I recruited Erik to post with me, and that keeps me writing. To the same end, I will try writing some journalistic or diary like entries, like this one. In January 2013, I finally managed to do something I had meant to do for a long time. I started and have maintained a list of every book I read. At the end of the year, I should probably like to do a recap post. I will try to maintain this practice for the rest of my life. Next year I plan to expand it to films as well. I always do a top ten films of the year. I'll just expand the concept a little. See what comes of it.
Music should probably be involved too. Dreams and art. That's all that matters. I've been working pretty much nonstop these past few weeks, and will continue, so today, a day of rest, I spent mostly in bed. I watched Oliver Stone's JFK for the first time in I don't know how long. Many years. I liked it better this time around. I read 12 or 13 issues of Neil Gaiman's Sandman. And I listened to these albums.
Uncle Acid is fantastic band conceptually, and they sound great too. All this sort of stuff is rooted in Sabbath, but Uncle Acid are a much more psychedelic band. They're kind of a mashup of 1970's drugs/cult/metal/biker culture. A little of everything, and it works like gangbusters. I'm a big fan of the vocals. They're high, not quite King Diamond falsetto, but sort of androgynous and unsettling. The lyrics are super sinister. Opening track "I'll Cut You Down", about lust murder, is probably my favorite.
The only critique I'd level at Uncle Acid is that they're a little more erratic than I usually like. I prefer my riffs a lot heavier, and, not unsurprisingly, this band is more LSD than pot. That's their prerogative, though, and this is still a great band.
Bongripper are a much more serious band than you might guess, based on the fact that they're called Bongripper. I never used to give much thought to explicitly marijuana based bands, but those days are over. Many years ago, something was opened up inside of me listening to Sleep and Electric Wizard (and yes, getting stoned), and now the weed thing is no different than any other motif a band might utilize. This isn't a blog to talk about the spiritual significance of weed, so I digress.
Hippie Killer is a good Bongripper album. I don't think it's on the level of their magnum opus, Satan Worshiping Doom, but it's a satisfying listen, anchored by the 16 and 17 minute instrumentals "Reefer Sutherland" and "Charlie, Burt Reynolds Has Got Shit On You". See, song titles like that from a band called Bongripper probably make you think this is a joke band, but they absolutely aren't. If you like doom or stoner metal at all, try Bongripper and I guarantee you'll be glad you did.
Oh fuck yeah. Now this is a killer album. This is my favorite of all the albums I listened to today. Cough (I like to imagine their band name as the intro to "Sweet Leaf") only have two full lengths, of which this is the first, but they're shaping up to be one of the sickest stoner doom bands around. I haven't been this impressed by a stoner band since White Hills. I first heard cough on a split with Windhand, who are also a pretty great band in their own right, but overshadowed in this instance. I have nothing but praise. Check them out.
A classic album from one of the founders of stoner doom. At this point they were more doom, less stoner; they would come to more fully embrace that style in the years to come. This is still a seminal album. I'm not a huge fan of the vocal style, but it's certainly nothing that ruins the album or anything. It's just a little too clean for my taste.
And speaking of classic albums from the founders of doom, here's another. Messiah Marcolin's first album for Candlemass. His vocals are truly operatic and take some getting used to (for me at least), but I think it works in the end. Candlemass, like all doom, are rooted in Sabbath, and really don't sound all that different from Sabbath Bloody Sabbath era Sabbath, so if you can dig on Sabbath style metal with operatic vocals, this is an epic album.
("Quit saying 'Sabbath' in there!")
In their way, Kyuss are the Black Sabbath of the modern stoner metal movement. They were an amazing band and if you trace the roots of modern stoner bands, you always end up back here. Wretch is their first album. It's amazing. It's also frustrating. It should have been better produced. These songs are spectacular, but they should be louder, heavier and fuzzier. The true Kyuss sound isn't captured here, and it suffers as a result. Still, you can't hold back amazing tracks like "Son of a Bitch" and "Big Bikes" no matter how feeble the production is. Crucial.
Nachtmystium could be described as psychedelic black metal. A great, interesting combination. This first album (hm, I listened to a lot of debuts today), though, is just black metal. They fought against being called a black metal band, but I don't know what they expected, sounding like this. And look at that cover! Anyway, this is super lo-fi, grimy black metal. Think early Mayhem or Burzum (the reissue, which is what I listened to, has a cover of Burzum's "Lost Wisdom"). Despite being American, they sound Scandinavian, which is the best compliment I can give them.
This was the odd man out in today's listening, since it was all psychedelic/stoner/doom and this is straight black metal. I'd never heard this before, I'd only heard their later, more psychedelic albums. So this was good, just not what I was expecting.
Back to heavy doom. Church of Misery is Japanese. If you don't listen to Japanese metal, you're missing out. They do some great work. I know of a few Japanese bands in most metal genres I listen to. For Japanese doom, I would say I prefer Corrupted, but Church of Misery adds a 70's biker rock aesthetic that I like, and they're obsessed with serial killers. Seriously, almost every song is about a real life serial killer, and they use tons of serial killer samples. Edgy? I dunno. It seems too thorough to be a gimmick. Church of Misery is into serial killers like Bongripper is into weed. Serial killer doom. Make of it what you will. This was a bittersweet listen because they're actually playing in San Francisco tonight. If I had heard about it, I probably would have gone.
And speaking of San Francisco, that's where Orchid is from. It's a great city for bluesy doom, and that's what they do. Not to beat a dead horse, but they sound like a more folk influenced Black Sabbath. A good thing. This is good chill out music. It's heavy, but with a nice, folksy groove. This is a great album because it's very versatile. It's rewarding headphone listening and also great to have on in the background while you do something else. You don't always have to be way over the top to be awesome. Orchid isn't really that extreme of a band in any way, but I listen to them a lot. They're spiritual in that way. My favorite cover art of this crop of albums, too. I never get tired of goat imagery.
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