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

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