Ayahausca/Yin/2016 Full Length Review

  Ayahausca  are  a  band  from  Toronto,  Ontario,  Canada  that  plays  a  progressive  mixture  of grunge  and  sludge metal  and  this  is  a  review of  their  2016  album  "Yin"  which  will  be  released  in  September.

  A  very  dark  yet  heavy  sound  starts  off  the  album  bringing  in  a  doom  metal  feeling  and  after  awhile  clean singing  vocals  are  added  onto  the  recording  and  they  also  bring  in  a 90's  grunge  feeling  and  the  music  also  speeds  up  at  times  and  also  brings in  more of  punk  feeling  while  the  solos  and  leads  are  very  melodic.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  some  of  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  and  while  the  music  has  a  lot  of  90's  influences  it  still  sounds  very  modern  and  some  tracks  also  bring  in  psychedelic  elements  and  as  the album  progresses  aggressive  screams  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the recording  and  one  song  also  brings  in  a  brief  use  of  spoken  word  samples  and  the  last  track  is  very  long  and  epic  in  length.

  Ayahausca  plays  a  musical  style  that  takes  prog,  grunge  and  sludge  metal  and  mixes  them together  to  create  something  very  original,  the production  sounds  very  professional for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Ayahausca  are  a  very  great  sounding  progressive  mixture  of  grunge  and  sludge  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "The  Dodged  Now"  "Dark  Matter  God"  "Left  Skull  Prison"  and  "White  Ship".  8  out  of  10.

Mountaineer/Coma Fever/Siren Song/battleground Records/2016 7 Inch Review

  Mountaineer  are  a band  from  Oakland,  California  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  shoegaze,  and  post  rock  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  7  inch  "Coma  Fever/Siren  Song"  which  was  released  by  Battleground  Records.

  A  very  dark,  heavy  and  melodic  sludge  metal  sound  starts off  the  7  inch  along  with  some  clean  singing  vocals  that  are  in  more  of  a  post  rock  direction  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  dream  pop  and  shoegaze  elements  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording.

  When  guitar  leads  are  utilized  they  are  done  in  a  very  melodic  fashion  and  acoustic  guitars  can  also  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  both  of  the  tracks  remain  true  to  a  very  slow  yet  melodic  musical  direction.

  Mountaineer  creates  a  musical  style  that  takes  sludge  and doom  metal  and  mixes  it  with  shoegaze,  dream  pop  and  post  rock  to  create  something  very original, the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Mountaineer  are  a  very  great sounding mixture of  sludge,  doom  metal,  shoegaze,  dream  pop  and post  rock  and  if  you  are  a fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED TRACK  "Siren  Song". 8  out  of 10.

Black Tar Prophet/Iron Gavel/Broken Limbs/2016 Split Album Review

  This  is  a  review  of  a  split  album  between  Tennessee's  Black  Tar  Prophet  and  Pennsylvania's  Iron  Gavel  which  will  be  released  in  September  by Broken  Limbs  and  we  will  start  off  the  review  with  Black  Tar  prophet  a band  that  plays an instrumental  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal.

  Their  side  of  the  split  starts  out with  amp  noises  and  spoken  word  samples  as  well  as  some  experimental  elements  which  leads  up  to  a  more  heavy  sludge  and  doom  metal  direction  and  you  can  also  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are present  on  their  side  of  the  recording  and all  of  their  tracks  remain  true  to  a  very slow  yet  heavy musical  direction  while  the  drums  do speed  upi  briefly,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  spoken  word  samples  focus  more on  negative  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Black  Tar  Prophet  are  a very  great sounding  instrumental  mixture  of  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of those  musical  genres, you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Malignant"  and  Sociopathic  Society".

  Next  up  is  Iron  Gavel  a  band  that plays  a  very  heavy form  of  noise  rock.

  There  side  of  the  split  starts  off  with  experimental  style  drum  beats  along  with  some  clean  guitars  a few  seconds  later  which  also  leads  up  to  a  heavier  musical  direction  which  is  more  rooted in the noise  rock direction  and  after  awhile  melodic  yet  distorted  guitar  leads can  be  heard at times  and  all  of  their  music  is  instrumental  and  sticks to  a very  slow  musical  direction  and  there is  also  a  brief use of power  electronics  and most of  their tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  the  production  sounds  very  professional.

  In  my  opinion  Iron  Gavel  are  a  very  great  sounding  instrumental  noise  rock  band  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  this  musical  genre, you  should  check  out  their  side  of  the  split.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "Teeth/Thorn".

  In  conclusion  I feel this  is  a  very  great  sounding  split  and i  would  recommend  it  to  all  fans of  noise  rock,  sludge  and  doom  metal.  

Lies/Plague [ + Abuse EP]/Southern Lord Records/2016 CD Review

  Lies  are  a  band  from  San  Francisco,  California  that  plays  a mixture  of  crust,  d  beat  and  hardcore  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2016  album  "Plague"  which  will  be  released  on August  26th  by  SouthernLord  Records  and  also  has  their  2014  ep  "Abuse"  as  bonus  tracks.

  Drum  beats  and  an  aggressive  bass  guitar  sound  starts  off  the  album 7 and  after  a  few  seconds  angry  hardcore  style  vocals  along  with  d  beats  are  added  into  the  music  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  and  the  music  also  brings  in  a  great  amount  of  crustcore  elements that  are  mostly  in the Swedish  tradition.

  When  guitar  solos  and  leads  are  utilized t hey  are d one  in  a  very  chaotic  yet  melodic  direction  and  the  songs  also  bring  in  a  great  mixture  of  slow, mid  paced  an  fast  parts  and  while  there  is  also  a  lot  of  old  school  influences  in  the  bands  musical  style  the  songs  still  have  a  modern  feeling  to  them  and  the  whole  album  also  remains  very  heavy  from  beginning  to  ending  of  the  recording.

  Lies  plays  a  very  aggressive  style that  mixes  crust,  d  beat  and  hardcore  punk  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  angry  and  political  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Lies  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  crust,  d  beat  and  hardcore  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Lifeless"  "Force  Fed"  "Class  War"  and  "Overdose".  8  out  of  10.

Obscura Insania Interview

1. For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?



Obscura Insania is a Stoner Doom Metal band from Caracas, Venezuela, with a very defined concept that tends to create dark environments, using the Spanish language as a medium.





2. In May you had released your first album, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?



The sound of our debut álbum Sodoma is quite dense, with a somewhat sinister atmosphere from beginning to end. We achieve this by amping up our guitars and basses with lots of fuzz, powerful drumlines, and haunting vocal melodies.





3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?



Through the lyrics we touch on topics related to life and death, insurrection, revenge, oblivion, and fear. These themes reflect a fateful vision of humanity,  perhaps causing the listener to reflect on existentialism.





4. I know that the bands name means 'Dark insanity' in Spanish, how does this name fit in with the musical style that you play?



"Dark Insanity" would be the literal translation, but in Spanish, “Obscura Insania” is a way to express a concept using uncommon words. In fact, many people believe it comes from a phrase in Latin. However, the band name comes from the desire to communicate a more complex ideology about life and death. The word “Obscura” represents a somber and morbid global character that encompasses the message of our album Sodoma. “Insania”, is an allusive word to a disorder of reason, is a reference in this case to the erratic and self-destructive behavior that humanity has remained lifestyle for hundreds of years.





5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?



Our case is particular- we have been playing together for years in our previous band and we had a strong presence on stage, however we haven’t played live as Obscura Insania yet. We planned to have the album and video out first to commence with our marketing plan afterwards. The plan was to open social networks 15 days before the premiere of the promotional video, putting the album on iTunes and Spotify, and pre-producing our shows. We expect to come with great force along with a captivating audiovisual performance.





6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?



Indeed, we are planning our first show by mid-September in our native Venezuela, along with a multiple-city tour. Soon after we want to do a Latin America and Europe tour, as a start to a world tour.



7. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner and doom metal?



Very good, so far we’ve received many positive reactions! And even as we sing in Spanish, it hasn’t been an alienating factor for many non-Spanish speakers who can enjoy and relate to our music. We  believe that the Stoner Doom community around the world is very faithful to the genre, and when there is a lot of fuzz and power to music, the feeling transmitted breaks language barriers and is accesible to all.



8. Are any of the band members also involved with any other bands or musical projects?



Currently, we are all fully dedicated to this project. In the past, however, we have all been involved in different bands playing various subgenres of metal.





9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?



For now we want to promote Sodoma by playing live and touring to many countries as we can. We will continue to generate interesting visual material to accompany our music. In addition to that, we will keep composing new songs, as we hope to return to the studio next year and continue our artistic development.





10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?



That's a pretty broad topic for us, we could spend all day talking about it. I feel that our tastes can be categorized in stages of life and decades, but generally we can relate to Classic Rock like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, Heavy Metal like Black Sabbath and Pentagram, and 90s Stoner Rock like Sleep, Kyuss, or 2000’s High on fire. Right now we’re pretty into Monolord and Pallbearer.



11. What are some of your non musical interests?



Well, I work in film production and photography, in addition to being audio engineer. The work really stimulates my musical interests. Luis is an excellent painter, and Renzo loves the world of motorcycles and carpentry.





12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?



Listen to Sodoma, its awesome. Check out our music video for Universo Adverso, and stay tuned to our posts on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, as well as all the new material that we will continue generating. We’re planning to tour Europe, and we’ll be seeing you guys in the UK soon. Doom On!


Cheers!


Ivan Torres Barroyetta.

Miss Lava Interview

1.Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording since the recording of the new album?

A lot went down. We played a few shows in Portugal to warm up for the album release and unleashed two videos ("In the arms of the freaks" and "The silent ghost of doom"). Lots of rehearsal also.

2.In May you have a new album coming out how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

I guess we explored more stuff this time. The whole creative process was different - everyone came in with ideas and the songs would only be finished with the four of us together in the rehearsal room. This led to more jamming, more psychy stuff and I believe our best effort to date. It's more stoner rock than our previous records, which were maybe more heavy rock.

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the newer music?

Johnny writes about lots of different stuff. "In a sonic fire we shall burn" is about the end of a relationship, "I'm the asteroid" is a trippy one set out in space and "In the arms of the freaks" talks about facing your own personal demons. Lots of different subjects...

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Miss Lava'?

We were basically drinking wine in Lisbon's Bairro Alto and someone started talking about which name we should have. We liked lava as it had something stoner to it and it had obviously warmth. But it missed something. Then Johnny remembered a show he attended were he saw a new band. He thought the singer presented themselves as Miss Revolution and went to meet the guys after at backstage, where they told him it was Piss Revolution. Hehehe so he remembered that and really liked the Miss in the name. So there you go. I think it kinda represents our sound because it has that groovy feminine approach to the harder melting lava heaviness.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

We played some great slots with Kyuss Lives!, Fu Manchu, Slash and Entombed  among others. But we really liked opening for QOTSA In Front of 40000 people. That's special. But it was not more special than playing to 5 people at 1am in the beginning of the band, in a day that we played 3 shows, and those 5 souls were so much with us that we had to repeat the set! We give it everything we have onstage, trying to have as much fun as possible.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans once the new album is released?

Yeah we're gonna do lots of dates from August until the end of November - festivals mainly. Right now only in Portugal. We should go out to Europe from February onwards. Let's see how it rolls out.

7.The new album is coming out on 'Small Stone Recordings' are you happy with the support they have given you so far?

There great and the dialogue has been getting better and better. Things are going pretty good!

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner rock?

The feedback has been growing a lot with the new record and it's very positive actually. We have had contacts and mercy others from lots of different places. It's great to feel that people in Australia or Israel listen to your stuff and react to it!

9.Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

Have no idea. As long as we're happy it its ok. I mean we're not gonna do a pop or a grind record, but we like to have the space to do whatever we want to.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

I think you hear a lot of Monster Magnet (dopes era) and COC (deliverance era) in this record. And that's ok, because we played those records over and over again when they came out. Right now, I've been listening to some black metal actually - really like the abbath album and discovered the Swedish Valkyrja. Going back to Sabbath and CCR also. But that's me, I'm sure the other guys have been listening to other stuff that has nothing to do with this.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?

Making babies!

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

Check out our record and share some words on our pages. If you have the chance, catch us live, you'll like it! Thanks!

Vlad In Tears Interview

1. Can you give us an update on what has been going on with the band since the recording of the new album?

1. Well, we've been working on our new video "Burn Inside" first of all, it was an amazing experience. Then, we've been arranging our headliner tour, that means dates, the set list, rehearsals and so on... Then again, we already started talking about our second single and video clip because as it is, we love to keep our fans always focused! And there's so much more to come...


2. You have a new album coming out in August, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording and also how does it differ from the stuff you have released in the past?

2. This album has a totally different sound in comparison to the others. We've been working a lot on it and we're not afraid to say that Unbroken is our best record so far. It is the best and perfect combination between what we've been so far and what we could have become... more alternative rock, somehow heavier but still melodic... and less Goth.


3. What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?

3. We talk about life in all meanings... Love, pain, death, fights, defeats and victories. And it's all coming from our own life experiences.


4. What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Vlad In Tears'?

4. I was the one who took inspiration from the classic Dracula... I've always been a great fan of romantic horror stories, so I wanted to have a band with a name which could bring us into a dark/horror/romantic world... In fact, in the very beginning I used to write using metaphors to describe my feelings. Let's say "Vamp's metaphors" to say what we say today without using any of them no more. But I still love the meaning behind a "man who damned himself cause he lost love of his life" ... "To love forever you have to live forever..".


5. What are some of the best shows that the band has played over the years and also how would you describe your stage performance?

5. We loved and we still love all our shows. They've always been different and unforgettable and I can say we rock the shit everytime we jump on stage. We love what we do and people need to see and feel it.


6. Do you have any touring or show plans for the new album?

6. Of course we do, we gonna start touring starting from the 9th of September and we gonna tour the whole month. Then we take a short break and after that we will tour again!


7. The new album is coming out on 'NoCut  Entertainment', can you tell us a little bit more about this label?

7. What can I say? We know who works there and we really liked each other from the first time we met, we can't be happier about working together!


8. On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of metal and rock?

8. We're really amazed too see everyday how many people from all around the world are following and want us to play in their countries. There's nothing more important than feeling welcome and loved by so many different kinds of "followers" starting from people who listen mostly to rock music, to people who listen pop/electro and so on!


9. Where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?

9. Well, I think we gonna be more into the alternative rock scene than the classic Gothic scene because of course we like it but we also want to challenge ourselves and experiment a bit more but without ever loosing our soul.


10. What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your newer music and also what are you listening to nowadays?

10. Almost all the music we listen to... This is how it works when you're experimenting all the time. Of course we know what we do and what we like the most but listening to music is the first step to keep "learning" and always try to do different things...


11. What are some of your non musical interests?

11. I (Kris) love horrors movies. The old classic ones for example, I love to watch them when I need to "disappear" or for example I use to take some "walks of inspiration" when I just go out, destination anywhere, and see what happens and I write down my thoughts as soon as I see something which gets my attention.


12. Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?

12. Yes I do. Thanks so much for always being interested to what we do,. I know it could sound "cheesy" but I mean it. We work so hard every day to communicate to people about all we have to say and it's always a super pleasure to feel listened and "interesting".

You all make this possible and... "We won't fall down..." Promise... until next time: STAY VLAD!