Desertfest London 2014.

My festival itinerary;

Friday: Spirit Caravan, Horisont, Ed Mundell's UEMG, Sixty Watt Shaman, Sasquatch, Borracho, Monkey 3, Wino (Acoustic)

Saturday: Kvelertak, The Body, Weedeater, 11Paranoias, Samasara Blues Experiment, The Witches Drum, Slabdragger

Sunday: Boris, Church Of Misery, Elder, Radio Moscow, Lonely Kamel, War Wolf

So unlike last year I actually had some money and so treated myself to the selection of goodies you see above! Friday was very awesome, apart from having the miss some of the earlier bands due to an obligation beyond my control. I did however manage to catch some of the Wino acoustic set and get some shit signed! You can see Wino has clearly got beef with Gary Isom as he's given him a Hitler stache and some funky eyebrows to go with it on the promo sheet thing. All harmless really.. I hope.

 My little selection of videos from Friday;

Sixty Watt Shaman
Spirit Caravan

Saturday started off strong, with Slabdragger in the early afternoon. At the end of their set we (me and the better half) popped over to check out The Witches Drum. I had scoped them out briefly prior, but I never expected the rather mental performance or the quality of the heavy boogie tunes. It also happened to be their last ever gig, which is a definite shame.

Weedeater was without doubt my Saturday highlight. They also played both my favourite songs, Monkey Junction and Wanted. It was really nice to know I'm not the only person who knows the lyrics to both those songs man!! And of course, Wino joining them on-stage to cover Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gimme Back My Bullets was pretty awesome.






Sunday was the dominant cause of my on-going whiplash. I mentioned last year you should never miss a chance to catch Elder live. True to my word I made sure I saw them twice, check out a little clip here and A NEW SONG they played! It was also the first time I'd had the chance to see Church Of Misery since their new album came out. Those guys are living legends, it was the 5th time I've seen them and they're always so good. It's even a little silly. That's all (for now) folks!

 

 

Deep.

First of all, cheers for bearing with the undeclared hiatus. Not that you could do anything about it anyway... but thank you all the same. I'm back for good, if more infrequently than before. Desertfest London begins tomorrow, so expect some photos/thoughts on that sooner rather than later. In other news Shadow Kingdom Records will be re-issuing Salvation's Answer by Revelation at the end of April, I've always considered it a classic and so should you!! Finally, I'd check out the new 12" spilt between "primitive Doom Metal" acts Atomic Cries and Horse Latitudes out now on Doomentia Records.

Today I present Deep. Three piece from Finland playing raw traditional doom that just drips authenticity from the riffs and melancholy leads. It does simple things very well and again.. another band with particular potential I feel. Best enjoyed in isolation.

PS. Shout out to Fabian and the engineering office of Derby Cycle!

Demon Head.

I'm not completely smitten with this release. It's a little dull in places.. and lacks a tiny bit of direction at moments. However, the self-titled song is particularly good - you fill up an album with 8 or 9 tracks of that quality and it will be on rotation for years to come. Demon Head are, sorta, doing an up-beat Witchcraft kind of thing. It definitely has more identity than saying that would suggest, but it does give you quite a good idea of the music.

Demon Head actually have a great chance of releasing something I'd genuinely consider to be an all time classic. The demo gives you get a real feel for the potential. But, similarly, with it being a demo not everything is completely there yet. I'm only being this harsh because I genuinely sense far greater things are to come from this Copenhagen bunch.

2014 - Demo

Sun Shepherd.

Unfortunately, life has gotten way of updates recently. But on the music front I’m waiting for shiny new albums from The Wizar’d and Demon Eye to come through my door. Similarly, I was able to enjoy some live action from Lowrider and Dozer just a few days back. So whilst I have neglected my AD duties I made sure I got my fix. I ain’t no fool.

Anyway, considering it’s been so long since a proper update, I’m quite spoiled for choice in what I’d like to share. In the end, I settled on going back down under for a slab of modern yet traditionally rooted Doom Metal. Originally released back in 2011 but now presented to us with a bonus track and new artwork is Sun Shepherd’s ‘Procession of Trampling Hoof’. I won’t say much more, but they’ve definitely done pretty well in their aim of trying to capture some tectonic-plate heaviness. Enjoy.

2014 - Procession of Trampling Hoof

Astral Doom is a year old today.

Thanks to each and all of you.

My intention with Astral Doom was never to be a resource of spectacular quality such as The Obelisk, Sludgelord or Paranoid Hitsophrenic (familiarize yourself). Rather, I wanted to resemble all the independent blogs that existed prior to the powers that be crushed them with DMCA violations and sought to undermine the prominence of the one-click download provider. I discovered some of my favourite bands by wandering upon suggestions and contributions from the community of heavy music fans that exist online. It remains a genuine sadness that many sites and forums I once participated in remain no longer. I’d like to think Astral Doom has been a part of someone else’s journey. I still remember being 14, ten long years ago now, walking home from school with Come My Fanatics destroying my earphones. The authenticity of expression, the organic weight inherent to the music, as well as the words which showered disdain on the existing societal structures of man – these all spoke to me. I only hope it speaks to you now.

Ignominy.

Souls at Zero by Neurosis remains one of my favourite albums of all time. I do hear similar ideas touched and investigated in Come Abuse, who borrow from the aforementioned classic. However, Ignominy have a much greater sense of abandon in their writing. Most of it follows a well trodden path, but the disharmonic nature of some of the riffs and melodies used lets it feel very fresh. The band are considerably closer to playing something akin to experimental hardcore then 'post-metal' as a result. In that sense, it does remind me of an aggressive, modern, re-rendering of the first Killing Joke album. Have a listen on the stream below or DOWNLOAD HERE.

If you're into something slightly more hypnotic and drone orientated, Dying Sun just put out their new album, Transcendence. Band member Dan also decided to share his lucky used book store find below. Yes, I am jealous!!

2014 - Come Abuse