Glitter Wizard
Solar Hits
Archers’ Guild Records

Listen, there’s a million bands out there, and you can generally get by without knowing about or hearing 99 per cent of ‘em, but every once in awhile you’ll discover a band who takes complete control of that select one per cent and it’s like the sonic Gods have smiled upon you and showered you with electric riches. There’s no other way to preface the glory that is Glitter Wizard, whose name ranks among the one of the best I’ve come across in years, because their cosmic psych-punk is gonna hit you like one thousand crotch lasers to the face. I mean, just look at that cover — it’s like a Monty Python sketch of AC/DC’s “Jailbreak” video; tell me you don’t want to dive right in and embrace its silly madness? And you might think the songs will come across as shtick-based whimsy, but I’m here to tell you that there’s a real power behind the muddled space rock this San Fransisco band blasts through. In fact, it’s a whole mess of genre-melting goodness, from riff-ripe opener “ABACA” (I would have liked to have heard this song on Red Fang’s new album) to garage pop closer “Summertime,” and all the glam punk (“I Don’t Like You”), flute-filled prog (“Mirror Man”), and organ-fried doom (“Spider” and “Warsawng”) in between, and Solar Hits touches on — and shifts — essential paradigms within the rock n’ roll stratus of today’s thriving throwback culture. And it’s all done in freaky, fuzzed-out fashion, whether a song is two-and-a-half minutes long or seven-and-a-half minutes long, so you’re gonna have one hell of a time with this one. You could throw a whole slew of bands into a blender to get this kind of star-shake, but I think if you include the Science Fiction Idols, Hawkwind, Danava, and Uncle Bad Touch — and maybe some moon rock, acid, and black candles as well — you’ll find the twisted flower power of Glitter Wizard tastes really fuckin’ good.

Stream the entirety of Solar Hits right here! Buy it while you’re there!

Seven Sisters of Sleep
Seven Sisters of Sleep
A389 Records/Southern Lord

Belly-squelching full-length debut from California’s Seven Sisters of Sleep, who have one of those amazing band names that offer a dark promise, and in this case that dark promise is a hellish renaissance of doom and gloom. Sure enough, these Sisters deliver, conjuring up a hardcore sludge that contains all the Gothic madness of an Albrecht Dürer woodcutting come to life through walls of black fuzz. Now, the eight songs here only run for about 20 minutes, which ain’t really your conventional method for dispensing doom metal, but then again, this doom metal just happens to be wrapped in a cloak of aggression, so it makes sense. In as much, Seven Sisters of Sleep strikes a chaotic balance; the majority of the riffs toe the brutal line, rolling slow and deadly, while the beat and vocals run rabidly ahead and sniff out the corpses. In some cases (“Tide is Rising,” CCEC,” and “Swamp”) it’s all grind and gnash, the hunting party descending upon you without hesitation, ruining your life.

Listen to “Monasteries” from Seven Sisters of Sleep!

Lord Dying
Demo
Self-Released

Five-song demo of onslaught metal from Portland, Oregon’s Lord Dying, who take a doom-based tempo and kick it into a higher gear, ultimately landing somewhere between Acid Bath sludge and Slayer thrash. And that’s pretty much the gist of it, friends; my pick of the bunch has to be “Greed is Your Horse” but every song rips, and there’s enough double-bass and corrosive riffs to fuel your downward descent into whatever madness and hell awaits you.

Listen to the entire Lord Dying demo here!