ALBUM REVIEW: Darkest Hour - “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”

By: Ben Fitts

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 10/03/2017

Label: Southern Lord

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” finds an exact middle ground between the elegant melodicism of Darkest Hour’s earlier work and the feral muscle of their previous album. The mixture is sure to please nearly all fans of the band, both old and new.  The result is twelve tracks that simultaneously capture Darkest Hour at both their most tuneful and their most assailing.

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Knife in the Safe Room
2. This Is The Truth
3. Timeless Numbers
4. None Of This Is The Truth
5. The Flesh & the Flowers of Death
6. Those Who Survived
7. Another Headless Ruler of the Used
8. Widowed
9. Enter Oblivion
10. The Last of the Monuments
11. In The Name Of Us All
12. Beneath It Sleeps

The Review

Since Darkest Hour strayed from their melodeath roots in favor a more commercial metalcore sound on their self-titled, eighth album in 2014, many new fans have flocked to the band’s base. However, older fans of their melodic death metal sound have been nervously twiddling their thumbs about what this would mean for the future of Darkest Hour’sdirection. That future arrives in the form of the Washington, D.C.based quintet’s ninth LP, “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”, their first original release for Goatsnake/Sunn O))) guitarist Greg Anderson’s label Southern Lord Recordings. It is also their first album to feature Convergeguitarist Kurt Ballou behind the soundboard, and if the names associated with this album seem like they might be sending mixed messages about the album’s stylistic direction, that’s because they are.

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”finds an exact middle ground between the elegant melodicism of Darkest Hour’s earlier work and the feral muscle of their previous album. The mixture is sure to please nearly all fans of the band, both old and new. The vibrant, flowing guitar leads definitive of the band’s classic material reintroduce themselves on “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora”, which may be partially due to the return of former guitarist Kris Norris, who, while not a full member of the band again, does perform additional guitar layering on the album. “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” also sees vocalist John Henry return to a style more closely approximating his work on early Darkest Hour, albeit a tad harsher and more martial.

These elements of Darkest Hour’s past works float atop an amalgam of their newer, metalcore influenced sound. The elements of classic melodeath that the band always impeccably recreated are set to a backdrop of vicious aggression that provide a new kind of edge to Darkest Hour that one never noticed was missing before. This is perhaps best exemplified by the album’s tenth and possible standout track, “The Last of the Monuments”, which mixes nimble guitar work, infectious melodies and ferocious attitude. “Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” truly finds the best of both worlds that Darkest Hour has ventured into, removes them with a scalpel, and then slaps them onto a new musical canvas. The result is twelve tracks that simultaneously capture Darkest Hour at both their most tuneful and their most assailing.   

“Godless Prophets & the Migrant Flora” is available preorder/buy here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Carnaval - "Miss Universe"

By: Luciano Penelu

Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 21/121/2017
Label: Kapa Records

This album is a fine piece of Stoner Metal, and is as well executed and produced, as any other great and famous band on the scene. Grab a smoke, sit down and listen to it. You will see what I mean.

“Miss Universe” CD//DD track listing:

1). New Shoes of Mine

2). Seven

3). Moon Shuffle

4). Round Nose Cat

5). Bluebird

6). Space Bar

7). Silver Starlight

8). Rocket

9). Burning Sun

The Review:

The Slovenians of Carnaval have history. They’ve been around since 2004, and "2" (2009), "1"(2010) and "Tennis Football Basketball" (2012), their previous albums, are strongly recommended Stoner jewels. Listen to “1”, as a warm up and you will see that these guys don’t fuck around: by that time they already were a solid and impressive band.

Now, four years after the last full length, they overwhelm us with this “Miss Universe” (2016, Kapa records). It is an impressive album. During its nine tracks, everything works perfectly. I would say that it is everything you can expect from a good Stoner band, with some extra hand of personality and care. On the track “Seven” (track 2), for instance, it is amazing how the drums are executed, followed by some well-placed percussion work and acid bass lines, fat guitars and beautiful vocal work, with the vocals playing an important and central role throughout the album. It makes an interesting contrast with the other instruments, balancing the formula with some delicacy. During the tracks, the right-placed guitar solos are like a relentless dope binge for ears, and the drums are very creative, brilliantly followed by the bass in these moments.

Sometimes, like in the opening track “New shoes of mine”, maybe because of the dense guitar tones, or the connection with the Blues, it reminds me of Goatsnake, and I cannot think of a better band to reference. The studio / production work also deserves a lot of recognition. It sounds fat and greasy, and it pleases me a lot.

As I mentioned before, Carnaval is a mature band firing on all cylinders and on this “Miss Universe”, there are no loose ties, and all songs are great. “Bluebird” is one of my favorites, with its hypnotic riff that echoes for days. It is that kind of music that can last for an hour, and that’s all our stoned minds could ask for. The next one, “Space bar”, is also catchy, beautifully executed and reminded me a lot of Red Fang.

This album is a fine piece of Stoner Metal, and is as well executed and produced, as any other great and famous band on the scene. Grab a smoke, sit down and listen to it. You will see what I mean. 

“Miss Universe” is available here

Band info: facebook || bandcamp

VIDEO PREMIERE: Wolf Counsel play it slow and heavy with new video “Pure As The Driven Snow”

 

Wolf Counsel came into existence in 2014 when two veteran musicians merged their enthusiasm for monumental low-tuned music and a great appreciation of heavy riffs into a new band. Primarily rooted in the style of late 70s and 80s prototype doom, sludge and metal, their sound quickly developed a unique signature drawing influences from everything that's heavy and slow.

 

In January 2015 their debut album "Vol. I - Wolf Counsel" was released digitally, on vinyl and CD by Counsel Records/Dead Center Productions.

 

A mere  twelve months has passed and Wolf Counsel’ssecond album "Ironclad" was written -recorded, mixed and mastered at Little Creek Studio and was a released on 23rd September 2016 by Czar Of Crickets Productions.

 

Wolf Counsel’s music has been called “authentic, and elegantly classic“by various print and online magazines with comparisons to a “nonstop evoking riffage summoning forth an experimental urge to slaughter a herd of sheep with razor sharp groove and bludgeoning vocal girth."

 

Take it from us; if you’re fans of Black Sabbath, St. Vitus, OrangeGoblin, Goatsnake and Cathedral, you’re going to want to check out this band.  Today we are keeping it heavy and slow, with the debut of the Wolf Counsel video for “Pure As The Driven Snow” which you can viewed below and “Ironclad” is available here



Band info: facebook|| bandcamp

“Because Eleven is one louder”: Nikos Mixas (guitarist for Twingiant) choose his top 5 stoner picks

Phoenix, Arizona's loud and heavy, groove and growl band Twingiant, a recent addition to the Argonauta Records roster, formed in the spring of 2010 and since their inception, have refined its sound from their stoner/sludge rock template to incorporate 70’s rock based elements melded with a modern underground twist. Having released two independent LP’s “Mass Driver” & “Devil Down” in addition to an EP “Sin Nombre”, it was on the back of 2014’s “Devil Down” that the band began generate quite a buzz.

In May of 2015, Twingiantreleased their first video for the song “Tiger Lily” and in October of the same year, Twingiant successfully toured the Midwest United States in support of “Devil Down”.  They’ve also played Southwest Terror Fest twice in addition to Denver Doomfest.  In July of 2016, Twingiantwould re-enter the studio and record a two-song demo that showcases the band’s commitment to crafting their unique sound.  With plans to record an EP in the near future, today we have invited guitarist Nikos Mixas to head up a new feature we have called, “Because eleven is one louder”

Every so often we will invite our favourite band’s to choose their top 5 albums according to the genre their own band is known for.  Today it is stoner rock and here is Nikos from Twingiantto fill you in on the details. 

“The mighty Sludgelordasked me to list my top 5 stoner metal albums of all time and I feel honored to do so…but…I’ll preface my list choices by stating that I’m relatively new to the stoner metal party, and by new I mean I only started really digging into the genre about 10 years ago.  There’s not a Black Sabbath album included on my list, so what??? Fucking sue me or call me a poser if you don’t like it, I could care less. 


Music appreciation is a personal choice and I picked bands and albums that have either shaped or made an impression on me at some point.  I cut my teeth during the 80’s thrash and death metal scene and this may come as a shocker, but I absolutely love black metal the most out of all the genres of metal.  So without further adieu…here are my top 5 stoner metal albums.”    

1). Electric Wizard – “We Live” 

I almost picked “Dopethrone” because, well, it’s still the pinnacle of all EW’s albums. But because I’m a go against the grain type of guy, I picked “We Live”.  “We Live” is more of a haunting and moody album to me.  The whole album screams satanic ceremony and orgy fun time and I dig that shit. 

2). Melvins – “Lysol”

Melvins are heavy, this album is heavier.  It’s sorely underrated and for those that have heard it, regard it as a jewel in their catalog.   There’s a ton of KISSinfluence in there and the back story on it is amazing.  Read about it on Wikipedia…

3). Goatsnake – “Black Age Blues”

How dare I pick an album that isn’t regarded as a classic!  Well, maybe because they only have three full-lengths and I think this is their best effort by far.  The fucking tones on this thing are amazing and the riffage puts them on a plateau by themselves.  Pete Stahl is one of the best vocalists in metal hands down and he plays a mean harmonica to go with it.  

4). Fu Manchu – “Go For It…Live!”

Let me start by stating Fu Manchu > Kyuss.  OrangeCounty is cooler than the Palm Desertany day of the week.  All joking aside, I picked this album because it pretty much is a “best of” album and the live recording really captures the essence of the SoCal stoner metal/desert rock vibe.



5). Danava – “Hemisphere of Shadows”

These guys rip musically and this album is their thesis.  Riff upon riff, single note runs all over the place and great balance via the rhythm section.  If I get asked what stoner metal sounds like, I always refer them to this album.  Twingiant has had the privilege of opening for them before and I’ve seen them about a half-dozen times live.  They are the real deal, check them out!

Twingiant’s latest release is available here and for more info on the band check out the link below. 

Band info: facebook