Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats- Black Moth: Live at Academy 3, Manchester, UK

Posted on June 13, 2014 by News Team

Mysterious Cambridge based quartet Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats have ridden a wave of growing popularity which peaked late last year when the group was granted the accolade of opening for Metal Godfathers Black Sabbath. Prior to the main event however Leeds based doom act Black Moth impressed with a storming set showing that female fronted acts don’t need a folk aspect nor drown out their singer in order to make an impression. Harriet Bevan’s lush vocals provide a compelling foil to the colossal riffs of tracks like ‘The Articulate Dead’ and forthcoming single ‘Tumbleweave’ leaving an extremely favourable impression on the packed audience.

“This song goes out to Charlie Manson” is how Uncle Acid elect to introduce ‘Poison Apple’ following the stomping ‘Death’s Door’. Maryland groove machine Clutch are plying their trade just down the road which makes tonight attendance all the more astounding although surely some promoters have missed a trick. Blighted by a technical glitch at the beginning of their set which delayed the commencement of their psychedelic ceremony enraptures the audience with the atmosphere akin to a love in before some idiot at the front is escorted from the building following a fight breaking out during the last number. Never the less `The Deadbeats seventies horror inspired romps inspire much dancing and unbridled revelry. Even slower numbers such as ’13 Candles’ inspires much movement in the crowd who encompass people of three different generations, no mean feat considering the fickle, media driven trappings of the modern music scene. Heady and enthralling guitar work mixed with a compelling mystique tonight Uncle Acid’s swagger and cocksure attitude full justified the hype and praise heaped upon them.

Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats on Facebook

Black Moth on Facebook

ROSS BAKER

Down – IV Part Two (EP)

Posted on May 13, 2014 by News Team

Releasing the second in their series of four EP s, Down is back with a vengeance on Down IV Part Two (Down Records). However, with the departure of founding member Kirk Windstein last fall, the wheels could have very easily have come off another super-group. Lucky for us, the resiliency of this band, even one with the legacy members that is has, cannot be questioned. They have added their tour manager and long-time friend Bobby Landgraf (Honky) to take Kirk’s place, and these kings of the super-group rolled on to their next release. In fact, they discarded the material they wrote with Kirk, let him take his many riffs with him, and re-wrote the entire new EP more or less from scratch with Landgraf. That takes a lot of balls for any band, but especially when the bar is set as high as it is for this one. Not only is there zero drop-off from the first EP, this release exemplifies everything rewarding as a fan of this band, and heavy music as a whole.

The opener ‘Steeple’ starts with a crushing slab of doom with all the epic, slow Sabbath-ian thunder they have always championed. When the thrashy, up-tempo main riff kicks in, you cannot help but smile. As per usual, a Down release packs in the quality riffs. Within the first two minutes of the track at least five distinctly different parts can heard; each more awesome than the last. The best part is, they all work together, and make sense in the context of the song. Phil Anselmo, is once again in fine voice, relying mostly on his mid-high range, which always has a sense of urgency to it. The repeating line of ‘steeple will fall…’ in the ending coda just entrances you. Who knew this band could be so kvlt? The song is a crusher and begins what feels like a real throwback to the first two Down albums. Coming up next, the single ‘We Knew Him Well’, has the signature sound you expect: grinding riffs, classic beats, and a catchy refrain sung by Anselmo. There are no signs slipping of the guitar sound from Landgraf and Pepper Keenan who trade hot licks, and swap solos seamlessly.

As much as the songwriting on this the EP sounds welcome and familiar, that doesn’t mean the band is resting on their laurels. Not one bit. ‘Hogshead Dogshead’ shows a growth, melding the hard hitting chops and incorporating inventive time signatures, stop/start timing parts, and classic-rock/blues vamping. Drummer Jimmy Bower and bassist Pat Bruders are just locked in tight and nasty on the low end rhythms. There are also some sick solos for you guitar freaks to get sweaty over. ‘Hogshead Dogshead’ has a what I like to call the “happy summer-time vibe” to it; just a feelgood rock song that is not cheesy, along the lines of Queen, Thin Lizzy, and Deep Purple. What a rager! On the other hand, the molasses-drenched in hellfire riffitude of ‘Conjure’, begins a weeded-out dream groove. Halfway through, the track lifts off into some NWOBHM and thrash movements, with a few more surprises added in, before bringing it back around again. If ‘Bury Me In Smoke’ is Down’s very own ‘Sweet Leaf’, then this is their ‘Electric Funeral’. Like most of his recent work, we are also treated to some of the most memorable lyrics from Phil in his entire career. Emotionally crushing, and timeless too. This quite possibly the best song on the album and the best song of the collective Down IV series so far.

‘Sufferer’s Years’ is another slick cut full of Keenan’s signature chopping chord play. Once again, we hear a plethora of inventive changes in this song. Phil again kills with some neat double-tracked lines, accentuating his words with a wisp of delay effects trailing off at the end of phrases. Closing things out with another jammin track, the aptly titled ‘Bacchanalia’ just simmers with badassery until the last note. This song is so heavy, and so much fun that I can’t wait to hear it live. To top it off there is a stunning coda to the song that is not musically unlike classics ‘Jail’ and ‘Pray For The Locust’. One gets the feeling Down writes with all these little twists and turns as a gift to the listener and themselves too. When we look back on this part of their career, we will likely understand that these are less like regular EPs that other bands release, and much more like a mini-opus, in pieces. Down clearly realizes their collective vision, no matter who is in the lineup, every time.

9.5/10

Down on Facebook

KEITH (KEEFY) CHACHKES

Red Fang – The Shrine – Lord Dying: Live at Effenaar, Eindhoven NL

Posted on May 1, 2014 by News Team

This time we traveled to Eindhoven in the south of the Netherlands for a blasting show with Red Fang, The Shrine and Lord Dying. All three bands I got very stoked about, as soon I saw the flyer I knew I had to review this and share this epic moments with the audience. The weather was nice, and after sitting in the sun for a while we hopped into the venue. Three bands on a European tour, the day before they were in Belgium. Now they are all ours! Lets see what they have to give to us.

First on stage was the foggy and swampy band Lord Dying, after bringing out their first album Summon the Faithless I was already totally excited to see this band perform. I was not disappointed. They give a blasting and amazingly energetic show that blew my mind. You not often see a band that clearly has defined influences, but are absolutely doing their own thing. Their music is very heavy, but definitely in the louder register, it just shouts headbanging all over the place. Good groovy riffs intertwine with well placed solo’s, a deep bass ,and some good old-fashioned feedback. The venue was already getting pretty full with bearded men and women (?) and beer was richly flowing. It was a good opener but I wouldn’t mind at all if they would play a little bit longer or had another spot on the bill. Maybe next time. It was way to early when this band was done playing. I was left wanting more.

The Shrine was the second band and you can describe them as Motörhead if they would play stoner with a little hint of some old-school punk feeling. The music gives you a happy vibe and are not dragging at all, a downside of this sound is that it began to nag in my head after a few songs, but hey. As soon they start to play they immediately pulled the throttle and smashed a squishy, but swinging vibe in your face. The Shrine gives you strong and simple lyrics that are pretty easy to sing along with, what makes it kind of enjoyable. I have to give the bass player a +1 for the Rickenbacker by the way, it is not that often you see one. The Shrine is a pleasant band to listen to, but it is a bit simple. I wouldn’t mind seeing them again, but I think this band will have a better vibe in a smaller venue.

And for the moment we were all be waiting for, Red Fang. We all know the album Whales and Leeches they came out with recently, and this definitely is the best material the band has made to date. I wasn’t the only one who thought about seeing this band tonight. The venue was pretty full at this time and you know you are doing good when the audience is completely smashed and are only shouting for more. Well, this exactly thing was happening at Red Fang. These bearded Portlanders are totally grooving all over the place and unstoppable. You can describe this band in very few words: awesome riffing and a huge feeling of groove. They really showed this time that they can totally enchant the audience and make them move all over the place. You could feel the heat and energy coming at you all over the place, a good thing if you ask me, since it is getting harder and harder to enjoy the Dutch audience. And for the seal on this review a little tip for the next time you are going to see Red Fang: hold on to your beards, things are going to get messed up!

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Red Fang on Facebook

The Shrine on Facebook

Lord Dying on Facebook

Words by Kaat Van Doremalen

Photos by Susanne A. Maathuis

Kvelertak – Empress A.D. – Wounds: Live at Academy 3, Manchester, UK

Posted on April 30, 2014 by News Team

Boisterous and full of life, Wounds youthful charm sees them gain some approving nods and yelps from the bank holiday crowd. These cheeky Irishmen have given us some catchy numbers that come across like a snotty Cancer Bats without getting the half full venue to liven up to much. ‘Dead, Dead, Fucking, Dead’ still packs a punch showing promise for the future but this clearly wasn’t their night.

Main support Empress A.D. feel quite out of place on this bill. Playing a set of plodding mid-paced riffs and some vocals which are clearly out of tune, they also provide little stage presence in spite of singer/guitarist Ollie Loring‘s half-hearted attempts to get the sedated audience to participate in any manner. Bank holiday crowds can be notorious for ignoring support acts, but Empress phone in a performance that does little to impress. When a stream of punters are gravitating towards the bar that should say all you need to hear about this lacklustre performance.

Thankfully the venue is packed for the arrival of Norse wrecking machine Kvelertak. Possessing enough energy to power a generator, frontman Erlend Hjelvik appears in his owl helmet as the band launch into ‘Åpenbaring’ but it isn’t long before he hurls himself offstage into the waiting arms of the rabid fans at the front of the stage. Their potent cocktail of black metal, punk fury and rock ‘n’ roll hooks soon shakes the crowd out of their slump and ignites frantic slam dancing. The infectious ‘Bruane Brenn’ and ‘Ulvetid’ scarcely allow room to breathe with the temperature soaring.

Admittedly while sophomore release Meir (Roadrunner) was a decent effort, it is cuts from the band’s incendiary self-titled debut that inspire the greatest amount of audience participation. ‘Fossegrim’ pours more fuel upon the burning pyre with its gang vocal refrains being picked up by overjoyed fans who Hjelvik passes the mic to let them sing-a-long. The triumphant encore of ‘Mjød’ and ‘Utrydd Dei Svake’ demonstrate that these Norwegians embody everything which makes hardcore, punk and metal so vital. Another memorable performance from an act who prove that Norway has more to offer than just spikes and corpsepaint. Kvelertak don’t appear to be surrendering their stranglehold on the title of best live band any time soon.

Kvelertak on Facebook

Empress A.D. On Facebook

Wounds on Facebook

Words by Ross Baker

Photos by Stuart Alexander Rees

Brothers In Arms – Jake Adams of Valkyrie

Posted on April 21, 2014 by News Team

Being in a band can be a tough gig. Especially so when one of the members is in a very popular band. Known better as the original band project of Pete Adams of Baroness, since 2002 Valkyrie has put out two solid releases along with some over the years and the occasional regional tour, or festival in their home state of Virginia. Still, this quality outfit should be bigger by now, and is a must listen for fans of Red Fang and High On Fire, proto-metal, doom, and throwback heavy metal lovers. Ghost Cult scribe Dan Swinhoe caught up with guitarist/vocalist Jake Adams, Pete’s brother, to give us an update about the progress of this group, the status of their next album, and the current state of the band.

How do the dynamics of the band work? Is it your band and your rules, or more of a democracy?

It’s definitely democratic. The reason we are playing with these guys is because we know they have a lot to offer as far as ideas and sheer talent to each song that we write. That being said, usually me or my brother (Pete) come up with the bulk of the riffs and song ideas and Alan (Fary, bass) and Warren (Hawkins, drums) will definitely bring a lot to add to that. Most of the basic riffs I write, and Pete often adds harmonies and brings in ideas to get me “out of the box.” The dynamics of song writing work well, as long as Pete and I know what we are doing on guitars – so we spend a lot of time outside of whole-band practices getting our leads and harmonies together.

What’s it like being in a band with family? Easier or harder to work with?

It is definitely easier because we don’t have to think so hard about everything, things just flow naturally because we have such a history playing and being together. There are times where we tend to push each others’ buttons and it makes for some awkward van rides because Warren and Alan don’t want to pick sides. But Pete and I are quick to work through things usually.

When people siblings in the same band, there’s often talk of some sort of psychic chemistry that makes them a better unit- what’s your take on this?

I would definitely agree – often we hear something at the same time and both start taking the song in a certain direction.. it definitely makes things a lot smoother.

How do you and your brother’s playing/songwriting styles differ?

Well, what I tend to play as far as solos tends to be more thought out, but less spontaneous. Pete’s soloing is like capturing lightning in a bottle – he never plays the same solo twice, he tends to “feel” things out more than myself.

Do you feel you fit into any sort of scene at all? There’s been a bit of a resurgence of classic-style rock in the last few years- Witchcraft, The Sword, Graveyard etc- do you think people are looking back to the early days of rock/metal more?

Oh yeah, definitely – there is definitely a resurgence in heavy metal and older rock for sure. We are definitely part of that, but I can’t think of too many bands doing what we are doing. First off, we don’t employ any occult themes or satanic shtick, which tends to define a lot of bands in the hard rock scene, also we lean more to late seventies hard rock than the earlier blues based stuff. Also the vibe of our music tends to be more positive than a lot of bands in the doom scene – throw in clean vocals, harmonized leads, and you start to narrow down the list of bands doing what we are doing. I wouldn’t say we don’t fit it, but our sound tends to stand apart from most of the bands we play with.

Which bands are you a fan of nowadays?

I wish I could say I was a fan of more new bands, not much is really doing it for me these days. There are some friends’ bands worth mentioning : Inter Arma, Earthling, who are doing great things. I stick to the classics like Priest, Sabbath, Maiden, Wishbone Ash, Camel, Skynyrd, old Scorpions, old Whitesnake, Rainbow, stuff like that. We all listen to different stuff, for instance Alan listens to a lot more death metal and thrashy stuff than I do regularly.

What’s happened to the band since the release of Man With Two Visions?

Well, a lot. My wife and I have had two kids, we have a new bass player ( Alan). Pete joined Baroness and has been touring a ton, and I have started a career in teaching. We have been slowly but surely working on the third record, which is finally getting close to finished.

You’re a teacher now, do the students know about Valkyrie? Do they like it?

Yeah, I usually tell them about it- you always get a select few that actually go check it out online and a always have a few that are pretty into it. But as you can imagine, not too many 13 year-olds are going to gravitate to traditional doomy hard rock .

How did Pete joining Baroness affect the band?

Well, Pete’s schedule tends to be very busy with Baroness so often times it gets hard to plan for gigs. But Pete’s skills have improved a lot since he plays so often with Baroness and he has brought a new perspective to Valkyrie as far as songwriting is concerned, some new ideas that playing with Baroness has given him.

The first time I heard about the band was the Man of Two Visions re-release on Meteor City, and aside from the quality music the Baroness connection was one of the things that piqued my interest- Do you think the association has been good for the band?

I think so, wherever Baroness goes, Pete can continue to be an ambassador for Valkyrie – and some people have definitely found out about Valkyrie from Baroness.

Likewise- is it tiring at all having that association?

Not really, real fans and genuine music critics “get it,” and can see the relationship between the bands. I have no problem being associated with them, their approach is totally unique, they are one of the most entertaining and talented live acts around. I’m proud of what they have done, because we grew up playing music together, so their success makes me happy. No worries.

Baroness & Valkyrie are very different bands, but do you ever hear anything in Pete’s playing on the Blue record or Yellow/Green that reminds you of Valkyrie? Have you actually heard the record?

Oh yeah, I am quite familiar with all their stuff. Yes, definitely, you can hear Pete’s playing on the records he was a part of. He has a distinct tone he achieves with the fretting hand that stands out from time to time. Listen to the solo on ‘Horse Called Golgotha’ and you will see what I mean.

Can you talk me through your experience of the crash Pete had while on tour with Baroness?

I was in Honduras, I think it was the day before school was set to start at the private school where I was teaching. I stopped by my apartment for lunch and I happened to look on Facebook, where I saw something about a bus crash. My heart sank and quickly called home for more info. Luckily by that point my brother had called my dad and let him know that he was ok. I was still really concerned for everyone else of course – it is miracle that they came out as well as they did considering the scope of the crash.

How the split with Earthling come about?

Earthling is from the same place ( Harrisonburg, Va) that Valkyrie has considered its “hometown” for a while. They are good friends of ours; a while back the main songwriter/vocalist for Earthling, Alan, joined us on bass. So we are closely connected. It was a logical thing to do, since they were our “brothers in metal” in Harrisonburg – plus they are amazing! We are pleased with the results, it sounds great, and the original 1000 that were pressed are pretty much gone and Tension Head is toying with the idea of a reissue.

What stage are you at with the new album? Can you provide any details? [Album title/track names/release date/anything?]

We know what tracks will be on the album, we are just demo-ing the material right now and tweaking it all out, refining it. Probably 8 tracks. No other info yet.

How are you going to release the new album? Self-release/ via a label | online/vinyl etc…

We haven’t decided yet, but we will probably keep it low-key as far as labels- we aren’t going to be touring constantly anytime soon so we don’t really need a big label to support us right now. Something smaller, where we can maintain a larger share of the proceeds would suit us better. Meteorcity Records still has our cds and records for sale; Tension Head Records has the recent Mountain Stomp 7”.

Valkyrie on Facebook

Dan Swinhoe

Cosmic Heavy Thing- Red Fang’s John Sherman

Posted on April 1, 2014 by News Team

The last few years have been huge for Portland rockers Red Fang. Easily one of the fastest rising riff rock bands on the music scene today, they made their impact felt immediately and fans were attracted in droves. Whales and Leeches is Red Fang’s latest opus and fans were eagerly awaiting its release. While they toured extensively behind 2011’s Murder the Mountains, they somehow found time to work on newer material and record their latest record.

Drummer John Sherman explained how they managed to work on new material while very few fans noticed they were away from the scene: “We toured the last record for so long. We toured for about two years on Murder the Mountains. Somewhere into the second year of touring, we’re like ‘we need to get a new record. We can’t tour on this record forever.’ So far we haven’t been able to write on the road because we’re not a big enough band where we have a bus and a back lounge so we can break out guitars and chill out. When we tour the States, we’re in a little fucking van driving ourselves. Most of the time is spent either on the road or in a club. So we decided if we’re ever gonna write another record, we should stop touring and just hunker down. So we stopped accepting tours and for three months, just stayed home, go to the rehearsal studio almost every single day, and pound out all the old and new ideas and make a record out of it. It’s the only time I thought being in a band was a hard job. It took a while after we finished the record for me to be able to listen to it, and not be super close to it. I am close to it, but can’t judge it. I’m pretty happy with what we came up with.”

Despite the success of Murder the Mountains, Sherman felt the band neglected pressuring themselves into writing a record that topped their predecessor. Instead, they took the natural approach and just let it happen naturally.

“We’re pretty evident as to lofty expectations because we don’t want to be super disappointed. We just have a good time doing what we’re doing. Right now we’re at a point where we never thought we’d be at or anywhere close to. Whatever happens to this record we’re gonna still be writing music. If people dig it and they buy it, awesome. But if they don’t, of course I’ll be like ah man…well…what’s wrong with it? I don’t have any expectations. I don’t want to expect everything is awesome and then everything sucks. I just assume everything’s gonna suck and then be stoked if everything’s awesome!”

While the album title comes from a previously unreleased song, Red Fang found that this formula worked in their favor. While this method may not be the most exciting way for a band to title their records, the band found it to work well for the time being:

“There’s not much of a tie really between the title and the record. Titles of songs are hard to come up with, and titles of records almost as hard to come up with, for us as band names.”

“I don’t know if you ever started a band before. When you try to come up with a name for your band that’s the hardest part – that’s how it is for us with album titles. We had a list of titles that we all liked. ‘Whales and Leeches’ was a title of a song off our first record (2009’s Red Fang) and the last record we did (Murder The Mountains), that was the title of a song that we have had since before our first record but never recorded. So we’re like fuck it. If we’re going to be that stupid and name our last record Murder the Mountains after a song that wasn’t even on the record, let’s name the album Whales and Leeches after a song on the first record, especially because we like the name. It’s a heavy sounding name I think. Then someone asks ‘what does this name mean?’ and hopefully nobody listens to my last answer! They can make up their own minds…some kind of weird, crazy cosmic heavy thing. Maybe I should have made up a better answer for that. “

They found a wide array of fans from all of the different audiences they played in front of. From touring with Helmet and Crowbar to The Dillinger Escape Plan to taking part on the Rockstar Mayhem Festival Tour, they found new fans everywhere they hit, and did it without sticking to the typical rock audiences they were used to:

“That’s a good question and a tough question to answer, especially when we did Mayhem Festival, we all looked at each other and went ‘what the fuck man! We’re so out of place.’ We’re also in the biggest crowds we’ve ever played in front of, so why not,” Sherman said.

“We’re gonna try to win them over even if they’re used to listening to screamo bands or whatever, but see what kind of reaction we could get out of our shit. We had a blast. Sometimes it’s tough and scary playing in front of an audience who you think is going to hate you. It’s also a challenge. We think we can win them over, and often we do. I’d like to think that our band is versatile enough. I have a hard time classifying ourselves so we can play with bands like Mastodon and we could also play with bands like Clutch. It doesn’t have to be super heavy but it can be. It’s whoever we’re playing with.”

Much like the audiences they play with, Red Fang’s songwriting process isn’t as disciplined as one may think. Being part jam session and part structured, they found it to work well for them and creating some rather heavy rocking tunes.

“It’s a total meshing of both. Some songs we labor over for months. Some of the riffs that ended up on the last record we’ve been working on for years. Some of the riffs that ended up on this record we were working on for years. Then other songs are just those spontaneous moments of just everyone hanging out at the practice space being happy and playing something and someone goes ‘what was that? Do that again.’ Within ten minutes you have a whole song. There’s the super over thought out ones and the spontaneous ones. We tend to do both.”

While Red Fang is known to rock hard, they still managed to keep fans humored with their animated videos. Comedian Fred Armisen (of Saturday Night Live and Live Night With Seth Meyers fame) made a cameo in their ‘Blood Like Cream’ video. But somehow fans find ways of discovering Red Fang and the videos did play a part in that.

“I don’t know. I certainly think our videos helped spread the word a lot. It’s the normal heavy metal videos. Not that we compare ourselves to a heavy metal band. We’re a heavy rock band. The videos are funny and even if you’re not super into the music at first, you like the videos and then “oh the music’s pretty good too” hopefully. Also I think the videos helped us come across as normal, approachable guys. I think people like that.”

Red Fang has ventured across the globe and has seen many audiences, they do have their favorites. “Moscow in St. Petersburg, Russia were some of the best crowds. Athens, Greece is a fantastic crowd every time. We just played Iceland for the first time. That was completely insane. That was up there with the Moscow crowd. There are good crowds everywhere. There are good crowds in Cheyenne, Wyoming. We’ve always had good crowds in Chicago. It really doesn’t matter the size of the crowd. It matters if the crowd’s into it. It’s way easier to be into it if the crowd’s into it.”

Red Fang on Facebook

Rei Nishimoto

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