Well, Robin is back up and running with a new site.
Go Here
Wednesday 31 October 2012
The You And What Army Faction - Silk EP
Band request from Greece.
The You And What Army Faction favour a clanking, drone
approach to their music which splutters and groans with
textures that sound like a spaceship breaking up as it is sucked
into a black hole.
The vocals whisper menacing phrases over sparse and hypnotic
riffs that start off with clean guitar which slowly builds up with
distortion and intensity. Reverb drenched effects crawl across
the song passages - very dry recorded drums play off-kilter
snatches of rhythm and the bass repeats its own mantra of
solitude and isolation.
There are no sudden explosions of sound or volume to pummel
you into submission - instead, the unsettling arrangements are
the weapon used to stimulate your senses.
Experimental but without disappearing up the backside of
self indulgence, this is music to listen to in the dark. Three tracks
are not really enough to get into the flow and I look forward to
hearing a whole album.
Tuesday 30 October 2012
Northless - Valley of Lead
Being released on the Halo of Flies label, Northless have produced
3 track of sonic denseness that show how residents of Milwaukee
play sludge metal.
Rather than read my views, below is a massive press release that
explains much more than I ever could. Have a listen below:
Spanning noise rock, prog metal and sludge, VALLEY OF LEAD, which will be released by HALO OF FLIES RECORDS on November 27, is NORTHLESS' most genre-defying album to date. The Milwaukee-based outfit deals in volume: great, shudding washes of sound and texture; pummeling rhythms and intense guitars.
"Valley of Lead is another clear step forward for the sound we've worked so hard to expand upon since our inception. I think it shows that we can produce something distinct and fresh sounding, without ignoring our commitment to harsh and heavy sounds. VoL is a great reflection of where we're at now in terms of melody and dynamics within our songwriting."
Valley of Lead's title track features vocals by drummer John Gleisner, marking a radical departure from the previous five years of Northless. A flawless Jesus Lizard cover, sure to surprise and delight fans, hardly feels out of place.
The three-song record will be released as a 10" on green vinyl, packaged between two pieces of birch, screwed shut and branded, and will include a 10x10" insert and download card.
- - - -
Formed in 2007 by Erik Stenglein, Northless is a reaction to the
erosion of the future. Drawing from influences such as Neurosis,
Eyehategod, Drudkh and Khanate, Northless has placed a boot firmly in the realm of sludge and doom.
In Fall 2008 with drummer Dan Opgenorth, Northless recorded 11 songs at Milwaukee's Howl Street Studios with engineer Shane Hochstetler. Out of this session came the song "Temples Of The Weak", which was later included on a split 7" with Milwaukee hardcore band Protestant, released by Inkblot Records out of NYC. Six of the remaining songs from that session were used on the 2010 release Leaving The Wolves, released by Halo of Flies records. The first full length album, titled No Quarter for The Damaged, was released in May 2009, also by Halo of Flies records.
After Dan left the band in 2009, Erik turned to Milwaukee instrumental
music stalwarts Nicholas Elert (This Specific Dream), John Grant (This
Specific Dream) and John Gleisner (Mahogany Throttle) to flesh out the lineup and provide a fuller sound, more bottom end, and greater
impact.
Working together, this lineup wrote the eight songs that make up
2011's Clandestine Abuse (Halo of Flies/Gilead Media) in six months.
Recorded once again with Shane at Howl Street, Clandestine Abuse is a documentation of pure, unmitigated hatred of the way things are.
In 2011, John Grant left the band to brew beer, and his place was
taken by Jerry Hauppa (Concentric, Ara), who brings an encyclopedic
knowledge of metal and incomparable musicianship to Northless.
In summer 2012, Northless again returned to Howl Street to record the
five songs that would become a split LP with Halo of Flies labelmates
Light Bearer, as well as the forthcoming Valley of Lead 10".
Hate. Anger. Pain. Disillusionment. Abuse.
Discography:
Northless / Light Bearer LP (2012) [Halo of Flies (US & CAN), Moment of Collapse, Alerta Antifascista (EUR)]
Clandestine Abuse (2011) [Halo of Flies / Gilead Media]
Leaving the Wolves EP (2010) [Halo of Flies]
No Quarter for the Damaged EP (2009) [Halo of Flies]
Volume Two (2009) [Inkblot Records]
Northless Demo (2008) [self-released]
NORTHLESS:
Hammerhead - Duh, The Big City (1996)
Playing this at the moment and feel like crying as I realise that
there may be people who do not own this.
Hammerhead were on the AmRep label and in my eyes are
one of the bands that helped to cement the reputation of this
awesome company.
Hammerhead were raw and heavy without using any "metal"
influences - just a insanely distorted bass that laid a foundation
for the roaming guitars and intense drums that played havoc with
different tempos.
They never forgot about the tunes though, in amongst the thrashings
and angry riffs, there lurked melodies that helped the songs bounce
along- (note to bands today ....... try playing some songs with a least
some root notes that sound good ........ listen to Sabbath or Black Flag
.......... heavy as fuck but with songs that have an actual hookline!)
Give yourself a treat and listen to it.
Monday 29 October 2012
Graveyard - Lights Out
After last years "Hisingen Blues" received glowing reviews
from 70's heavy rock/stoner freakheads, this new album has
a lot to live up to.
Well fear not, Graveyard have come up with another slice
of majestic rockin'.
This does not quite delve into their doomy roots as much as
previous releases but has a much more warm, psychedelic blues feel
that is sure to blow away any winter feelings that may be creeping
into your soul. Accomplished song writing give all the songs an
expansive vibe that sing out to be played again and indeed, you
will want to play the album as a whole rather than cherry picking tracks.
As always, strong solid playing dominates, which means your head cannot
stop banging in time to the riffs that are flowing from the guitars. The band
are kicking on all cylinders and have agin come up with the goods.
Friday 26 October 2012
Lords of Bastard - Cuddles
I am not sure what the title refers to but I do not want these
fuckers giving me a cuddle.Lords of Bastard occupy the sonic hinterland that is occupied
by mutant acid-dropping bands that combine noise rock
with lashings of sludge.
This album has a huge, dense sound that stomps over your
sensibilities and punches you in the throat. The vocals are
quite low in the mix and fight to be heard over the pounding
riffing and Am-Rep rhythms, giving the songs a dark tension
that builds within the song passages. Keyboards add a
layered dimension and a sinister atmosphere more creepy than
watching re-runs of Jim'll Fix It.
There are elements of chaotic free-form structures running
through the tracks but never distracting enough to make you
forget the huge, heavy riffs that are always present.
I like this a lot - give it a listen.
Thursday 25 October 2012
Stonerobixxx - R.I.P.
Another blog bites the dust. I am sure that all of you with even a passing
interest in Stoner and its associated genres have paid a visit to Stonerobixxx.
Read below the message that Robin has posted on Facebook.
Rock on brother and see you soon I hope..........
You were one of the first and best.
 |
| My favourite ever title picture. |
Dear fans, followers, music lovers & artists alike. About an hour ago STONEROBIXXX has been removed from the blogsphere due to leftovers of older "copyright infringing" download links.
Since I was taking the blog in a totally different direction regarding this matter, this came as a complete surprise to me. The DMCA beast takes no prisoners...
I'm currently working together with a good friend of mine to get things up & running again. At this very moment we are registering a stonerobixxx domain name. For now, please come back to this page for all updates & news.
Sit tight, doom on, share this message.
With riffs
-Robin
Wednesday 24 October 2012
Bone Dance - S/T
With a ferocious sound that steamrolls over you, Bone Dance
have produced their finest record yet.
Dense, heavy hardcore with the bleakness of sludge thrown in
mean these songs have a dark and menacing slant to them.
The riffs have a chaotic Am-Rep complexity that weave
through the tracks which the technical guitar work delivers
flawlessly. All the instruments are pushed to the front and
combined with the throat shredding vocals make this one of
the albums which will be at the pinnacle of their genre this year.
Bio: Bone Dance, a ritually charged and menacingly DIY band seeped in all things heavy, is rising from the South Idaho desert with their first self-titled LP for Melotov Records (USA), Throatruiner Records and Prototype Records (Europe). Bone Dance takes the grime and gravelly glut of the band’s previous work, the self-released Snakecharmers, and reevaluates not only its intensity, but also the band’s heritage: retooling the ferocity of hardcore, the technical acumen of extreme metal, and the minimal gauze of sludge and doom. This is the kind of tight, controlled, anvil-heavy music that only comes out of an area dominated by the Religious Right, the Conservative Coalition, and some of the most culturally repressive mechanisms in America. Bone Dance acts as a document of this inheritance by time and place and on principle rejects all of it. As a combatant to the moderate veneer that glosses even the counterculture in their hometown of Boise, Bone Dance have crafted not a shield but a weapon against the repressive devices they so clearly detest. By deconstructing typical sludge breakdowns, by retooling blast beats into searing grooves, by inverting a biblical poetic into a sinister manifest of their body politic, Bone Dance forges a musical dialogue exemplifying the clash typical of the liberal-conservative head butting seen throughout misleading media; however, the band seems to reject even mainstream leftist views in favor of an utter desert-driven nihilism. Bone Dance proves yet again that the frontier isn’t innovation—the frontier is misery.
Tuesday 23 October 2012
Hosoi Bros - Snorlokk
Band request from Hosoi Bros.
The band are back with another 2 tracks of mayhem and
they have served up some more metal thrash rock'n'roll
to inflict upon you.
They have also made another classic video which involves
skateboards, the undead and a puppet vampire racoon- what's
not to like?
Black Insect Laughter interviewed.
The excellent blog Sludgelord has interviewed me.
Read about what drives me to post bands you do not want to listen
Monday 22 October 2012
Interlude - A la Deriva
Band request from Impure Muzik.
Interlude play post-hardcore/screamo with a real epic feel
to their songs. Hailing from Spain, these guys sing in their mother
tongue, meaning I have no idea what the lyrical content is but
from the passion displayed, it means a lot to the singer.
They have a powerful sound with a real flair for melodic flourishes
that drive these intense and atmospheric songs. There are some
instrumental passages in which the guitars invoke post-rock/
mathy leads but with a lot more distortion. Very much like
"We Had A Deal', I like this a lot and would recommend this
to anyone into this kinda thing.
Cutthroat ConVention - Enemy@The Gates
Request from Doubledgescissor Records.
Cutthroat Convention have been reviewed here before and
with this album, carry on their tradition of wilful, electronic
fuckery. Spazzy riffs make demented sounds like a robots
death cry but unlike a lot of this genre, there are real tunes
haunting the outskirts of the chaos that comes crackling
over the airwaves.
with this album, carry on their tradition of wilful, electronic
fuckery. Spazzy riffs make demented sounds like a robots
death cry but unlike a lot of this genre, there are real tunes
haunting the outskirts of the chaos that comes crackling
over the airwaves.
This is a band trying whatever they want, utilising samples, post-
hardcore chord structures that change with each passage in
the song structure, using almost jazzy breaks with what sounds
like a violin/sitar forced through distortion pedals to help the
schizoid tracks get to a kind of ending.
As always, have a listen and make your own mind up.
Name your price from Bandcamp
Friday 19 October 2012
Town Portal - Chronopoly
Band request from Denmark.
I reviewed the Town Portal EP last year and hoped that there
would be a full album available to listen to - well, here it is.
They play instrumental mathy-rock but with a much heavier
feel than a lot of their peers. I will leave the massive and
detailed press release to tell you about it - have a read and
listen then make your own mind up.
Recklessly focused and peculiarly embracing: The debut album of Copenhageners Town Portal dares to sparkle in an abundance of different nuances. Chronopolyis a solid entry from a band with just 2 years under its belt. Just about one year has passed since Town Portal captured and released the first fragment of their non-verbal musical universe in the shape of the EP Vacuum Horror, whichwas merely released digitally on a pay-what-you-want basis. In spite of humble circumstances, the record acquired a much less humble amount of attention, receiving praising reviews in leading Danish music magazines likes Soundvenue (5/6), Devilution (4/5) and Geiger, who said that “Town Portal manages to utilize all the means of music and does so on an exceptionally high level. The energy of a band young at heart, and the notion of a feeling of no limits to their own prowess, shines through…”.Furthermore the Vacuum Horror EP was launched into the international blogosphere, and got the band touring around most of the European mainland.Since then the constellation has been reduced from four men to three, forcing Town Portal to decompose and reconstruct approaches to sound and composition. These endeavors has resulted in the debut album Chronopoly (from Greek ‘chronos’ and English ‘monopoly’). Like its predecessor this record still offers instrumental rock-music with a sludgy dropped tune hook,which serves as counterweight to complex and playful compositions. With a tireless curiosity new ways are sought out,of combining tones in untraditional ways, with the traditional guitar-bass-drum constellation. On Chronopoly though, these well-known components mutate to their extremes, and form a release that is both more complex, melodic, direct, and boundary pushing than the predecessor; an exponential development in a well-governed welter of metal, shoegaze, indie,and progressive rock.
During this fall the album will be followed by a set of Danish shows, as well as Town Portal’s third international tour, that in the course of two weeks will take the band through Germany, France and Switzerland, in the company of AmericanFeast of the Epiphany. Town Portal’s ChronopolyLP is the fifth release of the independent Copenhagen-based vinyl label Subsuburban. A label that in just over a year released four high quality records with a smallarray of international acts: AmericanTime Columns and Silian Rail, ItalianValerian Swing, and the Stockholm-based one-man act Flourescent Heights. Subsuburban has active distribution both physically and digitally. Records can be found in just about all notable record stores in Scandinavia, and in select stores in the U.S.A (NYC, San Fransisco and Austin), Italy, Great Britain(through Norman Records), Germany and Benelux (via. Belgian Dunk Records and German Kapitan Platte). Town Portal is the first “local” signing of Subsuburban. An interesting new beginning for an atypical record label’s actual, serious, and awaited advent into the Danish scene.
Thursday 18 October 2012
Verdun - The Cosmic Escape Of Admiral Masuka
This is a fucking magnificent beast of an album.
Verdun are named after one of the longest and devastating battles
of the First World War. Fought in the Western Front over 10 months,
an estimated 976,000 people lost their lives in an area so small
that parts of the ground were composed of more human flesh
and bone than of earth and vegetation.
Taking their name from such a gruesome example of mankinds
destructive urges should give you an idea of what the music sounds like.
3 songs all around the 10 minute mark deliver despairing epic
tracks that are the perfect mix of sludge/doom/hardcore. Battle scarred
riffs that are droned and tortured get the head banging in slow motion
while the howling vocals that are mixed quite low, fight through the
murk of massive basslines and drums that have a monolithic feel to them.
Verdun create some masterful atmospherics and are not afraid to bring
a song down to the wire, creating moments of calm and eerie quietness
before delivering explosive climaxes that leave you feeling drained.
The song arrangements create a claustrophobic tension of bleakness
that make this album one to be listened to as a whole to get the
full effect. I like this a lot!
Bio: Named after the most inhuman battle in the First World War, VERDUN (Montpellier - France) are one of those bands that are hard to label, merging the lines between sludge/doom and slowed-down dark hardcore. Heavy and dry riffing, neck-breaking groove, incantatory vocals and a strong psychedelic feel, that's what you can expect from the half-hour of their debut EP "The Cosmic Escape Of Admiral Masuka". Carrying a strong live reputation, VERDUN is definitely one of those bands to watch for any fan of Burning Witch, Electric Wizard, or Amenra; and by extension anything dark and crushing.
Wednesday 17 October 2012
Carrion Cathartid
From what I gather, Carrion Cathartid is a 2 piece from Seattle. They play a very primitive stoner rock driven brand of sludge using only bass and drums.
This EP is simply excellent. If you like it heavy, aggressive and a bit different then I can only recommend this to you.
Beatriz Carnicero - No Reces
Fast shouty powerviolence from Uruguay. I have been listening to this album pretty much all day and I can't get enough. They are like the South American version of the Afternoon Gentlemen, which is a huge compliment. I'd love to see those guys do a split together, it would be perfect.
Are they doing anything new? No. Does it matter? No, because they do it extremely well and that's all that matters. Black Sabbath have already wrote all the music anyway, so it's literally impossible for anyone to write anything original anymore.
Wesley Willis - The Daddy Of Rock n Roll
If you have never heard of Wesley Willis then shame on you. Wesley was a musician and an artist. He came from Chicago and he was a paranoid schizophrenic. Wesley fought with voices in his head every day of his life and used his music as a way to make his demons be quiet. He was part of punk/noise/alt band The Wesley Willis Fiasco, who enjoyed some success and gained a cult following. His solo keyboard music is what he will be remembered for by most, though. This documentary takes you through some of his life
It's good to see that Wesley had so many people in his life that he could count on. There are certainly people that are in the same position as him that get no help from the system and have nobody to turn to. I hope this either helped you learn of Wesley Willis or at least become even more fond of him. We love you Wes, rock over London, rock on Chicago.
The La Paz Group
No they are not foreigners, they are some (mostly) nice chaps from the North East of England who are doing some pretty exciting things.
It's pretty hard to define what kind of music LPG plays. I hate to use the phrase 'world music' but you can understand why it would appeal to that kind of 'new age' crowd. Especially when you take into consideration to use of the ultra spiritual Hang Drum and didjeridoo. To me though, La Paz take you through many corners, through their prog and jazz roots all the way through to some psyched out guitar-meistery (ala Omar Rodriguez Lopez) with some latin rhythms just for good measure.
The only true way to get a sense of what they are doing is to listen. Which you can do at their soundcloud page, where they have some live recordings up. Whatever you do make sure you at least listen from around 17 minutes in (for what I'm almost certain is a little homage to Soft Machine and my personal favourite track)
Have you digested that?
Okay good.
Having seen these guys play live on numerous occasions, I can tell you that they can shift through the gears much more than this slightly gainy offering they have for you. Hopefully we will hear some more material recorded away from a live scenario.
Like their facebook page to keep up to date with all new and sometimes irrelevant info.
Personally I can't wait to see what comes next from The La Paz Group.
Tuesday 16 October 2012
Millions - Failure Tactics
Seventh Rule Recordings have released the new album by
Millions and it fucking kills.
Post-hardcore/noise rock is the order of the day and the band
have upped the ante from the 2009 "Gather, Scatter". Shared vocals
give an urgency to the dark lyrics which are laid over meaty, chord
led riffs.
The music is dense and loud, chaotic but controlled with a tension
that threatens to burst out in violence. The two guitars sound as
if they are at war with each other as they trade aggressive riffs
but they are underpinned with the very solid drumming and
the fuzzed up rumble-monster that is the bass.
The record was produced by Chicago’s Andrew Ragin
(THE ATLAS MOTH), mastered by Kyle Spence (HARVEY MILK)
and the result is a sonic barrage of taut songs that will make you
play again and again.
This is a fantastic album that will be in my "best of list" this
year without a doubt and could well be the album that makes
people really take notice of Millions - Recommended!
Kadavar - S/T
Kadavar hail from Berlin and are a hard rocking 3 piece. They take the early sounds of Sabbath, Zeppelin, Hawkwind, Witchfinder General etc and make them their own.
Well well well. Look who has arrived
Hello. Some of you may remember me from the late VeinsDriedOut (and brief stint at ThroatBurnedOut). Since the feds ruined megaupload and a spattering of other file hosting websites I lost a lot of interest in blogging and I sort of just wandered around like this...
But I'm alright now.
Hopefully I've still got it and I can contribute some excellent music for all of your ever awaiting ears.
High regards, ZoSo)))
Monday 15 October 2012
Asidefromaday - Chasing Shadows
Band request from France (thanks Aurélien)
Asidefromaday play post-metal but add an almost hardcore
spin on the sound to produce a satisfying album that is dense and
powerful. Monolithic riffs drive the songs along and have enough
diversity to stop them blending into each other.
The vocals are growled and pissed off but are still able to convey
emotion. The rhythm section are very much to the fore in the mix
and this really brings the song arrangements crashing out of
your speakers. The guitars are razor sharp, enabling picked
strings to resonate before slamming back into chords. This is
a good solid release which please a lot of people.
Bio: With a sound firmly rooted in postcore, ASIDEFROMADAY relies just as heavily on ambience, atmosphere, and power as it does complexity, aggression and raw emotion. An original entity, ASIDEFROMADAY deliver music that consumes the listener with massive and hypnotic waves of sound. The band has played more than 250 shows all over Europe with such as band as Gojira/Envy/Baroness/Russian Circles...
Thursday 11 October 2012
Robot(A) - Crush! Stomp! Roar!
Robot(A) live up to the title of their EP as they crush/stomp
roar and in general just fucking kick shit out of the genre
termed digital hardcore.
I have wandered into this sort of music by mistake in the past
and have always been met with tinny, pre-set patterns that
have attempted to resemble something approaching hardcore
but fail dismally.
Robot(A) have come up with something that gets my head banging -
meaty pounding drums, throbbing bass, dirty distorted guitars and
vocals that veer from powerful to brutal. The difference that makes
these guys stand apart are the arrangements. The writers have
a clear sense of how song passages are constructed meaning
there is a real flow to the tracks which give them an identity.
Rather than just random arpeggio generators being the main source
of keyboard sounds, there are banks of sounds that compliment
the guitars and add depth to the attack.
Don't take my word for it - give it a listen!
Metal Machine Music - remix
In the last of my sonic experiments into making people feel
like they have taken bad, un-tested drugs, I present my
Metal Machine Music remix.
I have taken Track 1 and recorded it in the left hand speaker.
Then I have taken Track 2 and recorded it in the right hand speaker.
In the middle I have put some drones and trumpet loops and samples.
What do you get when you overlay 2 different songs from the seminal white noise album?
Please do not listen if driving, operating heavy machinery or suffering from mental health problems.
4 tracks spread out over a double album, this had no
drum or vocals or indeed any songs, just feedback guitar
drones looping over and over, with electronic squalls
of generated tones and noise........ of course it is common
knowledge that track 3 is the best! Are those hints of
tunes buried down in the mix?
This is either:
Lou Reed getting out of his record company contract
and a big fuck you to the hired suits
or
A noise terror experiment in sonics and volume
which 15 years later would influence bands like
The Swans and Sonic Youth etc.
Wednesday 10 October 2012
Sludgelord - Interview
There are so many music blogs available - some good, some obscure -
a lot of shit and pointless ones, so when you find a great one, it is
bookmarked and saved. The ones that really hold your interest are read
daily and Sludgelord falls into that group. Reviews, interviews, band
compilations - they are going from strength to strength and I know
that you, my faithful download monkeys would like to know
what makes them tick!
1. The obvious first question has to be - what made you start Sludgelord?
Hi dude. What made me start. Well nothing too exciting. A mate's band – Sorry For Nothing - needed their new album reviewing and I said I would do it. As I used to write for another blog that went under as soon as it went up.
To make the blog more appealing to viewers. I added a few more articles like Bands To Check Out and Free Legal Downloads. I wrote review of their excellent new album and left it running for a couple days to see what interest their would be.
Quite promising after a few days. Got a few hits. Then I kept on doing it. Other reason I started was I was sick of hearing shit music on Radio and TV. Nothing catered for my tastes. Sludge, Stoner, Doom and Post-Metal. So I thought I could do this as a little hobby. Now this hobby has taken a life of it's own.
2. To be honest, I only found your site after Sludge Swamp bit the dust. Did that have an effect on you in terms of new visitors? I personally now get most of my information about heavier new albums from you!
Thanks for the kind comments dude. Follow your awesome site as well.
I don't know if it had an effect. I was a big fan of the Swamp. A lot of people were. I took inspiration from that blog. But I wanted to do my own thing. So I focused on reviews and free legal downloads from underground bands. Bands that need publicity.
I got more viewers as time went on. Probably from June 2011 the hits started getting more bigger. I don't take notice of figures at first. I just did Sludgelord because I enjoyed it.
I am amazed with the hits we have now. Coming up to 390K hits. Not bad for an amateur I suppose.
3. With the blog name, it is quite evident as to the type of music you cover - do you get sent wildly inappropriate genres sent to review?
Sludgelord came about as every name I wanted was taken. Plus Sludge is one of my all-time fave genres. It was going to be called Lord Of Sludge. But that sounded stupid. So Sludgelord stuck.
Yeah dude – I get sent a whole load of genres which I don't publish. As they don't fit the blog's image. Brutal Goregrind is one example. Too extreme even for me. Classical Metal, Operatic Metal. So yeah I have had a few genres sent to me that I didn't even know it existed. But they do.
So what we publish is stuff we mainly feature in the realm of Doom, Stoner, Sludge, Post-Metal and even Black Metal.
4. Your reviews are always positive - I review albums that I genuinely like - how do you deal with the odd one that is terrible or just something that leaves you cold?
Yeah they are always positive. Maybe too positive. But that is my style. Not going to change. My original view for the blog is we only publish the good stuff. No bad stuff. Why give a bad band free publicity. They can go elsewhere for that.
It' s a view that we still hold to this day. If the album leaves me cold then I just don''t publish it. Simple as that. But there have been times when I thought the album was utter shit and it would never be published on the blog. Only for a few listens later and I think the album is superb. Then review gets published.
You have to give each and every release a few listens to get the full effect. But there is lots of stuff I don't publish to this day.
5. The interviews really bring a new dimension into play - have you been pleased by the amount of bands that have agreed to participate?
Am I pleased. Fuck yeah. I am pleased. What started off for two bands that I originally done Mediocracy and In The Company Of Serpents has became one of the most popular items of the blog.
Interviews are cool way of getting in touch with your musical heroes which I have done a few times already. Bands and artists that I have admired for so long have asked me to interview them. I never knew that would happen when starting the blog. Never in a million years. Now we are featuring some great artists and bands.
Aaron aka Doomentor loves doing interviews. He is on a fucking roll at the moment. I do them when I can but I have to focus on free downloads and reviews as well for the blog.
Aaron runs the Facebook Sludgelord Page side of things. While I am more day-to-day running of blog. But we do have some cool interviews coming up.
6. Every time I go to your blog, you seem to have a new contributor! How do you allocate the reviews etc - I know Aaron does a lot of the interviews.
Aaron does reviews as well. Just that he is doing interviews at the moment and sorting out the reviews to the Sludgelord Team as well. Labels and PR contact Aaron mainly.
I deal with bands who send their stuff to my email address. I tell Aaron what I have to review and promote. While he has his own big bag of goodies which he shares with the team.
Well we do have a lot of contributors at the moment. Things are that busy and people have been kind to help. Like Teabag Stallone, Furious, Strolling Astronomer. Plus we have regular help from Aaron's band of helpers who are all doing a great job.
Most of these helpers are involved in the scene. Hosting radio stations and some appearing pretty cool well known bands as well. Sorry For Nothing, Abrahma, Caravan Of Whores.
Then you have two Geordie idiots (Aaron and myself) running the blog with their great help. So it's a pretty cool line-up. Aaron has been a big help since he joined in April 2012. We now have more Facebook readers and a Twitter Feed. So we are slowly joining the 21st Century. Mainly due to Aaron's work on Facebook.
7. You recently posted a compilation of band tracks - what was the reaction to that and will you be doing another one?
Yeah – Lullabies Of Despair. Been a great success. Reaction has been great. People seemed to like it I think. We will definitely be doing another one. Hopefully on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. It takes time to get band's permission and choosing the right tracks.
Am going to make the next one a more team thing. I did the first one by myself to see what the reaction would be like. But 600 hits later it's definitely another cool thing to be involved in.
8. What would be in your top 5 albums so far this year - sorry ...... That's probably gonna be a tough one!
Fuck. That's a hard one. The thing is my top 5 of 2012 changes all the time. As we get so many brilliant albums to review. But for the interview here are my Top 5 so far.
1. Adrift For Days – Come Midnight
2. Summoner – Phoenix
3. Carrion Mother – Koronis
4. Conan - MONNOS
5. Bearfight! - Gnarmageddon
But mentions should goto Wizard's Beard, Undersmile, Red Desert, Baroness, Sardonis, The Sword, Indian Handcrafts, Galvano and TITAN. The list goes on an on. The top 5 might change but that is it for the time being.
9. Which blogs do YOU read?
Blogs I read. I read them all on the my blog list on Sludgelord, Doommantia, Temple of Perdition, Black Insect Laughter, Stonerobixxx, Heavy Planet Stoner Rock. The list is endless. Apologies to people that I have missed out.
But I do read all on my blog list on a daily basis.
10. I feel blogs like yours help to spread the word about the music we love and in a small way, help to promote bands that have put time and effort into producing records - it can sometimes be a thankless task (not always, just now and then) - what drives you to keep the blog going?
Thanks for the kind words again dude. Much appreciated. I think we do need as many blogs we can possibly get. As the mainstream will always look down upon our genre.
Their might be a breakout band now and again. But they are usually forgotten about until the next big thing. But us bloggers are always here to show our support.
Anyway – What keeps the blog going. People keep coming back and bands releasing great music for all of us to check out. There have been times I want to shut the entire thing down. But a band appears and blows my world apart. I feel I have to tell people or the whole world about this great band.
That's why I do it. Promoting great music. And giving the mainstream a big UP YOURS as well.
Another main reason. I get to interview great bands/artists such as Alaskan, Adrift For Days, Andrew From Torche and Tilts, Al The Yeti Bones and Jimbob Issac. Plus all the other great bands I have interviewed.
Until then my main objective for Sludgelord is to banish shit like Justin Bieber and Taylor Swift for good. It's a simple dream but probably an impossible one.
11. What do the next 3 months hold for Sludgelord?
Next 3 months. Damn I don't know. To carry on as normal. Sludgelord is a part of my life that I put a lot of time and effort into.
Hopefully more cool album reviews, free downloads and interviews which we are always currently working on.
Possibly the compilation download will carry on with more great bands to promote.
Other than that I don't know. Hopefully people will still be visiting both of our great blogs. And the other cool ones out there.
Cheers.
Steve aka The Sludgelord.
Thanks for your time Steve and keep on doing what you do!
Art As Catharsis - free doom & post-rock
Lachlan, the hardest working man in Australia, has
just given you the chance to get some more free music
from his label Art As Catharsis.
Dear Art As Catharsis pals, I come bearing gifts of new Australian music.
'Stargazing under Southern Skies' is a new, curated collection of Australian post, ambient and shoegaze music.
With sleepmakeswaves being nominated for an ARIA, you might think we've all been transported to Bizarro World. Or perhaps the movers and shakers are catching onto the fact that we've got more than our fair share of incredible bands here in Australia; and not all of them are soulless Indie cut-outs disinterestedly muttering lyrical abstractions.
Well, we Art As Catharsis have long known this. This year has seen a plethora of incredible releases from Australian groups; many of which have outperformed and out-delivered their international counterparts.
Be dazzled by the virtuosity of Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, drift away on a wave of elation provided by sleepmakeswaves, survey the cinematic soundscapes of Dumbsaint, bask in the gorgeous melodies of Brian Campeau, and let Pirate do your physics homework.
'Stargazing under Southern Skies' also features splendid sounds from We Lost The Sea (who are soon to release the best post-metal record of 2012), Melbourne post/prog veterans Mushroom Giant, Squat Club, Nuclear Summer, Solkyri, The Matador, Adrift for Days, Lander Configurations, race to your face, and Captain Kickass and the Awesomes.
'Stargazing under Southern Skies' is our gift to you, because we love you almost as much as we love Australian music.
Please listen, share and enjoy. The future for Australian music is bright.
A re-release of Space Bong's droning doom epic 'The Death of Utopia'
Australia can boast some of the best doom bands in the world - and the South Australian sextet of Space Bong are no exception.
Infact, I make no qualms with saying that Space Bong are one of the rawest, heaviest, and above all believable doom bands on earth -- as every bit as dark as Sunn O))), Corruptedand Kharnate, and as aggressive as EyeHateGod and Corrupted.
Space Bong effectively triggered my love of droning, down-tempo music when I caught them at a live show in 2007. Here was a band that had completely mastered the art of the doom metal epic; and had the technical ability to back it up. Their aesthetic isn't for show, either; these guys truly feel the nihilistic despair and misanthropy so evident in their weighty sludge metal sounds.
Space are currently in the final stages of recording their new album 'Deadwood to Worms', which should be out on Art As Catharsis in early 2013.
Before we are all crushed by the inevitable awesomeness of that new album, be sure to acquaint yourself with 'The Death of Utopia': it is definitely a doom metal classic.
I hope you enjoy.
Long live Australian music
Tuesday 9 October 2012
Mudbath - Red Desert Orgy
Band request from France.
Mudbath play a superb mix of doom-tainted sludge that
threatens to obliterate everything in its path. Despairing, bleak
vocals howl out a litany of fury that are always fighting to be
heard above the fat, heavy guitar tones that are crashing out
gargantuan riffs.
This album is made up of 3 long tracks that take you to a dark swamp,
cut your eyes with razors and leave you to slowly sink into the mire.
Passages within the songs do pick up the pace at times before descending
back into the thick, bad-drug vibe that pervades the Mudbath sound.
The crowning glory as far as I am concerned, are the outrageously
fuzzed guitar solos that forge the psychedelic with the heavy - kinda
like Vanilla Fudge crossed with Electric Wizard. At times I find this
genre sometimes suffers from a generic template but in my eyes,
Mudbath have produced one of my albums of the year.
Highly recommended!
Aperiodic - Future Feedback
Request from Phratry Records.
Aperiodic play a whirlwind type of head-fuck music that I
can only describe as noise-rock free jazz.
Hey, I own "On The Corner" and "Live Evil" by Miles Davis
but this takes things into a new warped musical landscape that
I have no real experience with - I will try to review as best
I can!
Aperiodic use electric guitar, bass and drums as far as I can tell
but with so many noises being forced out of them, there could be
other instruments that are being tortured beyond human experience. Seb
Rochford type drumming holds the bursts of explosive outpouring
into some sort of cohesive structure that the bass can throb against.
Guitars are scraped, picked and mangled with unholy glee to provide
an almost percussive soundscape. Piano notes drift in and out of
focus before sounding like it has been hurled down a flight of stairs -
these are musicians that sound like they are playing at the top of their
abilities to produce a new language that only they can understand.
Yes, it does demand that the listener pays attention but as the sounds
wash over you, the passages take you onto the next section of controlled chaos.
If you want to take a chance on hearing something new and different or
just to see what I am talking about, give them a listen.
Bio: Aperiodic’s sound is a meeting of Noise and Free Jazz with elements of No Wave, Musique Concrète, and Hardcore. In addition to standard western instruments they utilize world instruments such as gu qin, rudra veena, and surbahar to create freely improvised music. The end result is free, but not aimless. Guitars shift between angular riffing and textural lilt, elastic drumming, and a multi-directional low end. Not surprisingly, Aperiodic doesn’t quite sound like any other group, despite the fact that they currently share members with The Exponential and Holy Fuck (Young Turks/XL/Beggars Group), and previously shared members with Enon (Touch & Go), Lab Partners, and A Ten O’ Clock Scholar (Grass Records).
Aperiodic began in 1997 in Cincinnati, Ohio but its members currently live in Brooklyn, Chicago, and Dayton. Up until now the group’s output consisted of a self-released cassette and a 7” single (on Generate Records), but they are now releasing their first full length LP, Future Feedback on Phratry Records (Fall 2012). This marks both the 15th anniversary of the band and the 35th release for the label.
For fans who like Xenakis, Cecil Taylor, MEV, and the Jesus Lizard disfigured beyond recognition.
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