Saint Vitus will be unleashing their Live Vol. 2 album on September 23rd via Season of Mist, but thanks to Decibel Magazine, you can hear the devastatingly heavy offering right now. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Wino
Funeral Horse – Divinity For The Wicked
Back in the early 90s, doom and stoner were pretty much the uncoolest of genres to be associated with. Playing fast and brutal was the order of the game and those who still clung to the belief that Black Sabbath were the coolest cats to ever strut their stuff were roundly ignored in favour of blastbeats and death grunts.
Now of course the tables have turned and everywhere you care to look you’ll see groups of scruffy young urchins in flares and suspiciously new looking Witchfinder General shirts being hyped to oblivion by record labels eager to show just how hip their latest purveyors of fuzz really are. If they sing about Satan; even better!
Now, without wishing to sound completely cynical, many of these bands are talented, hardworking and deserve to do well. After all, Sabbath really is the greatest and there’s no disputing it. Unfortunately however, there are numerous bands riding the coattails of this retro-rock/doom/stoner trend and Houston, Texas’s Funeral Horse are one of the worst examples.
Debut full length Divinity for the Wicked (Artificial Head) has a stripped down, no-frills sound that reduces the songs to the bare bones of hard rock and stoner. Sadly, the songwriting is generic in the extreme with riffs being repeated over and over with little thought for progression. When the members eventually do decide to switch tempos or riffs, the transitions sound clunky and amateurish. Add in some inexcusable long pauses during and between songs, a production thinner than Kate Moss and terrible, out-of-tune vocals and you’re left with a record that isn’t fit to serve as Wino’s drinks coaster.
Hopefully the band will note their failings on this record and return to some of the Sub Pop influences they displayed on earlier EP’s, as there’s really no place in such an overcrowded genre for something this weak.
4.0/10
JAMES CONWAY
Audio: Saviours Featuring Wino Stream B.Ö.C. Cover- Hot Rails
California’s raging retro metallers Saviours are streaming a new song today. The band has covered Blue Oyster Cult classic ‘Hot Rails’ with the help of doom legend Scott ‘Wino’ Weinrich (Saint Vitus, Shrinebuilder) for Decibel Magazine’s Flexi Disc Series. You can stream the track from Soundcloud at this link or below:
Saviours’s drummer Scott Batiste commented on the track:
“When we did the Saint Vitus shows in 2009, we got to talking to Wino about our shared love for Blue Öyster Cult and one thing led to another… The recording was done almost five years ago! Shrinebuilder was coming through Oakland on tour so we set up the time at Sharkbite Studios with Billy [Anderson]. We did it in a day. He’s played it with us live a few times. The recording rules and his solo is totally insane.”
Steve Von Til – A Life Unto Itself
Just like Wino, or fellow bandmate Scott Kelly, when taking time off from his day job, Neurosis vocalist/guitarist Steve Von Til likes to stray from metal and dabble in acoustic albums. A Life Unto Itself is Til’s fourth under his own name, following on from 2008’s A Grave is a Grim Horse [both Neurot Recordings]
Much like his previous solo outings, it’s an acoustic album of dark Americana; sometimes folky, sometimes straying into more country territory, but always fuelled by a slow burning melancholy. Accompanying Til’s gravelly baritone are slide and steel guitars, fiddles, piano, plus occasional synths, and the variety of styles and sounds on offer ensure that while the mood rarely lifts it remains a compelling listen throughout.
Whether it’s the haunting seven minutes of the title track, the eerie ‘Night of the Moon’ or the introspective ‘Birch Bark Box’, every track boats layers of subtlety, texture and emotion. Til’s poetic introspection moulds the best of latter day Johnny Cash and Nick Cave and feels very personal, and suit the leaden pace yet sombre atmosphere that Til’s music creates.
While musically Til’s solo material is worlds away from his work with Neurosis, it retains that same crushing feeling of oppression. A Life Unto Itself is a hard, tiring listen and not one for those wanting an acoustic experience to relax to [Wino’s outings with Conny Ochs are far more uplifting in comparison], but it’s a rewarding listen for those willing to revel in the misery.
7.5/10
DAN SWINHOE
King Giant Posts Album Teaser
King Giant. Photo Credit: Bobby Ross
Northern Virginia Southern doom rockers King Giant is streaming an album teaser for their upcoming third album Black Ocean Waves, self released this Spring with digital distribution with The Path Less Traveled. They recorded the album at Magpie Cage Studios in Baltimore, MD and J. Robbins (Clutch, The Sword, Wino) engineered and mixed the album. Robbins also performed Hammond organ on the track, “Blood Of The Lamb,” and background vocals on “Trail Of Thorns.” Cover art was done by Misty Kilgore.
Black Ocean Waves Track Listing:
01: Mal De Mer
02: The One That God Forgot To Save
03: Requiem For A Drunkard
04: Red Skies
05: Trail Of Thorns
06: Blood Of The Lamb
07: The Gentleman Carny
08: There Were Bells
The band has booked a local record release show:
May 30: Empire – Springfield, VA (record release show w/ Sixty Watt Shaman, Foghound)
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