The 10th Sub Level of Suicide

And so it would appear that my little blog has returned...



I just read somewhere out there that the ever elusive Leviathan are to return with a new album in what remains of 2011. I cannot wait and you have been warned.

Leviathan's music is among the most frightening and bleak in the crowded world of black metal. This is their first album from 2003, The Tenth Sub Level of Suicide. It is probably my favorite of Mr. Wrest's (Jeff Whitehead). Pain, damnation, despair and horror drench this album. It is the noose, it is the razor blade. It is the Demon's cry for your forsaken soul.It is the very pit of Hell.

...DOWNLOAD...

Traveller

Released in 2003, Traveller is an epic piece of music based on the 1970's role playing game of the same name. Now, I know what you are thinking... how could an album be any good if it is based on a role playing game? Well, that's just how sick a band Slough Feg (they shortened their name a few years ago) have been over the years. They could sing songs about the daily trials and tribulations of your kitchen toaster oven and it would blow your simple mind half way across your shitty little neighborhood. Traveller takes you on a Sci Fi adventure among the stars where epic battles lay waste to alien species across the universe. At least that's what I think is going on. Led by the legendary Mike Scalzi (ex Hammers of Misfortune), this album is an ode to guitar driven heavy metal. The riffs alone have been rumored to induce premature labor. Scalzi's vocals are as impressive as they are unique to the metal world.

There are soooo many bands that rehash "old school" heavy metal and it just comes across so cheesy and stale. Slough Feg are not and have never been one of these impostors. These guys are of a wholly different variety, existing not just beyond, but on a different plane of existence than the silly trends of the metal world. No trend fuckery here kids. Slough Feg are a unique musical experience that have remained underground for far too long. Their originality is a breath of fresh air and as we have seen all too often, artistic originality and talent don't necessarily result in financial success. So, after you download this album and realize how empty your life has been without it, I ask that you proceed to purchase everything ever produced by Slough Feg HERE.

Until then... The Lord Weird Slough Feg serve as a painful reminder as to just how weak your metal is.

...enjoy...

Agalloch/Nest Split

I am off for a long weekend in the Catskill Mountains. The unofficial start of summer every year includes good friends, good music, better drink and a certain serenity offered by nature. This year, I am just glad that the nature in my part of the country, that I choose to visit and enjoy, is not covered by oil.

The prolific Agalloch released this split 10 inch with Finland's Nest in 2004. Each band contributing a single song of pensive neo-folk majesty. Agalloch also contributed the vocals and acoustic guitar to the Nest track. You may recognize the Agalloch track, as it is a bit of a reprise of "Hallways of Enchanted Ebony" from their full length Pale Folklore. Aslak Tolonen, of Nest, produced the cover art for both sides of the record.

Fuck BP. Fuck the President.

...enjoy...

Pilgrimage

Om's 2007 album Pilgrimage is an effort of understated beauty. Combining elements of stoner-metal, down-tempo, drone and Buddhist influenced spiritual chants, Om are less of a band and more of an experience. Born from the legendary Sleep, Om have taken the former band's stoner/Sabbath sound and journeyed ever onward into the unexplored realms of mind and soul. No Top 40 hits for you here kids, just unrestrained musical expression. Now dim the lights and turn the volume UP.

...enjoy...

Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series

The last three months of 2008 saw Oregon's Indie/Folk heroes The Decemberists release three singles which are collectively known as Always the Bridesmaid: A Singles Series. These are they. The above pics are from the vinyl release, which may be the same as the CD version- if there even is one, I haven't the slightest. Anyway, I'm sure some out there would readily pooh pooh these guys for being kind of...ummm... well, wimpy. And I really wouldn't be able to put up all that much defense against such charges. But what I do like about The Decemberists is the abundance of song writing skill and pure fucking professional talent from the bottom to the top of these traveling troubadours. Colin Meloy and the gang tell a story with equal parts passion, charm and when the moment demands it, humor. And if this escapes you, I'm afraid it is your loss.

On a side note, The Decemberists took some Right Wing shots across their humble little ship's bow during the last presidential election cycle. They played some benefits for then candidate Obama and were quickly verbally assaulted as being lefty Communists. I guess naming themselves after the Russian revolutionaries of the 1800's kind of left them open to such accusations. But anyway, being maligned by Right Wingers must give The Decemberists at least a bit of street cred, no?

So stop being such a tool and get downloading, then hunt down these records and get with the God damned program.

...enjoy...

PS, Included is a very amusing
version of the very amusing
Velvet Underground
song "I'm Sticking With You"

Everything All The Time

You probably already have this album, but I just can't risk it...

2006's Everything all the Time (Sub Pop) is the debut for Seattle's Band of Horses and quite the stunner of a debut it was. Ethereal yet accessibly pop-friendly, this indie-rock/ folk influenced album is as complete a debut as you may ever hear. Comprised of equal parts melancholy and hope, it plays like a college radio friendly Neil Young if he were more interested in having the pretty indie chicks in the crowd dance and sway about instead of worrying about Cortes and the fate of the Mayans. Everything ... is a lush and accessible album with a wide range of emotional experiences and if you play it in the car while driving to work you may just forget about how much of a fraud your life has become. At least for a little while anyway.

...enjoy...

Ludicra EP

There are not enough good words in the entirety of the English lexicon for me to bestow upon these guys. I know I just posted an album of theirs not too long ago, but their performance the other night at Europa in Brooklyn (with Krallice in direct support, oh myyyy) has re energized my already fervent obsession with these San Francisco black metalers.

This is their 3 song EP from 2006, it's only three songs but trust me- it's more than enough for you to handle. Their music is born from a deep and dark place that so many others in the metal world can only pretend to know. I've written this before, but witnessing lead vocalist Laurie Sue Shanaman perform is like playing voyeur to a lost soul struggling through a self inflicted exorcism. She twists and contorts her body and face as she releases an overwhelming tirade of horror and sadness upon the world. Powerful, raw and unnerving, this ain't your mammy's corporate black metal. Please leave your rubber spikes, Hot Topic boots and your mother's mascara at the door.

A wreath to lay on the grave of faith

Below I've included some pics I took from the 4/18/10 show in Brooklyn @ Europa.

White Devil, Black Metal

Grim... primal... and BLACK. California's one man black metal juggernaut, Leviathan, is a force to be feared, respected and held in a perpetual state of awe. White Devil, Black Metal is soloist Wrest's (aka Jeff Whitehead) 2002 demo. Leviathan's respect for traditional Scandinavian Black Metal is plainly evident, but there is an expansive nature to the creation within. It simultaneously pays homage to the founding corpse painted fathers of Northern Europe, as well as pushes and obliterates the often stagnant boundaries of the "scene." It is rare that such a grim and uncompromising creation can also be so varied and boundless.

There was a time when I sincerely believed that the best or most "real" (whatever that means) black metal had to be European in origin. I thought that the rest of the world would be stuck in a perpetual game of catch up... I could not have been more wrong. While the Euro scene, with some exceptions, has been releasing mediocre after mediocre watered down black metal clone bands, it is the West Coast of the United States that for years has been churning out impressive releases by stunning artists with a healthy variety of musical influences. All this while keeping it brutal and uncompromising. Leviathan are truly among the keepers of black metal's misanthropic flame. There's no corporate black metal here kids...


The original pressing of White Devil, Black Metal... was a whopping 66 hand numbered copies. Now that's kvlt.

white devil!!!! black metal!!!

Another Great Love Song

My mind is currently being fucking obliterated by Ludicra's brand spanking new effort, The Tenant. Unlucky for you, I do not make a habit of posting new albums on this blog. You should go out and buy it. But, lucky for you, all of Ludicra's albums are of the fucking mind obliterating variety. So behold, their second album, from 2004 anno domini, Another Great Love Song.

Pain, suffering, loss, addiction. Another Great Love Song is drenched in all that turns us away from light, love and all the pretty little things of the world. It is brutal yet mesmerizing. It is one of the ugliest, angriest and most sincere albums I have the pleasure of owning. It is brilliant. It is art. It is what you fear as you lay awake at night. This album serves as a rare and sobering reminder that anger, hate and fury are just expressions of the deepest of sorrows.

Laurie Sue Shanaman's screeching vocals are disturbingly honest, her pain is almost too evident. Listening to her, and frankly seeing her perform live as well, is like watching a poor and wretched soul perform a self inflicted exorcism. The bass of Mr. Ross Sewage (Impaled) is menacing and unrelenting, the drumming of Aesop (Hickey, Agalloch) twists and turns with trailblazing violence. John Cobbett (Hammers of Misfortune) is uniquely brilliant on lead guitar, as anyone who knows his body of work would attest. Christy Cather's voice can be shrill and vicious, but also ghost like at times. With an ethereal grace she is the calm to Laurie's storm. But do not be lulled, like a Siren, she too will draw you to your doom.
You want highlights? How about "Time Wounds All Heels" and "Why Conquer?" And then after those two, the rest of the fucking album.

..enjoy..

NOTE: The aforementioned Aesop,
is also the author of the best blog
the intraweb ever did see: Cosmic Hearse.