MUNICIPAL WASTE - Electrified Brain review

 

MUNICIPAL WASTE - Electrified Brain

Nuclear Blast

For me MUNICIPAL WASTE can't do no wrong. I mean for starters it was this Richmond, Virginia band that started the whole thrash revival back in the mid 2000's. Their third full length, The Art of Partying, from 2007 was the album that broke em onto the minds of thrash fans everywhere. 

Now personally as much as I like that album, as well as their first two. Massive Aggressive from 2009 is the one I still consider fucking great. To me that one was like their Master of Puppets. Yeah sure some people don't care for that album but fuck em. At least after that album the band stayed true to thrash as opposed to METALLICA. 

But anyways since then the band's more recent releases (aka: The Fatal Feast from 2012 and Slime and Punishment from 2017) have been decent but not overwhelming. So when this dink came out I was hoping for more than their typical thrash attack. Thankfully Electrified Brain does that in a great way. 

OK sure the band's trademark crossover/punk/thrash appeal is all over these fourteen songs. But if you listen with mature ears you'll hear plenty of odes to metal's non thrash past. For example "Demoralizer" has a touch of old MAIDEN. Other cuts show off why Nick Poulos, who joined back in 2016, was a good pick to throw down some major lead guitar work. "High Speed Steel" is pure 80's underground metal worship. 

I could go on about the cool songs on here and "Last Crawl" plus "Ten Cent Beer Night" are major ragers. But the bottom line is that Electrified Brain is my new favorite MUNICIPAL WASTE album. It's not only the best album they've done in years but one of this year's best. 

https://www.nuclearblast.com/eu/

LISTEN HERE:

https://municipal-waste.bandcamp.com/album/electrified-brain-2

APPALLING - Inverted Realm review

APPALLING - Inverted Realm 

Redefining Darkness Records




Before I posted this review I contacted some local show promoters and shared this band's music with them. They're from Richmond, Virginia so if they plan on coming on a journey south, please book em. Yes Richmond, you can boast about a variety of bands leading the way in various metal genres. Now you have a great blackened death metal act. APPALLING are a five piece act that started out in 2015. They put out their self released debut full length Secrets of the Adept in 2017. I never heard it but I'm liking this one.


Now when it comes to the sub-genre of blackened death metal there's still plenty of room open in order to define it. Some bands use purely harsh screamed vocals or tremolo picked riffs as a rhythm mixed along side melodic death metal structures. Of course the Europeans, mainly the Swedes, dominate and have trademarked the genre. Here in the US we had our day back in the 90's when various burgeoning black metal acts still carried plenty of death metal brutality and musicianship. It set us apart from the Scandinavians.


APPALLING are in between all of that which I learned on my first listening to this. And just to be honest I believe they found a unique sound structure which they've tapped into. Each of the seven tracks on here stands on their own. In other words they're not mining a style and punching the repeat button. They can be rough and thrashy but will slow down to a death dirge and insert a damm good sharp solo. Other times it's straight up blackened death then they're move onto a structure more towards death metal or black metal swiftness along with some atmosphere thrown in for a break.


Vocal wise, imagine a sick demented and inebriated minister giving a sermon. It also is a perfect match for the style of music being created plus a touch of the theatrical as far as points where vocals should dominate and not. All in all APPALLING has something immensely important and that's a character all their own. It's subtle but undeniable. If you're into a DM shock to your senses then here you go. 


http://www.redefiningdarkness.com/

https://appalling.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Appallingmusic

TEL - Lowlife review

TEL - Lowlife

Aural Music




Wow stoner sludge music from Richmond, Virginia, go figure? Oh yeah and it's produced by the guitarist of WINDHAND. Well let me slit my wrists. OK all joking aside after giving this a listen I still wanted the jokes in but also give this a thumbs up. TEL do have a hippy dippy love affair with jazz, the 70's and some stoner rock aesthetics. It's when they let the devil in where I give em props.


TEL is a four piece act which started out a few years ago. Prior to this the band released a demo and a self released single. Listening to these five cuts I get this impression of "Welcome to Spencer Gifts. The lava lamps are in the back where you'll also find the Anton Lavey black light posters." Be that as it may the band has some heavy touches paired with proggy moments lost in the fog. Give it up to their singer who is about as versatile as a pair of channel locks.


Overall I think it comes down to their final cut on here "Stangers". It's probably the best representation of SABBATH's Volume Four worship I've heard in ahh a year. Be that as it may I'm guessing this band is way better live. An old oxymoron that it is but the truth here stands with a claustrophobic production style which holds this band back especially when the riffs go seismic, the vocals go vicious but the production holds it all in a cloudy atmosphere which is part of their atmosphere within cuts but still it's a yoke around their neck. 


http://www.auralmusic.com/

https://telrva.bandcamp.com/releases

https://www.facebook.com/TelRVA/

DRUGLORD - New Day Dying review

DRUGLORD - New Day Dying 

Sludgelord Records




Hey it's stoner doom from Richmond, Virginia go figure right? Yeah sure we're talking about a city where on any given day in a practice space the words "Dude hold the joint I feel like Iomni" are uttered. What, do you note a hint of sarcasm here? Well I don't even smoke the stuff but I get confused at times. At first I thought wait a minute, didn't this band just put out a release? Ah no, that would be DOPELORD or was it DOPETHRONE? Oh well who cares. Just smoke pot eat twat and smile a lot right?


Be that as it may here is an actual full length release by this Virginia three piece. I use the word "actual" because their previous releases were two EPs and a full length which was more like an EP. I have their first EP and heard the other two. A few years back they played a show here. That was back when Greta Brinkman was still on bass. Greta and drummer Bobby Hufnell were both in a cool 80's hardcore band I saw back in the day called UNSEEN FORCE. Of course after their set that night a friend and I talked with em about UNSEEN FORCE instead of DRUGLORD. Ironically enough they admitted to getting asked about their former band a lot.



But I digress, New Day Dying is definitely a step up from their previous material. Not much of a step but in general terms it's still a step. The seven songs on here are a sludge du jour. You get a fuzzed out wall of noise that's concise as far as song structures go. There's no dragging forever riffage which other similar acts torture you with. There's some actual leads which cut through the haze and give the songs more bite. It also gives things a 70's hard rock edge as well as a touch of nostalgia. Along with his guitar playing Tommy Hamilton also has a decent harsh devious snarl to his vocals. With all of that I think DRUGLORD has finally stepped out of the crowded stoner sludge genre field with this one.



https://thesludgelord.bandcamp.com/

https://druglord.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/DruglordVA/

WINDHAND - Eternal Return review

WINDHAND - Eternal Return

Relapse Records



Well for at least a year now I've written about a half dozen stoner doom acts from around the world who have used this Richmond, Virginia band's style. Call it homage or bandwagon jumping, whatever, all I can say is thankfully the real thing has finally presented itself with this their fourth full length.


Now some quick history for ya. I've been a fan of this band ever since I wrote about their two song demo back in 2010. I thought their debut album was fantastic. Their second album was very good. I liked the early split releases they did as well. But I didn't care too much for their third full length. It's wasn't all bad. I liked two songs on it but the rest seemed like rehash from the previous two slabs. But that was then.


I think it was a month ago that Relapse dropped a video for a song off this album. I forget which one but after hearing it I thought ok this is cool. So here we have Eternal Return, an aptly titled album to say the least. Now WINDHAND hasn't changed who they are but basically they've sharpened up a few areas to push them beyond an average stoner rock act. And there are many examples on here.


First and foremost Dorthia Cottrell's vocals, she's actually singing and it's clean and clear sounding. Sure she still has that haunting air to her vocal style. But now she's not overwhelmed by the heavy handed sound the band pummels away at. If you ever heard Dorthia Cottrell's solo album, which by the way you should, then you know she has an amazing voice. In fact there's a cool cut on here, "Pilgrim’s Rest", which reminds me of her solo work but on here it's an amazing break from what you'd expect on a WINDHAND album.


Next up, about that pummeling sound well guitarist Garrett Morris and bassist Parker Chandler have reined in some of their heaviness in favor of melody, a slightly upbeat in rhythm and more psych. Someone (producer Jack Endino?) injected some 90's grunge into em as well. With drummer Ryan Wolfe laying in more fills the band is not sounding so much like a hippy metal stoner jam band. Yeah WINDHAND's a four piece act now minus guitarist Asechiah Bogdan. Obviously the loss has made them sound tight as well as exciting.


The bottom line, well in my not so humble opinion their debut full length will always rank up there with some of the greatest doom albums of all time. But as far as this one goes it's probably their best album so far in their career. Their last one, Grief’s Eternal Flower, touched upon what they created here and maybe that's why I didn't care so much for it. Eternal Return is easily one of the best albums of 2018. Nuff Said.


https://store.relapse.com/

https://windhand.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WindhandVA

WINDHAND / SATAN'S SATYRS - Split review

WINDHAND / SATAN'S SATYRS - Split 

Relapse Records




OK full disclosure time, I love WINDHAND. How much you ask? Well back in 2010 it was the now defunct website Doomantia and SFM666 who were the first two music sites to write about their 2 song demo. I'm kinda proud of that as well as when Walter of Roadburn borrowed my review for his website. I appreciated that and it gave SFM666 a lot of traffic. Moving on I loved their debut full length, I liked the follow-up Soma, I liked the split releases they did as well. Then Grief's Infernal Flower came out in 2015 and I was bored with em. 


So here we have a split with WINDHAND and fellow Virginian's SATAN'S SATYRS. As far as the WINDHAND cuts go, two of em, the first one "Old Evil" sounds like a throwaway from Grief's Infernal Flower. But the second cut, "Three Sisters" is absolutely fantastic. Dorthia's vocals are more up front, thanks to her solo career, plus there's keyboards which make everything sound more haunting then just the massive doomy riffs. Unfortunately I have written about half a dozen bands last year who took this same path to greatness.


Which brings us to SATAN'S SATYRS, here's a four piece act who put forth three cuts and after listening to this it makes me wanna put on my BLUE CHEER "Vincebus Eruptum" t-shirt. Yeah it's dark blue so touch me I'm cool. But anyways this is some cool hard fuckin rock with a retro late 60's / early 70's thunderous blues rock touch. They even do a LINK WRAY cover "Ain't That Lovin' You, Baby". So basically you'll buy this split for WINDHAND but you'll love it for SATAN'S SATYRS.


https://store.relapse.com/

https://windhand.bandcamp.com/

AFFASIA - Adrift in Remorse review

AFFASIA - Adrift in Remorse

Transcending Records



Ya know I have to say that the US really hasn't produced any really good Doom metal over the past decade. Sure we have plenty of Sludge Rock and Stoner Doom but Doom in the traditional sense we're lacking. One of my favorites from not that long ago were DAYLIGHT DIES. So yeah that's the style I'm talking about. AFFASIA from Richmond, Virginia do a close enough job of it but not to the fullest extent.


Adrift in Remorse is this band's debut EP. There's four songs of varied aspects which fall under the doom shadow. The first two cuts, "Another Host" and "Dissolute" show promise with a melodic doom vein exposed. They have that mid-period PARADISE LOST thing going for them. Riffs are subtle with more emphasis on piano as well as clean vocals which also turn to the gruff grunts. Vocalist Noah Cabitto is a future treasure to the genre. 

And then comes "Brittle Sentiment" which starts out incredibly in a subtle savage way. Then it turns into (Choose One: Post Punk, Indie Rock or Crap). The latter part of the song is much better. Then there's "As You Never Were" which is pure mid-period PARADISE LOST worship. It's actually the best as well as the most intricate cut on here. 

AFFASIA is a band that's gone through a lot of line-up changes in their short life. With that I'm sure there's been plenty of influences tossed in and around. My suggestion to them is Pick One and run with it, preferably melodic doom. I look forward to hearing another release by this band. They do have the potential to becoming big. I mean that in the musical quality sense. And seriously I hope they do.


http://www.transcendingrecords.com/

https://affasia.bandcamp.com/album/adrift-in-remorse

https://www.facebook.com/affasiaband/