WITCH FYRE ~ FFOBR?

A while ago Bandcamp reviewer and Doomed and Stoned blog contributor Paul Rote coined the term FFOBR (female fronted occult blues rock), a term he came up with to describe a current trend (and long may it continue) among bands of the stoner/doom and occult genre to turn to the female voice for their vocal colouring. Witch Mountain, Royal Thunder and to some extent the legendary Acid King have all paved the way for those of the fairer sex to get up there, strut their stuff and show to those that think a woman's voice has no place in rock music that they are as good, and in some cases better, than their male counterparts. The latest addition to this, ever growing, list of ladies doing it for themselves is Samantha Cram, the explosive vocalist of Rhode Island's Whisky Fyre.
Less blues orientated than a lot of the FFOBR bands Whisky Fyre nonetheless deserve to be heard, as evidenced on their self-titled and self funded EP now available over at Bandcamp

Whiskey Fyre (the EP) is a marvellous amalgamation of heavy metal riffology, infectious occult rock grooves and gritty stoner fuzz  all topped off with Cram's impassioned and emotive vocals. The three guys behind that voice, Brian Rice, Tom Cat and Michael Colantonio, create, between them, a sonic maelstrom of heavy grooviness, shifting time signatures as if they were furniture and seamlessly moving from one glorious riff to another, never losing the intensity and laying down thick, syrupy grooves of metal perfection. Over this sonic riff fest Cram's voice wails, croons and growls and gives Whisky Fyre a fragile edginess  that may have been lost had the vocal been that of a testosterone fuelled male.
The female voice in metal/rock music is like Marmite ( a UK yeast product that uses the slogan "you either love it or hate it"), some will accept it, some will love it and others won't give it the time of day, but if you find yourself somewhere in the middle of those views then I urge you to give Whisky Fyre a try... you might be surprised.

Catch the SPACE EXPRESS with the Czech Republic's /\ / LAMBDA

Got to admit to some confusion here as on Bandcamp "Space Express"is credited to /\ but when you delve deeper and take a look at the bands line-up they collectively go under the name of Lambda. Things get further mixed up when you notice that they are refered to as /\ / Lambda on their Facebook page. So for the purposes of this review I will refer to them as Lambda

Comprising of Tomáš Zimmerman - guitar,  Václav Ruttkay - bass,   Filip Faschingbauer - guitar and Matěj Kräussl - drums, Lambda are from the Czech Republic and deal in a style of music that I suppose could be described as post-stoner, a sound that sits somewhere between the experimental krautrock of Colour Haze and the more guitar orientated psych of Earthless. Blending these two styles together the band have created their own unique sound, a sound which is displayed to  startling effect on this their debut EP "Space Express".

 The bedrock of Lambda's sound is the heavy (but not brutal) rhythms created by the backline of Ruttkay and Kräussl whose sometimes tight hard rock, sometimes loose funky rhythm work lays a solid foundation on which the two guitarists can riff and solo to their hearts content. Faschingbauer and Zimmerman compliment each other perfectly whether it's laying down some funky wah or ripping a dirty fuzzed up riff both guitarists understand their place in the music, duelling but never trying to outdo each other, painting sonic portraits from their six string palettes.
"Murder In The Zen Garden" is the only non-instrumental on "Space Express" and includes a superb vocal from Black Velvet Suicide's David Kaplin and includes the immortal line "Mother Nature... she created stoner rock"...... says it all really.

THREE EYES LEFT ~ New album "ASMODEUS"

Italian doom trio Three Eyes Left slipped into my life in 2011 via their EP "Non Method As Method, No Limits As Limit" a wonderful two tracker full of heavy doom soaked riffage, dark angular rhythms and clean throaty vocals. In 2013 the band released "La Danse Macabre" their first full album, crisper and more polished than the previous release "La Danse Macabre" showed a band that were improving  both in  songwriting and musical skill and a band with a bright future. We are now well into 2015 and Three Eyes Left have just released their latest opus "Asmodeus"

"Asmodeus" is, in my opinion, the bands best recording to date, an album that once again shows that this is not a band willing to just sit on its laurels but a band who are willing to push forward yet still remain true to its roots. From the filthy opening riff of "Beyond The Mountain" to the vocal that closes final track "Trident"everything about "Asmodeus" reeks of class. This is a refined doom, an almost alternative doom, a doom that nods its head to the past but has its feet firmly placed in the stonerized grooves of today.

 Maic Evil's vocals, right through the album, are delivered with a controlled clean fury, every syllable dripping with passionate power while his guitar solos scorch and his riffs burn, spewing from his fretboard with fuzzy furiosity. The rhythm combo of Andrew Molten (bass) and K Luther Stern (drums) are not just there to keep time, their powerhouse grooves swell the dark doomy sound filling in the gaps with deep booming four string and percussive thunder,pushing the bands sound to unbelievable heights. Together the three members have created an album that seeps into your inner-core filling your soul and raising the hairs on the back of your neck, sending shivers down your spin. "Asmodeus" is in short KILLER!
Going by the release dates of their EP's and albums it seems like Three Eyes Left like to do things in two year cycles so if that is the case I can't wait for 2017.

PANTANUM ~ Brazilian doomster trio release "Volume 1"

Big things are happening in South America regarding the "underground" music scene, bands plying their trades in the fields of psych, stoner and doom seem to be popping up every other week. Lately I have been listening to bands from Peru, Chile and as far down as Argentina, all quite different and all of varying levels of musical skill and production quality  but all with a passion and love for the music they are creating. Today, thanks to an e-mail from a member of the band, I am now grooving to Brazilian doomsters Pantanum and their recent release "Volume 1"

"Volume 1" is an astonishing recording that mixes heavy doom riffage with touches of psychedelic metal colouring but what sets these tunes apart is the weird and wonderful warblings from vocalist and bassist Francisco Gusso. Anyone who is familiar with, Spanish doomers, Misty Grey's vocalist Bea and her anguished witchy wails will immediately find a comparison in Gusso's demonic warlock sucking on helium vocal tone. He sneers, snarls and chants his way through the six songs on offer here, bringing an air of malevolent evil to the already dark doomy grooves. Pantanum are not a one man band though and on tunes like "Electric High" and "Sonar" the band show that as well as being able to lay down the doom they can also stretch out and experiment. All the way through "Volume 1"  Stresser's guitar soars and swoops, ripping scintillating solos and tasteful licks from his fretboard as well as laying down some fuzzilicious riffage.  Apart from vocal duties Gusso also holds down the bottom end with majestic bass runs and thundering deep lines, locking in tight with Silvario's drums, the drummer power-housing around his kit on the heavy stuff and laying out with delicate percussive touches on the softer psychedelic passages. Together these three guys make a noise that although having its roots in the doom genre still manages to sit just a little outside of the box.... and it's a noise you should hear.

For those of you out there who have a love of good dark riff laden psych and like their vocals a bit off the wall and different then check out Pantanum's, weirdly wonderful Brazilian doom.

SIMON MAGUS ~ Release their debut album "The First Year Of Catastrophe" on Black Swamp Collective

 Hold on to your hats 'cos your about to be blown away!!!!!

Simon Magus hail from Toledo,OH and consists of five dudes,Wes Allen - Vocals, Micah Shimborske - Guitar, Schmid - Guitar, Nick Shallcross - Guitar & Bass and Mark Reynolds - Drums, from various bands and backgrounds with a united love of Trouble, Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath. A while ago the band took these influences into the studio, sprinkled them with a little 90's grunge and created what is in my opinion the best trad doom album released this year,,,,so far.

Exploding from your speakers like a grenade "She Wept" opens the album, its stuttering twin guitar riff and thunderous bass and drums assaulting the senses, leaving you reeling, then  just when you think things can't get any better than this in comes Wes Allen with a vocal performance that will send shivers down your spine. Allen's voice, a unique blend of bluesy holler and throaty stoner grit, roars out the lyrics like a man possessed while beneath him the rest of the band drive the song with a force and power that defies belief.
The pattern continues throughout the rest of the album, powerful intense musicianship and vocal pyrotechnics combined with strong thoughtful song writing. Lyrics such as "calling out to a god who doesn’t answer by name, you incur the wrath of man with only yourself to blame" (A Dying King) and " and i took no comfort in the kindness of my friends,  these walls i raised were all my own,  i’ve been disfigured by disgrace unerased"(Eulogy For The Elephant Man) show that Simon Magus are a band who require you to think as well as listen.

Simon Magus have remained coy on whether this project is a one -off deal or an ongoing concern, hinting ,via their Facebook page, that there may be more to come but not committing themselves either way. Whatever the band decide to do in the future is really their concern but it would be a shame if this was the last we heard from these guys as music this good NEEDS to be heard

BEASTMAKER ~ Channeling the spirit of Sabbath with their self titled EP

Take a trawl through the the Facebook pages of  any of your favourite stoner, doom and psych bands and it is likely that in their about section you will find among their influences the name Black Sabbath.
Forty years after getting together in Birmingham ,UK, Black Sabbath still influence and inspire so many of those bands we listen to today. The Sword, Orchid, and Freedom Hawk are just three bands who owe a large debt to Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill and let's not forget all those Swedish bands like Graveyard, Witchcraft and Horisont who have taken Sabbath's dark rock noodlings and added elements of bluesy swagger and psychedelic colouring to the mix. California's Beastmaker are another name you can add to those list of bands influenced by those four sons of Birmingham and that fact  can be evidenced by their new, self-tiled, EP.

After the initial reaction to rifftastic noise that hits you on this EP the next thing that grabs your attention is the "Englishness" of the vocals, which sound not unlike early Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett, a tone which is slightly monotone yet melodic and forms a perfect counterbalance to the heavy traditional doom riffage that sit beneath.

First track "Eyes Are Watching" is a masterclass of doomy atmospherics and metal riffology incorporating shifting time signatures, classy pentatonic solos and combined with those vocals, mentioned earlier, tells you more about this bands sound aurally than I could explain here in words
Second track "Heathens" steps a little outside of the Sabbath blueprint, but not too far, employing a chugging  mid-paced nwobhm type riff over which the glorious verses and chorus are incanted. The track is further enhanced by a wonderful Iommi-esque guitar solo, short and to the point and saying just enough without going into the realms of over-indulgent showmanship.
"Astral Corpse" the third and final track is pure "Master of Reality" era Sabbath worship with a riff that just screams Iommi and the only way the band could possibly improve on this track is by adding an Ozzy type "Oh Yeah" at the end of each verse.

So in summing up what we have here is three songs of Sabbath- esque doom shot through with moments of psychedelic colour and texture. Ok its not an exactly original concept but its done  exceptionally well and has groove a mile wide. So if you are, like me, a Sabbath fan with a penchant for early Floyd type vocals then you just gotta check out Beastmaker!

THE CRIMSON TRIP ~ Mexican psychanauts request you join them in THE ORDER OF THE OCCULT

Mexico is a country I really know very little of, having lived in the UK all my life and only having travelled around the holiday destinations of southern Europe the only knowledge I have of the country is what I have read in books/online, or what I have been fed via the medium of film and television, and as for the Mexican music scene I probably knew even less! Well that was until I signed up to Bandcamp and discovered that Mexico, as well as other Central and South American counties, has a very healthy and vibrant "underground" scene. The Crimson Trip are part of this scene and have just released their second album "The Order Of The Occult".

"Order Of The Occult" follows on from the bands excellent self titled 2014 debut with the same mix of dark doom riffage and heavy psych experimentation that made that release such a joy, this time around though they have added a bit of spit and polish, sanded off some raw edges  and added a touch of light and shade to their gritty grooves.

Title track "Order Of The Occult" starts things off in grand style, bursting out of the speakers with an Iommi-esque circular lick from guitarist Iron Jared before exploding into a pummelling riff augmented by the tight rhythmic work of Alberto L Martinez (bass) and Luis Mtz (drums) and all topped off with the truly astounding vocals of frontman Tony Orta. If  by now your not already hooked, then by the time you get to the songs middle section with it's drone/psych breakdown and Orta's plea to "Do it for Satan" you will be.
The rest of the album follows in a similar vein of heavily psyched doom and stoner attitude with songs full of occult themes and dark satanic dealings that are expertly executed and delivered and although I don't want to single one person out for individual praise (everyone is on top form) I do have to give a big shout to the incredible vocals of Tony Orta.
Tony Orta's vocals are, it has to be said, slightly accented and a little bit undisciplined at times but this in no way detracts from their effect, in fact it is these vocals that give The Crimson Trip their own unique sound. Orta soars, moans, rasps and roars over and around these dark grooves with glorious abandon, not shackled by any conventional style or form his voice gives the music an edge that may have been lost with a more conventional frontman, an edge that takes The Crimson Trip from being also-rans to contenders.