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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Conan - Split with Slomatics

Artwork by Anthony Roberts.

In between their 2010 debut Horseback Battle Hammer and Monnos from 2012, Conan released a split with Slomatics. 3 tracks from each band, now available on each band's Bandcamp. Combined this is 37 minutes of mindbogglingly heavy and downtuned music, by two bands that compliment each other well.

Conan experiments a little, there's a short atmospheric track, and hypnotic analog synth driven passages. The production is perfectly clear, without sacrificing any of the heaviness. Conan would carry some of the experiments and the improved production with them on Monnos.

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Slomatics have more of a stoner vibe and their sound is sludgier. The vocalist sounds like he's having a bad trip way back in the room. But the songs have more hooks, there's less focus on repetition than on Conan's half. Slomatics are the stoned yin to Conan's yang.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

The awesome cover art is by Anthony Roberts, who has done all the artwork for Conan. Here's an interview Lurker's Path did with him, and here are reviews of the split from Cvlt Nation and The Obelisk.

Conan - Monnos

Artwork by Anthony Roberts.

Monnos, the new album by Conan, has been released on the Burning World Records Bandcamp. Their previous full-length, Horseback Battle Hammer, was a lumbering mammoth of extremely downtuned doom riffing. On Monnos Conan ups the ante, the ridiculously heavy riffing is still there, but the songwriting has gotten more attention, and has been coupled with a much larger range of song dynamics.

Some tracks are relatively faster, there's even a few passages with double-kick bass drum. Due to the clean production, you can hear that drummer Paul O’Neil not only provides the raw driving power, but also lots of finesse and feeling. The drumming is perhaps the single biggest improvement on Conan's previous output, but O’Neil also has more to work with due to the songwriting being more varied. This review by The Sleeping Shaman describes the vocals:

There’s something about the combination of guitarist Jon Davis’ and bassist Phil Coumbe’s vocals atop such an unstoppable wave of uncompromising doom riffs that is entrancing. While Davis chimes out in the distance, Coumbe’s deep, booming growl anchors him to the thick layer of bass-heavy fuzz underlying everything.

Here's a detailed review by The Obelisk. Check out this fantastic album below.

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King Giant - Dismal Hollow

King Giant has released the new album Dismal Hollow on their Bandcamp. This is no-holds barred riffy stoner metal with one wicked, writhing solo after the other. But as Joeseph Schafer writes in this No Clean Singing review, King Giant also

infuses their brand of stoner metal with the past, and the experience of being a small-town American in a part of the union that lost the American Civil War. In other words, this is not merely heavy metal, it is haunted metal.

Musically, the doomier songs sound like they could have come from a deep southern version of Black Sabbath. Heavy riffs, wah-wah solos and all. Read another review, by Atanamar Sunyata from Metal Injection, and enjoy the album.

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XII Boar - Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof

XII Boar's new EP Split Tongue, Cloven Hoof is riff heavy, galloping stoner metal. Doom grooves and sludgy sections adds to the atmosphere. Read this review from No Clean Singing that describes the band as a mix of High On Fire and Motörhead.

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Bandcamp updates from Conan and Cut Your Teeth

Conan live at Buffalo Bar Cardiff - 22nd January 2012. Tracklist: Krull - Satsumo - Hawk as Weapon - Retaliator - Sea Lord. 47 minutes of downtuned heaviness.

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Cut Your Teeth - If It's Loud. Heavy Metal 'till I die, throw your horns up in the sky! Slide solo. Metal scream. Youtube video.

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Behold! The Monolith - Defender, Redeemist

Behold! The Monolith's new album Defender, Redeemist is available for pre-order now (it releases 24 January 2012). Behold! The Monolith is a stoner/doom metal trio from Los Angeles, I featured the stunning artwork to Defender, Redeemist in this post about their previous album. I haven't heard the full album yet, but it has already received rave reviews from Doommantia and Cvlt Nation.

[Go to the post to view the Bandcamp player]

UPDATE: The album is available now! I have heard it and it fucking rocks!

Conan - Horseback Battle Hammer

Artwork by Anthony Roberts.

Conan's Horseback Battle Hammer has been described as Caveman Battle Doom and it has been called brown metal, because it rumbles so low you could shit your pants from the vibrations. This Doommantia review has yet another apt description:

Imagine waking up and rolling out of your cave roughly somewhere in the Pliocene on a beautiful sunny Saturday morning, the taste of meaty trilobites still on the back of your tongue. Checking up on the water supply of your herd of mammoths, you continue to the tundra wastelands to do some hunting - and Conan's Horseback Battle Hammer would be the soundtrack to your doings.

Here's a review from The Obelisk and an interview with the band from Doomsmoker.

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I found the large version of the album artwork in this Cvlt Nation gallery.

Sweet Cobra - Praise

Sweet Cobra's Praise from 2003 was added to the Seventh Rule Recordings Bandcamp. This is sludgy hardcore - raw, energetic and with an indie quality. Here's a review from A Handful of Dust

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Exemption - Public Cemetery Party

Exemption's Public Cemetery Party is "aggressive progressive" metal in the vein of Baroness and Mastodon. It is also very fun and catchy. Check out this enthusiastic review from The Sleeping Shaman.

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The Neptune Power Federation - Wizard Lovin'

The Neptune Power Generation Bandcamp tells us that the track Wizard Lovin' is the erotic secrets of the ancients transcribed and set to a bitchin' retro rock track. That's truth in advertising for ya.

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