Denver Stoner/Sludge outfit In The Company Of Serpents has spent most of its eight years as a fluctuating two-piece, with only vocalist and guitarist Grant Netzorg as the constant. The arrival of Vermin Womb‘s JP Damron to the drumseat has seen an expansion to a trio with the addition of ex-Black Sheep of Kali stringman Ben Pitts and, maybe as a result, fourth album Lux (Self-Release) adds elements of invention and atmosphere to the core sound, demonstrating welcome growth.Continue reading
Usually, Metal from Finland is incarcerated inside a cocoon of cold Death and/or melancholy. For the last seven years, however, Helsinki trio Slave Hands has rebelled against the norm to peddle a particularly horrific brand of Doom-flavoured Sludge, and No More Feelings (Dry Cough Records/Gate Of Deliria/Minor Obscure/Sewer Prison), the band’s fourth album in that time, continues down that solitary, diseased path.Continue reading
Roadburn Festival has exhausted all thoughts of holding a festival in 2020 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. They have announced that Roadburn 2021 will take place on 15-18 April 2021. Tickets purchased for the 2020 edition will remain valid and fans can just show up next year and enjoy the festival. Announcements about the lineup are forthcoming, and in terms of bands returning for 2021, it looks promising. Roadburn is far and away the best and most vital underground metal festival in the world, Roadburn has announced that the festival is postponed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. The fest was scheduled for April 16th and 19th in Tilburg, NL. Curators for 2020 were scheduled to be Emma Ruth Rundle and James Kent (Perturbator) with commissioned pieces including James Kent & Johannes Persson (Cult of Luna), Jo Quail Presents “The Cartographer”, Vile Creature & Bismuth: “A Hymn Of Loss And Hope, and a career-spanning set from Julie Christmas, which included new music-making a debut, and many more. More news about the 2020 fate of Roadburn and plans for 2021 will be announced soon. Read our review of Roadburn 2019 here.Continue reading
The best and most important underground metal festival in the world, Roadburn has announced that the festival is postponed due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic. The fest was scheduled for April 16th and 19th in Tilburg, NL. Roadburn 2020 curators were scheduled to be Emma Ruth Rundle and James Kent (Perturbator) with commissioned pieces including James Kent & Johannes Persson (Cult of Luna), Jo Quail Presents “The Cartographer”, Vile Creature & Bismuth: “A Hymn Of Loss And Hope, and a career-spanning set from Julie Christmas, which included new music-making a debut, and many more. More news about the 2020 fate of Roadburn and plans for 2021 will be announced soon. Here is our review of Roadburn 2019.
If ever two bands were put together in order to aurally depict the turgid, depressing slog that is Life In Northern England Under An Elitist Bunch Of Fascists, it’s Liverpool’s Bodies on Everest and their Newcastle-based touring chums Lump Hammer. As joint release Whelmed (Inverted Grim-Mill Recordings) is a “split”, one would expect around half-an-hour of bile and Sludgy hostility: but as if to ram home the belief that There Is No Hope, this thing grinds along morbidly, relentlessly, for a full hour and forty minutes.Continue reading
Roadburn 2020 has added a plethora of new bands today! Roadburn 2020 Books Wovenhand, Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Giles Corey, Elizabeth Colour Wheel, Primitive Man, Hangman’s Chair X Regarde Les Hommes Tomber, Plebeian Grandstand, Mamaleek, Lankum, Hilary Woods, Föllakzoid And Atom Tm, Midwife, Torpor, Sum Of R, Ph, Many Blessings (Ethan Of Primitive Man), Eye Flys and many more still to come before next April. Continue reading
As far as large multi-day fests go, Psycho Las Vegas is still pretty wet behind the ears having only just had their fourth annual incarnation this August but already it has begun growing into what will likely continue to be the summer juggernaut of partying and music. New this year, to the dismay of many, was the location change from the off the strip and perfectly themed haunt, The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, to the megaplex that is Mandalay Bay. Gone is the feeling of a true fest take over and in its place, a sprawling amalgamation of “psychos” and people from any town USA or abroad there simply to gamble, throw pre-wedding bashes, get drunk or maybe attend a conference (*ahem* “conference”). Once everyone got their bearings and navigated through this corporate mega casino/hotel/shopping mall, pushed back a few drinks or whatever preferred substances they were into, and found the locations of the four stages, the complaining ebbed and instead, people experienced the fest for what it is. A gigantic party with a great combination of bands playing for four days.Continue reading
Ghost Cult is once again honored to be part of Psycho Las Vegas, a goddam heavy metal casino/beach party extravaganza if there ever was one. The filth of Rock, Sludge, Doom, Trad, Hardcore, Prog, and Stoner Metal genres and the glitz of Vegas- baby, all rolled into one. Headlined by Original Misfits, Opeth, Electric Wizard, Corrosion of Conformity, Bad Religion, YOB, Lucifer, High on Fire, GsY!BE, Clutch, Carcass, Triumph of Death, Graveyard, ASG, Primitive Man, Deafheaven, Kadavar, Vio-Lence, Soft Kill, Andrew W.K., Tomb Mold, Power Trip, Full of Hell, and a ton more bands, it promises to be a rager. Sadly, Oranssi Pazuzu and Rotting Christ have dropped out. Every band is carefully curated and picked, so try to see them all if you can. If you can’t get set with the full lineup, and our “must not miss list” picks for each day!Continue reading
Maryland Deathfest held their annual festival in the venerable city of Baltimore a few weeks back. The four-day is one of the best-run independent underground metal festivals in the world. As usual Ghost Cult was on hand for the festivities, with Hillarie Jason bringing you her spectacular eye on bands through photos. Continue reading
It’s spring bank holiday in the UK, which can mean only one thing; a long weekend of headbanging in London’s dingiest venues. 2019 marks the eighth edition of London’s Desertfest; a festival dedicated to the slow, the slower, and the heavy. With a healthy dose of bong and Satan worship thrown in for good measure. Continue reading