Tag Archives: Profound Lore

Old Man Gloom – The Ape of God

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We now know that our version of The Ape of God (Profound Lore) – the one that was released to the press – is a compilation of parts of the two new albums issued by Old Man Gloom only and not full version(s) of the pair, both released with the same title. On their Facebook page the L.A. super-group claim they would stand by the truncated compilation as an album in its own right, and indeed it would serve as such.

The sludge-drenched hostility of ‘Fist of Fury’ and ‘The Lash’ collides with fuzzed-out riffs and post leads underpinning the titanic crunch, fully embracing Aaron Turner‘s Isis background. That lead is a howling current through the intense roar of ‘Predators’, an ominously building ambient crescendo falling to eerie wails; the angry Neurosis vibe screaming from every pore and indicating a deeper sense of gravity. This segues into the savage, visceral pummel of the monstrous ‘Shoulder Meat’, the deep lead underpin almost sorrowful whilst crashing thunder is eclipsed by a stone breaking, torturous riff. As these two tracks don’t follow each other on the albums proper, the organic melding of the join displays the length OMG went to fool the media.

The breakneck aggression of Nate Newton‘s Converge is evident in the sequencer-filled bruising battery of ‘Never Enter’, while eerie atmospherics cede to the mutilating slash and oscillating crunch of ‘Promise’. The weight and hiss of the rhythms are as oppressive as the consumptive vocal roars, Santos Montano‘s drums and Caleb Scofield‘s bass pounding and throbbing through the Gregorian psychedelic drift of ‘Simia Die’ before the soaring riff carries the coda to tumultuous skies. Closer ‘Aarows [their spelling] to Our Hearts’, which also closes the second album proper, is a fourteen-minute epic displaying the full gamut of creativity with a slow build through ambient samples, a maudlin drum march and picked riff graced by gentle vocal intonations. As the fuzzing noise gradually swells through the seeping gloom into an agonised, pulsing horror, so does the unbearable tension. It’s the kind of track Cult of Luna have it in their power to make, but haven’t appeared angry enough for years to execute.

With our review copy of the albums being four tracks shy of the full complement, this is still representative of a mighty effort from a band totally at the top of their game, dwarfing last album No (Hydra Head) and destined to rattle many ‘top ten’ lists of 2014.

 

8.5/10

Old Man Gloom on Facebook

 

PAUL QUINN


Ghost Cult #19 is Out Now! Featuring The Atlas Moth!

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The new issue of Ghost Cult’s digital magazine is out now! Ghost Cult #19 features an in-depth interview with The Atlas Moth’s Stavros Giannopoulos. The June release of The Old Believer (Profound Lore) was a previous Album of the Month for us. Other features include Arch Enemy, Anathema, EyeHateGod, Killer Be Killed, Tombs, Whitechapel, Cradle of Filth, Prong and Lionize. We also have special features such as Metal Book Reviews, a recap of Maynard James Keenan’s (Tool, A Perfect Circle, Puscifer) Birthday Celebration, Unsigned bands, album reviews and more. As we do every issue we present concert reviews from around the world from the likes of Neurosis and Ghost B.C., as well as metal festival reviews like Maryland Deathfest, Scion A/V Rockfest and the inaugural Temples Festival. Read it on our site and download it for your smartphone or tablet.

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Read Ghost Cult #19 Now!

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Winterfylleth – The Divination of Antiquity

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Winterfylleth

 

While British Black Metal has never been regarded as the crème de la crème of the genre (despite inventing the bloody thing), the tide has turned in recent years with the likes of Anaal Nathrakh, The Axis of Perdition and Fen doing Albion proud. One band it has been impossible to ignore from these fair shores has been Manchester quartet Winterfylleth, whose odes to Blighty’s ancient past have struck a chord with those searching for a bit more meaning in their homegrown talent. After three albums of high quality “English Heritage Black Metal”, Winterfylleth are sitting pretty and new album The Divination of Antiquity (Candlelight) looks set to continue their ever-so glorious reign.

With a concept referencing the lessons we learn from history, The Divination of Antiquity shows a band looking back at past glories for inspiration, but also addressing old mistakes. While the influences remain obvious for those with a keen ear; early Borknagar, Ulver and Drudkh being key reference points, Winterfylleth’s sound is entirely their own, with the soaring riffs and epic melodies of Chris Naughton and Mark Wood flowing thick and fast, while the ceaseless battery of Simon Lucas behind the kit ensures proceedings are urgent and alive. While previous full-length The Threnody of Triumph (Candlelight) had a tendency to fall back on repetition and too-familiar song structures, the nine tracks on offer here each present something different and wholly engaging.

The title track kicks things off with a flurry of violent riffs and aggressive motifs with Naughton’s trademark howling vocals sounding utterly assured while ‘Whisper of the Elements’ wraps a variety of mournful melodies around a steamroller of a riff, employing the mix of aggression and calm that comes so naturally to the band. ‘Warrior Herd’ harks back to the blurry black metal of debut album The Ghost of Heritage (Profound Lore) while ‘A Careworn Heart’ sees the first appearance of the solemn acoustics and choral vocals that fans have come to love and expect before the mid-paced riffs that follow allow the band to branch out slightly and experiment with unfamiliar themes. We only get one instrumental this time with the gorgeous acoustic strains of ‘The World Ahead’ showing how folk should be done while the measured yet crushing guitars of closing track ‘Forsaken in Stone’ carry us off over the peaks to reveal the glory below.

With each band member contributing more and improving in skill with each release, Winterfylleth are a joy to behold. In a scene renowned for gimmicks and plagiarism, their brand of sweeping, epic black metal just keeps revealing more with each release, and while the concepts explored in their lyrics won’t have you running out to join UKIP, they may just make you think a bit about your heritage and your connection to the landscape. And while they may sing about the past, with songs as strong as these, the future of British Black Metal is safe in the hands of Winterfylleth.

8.5/10

Winterfylleth on Facebook

 

JAMES CONWAY


Witch Mountain – Mobile Of Angels

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Six years after the Jex Thoth debut, it seems that the whole “Occult Rock” thing is now calming down to the extent that we can talk about a new Doom-flavoured band with female vocals on its own merits without losing all sense of perspective. An ideal time, then, for Witch Mountain to continue taking Black Sabbath into new realms of emotional depth and maturity.

On first listen, Witch Mountain’s music is at the friendlier end of the Doom spectrum – groovy riffs, clean vocals, mid-paced tempos that never hit the punishing slows or crushing low-end that the genre is capable of at its nastiest. Things change slightly during the middle-section of ‘Can’t Settle’, when the pace slows and the  vocals take on a harsher aspect, but it still has more in common with Witchcraft than Primitive Man. Unlike most of their groovy peers, however, they tend towards longer songs, Mobile Of Angels’ (Profound Lore) five tracks averaging around ten minutes each.

What really sets Witch Mountain apart from other groove-based Doom or “Stoner” bands, and what makes them worthy of a label like Profound Lore, is the sense of emotional sincerity and power.  These are not just fun collections of catchy riffs, there’s a genuine weight to them, a weight which comes not from distortion or effects-pedals but from really meaning it. A big part of that comes from Uta Plotkin’s vocals. Though initially seeming to lack the blood-and-thunder heaviness that you might expect from a Doom band, they reveal a depth and richness that goes far beyond that.  Vulnerability is a rare commodity in Metal, but all the more valuable for it.  Although different musically, I was frequently put in mind of Karyn Crisis’ clean vocals in terms of emotional expression.

Mobile Of Angels is not the most extreme or challenging album you’ll hear all year, but nor is it another fluffy “stoner” album with catchy grooves and nothing else.  Rather, it is a personal, reflective set of songs that manage to be both accessible and moving, and comes recommended for those who want a bit more emotional depth to their Metal.

 

8.5/10

Witch Mountain on Facebook

 

RICHIE H-R


On The Road…. With YOB and Pallbearer

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YOB and Pallbearer are both out on the road in support of stellar new albums. YOB’s Clearing The Path To Ascend (Neurot) received a 9/10 from Ghost Cult earlier this month. Pallbearer’s Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore) was a rare 10/10 from us and was our August Album of the month. Both bands recent teamed up for a co-headlining run of dates in the UK and Luke Denham of Luke Denham Photography caught both bands in front of his lens. A full review is coming soon. In the mean time, enjoy these shots!

 

 

Pallbearer (2)

 

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YOB on Facebook

Pallbearer on Facebook

Luke Denham Photography


Weight and Light – Joseph D. Rowland of Pallbearer

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Ghost Cult spoke to Joseph D. Rowland, bassist and founder member of Arkansas creative heavyweights Pallbearer, who discussed with grace and enthusiasm the band’s sophomore opus, Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore), and their upcoming US and European tours.

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Pallbearer – Foundations of Burden

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If you felt the debut album from Arkansas quartet Pallbearer, Sorrow and Extinction, contained some of the most emotive doom ever, think again. New album Foundations of Burden (Profound Lore) is an adventurous journey through space for the lost, solitary soul on their way to meet their maker.

Weighty, yet melancholic and melodic, much like its predecessor it is shot through with a healthy dose of the best of ’70s radio rock, nonetheless there are noticeable differences here. The first of these is the sacrifice of a small amount of Sorrow…‘s heaviness in favour of a more textured, progressive sound. There is also the addition of harmonised backing vocals which, far from detracting from overall enjoyment, shows the evolution of a highly skilled, creative unit, unafraid to escape its comfort zone.

Opener ‘Worlds Apart’ has a number of movements, flowing from a crunching mid-paced opening into a mid-section of guided atmospherics with the coda of staggering effects-laden leads accompanied by funereal, subterranean riffs, all wonderfully decorated by Brett Campbell‘shoneyed yet soaring vocals. The ensuing ‘Foundations’ begins with complex yet deliberate rhythms, the sound of a burning rocket having developed a slightly woven path of orbit, those deliciously doleful tones seemingly lamenting yet justifying its straying from the line.

‘Watcher in the Dark’ is a mournful titan with an apocalyptic central duel of leads and coruscating riffs rising from a sparkling rhythm section and Joseph D. Rowland‘s MOR-style piano, to a remarkable and euphoric finale. Mark Lierly’s drums are increasingly dictatorial and demand attention, whilst the resonant solo work descends to a languid tone before a moving explosion of sorrow, with Campbell’s towering tones an aching call to the wilderness. Lush synths ease into the evocative, phenomenal, ‘The Ghost I Used to Be’ as Campbell’s voice fluctuates between Ozzy Osbourne and Steve Perry before the riff taking centre stage, orchestrating time changes, leading to an amazing closing solo. Unbelievably, even this staggering behemoth is surpassed by a stroke of genius – the heart-breaking beauty of the brief, delicate ballad ‘Ashes’, a track that would be at home on any Styx record, yet still retains an air of gravity. Closer ‘Vanished’ displays all that power and subtlety, possessing a booming production that heightens the contrast of resonant, harmonic chants and the fulminating power of riff and drums.

Superlatives and panegyrics are thrown around like confetti these days, and mostly for albums that just don’t deserve them. Here is an entity beyond words. The blend of crushing weight and sadness that twines with an almost paradoxical ascension to light throughout this quite magnificent set is sublime and inspirational. If the prog-rock outfit Kansas suffered a year of deep personal loss, down-tuned to hell, and proceeded to embody the grief and subsequent healing in an album, the result would be Foundation of Burden. This willingness to puncture doom’s boundaries and travel outside them surely hails Pallbearer as the most important band of their genre right now.

 

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10.0/10.0

Pallbearer on Facebook

 

PAUL QUINN

 

Pallbearer on Facebook


The Tie That Binds: Stavros Giannopoulos of The Atlas Moth

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As we expected, The Atlas Moth’s new album The Old Believer (Profound Lore) is as much a study in rough hewn crushing heaviness, as it is in delicate somber patience. One of the best releases this year so far, fans should expect it to top many year-end, best-of lists. When Chief Editor Keith (Keefy) Chachkes caught up with Chicago’s Svengali of riffs and screams, Stavros Giannoplous was on tour opening for The Ocean and Scale The Summit, we conducted our interview in the crowded, smoke-filled little green room, while The Ocean jammed about 20 feet away on stage. Our conversation ebbed and flowed freely, like the water pipe that was passed around, as we discussed the new album, the pressure that comes with critical acclaim, and how one of the most prolific guys in the metal scene creates art on his own terms.

There were clear advantages for the band being out on the road in the months before their new album dropped. With no fanfare on this night, were treated to three new songs from The Old Believer, and everyone in the crowd had their mouths agape when it was over. Having already heard the rest of the new album shortly thereafter, we began by asking Stavros to contrast his new opus with their last album An Ache for the Distance (also Profound Lore):

“It’s really all over the place. I’d like to think it’s a pretty logical next step. We don’t try to write a certain type of song or anything. We just make a lot of fucked up noise, like we always do, and it just comes out like it does. The leap from the first record to Ache was really huge, this is more like a regular step as opposed to a gigantic step to me. It’s a definite progression from the last one, but you know it’s kind of hard to explain. It varies throughout the entire fucking record. No two songs sound the same on it, so that is very cool.”

 

The Atlas Moth The Old Believer Album cover

 

An Ache for the Distance was such a critical success and certainly one of the best albums of 2011. We wondered how much pressure Stavros and the band placed on themselves to top it, and if it interfered with the creative process:

“Yeah. I feel it musically and artistically, like as far as layout goes. The layout last time just seemed like a perfect storm. Everything kind of came together and it just happened. It was great! People still ask me about it and it came out great. I still look at it and I totally feel like I accomplished everything I set out to with it. It doesn’t matter if anyone agrees with me or not. It means a lot to me. Everything about this new one was so hectic. So the people who really enjoyed An Ache for the Distance really connected to it. So it’s kind of hard to ask them to care again and become emotionally connected to a new piece of music. I know myself, I am probably my harshest critic. But at the end of the day you can’t worry about the pressure. It’s going to come out how it comes out.”

 

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The Atlas Moth, by Meg Loyal Photography

 

In addition to work on The Old Believer, Stavros has been involved in now defunct black metal supergroup Twilight, Chrome Waves, several other bands and art projects on a continuous basis for several years now. We surmised that he must be a fairly prolific guy artistically, and that perhaps makes new music all the time. He weighed in on this theory:

“I don’t know about all the time, but I play a lot of guitar at home alone. Sometimes things happen, and somethings things don’t. And I’m a very big believer that if I don’t remember something I wrote, it probably wasn’t that good. I’m kind of freewheeling with things. And now I really write a lot off of what other people are playing. It’s become a real strength for me. It’s more realistic for me than…I just don’t sit around and say I’m gonna write a song today between 8 and 10, you know? That would never work for me. Sometimes it comes and that’s great, and sometimes it doesn’t and I let it go.”

 

As a band that has logged many moons on tours in opening slots, choosing a set list at this point in their career must be a challenge. Especially when you factor in the three new tracks tonight that made up more than half of their set on this night:

“That is a really great question. We did a week of headlining dates by ourselves before the tour, and we ended up missing half of them, because our van fucking blew up. We were in Seattle and we had a good mix of old and new songs. Then I thought we had 25 minutes for this current tour, but then we found out that we had 40 minutes! So we were trying to put more (songs) in there. I wish we’d had more time, because now with three records of material, it’s kind of tough. We barely play anything off of A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky (Candlelight) anymore, and even less since Ache came out. Even just picking between Ache and this new one has been really hard as shit. I am really looking forward to playing an hour-long set again when we headline.”

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The Atlas Moth, by Meg Loyal Photography

 

Since Boston was the last night of the tour, Stavros was feeling reflective on the past few months on the road: “It’s been really rad! I feel like I have been gone forever. But also I feel like it’s over already and it really hit me today. I mean, we still have three more shows with The Ocean in Canada. Overall, it is kind of fucking weird. Between Silver Snakes, Scale the Summit and The Ocean’s fans, we are like the tie that binds everything together. It’s been an awesome tour! It was good to play for all these guys fans. It’s kind of like we are playing for that same Gojira crowd again, which is really the last national tour we did. So it’s nice to come back here and tour the entire country to full rooms before our album comes out, and get warmed up before our release. It’s been really cool.”

 

The Atlas Moth on Facebook

KEITH (KEEFY) CHACHKES


Boris – The Atlas Moth – Subrosa: Live At The Paradise Rock Club, Boston, MA

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This has been a mighty year already for quality heavy and experimental music. When Boris puts out new music, it is a major happening across the fan base of many genres of music. Praise from critics is always nice, and Ghost Cult gave Boris a 9/10 for their new album. But when you hear more people talking up Noise (Sargent House) than many other big-ticket band releases this year save for a few, you know something cool is happening. Adding to that mix, The Atlas Moth, riding high off of their June album The Old Believer (Profound Lore), you have two of the most dynamic and interesting bands right now on the same tour. Then top it off with some avant-doom madness from Subrosa, and you have a can’t miss show top to bottom. While having three bands of a certain mystique and quality (especially Boris) brings out the super fans, it was a weird mix of indie hipsters, death metal beardos, bro dudes (hey it’s Boston) and even a few vest wearing dudes and chicks all together in a weird soup of humans on a Tuesday night in Beantown. Every metal show is basically an interesting social experiment!

 

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Subrosa was up first and I was a little stunned at the hefty early crowd, already entranced by the first notes. Playing their deft, drone-y sludge, they hit you hard and deliberately. It’s hard not to be transfixed on the performance of front woman/axe slinger Rebecca Vernon. Her soul shaking vocals and skillful playing just smokes fierceness. Violinists Kim Pack and Sarah Pendelton pack in the drama with their intense, layered parts. I have spent reviews complaining about the the weird room that The Paradise is, and how it doesn’t do bands any favors sonically. Some of the highs from the strings were eaten up by the depth of the room, which is a shame since on record they are towering. Kim’s vocals were also a highlight tonight. The set leaned heavily on No Help for the Mighty Ones and More Constant Than The Gods (both on Profound Lore), and between the two, I favor the earlier album. Despite that, the bands’ best song on the night was ‘The Usher’ from More Constant…, and featured Dave Kush from TAM on guest vocals. Still, it was impossible at the end of their set not to feel tipsy from the strength and creativity of this band. I need to see Subrosa play a headline set, just once in my life. Just once.

 

 

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Over the years I have learned how to spot greatness in bands, sometimes before they even know it. Usually, I am usually right about these things and The Atlas Moth is going to be a band that years from now, we point to this moment when they took off. They hit the stage tonight with a purpose and the poise of a veteran band that they have become. I have seen others shoot their collective load too fast when opening for Boris (because Boris is Boris), but not these guys. They just went up like any other show and eased into their set with ‘Jet Black Passenger’. The now mostly full room was just feeling it big time! Or it could have been some of the superb herb I sensed going around nearby me. Bathed in a wash of blues and reds (cool to watch from the crowd, crap for photographers), front man Stavros Giannopoulos and Kush on the conjoined vocals of shrieking despair and smoothness just melted the entire room. The entire band was just crushing tonight, as they jammed mostly new material from The Old Believer. The now modern classic of ‘Holes In The Desert’ was also welcomed to my ears on this night, and its a track that I hope never leaves the set. Kim from Subrosa came out and lent her playing to ‘The Sea Beyond’, which also was a treat. When the entire band gets to singing, screaming together as it does, it can be quite moving. Andrew Ragin, who produced the new album, also chimes in with synths, guitars and vocals is a powerhouse live. He is a difference maker. The secret weapon of the band is Dan Lasek on the drums. He has really upped the ante in terms of power and groove since he joined. Not since the mighty ISIS played some of their final shows in this very building a few years ago has post-metal been so well executed here. Bring on the headline tours boys!

 

 

The Atlas Moth (27 of 29)

 

Finally it was time for Boris. Some of the beardos had left after the penultimate act and there were some drunken bros who were loud as fuck the rest of the night, which pissed me off to no end. Moving right a long, Boris hit the stage with a boom, launching right into ‘Melody’ from Noise. Professional;, perfectly played, and most of all fun; Boris knows how to start an album or a party with uptempo, melodic bliss inducing rock. Takehashi Ohtani rocks the double-neck guitar/bass and moves flawlessly between either neck depending on what the parts require. Vocally he is a wizard: able to morph his voice to whatever the style of the songs call for. Atzuo Mizuno behind the kit is a powerhouse, as both a drummer and a performer. His vocals are also excellent and when he and Takehashi sing together, it is magical. Plowing right into ‘Vanilla’, another new song, the crowd let out a loud cheer. It was almost like a sporting event atmosphere in the room with many “oohs” and “ahhs” all night long. The opposite of her cohorts, Wata on guitar is quite restrained in her performances physically, but she is a beast on the axe. Her stoicism is only matched equally by her mastery of riffs, the occasional lead part, and feedback of course.

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Although the band leaned heavily on the just released Noise, they mixed it up well with Pink and Amplifier Worship also represented too. The set list was constructed expertly as you would expect from this band. Raging rock and metal, introspective mellowness, followed again by waves of crashing melodies and other weirdness. Mid-set cuts such as ‘Ghost of Romance’, ‘Heavy Rain’ and ‘Cosmos’ just send you on an emotional rocket ship to space and back . Speaking of space, Boris has never been afraid of the space rock, but really labels can barely describe what this band does. They are reference points for those who need a paint by numbers experience. It’s much better than to let go and feel the show, rather than make mental notes such as “pop song, drone song, instrumental, thrash number”. Or maybe that is just me.

 

 

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Closing out the night with panache, they chilled out with the somber ‘Angel’, then rocked with ‘Quicksilver’. After a drawn out feedback and noise rave-up, a friend of the bands’ came on stage and there was a sudden wedding proposal! The things you see at a show, man. Then the band returned and played ‘Vomitself’ and bid us all a good night!

 

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Boris Set List:

 

Melody
Vanilla
Pink
Statement
Ghost of Romance
Heavy Rain
Taiyo no Baka
Cosmos
Angel
Quicksilver

 

 

Encore:

Vomitself

 

Boris on Facebook

The Atlas Moth on Facebook

Subrosa on Facebook

 

WORDS: KEITH (KEEFY) CHACHKES

PHOTOS: MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY 


Wolvhammer – Clawing Into Black Sun

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It’s not often you find a black metal album you can dance to, but Wolvhammer seem to have produced a sound that does just that. Mixing up doses of black metal with rock sensibilities their music is both dissonant and hooky, meandering into post-metal territories on occasion. The different genres are blended seamlessly, forming an entity where each style is equal and nothing dominates the other.

 

Following on from 2011’s sophomore album, The Obsidian Plains, Clawing into Black Sun (both Profound Lore) may not be a change in style, but it is certainly a completely different beast. It lacks some of the raw aggression that was present in The Obsidian Plains, opting for a more refined approach to the style. The music centers much more heavily around the riffs, downplaying some of the heavy black metal influence from the previous release. The biggest difference however can be found in the vocals, losing some of the raw and harrowing edge.

 

While ‘Death Division’ and ‘The Desanctification’ drip with hatred, ‘Silver Key’ and title track ‘Clawing into Black Sun’ strip back the bleakness, replacing it with more groove-based riffing. Coming in at almost nine minutes long, it is the longest song and really stands out an album underpinned by a melodic edge where many of the tracks charge between rage and refinement. ‘A Light That Doesn’t Yield’ is a dark introspective; its’ melodies poignant and captivating backed by slow-moving harmonies underneath.

Wolvhammer have once again crafted an eloquent and addictive album evolving out the sound of previous work. While it lacks the sheer torment that Obsidian Plains encapsulated, for those that like their black metal polished, buffed and refined, this makes an essential addition to the record collection.

Wolvhammer band photos

8.0/10.0

Wolvhammer on Facebook

 

CAITLIN SMITH