The Sleeping Shaman goes international and welcomes the 1st live review from t'other side of the pond courtesy of new stateside reviewer Lance...
A local rock band, Stone Cold Killers opened. Aside from the flamboyant vocalist they did "ok" at best. Their fervor was quite contagious but simply couldn't make-up for the lack of talent. I could hear hints of Hair Metal, NWOBHM, Power Metal, Classic Rock and Stoner Metal in their sound...
Author: Lance
As the title of track three on this album so succinctly puts it...Fucking Hell!!! After being blown away recently by the Low Sonic Drift EP, this full length debut from the charmingly but equally awesomely named Lords Of Bastard landed on my doormat and fuck me, I was almost tempted to move to Scotland...
Author: Ollie
I don't know about you, but when I hear the name 'Poison Dwarf', I immediately think of li'l Juicy Ewing – Charlene Tilton of eighties US mega-soap Dallas. Some of you may think of Tom Cruise, some of you may even be reminded of Wee Jimmie Krankie, but now there's a new Dwarf on the block and it comes from Huddersfield...
Author: Paul
"D.I.Y or Die". That seems to be the mantra an increasing number of bands are subscribing to these days and with the increasing opportunities for bands to publish and disseminate their music themselves these days the question has to be "why not?"...
Author: Ollie
Shock! Horror! Latin America quakes with the old-skool power of blackened CRUST. After seeing these foul and heavy skull fuckers maiming the crowd t'other night at the Star & Garter it was only proper that this new split ep I picked up gets a right royal review...
Author: Adam
In all fairness the bio accompanying this release put me off slightly as it comes off more than a little pretentious and art house. Closing my eyes I saw a lot of student intellectuals with scarves and cardigans and too tight chords/jeans sat round a coffee house discussing the socio-political ramifications of...
Author: Mark
Photos now online for Electrozombies, Lazarus Blackstar, Gruel, Atlas, Dog Kicked In Half & Pine Barrens from yesterday at The Star & Garter, Manchester.
Photos: Lee
Since John Peel's tragic and untimely death in 2004 we have heard countless times how everyone and their dog used to sit listening to his show with their fingers poised on the record button of a tape deck to capture obscure tunes for posterity...
Author: Ollie
Two guys...guitar/vocals and drums. How much noise would you think it would be possible to make? Certainly not this much!!!
Black Cobra comprises Jason Landrian, formerly of Cavity on guitar and vocals and Acid King bassist Rafael Martinez on drums. You would be forgiven for thinking that this would be a crawling cess pool of psychedelic doom...think again kiddies...
Author: Ollie
I have to admit, when Wolfmother's debut album dropped in 2005 I was pretty taken with their take on the proto metal sounds of the late 60's/early 70's as so many others seemed to be. After a while though I did grow tired of their fey Led Sabbath styled rock and found a multitude of bands that do this kind of thing so much more convincingly....
Author: Ollie
So you think you know heavy!!! Electric Wizard, Slayer, Kyuss...forget about it, Part Chimp up the heavy stakes in no uncertain terms and, get this, they ain't even a metal band!!!!
Michael Jackson this certainly isn't. Part Chimp peddle a massive wall of fuzz that is as dense as
it is impenetrable...
Author: Ollie
Photos now online for A Storm Of Light, Charger, Electric Wizard, Lock-Up, Manatees, Mistress & The Gates Of Slumber from Damnation 2009 last weekend.
Photos: Lee
So, Def Leppard's Hysteria took four years to arrive which, at the time, seemed a long time until Guns N Roses decided to raise the bar with 17 years between studio albums. That this release is approximately two years later than expected seems almost acceptable in comparison...
Author: Ollie
In some ways I'm pretty fortunate in that I've been living under a rock for several years and have never heard a note of Pelican's previous work so can come to this new offering with fresh ears. I am, for want of a better expression, a Pelican virgin...the band that is not the birds...
Author: Ollie
Many years ago, back in the mists of times there came a band out of the North East of England called Revenant Host who plied their industrial thrash to and audience of...not many. Following the split in 1994 the various members went their merry ways (drummer Jay marked time in Skyclad and Sabbat and now occupies the drum stool in Ravens Creed) and vocalist Keith, disillusioned with the music business turned his hand to journalism...
Author: Ollie
Glasgow's Low Sonic Drift, like the drug with which they share their initials seek to confound, confuse and generally fuck with your perceptions. A mash up of stoner, thrash, psychedelia and prog, on paper this sounds like a nightmarish and disjointed journey into a kitchen sink approach to metal but in reality this is a remarkable release from a remarkable band...
Author: Ollie
These days it takes a lot to get me to take the journey south to London, but Ulver just happen to be one of those very things. Notoriously reclusive and contrary, this is one of only a handful of shows that Ulver will be playing after 15 years of existence, so, obviously, there was quite a sense of anticipation, to
say the least...
Author: Paul
Some things just aren't going to work, like a Chihuahua fucking a Great Dane, bacon sandwiches at a Jewish wedding, Jordan and Peter Andre...doomed to fail. So if you take a slightly nerdy Sleep obsessed guitarist, a female John Bonham who plays her drums like she hates them and sets her cymbals on fire live and a black soul diva on vocals who takes to the stage wearing a multi coloured wizards cloak...
Author: Ollie
You have to admit, the Italians do retro pretty well and the 70's do seem to be their halcyon period. Maybe it's the influence of cult horror directors such as Dario Argento and Lucio Fulci or some inherent genetic anomaly that spawned so many obscure prog bands in the 70's that gives them the edge when it comes to flexing their old school muscles...
Author: Ollie
Hot-rockin' collaborative instrumental shenanigans of the highest calibre from West Virginians - and ex-Karma To Burn folks - Treasure Cat and UK instrumental astronauts Sons Of Alpha Centauri, operating as a joint (no pun intended) entity named Alpha Cat for this here helping of rifftastic splendiferousness...
Author: Paul
The Sleeping Shaman would like to welcome a new reviewer to its fold in the shape of Paul, his first review is the latest release from Switchblade so its over to him...
Wrenching their sounds out of the same dark matter as bands such as Khanate, Earth and Floor, Switchblade present their fifth self-titled album....and......well.....words fail me...
Author: Paul
Jesus, some bands really don't make it easy do they? Swedish sludge crew Pyramido give nothing away at first glance. Let's take the name for a start, with Eyehategod and Bongzilla you pretty much know what you're getting from the start but Pyramido sends a shiver of prog down the spine...
Author: Ollie
Photos now online for Electric Wizard & Blood Ceremony from The Hare & Hounds in Birmingham on Friday night.
Photos: Lee
They were born from a band called 'Pile of Dead Woman', they play 'ADD-driven, southern, psychedelic, experimental, filth-core' and think about the end of the world a lot. When I first heard the Queen Beast album I couldn't figure out if it was madness or genius. After it crawled into my brain and stayed there
I jumped at the chance to find out more about them by putting the following questions to founding member Nate...
Author: Mark
When Chickenhawk's debut album on Sound Devastation landed it was a caustic breath of air whose collision of punk and hardcore mixed with general fuckery took a switchblade to the throat and ran off giggling down a darkened alleyway...
Author: Ollie
I'm guessing an album containing three tracks isn't exactly going to be punk rock...and I'm right!!! Ocean Chief come lumbering out of the frozen wastes of Sweden with a sound thicker than whale meat...actually for all I know it may be nice and sunny where they come from but with a sound this dense and bleak I just have a mental picture of ten foot drifts and blinding blizzards...
Author: Ollie
One of the virtues of heavy music being so relatively young a genre is that it can still be bent and twisted into ways that Robert Johnson would never imagined as he made his way to the crossroads to trade his soul for the foundations of blues based rock n roll...
Author: Mark
Black Metal can often be a genre that is derided from the outside, I mean how best to prepare myself for this review? Do I listen to something kvlt and true? Do I make a crack about corpse paint and church burning or, Satan forbid, actually concentrate on the music? Fortunately Hyadningar make life easier in that respect...
Author: Mark
Photos now online for Volition, Zangief & Low Sonic Drift from the Korova in Liverpool on Tuesday night.
Photos: Lee
I had the very good fortune of seeing San Diego's lysergic masters of the extended super-jam reality, Earthless, on their recent tour this year, slaying the audience at the tiny Retro Bar in Manchester. I'd heard they were good, I just didn't realise they were that good...
Author: Adam
Riffs. Everywhere. Gigantic thick distorted riffs. Help me mother, the riffs are here, and they want fresh plasma and bone marrow. 'White Walls' kicks off with low and grumbling bass, then the power-riffing starts. Fabulous stuff. Massachusetts three piece Elder really sock out some serious power...
Author: Adam
Supersonic Part II images are now online and features galleries for Goblin, Earthless, Ponitak, Esoteric, Jarboe, The Accused and especially for Slug Monotonix.
Photos: Lee
Well bugger me sideways if Calculon Records haven't gone and done it again with this release. This heavyweight lump of wax throws together one of the leading lights of the American sludge scene and one of the leading lights of the UK metal scene...an interesting collision of styles that just seems to work...
Author: Ollie
Finally got Part I of the Supersonic Festival photos online for Corrupted, Thorr's Hammer, Sunn O))), Scorn, Master Musicians Of Bukkake, Skullflower, Iron Lung, Diagonal, Rose Kemp and Atomized, Part II with the remaining photos, mainly from the Sunday will follow soon!
Photos: Lee
In an age of plagiarists and clones it is often difficult to find something truly original. Queen Beast are here to challenge that perception and give two middle fingers to the notion of playing this extreme music game safely to appease those who believe there are rules that should be religiously followed...
Author: Mark
When guitarist Piggy succumbed to colon cancer in 2005 during the piecing together of the Katorz album it pretty much looked as though it was game over for Voivod. It seems the big man had other ideas. After his death it turns out he had been recording another album's worth of guitar lines onto his laptop as well as detailed notes as to each song's structure for what he clearly intended as his true swansong...
Author: Ollie
When Lee chucked a copy of this Swedish trio's debut album "Unearthed" my way I was pretty interested to hear it, the stuff I'd heard on Myspace had been cool but what I didn't expect was to be blown away and for this album to barge itself in my top ten albums of the year with little chance of finding too many other albums to dislodge it. I contacted guitarist Totte to shoot the shit and find out more about these Swedish underdogs...
Author: Ollie
Writing this review is somewhat akin to writing an obituary as Mondo Cada hung up their guitars before this release even hit the streets...and this is a damn shame as these guys had that certain something that set them apart as special. I understand that some of the members have resurfaced in a new outfit going by the name of Ruins though so hopefully the magic will continue...
Author: Ollie
For close on 20 years now Clutch have been one of the most consistent and thrilling bands around. From their earlier hardcore based sound to the modern day blues practitioners they have become, they have released a string of albums that have paved the way for the stoner rock movement and brought the power of the groove back to modern rock music...
Author: Ollie
Some times collaborative efforts can be spectacularly hit and miss - the Judgement Night soundtrack for example pulled together luminaries from the Rap and Metal world to provide a genre challenging soundtrack for a film that was, well just challenged really...
Author: Mark
Ah...tattooed arms, dirty beards, top grade weed, cult horror films, Egyptology, painfully loud Ashdown amps and the beautiful Dorset countryside – yes, o' children of Tartarus, it's Ramesses time. This recently released 3 inch CD ep illustrates just how brutally powerful and stunningly original these stoned...
Author: Adam
I first became aware of the sludge behemoth that is Yellowtooth when main man and also the founder of Orchestrated Misery Records Peter got in touch to tell me about his new band in the latter half of 2008. OK, I will say they don't offer anything new or ground breaking, but then they don't claim to and in their own words "We are not out to reinvent the wheel, but to jam, drink and play some tunes!". So if that's enough to wet your appetite, read the interview, then go and buy their debut 4 track demo of filthy downtuned despondency...
Author: Lee
Once upon a time, when the vile Conservative government was in power and I was a young man, crust punk ruled the underbelly of the underground. Anarchy, sold out by the commercialism of punk and inspired by the fiery rhetoric of Crass, seized the hearts and minds of a generation of drop-outs, who, like the real hippies before them in the 60s and 70s, lived on the fringes of capitalist society...
Author: Adam
Calculon Records have an uncanny knack of finding some pretty sweet bands to release. To date the label have released product by bands such as Charger, Black Eye Riot, Sourvein, Church of Misery, Lazarus Blackstar, Blood Island Raiders...etc
Author: Ollie
Dig this crazy shit you dirty beatniks...a dope-laced Trans-Pennine road trip to the heart of the North's most infamous nest of anarcho-crust in order to witness three little doombands of differing brilliance but equal heaviness. Yay! So off we set in the big silver estate, upholstered in cat fur, blasting out Acrimony and Hawkwind, racing over the barren hills of the Lancs/Yorks border...
Author: Adam
Photos online for Thou, Gruel & Moloch from the 1in12 Club, Bradford on Friday night, not as good as some as my past shots, but then breaking my fave lense just as Gruel were starting didn't help! Anyway, you can check them out at the links below.
Photos: Lee
Every once in a while an album lands that is so drenched in power and passion that it almost seems to stop time for its duration. The Black Pyramid 7" released last year on Electric Earth Records was a huge slab of megalithic Sleepesque riffing that pointed towards greater things but I couldn't have anticipated how much further the band would be able to take their sound on their full length debut...
Author: Ollie
Yellowtooth come growling and gurning out of Michigan City, Indiana, ripping out down-tuned metal-doom with a real spicy Southern flavour (although they're kind of from the Mid-West). Surly Hoosiers Henry on guitar, Ed on drums and Peter on bass and vocals all look like brutish inbred rednecks...
Author: Adam
The blackened tendrils of the Vinum Sabbathi have snaked their way around an unwitting world over the last 40 years and it seems that the vines grow strong with the Fruit of the Doom in Sweden where the legacy of bands such as Candlemass, Count Raven, Spiritual Beggars and a million death metal bands almost make it the new spiritual home of the downtuned riff...
Author: Ollie
Stop your feasting, o' blood-caked children of foulness, 'tis time to behold the big daddies of DOOM (no, not Saint Vitus). It's been a while since der Wizard have toured around fucked old Blighty and their presence in the North West has long been overdue...
Author: Adam
Finally got the photos of Electric Wizard & Xela online from last Friday at The Academy 3, Manchester.
Photos: Lee
Holy Hellfire!!! I'm willing to bet when Mister Iommi first spewed forth the Devil's riff some 40 years ago he had no idea how mutated and deviant his musical children would become this far down the line. Doom metal has become a multi tongued beast in its own right ranging from the psychedelic frippery of Trouble to the belching drone of SunnO)))...
Author: Ollie
Listen up you pinheads, I'm just gonna cut to the bands, no embellishment. Charger fired up and blasted off like a fuckin' atomic dragster, showering the booze-sodden masses in propane and devil cum. Short sweet stabs of aural adrenalin like 'Cult Verses Cunt' were made for nights like these...
Author: Adam
Photos from the amazing Church Of Misery, Firebird & Charger gig from last Thursday are now online and man what a night! Next up is the Electric Wizard photos from Friday, although bear with me on these as it'll probably be a few days before I get chance to sort them.
Photos: Lee
Just the name Kongh evokes an imagine of some kind of primitive or mythical beast, even on the back of inlay the band refer to themselves as a 'three headed primate' and without hearing a single riff I already wanted to grab a hot blonde and climb to the roof of a tall building and beat my chest whilst yelling at the top of my voice, 'Koooooonggggghh'!
Author: Mark
Griff is a busy man indeed, not only is he guitarist with psychedelic doomers Sollubi, who recently released their punishing debut album 'At War With Decency' via Choking Hazard Records, he's also part of Power Electronics sicko's Rape-X and if that wasn't enough, Griff is also co-founder of Land o'Smiles Records...
Author: Lee
Photos of Capitalist Casualties from their blistering gig at the 1in12 Club, Bradford last night are now online.
Photos: Lee
We're extremely thrilled to announce that the COUGH and ELDER vinyls are now available for pre-order.
Cough 'Sigillum Luciferi' 2xLP
Cough is a three man army from Richmond US that plays ultra heavy and monstrously slow doom with a groove. Double heavy vinyl that comes in a gatefold sleeve. It’s a co-release with Forcefield (US) and Feast of Tentacles (UK) which means that every label only has a limited stock available of the total pressing of 500. (€ 19,00)
Elder - S/T LP
Crushing and destroying everything in its path comes this album of these psychedelic doomers.
This is the vinyl version of their highly acclaimed debut full length album released earlier this year by MeteorCity. The artwork is re-coloured and the album is re-mastered for vinyl cutting by Mell Detmer (Sleep, Earth, Boris...) Comes in a heavy gatefold sleeve and pressed on 180 gr heavy vinyl. A run of 500 copies of which 100 with an orange/red swirl effect available of pre-order now. (€ 14,00)
There's also a pre-order package for both releases. (€ 30,00).
Anyone keeping an eye on these hallowed webpages will have seen that an interview was conducted with this Leeds based two piece instrumental band this month, where their current EP 'Ahura Mazdah' was plugged. Having read said interview, it was with intrigue that the CD was placed on my stereo, conjuring up imagines of two mad scientist types with walls of amps creating twisted sounds...
Author: Mark
Have you ever seen that programme Life on Mars why there guy in a coma thinks he's in 1973? This album is the musical equivalent of that. Despite Bill Steer's involvement in the advancement of modern metal by defining the sound of grindcore in both Napalm Death and Carcass it seems he is in full possession of an old school heart...
Author: Ollie
Bugger it, some bands really don't make it easy by creating a sound that really does defy description!!! This Swedish 3 piece from Gothenburg (who feature a guest drummer when performing live) are one of those special kind of bands that creates a unique sound without actually sucking a big one...in fact, this is fucking awesome stuff...
Author: Ollie
Progressive Metal... The name itself can strike fear into even the most open minded of rock fans, conjuring images of beards, cardigans, glasses, too many notes, 7/8 time signatures and the ability to judge and look down on all other forms of music from the lofty heights of a Dream Theatre shirt...
Author: Mark
I still have a ringing in my ears, two days after the event. I blame it on machismo – I had plugs in my pocket but I felt too effeminate sticking them in. Anyway, consider it official - Lazarus Blackstar are indeed the heaviest band in the UK. We heard 'Son Of Sorrow' booming out as we approached Fairfield Street in the car...
Author: Adam
Photos from Wednesday nights gig at The Star & Garter, Manchester are now online for Unearthly Trance, Ramesses & Lazarus Blackstar and man, was that one loud as fuck night, glad I wore my ear plugs or I'd still be suffering now!
Photos: Lee
Photos from Tuesday nights gig at Cafe Saki, Manchester are now online for Manatees and Overmars.
Photos: Lee
This little disc of pure heavy rock heaven should be played at no less than 50 wattage output, and you should ideally listen to it in your underpants, throwing androgynous rock star shapes in front of a mirror, with fresh blood on your chest and face...
Author: Adam
There seems to be an influx of 2 piece instrumental bands rising from the underground of late and Leeds based Khuda are no exception who use just a guitar, drums and a mass of amps, cabs and effects to hone their hypnotic sound. Curious to know more about what lies in the underbelly of this band, I fired some questions over to guitarist and self confessed amp junkie Tom...
Author: Lee
Here is a collaborative endeavour from drone specialist Aidan Baker (better known as one half of duo Nadja) and experimental electronic sound artist Tim Hecker. And this builds on both artists creative strengths in an almost sym-biotic way that ebbs and flows between each contributors respective fields in a master class of joint effort...
Author: Sloan
It is from the twisting alleys and darkened Dickensian filth of our capital that the subjects of our most recent interview claim to call home. Dead Existence will be a new name to most but are a steady live band on the London circuit, with a sound somewhere between the most vicious back wood sludge and good old English doom groove...
Author: Sloan
Well let's get that first hurdle over with, Gathiens are post-metal! It's a term that once inspired excitement and anticipation at the chance to hear something genuinely original, back when Pelican and Mono were carving the niche that so many bands have since diluted...
Author: Sloan
Photos from Sunday nights gig at The Yorkshire House, Lancaster are now online for Khuda and Gruel who were once again near on impossible to photograph due to the amount of fog they use, luckily though I managed to salvage a handful but man, what a performance they put on!
Photos: Lee
Raise your fucking fist aloft and make the Devil sign, you down-trodden dog – show your love for the dark metal sludge of Beelzebub and his stinking screaming minions – this is your only salvation...
Author: Adam
Fucking wow. My cerebral cortex is melting in a cranial orgasm of riff-based space sludge. Stoners everywhere - buy this. Toronto based trio Sons Of Otis have been jamming around since 1992, and in that time have put out a stash of fabulous tripped-out tortoise-tempo albums...
Author: Adam
Dark dark noise that emanates slowly and rises like a black fog from the decaying anus of the mummified corpse of your cheating ex-lover. Locrian are among a growing scene of artists (Oakeater, Wolves in the Throne Room, Velnias and Nihilist, to name just a few) that represent a new wave...
Author: Adam
I first heard Iron Hearse about 3 years ago and was very impressed with their no nonsense, heads down doom and roll sound. Since then they've been through various ups and downs but keep plugging away with steely determination. I caught up with mainman Grant to shoot the shit...
Author: Ollie
Jesus-fuck-Mary-and-Joseph...this is fucking dirty, dirty grind, punk, metal!
Take Nasum's high velocity head spinning grind, that very same grind that breathed new life into the whole genre and made it seriously bloody exciting again after it's mid-nineties stint in the punk wilderness...
Author: Sloan
It was the first time you took LSD, during your second year at university at some art course party in a cramped little terrace house. All you remember of your trip was the heavily patterned carpet snaking up your leg and the young girl sitting next to you eating grape nuts through her beak...
Author: Sloan
Is it just me or does anyone else break out in an anxious sweat when the subject of modern day death/grind core is vomited up? It's an irritation that gets right under my skin, and when I agreed to review the latest release by British death/grind core mob Evisorax I tried to dissect what exactly it is that gets me so wound up...
Author: Sloan
Stoner droner mystics Queen Elephantine, the oft travelling Lords of (sonic) Lethargy, have produced yet another striking opus of snaking whirring trip rock (that isn't actually 'rock') that hums and glides through your addled brain like the dawning realisation that you are imprisoned in a cage of your own creation, from whence only you can free yourself...
Author: Adam
I was always taught that using a cliché showed a lack of original thought and an example of an over used opinion. With that in mind I sat down to put finger to keyboard about 'The Cursed Law Of Thelema', the latest demo from Hastings sludge/doom crew Rise Of The Simians...
Author: Mark
I've been following Jack Dickinson's musical progress for years now so when a CD arrived on my doorstep of his latest incarnation Stone Turner that blew me away I figured it was time for a chat with one of the nicest and hardest working guys in rock. I fired a few questions over and to say his answers are enthusiastic and in depth is an understatement so get yourself a cup of tea and read on...then buy the CD...
Author: Ollie
Queen Elephantine could be described more as a collective than a band and are certainly not one to shy away from experimenting, not only with their sound, but also with their constantly rotating line-up which see's members, past and present, come and go with every new release and with it brings a whole wealth of influences and ideologies to the mix. Intrigued to know more about the enigma that is Queen Elephantine, I caught up with their main protagonist Indy...
Author: Lee
Jam band! Two words that really should strike fear into the hearts of most self respecting music fan. It brings to mind painful images of a bunch of middle aged acid casualties noodling away in some ego massaging Grateful Dead style wank off for hours...
Author: Ollie
I only recently discovered the formidable force of Grimpen Mire when they unleashed their 2nd recording 'Death On A Moor' as a free download and was instantly blown away by their unrelenting take on Crust riddled Doom, so if your reading this and haven't got a copy, what are you waiting for! Intrigued to know more about what makes this band tick I fired off some questions to Guitarist Jim and Bass/Vocalist Paul...
Author: Lee
There are some talented fuckers out there!!! Jack Dickinson has been kicking around the scene for some time and never seems to get the breaks. After playing in a couple of ill fated bands in Cornwall he relocated to London and formed the heavy, psych blues power trio Stubb...
Author: Ollie
Holy Buzz!!! I'm finding myself increasingly amazed nowadays how many frankly amazing bands are out there operating without any kind of label backing who should be huge if there was any justice in the world...
Author: Ollie
Q. What defines a great moment in film?
A. When you can't look away – when your eyes are fixed on the screen and everything else in your life is temporarily forgotten. The moment absorbs you, you are lost in it. That is a great moment my friend. Here are my top five...
Author: Adam
Photos from Sunday nights gig at The Star & Garter are now online for Wolves In The Throne Room, They Are Cowards, Hammers, Stuntcock Big Band.
Photos: Lee
Shaman fact 1: Grimpen Mire was the fictional death bog featured in Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel 'Hound Of The Baskervilles'. Shaman fact 2: Grimpen Mire are blackened ear candy for any worshipper of real heavy metal - I've not stopped listening to this since I downloaded it...
Author: Adam
Belfast quartet Electric Red's demo landed with a hand written note to say they'd only been going for 6 months and recorded the CD in their rehearsal room. Fearing the worst I stuck it on and was immediately blown away by not only the quality of the music but the massive production...
Author: Ollie
I happened upon Nekrasov in the way that many people do these days, via mutual friends on the polarised Myspace. The shitty Myspace Player served well and I obtained "Form of Thought Through Beast" & "Into The No-Mans Sphere Of The Ancient Days"...
Author: Jas
Ah you just have to love those crazy Germans!!! It's often been said that the Germans don't have a sense of humour. This is simply not true, they have a very keenly defined sense of humour...it's just not shared by the rest of the known world...
Author: Ollie
A witty, yet revealing article submitted by Adam who reflects upon his teenage years, music & drugs which I'm sure most of this webzines readers will be able to relate to in some way, so read on to take a glimpse into Adam's life where he was introduced to the Butthole Surfers, Gong & LSD...
I am now approaching the middle of my life and I often find myself reminiscing about my drug experiences. Not that I've given up wanting to alter my state, I still have alcohol (often) and a smoke (sometimes), it's just that I had to knock it on the head before it knocked me on the head...
Author: Adam
Some albums come out of Left-field and leave you breathless. For me Taint's debut 'The Ruin Of Nova Roma' was such an album, an angular swaggering record full of attitude that bordered on furious noise and spaced out prog and remained on the stereo for a frankly obscene amount of time...
Author: Mark
Some albums don't offer themselves up that easily. Some of them are just completely unfathomable whereas some, such as this debut full length effort from Deville, are a bit harder to figure out and play their cards close to their chests...
Author: Ollie
It's always good to see artists put a bit of effort into their work and this new self-released double album by A Death Cinematic certainly isn't lacking in the blood, sweat and tears department...
Author: Sloan
New photos and a review for Firebird, Charger & Space Witch from Thursday night at The Rigger, Newcastle-under-Lyme.
Author: Adam
Photos: Lee
The Sleeping Shaman welcome's a new contributor in the shape of Mark who's just submitted his 1st review for SerpentCult's 'Weight Of Light' CD, so read on to see what he had to say...
Doom or Sludge? The band favour Doom where as most reviewers put them under Sludge. Whatever genre you put them in it conjures up recycled Black Sabbath riffs and pale, hairy, shouty blokes. Serpent Cult aim to challenge that preconception...
Author: Mark
After many delays the Chickenhawk self titled debut was released last year on Sound Devastation Records and a damn fine slice of rifftastic madness it is too. I caught up with guitarist Rob to fire a few questions over the fence to see what makes these guys tick...
Author: Ollie
The note I got with this release from Belfast based unit claims they've only been around for about six months and recorded this three track release themselves in their rehearsal room...
Author: Ollie
2008 saw Grails release two records, the first an ep ('Take Refuge in Clean Living') and then their third album proper ('Doomsdayer's Holiday'). First up we have the ep, and it is evident Grails have advanced beyond their roots in instrumental post-rock and out into the great blue uncharted yonder...
Author: Sloan
So dear readers of The Shaman it has come to that time of the year, when we reflect on the past 12 months we have just lived and hastily bury it in the memory. The good times, not so good and down right fucking miserable times we have lived...
Author: Sloan
Krautdoom herbmongers Mills Of God are three men who love their heavy riffs like William Burroughs loved junk and not one of 'em sings. They don't need to. They've got their guitars and drums...
Author: Adam
Saros were spawned in 2004 in San Francisco. They might be a new one on some of you but seeing as they have an album pending on Canadas Profound Lore Records they might make their way to your ears...
And here we have a band formed by Josh Graham (also Neurosis's Visual Director and ex-Red Sparowes member) that explores the vast ocean floor of Doom and his former bands respective aural vective...
Hands up who thought 'Ruder Forms Survive' was one of the better releases of 2005? Well, I got my arm up and I assume a fair few of you lot have yours up too, so arms down now as it's time to focus on the 2008 release by said band...
"Fuck your hyper blast machine aided triggered drums, fuck your pro-tools guitar Malmsteen-wank-off and fuck your meaningless multi-word band name because Coffins represent what Death Metal is and always was. A dirty, messy, noisy expression of negativity, a true outsider's art form."
These words, echoed on this here website pretty much sum up the no-frills death metal by Japans Coffins...
Way back in the mists of time before Dave Wyndorf discovered biker chic, arena rock and, more recently, the key to the pie cupboard, Monster Magnet released "Spine of God". This was a proto stoner classic that blended the avant punk fury of MC5 and the Stooges...
The power-up of the slow warming amp valves and an immediate wail of feedback, then, the sudden drop as the guitars strike an open chord, total fucking bottom-end. This is the very first thing you'll hear when you put on the new Deadbird record...
Finally there's been a break in my work load so I've managed to get the photos from the Rise Above 20th Anniversary Gig from the ULU, London the other weekend online! You'll find new & updated galleries for Serpent Cult, Litmus, Moss, Diagonal, Gentlemans Pistols, Taint, Grand Magus & Electric Wizard,the latter 2 being an absolute bitch to photograph as it was that rammed at the front, anyway, hope you like!
Ever since "Blues For the Red Sun" came riding out of the Californian desert in a dusty Cadillac in 1992 it seems a million bands have dusted off their fuzz boxes, fired up a big assed bowl of weed and jumped on the stoner bandwagon...
Shit, some bands really don't have any respect for reviewers!!! They don't make it easy for us at all. We want something we can categorise, some easy reference points to pick up on so we don't have to use or brains too much and can trot out any number of journalistic clichés...
This is a hard punch in the face that drops you like a sack of shit and makes you wise up to the ugliness of being poor in a big stinking American city. Outlaw Order kick out bristling fugitive punk from the lawless and decaying slums of beautiful doomed New Orleans...
AAAArrrrghhh. This is ace. Salome are a thrilling three piece from Virginia, USA that sound like a super evil psychotic cataclysm amplified by black magic and blasted out the yawning anus of Hastur the Unspeakable...
A mad smear of visionary post-grindcore conceptualised and executed by Brutal Truth drummer Richard Hoak. Robot rhythm machine Hoak (drums and vocals) is joined by the surname less Joe...
As Iron Lung appeared onstage the crowd surged and swelled forward, eager to get a glimpse of the two-headed beast. The duo wasted no time launching into a set of pulverising, Ringworm-like heaviness...
Arising from the hazy, dope filled smoke rings of errr Rotherham come Berserkowitz, a gruelling 4 piece who embrace the now legendary sludge sound that was forged by the likes of Eyehategod & Bongzilla and encapsulate it into a world of disused coal mines...
New photos for Grief & Volition from last Wednesday at The Star & Garter, Manchester.
New photos and live review for Ufomammut, Lento & Rise To Thunder from last week at The Star & Garter, Manchester.
Photos now online for Ramesses from last Sunday at the Korova in Liverpool.
Psychedelic Warlords Rise To Thunder ride across a deep purple sky the colour of an inflamed bell end, on great winged lizard steeds, with rasping tongues and eyes of jade flame, high above the blackened ruin of the Potteries...
Photos now online for Carcass, Cathedral, My Dying Bride, Napalm Death & Ramesses from last weeks Damnation Festival in Leeds.
And here we are friends of the Shaman, having watched the metal genre known as Sludge expand beyond the Dirty South, beyond the British Midlands and out onto the dirty seething globe...
'Splice the main brace!' I believe that's a nautical reference. Maybe that should be 'splice the membrane'. These hirsute Southern bad boys have been kicking around since the early nineties...
The latest issue of Bad Acid (Tab#7) is out now and features a 1 3/4 hour DVD, 17 hour 117 band audio sampler, 2 hour Alampo Records label sampler & a 90 screen full colour PDF magazine, for further info and to order your copy, follow the link below...
I'm a big fan of album packaging. Growing up in the 80's before the CD boom vinyl packaging was part of the thrill of buying an album. I'm so chuffed to see a band turning the CD format on its head...
Sonic Lord are a 4 piece hailing from Birmingham, England and deli ever a lethal dose of Stoner induced Doom and its hard to believe that although still relatively unknown in the greater scheme of things...
Moloch sound like an industrial accident. A very slow one...and a very painful one. Probably involving a lathe. And a pair of testicles. Genre: pessimist sludge (pessimisludge?) with a shit stain of Hardcore...
New photos for Doomriders, SSS & The Freezing Fog from last night at The Star & Garter, Manchester.
Ah, the cleansing purity of noise. Like standing in the shower and feeling the shit wash away – itself a common ritual of symbolic purification. As you may already know, this furious outfit are from Toronto...
Nottingham based collective known simply as NottsNoise are very busy people indeed with their fingers in quite a few pies ranging from organising gigs under the NottsNoise banner, the Rottingham & Cuntstock Festivals to running Cheyne Stocking Records...
A distant drum beat, like a faint pulse locked deep inside my aching pineal gland...gradually rising in volume, then sharp and crackling shards of treble soaked guitar creep out...
The thing is, Sontarans do love technology, almost as much as they enjoy incessant warfare. Field Marshall Styre would undoubtedly dig the abrasive electronics of TSE, although how he would receive the rest of this magnificent sonic stew...
Oh my fucking ears, this is a nuclear migraine. Just when I thought sludge had reached its artistic zenith (or should that be nadir) I hear this. This is about as down tuned and nasty as this slothful and hateful genre can get...
Where most bands like to play it safe in today's climate, occasionally a band will come along that confounds expectations, buggers preconceptions and sticks a gnarled shit stained finger up in a gesture of "fuck you" defiance...
So who's familiar with a Greek sludge band? Thought as much, so here I introduce Guinea Pig, one such Greek sludge band. A band that meld a very riff heavy groove with some tasty throat lacerations of a very Johnny Morrow variety...
Punk's not dead, it merely crawled into a disused orifice of the dark underbelly of the capitalist economic system and started to multiply in the warm moist conditions there...
I happened upon Intronaut by chance, a friend of mine gave me the Null CD (thanks Warren!) and I was pretty taken aback with the technicality of it, also how listenable it was for it is not the usual soul-less technical bollocks...
The name Hotel Wrecking City Traders (or HWCT to make life a lot easier) has been bandied around for a while now but as they come from way down under in Australia their music may be less familiar to most of you...
New photos for Nebula & Pilgrim Fathers from last night at The Roadhouse, Manchester.
Lin, Lan and Len have been at the mushrooms again. This is a sonically stout and viciously noxious offering from the experimental Italian three piece that throbs and buzzes like a huge malevolent alien brain trapped in a fluid filled tank...
Oozing out of the foul Potteries like molten cheese out of Satan's terrible blackened arse...it's the lords of lysergic leakage, the diplomats of dope, the high priests of the order of the interstellar daemon bitch...SPACE WITCH...
Coming out of Toronto, Canada, like a screaming naked witch on a flying hickory stick, Blood Ceremony are one of a bunch of talented performers like Jex Thoth that look back to the murky miasma of the dope drenched seventies...
New photos and live review for the Melvins, Big Business & Porn from Thursday night at The Academy 3, Manchester.
After a turbulent few years, Bristol based Gonga are back with their first release 'Transmigration' in over 4 years, and after the shock announcement that long standing vocalist...
The term "power violence" is bandied about so much these days that it would seem to some that it has lost it's significance...
Swindon based power three piece Iron Hearse have achieved a fair amount over the last few years whilst maintaining a pretty low profile and keeping their heads under the radar...
New photographs online from last night at The Retro Bar for The Freezing Fog & Crawe.
Belfast heavyweights Slomatics have been around since 2004 and its quite surprising to hear that this 3 piece of 2 guitars & drums deliver such a ferocious & potent mix of crushing heaviness...
Another little tweak to The Sleeping Shaman in the form of a feed to the homepage of the last 5 post on the forum, another massive thanks goes to Daz for helping to set this up!
The Sleeping Shaman Gig Guide is now live! The idea is to make this the definitive guide to gigs that are happening up and down the country, we've made a start by adding dates we know about, but to help us keep this as up to date as possible, we've set up a Submit Your Gig form which you just fill out with all the info and we'll do the rest.
We hope you think this is a valuable addition to the website and I'd also like to say a massive thanks to Daz for all his help in setting this up, thanks man!
This is a year late review: as you all know we like it slow at TSS. Slomatics are a canny trio of Belfast based Melvinites: David (guitar), Chris (guitar) and Joe (drums and vocals) who, according to the sleeve, are "middle-aged professionals by day, agro-sludge losers by night"...
Analysis of Bison Kills originally started out life as Tear Gas and Plate Glass back in 2001 but with pressure from Waxploitation Records...
Let's face it sludge fans, if these lot were from the States there'd be far more of a buzz about them. It just so happens that they're from Rotherham, South Yorkshire, NOT New Orleans, Louisiana...
Quite a big update today with a total of 8 new galleries from Sunday's Grind To Groove III with photos of Esoteric, Gonga, The Sontaran Experiment, Stuntcock, Charger, Volition, They Are Cowards & last, but by no means least Jonathan Ross, plus a monster of a review of said day which was once again penned together by the literary wizard that is Adam, thanks man!
Here we have a new collective from Boston's musical underbelly (formed from ex-members of Kayo Dot and Forefedglass amongst others) pursuing a path of improvised, experimental Death/Doom...
Oh sweet jesus this is the fucking shit! I have here in my rotting puds the new Coffins CD, a band that embody that long lost genre Death Metal as I know and remember it...
It would be fair to say that Torche are confusing buggers. As a reviewer it's always nice when a band hands you some convenient reference points on a plate...
Psych Blues Doomsters Aluna hail from deep within the West Midlands in the UK and although initially, opinions on the band were divided, the release of their latest EP 'Fall To Earth'...
Belgium's SardoniS may be a new name to some people, but trust me on this, for a 2 piece of guitar and drums only, they deliver some of the most intense skull crushing heaviness...
Back in 2004 the small UK indie label Retribute Records released an album made by four Ohio drunks with a feel for the blues so filthy it was righteous, so darkly fuzzy in it's moonless groove it was irreproachable...
It is dusk upon the river Ganges. Your gap year has prematurely come to an end because you are sooooooo stoned on some killer grass you bought earlier from an entirely naked man covered in cattle shit, that you are utterly convinced that you will never ever move again...
I press the play button: a second of silence and then...a red faced and demented man is screaming "restless, my being screams love" (I think) and then a bloody big discordant chord rings out...
It's so easy to have preconceptions about Italy. As I sit here in a decidedly damp and grey Britain I can turn my thoughts to a country full of beautiful scenery such as the Amalfi coast and Tuscany...
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion copulating with the Sontaran Experiment? Nah mate. And if you're wondering what 'Samsara' is, then I can tell you, oh sweet child of the forest...
Thanks to some truly retarded motorists on the M5 I didn’t arrive in the Barfly until half way through Taint’s set. To be honest, that suited me fine as the jury is still definitely out on this band...