*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Alabama!
One would not expect beautiful Birmingham, Alabama to be pumping out some seriously dark sounds. Ember has managed to create an approachable, drony doom sound with vocals that channel early European symphonic metal elements. In fact, Alabama is the last place one might guess this band is from. Continue reading
Releasing albums since 2001, but not gaining it’s steam until nearly ten years later, Portland, Oregon’s first doom metal band Witch Mountain have been a force to be reckoned with. After the departure of vocalist Uta Plotkin who did three incredible albums ‘South of Salem’, ‘Cauldron of the Wild’, and the masterpiece ‘Mobile of Angels’ with the band, many people were skeptical that the bands could continue. Like troopers though, Witch Mountain could not be kept down and were officially back in action after a hiatus that was only a few moths long. In this line up we have drummer/ band leader Nathan Carson, guitarist Rob Wrong (also a member of doom outfit ‘The Skull’), Justin Brown on bass, and the incredible Kayla Dixon on vocals who had previously been known for her work in the heavy metal band Demons Within. Dixon may have seemed like an odd choice at first, but it was quickly apparent that she had a range that not only matched her predecessors, she also has a voice that is leagues above a majority of modern music’s so called “best vocalists.” Now in 2018, after nearly three years of touring with bands such as Enslaved and Saint Vitus; Witch Mountain are set to release their fifth album which is self titled on May, 25 via Svart. Continue reading
Zeke @ Koko. DesertFest London 2018
The UKs very own version of Roadburn took over London over the bank holiday weekend of 4th May – 6th May. The annual 3-day DesertFest London festival hosted over 70 bands including some of the biggest names in the stoner rock scene, at the most iconic venues in Londons Camden town – from the Roundhouse to Koko, The Underworld, The Black Heart and The Dev(onshire Arms). Camden was a hive for worshipers of the scene to congregate for the 7th edition of this fundamental tour, and with headliners that included Graveyard, Napalm Death, High On Fire, Hawkwind and Monster Magnet, this year has been it’s biggest and most diverse yet!
FRIDAY 4TH
Today saw the festival at it’s busiest for its opening day, with 26 artists across 5 stages, not to mention the thousands of tourists bustling about Camden town – famous for its vast array of boutique and quirky independent shops, amazing street food, and markets, weird and wonderful street performers and musicians, as well as being the absolute hot-spot for all kinds of sub-cultures to thrive. With the distinct smell of weed fresh in the air on a blisteringly hot day in the capital, I was ready for the beginning of what would be an epic weekend of (natural) highs from the outstanding line-up at DesertFest London 2018. (Full gallery follows article). Continue reading
Ride the bleak train coming out of Sweden, with Egonaut, a band of black-hearted minstrels. They have been around since 2005, conjuring their audio Doom/Alt magic. The group is made up of Mikael Bielinski on bass, Dennis Zielinski on keyboards, Markus Johansson on drums, Fredrik Jordanius on guitars/vocals and Emil Kyrk on vocals. They have an impressive body of art, including the albums ‘Electric’ (2011), ‘Mount Egonaut ‘(2013), ‘Deluminati‘ (2015).
Photo Credit: Derek Carr
March is National Women’s Month, and we have decided to celebrate some our favorite women in metal. Every Saturday during March we will honor some of the most respected women in the metal and hard rock world. Continue reading
March is National Women’s Month, and we have decided to celebrate some our favorite women in metal. Every Saturday during March we will honor some of the most respected women in the metal and hard rock world.
It’s been twenty years since Mercedes Lander started the Canadian metal band Kittie (with sister Morgan and original bandmates Fallon Bowman and Tanya Candler) in London, Ontario. They brought one of the heaviest and most fierce acts we had seen to date, and this is for all bands not just girl bands. There was a thing or two the guys could have learned from the harsh anguish they brought to their music, and I’m sure plenty of their male counterparts took notes and learned from Kittie’s quick rise to stardom in the metal world. Their debut album ‘Spit’ was what got everything started in 2000. The album still to this day is highly regarded as one of the best metal albums of that era. ‘Spit’ was was certified gold by the RIAA and sold at least 600,000 copies in the United States. Keep in mind when ‘Spit’ was recorded the members of the band were only 15-18 years of age. Kittie went on to release their sophomore record ‘Oracle’ in 2001. It was also in 2001 that guitarist and backing vocalist Fallon Bowman left the band. Her infamous growls on the song “Brackish” instantly made her a fan favorite. They followed ‘Oracle’ with the release of ‘Until the End’ in 2004. Continue reading
The UK’s premier independent festival Desertfest London returns over the May bank holiday (May 4th-6th) with what can only be described, as unquestionably it’s most biggest and broadest line-up yet!
Now in its 7th year, the festivities will take place across multiple venues in London’s Camden Town including the famous Underworld and breathtaking Roundhouse. With over 70 acts announced across the whole metal spectrum, together with the biggest names in sludge, doom and psych!
Not only that, as par tradition Desertfest will be holding their annual pre-festival party at The Black Heart on May 3rd featuring a full headline set by North Carolina’s A.S.G and London’s own Flash House as support! (Pre-festival tickets here)
Read below for full headliners and bands that are not to be missed! (Full weekend line-up follows article. Weekend and day tickets available here). Continue reading
Photo Credit: Christian Buck
*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Vermont!
Combining elements of doom, death, sludge and black metal the Montpelier, Vermont based band Lightcrusher was formed in 2010. You could say that their lyrical themes tend to be more leaning towards the darker side of things with themes like nature, misanthropy, loss, and isolation. The band is comprised of 5 members including members and ex-members of bands like Chalice, Lord Gallows, The Demon Bell, Sunder, Cruciferion, Limbwalker and others. Some of the members were actually in these bands together, so there was already a chemistry and bond created there that you can hear on the bands material. The members include M. Schrift on vocals, A. Sørensen on guitar and vocals, K. Emmons also on guitar, J. Elwert behind the drum kit and L. Gallows on the bass. The quintet released their first material in the form of a demo in September of 2015. Simply titled ‘Lightcrusher Demo’. The recording included five tracks. Fast forward to December 2016 and the band has now released a brand new EP titled ‘Forests of Unresolve’ which includes 5 blistering tracks of death doom and the bands signature duel vocal style.
Photo by Alan Swan Photography
Edinburgh based four piece band King Witch make a triumphant debut with ‘Under the Mountain’ which is released via Listenable Records! With this release we get 9 tracks of genre bending, kick ass HEAVY METAL! ‘Under The Mountain’ was recorded and produced by guitarist Jamie Gilchrist at their underground studio in their home city of Edinburgh, mixed and mastered by Tom Dring at Vagrant Recordings (Dragged Into Sunlight, Acolyte) in Southport and comes swathed in artwork created by vocalist Laura Donnelly. The record serves as King Witch’s follow-up to their debut EP, ‘Shoulders Of Giants’, and boasts nine riff-laden tracks offset by the powerful yet bewitching vocals of Donnelly. Influenced by everything from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to Mastodon and High On Fire, ‘Under The Mountain’ is as melodic as it is monolithic, taking its listener on a journey from soulful doom to full-tilt metal mayhem. Continue reading
Switzerland based power trio Echolot was founded in 2014. The band consists of Lukas Fürer (Guitar), Jonathan Schmidli (Drums) and Renato Matteucci (Bass). The band combines prog, stoner rock, doom and psychedelic rock all into one unique and complex sound. In April of 2016 Echolot released their first full length album titled ‘I’. They kicked things off with an album release party alongside the amazing Swedish stoner rockers Goatess. The bands fresh jams have these psychedelic eruptions that drive you from the depths of doom into a Pink-Floyd type lightness. On October 6th 2017 the band released ‘Volva’ their debut on their new label Czar Of Revelations. ‘Volva’ is a 4 track full length album that comes in with a run time of over 55 minutes. The band says of the album “it will contain moments of fragility, heavy riffing, epic solos and some truly unique jams!”
