Ear One Productions and Lounge SevenZeroEight Photography are casting for the second video from WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS new album Drifting Toward The Edge of the Earth.

This May, American psychedelic doom masters, WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS, will be teaming up with videographer Charlie Winthal once again to begin shooting the newest video for their double album masterpiece, Drifting Toward The Edge of the Earth, released in October via Ear One Productions. Following the underground success of their first video for "Sleeps in Burning Hills" [viewable HERE], also directed by Winthal, the band is gearing up to make the follow-up a true visual spectacle, for the track, "The Woods Are Full Of Killers."

Over the years, WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS guitarist/vocalist Aaron Lewis has made a name for himself as a much sought after photographer through his Lounge SevenZeroEight Photography, his works having been featured in galleries, numerous magazines as well as graced many albums' artwork and covers. Ear One is fully behind this video again leaving full creative control to the co-directors. Singer/guitarist Aaron Lewis states; "The video idea coincides with a photo shoot I plan to do. It will be dark, and terrifying". Shooting begins in mid May. There will be a live video release along with a gallery showing of three epic photographic journeys shot by Lounge SevenZeroEight to be announced shortly.

Lounge SevenZeroEight Photography is seeking four female models to appear in the video and the accompanying photo shoot. The video is a horror themed jaunt, and there is some nudity. The video shoot is being scheduled for mid May, at a location in Connecticut. Interested parties contact:

LoungeSevenZeroEight@gmail.com. Please include a full body shot of yourself and any links to any modeling websites you have been featured on. Title the email "708 Video Shoot"

WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS' nearly two-hour-long 2xCD Drifting Towards The Edge Of The Earthtakes the listener on an extensive, engulfing voyage through the cosmos and annals of sludge/doom; devastating amplification boasts everything the talented members can create; mournful segues, booming classic rock ballad riffs, mystical and melodic interludes and straightforward, thunderous riffage coalesce into an exceptionally diverse album fans of Sleep, YOB, Ufomammut, Samothrace, Ramesses, frontman Aaron Lewis' previous act, Cable, should not miss.

For coverage of WHEN THE DEADBOLT BREAKS contact dave@earsplitcompound.com.

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Ear One Productions.Com
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Source: Earsplit PR
Posted By Savannah

Slovenian doom metal ladies MIST, which returns to the live stage after a short absence, are set to embark on their first ever European mini-tour by the end of May. For now scheduled shows are booked in Belgium and The Netherlands. Before that they will appear at Doom Fest 2014: Night Of The Fallen Angels II in Italy and also support heavy metal veterans Helstar, led by the legendary James Rivera (Sabbath Judas Sabbath, Distant Thunder, Malice) in their hometown, Ljubljana. MIST have also been confirmed for the Malta Doom Metal Festival 2014 and Hammer Of Doom Festival in Germany.

MIST is a new all-female doom metal band from Ljubljana, formed in July 2012. They build their music on the legacy of legendary bands like Black Sabbath, Pentagram, Candlemass, Coven, Saint Vitus and others. With the premiere live show at the end of September 2013 the girls without a doubt demonstrated, that such a specific genre of music is not necessarily just a men’s domain. MIST released their first demo simply entitled "Demo 2013" in November last year, which was re-issued only 2 weeks later due the large interest. Their demo also received many promising reviews and radio airplays from all over the globe. Even though they are a young band they already had a chance to support Uncle Acid & The Deadbeats in Vienna, Austria.


MIST tour dates:
01.05. Maribor (SLO), Gustaf w/ Handful Of Hate, Verminate
10.05. Brescia (ITA), Circolo Colony – Doom Fest 2014: Night Of The Fallen Angels II w/ Officium Triste, Ophis, Lacrima,...
15.05. Ljubljana (SLO), Orto Bar w/ Helstar, Classified
16.05. Kranj (SLO), Trainstation Squat – Season Of The Witch (special DJ set)
23.05. Tilburg (NL), Little Devil w/ Cauchemar, Akelei
24.05. Brugge (BE), Wall Of Sound w/ Tyrant’s Kall, Hootka, Trip Hazard
30.05. Velenje (SLO), eMCe Plac – Sound Arson w/ Home Bug, Harry, Umor,...
31.05. Ljubljana (SLO), Gromka w/ Universe217, The Blues Against Youth,...
13.06. Zagradec (SLO) – Bloody Friday w/ Soulcharger (ex-Dead Dildo Drome),...
23.-25.10. Malta (MT), Chateau Buskett – The Malta Doom Metal Festival 2014 w/ Manilla Road, Officium Triste, Reino Ermitano,...
15.11. Würzburg (DE), Posthalle – Hammer Of Doom 9 w/ Saint Vitus, Avatarium, Mount Salem, The Ruins Of Beverast,...



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Posted By Savannah

Paul Naschy, who was born Jacinto Álvarez in Madrid, is often called the “Spanish Lon Chaney.” Like his American predecessor, Naschy made a name for himself as a horror actor, and because Naschy played mostly monster men, he became a less famous and less critically acclaimed “Man of a Thousand Faces” for the sleazy seventies.

Despite the low quality and the overwhelming schlock of Naschy’s films, it’s almost a miracle that he even made them in the first place. For starters, Naschy, who was born in 1934, grew up during the Spanish Civil War - a bloody horror show that was worse than anything he ever did on screen. According to most historical statistics, Naschy came out of the womb with a less than stellar chance of surviving until adulthood.

As a young man, Naschy tried his hand at most things. A lifelong horror enthusiast (a condition that he blamed on his viewing of “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man” at a tender age), Naschy found his earliest creative outlets as a comic book artist and as an author of pulp westerns under the pen name of Jack Mills. Neither activity gained much traction, so Naschy made the economically unstable decision to pursue acting.

On paper, working in the Spanish film industry of the 1960s and 1970s sounds even more ludicrous than the general fable of moving out to Hollywood in order to get the treasured “big break.” Spain was still a dictatorship after all, and Generalísimo Francisco Franco - El Caudillo to most - was Europe’s arch social conservative and a big fan of censorship. Still, money trumps ideology, and in the case of Francisco’s Spain, the growth of an active and a relatively wealthy middle class in the mid 1960s meant that the previous era of draconian measures was bound to ease up. That’s exactly what happened, and by 1968, Spanish filmmakers such as Naschy and his friend Amando de Ossorio were scrambling to make scintillating thrillers and ghoulish extravaganzas with plenty of blood, breasts, and bad taste.

Naschy’s first foray into this world was 1968’s “La Marca del Hombre Lobo” (“Mark of the Wolfman”). Since the film was financed by German investors, Naschy decided to make things a little more Central European, and thus Jacinto Molina became “Paul Naschy” and the film’s setting was placed somewhere in a composite Europa - a land near the Danube were German is the “lingua franca.”

 As part of this, Naschy choose the name “Count Waldemar Daninsky,” a Polish nobleman who happens to be a werewolf, for his protagonist. First appearing in “La Marca del Hombre Lobo,” Daninsky would become a staple of Naschy’s filmography, and without Daninsky (who is always played by Naschy himself), the New York Times, in their obituary for Naschy, would not have spoken of “an ardent cult following around the world” for such a simple Spanish director.

While the cult of cinephiles has been kind to the man who played a werewolf more times than anybody else, history has not. Despite making twelve films featuring Daninsky as the lead protagonist, not all are still in existence today. “Las Noches del Hombre Lobo” (“Nights of the Wolf Man”), the second in the series, is a lost film, while many of the subsequent pictures remain either hard to find or only available in sub-par or otherwise grainy copies. “La Noche de Walpurgis” is no different, and this film (which is more commonly called “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman”), is a staple of the cheap horror DVD box set.

“The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” opens with two men arguing about werewolves and superstition. There have been recent killings in the area, and the locals believe that the dead man in the morgue was actually a werewolf when he was alive. The coroner, a man named Dr. Hartwig (played by Julio Peña), doesn’t believe the hullabaloo about lycanthropes, but Müller (played by Barta Barri), his assistant, isn’t so skeptical.

Even before the postmortem inspection begins, Müller notices a pentagonal scar on the corpse of Daninsky - the man the locals believe to be a werewolf. Inside of the scar are two round holes that were made by silver bullets. Müller calls this “the mark of the werewolf,” and this scene highlights something very important about Naschy’s career. Naschy, who in many ways never stopped being the same little kid who loved “Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man,” more or less remade the classic Universal films from the 1930s, and “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” owes a lot of its plot to not only 1941’s “The Wolf Man,” but also to all the black and white vampire films that were so popular before World War II. The then burgeoning interest in Satanism also plays a major role in “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman,” but more on that later.



In order to prove that Daninsky was just a man, Dr. Hartwig begins his examination by first removing the silver bullets from Daninsky’s chest. This decision just so happens to coincide with a full moon, and as a result Daninsky awakens as a hirsute and hungry beast in front of the terrified Dr. Hartwig and Müller. Not satisfied with the blood of two older gents, the newly revived werewolf quickly finds a pretty girl to maul in the forest, and before he kills her, Daninsky makes sure to rip off her clothes so the audience can get a glimpse at her beautiful bosom.

Within five minutes, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” is exposed as a cheap and terribly made production. Although the Argentine director León Klimovsky was one of Naschy’s favorite colleagues, he still had a bad habit of rushing things and moving on even after clearly poor takes. As a result, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” is marred by poor lighting (the girl in the forest is killed in almost utter darkness), clunky transitions, and artistic touches that walk the line between acceptable and downright stupid.

Of course, Naschy’s writing is partially to blame too. Throughout the Waldemar Daninsky series, continuity is rarely kept, and even though Daninsky’s demise at the end of “La Furia del Hombre Lobo” (“The Fury of the Wolf Man”) is maintained in the beginning of “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman,” the origins of his curse is not the same between the two films. In fact, Daninsky’s history is all over the place in the series, and each film offers a different explanation for why the Polish nobleman has to bark at the moon on certain occasions.

In “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman,” Daninsky is joined by another monstrosity - Countess Wandessa de Nadsady (played by the American actress Patty Shepard), a Hungarian countess from the 11th century (although her gravestone gives dates from the 15th century) who did more than just a little dabbling in the dark arts of witchcraft and devil worship. Sheppard was supposed to be the next Barbara Steele, the British actress who is best known for playing a similar role in Mario Bava’s “Black Sunday.” Sheppard plays the Countess, who is clearly just Elizabeth Bathory with a different name, with all the serious intensity of a rising star, but unfortunately her name faded into the background after interest in the Spanish horror explosion died off in the mid 1970s.

 Still, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” is partially saved because of Sheppard’s acting, and without the addition of the character of the vampire Countess, the film would be just another horror flick with a troubled werewolf and a series of annoying victims. The latter include two students - the redhead Elvira (played by Gaby Fuchs) and her outwardly tough friend Genevieve (played by Barbara Capell) - who are out in the French countryside hunting for the tomb of the Countess. Their reason? Elvira is writing her final essay on the long dead medieval witch, and for some reason she thinks finding her bones will be the cinch that will finally tie the whole thing together.

During their search, Elvira and Genevieve run into Daninsky, a man who lives alone near a set of ruins. Over dinner, Daninsky tells the pair that he is writing a historical study of the Gothic churches in the era, and as such he is capable of locating where the vampire Countess rests. While at the ruined chapel where the Countess is buried, Elvira is accosted by a hooded skeleton who runs in slow motion. A year before de Ossorio’s “Tombs of the Blind Dead” was released, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” made good mileage out of the whole undead monk routine.

After both removing the silver dagger that originally killed the Countess and bleeding all over her corpse due to an accidental cut, Genevieve unintentionally awakens the vampire woman. From here, the Countess pursues the two girls while Daninsky, playing the role of the savior monster, tries to protect Elvira - his new love. The Countess successfully turns Genevieve and the two soon fall to killing the locals in super slow motion. No worries: in the end, the werewolf Daninsky kills the Countess with a bear hug and the vampire witch turns into maggot syrup not long before the film fades to black. Finally, in order to set her lover free, Elvira completes the monster holocaust by plunging the silver and cross-shaped dagger into Daninsky, thus killing both the man and the wolf man.

Despite its numerous deficiencies, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” is widely seen as the film that finally jumpstarted the nascent Spanish horror movement. Given that most of the Spanish horror films from the early 1970s were better known for their cheap quality and their exploitation of everything puerile, then “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” begins to look less like a precursor to something better and more like a fitting start. Far from a good film, “The Werewolf vs. The Vampire Woman” is merely a crude bit of celluloid, but of course that’s the type of stuff that doomsters like.

Words: Benjamin Welton

Portland doom kings, GRAVES AT SEA, today drop a molten taste of "This Place Is Poison," via Cvlt Nation.

The sordid hell hymn serves as side A of the EP of same name. Their first release since 2005's scalding split with Asunder, This Place Is Poison was tracked by drummer Bryan Sours (ex-Subarachnoid Space) and Steve Lobdell at Audible Alchemy and mastered by Ryan Foster at Foster Mastering on their home turf.

"This Place Is Poison" finds the devastating, tar-thick sludge for which the band is so notorious decaying sound waves with a deluge of soul-scathing guitars anchored by swampy bass rumbles and planet-fracturing drums all submersed in the deadly howls and shrieks of the damned. Comments This Is Not A Scene, "The title track is a glorious song packed with slow driving crust and sludge fueled guitars backed by a beat like a slow trudge through the darkest of places on earth... Nathan [Misterek] delivers vocals sometimes as low end growls, sometimes frantic guttural screams, but always with the bleakest of emotions. This is wave after wave of low-end despair..." Adds Cvlt Nation, "When the title track starts creeping out of your speakers, you will realize that one of the sickest bands to exist in the underground is back and cannot be fucked with."


On Side B, Black Sabbath's "Orchid" and "Lord Of This World" get GRAVES AT SEA'ed: "Orchid" is eroded beyond its essence into a morose march towards death while "Lord of This World" gets a grim reconfiguration with grisly riffs, bilious hisses and a blackened atmosphere that takes the original to a dark, desolate realm of desperation and despair.

Get rotten with the sounds of "This Place Is Poison," courtesy of Cvlt Nation RIGHT HERE.

You can also stream "Orchid" and "Lord Of This World" at Cvlt Nation as part of their ongoing compilation series at THIS LOCATION.

GRAVES AT SEA are currently leveling stages across Europe alongside fellow riff-worshippers Sourvein. The band will soil twenty-four municipalities in total with the march coming to a close at Heavy Days In Doomtown in Denmark on May 3rd.

GRAVES AT SEA Spring European Invasion
w/ Sourvein [remaining dates]
4/25/2014 Heretic Club - Bordeaux, France
4/26/2014 Le Klub - Paris, France
4/27/2014 DesertFest @ The Underworld - London, England
4/28/2014 The Lughole - Sheffield, England
4/29/2014 The Roadhouse - Manchester, England
4/30/2014 Music City - Antwerp, Belgium
5/01/2014 Magasin 4 - Bruxelles, Belgium
5/02/2014 Hafenklang - Hamborg, Germany
5/03/2014 Heavy Days In Doomtown - Copenhagen, Denmark

This Place Is Poison is out now via Eolian Empire on 12" vinyl. The EP is limited to 1000 copies and comes available on 140-gram black wax in black inner sleeve with a standard metallic gold on black jacket and one-sided metallic gold on black insert with an included download code.

Order your copy TODAY at THIS LOCATION.

"In the title track, GRAVES AT SEA borrow from the classic Eagles tale 'Hotel California,' using the lyrics 'you can check out anytime, but you can never leave.' You will not want to check out of their crusty, tormented hotel. I am a huge fan of 1970s era Black Sabbath, so I was very eager to listen to the covers of 'Orchid' and 'Lord Of This World.' They do not disappoint. 'Orchid' is barely recognizable as the acoustic ballad it is, and GRAVES AT SEA turn the original five-minute plus version of 'Lord Of This World' into a thirteen-minute and thirteen-second blackened monster of epic proportions. 4/5" - About.com

"The crushing riffs of [guitarist] Nick [Phit] right from the start of This Place Is Poison, along with that gloomy outlook that GRAVES AT SEA has, quickly reminds one of the dark arts of bands such as Electric Wizard... At the same time, the band includes some rather groovy moments... giving This Place Is Poison a stoner/doom feel, not unlike acts such as Dopethrone and Acid King, with that slight psychedelia that is invoked on the album." - Heavy Metal Tribune

Graves At Sea | Facebook
Eolian Empire

Source: Earsplit PR
Posted By Savannah & Ed

Almost by definition, musical side projects aren't meant to last very long, but rather serve as brief, often one-time departures for musicians otherwise engaged with far more pressing or successful bands -- and that's why GREENLEAF has proved itself to be anything but your typical "side project."

Yes, this Scandinavian music collective have gone through a revolving cast since their arrival on the scene, much like an auditory Y2K virus in that fateful millennium flip; but the one constant bond that has repeatedly drawn them together, every few years, like an irresistible gravitational force, is a shared musical vision, straddling the realms of stoner and alternative rock.

Such was the case when GREENLEAF first assembled behind Lowrider vocalist Peter Bergstrand for their eponymous 2000 debut EP, welcomed Dozer frontman Fredrik Nordin for is 2001 follow-up, Revolution Rock, added Demon Cleanerguitarist Daniel Jansson for 2003's Secret Alphabets, integrated Truckfighters vocalist Oskar Cedermalm in time for 2007's Agents Of Ahriman, and powered ahead behind reliable mainstay, guitarist Tommi Holappa for 2012's Nest Of Vipers. Now, GREENLEAF is on the move again, bidding Cedermalm farewell and welcoming new recruits in frontman Arvid Jonsson and drummer Sebastian Olsson, who joined Holappa and long-serving bassist Bengt Bäcke in time to record (incidentally, with no outside help, guest musicians, or other additives) what would become GREENLEAF's next and fifth long-player, Trails And Passes.

Set for global domination next month via Small Stone Recordings, Trails And Passes was recorded by Karl Daniel Lidén at Studio Gröndahl with vocals recorded by Arvid Jonsson at Hälla Libraries, and mixed and mastered by Lidén at Tri-Lamb Studios. Boasting nine-tracks of bonged-out, psychedelic-tinged riff rock, the music on Trails And Passes draws out the best talents of each individual member, resulting in a modern rock amalgam that's as impossible to simplify as it is futile to want to. Gushes Global Domination upon first impression of the record: "The riffs are long, the drumming is intense, the vocals are ferocious, and the album has a very '70s feel to it. The production is very clean and this is their finest album yet. The entire album has an early Deep Purple influence. Tommi Holappa keeps the guitar on an even keel from start to finish. Arvid Jonsson is tight and melodious, Sebastian Olsson is groovy. He knows how to keep the listeners swinging to the beat and Bengt Backe keeps the bass rumbling and growling. The band is clear, crisp and the sum is so much greater than the parts." Adds The Sludgelord simply, "These guys are way too good to be ignored."

With a long, winding career that now sees GREENLEAF categorically divesting itself of any lingering "side project" associations (ask Holappa and he'll bluntly tell you it is Dozer that's become his "side project" these days), GREENLEAF has officially be elevated to the proverbial next level with the abundant strengths of Trails And Passes. Recommended for adherents of Dozer, Brain Police, Sasquatch, Graveyard, Monster Magnet, Clutch, Roadsaw, Truckfighters, Lowrider and The Socks.


Check out opening track, "Our Mother Ash" at THIS LOCATION

Trails And Passes Track Listing:
1. Our Mother Ash
2. Ocean Deep
3. Equators
4. Depth Of The Sun
5. Humans
6. With Eyes Wide Open
7. The Drum
8. Bound To Be Machines
9. Trails & Passes

GREENLEAF:
Bengt Bäcke: Bass
Sebastian Olsson: Drums
Tommi Holappa: Guitar
Arvid Jonsson: Vocals

Trails And Passes will be released via Small Stone Recordings on May 13, 2014. Preorder your copy at THIS LOCATION. For iTunes preorders, point your browser HERE.



Greenleaf | Facebook
Small Stone Records

Source: Earsplit PR
Posted By Savannah & Ed

French Stoner Doomsters Barabbas have recently opened up their Bandcamp page, on which you can download for free their début,self titled album.  They have also uploaded their 2 new songs called "La beauté du diablo" and "Judas est une Femme". Both songs will be released on Barabbas upcoming full-lenght "Messe pur un chien". The album will be released in September.

BARABBAS : HEAVIER, SLOWER, DEAFER

Since the year of our Lord 2007, Barabbas have been lavishing moral soothing, spiritual peace and irreversible tinnitus on the lost metallic sheep pushing at the doors of their Sonic Church of the Holy Redeemer Riff. Apostles of a doom following the traditional Holy Trinity of Black Sabbath, Saint-Vitus and Cathedral, the french congregation have taken their time to personalise their catechism before preaching live (and sometimes in the desert…) and to concoct their first lead-plated communion: 33.33 minutes of monolithic canticles to redeem the sins of the new French chanson and regain the original innocence of Adam and Eve headbanging in the garden of Eden.

Barabbas pardon those who are offended by the clumsy heaviness of their music, their relentless repetitiveness and their upfront refusal of subtlety. As frontman Saint Rodolphe, wisely put it: “The music of Barabbas may be boring to listen to, but playing it is even worse” Over the last couple of years Barabbas played (mostly in and around Paris but also a couple of times in Rennes) with great bands like The Wounded Kings, Pilgrim, Windhand, Ataraxie, Voight Kampf, Son of Zardoz, The Bottle Doom Lazy Band...

The band will be recording its 1st full-length early this spring, expect with songs like "le Couteau ou l'Abime", "Le Male Omega", "Judas est une Femme" or "Le Sabbath dans la Cathédrale", some more refined Stoner/Doom still dynamic and overwhelming to convert more doomed hellhounds...

Ite Missa Est.

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Source: Jan Zajc
Posted By Savannah

In order to reward the fans for their magnificent support, Italian pioneers of blackened doom metal, FORGOTTEN TOMB, release a free live album recorded during Kings Of Black Metal Festival in Germany in 2012. The audio has been professionally mixed and originally comes from FORGOTTEN TOMB's brand new DVD, "Darkness in Stereo: Eine Symphonie Des Todes - Live in Germany", which additionally offers a full video of the above-mentioned concert, as well as excerpts filmed at: Under The Black Sun Festival and K17 Club in Berlin in 2012. While The DVD is available as of Today in Europe (and will be released on May 13th in North America via Agonia Records), the free audio album can be downloaded now at Bandcamp (see below for track list):

With almost 15 years of activity, 6 full-length albums and a double live in-studio album, live shows all over Europe and a worldwide underground following, FORGOTTEN TOMB definitely deserves its cult status in the current Extreme Metal scene. With now-classic albums such as the milestones of "Songs To Leave" (2002) and "Springtime Depression" (2003), the band practically crafted and gave birth to a whole new sub-genre, now regarded as Depressive Black/Doom Metal. Afterwards it managed to evolve it, destroy it and reshape it with the highly acclaimed "Love’s Burial Ground" (2004), the controversial "Negative Megalomania" (2007) and the ground-breaking "Under Saturn Retrograde" (2011). In 2012 "...And Don't Deliver Us From Evil" was released to critical acclaim, followed by a European tour with Enthroned and Impiety to conclude the successful year. Over 2013 the band kept promoting the new album with a headlining European run with Isole and Ereb Altor, as well as single shows and another European tour with Incantation and Ragnarok. 2014 will see the band celebrate its 15-years anniversary and release its long-awaited live DVD.

Audio track list:
1. Intro (Springtime Depression)
2. Reject Existence
3. Shutter
4. Solitude Ways
5. Todestrieb
6. Spectres Over Venice
7. Disheartenment/Alone/Steal My Corpse (medley)

Download Here | Bandcamp

Posted By Savannah B

On May 5th, 2014 DOOMRAISER will hit the studio to start the recording sessions for their fourth album. With the songwriting and arranging done, the band is ready to thrash'n'burn the Kick Recording Studios in Rome to give birth to the first full length with the new Drunken Mark III lineup.

The recordings will be attended by "Cinghio" Mastrobuono (Hour of Penance, Buffalo Grillz) and Matteo Gabbianelli (Kutzo). Soon more news on title and tracklist for the release. Only Doomsters Left Alive!

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Posted By Savannah

Long-running Brooklyn sludge rock cooperative, HULL, recently wrapped up a two-week run of live takeovers through Europe. Joined by Boston doom bringers, Elder, the journey commenced in Tilburg,
where the band systematically leveled the stage at Roadburn with their vibrating walls hypnotic dirge. 

Recounted bassist/vocalist Sean Bryant Dunn from their final show in London, "Our journey began in Tilburg for the Roadburn festival where we had the opportunity to play and hang out with some amazing friends, old and new. The following two weeks we burned many a mile with our new brothers Elder, reducing stages to rubble. There will not be a moment without the thought of touring with these boys. With that, I'll say thanks to everyone that helped us out, put us up, fed us and for wrecking their necks at the show. Europe truly understands how to appreciate and respect all artists. We will be back as soon as humanly possible!"

Check out live footage from the tour RIGHT HERE.

HULL recently released a brand "new" hymn entitled, "Swamp Goat." Originally tracked in 2007, "Swamp Goat" laid dormant while the band penned material for their critically-lauded Sole Lord full-length. After a grueling tour schedule and follow-up release, 2011's sprawling Beyond The Lightless Sky full-length, "Swamp Goat" was lost in the caves and forgotten... until now.

The tune features on the band's Legend Of The Swamp Goat seven-inch unleashed in February via HULL's own Iron Orchestra Works imprint and Midnight Collective. Bearing the stunning artwork of Nathan Overstrom, the single appears on Side A while an etching occupies Side B. Legend Of The Swamp Goat comes in limited pink, blue, green, and white vinyl.

HULL will be playing a hometown return show next month at Saint Vitus where copies of the 7" can be purchased direct from the band.

HULL Live 2014: 5/17/2014 Saint Vitus Bar - Brooklyn, NY w/ Bloody Hammers

HULL materializes as a massive entity, storming stages and immersing their audiences in a blanket of grandiose down-tuned compositions. A shifting fault line of decibel heavy harmony, this collective force converges in a collision of thrash, doom, classic rock, and formal orchestral works. HULL commands their listeners through each riff with incredible precision, as a seafarer guides vessels through ominous waters. Submerged in cosmic soundscapes, HULL challenges the mind with flowing, off-time fugues and powerful, dynamic movements. Brace yourself for an onslaught of eruptive force as a new world of music is formed in the deafening clap of thunder that is HULL.

Purchase the Legend Of The Swamp Goat seven-inch at THIS LOCATION.

"True to form, this 'new' tune bombards the listener from every angle with clever arrangements and bluesy bluster. 'Swamp Goat' is a hazy, hellbent ride through thickets of distortion and syrupy sludge." - Noisey on "Swamp Goat"

Official Website
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Source: Earsplit PR
Posted By Savannah

We hope your Desertfest 2014 experience in Camden was as exciting and full of good surprises as ours. Once again, the festival was a success thanks to everyone involved, and thanks to you! So to help you cope with the usual post-Desertfest comedown, we decided not to wait any longer before unveiling the first headliner for Desertfest 2015...

We are more than thrilled to confirm the venue of American stoner rock pioneers SLEEP at Desertfest next spring! And as epic as it gets, it will be an EXCLUSIVE SHOW for the legendary trio formed by Matt Pike, Al Cisneros and Jason Roeder, so we can already guarantee you of the epicness of this very performance at the Electric Ballroom.

Get a glimpse of SLEEP live at Hellfest 2013 to get in the mood!

DESERTFEST LONDON 2015 will take place on April 24th to 26th in Camden.

Desertfest Official Website
Desertfest @ Facebook

Source: Purple Sage PR
Posted By Savannah & Ed

Cited as one of the earliest death/doom metal bands to come out of the U.S., Chicago's NOVEMBERS DOOM will release its ninth studio album, titled "Bled White", on July 15 via The End Records.

The follow-up to 2011's "Apothic" was recorded at Belle City Sound with engineer Chris Wisco (JUNGLE ROT, NACHTMYSTIUM) handling recording and co-production duties, and Dan Swanö (BLOODBATH, NIGHTINGALE) spearheading the mixing.

"Every time a band writes and records a new album, they always say things like, 'This is our best yet!' and it usually isn't," says NOVEMBERS DOOM's Paul Kuhr.

"Is this our best yet? I'll let you decide that, since opinions are all objective. What I will say is this... We approached 'Bled White' differently than the past. We put a lot more focus on vocal melodies and harmonies this time around, creating a new soundscape for NOVEMBERS DOOM. The music is punishing at times with my heaviest growls to date, and others will take you to a new place entirely for us exploring new ground. It's very different at times, but it remains NOVEMBERS DOOM.

"I won't say it's our best, but I'll tell you it's the one I'm most proud of... OK. It's our best yet."

Ever since its humble beginnings in 1989, NOVEMBERS DOOM has striven to create its own unique brand of dark, brooding and melancholic metal music. Constantly evolving and pushing the restrictions of minor genre tags, the band has created a unique and identifiable sound, making its mark in the metal world.

Consisting of founder/vocalist/lyricist Paul Kuhr, Larry Roberts (guitar), Vito Marchese (guitar), Mike Feldman (bass) and Garry Naples (drums), NOVEMBERS DOOM has garnered international success by performing with such bands as AGALLOCH, SATURNUS, AJATTARA and NIGHTINGALE, as well as making high-profile festival appearances at Brutal Assault, Graspop Metal Meeting and Caos Emergente.

The band plans to tour the U.S. and Europe in 2014 in support of the new studio release.

"Bled White" track listing:

01. Bled White
02. Heartfelt
03. Just Breathe
04. Scorpius
05. Unrest
06. The Memory Room
07. The Brave Pawn
08. Clear
09. The Grand Circle
10. Animus
11. The Silent Dark

Source: Blabbermouth
Posted By Savannah

"Russian doomsters the Moon Mistress, known by their hypnotic 'Silent Voice Inside' LP and several splits, had changed the band's name into Dekonstruktor. The album 'Eating the Universe' to be released late spring 2014 on At War With False Noise. 'To the Red part 2', the song from upcomimg album, is streaming online on the Bandcamp HERE.
Prepare for raw psychedelic litanies and mind-burning ecstasy'

The post promo- video, which shows the dark energy of the upcoming album:

Samsara Blues Experiment jumped on their magic carpet recently and from their coven in Berlin they flew down to my country, Italy, for a gig during the homepage, on Facebook and on Bandcamp.  So, time to let Christian Peters tell us how their musical adventure started, how it is going and where it will go (and bring their fans) in a near future!

MARILENA MORONI -  I don’t know why, but the idea of you guys coming down for playing in Central Italy at the Tube Cult Fest in Pescara, during this beautiful fully blooming spring season is simply great. You could not have chosen a better time! (*) Your music is lush and intimate as well as burstling with rejuvenating energy, like the season when life is coming back loaded with great expectances. Of course, with an album out called “Waiting for the Flood” … Would you like to tell us about how the SBE adventure started,  and who and what have been inspiring you as musicians and composers in these years?
[ (*) P.S.: well, unfortunately right in the days these lads were in Italy the weather was miserable!!! Anyway, springtime is crazy weather too…].

CHRISTIAN PETERS: I like this comparison, and I hope we can hold this "burst with rejuvenating energy" for as long as possible! I started the band after the breakdown of its predecessor Terraplane and after long terms of searching for the right band members found this constellation in late 2008. We started being influenced mostly by a stoner bands like (mid-term) Colour Haze, Om and especially Mammatus, plus some other more or less obvious 60s/70s influence, but never actually tried to sound like these or being too much "biased". I´d say we´re influenced by all that surrounds us, by all that appeals, but as well as all other happenings around our daily life. See, how can one not be in a Psychedelic band when you have to live in a city like Berlin, where there´s so many annoying things (all these weird people, S-Bahn crowds and traffic jams) you have to flee to a Psychedelic Wonderland ….

MARILENA - Oh, that “infernal” Berlin of yours sounds so cool! I have the feeling there would be many people tempted in exchanging their boring towns with yours, eh eh … But you are surely right, there may be always the need of a therapeutic escape! Let’s go back to your music. Even if in the realm of psychedelic bands, Samsara Blues Experiment has always been a band characterized by a remarkably heavy sound. You guys released your latest, third studio album, Waiting for the Flood, in November 2013. This beautiful, intense album comes after the impact of the powerful short tracks in the definitely “metallic” album Revelation and Mystery (2011). What made you guys go back to the more psychedelic-oriented sound, typical of the first full-length album Long Distant Trip, in the vigorous yet dilated suites of the new album?

CHRISTIAN - Initially I wanted to do only two long tracks, but we don´t sit down and plan things. The only thing that has to be clear is that the songs fit those given 45-50 minutes of the LP medium. The rest is creative flow.

MARILENA - … And yes, right speaking about this creative flux …  Your more psych-oriented songs are often long, often well over 8 minutes or 10 8and even over 22 minutes as in the monumental suite Double Freedom). It may seem that jamming is an important part of your style. However one often gets the impression that your dilated psych ballads are actually quite tightly structured. You don’t get lost in them, there ís a narrative stream catching the attention of the listener and accompanying him/her into your stories. Or, at least, this is what I experience. Especially in the new album the suites seem to me as almost proggy at time, even if they are drenched with the freshness and the raw energy of distorted fuzzy stoner rock. Is it really working in this way? How are you normally composing your songs? Have you got a preferred scheme that you like to follow? And did something change in the way you guys wrote music for the new album in comparison to what done before?

CHRISTIAN - Also here it´s less thinking, more feeling - in terms of doing what feels right. When we feel a song is too short or too long, we´ll work it out. But we don´t really jam a lot, it´s more like intuitive puzzling. Putting those pieces together that at some time happen to be there . And yes we are more Prog influenced than ever these days. The Stoner term does not fit too well to those songs anymore. It´s only one part of a wholeness.




MARILENA -  The heavy side of your music contributes in making Samsara Blues Experiment a band with an impact within the psychedelic scene, in spite of the fact that you guys often create some trippy atmospheres and occasionally adopt synth-driven spacey sounds or else exotic sounds via the use of sitar. What do you think is the side of Samsara Blues Experiment that fans appreciate most, the hard one or the intimate one? And is there a “most fave” album among yours? I mean, not necessarily only because of commercial return …

CHRISTIAN - I still don´t get the craze for "Long Distance Trip", but not only according to sales, also it´s unending appeal to music listers should put it among the most significant "Stoner" albums of all times I guess. I mean of course there are the monumental songs, but all other albums had greater moments for me. Personally I prefer "Revelation & Mystery" to all other albums, but also that´s the thing, you have so much to chose. Such a variety. You won´t find this in many other bands and being a reviewer and music follower for many years I know what I am speaking about. I guess there´s a lot to discover for each and everybody in Samsara Blues Experiment. Heavy riffs and fragile melody, shouting and chanting, brutality and tenderness. You decide.

MARILENA - Samsara Blues Experiment music is riff-driven both when said riffs are tight and heavy and when they are seductive in their ethereal psych meanderings. But beside riffs vocals are the other winning and, for me addictive, feature. Well, I’m not the only one saying this! Christian, your chanting style and warm and intense voice are surely unique but remind me a bit of Jim Morrison, a bit of Jimi Hendrix and a bit of Glen Danzig. To me your vocals sound as a sort of bridge between the different stylistic souls in the band. How did you decide to sing in Samsara Blues Experiment after the experience in your previous band Terraplane where you didn’t sing? And did/does the action of singing, i.e. the direct interpretation of what you write, somehow influence the ways of composing music/ writing songs? Or were/are the other sources (life, books, art, etc.) providing most inspiration and force of expression?

CHRISTIAN . You can see it that way and also that my voice is more limited than there would be a limitation to styles that we chose to play. My way of singing will more or less stay the same, our music style might change a bit from album to album or song to song. I decided to sing because somehow always wanted to, but I was a very shy person in earlier years. I would hardly speak to anyone when I was younger. Life made me change and evolve a lot since then. I went through real hard times, also to find my voice and myself. It´s a process we all have to go through. Mostly I feel great and sometimes sort of relieved when I can express myself by singing those songs. That´s it basically. As I said life as a whole is the main influence. I would feel a bit silly to drop any names or bands that influenced me over the last 33 years. It´s just too much, but I love The Doors and I don´t like Danzig too much, if that helps …



MARILENA -  What other sides or artistic interests are you guys developing in the musical projects you are involved beside Samsara Blues Experiment?

CHRISTIAN – Hans [Hans Eiselt, the other fellow on guitar] recently released an album with his sideband Rodeo Drive. I bought some weird instruments in the meantime and try to learn to (really) play piano which seems to be a hard task. (*)
(**)
CHRISTIAN – Hans [N.d.R.: Hans Eiselt, l’altro chitarrista] recentemente ha pubblicato l’album con la sua band. Nel frattempo io mi sono comprato alcuni strumenti strani (*) e sto cercando di imparare a suonare il pianoforte seriamente, cosa che si sta rivelando molto dura …

(*) [Christian is speaking about the sitar which is occasionally employed in Samsara Blues Experiment, but which becomes a key feature in Chris’ solo project Soulitude – you can get some substantial info about it by reading here]

(**) [Christian does not mention it because he is a fair person and he may want to avoid conflicts of interest. So I am adding it. Also the bass player, Richard Behrens is militating in a cool retro-rock band called Heat, and whose debut album was released during 2012 via Christian’s label Electric Magic Records.]

MARILENA - In an interview some time ago I happened to read that you guys particularly appreciate the intimacy of small concerts. However the fact is that even if you don’t like crowds, crowds like you very much! Roadburn, Herzberg, Yellowstock, Desertfest, etc., again the Desertfest in London this year, not to speak about the thousands of fans waiting for you in South America … And let’s not forget the TV event, the concert at Rockpalast immortalized in a cool full video shootage and in the limited edition CD released in early 2013 (read something about it here). How does it feel while playing at such big events? In your exhibitions you guys look relaxed, and concentrated in crafting riffs after riffs after riffs ….

CHRISTIAN - I love rather smaller events, that´s right. Gigs for about 300 people maximum would be the optimum. I feel weird when separated from the crowd. When there´s a fence and 5 - 10 m to people standing or in worst case sitting in front of you, that rather sucks. We had that, gigs for 2000 plus and even a gig in Theater which was the weirdest thing ever. You just can´t create any closer connection there. I love to see people in front of me, banging and dancing and shouting the refrains back at us. This is so cool. Psychedelic Superstarboredom isn´t. Before the shows I can be excited as hell, running to the bathroom for ten times in a half hour, on stage and after the first two songs I can finally relax. No matter what size the concert, this is always similar. I get really high when people get into it and groove to our music.

 MARILENA – And, tell me, how was the sensation of having your show broadcasted by a national TV? The video is so cool, audio quality is top and, as in the other cases in your live exhibitions, your layered music is rich and luscious, in spite of the fact that in studio you may rework and overdub it … And I must say, if I think about the standards of our TV, the idea of a national TV channel showing you guys in full concert just makes me bow before the managers’ good taste!

CHRISTIAN - I still wonder by what incident we got into that show, but Wolf, the label owner of World In Sound, must have really talked into the Rockpalast main guy, who in the end after our show said something like "he was happy that people stayed in the room", which perfectly illustrates what I think of this event! It´s the mainstream, I am glad that once we got in there, but let´s not waste any more words on it, except that in the old days they had good taste, when Rory Gallagher opened for the first Rockpalast transmission.

MARILENA – Yeah, I can see your point … Anyway the video footage on the stage is done really well and that video is a pleasant “surrogate” for those fans who live too far for having the chance of seeing your shows at the moment. I would like to go on speaking about live activity, also because you guys started almost like globetrotters! I mean, you made a tour in USA just after the release of the debut demo … a blast! So how was this very early experience of yours across the ocean? That must have been amazing!

CHRISTIAN -  It was. Rather obviously. Hans was 19 years old when we did this. He could´t even have a beer there, but was drunk all the time ... We saw so many things. To me I often felt like being on another planet actually.

MARILENA – And after all these years and experience how did your attitude towards live music change?

CHRISTIAN -  Good question! I guess this relates to the few announced gigs in 2014. After the long and pretty exhausting EU-tour last November I really felt like there should be some rest here. We spend five years on "high speed" and I really needed to think things over. I also had a nervous break down when we were touring which really made me sit and wonder. You know for me a live show should be unique, energetic, something almost magical. If you play as much as we did sometimes, it turns into routine, which is the exact opposite of what I personally want.

 MARILENA - I am really sorry to hear about you having been through a hard period as of late! What I can say is that you guys do well in doing much effort for calibrating such an involving activity in a way that mostly brings good vibes for you as well. So, now it is the right moment for a “frivolous”, silly question …  I’m curious: how is it like playing at the Dunajam? I mean … isn’t it a mess with all that sand?

CHRISTIAN - Totally a mess I can tell you, there was sand all over in the effect pedals! Then imagine people sitting ca. 30 meters in front of you and smoke their joints or just hanging around, which might give you the clear impression that this was´t the sort of show I mentioned before, where I feel comfortable. In short, I didn´t like our concert too much, even if the whole idea seems nice. It seems to be cool for bands like Colour Haze, but it´s not my thing to play that kind of show. I need blood, sweat and tears on the dance floor …

MARILENA - Oh, how brutal! Lol … Well, so let’s go back to some other brutal thing, i.e., hard everyday life. I know that you guys have the same problems of most underground musicians, i.e. you have to earn your survival money by means of “normal” jobs in order to cultivate your musical passion in Samsara Blues Experiment as well as in other musical projects. However you guys have been forging your skills in the musical realm in a wide sense, and we can well say you have by now become professional and 360° DIY as to composition, performance, studio recording, mixing [thanks to the sound engineering skills of bassist Richard Behrens], production, graphical art and distribution via your own label Electric Magic Records. Could you please tell us something about these additional and valuable professional activities?

CHRISTIAN - You know whole life is struggle. Somehow since the day you enter this world you have to find your way through this whole mess on Planet Earth. Get along the system - whatever system you´re in, fulfill expectations to yourself and to others, live a good life as far as it´s possible. Everybody has to find a way through this. I find it utterly naive for people to strive for a Rockstar life or that sorts, where everything seems easy and amounts of money flow to your bank account for doing nothing but playing music. I mean, everybody has to find what´s best for him or her, but there always will be a lot of work to do and compromises to find. I found myself in having a purpose as a musician, but also as a music lover by working for labels, magazines, bands and so on. The wholeness is what I am: a hard working guy. My work won´t end at 5 pm. I don´t take anything for granted. Still we may be a bit more privileged living in Germany, which is one of the richer countries in this world. But I really dislike when people complain about the shit that´s going on, about labels that don´t treat them right, when tours don´t work their way or whatever. For these my advice would be: work on it! Work that out for yourself and don´t complain about the hardship you face each day, because we all do.


MARILENA – Amen to that! I would like to go through the label thing a bit more with you. Your initial albums had been released via the cool German label World in Sound, and since a while basically the whole production of Samsara Blues Experiment is available via Chrisí label Electric Magic Records. That’s way cool, as people who discover you guys now can have the chance of getting any of your albums, even the old stuff, easily and directly from you. Then the band’s label made a further step and started producing/ distributing also other cool present-day bands and recovering hidden rock gems from the past. Would you tell us something about this extension of the label? And how do you select the bands to be featured in the label?

CHRISTIAN -  Basically the band/musician has to have something special. People should have something to say, an own voice, and appeal to my ears. In my opinion, no one really needs any more copies of copies or that 5.000.000 generic 70s Rock clone. My label is more or less sort of a passion, not a strict business like other big (german) labels are. As I explained earlier this might also destroy the passion by turning it into routine and forcing it into rather unnecessary structures. No one has to release anything at all, when you look back at the last 40 years of music. There´s so much to discover. Hope you get my point.


MARILENA – Uhm, I think I got the sense of your words. As a listener I continuously realise the growing number of the gaps in my knowledge about music with respect to what has been already done and also how much stuff is there to be explored in the huge mass of the past music! But I also understand the desire of musicians in trying and making music in memory/hommage to their idols. Of course, originality is the tricky ingredient that counts more than technique …
Anyway, let’s go back to Samsara Blues Experiment. How did you guys build up your really world-wide fanbase? Did the free download music on the web affect your activity in a negative way? And how did the relationship with fans change in time?

CHRISTIAN - I have no idea, but many people seem to like us! I know that´s weird, also because some of our earlier records aren´t very good but maybe that "own voice"-thing hits it. I think we have this own voice and we use it. The music we play is not something completely new, but also we don´t try to sound like anybody but us. The free downloads only help I guess, because we don´t have a big distribution and in most foreign continents our records are rather expensive. We work on this, but everybody can also buy directly from us. All we all need is to switch habits. Buy from the bands! They deserve it! All other money (Amazon, iTunes, whatever) in most parts goes in other hands.



MARILENA – And after Tube Cult fest in Italy and the Desertfest in London where will Samsara Blues Experiment be heading to?

CHRISTIAN - We´ll be playing Sofia, Bulgaria [on May 15th 2014] and two shows in Greece. Looking much forward to this!

MARILENA – Last and super-quick question. Are you guys already thinking about or working on any new album?

CHRISTIAN -  Sometimes yes, sometimes no. We have some other issues to solve before. Anyway, thank you for the interview and your interest!

MARILENA – Thanks for replying and rock on and all the best for you guys!

Interview by Marilena Moroni

Samsara Blues Experiment Links
Official Website
Facebook
Bandcamp

The newest recordings from South Australia's supreme funeral doom metal quintet, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, are nearing release this Summer, through the woeful Concrescence Of The Sophia.

Bridging their latest LP, 2011's acclaimed The Book Of Kings, and their next impending full-length opus to see release sometime in the overcast years ahead, Concrescence Of The Sophia begins with its title track, which boasts more than twenty minutes of expertly delivered but utterly disconsolate, plodding metal, where "the weight of all waters, and the mass of all stars" exacts a heavy toll in the timeless pursuit of mystical knowledge. The monumental main riff onerously giving foundation to Damon Good's ardently howling leads and sepulchral lament. Acoustic interludes offering only temporary respite to doom's forgone conclusion. On the B-side, "Silence Of The Passed," at a mere nine minutes in length nonetheless foretells how vast is the agency of doom.


Yet another shining jeweled crown to add to the growing reliquary of MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, 20 Buck Spin proudly presents Concrescence Of The Sophia to the North American cemetery, confirmed for CD, 12" vinyl and digital release in North America on June 24th 2014. Osmose is handling the release onto the rest of the intercontinental territories the same week.

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION will return stateside just after the release of Concrescence Of The Sophia, to make their long-anticipated East Coast debut live appearances. The band is now locked to headline two nights of the massive five-day Martyrdoom Festival in Brooklyn, performing Friday, June 27th alongside Imprecation, Begrime Exemious, Geryon and more, and then again on Tuesday, July 1st, joined by 20 Buck Spin labelmates, Lycus, as well as Lord Mantis, Vilkacis and Evoken. Two additional East Coast performances have also been added betwixt the Martyrdoom performances, with the tribe invading Baltimore on June 28th with Begrime Exemious and Prosanctus Inferi and Boston on June 30th with Hell Militia, Lord Mantis and Begrime Exemious.

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION US Tour Dates:
6/27/2014 Saint Vitus Bar - Brooklyn, NY @ Martyrdoom w/ Imprecation, Begrime Exemious, Geryon
6/28/2014 Sidebar - Baltimore, MD w/ Begrime Exemious, Prosanctus Inferi
6/30/2014 Ralph's Rock Diner - Worcester, MA w/ Hell Militia, Lord Mantis, Begrime Exemious
7/01/2014 Saint Vitus Bar - Brooklyn, NY @ Martyrdoom w/ Lycus, Lord Mantis, Vilkacis, Evoken

Official Website
Facebook
20 Buck Spin Official
20 Buck Spin Facebook

Source: Earsplit PR
Posted By Savannah

 Roadburn, the world's leading festival for stoner rock, doom metal and dark psychedelia, takes place annually in Tilburg in the Netherlands. The majority of visitors come from abroad and for them and legions of others, it is the most important time of the year.

The man pulling the puppet strings behind the scenes of the festival - which is dominated by long hair, tattoos and serious beards - is the most gentle person in the world: Walter Hoeijmakers. Roadburn is a spiritual trip, and it is because of his dedication that the festival has become so widely respected. During the 2014 edition, we met with the festival head to peek into the mind of the man.



Source: HERE
Posted By Savannah

Texas based heavy stoner rock group Mothership, who are about to release a brand-new album via Ripple Music soon, have just announced new tour dates for Europe alongside with Wo Fat and are ready to hit the road in May & June 2014! Known for their unique and heavy live shows, the band will rock the stages on the following dates below. Make sure to catch Mothership live, when they finally take over Europe HERE:

27-5 Underworld– London, UK
28-5 Glazart – Paris, FR
29-5 Little Devil – Tilburg, NL
30-5 Freak Valley Festival 2014 – Netphen, GER
31-5 Jagerklause – Berlin, GER
1-6 Fonobar – Warsaw, PL
2-6 Chemiefabrik – Dresden, GER
3-6 Orangehouse – München, GER
4-6 Kinski – Zurich, CH
5-6 Le Volume - Nice, FR
6-6 Rocksound – Barcelona, ES
7-6 Peyote Festival – Madrid, ES


For More Info on Mothership Visit:
Official Website
Facebook

Source: Mona Miluski | Platinum PR

Long-running Oregon doom metal conjurors and recent Neurot signees, YOB, are pleased to unveil the first taste of their forthcoming new long player. Titled Clearing The Path To Ascend, the trio's latest audio exploration was recorded at Gung Ho Studio in Eugene, notorious for its reserve of vintage equipment, alongside longtime collaborator/iconic sound-sage Billy Barnett, who mastered YOB's Atma, The Great Cessation, The Unreal Never Lived and The Illusion Of Motion. Mastering was handled by Brad Boatright (Sleep, Beastmilk, Nails) at Audiosiege Engineering. The result is a wholly cathartic, sonicly enormous, riff-soaked sound collage of dark and light.

Comments founding vocalist/guitarist Mike Scheidt, "Writing this album felt like being plugged into a main. Emotionally, it's our heaviest. But it also has some real beauty and light. We dug the deepest we ever have to get to the heart of these tunes."

Witness the first sampling of Clearing The Path To Ascend at THIS LOCATION......Or Below...

YOB:
Mike Scheidt - vocals/guitars
Travis Foster - drums
Aaron Rieseberg - Bass

Clearing The Path To Ascend will be released via Neurot Recordings this Fall. Further details to be disclosed in the coming weeks.

"YOB might be one of the best bands in North America," - Ben Ratliff; New York Times

"The second track on Clearing The Path To Ascend has some of the most furious drums I've ever heard from Travis Foster. We're talking Through Silver In Blood-level." - The Obelisk's Roadburn 2014 Recap



Yob @ Facebook
Neurot Recordings | Official Website
Neurot Recordings | Facebook

Posted By Savannah

Greetings from Ukrainian doom metal band Narrow House.

We have a new album out. It's called  "Thanathonaut"  and is already available in the official Solitude Productions store (HERE). We are going to produce a special limited digipack edition soon as well. It will be available from the band only.

Here what some people who already listened to "Thanathonaut" have to say about it:
"If Narrow House is any indication of the doom metal scene in Ukraine, then let me hear more of it."— Flemming Gabin

"Thanathonaut elects to take a wholly different path, incorporating everything from traditional heavy metal-like guitar riffs, to tinny-sounding saxophone, to a bow’s staccato swipe across a cello. The end result is something of an anomaly and, as a result, pushes doom metal’s envelope as we know it."— The Metal Advisor

"The production sounds very professional"— Dark Underground Music Zine



Narrow House @ Bandcamp

Dom of MetalRecusants.com conducted an interview with former TROUBLE and current THE SKULL frontman Eric Wagner before THE SKULL's May 10 concert at Reggies rock club in Chicago, Illinois. You can now watch the chat below.

THE SKULL — the heavy doom-rock band featuring original TROUBLE members, vocalist Eric Wagner and drummer Jeff "Oly" Olson, alongside longtime former TROUBLE bassist Ron Holzner and SACRED DAWN guitarist Lothar Keller — recently announced the addition of former PENTAGRAM guitarist Matt Goldsborough to the group's ranks. He took over for Chuck Robinson, who decided to exit the band in order to focus on "his demanding professional career," according to a press release.

Matt Goldsborough is Philadelphia-based guitarist who joined PENTAGRAM in April 2013 and performed with the legendary band throughout the United States and Europe until original PENTAGRAM guitarist Victor Griffin (IN-GRAVED) decided to rejoin earlier this year.

PENTAGRAM stated in a press release last April about Goldsborough, "His style hearkens back to the very origins of heavy metal itself when heavy blues and psychedelic rock guitarists pioneered the genre in an attempt to harden rock and roll."

THE SKULL has unleashed two new singles recorded with acclaimed producer/engineer Billy Anderson (MELVINS, NEUROSIS). The "limited-edition" white vinyl replica CD featuring "Sometime Yesterday Mourning" (side A) and "The Last Judgment" (side B) was made available on April 8 via Tee Pee Records.

"Sometime Yesterday Mourning" is a doomy metal song written by Keller, Holzner and Wagner that showcases the genre pioneers' distinct style while "The Last Judgement" is a "revisiting" of the classic TROUBLE song of the same name that originally appeared on the classic 1983 "Metal Massacre IV" compilation album.

"I think 'Sometime Yesterday Mourning' is the perfect song for THE SKULL to lead with and there's a reason why it was the first song we completed as a band," commented Wagner. "It's about coming to a point in life when it's just time for a new beginning, a fresh start if you will, and finally coming to terms with the past.

"Being that it is the 30th anniversary of the release of the song 'The Last Judgement'— the first song we ever released — we thought it fit perfectly for the B-side and considering what 'Sometime Yesterday Mourning' is about, it made sense to me. You have to go through your past to get to your future."

THE SKULL will follow the release of the new songs with its debut full length LP, tentatively slated for release this autumn.

THE SKULL is:

Eric Wagner - vocals
Jeff "Oly" Olson - drums/keys
Ron Holzner - bass
Lothar Keller - guitar
Matt Goldsborough - guitar

Interview:





Source: Blabbermouth
Posted By Savannah

Denmark's PHANTOM was born in 2005 to the howling of dying animals and the deranged ramblings of exorcised spirits. The resulting paranormal black metal is haunted by the ghosts of influences past, yet reaches beyond the confines of the material world to heed the enigmatic call of the others.

PHANTOM is the sound of the buried lifting the headstones off of long-forgotten tombs; of muffled cries barely escaping through cellar doors securely locked for centuries; of footsteps across the rotting floorboards of abandoned mansions.

Through PHANTOM, the dead are given a voice - and they have dire tales to tell. (BIO: Voidhanger Records)

PHANTOM is:

SS - Vocals, Guitars
AP - Drums, Keyboards, Cello
CT - Bass
TA - Guitars


When did Phantom get together, Soren. Could you tell us how the band formed?

Søren: We’ve known each other for many years, but we got together in 2005 and formed the band Mare Crisium, which played slightly more old school black metal than what we’re doing now. We never really split up, but in 2009 our original drummer left, so we took a break. I started writing some new songs, and our keyboardist agreed to switch to drums. Eventually, we got together and recorded the whole thing, but it was a long process.

Whom are some of your influences in doom metal?

Søren: Personally, I’ve always been a big fan of Saturnus. Their albums “Paradise Belongs to You” and “Martyre” are contenders for “best metal albums of all time” in my personal opinion. They have a very mournful, melodic style which has inspired me a lot.

Thomas: I agree with Søren, especially “Paradise Belongs to You” is a masterpiece. I like the gothic/ doom hybrids, The Gathering, Draconian or early Theatre of Tragedy, to name a few. I also enjoy more classic doom, Black Sabbath, Pagan Altar and that style of doom. I don’t think those bands have a lot to do with Phantom, though, they are just great bands. I am into some of the crushing “funeral doom” bands too, Ahab from Germany or Evoken from the states, for instance. If the atmosphere of those bands could find its way into Phantom’s music, I would be very happy.

Will you playing any live dates?

Søren: We played one gig as Mare Crisium, but we’re not really set up for playing live with Phantom. We’re not a band in the traditional sense, since we’ve never actually rehearsed after reforming in 2010. I’m not even sure all of us have ever been in the same room at the same time. We’re very good friends, but we’ve also reached the age where family, work, and other obligations make it difficult to find the time. Our drummer, Andreas, is also busy with his band Crocell, who are playing a lot of live shows.

What is the doom metal scene like in Denmark, currently? Any new bands that you like?

Søren: Obviously, there’s Woebegone Obscured, who are also signed with I, Voidhanger Records. I’m not the best person to ask, since I’ve never really considered myself part of any scene. Thomas (our guitarist) is much better informed, so maybe he can fill in the blanks here.

Thomas: Hmm, the doom scene in Denmark is not that big. Apart from what Søren mentioned, I can only think of Nortt (a kind of ambient/ black metal/doom) and Altar of Oblivion (like Candlemass and Solitude Aeturnus).

Have you played live in the USA?

Søren: No, I’ve never even been to the USA. I’d like to go, but I’m afraid it’s highly unlikely that it will be for a show.

Who writes the band's lyrics? What inspires your writing?

Søren: I write the lyrics. The writing on “Incendiary Serum” specifically refers to “the damned decade”, which is referenced in the album’s opening track. This period began in 2002, when I went to a concert in Aarhus with Satyricon and Khold (together with Andreas by the way). Incidentally, Khold had just released their second album “Phantom” that year, and no, that’s not a coincidence. I consider the concert a turning point in my musical career, since I had mostly been listening to symphonic black metal and melodic death metal up until then. “The damned decade” sounds a bit dramatic maybe. I’m quite a happy person, but there were some recurrent thoughts and themes in that period of my life that provided the fuel for the album.

Any phantom side projects that you wish to tell us about?

Søren: As I mentioned, Andreas is playing in Crocell, so if you like no-nonsense, blackened death metal, then you should check them out.

What was the critical reaction to the new album?

Søren: I was quite surprised at how positive it was, but there have of course also been some mixed reviews. Italian reviewers seemed especially skeptical for some reason, while they were much more positive in northern Europe and the US. Maybe there are some regional differences here, or maybe it’s a coincidence. Many reviewers thought we had a fairly original thing going, and I was very pleased with that. We do build very heavily on our influences – some of which was mentioned above – but we also try to put things together in our own way, and it’s great to hear that it appears to have worked out for the most part.

Thank you Soren!

Søren: Thank you for listening!

Band Site: Bandcamp



Interview By John Wisniewski