Kadavar
Kadavar
Tee Pee

The proto-metal, hard rock, and psych blues bands of the late 60s and 70s had the best production and sound ever. Ever. It was all raw and fuzzy with the richest, choicest tone. And it was heavy. So heavy. There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about chucking my entire record collection saving only anything from that era. If all I had left to listen to was Bedemon, Black Sabbath, JPT Scare Band, Master’s Apprentices, Sir Lord Baltimore, and all the rest, I’d be more than okay. But then I’d miss out on the new crop, the revivalists, the intrepid longhairs of the ol’ groove n’ doom. In fact, not only could I not bear to part with retro riffers Graveyard, Witchcraft, Asteroid, Orchid, Horisont, and Dead Man, but I find myself actually adding to the pile, and the latest muttonchop’d magicians to throw their ’71 spells at me is the German power trio Kadavar. There’s not much I can tell you about this six-song debut that my earlier comparisons or the picture on the cover don’t already exquisitely detail, but this here Berlin boogie is full of deep-wood ritual and macabre madness, a completely fresh take on an old sound where each instrument struts and screams in harmony with one another in an unspeakably glorious yet petrified fashion. Yeah, the more I think about it, the more I believe this kind of stuff is all I need.

Listen to “Goddess of Dawn” from Kadavar!

Dog Shredder
Brass Tactics
Good To Die Records

You know, Brass Tactics, the new three-song 12″ from the Bellingham, Washington trio Dog Shredder, has really gorgeous cover art (courtesy of John J. Overly). Sure, there’s a skull, but it’s delicately done and hardly diminishes the heart-swell of delights evoked by the flowers, faery, and fair-haired maiden. The pastoral scene is certainly in direct contrast to the band name, but it’s not so jarring as to turn you away; it’s only when confronted with the noise contained within that you feel like a victim. A dope. A rube whose good taste and judgement has just been taken advantage of, whose sweet, golden spirit has been tragically wiped out by an uncontrollable force of guerrilla filth. The frenetic outpouring of crack-jaw metal found on Brass Tactics is barely half the running time of Dog Shredder’s 2010 two-song Boss Rhino EP, so the neuro-fuck of battle cubed (that’s “Battle Toad,” “Battle Snake,” and “Battle 07″) presents itself as a more focused kind of deconstruction. Focused or not, though, it’s still high voltage trash compactor rock, its blows so quick and wicked that not even the demented lounge-psych of “Battle 07″ or the beautiful cover can soften ‘em up.

Listen to Brass Tactics by Dog Shredder!

Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight
Going Home
Superhot Records

Trippy Wicked sounds like someone with whom I ought to be partying. Immediately. As for those Cosmic Children? Well, my guess is they’re the ones handing out the red cups and hitting on all the women. Point is, wherever they are and whatever they’re doing, it’s substantially more interesting than what’s going on around you, and just listening to this UK power trio’s absurd stoner blues will have you scrounging for loose change and crumpled bills in every crevice of your denim so you can buy a ticket for a ride on the mothership. Of course, an all-access pass would be even better, that way when they turn on the afterburners to roast the weenies, and go motorcycle skydiving, you won’t miss one second of the stupid, sleazy action. Following 2009′s supremely bad-ass debut, Movin On, and the 2010 four-song acoustic EP The Bleak, Going Home is all kinds of good-time doom, nine songs of fuzzed-out groove metal laced with weird beard elements like hand claps, brass, orchestration, smack rock, and Southern boogie. I suppose it doesn’t really make that much sense, but it works like a fucking charm. That’s what makes Trippy so damn wicked, really.

Listen to Going Home by Trippy Wicked & the Cosmic Children of the Knight!