Earth

And so the doom and the droning continues.

Earth are pretty much the definitive drone band, although they are more or less doomed to be better known for the fact that frontman Dylan Carlson is the guy who bought Kurt Cobain that shotgun. Especially if pricks like me keep bringing it up.

Earth's output has gone through two distinct phases. Phase one, which might be otherwise known as The Old Stuff, was conceived during a period when Carlson was very much fuelled by pharmaceuticals. It is typified by dense walls of heavily distorted guitar and repetitive droning, and it is this sound that primarily inspired Sunn 0))) - who take their name from Earth's amplifiers of choice.

Phase two, or The New Stuff, is quite different. Carlson has cleaned his act up, and the claustrophobic aggression of phase one has given way to a more open, reflective and sombre sound. And it's a bit.. erm... country. Ahem.

But strangely, it's phase two that I like more; and not just because of my deviant slide-guitar lust. It's not heavy, more... weighty. Weary. Like it's seen too much. It won't tell you about any of it, but it doesn't need to; you can see it in the pitiless black of it's soul. And you don't fuck with it.

Website: http://www.thronesanddominions.com/

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

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

Black Math Horseman

...and so just when I was thinking that nothing could possibly depose the mighty Old Man Gloom as the Best Band In The World Ever, my ipod went and jammed this lot in my ear.

I dimly recall ripping a track off of a Rock Sound cover CD and filing it away for further consideration. Naturally, I forgot all about it; so it came as quite a pleasant surprise when it got shuffled to the fore. I listened to it a second time, then a third; and then immediately ordered everything they had ever done ever. Which was all of one album.

It's kind of a doomy brand of post rock, I guess; the whole thing has a haunting quality to it. The guitars are all slide and reverb, and sound as though they were recorded in some sort of cathedral. And the vocals sound like they were recorded in some sort of cathedral thousands of years ago, and are being being channelled to the present through an ancient suit of armour, once witness to myriad bloody atrocities, now ominously still but for the echoes of the past.

Yes, yes, pretentious, I know.

Website: http://www.blackmathhorseman.com/default.html

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

Wikipedia: nope

Old Man Gloom

A supergroup of sorts, except that almost no-one has heard of the other bands that these guys are from.

Not that it matters. Whilst you can hear the influences - the slow build and weighty growl of Isis, the thundering fuzzy bass of Cave In, the rusty chainsaw guitar explosion of Converge - the sum of these parts is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike any of them.

Old Man Gloom also refer to themselves as the O.M.G. Institute for the Advancement of Alien Simian Technology and Human De-Evolution Studies, and their output ranges from sub-minute blasts of sludgy hardcore, to half hour post-metal epics, to white noise and crackly tape recordings.

Drones carry their bodies.

Website: nope

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

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_man_gloom

Admiral Angry

Kind of a sad story behind these guys; their debut album almost never got released after guitarist Daniel ("The Admiral") lost his life to cystic fibrosis just after the band had finished recording. All the proceeds from sales of the album go towards cystic fibrosis charities, and it remains to be seen if they will continue to make music or not.

In any case, Admiral Angry leave behind them one album and one EP's worth of downtuned caustic riff-thick mechanical sludge. Some of the lyrics are a tad juvenile; but they're almost entirely incomprehensible, so this isn't really a problem. It's pretty base stuff, which is exactly what I need right now.

Website: nope

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

Wikipedia: nope

PJ Harvey

I first heard of PJ Harvey some time in the mid-to-late nineties. Initially I was a bit cautious; we were still in the grip of that patronising "girl-power" thing, Alanis Morissette's angsty caterwauling was getting far too much airtime, and "girls in rock" seemed to be the latest cool thing for labels to try to ram down the throats of the great unwashed.

Of course, I needn't have worried. As it turns out, Morissette isn't even worthy of carrying Polly Jean's guitar case.

Other assurances as to PJ Harvey's undeniable brilliance include a back catalogue that never repeats itself once, various appearances alongside Josh Homme and Mark Lanegan, and songs that fucking rock.

Website: http://pjharvey.lucidwebs.co.uk/

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

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PJ_Harvey