Thursday, March 26, 2015

Acid King: Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere (2015)

Time for the quarterly female-fronted doom album! I’ve reviewed so many of these by now, I have nothing left to say about the combination of feminine vocals and slow, meaty riffs.

Specifically, Acid King play stoner doom. It’s slow, mellow, and repetitive. Sometimes trance-inducing, sometimes weird echo effects, but always with a general feeling of psychedelia. The vocals aren’t anything special in this case. She doesn’t have a smoky, sultry voice, or some kind of ethereal, ghostly presence. Her tone is earthy, and mostly ordinary, but still good.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Doldrums

Sorry I've been away from the blog for so long. You don't want to hear me drone on about taking care of sick kids (again--this has been the worst year for that) or about how I had an ear infection myself. I don't want to review an album when I've been listening to it with slightly askew hearing. But everyone is recovered for the time being. So let's get to it.

As you probably know, this time of year is the doldrums for metal releases. All the great stuff is rushed out to make year-end lists, and now we're left with the rest. Which isn't to say nothing great comes out between January and mid-March, but those are rare gems indeed. Nothing so far has made me stand up and take notice, but there are two worth mentioning.

Leviathan's Scar Sighted is good. Unfortunately I haven't listened to anything of Wrest's in the past, so I can't put it in context for you in that way. It's a decent slab of modern USBM with healthy doses of dissonance. It sounds like the work of an interesting musician going through his own doldrums. As entertaining as it was for me, I can't say it's anything special. The Verdict: 3.5 out of 5 stars.



Much more intriguing, however, is Volahn's Aq'ab'al is so weird it almost defies description. It's kind of like Krallice, with the multitude of high notes played and the epic sweep of each song. But with more direction. And raw. It has the feeling of really creative underground artists who are never going to get the attention they deserve, and maybe they don't even seek it. Apparently the music is based on some obscure yadda-yadda-yadda, but all I care about is that it sounds weird and great, and--despite that weirdness--is memorable. The Verdict: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Metal Briefs: Clearing the Docket

National Sunday Law: Festival of the Horned God (2012)
4 out of 5 stars


It's practically criminal how long I've been sitting on this one without a review, because it's actually pretty damn good. I have some trouble getting past that modern metal vocal style, but this is worth it. It's progressive and dark, with synths that bring to mind Mose Giganticus (the first track) or Opeth (the second). The last song sounds like Baroness covering Deathspell Omega, I guess? That's kind of a weird thought. This is interesting.