Midnite Congregation/Verse II/Midnight Collective/2014 Compilation Review

  This  is  a  review  of  the  second  volume  of  the  "Midnight  Congregation"  albums  which  was  released  by  Midnite  Collective  and  consists  of  the  stoner,  doom  and  sludge  metal  bands  that  are  signed  to  the  label  and  we  will  review  each  track  one  by  one.

  1.Shroud  Eater  brings  us  "Monolith"  a  song  that  starts  out  with  some  acoustic  guitars  before  going  into  a  heavier direction  along  with  some  clean  singing  stoner  rock  vocals  and  the  music  also  brings  in  the  heaviness  of  doom  metal  as  well  as  having  a  very  powerful  tone  on  the  bass  guitar  and  after  awhile  whispers  and  melodic  vocals  are  added  into  the  track

2.The  Haunting  Green  brings  us  "Blind  Me  Night"  a  10  ten  track  that  starts  out  with  psychedelic  sounds  along  with  some  drones  after  a  few  seconds  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  clean  playing  is  added  into  the  track  and  also  brings  in  a  post  rock  feeling  as  well  as  setting  up  the  mood  for  a  heavier  doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  heavy  growls  and  screams.

  3.INVDRS  brings us  "Into  Your  Grave"  which  starts  off  with  a  powerful  bass  guitar  as  well  as  being  8  minutes  in  length  and  a  few  seconds  later  high  pitched  screams  kick  in  and  the  music  goes  into  a  slow  sludge/doom  metal  direction  which  it  sticks  to  

 4.Ladybird  brings  us  "Dim"  a  song  that  starts  out  with  a  very  heavy  and  distorted  doom  metal  sound  and  high  pitched  sludge  screams  and  you  can  also  hear  a  lot  of  melody  in  the  bands  musical  style  in  both  the  riffs  and  leads.

 5.Trapped  Within  Burning  Machinery  brings  us  ")"  a  very  heavy  and  melodic  sludge  metal  sound  that  uses  a  great  amount  of  aggressive  high  pitched  screams  and  as  the  song  progresses  the  song  starts  incorporating  70's  style  doom  metal  leads  and  solos.

6.Cough  brings  us  "Fuck  Up"  a  song  that  starts  out  with  a  great  amount  of  reverb  and  distortion  before  gong  into  more  of  a  heavy  sludge/doom  metal  direction  along  with  some  angry  and  hateful  growls  adn  screams.

  In  conclusion  I  feel  this  is  a  very  great  sounding  compilation  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  sludge,  doom  and  stoner  metal,  you  should  add  this  album  to  your  collection.  8  out  of  10.



         

In The Company Of Serpents/Merging In Light/2014 EP Review

  In  The  Company  Of  Serpents  are  a  band  from  Denver,  Colorado  that  plays  a  mixture  of  sludge,  stoner  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  ep  "Merging  In  Light".

  A  very  dark  and  distorted  sound  starts  off  the  ep  along  with  some  bass  guitars  and  a  more  heavy  sound  which  also  brings  in  some  melodies  mixed  in  with  the  heaviness  at  times  and  the  music  goes  for  more  of  a  slow  sludge/doom  metal  direction  while  also  having  a  touch  of  stoner  and  70's  rock  in  their  musical  sound.

  When  vocals  are  added  into  the  music  they  are  mostly  grows  and  screams  that  have  a    stoner  metal  feeling  to  them  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  also  remain  in  a  very  slow,  dark  and  heavy  musical  direction  while  also  bringing  in  more  of  a  90's  approach  to this  genre  and  when  solos  in  leads  are  added  into  the  music  you  can  hear  elements  of  both  proto  metal  and  classic  rock  in  the  bands  musical  style.

  In  The  Company  Of  Serpents  plays  a  very  slow,  dark,  heavy  and  slow  mixture  of  sludge,  stoner  and  doom  metal  that  can  also  be  very  melodic  at  times  while  never  having  a  soft  moment,  the  production  sound s very  dark  and  heavy  while  the  lyrics  cover  darkness  and  occultism  themes.

  In  my  opinion  In  The  Company  Of  Serpents  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  stoner,  sludge,  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACK  "A  Union  Of  Opposites".  8  out  of  10.  

Gangrened Interview

1.For those that have never heard of you before, can you tell us a little bit about the band?
well, we started in sept. of 2012, we were 4 guys living in kokkola and forsby (west center coast of finland) and our first bass player was living between there and turku (south of finland). the idea of the band was to play heavy sludge, which still continues. and well, after that we have changed bass player twice, drummer, the original, left but we've found a solid replacement now, though was hard. and now also we will have a new bass player soon. we have released till now a split tape with the spanish band hipoxia and now we have a new record coming out, which i think is a definite step beyond from the tape.

2.Recently you have released an ep, how would you describe the musical sound that is presented on the recording?
really heavy and also dirty. theres a quite slow and long song, and a cover of black flag's "six pack", but we kind of made a new song, only the beginning is like the original. we are really proud of it. once smoking weed i played it and sounded fucking amazing so i guess it's good stuff :).

3.What are some of the lyrical topics and subjects the band explores with the music?
title, lirycs (except kontti) and artwork of the record refers to how many of the most influential members of the worlds economic and politic elites gather togheter, high on the concience of their privilege condition,  in secret societies (Free Mansonry, Skull and Bones, not fucking Iluminatti that is an invention to distract the attention from the real ones) unleashing their most pervert and occult desires while they are designing and imposing a "fenced" life in a "fenced" society for the rest of the common population. We are nothing.

4.What is the meaning and inspiration behind the name 'Gangrened'?
we were looking for a dirty and ugly name for the band and it's the best we came up with, haha.

5.What are some of the best shows that the band has played so far and also how would you describe your stage performance?
best gig till now maybe was in turku in sept. of 2013. our gigs are really loud, that for sure. we have problems in some venues or bars. heavy and loud i would say. songs like "lung remover" sounds really evil, so with the heavyness and the loudness it becomes pretty cathartic.

6.Do you have any touring or show plans for the future?
we play in the end of the november some gigs to present the new record. then also one in our hometown with the band callisto, to present their and our records. this in february. then in march we go to russia, and then we want to play more in finland and do some small tour around sweden and norway in spring or summer. that for now.

7.The ep was released on Bad Road Records, can you tell us a little bit more about this label?
well, they are really fans of sludge metal, so for us is perfect that they put our record out. we like to work with entusiastic people that likes for real what we do.

8.On a worldwide level how has the feedback been to your music by fans of stoner, sludge, and doom metal?
well, considering that we are still really underground its being just fine, but this record is much better sounding than the tape so i guess it will have much better response. still it's too early to say cause it just came out.

9.When can we expect a full length album and also where do you see the band heading into musically during the future?
when the new line up is solid we will start putting togheter songs. the last year has been difficult to make songs cause members were coming and going, not having a solid drummer etc. but now will be time for that. i have many riffs and ideas that i want to put together. so i dont know, maybe around next summer or in a year we can maybe put together a full length. the musical direction the band would go? well, still heavy and dirty but  maybe more personal and more twisted riffs, for example i really like the band unsane, heavy noise rock etc, so wait for loads of feedback heaviness and roughness mixed with fat and heavy low and fuzzy guitars.

10.What are some of the bands or musical styles that have had an influence on your music and also what are you listening to nowadays?
black sabbath, eyehategod, unsane, bongzilla, sourvein and electric wizard, and some bands we have liked lately could be for example cough, windhand and grime.

11.What are some of your non musical interests?
well, i personally care about politics. we say a lot with the title and artwork of the album, so clearly there is a lot to "clean" and to change about this situation.

12.Before we wrap up this interview, do you have any final words or thoughts?
i dont know what i could add, contact us if u want the cd the tape or shirts wwww.gangrened.org. we are in facebook also.
and of course thanks a lot to you   for your interest in gangrened :) 

Plague Of Stars/When Morning Came/ZeroBudget Records/2014 CD Review

  Plague  Of  Stars  are  a  band  from  Minnesota  that  plays  a  mixture  of  doom,  death  and  gothic  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "When  Morning  Came"  which  was  released  by  ZeroBudget Records.

 Clean  guitars  and  keyboards  which  also  are  a  huge  part  of  some  of  the  alter  songs  start  off  the  album  and  after  the  intro  the  music  starts  to  go  into  more  of  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  melodic  female  vocals  as  well  as  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  being  utilized  at  times  and  the  guitar  riffs  also  utilize  a  great  amount  of  melody  and  at  times  spoken  word  parts  can  be  heard  in  certain  sections  of  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them.

  When  growls  screams  are   added  into  the  music  which  are  only  briefly  on  a  couple  of  the  tracks  and  they  bring  a  death  and  black  metal  influence  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  the  band  also  mixes  the  clean  and  heavy  parts  together  to  add  more  diversity  to  the  music  and  the  slow  heavy  parts  are  very  much  in  a  doom  metal  direction,  when  the  music  speeds  up  the  music  starts  to  have  more  of  a  melodic  death  metal  feeling.

  Plague  Of  Stars  plays  mostly  a  melodic  style  of  doom  metal  that  brings  in  the  vocals  of  goth  and  the  heaviness  of  death  and  black  metal  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Plague  of  Stars  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  gothic,  doom  and  death  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Succumb  To  Darkness"  "When  Morning  Came"  "Lady  Lazarus"  and  "Drown".  8  out  of  10.

   



    

Trigger/Start Our Revenge/EveryDayHate Records/2014 CD Review

  Trigger  are  a  band  from  Germany  that  plays  a  mixture  of  noise,  grindcore,  power  violence,  punk,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Start  Our  Revenge"  which  was  released  by  EveryDayHate  Records.

  Drum  beats,  distortion  and  high  pitched  screams  start  off  the  album  before  going  into  a  very  brutal  grindcore  direction  that  also  utilizes  blast  beats  and  growling  vocals  and  all  of  the  tracks  are  very  short  in  length  with  the  longest  one  being  a  little  over  a  minute  and  the  band  also  bring s in  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts.

  All  of  the  musical  instruments  on  the  recording  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  in  the  slower  sections  of  the recording  you  can  hear  a  very  heavy  sludge  and  doom  metal  influence  and  some  of  the  alter  tracks  see  some  more  angry  hardcore/crust  style  vocals  while  the  main  focus  remains  on  high  pitched  screams.

  Trigger  takes  the  heaviest,  brutal  and  rawest  elements  of  punk,  grind,  power  violence,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  combine  them  to  create  a  very original  sound  that  is  very  primitive  and  brutal from  beginning  to  end  of  the recording,  the  production  sounds  very  powerful  while  the  lyrics  cover  violent,  angry  and  hateful  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Trigger  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  noise,  grindcore,  power  violence,  hardcore  punk,  sludge  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Silence  Sucks!"  "Selfmade  GOds  of  Nothing"  "Allday  Hell"  and  "Massacres  Of  Religion".  8  out  of  10.

  

Vihaan/Invicta/2014 CD Review

  Vihaan  are  a  band  from  Detroit,  Michigan  that  plays  a  very  progressive  form  of  death/doom  metal  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  self  released  2014  album  "Invicta".

  Acoustic  guitars  and  a  heavy  yet  dark  sound  starts  off  the  album  along  with  all  of  the  musical  instruments  having  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  and  a  few  seconds  later  deep  death  metal  growls  are  added  into  the  music  along  with  a  good  mixture  of  acoustic  and  heavy  parts  as  well  as  a  good  amount  of  melody  being  added  into  the  guitar  riffs  and  solos.

  You  can  hear  a  good  amount  of  synths  and  atmosphere  in  the  bands  musical  sound  at  times  along  with  the  clean  parts  bringing  in  a  great  amount  of  progressive  elements  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  most  of  the  tracks  are  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  you  can  hear  a  lot  of  jazz  fusion  being  mixed  in  with  the  clean  parts  a  great  amount  throughout  the  recording  and  they  also  add  in  a  couple  of  instrumentals  later  on  during  the  recording.

  On  some  of  the  tracks  the  synths  bring  in  a  very  dark  and  haunting  sound  to  the  recording  which  also  brings  in  a  70's  occult  rock  feeling  at  times,  and  the  band  also  brings  in  a  small  amount  of  blast  beats  and  a  slight  black  metal  influence  as  the  album  progresses  and  after  awhile t here  is  a  brief  use  of  melodic  clean  singing  vocals  being  utilized  briefly  and  the  heavier  parts  stick  mostly  to  a  slow  or  mid  paced  musical  direction  as  well  as  adding  in  the  melancholic  feeling  of  doom  metal.

  Vihaan  plays  a  style  that combines  the  darkest  and  heaviest  elements  of  death  and  doom  metal  with  progressive  rock,  experimental  and  jazz  fusion  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  for  being  a  self  released  recording  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark,  depressive  and  melancholic  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Vihaan  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  progressive  rock,  death  and  doom  metal  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Inflection"  and  "Valor".  8  out  of  10.

  

Timeworm/Luminescent Wake/Disciplin Media/2014 CD Review

 

  Timeworn  are  a  band  from  Norway  that  plays  a  mixture  of  post  hardcore,  sludge,  metal  and  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "Luminescent  Wake"  which  was  released  by  Disciplin  Media.

 A  very  dark  sound  with  clean  playing  starts  off  the  album  and  after  a  couple  of  minutes  the  music  goes  into  a  heavier  direction  along  with  some  aggressive  vocals  and  growls  that  bring  in  a  death  metal  influence  to  the  bands  musical  style  and  the melodies  and  guitar  leads  the  band  uses  bring  in  a  post  hardcore  feeling  to  the  recording.

  The  guitar  riffing  can  be  very  melodic  at  times  while  the  heavier  parts  bring  in  a  heavy  sludge  and  doom  metal  influence  and  after  awhile  there  is  a  good  mixture  of  both  clean  and  heavy  parts  being  present  throughout  the  recording  and  on  the  later  tracks  the  music  starts  to  speed  up  at  times and  brings  in  more  of  an  aggressive  hardcore  punk  feeling.

  There  is  a  good  mixture  of  slow,  mid  paced  and  fast  parts  present  throughout  the  recording  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  a  few  of  the  tracks  being  very  long  and  epic  in  length  and  on  some  of  their  faster  material  you  can  hear  a  good  amount  of  d  beat  influences.

  Timeworn  plays  a  style  of  music  that  takes  the  heaviness  of  sludge  and  death  metal  and  mixes  it  in  with  the  darkness  and  melody  of  post  hardcore  and  the  energy  of  punk  rock  to  create  a  sound  of  their  own,  the  production  sounds  very  professional  while  the  lyrics  cover  dark  and  occult  themes.

  In  my  opinion  Timeworn  are  a  very  great  sounding  mixture  of  sludge  metal,  post  hardcore  and  punk  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  those  musical  genres,  you  should  check  out  this  band.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "A  Fire  Warning"  "Shokoti"  "The  oncoming  End"  and  "Cellular  Dissidence".  8  out  of  10.