Heralding from Massachusetts, Stoner Metal Pioneers deemed Elder pay homage to such doom metal forerunners like Sleep, Electric Wizard, and Black Sabbath from their very first Split with Queen Elephantine. For a first release, "heavy" is an understatement: a Lo-Fi, often-muddied recording sound render's Elder's already-thick bass and guitar tones even more dungeony and plodding. Nick DiSalvo's Gregorian-sounding vocals usher in the dirge of doom and destruction in "Black Midnight" and early-Sleep-esque "Soul Incarnate."
Soon after, Elder's debut LP featuring a king in utter despair as his kingdom is milliseconds away from the brink of destruction from encroaching tidal waves waves. The album reflects a medieval vibration of tales of such destruction with "Hexe" and "The Riddle of Steel" Parts 1 and 2. Thick layers of fuzz encapsulate Elder's low-bass grooves with intricate changes--all the while laying the seeds of future Doom with wickedly down-tuned stoner licks.
Suddenly, Elder's sound ignites in very unexpected directions: departing from the drone-like sounds of their first two projects, Elder's 2011 Dead Roots Stirring begins with an entirely new, brighter style of fuzz in the song Gemini, one of the 5 total tracks clocking in over 9 minutes long. Keystone Elder tempo changes and transition riffs usher in an evolving doom salad as the drums and crushing bass tones enter the stoner licks.
Even more profound is the second and title track, 12-minutes of destruction introducing their new vocal style: a friendlier, righteous declaration of energy. Tapping into Sword-esque acoustic roots, "III" showcases a unique dynamic towards explosive sound, all the while remaining emotionally resilient with the other tracks on the album. Digging into even deeper territories of embodying the concept of "epic" metal, the closing songs on the album, "The End" an "Knot" kickstart in a similar obliterating fashion while shifting into fully-building and musically-accelerating climactic releases of alchemical power. Ch'yea!
Exploring an even more dynamic between chaos, order, and re-genesis, Elder's newest 2012 EP featuring the song Release infuses the same ingredients into even more sentimental heights of awareness. On the brink of disaster and destruction, Elder rises from the ashes both lyrically and musically by conquering even mightier sounds and channeling the most warmly, yet bright fuzzy chords. Like real demi-gods, the anticipation of their next arrival is almost too great of a burden for mortal man to bear.
And a 2010 live performance, enjoy the prototypes of Dead Roots Stirring and The End, which appear to be in drop tuning.
Cheers,
SubTemplum and King Bong
Sunday, July 21, 2013
Sunday, July 14, 2013
Isis
Next, we revel in an enigmatic band that continues to blow minds. It--is Isis.
Beginning in their early days in Boston, Massachusetts in late 1997 as a sludge-hardcore band, Isis soon became an underground staple for saw blade harsh mega-exploration via their Mosquito Control EP. Isis continued to release EP's like The Red Sea, their 1998 demo, and 1999's Sawblade
From a darker, gruffer vocal style, Isis soon merged with carefully-constructed, sometimes etheric melodies in their first full-length, Celestial, and its extension EP SGNL<05.
In developing their stylistic choices, Isis balances gentle, lulling tones against descents of destructive thrash/prog-metal prowess to meticulous extremes in their cornerstone LP, Oceanic. This LP portrayed a true progression for Isis as more of the music focuses around sustained movements of repetition that build to towering heights.
After completely evolving from their previous style of wrestling with sludge and drone, Isis assemble their most sweeping, lulling, and methodical album, Panopticon, in 2004. Having no where to go but even heavier in an abstract sense, Isis released In The Absence of Truth in 2007.
Finally, tapping into an even more "Glisten"-ing sound, Isis released a final album: Wavering Radiant in 2009.
By the time 2010 came Isis collectively felt they had achieved everything they had set out to achieve in being a band, and decided break up following their final show in Montreal. This location seemed appropriate considering their first show was in Montreal--it represented the full progression of the band, from genesis to the their final departure. Shortly following their dissolution they released two songs on a Melvins split, one was a bonus track on the Japanese release of 2009's Wavering Radiant, the other is Pliable Foe. This track is fitting closure to their collection and embodies everything that is mystical about Isis.
Isis continue to release previously unreleased bonus tracks, but maintain that they still have no anticipation of reforming.
Feel the weight,
King Bong and SubTemplum
Beginning in their early days in Boston, Massachusetts in late 1997 as a sludge-hardcore band, Isis soon became an underground staple for saw blade harsh mega-exploration via their Mosquito Control EP. Isis continued to release EP's like The Red Sea, their 1998 demo, and 1999's Sawblade
From a darker, gruffer vocal style, Isis soon merged with carefully-constructed, sometimes etheric melodies in their first full-length, Celestial, and its extension EP SGNL<05.
In developing their stylistic choices, Isis balances gentle, lulling tones against descents of destructive thrash/prog-metal prowess to meticulous extremes in their cornerstone LP, Oceanic. This LP portrayed a true progression for Isis as more of the music focuses around sustained movements of repetition that build to towering heights.
After completely evolving from their previous style of wrestling with sludge and drone, Isis assemble their most sweeping, lulling, and methodical album, Panopticon, in 2004. Having no where to go but even heavier in an abstract sense, Isis released In The Absence of Truth in 2007.
Finally, tapping into an even more "Glisten"-ing sound, Isis released a final album: Wavering Radiant in 2009.
By the time 2010 came Isis collectively felt they had achieved everything they had set out to achieve in being a band, and decided break up following their final show in Montreal. This location seemed appropriate considering their first show was in Montreal--it represented the full progression of the band, from genesis to the their final departure. Shortly following their dissolution they released two songs on a Melvins split, one was a bonus track on the Japanese release of 2009's Wavering Radiant, the other is Pliable Foe. This track is fitting closure to their collection and embodies everything that is mystical about Isis.
Isis continue to release previously unreleased bonus tracks, but maintain that they still have no anticipation of reforming.
Feel the weight,
King Bong and SubTemplum
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Toner Low
I present you with these sonic titans from the Netherlands, a band that's been dooming around since 1998. These immaculate doomsters have graced the stage with the likes of Electric Wizard, Acid King, Boris, Colour Haze, and Conan.
Phase Six is pure sub-bass glory. Your head will succumb to the bludgeoning like a watermelon on Gallagher's stage. Their three similarly named/themed albums in reverse order
Phase Six is pure sub-bass glory. Your head will succumb to the bludgeoning like a watermelon on Gallagher's stage. Their three similarly named/themed albums in reverse order
Enjoy,
King Bong
Monday, July 1, 2013
YOB
I'm aware that a lot of these first posts are rudimentary, but I feel as though these are some essentials that necessitate further listening regardless of their 'quintessential' status in the stoner genre of music.
It should also be noted that the purpose of this blog is to discover and dissect music that is fundamentally heavy. In the field of heavy metal music there is a reductionist belief that all quality metal music must be made with the most distortion and the fuzziest tones achievable. That is where this blog comes in: we have a broader definition of heavy. Heavy means different things in different contexts, for some bands this is pristine clean guitars that chime and sustain transparent chords, and others it means a Gibson SG into a Dallas Arbeiter Fuzzface and your vintage Sunn Model-T with the Master up to 11.
In addition, there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between this definition of heavy music and tube amplifiers, which is why there will be immense amplifier worship here as well.
And with that...behold:
ALSO, notice how Bongripper is playing in the background of the interview! Random n-bomb from the interviewer? k...
and Mike talks about his Monson Guitar:
Mike Scheidt Interview
Enjoy,
King Bong
It should also be noted that the purpose of this blog is to discover and dissect music that is fundamentally heavy. In the field of heavy metal music there is a reductionist belief that all quality metal music must be made with the most distortion and the fuzziest tones achievable. That is where this blog comes in: we have a broader definition of heavy. Heavy means different things in different contexts, for some bands this is pristine clean guitars that chime and sustain transparent chords, and others it means a Gibson SG into a Dallas Arbeiter Fuzzface and your vintage Sunn Model-T with the Master up to 11.
In addition, there seems to be a symbiotic relationship between this definition of heavy music and tube amplifiers, which is why there will be immense amplifier worship here as well.
And with that...behold:
Yob currently do not have a bandcamp, but they do have the majority of their material up on Youtube. I have nothing but respect for the band, and I enjoy their entire catalogue.
ALSO, notice how Bongripper is playing in the background of the interview! Random n-bomb from the interviewer? k...
and Mike talks about his Monson Guitar:
Mike Scheidt Interview
Enjoy,
King Bong
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