Pyres - Year Of Sleep

Coming from Toronto, Pyres combine hardcore and sludge with 

quality hooks that are devastating with their power and passion.

Intricate song passages give the spiralling guitars room to breathe 

with clean notes before the distorted riffs return with a vengeance. 

These are riffs weighted down with aggression and control — with 

the  excellent production, everything is crystal clear without sacrificing 

any of the intensity. The growling vocals convey loss and hatred with 

equal measures ….. but always, a feeling of menace and doom are 

never far away. Post-metal  structures give an epic majesty to the running 

order of this album which demands to be played in one sitting.

I have had this for a while and keep hearing new, buried layers 

everytime I play the tracks. Repeated listens reward you with a

sonic palette into which you can lose yourself.

Probably one of the best metal albums of the year.

Buy from Bandcamp

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Doug goes back in time!

Suicide - 1st Album 1977

There is an awful lot to say about this band/duo....too much for here anyway so here's a link for your information..  Here....The influence their sound had on future musical trends is undoubted and obvious when you listen to this ,their debut album. They use a very basic drum machine, effects and repetitive keyboard riffs coupling them with Alan Vega's somewhat unique approach to vocals. This album really needs to be heard for its importance to be fully appreciated.

 If you are feeling really brave.....listen to the classic 10 minute track "Frankie Teardrop"..with the lights out...and the volume way up ...and see if it doesn't thoroughly creep you out !! Not for the faint hearted !!

Butthole Surfers - Locust Abortion Technician 1987

If I was compiling an all time Top 50 albums list, this would be in it every time....but rather curiously its not an album that is played all that often.....I probably last heard it some 7/8 years ago.....but as the seemingly innocent and gentle intro morphs into a mutated Sabbath riff   a warm smile appears on my face as I anticipate the assault to follow for the next 40 minutes ! Their musical style is chaotic and draws on many styles....there's some full throttle speed thrash, some high octane rock, a truly bizarre Far Eastern sounding number entitled "Kuntz" !!, some very industrial sounding moments and some tracks that defy description....all peppered with great guitar work and highly inventive strange sounds that make you sit up and listen. Their choice of subject matter and song titles  pull no punches and are,in truth, quite disturbing.....all these traits are admirably illustrated here on this album. All you noise fans out there should do yourself a favour and give this lot a listen.

The one and only occasion that I managed to see them was at the Reading Festival in 1989 when they arrived on stage and promptly destroyed all their instruments with great relish !! That certainly got everyone's attention....fortunately they had some more with which they went on to assault us with !! Jolly good they were too.

Atomic Rooster - Death Walks Behind You 1970

I think Tony covered this album some time ago but its worth reminding you all of its existence once again !

This is an absolute classic of early 70's British heavy rock, featuring that great Hammond organ sound courtesy of the late Vincent Crane (1943-89). The title track is superb as is Tomorrow Night which was a hit single. The rest is simply marvellous. Add it to your play list ....NOW !

The Pink Fairies - Finland Freakout- Live 1971

This is absolutely tremendous !!... For a start the quality is amongst the best of any "Live" stuff I've heard, with the possible exception of the 2 tracks on the Glastonbury Triple Album (...Do It and Uncle Harry's Last Freakout) ....the highlight for me being an astonishingly blistering live version of "The Snake".......If you are unfamiliar with this song, which like all the other tracks on this offering, are  packed full of fantastic earshredding ballsy guitar then click on this link Here to listen to a version taken from a John Peel Radio Show session in the early 70's....the version on Finland etc is actually even more powerful than this !! They are an often overlooked band who spent much of their heyday rather in the shadow of Hawkwind with whom they appeared at virtually every "free" festival/gig that was going during the early 70's. If you want to check out their studio albums, their first "Never Never Land" 1971 is the best followed by their 3rd "Kings Of Oblivion" 1973. "What A Bunch Of Sweeties" 1972 is a bit patchy but is redeemed with their covers of Walk Don't Run and I Saw Her Standing There.

A band with a most colourful and fascinating history who are well worth taking some time to check out.

   

The Stooges - 1st Album and Funhouse Outakes

Its always great to hear some new stuff by The Stooges that is of good "official release" quality. Most non-official releases sound as though they were recorded on a clapped out reel to reel 1/4" tape machine that had been hidden in a toilet cistern some distance from the PA !!

These are very nice out takes/alternative versions from the recording sessions for their first 2 albums.

The 1st contains 10 tracks including 2 versions of No Fun, 1969 and I Wanna Be Your Dog...4 tracks are labelled as John Cale (of Velvet Underground fame) Mixes and the rest either alternate vocals or mix or "full" versions. Nothing previously unreleased though. Good to listen to and mentally compare to the originals which are of course burned into the minds of all noise fiends out there.

The 2nd contains 8 tracks.....6 alternate takes of Loose,Funhouse,Dirt,T.V.Eye,1970 and Down On The Street and 2 unreleased tracks, Lost In The Future and Slide (Slidin' The Blues). These 2 tracks are nice to hear but don't surpass the excellence of the tracks which finally went to press.

Both of these releases are very worthwhile additions to your Stooges collection.

Till next time......

Doug E Dogg

Haikai No Ku - Sick On My Journey

Sounding at first like the infamous "Silver Sessions for
Jason Knuth" by Sonic Youth, as the distortion and noise
drill into your head, you start to realise that among the madness,
passages of nightmare psych are being played out - Haikai
No Ku are making music with a language that only they
can hear - it is up to you to try and learn what they are
trying to tell you.

The five tracks merge into a gigantic tidal wave of sound that
incorporate drone, noise rock and psychedelia from a demented
band of mutants. Brain frying wah-wah riffs from the world of
doom are slowly ground out in a mantra of trance inducing sections
over which guitar freak-outs are played - but oh so slowly - what you
think are notes droning out are in fact glacier-slow solos.

This is meant to be played loud - you can almost smell the amps overloading
under the weight of the songs. Feedback and a montage of powerful rhythms
that remind me of very early Swans make sure that your senses are in permanent
overload. This will not be for everyone but those who dare to partake of this
heady, devils drink will be well rewarded. 

Band blurb:

Haikai No Ku – the brainchild of Bong guitarist Mike Vest, Sam Booth and Jerome Smith - will release it’s first album on Burning World Records this august. The release will be available on cd, vinyl and digital.

The band has been described as: ”Death Toll Blues” . Ear damaging psych heavily influenced by Japanese bands like Mainliner, Les Rallizes Denudes etc. Crashing drums and Bass lay down the framework for fiery guitar attacks to lash across peoples faces. Expect dirge, noise and astral planes.

Haikai No Ku play some of the most morose, damaged blues psych we’ve heard in years: death-toll bass and crashing drums lead the way for a solitary guitar line obliterated by total psychedelic guitar scree. Songs start off as loose jams that slowly build up to utter brain-melting acid psychedelia. Early Ramleh gone deathrock?

Thanks to Jurgen from Burning World Records for link.

Order from Burning World Records

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Sabbath - 13 vs Never Say Die vs Technical Ecstasy

The Great Sabbath Album Debate.......13 v Technical Ecstasy v Never Say Die.......

This is a follow up to one of my recent "What's on the car stereo" ramblings when I said I would see how the new album stands up against the '76 and '78 releases..... 

I undertook a comparison of "13", Technical and Never, listening to each one twice over 3 days worth of car journeys....the big problem is just how long the last 2 have been part of my musical background (over 35 years in fact !!) and all the memories that are associated with them....."13" is sooooo new.......but it is however superb as a stand alone album and I freely admit that it pisses over the majority of Never Say Die with the exception of the title track, Johnny Blade and Juniors Eyes....but, and this is a very big but, I absolutely love those 3 tracks to bits and always will......and Technical (love it all) has the truly awesome Dirty Women.... these were some of the mainstay tracks at various Heavy Metal/Rock discos I used to go to on Friday,Saturday and Sunday nights from '76 onwards.

13 is far far better than anything that was released after '78 bearing the name of Black Sabbath ( without Ozzy of course ) but as to whether it will ever give earlier albums a run for their money....deep down I doubt it.

I have bitter sweet memories about the Never Say Die Tour in '78......As I'd not seen them live, I was elated to see the list of Tour dates including Hammersmith Odeon but then my heart sank....it was right before one of my 'A' Level exams on a subject that was requiring much revision and study. In the words of The Clash...."should I stay (at home and revise up to the last minute) or should I go ?".... I decided to give it a miss and revise...after all I could always see them next time !!......OH fateful words.....there wasn't a next time as  after that tour Ozzy left the band......I did however pass my exam as the very topic I studied on the Sabbath Gig Night came up in the test paper. 

I made do with seeing Blizzard of Oz several times and thoroughly enjoyed all of the gigs enormously....as for Sabbath....I saw them with  Ronnie James Dio (RIP 2010) in '82 but only because Girlschool were supporting. In fairness to Dio he was perfect with Ritchie Blackmore's Rainbow on their first 3 albums but he was never really a Sabbath vocalist if you understand me............talking of Rainbow...that reminds me of the only time I saw them when they stomped off after about 35 minutes and a near riot ensued....but that's another story.......

Sorry ....I appear to have gone on and on and on.....again !!

Doug E Dogg

Zud - The Good, The Bad and the Damned

Zud play a genre bending blend of hardcore/punk rock'n'roll

with a definite black metal overtone which morphs into

heavy psych blowouts.

Sounds confusing but Zud pull it off with a collection of songs

that just fucking make you want to play it louder than everything else.

After an intro, you have four song ranging between 8 to 12 minutes

which give the band time to stretch out song compositions and really

get a heavy groove going.

All the tracks are pretty much mid-paced which helps the songs

retain their own identity. Sonic denseness is the key factor which

holds everything together. Grunting, rasped vocals rather than

the generic "cookie monster" means you can actually hear the

menacing lyrics. 

"Skull Shaped Hell" throbs with promised violence until halfway

through you realise that you have gone from gigantic walls of sound

and blast beats to a late '60's blues freak-out. Showing that this is

only the beginning, in "Blood & Twilight", gentle picked guitar

strings float through the chaos until the noise returns but with

the end passage containing echoed solos that remind me of the

madness contained within the Dead Kennedys early work, 

twisting and turning within the structure to an almost epic finale.

The guitar solos have a classic feel that reference the best of heavy Detroit - 

MC5, Cooper, Nugent and Williamson Stooges. Think Brian James meets

"Fast" Eddie Clarke from the english end of things ....... tuneful, economical

and heartfelt - no fret wanking, just wild abandon and soul.

Highly recommended.

Thanks as always to Earsplit PR for links.

Band Blurb:

There are a few of them left out there. None are nearby Most are dead anyway. The castle has been under a long siege and strange things go on behind walls when death is such a good old pal... In one sense four years in the making, yet in another thrown together in six months. And so, out of the dead end peninsula of Thompson’s Point in Portland, Maine, ZUD presents their debut full-length, The Good, The Bad And The Damned.

Infectiously and seamlessly merging the aesthetics of black metal and classic rock, delivering tunes with an exceedingly organic delivery and live-for-now outlook, ZUD somehow does something vibrant and fresh while simultaneously paying homage to those who forged the paths the four members have traveled thus far in life. Recorded and mixed by Todd Hutchinson (Falls of Rauros, AOK Suicide Forest) at Acadia Recording Company in Portland, Maine and mastered by Tore Stjerna (Watain, Repugnant) at Necromorbus Studios in Stockholm, Sweden, The Good, The Bad And The Damned hits fucking hard with more than forty minutes of killer, free-form, high-octane metal perfect for those late Summer night parties full of suds and bud, while keeping you aware of the fact that no matter how good or bad life may be, death is always within spitting distance.

For those who lack imagination, ZUD plays old-school sleazy n’ cheesy blues-rockin’ black metal, like old Mayhem and older Bathory mixed with Roky Erickson, early Van Halen, Ash Ra Temple and a slew of other classic rock, psyche and various NWOBHM influences. It is harsh, it shreds, it kills and crushes, but it is also hypnotizing, trance-inducing and still catchy and fun as all fucking hell. This is music to die to, to cry to, to get high to, to bang your fucking head to. But most of all it is fuel for the souls of those true rock n’ roll outlaws who still wander around on their infinite journeys; be it on the iron dragons, an iron horse or on foot. Those who know that no friends or glory await at the end of the line, only death... and that there is nothing to do about it but to learn to enjoy the torture that is life in the bizarre but unique opportunities which it can present. To embrace the wastelands in the pouring rain. To smile at death. To wink back at the world when the time comes, knowing that the only thing left to say is “later twerps...”

For contact and ordering, go to the Zud website Here

On holiday

Not that anyone cares but I will be away

from my computer for a week.

Posts will resume then.

Doom Charts for August 1st

Here is the latest Doom Charts from Paranoid Hitsophrenic.

Complied with loving care and an almost insane attention to detail,
Lukas provides us with what is hip, happening and just plain fucking heavy.

Read and find out what is missing from your miserable lives!

Here it is!