A little gem, a little filthy gem. That’s what this poisonus pill of doom-death metal is. Just two songs are included in this split, but they are ghoulish. No surprise as they are from two bands out of those rather recent, when not young, acts religiously devoted to the evocation, or I should say “exhumation”, of old-school (doom) death metal in its most horror-filled and ghastly sides. The exhumation is invariably successful when the ghouls involved were active actors of the scene back in time or are total, faithful devotees. I’m speaking about Druid Lord, from Florida, USA, related to legendary Incubus and long-lived Equinox, and about Skeletal Spectre, from Sweden/USA, involving the horror doom-death banshee by definition, Vanessa Nocera of Wooden Stake, Scaremaker etc. fame. Both bands are therefore directly or indirectly known to Doommantia readers. After their early successful full-length albums, Druid Lord and Skeletal Spectre have been working on several splits and EPs suggesting what scary tunes are to be expected for the future. This split was released last year at Halloween. It is out via label Horror Pain Gore Death Productions as killer limited edition on translucent, funereal purple vinyl and cool packaging.

Track “Dark Age Sorcery”, by Druid Lord, is a concentrate of evil, darkness and perversion expressed by means of slow, crushing distortion, sick and sinister Floridian death metal-styled riffs and sepulchral atmospheres where doom is adding tombstone-like heaviness as well as a sort of morbid, swampish retro-groove. Growled vocals are overwhelmed by the coarse vibration of the heavily downtuned guitars. The effect is like scary roars from the underworld muffled by the soil on the tomb … They are coming!!!!   Track “Malevolent Patricide”, by Skeletal Spectre, is lead by some tight, obsessive, relentless, earth-ripping riffage sustained by a seismic drumming. Absolutely inhuman, infernal vocals by Vanessa, occasionally backed by guitarist Behold The Pentagram, are coupled with the deep distorted, and sometimes sickly dissonant howls of the lead guitar. This track is therefore rather dynamic although the pace periodically slows down into morbid mixtures of distortion and dissonance. Hell is open …Prescribed for those who are into Coffins, Decrepitaph, Hooded Menace, Acid Witch, and other nasty new and old sick bunches of metallers …

Words: Marilena Moroni

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It is a great honour for me to write about one of the coolest, long-lived heavy psych bands of Italy, mighty Insider from Pescara, Central Italy. This is a trve old-school heavy band in activity since 1991, when it was founded by the Ranalli brothers, and still rocking hard. 

Insider’s old albums were well known to the old Swampers and the followers of Nes’ great blog: especially Land of Crystal (1998), Jammin’ for a Smiling God (2000) and Simple Water Drops (2005). In such a long life a band might change something in its style. A change happened early in Insider as they actually started as doom-death metal-oriented band (see the 1996 self-titled album) but they rapidly abandoned the early style and concentrated more on the other components of their sound, i.e. psychedelic rock of the 70s and Helios Creed’s inspired psychedelia in their doom background.

The albums listed above are those where the band fully devoted to build up a heavy doom style contaminated by space psychedelia as well as fuzzy desert rock in the vein of Kyuss, Monster Magnet, etc. A kind of “cosmic doom riff rock”.

The doom element has always been the component making Insider’s music, in general, and riffs, in particular, substantially heavy. The persistence of doom was probably further enforced by the presence, in the early line-up, of members related to doom bands like Requiem and The Black and the dark heavy prog-doom band Akron (inspired by Jacula, Antonius Rex and the like). Not a surprise that Insider’s early albums saw Paul Chain involved in the mixing stage … Another feature of the above albums is the presence of vocals: powerful, gritty and warm, “heavy metal” vocals that made early reviewers to compare Insider’s vocalist to singers like Bruce Dickinson, Dio, and so on, when not deformed as in Helios Creed’s watery space fashion. But the main feature to be caught in past and present Insider is their multifaceted blend of psychedelic rock.

Insider’s heavy psychedelia is both mind-warping and hallucinatory and drenched in boiling hot blues, the kind of psychedelia heavily relying on guitars, on real riffs even if strained at utmost, more than on fancy, icy-cold electronics. Therefore in Insider one may find inspirations and quotations from old monsters like Hawkwind, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, from old psych-prog rock, from Krautrock and possibly also from Outskirts of Infinity and/or other legendary acts of the past British heavy, acid blues psych scene.  Old sounds absorbed and reworked with modern sensitivity and personal creativity in an over 20 years-long career in music …

Well, so many words to say that, as promised some years ago, Insider band is back as a trio (with Marco and Piero Ranalli on guitar and bass, respectively, and Stefano Di Rito on drums) and with a new, instrumental-only album, Vibrations from the Tapes. The vibrations of the album title are those “vibes”, emotional vibes, and the tapes are actual analog tapes, as the five tracks of this new substantial album come from a direct recording on a stereo tape deck with two microphones originally done in a rehearsal studio in the autumn/winter of 2007. The five tracks sum up to almost 80 minutes and derive from psychedelic instrumental jam sessions with total improvisation. The original recordings have been gracefully mastered by Gianmarco Iantaffi (in band Void Generator) and then released as limited edition (200 copies) via the Italian label Phonosphera  Records.

If you are skeptic about jam sessions, well, try these ones!
When I got the CD and first heard it, without remembering about the story of the jamming, I didn’t realize that it was all improvised! This because the mental and emotional connection between these musicians is so great and deep that each of these monumental suites (up to 27 minutes-long) flows away in an incredibly smooth way even if the suites are often made of really complex, clever, braided melodies, atmospheres, tempo changes, riffs and effects that seem to ignore the boundaries between the tracks.

So you enter the album and you just forget boundaries. You are immediately caught by the massive stream of Insider’s vintage-scented, polyedric psychedelia. You may be hooked by the jazzy pulsating bass, by the fuzzy distortions or by the spacey pedal effects dilating the sounds and your perceptions, by the mind-warping cymbals, by the hypnotic drumming patterns, by the escapes into lisergic jamming in honour of Jimi Hendrix and 13th Floor Elevators, by dreamy to boundless space rock trips, by the almost epic flourishing of riffs and rocking melodies when the band instinctively end up entering prog territories, …

This all-inclusive psych experience is provided by the five tracks of this monster album by Insider: Your Brainticket, Killing Boredom, Raga in the Sky, First Steps and Dark Age. The first 80 minutes will pass, and you’ll be back at the music as in a loop, addicted to it …

Well, be aware that this jamming album, Vibration from the Tapes, is not the only new thing from Insider.  In a recent interview for Aristocrazia Webzine, the band announced an imminent release of another, “real” new album comprising eight new, non-improvised, studio tracks with a complex structure and, again, completely instrumental.  Moreover Insider are taking part to the making of a massive tribute album to Helios Creed (more details HERE).
And possibly more awesome jam sessions will come afterwards …
In the meantime, get hold of Vibration from the Tapes out at Phonosphera Records!

Words:  Marilena Moroni

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Insider - '...vibrations from the tape...' Phonosphera Records 2012 (teaser)

The paperback version of legendary BLACK SABBATH guitarist Tony Iommi's memoir, "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath", will be released in the U.K. on Thursday, November 8 through Simon & Schuster and in the U.S. on December 11 via Da Capo Press/Perseus Books. Iommi states, "It's got new chapters bringing everything up to date, including my battle with lymphoma." Released in hardback in November 2011, "Iron Man: My Journey Through Heaven And Hell With Black Sabbath", landed at position No. 35 on the New York Times "Hardcover Nonfiction" best sellers list. Da Capo reportedly paid a six-figure amount at auction for the rights to the 352-page book, which was described as "'Angela's Ashes' meets 'The Ground Beneath Her Feet' meets 'Spinal Tap'" by Foundry Literary + Media co-founder Peter McGuigan, who completed the North American rights deal for the memoir.

In an interview with Guitar World magazine, Iommi explained how his autobiography came together. "I had a chap called TJ Lammers, who I met many, many years ago when he used to work at Phonogram Records," he said. "He later became a journalist and he had his own magazine. He lives in Holland and we've stayed in touch over the years. I've had a few people say, 'Oh, I can write a book for you,' but I wanted a different outlook to the normal music journalist, and that's what happened. He came over to England and stayed with me for a few days. Then he'd write it up, come back again and do more. The whole thing took a couple years to finish."

When asked how his book is different to the typical rock biography, Iommi said, "I don't know. I don't read rock biographies, so it could be the same, it could be different. It's just my life, really. It's about what happened and what I grew up from, and how I've gone through life to where I am now. It's something I probably should have done a long time ago because there are so many books out now. I've been meaning to do it for many, many years but never got around to it." Iommi was honored with the "King Of Rock 'N' Roll Award" at the Ronnie James Dio Stand Up And Shout Cancer Fund's second awards gala on October 31 at the Avalon nightclub in Hollywood, California. Speaking about the fund in light of his own recent cancer scare, Iommi told "The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show", "Well, I'm a survivor up until now. I'm still very new to it. It's great that there's somebody doing something about it and trying to get rid of this awful disease. You can't praise it enough. Things like this is what is needed to make people aware of what is going on."

Source: Blabbermouth.

Shaman Recordings are proud to announce their second release; Wood and Wire, a “self-split” between Oxford’s mighty drone/doom/sludge-bringers UNDERSMILE and their acoustic alter-ego COMA WALL. That’s one side of Americana-influenced, atmospheric doom-folk and one side of Undersmile’s characteristic, monolithic heaviness.

Following on from their debut EP A Sea of Dead Snakes, the Undertaker split (w/Caretaker) and their critically acclaimed debut album Narwhal, Wood and Wire marks the bands’ first foray onto vinyl and they have produced a record that reflects their diversity as a band and hints at what’s to come, for both incarnations. Having played acoustic sets at the inaugural DesertFest and in support of Dylan Carlson (Earth) COMA WALL is the name UNDERSMILE have given to their acoustic project as a way to separate the two disparate but interlinked sides of their musical personality (highlighted by Coma Wall’s acoustic take on Undersmile’s “Cutter’s Choice”). Their contribution to this record is a taster for a future COMA WALL record.

Wood and Wire‘s acoustic side features production work from the band’s previous producers Jimmy “Evil” Hetherington (A Sea of Dead Snakes, Narwhal) and Umair Chaudhry (Undertaker split) while side B is produced by Justin Greaves (of Iron Monkey, Crippled Black Phoenix, Electric Wizard, Teeth of Lions Rule the Divine). Featuring three songs on either side, this is Undersmile as you’ve never heard them before.

The incredible artwork has been created by Craig Bryant (of Bast) whose work has previously been featured on posters for the likes of Dylan Carlson, Eagle Twin, Pombagira, Lattitudes and many more. This slab o’wax is scheduled for release during February 2013 via Shaman Recordings and will be strictly limited to 300 copies on transparent purple vinyl with digital download card.

Undersmile | Facebook
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Haven't done a "Heads Up" article for a while but this one is totally worth it and essential. Dryasdust are a Finnish power-trio in the vein of 70's classic hard rock and psych bands. This demo was recorded live with no overdubs or editing at their rehearsal room with only vocals added later to one song (Cold Sweat). This is killer bluesy hard rock that fans of Witchcraft and Graveyard should find more than satisfying. The band are not just another riff-rock band. The band set their main focus on dynamics, melodies and a great use of light and shade. Dryasdust blend both the heavy and mellow elements from 70's hard rock, psyche and progressive rock to great effect and considering the band are only 18 months old, they played with the proficiently of a band of veterans.

It was mixed and mastered by Matias Helle at Drophammer studio with moog on by Tommi Salomaa but this still sounds like a live band pulling off some remarkably memorable bluesy hard rock. While the band do sound a little like Graveyard, they also have more than enough 'unique" elements to keep this sounding fresh as possible. Of course it is very hard to stand out in the endless, bloated sea of retro rock bands but Dryasdust have all the goods required for a long and successful future. The demo is short and sweet, only 5 songs for about a 20 minute playing time and the songs are straight to the point and concise. Only one track titled 'Losing Hold' goes for a wander, stretching out for a 6 minute bluesy jammy track. Elsewhere it is all winners. 'Cold Sweat' opens the demo with great riffing and 'Deep Waters' is a heavy doom-blues a-la early Witchcraft but all the tracks here are of a very high-standard.

It is hardly ground-breaking stuff but they certainly stand out as one of the better new bands doing the retro thang. I can't wait to hear what the band gets up to next. If it is anything like this, it should be something worth investigating...8/10.

Dryasdust | Facebook
Dryasdust - Buy The Demo at Bandcamp

I’ve found this topic into Russian half-dead forum doom-metal.ru, it was dedicated to women who do their offerings to Doom Cult singing and playing in bands. Of course it was a good theme for our regular doom-quiz, and now you see first part of our interview with those ladies who bring their charm and sense of beauty to this deadly musical art. Hey, hold your jaw, mate, we’re not going to burn any witches today!

We have 6 questions for this time, here they are:
1. What is a current state of the band and what are your plans for nearby future?
2. What are your favorite doom-topics? What kind of songs lyrics do you like most and what is an example of perfect doom lyrics for you?
3. What did influence onto your manner of singing or playing? What are strong sides of your band?
4. How do you see women role in doom music? What is women contribution in that genre besides endless inspiration that makes men writes songs about their broken hearts and burning witches?
5. Do you ever deal with drunken fans who tell you words of confession and adoration during your gigs?
6. Do you care about your appearance during gigs?

Alunah (United Kingdom)
Sophie Day (vocals, guitars)

1. We've just released our second album "White Hoarhound" on PsycheDOOMelic Records. We've got a few more UK shows left for the rest of the year, and then in 2013 we'll be doing a European tour and another one which we can't say too much about now. But, if it happens, it should be pretty awesome!

2. For me personally, the natural earth is my inspiration. I'm not keen on lyrics that are filled with hatred, fear and loathing. There is so much beauty and mystery in the world, that I love to tap into that. It takes me out of everyday life and into a different part of my brain. I also love pagan history, the occult, Greek mythology and magic.

3. I'm influenced particularly by Janis Joplin, Robert Plant, Jim Morrison, Lori S and Rose Kemp who I love. I love blues singers, and also folk singers - I adore singers such as Joni Mitchell and her ability to tell stories whilst sounding fragile AND powerful. I'd say bands such as Black Sabbath, Goatsnake and Acid King influence our playing but also bands such as Alice in Chains. We also love the blues!

4. I don't see us as having a specific role at all, and I don't see why we have to be segregated from men. I hope that when people listen to Alunah, or see us live, that they hear/see a complete band not just a women on stage (shock horror!). This isn't 1905, this is 2012 and the focus should be on each one of us.

5. Very rarely. I'm not sure if they're intimated by me or think that because I'm female (see question 4), they can't have a decent conversation with me, but a lot of our fans talk to the rest of the guys rather than me. I've had a few dickheads give me hassle in the past but I can more than stand up for myself... if they persist, my husband Dave is in the band hahahaha!

6. Yeah, I'm not sure how relevant that it to the music but yeah I care. Just like I care when I go to the shops, visit family and friends, or go to work. I don't go over the top, but I've always been interested in different fashion styles (I run a vintage shop), and love experimenting with my hair and make-up. I don't do it for anyone else other than to satisfy my interest, and maybe occasionally to look decent for my husband hahaha.

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Black Math Horseman (United States)
Sera Timms (vocals, bass)

1. Ides of Gemini just returned from a European tour, and are now playing local shows, and working on new material for the next album. Black Math Horseman is also working on new material. I am also recording a Black Mare EP (my solo project) for a spring release.

2. My favorite topics are esoteric, psychological, and symbolic. I believe that all humans are connected to vast inner territories of darkness and light, and the dark unchartered spaces within that subconscious field are usually the ones that I am drawn to. For me, perfect doom lyrics will feel like a reflection of my own beliefs, experiences, and/or existence, articulated in a unique and personal way.

3. If I had to pick inspirations I would say that they come from mythological, dream, and archetypal worlds. I have never wanted to sing or play like anyone else, as my priority has always been to express my own inner truth.
Ides's greatest strength is that we are a triangle. We all have a similar vision as far as the music is concerned and we all allow one another space, and balance as musicians and people.

4. I think that women's role in doom music is as potentially expansive and powerful as man's role in doom music. Women have as much darkness in them as men, and I have always been puzzled by the fact that doom, metal, and most darker and heavier genres of music are vastly populated by men. I hope that more women in doom music will bring men and women closer to harmonious balanced understandings of one another, despite our collective dysfunctional witch burning past. I also hope that women in doom music will open up the genre to more female listeners.

5. It is not a common occurrence.

6. Yes.

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Cauchemar (Canada)
Annick Giroux (vocals)

1. The band is currently working on a new record, which should be out in spring 2013, if everything goes as well as planned. In fact, we already have the album written - but we are working on arrangements right now! We want to eventually tour the states, also, and of course do some other Canadian gigs outside Montreal!!

2. Good question! It really depends on the band... there are so many different styles of doom metal! Like Saint Vitus is raunchy as hell and their lyrics fit them perfectly. Meanwhile, other bands have more of a dark or mystical approaches, which I also love. But I think my favorite has no lyrics at all, like Paul Chain's work. It really makes you focus more on the songs themselves.

3. It took me years to figure out how to sing, as Cauchemar is my first band as a vocalist. I'm still trying to figure out how to do it! I do really enjoy Scott Reagers' vocal style - it's really truly haunting. For playing, we love timeless sounding bands, like Black Sabbath for example. You still listen to their records, and they sound fresh! They are our main influence, but we are also influenced by Judas Priest, the French metal scene (Sortilège, H-Bomb, Vulcain) and the Italian doom metal scene (Paul Chain, Death SS, Black Hole). Weird combination, I know!

4. Woman musicians are the same as men! Perhaps female vocalists are a bit different because what they are singing comes from a female point of view, but that's pretty much it.

5. I hear some "I love yooooou!" coming from the crowd from time to time, but have no problem with that haha. It's nothing very serious.

6. Of course I do! Sometimes it was hard when touring, but I always made sure to take a shower. Haha! Makes me feel better when fronting the band.

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Extorian (Germany)
Heike Funke (vocals)

1. The band line-up is complete at the moment. We released an EP and a full length album in the past and we are working on new song material for the next album which will be released next year. Of course it will be - doom metal. We also will play some gigs, one with Czech doom band called Etmoriemur.

2. Doom topics in my opinion are what many people, especially politicians, command us to do or not to do. So many normal people just have one thing to do: make money to survive. And mighty people do the same but not to survive but to get more and more power. Naming an example for perfect doom lyrics is not that easy because lyrics are perfect if you cloak the words in pictures so that the listener has room to interprete. "Falling" from Solitude Aeturnus for example.

3. I am influenced by bands who have someone at the micro really singing and not only growling or screaming. I don't like that kind of "singing". If you play guitar you have so much options to play, high and low. It's the same with the voice. Extorian is also very special as we have female vocals which is not so widely spread.

4. I think more women should try singing this kind of music. I began to sing doom because I really felt (and still feel) what's going on in these songs. There was (and is) no reason not to do it. There are endless topics for lyrics. Just open your eyes, go outside and let the feeling touch your soul.

5. You mean that fans tell us how they love our music? I have no problem with drunken people and with alcohol. It's part of our life and it helps to feel more free. I love it when fans catch what we want to say with our songs, no matter how much beer they drunk - as long as they can speak.

6. Yes, we even think about more visual effects to bring the mood of our music more out. May be I tell a little story next time :-)Thanks and keep cool.

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 Hukkunud Hinged (Estonia)
Katrina (vocals)

1. Hukkunud Hinged current state is really good, thank you for asking. Right now we are working on our new album and we are also making our first video.
Basically we want to play and make our music as long as we can and with every song step a little bit further, do things our way and mix doom with different styles and attitudes.

2. Sometimes, it's really sad that those who don't speak estonian don't understand what we are singing about, because we have a brilliant writer, our guitarist Martin. He usually writes about everyday life, about simple and basic things, but because we have such a beautiful language and so many synonyms and old words in it, you can expess you emotions in so many ways. For me that is the most perfect way to express your emotions about some bad memory or just about your everyday life, beacause doom has really bluesy and simple lyrics but you can changes the words and the way they sound so beautifully.

3. Well, as male voice is dominant in metal genre overall, of course this influences me, but also I like avant-garde and classical opera singers and mix their style with blues techniques. Also, as there are so many good female singers in doom bands, it's interesting to see what they bring into the game and I think we learn from each other. :) We have many strong sides, main thing would be the fact that we are all very different. For starters, our male singer Janek is very theatrical on stage, he really absorbes the feeling of the song and brings it out with every part of his body. That all makes him the ''actor'' in our band and also he is a very honest person. Our bass player Margo is a hard working man and you can be always confident that he will not let you down on stage. As a pragmatic, he also brings us to the ground. Our drummer Ville plays besides doom also electronical music, he gets a lot of inspiration from house, techno and indie rock etc. He has many cool ideas how to make things that should not work together sound absolutely brilliant. Plus the way he plays, he has really heavy hand. And then we have Martin, the heart of our band, who creates music and lyrics. Usually Martin brings the basic idea and riffing, then Ville adds all his ideas, then Margo brings them back to the ground for a second. After that Martin writes the words, usually it takes about 15 minutes, I don't know how he does it but it just comes to him. And so sometimes the 5 min. song will become 10 min. song and vice versa. I'm the youngest of the group. I think that I bring to the band some innocence and feminine side and also some good music. Overall, we have two singers, a lot of theatrical elements and we do not strictly hold on to the doom style, this is what makes us different.

4. The things I listed as my strong sides are innocence, femininity, but also woman power that this music needs. Some singers have both feminine and masculine sides, like Aaron Stainthorpe. It's interesting that men write about their broken hearts and some curse the burning witches, but you don't see a lot of females cursing men or mourning the loved ones :-D

5. Yes of course, you have more male audience in the concerts and as a female you get more attention. Last published article I read about us said that it's actually sometimes hard to make an objective assessment about how good she is, because as a man you see a women among the males and you give her more attention and that's physically natural. But I guess the men have their own share of luck and adoration and they deserve it :)

6. Yes, I'm vain and I like to dress up, cause that is one way to express yourself and that gives also something extra for the show, but you have to keep the emotions real and true, honesty and openness outweighs every costume.

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Herem (Finland)
Valendis Suomalinen (vocals)


1. Our second album, "II", was published a year ago, after which we've been playing gigs every now and then. We're currently working on some new material.

2. When I write lyrics I often find myself writing about apocalyptic, occult or horror topics, sometimes with a hint of religious symbolism. Not very original, I know, but it's natural for me to write about topics I'm personally interested in. Otherwise, I don't really have any favorite topics. Different topics fit different moods. I enjoy well-written lyrics, but the most important thing is that the lyrics go well with the music.

3. I was 14 when I "found" death- and thrash metal with growls and harsh vocals and thought it might be cool to try if a tiny girl like me could make similar sounds as those big, hairy men. And I could. So there we go. I think one of Herem's strenghts is that we all have a bit different musical backgrounds. If we were all just fanatic doom fans, we might get stuck in the doom rut without any new ideas. Another strength is our live percormance. We love playing gigs and I think Herem is at it's best on stage!

4. Ladies are a lot more than just sources of inspiration. First, there are always plenty of girls watching doom gigs - and not just keeping company to doomster boyfriends! There are also quite a few talented female musicians involved in the doom genre. As of their output in doom music, what can I say? Like their male colleagues, they're out there to write great lyrics ang killer riffs and to play the music they love. I myself don't really pay much attention to gender roles in music. Some 10 years ago I found it hard to be taken seriously or to find bands to play in, but I guess nowadays the attitudes have changed. I'm hoping that gender won't prevent any talented people from playing in bands or going to see gigs.

5. Not that often, actually. Maybe my on-stage looks drive them off, haha! Or maybe our fans are just more interested in the music than the musicians.

6. Yes and no. While on stage I have a sort of a "role" which includes messy hair and strong, ghastly-like makeup. Other than that - no, I don't really care. With my on-stage looks I'm mostly trying to reflect the atmosphere and topics of our songs, not win any "Miss Doom"-contests!

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Insaniae (Portugal)
Isabel Cristina (vocals)

1. Insaniae are now recording a new album. We hope to release it in the beginning of 2013. After that we want to schedule some concerts. We haven’t yet set feet outside our border but we are trying to amend that.

2. I have a few examples of a perfect doom lyric. I like very much a few of My Dying Bride lyrics, if I had to choose one it would be A Kiss to Remember. Besides that, Mourning Beloved´s Narcissistic Funeral, Ava Inferi´s Black Wings, Swallow the Sun´s Gloom, Beauty and Despair and Katatonia´s  Forsaker are some examples of doom lyrics I identify myself most with.

3. My way of singing came naturally. I’ve always liked lyric voices. I’ve been exploring my voice and shaping it by practicing. The new album will have a different taste of it. Something I’ve been trying, and came out great. I had singing lessons for one year to learn the techniques of lyric singing. And it was of a great help.
I consider that what makes Insaniae strong is our friendship. We are like family. The process of creating and composing songs is very natural. And mostly because we want to stay faithful to our Portuguese roots.

4. In doom I see women in two ways, we can be the damnation or the salvation!
Women can give to doom music the sweetness of lyric singing. By being the light in the darkness. Or in a more imposing and strong projection like a ritual of death.
Our own culture has a lot to do with doom. In Portugal we have our traditional music genre Fado. It talks about greave and sorrow. And in the older days people used to hire women to mourn in burials of loved ones, they were called «carpideiras». So Portuguese culture is not just about sun and wine it has a sorrowful side too.

5. A few times and not always drunk. I want to keep it in a professional level. So I listen to everyone but walk away if they start to loose their manners. It pleases me to know what people think of our concerts and our music. It helps us to evolve.

6. In stage everything matters of course. Usually I choose my appearance according to the place where the concert will take place. To be comfortable on stage is also very important, so I always keep that in mind.

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 Jucifer (United States)
Gazelle Amber Valentine (guitars, vocals)

1. The band turns 20 years old in February! We'll celebrate by continuing our endless tour. We've been homeless except our tourbus for 12 years and we're gonna keep doing that, playing as many shows as we can, every week, all year long. And we'll be in the studio later in the fall to finish our new album. We also have a re-issue of our 1994 demos EP 'Nadir' coming out on vinyl this month.

2. I like to write about humanity's flaws and ugly sides, I guess. I'm really interested in history. Often the things I learn about what humans have done to eachother through time move me and inspire my writing. So to me the perfect kind of doom lyrics are about despair and nihilism. Also, the sense of longing we feel when we confront our own mortality.

3. A lot of my personal influence came from not being influenced --- I grew up in the 70's in a rural place, and there wasn't much access to stuff outside the mainstream as far as music. Within mainstream (rock, classical, folk and jazz my parents played at home) I was always drawn to dark sounding riffs and tones. With literature it was the same; I loved Poe, Faulkner, Dostoevsky, Kafka, Malamud, Chekhov and Mailer from a very young age. I stole all my mother's college lit books haha! For whatever reason I always felt comfortable with morbid themes, and found them natural to articulate. Even in childhood my drawings, poetry and short stories were mostly cynical, sinister or poignant. I guess I was kind of an old soul. Strong sides of our band... we're brave enough to be diverse in our writing and talented or honest enough to pull it off I suppose. We write what we feel like writing and don't worry about trying to fit a genre or an image. We're always willing to take chances, whether it's moving into a vehicle, putting a folk song next to a grind song on an album, or improvising during a show. And we're incredibly dedicated. In North America the two of us set up and tear down 4,000 pounds of amplification for every show: Thee White Wall! Six or more hours of physical labor just to have the most epic sound for our set... most people wouldn't put that much effort into their band.

4. Who doesn't love witches? :)
I've never respected the concept of special roles for females. I don't find gender roles and stereotypes valid. And I don't think of my work in terms of being a woman; I think of it in terms of being a musician. Because of that I haven't been super focused on what women specifically do.
Although I understand the reality which necessitates activism, I don't want to reinforce the common but misguided idea that gender makes us different. Hence while I despise misogyny, I can't embrace feminism. Both shine a spotlight on gender which throws any personal abilities or achievements into shadow. My battle flag is individualist and humanist; we are each independent entities with myriad capabilities, and we are all members of a mass species. All equal, each different. Nothing to do with surface characteristics. As far as women's contributions to music, they certainly exist far beyond being men's muses. There's a Facebook group someone added me to about women of sludge and doom which has revealed lots of other females to me, some of them that've been playing 30 years like myself or Liz Buckingham, and others who are younger. Even in the 60's and 70's there were women whose work definitely put a stamp on this world... Mariska Veres from Shocking Blue, or the Wilson sisters from Heart for example. The problem for female artists is that they're often overlooked, in the same way that women inventors, scientists and pioneers have been glossed over in history books. You have to seek them out, and often will find that they preceded or influenced their more famous male counterparts. But that's just a byproduct of a society which still balks at the idea of women as full-fledged and equally capable humans. Sad, really.

5. Yeah, but usually their adoration is for the band, not me!

6. I care about my appearance all the time, even when I'm alone. I think that's kind of a basic healthy thing to do. When people don't care, it's usually a sign of depression or breach from reality. During shows I want to feel both comfortable and powerful. So I'm attentive to my appearance in that sense. I also like to match well with my gear and my guitar... I like the aesthetic of our band to be as imposing as the music. But I'm not worried about how I look when we play in any self-conscious way. Our show is a ritual, cathartic release which involves a lot of sweat and headbanging and hair tangling that won't necessarily leave me looking my 'best'. And I'm cool with that. After all I'm not a doll or a model! I am a guitarist, singer and writer of deadly riffs :)

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Interviews By Aleks Evdokimov

French doomsters Monolithe are back and if you have followed this band from their inception it will come as no surprise that the album is called 'Monolithe III' and consists of one epic long track. What is immediate about this band and album is they don't follow any blueprint of doom. They are equal parts funeral, death, ambient, industrial and drone but without fitting into any one sub-genre. Like earlier albums, the band doesn't torment the listener with drawn-out intros and passages a-la Sleep's 'Dopesmoker' but it is equally as uncompromising. 'III' is a mostly complex 52 minute piece which plays like another chapter in their catalog of albums. That is not to say that this is just more of the same, far from it but if you are already a listener of the band, you will know what to expect.

The piece deals with a complex reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses so the album is not exactly instantly memorable but at the same time, this gives this album some serious longevity but you will have to work hard at it to fully get what this album is all about. Musically the album can be tedious despite its variations. There are many times during my spins of this album where I found myself lost within its complexities and while I am no stranger to complex music (I have been listening to prog rock and jazz fusion since I was 12) this album does tend to make my mind go elsewhere. Perhaps what gets a little confusing is the mood changes that happen often, almost too often in-fact so the flow of the album can seem disjointed. However there are moments of pure brilliance on the album.

The music goes from the melodic to the extreme and while the melodies can be quite nice at times, they often turn ugly and downright scary. Vocals which seem to be situated somewhere beneath the earth's surface doesn't make the concepts behind the album any easier to understand either. The album is dramatic but it mostly comes to down the exhausting running time of the piece which is the release's biggest problem. Out of the 52 minutes, there are at least 20 minutes where the music seems far too meandering. At the root of the album are dissonant and churning almost psychedelic riffing that is far from doing anything catchy and there is fine piano lines and some nice ambient sections but again, it all comes across as being a bit awkward.

'III' is a ambitious release and their approach to constructing epic doom pieces has to be admired for its sheer monster-like concepts but along the way something gets lost. It is hard to pinpoint what is missing with this album but I get the feeling, this could have been so much better. As it is, it is solid but also not too memorable as a piece of music.....7/10.

Monolithe | Official Website

Roadburn are extremely excited to welcome Michael Amott‘s classic rock heavyweights, Spiritual Beggars to the 2013 Roadburn Festival Afterburner on Sunday, April 21 at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.

 “Back in the early 90’s, Roadburn founder Walter Hoeijmakers was one of the very first supporters Spiritual Beggars had in Europe”, says Michael Amott, “His unbridled enthusiasm for our music back then when most people didn’t ’get it’ meant so much to us. It’s a great feeling to now play his fantastic festival and celebrate the staying power of Spiritual Beggars and the Roadburn concept together!  We’re releasing a new studio album and celebrating our 20th anniversary as a band in 2013, and I really can’t think of a better way to start the party than at the esteemed Roadburn Festival?!?”

Since their formation in the early 90s, Spiritual Beggars have been at the forefront of the burgeoning stonerrock scene, raising the benchmark for stoner metal bands around the globe through a succession of much acclaimed albums that redefined the genre. Whether it’s Another Way To Shine, Mantra III, Ad Astra, On Fire or 2010?s Return To Zero, which features new singer Apollo Papathanasio, all of these albums deliver a masterful homage to the rock sensibilities of Deep Purple, Rainbow, Uriah Heep or even Trouble, but also to the blistering guitar heroics of Frank Marino and Mountain‘s Leslie West.



The trademark Spiritual Beggars approach of vintage hard rock songwriting, augmented by super-heavy, modern production values give way to Michael Amott‘s (ex Carcass / Arch Enemy) uncanny, impressive riffage, thoughtful, fluid solo’s and strong melodies,  and when paired with Per Wiberg‘s stellar Hammond excursions and Apollo Papathanasio‘s great expressive vocal range,  you’ll get the quintessential 70s rock band!

Spiritual Beggars‘ Roadburn Afterburner appearance will mark a great return to the stage, as the band has only played a handful of rare performances over the last few years. A new album is scheduled for a 2013 release.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland.  Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

 http://www.roadburn.com

“All right, Tinkerbell. You’re nicked!”. Welcome back to a time when Jack Regan had the scum on the run, and gaggles of disgruntled scantily-clad Ladieswear assistants had Benny Hill on the run. Luckily for us running isn’t so easy in flares and platform shoes, and sideburns cause even more drag, so this debauched admiral of the fleet will not be escaping the Desertfest crowds hungry for groovin’ power-trio rock perfection.

Hastings’ own Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell (try saying that after 9 pints of Double Diamond) have been belting out their honest, no-nonsense swagger-filled rock ‘n‘ roll for a few years now and the world is taking notice. They played a storming set at Roadburn last year, which this devout scribe was more than happy to suffer ‘Sleep’ deprivation to experience, and their debut album “Don’t Hear it… Fear it!!” is just out on Rise Above Records. ASCS are Louis Comfort -Wiggett, Bill Darlington and Johnny Gorilla. Many of you will know Johnny’s other band Gorilla (of which Bill is a former member), who have been pumping out their Blue Cheerful vibes since the late nineties.

If 70’s proto-metal is your thing; Sir Lord Baltimore, Budgie and Buffalo get you all hot under your giant flappy collar, and you can handle a big psychedelic dose of garage punk into the bargain, then make sure you dig The Shovell at Desertfest 2013!

Desertfest 2013 takes place between 26th – 28th April 2013 over 4 venues in Camden, London and tickets go on sale on the 13th November at Leedstickets.com



Source: The Sleeping Shaman

Progressive doom death formation The Prophecy (Great Britain) is ready to strike again! They were touring a lot after release of excellent full-length “Into The Light” in 2009 and only now the news came from Priori Studio – gentlemen almost have their fourth album in hand! Forget about Doom’s Day in December of 2012, keep faith and prepare yourself for “Salvation” which will be granted to you in January of 2013. Matt Lawson, voice of The Prophecy, will tell us about it tonight.


Hi Matt! It seems that I’ve heard about The Prophecy last time when you played in Russian Moscow Doom Festival about three years ago, it was right after your last release “Into the Light”. Where have you been all this time? What’s new in the band?

Russia was a great experience for us but we're always keen to visit new places and so we made a little bit of history after the Moscow Doom Festival by becoming the first English metal band to play Midifest in Beijing, China, and then going on to be the first British metal band to play in Cuba, completing a two week tour of the island on the annual Brutalfest touring festival. Obviously we've done our usual requirement of UK gigs and have been fortunate enough to be able to organize tours for some international bands, Insanity Reigns Supreme, Saturnus, Nomad Son etc.  In fact we were honored to help both Saturnus and Insanity Reigns Supreme to play their first ever English gigs.
This year on the live front, we have had our very first year without playing a single gig since our formation in 2002, but for good reason, as the new album has required that we had no distractions from the writing process. As a result it is our most focused and cohesive album to date.

I see that The Prophecy played two big festivals in such exotic (for metalheads) countries like Chine and Cuba! How did you get onto these festivals?

The Prophecy has always been a hard working band and it was great to see this pay off with the China and Cuba festivals. I think it is our adventurous spirit combined with the strength of our determination to get our music heard that drives us to always seek new places to perform. We see ourselves as pioneers of the scene seeking out new audiences and introducing them to a totally different style of music that challenges their perceptions of the boundaries of what metal music can be.

Main news from the band is recording of new album “Salvation” at Priory Studio; how much time did you spend there and what is your progress?

The new album took much longer than we expected to write. After 'Into the Light' we had a blank canvas. The only prerequisite was that this album would be better than the previous. We spent a month in Priory studios with this album, allowing some time to add studio inspirations to the framework of the recording.  There's only five tracks on this album which give the listener approaching an hour of music and whereas Into the light was a great collection of live songs, Salvation is much more indulgent, allowing us to really push our abilities and at the same time not worry too much how is going to work in the live arena.

Speaking of your last official release “Into the Light”… I remember that you kept a good balance between classic doom death metal and more progressive, calmer elements of your compositions, how did your sound change through last years?

“Into the Light” was the first the Prophecy album with our current line up and was very autobiographical. It was us as a band coming together to realise exactly what we wanted to sound like, unique with our own personalities expressed through each instrument. No longer a renaissance doom death band, we became tinged with progressive elements and forged our own style. It surprising that suddenly there are a number of 'progressive' doom bands out there following our lead. In some ways into the light was the dawning of our own realisation that we could be different and rather than emulating that which came before we could be something new and exciting.

How do you see a difference between atmosphere of old straightforward songs of The Prophecy and new progressive doom stuff? Did you write it in some different way?
There is a tremendous amount of thought going into our music these days. Its no coincidence Salvation has taken 4 years to record. We all have our input but we're forever stretching the boundaries of our abilities rather than settling for the first good sounding riff that comes along.


 How can you describe that changes which did drive you from classical death doom to it’s other form, does it come with age?

The change in styles has come with age, experience, maturity and confidence. We've performed many live gigs and always tested the songs out on the audience before recording. This album is the exception where none of the songs have been played live deliberately. We didn't want to constrain ourselves to writing songs that would just work on a live level, instead freeing us to write an album that flows rather than a collection of live songs.

Matt, you sang a lot with clear voice on “Into the Light”, it’s okay for me, but don’t you forget how to growl?

The vocals on the new album do feature quite a deal of clean singing but do not worry, we have not done an Opeth and done an album with no heavy vocals! The heavy vocals on this album duel with the clean vocals at times or add to the angst and ferocity of the heavier sections while the clean vocals are more poignant or be much heavier than when I've used them before.

I see now that songs from “Into The Light” sound bright yet sometimes despair, as if depression and frustration were leading motives of the album. What kind of themes did you choose for lyrics if new songs?

The theme of the new album as the title suggests is 'salvation' or at least the search and/or desire for it. It deals with the struggle for redemption in a world filled with temptation, where deliverance is far from assured. The album artwork has been superbly done by DOSE productions to our specifications and complements the album theme well. To be saved one first needs to be lost, to be redeemed means that one has to be forgiven. Its all darkness and light, something the prophecy specialises in.

Don’t you want to make an acoustic live set as 40 Watts Sun played? I think you could find few songs to perform such gig for an hour.

Its funny we have often talked of doing an acoustic set but have never quite got around to doing it. Perhaps one day we will but for the moment The Prophecy is still about the heavy riffs as well as the melancholia.

What are your priorities now when you work with new stuff? Are you going to start another big tour promoting new album?

So to the future. We unlikely to be touring in the fist half of this year as my first son is due to be born in February, so I am likely to be very busy. However we are looking to try get on some festivals over summer and then do some touring later on in the year. It all depends on what opportunities are presented to us. A return to Russia will be on the cards if we can find away, though this time we would love to travel outside of Moscow and see more of the country, especially St. Petersburg which i would personally like to experience. In the meantime we have already begun work on album number 5...

Thank you Matt, don’t forget to let us know about final dates of new release! Good luck mate! Do you have few more words for our readers?

The date for the release has still not been confirmed but were expecting it to be in January 2013. So far it has all mostly gone to plan and artwork, mastering etc are progressing nicely. I'm sure there will be some sort of fanfare when everything is finalised. As for your readers we really want to be able to visit you guys again. Moscow made us feel very welcome despite our very poor grasp of Russian. I'm sure our pronunciation was terrible but the bar tender always got our orders right! So enjoy the album and be patient as we will try our best to play for you again.

Interview By Aleks Evdokimov

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Indianapolis-based DEVIL TO PAY are in the process of putting the final touches on their fourth album and looking at a March, 2013 release. The new album, tentatively titled “Fate is your Muse”, is a collection of hard hitting metaphysical introspection after vocalist-guitarist Steve Janiak’s self-described ‘epiphany’ in 2011. With topics ranging from reincarnation, quantum physics, alternate universes, the illusion of time, and the mystery of consciousness itself, each song is like a window with a different view on reality. Fusing monstrous Sabbath-like riffs with memorable melodies and intricate instrumental textures, the album takes DEVIL TO PAY to untold levels of musical and lyrical growth. Tracking began late this summer at Azmyth Studios with Ryan Adkins at the helm, getting the levels just right. The final mixes were turned in to rock n’ roll preservationist Tony Reed, at HeavyHead Studios, for final mastering. In the meantime, DEVIL TO PAY and GloryHole Records will soon be releasing an advance 7” single on red and black colored vinyl, featuring the supercharged “This Train Won’t Stop” and the boogie-laden “Tie One On”. The record will be available on the GloryHole Records web site  and at the band’s release party on December 8th at Radio Radio in Indianapolis.

A group that started off as a side project, DEVIL TO PAY has become the primary vehicle of expression for each band members’ love of music. What began as a stoner rock outfit with a doom edge has morphed into a genre-bending and multi-faceted heavy rock unit. The band hails the almighty riff, but never forgets that the song is still king. This attention to detail is what will keep a melody stuck in your head for days on end, and what elevates DEVIL TO PAY above the monotony. Now celebrating their 10th year, DEVIL TO PAY has aged like Kentucky bourbon, distilling a culmination of years of sweat, highway miles, cigarette smoke and hangovers into crushing compositions and bone-jarring, heavy musical moments.

With a catalog of underground releases, DEVIL TO PAY gained accolades, awards and a hard earned cult-like status. They have established themselves as the go-to band for those searching out more than just a few killer riffs; a foundation of heavy that will flourish under the Ripple banner.

For a sneak peek and more information on the band, please visit:

www.deviltopay.net

From Earsplit PR ...

Östergötland/Norrköping, Sweden-based occult rock quintet YEAR OF THE GOAT are in the final stages of preparation for the release of their debut full-length, Angel’s Necropolis, the album to be set free upon the Earth this December 7th, 2012 via Germany’s cult clique Ván Records. Preceded only by two short EP’s, also released by their comrades at Ván Records, Angel’s Necropolis is a brilliantly infectious album highlighting the classic metal/occult rock harmonies YEAR OF THE GOAT seemingly permeate the air around them with, rather than “perform” or “execute” said riffery. The atmospheric permeation of the eight rituals which comprise their Angel’s Necropolis offering form the proper conditions to transport the listener to another plane of existence for over fifty minutes; a meditative state in tribute to Lucifer and his legions. YEAR OF THE GOAT now offer a sampling of their magic to the world; a hymn professing not only their talent and devotion to their songcraft, but also proof of their unwavering allegiance to their master. Engulf yourself in “I’ll Die For You” and more AT THIS LOCATION.

Stay tuned for proclamations of live rituals and more propaganda on this act over the coming weeks as the album nears delivery.

Angel’s Necropolis Track Listing:

1. For The King
2. Angels' Necropolis
3. Spirits Of Fire
4. A Circle Of Serpents
5. Voice Of A Dragon
6. This Will Be Mine
7. I'll Die For You
8. Thin Lines Of Broken Hopes

Review copies of Angel’s Necropolis and interviews with YEAR OF THE GOAT are available now worldwide via Earsplit PR: earsplitpr@aol.com.

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I’ve found this topic into Russian half-dead forum doom-metal.ru, it was dedicated to women who do their offerings to Doom Cult singing and playing in bands. Of course it was a good theme for our regular doom-quiz, and now you see first part of our interview with those ladies who bring their charm and sense of beauty to this deadly musical art. Hey, hold your jaw, mate, we’re not going to burn any witches today!

We have 6 questions for this time, here they are:
1. What is a current state of the band and what are your plans for nearby future?
2. What are your favorite doom-topics? What kind of songs lyrics do you like most and what is an example of perfect doom lyrics for you?
3. What did influence onto your manner of singing or playing? What are strong sides of your band?
4. How do you see women role in doom music? What is women contribution in that genre besides endless inspiration that makes men writes songs about their broken hearts and burning witches?
5. Do you ever deal with drunken fans who tell you words of confession and adoration during your gigs?
6. Do you care about your appearance during gigs?

Hands of Orlac (Italy / Sweden)
The Sorceress (vocals, flute)

1) In September The Templar and me moved to Sweden, for the other members of the band are swedish. So now as long as we live all in the same country we'll have the opportunity to work properly on  new material, set show... At the moment things are moving with Wandering Midget in January and a show with Denial of God.

2) Every Hands of Orlac's song tells a story. These stories are inspired from certain movies, books, novels etc... I try to recreate the kind of atmsphere that moved me, in music. the topic I love and those that fit perfectly on our music style, are those conserning the italian '60 gothic movies. The characters, the environment, the stories, the castles, the athomsphere... everything is so oniric and so italian, if you know what I mean. Maybe the perfect lyrics ever wrote, those who are perfect for the music, are the lyrics of Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath. Is like being there, in a nightmare. And if you think about the movie by Mario Bava "I tre volti della paura" aka "Black Sabbath" you really get what's my point of view.

3) I always immagined a deep voice for HoO, slow and intense. Like a voice that try to ipnotize you. And then alternate it with desperate screams or fast parts. I think that the strong side of HoO is the mix of two different cultures. Even though the italians moved to Sweden, they really want to keep alive the italian side of the band. They we'll always look and take inspiration from the good italian horror culture.

4) Well, I have to say that is not easy for me answer this question. I cannot think anything else that some people meeting, having a certain idea of music and following it, forming a band, writing songs... All the differents and the charactetistics of these people create something special. Being a woman, could be one of these. Of course a female voice gives a certain colour, especially if you think of the immaginary around witches, courses, sabbaths... Sure enough a woman can get a particular effect to the music, but I still think that is just  an aspect of the band.

5) Once in Finland we were playing and a very drunk guy  who spent all the gig sending me kisses, took my hand and pulled me towards him. I had enough strength to stop him and take my hand away. At the end of the show he came to me saying he really loved to show, my husband was behind my shoulders, so he just thanked and left. But after all he was a nice guy.

6) HoO is a horror theme band, so we always appear and dress up like our character. I usually dress in black, heavy eyes make-up, nothing special. I'm not very much a girly kind.

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Reino Ermitano (Peru)
Tania Duarte (vocals)

1. We are working on the composition of songs for a new record and are up to playing wherever we are invited, so hopefully we can tour new lands soon!

2. I personally appreciate topics like magic, existentialism, social and religious protest, paganism, inner darkness, solitude and the inner mental struggle to survive in stupid society.

3. One of my main influences as a singer is Nina Hagen in the sense of voice variations and moods, assuming several characters within a song. This is something I try to do according to the topic or feeling of a song.
I´d say the strong sides of Reino Ermitaño have more to do with making songs out of what´s in our hearts and minds at the moment, without any genre limitations of what doom should or not sound like. It´s about this freedom and quest for individual creation. I also dig Eloy´s guitar solos and how the drums are played.

4. I believe women incorporate more heaviness and magic into doom, stubbornness and conviction without having to exploit their feminine sexual side. Take Electric Wizard, Acid King, Cauchemar, Blood Ceremony and many more as examples. In spite of the existing chauvinism in rock and metal, I´d say doom has been enriched by the collaboration of female members towards achieving a natural balance in their bands´music with their contribution whilst having to face some prejudice and harsh criticism for daring to enter male terrain.

5. Some times.

6.  I think when you present yourself on stage you´re making a statement about who you are, what you believe in, your life style and aesthetics and the visual aspect is part of the show, complementing with the music and movements on stage. You are representing a musical ideological movement and feeling its strength, so even if I wear the ordinary T-shirt and jeans I´ll add a new element that is special for me to wear on a stage.

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Ritual Of The Oak (Australia)
Sabine Hamad-Linfoot (vocals)

1. In a nutshell, we are working on our third album and playing a couple of gigs around Australia for some fun! The third album is almost finished; we've written most of the material for it and are considering recording it early 2013. Exciting times!

2. That would be a little bit of the past and a bit of our present reality: I like reading on the occult and ancient religions and rituals, so I get excited about these topics in music and luckily there's no shortage of occult themed doom! The perfect doom song lyrically has got to be Demon's Gate by Candlemass. If that isn't a perfect and picturesque image of hell, I don't know what is!

3. I get in my own zone when I'm singing and focus all my thoughts on my own psyche. The result is almost always entrenched in personal sentiments and genuine feel, and that seems to compliment our sound! As far as singing influences go, I gotta say I draw a lot of inspiration from the vocals of Johan Langqvist.
I think our strength as a band lies in the variety in our songs. We've been broadening our music beyond your typical doom sound. For example, you can hear some folky moments in Come Taste the Doom, and the songs on one record can take you through different genres. This is translating very accurately in the new album and we can't wait to see how our fans will react to our new sound.

4. Women have inspired artists and musicians since the dawn of time, so I do trust they also play the role of a muse in doom as well. I have definitely written songs about witches burning at the stake, but that's more to bring to light the event itself rather than the gender of the witch (a lot of witches executed by the church were men after all!) But other than that, I fail to see the difference between male and female musicians.

5. That happened once! At Doom Shall Rise because it seems Europe digs us! And it turns out said drunken Europeans happened to be some mad bastards; so I made some new friends. But we live in Australia, where doom comes to die, so not much praise and adoration going on here!

6. I try! hah! I usually just jump on stage in my denim vest and band shirt. I don't believe in make up much. I just can't justify spending half an hour fixing my face only to risk some running mascara and panda eyes on stage. That said, I have implemented some cool spiky high heeled boots in my live performance as of late, which proved to be popular among the females more so than boys! But I really don't tend to put too much emphasis on material crap since at the end of the day, people are turning up for the music, not my fashion sense! 

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shEver (Switzerland)
Jessica (guitars, vocals)

1. At the moment we're looking for a new bass player, because Nadine left the band. Next steps are recording a split-LP with our friends of the German sludge band "Spancer" in December or January and playing more gigs to promote our new album.

2. There is no special topic that influences our lyrics or we do like the most. But we will never write any lyrics on politics, that's for sure.

3. Some bands who influenced our manner of singing or playing are:
Black Sabbath, Eyehategod, My Dying Bride, Kyuss, Isis or Amenra. The strong sides of shEver are definitely our live-gigs. We often hear, that our sound is very varied. We don't do any "special shows", we are authentic.

4. There are too less women in doom music:) But we think that women are better accepted in the doom scene than in any other metal scene. We don't think that there are so many differences between women and men in the doom metal scene. Emotional sound may be more important than technical skills in female doom bands. This is the nature of us women, we're more emotional:)

5. Sometimes it happens yes, but rather after our gigs.

6. We don't care a lot about our appearance during gigs, but for sure we dress comfortable and "functional".

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 Show of Bedlam (Canada)
Paulina Richards (vocals)

1. Right now, we are about to release our first full length album, which is something that makes me incredibly happy since it was a long and hard process and I never thought I'd see the end of it. The band has gone through many twists and turns, it hasn't a been a smooth ride. Nevertheless, not everything is doom and gloom I guess as this album will be hot off the presses in a couple of weeks and we're planning on going on tour in May next year with an incredibly great band that are also friends of ours. Let's cross fingers that this actually happens!

2. I can't think of a perfect example of doom lyrics, because I just don't think doom, or any other type of music for that matter, encapsulates specific types of lyrics. Of course there is a tendency to write about darker subject matter in doom, but it's not the case of every band. As for the kind of song lyrics I like the most, I'd say I like to hear songs about very personal and intimate stuff, I can relate to that. Writing for me is like opening a valve, letting things out that otherwise remain stuck. I love the way Sylvia Plath writes, some people have accused her of “emotional exhibitionism”. For me, that is the whole point. It is a form of exorcism if you will. It's very therapeutic, and it's free!

3. Many artists have influenced me in different ways, not only in my way of singing, but also in the fact that I sing at all. Years ago, I would have never thought it would be possible for me to sing on a stage, I am too damn shy for that. But at one point my desire to communicate and create things got stronger to the point of it being unbearable. So I just said “fuck it”, some people will like it, others will not, in the end, it doesn't matter. Many of the artists I admire are not what we could call “trained singers”, but they still have very strong and unique voices and, most of all, they have something to say. Others have the “perfect” trained voice and something to say, which for some would be the best case scenario. Artists like Lydia Lunch, Kat Bjelland, Diamanda Galas, Jarboe, P.J. Harvey, Julie Christmas, Siouxsie Sioux, L7, Rozz Williams, etc., have influenced me a lot. I guess one of the strong sides of the band is the fact that we all have very diverse influences, from post-punk, to post-hardcore, deathrock, to black metal, doom and crust punk. It makes a really interesting mix of musical input. We love to experiment with structures and sounds and we intend to take it even further in the future.

4. The role of women in doom music is not any different than that of men. It's to make music. I don't like the term “woman musician”, we're just musicians, period. Really? Writing songs about broken hearts and burning witches? Women also do that about men, trust me! ;)

5. I have had to. But I wouldn't say that I had to “deal” with them, on the contrary, I think it is very flattering and encouraging. They say children and drunk people don't lie...

6. Not really, not more than I do day in day out. Besides, I don't think people come to see me, they come to hear the band play. Many times, there are projections at our shows, and you can't see us anyways, so what gives?

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 Shroud Eater (United States)
Jeannie Saize (guitars, vocals)

1. Currently we're wrapping up 2012 by playing shows. We recorded some songs and who knows if they will ever be released, it's been so damn long that we've been waiting on one thing or another. I don't even remember what we recorded.

2. Lyrics are subjective, and personal. I don't know that I have favorite topics to write about other than things that are affecting me at the moment. A perfect lyric could be one thing one day, and something the next - it depends on my mental state and what i'm feeling.

3. I can't sing properly. I don't have a nice voice. I can scream, but I can't do those deep grunts or growls. I try to do the best I can with what I have.

4. I see women's role the same as I see men's roles... to me it's not really about someone's gender. At least it shouldn't be. It's about the music you make and what inspires you to do it.

5. I think people are scared of and generally avoid me. I'm not good at talking to people and if I feel like I'm getting attention I try to find a dark corner to hang out in by myself.

6. Not at all. I look the same when I go to work, when I hang out with friends as when I play shows. Except I'm much sweatier when I play gigs.

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 Wooden Stake (United States)
Vanessa Nocera (bass, vocals)

1. We just had a line-up change with the band with the addition to Tony Profer on all guitars and some keyboards. Wayne’s still on drums and I am still doing bass and vocals. The new album is currently being recorded and hopefully soon we will have an advanced track to post on our site.

2. I guess perfect Doom lyrics for me have an undertone of darkness and the occult. I generally write about the dark arts, Satanism, horror topics, and touch on lighter subjects like ghost stories and haunts (that must be the Kind Diamond influence).

3. I have many influences on my music. When it comes to singing I have a wide range of people who inspire me. With clean vocals you can tell inspiration from Stevie Nicks, Peter Murphy, Siouxsie Sioux, Ann Wilson, etc. I think the strong side of the band is the whole band. We each bring our own style and it comes together perfectly I think.

4. It seems the doom crowd is a little more accepting toward women than death and black metal crowds, but I guess each woman has her own role depending on what band she’s in. Doom seems to have a stronger female presence than other genres of metal, but I’m not sure. I’m mainly in the death metal scene, so it’s tough sometimes when asked about doom and other women in the scene.

5. Unfortunately, we do not play shows. Hopefully this will change soon and we will be able to play. I have played live before with a previous band and yes, I can say sometimes guys can be a little overbearing, but sometimes it’s really flattering and enjoyable.

6. Yes and no. I care to a certain extent as far as what I would wear, but I’m not going to check every 5 minutes if my hair and make-up are perfect because I’m going to be too busy banging my head

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Undersmile (United Kingdom)
Taz Corona-Brown (guitars, vocals) and Hel Sterne (guitars, vocals)

1. Hel: Prior to and since releasing our first album at the end of May this year we've been writing and working on loads of new material. We're not allowed to say what we have in the pipeline for next year at the moment but there are two announcements that will made about what's going on in the next few months and we're very excited to get that out there.
Taz: At the moment we've mostly been hiding ourselves away in the practice studio working on and recording new material for a (currently) secret and very exciting project. Performance-wise, our next gig will be for Sirius Promotions' all-dayer on 17th of November at The Asylum in Birmingham alongside our friends Cultura Tres, Grimpen Mire and Slabdragger to name but a few....

2. H: Just have a look at the lyric sheet in Narwhal! (laughs) :P. But seriously, we tend to steer clear of quite a few of the stereotypes and prefer to use words that are evocative of the feeling we're trying to convey. “Doom” in the literal sense of (impending) dread, claustrophobia and fear are at the backbone of our lyrics, to a greater and lesser extent, some are themes, some are more abstract. This doesn't mean they have to be obviously implied either, it's more about creating an atmosphere with them – that, to us, is equally as important as the music itself and we take it very seriously. My answer is, I like to have a picture painted for me through lyrics and when the music fits perfectly too it should be like seeing a vision, this is the criteria for perfect doom lyrics.
T: For me, there is no horror to be found in many of the prevalent or typical doom themes. The terror of the mundane and the banality of everyday life are far more horrific. In my opinion, the bands that have captured this most perfectly in their lyrics are Harvey Milk - particularly on their album A Small Turn Of Human Kindness, which is a work of poetic genius; Pissed Jeans, who combine a sense of humour with a sense of despair, notably in Goodbye Hair (a song lamenting the loss of one's hair) and Swans, who displayed some truly disturbing lyrics in their Cop-era work. Personal experiences of claustrophobia, panic attacks, nightmares and sleep paralysis have been influential on myself and Hel in our songwriting, both musically and lyrically.

3. H: One of the elements that sets us apart from other bands is our vocal style, some people love it and some people hate it, but either way it's renown for being unique. Taz and I have taken our influences and over time our style has evolved into what we sound like now, vocal drawl, chants, whispers and broken hymn-like melodies. The four of us have been heavily influenced by music of the 90's, particularly grunge and the vocal character of the likes of (Babes in Toyland, Nirvana, Alice in Chains, early Hole to name a few). Also folk and dark folk music; Nick Cave's murder ballads, Mark Lanegan, Neutral Milk Hotel, to the more current bands we share a common love of.
T: Vocally and musically, we draw inspiration from a wide variety of artists. Everything from the despondent drawl of Pissed Jeans or Harvey milk, the off-kilter discordance of Codeine, the slow/heavy riffs of Melvins, the sparseness and brevity of Earth, to the impossibly perfect lyricism of Leonard Cohen. With our vocals, the intention is to add to the atmosphere of disorientation and claustrophobia created by the music. Hel and I always favour disharmony, with just brief moments of harmony, which aim to provide relief, conclusion and contrast. Musically, we utilise repetition and discordant notes to create an element of confusion.

4. H: We're very proud to be associated with the women within the SSD scene, they're all serious musicians and are extremely good at what they do, besides being lovely individuals. I think it's clear that women no longer have to prove themselves in terms of being able write, play and perform music as well as any man can. Obviously there is always going to be residual sexism by the odd ignoramus here and there (admittedly, there have been several), but on the whole the consensus has become far more equal than ever before. The numbers of influential women making an impact in the genre has grown and is on the rise, making it a really good time to be in the music scene. I can speak for us all when I say we're glad to be a part of it.
T: There have been many women who've played a considerable role in shaping sludge/stoner/doom from the early days of the scene - Lorax in Melvins and Jarboe in Swans, for example. Women have always been responsible for writing, creating and performing truly extreme music. Yes, we're still in the minority but that is changing rapidly, there are so many incredible women in SSD at the moment.  We have experienced a small amount of sexism, though this has, generally been confined to the more straightforward metal genre, rather than doom itself. Thankfully, this sort of reaction is rare and these days the only answer to the question, 'what do women contribute to doom music?' is - the same thing that men contribute to doom music.

5. H: We often get appreciative comments from people at gigs and we like to hang out and chat with those who take an interest in Undersmile. There haven't been too many occasions where anyone has been out of order, although we have had some creepy things happen on Facebook (which I can't really mention just in case). People are generally very respectful in general though which is cool.
T: Most people who speak to us at our gigs are nothing but courteous, they just want to talk to us about music, which is something we are always happy to do . The scene here in the UK is a genuine and friendly one, so we're very lucky. You do get the occasional drunkard but they've always been good natured, in our experience. Online though, we have had a few unsettling comments, particularly on our video for Milk on Youtube....

6. H: Firstly I should point out that on a normal day Taz and I both wear relatively similar outfits to those we wear on stage (and have worn alternative clothing all our lives). We always wear make up and dresses as standard throughout the week, although we do make more of an effort for gigs. In all honesty, we'd like to be like Kim Deal and just rock out in jeans and t-shirt, but that's not really our style. I couldn't live without my war paint!
T: We certainly derive a (guilty) pleasure from subverting expectations. Some people (luckily, a minority) write us off as a novelty/ riot grrl/ grunge act based upon our appearance, which, we've been told, only serves to create more of an impact when they hear us play. Our style of dress is far from being contrived for effect though, Hel and I grew up in the 1990s and our heroines were Kat Bjelland, Courtney Love, Bjork, L7 etc... We genuinely dress like this every day (which probably explains the strange looks I get in t'village ;p). We usually stick out like two sore thumbs at our gigs- white lace, adrift in a sea of black leather and bushy beards!

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Interviews By Aleks Evdokimov

Alunah are proud to announce that they have signed a deal with Napalm Records / Spinning Goblin Productions! The legendary Austrian label, home to Karma to Burn, The Sword, Candlemass, The Answer, Brant Bjork and Monster Magnet just to name a few, will be re-releasing their second album “White Hoarhound” on 12” vinyl mid January. The limited edition 12” vinyl gatefold  will be available in two colours – white and transparent green. The tracks have been remastered for vinyl by Tony Reed and will sound warmer and heavier than ever! The gatefold also features new artwork. Sophie Day, singer and guitarist commented about the band’s new deal “Alunah are extremely happy to be joining the Napalm Records / Spinning Goblin Productions family with the upcoming vinyl release of our current album. We’re sitting amongst some amazing bands and the label really understand what we’re about, 2013 looks set to be a great year for us”.  Sophie also said this about Alunah's PR company "Platinum PR have done a great job in getting us coverage in the European press, we really hope that we can expand on that coverage with this release and subsequently, our tour".

Alunah will be touring Europe in 2013 to support the vinyl release, as for remaining 2012 dates, they will be playing with Gentlemans Pistols on Friday November 16th in their home city of Birmingham, England and with Gods of Hellfire and Arkham Witch in Bradford on Saturday 10th November.  They will also be working with Oath Communications to film and produce a new video to accompany the track “White Hoarhound” .

Visit Napalm Records: HERE
Visit Spinning Goblin Productions: HERE
Visit Platinum PR: HERE
Visit Alunah: HERE

Today, OPIUM WARLORDS premiere the new track "The Wind is a Gift From a Distant Friend" on heavily trafficked web-portal CvltNation.com. The track hails from OPIUM WARLORDS' forthcoming We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky, set for international release on November 30th through SVART RECORDS. Featuring ex-Reverend Bizarre mainman Sami Albert Hynninen, OPIUM WARLORDS' We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky is the band's highly anticipated second album, and first for SVART. The exclusive stream of OPIUM WARLORDS' "The Wind is a Gift From a Distant Friend" can be heard in its entirety here: Cvlt Nation

After three years of mental purgatory and dwelling in the sewers of the netherworld, OPIUM WARLORDS return to life. We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky is a daring and demanding glimpse of one person’s private hell/heaven, but because of its un-belonging quality, it also deals with the layers of human life that we all share: the primal elements that are the same in all of us.

Instead of being bound to one tradition or context, this music is global in a pure and un-degenerated sense of the word, and is meant to be heard by everyone – beyond all the scenes, groups, and genres – who has sensitivity, courage, and willingness to open up their hearts and souls and to literally gaze at and (to be precise) to become one with extreme light and darkness. It is an invitation to worlds inside the artist, but also the listener himself/herself.

Phobos and Deimos, Fear and Dread, are the moons of Mars, The God of War. Imagine what kind of cosmic music might vibrate from there to our Earth? Even if not perhaps "entertainment" per se, it may open up gateways to a different kind of luxuries of leisure, relaxation, and self-consciousness, if you just allow it to access your life.

Tracklisting for OPIUM WARLORDS' We Meditate Under the Pussy in the Sky
1. Sxi-Meru
2. Slippy
3. Lament For The Builders Of Khara Khoto
4. This Wind Is A Gift From A Distant Friend
5. Satan Knew My Secret Heart

***OPIUM WARLORDS' We Mediate Under the Pussy in the Sky will be released on November 30th,  2012 through SVART RECORDS on CD and LP***

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It comes with real joy today that OM have delivered a massive black and white video for “State Of Non-Return” one of the album tracks from their most recent opus Advaitic Songs which came out in Summer on Drag City.

Offering a fly-on-the-wall glimpse of OM deep in big-time studio meditation, director Terrie Samundra and director of photography/editor Walter Lech capture the band riffing with themselves, rifling with others, and relishing it all through the mixing board in contemplative fashion, clearly guided (and sated) by unknown forces.



Source: The Sleeping Shaman

Here’s a pretty rare video of SLEEP performing outside of Che Cafe in San Diego in what I’m guessing is 1992.  This was obviously pre Holy Mountain.  While most of the songs from this set were on that album, the songs are played a bit fast and sloppy in the way that new songs are.  This set also has the only known performance of the unreleased song “Hot Lava Man” on video. The quality of the video is a bit rough, it’s several generations old, there are some tracking issues, and there are some cuts between and in songs.  Still, it was shot from all sides, usually from the roof of the Che.  The audio was a bigger mess, though luckily I was able to fix some of it.  It was in mono, and often times would slide out of sync with the video after each time the tape cut.  I went through and fixed all of that as best I could, and now I can watch it without being driven crazy.  Well, now that this is up, if anyone has any leads on a better quality copy of this show, or has any old Sleep footage at all, hit me up, let’s trade!  For everyone else, light up a big joint and crank the volume, it’s fucking SLEEP!!!!



- Dan HASHTHRASH ( Kill That Cat )

I often get asked where is a good place to start with death doom. Well I couldn't honestly say Eye of Solitude's 'Sui Caedere' is a good way of introducing yourself to the genre, not because it is bad but just because it is such an exhausting, draining album to sit through. At 73 odd minutes, this death-doom album is a long drawn-out affair that death-doom purists will eat up with no problems but for new fans, this album could be considered a torturous affair. The band has been signed to Kaotoxin Records which is mostly known for grind and death metal bands but Eye of Solitude play death-doom in the vein of the Peaceville Three with hints of Shape of Despair and Evoken and they are very good at it to boot.

The album opens up with the most death metal inspired moment in 'Awoken by Crows' but after that it is all slow, doom and atmospheric gloom. The band are predictable but in a good way as they channel a much used formula but thankfully, they don't over abused any of the clichés normally associated with the death doom scene. In fact it is not till you get to track 5 'Depths Of A Sick Mind' till there is any real break in the formula. The track with its atmospheric haunting feel is a perfect vehicle for vocalist Daniel Neagoe's majestic voice even though it is still in the mold of a million other death-doom growler's. The album flows along quite nicely till you get to the 13 minute 'Those Who Don't Return' and then it does start to get a bit too exhausting for the average listener. What the album does have in its favor is how the album becomes slightly more experimental the longer it goes on. The album's second half is more interesting than the first from a musical standpoint so I highly urge you to resist the temptation to hit the stop button halfway through which is what many folks will most likely do with 'Sui Caedere.'

What has to be also said about this album is the release is oddly commercial by death-doom standards and that certainly plays a large role in keeping this very long album listenable right up to its dying moments. There are some very strong melodies in the album and there isn't one track on the album where melody is forsaken just for the sake of pure heaviness. There is also a great crossover thing happening on this album. Songs like 'The Haunting' dabble in funeral doom waters while other tracks like 'Yet I Breathe' and 'Departure' are layered in synths so they have a very melodic death doom feel. That diversity really helps this album along and while this is one hell of a heavy release, it is also easy-listening most of the time. There are no real scary moments really but it is full of memorable passages and not many death-doom bands create songs that you can hum along with so that is a major plus for the band. Death doom fans should find this a pleasant experience without changing the way you think about the genre. It is almost worth buying just for the vocals alone but the production and musicianship also has to be admired.....8/10.

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The band from Sweden who got their name from an Ufomammut record freely admit they are fans of Yob and the band successfully channel the style of that band on this EP/album titled 'Samsara.' There are only 3 tracks on this release and the total running time is a mere 35 minutes but what you get is a totally captivating sludge-metal trip. With the songs ranging from 9 to 14 minutes in length, any listener would hope they don't make things drag on too much and they don't but the 3 tracks still take their time getting into top gear. Snailking might be huge fans of Yob but don't expect a clone band. Snailking are equal parts Sleep, Electric Wizard and Monster Magnet. The variations come thick and fast and at no time does this short and sweet beast get stuck in a rut.

There is also a lot of 70's progressive rock elements and psychedelia is present through the entire recording. Opening track 'Shelter' kicks off with a simple but effective groove and it does take its time building its momentum but once the vocals kick in, this is classic stuff. Mixing bluesy elements with heavy as heavy gets is nothing new in the sludge-metal world but there is something refreshing about the way Snailking goes about their business. 'Shelter' ends up bubbling along at a energetic pace for the rest of its duration so it ends up being a very tasty 14 minute riff-fest. The other two tracks here, 'In the Wake' and the title track follow on in a similar vein, psychedelic, jammy and well crafted.

If you like the other bands I have mentioned here in this little review then that is all you need to know really. This is psychedelic sludge-metal without any doom plodding. The band gallop at a pace that verges on frantic at times and so this three-tracker seems much shorter than what it actually is. One gripe however is the sound or lack of sound coming from the bass. Sure it is there, you can hear it but instead of supplying some extra meat to the sound, it is relegated to the background of the mix which ends up making this sound a little too thin. Sludge-metal is and should be all about volume, power and intensity but 'Samsara' seems to be lacking. Apart from that, it is all smooth sailing for this bunch of Swedish doomsters. If you want your sludge to make your neck hurt, then this is a band you must check out. They are hardly doing anything unique but with great riffage and an irresistible grooves, 'Samsara' is mostly a winner. Pity it is all so short, give us more soon guys...8/10.

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There are some bands that never let you down and Blood of the Sun are one of those. Their self titled album, 'In Blood We Rock' and the amazingly awesome 'Death Ride' are all certified classic releases. Some bands have to work hard at recreating the 70's hard rock feel but for this band it seems to come naturally. The band's mainstays have been Henry Vasquez (drums) and Dave Gryder (keys) but they also have enlisted some other amazing talent over the years, most notably Derek St. Holmes from Ted Nugent's band. 'Burning on the Wings of Desire' has the added bonus of Scott “Wino” Weinrich who makes an appearance on the closing tune 'Good and Evil.' I always thought that 'Death Ride' would have catapulted the band into mainstream acceptance but it didn't happen and if that isn't a sad reflection on today's music scene then I don't know what is. So now it is up to this album to push the band further up the ladder and it should do just that but I wont make any big predictions because lets face it, the modern music scene is well ....... fucked up.

'Death Ride' was a fairly lengthy affair but this one is just a mere 39 minutes which gives the album even more of a vintage vinyl aura about it. If you have never heard the band, shame on you but if the likes of Deep Purple, early ZZ Top and Mountain is your idea of a good time then this band is a no brainer. So good are BOTS that they in many respects beat those 70's giants at their own game. With glorious keyboard sounds, meaty riffs, irresistible vocal melodies and top-shelf production, this album is a triumph on all counts. The opener 'Let It Roll' does indeed get the ball rolling with an energetic bouncy riff. St Holmes has been replaced with John O’Daniel for this album and that is perhaps the albums biggest surprise, all I can say is where has this man been hiding. Of course he and guitarist Rusty Burns are from the southern rock band Point Blank but I never realized how great these people are. 'Let It Roll' has amazing killer hooks but you will soon discover so does every other track as well.

The title track follows 'Let It Roll' with the glorious Hammond organ really asserting itself in all its majestic beauty and throbbing power. Not since Jon Lord has the Hammond organ sounded so juicy and meaty. The guitar work is very Blackmoreish but without the wanky classical touches, the guitar work is in a more bluesy vein than what old blackers was famous for. If a band must have a certain chemistry to succeed then Blood of the Sun must have it by the bucket load. The keys and guitar bounce off each other constantly not so much in a battle for the limelight but to serve the songs as much as possible. You want headbanging riffs? Then tracks like 'Can't Stop my Heart' and the cowbell laced 'Brings Me Down' deliver the goods. 'Bring Me Down' is the albums most modern passage but that comment is a stretch on my part, this is totally a mid 70's hard rock burner all the way.

If titles like 'Rock Your Station' and 'Good Feeling' sound like something made for classic rock radio then wait to you hear the actual songs. Incredibly catchy these songs are but devoid of any of the pure cheese that plagues many a retro band. 'The Snitch' and the Wino led Good and Evil close the album in a powerful all meat and potatoes kick ass style, full of energy and with the guitar and keys kicking up a storm while O'Daniel continues his powerhouse vocal performance. There is not much you can say about this except to say that for 70's hard rock sounds, Blood of the Sun are as good as it gets. Their influences are obvious but not once do you get the feeling you have heard it all before. The freshness of the material plus the organic approach makes this an album of the very highest quality.....the kind of album you can and will listen to forever. If something sounds timeless the first time you hear it, then you know you got something special playing on the stereo and 'Burning on the Wings of Desire' has it all and more.....10/10.



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