Fleshpress- No Return & Rebuild/Crumble (2010) METAL ALERT

These are my two favorite EPs from last year. For those of you unfamiliar with Fleshpress, their drummer is Mikko Aspa, the lead singer of the almighty Deathspell Omega. Despite having a member of the best black metal band on the planet, there are only flashes of said genre throughout Fleshpress' music. Most of what Fleshpress plays falls under the heading of doom. What type of doom? I don't really know anymore. A few years ago I would have called Fleshpress a sludge band, but their 2007 album Pillars was a lumbering beast of a drone album. Now they seem to have embraced the genre as a whole, taking elements from every sub-genre of doom. On No Return and Rebuild/Crumble you'll hear elongated drone sections, Eyehategod-esqe sludge (including the faster, punkish parts EHG was also known for), bluesy Bongzilla style stoner doom riffs, psychedelic guitar leads and yes, a wee bit o' black metal. Open your ears and hearts to hate.

Fleshpress on last.fm



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Gems: Dead End Life Crawling Through Shit And Blood Soul Burning, Spiral Filter Forcing You Down To Black Pyramid, Rebuild.

Loss- Despond (2011) METAL ALERT

Usually I like to have at least a handful of listens under my belt before posting an album. I've heard Despond in its entirety twice (thrice by the time I finish this). So why am I posting it after two listens? Because it's a fucking masterpiece. But more on that in a second. I love me some funeral doom. There's something about the melancholic guitar work over ultra heavy dirge and guttural vocals that I love and on their debut EP Loss did that as well as anybody I've ever heard. Combine that with the fact that the last Ahab album was a disappointment and I was ready to crown Loss the new kings of funeral doom after the EP. Despond not only confirms that assessment, but may even vault Loss into the ranks among my favorite bands currently making music.

It may sound weird, but Despond is one of the more beautiful albums I've heard recently. Don't get me wrong, it's depressing, but depressing in an oddly pretty and triumphant way that's frequently life-affirming. Perhaps it's just me. Every review I've read of the album talks about how oppressive an atmosphere it creates. I hear the delicate, often clean guitars and get jazzed. Here's the other thing about Despond though, it really isn't all that heavy. Barring a few songs, there isn't much of the punishing low end that one would expect from a funeral doom album (also, there's one sliver of black metal). Shit, there are clean vocals on this album! Good ones! It's like somber post-rock played at a snails pace with flashes of doom. Yet, somehow it's still very much a funeral doom album. The songs crawl along, the atmosphere is mournful and most of the vocals are guttural to the point that they're unintelligible. That being said, I've failed miserably at capturing the essence of this record. Just fucking listen to it.

Serious contender for album of the year. Suicidal black metal ain't got shit on this.

Loss on last.fm



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Gems: I just said it was a masterpiece.

New Thou Material

Thou has posted tracks from some of their upcoming releases to their site. There are a lot of bands who, even when I'm looking forward to a new album, there's the worry that it's going to be a disappointment or the knowledge that the band in all likelihood won't ever be able to top a previous album of theirs. Thou is not one of those bands. Which is all the more astounding due to the fact that they're so ridiculously prolific. Anyway, if Summit didn't do it for you and you miss the bludgeon you to death Thou of old, then these EPs are for you.

To The Chaos Wizard Youth EP
Big City EP (Split w/ Cower)
The Archer & The Owle EP

Wizard Smoke- The Speed of Smoke (2011) METAL ALERT

Really digging this, could make the top of 2011 list. Wizard Smoke is a stoner doom band (though you could probably guess based on the name and album title. Wizard Smoke was also an Ol' Scratch song title...) from Atlanta. Much of what they play is based on the NeurIsis handbook, what some people have been calling "atmospheric sludge" (which I always thought sounded silly) or "progressive sludge". There's also some worship at the Sabbathian altar and some Bongzilla-esque heavy blues to be heard on The Speed of Smoke. Overall excellent, sludgy, weedy, doom with some keyboards to add a bit of a psychedelic element to the sound. On first listen I wasn't so sure about the vocals. Not the vocals themselves, they're of the screechy, throat-shredding variety that I so adore, but they way they're recorded. They have that somewhat hollow, echoing sound that you hear a lot on black metal albums. However, after a few listens I started to enjoy them and now I think they're totally awesome with the sound that Wizard Smoke cultivates. Use your earballs.

Wizard Smoke on last.fm



Get it here. Wizard Smoke lets you download this for free! 

Gems: Dead Wood, Butcher, Panama II, Witches Brew

Yob- The Unreal Never Lived (2005)

You know, I had a hard time deciding whether to post that Middian album or this Yob album. So fuck it.

Yob on last.fm




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Middian- Age Eternal (2007) METAL AERT

Steve overhead me listening to some Yob, he said it reminded him of a heaver old Soundgarden (read: good Soundgarden). I don't see the comparison, but I told him I'd post some. Instead, I'm posting this, the singer/guitarists other band. Middian sounds exactly like Yob, but this might be a bit more accessible than any Yob album as there's a greater ratio of clean vocals to screaming on this one (more on that later). Over the past 10 years or so I don't think any musician has been as consistently good as Yob's Mike Scheidt. 5 Yob albums and this Middian album while Yob was on hiatus, all of which have been at least an 8/10 in my book, a few being 10/10s (including this one). Yob has been labeled as just about every sub-genre of doom imaginable, stoner doom, psychedelic doom, progressive doom, sludge and I've definitely referred to them as space doom a few times. All of these labels certainly fit Middian as well, but none of them even come close to fully describing either of them. What you'll find on Age Eternal is monumental, head-nodding, trance-inducing riffs, surprisingly pretty psychedelic/space rock sounding leads and passages, odd stops and starts for a doom band and lumbering sludge parts. Also, I really like Mike's clean vocals, usually doom band's clean vocals are way too cock-rocky for me and I can't stand them. Mike and guitar player Will Lindsay's screams add a litte balance.

Yob just announced they're headed into the studio to record a new album and a tour to support said album. SWEET.

Middian on last.fm



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Gems: All of them.

Indian- Guiltless (2011) METAL ALERT

I was pretty happy when I saw that Indian signed to Relapse last year. Having followed them pretty closely for a number of years, I didn't think they quite got the recognition they deserved. Hopefully being on Relapse will change that. Chicago's Indian have made a name for themselves playing a mix of slow, bludgeoning doom, sprinkled with sludgier mid-paced riffs and scathing vocals that would be equally at home on a black metal record. Guiltless features more of the same, though the band seems to have allowed the black metal influence to show up in more than the vocals. This is particularly true of "The Fate Before Fate." On the first listen, the acoustic track "Supplicants" seemed a bit out of place, but after repeated listenings it's a nice, albeit sinister respite from the pummeling that is the rest of the album. Produced by Buried at Sea mastermind Sanford Parker, this thing sounds absolutely huge. Also, the Scott Fricke artwork is awesome as usual, I'm surprised more bands haven't gone to him for their album art. Another early contender for the best of 2011.

Indian on last.fm

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Gems: No Grace, The Fate Before Fate, Guilty, The End of Truth.