MARA ~ Self titled album from Swedish trad doomsters.

In 2012 Mara debuted their first EP on Bandcamp. three songs of traditional metal and doom, a little more Grand Magus than Graveyard but with a groove that would appeal to fans of both ,it promised good things for the future. Two years later and Mara have at last delivered on that promise with their self titled full album "MARA"

"MARA" is made up of seven songs three of which "Greed","Extinction" and "Possessed" appeared on 2012's EP. Remixed ,reworked the three songs take on a whole new life here being sharper, crisper yet losing none of the sleazy dirtiness of the originals. "Greed" especially benefits, it's heaviness ramped up to eleven going straight for the throat by losing the slow psych build up of the original and just going straight into the riff.
The four new songs stand up well if not surpassing the older tunes, "Maran" opens the album with a deliciously heavy Sleep type riff that shifts into a NWOBHM groove, swaying  back and forth between the two through to the final chord. "Thunderdrive" unleashes Mara's Sabbath side, not by the use of Iommi type riffage but by the use of  Ozzy -like melody in the vocals. "Apocalypse" is a monstrous track that opens with a thunderous drum intro segueing into a  series of delicious swinging (The)Sword type riffs, heavy and head noddingly infectious and enhanced with  slightly more aggressive vocals. "Turn The Tables" is for me the highlight of "MARA" its uber heavy riff circling over and around massive rhythms laid down by the excellent engine room of drum and bass. Vocals are melodic and once again swing with an Ozzy-like meter, counterbalancing the heaviness of the guitars with a dark delicious sweetness. In and out of this maelstrom of noise the lead guitarist lays down some stupendously majestic solos and licks, borrowing from Iommi but also stamping his own style and tone to his fretwork.
Mara are not re-inventing the wheel with their new album but if after reading this you shoot over to Bandcamp and hit the buy button you will, for whatever you decide to pay, be getting some of the finest trad. metal/doom released this year.

TALLBOY DROP ~ THE LONG TRAIL (EP)

In 2013 a young band from Brussels, Belgium released their first EP, a home made, self titled affair it consisted of four songs of loud stoner rock mixed with a little punky attitude, well written but suffering a little from its DIY production it  nonetheless showed a band full of ideas and band who knew how to pen a good tune. Two years later Tallboy Drop are back with a new EP!

The Long Trail sees Tallboy Drop move away from the punkish naivety of  their first EP shifting instead towards a more traditional stoner sound, a sound that is further enhanced by the addition of keyboards (supplied by band friend Felix) and the professional production afforded to it by the people at Belgium's Noise Factory Studios.
From the gentle opening drone of "So Loud, So Good" through the glorious desert grooves of "When You Cry" to the stoner monster that is "My Mother Is My Sister Too" Tallboy Drop  never miss a trick, filling the three tracks of The Long Trail with delicious fuzzy riffs, solid desert/stoner rhythms, furiously hot guitar solos and topping it all off with wonderful clean vocals. Riffs, rhythms and solos are not the whole story though, Tallboy Drop know how to structure a song, filling all three songs with hooks, melodies and shifting dynamics showing that not only can these guys play a good tune, they can write one too.
The Long Trail is a magnificent example of how, over a space of time, a band can improve and mature and the only criticism I could possibly level at this killer EP is that at only three songs it's too short!

REGULUS ~ New EP from UK hard rock/proto-metal rockers.

A little history lesson concerning the term proto-metal....
Proto-metal was/is a term coined to describe a sound that came about when bands ploughing a furrow in the fields of blues rock and psychedelia found that the use of  the newer, bigger, louder amps, made by companies like Marshall etc., produced a heavier sound with more bottom end, more distortion and more volume! The sound that these  bands created with this new technology  merged elements of late 60's psychedelic rock with elements of electrified blues creating a sound that was harder, edgier and louder than what had gone before and paved the way for a genre of music that would soon take over the world. That  genre,we now call heavy metal, had a mother and  today we  know her as proto-metal or to give her full name....prototype metal.
Today a few bands are rediscovering those early 70's fledgling bluesy metal grooves and sprinkling them with a few ideas of their own, one of these bands comes from the UK and goes by the name of... Regulus.

In 2014 Regulus released  their full album "Smoke", a stunning album full of furious blues flecked metal grooviness ,salted with gritty vocals and hard rock/stoner attitude. At the same time as making "Smoke" the band also managed to fit in time to write  some new material and it is those scribblings that now present themselves in the form of new EP "Regulus"

"Regulus" takes up perfectly where "Smoke" left off, except where "Smoke" was a little raw and untamed "Regulus" is a little smoother and focused, the rough edges have been rubbed down a little and the sound is more streamlined and direct. Production-wise the sound on this EP is crisper, cleaner and sharper, whereas the guitars where a little blunted in the mix on "Smoke" here they are razor sharp and bright, vocals also benefit,  being a liitle less upfront and nestled into the mix rather than over it. Do not fear though that Regulus (the band) have lost any of that feral intensity that may have drawn you to them in the first place, there is still that air of chaos and glorious looseness to their grooves that made "Smoke" and first two EP's "The End" and "Titan Moon" such a joy to listen to.
Songs like "Son of a Witch" and "Blunderbuss" throb with powerful proto-metal pulses over which bluesy guitar solos soar and vocals rasp and roar, all four members firing on all cylinders. It may be a contradiction in terms but to be able to play this loose and with this amount of delicious swagger a band have to be tight and Regulus are as tight as a Scotsman's fist throughout this glorious EP.
Looking forward to hearing a lot more from these guys.....

BLOOD DIAMOND ~ DEATH VALLEY BLUES..... Dutch Sludge!

A rule of thumb I use when browsing through record store racks or perusing the internet for new music is if something has good artwork or an interesting title .....check it out. If it has both ...buy it.
Ok this does not always work and over the years I've ended up with  a few turkeys but when it does work, as in the case of Blood Diamonds' Death Valley Blues, its a lovely feeling that leaves you with a big smug grin on your face.

Death Valley Blues contains seven blood pumping tunes of heavy sludge grooves flecked with elements of prog-like intensity and bluesy stoner swagger. Songs like "Killing Patrol", "Compulsion" and the excellent title track are jammed full of complex rhythms, intricate guitar solos and prog-like time signatures. Don't think though that Blood Diamond are all technique and no substance, these guys rock and they rock HARD! Guitars riff on overload, distorted and dirty, circulating around the solid throbbing rhythms like sharks around a wounded seal, darting in to deliver a killer lick or a scintillating solo always moving,never still. Vocals throughout  Death Valley Blues are delivered with clean raw passion and feral intensity but remain on the right side of brutal maintaining a clarity that allows you to actually hear the lyrics. Both musically and vocally this album ticks all the boxes.

Blood Diamond have in Death Valley Blues created an album that will not only please us
stoners and doomers that already inhabit the underground scene but might just appeal to some of those standing on the edges looking in.

ACID FIRE - Spanish psych doomsters release four song demo

Acid Fire are a band bound to divide opinion, there are those of you who will dig their quirky stoner doom/psych grooves but there will also be others who will not. So what is it about Acid Fire that could cause such a division of opinion... Well it's the vocals. Artem Badassian's voice, heavily accented and with a hint of, 60's psychedelic blues legend, Captain Beefheart's rabid  growl, it is you could argue, an acquired taste. Speaking for myself though, I find Badassian's tone and delivery a thing of strange, eerie beauty. Aided and abetted by David Sánchez - Guitars, Álex Miranda - Drums and Adrià Puig - Bass, Badassian (who also plays guitar) growls and croaks his way around and over the four songs that make up this EP like some deranged storyteller sharing tales of demons and desert queens, colouring said tales with his deliciously malevolent vocal styling.
Underneath Badassian's eerie mutterings the band blend an infectious mix of stoner/desert fuzz with doomy acid psychedelics. Part old school doom, part  70's proto metal Acid Fire deliver vast swathes of dark colour and moody textures sprinkled with searing guitar solos and heavy rhythmic pulses  that create a dark atmospheric backdrop for the vocalist to narrate and croon his stories over.
Whether you fall into the love or hate category there is no denying Acid Fire are a little bit different in their sonic approach and if you are reading this you have no doubt listened and formed your own opinion. I love 'em but you might not....but then I suppose that's what makes music such a personnel experience, and long may that last.

BTW..only three songs are streamed on the bands Bandcamp page but you get the fourth when you buy and download the EP.

Brazil's AGUAPESADA release new EP TROIKA

As an Englishman who knows no other language than my own, it often surprises me that I can get so much enjoyment out of listening to bands who sing in their own native tongue........then again its not always about the lyric sometimes its all about the GROOVE!

AguaPesada are a trio from Brazil consisting of Ricardo Faller (guitar and vocals), Fábio Domingues (bass) and Fernando Sioni (drums) and have just released their latest EP Troika.

Troika begins with "Um brine ao Iggy Pop (Tribute ao La Carne)" a heady mix of psychedelic atmospherics and heavy stoner/sludge grooves. As with the rest of the EP the vocals are in Portuguese and sees Faller switching from lo-key hushed tones to all out stoner howl, his guitar following suit with long sustained psychedelic notes making way for gritty stoner chords and riffs.  The rhythm section of Domingues and Sioni more than just compliment Faller's vocal and guitar work they drive it, the bassist weaving a tapestry of four string majesty in and around the songs dynamic while drummer both brutalises and caresses his skins with powerful  and skillful stickmanship. By the way the songs title translates to English as A Toast To Iggy Pop ( Tribute To Her Flesh).
Next up is "Enigma de Esquecimento" ( Enigma of Oblivion ) a track that shifts back and forth between spacey psychedelics and hard rocking grooves with Faller's guitar spewing forth mind blowing, effect laden solo's and riffs under which Domingues and Sioni lay a bedrock of stunning rhythmic thunder. Faller's vocal is the icing on the cake here, reverb soaked and moody in places, primal and feral in others, and although I cannot understand a word he is singing, his tone add a dimension to the music that would be sorely lacking if he wasn't there.
"412(Quatrocentos de Doze)" closes Troika with a bang, heavy as a truck full of lead its 4:12 mins are packed full of thunderous riffage and swirling psych guitar effects that both caresses and pulverise in equal measure. Short, sharp and to the point its a fitting end to a stunningly good EP.

OXEN ~ THE VANISHING......Massachusetts desert sludgers release new album!

Lead vocalists can be a pain in the butt, pulling all the chicks, getting all the press attention, massive ego's etc. So how does a band get round the thorny problems associated with lead singer syndrome, well in Oxen's case it's simple, you make every member a lead singer........sorted!

  

Oxen's approach of multi vocalism pays huge dividends on their new release The Vanishing, with throaty sludge intensity sitting side by side with clean melodic harmonies.
First track "Transmission" explodes out of the blocks like a 100metre sprinter, the twin guitars of Chris Daniele and Ben Reigle spitting out delicious stuttering riffs under which Eric Racicot (bass) and Hans Dalhaus (drums) lay a thunderous barrage of angular rhythms. Vocally the track swaps between  sludgey raw solo leads and gruff clean harmonies that compliment the songs heavy stoner groove perfectly.
Second and title track "The Vanishing" sees the vocals take on a more melodic and clean tone that sits cream-like over a deliciously catchy circular riff. This song has a lighter texture than many of the tunes on The Vanishing but works well within the context of the album.
The rest of the album ebbs and flows beautifully with huge distorted walls of sound counterbalanced against ever shifting vocal displays, highlights being the sublime "See Me Scream" and  "Colour Out Of Space" the former a slow burning track that could almost be called a ballad, if it was not for the bellowed sludge vocal, and one that sees Dalhaus shine as he adds intricate fills and shimmering cymbals to his already impressive drum chops. The latter is a wonderful blend of space rock and sludge metal peppered with incendiary guitar work from Daniele and Reigle, the two guitarists going toe to toe laying down unison riffs and trading scorching solos and fills.
If you like the both the early heavy sludge of Baroness' Red album but are also partial to the lighter touch of their Yellow & Green album then Oxen may be the band for you.