The Devil’s Blood

The Time of No Time Evermore, The Devil’s Blood’s 2009 debut full-length, was — ahem — bloody brilliant, one which led me to discover a whole rash of occult rock acts currently burning up black candles on foggy stages all over the world. The Eindhoven band’s ritualistic spin on the classic metal of the 70s was nothing short of spellbinding, and it has been under that spell that many have waited, like patient subjects, for the enchanting follow-up. Indeed, The Thousandfold Epicentre can best be described as enchanting, a more ethereal and mystical offering than its predecessor. With its eleven songs borne of psychedelic desire, and five of those stretching themselves like witchy fingers beyond the seven minute mark, it is a bolder and more indulgent record that leans heavily on epic orchestration as though it were an ash-stained pulpit from which the band is delivering their Satanic sermon. However, it’s stand-outs like “Cruel Lover,” “She,” and “Fire Burning” that employ the galloping, Thin Lizzy-like attack that made their debut so great, and without those, this album most surely would have gotten lost within itself.

Listen to “Fire Burning” from The Thousandfold Epicentre!

Lecherous Gaze

Fresh off their split with Danava and Earthless (review here), Oakland’s Lecherous Gaze take a less-than-fresh approach in re-releasing their 2010 four-song EP, Audio Testament, as a self-titled Tee Pee debut. A re-release usually means better production and mixing, but, much to the band’s credit, there’s not too much evidence of that found here because these songs still sound like they were recorded in a room full of tin garbage cans and shag carpeting. Lecherous Gaze contains the kind of kick-out-the-jams fuzz n’ roll that could only be made by flophouse orphans who spent their wasted youth picking scabs, bumming cigarettes, flipping through muscle car magazines and the thick-bushed pages of Playboys from the early 70s, and listening to AC/DC, The Ramones, MC5, and Thin Lizzy records. Of course, that’s probably due in large part to the fact that singer Lakis Panagiotopulos blows into the mic like Joey Ramone or Phil Lynott with dying batteries, and that the groovy punk rock riffs on “Phaze,” “Sold,” and “R’n'R Lust” are so raw, sweaty, and delicious you can practically taste ‘em (the ones on “Graveyard” are so bluesy you can practically feel ‘em), but then what good is an electric cock sandwich if it’s not smothered in classic righteous sauce, huh? The whole thing is damn downright dirty and four songs just isn’t enough. I want more and you will too.

Listen to “Phaze” from Lecherous Gaze!

The Twilight Singers
Dynamite Steps

After having spent the last few years as one half of The Gutter Twins (with Mark Lanegan), Greg Dulli has returned to leading The Twilight Singers, his bread and butter since his old band, alternative masters The Afghan Whigs, disbanded in the late 90s. Dynamite Steps, the band’s fifth album, ends their longest run of years without a release (five) after a prolific run of four albums in six years at the start of the millennium. If anything has changed in those five years it’s the growth in Dulli’s standing as an American classic, as a revered and respected rock n’ roll icon, and in turn that has enriched the efforts of his Twilight collective, who deliver their darkest, most emotional album to date. Thick with Dulli’s gruff but evocative voice over top a sweeping soundscape that runs soulful, sexy, serious, and stellar, Dynamite Steps is indie noir of the highest order, a flickering flame of hope at the end of a long, dirty, hopeless tunnel. Every single one of the songs on this album breathe with a mesmerizing profundity and while its hard to pull out highlights, “Last Night in Town,” “On the Corner,” “Blackbird and the Fox” (featuring Ani DiFranco), “Never Seen No Devil,” and the title track ought to find room in Dulli’s ever growing catalog of brilliance, and will make you take to the city streets in the dead of night to look for meaning in its dimmest lights.

Listen to “Never Seen No Devil” from Dynamite Steps!

Stone Axe
II
Music Abuse Records

Stone Axe are so good it’s stupid. How two men (in this case Dru Brinkerhoff on vocals and Tony Reed on everything else) excel beyond most any measure at harnessing the sheer muscle and genius of rock n’ roll, I’ll never know. And listening to songs like “We Know It’s Still Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “On With the Show,” and “Those Were the Golden Years,” I have to believe they can raise the dead too, as each one of ‘em are triumphs not heard since AC/DC and Thin Lizzy lost Bon Scott and Phil Lynott, respectively. Classic rock sucks for the most part, but rock that is classic never wavers, and from their debut to II, Stone Axe have flown that golden flag high and proud, boasting a groove n’ roll that not only honours the greats, but makes its own irrevocable hay as well. Expect a DVD, a deluxe reissue of their debut, Stone Axe, and a possible third record next year.

Listen to “On With the Show” from II!

Asteroid
II
Fuzzorama Records

Asteroid’s second album, II, came out way back in January and shame on me for not getting into it until right now because it delivers — in delectably medieval fashion — the kind of retro boogie-doom we’ve been waiting on from Witchcraft these last few years. Distinguishably less fuzzy than its self-titled predecessor (but still fuzzy enough to back up their name), II is a folksy acid rock record that fuses black forest riffs with organic grooves for a barefooted psychedelia that’ll instantly add three months growth to your weird beard. The dualistic nature of the songs contain both a strong influence of Stahl-esque melodies that evoke evil yearnings and mystic, hippy vibes more akin to Dead Man*, and they work wonderfully well together to cast some heavy spells, man.

*Speaking of Dead Man, it seems as though some of the dudes in Asteroid and Dead Man have formed a band called Hexan. How ’bout that?

Listen to “Towers” from II!

Black Wizard
Black Wizard

Ok, so I’m not sure this album is entirely new, but it’s new to me, and as you’re reading this the young Canucks in Black Wizard are putting the finishing touches on the vinyl version, so that’ll be new, got it? And by finishing touches I mean they are silk screening every single goddamn record jacket. That’s instant cred right there, and not just because I have a raging boner for all things rock n’ roll and all things silk screen, but because there’s no doubt that during this awesomely messy DIY process one of ‘em will get ripped to the tits on cheap beer, lose a finger tip in a freak silk screening accident, and bleed all over the freshly painted jackets. I would kill a child with a shoe to get my hands on one of those soiled copies, let me tell you.

Now, the most common words found in the names of all the bands I listen to are electric, black, and wizard. Go figure. Frankly, I am stunned that it took this long for a band to score the name Black Wizard. Of course, they sound EXACTLY like you think they’d sound with a name like that, but that’s not to label ‘em unoriginal minions of rock’s stoner elite. No, the seasoned, grisly dope show they offer up on their self-titled debut is far beyond the years that make up their ages, and their party hard street metal show belies the thick beard of righteousness that bears the brunt of their majestic doom n’ roll. They drive a van, for crying out loud, and the only people who drive vans are plumbers, predators, and creatures of the revolution…and they don’t own a wrench. The seven songs here are all fulla boss downer rock vibes and classic riffs that tumble and roll like a herd of buffalo down the side of a mountain, and while Black Wizard contains its share of the post-millennium stoner metal attitude of fellow countrymen Priestess and Bison B.C., the strength of its spell lies in its ability to channel the savage spirit of bands like Blue Cheer and Candlemass. Man, I can’t wait for that bloody vinyl. Literally.

Listen to “Waves” from Black Wizard!

It was George Romero’s 70th birthday on Wednesday, so the wife and I celebrated by watching Night of the Living Dead. The original 1968 version, of course. It’s strange how on his birthday we’re the ones who get such a nice present. Anyway, I really love watching old horror movies because, more than anything, they’re good for a laugh. We’re so used to trillion dollar budgets and CGI this and green-screen that nowadays that when we come across something archaic and raw like a movie from the 60s, it seems comical in comparison. And most times it is, but that’s really not the case with Night of the Living Dead.

It’s amazing what superb lighting, clever camera angles, and chocolate syrup can do. I’ll compare Night of the Living Dead to The Brain That Wouldn’t Die (since it’s freshest in my mind), where the latter was shot as though it was a theater performance on film. Everything was stationary and static. The actors moved as if on a stage. Romero’s classic, however, just six years later, shows remarkable visionary achievements. There’s real chills created in the shots alone. Throw some zombies into the mix and it’s one hell of a movie, even if it is 42 years old. It also stands as the benchmark in zombie movie mania (even though the word zombie is never mentioned once in the movie). It is the one. Everything we know and understand about the undead is established in Night of the Living Dead; their penchant for human flesh, how to kill them, the downside of being bitten by one, the confusion and fighting amongst the people trying to avoid being eaten, etc. But I think I’m telling you stuff you already know.

For those that don’t know, here’s how it all started. Siblings Barbara and Johnny are visiting their father’s grave when a zombie attacks them. Barbara escapes, but Johnny isn’t so lucky. Barbara takes shelter at a nearby house whose owner has perished, likely eaten by a zombie. Then this dude, Ben, shows up (he’s also trying to avoid being eaten) and together they board up the house and hope for the best. Actually, Ben does most of the boarding up; Barbara spends the rest of the movie in a catatonic state. Then two dudes pop out of the basement. They had also taken shelter in the house and had been hiding in the basement with their women (and a sick child) until the madness was over. Well, the madness is only escalating. They turn on the TV and the radio to learn about the mass murders sweeping the land at the hands of the undead, or ghouls, likely due to some radioactive contaminants from an exploded space probe.

So the people in the house argue over how to proceed and finally they decide that some of them will try for a bone dry car, fill it up at the house’s gas pump, and then grab everyone else and make a break for it. It was a good plan in theory, but it didn’t quite work out, and now the zombies have made their way into the house and the sick girl in the basement wants in on the flesh-eating action. The only one left by sun-up is Ben, but when the local authorities make their zombie-killing rounds, they shoot Ben because they think he’s a zombie. Oops.

There you have it, the grandfather of all zombie movies, and while it has a few are-you-kidding-moments, it’s nowhere near the kind of chuckle-fest most of these old horror movies are prone to be. No, Night of the Living Dead is a masterful, original, apocalyptic triumph concerning the reanimation of the recently dead. Fuck yeah.

So you know what you’re going to do now, right? Yeah, you’re going to watch Night of the Living Dead right here!

#2 The Devil’s Blood – The Time of No Time Evermore

As European as the Renaissance, as inviting as a red light, as despair-ridden as a dungeon full of skeletons, and as classic as Thin Lizzy, no new band caught my attention more this year than The Devil’s Blood, who rock the Transylvania castle party in a HUGE way. They released a demo in ’07, and a 7″ and 5-song EP last year, so call this one their first full-length, and it’s nothing but a gorgeous offering of ’70s metal (you know, the kind of metal that’s more rock n’ roll than metal, the kind that bands like Deep Purple played) and sacrilegious pop, an occult rock n’ soul record of wicked lore, perhaps summoned from the days of yore. Modernly speaking though, it’s like Urge Overkill jamming with Shiny Mama — this band is clearly the lovechild of Nash Kato and Yana Chupenko sent to hypnotize us all and steal our virtue. Yes! And their song “I’ll Be Your Ghost”? Yeah dude, far and away my favourite song of the year.

Listen to “I’ll Be Your Ghost” from The Time of No Time Evermore!

#1 Katatonia – Night is the New Day

Well, I’ve been jabbering on for 38 albums now and I don’t think there’s anything left for me to say. What can I say now that will do the new Katatonia record justice? Nothing. So I’ll let the great Mikael Åkerfeldt take this one home:

“Possibly the greatest ‘heavy’ record I have heard in the last 10 years…it truly is a masterpiece!’

Awesome.

Check out the video for “Day and then the Shade” from Night is the New Day!

#6 Priestess – Prior to the Fire

This one was a long time coming, almost four years in fact, and it blew every expectation I had right out of the water. After releasing their debut, Hello Master, Priestess was rolling quietly along until everything exploded; they signed to a major label, toured with some of the biggest bands in the biz, received increased radio airplay, and lent songs to smash hit video games. Fame, however, didn’t change them. In fact, they steered so clear of a commercial sound on Prior to the Fire that their label wouldn’t put it out. So that delayed things a bit, but Priestess finally found another way to release the album and despite the brilliance and success of Hello Master, there’s no doubt that Prior to the Fire is the album Priestess had always wanted to make. Stoner rock, progressive rock, classic rock, heavy metal…it’s all riffs and it’s all here in full bearded surround sound glory. And it’s completely perfect. This is my band, no doubt about it.

Listen to “The Firebird” from Prior to the Fire!

#5 Porcupine Tree – The Incident

It would be pretty much impossible for me to tell you who my favourite band of all time is, but if I was faced with the whole desert island scenario and was only allowed to have one band’s discography at my disposal, this would be the band. My love for Mark Lanegan is overshadowed by only one other singer/songwriter and that’s PT’s Steven Wilson, whose brilliance is unparalleled. Anything he touches (from side projects to producing) is always amazing. PT is a music nerd’s wet dream, an underground phenomenon with a cult following, their discography is expansive and eclectic, and they’ve created a unique, recognizable image with the help of artist Lasse Hoile. Every single thing they do, from songs to videos to packaging to live shows, is pure art, and not since the 70s has such care and thought been put into the album as an entity. Geez, look at me going on and on. I haven’t even got to the double-album The Incident yet. But really, there’s not much I can say. It’s brilliant. Their albums always are. And as before, The Incident plays with pre-conceived notions of genre like it’s a fetus in a mason jar and the result is the most mesmerizing, progressive, complex beauty you’ve ever heard.

Check out the video for “Time Flies” (which has been cut down from over 11:00 to just over 5:00) from The Incident!

Ok, on with the list!

#22 Kylesa – Static Tensions

Normally I’m on guard about bands that just try to do too much, and with three different vocalists and two drummers, Kylesa walks that line. But I’ll be damned if they don’t make it work really well. It’s hard to pinpoint their sound, but if you called it a melodic hybrid of hardcore and pysch-metal, you’d be pretty close. Whatever it is though, it’s aggressive and sludgy, and if you’re at all familiar with bands like Baroness and Torche, you’ll dig Kylesa plenty. Plus, John Baizley of Baroness does the artwork on this one, and you know how I feel about his work. Conclusion? Static Tensions is just a great metal record.

Listen to “Scapegoat” from Static Tensions!

#21 Stone Axe – S/T

If you want to know how to work your way into a nice spot in the top 39, just sound EXACTLY like Stone Axe. What I mean is, sound like you strolled right out of the 1970s like a couple of thick chested cavemen looking for some bona-fide ACTION. Sound like you OWN the right to ROCK. Sound like you invented the almighty RIFF and you’ve come to claim it back. See? It’s not that hard. Tony Reed (of Mos Generator fame) and Dru Brinkerhoff do just that and now I’m all rock hard and hopped up on writing important words in capital letters. This studio two-piece is as CLASSIC as my father’s old 1973 cherry red Corvette Stingray and their self-titled debut has got more balls than the dumpster out back of the spay and neuter clinic. The beard of approval is stamped all over this baby, baby.

Check out the video for “Riders of the Night” from Stone Axe!