Tag: metal

514. Cathedral

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(August 2023) Episode 514 is CATHEDRAL, a heavy metal band from England who made their mark with a debut album (Forest of Equilibrium, 1991) of classic doom metal with low, slow plodding riffs amid dark themes.  They modulated their style to more normal metal and prog metal, with a return to the delicious doom sound on their sixth album (Endtyme, 2001).

Favourite album: Endtyme

Favourite song: Melancholy Emperor

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Try the 1st, 2nd or 6th albums for doomy goodness, but pass on the rest.

504. Kadavar

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Episode 504 is KADAVAR. On first listen, you would think this is some overlooked 1970s heavy metal outfit. Nope; they’re a contemporary trio out of Germany who has been touring and recording over the last decade. They do an expert job of recreating not just the sound of 70s thunder rock but the look too (check out the album cover below). On the two most recent albums (one a collaboration) they venture into prog metal, with some of the best Pink Floyd mimicry I’ve heard (and it’s good).

Favorite album: Abra Kadavar

Favorite song: Come Back Life

Most interesting album: The Isolation Tapes

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Yes. I enjoyed discovering them and look forward to their next output.

498. Sir Lord Baltimore

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(May 2023) Episode 498 is SIR LORD BALTIMORE. They were making heavy metal music and didn’t even know it, as the genre hadn’t been defined yet. A power trio out of New York City recorded two excellent albums of heavy, bluesy, fuzzy, frenetic rock, sort of a blend of Cream and MC5, released in the same years Black Sabbath was getting going (1970-71). Then they fell apart, and reunited decades later for a revival album which was not good.

Favourite album: Kingdom Come

Favourite song: Kingdom Come

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: their albums are in deep dive territory, but have aged like fine wine

497. Fu Manchu

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(Mat 2023) Episode 497 is FU MANCHU, a stoner metal band out of Southern California with a sound that perfectly evokes the skateboard, dune buggy and El Camino on their album covers. The tempo and the vocal style convey a rock-n-roll attitude, with the heavy fuzz of the guitars giving it the stoner label. The later albums come closer to straight hard rock, but still pretty good.

Favourite album: Daredevil

Favourite song: Eatin’ Dust

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: quintessential dude music

491. Katatonia

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(May 2023) Episode 491 is KATATONIA. A band from Sweden named Katatonia should give reasonable assurance of quality death metal.  Alas, not at all.  The first couple albums are decent doom metal. But then the singer had to give up the growl and they adopted a more accessible but rather mundane rock sound, with album after album of mushy prog metal that doesn’t deserve the label “metal.” So boring.

Favorite album: Dance of December Souls

Favorite song: Without God (Jhva Elohim Meth version)

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Avoid. There are plenty of other alternatives out there.

488. High on Fire

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(April 2023) Episode 488 is HIGH ON FIRE. After the demise of Sleep (Episode 454), Matt Pike continued the low and thick sonic assault with High on Fire, at least initially, but with a more aggressive bass and drum. Over time their sound morphed into a more conventional thrashy metal sound.  It’s not bad, but I still prefer the purer stoner metal sound of their earlier albums.

Favorite album: The Art of Self Defense

Favorite song: Blessed Black Wings

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the stoner metal goodness of their first three albums (The Art of Self Defense, Surrounded by Thieves, Blessed Black Wings)

470. Ultha

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(January 2023) Episode 470 is ULTHA, a black metal group from Germany. If Hell had a house band, it might sound like Ultha. It’s a double-pedal propelled wall of dark sound. There are vocals in there somewhere but they are mixed so far down they resemble distant screams of a person being tortured in a dungeon. Admittedly this music has niche appeal, and it’s not my favorite subgenre of metal. But I do find myself drawn to audacity of music at the extremes (fast, slow, loud, minimal, chaotic, experimental). 

Favorite album: All That Has Never Been True

Favorite song: The Seventh Sorrow

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: not for a general audience but the curious should check it out

467. KYUSS

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(January 2023) Episode 467 is KYUSS. If grunge and doom metal had a baby, it would sound like Kyuss.  Drop tuned goodness.  But adding the groove and funk metal elements, Kyuss defies categorization. The best aspect is the absolutely delicious tone they get through the amps.  It’s as if hot lava were edible like fudge. Yum. This is fantastic stuff, and you are required to listen at maximum volume.

Favorite album: Welcome to Sky Valley

Favorite song: Asteroid

Favorite song with vocals: One Inch Man

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: I cannot recommend this highly enough

460. Buffalo

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(December 2022) Episode 460 is BUFFALO, a heavy rock outfit from Australia from the mid-1970s. The emphasis here is on the heavy – primal, sludgy, ponderous grooves – with a special mention to Dave Tice’s vocals which sound uncannily like Chris Cornell two decades later.  Good stuff.

Favourite album: Volcanic Rock

Favourite song: Freedom

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: the first three albums are rather good

457. Pentagram

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(December 2022) Episode 457 is PENTAGRAM, the last of the “big four” doom metal bands in my review (Trouble, Ep. 420; Candlemass, Ep. 435; Saint Vitus, Ep. 449).  Of these, Pentagram best mimics the Black Sabbath sound, on their two excellent 80s albums. But frequent lineup changes make for an uneven effort and their later albums stink. They got an earlier starter than the others, and my favorite tracks are singles issued in the early 1970s.

Favorite album: Day of Reckoning

Favorite song: Forever My Queen

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Go for the early stuff via the compilation album “1972-1979”