Olde Growth - Olde Growth

As the years go on and I become an older, somewhat wiser man, at least I think I’m getting to that point, I can’t hep but wonder what band will be next to “part the red sea”. In previous years it’s been bands such as Sleep, Bongripper, Sunn O))), Om and Wormrot. In the more recent months it’s been outfits such asShroud Eater, Meth Drinker, Mühr and Verwüstung. These bands have impacted my life in ways that most really never will, honestly. So, should I still be looking for the next project to literally split me in half? Sure why not! The last spot I expected to look was Boston, MA, not because I dislike every professional sports team from Boston but because it’s never been a city that hit me with crushing doom/sludge etc.. Olde Growth is a two piece that lit me the hell up once I heard the opening track from their self-titled full-length, “Olde Growth”. Trust me when I say prepare for a war of war drums and classic groove because this these two dudes will not let you down for once second.

When I speak about “parting the red sea” as Mosses did, I speak of opening up my heart and hitting spots that nobody else can do musically. It’s a feeling that I get when the hair on my neck rise and I get chill bumps from head to toe. Few records have actually accomplished this but it seems like only certain record can in theory. The opening to this record is a track titled “The Grand Illusion”, not only does it bring that really aggressive and dirty sludge/stoner vibe but the chorus is untouchable. The way this record sounds, the volumes that it can hit and how intense it can be at times, it sounds like a four or five piece playing, not a two piece. The powerful riffs that Stephen LoVerme plays with his bass are similar to what it probably sounded like when the Titanic hit the iceberg. Just gritty, disgusting, deep tones and chords that would shatter your grandfathers ears if you put this record on for him. When I think of certain tracks on this record I can picture ships at sea, people enjoying the sun and just having life as perfect as possible. On the other hand, yes we always have the other hand, I can see dark, chaotic, uprisings of people feeling empowered and just taking what they desire in life. The lyrics to the track “Life In The Present” are something that will make you dream of marvelous surrounding and adventure that you would actually consider trying.

Down and out, dry and heaving. Loss of hope, anguish. Being in time, ford the crossing. Choose to live, break the cycle. Your own mortality will set you free! Scale the highest mountain. Sail across the sea. Ride the steeds of lighting. Swim beneath the clouds. Feast upon the succulent flesh of the Earth! Souls drift on cosmic waves. Light of a thousand candles. Burns through the eternal night!

Previously I said something about war drums, the patterns and authority Ryan Berry can lay out is honestly, in my opinion, the blueprint to how stoner/sludge is suppose to sound like from behind the kit. It’s in your face, full of just raw power but also has this bluesy feel to it at certain sections of the record. “Olde Growth” is just energetic, full of balls and a record that just makes you feel great about whatever is going on in your life at that time. It’s not a record that you wanna put on to feel depressed or apathetic, if you want that put on some Worship or Funeral Moth. Olde Growth are pushing buttons in all the right ways, that’s just a fact and it’s how I feel.

As I right this, the record is literally blasting through my subs that are connected to my laptop. I’ve had a massive headache since yesterday and even though it calmed down a bit last night, it’s back in full force today. That being said, that’s how much I dig this record, even with a throbbing headache it’s still slamming my face and brain all day long. In closing, all I can say is that if this debut full-length from two Boston guys can make me jump for joy for anything Boston, we might have hope for the future in me not having the Boston Bruins.

1) The Grand Illusion
2) Life In The Present

3) Cry of the Nazgul/The Second Darkness/To the Black Gate
4) Sequoia

5) Red Dwarf

6) Everything Dies

7) Awake

Download the record here

Assyrian - Self-Portrait

Over the last couple of months, if not years, I've been wondering where all of the talented Mexican metal bands are. We're heard a couple over the years in such outfits as Brujeria and Infinitum Obscure but nothing that really stuck to me and made me want more Mexico metal. Blasting out at me at speeds unimaginable is a little project called Assyrian. Playing that Atmospheric Progressive/Death/Doom on the same platform as Opeth, Assyrian could easily be heavy hitters in the metal scene. All they need is a record label that would support them fully.They already have a solid fan base and with the intensity they bring on record, it's a real mind fuck how this four piece hasn't been signed to a record label at all.


So, this EP was giving to me nearly a week or so ago and it's literally taken me a full week to understand how I feel about this record. At first I was sort of iffy because it sounded just like some Opeth rip-off. As time passed and this record was blasting on and off through the weekend, I realized that these guys can really bring the heat when it comes to clean vocals and riffs that will make you feel like heaven has opened up. Imagine the cleanness that Opeth gives you, the brilliant epic songs that fill all your needs when it comes to rawness and just progressive death. Assyrian is sort of like that but a whole different breed of wolf. Packing a punch that would knock a fat woman off the back of a horse, it's literally track after track of beautiful chords, amazing piano sections and some solos that will make your head explode in glory. "Self-Portrait" is a record that has seven great tracks that span over the time of twenty-eight minutes. The great thing about this record is that Assyrian are never scared to show who they really are. They will never play something different to just try to impress the listener nor will they go in a direction they have no idea about. They play straight forward progressive death, the type of progressive death that make the trees shake, the type of progressive death that will make you thank God above for blessing you with such a talented band to listen to. As much as I enjoy the growls and the grunts, the clean vocals are something that make this record brilliant. From the softer sections on the track "The Gray" to the amazing melodies on "Quiet", the sixth tracks. It's all just beautiful, heart warming music that I wish everyone could hear, honestly. My favorite track on this record has to be "Empathic Narcissus", it gives me that doom/death I need but also feeds me this solo around the two minute mark, that solo builds and blasts into this Japanese/Korean style melody that reminds me of a Korean Rock band that goes by the name Seo Taiji. It's probably the most glorious thing I've heard since the first time I made my ex-girlfriend orgasm. Yes, it's that glorious that I can compare it to a female orgasming.

Solid record from a Mexican progressive death/doom outfit that should be making more noise than they are in the metal world. People need to open up some ears because we can't keep letting acts like this slip under the rug. If I have to do it alone, I will but Assyrian needs to be hear, period. Global domination? We can only hope with how beautiful this record is.

* ALL TRACKS ARE IN .WAV FORMAT SO YOU WILL HAVE TO DOWNLOAD EACH SONG INDIVIDUALLY!!

1) Impromptu

2) Empathic Narcissus

3) The Gray

4) Colour Me

5) Phobos

6) Quiet

7) Bright Green Light

Meth Drinker - Meth Drinker

Have you ever put a record on and thought to yourself, "Since when did people inside insane asylums get to use instruments and why does it sound so fucking great?". If you have thought that, believe me when I say you are not alone in this because when I listen to Meth Drinker's self-titled debut full-length "Meth Drinker", I get the same exact thoughts. Stampeding out of New Zealand like a hoard of buffalo, Meth Drinker just recently got together last year and have already put out a solid, boy do I mean solid, record that will blow everything you love out of the water. A release that was brought to my attention by Miss Sarah, it's a good thing she showed me this because my jaw hit the floor after I heard a couple songs. Think of it this way, if "Meth Drinker" had black magical spells, your whole record collection would be melted in a matter of seconds.

Villages filled with the craziest of humans, the type of humans that kill and eat raw flesh for the hell of it. Straight jackets, rooms filled with the stench of vomit while the people that work at the hospital just walk right through it. Crucifixes that get flipped upside down while the lightning strikes the trees to cause a power outage. Images of souls being tortured while they're strapped on surgery beds with nothing to look forward too. All of these images and atmospheres are really what set this record apart from so many other doom/sludge releases. It could be the samples that are played on certain tracks but just the overall vibe you get from "Meth Drinker" are straight out of a haunted insane asylum. As the bass will shake your glass of water, the drums fill in very nicely with it's mid-paced tempo. The grooves and riffs are just the right pace too, they aren't super slow so that the not so average listen will get bored but they aren't so upbeat that the normal doom lover will get turned off. "Combat Shock", the fourth track on the record, starts off with a woman wondering about how her family is going to survive without her son, from what I gathered, having no job or life. She goes on to slip shit on him and you get the feeling once the sample cuts out that nothing good became of that situation. Murder? Suicide? Mass Murder? We can only imagine what happens after that sample because the way that the rest of the track takes you over, you sort of get the feeling that both of those bodies are laying somewhere face down, possibly in a sewer underneath the city. As simple as this record is, the way it comes out and makes you feel like you're sort of part of this world that never existed, it makes you want to listen and pay attention. Speaking of greatness, besides the name of the band, you get these little samples of 70's disco, at the end of "Combat Shock", and a great country sample that seems to be from the 60's at the end of the track "Broken Down and Used Up". Crazy things cross through your mind while you listen to this record, the thought of actually rocking back and forth seemed to cross my mind quite a bit. "Meth Drinker" just makes you wanna do things that no other record can do, at least for me.

It's all about the atmosphere on this debut record from Meth Drinker and if they keep putting records out like this insane piece of shit, we may have some guys that could crush the doom/sludge scene with their bare palms. Call me crazy, call me an idiot, you could even call me a worthless piece of shit for digging a band called Meth Drinker, all I know is that this record has impacted me and it will be in that discussion when Sarah and I talk about 2011's top records.

1) Deprivation

2) Incurable Illness

3) Ganja Mutt

4) Combat Shock

5) Skull Smashing Concrete

6) The Shining (Main Title)

7) Serrated Corridor

8) Narco Sub

9) Broken Down and Used Up

Download the record here

Verwüstung - Beyond the Watercooler Sunset, We Feel New Life

As you enter the hallway to your new apartment building, you hear small whispers of conversation as the people give you looks of despair, emptiness and fright. You open the door to your brand new apartment, only to find that everything has been destroyed. Small fires are set in corners, blood soaked sheets and pillows are thrown all over the place. You feel helpless, so helpless that you literally just want to jump out the window of your brand new apartment and let your body twist and dangle as you fall four stories to your death. These are the type of things that your imagination dreams of when you listen to "Beyond the Watercolor Sunset, We Feel New Life" from Verwüstung.

Dwelling deep inside the San Francisco, CA walls is a man that goes by the name Verwüstung. While he does have a couple side-projects, Camlann and Airs, Verwüstung seems to be his golden pot of joy, which is a great thing. With "Beyond the Watercooler Sunset, We Feel New Life" you'll get one solid track that is a little under 30 minutes in length. As Verwüstung labels his music Black/Drone/Doom metal, you really can't grab onto anything that's similar to Drone or Doom. The track starts out by setting the mood perfectly, small guitar riffs echo through the trees as you seem to wake from your slumber. You get yourself ready for the day by cleaning and eating some food, now it's off to find what adventures are held for you in the wilderness. Chants of helplessness catch your ear, you hear two women talking about how the other is addicted to things that the devil himself would enjoy. Screams and pain hit the clouds as if the addicted woman is in the pain of her life. Around the six minute mark is when the shit hits the fan, with distored black metal riffs and surging feedback, you might want to strap yourself in for the ride.. This record is split-up into different chapters, you have the wondering paths of massive order and clamness and you have the chapters that will decay your inner thoughts of any beauty you can think of. Skip foward to around the sixteen minute mark and you'll feel so filthy and rotten that your teeth are falling out by themselves. Hope seems to be a theme on this record, at least for me. The way that the acoustic guitar just barrels through everything on the calm sections, it gives you that warmth that you missed as a child. While you listen to this record, atmospheres come alive, literally. You'll be able to smell smoke from a campfire, you can imagine birds flying in the sky and the spring time breeze just brush up against your cheeks. Four chapters, divided into two sections each; one for black metal, one for acoustic sets. The last leg of this record is a full on black metal section, filled with tones of grief, despair and just distortion that most major black metal bands can't seem to get right. Prepare for a very chilling yet amazing, sunny adventure with "Beyond the Watercoolor Sunset, We Feel New Life" because it's exactly what you'll get from this masterpiece.

So, what have we gathered from our garden of raw talent? Well, I learned that anything this man releases will be greatness and I'll be waiting for whatever you wants to drop on my head. I also learned that you can have clear landscapes filled with breezes and mystical emotions but on the other hand, that landscape is filled with evil, dark, twisted images that no man nor woman should have to be apart of.  Verwüstung - He loves to give you hope, bring you joy and make you feel on cloud nine but he will also show you some of the most wicked atmospheres your eyes will ever see.

1) Beyond the Watercooler Sunset, We Feel New Life

Download the record here