LUNG ~ Volume (2023)

I write this shrouded in a heady smog of stoner doom worship, eyes and throat burning on smouldering, weed drenched riffs. The sound is gloriously expansive but the sludge influence radiates an atmosphere of suffocating toxicity, thick and choking. Volume by lung is a glimpse into the mind of the  junkie's final 'trip' to inevitable burnout.

Kal-El ~ Dark Majesty (August Album of the Month )

 

Damn Kal-El, damn their eyes! I really wanted to appear kvlt and not include their latest album 'Dark Majesty' in my top five album releases for August unlike so many of my peers, but however much I resisted (And I listened to a LOT of albums, my shortlist numbered just over 80), I had no option but to return to 'Dark Majesty' and place it at the pinnacle of August releases.

Sure, there were a couple of albums that contained exceptional tracks that were superior to anything on 'Dark Majesty' but the crux of the matter is, containing an exceptional song does not make a great album, especially when compared to one which can be described as stellar from the first track to the last.

Lets face it, stoner doom albums are ten a penny, it takes a special album for a band to rise above the others and be noticed. Kal-El has done it by adding an ingredient I haven't come across too often in the doom genre, a sense of elation. It's the harmonies that do it for me, it's really magical the way the soaring vocals hitch a ride on some of the smoothest yet heaviest stoner doom riffs ever laid before the Sabbathian altar. Elephant Tree  touched on it with their track 'Bird,' but that's one track in a fantastic album in its own right, Dark Majesty is chock full of 'Bird's.'

Releasing such a fine album does, of course, present Kal-El with a problem, albeit a nice one.....how are they going to better this?

WITHOUT GOD ~ Siberian Tunes: The Green Light (E.P) 2021

 I'm in the fortunate position where I receive lots of promotional  material. Some are really nice surprises, others tend to be put on the back burner as they just don't suit the kind of music I feature on the Podcast. There are a few however that make the heart skip when you see the name of the band featured in the promo. The email I received featuring a new release from Without God made me break out into a sweat. I've followed these Russian guys for years and eagerly snapped up every album and EP they've produced and never been disappointed by any of them. 

So, is 'Siberian Tunes: The Green Light' any different? That's a big no! It's excellent as always. Four tracks of psych tinged stoner doom, slightly more polished than what has gone before but no less heavy. Copious amounts of sludge is still apparent, however the added metallic crunch to the riffs add a potency that manages to tarnish the extra polish which is further scarred by the excellent, slightly acidic lead work that manifests itself throughout this album. One of the aspects of Russian metal I've noticed over the years is the propensity for the vocal delivery to be on the harsh side but this isn't the case with Without God, instead, vocals on 'Siberian Tunes: The Green Light' gel perfectly with the stoner undertones of this E.P.

Did I say EP? Damn, I want a full length to satisfy my craving for more music from Without God.

CRYPT MONARCH ~ The Necronaut (Album of the Month July 2021)

Trying to work out an 'Album of the Month' is pretty difficult especially when you listen to so much and embrace so many different styles and genres. This month has been slightly different though. In spite of all the excellent albums that July has birthed, 'The Necronaut' by Costa Ricans Crypt Monarch has hoisted its immense bulk head and shoulders above the rest. It's the guitar tone that's done it for me, moist and saturated in so much fuzz that if you could squeeze each track, gelatinous riffs would drip through your fingers. I like my doom in all its various forms and there is a surprising amount of diversity out there but if I could become Frankenstein for a day and mould together various bloated doom body parts, it would evolve into the corpulent stoner doom entity that Crypt Monarch has become.

As you would expect, 'The Necronaut' isn't a rollercoaster ride, instead, saddle up this Jurassic monolith and let the droning momentum take you where it will.

ACIDEMIA ~ Podridão (2021)

Doom of such depth it crushes like a neverending freefall through the Jovian atmosphere. Deep enough to excavate bedrock from a fathomless ocean. No need to visit the dentist with this album as your teeth soon rattle and fall out along with your eyeballs, such is the potency of the rhythmn section which is ablolutely devastating. There is some psychedelic ambience in here but don't expect any respite, all it does is feel like barbed wire pulled through one ear and out the other. Don't worry about your brain though, it's been turned to mush anyway. Immense Doom!

GODBUD ~ Dope Supreme [2019]

Named after a particular strain of cannabis plant, the riffs on 'Dope Supreme' by Turkish stoner doom band GODBUD were born from the bong. Three tracks of sludgy, stoned doom, slung so low and played dead slow. GODBUD obviously listened to a lot of BLACK SABBATH but those revered Astonians were positively bouncy compared to these guys. Gag on the sludgy fuzz from the fur ball riffs that clog the senses. There is the added occult mysticism that adds a warped, horrendous majickal air and gives this fantastic EP the feel of an invocation rather than a record.

I'm on the third track now and the last chord struck from the first track 'Low Spirit' has just ended ~ DEATHRATTLE PODCAST

ELECTRIC FUNERAL ~ Death, Cult And Serpent (2018)

Electric funeral

Five rites of initiation, a Eucharist to the dark side of the doom scene.

As the name of the band suggests, there is more of a nod towards Black Sabbath, the riffs are thick with viscous, moist fuzz, however, in keeping with the style of a lot of doom bands from the Far East, there is more of an antagonistic pulse that permeates throughout this album and contradicts the Gregorian invocations of Satanic scripture particularly from the opening track.

In fact there are many contradictions on Death, Cult and Serpent. On one track Gothic timbre from an organ vies with the delicate vibes from Tingsha bells. The biggest surprise however, comes in the form of the final track and my favourite on the album 'The Offering) Conqueror Worm (The Aftermath). This track is a total departure from the punishing occult doom that takes up most of the album. Its a song of glorious spacey, blues flecked jams that encapsulates both 'Planet Caravan' and 'The Warning'
in 18 minutes of meditative contemplation.

Death, Cult and Serpent is an album that should be persecuted, tried, then burned at the stake.