my fandom, Clearing the Path to Ascend was so good I want a tattoo of the cover, and somehow ORH takes things beyond that level of adoration through a continued evolution of their sound.

I doubt a vocal instructor would call Mike's singing voice “great” but it's honest, raw, and expressive. It works for him in all his many endeavours though and especially in Yob. I don't see how anything or anyone else could make it work in quite the same, effective way. Deep, fierce growls are at more of a premium here but as the method of musical doom-bringing varies so do the vocals. From the subterranean to the stratospheric, they are the emotional pulse of the album. They convey the needed emotion without being moody. It all starts with “Ablaze” and his husky, weathered throat now bearing new battle scars representing the very scathed nature of survival at all costs.

Lyrically the album is cryptic enough and not too linear which lets the listener interpret it in their own way, applying those words to their own situation. Or one could put oneself in Mike's shoes and feel what he felt as much as you can. A particular line in “Beauty in Falling Leaves” brings maximum heft (which I'll get to in a minute”) but something as simple as “Rise!” from “The Screen” means so much more when put into context.

Yob 2016. Photos by Webzine Chuul.

The entire album can be considered typical Yob at this point as a varied mix of tones, paces, and volumes all play into their sound. ORH is no exception to this despite not feeling quite as dark overall. Aggressive, yes. But somewhat lighter. “Ablaze” falls into the “punishing doom laced with melody” category, as does the title track. As tough as these tracks can feel the human emotion always shines through in the interplay between darkness and the light. “Our Raw Heart” mines a heavy riff the same as “Ablaze”, letting melody and atmosphere fill out the sonic space.

“In Reverie” and “Lungs Reach” fill in the slower end of the cadence spectrum. The former never really breaking faster than a brain-crushing slog while conveying a good message in the lyric “The sun rises still”. No matter what happens to you or I the world keeps turning, so keep fighting to see it break the horizon day after day. The latter is even more funereal with more distinct atmosphere, growls, and a tone so heavy it will shake the wax right out of your ears.

“Original Face” tears it up! A hard drive is tempered ever so slightly by a hypnotic, rhythmic sway. It's a powerful assault on the senses that never lets up. It's kind of punch in the gut after “Beauty in Falling Leaves” from a vibe perspective but not an unnecessary one.

No doubt by now, I hope, you've already heard “The Screen” and its martial riff parade. It's mean and chunky and “holy shit!” heavy. But even it attains lift off to soar far above the earthly plane. It's kind of an odd choice for the lead single but perhaps they just didn't want to play their hand too early.

So now that I've talked about every other song let's tackle the album's high water mark, “Beauty in Falling Leaves”. Put the title in context. If you thought you were going to die wouldn't you find untold beauty in the seemingly mundane? Now take that sort of awe and apply it to a song. This song. This breathtaking expression of emotion. If “Marrow” brought you to tears, as it has so many, be prepared for heavier waterworks. Mike's expressiveness on this track reaches new heights. The melodies are entrancing and the subdued heaviness sits like lead on the heart.

Yob really work dynamics to full effect on this one. The quieter, minimal sounding verses prime the emotional pump for when the choruses hit and blow the whole thing wide open. It feels like there are multiple climaxes as every bit of feeling is wrung out of both the performers and the listener. The clincher is the line “Your heart brings me home”. No matter who you are that statement perfectly sums up the will to live. It carries hope. It signifies that one thing worth living for. Love. Yob is love after all, and something that meaningful in a Yob song is almost too much to bear.

To think that this album could easily have never happened at all is a heavy thought. Instead, Mike won and Our Raw Heart is the result. It's immense. It's heartbreaking. It's inspiring. Every band has their ultimate masterpiece (Emphasis on ultimate. Yob has more than one masterpiece.) and Our Raw Heart is it. If the Oregon trio manages to continue getting better after this I don't know what I'll do. I only have so much money and so much skin to cover. Honestly, I hope they do. In the meantime, the Yob legacy lives on in our raw hearts. And remember, YOB IS LOVE. So love Yob.

Metal Bands-you-might-have-missed-camp 2017

By Calen Henry. Things you might have missed. I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

By Calen Henry.

Things you might have missed.


I'll be honest, I only checked out Dumblegore because of the band name, among the best of 2017. It turns out, though, that they totally rule, though they don't sing about Harry Potter.

Dumblegore play "Spooky Metal" the stuff drenched in B-movie horror tropes, but their spin on it is unique. They marry fuzzed out stoner doom, spooky organ, and a kind of "laid-back Mantar" vocal approach with punk rock attitude (and often song structure). It's a little bit black metal, a little bit stoner rock, a little bit punk and a whole lot of fun. The master is decent too, a respectable DR 8.

Come for the silly name stay 'cause they rock.

Vaivatar are Finnish. That seems to be the only information available about the band which is always a great sign!

They play a strange mix of symphonic but raw black metal. It's extremely busy, but extremely melodic with very inorganic sounding synths. It gives them a sound like Havukruunu meets Master Boot Record by way of Castlevania. The guitar distortion and the synths are eerily similar so it can be hard to tell which is which adding another outré layer to the music

It's epic, but mysterious, dense but soaring, and Pay What You want, also a nice master at DR 8.

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Cover art by Bring.

I LOVE Angel Sword but feel like I'm mostly alone in my love of their mix of Motorhead vocals and sloppy Iron Maiden instrumentals, but I don't care. They rule! Their 2016 release Rebels Beyond the Pale is still in heavy rotation for me, and though this is only an EP more Angel Sword is more Angel Sword.

I initially checked them out because of their so bad it's amazing album covers, and wrote them off as inept traditional metal due to some odd chord structures and vocals but I was missing out. Underneath the intentional roughness of their presentation are fantastic songs. They keep it classic; nothing is lighting speed, lots of the songs are in major keys, and many are even about heavy metal. But it's all so well done, just sloppy enough to seem totally genuine but get across the wicked riffs, choruses, and gang vocals.

Things I missed, but apparently no one else did.

Cover art by Paolo Girardi.

2013's Manifest Decimation didn't click with me so I glossed over Nightmare Logic until it was all over year end lists, metal and otherwise. Boy, was I missing out. Power Trip play reverb drenched throwback thrash with pop sensibilities. Every riff and every chorus is so catchy. It's one of 2017's most fun and most relevant releases. While a lot of metal concerns itself with how everything is terrible, Power Trip implore us to get out and do something about it. Thankfully since the album's release many have!

Unfortunately the album's production, reverb drenched though it is, isn't a total throwback. It's mastered incredibly loudly and clips almost as hard as it rips. Musically, though, it's a total win.

Track o' the Year


Not metal, but The Deep is the best single track of the year. Commissioned for the podcast This American Life, it's an homage to Detroit electronic artist Drexciya, extending their mythos wherein the children of pregnant African women thrown overboard from slave ships were born and adapted to life underwater.

It's a microcosm of what made Splendor & Misery so compelling; fascinating concept, exquisite execution, and great production. The production matches the watery theme with beats and accents that sound "bubbly"

In The Deep the water-dwellers go from peaceful existence to climate change worry to full-on war with the "two-legs" from the surface. The track is divided into movements as the situation escalates. It starts of slow and laid back but each revelation towards confrontation and eradication of the two-legs increases the pace of the music and lyrics and adds more layers to the beat.

Though I love Splendor & Misery, it was criticized by some for its lack of immediacy, essentially required a full listen through to properly experience it. The Deep is the answer to that. Five minutes for one of the best, and most immediate "concept albums" of 2017

Fister / Chrch - Split

Fister and Chrch are both known for being as heavy as really heavy things so putting them together on a split should have caused a collision of black holes. But we're still here and the only black hole you'll find

By Matt Hinch.

Artwork by Ethan Lee McCarthy

Fister and Chrch are both known for being as heavy as really heavy things so putting them together on a split should have caused a collision of black holes. But we're still here and the only black hole you'll find is the one you find yourself in (mentally) after succumbing to the darkness both bands foist upon you with one long song each. One might like to think however, that the resultant gravitational waves from this imagined collision influenced the sheer weight this split contains.

Chrch gives us “Temples”, a nearly 17 minute doom ride that begins with a lonesome guitar intro that seems very Pallbearer-like (if we're doing those kinds of comparisons). Even when the heavy comes there's an undertone that creates the same sort of melancholy, yet married to monolithic doom of the kind not meant to annihilate from the core but to destroy from the outside in. Almost six minutes in that overt doom power takes over as thunderous slo-burning riffs pummel at a measured pace. Atmosphere creeps back in and darkens the heart while squeezing tight. It feels sky high and completely buried at the same time. The vile vocals, sparse as they can be, beckon from a tortured place thick with rasp and vile adding another element to the complex brew. Eventually the track returns to that syrupy slog oozing despair with clean vocals barely audible beneath the crash, bringing in yet more atmosphere leading into towering riffs sure to put a scowl on your face. It then pushes back around to that depressive guitar that began the track. Like completing a circle. Perfect for repetition.

If you're not wise to Chrch and love (old) Pallbearer's style of superb heaviness and heart-wrenching melancholy, look no further. Don't get me wrong. They're far from clones. They're just likely to push the same buttons. But push them harder. If you are already wise to Chrch, this latest service should have you primed for their next LP slated for release in April.

Screams most unholy strip the colour off the picture of pain and darkness Fister are trying to paint with the slogging pace of their concussive “riffs” on “The Ditch”. Repetition wears you down under a mechanical power but the vocals inject muscle to fight your way out of the pit. As you get settled into a loaded 20:28 a spectre of colour suddenly materializes sending tendrils of chaos swirling through the fog in the form of a guitar solo straight from the gut. All that buildup and noise turns to dust as Fister change the atmosphere with their own lonesome guitar. Through this more contemplative section, complete with some interesting noise and whispering, it slowly creeps back to hammering, pulsing, life-sustaining doom. Ascendant riffs run head-on into massive chugs and otherworldly vocals. It continuously pounds the listener like a stamping press, forming something dark and twisted. And much less likely to rise up than it was before.

I'm not sure what Fister has in the pipeline but “The Ditch” should give listeners enough to digest for a while anyway.

Get your doom on, folks.

[Got a heads up from Fister: "our new full length will be out in April on Listenable Records!"]

The Beastwars Trilogy

By Calen Henry. None of the Beastwars albums are new, but in the fall the band made all their albums Pay What You Want on Bandcamp (until April 2018) to support singer Matt Hyde's cancer treatment so it seems like a good time for a retrospective on their trilogy of albums.

By Calen Henry.

None of the Beastwars albums are new, but in the fall the band made all their albums Pay What You Want on Bandcamp (until April 2018) to support singer Matt Hyde's cancer treatment so it seems like a good time for a retrospective on their trilogy of albums.

Thus far the band has recorded a trilogy of albums focusing on a combination of apocalyptic description and introspection; either describing destruction or musing on coming to terms with the resulting death. The albums aren't exactly concept albums but along with the overarching concepts there are recurring images; birds, mountains, rivers, and magic that represent the struggles with life and death on which the band focus. The band's original goal was a trilogy so it remains to be seen if they keep going. Either way, they've recorded an exciting trilogy of albums like no other band, in a crowded and sometimes boring genre; stoner doom.

Artwork by Nick Keller.

Beastwars came to my attention in 2013 with Blood Becomes Fire but I didn't really get them until I went back to the self-titled, specifically the opening song "Damn the Sky".

It is as fine a manifesto as any band could have, summing up the band's unique take on stoner doom, with a layer of grunge, in one track. Anchored by a mid-tempo guitar pseudo-gallop and the band's characteristic crunchy bass, Matt Hyde's vocals shine. Like no other vocalist he careens between a gravelly smooth croon and a god bothering howl introducing tenets of the band's world:

Take me to the top of the hill
Where the birds refuse to fly
Raise your hands your hand to the damned sky
Watch those twin moons collide

Photos by Mark Derricutt / Chalice of Blood.

Artwork by Nick Keller.

Beastwars appears to be set in a time of magic and myth with references to ships as well as magic, while Blood Becomes Fire is set in the future and features the point of view of a time traveling astronaut. It also marks a musical shift for the band; both noisier and more melodic.

Where Beastwars takes the band's mantra, "Obey the Riff" pretty literally, Blood Becomes Fire anchors the huge guitar riffs with more angular bass (and sometimes guitar) riffs but introduces more melodic guitar leads. It takes the band's unique spin on stoner doom to a new level, really giving the band a sound like no one else. It also works with the lyrical shift, from impending doom to the aftermath of apocalypse.

Artwork by Nick Keller.

The final album in the trilogy, The Death of All Things, mellows out the band's overall sound but maintains a level of ferocity, especially in the vocals, that makes for a sound unmatched in modern metal.

Though the album features the band's lyrical touchstones like mountains, rivers and magic, the album is less concerned with description and more with thoughts on the death of all things. The lyrical shift, combined with the musical shift makes the album all the more successful. The more mellow, deliberate tracks are a master class in stoner doom composition. Most bands can only wish to write one track as good as "Witches', let alone a whole album.

I'd also be remiss to talk about Beastwars without mentioning Nick Keller's fantastic cover art for each album. His vivid paintings give the slight visual push that helps transport you to the worlds the band creates. I'm sure the LP sleeves are amazing.

The only blemish on the band's catalog is production. All three albums are mastered very loudly. It's only truly a detriment on the first record which has noticeable clipping, but it can make all three records, back to back, an exhausting listen. And, at 40 minutes apiece, the albums beg to be binged.

That aside, Beastwars are something special. They took a tired genre back to its roots and built a characteristic sound through three musically and lyrically cohesive albums, each having its own sonic identity. Anyone with even a passing interest owes it to themselves to check them out and let’s hope there's more to be heard from them.

Monolord - Rust

By Calen Henry. In fine Swedish tradition Monolord's sound starts with a Boss guitar pedal. The Boss Hyperfuzz is the backbone of their world crushing sound. Its extremely aggressive fuzz paired with their mammoth riffs has become instantly recognizable.

By Calen Henry.


In fine Swedish tradition Monolord's sound starts with a Boss guitar pedal. The Boss Hyperfuzz is the backbone of their world crushing sound. Its extremely aggressive fuzz paired with their mammoth riffs has become instantly recognizable. Through three records in four years Monolord has maintained their core sound while evolving their musical approach.

Empress Rising was a meditative psychedelic introduction to their fuzzed out instrumentals and reverb-drenched vocals. An exercise in riffery off the highest order, they established their early mastery of long form doom. The production, though, was unpleasantly modern; almost completely void of dynamic range. With Vænir they moved their sound a bit more retro; opening, up the dynamics and adding an ominous Sabbathian edge to the songs. For me, though, it lacked some of the meditative magic of the longer songs from Empress Rising.

Rust sees them split the difference musically between the first two records but with better production than both, making it unequivocally the best Monolord record so far. In a year of stellar doom records (Pallbearer, Elder, Ordos, Loss, Dvne) I was skeptical that Monolord's comparatively simple approach would continue to yield solid material. But Rust stands out because of that, not in spite of it, by tweaking their formula rather than reinventing it to deliver a truly jaw dropping "traditional stoner doom" record. There are a few twists; guitar solos, an organ intro on the title track and a beautiful violin solo at the end of "Wormland" but it's mostly just Monolord doing Monolord the best they ever have.

The production clinches the album's doom supremacy. It's actually difficult to go back to their previous two albums because Rust sounds so much better. The added dynamic range and the organic production makes every part of every song shine.

Most of the songs on Rust are simply composed and performed but the composition is excellent. In contract to previous albums, though, the vocals this time around are as memorable as the riffs. There is something magical about Monolord's sublime monotony; the specific combination of fuzz, riffs, and vocals that's perfected on this record. Their riffing is so visceral that they can get away with the same riff for minutes at a time.

The album closer, "At Niceae" is 15 minutes long and features about four riffs, yet it's a standout track. The riffs and transitions are flawless. At the half way point it dramatically shifts to solo electric guitar, gradually building and adding slide guitar before a lovely acoustic outro. It's the longest example on the album of Monolord's absolute command of flow and composition but the whole album is a showcase for it with nary a superfluous moment regardless of track length.

Monolord have finally realized the promise of their first two records, one of the purest distillations of Sabbathian doom, and I would not be surprised if this ends up becoming my favourite doom record of all time.

Dvne - Asheran

By Calen Henry. Asheran is Dvne's first full-length album. Their earlier output is a mix of Beastwars and The Sword, heavily influenced by Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. The strength of this mix had Asheran on my wishlist months before its release.

By Calen Henry.

Artwork by Eli Quinn.

Asheran is Dvne's first full-length album. Their earlier output is a mix of Beastwars and The Sword, heavily influenced by Frank Herbert’s Dune universe. The strength of this mix had Asheran on my wishlist months before its release. The final product exceeds all expectations and shows amazing growth for the band.

Asheran sheds the overt Dune themes in favour of an original sci-fi concept and adopts my favourite metal meta-genre, "kitchen sink metal," a genre-independent melting pot of influences, all cohesively integrated. Khemmis are the most prominent example; rooting their sound in classic doom but bringing all manner of traditional metal and doom into the mix.

Dvne's sound is a sludgier concoction that mixes in a dizzying array of other influences; Elder, Baroness, Mastodon, Gloson (though probably more accurately Neurosis), Tool, and Alcest. Moment to moment they sound like dead ringers for other bands without actually copying them. These passages shift quickly into others and mesh with Dvne's original sound extremely well so they never actually fall into a true "sounds like" groove. Though no longer Dune themed their sound still calls back to Frank Herbert's influential series through the use of traditional Middle Eastern riffs and scales throughout the album.

Much like Khemmis, Dvne's formula works because their songwriting is excellent. Jumping between musical styles is always in service of the songs and never sounds like an exercise in self-aggrandizement. The songs swirl through acoustic passages, lyrical guitar work and sung vocals, and some of the heaviest fuzz I’ve heard outside a straight up sludge metal band. They've managed to craft one of those rare albums where its accessibility belies its complexity. The album can easily slip by when played in the background but rewards careful attention and repeat listening.

Asheran stands alongside Elder’s Reflections of a Floating World as one of 2017's best. Though similar, both records complement each other; Dvne's breadth of sound to Elder's depth of sound.

Elder - Reflections of a Floating World

By Karen A. Mann. Elder was already a force to be reckoned with before Lore, the 2015 release that expanded their sound worlds beyond stoner-ish heavy psych and introduced them to a wider audience. A staple on critical year-end lists, Lore was an arresting slab of Allman Brothers-style

By Karen A. Mann


Elder was already a force to be reckoned with before Lore, the 2015 release that expanded their sound worlds beyond stoner-ish heavy psych and introduced them to a wider audience. A staple on critical year-end lists, Lore was an arresting slab of Allman Brothers-style improvisation mixed with Pink Floyd’s experimentation, led by singer/guitarist Nick DiSalvo’s soaring guitar and wrapped up in five wide-ranging, multi-part compositions. Lore was such an achievement that it was easy to wonder how the band would top themselves on their next release.

Well, they did, easily. While Lore opened the door to a new world for Elder, Reflections of a Floating World finds the band venturing out boldly, exploring every nook and cranny of this new soundscape, and sending us six sonic postcards from beyond. With the copious addition of Mellotron, keyboards and pedal steel (thanks to guest musicians Michael Risberg and Michael Samos), Elder’s sound takes on a lush adventurousness only hinted at on Lore.

Photos by Abrisad.

The opening song, “Sanctuary,” sets the roadmap for the album. Opening with DiSalvo’s signature riffing, the song evolves into a spacey jam with psychedelic, polyphonic melodies and quiet interludes.

After a quiet, Floydian intro, “The Falling Veil” shifts to the type of progressive riffing found on Lore’s “Compendium,” with time signatures that shift unexpectedly. Matt Couto’s snare drum is the one constant, acting almost like a trail marker as the song ventures into unfamiliar terrain.

Expecting the unexpected is always a good strategy with Elder. The only moment in which Reflections of a Floating World takes off into an ill-advised direction is “Sonntag,” a full-on ode to Krautrock that’s pleasant enough in its hypnotica, but seems a bit out of place with the rest of the album. Elder is back to its classic sound with the last song, “Thousand Hands,” which offers an appropriate bookend to the album, ending Reflections of a Floating World with a shimmering wall of sound, and setting the bar even higher for Elder’s continued musical evolution.