Buzzard Canyon - Hellfire & Whiskey (2016)

Rolling in like a mix of doom, blues and rock n' roll, we have the warm and fuzzy sound of Connecticut's Buzzard Canyon. The quintet seems to offer a slew of catchy choruses, but there's also a great deal of thickness insofar as the compositions are concerned. “Louder Than God” actually allows for quite a bit of atmosphere, showing that the band can achieve a bit more than the bits of blues rock that you're getting for the majority of the album. Vocals on the record are actually doled out between a strong female frontwoman and a admittedly tough to hear male backing vocalist. Sometimes he takes over the vocal duties himself, especially during one section of the disc where he attempts a little bit of Danzig. If you'll listen closely, you'll hear some harsh vocal elements in the back as well. This kind of adds a bit more bite to the disc, but again – it's tough to hear. The frontwoman sometimes utilizes the same harsh vocal elements, which you can of course hear a bit better in the mix. Often these two duet, but you'd never know it because the male vocalist's mic is so low in the mix for a reason that escapes me. Also, the band is a little lower in the mix than it should be. I'm hearing my bluesy doomy thumps, but the vocals are just too clearly heard over them, which kind of kills the atmosphere that they were going for. It sounds like they were recorded in another room apart from the music (which is sometimes the case) but Buzzard Canyon like any good doomy bluesy rocky act, is more of a live band. You want the kind of feeling where maybe the lyrics aren't so audible because the thick thunder of bass and drums work to drown them out sometimes. When you see these guys live, you're going to experience just that. They currently only have one live show planned right now for December 3rd in their hometown, but maybe next year they'll really be able to take this show on the road. 

Again, this is a relatively stout and overly groovy little album, but it's definitely going to stand out much better on the stage along with some Sabbath and Manilla Road covers, perhaps. Buzzard Canyon aren't bad at all and this is a pretty good debut from my observation. It obviously has some rough edges, but that will be ironed out when these guys come back to the studio for the next one. Hellfire & Whiskey definitely contains some pretty impressive moments as far as some of the leads and solos are concerned, but there's not enough of them to really stand out right now. Again, this is literally the Connecticut act's first major musical output and I'm sure that they'll only get better with time. I do like that some of the harsh vocal moments are quite out there in the open, really pumping in some unexpected moments of groove and animosity where I honestly would not have expected it. Definitely give them a listen, but it's definitely going to work better onstage.

(8 Tracks, 35:00)

6/10

Teorema - Teorema (2015)

Since nobody gave a shit about this Mexican duo, it's my turn to give it a proper review. First of all, Teorema is a raw, but audible death/sludge kind of like Acid Witch. Sometimes they even introduce more rock elements into their music, like with “Damned Country” which sounds like groove-rocker backed with furious grunts. Sometimes the grunts are in the background, but it's still the kind of disc I can behind. That's because I can tell that these musicians did the best with what they had. This self-titled is their debut and currently only release, which actually comes attached to a label (Lxs Grises). So I don't really know what happened or why when I type the band's name in, all I can find is some film by the same name. I will say that this oddly entertaining mix of death/sludge, rock and what can even become a sort of atmospheric soft-rock, is something worth checking out due to the sheer sporadity of it all. “Saint Place” might starts out rather burly, but it calms down to almost a meditation level. “Spiritual Madness” sounds like sheer death metal, but it also allows for psychedelics. Even “Times Of Sin” sounds a bit unique in composition, playing on some progressives. Seriously? You people aren't hearing this? I'm astonished. I know that the drums might sound a little far away at times, but these guys took a bit of a fuzzier and more organic route with their production. Again, I think they were just doing the best they could with what they had. Though in listening to this wildly textured release, I can't say that that is such a bad thing. I would have never expected such an airy cut as “Fuegos Fatuos” nor would I have expected such an intriguingly bleak closer in “Abysmos.” The guitars and drums were played in such a fashion to create the illusion of a vortex, adding in some unexpected drone to a disc that has played with death metal, groove, sludge, atmospheric soft rock and more. It makes me rather upset to see that there aren't any real English language reviews for this release, and it's definitely worth a listen for those of you looking for something a bit more from your sludge. I really hope that a lack of reviews and promotion doesn't serve as a detriment to these guys creating future albums, because there's something rather interesting in this one and I'd implore you to go seek it out.

(8 Tracks, 37:00)

8/10

Mountaineer - Coma Fever/Siren Song (2016)

If you choose to look up information using the terms “Mountaineer” and “Bandcamp” you will find a lot of bands oddly making a similar style of music. There's even another act in California (where these guys are from) called Mountaineer as well, and that artist has a few records. In any case, we are reviewing the dreamy sludge/rock of what I think is an absolutely killer band. They're probably getting a ton of reviews and promotion as it is, but one more for this short record couldn't hurt, right? According to some of the information I've grazed, the act contains ex members of Lycus and Secrets Of The Sky, which I've always thought warranting, so of course this is going to be good too. The band's frontman is of course awesome, with a voice like porcelain that gently glides along the wondrous harmony of shoe-gazey guitars. It's a very fluffy sort of album, a very airy sort of disc, the kind of thing that you just sort of zone out to and contemplate life. It doesn't even matter what the songs are about as far as the vocals are concerned, I've been paying more attention to just the delivery to really ascertain the lyrical matter. Maybe it might sound a little wimpier than some of the stuff we cover, but there's a softer side to the crazed madman that runs this page and these are just the kinds of records that the softer side prefers. I really can't wait to hear the act's full release as I feel that Mountaineer will make waves. They are a very “this generation” style of music, so older heads probably have already quite reading by now, but that is okay with me as I'm of course open to many different styles of music as it is. Suffice it to say, those looking for big burly men creating big burly music and singing about big burly topics should probably look elsewhere. This isn't “that kind” of Mountaineer. Leave your pick-axe at home. Oh, shit. That's Miner. Eh, I guess some mountaineers are miners as well. Check out the disc, it's only a dollar digitally on their Bandcamp and I doubt the full release will warrant much more than that. A fair price for a record that is worth far more than a mere dollar.

(2 Tracks, 10:00)

8/10

Fister/Teeth - Split (2016)

This split brings Missouri and California together in the name of doom, death and sludge metal. Sounds promising to me just in that regard. It's not a very long split (roughly about thirteen minutes) but these things usually aren't. 

The first act we have is Missouri based doom/death/stoner and sludge metallers, Fister. They come on strong with some extremely pungent nodes, proving the strength of Kenny Snarzyck's bass work as well as Marcus Newstead's (this guy used to play in The Lion's Daughter) extremely melodic, slightly depressive and all around powerful lead work. Opener “We All Die Tonight” actually features one hell of a solo stuffed right into the middle of it. When I say one hell of a solo, I literally mean one hell of a fucking solo, folks. That's the kind of thing that made me take notice. Only problem is that there's about a few seconds after that with what I think is just filler with no real point, unless it was lyrically called. Even so, (and this is nearly a damn first for me) it kind of kills the impact of Newstead's solo work, which should have ended the piece.

California's Teeth are a completely different animal. There's still the doom and death metal elements, but it feels like they wanted to beef these extremities with the magic of post metal. Justin Moore and Erol Ulug (Apparently that's his real name. Perhaps they have a literal cave troll in their band?) both makeup the guitar and vocal end, which seems to meld together to form this inhuman and rather gruff semblance. There's a little bit of crystalline psychosis to these pieces as well, making the approach sound sometimes pretty, but most often insane. To be dreadfully honest, the soundscape is rather creepy and unnerving for an act of this nature, which I find amazing as the hairs prick up on the back of my neck. Two songs and less than seven minutes is more than enough to tell me that there's something very freaky about the music that these guys play. They're the definite winner of the split for me, regardless of the fact that both bands do a great job. This is what I'd consider a great split, just kind of wish these things were a bit longer.

(3 Tracks, 13:00)

8/10

Duck Hunters - Extinction Road (2015)

I like France's Duck Hunters for some odd reason and I can't quite tell you why. There was just something rough and sludgy about this thumping fuzzy rock that had me jamming from “Killer Croc” all of the way to the unexpectedly lengthy, “Hands Of Doom.” But it also might be that these guys love their blues and I can definitely get down with thick blues rock/metal stuff. To say that it was “really groovy” wouldn't be doing it justice, especially when these guys have their share of doom moments here and there, especially on the aforementioned closer. There are also some nice melodies intertwined here, which make the music a little more entertaining than some might think at first glance. The vocal approach might not sound that great at first, but Manu clearly has a lot of power in his lines and I can hear that. These guys also love their instrumental soundscapes, where they pump in psychedelic jam sessions, which go perfect with the grooves already featured on the disc.

Surprisingly, these songs are pretty thick too. I'm not just talking about grooves and doom riffs either. We've got that already, I'm talking about in terms of meat and texture. There are a lot of sections on cuts like “Last Broadcast” and “The Bill” which goes almost into prog rock territory. Duck Hunters might sound like a bunch of really thick stoner/doom rockers and they probably are, but there's still no denying that all of this comes off entirely listenable. As you can hear from the disc, these guys really put a lot of hard work into it and that also gives the listener a lot of unexpected surprises. “Killer Croc” is a great, catchy little song – but it doesn't even help to explain the whole album or what these guys are truly capable of. That being said, there is an odd little ditty called “Exile” which makes me think of an Irishman leaving his homeland as he tips his hat and walks off towards... well, England I guess. Do Irishmen tip their hats?

In any case, if you're adventurous enough for stoner/doom rock experiments, then you're really going to love this one. Lyrically it might not be quite as lighthearted as you'd expect, especially on “The Bill” which can get about as gritty as some of my lyrics can be. Sometimes you just have to sing what people need to hear, and not what they want. In my opinion, there's too many songs out there telling people what they want to hear as it is. Extinction Road is pretty powerful stuff and I definitely recommend it. This is one of those records that caught me by surprise and maybe it'll do the same to you. Great stuff, don't let it get buried under the sea of other releases.

(8 Tracks, 39:00)

8/10