Doom

Review: Psychedelic Witchcraft – The Vision

“People reject us. They will never know the answer to the question that we carry in our hearts.”

The Vision is the debut album from these Italian blues-doom rockers. The album is the follow-up to last year’s Black Magic Man EP, and offers nine tracks of smoky, classic blues rock with occult-themed lyrics. Singer Virginia Monti delivers said lyrics in a suitably witchy style, and manages to sound like she means it. That’s because she does! (more…)

Review: Goatess II – Purgatory Under New Management

Sweden’s Goatess released their debut LP in 2013 and came to my attention mainly via their singer (Lord Vicar and ex-Count Raven and Terra Firma frontman Chritus Linderson). Their music is a cross between stoner rock and doom with plenty of psychedelia thrown in for good measure. (more…)

Interview: Luce Vee

On stage with Hooded Priest

Luce Vee (also known as Luther “Findlay” Veldmark) is the voice of Hooded Priest and King Heavy and formerly Witchsmeller Pursuivant. His bands all have a cult following in the heavy metal and doom scene and Luce is well known and respected by both bands and fans alike. He was kind enough to take part in this interview a couple of weeks ago. (more…)

Review: Iron Hearse – Deal With It

It’s always a pleasure to get hold of a new Iron Hearse release, specially as they have only made us wait a year since the last one (Get In The Hearse, released March 2013).

As the 40-second preview video above shows, the band haven’t deviated from their usual horror-film inspired lyrical themes, and with any luck, they never will. All 9 tracks on offer here stand up to their previous releases and while they don’t do anything amazingly different, they manage not to sound like they are aping their earlier material (even though they are, like AC/DC and Iron Maiden have done for 30-odd years, but it’s still possible to enjoy listening to them).

Iron Hearse don’t do anything unique, but they do play some of the best straight up pub doom-rock you’re ever likely to hear. We’ve heard it all before, but now it’s heavier, the playing is tighter and everything is a bit louder than last time. (more…)

So… I’m Not Going To Roadburn This Year

2013 was a landmark year for me. I achieved three lifetime ambitions in twelve short months. My band recorded their debut album (which I’m proud to say will be released soon by an actual record label!), I completed a degree in English language and Literature and I attended my first ever Roadburn festival in Tilburg, Holland with four friends.

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Interview: Goatess Doomwych

Back in 2012, I started work on a self-published art book documenting the first three years of my record label. The book would have interviews with each band I had released to go alongside the pictures. The Goatess had already designed my logo and the cover of Planet Doom Volume 2, my second compilation CD, so I decided to approach her for some cover artwork. Seeing as she was the cover artist, I thought it might be cool to interview her and have a section in the book all about her artwork and the bands she’s done album artwork for (which include Pentagram, Church of Misery, Stonehelm and the forthcoming album from my own band, Iron Void).

Things started off well, and the Goatess section was shaping up to be the strongest section of the book. Unfortunately, I was a bit overworked at the time, balancing a full time job, running the label, a part-time Open University degree and my band commitments (it was a busy time!). The book suffered as a result and the release date kept getting pushed back further and further. In the end, I decided to keep the cover art and the title, which I used for the Doomanoid Records third anniversary sampler The Story So Far, but the book itself never saw the light of day.

Here it is at last, the original interview which we conducted via Email in 2012. (more…)

Album: Black Sabbath – 13

I was as surprised as anyone to hear the news that Black Sabbath would be reuniting with Ozzy Osbourne after over thirty years for a new album. The result is an album that has the potential to divide opinion between fans both old and new. While I did not find the album that appealing on first listen, beyond some catchy vocal hooks from Ozzy, it began to grow on me after a few repeat listens.

Rick Rubin’s production seems a little clinical at first, and the very clean sounding mastering accentuates this. After two or three plays, though, it sounds less harsh to me. This may be down to nothing more than the fact that I listen to a lot of underground recordings that have a far less polished sound. Rubin has perfectly captured Tony Iommi’s signature guitar tone while allowing Geezer Butler’s bass to cut through the mix. The only sore point for me is the snare sound, which sounds a little thin. This may work better for fast songs but it just doesn’t resonate enough here for my liking, creating a pronounced gap between each beat.

In an ideal world, the line up would be complimented by original drummer Bill Ward. Disappointingly, this did not occur. Instead, the drumming duties are handled by Brad Wilk, formerly of Rage Against The Machine. This might seem like an odd choice for the band that are rightfully regarded as the godfathers of doom metal. This is a clear example of the ‘Spinal Tap’ thing, the band foregrounding the three ‘musicians’ at the front, backed up by a faceless drummer. Judas Priest did this exact same thing for years, and it does spoil things somewhat (imagine Iron Maiden with Nickleback’s drummer instead of Nicko!). Fortunately, Wilk provides a solid performance worthy of any of Sabbath’s past drummers.

Black Sabbath 2013 (minus Bill Ward)

Album opener ‘End of The Beginning’ is based around a slow, repetitive riff that is reminiscent of their classic track Black Sabbath, even down a tempo change and jam for the middle section. These moments of deja-vu occur throughout the album. Echoes of the Paranoid and Sabotage albums are clearly audible and the band make no attempt to hide this. The most obvious example is the ending of ‘Dear Father’, which repeats the rain and thunder intro of the band’s eponymous 1970 debut. It would be easy to deride Sabbath for approaching the album this way and accuse them of deliberately retreading old ground but I think they’ve made the right decision. These flashbacks from the classic 1970’s Ozzy-era create the impression of the band coming full circle, echoing their own question: Is this the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning?

The songs are mid-tempo and mostly range from five to eight minutes in length. This gives the band time to jam and add some classic Tony Iommi guitar solos. Iommi doesn’t do anything new, but there is no reason for him to try this late in the game. There are no fast three-minute head banging numbers on 13 but this adds to the doom-laden vibe of the overall record and will not receive any complaints from me.

My main criticism would have to be the album’s length. The last three tracks on the deluxe CD version are by far the weakest on the album and could quite easily have been left out. The Black Sabbath rain at the end of ‘Dear Father’ would have made a perfect ending point. Instead, the tracks that follow give the impression of being added as filler to bulk-up the disc. The market has moved on since the early days of Sabbath, and perhaps an eight song album was considered too short for commercial reasons. The result is another overstuffed mainstream rock/metal album that fails to fully capture the special vibe (for want of a better term) that is present in a lot of underground releases.The only other minor sore points for me are some of Ozzy’s vocals. To be honest, his performance is not really that bad. There are moments, though, when he just fails to hold a note. These are songs sung in the lower register and are largely confined to the first few tracks. It just seems a little strange that no one thought to transpose them into a higher key, or maybe even use a different choice of song, Ozzy’s voice being what it is.

Doom pioneers: The classic ‘Early Sabbath’ line up

There are low points, but they are few and far between, and the album is of a far higher quality than many of the classic rock comeback discs that have surfaced in recent years. 13 is not perfect, and it doesn’t come anywhere near the level of the band’s classic era, but it is worthy of consideration (provided you skip the bonus tracks). Black Sabbath have managed to deliver an album that grows in appeal with each listen and it’s good to have most of them back.

Album: Jex Thoth – Blood Moon Rise

I have been a fan of Jex Thoth since their self-titled 2008 debut. The first offering was a mixture of low-fi fuzz guitar and psyche jamming, but represented a major leap forward in songwriting and performance from their debut EP, Totem, and second full-length is no different. I have read criticism that the first album suffered from poor musicianship, but I never thought that. This one does sound a lot glossier on first listen, though.The most striking change to the band has to be the complete line-up change they have undergone since those first two releases. Two of the original line-up were married (singer ‘Jex’ and bass/guitarist ‘Grim Jim,’ also of Wooden Wand) and are now separated, which I presume accounts for his departure. To be honest, it doesn’t really matter, as the music is as good, if not better than before.

Blood Moon Rise is a very dark record, and not the type of album that grabs you on first listen. The first time I played it, I was surprised by how smooth everything sounds compared to their earlier efforts. It’s the only word I can use to adequately describe the sound. After a short, moody opening piece, the album starts proper with single ‘The Places You Walk.’ Jex Thoth songs have been described as ‘doom ballads’ in several reviews, and that is definitely the case here. The lyrical subject matters switch between relationships/love back to esoteric occult themes such as the epic closing number ‘Psyar’ (I have no idea what this means without Googling!). So, am I saying that Jex’s lyrics are stereotypically feminine in their themes? Well, yes, I am in a way, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Jex clearly knows what she is singing about, and her voice sounds beautiful and is one of the aspects of the band that benefits most from this album’s superior production. It’s been well mastered, too and sounds clear and warm. These two things are important for a Jex Thoth record for one simple reason: You need to listen to this band on vinyl. I have both the CD and LP versions of their first record and there is no comparison. The vinyl wins every time (if only for the Albert Witchfinder sleeve art).

While I loathe the term ‘female-fronted doom band’ for so many reasons, I will briefly use the term here. While I do hate the term, Jex Thoth stand alongside Witch Mountain as an example of that at its best. Also, listen out for Earth cellist Lori Goldston on the last track.

Edit:

Since writing this review, I have bought a vinyl copy of the album. Like Jex’s previous work, it sounds twice as good on my turntable as the digital version I reviewed here. If you can afford it, get the LP. It’s worth the extra cash.

Out now on I Hate Records

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