Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
The Obsessed
Scott "Wino" Weinrich is a genius. Every band he has been a part of has been great, mainly because he makes them great. His songwriting, vocals, and guitar work are brilliant. The Obsessed was no exception. The following is from Wikipedia:
The band formed originally in the early 1980s, in Potomac, Maryland led by Wino. Later on the group moved into a band house in Rockville, Maryland where some of their most creative and hardest music was written. Before this move however original guitar player John Reese went his separate way. The band became a trio and stayed that way until the mid eighties when Vance Bockis and Norman from Hellion joined the band. During this time the band won the infamous Battle of the Bands at Baltimores Marble Bar by actually beating up one of the competing bands.[citation needed] During this time they released the Sodden Jackyl EP and had 1 track ("Concrete Cancer") featured on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre VI.My favorite album is a compilation album released in 1999 by Southern Lord Records called Incarnate. Absolutely bone-crunching!
The band broke up in the late 80s and Wino went west to California to join up with Saint Vitus. Wino recorded 3 albums, an EP, and a live album with Saint Vitus. Hellhound Records (Vitus's then current lablel) released The Obsessed, an album of archived Obsessed recordings which prompted Wino to leave Vitus and reform The Obsessed. The band was quickly signed to Hellhound Records and released 2 more albums. In spite of a series of line-up shifts, Columbia Records picked up their third album, The Church Within (1994, see 1994 in music), which received rave reviews but ended up being the band's last. After the demise of The Obsessed, Wino formed Spirit Caravan.
Check out The Obsessed documentary here.
Z
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Death Is This Communion
If you haven't listened to the new High On Fire disc you're missing out. Not only is it one of the best metal albums I've heard in awhile, its probably High On Fire's best to date. The disc also includes a DVD of the making of Death Is This Communion which can also be viewed on YouTube. While the songs are not as slow as many in the doom genre, the energy and noise is pure doom...
Warhorse
My God! Warhorse pumps out some incredibly heavy and mournful riffage on their album, As Heaven Turns To Ash. I don't think these guys are together any longer, but, while they were, the noise was horrendous. Take a listen.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
Stoner Doom Explosion
Thought I'd post a link to an old site called Stoner Doom Explosion. It hasn't been updated for some time but its a good starting place for anyone interested in essential music from these similar genres.
Lifer from Down
This is an example of how the perfect chemistry makes a band what they are. It's Down with Lifer, from their NOLA album. Powerful stuff!
Dawn Of Winter
Another band I've been listening to lately is Dawn Of Winter from Germany. Most of their songs are slow and heavy, the way I like it. They're pretty interesting, if you like Traditional Doom.
Down
Down has become a power to be reckoned with in the metal world these days. Here's a bio from their official website:
DOWN 2007 BIO
Most typical southern band bios start with the cliché and overused phrase "from the murky swamps" or "bayou born and bred". Those sentiments, while holding some air of truth, are too redundant for Down. Down isn't your typical 'Southern' band. This is a band, however, molded and twisted by their environment. Passionate, focused, hanging on to their NOLA pride and upbringing, much like Louisiana's Spanish moss drifting and swaying from hurricane and termite damaged Magnolia trees. The war torn history of the brotherhood is a tribute to stubbornness and retribution that belies all combined groups before and concerns an introspection in rock, blues and metal as an inspiration/instigation for the ages. Down has risen a certain flag high for every piss poor jealous fool to see. They wear their influences on their ragged sleeves as well as personify despair and display agony very accurately. Imagine early Southern Rock squeezing through a Geezer Butler strainer in these post punk modern days. There is no label for what Down does, as are there no labels for the "thousand miles from New York" bands that share members with them; Crowbar, Corrosion of Conformity, EyeHateGod, and Pantera. This is chemistry. This is the solution. This is the band people will lie about and say that they were into from the beginning. I don't know if anyone remembers there's a war going on in Iraq, but there's a war going on here on the home front, in your head, with late night reconnaissance missions called "Temptation's Wings" and "Losing All". The southern hemisphere, primarily New Orleans, has much to offer by way of paralyzing roots music these days. In these dark times of cookie cutter paint-by-numbers wastes of recording contracts, an air of originality unseen anywhere else lives below the Mason-Dixon line. This is post-Katrina New Orleans.Through the wreckage and wretchedness, the third Down--Over The Under is poised fanatically on the edge.
- By MIKE IX
Heavy Lord
I'm very impressed with Heavy Lord from Holland. They are on the fast track to be one of the all-time great Doom bands. Their latest album is set to be released in December. It will be called Chained To The World. You can download the title track here.
The following is a short bio from their website:
Emerged from the moistly cellars of HELLevoetsluis comes HEAVY LORD, brought to life by two doomed metal fans Jeff and Wes lee under the influence of the mighty 90s doom sound (and of course Black Sabbath). Soon they got company in form of Wout and Steve creating the (th)underbelly rhythm section. As things worked out really well with writing and rehearsing songs, doing gigs became a priority because the stage is where it's at, that’s where the full blown riff orientated sludged out heavy doom(metal/rock)really comes to a point where you cannot run or hide anymore!! December 2004 saw the release of the first offering 'THE HOLY GRAIL' and great reviews from the scene became reality. Inspired by that, the band continued writing new material using different angels on the traditional doom sound, and doing more gigs off course. Fall 2005 sees the release of FROM COSMOS TO CHAOS featuring 5 mind blowing heavy tracks pushing the heavy lord sound into more a direction of our own, while still maintaining the heavy doom sound, a thing that will never go away never ever in our goddamned lives!!!!!
Heavy Lord
Here is Heavy Lord doing one of their best, Baphomet's March. You'll not hear any of that Beauty-and-the-Beast Goth crap from these guys. Just some down and dirty doom/sludge.
Friday, October 26, 2007
The History Of Doom
If you're interested in reading about the history of the doom genre within heavy metal, check out this great article from Doom-metal.com. It lays the foundation for enjoying this incredible form of music. There's also a good history at the Doom Metal Wikipedia page.
Z
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Electric Wizard
Electric Wizard is one of the best doom/sludge bands on the planet. You can read all about them here. Listen to some of their incredible tunes at their MySpace page.
Enjoy,
Z
Vol. 4
First off, thanks to Zeteticus for taking me on as a team member to this blog of Doom. For my first post I give you some photos of one of my favorite albums, Sabbath's Vol.4, the original vinyl I've had since the 70's:
The front cover displayed here in front of some of my sinister book collection:
The first couple of pages of the inside cover which opens up:
The two center inside pages--Sabbath giving what was definitely a kick ass concert:
Bill Ward pounding the skins:
The father of all doom guitarists, Tony Iommi:
The back cover song list:
Finally, the label, notice their publishing company is "Rollerjoint Music" (this album cover was used to roll quite a few joints on!)
As much as I like and enjoy the digital music age, all of the remastered, rereleased albums out there, I miss the days when lps came with posters, and liner notes you could actually read without squinting...
The front cover displayed here in front of some of my sinister book collection:
The first couple of pages of the inside cover which opens up:
The two center inside pages--Sabbath giving what was definitely a kick ass concert:
Bill Ward pounding the skins:
The father of all doom guitarists, Tony Iommi:
The back cover song list:
Finally, the label, notice their publishing company is "Rollerjoint Music" (this album cover was used to roll quite a few joints on!)
As much as I like and enjoy the digital music age, all of the remastered, rereleased albums out there, I miss the days when lps came with posters, and liner notes you could actually read without squinting...
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Earthride
Earthride was formed in 1999 by Spirit Caravan bassist David Sherman (vocals). Ex-Internal Void drummer, Eric Little, guitarist Kyle Vansteinburg and bassist Joe Ruthvin round out the band. It is pure Maryland doom. The best place to sample their tunes is at their MySpace page. My personal favorite song is Fighting The Devils Inside You.
What Is Doom?
This is from Doom-metal.com:
What Is Doom According To Shrike
The question that seems to annoy a lot of people and lead to heated discussions and even verbal fights. I’m going to try and add my 2 cents into the discussion.
Most of the arguments arise from the disagreement of what is to be considered doom, if the band has lyrics with some positive things in them or if the music has “groove” are usual reasons to dismiss bands and music. Personally, I think that doom can be divided into two basic categories: Classic/Traditional Doom (which I will refer to as Doom from now on) and Doom-Metal.
The difference between these styles is that Doom is derived from 70’s heavy music (Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, what ever you wish to call it) and generally from the heavier groups that came about in the early 70’s, late 60’s. Doom-Metal has some influences from there too, but they tend to mix it with 80’s Death Metal and other such styles, which were very harsh and brutal.
So, when Doom bands concentrate very much on the melodies and very stripped down way of making their music, the Doom-Metal ones tend to emphesize extremes and roughness. There are exceptions to this, as was pointed out to me, but here I’m trying to simplify things and leave the “special cases” out, bands that borderline both of my definitions.
Getting back to the roots of Doom in general, I’d like to add a few of my personal observations to the history and FAQ that are available at Doom-Metal.Com.
I too think that Black Sabbath are the forefathers of the genre and have made a big impact in the genre as whole, but I’d like to add some bands that I feel deserve a mention.
Black Widow First, Blue Cheer is one that has to be mentioned. Some of their stuff has a light rock feel to them and they cover songs like Eddie Cochrans ‘Summertime Blues’, but some of their songs ooze heaviness. The stuff that they released around the change from 60’s to 70’s mainly. Another one I think is worth a mention is Black Widow from Italy. Their ‘Sacrafice’ LP is really heavy and they incorporated some of the now very popular satanic themes in to their lyrics (with lines like “Come, Come, Come to the sabbath, satans there” heh heh). Also Cream should be mentioned. I can’t say much about them as I’ve never listened to them that much, but they get mentioned so much so I’ll just bring that to your attention.
During the 80’s the genre had a lot of bands playing and recording, and as Doom-Metal.com history says, there were bands like St. Vitus, Obsessed, definately Trouble and so on, but there were others too that should be mentioned, bands like Witchfinder General and DeathRow/Pentagram.
In the 90’s, when doom got “on its feet” again, the two distinct genres were actually formed. Doom fans in general got kinda segragated, on the other side is the Doom-Metal fans who don’t take classic doom bands into consideration at all when discussing this genre and Doom fans call the newer style bands Death-Doom or whatever, thus trying to push it out of the Doom category.
Spirit Caravan To futher delve into the things that makes any music Doom to me, I’d have to agree that the lyrical content is part of it. Lyrics are usually pretty bleak, they deal with “bad” things that can happen to one or with things that one would want to happen to someone or something that they hate and dislike.
The music is usually slow paced, sometimes sleepy even, with grand eloquent melodies that makes the music seem “massive” so to speak. There are exceptions though. Like one of my personal favourite from the Classic Doom genre, Spirit Caravan. Their music has groove to it, it has awesome melodies and sometime very melancholy overall feeling. Lyrics are overall positive tho, getting the better of bad things, of virtues like courage and getting rid of the bad traits.
Then there are bands like Skepticism, from the Doom-Metal genre, whose music is devoid of hope or salvation of anykind and lyrics are like beautiful dreamy poems, sinister yes, but beautiful in any case.
The point I am trying to make here is that doom in general is an acquired taste and its fans usually have pretty intense feeling towards it. We are a small crowd, and as such a natural resource that is almost extinct, where close mindedness could lead to a disaster of unwanted magnitude. What we have in common is the longing for musical misery, which could lead us away from personal misery and, in my case anyway, makes life a whole lot better. Don’t judge before you know what you are judging is the bottom line.
Lately Stonerrock has gotten mixed with Doom too, genre and music wise, which has caused further misunderstandings. I’ll put my definition of stonerrock here, as it seems to be an baffling concept. Stonerrock, mostly the stoner part in it, points to the over all vibe of the music. Usually slightly psychedelic, raunchy music that can have a lot of melancholic melodies, also upbeat at times, but basically carefree good going music. Sure, there are musicians who use drugs in those bands, but so do Doom and Doom-Metal bands. To put it shortly, stonerrock refers to the musical feel, not to the substance usage of the musicians.
- Jukka ‘Shrike’ Kolehmainen
(10/01/2001)
What Is Doom According To Shrike
The question that seems to annoy a lot of people and lead to heated discussions and even verbal fights. I’m going to try and add my 2 cents into the discussion.
Most of the arguments arise from the disagreement of what is to be considered doom, if the band has lyrics with some positive things in them or if the music has “groove” are usual reasons to dismiss bands and music. Personally, I think that doom can be divided into two basic categories: Classic/Traditional Doom (which I will refer to as Doom from now on) and Doom-Metal.
The difference between these styles is that Doom is derived from 70’s heavy music (Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, what ever you wish to call it) and generally from the heavier groups that came about in the early 70’s, late 60’s. Doom-Metal has some influences from there too, but they tend to mix it with 80’s Death Metal and other such styles, which were very harsh and brutal.
So, when Doom bands concentrate very much on the melodies and very stripped down way of making their music, the Doom-Metal ones tend to emphesize extremes and roughness. There are exceptions to this, as was pointed out to me, but here I’m trying to simplify things and leave the “special cases” out, bands that borderline both of my definitions.
Getting back to the roots of Doom in general, I’d like to add a few of my personal observations to the history and FAQ that are available at Doom-Metal.Com.
I too think that Black Sabbath are the forefathers of the genre and have made a big impact in the genre as whole, but I’d like to add some bands that I feel deserve a mention.
Black Widow First, Blue Cheer is one that has to be mentioned. Some of their stuff has a light rock feel to them and they cover songs like Eddie Cochrans ‘Summertime Blues’, but some of their songs ooze heaviness. The stuff that they released around the change from 60’s to 70’s mainly. Another one I think is worth a mention is Black Widow from Italy. Their ‘Sacrafice’ LP is really heavy and they incorporated some of the now very popular satanic themes in to their lyrics (with lines like “Come, Come, Come to the sabbath, satans there” heh heh). Also Cream should be mentioned. I can’t say much about them as I’ve never listened to them that much, but they get mentioned so much so I’ll just bring that to your attention.
During the 80’s the genre had a lot of bands playing and recording, and as Doom-Metal.com history says, there were bands like St. Vitus, Obsessed, definately Trouble and so on, but there were others too that should be mentioned, bands like Witchfinder General and DeathRow/Pentagram.
In the 90’s, when doom got “on its feet” again, the two distinct genres were actually formed. Doom fans in general got kinda segragated, on the other side is the Doom-Metal fans who don’t take classic doom bands into consideration at all when discussing this genre and Doom fans call the newer style bands Death-Doom or whatever, thus trying to push it out of the Doom category.
Spirit Caravan To futher delve into the things that makes any music Doom to me, I’d have to agree that the lyrical content is part of it. Lyrics are usually pretty bleak, they deal with “bad” things that can happen to one or with things that one would want to happen to someone or something that they hate and dislike.
The music is usually slow paced, sometimes sleepy even, with grand eloquent melodies that makes the music seem “massive” so to speak. There are exceptions though. Like one of my personal favourite from the Classic Doom genre, Spirit Caravan. Their music has groove to it, it has awesome melodies and sometime very melancholy overall feeling. Lyrics are overall positive tho, getting the better of bad things, of virtues like courage and getting rid of the bad traits.
Then there are bands like Skepticism, from the Doom-Metal genre, whose music is devoid of hope or salvation of anykind and lyrics are like beautiful dreamy poems, sinister yes, but beautiful in any case.
The point I am trying to make here is that doom in general is an acquired taste and its fans usually have pretty intense feeling towards it. We are a small crowd, and as such a natural resource that is almost extinct, where close mindedness could lead to a disaster of unwanted magnitude. What we have in common is the longing for musical misery, which could lead us away from personal misery and, in my case anyway, makes life a whole lot better. Don’t judge before you know what you are judging is the bottom line.
Lately Stonerrock has gotten mixed with Doom too, genre and music wise, which has caused further misunderstandings. I’ll put my definition of stonerrock here, as it seems to be an baffling concept. Stonerrock, mostly the stoner part in it, points to the over all vibe of the music. Usually slightly psychedelic, raunchy music that can have a lot of melancholic melodies, also upbeat at times, but basically carefree good going music. Sure, there are musicians who use drugs in those bands, but so do Doom and Doom-Metal bands. To put it shortly, stonerrock refers to the musical feel, not to the substance usage of the musicians.
- Jukka ‘Shrike’ Kolehmainen
(10/01/2001)
3D House Of Beef
I’ve been listening to a band from Seattle called 3D House Of Beef. Quite a name, eh? These guys are brutal! You can preview a few of their tunes at their MySpace page. Their latest album is called Low Cycle, which I just ordered from Amazon.
Why Doom?
Why do I like doom metal better than any other form of music? I’m not certain, except that it helps me express what I’m feeling most of the time. The world is a crazy place. Lots of things about it make me very angry, depressed, despondent. Doom expresses this best.
I also think it has something to do with being able to validly express a dark-side point-of-view through music, what with all the stupid so-called niceties having to do with being a good person all the time.
So, having said that, what will I be doing with this blog? I’ll probably let you know what I’m listening to, what free doom music I’m downloading, and all the great bands out there who I deem to good.
Z
I also think it has something to do with being able to validly express a dark-side point-of-view through music, what with all the stupid so-called niceties having to do with being a good person all the time.
So, having said that, what will I be doing with this blog? I’ll probably let you know what I’m listening to, what free doom music I’m downloading, and all the great bands out there who I deem to good.
Z
Welcome, Doomsters!
Welcome to Doomed Again. Here, we will deal with the the music phenomenon that is sweeping the world and taking all captive in its wake. I am Zeteticus, your host. Let all doomsters approach and make obeisance to the mighty Sabbath!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
