There’s always one album in the beginning of the year which I wasn’t expecting and which ends up blowing me completely away. It’s so consistent that I’ve come to expect it by now and, lo and behold, 2020’s iteration has arrived with full fanfare. The Osedax might be a name…
A couple years back, bay area doom trio Brume caught some ears with their fantastic debut LP, Rooster. The Billy Anderson-produced effort put them on doomsters’ radars with an enjoyably dark, psychedelia-tinged brand of slow and low. Since then, few records have seemed to zero in on the unique concoction…
Writing about a band as foundational to their genre and as monolithic in the landscape of post-Y2K metal as the Japanese amplifier cult known as Boris is tough. Trying to wear the hats of both fan and critic for these sorts of bands is always difficult; the same album elicits…
Where to start with a traditionally British doom band that have plunged headfirst into a dystopian sci-fi future fitting of the artwork they adorn their debut with? Wallowing’s debut full-length Planet Loss (the band’s first real recording of any merit) jams high-brow concepts of self and humanity’s folly into doom…
Twenty years is a long time. A decades-spanning career is a dream most bands fail to actualize, so celebrations are certainly in order for Italian psychedelic doom masterminds Ufomammut. You simply can’t last that long without breaking some new ground, blowing some minds, evolving as to not bore your following,…
What I like best about getting my paws on a debut record is experiencing the twofoldness of the statement that is made on this introduction. The record simultaneously says “this is definitively us” and “this is just the beginning.” (Well, hopefully it’s not the end so soon, right?) Portland quartet…
We’d be missing a trick by not mentioning the two bands whose members have birthed Rowsdower, the vibrant sludge band who’s brand new LP we’re premiering today. Two of the angriest, heaviest bands to ever come from the sunny West Coast, Admiral Angry and Black Sheep Wall are famous for…
I normally like to include at least three bands in every edition of Rotten To The Core/Grind My Gears, but this week’s inclusions are so damn important in this year of releases that I felt they deserved more words and more of my time. So you’re only getting two. Deal…
Bringing “the heavy” in new and interesting ways is tough, but Texas duo Pinkish Black have a way of making it sound easy. Frighteningly dark and drenched in desperation, they evoke everything from the more obvious horror-tinged vibes to ephemeral, unsettling tension. They’re never really heavy in the sense of…
Despite the seemingly straightforward nature of drone, the style is a great deal more varied in practice. For drone metal in particular, the idea of drawing out doom to an even more low, slow and meditative state relies on each individual band’s interpretation of the genre they’re extrapolating from. As…
