Dwellers
Good Morning Harakiri
Small Stone

Well, it turns out that Peace, and Other Horrors, the four-song EP Dwellers put out last year, was an experimental little project because there’s not much folksy, acoustic Americana Gothic to be found on their debut full-length, Good Morning Harakiri. Although, to be fair, Good Morning Harakiri does contain a good deal of slide guitar, but it’s used as a vehicle for delivering some grungy psych-blues instead. I suppose the idea behind this one is that the six songs included here are the musical equivalent of splitting yourself open and spilling your guts all over the place, and if that’s the case, this Salt Lake City trio (comprised of Iota and Subrosa members) has made one fine mess. While it is atmospheric, exotic, and trippy at times, Good Morning Harakiri is, ultimately, blessedly doomed, absolutely heavy, and full of Southern-fried muscle, and if Gideon Smith was to ever rip through a set of songs from Soundgarden’s Ultramega OK in Earth’s jam room, this is what it would sound like. Forget what it does to your insides — this ritual rock rattles your goddamn bones.

Listen to “Lightening Ritual” from Good Morning Harakiri!

Admiral Browning
Battle Stations
Self-released

On Battle Stations, Maryland instrumental three piece Admiral Browning take the cosmic noodling of The Atomic Bitchwax, the abrasive structure of Stinking Lizaveta, and the fretted fury of Mastodon to create metal jams powerful enough to command a whole fleet of warships (okay, maybe not a whole fleet, but three for sure) to certain victory. From the album’s dedication aimed at anyone who’s survived a life-threatening illness to its Skillet artwork portraying the aquatic besting of a robotic beast, the pervading theme is a positive, triumphant one. Battle Stations, AB’s fourth release, is also a personal win for the band, who conquered the stagnant waters of creativity they felt surrounded them after the release of 2009′s Magic Elixir. Charging hard with opener “Riff Crisis,” it breaks down at the three minute mark and a trend is set whereby Battle Stations is rife with songs within the songs, and it’s as if you’re treated to more than just the five listed on the jacket. Nowhere is this more evident than on the album’s longest songs, “The Binary Language of Moisture Vaporators” and “Dreams of Hammurabi,” both of which traverse multiple metal landscapes in melodic, thrash-y, fuzzy, attention-grabbing fashion. Add to the mix the psych-charged “One Lucky Canary” and the exotic flare of “Interlude” and you’ve got one wild fight on the waves, my friend.

Listen to “Riff Crisis” from Battle Stations!

Birds of Avalon
Birds of Avalon
Bladen County Records

New horizons for Raleigh, North Carolina’s Birds of Avalon, who have parted ways with their old label, Volcom, and their old vocalist, Craig Tilley. But the Birds were always a band about the future anyway, so slight changes to their course shouldn’t really alter their ultimate destination, and they don’t, as this latest self-titled release proves (an album they’ve been sitting on for about two years). Combining experimental-era Beatles, 70s prog rock, and current hipster hullabaloo, Birds of Avalon finds the band on a freer, further plane, expressing a shift from the classic rock intensity found on earlier albums like Bazaar Bazaar toward an exotic, analog psych-pop sound full of accessibly translucent melodies, deep and heavy grooves, and fluent nerd-speak. Meaning it’s just weird enough to work, and works wonders where wanderlust and stardust are concerned.

Listen to “Invasion” from Birds of Avalon!