Album Review- Druganaut -'Druganaut'

Location: Newcastle, UK

From the thunderous sludge of low-end pioneers Iron Monkey to the cosmic freak outs of Welsh legends Acrimony, the Brits have always somewhat of an edge on their European and American peers in terms of producing proper gritty, gnarly stoner/doom bands.You wouldn't expect much less from the isle that birthed Sabbath  ,but even then, the UK underground scene is an embarrassment of riches at times.From the bleak complexity  of HARK, to the off the wall rumblings of bands like Valfader and Wolfshead, it seems there's definitely  been something quite strong and possibly illegal  being funneled into the water/Carling over the last couple of years.Now another bunch of down tuned miscreants have arrived to pound your eardrums, drink all your good beer and probably fuck your girlfriend as soon as you've fallen asleep.Ladies and gentlemen, introducing Geordie monsters Druganaut, and their monolithic debut self  titled album.

From the opening chords of 'Smoke The Dead', its very clear we're not fucking around here:Druganaut are the real deal.No cute attempts at 'the vintage sound'.No silly fantasy lyrics(apart from the pervy, sexual kind, but more on that later) and absolutely no attempt to placate the Metal Hammer set with watered down pop choruses.This is heavy as balls, hard hitting stoner metal in the vein of Crowbar or early Down, a wicked riposte to a decade of Toni And Guy groomed posers with Washburn guitars and Top Shop Metallica Ts. Druganaut's ace in the hole is front man Craig Relf, a man who sounds like he gargles broken glass and whiskey first thing in the morning as a warm up.If Relf were to recite One Direction lyrics as poetry, it would still sound scary as fuck, and its his throaty contributions that stand out ,investing every note with soulful invective and earthy conviction.Lyrically, Relf imbues songs with a vein of black humour and sinister storytelling nous,coming across as both darkly colloquial and menacing as hell.

That's not to marginalize the rest of the band of course, and credit goes to guitarists Kyle Partridge and Adam Sheriff for some of the grooviest, catchiest riffs we've heard from a band of this ilk in quite some time.Witness the elephantine boogie of 'Carradine's Closet', a poor-taste but high gain  tribute to the late B-Movie legend, or the sinister intro to 'Sober Again' , and be reminded just why you fell in love with this kind of music in the first place.Granted, not every track is a classic('Sex Face' is just a little overcooked and doesn't really fit with the rest of the tracks in my honest opinion) but for the most part  'Druganaut'  is a great collection of songs, a steroidal rhythm section and strong production holding the whole thing together.

If,like me,you find latter day Down and COC utterly disappointing, and miss bands like Raging Speedhorn in your life, you could do far worse than giving 'Druganaut' a listen.Weighty, weedy grooves and planet sized riffing,it's time to shake your bones . . .

Rating:8/10

For fans of: Crowbar, Down, Raging Speedhorn, Two Tales Of Woe

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/druganautband

Band Profile: https://www.facebook.com/druganautband/app_2405167945

Album Review, Otis Reaper – Self-titled, 2011

Otis Reaper. A new one for the B.A.N palette to enjoy, these guys (and girl) are bringing the shit to fuel the fan out in Tennessee. There is a seriously rich mix of all heavy things going on here so if you're in a mood for something tasty and brutal check this bastard out!

Something akin to Kyuss' 'Wretch' is invoked as soon as “Traversing the Orbs of Time” blasts out with all its single coil pickup fury (not a guitar player? Google single coil pickup). Dreadlocked guitarist Ben Price lays the grit on thick and caramely with flustered, grunge-era guitar tones, while drummer Cres Murchison and bassist Madison Clifton keeps things bouncy and smooth down below. On top of all this, frontman Jay Murchison screeches a pained vocal, keeping all this energy firmly grounded in good hard sludge. And he wastes no time in asserting himself; whereas many singers will allow such a guitar driven track time to breathe with a long intro, Jay jumps right in the thick of it before long!

On we march to “Optimator”. This one has a bizarre southern cheeriness to it, that combined with the guitar tones described above, becomes reminiscent of the vibe of Black Sabbath's 'Sabotage' album. No doubt the recent good news of Sabbath's return won't do Otis Reaper any harm since this is the case! Up next, “Footprints in the Dead Earth”, things get altogether heavier. The southern bite remains but is coupled with rolling rhythms from Cres and low, low guitar riffs, not far away from the early Baroness records. Nothin' wrong with that says I! Jay's barked and spat vocal brings additional aggression during the track's breakdown. The weight and madness last a savage seven minutes, all filled with fuckin' top notch riffing and already the band have demonstrated a diverse plethora of influences and capability to explore them.

We all love a little Traditional Doom and next track, “Graveyard Sorcery”, is just the fix you want. Old-school Obsessed style riffing and slow, ponderous drums with a relentless occult vocal and lyrical content. Guitarist Ben displays his dexterity on this one with some Brent Hinds influenced fret-bending work. Finally we are hit hard by the punk rock chops of “Unspeakable Acts of Intoxication”. It smacks of angsty Melvins atmosphere and puts it to brilliant affect. Ben Price stands out like a shining star made of riffs turned visual in some unknowable act of a forgotten psychedelic god: what a monster of a track! Of the whole record this one is going down as my personal favourite.

These guys are a rare breed; a band that know what they want and at the same time pays tribute to who they love. There is a tremendous air of honesty about the material that is only ever achieved on record when a band really loves what they're playing and don't need to feign the smiles, very punk and very cool! The extremely raw production only adds to the effect, like those old Black Flag or Melvins records you love, the production becomes part of the sound. These guys are one to watch because I'm gonna put my money on these guys climbing the local scene ladder in the coming months and years. Pull out Otis Reaper's self-titled record, lash it on the stereo, bring the lads over, crack a few cans, sit down, talk shite and bloody enjoy, you won't be disappointed!

Otis Reaper – Self-titled, 2011.

Rating: 8/10

For fans of: early Baroness, Black Sabbath, The Obsessed, Melvins.

Standout Tracks: Footprints in the Dead Earth, Graveyard Sorcery, Unspeakable Acts of Intoxication.

Listen Here: http://www.reverbnation.com/otisreaper

Edward Gerard Brophy

bornagainnihilst@gmail(DOT)com

BLACK SABBATH REUNION CONFIRMED!!!!!

Yep, it's official! After all the hearsay and suspicion, it has been announced that 2012 sees the reunion of our favourites, Black Sabbath!

Let me get this out of the way: "I bloody knew it!"
All the damage control after Iommi let the cat out of the bag was too obvious to be coincidental, and the later confirmations that new material was being written was a dead give away. But let's not concentrate too much on all this and simply enjoy the good news!

After a countdown which drew to an end only moments ago on Blacksabbath.com, we were faced with a youtube video tribute to the band and also given the news that...(SPOILER ALERT: stop reading here and watch the video, but if you can't contain yourself then read on and I'll let you know the news) not only are the band back together but are bringing out a new record with Rick Rubin producing, headlining Download 2012 and following that with a world tour...nice!

Edward Gerard Brophy,
bornagainnihilist@gmail(DOT)com

Album Review -Uneven Structure 'Februus' (Basick)

The first word these days in cutting edge, forward thinking,  intelligent metal releases, with a roster including such diverse acts as Aliases, Chimp Spanner, Blotted Science and Ion Dissonance, UK label Basick is at the forefront of the current upsurge of interest in technical/progressive metal, and their newest release is 'Februus'  , by French progsters Uneven Structure.Suffice to say, not only does it uphold the label's remarkably high standard , it's also a bit of a little cracker of a record.

With an approach similar to that of UK tech heads Tesseract, Uneven Structure craft elegant slices of ambient   progressive metal with a sound that fuses the industrial coldness and seismic heaviness of Meshuggah with a sense of atmosphere that suggests the otherworldly , cosmic riffing of  The Devin Townsend Band.Anthemic opener 'Awaken' starts the record off nicely , opening with some delicately surging ambient instrumentation before a crushing , groove laden drop tuned riff  crashes through the calm, accompanied by singer's Matthieu Romarin's remarkably diverse vocals, one minute roaring like the bastard spawn of Djent-Satan, the next employing a sonorous , heartfelt croon that compliments the band's thoughtful, nuanced riffing.'Frost' and 'Hail are both impressive in their schizophrenic grandiosity, while the transition from the blissed out 'Exmersion' into the epic, understated 'Buds' is what's commonly known as fucking genius.

'Awe' follows, and is one of the more aggressive moments on the record, the spectre of Meshuggah hanging over it's bulldozer riffing, in the best way possible. 'Quittance' might just be the best thing Tesseract never wrote,as is 'Plenitude', the highlight of the record,a constantly shifting blend of deft guitar picking, tribal drum sounds,which builds and builds subtly through various sonic moods into a deft blend of machine gun riffing and the band's by now trademark use of immersive layering and textures.Closer, the aptly titled 'Finale', sees the band out on a wash of eerie noise, and leaves the listener somewhat disoriented , but,  hopefully,  satisfied.

With the current wave of Pod using, poly riffing , bedroom Djenters, technical excellence and solid musicianship have become fashionable again, however, what sets Uneven Structure apart is in amongst the tidal waves of production, and the band's grim, gritty riffing, there's real heart and pathos on display here.And although at times it's monumental , cathedral sized bombast can be somewhat overpowering, content yourself with the fact that at least somebody out there  is aiming to think BIG.

Rating: 8/10
For fans of: Tesseract, Meshuggah, Cynic, Shattered Skies
Listen to/Buy the album here: http://basickrecords.bandcamp.com/album/februus
Stephen O' Connor
bornagainnihilist@gmail.com

Album Review - I Decline ' Time To Shine' ( Horns Raised Records)

Much as we love our underground metal that's been recorded on a karaoke mic for 2 euro and sounds like a serious mushroom binge gone wrong and the aftermath being caught on tape, and is wrapped in a black metaller's funeral shroud , it's nice to hear a band who aren't afraid to go  balls out on their release, and create a release that has clearly no reservations about aiming for the mainstream, and this is clearly the case for Chicago metallers I Decline.It may also be one of the most  surprisingly  excellent   underground rock releases of the year.

The first thing that you might notice when you pop this CD into your drive/stereo/car if you're luckier and richer than me, is the production.It's , and not to put too light of a spin on it, fucking MASSIVE.Guitars roar around, drums thump you in gut and bass tickles your nether regions, and , to be quite frank, it puts a fair majority of certain mainstream metal/rock releases out this year to shame in this respect.This , my friends, is what Phil Spector was going for  when he forged his  legendary 'wall of sound'.

But of course, as Simon Cowell and his dick sucking minions won't tell you is that whopper production does not a good record make, and so it's a good thing that 'Time To Shine' is packed to the gills with big hearted, bombastic and at times unashamedly OTT rock anthems.The band's sound is a slightly bizarre blend of  tar thick stoner rock riffing, old school heavy metal lead work and fists aloft, stadium swagger, mostly contained in the lung bursting vocal pairing of main vocalist Dustin Hamish, and bassist/vocalist Patrick Mc Laughlin. It's the sort of rock album that bands like The Darkness and Avenged Sevenfold would give their collective left testicles to make ,putting in mind influences from everything from the dark glam rumblings of WASP and Skid Row to Mob Rules-era Sabbath to  Thin Lizzy at their heaviest(  fans of'Thunder and Lightning' era Lizzy won't be disappointed).

Opener 'Time To Shine' sets out the band's stall pretty fucking quickly, exploding out of the traps with kick drums ablaze and rousing gang vocals that you can guarantee sets pits ablaze when the band play it live.'The Administration' is all Lizzy-esque harmonies and chest pounding rabble rousing, while  'A New Nation' drips in the kind of sleaze that Velvet Revolver did so well intermittently on their debut album.

'Grand Ruin' is another highlight, a mid paced stomper that recalls , and this is only ever a compliment , Judas Priest's 'Touch Of Evil', while 'Your Name In Blood'  swings around a riff that Iommi would surely gladly shed a tear for  and claim as his own bastard child.In truth , with the exception of the slightly bland  'Her Darkness' , and the ballad 'Jericho', which does little else than  highlight  the band's admittedly solid musicianship but sounds slightly out of place on such a gleefully balls out record, there is not a song on here which could be described as less than quality.Closer 'Rejoice Lament' ends the album on high note, blitzing the listener with Maiden- esque galloping twin guitar riffery and blasts of guitar noise, and is sure to leave the listener a sweaty , grinning mess at it's climax.

To be honest, this album won't be for everyone.It is , at it's heart, an album with one eye firmly on the mainstream, and a sound and songwriting style which reflect this, which may alienate some regular visitors to this blog.But to be honest, when an album is this addictive, well made, and well,fun(and let's be honest, at the end of the day , that is something we need in these gloomy times) , it's hard to not get behind it.And for this reviewer, it's been a reminder of the glorious joy of sometimes just rocking the fuck out.Nude.With the curtains open.Sober.I for one hope they get fucking massive.

Rating : 9/10

For fans of: Thin Lizzy, Judas Priest, Red Fang ,Skid Row

Listen Here:

http://www.i-decline.com

Stephen O ' Connor

bornagainnihilist@gmail.com