Zozobra

Zozobra is basically the one-man-band side project of Cave In bassist Caleb Scofield.


Sonically there are a few similarities, most notably the expansive space rock vibe; but with Zozobra Scofield gets to indulge his metal side a bit more by pouring over a thick layer of sludge, turning the Orange amps up to 11 and smashing out some big fucking riffs.


Which is just grand.











Website: nope
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/zozobra505
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/ZOZOBRA/315231314384
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zozobra_(band)

Strapping Young Lad

Back before there was an internet to kill music with, we used to have to do our bit by trading cassettes; and this is how I first heard Strapping Young Lad, when a grubby TDK90 was shoved into my hand by a tall, excitable and wafro'd chum from a former life.  Side A had SYL's debut Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing on it; side B was full of odd 70's psych-prog.


That tape got rewound a lot.


I'm generally quite wary of metal bands that use keyboards.  SYL get away with it for a number of reasons, the main one being that they are fucking righteous.











Website: nope
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/strappingyounglad
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Strapping-Young-Lad/29338818912
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strapping_Young_Lad

Beastie Boys

I realise this may seem a bit bandwagon-jumpy; since the sad passing of Adam Yauch earlier this month there's been no shortage of tributes to the Beastie Boys.  Which is fair enough, they were pretty great.


Here's the thing.  It's probably not the most popular opinion, but I think the Beastie Boys were kind of overrated as a hip-hop act.  Not bad, just not that great.


But as a hardcore, jazz and funk outfit, they were awesome.


AWESOME.











Website; http://www.beastieboys.com/
Myspace; http://www.myspace.com/beastieboys
Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/beastieboys
Wikipedia; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beastie_Boys

Necro Deathmort

I realise that these electro doom behemoths were the greatest band in the world less than a year ago; and whilst I don't like to repeat myself too much on this shitty blog, there is no escaping the fact that I have been listening to their new record The Colonial Script quite a lot this week.


It is bowel-shattering.


In a good way.


It was hard to imagine things getting any darker after last year's doom masterpiece Music Of Bleak Origin; but Necro Deathmort have managed it on the new record with a black mass of ambient doomscapes and the kind of apocalyptic riffing that will reduce your fucking skull to ash.







Website: http://necrodeathmort.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/necrodeathmort
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/necrodeathmort
Wikipedia: nope

Cult Of Luna

I first got into these guys about ten years ago, as part of some colossal pretentious post-metal binge that also involved the likes of Isis, Jesu and Pelican.


They pull most of the usual post-metal moves; rambling non-conformist song structures, repetitive ethereal melodies, crushing walls of noise, songs that last three days...


But Cult of Luna do it all with roughly twice as many band members, a smidge more Swedidh doom and a metric fuckton of reverb.


Best.  Post metal.  Band.  Ever.  This week.











Website: http://cultofluna.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/cultofluna
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cult-of-Luna/14897083390
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_luna

Soundgarden

Another band long overdue a mention in this shitty blog; although their inclusion is for a slightly odd reason...


There was much sadness and wailing and gnashing of teeth when Soundgarden broke up way back whenever it was.  The sadness was replaced by a sense of profound disappointment when frontman Chris Cornell joined with the remaining three quarters of Rage Against The Machine to formed what appeared to be a Led Zeppelin tribute act.  Not that Audioslave were particularly bad; they were just far less great than the sum of their parts.  Similarly, countless Cornell solo efforts failed to fill the Soundgarden-shaped void in my soul.


And then a year or so ago came news that Soundgarden had reformed.  And not just one of those got-a-mortgage-to-pay festival circuit take the money and run reunions, either (although there does seem to have been a lot of that); there were promises of new material...


Which brings us up to a few days ago, when I learned that a new song, Live To Rise, was available for free download from itunes.


I grabbed a copy straight away, of course; but I haven't dared listen to it yet... because what if it's shit?  It's their first new release for a million years, it was written for the soundtrack of a blockbuster film about spandex-clad superheroes... it has middle of the road written all over it.


And so instead I'm listening to all their old stuff again, because at some point Soundgarden were definitely the greatest band in the world ever.  Meanwhile, as long that new single stays tucked away on my hard drive without me hearing it, they could be the greatest band in the world ever...











Website: http://www.soundgardenworld.com/
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/soundedenmusic
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Soundgarden
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundgarden

Pelican

Once again, my opinion of which band is the greatest in the world ever is informed largely by the gig I most recently attended.  But they were superb, so it's not just because I lack imagination or have a short attention span.

Although I do lack imagination and have a short attention span.

In any case, Pelican were superb.  For the last few years their sound has been steadily developing and maturing, which I guess is nice enough in a pretentious chin-strokey soundscapey kind of way; but I was starting to miss the thunderous majestic sludgery of old.  Which is why I was grinning like an idiot when they took to the stage and spent the next hour levelling the place with big fucking riffs, closing with a fine rendition of Mammoth from their 2001 debut EP.

Seismic.

Website: http://hydrahead.tortugarecordings.com/pelican/

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/pelican

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pelicansong

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelican_(band)