Haunted Leather
Desert Spells
Self-Released

Mega-fuzzy mind fuck from the awesomely named Haunted Leather, a trio of robed heatwave hallucinations floating amongst some sandy dunes, spewing these seven desert spells at you like a flood of rubber lava. This vibration worship comes straight out of Grand Rapids, Michigan, of all places, no doubt culled from some wood-paneled, suburban den, its thick shag floor littered with empty cough syrup bottles. I’d cite Om, Naam, Orange Sunshine, Dead Meadow, and Hawkwind as obvious influences on Haunted Leather’s heavy psych, but I think they’ve also spent a lot of time chasing the midnight sun and memorizing kaleidoscope designs. However they get their freak on, there’s a few things I know for sure: the music pulses and oozes like a fat wave of strange, the vocals are a numbing wail of some long lost ancient language, and the whole thing will knock you into a half-conscious state of dopey bliss.

Listen to “Sun It Shines” from Desert Spells!

Trap Them
Darker Handcraft
Prosthetic Records

Here’s what’s different about Trap Them’s latest full-length album, Darker Handcraft: it features new full-time drummer Chris Maggio (ex-Coliseum), it has been released on new label Prosthetic Records (after a few years/releases with Deathwish Inc. and one EP with Southern Lord), and its songs are no longer labeled as numbered days. Now, here’s what’s not different about Darker Handcraft: it has, once again, been manhandled by Converge guitarist and super-producer Kurt Ballou, and it contains, once again, an unbelievably potent and possessive force of extreme metal/(grind-, crust-, hard-)core. Basically, it steals all the prefixes, obliterates ‘em, and scatters the gruesome dust over your pummeled being, a disastrous funeral of sorts with a corpse-raping wake that dissolves into some not-so-silent moments of silence with “Drag the Wounds Eternal” and “Scars Align” (examples of Trap Them releasing, albeit ever-so-slightly, their soul-crunching grip). Ultimately, what’s not different about Darker Handcraft is its 30 plus minutes of distorted brilliance, callous cunning, and barking mad, totalitarian rule. Like Trap Them’s previous efforts, this is just another impressive link in the heavy chain dragging us along the left hand path to where the scum and filth will one day worship these American masters.

Listen to “Slumcult & Gather” from Darker Handcraft!

God Ox
Abyssal Gigantism
Auditory Essentials

Ritualistic doom from the five high priests of the Church of Ox, that being War Ox, Axe Ox, Myth Ox, Beast Ox, and Frost Ox, chosen to deliver Ox dogma — or the principles of Oxism — and to spread the great word of the Lord God Ox, may He be exalted.

No, I’m not kidding.

More than just a six-song online release, Abyssal Gigantism tells of the oxchatological order of things, and is at once a warning, a lesson, and a preparation for the coming judgment. Now, whether you choose to believe in the Ox gospel or fall prey to its mocking tenor matters little so long as you find occasion to worship the dopey, bluesy, alt-sludge through which this divination is delivered. With vocals both clean and aggressive, with a pace both lumbering and invading, with riffs as large as Mount Oxlympus itself, the songs on Abyssal Gigantism are extra heavy and ultra hallowed points of entry into a world ruled by all things Ox, but one that also owes its black, madcap measure to Electric Wizard, Saint Vitus, Candlemass, Black Sabbath, and, at points, early Soundgarden and Life of Agony. And perhaps inspired by the Lord God Ox, may He be exalted, or perhaps because they are forging this music on his behalf, God Ox have seen fit to elevate themselves from the mire of doom benevolence with intricate instances of mellow psych-jams, slide guitar, and progressive experimentation. A massive, diverse, and I suppose divine, creation, this God Ox.

Listen to “Ox Flu Zombie Apocalypse” from Abyssal Gigantism!