Quest For the Jewels of Endless Life

This past Sunday, friend Jake put on a giant Halloween show at Roberta's in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Since he has excellent taste in music, he booked Rhode Island's ultimate doom band PILGRIM as part of the Samhain celebration. Here is some footage that I took. Enjoy and be doomed.

HOUR OF 13

Even though the crust has taken a backseat (for now), the doom rolls on. I would like to first point out that my respect for the notorious Earache Records has gone up a bit due to their latest signing: doom powerhouse HOUR OF 13 from North Carolina. "Demons All Around Me" is a track to listen to. Wow.

At first glance, when you put "doom" and a southern state in the same breath, you will most likely get a trendy, bearded, "molasses"-style heavy band. With these guys, you don't get any of that. What you do get, however, is straight-up, traditional doom metal of the highest (er, lowest) order. One thing that interests me is that their first ever show was done at a doom festival in fucking Ireland of all places, and their second show will be this Saturday, October 16, at Brooklyn's Union Pool with the Gates of Slumber. If you're in the area, fucking be there.

Welcome To the Wasteland

Oh, look what we have here! If you're in the NYC-area, especially Brooklyn, it is mandatory to come to this show. Here we have New York's defenders of true steel NATUR along with New England's recent gem HESSIAN (who has just been Fenriz-approved) and Brooklyn-based doom trio BAD DREAM. This will be happening at The Acheron and will go down October 12. You're pretty much a false metal poser if you don't attend. Just sayin'.

Con Clavi Con Dio

The nameless ghouls themselves, GHOST, have uploaded a new track entitled "Con Clavi Con Dio" on their MySpace page. Nothing more needs to be said.

Needless to say, they are the band to see at the Live Evil Festival in London. If you can make it out there, do it.

Speak now from the text, pray for all die.

PILGRIM

Last night, I saw Total Social Suicide and FrustraitoR play at the pathetic Europa Club in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Also on the bill were Morbid Rupture's very own featured Nightlore, Jason from Generation Record's crust punk band (heavily influenced by His Hero is Gone) and yet another Rhode Island gem: PILGRIM!

This was striking to me in a number of ways. First, for the few of you who noticed by now, the past few entries were of doom bands. Lord Vicar being one of them. Well, as soon as the Rhode Island three-piece hit the stage (and hard, at that), there was an insane true doom (and Lord Vicar) feeling. The insanely heavy-hitting drumming (which caused the drummer to break a stick during the very fucking first song!), the super loud bass guitar, smooth and bottom-heavy guitar tone/riffing and those fucking doom vocals! You know, the somewhat nasally-yet-powerful singing. Simply stunning. They played for about 20-30 minutes and I was just in doom heaven. To say it was hypnotizing would be an understatement. You MUST see them in order to understand what I'm saying here.

You can get the band's demo at this location. It's actually pretty fucking mandatory. It's also free so don't be a bitch.

The Druid

I just came back from SLEEP's comeback NYC show at the horrible Brooklyn Masonic (Hipster) Temple. It was about as good as the following video.



90 minutes of SLEEP is a bit overwhelming.

THE WANDERING MIDGET

Guess what? I have some more doom for y'all! And this band is yet another fine doom group from the land of a thousand lakes (AKA Finland). Here we have THE WANDERING MIDGET, and they pretty much play traditional, Candlemass-y doom very, very well. Listen to Samuel Wormius' singing...the music wouldn't be complete without 'em. They only have one album (so far, hopefully) called The Serpent Coven and it's worth a couple of listens, and more. Thanks to Pat from Theater of the Absurd for the tip!

LORD VICAR

Last night, while I was out with a friend, we were talking about doom metal and Finland's LORD VICAR came up during the conversation. Talk about a doom metal band. You might recognize some of the names in this band, particularly guitarist Peter Inverted from Reverend Bizarre (RIP) and singer Chritus from Count Raven. That in itself is worthy of praise as both bands are simply incredible. If you like your doom melancholic, depressing and, above all else, doom, look no further. You'll get some rocking Pentagram stuff and gloomy Candlemass stuff, all in one band...and still sound unique. The band's debut album, Fear No Pain, is out now and you really need it. Like, really.

Endtime

You have no idea how much I want to sleep right now. But! I'm listening to Trouble's Psalm 9 album. A tough decision, indeed.



A criminally overlooked band.

DRAGONAUTA

Ho-ly shit. It's been a while.

Anyway, this latest post shouldn't be disappointing. I'm going to step away from the usual countries for a minute (Germany, Sweden, USA, etc.) and head down south to Argentina. Buenos Aires, to be exact. Here resides DRAGONAUTA, a psychedelic stoner/doom/heavy rock band that is as epic as their name.

These guys are basically an insanely fuzzed out version of Trouble, Pentagram, Saint Vitus, etc...rolled into one package. Not only will you find insanely heavy riffs, but a listen to a track like "God Half Blind" will make it obvious to you that these dudes take great care in making actual hooks as well! Michael Schenker-era UFO worship? These short bursts of catchiness and NWOBHM-inspired melodies are so effective in their execution that it just makes you want to scream. Not to mention they will make you keep coming back for more. Highly fucking recommended!

SEAMOUNT

Yet another German doom rock band! Actually, the singer, Phil Swanson, is American but whatever. Here we have sEAMOUNt (officially spelled like that) and these guys play doom rock of the heaviest order. Kinda standard doom singing, lots of open-E chugging when it's heavy and groov-y drumming. Obviously, the bass playing is good and fluid. They're a bit more rock-y than metal, much like in the vein of Thin Lizzy in terms of melodies and metal-ness and very Devil's Blood-ish in a contemporary sense. I think that paints a pretty good picture.

Not much else to say, really, other than this is doom done good. Worth listening to!

CAUCHEMAR

How the fuck did I not feature this incredible band here before? Of course, I'm talking about Montreal's upcoming, super-fine doom band CAUCHEMAR. Their EP/mini-LP, La Vierge Noire, is now out on the Bay Area's incredible Nuclear War Now! Productions and it's absolutely mandatory that you order it. I'm not shitting you. Go listen to the two tracks up on their MySpace and worship them. Great, haunting and eerie female vocals courtesy of Annick Giroux (who also provides the bass playing), fantastic riffing and soloing by François Patry and Patrick Pageau holding it down Dave Holland-style. The best part is that everything is in French, from the lyrics to the layout of the album. I dunno about you guys, but I get a kick outta foreign things. It leaves everyone else in mystery and it's pretty rad.

Like Pagan Altar or Seventies-Judas Priest? How about some Black Sabbath or Mercy? It's a no-brainer, really.

MIDNIGHT RIDER

Sorry for the giant gap between updates. There really isn't any excuse I can say for this other than me being super busy with my "real job" and other things.

Anyway, I'd like to introduce to you people Germany's heavy/doom rock/metal band MIDNIGHT RIDER. The core of the band is made up of Wayne, Cliff Bubenheim and fronted by Blumi (also of Metalucifer Germany). That in itself is pretty great since we all know how amazing and credible one must be to be in the ranks of Metalucifer. Rounding out the band as session members are Shinji "Samm" Tachi (of course, of Metalucifer) and Kenji Naruse from Japan.

Sound-wise, we get a really hard rockin', doom-tinged type of heavy metal much like the Seventies Pentagram stuff and all of the bands of that style. I also get a feeling of a little psych-rock in there, as well. Think Hawkwind.

Interested yet? You should be, since you can't really go wrong with bands that play in this ancient style. Unless, of course, you're The Sword.

WINDHAND

I've been turned on to a lot of female-fronted doom bands lately (Jex Thoth, Blood Ceremony, et al), but none are more filthy and nearly as loud as WINDHAND from Richmond, Virginia. The vocals of Dorthia Cottrell have a very Devil's Blood-y feel to them, almost like Glen Danzig if he were a woman. The guitars (and probably the bass as well) are so drenched in fuzz that you can't even make out the white noise associated with heavy distortion. I guess we can thank those RAT Pedals for that. The riffs are real sludgy and southern, and them being from Virginia kinda helps that. All in all, a band worth listening to. Female singers in doom are just mysterious and way more convincing...if done right. These guys and gal definitely do it right.

Never Cross The Dead

You know the drill... BUY THIS!



Never Cross The Dead, the new LP from Finland's HOODED MENACE, is out today via Profound Lore Records. Seriously recommended for everyone into Autopsy, early Cathedral, early Asphyx, Candlemass, Swallow The Sun and Opeth (though, if you only heard of the last 2, you're probably new so prepare yourself for a real experience in filthy fucking death/doom). You can read the review for this record over at MetalKult.

Please note that the first link directs you to Relapse's E-Store where you can purchase the album in a package (w/ either a shirt or a hoodie). For all of you price-conscious, deal-seeking people out there...