Shogun Assassins - Blue Liquid, Black Sounds, Red Display (2012)

Band request from Denmark.

Shogun Assassins play blues rock with a stoner vibe thrown in.

This is lighter in tone than most things on this blog but with
London actually having some sun for a couple of days, this
has all the elements to kick the summer off.

There is a groove that reminds me of a cross between Cream
and Grand Funk Railroad but it is no 60/70's slavish copy. They
have put their own stamp on the sound and have a powerful
production that makes sure that everything rocks nicely, throwing
in a touch of psych along the way.

The only downer is that there are only 3 tracks on the EP.

Pay what you want on Bandcamp

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Kash - Full Of (2012)

Band request from Italy.

Kash had this album engineered by Steve Albini and all his
trademarks are here: no overdub fillers, clean expansive instruments,
a live, authentic feel to things etc.

The arrangements hold everything together, and while the tempo
never races to full tilt, the songs and vocals combine really well
with the thoughtful picked guitar parts. This needs to be played
in one sitting as although the album starts of pretty restrained, you
slowly realise that a mood of uneasiness is spreading through the
tracks giving you something to listen to with substance.

I like this - give it a go.

Band Bio:

Sick Room Records is happy to announce that the math/post/noise rock band from Saluzzo Italy, KASH, has come out swinging with a much-anticipated new release. Truly, they have not missed a step in the last five years. The big news is that, after almost a decade, original founding member Andrea Vignolo has returned on the drums. Legendary engineer Steve Albini, has also come back to lend his mastery to Full Of as well, working at Oxygen Studios, a wonderful new facility in the north of Italy owned by guitarist Paride Lanciani. 

As they have matured over time, the quartet has changed up their extreme and destructive style to offer a more composed, confident, fresh and direct sound. The new record contains 8 songs whose hermetic lyrics tell about emotions, opinions of real life, and marginalization in a world of continuous and rapid change. Slow songs, stop/start changes, and dynamic fast riffs are some of the other characteristic elements of Full Of. This new album, released by Sickroom Records on Vinyl with included CD, will surely satisfy any fan of alternative rock music, young or old.

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Grizzly - Fear My Wrath (2012)

Grizzly are from Budapest and play a perfect mix of stoner/sludge.

Big, heavy and powerful, the sound is exactly what you want to hear
when cranking these tunes up. Sometimes this genre can produce records
that are pretty good but are let down by either lack of bottom end or
being mixed so raw that is it just a stew of noise from which the
instruments sound like mud.

To my ears, this how it should sound.

Grizzly have the bounce, solos and groove that you want from the stoner
genre but back it up with fucking huge sludge riffs and menacing vocals.

Being only 20 minutes long, it ends well before you want it to stop ........
which is why I have played it so many times. There are no weak songs
on display and the track order really flows along to give you a big slab
of listening pleasure.

Highly recommended.

Thanks to the crew at Heavy Planet for bringing this to my attention.

Because Grizzly are good guys, this is free from Bandcamp

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Ape! - The Dirger (2009)

One You Might Of Missed!

I was playing this today and realised that it had not been posted

here before.

If you wanted some fuzzed out rock'n'roll dirt for the weekend,

give this a play.

Ape! manage to pull the trick of combining hardcore and stoner

without feeling forced. Barking vocals, great big thick muscular

guitar riffs with lots of tasty solos dripping with distortion and wah.

Think High on Fire crossed with a bit of Baroness playing Mudhoney

songs and you come close to their sound.

Because they are good guys, you can pay what you want from Bandcamp

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Adrift For Days - Album now as free download

Lachlan has now put up the magnificent album by
Adrift For Days up as a Pay What You Want on Bandcamp.

You now have no excuse not to have this beast of prog/sludge/post-metal.

Whatcha fucking waiting for?

Hey guys, just letting you know that the acclaimed new album from Sydney's psychedelic droners Adrift for Days is now available for FREE DOWNLOAD!

 

"Come Midnight..." is an ambitious 71-minute concept album that spans doom, drone, sludge, stoner metal, 70’s psychedelic rock, post-metal and post-rock influences. Fans of Yob, Earth, Rosetta, Neurosis, Space Bong, Pink Floyd and Boris are sure to dig it.

 

Go and download it. Consider it our gift to you.

Oh, and if you're in Melbourne or Adelaide, be sure to catch them on tour this weekend!

• Friday 13 July at the John Curtin Hotel, Melbourne: Mushroom Giant, Adrift for Days (NSW), Spider Goat Canyon, Roussemoff.
   
• Saturday 14 July at Enigma Bar, Adelaide: Space Bong, Adrift for Days (NSW), Hydromedusa, Leather Messiah. 

 

"For the uninitiated, the diSEMBOWELMENT/Bad Seeds hybrid Adrift for Days has conceived may prove to be incomprehensible, but for those who know, it is a masterpiece. 92/100"

 

- Brian Giffin, Loud Magazine
 

 

"Adrift For Days have delivered another masterpiece of modern sludge/stoner Metal... this is about as close to perfection as you can possibly get to."

 

- Steve Howe, Sludgelord

 

 

"If drone, doom, and anything noisy takes your fancy, then Come Midnight... is what you have been waiting for. 9.8/10."

 

- Mitch Booth, Metal Obsession.

 

 

"Adrift for Days is one of the most unique and original bands that have given the metal and rock in a long time... they have created a work that could be easily the best album of 2012. It's that simple. It's that scary. It's that beautiful."

 

- Ecos de R'Lyeh

 

 

"Take The Doors, Pink Floyd and Jimmy Hendrix, put them in a paint mixer and leave it running on over night on the lowest setting. When you get back the next day what will you find? The result will most likely be Adrift For Days, a group of droners, mental drifters rocking out to their post-metal brand of self-discovery."

 

- Johnny Sixstring, We Love Rock and Pop

[P.U.T.] - Like Animals (2012)

Band request from France.

Bio:

[P.U.T] “LIKE ANIMALS”

5th and new album of the sludge noise duet - March 23, 2012 : LP+CD in screen printed by Le Cagibi (Lille)
(P.O.G.O records - Dismember records)

(labels who want to reissue it and distro can contact us! mailorder and webzine can contact us too)

 European round of Mars to October 2012

Hi,
[ P.U.T ] , 2 brothers, living in Paris / Brussels, who making since 1998, a mix of  machines vs guitares, noise, sludge-metal, industrial and punk to create a music borrows madness, emotion, heaviness and anger.
Personal and without concessions, their 5 albums, 8 maxis, 2 live, 7" and various sound experiments, does not disavow their influences (of Godflesh, Killing joke, Sonic Youth while passing by Scorn or Unsane) the band intrigues at the most point.
It's on stage which the band reveal is power, making same noise than a 4-5 piece musicians…. intense, raw, dirty, disturbing...
More than 170 shows in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Swiss and Germany.

they have play with:

SCORN (uk), Ufomammut (it), Akimbo (USA), Burning Heads, Year of No light, Altar of plague (gb), Ultraphallus (be), Anorak, Pneumatic Head Compressor (Be), Membrane, K-Branding (Be), Io Monade (It), Kapitain Korsakov (be), Lab°, Last Minute to Jaffna (it), Grant National (De), Grrzzz, Lucky Funeral (gr), Black Bomb A, Muckrackers, René Binamé, PPZ30, Punish Yourself, Sungrazer (Nl), LTNo, Comity, Zenzile, Tamtrum, Edwood Jr,  General Lee and many others! 

Beyet lionel: Bass, voice, laptop - Beyet Nicolas: Guitar, voice, laptop

www.myspace.com/unput

http://putmusic.bandcamp.com

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1223033833#!/pages/PUT/78005182411

Disastroid - Money and Guilt (2012)

Band request from Studio SQ.

Disastroid play stoner and hard rock with a swagger and poise
that you would expect from a much more established band.

Crisp, catchy riffs bounce around held in place by the tight as
fuck rhythm section while the economical guitar solos make sure
that every note counts.

This record has a big sound and is not just rooted in the '70's for
its inspiration.

If you are into Fu Manchu & QOTSA, give this a listen.

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Band Blog

Bio:
From time to time one stumbles on a record that simply kicks ass. Disastroid's upcoming LP "Money and Guilt" is no exception. This rock epic takes the listener on a ride through a minefield of tempo changes, metric modulation, and other surprises that turn your guts. By and large it employs the best that rock has to offer while showcasing refined musicianship and purpose.

Huge guitar tone, heavy riffs, driving rhythms, and melodic vocals are the salient components of Disastroid's music. While their sound can be reminiscent to some of the heroes of 90's rock (Melvins, Rollins Band, Jesus Lizard, Soundgarden, etc.), the band has a hard time labeling their work. As frontman Enver Koneya points out "We have no real formula... we just make music that pleases ourselves. It just so happens that others like the sound as well."

Enver assembled Disastroid in San Francisco from spare parts he found on Craigslist. After recording an EP on his own Travis Williams jumped on board taking over the bass chair. Travis has had great influence on the direction of the group and over the past three years he and Enver have prolifically written and recorded three albums, most recently with Braden McGraw on drums.

Since their inception Disatroid has been busy. In addition to recording the group has been gaining fans steadily as they perform along the west coast. They've also managed to amass a devoted following in their home base of San Francisco, a city which tends to be oriented toward the clinically critical and the cynically hipster. They were recently featured in Thrasher Magazine and have accumulated tons of local and national attention. On Disastroid’s horizon is a tour to the Pacific Northwest to support of the release of "Money and Guilt".

Merkabah - A Lament For The Lamb (2012)

I found this on the very cool blog Archivhate - give it a visit!

Merkabah are from Poland and play noisy soundscapes that
incorporate slices of psychedelic metal.

These avant-rockers have a dark feel to them, made all the more
chaotic by the wild sax that solos over the distorted guitar riffs.

There are ambient passages that bring the mood to calmer levels
before the heavy jazzy drumming sets a base onto which drones,
riffs and post-rock templates are applied to devastating results.

Like those Italian maniacs Zu, this does take you on a musical
trip that dives heavily into atonal noise but Mekabah have enough
rock riffs to keep your head banging.

Give this a go!

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Zebras - Zebras (2012)

Band request from Wisconsin, USA.

Zebras play a unholy mix of doom/prog/hardcore and that is why
you should give this a listen.

Schizophrenic compositions jostle with riffs that hurtle along
with aggressive speed that give the varied vocals an added edge.

With no bass player, a rumbling synth provides all the low end
throbbing you need - for a 3 piece, the sound is full and powerful
and with no long, over extended tracks, the songs waste no time
in providing you with all the noisy thrills you need.

This made me jump up and down a lot.

If you want to slip outside the rigid pigeon hole of todays
music genres, give these boys a visit!

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Mental Architects - Celebrations (2012)

Request from Domino Media.

Mental Architects are a Bulgarian math-rock band with post-rock
influences in the song structures.

Produced and mastered by Aaron Harris, as you can imagine the
sound is full and powerful.

Complex and fast guitars do their mathy thing while the intricate
drums and bass push the intensity of the songs along nicely.

The riffs and tempos weave through time changes but do not
fall into the cut'n'paste template that seems to be used so much
at the moment. Mental Architects have their own identity in this
crowded genre and are stamping their authority over paths that
have been trodden by Don Caballero and Adebisi Shank.

Buy from Bandcamp

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