Sun Gods in Exile Thanks for the Silver
Small Stone
Sun Gods in Exile aren’t disgraced deities. No, I’d call ‘em Camaro cowboys, muscle car mobsters shakin’ down merchants, barkeeps, and wenches from Portland to El Paso. They’re outlaws with a mind to control the classic rock racket one laid back, Southern-fried riff at a time. Intentions regarding their sophomore album, Thanks for the Silver, were made perfectly clear when they brought in newest member Christopher Neal to lay down all kinds of organ, harmonica, and slide guitar, and so it is that the revved up motor roll of 2009′s Black Light, White Lines has been smoothed out and grooved on. It’s only appropriate that Thanks for the Silver tote titles like “Hammer Down,” “Moonshine,” “Since I’ve Been Home,” “Broken Bones,” and “Smoke and Fire,” but be it biker glam or ballad, it’ll all remind you of either AC/DC, New American Shame, The Four Horseman, or Antler. That means listening to this will make you feel like you’re gettin’ drunk on a jug fulla sunshine boogie, so pony up yer thirty pieces, partner, because you’re about to have a bloozy good time.
Listen to “Nobody Knows” from Thanks for the Silver!
Ancient VVisdom A Godlike Inferno
Shinebox Recordings
Yes, that’s VVisdom, with two V’s instead of a W, perhaps to denote some sort of kvlt affinity, and why not when you’re a band whose first recorded offering is a split with Charles Manson and your dark, acoustic doom is black metal played out as the Devil’s blues? Driven by a forbidden force of steel-stringed conviction and Antichrist alchemy, the Austin band’s debut, A Godlike Inferno, is more than a poor cover, fancy spelling, and men in costumed ceremony — it’s eight tracks of pagan chamber music, a melodic and catchy gush of neo-folk played by dudes in dirty denim vests. And nevermind that Ancient VVisdom contains members of the louder groups Iron Age and Integrity because this is simple, stripped down, fire-licking rock n’ soul, like Agalloch at a biker camp-out or Days of the New in corpse paint, which is actually way better than it sounds.
Check out two videos for “The Opposition” and “VVorld of Flesh” from A Godlike Inferno!
After almost ten years of releasing only splits and EPs — and not really wanting to become a real band at all – Cleveland’s cult metal band Midnight have finally succumbed to a full-length job, and it’s the genuine article, man. Led by Athenar, the same freak responsible for the brew-fueled madness that was Boulder, Midnight don executioner hoods, worship flame and steel, and rip through ten songs (eleven if you have the vinyl) of black metal thrash so absurdly good you’ll be reawakening neck muscles that have been retired since the early 80s. It’s clear that Midnight’s mission is annihilation, which they deliver to you, like a shitty 2 AM pizza, in thirty minutes or less, and despite the fact that Satanic Royalty is dripping with Venom inspired evil violence, its really powered by a degenerate biker rawk Athenar has no doubt borrowed from his Boulder days. Thus, every song, especially “You Can’t Stop Steel,” “Lust, Filth and Sleaze,” and “Shock ’til Blood,” sound like Cronos leading Motörhead on a black-winged ride outta hell and straight up your ass. Anyone who has stuck by Midnight over the years waiting for this day to come can go ahead and raise their gauntlets high. As for the uninitiated, prepare to be outright dominated by pure metal riff-itude.
Sun Gods in Exile
Ancient VVisdom
Midnight