Earth Electric – Vol 1 : Solar


The latest project of former Mayhem guitarist Rune “Blasphemer” Eriksen, Earth Electric finds the Norwegian musician in typically progressive and diverse form. Forming the band in 2014, and working alongside soprano vocalist Carmen Susana Simões, from Eriksen’s Gothic/Doom act Ava Inferi, the pair hired DragonForce drummer Luigi “Gee” Anzalone, and Doro‘s Luca Princiotta, and recorded a three track demo entitled 2014 the same year.Continue reading


Novembers Doom – Hamartia


A band like Novembers Doom could only come from a cold place, where nights are long and bleak and depression stalks you like some winged, fork-tongued creature straight from a Clive Barker novel. And if you’ve ever felt the wind blowing off of Lake Michigan in winter, you’ll know the cold, bleak Chicago from which Novembers Doom hails.Continue reading


R.I.P. – In The Wind


R.I.P.’s début In the Wind (RidingEasy) is, quite simply, a grimy middle finger to the heavier cadre of bands that take themselves and their image a bit too seriously. Dripping with reverb and cavernous echoes, the album may very well have been recorded not in the wind, but in a dark, dank basement obscured in thick, pungent smoke. Peeling walls decorated with black light posters. Lava lamps and ashtrays scattered about on a carpet sporting thirty-one flavors of stains.Continue reading


Roadburn Festival 2016 Part II: Various Venues, Tilburg NL


neurosis 30th anniversary at roadburn

Part II

Noticing Amenra would be doing an acoustic set on Saturday, it brought nothing but confusion since they are well-known for their vigorous, powerful live performances. Acoustic? Singer Colin van Eeckhout even admitted feeling very nervous at the beginning of the set. The band was sat in a circle in the semi-darkness of the stage, only slightly illuminated by beams of light. 013’s brand new main stage felt almost obscenely big for such an intimate setting. However, once they got started, this added a vibe of disconnection from the band that almost gave you a feeling you were watching something you weren’t supposed to see. They managed to find a way to play their 2009’s acoustic EP Afterlife so timid and delicate, that the crowd seemed to be in trance and didn’t wake up until their cover of Tool’s ‘Parabol’, which earned them a deafening applause. For their second set at the Afterburner, they were back to their post-metal selves, screeching, pounding and shredding in exactly the way we know and love them. Leaving us to timidly watch the ripples forming in our beers as if a T-rex came stomping by, while the magic from the night before faded to a distant memory.

Amenra, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Amenra, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

An unexpected highlight on the Saturday was Brothers of the Sonic Cloth. Both captivating and furiously loud, their psychedelic visuals and droning music created the perfect setting for a lot of people to hang out on the floor of the main stage and take in the wall of sound the Americans produced. For those of us feeling more awake, progressive space-rockers Astrosoniq, led by a very Rock’n’roll looking singer, gave a more fast-paced performance in the Green Room. Walter, in official terms the artistic director of Roadburn, but in reality the true heart and soul of the festival, brought out his visuals to accompany Astrosoniq’s very psychedelic guitar riffs.

 

Ghostcult Astrosoniq 47

Astroniq, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Roadburn 2014 favorites The Vintage Caravan showed up for a surprise gig at café Cul de Sac on Sunday. Well, I say surprise, but 30 minutes before showtime the venue was absolutely packed with people. There is only one way to actually see a band in Cul de Sac: be hella early. So we found ourselves snuggly between 150 hot and sweaty, hungover fans with no chance of reaching the bar or the toilets in the next hour-and-a-half. But boy, was it WORTH it. The Islandic rockers tried to drill out our hangovers with their heavy bass and guitarist Oskar‘s relentless headbanging let us forget that this was our fourth day at the festival already and we were supposed to be very tired.

The greatest thing about Roadburn must be the diversity of the people you meet. Surrounded by more foreigners than native Dutch, you usually leave the festival a couple of Finnish words wiser than you were before (none of which probably as innocent as they led you to believe). However, I’m not going to lie: people watching is right up there on my list of favorite pastimes, and there really isn’t a better place for it than Roadburn. Mainly because metal shows in themselves are beacons of creative and eccentric people. And Roadburn, well, that is the holy grail of metal shows. Amidst a goldmine of glorious manes and enviously long beards, there seem to be more crust punks than usual (thank you G.I.S.M and Converge) and of course every back patch under the sun.

 

 

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

 

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

 

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

Neurosis, by Susanne A. Maathuis Photography

One of the most spotted patches this year was obviously Neurosis. You’d think that playing two ’30th Anniversary’ sets would bring about its problems. After all, having a thirty-year spanning discography to choose from can’t be easy. Remarkably enough Neurosis managed to represent each and every one of their records during their shows, right back to their 1985 hardcore punk debut Pain of Mind. It is astounding to see how much they have grown and changed over the years, before they settled into their skin of a contemporary hurricane of genres, set to a baseline of doom. When the final tones of 1999’s ‘The Doorway’ sounded at the Afterburner, it left us with nothing but goosebumps, hands sore from clapping and a profound sense that 366 days are way too many to wait until the next Roadburn.

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WORDS BY CÉLINE HUIZER

PHOTOS BY SUSANNE A. MAATHUIS


Guest Post: Becky Laverty of Pioneer Press- End Of Year List


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As we dash towards the holidays and the end of the year Ghost Cult is feeling good about this season of giving. So we are giving our fans a chance to get to know our partners, peers, and friends from bands in the world of music. They will chime in with some guest blogs, end of year lists, and whatever else is on their minds as we pull the plug on 2015. Becky Laverty, publicist of Pioneer Press, who takes care of many of our favorite bands in the UK and europe, and handles all things press for Roadburn Festival, Damnation Festival and many others. This lovely lady has agreed to write us a list of her favorite releases of 2015, “in no particular order”.

 

ChvrchesEvery Open Eye

I listen to this to the point that my boyfriend hates it. ‘Empty Threat’ in particular is a banger

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MarriagesSalome

I missed seeing them live twice in April, but finally saw them on tour with Deafheaven.’Love, Texas’ is a favourite.

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Chelsea WolfAbyss

Listening to this feels like drowning, but in a good way.

Chelsea wolfe abyss album cover

 

 

The BridesmaidGrayson

A short release, and one I worked on, but it’s a fantastic first release and I can’t wait to hear what they produce next.

Grayson The Bridesmaid album cover

 

With The DeadWith The Dead

Another I worked on – which was an honour (featuring Lee Dorian of Cathedral) and a lot of fun. The album just crushes, pure and simple.

With The Dead, photo credit Ester Segarra

with The Dead, photo credit Ester Segarra

 

Insect ArkPortal/ Well

insect Ark

These are mesmerising live and beautiful to listen to on record. Highly recommended.

 

Carly Rae JepsonEmotion

Carly Rae Jepsen

I had to swap this in at the last minute… it’s full of pure pop hits, which in my opinion, is hard to beat.

 

Beach HouseThank Your Lucky Stars

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I listen to this when I’m alone and working quite a lot.

 

Royal ThunderCrooked Doors

royalthunder

I have a lot of love for Royal Thunder and want desperately for them to play over here again. ‘Time Machine’ is such a strong opener. Pow!

 

TribulationChildren of the Night

tribulation

Another band that nails it live – 100%, and they’re big fans of a lemon cheesecake martini, I hear.

 

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Brothers of Invention – Marco Serrato and Borja Diaz of Orthodox


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Orthodox 2015. Photo Credit: Adrian Morote

Sevillan duo Orthodox are respected in underground Metal circles as a Progressive Doom outfit. The band, however, see themselves as much more than the descriptors would suggest. From a chilly quadrant in Salford, Marco Serrato and Borja Diaz talk about their first tour of the UK, their transition from a trio to a duo, and the influences that vary their sound ahead of their as-yet-untitled fifth full-length, due in November.

“We have played Birmingham before, around 2008 and 2011; but this is our first full tour of the UK” states drummer Borja. “Here, we are playing five shows as Orthodox, and another with our other project, a free improvisation group called Sputnik Trio. Some people seem to have enjoyed us, but it’s not been too crowded so far: we’ve played in front of about 40 people in both London and Birmingham. England is sometimes a hard place for a small band as you have many big bands, and a busy gig culture compared to ours in Spain.”

The guys are still getting used to being without their former guitarist and founder member Ricardo Jiménez, who left the band last year after a decade of playing together. “It feels strange, and we miss him” reflects vocalist / bassist Marco, “But if we were still a trio we wouldn’t be here today. Ricardo is a schoolteacher, and could no longer play as often as we wanted to as he has other priorities. There were creative differences also, and these two things meant we had to part. It’s painful for both sides: I’ve known him since school, we have children who are friends with each other: but we are still friends.”

The band’s last album, Baal (Alone Records), was a more traditionally Doom-based outing than their previous three albums, and the duo have mixed feelings about it: “After two steps forward, Baal was a step backwards”, opines Borja, “though it was absolutely deliberate. We were so energised after our third album Sentencia (Alone Records), and a number of festivals wanted us including Roadburn. We have to write tunes that we can play live as a duo and a trio, as we usually require trumpets, horns, and all kinds of things, and many venues don’t pay us what we need to provide the extra musicians.”

“If we had money, we could afford to tour and show all the faces of Orthodox”, laments Marco. “Sadly, we will probably lose money even from this tour. People have this impression of us as a schizophrenic force that plays Metal, and we have managed to put this together in Seville where people can see how one thing speaks to another, a kind of Pink Floyd mentality, an organic flow from one thing to another. We like both Metal and Jazz, and like to incorporate the two. We both feel that our second album, Amanecer en puerta oscura (Alone), is the album which most represents our core. Baal is definitely our ‘Metal’ album!”

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So how do Orthodox describe Orthodox? “Everything”, states Marco somewhat arcanely. “Sometimes I still feel like that teenager who listened to Sodom and Sacred Reich, but I listen to many things and I’m tired of some of the stupid clichés that are often given in underground metal. You need freedom. I don’t feel offended when people call us a Doom band: I understand that people need labels, and as a point of departure maybe it’s correct. When we first started out we had bands like Cathedral and Sunn O))) in mind, but there’s more to our sound. I can probably identify more with Earth because they play slower and with hard riffs, but they think in ideas. I don’t connect so much with, say, Reverend Bizarre, which is a cool band but a little more generic. I personally am not that kind of musician!”

Both Marco and Borja are excited about that upcoming album, which recent single Crown for a Mole (Alone) indicates will be slightly more up-tempo: “There are a couple of faster songs on there”, asserts Marco. “We’ve wanted to play fast for some time. Overall, however, it is the closest album to Amanecer… that we have done. We have put all the faces together again in one album. You have the heavy stuff but you have horns, clarinets, we have a strange African-influenced song on there…we have missed a couple of things from Ricardo, like some of his crazy chords, but it sounds again like our vision.” So how is that rhythmic, sonorous balance achieved? “We play our instruments without many rules”, states Borja, “And sometimes they clash.” “When we were a trio” continues Marco, “we were three soloists playing together but there was always something happening: here we have lots of collaborations, with a guitar player, clarinetists, and saxophonists, so again we have so many different things in our sound.”

It sounds like a remarkable experience, which an Orthodox album always is. If you like your Low-end rhythms shot through with a sense of mystery, adventure, and no little beauty, this Spanish duo are most definitely worth your investigation.

 

WORDS BY PAUL QUINN


Limb – Terminal


Limb Terminal cover

If you visit their Facebook page, this London, England set of rabble-rousers’ bio simply states: “Tune it down, turn it up.” And now that I’ve given Limb’s new album Terminal (New Heavy Sounds) a few spins I have to wholeheartedly endorse that mantra.

For a band that’s only been around since 2011 the rattling guitar tone and stellar production sure sounds confident. Rob Hoey’s throaty barks serve as the perfect complement to Pat Pask’s downtuned blues and Tom Mowforth’s forceful but controlled work on the drums. In terms of sonic quality, these Londoners sound on par with most doom acts on imprints like Relapse or Profound Lore. It’s groovy enough to show to your dad, but has enough impact to satisfy the younger heshers.

Terminal starts off with ‘Three Snake Leaves’ and at a running time of 1:45 it sets the stage for the headbanging to come, but it also drove me to a realization. Compared to typical Doom or Sludge offerings the songs on Terminal tend to come and go very quickly. There are four tracks that are done and over with in or less than three minutes. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing as it won’t wear out its welcome, but it makes you wonder how numbers like ‘Mortuary Teeth’ would’ve turned out given a little more room to grow. Truth be told the best songs here like ‘Spoils of a Portrait King’ and ‘Cocytus’ happen to be the longest in terms of length and for slowing the tempos down to Jimmy Bower levels of guitar crunch. And I’m not saying that playing slower is the key either as ‘Down by the Banks’ has a Clutch level of self-assured heavy rock swagger.

I don’t want to make it seem like this is a bad record by any stretch of the imagination. Hell, there’s only one moment on Terminal that feels uninspired and it’s the appropriately titled ‘Sleepwalkers.’ It’s all just a matter of these young Brits adding some tweaks to the songwriting.

England started it all with Black Sabbath and kept that momentum going over the years with legendary noise merchants like Cathedral and Electric Wizard. Only time will tell if Limb are up to that task, but I like their chances.

7.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ

 


Roadburn 2016 Announced with Neurosis And Paradise Lost, Lee Dorian Curating


neurosis 30th anniversary at roadburn

Roadburn Festival 2016 has been announced for next April 14-17th in Tilburg, NL. Headlining the festival will be Neurosis in the midst of celebrating 30 years as a band with a career spanning set, and possibly supporting their highly anticipated new album. Joining them will be Paradise Lost who will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Gothic (Peaceville) album with a full performance. Curating the weekend-long event will be Lee Dorian (Cathedral, Napalm Death). Dorian performed with Cathedral at the very first Roadburn. More bands will be announced soon and tickets have yet to be released.

Lee Dorian commented on being chosen as the Roadburn 2016 curator:

“I feel very honoured to be handed this prestigious task to curate Roadburn 2016. Having been involved with Walter on a personal level for many years now, I always felt like part of the family, as opposed to being someone on the outside. So, with that in mind, I was both shocked and excited when he asked me to take on this fantastic opportunity.

I promise to make this an event that no-one will forget, and I’m already frothing at the potential of possibilities available!! It’s a dream and one that I never expected. This is what I love, so I will not disappoint. Come and join us in this ritualistic nirvana of praise and offerings to the unholy Blind Dead. Templars Arise!”

 

Roadburn Lee Dorian

 

Neurosis has released a statement on being named Roadburn headliner:

“To be invited to celebrate our 30th anniversary in Europe at Roadburn is an absolute honor. Roadburn is a treasured and unique event that embodies the spirit of open minded community and original, emotional heavy music. We are humbled to be a part of it again” – NEUROSIS, August 2015.”

 

Neurosis, by Hillarie Jason Photography

Neurosis, by Hillarie Jason Photography

Paradise Lost’s Nick Holmes has also commented:

As a young band we spent a good deal of time in the early 90’s driving around The Netherlands in a small transit van, living off chips with mayonnaise, drinking Chocomel and playing stuff from this album. ‘Gothic’ totally reminds me of those days, so if we were ever going to play the album in its entirety in 2016, it has to be in The Netherlands, and where better than the Roadburn Festival!!”

 

Paradise Lost at Roadburn


Cathedral – In Memoriam 2015


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When doom metal legends Cathedral finally called it a day in 2013, there was much sadness but also a great outpouring of gratitude for the music recorded in their twenty-three year career as titans of the doom scene. A thoroughly British institution with a penchant for eccentricities, the quartet would in later years branch into stoner and prog territory, but their birth in 1990, with vocalist Lee Dorrian having decided that life in Napalm Death wasn’t for him, came at a time when doom/death was in its infancy; and it was that sound, or rather a more traditional doom one that Cathedral would go for on their first demo In Memoriam. First re-issued in 1999, the time is now right to re-visit this first effort, again via Dorrian’s own Rise Above Records, and, with the benefit of hindsight, appreciate how bloody good Cathedral were.

Opening track ‘Mourning of a New Day’ is slow, ponderous and menacing, demonstrating the power of taking it slowly at a time when the rest of the world wanted to play as fast as possible. The guitar tone is stark and heavy, Lee Dorrian’s vocals are guttural and a tad awkward, and the whole thing seems drenched in a miasma of pain and sorrow with tales of vampire suns and Witchfinder Generals nowhere to be seen. A suitably downbeat cover of Pentagram’s classic ‘All Your Sins’ follows with all the hippie vibe stripped away before a grimly powerful early cut of ‘Ebony Tears’ rears its head. Final track ‘March’, a joyless, militaristic number doesn’t really go anywhere and would have been a better fit for industrial legends Godflesh, also newbies at that stage.

The live tracks, recorded in Europe in 1991 show a young band with a fiercely professional outlook and a tight, devastatingly weighty sound. The first three tracks of the demo are replicated here along with forgotten classic ‘Neophytes for the Serpent’s Eve’ from the band’s second demo and a gut-wrenching version of Forest of Equilibrium (Earache) classic ‘Intro/Commiserating the Celebration.’ Dorrian’s stage banter is polite and to the point and while the muffled cheers from the audience hint at Cathedral’s limited appeal in the early days, their skill and power was never in doubt.

A timely reminder of where it all began, when four miserable lads from Coventry decided to replicate the grimness of their surroundings and in doing so created one of the most important bands in the history of underground music. We are poorer for having lost them but with classic re-issues such as In Memoriam, their legacy will live on forever.

 

8.0/10

JAMES CONWAY


Prophets of Saturn – Retronauts


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There’s something about summertime that makes stoner/doom even better than normal, isn’t it? The hazy vibes, feeling of sluggish inertia and of course; flowery shirts just don’t work as well when there’s a raging blizzard outside and you can’t feel your toes. Hence Leicester based burnouts Prophets of Saturn’s timely decision to drop sophomore album Retronauts (Independent) when the sun, and most likely your tiny mind, is high in the sky.

Thankfully steering clear of the current retro rock trend where bands are falling over themselves to declare how much they love Black Widow and Dennis Wheatley novels (just ignore the racism), Prophets of Saturn are all about the power of the almighty riff, and it’s not unfair to say they have borrowed one or two from glaringly obvious influences Sleep and Acrimony. The lyrical references to wizards, occultism and weed are to be expected, which may explain why George Sanderson’s vocals are low in the mix; his presence clearly isn’t crucial.

The quartet play a loose, free-flowing form of stoner doom that washes over you like a haze of bong smoke on a sunny afternoon, albeit with a nicely pulsing bass presence that ensures things remain suitably heavy. The pace varies, with ‘Ultra Wizards’ calling to mind Cathedral at their most playful whilst seventeen minute closer ‘Damavand’ is a lysergic hail to the slow and the punishing.

While so many bands of this ilk are content to rip off Electric Wizard, Prophets of Saturn has their own, admittedly blurry identity. Their vibe is more mushroom tea and garish sci-fi paperbacks than Hammer Horror and witchcraft, and although this may mark them as a less threatening prospect, listeners should not be deceived, for Retronauts is a suitably smoky and weighty piece of work that improves with every spin.

 

7.0/10

JAMES CONWAY